2008 on the horizon

We had a wonderful Christmas at home, with the boys being blessed with numerous presents. Now the challenge is finding space for all the new stuff, as it sure seems to take over the house. It was nice being able to see both sets of grandparents within the week and celebrate the holidays with each of them. Zach was really into the whole Santa concept this year and was so proud on Christmas morning that Santa and his reindeer ate all the cookies he had made and left out for them.

Now with the busyness of the holidays behind us, we are looking forward to and counting down the days till our Mexico vacation. Hence the need to add a ticker to the blog. We are going on a trip with my folks and my sister and her clan. Even though its not till April, with the long & boring winter ahead, we need some warm weather to look forward to!

Christmas Happenings

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord, we are starting new traditions and embracing old ones.

First and foremost, is the return of my parents from England! They arrived last Sunday and needless to say its been a whirlwind of a week, as it usually is when they are in town. My parents have gracefully been doing activities with Zachary, which includes numerous trips to Panera for bagels and coffee, as well as going to the library, the book store, making Christmas cookies, and a trip to the local Children's Museum. He loves being the big brother who gets to go on outings and have sleepovers at Nana's condo all by himself!

We also made our first Gingerbread house this year, well actually it was a train, which Zachary thoroughly loved. We are definitely ready for Santa to come!

Bruisers and sitters

Zachary fell on one of Cam's toys on Friday night and instantly received a big, fat shiner underneath his right eye. It was so bizarre, by the time he stood up and we responded to the crying, it was already bruised and swollen. And you can forget trying to talk a 3 year old into holding ice on their face. That attempt lasted about 2 seconds.

The side profile, displaying the instant swelling.

Anyhow, took him to the doctors last night for unrelated symptoms (sinus infection) and was a little apprehensive about how he looks. I was questioned by the nurse and the doctor about his injury and then Z was questioned as well, I guess they wanted to make sure our stories matched! Thank goodness we had reviewed the details on the way there.... Hopefully Children's Protective Services won't be knocking on our door any time soon!

On a development note, we got a sitter on our hands (even though he's not sitting in this picture)! I love it when they are sitting up and are entertained with toys all around them. He (not me) also seems a bit anxious to crawl, as he tries to pull himself forward when he's on the floor. Don't quite know if I'm ready for a crawler yet, time to baby proof I guess.

Little Lambs Program

Last night we attended Zach's Little Lambs Christmas Program, 'The Message of the Angels.' It was quite entertaining! It was our first time attending such an event and it almost made me cry that our 1st born is getting old enough to be part of such an amazing program. He didn't sing a ton or complete many of the hand motions, but none the less, we were extremely proud of him.


I think in these situations you just pray they don't embarrass you with flashing the audience or sticking their finger up their nose, and fortunately he did neither! We did videotape the whole thing and if I can figure out how, maybe I will post a short clip. Primarily for grandparents of course :-)

In correspondence with the Christmas programs, there is also a Live Nativity scene outside.

The quality of this picture isn't the best (I think a new camera might be on the Christmas wish list), anyhow, can you find Zach in the sea of children??

He's about the 4th row up, 3rd child from the left.

after all, it is her birthday

Cameron & Chloe being good little babies, just relaxing in their seats

While Zachary was at Little Lambs this morning, we met up with Stacy, her two girls, Lauren & Chloe. As well as Kris Haartman and her 2 week old little one, Kasey.

Much to Stacy's dismay, this is how Lauren looked upon arrival.... HILARIOUS!

On the car ride to the mall, Lauren was begging for this small makeup case that Stacy had out. Well, being the good Mom that she is, she obliged to Lauren's wish, let her play with it, thinking that she will never figure out how to open the zipper. Well, low and behold, and for those of you who have spent anytime with Lauren, know just how smart she really is... she got it open! After parking, Stacy went to get her out of her seat and discovered she had opened it, and beautifully decorated her face with all kinds of fun things!

Well, one can't be too mad about it, like I said, after all it is her birthday today.
Happy 2nd Birthday Lauren!

The Santa Train

Our second annual Santa Train Ride was this morning, although this year I replaced Mark with my friend Megan and her daughter Hailey. Zach had a blast, he saw Santa, a clown, we sang Christmas Carols, and of course, Zach's highlight was the gift bag that he took home. The snow started coming down during the ride, which made for a very picturesque ride through the 'burbs. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to a lunch out.

Here's to a happy start to the Christmas season!

Zachary putting on a brave face while being held by Santa.

1st family road trip... a success!

