CAKE+MUD+WATER

This post is long overdue...

What is in a year?

I can't believe it's been over a year since Landon and Kapri were born. It seems like just yesterday that we were heading to the hospital on that May 21st morning.

As I look back at the year and the journey we have traveled I am amazed at how we have grown as a couple and as parents. To have a child taken from you will test you to your limits and it will attempt to break your soul and your spirit if you let it. What I can tell you is that we have had to reach down deep as a family and are grateful for the love we have for each other and for our little man Landon. Through our love for each other and our strong faith in our family we have been able to make it though the most difficult year of our lives. It is still a journey filled with grief and sadness over losing Kapri but we have done it together and our hearts will forever be bonded in our love and memories of her and her short time here on earth.

We are so blessed to have Landon in our lives and in our hearts. He proves to me with everyday that passes that there is a God and he is wonderful. We are so honored to be his parents and are having such a blast watching him grow up. He is walking and talking and understanding far more then we give him credit for. He is so cute, the other day we were sitting on the floor playing with him when out of the blue he came over and gave me my first kiss. Then Eric said "can daddy have a kiss too" and he ran over and gave him one as well...my heart melted right then and there. Being a mommy is by far the neatest thing I have ever experienced.

We spent Friday May 21st together as a family. We went to the balloon store and got 2 balloons, one for Kapri and one for Landon. (Thank you Chez Family for the wonderful idea).



We were planning on attaching a note and setting Kapri's balloon free.

But it was super windy that day and before we could set it free we heard a loud pop and of course her balloon popped. So Landon had to give up his balloon so that we could send her a message.



We celebrated Landon's first Birthday with our family coming over for a BBQ.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY LANDON










This cake stuff rocks!!!!



More cake please mom...



All done!



We have found a love for all balloons



Opening gifts with Reo, Nana and Grandma Snyder



Webb and Snyder Family



Landon and Dee playing with his new toy.



My First official Mothers Day



Grandpa Webb and Grandma & Grandpa Snyder




To raise money for the "Band of Brothers" the guys decided to do the Camp Pendleton Mud Run back in June. Eric spent 3 months training for it and lost a ton of weight and got in great shape. He ran the race in 1:22:02 and came across the finish line in the top 30% out of 2300 participants.



Landon and I were there to see him cross the finish line and cheer him on.






We were finally able to meet up with the Chez Family. They were so wonderful to us when we lost Kapri...they are truly an amazing family and we are blessed to have them in our lives.

Adam, Terra, Luke and Abby


Landon and his girlfriend Jing



Swim lessons were a hit...NOT! The first 2 lessons he cried the whole time but now he is doing great. It took all summer but he finally loves the pool and does not want to get out.



Reo's Birthday with the Snyder family



Landon showing the kids how to play with his toy...



Here he is looking too cool...



Balloon obsession in full swing!



We spent the 4th of July with my wonderful friend Monet and her Mom Dee up at Dee's house in Bishop.



Dee's house has the most amazing backyard...they have a creek running through it. It was the first weekend Landon was walking so he had a blast running all over the place.



We have been going to MY GYM where Landon has a new friend Jack that he met and has been spending the summer with.



We have started Breakfast in the Park with Kids...we meet at the park on Saturdays to let the kids run around and play.

Jack and Landon on Right
Sienna, Ella and Siena on the left



Our first official day at the beach with sand...Jack is there too but getting them both to sit together is impossible.

Changes

We have lots of changes and chaos in the Snyder household. The big news is that Eric has decided to start his own business with one of his business associates Tom Sherlock. We really love Tom, his wife Laura and their wonderful family and are looking forward to the exciting things to come.

I had a great weekend vacation a few weeks back where I got to kick up my heels and had someone waiting on me hand and foot...it sounds better than it was. I had a gallbladder attack one Friday evening that landed me in the ER and they decided to keep me for a few days and informed me that I would be having my gallbladder removed the next morning. So I no longer have a gallbladder and I am the proud new owner of a restricted diet.

Landon is growing bigger and he changes with every day. Eric and I are amazed at how big he is getting and can't believe he will be a year old this month. He weighs in at about 19lbs and is around 29" tall. The best thing he has done so far is to say his first official word...mama. ..YEA!!! He has 4 teeth now so we can no longer call him 2Fers. He learned to go down the stairs correctly...we have a set of 2 stairs that are impossible to put a gate on so it was always a worry when he would climb up and down them. He mastered the going up a few months ago but when going down he would charge them full speed ahead not realizing that if we weren't there to break his fall it would have hurt. So now he gets to the edge and then turns his butt around to maneuver down the stairs. He is crawling now with his signature move we like to call the crab crawl. For anyone who has had the joy of seeing Landon's crawl in action it is funny to say the least. He puts his right knee under him and then plants his left foot firmly on the ground and uses it to pivot forward like a crab. He can now crawl at lighting speed so poor Xena has been running for her life. Speaking of Xena she turned 10 years old last month.



He thinks he is so cool in his new shoes that he got for Christmas from the Mikulka's.



We have been trying to get out and enjoy the weather lately and have taken many trips to the beach on the bikes.



Here he is with his "I'm a tough guy" face



Well maybe I'm not so tough...



Landon has his own pimped out ride with car seat and all. He loves going on bike rides to the beach. He just laughs and chats up a storm while we are riding.




We went to Avery's Birthday party at the bounce house place. He was a bit too small for the big bouncy houses but liked the little tunnels.





We celebrated our first Easter and went to visit the Easter Bunny.



We helped out the Easter Bunny by coloring some eggs for him to put in the basket (truck) that he brought Landon the next day.



We have found a love for Cheerios.



Here is rear glimpse of the allusive Easter Bunny...I know what your thinking...it looks just like "Super Lazy Dog" from the "Boring old Mommy stuff" post but I assure you it is really the Easter Bunny.



So the Bunny brought Landon a dump truck.





We spent Easter with Eric's family at Pat and Teri's house.



Landon Loves his daddy soooo much.



Here he is refueling with Grandma Snyder



We added some tunnels to the play room...


Had our first play date in the play room with Dorina (he took her for a spin in his new truck)



Loves to sit and watch Yo Gabba Gabba...



We went to see the Indy Cars at the Long Beach Grand Prix
(it was a first for Landon and Daddy)



We had our first official hair cut...I had been taking him to the "Bathroom Barber"...AKA me with and a pair of scissors in the bathroom. He started to look a bit scraggley so I thought it was time for him to have a proper hair cut.