Sunday, December 23, 2007

Hot Chocolate MMMMMM





My girls love hot chocolate. This year we have been having it with ready whip sprayed on top each time there is a holiday special on TV. Naomi is loving it and only spills a little each time:) Stella really wasn't meant to get any, but somehow she got a taste of the ready whip and protests when she doesn't get any. These are some shots of her with my glass with one sip left in it. She thought she had scored big time.

Friday, December 7, 2007

A Tribute to Grandma Ruth

My Grandma Ruth passed away on November 19th. So, I have really been thinking a lot about her. My family was able to have her dining room table and chairs. Which we just brought home last night. When I look at the table it reminds me so much of Grandma. I can smell her house, see the linoleum it sat on, and remember the things that she put in the middle of it. I really remember her Bible sitting on it for her to read when she got up in the morning. That really hadn't struck me until now. She really did read it every day. What a faithful servant and a testimony to her joyful life. Each time I see her table I will be grateful for her and challenged to be a faithful woman, like her.

I copied below what my sister, Resa, posted on her blog (resaruth.blogspot.com) about Grandma. It pretty much says it all!


My Grandma Ruth passed away on November 19. She was a special gal. Her funeral was last Friday and she was buried in true Ruthie style sporting her American flag shirt, puffy vest and grey sweatpants. If you knew her, that makes you smile...if you didn't, well, smile. Here is my tribute to her that I read at her funeral.



Bootie Ma’amer!
A Tribute to Grandma Ruth


Hello, I’m Resa Eastwood, Ruth’s granddaughter. My full name is Resa Ruth Eastwood, named after my mom, Julane Ruth and of course, Grandma Ruth. The first thing I must say is “Bootie Ma’amer!” it’s cold outside! As I was sitting down to work on this talk about Grandma, it was beginning to snow and I realized I hadn’t included this little gem of a Ruthie saying. When I was a little munchkin I called Grandma, Ma’amer and in our family “bootie cold” is really cold! Now even my little ones say “Bootie Ma'amer” on a cold day not even knowing it refers to Ruthie.

I talked to my grandma a week before she passed away. When she answered the phone in her trademark “mm-Hello?” and I said “Hi Grandma, it’s Resa” she replied, as usual, with “Where are you?” “At home in Kansas City, Grandma”, “Well, you sound so close, I just can’t believe how clear it sounds!”. I just shook my head and thought that maybe someday she’d know that I’d sound just as close whether I was next door or far away. That evening my husband suggested that next time I should tell her I’m calling from her basement…just to see what she’d say.

Ruthie was funny with out meaning to be, sassy because she could get away with it and very matter of fact about life. Fiercely patriotic, she instilled in me and probably many others a love for the “good ol’ USA” and taught me to fly the flag proudly and to never forget to vote…she hadn’t missed a primary election in years or maybe ever? I’m sure she told me last time I saw her. She paid respects at the cemeteries this past Veteran’s Day to her friends killed in WWII…that was the day we talked. This year for Christmas, I bought her an American flag “car flag”. I thought maybe it was one gift that she wouldn’t re-gift back to me or someone else in a couple years after cleaning out her “stuff”. I haven’t been out to her home yet, but I have a feeling our family will have one of the easiest experiences in going through things…I know she has masking tape on the bottom of several object saying who it goes to…except for the orange chairs…and she always said we could just fight over them when she was gone. She was one super organized woman, even without HGTV shows to show her how to do it.

There are many things she taught me as a young girl…first, never leave home without your nails done…so I painted my nails today. She taught me that a bowl of cereal before bed is a good thing, hand embroidered tea towels and pillowcases are the best—and how to make them, turquoise rings are fun to wear and you can use MaryKay eyeshadow wet or dry. Grandma taught me how to watch football, to listen to country music…especially George Strait. Though, unlike her, I don’t keep photos of him in my family photo albums. She was the first person I cruised Main Street with…she had KFDI cranked up high in her big red Cougar and I was hiding under the dashboard mortified and hoping no one saw me. Ruthie taught me that it’s always fun to dress up in costumes and wigs…even for no special occasion, but just for a good time.

