I can't believe it's been two years since my last post. Needless to say, MANY things have changed in the Snider house...in fact, our HOUSE has changed!!
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| Screen shot of our house from the real estate website |
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| Picture taken from the back porch...that's DH and I at the far corner of our property! |
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| We're HOME OWNERS!!! |
We purchased our home in April of 2014 and have been busy with "life" ever since. My oldest is now a high schooler - a HIGH SCHOOLER!! How did that even happen? I'm just glad we both survived middle school, because believe you me, it was touch and go there for a bit. I was just absolutely positive that one of us was going to be a casualty. I'm glad that was not the case.
Rox is in 8th grade and has joined the cheer squad - We've got spirit, yes we do! We've got spirit, how 'bout YOU? - and is rocking all of her classes so far. She'll go to high school with 2 credits, just like Eric (and her dear mother...where do you think she got her smarts from? duh.) did. "The Littles" are in 1st grade and Kindergarten at a brand new (to them) school! My employee transfer was denied [insert dramatic music here], and so now they're Cheetahs. We didn't want to be Mountain Lions anymore anyway. Hmph! We LOVE the new school! Since it's the school we're zoned for anyway, the kids get to ride the bus everyday, which they're still young enough to get a kick out of, and we no longer have to trek across town to drop them off at that other school, which is something us parents love! It's a win-win!!!
We're still involved with football, only this time on a slightly different scale. Eric doesn't play football...he plays the
mellophone (the marching band version of the French Horn). I'm officially a band mom, and I love it! We've been to all but one game so far, and I've got to say...my kid is good. REAL good. Also, because of Roxie's new-found love for all things cheer leading, we also are involved with middle school football once again. So in the Snider house, we have football events happening twice a week, and then ALL.WEEKEND.LONG thanks to DH's attachment to
College GameDay,
Texas A&M (okay...that's an obsession of mine too), the
Buffalo Bills, all things football, and attachment to the remote control. It's okay, I'm a fan too...but I will admit that by the time the new year and all the college bowl games roll around, I am OVER IT!!
Let's see...what else has changed...OH YEAH! I decided to start and FINISH school! I enrolled in Texas A&M Central Texas for my very last year in college as an undergrad! I began in January of this year, and am now very excited to say that I will graduate in December with my BS in Political Science. Hahaha, yes, BS...Political Science. The humor of that is not lost on me. Had I known I was this close to being finished, I would have done it LONG ago! Oh well, I'm there now, and it's just as exciting! The Spring semester was pretty intense. I was in classes Monday-Thursday from 6-9, which left me ZERO time with my family during the week. It was really hard on me, and on the kiddos, but I just kept telling myself that it would be over soon. That it was all for the best. And I made sure that Friday-Sunday I was at home with the family. I took the Political Science Capstone course which was all about decision theory, and a bunch of stuff that went WAAAAAAAY over my head, but I did my best, paid as much attention in class as I could for not understanding half of what was said, studied my butt off for the final, and squeezed out an A! I also took The Administration of Justice, which was all about the Judicial system (A), Religion and Politics, which was all about the different issues our country faces with the separation of church and state as well as the history of our Founding Fathers (A), and Foreign Policy, which is exactly what it sounds like. That one I got a D in...which I completely earned. I was spent at the end of the semester and couldn't put any more effort into a 15 page paper on the relationship between the US and Cuba, so I turned in 4 pages. It's laughable, but I was just sooo done. I'm not super proud of the D, but I'll take it because it counts as credit! In the summer semester I took 10 hours, 7 of which were online with a Race and Ethnic Relations class - which I think EVERYONE should take. It was seriously an eye-opening, objective, informative class that was not only interesting, but applicable. I got a B because somehow I confused my assignment calendar and forgot to take a quiz, which cost me major points. The other class was just the opposite. I needed one last science credit, so I had no choice but to take Environmental Geography. It was hell...not that it was hard, it wasn't. But the "professor" was horrible, had insane demands, and everyone in the class was absolutely miserable. I don't even remember whether or not I got a B or an A, and quite frankly, I don't care. I'm just glad to be out of that God-forsaken class. Good riddance! The one class I took in person was every Monday and Wednesday night, and it was Understanding Social Science Research - which, for the record, I do not. It was the same professor as my Capstone class, so I at least knew his grading policies, his quirks, etc., but I still felt like a good part of the time I my eyes were glazed over. In fact, I posted this gif on a Facebook status once night:
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| Me during PLSK 330 every week |
I did manage an A in that class as well, which was pretty
sweet...
Fast forward to this LAST semester! I'm in 6 hours currently, but begin another 6 hours in 2 weeks. Right now I'm taking Political Ethics and Terrorism and Political Violence. Both classes are pretty interesting and have been easy to keep up with (Political Ethics is every Monday night, is pretty much discussion lead, and there are only papers, no exams; Terrorism and Political Violence is online, discussion lead, and there will be no papers, only a final exam), but I'm a little more apprehensive about adding another 2 classes to my course load...we'll see how that goes.
I'm still crafting and building and painting - usually when I should be doing homework - but not as much as I would like to...something had to give with our crazy schedule.
We did add to the family by a few since I last posted too. Before we bought our house, DH surprised me with a new Basset puppy. We named her Brienne of Tarth after our favorite show: Game of Thrones.
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| Sweet little Brienne of Tarth...is not this little anymore! |
We also decided to dive into the world of backyard chicken raising! We bought 4 chicks this past spring, built a killer coop during Spring Break, and all was going well until our lovely Basset Hound, Beaux, decided to break into the coop. There were no survivors - not even feathers left behind - which is why we think a hawk scooped in an took them once he was done "playing" with them. It was a sad, sad day.
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| Our "Egg-cellent" coop! |
We decided to try again, and I fortified the coop with another layer of fencing material, and we brought 5 new girls home in April. We named them Rose, Dorothy, Blanche, Sophia, and Betty White (she was the only white chick in the bunch). We're down to three chicken now - Rose was the victim of another attack and Betty was a victim of the ruthless Texas heat...RIP, Girls - but Dorothy, Blanch, and Sophia are still going strong! In fact, Sunday I collected our very first egg, and I collected our 2nd egg this morning! The Snider house it all abuzz! AND since they're
Ameraucana chickens, the eggs are BLUE (and lower in cholesterol)!
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| Our very FIRST blue egg!!! |
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| The Girls enjoying their free-range time in the backyard. That only happens when the dogs are inside the house... |
If you've made it this far, you're a saint and deserve a cookie! I'm sure there's TONS more that could be updated, but this will have to do for now. Let's hope that it's not another 2 years before my next post!! (I'm betting it won't be)
