Still Warm in November

We were blessed to end yet another busy work week with an amazing weekend!

Kai had breakfast for dinner one evening. Pancakes for dinner...yummy!!
The really really ridiculously good weather was back again this weekend. Also here this weekend was Grandpa and Grandma Eridon.

Grandpa and Grandma got to our place at a little after 4 on Friday afternoon. Stephanie and Kai were already home that day because Kai spiked a fever at school and she had to go and pick him up. Kai fought off whatever was causing that fever real fast and was his normal hyper self all weekend long.

Grandpa Eridon and I went to the Michigan State versus Purdue football game bright and early on Saturday morning. We took Trevor and Matt along with us and had another successful tailgate. We had some Irish Banger Sausage with scrambled egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches with brewskies for breakfast and continued to enjoy some great food, drink, and cornhole until kickoff. We also enjoyed the first 3 quarters of the football game until the good guys squandered an 11 point 4th quarter lead to lose by 3.

Here are the boys right before we left for West Lafayette.
While the old dudes were gone; Grandma and Stephanie took Kai down to the Indianapolis Zoo. They had a very good time enjoying the amazing weather and the very cool animals.While they were at the zoo, they ran in to the Miller triplets and Casey Burnett along with their dads. Here is a super awesome picture of Kai with the triplets during the dolphin show.
The rest of the weekend was filled with hang time.

Kai read some stories to Grandpa and Grandma:He got a piano lesson from his Grandma.
Kai helped Grandpa build a huge tower out of legos.

Weekends are always amazing but weekends with stellar weather and grandparents are even better. We finished our weekend by hosting our small group from church. We have an amazing group and we so enjoy their company. I turned down Patriots versus Colts tickets to stay here and hang out...that should tell you something.

When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof. - Deuteronomy 22:8

Sunny and 70...in November?

Isn't it funny how most beautiful days seem to be on a week day when many folks are holed up in offices looking out the window and dreaming about being outside instead of trapped inside? Well, God threw us a nice curve ball this time and saved some of the best November weather you'll ever see here in Central Indiana for the weekend! Our normal highs this time of year are in the low 50's but the last few days have seen sunny skies and highs near 70! Us Indiana Lesnets aren't the types to stay inside on days like that so we were outside as much as possible and had a great time!!

Our week leading up to this fantastic weekend was definitely action packed and I would be remiss to skip telling everyone all about it. On Tuesday, we all had to get up super early because Kai's buddy Master P was being dropped off super early so that we could take him to school. His parents were on their way to the hospital to have a baby boy...or at least they thought that they were going to have a boy. So now Kai's partner in crime, Master P, is now the proud big brother of a little sister whom we will affectionately refer to from here on out as Special K. The Indiana Lesnets feel very blessed that we were able to help our good friends on such a memorable day!

Now, on to our action packed weekend...

One of our Saturday traditions is hanging our Purdue flag on our front porch on game day. Kai loves doing this and gets very excited when we come in to his room on Saturday and tell him that its game day. We dressed him in his Purdue football jersey, raised the flag, headed off to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast (kiddos eat for free on Saturday mornings there), then off to the zoo!

Here is Mom and Kai with the elephants. See the elephant in the back ground cheesing for the camera...those silly elephants!

Kai and daddy growling like lions by the lion cage.
Here is Kai face to face with Nereus the walrus at the zoo. Nereus has an amazing story as he was orphaned in the wild and raised at the Indianapolis Zoo. He is known for interacting with the kids who come to see him.

We got home from the zoo in time for the kickoff of the Purdue versus Michigan football game. It was a very exciting game with the Boilers pulling out a win at The Big House for the first time since the 60's.On Saturday night, Stephanie and I went out with some friends for dinner then ran some errands while Kai stayed home with a sitter. I think that counts as a date...

Today (Sunday) was even more beautiful than Saturday. It started off great with a fantastic sermon at church. Genesis puts their sermons on the web, you can check out the sermons by clicking here. After church we went home for a some naps but I shunned the nap and headed to the links for a few holes of golf.


While I was out golfing, Stephanie and Kai went down to see Master P and Special K. Special K has her days and nights a little out of whack as most newborn babies do, so Stephanie took the boys down to the park and then back to our house for a little while so the new parents could have a few moments of peace.

