Christmas

A bit belated, but none the less, here's our Christmas post.









We first celebrated here with my sister and her family who came down from Michigan.


Then we headed down to Indianapolis to celebrate with Mark's family at his older brother, Chuck's house.


We enjoyed all the time we were able to spend with both families, despite dealing with some stomach bug issues that Zach was dealing with. We made the most of our time together although I slacked on taking some good quality pictures. I blame it on the belly, its getting in the way of a lot of things lately!

winter break

We got some snow last night, so my little reindeers headed out for some shoveling!

We are making the most of Christmas break & enjoying the winter elements.

Gotta love West Michigan weather

We headed up to Michigan this past weekend for a quick one night visit. We went to see my sister & family, as well as meet our good friends Brad & Bradi's new baby, Molly Kreider. Although I forgot to take some pictures of their latest blessing, she is just a little peanut! This will be our last visit to MI until next spring or summer, as once Christmas comes & goes I will be six weeks out from my due date and I will not be making any trips around the snowbelt this winter!





We were greeted with a lot of snow, as they had had their first snow day on Friday with no school due to the amount they received.
The boys thought it was great and Zach had a blast going sledding with this 3 cousins!

November is just about done

I slacked on my November blogging so I thought I should do a brief catch up before December comes & goes too.

The most important event of November was the passing of Mark's Grandma Leys. This is one of the last pictures I have of her with the boys from this past summer. This was taken before she moved into a nursing home.

She was blessed with 93 years of life and left behind a legacy of family, including 23, with two more on the way (I think that the correct number anyway) Great-Grandkids. We headed up to Wisconsin for the funeral few weeks ago and despite the sad event, we had a nice time visiting with all of Mark's out of town cousins.

With the chilly weather we have been spending a lot of time in the basement that we finished last year, seen here with the boys making their train parade. We also finally pulled the trigger and purchased a new flat screen TV on 'Black Friday'(yes, I was crazy enough to be at Best Buy at 4.30am to get the 'doorbuster' deal). Mark has been talking about this for the past year and obsessively non-stop researching which one to get. The TV we had down there was from my college days and had a nonstop buzzing noise. Needless to say, Mark spent most of the long weekend enjoying his new toy and once in a while came up for some daylight & air :-)



We hosted Mark's parents for Thanksgiving, although I neglected to take any pictures. We had a nice time visiting with them and I think I managed to cook a decent 'American Thanksgiving' turkey & fixings.

Friday night we went downtown Naperville with the Wiegers family for the Festival of Lights parade, which included an appearance by Santa & Mrs. Claus.
They also passed out candy which of course was the main highlight for the kids.

just because

We got some new glasses in the house, kind of freaky looking!

Halloween

We started with tears but Cameron ended up loving it once he was bribed with a sucker. I didn't have high hopes for him wearing a costume given his personality and not always wanting to cooperate.

So this is how it started with attempting to put on the chicken costume (a repeat of what Zach wore at that age). He looked so stinkin' cute and I was hoping for just a few pictures and then he could take it off.

Anyway, once the candy started flowing and got the 'trick or treat' concept going door to door he was sucked in. It was fun to see the boys do it together.

Fall so far

Fall is quickly moving by and it seems we have spent a lot of weekends raking leaves.


Might as well put the boys to work














































Cameron up to his usual trick of antagonizing Zachary.
















Trip to a local forest preserve with Dad while Zach was sick.

get your shots!

Somehow we (Zach) seems to have picked up the H1N1 flu!

Yes, I too can't believe, its almost like one of my worst nightmares coming true.

Long story short, but the nurse called from school on Friday afternoon saying Zach was running a low fever and needed to come home. Which then led to a frantic trip to Urgent Care Saturday afternoon, as his low grade fever had spiked to 103.3 with both Tylenol & Motrin in him.

Anyway, turns out he that he has the swine flu. They did not do the blood work, as they said that they aren't seeing any regular flu cases yet, as all they are seeing is the H1N1 flu and that CDC (Center for Disease Control) is recommending starting with the treatment immediately without waiting for blood work results.

So, we have started the treatment (after a search of 4 pharmacies as most pharmacies are running out of the Tamiflu due to a shortage) and hoping he will start recovering soon as its really taking a toll on him.
Now we are also saying continual prayers that the rest of us are spared from this, specially since it doesn't seem to bode well for pregnant women.

And one other note, is that I was on the fence about getting the shots for my kids due to all the controversy, but as we are experiencing this, I would definitely recommend getting the vaccine for you kids! This seems to be quite a bit scarier...

