Our Family

Bling for the Birthday Girl!

2011-05-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

While we were pregnant with Malaia we had the talk, do we or don't we? Pierce our babies ears I mean. It wasn't a hard decision to make, we both felt the same way, let her be a baby, let getting earrings be a special thing, something she asks for and looks forward to. My mom had 5 girls, and each of us couldn't WAIT until our big 8th birthday. The year we got to pierce those ears! So I thought that 8 would be the perfect age for my girls to have to wait as well...you know, carry the tradition on? Benjamin agreed, and so 8 it was...until Malaia was about 3! Please Ben, can we pierce her ears....please?! Finally I found a way to change his mind, and get that number down...at least a few years. While I still wanted it to be something they waited and asked for, I didn't want to wait until 8. So...5! 5 was the perfect age in my mind. The year they start Kindergarten(don't get me started, I promise you, I will bawl...) and old enough to understand that we must clean them daily, and keep our fingers off them. 5 was ok with Daddy too....done! So there I was waiting and waiting, counting the months, weeks, then days till it was FINALLY time to take my baby to get those beautiful big girl earrings! I stressed! I was so excited, but just like every mom dreads the immunizations, I was sad for Lai that this might hurt. I remember vividly getting my own ears pierced and bawling my eyes out. Now I am a bit of a drama queen, but lets remember this is MY child, and as much as I hate to admit...she takes after mom! Benjamin sent me off to do this 'mommy and daughter' style...in all honesty, he didn't want to be there to see the tears. His only rule was that she get to pick the earrings, that two people do it at the same time, and that Mia come back earring FREE ;) So we were off! After hitting up Claire's in the mall and finding that they only had one piercer, off we went in search of another ear piercing place, following Daddy's rules (and dodging the small chance Laia may have picked the dreadful hello kitty earrings). At last, two piercers! Laia picked the cutest pink flower earrings, was I really worried? She is MINE after all...I love how still and terrified she is in this picture...And could we have captured a better reaction! All the worry for nothing. She didn't even FLINCH! Such a big girl! Mamma was so proud! And it was such a success I was ready to hike Mia into the seat and give her a go too! She changed her mind last minute, also keeping mommy in line with the rules of Mia returning earring free:)And so here she is! My very big 5 year old! I cannot believe my little Malaia is FIVE! And now, we can FINALLY share earrings:) Mommys dream!

P.S. Daddy told me that night he was surprised when Mia came home without earrings, and a little sad...oh silly Daddy...

Snider Girl #4 ?

2011-04-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to head out for a day at the park I was in the bathroom straightening my hair when I heard Benjamin tell Mia to 'go have mommy do your hair and we will go'. Mia came into the bathroom, I locked the doors, and we started;) It took only seconds but this looks like a different PERSON!!! She thought it was so fun to have 'blong'(a combination of long, and blonde hair, its what kind of hair the girls say Malaia has) hair like sissy! I listened for Daddys reaction when he first saw our little curly girl, straight. 'Oh how pretty Mia' I hear, then right into the bathroom he was to ask 'Why did you do that!!' I laughed and told him I liked it, and he agreed but just explained he loved her curly hair so much the straight kinda made him sad. 'Can you change it back now?' I laughed again and told him he would have to wait until tomorrow. We headed out for the day and I couldn't stop laughing every time I looked at Mia. She is such a doll baby, and with the straight hair she looked just like big sissy! But I have to admit at the park it made me nervous trying to keep an eye out for her, I'm so used to just looking for the curls:) I also had to keep myself from telling anyone we came in contact with that 'she actually has curly hair' how silly of me, but its all I wanted to say to anyone that day...
Our little family day was as fun as always, and although we all loved Mia with her blong hair...we are happy to have our curly monster back:)

Hunting eggs the Coastie way...

