Happy 18 month Birthday Kai!

Dear Kai,

You are becoming such a big boy and have grown so much over the past few months. You wear size 7 shoes and 18 - 24 month clothes. Most people comment on your hair when it's longer and the nurses at the pediatrician ask to touch it because it's so cute. They also comment on your eyes and long eyelashes. You rub your hair when you are tired and it is very comforting to you.

Your dad has given you three haircuts and you have 12 teeth. You do not like to get your teeth brushed, but this has started to get better as we are singing the ABC's while brushing them. You have grown so much taller in the past few weeks (drinking 10 - 20 oz. of milk before bed each night). You eat constantly from the time we pick you up from school until bed time and you love any fruit, apple butter, applesauce, hummus, chickpeas, couscous, hamburgers and you eat homemade blueberry waffles for breakfast every morning. You still use your pacifier, but only at bedtime and nap times. In the morning, you throw your pacifier back in the crib and wave "Bye-Bye".

You have a very sweet, laid-back personality. You sit back and observe everything around you before going to play. You give lots of hugs (with arm pats) and have started giving kisses (complete with sound effects). You have a great belly laugh and mom and dad love laying on the floor with you and laughing and wrestling. You love it when daddy throws you in the air and catch you. You would much rather run everywhere and like playing outside and going to the pool. If you want to go outside, you run over and try to climb in your stroller until we get the hint. You love the slides at the playground and have amazing balance when playing on wood bridges. You like swinging and start crying if we take you out before you are ready. You like swimming, but are more interested in walking around the pool and picking up the toys and shoes on the side.

You love sitting on mom and dad's lap to read books. Some favorites are "Moo, Baa, La La La", Curious George goes fishing, Is Your Mama a Llama and Red Hat, Blue Hat, Green Hat, Oops, and Guess How Much I Love You. You love dancing - especially to Alice the Camel and the ABC's. We read I Love You Through and Through every night before bed and you love the little boy in the pictures since he looks like you.

You definitely have a mind of your own, but save your temper tantrums for mom and dad. I asked your teacher at daycare (Ms. Cassie) if you ever throw a tantrum at school, and she said she could never imagine you doing that. Mom found you playing with the toilet plunger in June and you looked up at her and said "No, no" and then walked out.

Your are a man of few words, but have started saying more in the last 6 weeks: Dada, Mama, Kiki, no, this, ball, balloon, Detroit, bird, truck, school, happy, baby, book, squirrel, dog, more, blue, purple, apple, bye-bye.

You love your school and bring us our shoes each morning when you are ready to go out the door. You give Kiki a treat and clap when she takes it. You then stand by the garage door and wait for us to open it so you can get in the car. Your teachers have been great and we are so thankful that you are happy and learning and playing during the day. This summer the school has had two petting zoos (loved the bunnies), water day every Wednesday, the Westfield fire department (you liked Sparky the dog) and puppet shows. You eat all your food every day at school and love to play outside and help the teachers pick up the toys. You are a great helper at school and all your friends say "bye Kai" when you leave.

Kai - we love you more than you can imagine and God knew exactly what he was doing when He blessed us with you.

David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, 2 Samuel 6:14

The Indianapolis Zoo

Kai and mom went to the zoo for the first time on June 27th. They went with our friend and neighbor Jenna and "P".

Kai and P are the same height, but there is about an 8 pound weight difference. Kai enjoyed riding in the wagon with P pushing him, but was not as happy when he tried to push P and couldn't move him anywhere.



We spent the week before reading lots of animal books and working on animal noises, but we're still not sure what sound a bunny makes. Kai enjoyed seeing the ducks and fed some crackers to the ducks. We also saw a rhino, giraffes, polar bears and komono dragons.

Kai loved the dolphins and had a lot of fun running around the area with the dolphins above him. He did not like the dolphin show since mom did not let him run around the stairs and bleachers like he wanted to. He threw himself on the ground and started screaming. Stephanie dropped her cell phone and it broke apart with the battery flying underneath a wheelchair. As Kai continued to scream in front of the entire crowd (several hundred people), Stephanie crawled under the wheelchair and searched for her phone. After picking up a screaming Kai and carrying him to the top of the bleachers, he decided he did not want to stay until the show started and they left to go see the walrus. Looks like the terrible two's may be starting a little early.

Kai said "bear" for the first time and really liked the bunny and goats. He did want to go swimming in the shark petting tank, and Stephanie decided the day at the zoo was done.

Both boys fell asleep within 2 minutes of being strapped in their car seats and slept for 3 hours. It was a wonderful day and we will be getting a family membership.

While the zoo adventures were occuring, I was in Arizona for a guy's golf and poker weekend. I played 54 holes of golf on that Friday and managed to only burn my ankles and one spot on my legs.

