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!

The pictures I promised

Alex has really enjoyed playing on playgrounds this summer. He has a hard time keeping up with the older kids, but laughs when he see them run by!

Alex is attempting to walk down the stairs all by himself. He would not let me help him. I did have to remind him a few times to hang on, but he did a good job! He has done it few times at home. I now have to watch him a little closer when he is on the stairs.

Nine more days

With just a few weeks to go, I am getting bored around this house. It is hard to do much house work and I just do not feel like just sitting around and doing nothing. What what do I do???? Well Alex and I are spending time having fun! I figured that my one on one times with him will be very limited soon. So I will take advantage of the time I have.
Last week we went to a zoo! This was not a big zoo, it is just a local free zoo. We went early in the morning before there were a lot of kids around and Alex just wondered around. After we saw all the animals, we went the playground next to the zoo and played! Here are some pictures of our morning!

Here is Alex showing you the ducks

We were looking that baby peacocks. He always has something to say! We just do not know what the something is!

There was a huge turkey in this display. But the shade was to dark I could not get Alex and the turkey in. But it is still a cute picture of Alex

I will post playground pictures later!!

Five more weeks

Dave and I have often been asked if Alex has any idea about the coming baby, and my response has been "he has no clue." But this week Alex has shown me other wise. Dave and I have not talked to Alex much about the baby but he has picked up on it. I asked him the other day, " where's Eli?" And wouldn't you know, the boy pulls up my shirt and points to my belly. Later that day, I asked Alex for a hug and then told me to give Eli a hug. And wouldn't you know, he leans over and puts his head on my stomach. What a smart kid. I think I forget how much he understands since he only has one word (yes, the boy still does not say mom or dad!).

Time for an update

With only six more weeks to go, I guess I should update everyone on what is going on in Chicago! That is right, we only have six more weeks to go before we will welcome our new baby home. I am am having difficulty with things shrinking in my closet. I am not sure what is going on, but my clothes go into the closet one size and come back out a size smaller! We have had some visitors in the past few weeks helping do things that I am not allowed to do. My parents came up a few weekends ago to paint Alex's new room and his bunk beds. My parents worked hard that week. Painting the bunk beds was a lot of work....but well worth it. They turned out just like I wanted! Now I have the job of moving Alex's stuff out of the nursery and pulling out all of the baby stuff again! Good thing I am having another boy, less stuff to buy!

And then this past week, Dave's mom came up with Barb and they worked on our landscaping! It looks awesome. Things were looking a little over grown, so we were able to get things under control and clean things up! I will take pictures and post them later!

A name like many others.

This is an interesting fact about myself. I found this website on someone else's blog and thought I would share it with you.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 48 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Amazing

My pregnancy with Alex was a bit boring and therefore I only got one ultrasound at 20 weeks. It was just as cool to see this new baby's pics at 20 weeks also! It just confirms that their really is something in there!!! But this time they were unable to get all the pictures they wanted to because of the position the baby was in. So, at 28 weeks, we were back in for our second ultrasound. What a difference 8 weeks makes in how this baby looks. This picture I posted was amazing to look at live. His facial feature to defined.....Such a great glimpse at what my son will look like. Wow. That is my baby that I will hold in just 10 weeks! Watch out, this mama may not give him up for anyone to hold. I just may keep him to myself!

So let me explain what you are looking at. He is looking straight at you. His head is at the top of the picture and his chest is at the bottom. There is a shadow covering the right side of the forehead and his right eye. Can you see him?

Insomnia and Earthquakes

One would not think that insomnia and earthquakes go together but when you are pregnant you put a lot of things together that normally are not related in anyway!! So your might be thinking, "how is this crazy pregnant women putting these two things together?" Well, I have been having insomnia problems with baby #2. It is not the "can not fall asleep so you take something to help you fall asleep" problem, but the "wake up at 3am to pee and can not go back to sleep" problem. Then of course I lay there long enough to realize that if I fall asleep now I will be useless with Alex wakes up!! So I just get up and watch the news and get somethings done. Where do earthquakes come into play, well, Friday morning (around 4:30) there was an earthquake in Southern Illonios and it was felt all the way up here in Chicago. The one night that I actually slept all night and was not awake at 4:30, there was something exciting happing, AN EARTHQUAKE! I could have felt an earthquake, but nooooo I slept right through it! That is my sad story!