2011-04-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

I have been to many Easter Egg hunts in my life, eggs in the grass, a bush, the trees, but none as fabulous as the one my 3 girls attended this Easter. This year one of the sweet Coastie wives thought it would be a fun idea to do something at the station for Easter...she rallied the troops and the end result was the BEST Easter egg hunt I have ever attended:) There were more eggs than could be needed for 50 kids, let alone the handful of Coastie kids that were there to hunt them, baskets were so full they were falling out left and right, the adults wasted no time 'helping' the kids pick those lost eggs up;) The best part of the hunt was the location. As usual Easter morning on the Oregon coast was a sky full of rain, so my husband and the other guys on duty(whose only duty that day was to hide the dozens of eggs the wives had filled at ladies night that week) decided what better place to hide all these eggs than the haul out....thus leading to the best egg hunt...EVER!

Is it cheating since he helped hide the eggs??

where else do kids get to hunt for eggs in life jackets?!

Loving all the fun places you can find eggs in the haul out at the Coast Guard station...mine are the luckiest kids in the world!!!

diving into their treasures....perfect day, and perfect egg hunt! Thank you Jessica and all the other wifey's that helped with this fun egg hunt! Thank you Daddy and the boys for being the best egg hiders out there!!! Daddy enjoying the yum yums from the hunt... Happy Easter!

Kaier's First Easter

2011-04-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

Kaia's first Easter was a hit! She had so much fun helping her sisters dig into their baskets, and finding eggs...keeping us all on our toes all day long making sure there were no choking hazards laying around....Happy FIRST Easter to our sweet baby Kaier's!!!
her first peep....yum!

Egg fun with my girls!!!

2011-04-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

I love when I can combine 'arts & crafts' time with 'bring a desert' time, and I think the girls like it too:) A few years ago we did the rice crispy treats that you shape into an egg, and dip into chocolate and sprinkles and candies, and while it was fun, and delish, we didn't end up eating many of the eggs it was just too much. So this year I decided we would cut the eggs with a cookie cutter instead of shaping them into full on eggs, and go from there. When I found out we needed to bring a desert to the station Easter egg hunt I thought, YAY an excuse to do my fun craft time with the girls!!!

After I had all the eggs cut and laid out, I melted down white chocolate chips and we began in the decorating fun...

Thank you to my sweet husband for making a store run for some icing after I was knuckle deep in white chocolate and we realised that our sprinkles just werent going to cut it as far as Easter egg fabulous-ness goes...

The girls loved this little project, and I must admit I thought they turned out pretty cute. They seemed to be a hit at the Easter party at the station the next day too, especially with the pregnant wifeys:) Happy Easter!!!

Gamma updates

2011-04-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

We have the Gramma's now reading the blog so there will most likely be a lot more posts about the girls and what they are up to, to keep the Gramma's in the know...we have special requests for more post and more pictures...so enjoy keeping up with the Snider gals!!!

Thought I should throw in a pic...and opportunity for a picture makes Gamma's happy:)

Stand...Soo BIG!

2011-04-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

I don't care how many kids you have, you get just as excited with every child as they learn and grow. So you can imagine how excited the Snider home has been in the past few months watching our lil runt go from a sit n stay kinda gal, to learning to crawl her lil booty around the house in hopes of someday catching up to those crazy big sisters of hers. Makaia was a little backwards in that she was pulling herself to a stand up, before she ever started walking. So fun to see them stand, and see how proud she is of herself when we gets up there. She has started crawling now, which only leads to more standing because she can get herself to whatever she needs to stand up to. Makaia is silly, she thinks she can just stand in the middle of the room already....mommy is thinking things are about to get a little more crazy in this house, I don't think this kid is going to be crawling long...she is in a hurry to get those legs moving so she can RUN with the BIGS...ahhhh... Malaia is such a little mother....whenever she is standing she does just as a mommy would do....'LOOK AT KAIER'S...she is STANDING!!! Oh your so good Kai!' Ahhh where does she get that from;) Kaia is now to the point of, there is NO sitting, only standing, and she will stand without hanging onto anything for balance for about 30 seconds....soo big, too fast....but here we go!!!

