Thing 1 & Thing 2

Thing 1: Jack Dempsey Leensvaart

born 12/15/11

Thing 2: Brooks Wesley Jansen

born 12/17/11

They may not know it yet, but they are best friends.

Love these cute little guys!!!

My Davis

If you are my age, then it's more than likely that you had about 4 Katies in your circle of friends growing up! I sure did! Herlihy, Smith, Jakubowski, and DAVIS were mine. Kati Davis and I met in highschool at our youth ministry, Student Impact, at Willow Creek Community Church. We instantly hit it off and hung out with all of the same people even though we went to different schools. When it was time to do our college searches, we ended up both choosing to go to Calvin. So we also decided to be roomies our freshman year rather than go pot luck!

And boy did we have fun!! We had a blast meeting new friends, breaking up with old boyfriends and making new ones, staying up late, and gaining the freshman 15 together! Ha! Later on in our college years we also lived in a house together off campus. Living together during this stage of life helped us create a life long friendship that marriage, moving, jobs, and kids can not change.

We usually see each other when I travel back to Illinois. But every once in awhile, during the 8 plus years I've lived in Colorado, Kati has come out here to visit, attend a conference, and/or go skiing! So we've had her stay with us in our first tiny apartment, and met up with her downtown, in Vail, and in Breckenridge. It's been so fun to be able to see her quick every now and then when she comes into town.

Last weekend, she and her hubby, Bill (Yes, she's married now, and her official last name is HART, but she will forever be "Davis" in my HEART!) were staying up in Breckenridge in an awesome house they rented for a ski weekend with some friends.

So on Sunday, we loaded up the boys and drove up to have lunch and spend a couple of hours chatting and catching up with them.

Their porch looked out right over the slopes.

Heath was being bashful when I was trying to take his photo with Kati.

I like this one! They both look so cute!

Nolan cozied up for a pic as well.

Kati and I with my three boys! How our lives have changed! Kati has two girls...dogs that is! Sierra and Ryka are Silver Labs. We're hoping the boys can meet them when we go home in May.

It was so nice to be able to spend some time with my Davis and for her to be able to meet and snuggle Mr. Brooks! We can't wait to see her again in May! Love you girl!

little man

Last weekend I had the pleasure of helping host a shower for my dear friend Lindsay Cottier. She is expecting her baby boy any day now.

The shower was a "little man" theme. I found this invitation design from dimple PRINTS again. And I had her change the colors to lime green, navy blue, white, and grey. She sent me the final image and we had them printed at Costco...super cheap prints!

Then I did all the design work for signs, favor tags, cupcake toppers etc. It was such a fun theme with great colors to design for!

We hosted the shower at Mandy's house again. She has a great house for a party! The boys and I went over to her house the day before to get crafty and prepare for the shower. It took us pretty much all day to get things done in between feedings, diaper changes, lunch, snacks, toys, movies, dogs, and more! With the four boys around, we sure were busy! Mandy designed this banner to hang above the gifts. Pretty cute!

I'm a detail girl for sure and so is Mandy so we work well together and love to plan parties!

limeade

It took Mandy a long time to cut out all these funny little mustaches! But they turned out so cute and were another fun touch!

We tied the napkins and forks to look like little bow ties!

We had a yummy brunch!

fruit kabobs

baked french toast and egg dishes

Lindsay enjoys chocolate frosting so we had cupcakes for dessert!

My circle punch is my best friend!

We also had a little "photo booth" to take fun pictures of all the guests! Get the sign? "We mustache (must ask) you to take your photo!" Ha!

Mandy and Jack

Barb and Shirley, Rick's Mom

Kim, Ella, Susie, Lindsay, and Jenn

After we ate, it was time for gifts.

I had this adorable little onesie made for baby Cottier to match our shower theme! Gotta love Etsy!

And Jack gave his soon to be best bud a "Thing 3" onesie, just like the ones he and Brooks have! We can't wait for these 3 boys to grow up together like their Dads did.

Mandy also made Lindsay this awesome diaper cake.

We also played a few games. The first game was a toughie! You had to guess what baby items were in each of these bags. Each item started with the letter on the bag. The winner only got 3 out of the 9 items correct, but won a Starbucks gift card or a Bath and Body works hand soap for her hard work! And Lindsay got to keep all the items inside, which was cool. We also played Baby Item Bingo while Lindsay opened gifts. And we finished off with Ooh Baby Baby, a game where you listen to a minute or so of a song that has the word baby in it. Then you have to name the Title and Artist of the song. They were fun and simple games!

