Tuesday, January 24, 2012

F. I. V. E.


We are now the proud parents of a five year old. 
Have completely enjoyed doing life with 5 year old Kade this past week.  Would totally have posted sooner about his new age but we've had a bit going on since then.  Granna and Paw were here and actually flew out on Kade's birthday.  They flew out and the snow flew in.  Our snow storm then turned into an ice storm.  Miraculously my kid sister was able to fly in during a brief window that the airport was open and spend a long weekend with us.  Our cable and internet were down (thus no blogging capability) but thankfully we were not without power like many of those around us.  The boys were out of school all week and the thaw came just in time for Kade's party...save all the party details for later.  And pics of our snow-turned-ice storm will come later for sure.  
But for now it is all about this guy....
 Kade Daniel Lewallen
Our firstborn!  He is such a joy! And loves to pose for the camera for me.  This kiddo sure knows how to make his Momma happy.
 And while we did have a few rough months to work through this year with Kade, I think most of it stemmed from the major changes of adding two new babies to our world, he has come through with flying colors.
 He got this cool coloring book in the mail from my Alma Mater for his fifth birthday and you would have thought he won the lottery (if he knew what that was).  He was so excited to get something special from Ouachita for his birthday.  I have to admit.  I was pretty excited that he was so excited.  Of course I would love for him to one day further his education at my beloved college home.  Got a few years til time for that so we will see.
 For now it makes me happy to see him color his mascot picture and make up songs and cheers about the TIGERS!
As you can see, he is still not much a fan of getting his hair cut but every now and then if he is in the mood...
 I can talk him into climbing up in the tall chair for a trim.
Other things Kade is not a fan of:
-still not big on fruit.  
In fact, he freaks out if he even sees it on the table because he claims he can't even stand the smell of it.
-bright sunshine.  
Although this year he did decide that sunshine (as long as it isn't too bright) is his friend because that means you get to play outside.
-being last.
We had a few months were Kade and Ryne fought so much over "being first".  Seriously, first to go up the stairs, first to get in the van, first to get out of the van, first to wake up in the morning, first to brush their teeth, first to sit at the table, and on and on and on it would go.  That has subsided quite a bit.  Mostly because somewhere along the way Kade learned that the Bible says "the first shall be last and the last shall be first."  He likes to use it to relate to all situations in his everyday life where he would like to be first but doesn't get to be.  We have heard him tell Ryne on more than one occasion, "That's okay, you go first and I'll be last because that way the Bible says I'll really be first."  Yes, it does irritate Ryne a bit because Ryne also really wants to be first but doesn't at all get the whole "last shall be first" business.
-taking naps.
Yes, it would seem we have outgrown the afternoon nap.  He will sometimes fall asleep while he is "just resting" and when he does that it takes him forever to go to sleep at night.  Thankfully, he is pretty good at just taking a rest so we still get the down time.  He will look at books or color or play a game but he does rest.  I am thankful for that.

That's really about all I can think of that this boy doesn't like.  He is pretty easy to please.  I can think of LOTS of things that he really likes.
Wrestling!
He really likes wrestling with Daddy.  And begs him to have wrestle time.  Poor fella has had to learn that Mom doesn't wrestle because I might get hurt.  Wrestling is such a boy thing that I don't really understand. But I'm glad that he and his Daddy and brother Ryne enjoy partaking in such a fun time in the floor.  Can't imagine what that is going to look like when Tyce joins the pile.  Tesa and I will just sit around and shake our heads at their silliness while we paint our toenails I guess.

