Life with the Lewallens

F. I. V. E.

2012-01-24T22:08:00.000-08:00

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!

Their First Half Birthday!

2012-01-15T22:42:00.000-08:00

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...

2012-01-15T00:33:00.000-08:00

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.

We have a Three Year Old!

2011-12-30T15:00:00.000-08:00

I interrupt the Christmas post extravaganza to bring you one very important Birthday post.

Ryne William Lewallen is three years old today!!!

What a fun three years it has been with this little fella of ours.

Okay, so that fun has not come without its fair share of challenges....a fussy newborn, terrible twos, refusal to potty train....but the fun has certainly outweighed the not-so-fun times. This boy makes us laugh every single day.

He likes to make up his own words. My favorite Ryne word lately is "slirmy." When trying to put him down for a nap recently he told me that he couldn't go to sleep in his room because his bed was too slirmy. When I asked him what slirmy meant he said, "not very good at all." Slirmy is now a term in our family's vocabulary thanks to Ryne.

He comes up with silly stuff all the time. Just the other day he said to me, "Mom, I love you. You're nice. I'm going to call you Bobby because you're nice." Or how about these as shared by his daddy....

Ryno funnies #1 10.6.11 - Kade (4) hops in the van and says, "I like birds. My favorite bird is a Robin. Ryne, what's your favorite bird?" Ryno (2) responds, "I like Apple Juice." Kade clarifies, " I'm talking about birds." Ryne quickly quips, "I know. I like Apple Juice."

Ryno funnies #2 10.6.11- Alissa says to Ryno, "See you later." Ryno (2) retorts, "I'm not later. I'm Ryne."

Nothing is a good idea unless it is his idea. For instance I can pick out a shirt for him to wear and he will refuse to wear it because he claims he doesn't like it. Two minutes later he will bring me the same exact shirt and say, "how bout this shirt? I really like this one." Then put it on happily because it was his idea. Almost on a daily basis something like this happens. It might be just a lunch selection that goes something like this..."Hey, Ryne how bout a peanut butter sandwich?" I ask. "No! I don't want a peanut butter sandwich," he replies. To which I respond, "Well, what do you want for lunch?" "Ummmmmm, let me think...Oh, how bout a peanut butter sandwich? I like peanut butter sandwiches," he says. Of course he does, once it is his idea!

He really has a super quick whit about him. He responds to questions will silly answers without taking time to think about it. And then he doesn't even act like what he said was silly, which makes us laugh even more. Need an example? Okay, so lately Ryne has been making up his own language sometimes when he talks to the babies. It doesn't sound like a bunch of babel but like a real language that we just don't understand. After he tried out some of this language on Tyce the other day while C.G. and Monk Monk were here the other day, they asked him, "Ryne, was that French or German?" Without missing a beat he responded, "Oh, that was French." Does he even know that French and German are languages? I don't know but he sure acted like he knew exactly what he was talking about.

I feel like there are lots more laughs to come in our world because of his silliness.

Ryne is quite the artist. He really, really, really likes to paint. He gets super excited when I bust out the paints for craft time at home. And I cannot count the number of days that he has come home from preschool sporting a little extra paint from his creative time at school. I think he just might be a bit artsy...not in the "everything has to be in a perfect spot" kind of way...but in the very abstract and creative kind of way.

Most of the time Ryne is in his own little world and we just watch him and wonder what is going on in his mind. We've given up trying to figure it out and just enjoy watching and wondering.

Ryne loves cheese of any kind, and will eat chicken nuggets, french fries, cheeseburgers, noodles, crackers, popcorn, pancakes, cereal, waffles, bacon, ice cream, anything chocolate, and get this baby food veggies. And will drink apple juice ALL day long if we let him. Yep, he's a pretty picky eater which is new to us because big brother Kade has always been willing to eat anything. I think our saving grace is that he does like baby food veggies so I don't feel like he is a complete carbohydrate junk food junky. Looking forward to the day when he decides other foods are good, too.

Ryne weighs 34 lbs. Dad says it is a pretty tough 34 lbs when it comes time to wrestle.

Besides wrestling, Ryne enjoys playing with Kade...as long as they do the things that are Ryne's idea of course. He is a big fan of Angry Birds, super heroes of all kinds, pirates, Curious George, Cars, all things Toy Story, playing outside when it's not raining, going to his class at church, making friends with grown ups who will play with him, and loving on his baby brother and sister.

He absolutely loves going to preschool and has learned a lot. He knows all of his colors and definitely recognizes the letter "R" as his letter. Every time he sees an R somewhere he says, "Hey, look, it's an R for me." He enjoys singing songs that he knows from school. I think twinkle twinkle little star is his favorite right now. He believes his teachers are his best friends and gets very excited when he sees them somewhere outside of school. He is a good counter and especially likes to count down....10, 9, 8, 7.....

Something else Ryne is really good at is being sneaky. My favorite is when he is trying to sneak away from us. He has this very slow walk with each step being big and deliberate. I know when he starts off in this gait that as soon as he thinks he is a safe distance away from me he will dart off like a flash of lightning. I seriously have no idea how he can go from crazy slow to crazy fast in the blink of an eye like he does. Makes me laugh every time. Well, now that I know to anticipate the dart at the end of the sneaky walk it makes me laugh. We often compare him to a turtle because he can dart under something, be it a table, chair, bush, etc like a turtle sucking up into its shell to get away from you. It is hard to get a hold on Ryne if he really wants to get away. Thinking he is going to make a great football player one day.

However, he may just turn out to be a great actor instead because he can be quite dramatic at times. He can fall apart like it is the end of the world because I gave him the wrong sippy cup. Or squeal for joy simply because Tesa smiled at him.

His imagination is unbelievable. I adore listening to him when he is playing because all of his toys talk to each other...and they apparently talk to him as well. I tell myself almost every time that I need to be getting video of him.

We had a chance to celebrate his birthday early with C.G. and Monk Monk while they were here for Christmas. We surprised him with Angry Bird cupcakes and he was super thrilled.

He was also happy to know that he would still get to have the Curious George party that he requested with his friends. Who wouldn't be happy to get two birthday parties?

Kade was happy for him, too. Why not? Cupcakes now and cake later!