The boys liked playing with the pumpkins that are still on our front porch.
The boys were happy when I got home from the course because they wanted to get in a little practice with my clubs out in the yard. Stephanie was glad to see me because the boys were starting to get a little grumpy and she needed a wing man!

Seldom set foot in your neighbor's house— too much of you, and he will hate you. - Proverbs 25:17

I Do It!

Today is November first. We don't have a lot of new news to share with this post but we do have some good Halloween pictures.

Back on October 20th, Kai's school had its annual Fall Festival where they decorated the school for Halloween and all the kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes. They did a very good job decorating and setting up games. Kai rocked his tiger costume and tore up the ring toss game!


After the Fall Festival, Kai and I played with Kiki out in the yard. She sure is a patient pup!!
On the weekend of October 24th, I was to go to Las Cruces to spend the weekend and play golf with my friend John. Unfortunately on the day that I was to fly down there a tanker truck exploded at one of the busiest intersections in town which forced hundreds of people to miss their flights at the airport. Since I was flying stand by I was unable to get out on the flight that I had planned on taking and did not make the trip. My golf clubs however did make the trip and were able to spend a few days in sunny El Paso, Texas.

Kai's vocabulary is growing so quickly. He continues to add words daily and has started putting together some short sentences like "I do it", "I love you daddy", "daddy sit", "Kiki what?", and many others that I need to keep better track of.

Yesterday was Halloween and Kai sported his Tiger outfit and went Trick or Treating with his buddy Master P.
Here is a Lesnet family photo. Do you notice that dad dressed up as a Tiger too? If you did then good for you because no one in our neighborhood seemed to pick up on it.
As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his pouch of silver (or candy)! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. Genesis 42:35

Indianapolis Zoo Boo

Today was a good day.

We started off the day at church where our pastor talked to us about being more service oriented. I guess that is the kind of sermon you would expect from him since he just returned from Haiti. Serving those in need is really a family theme for us as Stephanie and I met while working together serving children in need on Indy's near East side. We are very excited to see how God uses our church to help those with needs in Central Indiana (which is everybody).

After church, we had some fantastic homemade breakfast burritos. Here is a link to the recipe n The Pioneer Woman's website so that you can make them yourself...yummy!!! Kai took a nap after brunch for a couple of hours then we were off to the Indianapolis Zoo for Zoo Boo.

We are zoo members and this is one of the included perks of being a member (although you don't have to be a member to go to ZooBoo). We had a great time and we will be going back next year and the year after that and the year after that and...well, you get the idea.

We ran in to Kai's buddy Master P right at the entrance. Master P is on the left and he is dressed up as a old time golfer and Kai is the tiger on the right.

We got a few more pictures around the zoo with the boys together. Here they are checking out a giant rabbit.
Here they are with some old dude.

A family photo of the Indiana Lesnets at Zoo Boo.

Kai wanted his picture taken with a real tiger. Its hard to tell them apart, but Kai is the one that I'm holding and the real tiger is in the cage.

With hooks they pulled him into a cage and brought him to the king of Babylon. They put him in prison, so his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel. Ezekiel 19:9

A long week, but a great weekend!

There are a few things that parents should never be without. Of course, there are many and more than my list here, but here are some items that come to mind:

1. A washer and dryer
2. Hot water
3. An emergency babysitter
4. A muzzle for unruly children

Well, this week we had times when we were without any of these things (we still haven't secured a good call at any time babysitter...one of several disadvantages of living in a different state than both sets of grandparents and all aunts).

On Monday, our washing machine and dryer were moved from our laundry room to our garage as the contractors started the work on fixing up the water damage caused by some faulty installation of our new set that we bought on July 4th weekend. Our contractor(s) did a great job and finished up everything in just a few days.

On the day that our contractor(s) were finishing up, we were blessed because we had a hard time finding the wall paint for the contractor to use for paint touch ups. Not being able to find things is always frustrating and is rarely a blessing but sometimes God uses these types of delays to save our bacon. Stephanie and I had both been down to the basement searching for the paint a few times and weren't able to find it. I gave up and decided to take Kai to school and continue on in to the office. After I left, Stephanie went back down to look one more time and saw that our water heater was leaking (she also found the paint). The water was really spewing out but she was able to contain the water with towels before it damaged any of our awesomely finished basement. That day we were also blessed by our awesome plumber friend who came out and replaced our (under warranty) water heater before we got home from work.

