Welcome October

My first "current events" post in a while but now that I am officially caught up with the months and months of blogging that I missed you can look forward to the lengths of my posts being much more tolerable.

So far we are loving October.

How could you not with these guys....

 Tyce cracks us up carrying around the plastic frying pan that goes with their kitchen.

 Ever since he started walking he has been carrying this thing around like it is his prized possession.

 I'm thinking maybe he just wants to make sure he can protect himself from his big brothers.

 Maybe we shouldn't have let him watch Tangled when he was a baby? 

 Tesa, we have learned, it perfectly content as long as she can carry around a bag of snacks.

I think she is a lot like her big brother Ryne.  You may recall that when Ryne was a little tot I kept finding him in the pantry helping himself to a bag of chips or box of cookies.

Well, look who I recently found hanging out in the pantry together.

Those little snack monsters!

Kyle was out of town this past weekend.  Got to go to Kentucky for a wedding.

He didn't bring back any pictures for me to share but I did snag a few from facebook...

Congratulations Ryan and Haley!!! 
Heard it was an amazing day.

And yes, I was totally jealous that Kyle was there and I wasn't and that he got to see lots of our old friends and I didn't.  But more than that I was so happy that Kyle was able to be there to celebrate with friends that hold such a special place in our hearts.

Besides, the kiddos and I were busy doing our thing while he was gone anyway....

Had the privilege of joining our awesome friend Morgan for the Up With Down Syndrome Buddy Walk on Saturday morning.  Such a cool time to get to show Morgan and her family that we love them bunches!

 We started our buddy walk at the fire station so the kiddos were all over the fire truck.

 This is our friend Adri and her little man Joshua at the buddy walk.  You might remember from an earlier post that I mentioned we had been trading out date nights with Adri and her hubby Jonathan.  Maybe you remember the pic of Kade and Ryne picnicking with Joshua and his big brother Anthony??? Anyway, we found out recently that they will be moving soon.  Great big super duper sad face from us!!!  But way excited for them.  Jonathan is going to have an opportunity to pursue something in the army that he has been wanting to do AND it also means that he is not having to deploy in the next couple of months and be gone from his family for a year.  So great big giant happy faces from me for them!!!  But, oh we are going to miss them!  So for now we are trying to enjoy every chance we have to spend time together.  They have been here and been our friends and a part of our church for longer than anyone else.  So, we are just hoping that the military brings them back to us one day.

 I must move on to more fun stuff....

 After the Buddy Walk we went to a football game.  Our friend Zak plays football and his sister Ava cheers.  Kade was just beside himself with excitement over getting to watch Zak's football game.

 Perched himself high in the bleachers where he could have a good view and zoned in on the game.

 Ryne and Olivia were a bit more interested in what they termed "the snack zone."

The babies did great hanging out in their stroller for an extended period on Saturday.  Tossed them lots of snacks as well to keep them happy.

It was a busy day...I figured keeping busy might make a day minus Daddy move a little faster. 

On Sunday our friend Haley came to visit....

The kiddos just love her.  Probably because she is sooo super good with them.

She went to church with us Sunday night which was a lot of fun.  Really strange being there without Kyle.  When we pulled up to church Kade said, "hey, where's Dad?"  As if he didn't think church could happen without him so he must have come back in time for church.  But alas, he was not there and church carried on.  Not only did it carry on, but it was good.  I know it does Kyle's heart good to know that he can be away from church without worrying about whether or not things will be okay.  What an awesome group of people we have to do church with.  Our friend Greg Thompson preached Sunday night and did an awesome job.  Even so, I still missed Kyle.

He made it back late Sunday night and I felt like things were all in order again.

Hayley was off work on Monday for Columbus Day so she stuck around to hang out with us.

 While the boys were at school we went to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge and did the nature walk.

We stopped at a look out point and were observing the wildlife when I noticed Tesa take her paci out of her mouth (it was naptime and I was hoping with paci's and blankets they might sleep on the stroll).  I quickly reached for it and taking it from her said, "Oh Tesa, don't you throw that paci.  You'll lose it."  No sooner had I gotten those words out of mouth and Tyce yanked his paci out tossed it.  Over the side....

 Momma, my paci!  Get it!!

 Not happening!

 Bye Bye paci!  

When we strolled back through the tide had come in and this poor little paci was floating below.  I bet that paci is going to have an interesting adventure in the Puget Sound.  

 Daddy brought home prizes for the big boys.

 Star Wars action figures!!

They were over the moon!

These boys seriously love some Star Wars.  Never seen the show but have friends who tell them all about it.  Kade tells me stuff all of the time about the characters and who they are and what they do and it blows my mind how much he has learned from his friends.  I hope his friends have it all right so that one day when he does get to watch the movies he's not thinking the whole time, "hey, that's not how it's supposed to be."

These guys even requested that our whole family dress up as Star Wars characters for Halloween.  Wait to you see us!!

Hayley had to say goodbye....

 And the boys had to admire her ride before she left.

 To make certain she knew just how much they liked her and her motorcycle...

They chased her all the way down the road saying bye.

Those boys are something else.

On another note...so are the babies!  

Challenges with them have been many lately.  Tesa can open doors!  Keeping them out of the bathroom...UGH!  Keeping them out of Kade and Ryne's room and off of the top bunk....UGH!  Tyce likes to bite Tesa if she is in his way and want move.  They both love to climb up and dance on top of the coffee table.  Sure it is funny, I should get video sometime, but I still can't let them think that it is okay for the next thing I know they will be dancing on top of the kitchen table.  And probably the biggest challenge...they are getting ready to give up a nap!  Boo!  Hiss!  I am not ready to lose a nap time for the sake of my routine and schedule.  Most days on or the other of them refuses to go to sleep for either the morning or afternoon nap.  Currently they are both crying in their cribs in disgust over being left there for an afternoon nap.  I'll just have to figure out another time to sweep, do laundry and dishes, and shower.  Oh well,  times they are a changing and I can't stop it.  So, I might as well embrace it.  Going to get the babes up and let them play now.