Mo's getting some face time

I spent the weekend with Rachel, Mike and Mo...and of course there were some photoshoots involved. Mike and Rach...you did good! You are both amazing parents and I had such a great time hanging out! Can't wait until next time when Mo is even bigger, smarter...and LOUDER!

As you can tell she loves her feet!!! I think this is why she's a little cross eyed!

AHHHHHHHHHHH my little #9! I love it!

Rachel had said that Harmony liked cantaloupe...and we had watermelon with lunch, so being the fun aunt i said..."why not!" She LOVED it...and she is even learning to hold a fork by herself!

How freakin cute is this picture!?!? Both Rach and Mo napped for over an hour without moving! Too cute not to take a picture!
YAY BABY! Love you all so much! Can't wait for a time when we all live next door to one another!

Easter

For the Holidays "Snyder Style" we always have lots of food, fun and chocolate...that's why Easter is no different! Here are some pictures of the weekend holiday!

A family tradition is to crack eggs with eachother to see who's egg is the hardest, and the last egg standing is the winner! Nina did have an egg with her name on it, but seeing as she doesn't have opposable thumbs, she can't play!
Gram didn't win...And neither did Kate...
But homemade Chocolate Cake always makes her feel better!

50 Things About Me

So I have been challenged by Becca, and since I don't have a lot to do at work today I figured i'd take a crack at it.

I will try and be creative and not copy ideas from previous posts, but I might have to steal one or two....

50 Things about me:
1. I am a middle child, and classically fit the mold of the "middle child"
2. I consider myself an athlete, but i HATE working out.
3. I am super, super competitive but have gotten better at the sore loser thing
4. I have never had braces
5. I have many different clothing obessions which is unhealthy (especially for my budget): hats, sneakers, warm-up jackets
6. It's much more enjoyable to choose to sit and watch tv instead of watching tv because I have nothing else to do.
7. I AM the fashion police: neither navy blue and black NOR black and brown go together
8. It is very hard for me to leave the house with mismatched brands (including sneakers)
9. People say i'm obsessed with the #9
10. I need to look like I know what i'm doing, even though I have no clue: especially when it comes to outdoorsy things..
11. I have had many nicknames in my day: Roo, Suzie Q, Baby Jaime (BJ), James, Jamestown USA, Jay, Jaima, J-Dogg...
12. None of my siblings are married
13. 3 of the 4 guys I dated in gradeschool/highschool now "play for the other team"
14. I didn't know either of my best friends existed until 9th grade even though we went to school together since Kindergarden
15. I once refused to go get the Christmas Tree because I was going to miss "Pee-Wee's Playhouse"
16. I know pretty much every lyric to every Disney movie
17. I once made a student-teacher cry (on purpose)
18. I was put in a choke hold by a wrestler and definitely passed out from it
19. I wish I would have done more art in highschool and college
20. I am a wimp and scared of a lot of different things, but everyone always expects me to be fearless, so I have to suck it up and do whatever it is.
21. In 7th grade I convinced Margie McKinney that I had a fake leg and had her going for a real long time
22. I was in a gang (Vive les Dragons!)
23. I have been a Christian for over 9 years (Feb 6, 1999)...isn't that CRAZY?
24. One of my best friends and I have been friends for 23 years
25. I was the kid you saw chasing the boys around in Kindergarden trying to kiss them
26. I refuse to wear pigtales in my hair because I wore them every day for the first 5 years of my life
27. I was born on 9'27 at 9:27
28. I can leg press over 400 pounds
29. I am a reality tv junkie
30. I hate scarry movies
31. I prefer blue ink over black ink
32. I also have a shower routine, I think more often than not that people do.
33. I know most of the dances to High School Musical, High School Musical 2 and The Cheetah Girls 2
34. My wedding date is set for 09/09/09...it's a Thursday (But I have yet to find a Husband)
35. I still have my blanket from when I was a baby
36. I am 50% my dad, and 50% my mom, and play the mediator between them when i'm home
37. I could count upto 109 when I was 5 years old
38. I have been to Walt Disney World 9 times
39. I need my one best friend to move to Rochester, then I need to move there myself
40. I hate waking up to my alarm in the morning, I will snooze for HOURS then get up and realize that if I had just shut the snooze off then I would have gotten un-interrupted sleep for an hour instead of waking up every 9 minutes...
41. I am very picky about my friends, so if you're on my friends list you are VERY lucky! :)
42. I don't care if my room is a mess as long as the rest of the house looks neat
43. I love Guitar Hero
44. In my first and last attempt at skiing I ran into a tree...not really my fault, I fell over to not run over my sister who had fallen infront of me, and while sliding on the ice was stopped by a tree.
45. Even though my hair is short, I still walk around with hair ties on my wrist
46. I am always prepared, and always want to be the 'hero'
47. When I get to work, I check my yahoo email, friends blogs, myspace, facebook and everything else I can think of before I log on to my work email...
48. I find my handwriting is different with the different pens I use.
49. I get really excited and find it satisfying when i finish a chapstick.
50. I'm really nervous about turning 27 this year...i don't know why, but it freaks me out!