Our first road trip with the boys went relatively smooth, all things considered. We encountered some bad weather (snow storm) on the way down going through Iowa, but other then that, the boys were on their best behavior in the car. During the two days we managed to see a few sites of Kansas City, as well as spending quality time with the Leys' clan and enjoying some good turkey. One of the highlights was having Zach share a room with his two cousins. They had an absolute ball and stayed up till almost 11pm talking about who knows what. It was hilarious to stand outside the door and listen to them. I wish we would have taped their conversations, oh well, maybe next time.


Nana & Grandpa Leys trying to manage all 4 grandkids in an attempt to get a decent picture.

Zachary, Charlie and Emily showing off their Indian shirts that Aunt Jackie made for them. They were a big hit!

Train ride at the beautiful Kansas City Train station. They also had a huge train display and fantastic Children's Museum that were both worth checking out.

Quality time with a surprise visit from Uncle Paul from LA

On the road again....

Off to Kansas City tomorrow! We will be spending Thanksgiving with Mark's older brother, Chuck and his family, and Mark's parents. Mapquest says about 7 1/2 hours, so we plan on adding about 2 more hours to that estimate, with stops for the babe. This will be our longest road trip to date with 2 kids, so hopefully its full of laughs and memories. Well, a mom can hope right?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We are truly thankful for all of God's blessings!

Here's couple pictures of the boys at similar ages, can you tell who is who? Do they even look a like? We can't decide.

Introducing...

Our friends, Jason & Kris Haartman, gave birth to their second child yesterday, a beautiful baby girl!

Her name is Kasey Lynn and weighed in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces. Delivery went well and the second time around mom is also doing well.

I stopped by for a quick visit this morning and she is absolutely adorable. She has an amazing head of dark hair, with caramel highlights throughout (long may the natural highlights continue, as those of us who regularly need highlights, know how ridiculously expensive they are :-)

Here is her blog debut, posted with Kris's consent of course. Congratulations Jason, Kris & big brother Seth!

love Fall, well except in our back yard

Just look at the 'sea of leaves.' You can't even see the grass, that's how many leaves have fallen! And the front yard is just as bad. I just dread this time of year in our yard, as it seems like endless weekends of raking.
I can't wait for the boys to grow up so I can make this their responsibility... As I have fond memories of my parents making me rake the leaves on the weekends!

Fortunately we don't have to bag them, just put them on the curb. Our last pick-up is coming Monday, so you know what we will be doing ALL weekend. Anyone feel sorry for us and want to stop by to help????

Timothy in the future?

Yesterday we attended an open house at Timothy Christian Schools. Hence the shirt Zachary is wearing, "I love TC," as every family received one. He walked around wearing it the rest of the day, despite the fact it came down to his ankles.

Even though we are a few years away from Zach officially staring Kindergarten/1st grade we are in the beginning stages of trying to decide whether we will send Cameron and him to Christian schooling. This will be a difficult decision for us, as Mark grew up in a Christian school system and I am a proud graduate of Naperville Public schools. I feel there are many pros and cons to both, so this will be a decision that will take a lot of thought and prayer. I know this is an issue that several of our friends will also be wrestling with, so it makes me feel better that we aren't the only ones in this boat. We will see what the future holds....

first playdate of many

Yesterday we had our first play date with Zachary's little friend Max. As many of you know Max is the son of my close college friend, Sara. Sara & her husband, Bas, are moving here to the western suburbs after 5 years in Amsterdam. We are thrilled to have Sara back in our neck of the woods! Her and Bas are in the midst of house hunting (which is such a joy in pricey Chicagoland), so we volunteered to keep Max for the day, so he didn't have to tag along for a full day of in and out of the car.

The boys (who are 2 months apart) had a blast playing together. They are boys thru and thru, as they spent many hours chasing and playing trucks and trains. As well as enjoying a leaf fight, which was hilarious, until they turned on me and chased me down. Which by the way, Sara, was Max's idea...

blah blah blah blah blah

Nothing to blog about....

I have been struggling to find things to blog about as we have just been going about our weekly routine. Which is pretty much the same thing every week, Mon-Thurs - school, Little Lambs/MOPS, school, spinning class at the Y, and then a free Friday for playdates.

One exciting addition to this week's routine was watching my friend Megan's almost one year old, Hailey, on Wednesday night. Zach had a great time with her and I think she enjoyed her first bath with a boy! Well, it may not look like is in this particular picture,but she did.

Cluck Cluck

What came first.... the chicken or the egg?

Happy Halloween!

Who dun-ith?