Engagement shoot

2011-04-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to be a photographer....Ive always had a camera in tote and any family and friends will tell you with Jessie, everything is about getting the perfect picture. But the idea of being a photographer got put on the back burner when the kiddos started making their debuts, at least professionally. But having kids is a great way to practice, they are too cute to not grab the camera at least 47 times a day. I am lucky to be blessed with SISTERS as well. I have taken family pictures for my older sister and her family, set up shots and made my mom 'snap' them for my own family shoots, and done engagement pictures for another. Mind you, I have no idea what I'm doing, but they love me to do it anyway, and I love any chance I can get now to practice on family...in hopes that someday when the girls are older, I can take classes and finally actually figure out what it is I'm doing! Another sissy is getting married soon and she gave me the honor of shooting her engagement shots. We had so much fun, so I wanted to finally share a very unprofessional, but just as gorgeous, photo shoot we did...enjoy...

Ronnie & Michael

2011-04-10T11:52:00.001-07:00

It was one of Benjamin's good buddy's birthdays this weekend so he put in a special order for my yummy tie dye cupcakes. I went and grabbed the white frosting, and cake mix, got home put the girls down to bed and started another tie dye cupcake night. Girls were passed out, and the mix was all made up separated out and colored when I started putting the cupcake papers in my pan only to find that I only had 10 left! No worries my husband, who I called in a panic at work to beg him to fix my problem, said...10 is plenty for Josh...just make a cake with the rest! Sure a cake...here we go! I decided that since the frosting was in so many colors anyway, for the tie dye cupcakes of course, that I should have some fun with the cake frosting as well....Id say things turned out pretty cute since I have never attempted any kind of cake decorating before, I order birthday cakes to be pink sparkly princess spectacular, here is the Easter fun the girls got to wake up to the next morning...and couldn't wait to take to Daddy....Daddy couldn't have been more impressed with my skills! ;) Did I mention half way through frosting mess Makaia woke up....ahhh...this is how the kitchen looked when I was finished...at least she wasn't a grump in the middle of the night...

Year full of Fun

2011-04-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

I had the hardest time at the end of 2010 trying to find a new family calendar. We have done the lighthouse year, the Disney Princess year(Daddy loved that one), the black & white gorgeous shots of big cities year, but I just wasn't feeling another year of any of those. I also just couldn't bring myself to spending $15 on a calendar! So onto eBay to find a blank DIY calendar to start my fun project! I found them on eBay for like $3 and figured you cant beat that, I ordered 3! I decided it would be a fun way to share the year through pictures, and making my own calendar was a fun winter project anyway! Of course the grandma's would need one as well. Especially with Makaia being in her first year and changing so much month to month, this would be a great way to keep up to date! So I made the layouts...

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

I left the picture's blank and at the end of every month we mail off the picture for the next months slot so grandma's month is up to date! She of course looks forward to see who made the cut for the next month! Such a fun and super easy little project...I'm thinking we will do this every year!!!

Tie Dye cupcake fun

2011-03-31T09:05:00.000-07:00

I decided to try a fun new cupcake and they turned out great! The girls just LOVED them, and Daddy was pretty excited to take them to the station to show off his girls cupcake baking magic! I started with a plain white cake mix and made it just as the box said. Then I separated the mix into 5 different bowls. I added food coloring to each bowl, I used the neon food color which I ended up loving, the colors were sooo vibrant! Then I just dropped a bit of each color into my cupcake tin and...

Magic! Tie dye cupcakes! I love the colors, these are too cool!

Then onto the frosting! I made some yummy colors, put them all in the bag and voila!

These were so fun, so easy, and sooo pretty! I'm not a cupcake eater but Benjamin and the girls said they were soo yummy too :) Enjoy!

Tiny Dancers

2011-03-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

The girls have been taking dance for about a year now, and they are just too stinkin cute! They take a dance/tap/ballet class and are getting ready for a big show in June! The costumes are so adorable its disgusting! So much fun to spend our Friday mornings watching them learn and love dance! Here are some pics from ballet... This is Malaia and Miss Ava, their Daddys work together.

