When your 2 year old asks you...

"Where's your bra?" you know it's time to:

a) put one back on
b) stop using adult language in front of your tot
c) get your jammie shirt on MUCH quicker
d) all of the above

I'll let you decide.

Hello, daddy? 'Dis Macey!

Sometimes, a picture says it all:



and sometimes, Tena still needs to say stuff. No, Macey doesn't talk that well yet (she doesn't talk at all yet actually, and neither does her baby sister) but that was a cute title, no? Yes. Love my babies!

Food battles ala Declan

This boy is something else. He would survive on Pop-Tarts alone if we would allow it. We fight him to eat. Period. It's not about battling for fruits and veggies (forget those), we have battles of will just for taking one bite of something. I decided to capture one of our usual mealtimes with him in pictures. It's me, sitting across the table from him, asking him to eat one half of a chef boyardee ravioli. NOT HEALTHY. Super kid friendly. You'd think we were asking him to eat asparagus. Raw. His motivation? An early piece of Caden's birthday cake (this was the day before C's 8th birthday on Sunday).

"Take a bite and then you can have the cake!"


The cake was pushed right up in front of him as motivation...he took the bait!


Now I can use the fork for cake! (Note the leftover ravilolis - he didn't have many to begin with and only ate that one half.)


I believe he thinks he has won.


It's baby steps with this boy. We are working HARD to make sure he's hungry at mealtimes. limiting snacks, etc. He's a buggar.

Mischief is brewing

It's so cute with two. Like today, they were both scooting forward, army-crawl style, and they bumped their heads together. They looked at each other and laughed. It was priceless. And when one takes off across the room the other follows behind. I'm also now catching them sitting up when they had been scooting around. Most of the time that's because they pull up on something low and then can't get back down, but still, they're figuring it out! Here's a few pictures of them getting around lately:


Madelyn left, Macey right. Should we or shouldn't we...try the stairs...


Macey tries, but thinks better of it.


Madelyn left, Macey right. Macey was here first, and Madelyn thought it looked like fun...


until Macey started pushing her away.


And another of Madelyn, because I think it's absolutely adorable!!

Do I need to post with more pictures?

I do, don't I. You can say it. I know it's true. It's like one of those things that I know is true but I don't want to do anything about. It sort of like someone walking out of a bathroom stall with toilet paper hanging from their pants. You know you should say something but you really don't want to. Or it's like when you *toot* silently in a large group of people and you know you should say something but you just simply cannot admit that you did it. Not that that's ever happened to me or anything.

More pictures. Ok, working on it....

More milestones for Macey and Madelyn

Now they're pulling up on things like steps and fireplace hearths and stepstools. They don't get up on their feet but up on their knees to whack at what's above. It is TOO cute!! (If I do say so myself.)

Wanna see some pics of my crew?

My friend (and talented photographer) came over Saturday morning to get some pictures of the kids. I decided to get in on the action a bit, too - you know those awesome pictures you see of a mom all in play with her kids? Yeah, we didn't get a lot like that but we both had some good ideas! Caden and Declan were seriously SERIOUSLY uncooperative. You can see that in a lot of shots. I'm sporting myself down 40 pounds from January (go, me!) and am determined to love me and the mommy I am to my beautiful children! They light up my life. Let me know what your favorites are - I'm going to have a hard time choosing!

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/store.aspx?p=235481

password: fall

Up on our knees...

not in prayer, but UP on their knees! The twins, that is. Macey has been getting up on all 4s for quite a few weeks now. Madelyn has just started today. Macey is even lifting one hand up off the floor to reach for things while she's up on all 4s! It should be soon that we see the moving forward with "real crawling"! Right on time for our kiddos - they'll be 15 months on Friday! Go little ladies!

In other news, the school called me around 1:30 - had to go pick Avery up from school. Her fever was only 99.9 (which isn't really a fever for my kids) but she was coughing a ton as well. Thankfully Heather happened to be out here so she stayed with my 3 littles who were sleeping while I ran and got Ave from school. It was picture day for her but she told me she did have her picture taken so we've got that out of the way!

Ever felt REALLY bad about how a morning went?

I am feeling terrible right now. Avery got up this morning and was all dressed. We did her hair and then she literally sat on the couch waiting for her bus to arrive. Time to kill. So the bus pulls up and she gets up to run to the door and stops dead in her tracks to shout, "MY SHOES!" She didn't have any on. (Last night when I was putting her clothes out for her she told me her shoes were downstairs, and she knew where. Mmmm hmmm.)

