Granna and Paw's Turn

Yes, Granna and Paw did make it to Washington to meet their precious new grand-babies.
We picked them up at the airport while Kade and Ryne were at school so that they would have a chance to get to meet Tesa and Tyce without crazy big brothers being a distraction.

It worked out that we would have time to stop for lunch.  While we were waiting for The Cheesecake Factory to open up for us, Tesa and Tyce decided they were ready to go ahead and eat.

So....

We broke Granna and Paw in right away by handing them each a baby and a bottle.

Welcome to our world, Granna and Paw!

Kade and Ryne were both very excited to see Granna and Paw.
Some new folks to entertain for a bit.  And entertain they did...

What?  You've never seen a Transformer riding a horse?

Bumblee and Batman, teaming up!

Batman showing off his muscles!

Just who are these masked men, you ask?

Well, none other than...

Ryne!

and...

Kade!

I know, you're shocked, right?

You totally expected Kermit and Miss Piggy, huh?

Of course, Granna and Paw came bearing gifts...

Super Heroes!!!  Granna seems to know the way to Kade's heart.

Ryne was excited about it all!

You know I've told you how much Ryne adores his baby brother and sister.

Well, he didn't want Paw to hold Tyce without his help. Ha!

The blackberries were getting ripe so we went blackberry picking.

Well, Ryne mostly just played in the dirt.  But that worked out best.

Kade, on the other hand, was a real blackberry picker this year.

Granna kept Tesa and Tyce corralled in the stroller for us.  Just imagine one of these days all four of our children will be able to help us pick blackberries.  We will be able to round up enough blackberries for a cobbler in no time. (That's how we do blackberries at our house....just get enough for a cobbler and move on.)  This time we moved on to show Granna and Paw the new park.

 

 You remember, the one with the giant slides.

Tesa and Tyce all buried up in their carriers at the park this summer, and before I know it they will be racing each other down those giant slides.  I am trying to relish every minute of their babyhood for it will soon be gone.  I know, it has happened to me twice already.

See my babies grew up!

Okay, enough of the emotional stuff...back to the fun times with Granna and Paw.

We took them to the zoo!

Guess who got to make their first trip to the zoo this time??

Tyce and Tesa, of course!

And as usual, they hung out in the stroller while everybody else had all the fun.

Take a look....

We stopped for a very sunny picnic!

Also had an especially fun time watching the walruses play this time.

I taught the boys about taking self portraits.

Not bad, huh?

Tesa and Tyce finally decided that they just had to get out of that stroller and eat!

So, we let Granna and Paw have some more practice. Ha!

Kade and Ryne didn't mind the delay.  

They found a nice way to occupy their time.

It just happened to be one of the few days this summer that it was actually warm enough here to play in the water.  Lucky for Kade and Ryne their Mom and Dad brought some swimming trunks for them.

We tried getting a picture of all four kiddos with Granna and Paw....

As usual, it was a difficult task.

It was a nice day at the zoo.  Not sure that is exactly what Kyle really wanted to be doing to celebrate his birthday, but that is what we did.  Yes, it was Kyle's birthday...he finally caught up with me.....and we spent the day at the zoo.

Don't worry, we did have this...

If there had been no birthday cake, this guy most likely would have flipped out on us....

Yes, Kade thinks a birthday cannot even take place if there is no birthday cake involved.

Worked out that we had a few people coming over for a class for church so they helped us celebrate.

Just picture some balloons and streamers and doesn't it look like a birthday party to you?

If I were talented enough I would do some photo editing and add those balloons and streamers for you, but since that is yet another skill I only dream of having mastered, you will just have to put forth the extra effort and imagine those balloons and streamers on your own.  If you want to get really imaginative go ahead and picture a "Happy Birthday Kyle" banner and a table full of presents.  Nice party, huh? 

Okay, so maybe the party was very festive but we did get to go out to eat for Kyle's birthday.

Which definitely would have been less eventful had we left a couple of preschoolers at home.

Even though the craziness may have been over the top, I do love this picture and the food was super yummy.  A great big thank you to Granna and Paw for Kyle's birthday dinner.

Our up and coming photographer, Ryne, took this picture of Granna and Paw at dinner.  Didn't he do a great job?  I am pretty certain I know one thing we will be getting that little fella for Christmas....his very own camera!

While Ryne may be the master photographer, Kade is the master gardener.

Remember these?

The potatoes Kade harvested while C.G. was here.

Well, ever since he dug them up he had been asking to have steak for dinner so he could bake his potatoes.

