The Snow Family

Keira turned 2 years old on November 29. We had a little party for her and she got all sorts of fun presents. We made apple crisp for her birthday "cake" because, well, it sounded good. Keira also LOVES apples, so we thought she'd really get into this birthday treat. As it turns out, she really only likes fresh, raw apples...not cooked ones. So she ate all of her ice cream and the crispy oat topping.

Two of Keira's favorite people in the whole world are Amy and Madison Bennett. Amy tended Keira for about a year and Keira is always wanting to go back to Amy's house. Amy gave her this cute dress for her birthday, and Keira had to wear it while opening all her other presents.

Ryder is all over the place now. His favorite things are climbing stairs and playing in toilets. I walked by the bathroom the other day when I heard splashing noises. I walked into the bathroom to find Ryder splashing away, having the time of his life. He didn't have as much fun cleaning up.

Our potty training efforts have obviously been unsuccessful. At least we're finding some use for the new underwear we bought.

Mom and Dad with the kids. Everyone is oh so excited to go to church. Keira loves nursery and runs to class, never looking back. Mom and Dad love nursery, too.

Here's some videos of the kids' latest escapades

Keira loves going to her Aunt Kathy's house. She gets to eat corn on the cob and play with a fun scooter.

Keira used to just love Ryder from afar. She would hug and kiss him, but wouldn't really want to hold him. Lately, she wants to hold him all the time.

Isn't Roger a good dad? He does a great job fixing Keira's hair. And she will sit still for as long as she needs to as long as she gets the water bottle to suck on while we're doing it. Ryder loves his daddy, too.

We love to walk to the park just below our house. Keira will play for a little while, but she especially loves pushing the stoller around. Poor Ryder gets quite a ride sometimes, and he doesn't always love them. But Keira will check up on him and try to make him feel better before she begins pushing again. This last picture of Keira was taken in our back yard.

We just realized that we don't have any current pictures of Ryder, so here are a couple. We had to get a picture of his toes. He can seriously spread them apart. I figure with a spread like that, he should be walking by 7 months!

So it's the right time of the year for our apricot tree to start producing, and we are definitely getting more than we can eat from our single tree. Keira and Dad like to go play in the backyard and glut themselves on the fruit. Keira decided that she didn't want Frostee to feel left out, so she'll pick some apricots and then feed them to her. I'm sure that does wonders for the dog's bowels. It's all fine though, canine fecal disposal is dad's job.

We went back to Missouri in July to visit the fam, and to bless Ryder. We actually flew back this time, (thanks to Mom and Dad Goodman), instead of braving the 2 day drive, so the travelling was much more bearable. Here's a little photo report of our trip: Grandpa and Ryder Grandma and Keira Keira and Dad Fishing All of the Cousins in the dune buggy, (note Keira working on her rally car racing career)

Here he is! Ryder Benson Snow 7 lbs. 10 oz. 21-1/2 in. Born on April 1st 2008 at 11:04 p.m. Both mom and baby are doing really good, and Keira even seems to like him. We'll keep posts updated on everybody's progress.

We recently got a snowstorm that brought us nearly two feet of snow in 24 hours. The plow didn't go by our house for two days, which meant that I couldn't even get out to go to work. Roger, however, has 4-wheel drive and called in sick so that he could go snowboarding. He did go to work the next day and then came home and spent the evening making a snow cave off of the side of our drive-way. Keira loved the snow this time. She'd play in it and whimper when her hands got cold and wet, but wouldn't want to go in the house. She also loved the snow cave that her dad made. She thought it was her own special place and wanted to stay there the rest of the evening.