So I run to a few places in the house and the bus honks a few times. I run out to the front porch and tell the driver that we can't find shoes but we'll be RIGHT out. And may I just mention that Avery is following me around, doing absolutely NOTHING to help?? I run a few other places and Avery tells me they're out by the trampoline. I glance out there and I do not see them. So I finally run upstairs to her bedroom and grab a new pair, run downstairs, cut the tags off and try to get them on her feet. They will NOT go on. I know they should fit because they are the same size and style of the other ones, only these are new. I grab the shoes, grab her hand and head out the door. Yes, I sent her on the bus, in socks, with her shoes in hand. Felt bad about that but here's where it gets worse....

The driver calls me just a few minutes ago. "We can't get those shoes on Avery." Uhhhh, seriously?? Crrrrrrrrrrrap! So I told him she's probably worked up - send her inside with the shoes and let her try in Miss Amber's room. Which he already did, whew. So now I just pray she got them on.

I feel just awful! And I sent her out the door after saying to her, "I'm not happy with you right now." Ok Tena, so you've NEVER made a mistake before??? Good grief. I hope she has a better day. I'd like to call school and tell her I'm sorry. I'm just going to have to pray that God holds her heart and hand today while I can't.

Have you heard??

Caden is now sleeping outside of a crib! Yes, you read that correctly, he has been in a crib for almost 8 years. The other day I got sick of looking at the crib and decided to take it apart. We had tried leaving the side of his crib down with a step stool next to it in the past and it didn't go so well. I'm not sure what made me think he was ready this time but I had a feeling it might be ok (that, and Heather told me to suck it up and give it a go). We put his crib mattress on the floor and his blankets and special things on there. When he got home from school he did this adorable, arms-up shrug and said, "Where my bed went?" I showed him the pieces on the front porch and he really was ok with it (he tends to get upset about big changes in his normal, so I was a little apprehensive about it). Yes, he gets out of it from time to time and bugs Declan or whatnot, but I have come to a stunning realization that I tend to underestimate Caden. I truly don't believe he is capable of certain things and by doing that I am setting him up to fail. His teachers believe in him. More than I do at times! So I said enough. I'm believing in Caden. I'm trusting that he and God will work things out and that he will show me what he can do. And so far, they're making a great team!

IEP - rousing success

I just really can't say enough how good today's IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting was. Really. Good. Fabulous, even! We feel beyond blessed that Caden has teachers, friends, associates and advocates who rally behind him when he is at school. They believe in him. They think he is capable of so much, and they are right! They told us things he says and does that honestly blow our doors off - he is correctly numbering numerals and speaking them as well. He's doing things for them at school that he wouldn't do here at home. And trust me - I am fine with that as long as he's making progress. Every kid deserves to be obstinate about certain things when they're at home, right? We are so proud of you, Caden! Keep on shining, little star.

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know...

Today is a day when Avery is home - no Kindergarten on Thursdays. We've been noticing more and more that Avery and Declan play very well together. It's a nice break for me at times. I can go tell them to play together and they will - no fighting, only minimal bossing from Avery. It's great, and really it's our first glimpse of a typical sibling relationship with built-in playmates.

Today I was getting the twins ready for naptime and Avery and Declan were in the boys' room directly across the wall from the twins' room - Caden and Declan share a bedroom and are both still in cribs (so yes, if you do the math we have 4 cribs set up in side-by-side bedrooms...probably 4 cribs in 200 sq ft or so, lol!). When I had the twins settled in went in to the boys' room. Avery said, "Mommy, I promise I will go to sleep if you let me get in Caden's crib for Declan's naptime." I'm smarter than that typically, but I went along with it, telling her that if she is noisy or anything then mommy promises she'll have to go upstairs to her bed.

I've since been in there 3 times and neither one is sleeping. And after the last time I went in there, Avery started quietly singing "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so...." and Declan started echoing her. I'm melting. I mean, how can I be upset when they're singing THAT???

But in all honesty, the twins aren't going to take a good nap at this rate, and we need to have a talk about what it means to keep a promise. Mommy's going to keep her promise - here you go to your bedroom Miss Avery! Ta-ta!

Ever wonder what you're missing if you're not on Facebook?

Here's today's update from me:

Tena...

tried for 45 minutes to hang a faux wood blind in our bedroom - wanted to surprise James when he got home by having it all done. I've completely stripped the screw heads and the drill has slipped off the screw so many times now that there are multiple (extra) holes in the wall. I'm sweaty and POed. Epic fail.