That same day, Kai got bit at school. We didn't witness the incident, but the story goes something like this; he was on the climber at school and a little girl wanted to get on there. Our speed demon, Kai didn't move fast enough for her so she leaned over and bit him. His teachers have taken the oath of silence and therefore won't tell us who bit him, but we asked him about it that night and he said "Audrey" "bit" "No, No", so we think it was Audrey. He was injured in the incident as she drew some blood but he's a quick healer and the tooth mark is almost gone.

A little comic relief to the biting story is that when Kai says "bit", it sounds a lot like "b*tch". He continues to tell us about "Audry bit" and it just cracks his dad up.

On Thursday, I picked Kai up from school and he had a lot of waxy discharge around his right ear. Of course, us rookie parents freaked out and assumed that his tube had come out and that we were going to have to get those redone. We tried to make an appointment to see his pediatrician on Friday but they are just packed with flu patients so we took a deep breath, relaxed, and called Kai's otolaryngologist. They said that the discharge was normal, that he had an ear infection and that the tubes were doing their job by letting that junk drain out. They called us in a prescription for some ear drops and he's doing great!

On Friday, Grandpa Lesnet came down to visit us for the weekend. Kai was elated to see him and gave him a hug right away (our boy is not a hugger)! Grandpa brought down some gifts from him and grandma including a new raincoat. Kai does not like wearing coats but he loves this one! Last weekend Kai would not wear his coat (it was cold), so Stephanie had a great "mom" moment. After the third time of Kai unzipping his coat and leaving it on the driveway, she put it on him backwards, and zipped it up. Kai did not like the hood in his face or the zipper on his back. She turned it around and he kept it on the rest of the afternoon.

Kai loves his new fireman coat and wore it all weekend.

Grandma and Grandpa Lesnet also gave him a great new toolbox and I'm not sure who had more fun playing with the tools - Grandpa or Kai.On Saturday, Chad took grandpa and several other friends (Trevor, James, and Eugene) to Purdue for some Big Ten football. We had a great tailgate complete with pancakes, beer, sausage, beer, burgers, beer, Hawaiian brats, beer, and beer (really not that much beer). We also enjoyed the game as Purdue whipped Ohio State!

Stephanie and Kai had a great Saturday hanging out without Grandpa Lesnet and I. They went to the Farmers Market and for a walk with friends. Kai wore his new Superman shirt and really wanted to get some pictures in it. Kai takes great pictures all the time but good photos are so much easier when he asks you to take pictures of him.

Cheese!!

Kai was so glad to see me when we got back from the game that he tackled me and wouldn't let me up.

Here's what Kai looks like from my perspective when he's sitting on my chest.
Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them. - Amos 9:3

Kiki Run Away??

This past Tuesday (10/13) was a sleepless night here at the Indiana Lesnet estate as Kai woke up terrified that Kiki had ran away.

He was completely inconsolable and just kept saying "Kiki run away?" over and over. Kiki had not run away and was doing a great job sleeping through all the commotion. She was pretty irritated when we kept calling her to us to prove to our young son that his precious beagle was safe and sound at home. Kiki received no sympathy from Stephanie and I though as she sleeps all day long!

Kiki is a great dog but is a lot of work. She is a lot more work than Kai and we have thought about giving her away several times. She is great with Kai though and he loves her very much.

I think that this picture is worth more than 1,000 words, it shows pretty clearly why Kiki is going to continue to be a part of our family.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. - 1 Corinthians 13:4

Rock-Tober!

Holy smokes is it chilly outside here in Central Indiana these days! The average temps in this area this time of year are in the low 70's and I don't think its climbed over 55 degrees for over a week and the lows are hovering just above freezing. Throw in a lot of rain and most folks just choose to stay inside...but of course the Indiana Lesnets play outside no matter what.

Stephanie ditched us last weekend to spend some time down in Brown County, Indiana with a bunch of her friends while Kai and I (Kiki too) held down the fort up here in Noblesville. Kai and I did great (more on that to come) and Stephanie had a great time hanging out with her friends for a much needed girls weekend. She wanted me to add in that they "had a wonderful time celebrating friendships and that her friends are amazing women" (I agree that her friends are amazing).

