22 hours and counting until....

My parents return to the US!

And might I add, its about time!!
My parents left for England shortly after Christmas and needless to say, its been a long-wintery 3 months for me.

Now I am just busy trying to clean my house, as "she of the white gloves," direct quote by my witty English father, is descending on my house tomorrow.

We are very excited for their return, especially since it means we are off to Mexico in a week! Sorry to all you haters...

(p.s. I know you aren't too happy with me posting this picture Mom, but I had to as I think its a cute one of Cam looking up at Dad, plus is the last picture I have of you two with the boys)

Good Friday Blizzard

Last Thursday ... it was Spring, 50 some degrees, and we spent most of the day outside.
Last Friday... we drove to Wisconsin during a winter storm warning, which was essentially turned out to be a blizzard.

It wasn't really snowing at our house so we decided that we would just go, after all how bad could it really snow in March? Well, what normally takes 2 and a quarter hours, took almost 5. It was a nightmare! Next time we will listen to the weather man and wait it out.

The minivan was put to the test, got us there safely and we had a great Easter weekend. Two of Mark's Leys' cousins (from Iowa & Denver) were also in town visiting Grandma Leys. Zachary had a great time playing and swimming with his 2nd cousins at their hotel pool. Mark & I also enjoyed 2 evenings out thanks to Nana & Grandpa staying home with the boys.
Thanks again for hosting an extra 7 adults & 7 kids!



Trying to capture a picture of all the 2nd cousins. I think this was about the 10th picture I took in attempts to get a good one of all the kids.






Zachary showing Great-Grandma Leys the eggs he found during the Easter Egg hunt in the basement. We had to make the best of the basement hunt considering there was a foot of snow outside.

My day today

My day today...... 4 under 4

But yet, I still find time to post a quick blog.
So far so good and I am still sane, but then again its still the noon hour. Check in with me around happy hour, it might be a diferent story :-)

(Hailey, Zach, Cam and Max)

spoiled rotten with back to back vacations

Some of you might have noticed the new ticker on our blog, although I am still having a hard time believing it, Mark & I are off to Kauai in May!
I am so proud of my husband who 'earned his membership' to Waste Managements "Circle of Excellence." Its an honor for him and other Waste employees who have been recognized for all of their hard work in 2007. I will spare you the AMAZING details of the trip, as I don't want to be hated by all my fellow blog followers. But lets just say it will be a trip of the life time for us.
We also will forever to be in debt to both my parents and Mark's parents who have willingly volunteered to split the duty of taking care of our boys while we are gone. In advance, a big Thank You to all of you!!

One other side note is that Mark's colleague and college buddy, Steve Wiegers, also was recognized, so its an extra bonus that we get to go on vacation with our good friends, Steve & Stacy. (however for those of you who know skinny Stacy... I am not looking forward to sitting my butt next to hers in a bathing suit, sorry Stace, had to put that out there. My crash diet starts today :-)
Congrats to you too Wiegs!

starting a new adventure

Meet Hailey, the latest 'daily' member of our house!

Starting today, I will be watching Hailey everyday for my friend Megan, who is a school teacher. Megan and I go way back to junior-high and have been coaching Badminton together for the past few years.
Anyway, we had talked about me potentially taking Hailey on for next fall, but due to some issues at her other daycare, Megan was looking to make a switch sooner than later. So we decided to give it a trial run by taking her on now until the end of the school year.
I must admit I was a bit anxious over the weekend after I made the commitment to start today, as I feel its a huge responsibility. However, when it comes down to the day to day grind and routine, does having another child really impact us that much? We will see....
So far the boys are excited to have a new toddler in the mix and Zach has already been busy trying to "teach" her the ways of the boys' world in the Leys' household. Wish me luck!!

Poor kid can't catch a break

This is a forewarning to friends with children starting preschool this coming fall, you might be in for a rough winter.
Friends of mine and my older (& wiser, of course) sister warned me that the first few years of preschool will 'test' your kid's immune system. I tell you what, their wisdom was so right! I absolutely LOVE Zach's school, love the teacher, love the drive-up drop-off, and most importantly he loves going. However, I am not feeling the love right now.

Going into preschool, Zachary had been fortunate enough to never have had antibiotics. Since December we have had them for a sinus infection, followed by an ear infection and now the latest infection, flippin' pink eye! ARGGGHHH!!

Of course, I don't know that he got it at school, he could have gotten it at Little Lambs at church the other day or from the grocery cart at the store, any of the options are just gross and disgusting how all these virus's get passed.
Now I just bracing myself for the inevitable fact that Camers will probably be next, followed by me, as I already feel like my eyes are extremely itchy... hopefully just paranoia


On a lighter note and prior to knowing pink eye was lurking and going to be making its presence at 1 a.m. this morning, we celebrated a co-4th-birthday yesterday with my friend Amanda's, little girl, Isabel. They each brought a friend to enjoy all the festivities Chuckie Cheese has to offer. Zach brought his friend, Max van den Berg,who I think thoroughly enjoyed his first visit to CC.

everyday happenings

Until spring comes,which still feels forever away despite the fact its now March, Zach has being trying to learn how to ride his brand new bike. What better place to learn than in the kitchen? I am sure by the time spring is here, he will be great at it.











Cameron is so proud to be standing all by himself, but is still working on being able to pull himself up consistently. He has mastered how to make his way up the step in to the kitchen, which seems to have been quite a frustrating process for him. Now we are trying to teach him how to turn around and go down, but he is far from catching on and unfortunately, I fear many accidents in the near future.



Here's a picture of Cam thoroughly enjoying his food. Which should come as no surprise, as anyone who has seen him, knows what a big boy he is! We did have his 9 month check up this week and once again, no big shocker... He is still in the 90th percentile for both weight and height. He now weighs in at 23 pounds and is almost 30 inches tall. At least he's consistent with staying in the 90th for both.