Here are the hostesses with Lindsay! Kim really worked hard and helped Mandy and I out with setting up the shower and baking too! Thanks Kim! (me, Lindsay, Kim, and Mandy)

Mandy and I thought it would be fun to wear ties to host the event! I raided Mark's closet and actually found a couple that matched the color scheme!

Every guest got a little chocolate mustache sucker as a favor! Didn't they turn out so cute?!

Now Lindsay is pretty set for this baby to arrive! It was fun to plan and host the shower but it will be even more fun to hold that little man in our arms so soon!

Love ya Linds, James, and "little baby Ben in Auntie Lindsay's tummy"! (That's what Nolan prays for every night. No, Ben is not the baby's name, but Nolan thinks it is! Ha!)

two months

How can it be that my baby is two months old?! (Ha! I'm that mom that's calling her youngest child, her baby!)

The past two months have been just the sweetest with this little guy! I would be lying to you if I made it seem like everything is always rosey. There are those crazy moments when all three kids need my attention, or when Heath is having a meltdown in the middle of McDonalds, or when Nolan talks back, or when Brooks poops again the second I close the tabs on his fresh diaper. But really truly, Brooks is an angel! God is smiling down on me with this one for sure! He needed me to be open to His moving in my life and give up my tight reign when he surprised me with him. But BOY did he ever give me the most amazing gift in Brooks!

This was the first smile of his that I caught on camera. I took it with the camera on my phone, so it's not super clear, but I will always love it because it was his first. MY LAST FIRST smile. Yes, I am sadly and nostalgically labeling everything he does as MY LAST FIRST. I always think that he looks like Heath, until he smiles. He definitely has his own smile and it's a goofy one! But still so cute.

This precious little thing is sleeping 6 to 8 hours straight every night! AMAZING!

And he is still just as easy going as ever! He barely cried when he got his first shots today. He loves watching his big brothers and they love holding his hands, rubbing his hair, and shaking toys in his face. I have also caught Heath trying to pick up Brooks two different times this week. Need to keep a close eye on that crazy one!

Brooks is impartial about the swing, his paci, and the play mat. But he does enjoy his cozy blankies, papasan chair, warm baths, and sucking on his bottom lip. When he's excited he sticks his tongue out and his arms and legs go wild! He talks and coos quietly and smacks his lips when he's hungry.

He has a little fussy time, usually around the time when I'm trying to get dinner on the table. Figures. But if you hold him, he stops. It doesn't take much. He is carted around to and from preschool four days a week and seems to have to take his morning nap in the car. He is staying awake more and more throughout the day and his neck, core, and legs are getting stronger and stronger.

Brooks still has dark hair and skin. Let's see if it stays that way! Right now everyone says that he looks like me, but I bet ya by 4 months he'll be as blonde and fair and his big brothers!

At 2 months he is our longest baby with the biggest head! But he is smack dab between the two boys as far as weight. If you want to compare Brooks, Heath, and Nolan's stats at 2 months, theirs are listed here.

Brooks:

Weight- 11 pounds 3 ounces (40%)

Height- 24 1/4 inches (90%)

Head Circumference- 39.4 centimeters (30%)

I have two more weeks at home with him every day before I have to go back to work. AHHH, I really don't want to think about that. I've got to get all my snuggles in now while I can.

When we look at Brooks we just can't believe that he is ours. And we can't believe that this same time last year we would have never imagined him in our lives. He's a miracle and we just love him to pieces.

Happy Heart Day!

We had the loveliest Valentine's Day this year! I just love this holiday and all of the mushiness of it! It probably stems from my days of working at Streamwood Florist. I loved seeing all the men coming in and buying beautiful bouquets of flowers and HUGE cheesy stuffed animals for the women in their lives! The cheesier the better in my book!

So of course I like to spread my love of this holiday to every loved one in my life! Earlier in the week we sent out our Valentines to all of our family...Muah! We heart you all!

Then we set to work on some cute treats for Nolan's teachers...

Of course I found this idea on Pinterest...I'm so FORTUNATE to have YOU as a teacher! Can you guess what was inside?

Fortune Cookies and a Starbucks Card! We are so thankful for the hardworking and loving teachers he has in his life!

Next, it was time to make some Valentines for all of his classmates and friends...

Another Pinterest idea! When I saw it, I knew he would love it! So I did a little design work on the computer and Nolan did the manual labor!

He worked hard at filling these bags with a bouncy ball and 2 chocolate balls.