She said to stay away from the boys, but then to love my sweetie, and if we’re both happy that’s all that matters. She loved animals…but also taught us that there will always be more cats! She taught me how to play cards and just recently we had to call her out for trying to cheat playing Scattergories by making up things that supposedly were from “way back, way back”. From her I learned the verses to “You Are My Sunshine” and I loved to listen to Ruth and Dobin sing it as a duet. We sing it to our kids as a lullaby now…they call it “Sunshine”.

When you wished Ruth “Merry Christmas”, she said “everyday is Christmas”…which I still don’t believe, but she did make me realize that having all those people over to eat isn’t what you have to do for holidays. That’s probably why the Snook Family Christmas has been the Snook Family Bowling Extravaganza for the last several years!

The last many years…and maybe even before that…she told the same stories over and over and would always act surprised when we were able to finish them for her. She loved to tell her stories and I know many of you probably know a lot of them. She liked to stop in at various businesses in town and say hi and I think genuinely cared for the people in her life…even if we wondered at some of her comments. The first thing she would always say to me when we’d meet is “Miss Reese, How much do you weigh?”…I never told her the truth. One time I tried to explain that no one particularly likes that question and that maybe she should refrain from asking it. She asked me again the next time we met. Sigh.

Our family put together a slideshow for Grandma’s 80th Birthday party this past January. I didn’t want her to know what we were doing, but needed to get my hands on lots of her favorite photos…when I asked her to send me some of them, she took them to a copy machine and ran them off for me and mailed them. Not quite what I was thinking, so I ventured out to her home armed with my scanner, laptop and my two little kids for an afternoon of scanning photos as she told me stories about all the people and memories. I’m really surprised she let me do it with all the wires and contraptions I had set up…she wouldn’t even plug in her VCR for fear it would blow up her electricity. So I never made her a videotape copy of the slideshow…but I guess she had all the originals in her heart.

Grandma Ruth was also matter-of-fact about her love for Christ. We lived with her a couple different times when I was growing up and I can’t be more thankful for her faithfulness to bring me to Sunday school each week at the Baptist Church. I watched her do her Bible studies, listen to and watch Billy Graham and other Christian teachers, read books about different people of faith and most of all, saw God keep her heart soft through many rough waters of life…most that I was too young to know about and some that I still don’t know about. I asked her about some things from the past a couple times and no matter what the situation, she never dwelt on negative or hurtful things. She said to always remember the good times. I think only a heart that knows the peace of God and the forgiveness of Christ can carry that through time and time again. She certainly impacted my life by her simple love and focus on what is good and true. In Philippians 4:7-9, Paul wrote this message to early Christians: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

In Proverbs 31, God’s Word describes the Excellent Wife and in verse 28 it says that “her children arise and call her blessed”…a commentator says that means she is one who enjoys happy circumstances and from whom joy radiates to others. We’re going to watch the slideshow I mentioned again here in a minute, with many examples of that joy. So here’s to Ruthie…loved by many here and now loving that she is in the presence of Jesus and so many of her friends and family that went before her…we’ll miss you Grandma and be with you soon!

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Penguins in the Zoo!

Our latest trip to the zoo was a long awaited one for Naomi. It is one of her favorite things to do and we hadn't been there since early summer. These pictures tell about our adventure.
We went to the penguins that we hadn't seen yet first. It was a great, you could really see the penguins close up. Kitty really seemed to like them too.


We moved on to pet some bears! Stella and Naomi really liked them. And good news! Not even so much as a lick from them!

Our family portrait in the jungle in front of the water fall. The piranhas were fed right in front of us. Nate got to watch the big one gobble down the "fish" food!


We all stopped to get a close up picture with the Gila monster! Good thing he is not alive, I think he would have ate us! Then, we realized, someone was missing! No not Stella. Were was Kitty?! The hunt began, back through the jungle, lizards, bears. Who would actually take Kitty? I mean, look closely at her! Our last hope was she was still with the penguins...


There she was! We didn't think that is were we would find her because we had lost her once in the penguin area before we even left it. I guess she wandered off again before we left. She said she had a great time watching them all, but missed Naomi.


Since Kitty had missed the rest of the zoo we decided to make the last stop the chimpanzees. Stella enjoyed pounding on the glass at the baby. Naomi and Kitty posed with the statue together. It was a great time with the girls (and Kitty)!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Stella is One!