Our little "Longwood Leader"

Mark & I were proud parents this morning, as we witnessed Zach become a "Longwood Leader" in front of his whole school. Longwood is the name of his elementary school and every month at a Spirit Assembly they honor a leader for each class who over the course of the month has displayed a certain character trait. This past month was for 'cooperation' and Zach was chosen by his teacher as she reports he is "so cooperative." Wish I could say the same for at home...

It was such an honor to watch the stunned look on his face as she called out his name. We had chosen not to tell him beforehand, as I was concerned it might cause a bit of anxiety about having to go in front of the whole school. Not only are we proud that he was chosen, but more importantly we are just so proud (and relieved) at the progress he has made since those first few weeks of school when we had excessive crying and even one day needing to be physically removed from my leg by a teacher to get him to go inside.

He seems to be enjoying his days at school and we feel we are blessed with the teacher he has, as she has been sensitive to his needs and helped make this transition a smooth one. Long may it continue!

end of summer pics

New PJ's for fall...

Couple weeks of Kindergarten under out belt and seems summer is quickly gone. We enjoyed one final weekend up in Wisconsin with both a visit from our friends, Megan & Nick & Hailey and also my parents who came up for a night.

Finally we had good weather & cherished all the sunny hours on the beach











Zach and Hailey heading out in the kayak(well at least in the shallow waters)














Cameron spends a lot of time playing around in the tall grass, looking for sticks and rocks to throw in the lake
















Zach & Hailey taking a ride at the Family Fun Fair in Sheboygan, a must do over Labor Day weekend.















Zach was so proud of the sand castle he had built















Checking out the train that one of the neighbors put in their back yard. I will admit it was pretty impressive and the boys would have spent hours watching it go round if we could have.













Taking a hike along the beach with Nana Woolley
















This is how Mark & Zach spend most of their time on the beach, goofing around in the water. Its way too cold for me!

1st day of kindergarten

I can't believe it, but has this day come already? And I'm still not sure if I am ready? Is Zach ready?

Sending your first born away for his first full day of school, whether it comes as early as Kindergarten or not till 1st grade, it is such a milestone in their lives and ours as parents. This is the beginning of his life as a student, hopefully from now until he graduates college.

We have been prepping him & ourselves for this and can only hope he is somewhat ready. I definitely have been more emotional about it then I expected myself to be, I keep trying to blame it on my raging pregnancy hormones, but not sure if that's the case.

I will be glad when this first day is over with!

fun summer weekend

We had a great weekend as we celebrated Mark's birthday and I had several of my high school girlfriends in town.

My friend Jessica, who now lives LA, came in for visit so my friend Beth, from Seattle, threw her a baby shower. It was great for a bunch of us to get together, as those times are few and far between.











We also celebrate Mark's birthday with throwing him a big party. Seen here at his big birthday party!
















A last minute visit by Uncle Paul, from NY, in town to celebrate Mark's birthday. My boys love him and followed him around all weekend. Poor guy didn't get a break!

Raging Waves

As we prepare for beginning of a new chapter in our life with all day kindergarten for Zach, we have been trying to packing some final fun summer activities.

Sara & I talked our Mothers into having our #2's for the day and took our older boys to the Raging Waves Park (www.ragingwaves.com) in Yorkville, Il. It was a blast! I would highly recommend it. We definitely will be going back next summer and I hope the boys will be a bit braver to try some of the "big boy" rides.






Zach & Max braving the slide together


















boys under the sprinkler












Zach coming out sideways down one of the bigger slides

Camping in Door County, Wi

We attempted our first (last minute) camping trip this past weekend. We headed up to Door County with the minivan packed to the gills, expecting a weekend with nice weather. Friday we had a great day; hiked in the state park, had a picnic, spent all afternoon setting up camp (seems like so much more stuff is required camping with little ones), went out for ice cream, had a campfire, and roasted marshmallows. Phew, we packed it in!

But as it turned out, it was good that we did, as the heavens opened up Friday night and didn't stop. We ended up heading home a day early, as the forecast looked extremely bleak to put it mildy, the power was out at the campground & all nearby towns, and there are only some many things you can do in the rain with kids. Despite all that, it was a great experience and I would do it again.
However, maybe not next summer, as hopefully all being well, we will have a new little one in the family! Oh, for those of you who are may not have heard through Facebook, we are expecting again!











Mandatory pictures after climbing the tower at the Peninsula State Park











overlook over the lake















home sweet home for as it turned out, less the 24 hours....











roasting the marshmallows


















Enjoying the smores