Zach was so proud of his painted pumpkins and quite sad when he discovered that one was half eaten during the night. Apparently the stem had broken off, which opened it up for some little critter to make a meal out of it! Yuck!

We are just hoping it wasn't eaten by a mouse/raccoon or something that is now living underneath our front stoop...

Phoenix, nothing but a good time..

We had another wonderful time in Phoenix. It was great to spend time with my mom again, see my sister, and for Zach to spend some days with his cousins. They had a fun playing dress up with Nana's dress up box. It was a little strange seeing Zach in costumes that I wore when I was his age. He loved being the crocodile and butterfly. Zach also accomplished a big milestone on this trip. He now jumps into the pool on his own and is no longer afraid of putting his head underwater!! Now we just have to work on getting rid of his armbands and learning to swim without them.

I also surprised Mark by having his younger brother, Paul, fly in from LA for two nights. Mark was completely shocked and couldn't believe I had pulled it off. I too was a little surprised that I hadn't let it slip prior to his arrival, as I came close several times. We had a great time visiting with him, as we hadn't see him since Christmas, and Zach became quite attached to his 'Uncle Paul' . He actually wanted to know "why he didn't have any kids?"... which is what we are all secretly wondering... just kidding Paul!

Once again I took too many pictures and couldn't decide which ones to post, hence the need for another slideshow... mostly to be enjoyed by the grandparents...

Phoenix October 2007

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Heading to the heat

From this..... To this...

Well, alright, not quite this cold or snow covered ground, yet. But after today's chilly-er weather, its a good predictor of the winter thats to come.

So, Zach, Cam, my Mom (who flew in from England today) and I are heading to Phoenix tomorrow to spend some time together. My sister and kids are coming this weekend and then Mark comes in on Tuesday. I am looking forward to the time away with my family and some fun in the sun. Later!

global warming anyone?

Whats wrong with this picture?

And no, I'm not referring to Zach's long hair, I know he's way overdue for a haircut.

I'm talking about painting pumpkins in the 2nd week in October, on the front stoop, without a shirt on, in 85 degree weather... its just unbelievable!

And finally... our weekend away

We had a fantastic weekend away at Kohler, while Mark's parents took care of the boys.

The weather was beautiful so Mark was able to enjoy 2 full days of golfing. On Friday he golfed at Whistling Straights, where the course runs right along Lake Michigan. I guess the course is amazing and quite an experience as you have to walk 18 holes and have a caddy! so fancy!

I, on the other hand, enjoyed a full day at the Spa on Saturday. Where I had several appointments, including a 'hot stone massage' and a 'body wrap'. Both were unbelievable.

The boys had a great time at Nana and Grandpa's and I think they didn't miss us a bit. I missed them though, but after an hour of being back together, it felt like we were never apart. Doesn't it always work that way?

Feeding time at the zoo?

I was in the middle of blogging about our absolutely fantastic, fancy, relaxing, and romantic weekend away at the Kohler resort when I was called upstairs by Zachary to see this....

Yes, I know, just when you think you have seen and experienced it all...
I will spare you from more details, as they really NOT necessary.

Since I can't get over the disgusting factor of this, I will have to recoup overnight and start a fresh blog tomorrow with pictures of our weekend.

For now all I have to say is, GROSS!!!!

love for the 'Bumbo'

I swore that we wouldn't 'need' any new baby stuff for #2, especially if it was a boy. Well, a generous friend gave us the hyped up 'Bumbo' chair and right now Cameron can't get enough of it. And I absolutely love it too. He just sits in it and hangs out. Not to mention I can just plop him next to me on the table, so I can continue to feed my internet habit! Bad Mommy, I know...

mix of Monday blues

It definitely feels like a Monday. Today we have a mix of the Monday blues around here...

Relief that its Monday, as Zach is FINALLY feeling better after a very long week/weekend and is able to go back to school today. I think I was about 10 minutes early to drop him off today, as I was anxious to get him back into the swing of things. We both seem to do better with structure and routine.

But as expected, Cameron became sick yesterday. He is now fighting a fever and a beautiful wheezing/hacking cough. Those of you with more then one child, know this scenario all too well. Its inevitable that it passes from one to the other. So unfortunately it will probably be another long week and I am saying many, many prayers that both boys are healthy by the end of the week.