4th of July weekend

The Lesnets had a great 4th of July weekend. We spent Friday as a family as Kai's daycare was closed. Grandma and Grandpa Eridon came into town around lunchtime and we all went out to lunch. This is a big deal for Stephanie's family as it is probably only the 5th or 6th time she has been out to eat with her parents.

Kai had a great time with his grandparents. He loves having Grandpa read him books and snuggling with Grandma before bedtime.

I spent most of Saturday at the old house with my father-in-law working on lots of projects. We accomplished a lot of the "to do" list, but there is still more to do. I replaced the light in the dining room - the house is looking a lot better and we are praying it sells quickly.


We also gave Kai his 3rd haircut this weekend.

It's amazing how the haircut makes him look like such a little boy. He rubs his hair when he is tired, and it took him a while to get used to how short it was on Sunday.

We had a great cookout with friends and it was a momentous occasion as it was the first party with kids attending. There was only one other little boy, and Kai just watched all the girls play together.

We avoided any meltdowns (by being the first to leave). It was wonderful to catch up with friends and see them as parents. Thanks to Eugene and Kim for hosting and letting our kids "childproof" their house.

We also had to say goodbye to the first appliances we purchased when we got married.


The washing maching has been smoking for the past few months and we decided to make a preemptive strike and purchased these:

Stephanie has been breaking them in this weekend and is a big fan!

It was a busy weekend, but great to spend time with family and friends.

It's July already...

It's been a long time since our last post, so here is a brief summary of our lives since March Madness.

- We went to Ohio to see the grandparents in March - Kai got to meet some lambs and a cat.

- Stephanie was diagnosed with mono in early April after 3 different sore throats and antibiotics. She still may need to get her tonsils out, but it was a rough quarter 1 end at work. Kai had 2 ear infections and croup and I probably had mono, but didn't go to the doctor. Everyone is healthy now. Stephanie only missed 2 days of work and Kai missed 4 days of school.

- Stephanie had a birthday, she had to work on her birthday, so I went to a Purdue Track&Field reunion with Kai. He wanted to run on the track, and not be held by dad. The next day, I took Kai to the Lesnet Easter celebration in Bluffton, IN.

- Dad gave Kai his 2nd haircut.

- Stephanie went to Boston for a few days in May for work, and the guys had fun at home playing basketball. Kai also said four new words while mom was gone. He also started blowing his nose in a kleenex when I asked him too.

- Went to Ohio to see the grandparents in May and attend cousin Molly's baby shower. We can't wait to meet baby Melissa in August.

- We turned Kai's car seat around in June - he loves facing forward and seeing what mom and dad look at through the windows.

- We watched all of the Stanley Cup Finals...stupid Penguins!

- Kai had a 104 degree fever in June and erythimae multiforme (really bad skin rash) and missed another 4 days of school. We had fun reading books and spending cuddle time at home.


- We have been swimming at the neighborhood pool several times already. Kai really enjoys walking around the pool vs. swimming in it.

- Stephanie and I celebrated the nine year anniversary of the first time we talked (June 24, 2000), well I think we talked before that, but Stephanie doesn't remember it.

- We had to evict our tenant from the Brownsburg house and I have spent every spare moment trying to get it ready to sell. All the carpet and flooring needs replaced, inside and outside painted, mulch and landscaping updated and some other minor repairs. We hope to put the house on the market July 13th. Thanks to all the friends and family that have helped get it ready to sell. Please pray for a quick sale.

- At the same time, my airline purchased two other airlines and work has not been "slow"

- Stephanie and Kai went to the zoo (see a post later this week) and I went to Arizona for the golf "Endurathon" in June. We were all planning to go, but since Kai got sick, I made the weekend trip by myself. I have played 6 rounds of golf so far this year and am looking forward to the "Old Married Dudes"outing on July 18th.

- Stephanie has become more crunchy and green - see a post later this week on cloth diapering and a CSA.

It's hard to believe so much time has passed since we last blogged, but look for several posts later this week. We are thankful everyone is healthy again and look forward to life slowing down after we sell the other house.

March Madness

March has been a very action packed month but not necessarially in a good way.

Kai started preschool on Monday, March 2nd. He has transitioned very well to the classroom except he has picked up a bug. He has had a day off and a couple of half days but we are confident that he will pull through it and thrive with his new friends at school!

Although this post will be dated March 15th, it is actually Easter Sunday today so I am just going to go ahead and sign off on this post and let you all enjoy the photos of kai during the first half of March.

Here is Kai with his favorite food in March, apple sauce. He has now graduated to grapes and bananas.

One of the neighbor girls won this glove and gave it to Kai. He should get a lot of use out of it if he winds up being right handed!

This will be a great picture to show his prom date!

His stocking hat is awesome!

Kai loves his animal book!
So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir." - Genesis 33:14

Daddy's Going to Teach Him to Hurdle

This post was started on Wednesday, February 24. Hopefully it will finally be completed here on March 1.

