Christmas is over!

All the energy put into getting ready for Christmas week and now it is over. Crazy! I am looking forward to hanging out here at home with my boys! Yeah for hanging out all morning in PJs! I am sure that you are interested in knowing how we spent our Christmas week?!

This was an interesting Christmas, as this was a our first in Ohio, in a new house and being on staff at a church. Our week started on Monday with a trip to Indiana for our annual Progressive Dinner we have with Dave's family. It is always a great time spent with family laughing and catching up on their lives. I love it because there are a bunch of kids Alex's age. It is always fun to watch him interact with his own kind!

Here is Alex with his cousin's Jack and Julia

This is Dave's cousin's son, Luke. He is 4 months older then Alex and such a cutie!

And our new cousin Katie. She is Luke's sister and is three months younger then Elijah! Oh the fun these kids are going to have together.

Dave received this hat in the gift exchange. Needless to say this picture is one of his favorites, he loves to see his boys sporting the black and gold!

Well, Tuesday we made out way back to Ohio since Dave now has responsibility at the Christmas Eve Service. My parents flew out Christmas morning to California to see my brother and sister in law for Christmas. Since they flew out of Columbus, we got them for Christmas Eve. We decided to open gifts while they were with us since we were headed back to Indiana Christmas morning. Alex had a blast opening gifts!

Alex wore himself out opening all his presents and playing with Grandpa J! He is sporting his new hat! Dave got one just life like it!

Christmas morning we loaded the car once again to head back to Indiana.

I love this picture of Jack and Eli. Oh so sweet!

Here's Millie enjoying one of her presents with her big sister Maddy.

We did stay in Indiana until Saturday before heading back to Ohio. It was good to stay in one place for a few day. But now here we are, getting back on schedule and finding places for all the new toys. We are also enjoying have Dave around this week. With the office closed, we get his company! Fun times with Dad!

A visit from Santa's raindeer!

The other Saturday, we enjoyed some family time and headed downtown for some lunch and to see raindeer! I had heard that Hoggie's (a resturant) was having real raindeer come in for the kids to see. It just so happened that Hoogie's is located just across the street from one of our new favorite places to eat. When we arrived downtown, there were no raindeer in sight. Oh well, at least we could get lunch at Gulla's Lunch and head home for naps. After we order our food, a truck and a huge trailer pull up to Hoggies (which we could see from where we were sitting). So has we ate lunch and stayed warm, we watched them unload the raindeer. Alex thought it was pretty cool. He had never seen raindeer before! After we ate we headed over for the photo opt and to see the raindeer up close. Very cool!

Open Mama Please

I will explain the title of this post after some back ground info. Tuesday night night, the family is hanging out in the kitchen making dinner and playing. Dave and I were talking and I can hear Alex in the background saying "Ball." I figured he was just playing and ignored it. Next thing I know, he is by my side saying "Mama" and points to the counter where he had thrown his ball. I was very impressed! Alex has been saying Mama for a while but never to get my attention, it was more of a label (who is that? Mama!). So for him to call me by name was HUGE! So, as any mama would do, we had a mini celebration for him to encourage him to do it again.

So after dinner, we are still hanging out in the kitchen and Alex is playing once a again with a ball! For those of you who don't know, we are currently living in a very small place, so hanging out in the kitchen for us it not hard since there is not a lot of rooms to hang out in! Anyways, our one bathroom is located off our kitchen and so Alex at times wanders in there to play with something. And since the house is so small, I can keep my eye on him while he is in there. I noticed that he was by the tub and continued with my conversation with Dave, The next thing I know, Alex is at my side saying "open, (using his sign) Mama, please (using his sign)" very clearly! This is the first time Alex has said a three word sentence to me in order to communicate something to me without being promoted to use his words and telling him which words to use (which often just produces more crying!) I knew exactly what he was asking for, he had thrown his ball into the tub and wanted me to get it out (our tub has door on it, that is were the open came from) Ohhh the party we threw for him!!! Yeah Alex.

Thanksgiving blessing

Thanksgiving is a great time to reflect on what we are thankful for. Every year I have the same basic things I can say that I am thankful for; health, family, friends, etc. This year life is a little different. I am extremely thankful for and amazed by God's faithfulness!