Here is Ryne "turning his candles out." He might would say those candles are blow-able. He likes to add "-able" to words as much as possible. He saw a knife once and said to me, "that is dangerous because it could make me bleed-able." He also prefers to say "upside backwards" when either "upside down" or "backwards" would be appropriate. So many Ryne-isms in our world. I really should start writing down more of them.

One thing is for sure. He is a loving little fella who thinks he has it all figured out.

He know he can get anything he wants from his C.G. So maybe he does have it all figured out.

He adores attention from his Daddy and will do all kinds of crazy things to get it.

He thinks his number one job in life is to entertain his baby sister and brother. Can't tell you how many times we have said, "Ryne, just leave the babies alone and let them get a break." I think he loves them more than anything else in the world.

Well, he might love cheese more....it would be a close call.

He will wander around and talk on the phone for hours to anybody who will stay on the other end and listen to him ramble. He doesn't necessarily care about carrying on a conversation, just enjoys having someone listen to him when he wants to talk. He walks around holding the phone up to things as though the person on the other end can see what he is showing them. And while some might actually get to enjoy that kind of technology, it hasn't become a part of the Lewallen world just yet. He just likes to pretend that it has.

I cannot imagine our world without Ryne! So thankful that God chose to lend this special guy to me and Kyle to parent. While parenting certainly has its share of challenges, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be Mom to Ryne, or Bobby, or whatever he might choose to call me on any given day. I'm just glad I'm his and he is mine for the time we've been given. I pray that God will give Kyle and I wisdom to teach Ryne just how special he is and what an amazing plan God has for his life. So excited to have the opportunity to watch that develop as he grows up. I am blessed. Very busy but very blessed! If I could show you how happy I am about my blessings in this life it would look much like this....

Thank you to Kade for lending me his happy face!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Ryne!! I love you!!!

Merry Christmas....

2011-12-29T22:03:00.000-08:00

Four days late!

What's my excuse this time? Come on...you know it's going to be a good one. It is a good one but, in all honesty, I would rather not have an excuse at all. We've had a household full of sickies! Not fun at any time. But especially not fun at Christmas time. Ryne was sick and missed a week of school. Then both babies got sick and had to make a few trips to the doctor. In the middle of that Kade had his turn and Kyle battled through a cold of his own. Thankfully, I can say that I was well through it all. Just a bit exhausted from lack of sleep, but no illness. And in the midst of it all, we had Christmas. Parties, visitors, random acts of Christmas kindness to carry out, gifts to wrap and unwrap, candle light service at church, elves to search for. We did our best to carry on. And it was a great Christmas. I just wasn't able to carry out my grand plan for blogging. That plan where I would blog about each party as it happened. A post devoted to L.Fee and Grandaddy L.Fee and their adventures. A day to update you on the fun we've had with our Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. Well, that didn't happen. Instead I was taking care of sick babies...and that is WAY more important. I think you probably understand, right? So instead you will get a random post in which I just ramble away about all of our Christmas fun!

So get ready....here goes nothing.....

This is the only picture I got of my sweet babies all together this Christmas. Now that everyone is feeling better I am going to recreate Christmas sometime in the next couple of days and take their Christmas pictures that I had big plans for. Part of me wants to just forget about it but I know that if I do, I will be so upset with myself this time next year. Oh and they were all looking so cute dressed up for our Christmas eve service. And let me just say that the ONLY way I was able to get them all ready and to church that night was because of the BIGGEST, BESTEST surprise EVER that we got for Christmas....

C.G. and Monk Monk came!!!!

Seriously, I had NO IDEA. Kyle didn't even know they were coming. We had just gotten home from taking our sick babies to the doctor, had eaten lunch and put everyone down for a nap. I was working on wrapping some packages in the kitchen when Kyle came around the corner and I heard my Mom's voice as they stepped into the kitchen. I was completely shocked!! I didn't even move for a few seconds trying to figure out how they pulled that off. Guess who was one happy girl??? ME!!! Their timing was such a blessing. Not just because they were here for Christmas but because they were here to help out with sick babies. Plus we did get to have lots of fun with them. More about that later....I must back up a bit if I think there is any chance of really catching up.

There were parties....

Our annual neighborhood Christmas party.

Tesa put on her party clothes.

Of course we ate.

Jeremy and little miss Audrey....who apparently grew tired of her party clothes.

Our fabulous driveway neighbors (we share a driveway) Joe and Claire!

The Maria's!

We played some fun games.

Looks like lots of fun, huh?

"Face Off" was my personal favorite.

Had to get a cookie from your forehead to your mouth.

I think the "snowball fight" was Kyle's favorite.

Looks like maybe it was John's favorite, too.
We had a great time with our neighbors.

Life Group Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

Dave really went all out on his sweater.

Tesa and Tyce sporting their party duds!

So nice to have extra arms who want to hold babies!

There were more games...
But at this point my blog seems to be tired of me and my pictures and refuses to let me upload any more. And OH I HAVE SOOO MUCH MORE!
More party, more elves, more RACKS....LOTS of Christmas pics and fun with C.G. and Monk Monk.
Guess you will have to stay tuned for that.
And since tomorrow is my sweet Ryne's third birthday I might just not get around to finishing up for a couple of days. But I promise I will get back to my update for those of you who really want to keep up with our virtual scrapbook Life with the Lewallens.
Feeding babies and going to bed for now!

Five Months....

2011-12-18T22:51:00.000-08:00

Yikes! We are only a month away from celebrating our babies' first half birthday. Wow, time really is flying.

I might not have posted on their actual 5 month birthday but I did actually take the pictures on the 15th.

Here they are, our 5 month old cuties...

Wondering why these two seem so distracted by something other than my camera?
Well, this would be why.....

My handsome assistant, Kade! He was good at keeping them nice and happy he just had trouble hanging out under the camera lens.

And before it was all said and done, he nicely asked to have his picture taken with the babies. There they are, nice and fuzzy in the background. Where's Ryne? Oh, he was sleeping sweetly. He is still such a great nap taker for me.