Today, Kai and I went down to the playground which is about a quarter mile down the road. We took a stroller down there as we usually do. After about 30 minutes of running around, Kai was done playing so he stated walking towards home. Kiki and I followed him and gave him some direction when he would start getting off track. I never thought he would make it all the way home, but he sure did! Here is a picture of him after his journey today:

This has been one crazy week as Stephanie has had to work late every night except Friday night so I got to spend a lot of 1 on 1 time with Kai. We spent a lot of time playing. We took advantage of the warmer weather in the middle of the week and spent a lot of time outside.
On Friday evening, we took a family trip to the grocery store and ran a few other errands. One of our errands was grabbing some dinner so we went to Chipotle. It was a good meal, Kai threw his quesadilla on the floor but he really likes their tortilla chips. Kai wanted to be like mom and dad so he dipped his chip in to the hot salsa and got a big chip full of it, then stuffed the whole thing in his mouth. Needless to say, he was shocked and started screaming. We offered him some sour cream as dip and he LOVED it! He got it everywhere, too bad we didn't have a camera with us!

On Saturday, we all had grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Now, that may not sound particularly news worthy, but no one living in this house had ever actually made a grilled cheese sandwich! I made the sandwiches and they were delicious!

Last night Stephanie and I had a date night while Kai played with Master P and his parents. We met up with a lot of friends and had a fantastic time! Our friends invited over 9 other couples for a night of dinner and games, Stephanie and I are so glad that we went. No one brought a camera though, I'm kind of starting to see a theme here that we need to do a better job bringing our camera with us wherever we go!

Kai has his first day at school tomorrow. Please remember him (and his parents) in your prayers as this will be a big change for all of us!

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? - Numbers 23:19

There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel!

You know, when you start off a blog post with a super awesome picture of such a handsome young man, you really need to use good words and try to make this the most eloquently written blog post ever...either that or you just put in more pictures and not take the chance of sullying up the cool picture with inadequate words.

We just got Kai's 1 year photos taken. We have had a family picture taken at each of Kai's quarterly photo shoots. I am surely biased, but I think that the Lesnets are one good looking family!

Kai got in a fight with an end table in our family room on Friday. He and Melissa, our nanny, were chasing each other around and Kai tripped and face planted in to the table. Kai split his lip and got a bloody nose but barely cried..he's one tough hombre!



I am sure that several of you loyal readers out there are hoping for a progress report from last weekends "divide and conquer" home improvement marathon. Well, I had high hopes for the weekend but I was only able to complete the master suite. Stephanie and Kai were impressed though and that's all that really matters.

Here is kind of a before picture of our master closet. I had already removed 1 of the wire shelves but I did remember to take an "almost before" picture. That's not so bad.

Here is our master bath before weekend home makeover.

Here is the after picture of our master closet. Pretty smooth huh?"
The after shots of the master bath. Notice the snazzy new vanity lights?
Although I did not get nearly as much done as I had planned, I do know that I wouldn't have completed anything if not for all of the help that A.J. Smith gave me on Saturday. He is such a great friend and we work very well together on projects.

I did not get any of the work done in the kitchen or mud room that I had planned. It may be a little while until I get up the ambition to get started on that!

In other news, our nanny Melissa is going to start working with another family next week so this is our last week with her. We will miss her. She has done a great job with Kai. Please pray for the Indiana Lesnets as Kai starts going to school every day. This is going to be quite the transition for us and we can most definitely use the prayers.

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy - Job 8:21

Quick Update

We have been busy here in Indiana - lots of snow, then it all melted and it's going to be 60 degrees tomorrow. We did our taxes and are getting a refund :) Mom and Dad have been busy with work, but still managed to do some home improvement projects. Unfortunately, Kai has been fighting some sickness for almost 2 weeks now, but hopefully we have turned a corner.

To celebrate Valentine's Day, I will be cozying up with some paint and painting our master bedroom, bathroom and closet and possibly the kitchen and laundry room. Stephanie and Kai will be going to Ohio to visit her parents and some friends. I will hopefully have some before and after pictures to post over the weekend.

In the mean time, here are some recent pictures. Kai is an observer and likes to watch people. People in the grocery store and Menards are always trying to make him smile or laugh, and he just watches them. One person even said they felt like they were being judged on their job.

Here is Kai playing with his Little People toy he got for his birthday - he likes to pretend he is Godzilla by walking through the village knocking over buildings. He has also figured out how to press the button and make them sing the "Little People" song. He will press it for 30 minutes in a row. Mom, Dad and Melissa, the nanny; are wondering how long the batteries will actually last.



Dr. Smith helped build some awesome shelves in Kai's playroom. Kai is very thankful (and so is mom!)

Kai likes power tools and was a big help to Dr. Smith and I while we built the shelves.


This last one is from Kai's birthday weekend - our friends came over to drop off a gift and we got a cute, er...I mean manly picture of the men.

The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading. - Lamentations 2:14