And I attached the cards. Here are the finished products! They turned out super cute! And I loved working on them with my little preschooler! He worked so hard!

He specifically picked out which balls to give to each person and told me why they should get those certain balls as well.

He had to write his name 16 times! He doesn't {love} to write, but is doing such a good job and his handwriting is really improving with practice every day. I couldn't believe when he got his Valentines home from school how he was one of three students in his class who actually wrote his OWN name on all of his cards! Come on parents...it's great practice and shows ownership in what they are giving! {O.k. I'll get off my soapbox! It's interesting being both a teacher and a parent now! Ha!}

Then, we also had to decorate a bag for him to receive Valentines in at school.

I did not go all out on this or get too creative. We have plenty of years ahead to go wild decorating Valentine boxes. And I really wanted him to do all of the work. I didn't want to be that parent staying up until midnight putting the finishing touches on their CHILD'S project. So I just bought a .99 cent bag from Target and some .99 cent stickers from Walmart and let him go at it! He put stickers on each side and wrote his name across the top and we were done! And he was proud of it!

Heath also wanted to get in on the sticker fun! He made this picture for his Daddy! He told me that he was drawing Buzz...big surprise!

Valentine's Day morning when the boys were up and dressed they came downstairs to get a little gift from us. We bought them the BlueRay of 'Lady and the Tramp'. They had never seen the movie before and were excited to watch the puppy movie later that evening. And we got Brooks a little board book called, You are My Cupcake. It has the most adorable illustrations!

Mark surprised me with these gorgeous hot pink roses!

Even Brooksers was happy to celebrate! Boy do we LOVE this goof!

He rocks our world!

It was so fun dropping Nolan off at school that morning. All the kids were wearing red and he was so excited to bring his home made Valentines into his classroom. And he gave his teachers their treats so sweetly. He had the best morning passing out his cards and having cupcakes.

I picked him up later and he spent the whole car ride home looking at his Valentines and telling me about them.

As soon as we got home we plopped down on the floor to read all of the cards and have some candy too!

His favorite was a hologram card of a puppy. When you move it, the puppy turns into a kitten. Still loves his animals!

My funny little Valentine!

Auntie Mal sent a great package of fun Valentine's Day STUFF! Shirts, a DVD, Love Machine Ducks, and of course CANDY! The boys both sported their new shirts on this day! Nolan's shirt was perfect for him because Auntie always buys him different Potato Heads and he LOVES them!

Heath in his cool dude shirt. This sweet tooth dug right into a Tootsie Roll!

I made them a special lunch...heart shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!

After lunch we read some Valentine's Day books and made some Valentine Cupcakes.

The boys love to help me bake!

After naps we frosted them and they put candy hearts on top.

I chose to take a close up of this cupcake because of what the candy heart on top says. One of my favorite things Nolan does is this...he comes up to me and says, "Mommy, Guess What?" and then when I say "What?" he jumps up and says, "I love you!" with the biggest smile on his face! Sweetness!

We made strawberry cake and used vanilla frosting! Nolan's favs.

For dinner Mark made the boys heart shaped pancakes...a Valentine's Day tradition for us.

Then we settled in to watch 'The Lady and the Tramp' together as a family. This was Nolan's face when Lady and the Tramp ate the spaghetti and kissed! He thought it was so funny! We loved the movie!

After we put the boys to bed Mark had planned a special dinner for me!

He made "Sexy Surf and Turf", a Rachel Ray recipe. But things didn't exactly turn out as planned. We ended up having a smoke filled house and ate our food in the freezing cold because all of the windows were open in an attempt to clear out the smoke! Sounds romantic huh?! Ha! The chef felt really bad because the steak and scallops didn't quite turn out as expected. But the asparagus, pretzel rolls, and cheesecake were excellent! He kept saying, "At least I got 3 out of the 5!" Poor guy, I really did not care! I was just so happy that he had this secret plan for me and that we had a quiet dinner together...even if I could barely see him through the smoke! Ha!

And this was our table the next morning! To say we are loved would be an understatement! The boys got gift bags from Oma and Opa, cookies and treats from the Syers fam, and cards and money from Grandma and Grandpa. I love all the RED!

So of course this morning we had to hit up Target right away to spend Valentine money! Once again, look what Heathy chose! He had been eyeing this Buzz Lightyear stuffed guy every time we were in the store! And he finally got to buy it! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Once again we had a fabulous holiday with our family. We can not help but be overwhelmed by all of the blessings and love in our life. And we are humbled by the best gift of love that we receive:

"For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16