I am not sure how many of you are aware of the journey Dave and I have had these past few months with moving. As everyone knows that housing market right now is horrible!!! This is no time to be selling a house. So when Dave and I decided to take this new job and move, the only thing that scared us about the decision was selling our house. But we agreed that selling house was not a good enough reason not to take the job, God is in the business of miracles, right? So I figure, God would sell our house in record time and off we would go to Delaware! Boy was I wrong! But faithfully with a two year old and a new baby, I got the house ready several time for showings but not takers! Our moving date was drawing near and no takers. What happened to my miracle?

Well, a month before we were to move, a furnished apartment was offered to us at a reasonable rate that we could afford and still pay our mortgage. This way we did have to move all of our stuff and then have to figure out were to store some of it. It would have been hard to fit our stuff from a four bedroom house to a two bedroom apartment! Two weeks before our moving date I started thinking that I did not like the idea of leaving all our stuff in a vacant house. Just did not seem safe. So it came to, if only we could find someone to live here and house sit. But who would be willing to live here with all of our stuff and not sign a lease for a certain period of time? We did not want to take the house off the market. Whoever moved in needed to be able to move out when we sold the house. Within a week we found a college student (my boss's daughter) who was living at home but looking for a place to rent. We offered and she accepted. It is a great deal, she gets a get place to live for cheap, and we get someone to watch our house. So here we are in Delaware with a house in Illinois! Even though we are not there to take care of our house we now have our neighbor, our college student, her parents, and our friend who is helping us sell the place looking after it! It is being cared for by more people now then when we lived it in!

So though we have not gotten our big miracle of God selling our house in record time. He have not abandoned us. He continues to take care of us and give us all these other miracles until he is ready to give us the "big" one! I have so much to be thankful for this year! Though our family living situation is not what I ever imagined us in, we are together, happy and warm!

Christmas Parade!

Delaware Ohio loves parades. In the two months we have lived here, we have watched two parades go by our house. One for Veterans Day and the other one was this past Sunday, a Christmas parade! Alex decided not to nap that day. So, since he was just lying in his crib playing, we got him up and we went out to watch the floats go by. One group had a live camel walking behind their float! Very cool. Alex enjoyed pointing to the floats and then telling me about it. It was fun to watch him take in all the new sights. Everything is new and exciting to him. Life is so fun to watch through the eyes of a two year old.

It was like Holloween all over again. Our pockets were full of candy!

We even got this cool hat. The heart says "Jesus loves you snow much!" So cute!

And what would a Christmas Parade be with out Santa and Mrs. Clause bringing up the rear!

A big tumble

Alex is offically on the move. I think he runs everywhere. He no longer knows how to walk! There a 4 college students that live above us. They have told us how much they love to hear Alex run from one end of our apartment to the other! His second favorite thing to do is falling down, on purpose. He is just running around and then boom, he throws himself to the floor. He thinks it is so funny. Every so often it back fires on him and he get hurt. This picture is one of those times. He totally smashed his face on the floor and just started screaming. I picked him up and his lip was big and bleeding. Poor kid, he just looks pitiful! Just another moment in the life of our family.

Holloween?

So I was looking at the pictures on our camera that we had not downloaded yet and I realized that there were a few cute picture on there that I needed to show my readers!

These two are from Holloween! I was amazed that Alex loved his costume so much that the day after Boo at the Zoo, he came out of his room in the morning with his frog costume in hand and wanted to put it on. So he was a frog for the day and showed me how he jumped all day. I let him occupy his time in the sink while I made dinner. Frogs do love water and he was very wet when he was done (or when I told him he was done!)

We passed out candy to the trick or treaters this year! We decided that Alex would have more fun running around our yard with his costume then having to walk around and walk up to strangers asking for candy that he is not allowed to eat! And we were right, So the boys stayed with us and help pass out candy. We also passed out Hot Dogs to the adults. It was a big hit. Dave grilled them right there on the front porch. We think it makes for a great tradition and ministry! We had some great conversation our neighbors! This is Eli hanging out on our porch! What a cute pumpkin!

Boo at the Zoo

On Sunday, my Aunt Carol and I took our boys to the Z00. Every year the Columbus zoo invites kids to dress up and come to the z00. They have sponsors come in and pass out candy to the kids.