Can't give you any updated stats on the babies because they don't go back to the doctor for several weeks still. I can just assure you that they are growing. Tesa faster than Tyce. Already had to change out her stash of clothes again. She is now a 6 to 9 month girl while Tyce is still hanging out in his 3 to 6 month duds.
They are both super happy babies. Tyce is a giggler. He smiles for miles and LOVES to have somebody, anybody, just looking at him. Tesa is more of a talker than a giggler. And she is our chilled-out baby girl. Not much gets her worked up and she is happy as can be to just hang out by herself most of the time. When it is time to sleep, she just wants to be put down in her bed and left alone. Tyce on the other hand would rather you cuddle, pat and rock him to sleep. I don't know that these twins could be much different. Love them both to pieces and we are thoroughly enjoying watching there sweet little personalities develop.

Here is a quick look at the newest thing in their world....VEGGIES....

Tyce likes them, but not as much as cereal.

Tesa's turn!

She wasn't so convinced at first bite but she is now a big fan! She certainly likes her veggies more than Tyce. I told you they are quite different.

So much more to share but out of time for now. The next Christmas party going down tonight. Can't wait to get a chance to share some party pics and catch you up on all the elf adventures around here. Have a long list of to do's that might have to get done first. But stay tuned, I will get back here eventually!

Tis the Season...

2011-12-10T22:06:00.001-08:00

For all things Christmas!!
And we love it!

I will spare you the pictures of all of our Christmas decorations since they are basically the exact same as last years that I posted. However, I thought you might like to see what L.Fee and Grandaddy L. Fee have been up to....

Hiding in the Christmas card holder.

Hanging out in the china cabinet.

Reminiscing about Christmas past.

Hoping they wouldn't be noticed hiding amidst all the pictures.

Relocating Ryne's tower he built.

Updating their facebook status, of course.

Not wanting to miss Bible study, they chose to hide in the dining table center piece so they could hear everything that happened at Life Group.

This day Ryne found them in what he calls "the big socks."

Spent the day watching everyone eat as they perched in the light over the kitchen table.
And this morning we found them doing a balancing act on top of the mistletoe. Haven't taken that picture yet. Kade and Ryne are really enjoying the visit by L. Fee and Grandaddy L. Fee.

So, everyday we look for the elves when we wake up. Then at some point during the day we get to open one of these....

25 presents!

They are actually all of our Christmas books wrapped up. When I gathered them all up last month I could hardly believe it....we had 24 Christmas books! Perfect, because I wanted to wrap up the Bible for day 25 since we always read the true Christmas story from the Bible before we open gifts on Christmas day. I'm not sure what the boys actually like more, reading the books every day or just opening the present that they already know is going to be a book. You'd be amazed at how well they remember just who's turn it is to actually open the present each day.

My favorite new Christmas tradition that we have started is this....

25 envelopes running up the staircase.
Each envelope contains a Random Act of Christmas Kindness to be performed that day.
We are so blessed by all of the things that people do for us and give to us. Our children "get" all of the time and I really wanted them to practice the art of giving this Christmas season. They actually helped me come up with some of the ideas to put in the envelopes. I have a few pictures of some of the things they have done but I'm trying not to make this activity about them getting recognition for doing something for someone. For instance, one night we just walked around downtown and left candy canes on all of the vehicles with notes saying they had been RACK'ed and we hoped they had a blessed Christmas season. I told the boys it would be cool for people to just find a treat left for them without having a clue who it was even from. But some things I've just had to document because I thought they were too cute. Here are a few of the things they've done....

Kade drew this card for the Firefighters in DuPont. The front of it said, "thanks for keeping us safe."

They delivered the note attached to a plate full of fresh baked cookies.

Another activity that the boys really enjoyed included making some Christmas paintings.

Pretty sure you already know how much these guys enjoy craft time.

They worked hard creating their masterpieces.

And these beautiful works of art had a very special purpose....

Kade and Ryne took them to our local retirement community to give away.

I do believe these cute boys and their joyful Christmas art brought a few smiles that day.

Now this next one I'm going to share with you came as a bit of a challenge to these boys. So I took pictures to encourage them about what a generous thing they were doing. So, in their last package from C.G. and Grandaddy, both boys had a five dollar bill. They had tucked those five dollar bills away in one of their baskets. One of the envelopes they opened said, "Buy Toys for Tots." I fished out their five dollar bills and took them to the store. They each got to pick out a present that they thought another little boy or girl would enjoy getting for Christmas. A little boy or girl who didn't have a C.G. and Grandaddy or Granna and Paw to send them all kinds of good stuff in the mail. When they first saw the toy aisle they got a bit reluctant because they realized there were lots of toys there that they would like to just have for themselves. It just took a bit of reminding that they were doing their RACK for the day and they got into it. Can't even tell you how many times I heard, "How much is that, Mom?" or "Is that just five dollars, Mom?"

They both picked out their five dollar toys and each got to make their own purchase.

Kade picked out some wooden building blocks and Ryne a big Toy Story puzzle. They were pretty pleased with their purchases.

This next one may have been even more difficult...

We taped quarters to the games at our local pizza joint.

The same games that these boys always beg us to let them play. And when we do let them "play" there are no quarters involved. They just get to pretend to play by pushing all of the buttons while watching the demos repeat over and over.

I think they might have been hoping that some of these quarters would still be hanging there on our next trip out for pizza. They did such a good job I might just have let them really play a game our next time in.
The Random Acts of Christmas Kindness are definitely my favorite new tradition. And the boys look forward to opening the next envelope each day. A few other things they have done. Make Christmas cards for soldiers. Invite neighbors to a Christmas party. Write thank you notes for their teachers at school. Leave muffins at city hall. I hope they have brought lots of Christmas cheer to people in our world. I know they have brought lots of Christmas cheer to me.

Speaking of cheer...We finally got to cheer "HOORAY!" for Kade and Ryne finishing their sticker charts. And the reward they had set out when we started the charts was to go to the zoo and get ice cream.
It just so happened that our zoo had opened up at night for Zoo Lights and so we thought we'd give it a look see.

Of course we had to bundle everyone up.

But it was certainly worth enduring a chilly night.

The lights were beautiful.

And the playground was open.

The zoo at night in the cold was a different adventure for sure.

This tree was my personal favorite.

And check out this light display...

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge with Mt. Rainier in the background. Pretty amazing.