Do you have a good internal clock?

I felt like the mother of the year this morning. Caden's bus comes at 7:30. I awoke from a dead sleep to hear a horn honking in my driveway. Looked at the clock and it was 7:33. CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No one was out of bed yet. I called the bus barn and told them to radio the driver and tell her to move on.

Worst part? This is not the first time this has happened. At. All.

Caden loves buttons and dials and the like. So he turned down my radio all the way. Oh the alarm was still set, but when it "went off" the radio turned on which was turned...all the way down. You'd think by now I would know to check that before bed. I checked to make sure the alarm was on, and that was all. (I know you're going to suggest turning the beeper on the alarm, but I cannot wake up to that. I will crap the bed. Serious.)

My DH James and BFF Heather can't believe that I don't wake up earlier without the help of an alarm. They use alarms, but only as panics if they don't get up with their internal clocks. I don't seem to have an internal clock. I have a hard time falling asleep, but once I do it takes darn-near an act of God to wake me in the mornings. Or a radio. But still, I have to have an external force to rouse me!

What about you?

First day of school 2010 - 1st grade (Caden) and K (Avery)

Here's a few pictures I snapped the morning of the first day of school. I have one from last year of all the kids sitting on the front porch and it would be fun to see the changes this year, but it's on the upstairs computer (we have GOT to figure out how to link the 2 computers):

My big kids!!! I should've put the twins there but in usual Tena-fashion I was running late because it was morning.

If I'm being honest I struggle with this picture because I see that Caden looks different. But you know, it is what it is - I think this is an absolutely PRECIOUS one!!!!

Caden is signing "bus" here - he was SO ready to see Diana!

She's here!!! Look at that adorable admiration!! I love this picture!!!


Strapped in and ready to GO!

First one off bus #6 at




Some of her older cousin Tressa's 5th grade friends walk with Avery to her classroom since they ride the same bus.

Welcome to Miss Amber's Kindergarten classroom!

Miss Amber helped Avery get her name tag on.



And then she had to color a picture to look just like her!

I was so proud of both of my kids - this day and always! So hard to believe they're growing up. They have done very well this week and we can't wait for more!

We survived!

The first day of school, that is. Caden did wonderfully. He has the same bus driver again this year and we.love.Diana. He spent a lot of time with his special ed class as the first few days are always so hectic and they didn't want to overwhelm him. He got to make mac n cheese at kitchen time and had to clean up afterwards. He told me it was fun and when grandma called to talk to him he told her LOADS of stories about it as well. I guess we had first grade success!

Avery did beautifully. I put her on the bus and then drove into town to meet her at school off the bus. She found her classroom and did the work she was supposed to do - coloring a picture of a little girl to look just like her. I got a few pictures and then headed back home. She only had a half day so was home around 12:45 or so. Some good news is that the bus is going to pull all the way up our driveway now and turn around close to the house, which means we don't have to run down the driveway to meet up with the bus down at the road. Bonus!

Pictures to follow. Anyone care to guess how long that actually takes me??

A first - with a 2nd

Think it doesn't make sense? I'd have to agree with you. I'm struggling with something...I'm struggling with sending my 2nd-born to Kindergarten. It's sort of like she's my first to go. I'm having a very hard time letting her go.

I remember it was difficult to send Caden, but Caden had been attending some sort of schooling since he was 2. I knew school would be good for Caden. I knew he would make great strides there and learn things that I didn't have the skills (or the patience, if I'm being perfectly honest) to teach him. I was ok with sending him off....yes, even though he wasn't speaking and couldn't come home and tell me all about his day, I felt confident that he was "ready". As ready as he could be at his developmental level. (And today we met his 1st grade *sniffle* teacher - she is fabulous and he is going to have a great year!!)

And then there's Avery. Maybe it's the girl thing. Maybe it's the fact that she's my little mini-me. She's my sidekick, my big helper, my incessant chatterbox. Avery is so excited about Kindergarten. She got the teacher she wanted (and she'll tell you this). We went tonight and had a whole scavenger hunt to find the different things in her classroom, to meet her teacher and to bring her classroom supplies. She LOVED it. (I was even a suck-up and had her bring a decorated apple cookie for her teacher. I know, throw rotten tomatoes.) But the whole time I could not be excited for her. I can't seem to wrap my mind around the idea that she is going to be gone from home 3 days a week, moving to 5 full days a week by the end of the school year. I could cry about it so easily and if you know me you know I am NOT a cry-er. Avery is going to ride the big yellow bus to and from school. I have set up a set of identical twin 5th graders on her bus route to help her get to class, so she's covered there. I just can't help it - I feel like she is not ready and won't be able to handle it and cannot possibly be apart from her momma.