Spring Break - Day 3

Our final full day in Lexington and I believe it might have been Dave's favorite day. We all got up in the morning and went to Keenland Race Track. All year you can go any morning and watch the horses run through their morning exercises on the track and it is free! They have two racing seasons, one in April and one in October. During those months, on Saturday they serve a $5 breakfast buffet and have some kids activities. This was our lucky month. We ate scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy and donuts! We were actually there for opening weekend. We should have taken pictures of some of the people there. This is a big event for some and the way they were dressed showed the importance of the event. Men in suits and women in high heels! Most of the people there were dressed just like us, jeans and a sweatshirt. Of course there were a few who did put their down jackets and scarfs on! That was a little over kill for those of us from the North!

This is a picture of Babaro's trainer.

That evening, we headed over to the Kentucky Horse Park to watch a Polo match. Dave had never seen one and I cannot say I have ever seen one either. So, since it was also free, off we went. It was actually pretty cool! While waiting for the match to start we found a horse for Alex to sit on. These horses had nothing to do with the Polo match, they were there for some other reason and I did not understand what that reason was. Back to the Polo match, it was the Girls final game of this Tournament. It was U Conn vs TCU (a University from Texas).

It was hard to get good picture inside the arena. The horse were to fast and the lighting was not good. But here are a few that did turned out pretty good.

Alex and I enjoying the match

We did not stay for the whole match, Alex got a little hungry and restless! So we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa house for dinner and a good night sleep before heading home the next day. Thanks Grandpa and Grandpa for letting us crash at your place for a few days!

Spring Break - Day 2

Friday was a more relaxing day. We had a slow day in the morning with Grandma and then we met Grandpa for lunch. Lexington has a new resturant called Zaxby's. Upon arriving we quickly found out that Zaxby's is not Alex friendly and Dave ran down to McDonald's for some nuggets for Alex to eat. It is to bad for Alex becuase the food we got was really good! We all took naps in the afternoon (expect Grandpa since he had to work) then outside we went outside to play. Here are some picture of Alex playing.

This season is Alex first experience with grass since we was not walking last summer. He was more then willing to walk on the grass but would not touch it with his hands. This picture of him picking up the leaf . This is the closest he came to touching the grass!

Oh how my boy loves balls. He had so much fun throwing, kicking and just carrying the ball around. At one point, Alex just picked up the ball and started walking down the sidewalk. We all wondered where he was going and how far he would go. Dave followed him right into the neighbor's driveway and then we realized where he was going. The neighbor had a basketball hoop and Alex wanted to make a basket! Unfortunately they had a car parked underneath the basketball hoop so we could not make a basket. Alex cried, for he just did not understand why he could not make a basket!

Spring Break - Day 1

Wheaton Academy had their spring break last week. I told Dave that I wanted to go somewhere warmer then Chicago!! So packed we packed up the car and headed to Lexington KY to visit my parents! All in all, I am not sure it was warmer down there....but I was good to see them. We drove down Wednesday and on Thursday, Dave and I left Alex with Grandma and spend the day together. I found a website that listed 70 free things to do in Lexington. So off we went to find our free things to do!
It was a rainy day. We headed downtown first and spent sometime looking for cheap parking before heading into the Victorian Square shops and found a great place to eat lunch. These shops are connected to the Rupp arena, so walked over there to see if we could get in to see it. But Bill Keightly had died and they were having a memorial for him in the Rupp Arena. He apparently had been part of their Athletic dept for years!! So we did not feel that it would be very respectful for two tourist (camera in hand) to wander into the service just to see the inside of the Arena.
So then we headed to the Old Kentucky Chocolate Factory for a free tour and free samples! Oh the Chocolate looked to good. I just want a little bit. It is a little dangerous to let a Pregnant women into a chocolate factory! This is were all the "covered things" get covered. She talked about their famous Burbon chocolate covered cherries. I did not partake in the sampling of those. Just did not sound very good! Can I just tell you how wonderful it smelled in there. Once the tour was over, we bought some chocolate covered pretzels to share with the family, ate a few more samples and off we went again.
This time to see the scenic view of Horse Country. My dad told us about a ferry a few miles out of town. On the way we passed several horse farms before finding the ferry. If you look at the picture carefully you can see the Captain, dressed up in his captain uniform! I heard that we visited the ferry on the correct day, for the ferry was closed the next day because of the weather. I guess if it rains to much or is to windy, they shut it down. I feel sorry for the people who live on the other side and have to find a different way across the river!. I did brave the weather a few times to get some picture of horses!
We then headed home to see our son! We missed him. More about the rest of the week later. I am off the make lunch.