Tesa never closed her eyes. Every time I looked at her she was just looking all around.

Tyce, on the other hand, slept the entire time.

Just proof that I was really there. Me and the babies were hanging out while the big boys did a little carousel riding...

I was observing Kade making a new friend. I forgot to ask him what they were talking about. There is no telling.

Ryne was really into his fast ride.

He was also into wanting to try out my scarf.

Perfect timing....wearing my scarf for the ice cream part of their reward.

All three of these boys ate every last bite of their ice cream treats. And Ryne only shared a little bit of ice cream with my scarf. They really did enjoy themselves!

And as for enjoying themselves....

About a dozen of us girls got to head out on a girls shopping day. And it started with this....

YES!!! Hobby Lobby has made it to Washington. FINALLY!! Now, if it would just be closer than an hour and twenty minutes away that would be fabulous. But it was SO worth the trip!

Just look at that group of shoppers. Several of the girls were having their very first Hobby Lobby experience. I do think they were pleased. I know I was pleased. Not just with Hobby Lobby but with lunch out with the girls and with this...

That's my van full of my friends instead of my children.

And crazy as this picture is, it is evidence that I was actually there enjoying time with my van full of friends. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my van being full of my children but it had been a really long time since I'd had a girls day. Very thankful that Kyle was willing to hang out with our kiddos all day so I could get some Christmas shopping done with some amazing girls.

And here is another amazing girl...

Can you tell how chunky she is getting? The cutest kind of chunky there is.
And here is the cutest unchunky thing there is...

These babies are so happy!

And so cute in their first Christmas outfits.

They just got to go to their first Christmas party, too.

We had a Surround the Sound family Christmas party. It was nice because we got to get together with all the other church planters in our area and celebrate the cool stuff God has been doing in the South Sound.
Plus our babies got to be entertained by someone other than Mom and Dad.

Tesa hanging out with Belinda.

Kade playing a little Foosball with the big boys.

And lots of hanging out....

It is amazing to see just how much God has done since we moved here three years ago to be the very first church plant for Surround the Sound. I mean, seriously, did you see how many people were hanging out in that room? And next spring there are three more families moving out here to start church plant number 5! So exciting! What a mighty God we serve!

Tesa really enjoyed her time with Belinda!

And Kyle and I really enjoyed getting to share our babies with everyone. It was nice to have our arms free for a bit.

Even Wil and Mollie took a turn with the baby tots.
Great first Christmas party experience for Tesa and Tyce.

Then the very next day they got to experience their first "1st Birthday Party."

Our buddy Levi is 1!!!

And I took very few pictures for some reason.

But I did catch this one of Tyce hanging out with Kristy. You can tell he was doing his best to take everything in. Sure wish I would have gotten a picture of Tesa in her cute ruffly leopard print outfit. Instead I did get this one of Tyce in his cool outfit...

Fun times!
We do enjoy celebrating Christmas around here. And there is much more celebrating to be done. At least three more parties to go! Which ultimately means, stay tuned for more Lewallen Christmas adventures.

For now we will leave you with a cheery...

Feliz Navidad!

December is tomorrow....WHAT????

2011-11-30T15:46:00.001-08:00

It was SO my goal to get caught up on my blogging before December got here.

Looks like I have about 8 hours to make that happen. Ha!

Anybody up for the LONGEST post in Lewallen blog history?

Well, I'm going for it. Just be forewarned that this will probably also be the most jumbled up post in history as well. With two months worth of activities to document, there's no way I'm going to try and keep it all in chronological order and make a nice neat story out of it all.

So, if you're up for it, just buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Here goes....

Been getting our craft on...

Tesa is taking lessons.

Homemade puffy paint.

Getting Ready for the chill of Fall...

Welcome back Jacob....meet our new babies...

And a great big congratulations to Jacob and Jordan on their engagement!

Still infatuated with all things super hero...

School field trip to explore the beach....

Kade fished this critter out of the sound and named it "Ropey."

Thankfully, Kyle convinced him to leave it there and not bring it home with him as he had requested.

Dressed up for a night out on the town....

Okay, we just went to Jacob's welcome home party at the pizza joint but that's about as out on the town as it gets for us!

Tesa was excited.

Tesa and Tyce enter the world of the BUMBO....

And high chairs...

And exersaucers...

Did the pumpkin patch thing....

Okay you want to see last year, right?
I'll go dig it up....

Not a whole lot different this year, just a bit goofier

Look what Kade found...

A wooly bear caterpillar!

Yes, it went home with us...and is currently hibernating in a container on the front porch.

Did some grocery shopping, which Tesa, Tyce and I often try to do while the boys are at preschool in the mornings.

Do I have the cutest grocery shopping partners, or what?

Went on some dates.

Another thing we like to do while the boys are in preschool.

At least we have a couple of cuties to be our chaperones.

Kade made this...

Out of his hotwheels.

Dress rehearsal for Halloween...

I turned 35...gee that kind of looks old all typed out...but nonetheless I am thirty-five.
It was a nice day.
Had a surprise lunch party with some super sweet friends...

Then my boys threw me a party that night after Life Group.

Kade said there had to be a theme...so they went with Princess Party.
Complete with magic wands!

It was nice to have all our little Life Group princesses to help me celebrate.

Of course you know Kade and Ryne were just into the cake.

I did enjoy wearing the tiara they picked out for me and being the birthday princess for the night.

Stopped by the Fire Department for a little touch and see...

Tesa got a new hat at a booth they had set up....

Cute, huh?
The hat and the baby girl!

Helped Jace and Avery celebrate their birthday...

Had lots of good times at church...

Until the last couple of weeks these were my church buddies...

They both look like they have something to say, huh?
Yep, that's why they stay in the nursery now.

This is a look at how cool church has been.

Did the trick or treating thing....

Accompanied by the cutest little cat in the world, sweet Isabella!

It was a fun night!

Then came November.

It welcomed with it some play dough bowling...

And look at how those charts are filling up...

Look out ice cream and zoo, here we come!

Went to a birthday party at a kids gym...

Oh, my did Kade and Ryne enjoy that!

Ryne tried out the exersaucer.

Yep, he's too big.

Tesa dressed up as often as I would let her....