Alex had so much fun dressing up as a frog and hopping around. (He enjoyed it so much that Monday he wanted to wear it agian!) My mom bought Elijah's outfit. Thanks Mom! I has to get a picture of the boys before we left the house. I did not want to risk Elijah having a blow out on the way there. But he was a little tired, so to get through the photo op he needed his pacifier. It makes for a really cute picture!

Here are some pictures of the day

We had to take a train ride. I believe it was the first thing I heard Jonathon (my Aunt's son) say he wanted to do! Alex enjoyed it also, he lights up with he hears a train whistle. So this was pretty cool for a two year old!

Jonathon did such a great job with Alex. They held hands everytime they went to get candy. Alex followed Jonathon everywhere.

What a cute pumpkin

Alex feel asleep soon after we left the zoo. He even slept through Elijah screaming next to him. Elijah feel asleep also. I had a very peaceful drive home. We all sleep very well Sunday night!

New Treats for Alex

Alex enjoys cooking and baking with me. I will pull up a chair to the counter so he can be a part of cooking dinner. I let him pour things into bowls that I have measured. One night as I was cooking on the stove, He sat on the counter with his own sauce pan (not on the stove) and spoon and pretended to put salt, pepper and other spices I had out into is pan and stirred it up. He was so cute! I wish I would have taken pictures. I did get the camera out the day we made Rice Krispie Treats! He got a little bored while the marshmallows melted (so did I, it took forever), but when we put it all together, he was loving it!His attempt at stirring

The best part of baking

Then he gets to enjoy them

They are little sticky...if you look at his hands you can see that he is not sure what to do with the stickiness. Good thing they tasted good! His cheeks are full of treats. He asked for one everytime we sat at the table!

Fall Fun

So today we ventured off for our annual outing to a pumpkin farm. Last year, Alex was to young to really enjoy the fun things to do at one. We took pictures and then left. But this year was a different story, my son had so much fun! Eli was a good sport. Rode in the stroller and looked cute! Here are some pics of the boys with the pumpkins.

Alex did not stand still long enough to get many pictures of him. At least I got one good one. A two year just never stops!


















Now comes the fun. They has some fun activity for the kids. Alex loved them so much he had a hard time saying good bye to one to go to the next one.


This was called the Banana Bus. Alex rode it once by himself and then he let his Mama ride it with him. He is such a sweet boy.

Dave and Alex rode this bike. Alex thought it was pretty cool to go fast with his Dad. Dave thought is was pretty cool to go fast also! He enjoyed passing up the slower riders. There is a boy in every man!

They also has a zip line for little ones (Dave helped him ) and a slides made out of plastic tubing.

Morning with the boys

Eli woke up with morning smiling. I found him talking to his bear that hangs in his cradle! So cute!

Alex decided that he wanted to hold Eli. He has not shown much interest in this until this morning. He was determined to hold him and had a lot of fun doing it!

And down he goes

This was the best $5 I have spent at a yard sale. Hours of fun for a two year old!

I took these pictures when I should have been packing. I had a hard time packing because playing with my boys was so much more fun!

I am back

Hello blogging world!  I am writing to you from my new home in Delaware Ohio!  Dave and I made here and are very glad to be starting this new adventure here.  In a perfect world, God would have provided a buyer for our home in Chicago and we would have purchased our dream home here in Delaware!  But at least...He does not always provide in ways that is convenient to me.  Our house still has a For Sale sign in it's front yard, but God did provide us with a wonderful place to live that we can afford with a mortgage.  I will have to post some pictures here soon!  We have someone living in out house in Chicago to watch over our stuff we left and to help with some of the cost.  I think it will be good for the house also, it is not good for a house to sit empty.  How about some updates......

Dave:  Is officially working with the Youth.  He gave his first talk to the Youth Group on Sunday!   The commute to his office is wonderful....just 5 minutes with traffic! He is enjoying seeing the boys more often.  He has been around every morning this week when Alex as gotten up.  We all get to sit at our Kitchen table and eat breakfast together.    

Alex:  I can not ask God for a better kid!  He has adjusted very well for a two year old.  He says more and more words and continues to tell you stories in gibberish that only he knows.  Sometimes his arm movements will give me a clue about what he is talking about, but for the most part I just listen, smile and say "OH Really!"  His favorite past time right now is to pull my shoes out of the closet and put them on!  Very cute!

