Childlike Faith, Wonder, & Awe

Eli is definitely getting in the spirit of Christmas. More this year than ever before, and boy has it been fun.

He has had fun picking out presents for others and some for himself...that he wrote in a letter to Santa, and then told him in person today.

The Polar Express has become a fast favorite and has been watched several times...along with other Christmas classics.

Our musical boy has been belting out Christmas songs

(just a sampling of his favorites...others include Do You Hear What I Hear? and Santa Claus is Coming to Town), and even makes up his own.

We have tried very hard to remind him of the "Reason for the Season." He is fully aware that it is Jesus' birthday that we are celebrating at Christmas. The first time we talked about this, Eli immediately said, "Then we have to make Jesus a birthday cake and a card." So we will. I am excited to make this a tradition each year, and I'm even more excited that it was completely Eli's idea. The cake is baked...just waiting to be iced, and we'll make the card Christmas Eve. Of course, we'll be making Santa's cookies that day as well. I'm sure it is a little confusing to his little brain, both Santa and Jesus to sort out. But I think he is getting the best of both worlds. The sacred and the secular. I pray we can continue to balance them each year. And I also pray we can see the holiday through Eli's eyes this year and always. May we experience the wonder of Christmas with some of Eli's childlike faith, wonder, and awe.

Now, I have to get back to wrapping and baking. It is down to the final hours, but we're in the home stretch and still having lots of fun. I wish there was more time....but only because I don't want it to be over yet. So much fun!
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three

This dear, sweet boy has captured our hearts. Hard to believe that three years could go by so quickly.

One night, I said goodnight to my 2 year old, and the next morning,

I had to say good morning to a 3 year old.

My baby is 3! He had a fabulous day.

It all started with waking up to wrapped presents....

...and a Birthday Doughnut that he got to pick out himself.

mmmmmm!

Eli helped make and decorate his big 3 cupcake cake,

and then it was off to the park for some fun in the (chilly) sun.

After a nap, we got to celebrate with family, complete with Eli's choice of a spaghetti dinner, cupcakes, ice cream, and presents.

What a day! And the birthday celebration continues as he has and will celebrate with other friends and family throughout the next week. Gotta love the birthdays that never end. Plus, we get to celebrate Daddy's birthday tomorrow, and Jesus' birthday Friday!

Eli is our sweet boy. He is all boy, and very 3--trouble is often brewing--yet he is still compassionate and sensitive. He laughs when others are laughing and is worried when others are crying. He is fascinated by everything. I love to watch his eyes light up with wonder, his brow furrow with concentration as he is listening and processing something new, and the smile of delight as he tries something for the first time. He is getting smarter every second; some of his latest "tricks" highlight the Spanish he is learning in school. We are amazed at all he can do and say....the sentences and phrases are getting longer and longer. The cute "Eli-ese" is slowly disappearing and correct pronunciations are popping up daily. Makes me miss my baby and the words that only Mommy and Daddy could understand. His giggle is priceless and will melt hearts. Truly music to the ears. He is learning to love the Lord and says the cutest darn prayers for those in trouble and for those he loves. We love you, little man. Thanks for blessing our lives, everyday.
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A Reminder of What is Important

About a week and a half ago, a crazy December tornado made a brief appearance in Tallahassee, and my parents were one of three lucky families to be affected by it.

It made a brief touchdown and then was gone. But seriously, they were lucky to only have damage to their yard and a single broken window pane.

No one was home when it happened...and for all of those things, we are grateful. But the clean up of this disaster area is going to be pricey and will take a while.

Probably won't be done by Christmas. But it will serve as a reminder that our lives are not in our hands.

Someone else is in charge. And that "someone" sent His only Son down to earth to be a Savior for us all.

If it weren't for God sending his Son, there'd be no Christmas. God's love is so wondrous and awesome, and we celebrate that love at Christmas.

We are blessed by this love. We are blessed by so many wonderful things in our lives. We are blessed that the trees were the only things truly harmed by this storm. And for this we give thanks.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

- John 3:16

That is the good news of Christmas

Christmas Central

So, yeah...I still haven't gotten the pictures from my parents yard for you to see. Sorry.

Lately, the Advent season has been keeping us busy as we prepare for Christmas. So far, so good with me keeping my cheerful spirit in tact. I have been staying up a little too late making,

baking,

wrapping,

shopping (online, of course),

and doing all things Christmas.

I have recently developed a recurring eye twitch that is 100% related to the amount of sleep I get. I am not sure why I cannot get to bed earlier. All I know is that I seem to be very productive during the late night hours. And tonight's challenge will be to finish our Christmas cards.