Perhaps this is one of the greatest downfalls of being a stay at home mom. Perhaps it's just me. Either way, I think Monday is going to be harder on Tena than on Avery. Yes, I am looking forward to having "just" 3 kids here at home during the day, but no one can talk to me or argue with me (efficiently, that is - Declan sure tries but his vocabulary consists of "noo!" "mine!") or otherwise bug the tar out of me at every turn. Honestly, I don't even know what to say. I'm positive it's going to be ok but my heart feels heavy at the same time. I'll miss her! She's growing up...right before my very eyes and quite literally without my permission. Bittersweet.

I have nothing interesting to say...

but one of my goals in life is to become a famous blogger, and I'm not going to do that by not posting anything for weeks on end, right? Thought so.

Right now it's thundering outside and we're preparing for about the millionth inch of rain this summer. We have been so blessed with no water in our basement, but many of our family and friends haven't been that lucky. It's really a mess for some people and it's so frustrating! I'm ready for next week - they're calling for temps in the low 80s with low humidity and no rain almost all week! Which is really great news considering it's been in the upper 90s with mega humidity. It's also great because...

Next week we are going camping all week! It's our little staycation. We're camping locally as James has to work at The Scooter Store in Des Moines on Monday and Tuesday, but then he has work off until Saturday, so that will be a fun family time after that. The first night camping is always hellish, but then the kids get used to sleeping somewhere else and bedtimes go much better. They don't sleep in at all, but we can handle that. After that week is done...

School starts!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just can't wait, I really can't. Caden and Avery are driving each other nuts. Caden needs the structure of school in a bad way. The only hard part is that Caden's 1:1 associate took a different job for next year and won't be with us again. I cried buckets over that one, but I know Caden will be just fine and God is working out the details so that we'll have someone else special to work with our little man. He's going into 1st grade and he has an awesome teacher (we've heard) so we're happy. Avery will be starting Kindergarten, but she is going to the Christian school instead of the public school where Caden attends. Avery could not possibly be more excited! She gets to ride the big yellow bus and she got the teacher she wanted (this teacher student taught when Avery was in preschool and now is starting her teaching career in K!). She is absolutely certain that she is ready, but I have a feeling that she is going to be more homesick than she realizes. She will be going full days, 3 days a week - MWF. The worst part is that Avery's personalized backpack hasn't arrived yet, and it says it won't arrive until Sept 4. I'm praying it'll be early, but hope is waning with each day. We'll see!

Ready for some cuteness overload?

A sweet gal from our church offered to take some pictures of Macey and Madelyn as a "survival gift" - we all made it through the first year! Here are the pictures she took. Megan did an AMAZING job and I just can't believe how adorable my girls are!!! I know, that sounds totally braggy but I really don't care - they ARE adorable!!

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/store.aspx?p=235481

password: twins

Madelyn is scooting forward!

It's exciting stuff people. Madelyn can get on her tummy and then pull herself slightly forward! She uses her arms but some her legs, too. It's not full out army crawl and it's certainly not hands and knees crawling, but I'll take it! Macey is still content to roll where she needs to go. Madelyn also now has all 4 top teeth which is quite cute to see. Macey has 3 of 4 - she's missing her right, true front tooth.

We were gone this weekend to Cincinnati for the RTS Family Conference. It was an amazing time of meeting people we'd only ever emailed with for years and hearing experts talk about RTS and other things related to RTS to help us out. We brought Caden and Avery, leaving Declan, Macey and Madelyn back home with my parents. We truly did have a great time! Avery got very confident in the pool - she was jumping in and swimming halfway across (under water) to me! We spent as much time as possible in the pool. On Saturday and on Sunday morning the kids went into childcare and James and I attended speakers and seminars about RTS. We got some great information from those and were able to have breakfast and lunch in a revolving restaurant - one of only 32 such restaurants in the world I think! The trip there didn't go so well...it took us 10.5 hours to get there. On the way home, though, we stopped less often and made it in 8.5 which felt much more tolerable. It was so fun to see other RTSweeties and meet their families!!