So Stella turned one on the 2nd of October. Time really does fly when you are having fun! She is a popular girl too. She had three parties! We were actually trying to make it not so overwhelming and simple. I'm not sure if you call three parties simple, but it was nice for Stella to get time with all who came. We had great carrot cake from Aunt Resa at all three parties. Stella loved it!
Stella showed us how big she was by sliding down the slide and hanging from the monkey bars at the park.
Stella LOVES babies! She was thrilled when baby Annalise came and she could take care of her, while Elena, Naomi, & Kai acted silly.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Stella 11 months already!





Here are some of the accomplishments Stella is up to. I can't believe she is almost a year! I find myself doing the "mommy thing" of not wanting her to grow up, yet being excited for the next stage and missing Naomi at these ages all at the same time. How does that work?
Words:
Uh-oh - in a very deep monotone voice
kitty - this is definitely her favorite animal and she recognizes it in a print we have called The Five Senses
Thank You - we play the Thank You game where she hands you something and you say "Thank you", then you hand it back and she says "Thank you", and then you just keep going
Mama - I am anxious to count this one. She just started a few days ago, but I will keep helping her perfect it and hopefully learn what it means!

Activities:
there are lots!
Crawling everywhere, very quickly!
Cleaning out my Tupperware cabinets daily
Climbing up on whatever she can, chairs, couch, fireplace, then standing up and balancing on them
Standing on her own
Walking with one hand from us to help
Playing in the toilet water. We try to discourage this one.
Loves bath time.
Playing the sit 'n spin, but standing, not sitting, like sister!
Following Naomi everywhere.
Dancing to music
"Reading" books alone
Giving open mouth kisses, when I tell her I love her or ask for a kiss.
Clapping when others do or we say yeah!
Sneaking eating markers and crayons

JOBS

Here is a list of all the random jobs I've done in my life. I know I like the one I have now the best by far, Mommy! They are listed in reverse chronological order as far as I can remember.

1. Mommy - this is the first job I ever felt like I was MADE for!
2. Nursery Coordinator - It's good to serve the church and I like organizing things:)
3. Daytime Childcare - just for one baby girl, but it was hard work and I only made it for one school year. Now it is fun to see how my girls and her are/will be great friends!
4. Admissions Analyst for a private university - great job & coworkers, even got a Bachelor's out of it.
5. Gift Sales Associate - i.e. selling junk and running cash register, NOT for me!
6. Office Assistant in design center - I really liked this one cause I got to know, track, & schedule all the things that went into a new house. I still love learning about home design/architecture! It makes me excited just to think about it!
7. Wedding Coordinator - At first I didn't have a clue what I was doing, but now with 8 years behind me I think I have learned a few tricks:)
8. Faux Painting Internship - This didn't last long, as the guy was kinda weird...I learned some in the 3 days I was there though.
9. Temp Office Staff - stuffing envelopes for a day or two
10. Cook - Just supper part-time for a boys home. It was fun being with the boys.
11. Printer Girl - not sure what my title was...At United Way I stocked their office supply room and ran all the big print jobs for them on some way COOL copy machines.
12. Kindergarten Para - I got to help teach some kids to read!
13. Mary Kay Lady - I think it lasted about a week. Again, sales is NOT for me.
14. Purchasing Office Assistant - I worked with another girl named Jody, we bought parts for whatever the company made. (I never really figured out what that was!)
15. Hamburger & Ice Cream Cook & Server - My HS job. I have great memories of laughing until I cry there with all sorts of people. I do still have dreams that I have missed work here b/c I didn't come in to read the schedule! This was also all my formal & informal cooking training...I've come a long way baby!
16. Cleaning Houses - I think it was just one house, but it paid well and seemed easy to me.
17. Parking Lot Cleaner - I think this was the most embarrassing job I ever had. Mom hooked me up to sweep the local grocery's parking lot once a week. Ugh, do you even need that? I would go at the break of day on Sunday, when no one was out :)
18. Babysitter - I watched the four kids across the street once...they liked me, I didn't like them so much.
19. Kitchen helper - Mom had me go help an older lady who lived close. I think I moved her cups around for her...I didn't go back, but I guess I was supposed to?...miscommunications with a preteen.
20. Poop Scooper - Scooped dogs poop while the owner's were on vacation. Not bad I could handle it, at least I wasn't gagging like my sister.
21. Golf ball retriever- I vaguely remember going into the field behind our house to pick up golf balls that had been hit there with Resa.