And on more than one occasion the twins got all "tangled" up in the pac-n-play together.

Funny thing about this picture, Tyce is sound asleep and Tesa seems to enjoy watching him sleep.

Enjoyed some family game nights.

Pirate-opoly is Kade's favorite!

Ryne would mostly rather wander around in the construction hat.

Got our pumpkins put out for Thanksgiving decor....

Tesa and Tyce got a couple of new friends in the mail....

I was surprised at how much they really tried to "play" with these little puppies.

Had to let the boys get out of the house and burn off some energy one day.

So we took them for a play date at McDonald's.

We didn't tell them where we were going but when we pulled up in the parking lot and told them we were going to let them have ice cream and play they went bonkers they were so excited.

Seriously, you'd have thought we took them to Disney World or something.
I love that it can be so easy to make them happy!
Sure hope that lasts forever.

Turkey Day....

So crazy thankful for all four of our sweet children this Thanksgiving!

I wanted to take a million pictures of these little cuties.

We had an amazing day.
Invited a bunch of other people who didn't have family in town to celebrate with.

And we managed to gather up quite a crew.

Thirty-eight awesome friends joined us to celebrate Thanksgiving!

Yes, that was a house full.

As well as a garage full!!

The food was absolutely amazing!

Everyone brought their best dishes to share.

We even had three kinds of turkey. Oven roasted. Smoked. Fried.
With a delicious ham as well.

It really was a fun day.

So glad we got to spend time with some amazing people.

And of course glad we got to eat all the yummy food.
And believe it or not, Tesa and Tyce did this...

Slept like little angels the entire time we were eating.
Then Mrs. Sue and Mr. Terry were kind enough to treat the kiddos to some craft time....

Aren't those the cutest turkeys?
Well, here is the cutest turkey...

My sweet Ryne. And this turkey was way more interested in playing with his new friend Josh than hanging out in the craft department.
Grateful for such a wonderful day!

Geared up to cheer on the Hogs....

Tyce was actually watching the game.

The prettiest Razorback fan of all!

Tyce trying out a baseball hat that Jace brought to him.

And this is how we felt after our loss to LSU. Boo!

Kade picks out his own clothes most days...

On this particular day he apparently needed some help choosing what to wear. He brought down all of these options and laid them out for me to see. Not bad fashion sense for a four year old, huh?

And look how joined us on Thanksgiving day...

L. Fee and Grandaddy L. Fee!
They are our elves on the shelves to keep an eye on us this Christmas season to see if we are being naughty or nice. L.Fee is learning the ropes from Grandaddy L.Fee (both named by Kade and Ryne). Grandaddy L.Fee was actually my Dad's elf when he was a little boy. I remember it always hanging out on the Christmas tree at my Mamaw's house when I was a little girl. Dad says that's all he really remembers his elf ever doing, hanging out on the Christmas tree that is. But apparently since then he has learned some new skills that help him watch out for little boys and girls being naughty and nice. Wink. Wink.

Every morning the boys have to look for L.Fee and Grandaddy L.Fee in their new look out spots.
Here are the places they've been found so far....

Sometimes, they like to pull funny tricks!

The morning Kade spotted the elves here, he announced, "hey, L. Fee and Grandaddy L. Fee are playing bats." Ha!

I'm thinking Grandaddy L. Fee was particularly happy that we got our Christmas tree up so he could show L. Fee his favorite spot of all.
Stay tuned for more from L. Fee and Grandaddy L. Fee.

Now, bring on DECEMBER!!!
I'm ready in blogland for it!!

And congratulations to you if you actually made it to the end of this post! Hopefully you don't feel like you wasted thirty minutes of your life trying to catch up on ours. We love you for loving us enough to keep up with us!

One-third of a year...

2011-11-16T14:53:00.001-08:00

Wow! Our babies have covered one-third of their first year of life already.

Are they growing?

Well, what do you think.....

Well, I'd say either they are growing or those owls are shrinking!

I did take them for their 4 month check-up and shots this morning so I have current stats for you.
Tesa weighed 14 lbs 14 oz and was 25 1/8 inches long.
Tyce weighed 13 lbs 3 oz and was 25 1/8 inches long.
He is trying to catch up with his sister. He caught her in the length category this month but he's got some serious growing to do if he plans on catching up with her in the weight category by next month.
Here's a few more pics of the growing babies....

They've really started paying attention to each other lately and it is so cute.

You might notice a bit of a theme as you look through the rest of these.
They have both taken a liking to keeping their hands in their mouths. Tesa more so than Tyce but he is starting to get the hang of it as well. Maybe that's what they were discussing in the first picture. Tesa was trying to convince Tyce just how yummy his hand might be.

Maybe she's whispering in his ear her favorite techniques for chewing on her hands.

This picture of Tesa just cracks me up for some reason. She looks like she's about to bust out with some crazy dancing or something. While Tyce is just figuring out the hands in mouth thing that Tesa was telling him coaching him on earlier.

I do think he's getting the hang of it.

The pro, showing him exactly how it's done.

What's the problem? You need some lessons too, Mom?

Here, we can both show you how it's done.

I'm thinking this is her "proud of myself" look.

How bout the big brothers?
They are doing great!
I still have all of our October happenings to catch you up on...they've been busy...but for now I can just show you some fun pictures if you'd like.

Oh, I do love my boys!
Saw this sign the other day and I totally want to get it for when all three of my boys end up in the same room:

I guess I better be looking for a sign about the cutest little girl in the world for Tesa's room.

Now speaking of the best little boys in the world, check this out...

Kade, Ryne and Tyce all in the same outfit at three months old.
I do think they will pass for brothers.
Yes, I was tempted to put Tesa in this little outfit and see just how much she really does look like her big brother Kade, but alas, I saved her the embarrassment that would surely come from that picture later in life from prankster big brothers. Besides, I'm not putting bows on Tyce so I figured I should be fair to Tesa and spare her the boy outfit.

She's way cuter in the girly stuff, anyway!

Thanks for taking time to look at my treasures. Stay tuned, you never know when I might just find the time to catch you up on some of the other happenings in our world.

Our Search for Sanity

2011-11-06T21:43:00.000-08:00

After Monk left it was time to figure out what our new "normal" was going to look like. Not long after that I saw this sign and it made me feel good...