October is a very busy time for both of us at work as it is time to once again close out the quarterly books and report the numbers to the SEC. Unfortunately, we are also running out of food in the freezer. In order to help get us through the busy time and restock our chest freezer with yummy meals, Stephanie's sister Jessica came to visit for part of the weekend and did our freezer cooking for the next several months. She also had watched Kai while I got in some time at the office on Saturday. We are very thankful for Aunt Jessica and her culinary skills.

Here is Kai tickling the ivories in his old man pajamas. I personally think that old man pajamas look stellar when they are covered with basketball dunking gorillas! Would you agree?

Kai and I went to McDonald's for breakfast while mom was gone.

On Sunday, the boy and I went shopping and got some new toys for Kai. I was on a mission to get Kai a basketball hoop for his basement playroom but we picked up a set of golf clubs and some legos instead. Toys-R-Us is celebrating "Block-tober" this month and have all of their blocks on sale and I just can't resist a bargain. Kai loves these new toys, especially the legos. He has kept us on his toes with the golf clubs as he hits mom, dad, Kiki, the wall, and whatever else he can reach along with the golf balls.

Stephanie took Kai to the doctor this week as he had / has a ugly sounding cough. He was diagnosed with croup (he's better now) and found out that he now weighs 28 pounds. He has grown a lot these past couple of months and has caught up with and passed many of his friends.

Kai's vocabulary is also growing quickly these days. I really need to get a little better at keeping track of his words but here are a few that stick out. He knows some colors, specifically black, blue, and yellow. He says animal, blanket, Kai (sometimes if you ask him his name he'll tell you). Thankfully he hasn't picked up any questionable language yet but I'm sure its just a matter of time.

Kai is also doing some cool new stuff. He is learning yoga at school which is pretty neat but Stephanie and I don't know much about Yoga poses, I guess we will learn. Kai has outgrown his size 7 shoes and is now in a size 8. He is still a mommas boy but is happiest when all 3 of us are together. He is also a fantastic hugger and has started giving squeezes if you ask. I love being a dad!!

Although he is growing up very quickly, he only gets to drive on the weekends.

Now on to this weekend (er, I guess today).

This morning we started the day with a pancake breakfast. Stephanie has a great recipe for blueberry banana pancakes that are fantastic (the secret ingredient is almond butter). After breakfast we went to the farmer's market right here in Noblesville. We picked up some mums, pumpkins, mustard, barbecue sauce, and some apple butter.

After the farmers market, we went to Stony Creek Farms Pumpkin Festival. While we were there Kai:

Rode a pony
Went on a hay ride (we refused to ride the one with the green tractor...us Lesnets are red tractor folks)
Spent some time in the pumpkin patch
Stopped for a few photo opsOn that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. - Zechariah 14:6

Cheese

We have had some feedback from our last blog post, and that feedback is that my writing is a lot better when accompanied by photos.

So, with this post, I am going to merely caption photos...it will probably be our most popular one yet.

Kai really wanted his picture taken on the evening that this was taken. He kept asking for more and saying "cheese" at the camera. Taking pictures like this is much easier.

We bought Kai a tricycle. His legs aren't quite long enough to pedal it yet but he loves it anyway.

Here is Kai and daddy making monkey noises.
When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. - Exodus 33:4

If You Could Vacation Anywhere in the World?

I bet you would choose to vacation right here in Central Indiana. Well, the Indiana Lesnets agree with you 100% and will be spending the next week vacationing right here in the Greater Indianapolis area. I will give you all a preview of this little stay-cation so that you can be jealous all week of the cool things that we will be doing.



We're starting off this weekend with cleaning up the garage. Currently it is not a super clean, organized, eat off the floor type garage that any man would be proud of...in fact, it is pretty much the opposite of that right now. It is currently storing some items from the other house, has floors that haven't been washed for years, and has no decent organizing system. All of that is about to change...stay tuned for some before and after pictures.



On Monday, Stephanie and Kai are going to have a play date in the morning. I may get in a tee time (this is vacation, right!). On Monday evening, we are planning on doing a little landscape maintenance. A light day of vacationing!



