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!