Not sure if those qualify me for anything, but it sure lets you in on what has shaped my life. Just for fun.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

A Pair of Mischief




Stella started crawling on Father's Day! You can see some of her red marks on her face from her first explorations of the house. Naomi thinks it is great and has moved on to teaching her to stand. Which she mastered in her bed. Greeted me this morning with her arms up over the rails standing on two wobbly feet. They were quite a pair this morning at the park. Naomi invited Stella to swing and boy did she swing her! I thought she would fall out, but Stella was giggling with each rough, twisted, high push her sister gave her. I think Stella is ready for playing any game Naomi can throw at her! Naomi is still sticking to swinging on her tummy. None of the scary sitting in the swing for her.

New Niece!






Annalise Cadence Williamson was born yesterday! We were all excited to meet her. Her thick fluffy hair is my favorite part so far. Brad and Mackenzie say she has been laid back the first six hours of her life.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Joy

So, I had a great day today. Which, unfortunately, I wasn't expecting. I had been sick all week and today was the first wedding of the season for me to coordinate. For some reason I always dread it, but God spoke at that wedding and it was a beautiful thing! How great is it to get to be involved with all these people's wedding days? One of the biggest days of their lives! Plus, I really like watching all the details come together and how excited everyone is. Oh and to see the girls cry tears of happiness really is sweet! Thankfully, I think my sickness is gone too. Wahoo, cause it was a doosy. After the wedding I spent some good time with Nate just cleaning up the church and putting the stage back together. It was nice alone time. That sounds like a funny date, but we used to do that stuff all the time together, but now with 2 girls that doesn't happen much. We didn't have to worry about rushing home to the girls cause Grandma Patty and Papa Jim were at home playing with them. So we got good family time at home with Grandma and Papa and after they left too. Stella opened her mouth to eat tonight. Now that is a big thing. I guess when I feed her sweet potatoes and vanilla yogurt she will do that. Now green beans is another thing. After supper she played on the floor while the rest of us ate. Nate thought she was saying dada to him. When I went to pick her up, I confirmed that she was saying dada. Because there was poop overflowing up out of her diaper and piled on the floor! Sweet potato poop:) Nate said she wasn't saying dada after all and I took care of it. Really didn't bother me at all. Ya know cause moms deal with poop all the time! I also just realize that Naomi didn't get any swats today. She actually just did as we asked, cheerfully! After the accident all three of us tried to teach Stella how to crawl. Naomi was urging her on in her sweet baby voice. Amongst all these things I also got a few "to dos" done which feels great after being out of it for a week. I just wanted to write this down so I can remember the perspective God granted me today. Joy, the Lord has given me joy!

Hey Uncle Bo!


Uncle Bo. You don't have to worry about your horse you gave me. I am taking really good care of Cupcake Hart. That's the name I decided on. I still like Cash, like we talked about, but I can't really say that, so I went with Cupcake Hart instead. She is my favorite pony and I make sure she stays clean with lots of baths! Oh, and she also gets to sleep on a nice soft pillow when she needs a nap. She also says Neighhhhhhhh really loud! - Love Naomi

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

My Celebrity Look-alikes

http://www.myheritage.com


Resa always has great things to do on her blog. This being one of them!

Friday, March 30, 2007

Cowboy?


Well, Naomi thinks she knows how to dress up like a cowboy. I have tried to get her to dress like a cowgirl, but she won't have that! No way, she is a cowBOY! She sure looks good in her latest cowboy outfit. That hat has something to do with the cowboy part because it is always a part of the outfit. She turned to me after completing this outfit and said "Just like a cowboy, mommy!" The wild hair may look cowboyish, but I'm not seeing the rest of what she is. What a great imagination she has!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Time Flies!

Oh, Yeah! Your hair is growing Stella!
These 3 braved the ice.
FIVE months already!
Time to leave the concert
What a great 3rd birthday smile!

Wow time flies! I can't believe it is the middle of March 2007! Part of me is still lost somewhere in 2003. The other night I was labeling some milk to be frozen and wrote the date as 03! It was in the wee morning hours and I did catch it before too long, but to write 07 just felt wrong. I sure don't want to go back to 03, cause life is better now... two sweet babies, 10 years married, a softer heart, sweeter relationship with Jesus. It's getting late and I could ramble on, but I really just wanted to put up some new pictures of my beautiful girls.