So maybe "normal" wasn't actually what I was going for. Just a dose of sanity would be great.
In an effort to help our family find the dose of sanity that we all needed I decided it was time to regain control of the Lewallen household with the help of lovely schedules and charts.

Here is how that attempt got started....

Here is the Lewallen Time poster and Kade's and Ryne's sticker charts and our first memory verse.

We are finishing up 8 weeks now of following the schedule and the boys are getting super close to filling up their sticker charts and they can both tell you 8 verses from the Bible. Things are still not what anyone would probably consider "normal" but I definitely feel more sane than I did 8 weeks ago. Well, most days anyway. We are still making adjustments here and there to figuring out how to do life as a family of six. I suppose we will probably be making adjustments for the next 18 or so years. And wouldn't you know it...daylight savings time ended and here comes another adjustment. Ugh! Not one I really want to deal with because early bird Ryne was up at 5:45 new time!! Had him skip his nap yesterday in anticipation of "falling back" on our clocks and hoping it would cause him to sleep the extra hour. Plan failed. He only slept about an extra fifteen minutes. Kid is usually up no later than 6:30 every morning! Oh well, one of these days I'll probably dragging him out of bed and laughing that he used to be up so early.

Life has been full of adventure for us and I hate that I have not been able to keep up with this blog as things actually happened. But since this blog does serve as our family scrapbook, I can't bring myself to just skip it all and start from where we are now. I am determined to play catch up. So, if you don't really care to know what all has been going on with us the past couple of months you might just want to skip the next couple of posts and join me later for current events. Right now it is time for a September recap!

We said good bye to more friends.

Kade's buddy Jacob and his family moved to Germany.

We went to a little farewell party that they had. It is sad to think how many of our friends have moved in the past year. I can really tell it has affected Kade. Breaks my heart that he has had to deal with so many friends leaving, especially when he wants to know if they will be able to come to his birthday party if we send them an invitation to the new place they live. Poor little guy, his best friends now live in Georgia, Kansas, California, North Carolina, Germany, Oregon. Might be a bit too far for most of them to travel for his birthday party.

We remembered the tragedy of September 11th. Cannot believe that it has been ten years already.

Kade and Ryne wore their N.Y.C. fire fighter and policeman shirts that their Monk Monk sent them from New York City.

They were pretty proud of their shirts. And I did my best to explain to them what happened on September 11th and why we remember without provoking any unnecessary fear in their little minds.

They are all about "super heroes" so I think they followed me when I told them about our real-life heroes on that day and the heroes who fight to keep our country safe.

Tyce even wore his "America" shirt that day.

And I'm pretty sure Ryne is probably telling him about those Heroes I was teaching him about.

One thing is for certain, Ryne is always telling these babies something.

I don't know how many times I've said in the past three months, "Ryne, back up and give that baby some space." or "Get out of her face, Ryne." or "Get your hands off of his face, baby." and even this, "Ryne, I know you love these babies but you've got to give them a break."

He truly does love Tesa and Tyce like I never imagined he would.

Kade loves them, too.

And he is so good with them.

He can entertain them with his goofiness. And calm them down with his sweet voice.

There have seriously been very few times that Tesa or Tyce has been crying that Kade hasn't been able to soothe them.

Kade is a great help that way! If I really need to get something done and a baby is demanding attention, Kade is my go to man. I am so thankful for that help, too!

Oh, did you happen to notice that most of these pics are boys talking to Tyce? There's a reason for that. He is the one who demands attention. Doesn't even necessarily have to be held but he definitely wants somebody to be looking at him and talking to him. Tesa, nope, not her. She is so easy. As long as she is fed and dry she is quite content. If she gets tired of anything going on in her world, she just takes a nap to forget it all. If Kade and Ryne are being obnoxious and she is fed up with it, she just goes to sleep. If she is bored with staring at the ceiling, she just goes to sleep. If she doesn't want to listen to Tyce fuss, she just takes a nap. If she just happens to think she's been awake long enough she'll just take a little snooze. I seriously couldn't ask for a better little girl. She is such a sweetheart and does her best to make life easy for me. Good thing at least one of the four does that!

If the boys aren't around to help me entertain the babies, I've found a new friend for them...

They are big Baby Einstein fans. I'm so thankful.

Oh don't worry, I don't let them sit around and watch t.v. all day. But occasionally this is my trick for getting things done around here. Obviously you can tell from this picture that there was some cleaning that needed to be done.

Let's see, what else did we do in September?

Maybe I can just finish this up with a bit of a list and picture form.

*Babies went to the coffee shop to meet some of the sweet ladies who hang out there and had only seen pictures of them.

*Kade and Ryne got to visit Sound City Coffee and have a little treat.

I loved it because as soon as we drove up Kade said, "Hey this is where Russell and Belinda go to church."

It is true. They are our friends who are starting a new church in Tumwater, WA and they opened up a coffee shop and have church there.

*Big boys spent a few days working on homemade Thank You notes to send to all of the family for being so good to them this summer.

They both are especially fond of glitter glue.

*Got to treat the boys to a fun bath time one night...

A glow-in-the-dark bath!

Saw the idea on Pintrest and thought the boys would really enjoy it. They did! I thought it was lots of fun too. You should have seen them holding glow sticks up to their faces so I could see if we got them all clean. Will be using glow-in-the-dark baths as rewards for good days.

*Made a few trips to the park

Check out that entourage.

Ryne likes to just leave his helmet on the whole time.

Which is actually somewhat of a comfort when I see him leaning out of the whole at the top of the "fort."

Kade really likes to go to this park because it is a great place for him to practice his baseball skills.

I have been quite impressed at how good he has gotten at hitting the ball this summer.

I wish I had a count of how many pitches Kyle threw to him this summer. For a long time he started each swing by crouching down in place letting out a big grunt and saying "keep your eye on the ball." Made me laugh on the inside every time. I couldn't laugh on the outside because he was quite serious...nothing funny about it at all in his book.

Ryne likes to have some turns, as well. And look, that helmet is coming in handy yet again.

Swing batter!

*What about Tesa and Tyce? Well, they mostly just hung out like this...

And grew some extra chins.