I don't know what my problem is with these this year. Wait a minute. Yes, I do. I am not a fan of this chore. I adore getting Christmas cards in the mail, but I am not a fan of sending them. But, I know if I don't send 'em, I won't get them. I have had all the stuff and my list of recipients ready for a couple of weeks, but I have put it off (along with cleaning the house and the laundry).

Besides the cards, the only other major Christmas preparation task is wrapping. I am also a huge fan of a beautifully wrapped package and am obsessed with ribbons and hanging "to/from" tags. Obsessed sounds a little harsh, but I am super into the presentation.

But because of this, I end up spending (probably) too much time on each package. If I don't start cranking out the gift wrapped packages, I will never get it all finished.

And last, but certainly not least, I can't forget to mention that we are a mere 4 days away from the BIG day.

Eli (who is working overtime these days trying to get onto Santa's "naughty" list...grrrr....) will be 3 on Sunday. It is destined to be a day all about Eli. Whatever his little heart desires. We opted not to do a party (feel the stress lifting...) this year, but we still plan to do it up for our little man. Hard to believe that 3 years ago today, we watched our due date come and go...we awaited ever so patiently for his arrival. Boy, do we love this kid.
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Whew!

Crazy, but true story.

A tornado briefly touched down in my parents back yard on Wednesday.

We are amazingly blessed that there was only a lot of tree damage and one broken window. It could have been a whole heck of a lot worse. And we feel lucky that my mom was not home when it happened. I can only imagine how scary that would have been to go through alone.

So, everyone is fine, and the house is too. Now it is just a big mess to clean up. No fun! I will be back soon with some pictures of the aftermath...

Until then, you can check out the story in our newspaper. If you read the story, be sure to notice my dad standing in the background of the twisted tree picture in his scrubs.

*Today, the storm was officially confirmed as a tornado about a half mile wide with winds maxing out at 80 mph...whoa!*

Secrets

I have two secrets.

Secret #1: I've been listening to Christmas music since Halloween. Yup, I was one of those people this year. Long-time blog readers may remember my lack of Christmas Spirit last year due to stresses both within and beyond my control. I was determined not to let that happen this year...so I started early. The music has made me happy, and I am totally feeling the Spirit so far. Also, to relieve the holiday stress, we started our shopping early this year. We're almost finished! And as for the tree...it went up before we left for Thanksgiving (#2). I haven't gotten many of our other decorations out or up, but the tree is the only one I really need to feel festive.

I am also trying to get some Advent activities for Eli and I to do together. We are hoping to keep the true meaning Christmas alive in our home.

Secret #2: I'm freaking out a little bit that Eli's birthday is coming up. Not because of party planning or presents buying, but because my little baby is turning 3!!!! I don't why it is hitting me so hard, but it is. 1 was a big deal, and 2 was fun...but went by quickly. There is just something about my little dude turning 3 that has me hoping the month goes by slowly, but I know it won't.

Not sure if I'm ready to be the Mommy of a 3 year old...even if he is absolutely wonderful and precious one moment...and full of mischief the next.

(yes....he is....he is painting his own face at our school's Fall Festival.)

He's a handful, but he's our handful, and we can't imagine life any other way.

Thanksgiving Times Two

We were lucky enough to have two Thanksgivings to celebrate this year. Flights were very reasonable the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving, so my sister, Theresa and baby Asher (missed you, Ricky and Susanna!!!), flew in from Denver and Lindsey drove down from Atlanta. What a blessing to have nearly the entire Snyder family together for the weekend. We decided that "Thanksgiving" is just a day and that we could celebrate and be thankful for our abundant blessings a week early.

The joy of the two cousins was contagious as we watched them play together. Eli just adores Asher, and Asher definitely got a kick out of watching Eli play and be silly.

What a proud Grandpa!!

You can't help but love on Asher. Always so happy and chill. Love those "muscles!" Flex, little man!

Always sad to see them go, as they did that Sunday....a quick visit, but so wonderful to know that they will be back again in just a few weeks for Christmas. And this time staying for a week!!! Yippee!

And on top of that, we had Thanksgiving in Dunedin to look forward to. After a very short work/school week, we hit the road. Just loved the family time of fun and relaxation.

We HAD try out the Pap Pap's new cornhole boards.

And Eli spent a bunch of time in the pool heated to 90 degrees!

We truly are thankful to be part of such loving families. What a treat to be able to celebrate with both families this year...and to get 2 turkey dinners. YUMMY!

Eli helped us say the blessing...