On Tuesday, Kai has a follow up appointment for his ear tube surgery in the morning. After that we will head down to either the zoo or the Children's Museum. Stephanie is going to have a dinner with her buddies. Ahh, nice relaxing day!



On Wednesday, we are back to the garage as we're getting some new garage organizing items. Also, we are planning on spending some time straightening our planning desk in our kitchen and our home office. I think that everyone has their "dirty secret" areas of their home and now our secret is out...our planning desk and our office are pretty neglected!

Thursday is a free day and Friday is a day to work on our basement.

Our weekend is filled with a trip to the zoo on Saturday and a house warming party (which is during the Purdue vs. Notre Dame game) which will be amazing! Sunday both Stephanie and I will be teaching Sunday School at church and then we have small group at our house on Sunday evening...back to work on Monday morning!

We'll see how we do! Lets keep our fingers crossed for some good weather!

And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:3

Whew! What a Crazy Couple Weeks!!

This week has been a week of much rejoicing as we finally SOLD (signed, sealed, and delivered) the first Indiana Lesnet Homestead that we purchased right before we were married. Those of you who know us personally know how much stress this house has caused us through our 2 separate "lease to buy" sales. Two days after we were finally able to put it on the MLS open market, we had an accepted offer! The Lord blessed us with amazing friends who helped us get it ready for sale and list the home and were again blessed with such a quick non-contingent offer. Here is a photo of the home, it was a great house but it will not be missed.Kai has really been on a tear learning new words since his ear tube surgery. He has some great ones like; airplane, bike, amen, and animal. I guess that learning new words is a lot easier when you can actually hear them...what a concept!

It is hard to believe that summer is really officially over since today is Labor Day. We have tried to make the most of it with a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo (we skipped church to go...shhh, don't tell anyone) with Master P and his folks. It was great to go with them as they go quite a bit and were able to show us around. We had a fun time there and we will most definitely be going back as we are not only clients of the zoo but now we are members.

In additon to the zoo, we attended a chuch picnic for child care workers and Sunday school volunteers at Forest Park right here in Noblesville. The park is amazing, it has a "Tom Thumb" miniature golf course, sweet playground equipment, swimming pool, shelters with grills and volleyball sand lots, picnic areas, tennis courts, horseshoe pits, the "Little Beauty" Carousel and the Indiana Transportation Museum. The fellowship with our church friends was great but there was an added bonus of discovering such an amazing park right in our back yard. Oh yeah, Kai rode the carousel but was a little scared and had a white knuckle grip on his pony. After the ride was over he wanted to go again though...our little thrill seeker!

Last week Kai and I were able to spend a little manly quality time together as mom ditched us for a few days to go to Boston for "work". We did great without her but we were most definitely glad to have her back.

Kai's school was closed on Friday so that the teachers could have an in-service day. That sounds a lot more like a 4 day weekend to me, but sure...in-service, why not! This week we were blessed to have Auntie Jessica come down and hang out with Kai while school was closed and mommy and daddy went to work. She said that watching our little angel was easy but Kiki was a pain in the booty. Yep, it looks like Kiki is an equal opportunity pain in the booty!

We went to the Purdue football season opener on Saturday and Kai had a great time. He lasted through one quarter and two minutes into the second quarter. I think he could have made it longer but the good guys were up 21-0 over Toledo so he smelled a rout and wanted to go walk around campus instead. He enjoyed the big crowd and all of the noises and sights (especially the train whistle and the Boiler Up cheer). He also really likes his new Purdue fooball jersey.

We then drove straight to the Toledo area (a little irony) to see Stephanie's family and enjoyed some family time. We had this on the calendar for a while as Aunt Kathy and Leah were scheduled to come in to town from Washington state for a while but their plans changed. Hopefully they will be able to come soon as we had a great weekend together and enjoyed the holiday.

Kai would like to once again thank Sam who let him borrow his Cozy Cruiser for the weekend. He loves this "bike" and spent hours driving up and down grandpa and grandma's driveway.

The above picture shows Kai and his grandpa playing with some blocks. This picture is great but you need to notice Kai's threads. He is in a Detroit Tigers outfit that his grandpa bought for him when he was at Comerica Park for a Cleveland versus Detroit baseball game. Grandpa is a big Cleveland fan but he clearly loves his grandson much more than his Indians...such a big softie!

So that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor. - Job37:7