So, back to what Kade likes:
-super heroes!
 He made this Spiderman candle holder at school.  Isn't it cool?
 He wants to wear a Super Hero shirt every single day.
If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up his answer right now is "a Super Hero."  His name, Super Kade, of course.  He even has a super vehicle that he has named K K Super A.  How bout that?
Last night he was busy playing super hero and Kyle was fixing his mask for him and asked him, "Kade, are super heroes real?"  Kade very quickly and matter-of-factly replied, "No" and kept right on playing without missing a beat.  That's our Kade.  Even though he acknowledges they are not real, he still wants to be one when he grows up.
-crafting
 Coloring, drawing, cutting, gluing, painting, creating of any kind, he is into it. If I could keep the projects coming I could definitely keep him busy.  And I have to say, I think he is pretty talented.
-picture taking and movie making
These skills he has picked up on mostly at school.  Don't you love this picture that he took of us using the timer on the camera?  Not too bad huh....especially for a then four year old?
Let me tell you a little movie making story.  So, Kade got a LeapPad for Christmas and it has a video camera on it.  He also got a Super Hero movie for Christmas.  Of course you can obviously figure out that he would be crazy about a super hero video.  Problem is, watching super hero videos tends to make him go a bit crazy in super hero mode and we spend a few hours telling him to calm down and quit whacking stuff.  So Super Hero shows are limited to one at a time every couple of days if they (both he and Ryne) are being good and if they don't act crazy after watching it.  So, wise guy that he is, Kade is watching his new Super Hero shows that he got for Christmas and he has his video camera on and pointed at the t.v.  A couple of days later we realize that Kade has recorded him some Super Hero shows to watch whenever he wants to on his LeapPad.  He wasn't quite five yet so I would say that was a pretty brilliant move by a four year old.  I actually watched a couple of his recording with him and he did a nice job holding the camera still and getting the entire t.v. in the frame.  I just might have a genius on my hands. Ha! 
-school
Kade absolutely thrives at preschool.  And for the longest time he kept saying that he didn't want to be five, that he just wanted to stay four because he didn't want to have to leave his preschool and go to kindergarten.  That makes me happy.  His teachers are wonderful and he has learned so much this year.  He is a pretty good mathematician and I love watching his brain work when he is adding and subtracting in his head.  He is also working on spelling and has his first spelling test coming up this week.
I don't remember if I blogged about this before but it is one of my favorite Kade stories so I'm going to tell it again if I did.  We are sitting at the lunch table and Kade is playing with a cardboard container that packaged some baby food.  He is bending it back and forth and looking at it when he exclaims, "Hey, this is a quadrilateral."  Kyle is walking into the kitchen and hears him and responds with, "what did you say?" Kade quickly repeats himself, "A quadrilateral."  Kyle with a confused look says, "a quadra-who?" The response, "-lateral."  At this point Kyle is giving me the does-he-know-what he's talking about look and asks Kade, "what's that?"  And Mr. Brilliant simply says, "It's a family of shapes that has four sides, Dad."  Kyle says, "Oh," and looks at me for the nod letting him know that his sons definition is correct.  It was a priceless moment.  
-animals
He is infatuated with learning about animals.  The shows he wants to watch on t.v. when they get t.v. time are the ones that teach them about creatures.  Zoboomafoo, Wild Kratts, Octonauts are some of the most watched shows in our house.  Of course we still enjoy Jake and the Neverland Pirates (nope haven't gotten over pirates yet), Curious George, and some occasional Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as well.  But if it teaches about animals then it is definitely a show with top priority around here.  I cannot even tell you how much I have learned about animals lately from Kade.  He soaks it all up and then at least ten times a day I hear, "Mom, did you know that....." followed by some really cool animal fact.  Monk Monk gave Kade a kids National Geographic Magazine subscription for his birthday and it came with a cool kids almanac.  We got home from his birthday party and while everyone napped Kade sat on the couch with me and listened to me read him his almanac for almost two hours.  It was at my prompting that he decided it would be cool to play with some of his awesome new toys.  I love that he loves to learn.  Hope he enjoys it for many years to come.
 -being silly
Yes, he does enjoy making people laugh.  He likes to tell jokes.  But I must admit he is not very good joke teller, especially when he is making up his own.  But he dances and makes crazy faces and does goofy stuff that makes us laugh for real all the time.  And he is very good at making up songs to make us laugh.
-C.G.