Cute extra chins, at that.

*Went to Portland for a birthday party!

Sweet Delaney turned one and it was a great reason for us to make a trip down to see our friends Chuck and Dawn and Delaney and her big brother Aaron. They moved to Portland a few months ago and we sure do miss them around here.

The boys had a great time at the party...

Sporting their Big Bro shirts

And we had a fun time getting to hang out with our friends.

And you know Kade and Ryne were all about the cake and ice cream.

They had fun getting to spend some time with their buddy Aaron.

*Another fun trip to the park...

This time Isabella came to play.

She checked on the babies first but then it was on to playing with the big boys.

Batter up!

Seeing this makes me so happy that we got a girl to go with all our boys.

Isabella is such a sweet heart. And Ryne just adores her.

Look at Ryne and Isabella playing peek-a-boo with me. Too cute!

Kade spent all of his time swinging at pitches!

We might just have a serious baseball player on our hands. Kyle asked him one day this summer if he was going to play baseball when he grew up and he quickly answered yes. Said he was going to play for the Yankees. So Kyle asked, "If you play for the Yankees, will you get me tickets?" To which Kade replied, "Sure, if you're ever in New York." There was no question to him whether or not he would play for the Yankees, the question was only whether or not his Dad would be coming to New York. Ha!

*Had a day date with the big boys...

We splurged on Wendy's that day. Then hit up Toys 'R Us so they could spend some money they had gotten. I had a great time with them and I do think it was a nice break for us to have away from those sweet babies who get a lot of attention.

*Watched some football. Cheered for the Razorbacks and for Kyle we also cheered for Alabama. So what happens when Arkansas plays Alabama? Well, I cheer for the Hogs always and Kyle I guess just cheers for whoever is winning. Funny thing happened the day of the Arkansas-Alabama game this year. I wake up and go downstairs to find Kade sitting on the couch watching cartoons like this....

Sporting his Razorback night-nights and holding on to Kyle's old buddy Al.

I suppose he is his father's son.

Ryne was sporting his Razorback night nights too and needed to pose for a picture with Al. These poor boys may grow up all confused.

*We went to fall fest and had a great time picking out pumpkins, playing games, putting together a pumpkin bread mix and ....

riding ponies!!!

*Had some fun with our friends..

Then Jenkins crew came over for a cookout. This time Ainsley joined the kiddos like a big girl. Going to have to have a much bigger picnic table in a couple of years since Tesa and Tyce will want a spot and the newest Jenkins baby that is on the way will need a seat as well.

Yes, September was a fun month. But then came October, and it was ever bit as fun. But you will have to wait until a later post to find out about that.

For now just enjoy one last picture of our zaniest little man.

And let me say Congratulations you made it to the end of this post.

Monk Monk Came...

2011-11-03T17:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it was two months ago, but she really did come. She was the grand finale of all our visitors this summer. We had a great time while she was here. I only wish she could have stayed longer. I always wish that, though! She was great. Didn't require any big plans....she was just happy to hang out with me and the babies for the most part. We did have a good time and did some fun things. I'll just let the pictures tell the story for me. Of course, I'll add a few captions here and there to try and make it entertaining. Enjoy Monk Monk's visit in pictures....

There is no doubt Monk Monk takes after C.G. because she came bearing gifts.

new fast running shoes!

that, of course, had to be tried on right away...

nice!

I was super excited that Monk was here to go to church with us this trip!

Not just because I wanted her to enjoy Life Church but also because she was an awesome set of extra hands to help out with the babies.

One of those babies just kept wanted to roll over while I was getting ready to change his diaper.

The other baby, well she was just priding herself in looking adorable that night.

We had an after church postcard addressing party that night so the extra help was especially nice.

Of course I had to try and get a pic of Monk with her new niece and nephew wearing their favorite onesies.

Tesa's says "I love my Auntie!" and Tyce's says "My Aunt Rocks!"

Of course the other boys wanted a turn in the picture, too.

When I first looked at this picture my immediate thoughts were, "Wow, all those kiddos belong to me!"

I do like this picture of Ryne and Kade but I have to laugh when I take a look at Tesa in the background. Apparently she was a bit upset that they were stealing her spotlight. Ha!

I got to take Monk to visit Sound City Coffee...

Only Monk's not a coffee drinker so she just enjoyed a bit of apple cider. See how good it was, her cup is empty! And apparently the babies were being super great because she isn't holding one of them and I am able to take a picture.

One afternoon we picked the boys up from school and took them for a picnic.

Kade was working hard on putting together his lunchable sandwich.

Until he was distracted by this...

An attack squirrel sneaking up on us.

Seriously, this was one crazy squirrel.

Monk chased it away with a stick.

Not just once,

But several times she had to tree that crazy squirrel for us!

We did get to enjoy our picnic, in spite of the squirrel.

Ryne enjoyed his sandwich.

And yes, we did take Tesa and Tyce with us...

See there they are in their favorite spot, the stroller!

Notice Monk in the background chasing off the squirrel, again!

Don't worry we did let Tesa and Tyce get out for a bit.

They got to lay on their blankets while Kade and Ryne had fun with Monk Monk on the playground.

I thought these babies were so cute in their sock monkey outfits that I just couldn't help but take lots of pictures.

I did get a couple of shots of the big boys on the playground....they are just so much harder to keep up with compared to the babies.

After the park we couldn't pass up our favorite yogurt spot since we were right beside it.

Can you tell that Kade and Ryne didn't mind a stop for yogurt???

And on our way home we made another stop that paid off for the boys.

We stopped at the farmers market in Steilacoom and they were giving away free chocolate milk.

Since Monk Monk hooked Kade and Ryne up with some chocolate milk, Tesa decided she'd like to have a snack of her own. Monk Monk took care of that too.

A nice little stroll down to the park overlooking the sound ended our eventful day! Fun times for sure.

One thing Kade always wants to do when people come visit is take them to his favorite place to eat.

So we had an outing to Farrelli's!

Aren't Tesa and her Aunt Monk looking so pretty?

And wouldn't you know it, Tyce and his Daddy are looking so handsome.

Our biggest outing while Monk was here was a trip to the beach.

Yes, Kade and Ryne requested that she sit in the back with them on the way.

