June Update

Wow! Still lots going on and still lots of fun and excitement ... Dan is doing well in Commercial Sales at Lowe's as a Specialist this summer. Hitting budget and achieving departmental bonus, even though they have made it harder this season. So, there's some positive news in terms of the economic downturn. He has applied for a promotion as District Sales Associate Specialist. The position calls for a Bachelor's degree, but we are hoping that his experience and performance will make the difference. We'll see. It would be a great pay increase. Plus, developing and nurturing relationships with the intent to increase commercial sales is what he has excelled at since he has been in commercial sales at the store. However, they had been discouraging outside sales for store oriented specialists just after he started to take off. Tristan's language acquisition is exploding! He loves to fish the pond and does so with Dan 3-4 times a week. They catch and throw back. He asks everyday, all day, to go fishing. Nikki took her NCLEX June 9th, passed and was mailed her license to practice as an official Registered Nurse on her 25th birthday. What a great day that was! At the moment, she is 40/2 pregnant. Overdue! Surprisingly, although we would love to have this baby in our arms, we are coping well. Nikki is still walking 3, sometimes 6, miles per day, taking an afternoon nap with Tristan and praying that the cramping and contracting will become productive. Dan is still going to work each day with the intent to tie up loose ends in order to be ready for some time at home and waiting for the call. In the meantime, they have scheduled us for a Cesarean Section at 41/1 on June 30th in the event that this baby insists on staying put. So, prayers for spontaneous labor before then would be great!

Wonderful Weekend! Graduation, swimming with Grandpa and Grandma Beaudry and fishing!

Nikki graduated Saturday! Yahoo! We are so excited it is over! We then went swimming with Grandpa and Grandma Beaudry, Brad, Ayden and Michelle. It was fun. It took Tristan a little bit to get acquainted with the water, but once he was, it was hard to steal him away. Lastly, we have been fishing the last couple of days. We have caught and fried fresh bass, rock bass and blue gill for the last two evenings. Yummy. It has been almost 10 years since Nikki remembers enjoying fresh fried fish from camp. Dan ate some, too! Next up, morel mushrooms! For now, Dan is hard at work during his busy season, Nikki is studying away for the NCLEX and nesting for the baby and Tristan is fully enjoying the ride. Pray for business, quality study time and healthy growth and development for the entire family. Love you guys! Thanks for all the support!

Grandma and Grandpa Snyder gifted Tristan with a punching bag :)

Happy Friday!

Yummy, yummy! Nikki and Tristan made some vanilla cupcakes with vanilla meringue frosting from scratch tonight. They are tasty and they have less calories than the average cupcake. If your interested, search for the recipe at cookinglight.com under the keywords moist cupcakes. The recipe is actually for vanilla cupcakes with chocolate meringue frosting, but we decided the cocoa makes the meringue too bitter. It's up to you! If you don't like the meringue, the cupcake recipe is so delicious, it is sure to go well with a good buttercream or store bought frosting. We laughed tonight because Dan never thought his wife would become the cook/baker type, since the most advanced recipe we ate during high school/college was buttered noodles and shredded cheese. Now, with a little helper, we make out quite well in the kitchen!

March Update

40 day count down to graduation! How about that? In the meantime, we have been keeping ourselves busy :) Dan spent this last weekend constructing our garden. He built it complete with deer netting and baseboards to keep out unwanted visitors and a sand box for Tristan. It is beautiful and he did a great job! Our indoor plants are coming along well. We have broccoli, assorted tomato, celery, basil, rosemary, chives, sweet, hot and bell peppers and cantalope plants coming up well. Chris, Katie and Sophia came last week and we very much enjoyed their company. Tristan is coming along well with his potty training. He has graduated to the big boy potty (the potty extension for the actual toilet). He has only actually gone in the toilet a few times and he has plenty of accidents, but he is really doing great! Dan caught him the other day just before he went #2 for the first time and they safely made it to the potty. His personality is pretty funny - we don't even bother to ask him if he wants to go soon after waking from bed/nap time. He is too grouchy. Enjoy the pics-

It Won't Be Like This For Long by Darius Rucker

http://www.cmt.com/videos/darius-rucker/336930/it-wont-be-like-this-for-long.jhtml?id=1203849

He didn't have to wake up
He'd been up all night
Lyin' there in bed and listenin'
To his newborn baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says "It's gonna be OK"

It won't be like this for long
One day soon we'll look back laughin'
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So, baby, just hold on
It won't be like this for long

Four years later, 'bout four-thirty
She's crawling in their bed
And when he drops her off at preschool
She's clinging to his leg
The teacher peels her off of him
He says, "What can I do?"
She says, "Now don't you worry
This will only last a week or two"

It won't be like this for long
One day soon we'll drop her off
And she won't even know you're gone
This phase is gonna fly by
If you can just hold on
It won't be like this for long

Someday soon she'll be a teenager
And at times you'll think she hates him
Then he'll walk her down the aisle
And he'll raise her veil
But right now she's up and cryin'
And the truth is that he don't mind
As he kisses her good night
And she says her prayers
He lays down there beside her
'Til her eyes are finally closed
And just watchin' her, it breaks his heart
'Cause he already knows

It won't be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah, this phase is gonna fly by
So he's tryin' to hold on
'Cause it won't be like this for long
It won't be like this for long

What a beautiful song! Brings tears to the eyes! Tristan has followed this wonderful story to a tee thus far, except he is not a girl, it didn't take him 4 years to catch on to just what time his parents will be too tired and let him crawl into bed and Dan will not walk him down the aisle or lift his veil. :)

Busy, busy, busy ...

This past weekend has been busy for us. Nikki is on Spring Break, so she took on spring cleaning tasks like shampooing main living area carpets, in depth vacuuming and mopping and organizing. Tristan is such a helper! It's crazy. If we are cooking, he must cook. If we are cleaning, he must clean. He likes to stir, pour, throw things away, put the detergent in the washing machine, push buttons, and not always the ones that are productive :), fold clothes, kind of, and the list goes on ... Most of the time, it is super cute, but sometimes it is exhausting and frustrating. He is Daddy's littler helper, too. Dan transformed the back room into a multi-recreation area, where there are now two bench press sets and other workout items his friend Luis gave him, an area for Tristan to play and be active at the same time and then a small area with a table, where scrapbooking and sewing can take place. I think we could open a small gym and start charging :) It's fun to lift weights together and stay in shape! He also cleaned out and organized the basement, so he could clean out and organize the closet that is now the closet of our nursery. We were blessed to find a beautiful crib and dresser/changer combo on craigslist for a great deal! We then placed an ad for our crib, which looks to have already sold, too! The nursery is absolutely beautiful. Tristan helped by putting the crib together and then testing it out :) We will post pictures later. Lastly, we finalized our plans for the garden. In the next week or so, we will sow seeds indoors. We plan to do square foot gardening, where Dan will craft 2-3 4*4 square foot raised beds out of untreated lumber and delivered soil from Lowe's, making room for 16 crops, each within a 1*1 square foot surface area. He will also figure out a way for us to use the watershed from rain that will go into a barrel, where you then water the beds by can. I am sure Tristan will help with this, too! Lot's going on, but it is all so exciting! Blessings to all of you!