He is pretty crazy about his Crazy Granny.  Well, to be honest he is starting to be pretty crazy about all of his family in Arkansas and Oklahoma.  He doesn't like it one bit when the end of a visit rolls around.  He either begs them to stay or begs to go home with them.  I do like that this guy loves his family so much.  Especially since he doesn't get to see them very much.  I say that he is crazy about his C.G. for a couple of reasons.  There is a lot about my Mom that I see in this little guy...aside from their hairdos they are alike in other ways, too.  C.G. has taught Kade the value of snacks.  For a while Kade would wake up and ask for a snack before breakfast.  And seriously, we hear that he gets upset if they happen to forget a snack time at school.  Can't say that it helps me out much to have such a snacker on my hands when I am trying not to snack so much. Ha!  But on a more serious note, one quality that I think Kade definitely got from his C.G. was a tender heart for other people who might be in need.  
I have to share with you my favorite Kade story for the year....
So, a few weeks ago we are talking about Kade having his birthday party and he had happily agreed to a party at McDonald's.  Yay for not having to clean up before or after at our house!  I told  him to tell me who all he would like to invite and I would write it down and we would look at it.  He rolled off name after name and when he was done there were 22 names on the list.  I told him we would have to narrow it down because the cost of the party was for him and ten friends.  Kyle overheard and ask about how many we could add.  I told him we could add a few and just pay an additional fee for each extra guest.  Kade quickly said, "I can just pick ten because I don't want us to have to spend all of our money for my party."   Now how sweet is that?  So we figured out some parameters to help him narrow down.  We would go for age limits...ages 3 thru 6 with a couple of exceptions.  We got the list down to eleven and Kade wasn't quite pleased yet.  Then he looked at me with the almost visible light bulb over his head and said, "I know, Mom, we can just make 22 goody boxes or get extra cupcakes to take that way I can send home goody bags or cupcakes to those who don't get to come to my party.  I really don't want any big or little brothers and sisters to be sad because they didn't get to come."  I told him that I thought that would be a great idea.  Again, how sweet is that?  Hold on it gets even better.   That night we are putting the boys to bed and before I left the room Kade called me back to his bed with a question.  Here's how the conversation went....
Kade: Mom, do they use eggs or milk to make stuff at McDonald's?
Mom:  Well, I'm sure they use eggs and milk to make some things there. 
(I thought I might know where he was heading with this but I let him continue to be sure)
Kade: Will the birthday cake have eggs and milk?
Mom:  I'm sure it will.  Why do you ask, Kade?
Kade:  Well, you know my friend Nicole from school is allergic to eggs and milk and I want her to have something.
Mom:  Well, Kade that is nice of you to think about that.  I will check with her mom and see if there is something we can bring for her.
Kade:  What about the Happy Meals, Mom?  Do they make chicken nuggets or hamburgers with eggs or milk?
Mom: Kade, I'm not sure but I will ask Nicole's mom what she might can have and whether or not she can have a Happy Meal and I will let you know.
(now here comes my favorite part)
Kade:  Mom, if Nicole can't have a Happy Meal and she needs to bring her lunch from home then we can just pack our lunch from home, too.  That way she won't be the only one not having a Happy Meal.
(I seriously almost cried at such a sweet heart being displayed.)
I just hugged him and told him thanks for being so sweet and it was time to go to sleep.
Good news, Nicole did get to have a Happy Meal and Kade was thrilled.
I do hope that he never looses that tender heart and compassion.  It will take him farther in life and allow him to do more for the glory of God than that love of learning that I wrote about earlier.
 -playing
Kade has a great imagination and he loves to play with all of his toys.  He plays cars, pirates, hex bugs, puzzles, jungle animals, and super heroes of course.
-eating
This kid loves his food, as long as it isn't fruit!  His most favorite food is steak and baked potato.  Other favorites.....pizza, salmon, tacos, clam chowder, sausage, and anything chocolate.
 He is one cool kid...even if he is mine.
I cannot imagine how different the last five years would have been without him.
 We certainly would have missed out on a lot of fun!
I think there is a lot more fun to come.
 We just might have an athlete on our hands.  Kade really got into playing baseball in the backyard and at the park with his Dad this year.  And I have to admit that I was pretty impressed with his hitting abilities after a few months of practice.  He looks quite impressive in the football uniform, huh?  He does like to cheer for the Razorbacks!  And he actually likes to watch sports on t.v.  Doesn't matter what the sport is, he has to know who is playing and which team is which color so he can pick a team to cheer for.  Then he keeps a close eye on the score and reports to us each time there is a change.  He is always sure to know who is winning and gets a bit upset when it isn't the team he had picked to cheer for.
 His next big adventure is his first trip snow skiing.  That's what we gave him for his birthday...a day of ski lessons.  He really wants to snow board but they don't start lessons for that until seven years old.  I am excited to see what he thinks about skiing. I will be sure to ask Kyle to take some good pictures for us.