Ryne wasted no time...started digging right away.

Monk was trying to keep Tesa out of the sun while we set up a make-shift tent for her and Tyce.

My little beach babies.

And check out that "tent" they have.

Crazy story about the tent. Tesa and Tyce were pretty well hidden by the "tent" and so I would just look in on them every several minutes to make sure they were good. Well, at one point I glanced in and couldn't see Tyce at all. My heart skipped a beat as my first thoughts were, "there's no way anybody could have gotten in this tent and taken my baby without us seeing them since we are sitting right here beside it! WHERE IS MY BABY????" Upon closer inspection I find that Tyce has decided that turning sideways and rolling down the blanket would be a fun beach day activity for him. Look where I found him...

He had rolled all the way out from under his "tent" crazy boy. Thankfully he didn't make it to the sand. I quickly called Monk over to keep a hand on him so I grab a quick photo to document the first of what I'm sure will be many times that Tyce does something that makes my heart skip a beat.

Meanwhile, Kade and Ryne are just enjoying their day at the beach to the fullest.

And I created a "viewing area" in the tent so that I could keep an eye on those babies from a short distance away. Didn't want Tyce to try any more of his escaping tricks.

I think they enjoyed the fresh air and the sound of the water.

I had a great time getting out in the sunshine a bit myself.

It certainly didn't hurt that I had a couple of way cool girls to hang out with!

Yeah, did I mention that Mollie came with us on our beach outing! How much more fun can you get?

I actually got to have some girl time!

Oh, don't worry about Kyle....he was having boy time, as well.

Sand castle building!

Complete with fresh blackberries on every peak!

One thing I know for sure, the week passed all too quickly for me!

I had a super great time with my sister. She is just the best sister a girl could ever ask for. And I'm pretty sure her niece and nephews would say she's the best Monk Monk, EVER!!

She even spent her last night with us, hanging out with Kade and Ryne helping them work on some dry-erase books that she got them.

Gee, it even looks like maybe she was teaching Ryne some math!

Maybe I can get her to come back soon and teach him how to go to the potty.

Yes, the boy is still wearing diapers. He doesn't care. He can use the potty and has used the potty before but just doesn't even want to now. But that's another story for another time. This was all good stuff so we will just forget I even mentioned the potty-training dilemma!

Thanks Monk for taking time out of your schedule to come hang out with us! We love you bunches!!!!

A Message From Tesa

2011-10-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

Tesa has something she wants to say to you all....

Would you like to know what she is saying?

Well, if I must translate....

Hi everybody, I'm Tesa! Hope you are all doing just great. I know I am. Life is pretty good for me. These people feed me well. They change my diapers. They play with me. My big brothers keep me entertained quite well. In fact, my brother Ryne wants to do too much entertaining sometimes and I hear Mommy and Daddy telling him all the time to back up and give me some space. Ha! That Ryne sure does love me. Kade loves me, too. He just doesn't get in my face all the time to tell me. He mostly just talks really sweet to me and gives me my paci if I ask for it. Cool thing is, I'm not the only one getting all this good treatment. My brother Tyce is enjoying this life, too!! We really do have it made around here. I highly recommend being a baby in the Lewallen household.

Oh, and one more thing I wanted to say before I'm done.....I want to tell you guys to give my Mommy a break when it comes to this blog thing. She says all the time, "I wish I had time to work on the blog. I'm so far behind. I want to get caught up so badly. I hate that our families are missing out on all the fun new pictures I'm taking of you guys." But seriously, I don't know how she is going to find time to get caught up. We keep her as busy as we can. It will probably just require several late nights or several days of an even messier house. Maybe a few fast food meals for the bigger people in our family. But I'm sure she will eventually find the time to make it happen. Hang in there people. Don't give up on her. She will eventually come through for ya! At least that's been my experience with her, I may have to wait sometimes for Tyce to finish eating or getting a clean diaper but she always comes through for me and gives me just what I need.

Okay, I guess that's about all I have to say for now. So until next time, you guys take care! Thanks for listening to me today.

3 months!

2011-10-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

Yes these babies are three months old already! That actually happened a week ago and I did make time to take the pictures then....but getting them here on the blog...well, obviously that didn't happen. It was my goal to get completely caught up on my blogging by the time Tesa and Tyce turned three months old. Looks like I am going to have to adjust that goal a bit and keep trying.

I would love to give you three month stats on these precious babies but to be perfectly honest, I have NO IDEA how much they weigh or how long they are. I can only tell you that they are growing! And even better than that, they are sleeping ALL NIGHT LONG!!! Kade and Ryne didn't do that for almost a year. So yes, yes, yes, I feel super blessed to be getting sleep with three month old twins. In fact, we are doing so well with the little tots that Kyle and I started back up our gym membership this week. We honestly weren't sure that we would even be able to work that into the schedule by the beginning of next year. So nice to get back to that. I NEED IT SOME KIND OF BAD!!! Most of the clothes in my closet I still cannot wear. Oh how I wish it weren't so difficult for me to lose the baby weight. I should have been ready for the struggle though because it was hard with both previous pregnancies to shed the extra pounds....why should this be any different??? Want to know the most frustrating part? This time last year I had just finished running a half marathon...13.1 miles....and when I got on the treadmill the other day and tried to run, my body responded as if I had never ran a day in my life. Seriously, I couldn't even make it a half mile.

Okay, enough with the weight and workout complaints....I must just keep at it. Besides these sweet babies are worth it!

I tried my hand at taking some three month pics of them. Just let me say, I am NOT a professional and totally wish that I had more skills when it comes to the camera. It also wouldn't hurt to have about four more hands. Trying to pose two babies and keep them happy and take their picture. YIKES. A bit more challenging that I thought it was going to be. But here's what we got. There's lots of pictures...mostly for the grandparents' enjoyment. So, if you don't want to look at them all, no worries, I'll never know anyway. The good news is, I am not going to comment on them...just make up your own captions if you want. So enjoy...

Twin overload??? Probably! But I didn't really have the time to analyze the pictures and narrow them down any more than this. What can I say? At least I got them on here, right C.G. and Granna?

Now just have to find the time to work on catching up from the summer. IT WILL HAPPEN!!