Another wonderful thing we gave thanks for this weekend was the marriage of the head of the Carson Crew. Matt's parents celebrated 35 years of marriage this past week as well. What an example they have been for so many; loving and faithful, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.

We celebrated in style, going out to a super fancy restaurant in a limousine with friends and family. The dinner was divine! Congratulations and Happy Anniversary to the happy couple! We love you both dearly and are so thankful we have you as a beautiful example of what the sacrament of marriage is all about.

I had to take advantage of being dressed up and snap a picture or two of me and my little man. I'm so often behind the camera.

Wow! We sure do have a lot in our lives to be thankful for. I sometimes forget to take the time to daily thank the Lord for all our blessings, both large and small. Glad to have had two Thanksgivings this year to remind me to take time out and say, "Thank you!"

Our Disney Days

This post has been a long time coming and was a long time in the making. I started it last Friday and finally finished today. Not gonna deny that I was a little overwhelmed about putting it all into one concise, yet picture-filled, post. Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, cause here we go!

We drove down Friday afternoon. Eli was beyond excited.

After checking in at the hotel, we hopped on the bus, (which was a thrill in itself for Eli) and went to Downtown Disney for dinner and some shopping. While waiting for our name to be called at the T-Rex Cafe,

we just had to check out the Lego Imagination Center. Eli quickly found some blocks and started building....

and who could resist the WALL-O-LEGOS?!?!?

Literally, every shape, size, and color Lego piece imaginable on a huge wall. Eli couldn't help but want to stick his hand into each one and feel them all. You can guarantee that we didn't leave empty handed.

As we waited the final minutes for our table to be ready, Eli dug for dinosaur bones.

We thought Eli would LOVE eating here, but it was a big mistake. Turns out, our little sensory sensitive boy was a little too overwhelmed and scared of the dinosaurs. He had to sit as far away from them as possible, and even then he barely ate a thing.

While walking around looking at all the dinos, Eli would tell me, "Keep going, Mommy. They are too scary." I can't help but feel a little guilty for doing that to the little man. Who knew?

The next day was our day at the Magic Kingdom. We were all super duper excited and managed to get there a little before the park opened. We didn't know that they do a song and dance show to open the show. We got to see the characters come in on the train and open the park. What a treat!

Again, our little man was just a wee bit overwhelmed by it all. We knew he would be, but he warmed up quickly and had a blast all day long.

Eli truly was an angel all day long, and despite being up way past his bedtime, he managed to stay melt-down free all day. Yippee!

We slept in a little bit later on Sunday, but Eli was still too excited to sleep too late. Off we went to the Animal Kingdom for another day of fun. Our first stop was right outside the gate for some coffee and some hugs from Rafiki

and Timon.

Eli hasn't seen The Lion King yet because it is a little too scary at times, but he was ALL about Timon. So cute!

Animal Kingdom was a hit, but definitely didn't take as much time as the Magic Kingdom, so after Eli's nap (which we had to wake him up from each day so that he didn't sleep through dinner!), we decided to have a quick swim,

and then head back to Downtown Disney for dinner and fun.

Eli is quite the photographer these days!

Did you know that a 3-day pass from Disney is cheaper than 2 1-day passes? So, you know we just had to get the 3-day passes. Initially, we figured we would just skip Monday and not use the 3rd day, but as the time got closer we decided to head to Epcot for the morning and take in a few rides and shows.

Animal Kingdom put on an AMAZING Finding Nemo musical that we loved, so we just knew we had to do the Nemo ride and talk with Crush while at Epcot. Eli was having a low key morning, but he really perked up and got into the Nemo ride. After seeing Nemo and Crush, we got Eli his long sought after and desired Mickey Mouse ice cream. He'd been asking for one all weekend long. His patience paid off.

We got a kick out of watching him enjoy it. He was hilarious....he and I both ended up with it everywhere as it fell off the stick. Daddy saved the day with napkins, a spoon, and a paper dish.

After that, we did a quick walk around the countries only stopping for a couple of rides in Mexico and Norway, an awesome drum show in Japan, and can you guess which country we had lunch in?

A highlight of the day was the brief line that got us in to see 5!!! characters.

And finally, after being sure to stop by the "big golf ball" one more time (forgot to mention how smitten Eli was with the Epcot ball...he loved going inside it!), we made our way back onto the bus one last time to get back to our car at the hotel. We hit the road, and shortly after leaving Disney property, Eli was zonked until we woke him up for a quick dinner stop.

It was a whirlwind, jam-packed weekend full of fun, adventure, imagination, and excitement. Eli loved it and was sad when he realized it was over. We look forward to taking him back....maybe in a couple of years!