The biggest adventure of all in Kade's world is this....
being big brother to Ryne, Tesa and Tyce!
And he is a phenomenal big brother!  I am so proud of how well he is doing with all of them.  Of course he and Ryne still have the brotherly spat that is expected every now and then but mostly Kade just encourages Ryne and plays with him like his best buddy.  He is super sweet to both Tesa and Tyce and you can tell that they adore him. I am thankful every day for what a great helper he is.

I do look forward to seeing what year five has in store for our Kade-man.  I pray every day that he will get closer and closer to becoming that world changer that we've been praying for since the day we found out we were expecting him.  Believing God for great things in Kade's life.  So glad that I'm the one he calls Momma!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Their First Half Birthday!

 Six months ago today our sweet Tesa and Tyce showed up on the scene of Life with the Lewallens.
 It has been a busy six months.
 I cannot even begin to imagine how many diapers we have changed or how many bottles we have made in the past six months.  I would take the time to try and figure it up but my brain hurts just thinking about having to deal with such big numbers.
 So I'll just stick with some easy numbers.
 When we took the babies to the doctor the week of Christmas we found out that they are definitely gaining weight.  Tyce was 14 lbs 15 oz.  Tesa was 17 lbs 7 oz.  Yep, she's still got him beat.  Wonder how long that is going to last?
They've come a long way in the past five months, huh?
Oh, I do love the comparison pics and watching those owls shrink each month.
 And look at how nicely they both look at the camera for me.  They already know how to make their Momma happy.  Good babies!
 They really are good babies.
 I often call Tyce "Giggles" because he laughs all the time.  I'm not kidding.  He laughs so much it  makes me laugh.  The cutest little contagious laugh.  I so need to get video of it to share with you.
 Tesa is our talker.  She likes to "talk."  Every night when we put her to bed she lays there and talks for a bit before she goes to sleep.  We listen to her in the monitor and I like to think she is just saying her prayers.  With in the past week she has figured out how to squeal.  And she enjoys it.  She likes it way more than her Daddy or I like it.  Trying to figure out how to put a damper on that before she reaches the teenage years. Ha!
 They are still so different from each other and I love getting to watch those differences continue to develop.
For their first half birthday they also got to see their first snow!!
Isn't that special?  I thought it was pretty cool.  Don't worry we didn't have them out in the cold for more than the few seconds that it took me to snap this picture.  We do not want to have sick babies in our world again anytime soon.
 Look, Grandaddy, bowless pictures of Tesa.  Just for you!  Yes, you are right, she is pretty without them.
 This guy is such a charmer.  All you have to do is look at him and he dishes out the biggest smiles.
 Haven't found a baby food that they don't like yet.  Cereal, veggies and fruit have all been a hit.
 Kade wanted to know if they could have anything good to eat besides baby cereal to celebrate their half birthday.  No half-birthday cake for them this year.  They had to settle for pears.  Kade understood.
 Granna and Paw were here to help them celebrate their half birthday.  Maybe that makes up for no cake this year.
 I am looking forward to the next six months to see just how much these babies are going to change.
 Will Tyce catch up to Tesa on the scales?
 Will Tesa catch up to Tyce in the hair growing department?
Only time will tell.
But as long as I get to see more of this brother-sister love I will be happy no matter who is ahead of who in any category.  I am loving my babies (and their big brothers) and am crazy thankful for the blessing of getting to be their Momma! 

Now Where Was I...



 Before life so rudely interrupted my blogging endeavors????
Such is life with the Lewallens....always something more important going on than my blogging hobby.  Guess that explains why I'm always trying to play catch up.  But, seriously, what Momma would rather be blogging than throwing birthday parties and visiting with the grandparents?
So we will just do the best we can to document the rest of December.  Mostly in pictures, using words only when I seem to deem it necessary to explain the photos.
So here to get us started with wrapping up the holidays are L. Fee and Grandaddy L. Fee showing off the rest of their zany hiding spots....
The boys really did enjoy waking up each morning looking for their elves.  We will be happy to see them return next year.

I am certain that we will continue our Random Acts of Christmas Kindness next year as well.  We really did have a great time doing those each day.  Here are a few more pictures of things we did for that...
 Left this pretty poinsettia on a neighbors front porch.
 Made a prayer pail for our family to use.  Each stick has a name or group written on it and at each meal whomever is praying draws a stick and prays for that person or group of people when they pray for our meal.  It has been really cool to hear the boys pray for the people they draw.  I think I like it mostly because it makes them think about what they are praying instead just doing the usual "hurry up it's time to eat" prayer.
 These crayons and coloring books were fixed up to take to Forza and leave as entertainment for the children who come in to hang out at the coffee shop with their parents.
 Kade and Ryne didn't mind making that delivery and having themselves a steamer while they got to be the first to use the coloring books.
My other favorite that we did was taking boxes of cookies to people working on Christmas Eve.  It was super cool to see the reactions of people working at hotel front desks and gas stations when we said, "Merry Christmas, this is for you since you are working on Christmas Eve."  I think I will try to do even more of those next year.  

