Christmas and the Blur that is 2011!

It has been one month since our last post and it has been difficult to find the time to get online to do any of the normal online stuff (like scores, stock quotes, weather) let alone find the time to write a blog for our amazing blog followers.

One thing that I hadn't shared is anything about Christmas.  We spent Christmas up in Bowling Green with Stephanie's family so we let Kai open his larger gifts at home before we left for Ohio.

Here is Kai and his new workbench that he received from Grandpa and Grandma Lesnet.  Yep, he loves it!

 

Kai also received this sweet train table from Grandpa and Grandma Eridon.  Kai scored a new kitchen as well from Stephanie and I (not pictured). 

 

I want to take a moment to thank Mr. Tom and Mr. Daniel from our small group at Genesis Church came over and put all of these sweet toys together.  My dad was still in the ICU up in Fort Wayne at this time and I was driving back and forth after work nearly every day and just did not have the time to assemble these.  

Eli did not seem to enjoy opening Kai's presents as much as Kai did. 

 

 Whoa!  Bubba sure looks like his daddy too!

Brothers posing for a picture.  Clearly neither one was really feeling the brotherly love at this time.

During the week of Christmas (Dec 20 or Dec 21), my dad escaped from the ICU and moved down to the Neuro Science area.  We were so glad that he was moved around Christmas time so that he could see the boys as they were not allowed to go in to the ICU area.

Kai has not been wanting to go to bed.  He will cry and find various ways to stall.  Many nights he is up past 10 and is bouncing off of the walls while Steph and I try to do exciting things like laundry or dishes.  It isn't unique for us to have to put him back in his bed five times on any given night.

One night when I went to check on him before I went to bed I found Kai fast asleep behind the rocker / recliner in his bedroom.  I picked him up and put him back in bed but I keep wondering if I should have just left him there on the floor and saw his reaction the next morning.

Christmas morning with the Eridon's was great.  Kai was the present delivery person and he took his job very seriously.  I would read the tags on each gift and then he would deliver.  He did a great job but he did have a hard time keeping Aunt Kimberly and Aunt Jessica straight.

Kai scored this sweet camera for Christmas.  So far he either throws the camera or takes pictures of the floor or ceiling. 

The Kit Eridon Family - Christmas 2010

The Indiana Lesnets - Christmas 2010

Maw and Paw Eridon and their 3 daughters - Christmas 2010

Now on to 2011!!!!

2011 has come in like a lion for sure.  Stephanie started back to work at the bank during the week between Christmas and New Years.  That was a good time for her to start back as it gave us a couple of days to come to grips with our new reality of 2 jobs and 2 boys.  

Stephanie and I both work in finance / accounting so the beginning of the year is extremely busy for both of us at work. Deadlines are tight and there is still a lot of things on the home front that need tended to.

Thankfully by this time, my dad was improving and moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center on January 7th.  I went up there to visit him that evening to make sure that he knew that we knew where he was.  Unfortunately, there was some freezing rain on the day that dad moved and I bumped in to a semi on I-69 on my way home.  It shattered my windshield but I was able to drive my car home. Fortunately I was not hurt, nor was the dude who was sitting in the middle of the interstate with his lights off at 11pm...

Here is Eli and I in the outfits that Grandpa and Grandma Lesnet got for us for Christmas.

Eli with his growth cow on his 3 month birthday!

Aunt Jessica came to visit

Bubba and cow!

Kai's 3rd birthday was earlier this month.  His birthday was on a Saturday so we celebrated it all weekend long.  We wore Thomas the Train party hats and got designer cupcakes..

Happy Birthday to Kai!

Here is Bubba being cute with a Christmas bear that he got from Grandpa and Grandma Eridon.

On the morning of Kai's birthday we filled his room with balloons.  We have done this for each of the past 2 years and he just loves it!

He took his nap with all of his balloons in bed with him.

Kai got this super awesome conductor's costume for his birthday from Grandpa and Grandma Eridon.  Kai had got the same costume for Master P for his birthday.  I can't wait to see them in their costumes together!

Also in January we got A NEW CAR!!  Well, new to us Indiana Lesnets anyway.  We bought a 2007 Honda Cr-V that Stephanie's parents were leasing.  It is a sweet ride complete with 4 wheel drive and leather seats!  If anyone out there is in the market for a pickup truck or a late model Toyota Corolla let me know as they are for sale.

On our way up and back from buying the car up in Bowling Green, we stopped off in Fort Wayne to see my dad in the rehab center.  He's looking so good now that he dresses in real clothes and not just the hospital gowns.  This totally made his day...such a happy grandpa!!

While up in BG, the January birthday boys celebrated life's journey's together with some cake and party hats.

Grandma Eridon experiencing pure joy while cuddling with her newest grand kid.

 

Thanks for checking out this epic blog post.  I hope that all of you are having a great new year!

Celebrate it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fifteenth day of this month, in accordance with all its rules and regulations. - Numbers 9:2-4

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