Little Mia in ballet

Snider Family Fishing Fun

2011-03-23T18:46:00.001-07:00

Daddy came home from a loong 2 days on duty only to convince me to go fishing with him and the Bigs. Usually fishing trips are for Daddy Malaia and Mia while mommy puts Kaia down for a nap and gets some scrapping done. But today was a full family fishing day. In the RAIN! I don't like being cold, but what Daddy wants Daddy gets...so I bundled up and headed out for the adventure...

Ok so Dad's fishing hole is pretty covered by trees, and it was only sprinkling outside so we were safe from the rain...

Kaia thinking...why do they do these things to me....

The Bigs...they are fishing pros...they taught mommy that fishing trips really just mean, outside with lots of snacks while you throw sticks in the water and scare the fishies away...which makes Daddy upset;)

Ill be honest I spent most the fishing trip taking pictures of the girls...I cant help myself! But we had a fun outdoor day with Daddy...and I think Kaia even had fun, although none of the pictures really captured that;) Our fishing trip was cut short due to our little Mia falling in...Daddy was right there to grab her right up, she was our only catch of the day. Mommy laughed, Mia yelled...its not funny! We spent the rest the day talking about having Mia for dinner...her only reply, Its not funny guys!!!

Happy Wednesday to all, hope yours was a fabulous as ours!!!

2011-03-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

One of the Coast Guard wives is the assistant coach for the high school cheer leading team in Reedsport. This year when they did their Jr. Cheer camp she thought of our little Malaia and made an exception to the rule, letting Malaia do the camp even though she was only 4. Malaia had practice every day for 2 hours all leading up to the big Friday night halftime show. She loved practice, and we loved her coming home and teaching us her moves! She was a little upset on day one when she came home and told us she had to be a Brave, and not a Bruin like aunt Kiki, but we told her with Daddy's job she would be cheering for many many teams in her years:) Go Braves!!!

Mia and Makaia got red ribbon to cheer on the cheerleader!!!

G O everybody LET'S GO!!!

The halftime dance, it was too cute! She did so great! Very proud mamma!
High V....GO BRAVES!!! Go Laia!!!

2011-03-22T07:42:00.000-07:00

Our dentist here likes kids to be 3 before they come in for their first cleaning. Malaia has always loved getting her teeth cleaned, if we drive by her dentist office she will even ask, "Can I go get my teeth cleaned!!!", so you can imagine how excited Mia was to turn 3 and be old enough to get HER teeth cleaned! Auntie Jamie would be so proud. Mia did just wonderfully, and walked around the rest of the day showing everyone, "See how clean my teeth are!!!". So sweet! 20 beautifully perfect teeth! Go Mia!!!

Rain wont stop us!!!

2011-03-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

I grew up LOVING the rain. Which was good since I was born and raised in Brookings Oregon, where we tend to get, a LOT of rain, at least in the winter. Anyways, when everyone else was complaining about rain, I was excited for it. There are a lot of things that are just better with rain:) Sleeping with your window open, running outside(as long as you end your run at the high school football field and have your sister and best friends with you to mud wrestle with) board games, all better when there is rain. And then I had children. Yes I still love to listen to the rain outside when I'm falling asleep, and enjoy a good rain run, as long as someone is home to watch the girls, but for the most part I have found it just makes for a LoooNG couple of months, stuck indoors, with some very energetic toddlers! In Seattle we had so many winter options, Kids Quest every Friday night, a trip to the aquarium, or just walking through the mall. But now that we are back on this beautiful Oregon Coast, I find myself more and more dreading the months of rain, and looking forward to the sunshine and trips to the park and the beach again, which can make for an even longer rainy season:) So we spend our days having tea parties, cutting paper, you cant imagine how much kids love to just sit and cut paper, and yes we have an occasional bundled up trip to the beach, in the rain, but sometimes we just need something more. Benjamin got a package in the mail the other day with all this brown paper. The girls found it and started tearing it apart until mamma, the smart woman that I am :), had a fun idea...here we go for a fun winter art project.....kept the girls busy for at least an hour! YAY!!!