Oh, and there was more Christmas party with our Life Group that I didn't get to share....
 Check out that awesome sweater of Dave's.  His pretty girls look proud, don't they?
 Kyle had a nice sweater of his own. Getting us started with our annual game of Christmas carol pictionary.
 Jonathan was sporting a nice stocking on his shirt.  I loved it!
 Of course we had to play "face off" again it was so much fun at our first party.  Adri gets it started right.
 Cindy taking a turn.
Chelo had the best faces for getting that cookie to her mouth. I'm thinking this will become another Christmas party tradition for us.    
 The kiddos worked hard painting some ornaments.
See that cup of paintbrushes?  Well, I found it a couple of days later sitting in an odd spot where I had put it when cleaning up the party...all brushes completely loaded up with globs of dry paint.  I tried to save them.  No luck...threw them away.  I'm sure my boys will enjoy getting new paintbrushes for their next painting project.  

We did have one more Christmas Party.  It was our Life Church staff party.  Did not involve me having to clean the house....nice!  Plus it was extra nice because we got to hang out with these people...
So thankful that we get to do Life with these folks.  They are amazing!  We love you Derek, Alissa, Arin and Kristy!!

Okay, what's next????
How bout some cute babies....
 They really are enjoying getting to go to Life Babies at church.
 I'm thinking they claim those Bumbos their sitting in as theirs.
 This was about the last time they felt good before the week of Christmas.
 And since they got sick, sadly, I didn't take very many pictures of them in all the adorable Christmas outfits they had to wear.  Guess you will just have trust me on that one.
 Oh look, here is Tesa sporing one of her Christmas shirts.  I did have a blue bow on her sweet little head to prevent any confusion but guess that bow missed the memo that we were going to be taking a picture.
 Party clothes!
Hard to believe that those sweet little babies were sick, huh?  Well, they were.  And it. was. NO. fun.  But thankfully C.G. and Monk Monk showed up to help make things better.  We really did have a great Christmas...sick babies and all.
You can see it all in pictures....
 Got started  a couple of days early by having a Skype Christmas with Paw, Granna, Uncle B, Aunt Kim, Brandon and Taylor.
Tesa was really getting the hang of tearing off that wrapping paper.
 Does Tyce not look like he totally knows there is something in that package for him?
 "Look what I got!"
Yay for some girl toys in our world!
And Christmas continued with a Christmas Eve Candle light service for church.  
We did a community service and had over 200 people there.  Wish I had gotten more pictures. 
Here are a couple that I have....
 My kiddos were all four dressed so cute and I didn't even get a picture of them all together.
I did get a picture of sweet Tesa...
 Poor thing, can you tell how bad she was feeling?
Tyce wasn't feeling that bad...maybe it had something to do with his C.G. hanging on to him?
Definitely thankful for the extra hands with C.G. and Monk Monk that night.  
And who knows, maybe next year I'll get that picture I wanted.
Oh, speaking of pictures, I almost forgot to show you this picture...
Kyle asked Kade to draw him a nativity picture that he could use as one of his backgrounds for the Christmas Eve service and this is what he did.  I was quite proud of that little fella.  And he was pretty excited to see his picture show up on the screen at church that night.