This weekend Mark and I have our fancy weekend away at the Kohler resort in Wisconsin and we are leaving them with Mark's parents. I will feel horrible if one or both of them are still up in the night battling this thing! But one thing I do know, is that I'm not cancelling. I (we) need a weekend away more then ever....

a shocking revelation

Cameron had his 4 month appointment today and
the doctor once again confirmed our suspicions, he's a chunker and that the scales don't lie. Cam weighed in at a whoopin' 17 pounds, 11 ounces. Yeah, I know that's almost 18 pounds. Which sure seems like a lot to me, even though he's only in the 75th % tile for boys. Those of you with little ones of similar ages, know thats a lot of pounds for a 4 monther! He's also in the 95th % for height, so at least the poundage has room to spread out a little bit. I would like to blame the size of his thighs on being swollen from his shots today, but I can't lie, they really are that adorable and chunky!

Despite my continuous attempts of encouraging Cameron to take the pacifier, he is turning into a little thumb sucker. A habit that I will not look forward to having to break some day down the road.

just the beginning of the fall/winter season

This the sad and mopey face I have been dealing with since Sunday. Zachary has contracted his first sickness of the school year and I think its only a sign of whats to come...

We have been dealing with high fevers, a wheezing/barking cough, runny nose, and up for many hours during the last 3 nights. I thought things were looking up yesterday and I was hopeful that he would be able to return to school today. But much to my disappointment we were home bound for the 4th straight day! UGH! Well, except for an outing to see the doctor today. Whom just confirmed my suspicions that he 'just has a cold' and there was nothing they could do for him.

a week of firsts

Quite an exciting week around here for us.

Cameron took his first 'big boy' bath with his brother, as he has outgrown taking baths on the kitchen counter. He seems to love taking baths, as he gets very excited and just about kicks all the water out. It was turning into quite the mess in the kitchen. So for the first time last night we put him in with big brother. As we don't have a 'system' down yet, it was a bit chaotic, as I did end up having to jump in at the last minute to save the situation.

Cameron also starting rolling over this week. I was getting a little concerned that this was never going to happen as he's got the best chunky legs and arms to deal with. I thought it may be a while before he mastered such a task. But much to my relief, he's rolling both ways and sends Zach into a fit of giggles every time he does it... Nothing but fun times around the Leys' household.

saturday zoo trip

Today we didn't know what to do. But then Mark said, "hey! Why don't we go to the zoo."

We saw three funny monkeys chatting away, we wished we knew what they were trying to say.

No other animal is so tall or so grand, as the long necked giraffes roaming the land...

(Lines that Zachary quotes from a Wiggles book)

We took advantage of the picture perfect weather and spent the day at the Brookfield Zoo. We met up with our friends, Steve & Stacy and their two girls, Lauren & Chloe.


Also a big thanks to Steve for coming over Friday night to help Mark fix the gaping hole in our garage ceiling! We truly appreciated it. Also kudos to my hubby, for figuring out how to fix the wiring for the garage door so it works again. Nice work honey!

Used up one of his 'nine lives'

The hole on the right.... yeah, not supposed to be there.

This is where Mark was dangling from this morning, with Zachary screaming bloody murder underneath him.

We started off the day extremely energetic and ready to tackle the tedious project of cleaning out the garage, which had turned into a disaster zone after a long summer of just throwing things back in there.

Mark was putting some toys up in the attic that Zach has outgrown over the summer and can go away until next year. While up in the attic he saw a 'handme down' bicycle up there that we had forgotten about and thought that Zach might be able to use now. Well, he lost his concentration for one second, misstepped, and before he knew it he was hanging thru the ceiling with only his head left up in the attic. Drywall came crashing down along with 3 pairs of ski boots that were up in there.

Fortunately I was in the garage and heard Mark scream (like a little girl, I might add.) I was able to get a step-ladder underneath him so he was able to stabilize himself and come down. Thankfully, Mark only sustained minor injuries, as I can't bare to think about the 'what if' he would have fallen all the way thru and landed on the concrete. Not only could Mark have been seriously injured, but both boys were in the garage and sitting not far from where the ski boots came crashing down.

All in all another scary event for the Leys'! I feel like we are quickly using up our 9 lives, after my scary car accident and now this. Now, next weekend's project will be fixing the ceiling and our garage door, as the wiring for the door ripped off and the main control no longer works. Oh well, all minor things compared to what could have been....

starting a new tradition

On Friday I got together with some girlfriends from college. This is the first time we have gotten together with our kids for a playgroup and it was such a success we are starting a new tradition! We live somewhat spread out across Chicagoland so we will start meeting every other month. I am looking forward to this new tradition and seeing these girls and their kids on a regular basis. Thanks for making the trip out here girls!

The first picture was the best one I was able to get of all 5 kids. Needless to say a bit of a challenge. From left to right, Mica Zandstra, Simon Cooper, Seth Haartman, Zach & Cam.