A Stroke of Bad News and a Busy December

A lot has happened since the last update here with the Indiana Lesnets and people whom the Indiana Lesnets love.

On December 10th, my dad and hero had a stroke while sorting the mail at the post office.  His co-workers acted quickly and got him to the hospital in Angola very quickly.  He was then taken by chopper down to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne where he is still today.

Since December 10th, I have put over 4,000 miles on the Corolla driving back and forth between the Indianapolis area, Fort Wayne, and the family farm in Northwest Ohio.  I have missed quite a few bed times and meals with the family and I have missed Stephanie and the boys very much.  Stephanie is doing a great job keeping everyone in line but she is getting tired too.

To pour some salt in the wound, our washing machine (only 1 1/2 year old) broke (fixed now) and Stephanie has started back to work.

I will update more about Christmas and the cool stuff from the past couple of weeks if some time opens up.  In the mean time, here is our official Christmas picture

Here is the boys taking their first bath together.  So fun!

Test me, LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind -Psalm 26:2

The Bird Part 2

The nice thing about catch and release is that no one is really harmed in the making of the Indiana Lesnet version of The Bird.  The unfortunate thing is that you may wind up having your unwelcome guest come back for another visit.

Here I am with my trusty tools of a broom and expandable feather duster, once again hunting down the bird.  Once again determined to catch and release him.

 

I caught him again and released him again but got a good shot of him.  If you see this bird outside at your front door, DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR.

Upon further investigation, I found that the bird was setting up a residence in the wreath on the front door.  Now that Christmas is over, we should be rid of the unwelcome woodland guest.

And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy - 1 Kings 8:50

First Smile

Bubba has been a much more challenging little one than his older brother was.  We figure much of that is due to the fact that he gets drug around all over creation, gets lots of "love" from Kai, and doesn't have the full-time attention of both parents 24/7.

Bubba has given us a lot of loud, sleepless nights and in return we have received nothing, nada, zilch.  No cooing, no smiles, no nothing super cute to give us that little burst of adrenaline that us parents like so much when our kids do something that shows they appreciate what we do for them.

Well, on December 4, 2010 we got our first smile!  Fortunately, the camera was out and we were able to catch it on film. 

Without any further delay, here is the first smile by Elijah George Lesnet!!

 

When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them. - Job 29:24

The Birds

Alfred Hitchcock directed a movie called "The Birds" that takes place in a small town in Northern California.  In his movie, birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people there in increasing numbers and with increasing viciousness.  Well, this ain't no movie!

On Tuesday November 30th, we had a bird invasion.  We were already in the middle of a drama filled evening as Kai had just puked up his lunch right before I got home from work.  Stephanie had given Kai a bath and got him in his PJs but hadn't yet cleaned up the mess that Kai made on the family room sofa.

I got home from work and cleaned up the mess and was taking the super smelly trash out the front door (Wednesday is garbage day so the trash can was already by the street) when I heard this flapping noise go past my head.  I turned around to see this little bird flying in to the house.

Really?!?!?

Here is the bird perched on the light hanging over our breakfast table.

Here the bird is enjoying the view from the ceiling fan in our family room.

 

Here is a little present that the bird left for Stephanie on her laptop computer.

 

Armed with a broom, an expandable feather duster, a large bowl, and a plastic grocery bag I was able to capture the creature of the air and safely deliver it back to his rightful home.  You know, the one that is OUTSIDE OF MY HOUSE!

Stephanie took the boys down to the basement to hang out while I hunted this thing down.  I guess Kai really wanted to help me catch him and was very excited about our new pet.

Then he is to release the live bird in the open fields outside the town. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean. - Leviticus 14:53

Finishing off November 2010

The last couple of weeks of November were pretty quiet on the home front.  The work front was a different story as the old 9-5 has kept poppa Lesnet plenty busy and has kept him away from his family and from this here blog.

Here is a great picture of Stephanie and Bubba chilling out.

We did have our good friends, the Feeneys over for lunch one day.  The boys had a great time with the Feeney girls.  Here is Kai and Alexandria in Kai's ball pit.

 

We decorated for Christmas.  Kai has been helpful in decorating the tree each Christmas but he was even better at it this year.  Of course, it is his third time doing it so he's an old pro now.

Garland sure is fun!

Good brother shot here.  It is fun watching them bond.  Kai loves his little brother and Bubba seems to be pretty fond of Kai too!

On the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, I (Chad) had to go to Columbus Ohio for work.  It was to inspect some cabin refurbishments on airplanes (exciting, right).  Anyway, after the inspection was over I had lunch with my favorite great Aunt, Aunt Elaine.  Aunt Elaine is my Grandpa Lesnet's sister and lives about 15 miles from the Columbus Airport.  It was the first one-on-one time that I have ever spent with her and I certainly hope it is not the last.  We had a great time!

Thanksgiving for us this year was with just the 4 of us.  It was prepared by The Fresh Market and all we had to do was warm it up on Thanksgiving Day.  It would have been waaay cooler to have more loved ones around on Thanksgiving but it was still pretty nice.

Go Lions!  Darn, another Thanksgiving loss!

We also took our Christmas card picture.  I won't post the one that we're using but here are a couple of shots of the boys with one of their parents. 

We tried to do our photo next to the tree while sitting on the floor but 10 seconds wasn't quite enough time to get situated on the floor.  This one turned out pretty good except that we're not centered very well.  All other photos were pretty disastrous.

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. - Psalm 69:30

Boiler Up?