And now our only problem...deciding which lucky gramma will be getting this in the mail :) :) :)

mouthpiece anyone?

2011-03-21T14:10:00.001-07:00

Being a mom has got to be by far the BEST job in the world. I think I say this all too often, but I cant help myself. I am the luckiest woman alive. I get to stay at home and watch my kids learn and grow every day, I wouldn't trade it for anything. From the hilarious things a 3 and 5 year old come up with, to watching my 8 month old sit with a basket of toys and be the happiest human alive, I am just so blessed, head to toe, in life! There are certain stages, especially in the first year, that I hear myself say, this is definitely my favorite age! But I honestly think 6 months-until crawling is my FAVORITE stage! They can sit up, entertain themselves, and cant MOVE!!! :) I can sit Kaia down with a basket of toys while I entertain the bigs, or even better...get housework done!!! YAY:) She is just so content to sit there and take each toy out, one by one, slobber all over it for a bit, before she goes back for the next victim! I love love love to watch her with her basket of toys. Love to watch her explore each part of an old cell phone, or a mirror, suck on it for a bit, and then toss it to the side....cant we all be this easily entertained?! But what I love about Makaia at this stage even more than I did my older girls is her silly bracelet fetish! Every time we turn around there she is, exploring her basket of goodies, with a bracelet accessorising her mouth :) It is just too cute! After a few weeks of it I decided to grab the camera out a few times and catch the cuteness....enjoy!!!

Our Monster Mia is 3!!!

2011-03-21T09:17:00.001-07:00

Happy 3rd Birthday to our little Monster, or as she would prefer you call her, Princess Mia. I cant believe the Snider birthday season is here already! This year we decided instead of parties we would just have the birthday girl be in charge of the day! As always we started out with candles in our pancakes...

And Mia wasted no time getting into some princess attire just in time for presents! 3rd birthday in the Snider home means BIKE year!!! Now even though it was pouring down rain outside(imagine that in the middle of March;) by no means meant we would have to practice riding another day...bring on the indoor biking!!!

Mia really just wanted to spend the day on her bike! Which was fine with us:) She had asked to see a movie for her birthday (gramma and papa stole that activity and they saw Gnomeo and Juliet) and dinner at her favorite diner in Florence...we sit in an actual CAR...such a fun restaurant! I love this kid! She is so full of life, and energy! She is a lover...and a scrapper:) She keeps Daddy, mommy, and sisters on our toes daily...and we wouldn't trade her for anything!

I cant believe you are THREE my big girl! Mommy is sooo proud of you! From spelling your entire name, to counting to 50 with sister, to insisting that you cant leave the house without a tutu on, you make me smile and laugh my days away! I love you so much, and cant wait to spend another fun and busy year being your mom!!! Happy Birthday sweet Mia!!!

Ugh, and yes, they even got to pick out their cake this year:( Which made Daddy happy(his fav. polka dot cake, which the girls happen to LOVE and mom happens to DISlike) I don't know that this will be an option next year for birthdays:) Call me crazy but I just LOVE the pretty cakes I order them each year...who can go wrong with a pink and purple princess tower cake right...and chocolate...oh well, we will battle that out next year:)

Far too long....so much is new....

2011-01-24T12:19:00.000-08:00

Ben and I at the lightshow
Malaia all ready for dance class

Makaia 6 months old

our tiny dancer Mia

I have been avoiding getting on this blog because it has been just too long since our last post...but since I have, and see that its been over a YEAR since Ive blogged...here I am...I'm not going to attempt to catch up on the last year, but will just start fresh from here...wish us luck:) Our newest little addition to the Snider clan, Makaia Pauline, just turned 6 months old!!! How does time fly!!! We are getting ready for a big #3 birthday party for miss Mia Marie in March, and our sweet Malaia will be turning 5 in May! Daddy has made surfman, and will be advancing to first class this summer...we couldn't be more excited, or proud, of him. Mommy is busy busy with these 3 beautiful girls, and couldn't hope for life in any other way! Ok so I said I wasn't going to attempt catch up, so I will stop...thinking I will blog in the evenings when the girls are snuggled in bed, and Daddy is on duty...so until then...enjoy some sweet pics of our wonderful little girls! Hope to be back...SOON!!!