Eli:  He is already 3 months old!  I can not believe it.  He is holding is head up and loves tummy time.  I pulled out his 3-6 mos clothing and he is already almost out grown some of the clothes! He is so long.  He is fighting his first cold that he got from his brother!  Alex is learning to share!  Eli is a happy boy, loves to smile, laugh and talk!

Me:  I am looking forward to meeting fellow women at our new church.  I think I will start going to a Bible study next week!  I am ready to start working again, so I will be needing to apply for an Ohio License here soon.  I am very excited to find out where God wants me to work.  I am leaving my options open!  But I think the thing I am most looking forward to....getting rid of the boxes I am living with!

Bigger news!

Can you believe, we have bigger news then a new baby! Some of you already are aware of our bigger news but there are some out there that we have not talked to for awhile that have no idea of our news. What is that news, you maybe asking yourself??? We are moving!!!! Can you believe it? About a month ago, Dave accepted a Youth Director position at the Delaware Grace Brethren Church in Delaware Ohio (just north of Columbus). I am moving back to the Home Land! For those who do not know, I grew up in Akron and have family in the Columbus area. We are excited that our kids will grow up around family (the free babysitting sounds great also)!

Talk about timing?! We were not looking for a change, but the position fell in our laps and we could not pass it up. We are very excited about the church and the opportunity we will have to serve God with them! We love the church and feel a part of their family already! It is up in the air of when we are moving. We are waiting to see when Wheaton Academy hires someone for Dave position and the sale of our house! Please be praying for us, we would like to be out there as soon as possible!

Are they brothers?

Alexander Eloy
7lbs 8ozs
Blue eyes

Elijah David
8lbs 12ozs
Brown eyes
(I am pretty sure)

Morning with the boys!

What a week! We survived our first week home! My mom was up to help which was wonderful. I was able to focus on what Elijah needed and not have to worry about what Alex was doing!
How great it is to watch Alex interact with Eli. In the mornings, Dave would go and get Alex up and they would come back to our bed and we would play for awhile before heading down stairs. I really enjoyed those times with Alex! Here are some great picture of one of our mornings!
It is really fun. Alex is starting to increase is vocab from two words (ball , up) to a few words. He will get an Eli out...it is really cute. Alex loves to point our Eli's eyes, nose, mouth, ears, belly, and hair! He has never paid attention to babies but he is enamored by Eli.

Elijah David has arrived!

Well, he's finally here. Elijah David Pacheco was born at 9:59 a.m. on 7.8.08. He weighed 8lbs. 12oz. and was 20.75 inches long. I'm sure we'll write more later, but I should get back to the hospital. So for now, here are just a few pictures of our new little guy.

What an angel!!!












Alex loves to point at his new baby brother.













Overall, he did not enjoy his first bath...













...but oh did he love to get his hair washed and his head massaged!!!













It was a long day for both Elijah and Mommy.

This is the day......

Well, today is July 8th and no labor. I tried several things to get things started (spicy food, walking, hot showers, and begging my Dr. to just try anything!) but apparently God has other things planned for this kid and that plan includes a C-Section for him. So, Dave and I will be off in about 20mins for the hospital. We need to be there by 7:30. Into the OR by 9:30 and by 10:00 I will be a mother of two! Dave will be coming home tonight to put Alex to bed, he will hopefully post some pictures for you to see!

Look out below!

If you have been watching the weather in the Midwest for the past few weeks, you know that we have been hit with a lot of storms. One night one of the storms gave us a little present in our front yard. Dave and I went to get Alex up in the morning and I opened the blind in his room to find half our tree laying across our yard. We ran outside to see what the damage was. The amazing thing, the tree fell in the only place to not damage anything. It came down perfectly between our house and our neighbors house!
Our dilemma became how do we get rid of it! We do not own any equipment to cut it up, nor did we want to spend an arm and a leg having professionals take it away. So, Dave went to work and talked with some co-workers who could help and I found out from the city what they were willing to come and take away. That night, we were outside playing with Alex and discussing our plan of attack, when our new neighbor, who happend to have a wood chipper that day to take some trees out of his yard, came over to see if we needed some help. We of course said "yes!" Within 20 min, Dave and him had everything chopped up, chipped up, cleaned up and he was pulling away. I would love to say that God answered our prayers, but Dave and I never prayed about it....He just provided for his children!