Guess what we did while Granna and Paw were here.

Baked those potatoes to go with some steak.

Kade is definitely a steak and potatoes kind of guy!

We had a Life Church party at the beach while Granna and Paw were here.

It was a BBQ and Baptism party!

Look at all the fun we had....

Lissa helping Tyce out with his picnic.  Don't you just love her hat? I do.

Justin and Eli were doing some burger grilling for us.  Yummy!

Kade and Ryne mostly just enjoyed the sand as they waited patiently for us to let them go down to the water.

Sterling joined Kade for the wait.

And then we all moved down to the water...

for the coolest part of the beach party...

Stephanie was getting baptized!!!

That is her husband John with her.

Super awesome to see a husband get to baptize his wife.

Oh what a beautiful picture.

Now, doesn't that just make you smile?

This makes me smile, too...

Molly and Alissa taking care of Tesa and Tyce.  It was such a nice break for me.  I told everyone that I thought we should have beach parties every weekend just so I could enjoy the break. Ha!  

Then Alissa pointed out the background of this picture to me.  If you look closely you will notice Jace and Avery back there.  They are twins!  For those of you who don't know, our worship pastor, Arin, and his wife, Kristy, also have twins.  They are about 8 years older than our twins.  And instead of having two big brothers, they have two little sisters.  Pretty cool, huh?  So, there you have it...a picture of Molly and Alissa with two sets of twins.

Look at this cute guy...

I think he was just laying there dreaming of the day when he could join his big brothers down at the water...

Molly and Lissa weren't my only heroes that day...

Jordan ranked way up there, too!!!!

She was so super sweet to hang out with the boys down at the water.  They were in heaven!!

 

And since all of my children were being looked after, I got to wander around taking pictures. I was enjoying it so much that I took pictures of crazy things...

like trains

and rocks

Kade wanted to take this rock home because it looked like a heart.  I convinced him to just let me take a picture of it to take home.  That trick doesn't work very often, he is quite the rock collector, but thankfully this time it did.

I even got a cute shot of sweet Isabella...

this is what Ryne would take home if he could...he just loves "Missabella"

almost as much as he loves this girl...

Had to get a shot of Tesa in her little hat.

At the beginning of this post I showed you Granna and Paw dishing out prizes that they brought the boys.  Well, Granna also brought along all the things that she had collected for Christmas so that we could give it to them come Christmas time. (We aren't planning on making a trip home for Christmas this year.) Well, as the week progressed Granna decided that she just wanted to go ahead and have Christmas with them in August so that she could see them get their presents.  So, we went Christmas shopping.

Tesa and Tyce got to come along as our shopping buddies.

Tesa tried on these cute sunglasses.

But I am pretty sure their favorite part of our shopping outings was...

Taking a break to eat!

 

Granna finished up her shopping and announced to the boys that we would be having Christmas in August.

Ryne immediately said, "but we need a Christmas tree."  Thus, the pine branch in the vase.  That is what Christmas trees look like at the Lewallen house in August.  And if you notice, the boys both have on Christmas shirts to help get in the spirit!

Then we tried this again....

 

Almost got it...Kade look over here.

 

That's better but then we lost little Tyce looking at the camera.  Oh well, one of these days...maybe six years from now....but one of these days we will get everyone to look at the camera at the same time.

Tesa and Tyce just need a bit more practice.

The boys were really in the Christmas spirit...they were patient enough to let Tesa and Tyce get their presents first.

Then it was Ryne's turn...

Oh, Christmas in August comes in giant trash treasure bags.

 

This is by no means a picture of everything Ryne pulled out of his bag.  But I realize this is getting to be quite a long post and I need to hurry it up a bit.

Next, Kade got to open his treasure bag...

Again, this wasn't everything...just some highlights from Kade's Christmas bag.

The biggest highlight was a western town that Kade had asked for...

Can you tell that both boys are in awe?

Christmas in August was a huge success!

It even earned Granna and Paw big hugs...

Then of course, out came the western town.

Yee Haw!

Oh, yes, Kyle and I got a Christmas present, too...

Just what we asked for!

A new trashcan!  And we like it a lot!

Christmas in August was a huge success!  A great ending to a fun visit with Granna and Paw.
Next morning Granna and Paw headed back to Oklahoma.  We are so glad they got to come.  Not only did we have fun with them but they were a HUGE help to us while they were here.  You saw picture evidence that they fed babies multiple times.  They also helped us get several projects around the house done.  THANKS A BUNCH, Granna and Paw!  We love you!