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it is already pumpkin patch time again! The past year has just flown by, I guess the older I get the faster my years go. On our drive up to the pumpkin patch this year I was remembering last year taking the girls. It was our first trip to a pumpkin patch, Malaia was so excited to see all the pumpkins, and our sweet little Mia was just learning to crawl. I was telling Benjamin on our drive how I love certain holidays and dates throughout the year because I love to be able to look back and know exactly where we were and what we were doing the year or years before...especially with the girls, it is just a time for a mom to look back and see how much her children have grown, in just one year, or every year of their life....such a great way to look back and smile on the years....this years trip to the pumpkin patch was so much fun. The girls were wonderful, so excited to pick their pumpkins. Our little Mia was just too cute, picking up the biggest pumpkins she could carry, Malaia finding the smallest she could. Beautiful day to be outside....and got some great pictures out of it all:) Enjoy!!!

Missing Blogger....

2009-10-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well the last few months have kept the Snider's a bit busy and I have not had any time to keep up with the blog! So it is my goal this week to get our little blog back up and running! Keep an eye out for some fun stories and cute pics in the next week! Although its been a hard month, we are all doing wonderfully and have had great things come from our little loss!

Come on a 47 ride!!!

2009-07-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

I have been on boats in the ocean all my life. Growing up one of my dads many jobs was a commercial fisherman, I have pictures of myself being potty trained on the boat...a nice bucket with a toilet seat on top did the trick! I have been on the 47 with my Benjamin before we were even dating, one of my Princess duties. But last weekend was my first trip on the 47 with my man at the wheel! What a fun and beautiful day we had. Benjamin took me and the girls, along with Gamma Stacee and Papa out for a nice ride on his big boat! I could have stayed out there all day...but Laia didn't like the 'hills' she was having so much fun until we actually hit ocean, and the big waves were just too much for her, so we headed back in. But not before both the girls had their turn driving of course! We got some great pics. I am so proud of Benjamin and the work that he does! Oh and, he doesn't look too bad in his uniform either;) Enjoy!

Malaia's First Stretch Mark!!!

2009-07-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

I was watching Malaia from the other room looking at herself in the mirror and soon she yells...MOM....come here!!! So I went into the room and said "What baby?" She then turned back to the mirror, pointed at her eyebrow and said "You see my stretch mark?" I died laughing! Where does she come up with these things! She is just my doll baby! She has a birthmark on her eye brow, and I guess after inspecting my belly, and inspecting her eyebrow, she came up with the fact that she too, had a stretch mark! Love it!

Mia where are you???

2009-07-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

We were busy busy around the house the other morning cleaning this and straightening up that when we realised we hadn't seen Mia in awhile. We asked Lai where sissy was and she didn't know so we started checking each room calling for Mia. We were never worried, knew she was just hiding somewhere, but where was it this time? We checked our bedroom and didn't see her, as I was closing the door I heard...hi! I opened the door again, and there she was! It was hilarious, and oh so cute, so of course I grabbed Ben and the camera....what a silly girl! How did she get in there without messing up any of my pillows!

Time To Blog?!

2009-07-12T18:00:00.001-07:00

So we are finally catching up to the rest of you bloggers. Convinced by a few friends, with these girls growing and of course so many pictures being taken we hope our new family blog can keep you all up to date with what is going on in the crazy world that is "The Snider's" so bare with me, we are new to this, and enjoy our fun pictures and adventures...your sure to laugh...we do....daily:)