Expired Plates & Worship Team Rehearsal

Dave here. This is the sticker for my Cirrus that we got in the mail after renewing our license plates online. However, I tucked them away and did not put them on our cars right away. Over Thanksgiving, our friend Steve, who we stayed with in Akron said that his neighbor said, "You've got company from Illinois? You'd better tell them their licence plate is expired." First of all, that's a perceptive, if not nosy, neighbor. Thankfully, we never got pulled over without the new orange sticker on. I just put it on last night before I went to Worship Team Rehearsal.

I've been very fortunate to get involved with the Crossroads Community Church worship team. There are some amazingly talented musicians and singers that enjoy making music to glorify Christ, and to lead our congregation in corporate worship on Sundays. It's really been a blessing. Last night, we had rehearsal down in Len's basement. I've attached a few pictures.....some of you may recognize a few of the guys if you helped us move this past summer. If you didn't help us move, shame on you!


LtoR: Len, Michael & Eric


LtoR: Eric, Amber & Kristi


John

The Tryptophan Has Kicked In!

We're all tired. Alex is crying as I type. It was a good day though. Alex slept through his first Thanksgiving Day meal, but we at least put his bib on him to get a picture. He met so many new relatives today!

Great Grandma Miller


Great Grandpa Miller


Cousin Josh


Aunt Nancy


Cousin Joanna


Tio Eloy & Tia Patsy


Cousins Bryan & Tammy


New relatives that Alex met who aren't pictured are Uncle Steve, Cousin Ben and Cousin Matthew. We had a lot of good food, fellowship and football. We even completed a Thanksgiving Ven Diagram. It was a great day with family and we look forward to more fun in Columbus starting tomorrow. Good night!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Wednesday night, 11/22/06 and Esther and I have arrived in Akron, OH. We are going to spend Thanksgiving day with Esther's mom's family and then on Saturday we will be with Esther's dad's family in Columbus. On our way home to Naperville, we will stop for a few hours in Winona Lake at my parent's house.

Alex did a great job on the trip today. Lead-foot dad got the family to Akron in 7 hours, including a 40 minute stop for lunch. That was the only time we stopped....he's such a good traveler.

We are staying at Steve and Melissa Yoak's house. Melissa and Esther went to high school together and have remained close friends. Natalie Yoak is 1 year old and Esther has already tabbed Natalie as a possible life partner for Alex. WHOOAAAA!
Slow down there little lady! Anyway, we had fun playing with both of them tonight, but now they're both off in dreamland.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. Give thanks, because He's given Jesus Christ, His son!

Black & Gold defeat the Brownies

In what could be considered an underwhelming match-up this season, the Steelers sent the Browns to the bottom of the AFC Central division with a 24-20 victory. Esther was in tears....Dave was gloating....Alex was drooling....it was quite the emotional Sunday afternoon at the Pacheco household. Below is the transcript of Dave and Esther's conversation immediately after the outcome was decided.

E: Why do the Browns cause so much pain?
D: What are you talking about, they always make Steelers fans happy.
E: I'm talking about their own fans, we are always in pain.
D: Hey, did you know the Steelers won the Superbowl last year?
E: Yes, when did the Browns win their last Superbowl?
D: Never, the Steelers have won 5.
E: Oh really? Are you ever in pain because of your team?
D: No, we've won 5 Superbowls.....there is no pain. Why don't you
make the switch?
E: I don't like pain....GO STEELERS!

Well, it's official, the Black & Gold have a new fan. Welcome Esther!

Snip Snip

Can you believe, at 14 weeks our son needed a hair cut. For the past few weeks, everytime we gave Alex a bath I (Esther) would comb his hair and think "The boy is looking more and more like a girl, He needs a hair cut!" So I finally called and made him an appointment. I would have done it myself only I was afraid that I would snip him instead of just his hair! He did a great job. He was the youngest baby the stylist had ever done. I guess not a lot of 3 month olds are getting their hair cut. Now Alexander looks like a two year old!!!


Look how long his hair was!!!! I could have put it in a pony tail.


Some kids are more attached to their hair then others...he was a little sad to see his curls go....or was that mom????


"I am handsome now!!!"



Alexander is now ready for Thanksgiving. We are going to Akron, Ohio on Thursday to eat Turkey with his Grandma Robinson's family and then we are heading Columbus on Saturday to eat turkey to his Grandpa Robinson's family. Alexander needs to be looking his best before he meets some family members for the first time. He is very excited...we talk about it every morning!

Alex Likes Bath Time!

Dave here. We have gotten into a good routine with bathtime at night. His face is priceless when we first lower him into the water. It's a mixture of wonder, enjoyment, and uncertainty. Whatever it is it's cute.

These are a couple of pictures from last night of Alex and his crazy hair. When he's in the bath, he just sort of "soaks" it all in. He is very content in the bath, and yet he doesn't smile a lot. He just sits there and enjoys the massaging shampoo and soap. Afterwards, he's all smiles.

We enjoy bathtime right along with him. He's learning the night routine, which has made our lives easier and happier. Tonight, he went right to sleep with no fussing.

In response to Esther's previous post...."Browns Won".....apparently she was not talking about any past Superbowls.....OUCH!!!! Go STEELERS!!!!

Browns Won!!!

For those who do not know...there is a conflict in our marriage. I grew up in Northern Ohio and therefore am a Cleveland Browns fan and Dave jumped the bandwagon back when the Steelers where winning Superbowls and became a Steelers fan. Now for those who keep up on Football, you know that Steeler fans and Browns fans do not get along. The picture I have posted is a picture of my husband encouraging our son to follow the black and gold. I can not believe I allow it!!! We have fun with it!!

