The Snow Family

We had a Christmas party at Church and Santa came to visit the kids. Ryder sat back and stared at Santa until every kid had finished talking with him. He is always very cautious around other people and won't have much to do with anyone. However, he seemed pretty intrigued with Santa, especially when he saw that Santa was giving packs of M&M's away. We finally got the courage to go up to Santa, but as soon as he got close, Ryder started screaming. Through his screams and tears, Ryder reached out to give something to Santa...it was an M&M that Ryder had found on the floor and put in his mouth. He had taken it out of his mouth to share with Santa. It was, of course, all nasty and gross, but Santa was a sport and took it (despite my objections). After Santa took the M&M, Ryder immediately stopped crying and decided Santa was ok. Keira, however, has no qualms with anyone. When she saw him walk into the room, she immediately jumped up and ran to give him a big hug. She w

We have a beautiful Christmas Village in downtown Ogden where different business and/or groups decorate little homes and put in on display. We took the kids to see the lights and they had a ball. Ryder was cracking us up because he ran through the entire thing. He kept slipping and falling on the ice, but was determined that we were not to touch him. He just got back up and kept running. He would stop every now and then to take a look at some of the displays. Then he would say, "Bye Bye," and run off to the next one.

Roger had an "in" with some instructors at a local helicopter flight instruction school. They invited him over for a ride and he had the time of his life. They let him take the controls and fly...they even let him hover for a while. He absolutely loved it. The kids loved it, as well, as they buzzed by the house. In fact, every kid in the neighborhood loved it because the helicopter was very loud and kept flying right over all of our houses. We stood in the driveway and waved to Daddy. Now, whenever Keira sees a helicopter of any sort, she thinks Dad is in it.

We had a great Halloween this year. Grandma Snow got to come up and go trick-or-treating with the kids, which they thought was great. Keira still asks if Grandma can come up so they can go again. This was a scary Halloween for us, as we had poured a new driveway that day. Wet concrete and trick-or-treaters can be a scary mix! Roger dressed up as a snowboarder (kind of a stretch for him, right?) and stayed at the top of the driveway so that no one would try to walk to the doorway. The kids were fascinated with all the tractors and fun things in the yard that day. Ryder dressed up as a ninja and even kept his hat on the whole time. He was very excited to get his candy and didn't even mind having to walk up to a stranger to get it. Suckers were his favorite. Keira had a choice between being a fairy and Thomas the Train. She chose Thomas, which made me very happy as it is clearly an extremely easy costume. She was also very excited about the whole candy thing...anything choco