Every parent has a list of things that they hope that their children are able to experience and things that they pray their children will not see in their lifetimes.  One of the things I hoped my boys would never experience is them witnessing Purdue lose an Old Oaken Bucket game to Indiana.  Unfortunately, this year it happened.  Now we can only hope that this kind of rare occurrence never happens again.

Purdue got off to a quick start and the boys were enjoying the beat down and feeling confident that there would be another "P" link in the Oaken Bucket chain

Starting not too look too good.

Kai is devastated by the Boilers ridiculous end of the game melt down by the good guys.  Dad clearly doesn't understand the enormity of the moment here as he's just flashing his big dopey smile like everything is all hunky dory.  

Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. - 1 Samuel 1:6

1 Month Pictures

It is amazing how quickly time passes when you don't waste any of it sleeping.  It hardly seems possible that our Bubba is 1 month old.

He is growing like crazy and is putting on about a pound and growing an inch each week thus far.  Now some of that crazy growth is probably due to him coming a few weeks early, but I figure that most of it is that this is going to be a big boy.

Grandpa isn't sleeping in this picture but Eli is.  Although this shot looks pretty peaceful, it did not make Kai very happy.  He does not like to share grandpa!!

A recent shot of the Lesnet family of 4.  

The boys with Grandpa and Grandma Eridon.

My beautiful wife and our baby boy.  Bubba don't look too cozy here...check out that face!

Bubba's 1 month photo.  We will be taking a picture of him with this here cow every month to show how much he's growing.  It's a lot.

Baby Cow with a toy stuffed cow.

He looks HUGE in this shot!

Kai holding Bubba after his 1 month photo shoot.  Kai still loves his little bro and gives him lots of hugs and kisses every day.

The boys were done with the photo shoot here.

Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger. - Job 17:9

Halloween 2011

The Indiana Lesnets enjoyed a fantastic Halloween as a new family of 4.  The boys went Trick or Treating with Master P and Special K on a gorgeous Indiana Autmn evening.

Here is Bubba going Trick-or-Treating for the first time.  He could hardly contain his entheusium!

Here are the big boys out getting some candy.  They had it figured out this year and used their super powers of being really, really, ridiculously good looking and scored some good loot.

Kai refused to wear the hood on his cow outfit so most folks thought that he was a dalmation.  His costume was a little small so I think it was uncomfortable around his boy parts and bottom so we didn't push him to wear the cow head hood.  The costume was a 4T so it should have fit, I guess that's what happens when you don't have the kid with you when you buy the costume.

The happy Trick-or-Treaters.  By this time Special K had already shed the land shark get up and was just cruising around being Special K.

With the cow head on.

Don't they look happy?  Neither boy (or cow) particularly enjoying this moment.

I think that Stephanie looks super hot in that Lesnet Farms hat!

After all of that Trick-or-Treating Kai got to eat 2 pieces of candy.  He chose some Dum Dum suckers.  2 fisting...that's my boy!

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth - Psalm 119:103

Month #1 of the Lesnet Family of Four

Eli, who has been nicknamed Bubba by Kai has now been with us for nearly 3 weeks and we are getting settled in to our new reality.  Adding a child to our already hectic lives has been a huge adjustment as having 2 boys to take care of is more than twice as much work.
At this point, Eli will only sleep at night when he is being held by either mommy or daddy.  We are tired but know that we need to enjoy this time as there will come a time where he won't want to be held any more.

Here is the Lesnet family of 4 getting ready to leave the hospital for the real world.  Kai was so excited to have someone to ride in the back seat with him that we couldn't get him to sit still for a picture.

Bubba was born during some incredible weather here in Central Indiana.  Check him out soaking up some rays!

Although Stephanie and I are still trying to get the hang of this new family structure, Kai is having no trouble with it at all.  He is completely in love with his little brother and always wants to know where he is at all times.

Here is Kai doing the piggies with Eli.  I love this picture!

Here is mommy doing Kai's bedtime with Kai and Bubba.

Bubba has had a pretty action packed 3 weeks as he has had visitors every weekend.  When Aunt Jessica came to visit, we took a lot of pictures in hopes of getting some good ones to use in Eli's baby announcement.  Here are a few pictures of Bubba during that photo shoot.

I call this one "Blue Steel"

This one is "Ferrari"

Here is the ultimate.  He has already mastered "Magnum"

Hey!  Eli says "Boiler Up!!"

Kai's favorite TV show is Micky Mouse Clubhouse and here he is holding Bubba and watching some Mickey Mouse.  Eli didn't seem quite as in to the program as Kai.

The Indiana Lesnet boys with Grandpa and Grandma Lesnet

Those same boys with Grandma and Grandpa Eridon.

One morning, we let Kai pick out Bubba's outfit.  He was already wearing his new monkey outfit that the Lesnet grandparents got him and was excited to see this monkey outfit in Bubba's dresser.  Once Eli was all dressed and ready Kai wanted us to take a picture of them in their monkey shirts.

In addition to visitors, Bubba has already made trips to such fun places as the pediatrician, the playground, a couple of restaurants, and the Indianapolis Zoo for Zoo Boo.

This year we once again went to the Indianapolis Zoo Boo at the Zoo with Master P, Special K and their parents.  The Lesnet boys are both dressed up as cows and I'm a farmer / Detroit Tigers fan.

I think I rock that DeKalb hat like a natural, don't you?

Master P the angler.

Special K is cute but too cool for a costume.  I hear that she will follow in big bro's footsteps and be a Land Shark on Halloween though.

Kids with giant spider and a poser farmer with his hat on backwards.

honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from cows’ milk for David and his people to eat. For they said, “The people have become exhausted and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness.” - 2 Samuel 17:29