Then came Christmas morning....
 Just imagine how pretty it would be if all the lights were working on the tree. ha!  Something else to add to that "maybe next year" list along with that picture of all four kiddos all dressed up.  Who knows, maybe I can take that picture in front of the tree with all the lights working.  It's okay to set goals, right?
 First things first, we opened our last book.  Number 25 was the Bible.  Kyle read the real Christmas story to us before the gift opening festivities began.  We want to always be sure our children know the most important thing we do at Christmas is celebrate Jesus.  My favorite part of the day was hearing them sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus at the top of their lungs.  It was as if they were expecting Him to show up and blow out some candles when they were done. 
 Kade's 5th Christmas and it hasn't lost any of the excitement for him.
 Youngest to oldest for gift opening!
 Tyce goes first.
 With lots of support from his big brothers.  Look, it is all the Lewallen boys!
 Tesa was next.
 Poor thing really didn't feel good.  She seems to be thinking, "Do we really have to do this now?"
 Well, maybe it was worth the cute pink seahorse.  Now can I take a nap?
 Kade and Ryne got to open their first gift together because they were getting the same thing....
 HEXBUGS!!!!
 If you haven't seen hexbugs you should check them out.  Our boys were introduced to them at preschool and think they are the coolest things.  Kind of look like little robotic cockroaches.  I do have to admit that they are pretty cool.
 Okay, if you insist, I will try this again.
Tesa's first baby doll.  I might have been more excited about this present than Tesa. Buying a doll was lots of fun.
 Ryne got his very own camera!!!  Now I don't have to keep taking mine away from him.
 Just look at that face trying to figure out what this is.
 When he figured out it was for shining up his rock collection he was quite excited.
 Say cheese!!
 Monk Monk gets to help Tyce with his next present.
 Hey, look, another present for me!
 Mom got a turn.
So did Dad.
Wait, Dad, look here and let me get your picture.
 I adore having another photographer in the house.
 Kade and Ryne had both been dying to know what was in the really big box.
 Corn Hole for Daddy!!! Now we just need summer to come back around so we can get outside and play.
 Ryne and Kade both had big boxes from Monk Monk.
 Both boxes were packed full of super hero goodies!
 These boys do love their super heroes!


 Another one for Mom.
 And another for Dad.

 More just alike gifts from Grandaddy and C.G. to open together.
 Doesn't have a clue what it is but loves it already.
 Kade, on the other hand was trying hard to figure out just what this thing was.
 Once he understood what a LeapPad was, he was thrilled.
 And this is how he felt about the games he got for his LeapPad.
 Happy happy boy!
 Tyce was opening his and Tesa's gift from Monk Monk.
 He seems to be looking at this thing the same way Kade was looking at his LeapPad.  I think he is pretty excited about his and Tesa's new tablet that Monk Monk got them to match the one she got C.G. so that they can video chat from their pack-n-play!  I'm excited about it for them.  I'm thinking my mom can babysit from Arkansas while I do housework....or maybe even while I catch up on the blog every now and then.  Ha!
 Thinking our coffee lover was pleased with his new espresso maker.
 We almost forgot the big presents that were hanging out in the dining room.
 New big boy bike!
 Scooter!
 Then there were the stockings....
 Doesn't she look thrilled about stockings?  I'm thinking she will enjoy next Christmas a whole lot more.
 She seems pretty pleased with her baby doll rattle, though.
 Ryne is getting Monk Monk all caught up in his LeapPad world.
 Kade was so excited about trying out his new games that he got out his Leapster Explorer to try them out while his LeapPad was getting set up.
Kyle got his espresso machine all set up.
 Kade took his bike for a spin.
Tesa tested out her bling bling ring rattle.
 Tyce woke up from his nap to finish opening his gifts.
 Hey, what's this?  I found it in my stocking.
 Get back, Daddy, this is my money.
 Shoes!

Our friend Molly came over to see us.
 And Kyle got some espresso making lessons.
 With all the presents having been tested out it was time to wind down a bit with some puzzles.
I asked Kade how he felt about Christmas this year and this is the face I got.  With that face he told me it was the best Christmas ever.
 Tesa was thinking she'd like to forget about Christmas this year and just wait for next year so that hopefully she wouldn't feel so bad.
 Tyce used up all his "feel good" and was pretty wiped out, too.  Thinking he will also enjoy Christmas more next year.

Let me show you one of my favorite Christmas day scenes....
 This is Kade with the ipod and C.G. with the new tablet.  Kade is teaching C.G. how to play Angry Birds!!!  I so should have gotten some video of that.

And to wrap it all up, we did get that puzzle finished!!

Christmas 2011 was fabulous. 
(minus the fact that Tesa and Tyce didn't feel too jolly)
Got to spend it with my favorite people.
(minus Grandaddy who stayed behind in AR to hold down the fort)
The fun hasn't stopped.  We've had birthday parties for Ryne.  Granna and Paw have been visiting. and we are gearing up for a couple more celebrations.  Tomorrow our babies have their very first half birthday and two days later our Kadester will turn 5!!!  Lots more coming your way in blogland.