3 Months Old!

Our little guy is 3 months old today. We celebrated by letting him cuddle with us in bed this morning when he got up. We also celebrated by sending Dad to the grocery store. We continued the celebration by taking him to Red Lobster for dinner. He wanted to go there....it wasn't our first choice, but we suffered through it, what with all the Cheddar Biscuits they throw at you....it's just disgusting. The celebration culminated with a bath during which Esther bonked his head on the bottom of the cupboard....no blood....no tears....no foul! It was quite the celebration today.

We're so happy that he's eating well, sleeping well and growing strong. He is cooing(sp)up a storm now. When we hold him against our chest facing away from us, he will move his head back and look up so he is looking straight up at us, and then he'll just start to "talk" away. It's quite cute. What a gift from God!

Silent Auction......I'll Bid For You

For those of you that do not know, I work at Wheaton Academy, a private Christian high school in West Chicago, IL. We have a Silent Auction coming up next week to raise funds for our student scholarship fund, as well as the Zambia Project, which is a student-led initiative that over the past four years, has raised over $400,000 to help an AIDS ravaged people in the country of Zambia. Anyway, I put together the booklet for the evening. You can view the items portion of the booklet by going to http://www.wheatonacademy.org/AuctionItems.pdf. We've got a lot of good items, and I'd be happy to bid on some items for you if you let me know which ones and the max amount you'd be willing to pay. All the proceeds will go to the two great causes listed above. Have a super day......Dave.

It was a good night

Around 4:00 in the morning, by body starts to wake up for the routine early morning feeding. But this morning, as I laid there waiting for my son to call me through the monitor, I heard a strange thing....SILENCE! I think Dave went in twice to make sure he was still breathing. Alex feel asleep last night around 8:15 and did not wake up until 7:30. And the best part, he woke up in a good mood. I love to go in and get him in the morning. He is full of smiles!! I should have taken a picture of it and shared it with you.

First Dr.'s Visit for Alex

Esther took Alex to see Dr. Pector today (pictured here with our jolly Naperville mayor, George Pradel). He has a cold, a fever and a rash on his cheeks. The Doctor said the rash is due to baby oil. Isn't that ironic......a lot of babies have reactions to baby oil. How does Johnson & Johnson get repeat customers? Anyway, Alex did not take to kindly to the nurse practitioner poking and prodding him. He was pretty whiny the rest of the day. He cried and cried when we tried to put him to sleep, but after some timely singing and gentle rocking from dad, he finally fell asleep at about 8:15 and we haven't heard a peep since. Here's to hoping he stays that way.

My friend from Warsaw, Brian Aust, came over at around 9:15. He is staying with us for a couple of nights as he is in the Chicago area for some training with Intervarsity. He works at his alma mater, Purdue. He and his wife, Sarah, just had a little girl....Lauren. We are guessing she will be one of Alex's first "girlfriends."

Just for the record, I'm in second place in my FBL (Fantasy Basketball League) after the first week of action. You probably don't care, but it's my blog so it got posted. Have a great day and hug your loved ones if you can!

Boring Day? I think not!

Esther woke up today with a sore throat, so she and our crusty-nosed Alex stayed home from church this morning. Alex has had a little bit of a cold, so they just took it easy. I sang in the worship team at church this morning, which makes for a long day. Since Crossroads Community Church meets at a high school, and there is a pretty elaborate setup, we have a lot of tear down to do. I get there at 7:00am and don't leave until about 1:00 pm. We sounded great this morning, if I do say so myself. :) It was a good service all around with Pastor Daren talking about faithfulness....especially in prosperity.

So then I stop on the way home from church to buy Esther some grape juice, because I learned from my Mom that grape juice chases away any cold. Let's hope she's right. Esther made a Pizza Hut style chicken club pizza for lunch which we quickly demolished when I got home. I held Alex most of the day because Esther didn't want him to get her sore throat. He didn't nap well today, but he went down at about 8:00 tonight without any fuss. WHOO-HOO!!! He's been such a good kid.

I watched a lot of football today....especially my Steelers going down in flames this year. Apparently the Super Bowl rings are a little heavy to lug around. Esther scrapbooked about 482 pages tonight. She said, and I quote, "I'm on a roll tonight." I immediately thought about Cinnabon's, but that's for a different post.
Until next time, may you draw closer to Christ!

Oh, and as for the picture at the top....it's just one we took several weekends ago in Columbus, OH. It is Alex with his Great Grandpa Robinson! I figured the picture might actually get you to read this. :)

Cyber-Idiots

Dave here.....well, the blog experiment has hit an early snag. We apparently can't upload pictures anymore. We'll get it all ironed out and be pixel-ing again in no time. I've had a long week at work & church. I've been leaving at 7:00 everyday and Monday did not get home until about 8:00 and last night I did not get home until 10:00. I was at work this evening at 5:30 after an afternoon full of meetings and I just thought that I had not seen my son awake this week, except for about 10 minutes when I got home on Monday. I just quit what I was doing and said it could wait until the morning. It was good to eat dinner with Esther and Alex. We had Chili and Corn Bread from Trader Joe's. Esther said, "I ate way too much corn bread." She's apparently not feeling well. I think it's the raw cookie dough she's eaten lately.......but that's for a different blog entry. We've had our share of milk and cookies lately. Well, Alex is crying himself to sleep, I'm blogging and Esther is watching The Biggest Loser. Hopefully she'll let me catch the end of the Bulls game. Later!

Could it be????

Over the past month, Dave and I have been told that our son looks like Suri Cruise (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' daughter) Is it possible, could Suri look like our son (maybe b/c his mom looks like Katie Holmes??)



















Keep in mind...one picture was professionally done and the other one was Mom done!!