Family Vacation 2008

First off let me inform you that I am writing this blog while still sitting in the Philedelphia Airport waiting on stand-by to get back to Buffalo. It is now 6:46 on Sunday March 9th, we were supposed to get into Buffalo at 9:57pm, yesterday. Due to mechanical troubles with our plane in Puerto Rico which caused us to miss our cancelled connection flight from Philly to B'lo, and after a VERY LONG wait at Baggage claim and a few choice words later, we were put up in a hotel in New Jersey for the night. The night was made a little easier, however, because we spent a good deal of it with our new famous friends, Ed Kilgor of Channel 2 news in Buffalo and his wife!

Other than this "set back" that will leave me never flying with US Air for as long as I can help it...we had a FANTASTIC vacation.

I won't take you day by day, but simply hit the main excursions and adventures that we found ourselves laughing at only AFTER the fact that we made it back alive. We were ready this year to go to an "American" destination after our interesting and informative jaunt to Jamaica last year...but we always seem to find an adventure or two to keep things interesting and us appreciating all that we have right in our own safe, comfortable backyard.

We hit a lot of the major "things to do while in Puerto Rico": the beach, the rainforest, the bioluminescent bay, the reefs...

First off the views and water are amazing. Every where we seemed to go you could see crystal clear sky and water, lush greenery and even a rainbow or two! Whoever says God doesn't exsist has apparently never been to Puerto Rico. How can you doubt Him after seeing something this beautiful?

PJ is definitely the adventurous one, although i'm just not one to sit around and look at my nicely pedicured toes all day...

but i'm always up for an adventure or two and boy did I get an adventure! Monday we booked the biolumenescent bay kayaking trip, which entailed getting in 2 person kayaks (me & Kate, mom & dad, and PJ and Bri), kayaking 2 miles though narrow channels out to a bay that contained organisims that glowed when disturbed...it was a tough trip getting out there in the pitch dark, but as we sat in the middle of the bay, putting our hands and paddles in the water to stir up glowing thingys...it was truly amazing. We all agreed that we had no idea what we had got ourselves into, but looking back on it...just another memory! (sorry no pictures of this folks, my cameras aren't exactly the high-tech, waterproof type.)

Tuesday we continuted our adventures and went to the El Yunque Rainforest. We were able to drive through most of it, but there was one trail that lead to a hidden waterfall that we rolled up our pants and set out upon. So with me and PJ in our hiking gear, hiking backpacks, sneakers and water and mom, dad, Bri and Kate with their borrowed clothing and sandaled feet went hiking down a .7 mile wet, slippery trail (we got caught in the rain twice while there, it is the RAINforest after all!) we viewed the waterfall but all passed on jumping in and getting soaked. (may I also mention that monday i woke up sick as a dog with a sore thoat, cough, and a fever!!?!?) so after a few minutes at the bottom, started on the hike back up the mountain!

The next day we decided to downplay the day so we spent all day on a boat, snorkeling in the crystal clear jade water and chill-axin and sunbathing all day. The day would have been perfect, except for one minor mishap called "seasickness" on the account of mama. Poor mama! No more reading on the boat!!!

The rest of the time was spent eating, drinking, sleeping, reading and sunbathing. It was mostly a relaxing trip, with some "memories" to keep forever.

Birthdays, Birthdays and more Birthdays!

This past week was full of Birthday celebrations.

Last Thursday, January 31st was Lauryn Renee Ball's FIRST birthday. I was so priveledged to be invited to the party...and of course I took my camera!







Then on Saturday, my mom, dad, sister and I went to the Carrie Underwood & Keith Urban Concert in Rochester. We decided to go up early, grab some dinner at the Dinosaur BBQ, get a hotel room for the night and go to the concert. It's a good thing we got a room because the concert didn't get over until 11:30! But it was so AMAZING and SOOOOO worth it!

I took my camera and zoom lens..we had amazing seats, straight on, but the zoom lens definitely helped! Check out these shots!

The concert was sponsored by Verizon and you could text a message to a specific number and your message would show up on the jumbo-tron!

Katie's idea was to take a picture of the concert "countdown" when it got to 54..my dad's AGE!

Here are some shots of Carrie's portion of the concert...mom, dad and Kate were a little lost because she sang a bunch from her new album...but because I have her new cd, i knew every word!




Carrie did amazing, and totally set the stage for Keith, but we had no idea what kind of show we were in for! Keith has an amazing passion for music and performing, and you could totally tell. I have so much more respect for him as a musician!

Carrie even came out and sang a song with him. They sang "Umbrella" by Rhianna but with a contry twist (hense the banjo)...but I thought it was great!

Back to the Keith Urban portion...



For more pictures of the Carrie Underwood & Keith Urban Concert...click here!

We had such a great time, and was totally worth the driving, eating, and $$ involved!

So Happy Birthday to my dad and 1 year old baby Lauryn...I'm so glad I could share in your day!

Happy 2 month Birthday..MO!

Harmony Joy Shipman a.k.a "Mo" is 2 months old today. I was able to hang out with her, mommy and daddy in mid December and of course I took some photos. I haven't had the chance to share them so here they are!

I'm sure she's changed drastically since then...they grow up and change so fast! I can't wait to see her again, and I'm sure she's used to being in front of the camera already. But I will wait until the time is right and when things settle down after the holidays.

So Happy 2 months of life MO!