One of the fancy toys received for Christmas was a Power Wheels truck.  The kids loved to sit in it and play with the real radio, but the sound of the tires and engine scared them silly at first, causing Lyla to jump out and Cole to get wide-eyed.  It took a week and some coercing, but they finally got used to it and now love their truck.  Mom REALLY loves their truck because now the backyard is FUN and I can start preparing dinner or anything else with them outside and safe.

Cole wanted to drive the truck but was just too timid.  We watched some youtube videos of others driving and that got him in the seat but he didn't want to hold the pedal down.  Finally, mom sat in the passenger side and pushed the petal while he drove.  I slowly moved his foot to the pedal and he realized, "HEY! This is easy and Fun!"  He loves changing the speed from slow to fast and really loves to drive backwards. Guess he is trying to be Mater. :-)

This was taken after church one week after Christmas.  The first thing the kids did when we got home was run in the backyard and hop in the truck.  Lyla is a first rate passenger too. She thinks all Cole's crazy driving is exciting, even if it does jostle her around.  Cole has even gone on the sidewalks and an ally road with his truck - his maneuvering is pretty good too!

Cole pretty much doesn't nap any longer, but there are days he needs one.  Problem is he fights against the idea of laying down with mom in bed or going to his room.  But if I can encourage him to even sit a minute or be still and silent, this is what inevitably occurs.

Sleeping at the top of the stairs waiting for mom to come out of her room.

Sleeping in front of the desk waiting for mom to write an email.  

Notice these two both occurred while "waiting" for mom.  This oddly enough is a new tactic I've found. If I tell him to be good and quiet for five minutes, then we will go outside or play a game, or something. This calms him and even to my surprise, enables him to fall fast asleep, usually in a matter of 2 or 3 minutes!

These are getting less often, but for a child that never fell asleep anywhere but his bed, these moments astound me and make me want to cuddle up right next to him too. :-)

Back in November, after Cars 2 came out on video, Rick thought up an ingenious family activity night.  He borrowed the projector and screen from church and blew up the air mattress in the living room. I made popcorn, the old fashioned way - stove top, and we enjoyed it even better than if we were in the theater.  We learned Lyla can eat almost an entire large bowl of popcorn all by herself and that Cole prefers to sit in front of the laptop screen rather than see it large.  Seriously, he ended up sitting in front of the ottoman where the laptop was playing the movie. haha!  But we knew he loved it because he requested the movie everyday pretty much until Christmas when his Aunts gave him his very own copy of Cars 2.

The kids are enjoying the cool days and the warm days this winter, but most fun for me is how they are interacting more and more.  Lyla loves to play in the dirt and mud right along with Cole using all the tractors and cars he has.  The road construction by our house has finished but now they are building new homes and Cole is definitely supervising those activities now.

Here are some pics of them playing by the cleared land for the new homes...

And yes, that is Lyla picking dirt out of her mouth with her dirty hands. hahahh!  She just HAD to see what it tasted like!

For the most part our days have been 50's or higher temps but we have a few days of 30's and 40's.  The kids thought the cold was fun at first but now Cole says to me after a few minutes, "Mom, it's FREEEEZING!  Let's go inSIDE!".  Hmmm...wonder who he learned that from???

One of the funniest and delightful things to watch them do is "play rough".  I think I've posted about this before.  Well, their new thing is that they want to be naked - sometimes with diapers, sometimes without, sometimes with underwear.  I can't believe they even want to because it is still chilly in the house without clothes!  Well, anyway, one day they were doing their thing when they decided to play chase and then play rough.  I happened to have the camera handy. I love to hear them laugh!

Sometimes Lyla takes a long nap and goes to bed later than Cole.  She really enjoys this time to play by herself or with mommy, but usually she spends it reading books or talking with her toys.  On one such night, since she was playing by herself, I started vacuuming the kitchen.  When I got to the living room, I found her like this.

Eating mini-marshmallows (who knew how she found them or reached them!), sitting in her toy story chair in front of the TV, chowing down.  Not a great picture, but boy was she HAPPY!

We had an absolutely fun Christmas. Cole and Lyla loved all the Christmas lights and went to see Santa so many times I lost count.  We watched a couple of Christmas movies on Netflix and they still ask to see them and question me as to where Santa went now.  We have a couple of Christ centered videos as well. We watched one for FHE the last Monday in November and another for FHE the first Monday in December.  The remainder of the month they repeatedly asked to watch them. Their favorite, of course, was the animated Nativity.  In fact, they asked to watch it again just yesterday. Lyla especially loved playing with the various baby Jesus figurines on the tree and in Nativity sets.

Some fun things we did closer to Christmas was to make gingerbread houses at Daddy's work:
(kids not pictured here but you get the idea)

A visit to Santa Town where you can enter a cowboy town to see Santa and Mrs. Claus in a log cabin, with one of the reindeer out front (a REAL reindeer mind you), have snow in TX fall on your head (from a machine of course), listen to live music, roast marshmallows, see TONS of lights, ride a pony and see sheep, bunnies, and llamas at the petting zoo as well as see other exotic animals and of course, chat with Sheriff Frostbite (aka Frosty).  There are some really cute shops there too.

My parents came to town for Christmas Eve.  We enjoyed a nice turkey dinner - my first attempt which thanks to a fabulous recipe and guidelines, turned out great.  Rick had made it before so I knew it was good.  We opened presents in the morning and then went to church.  Lyla was excited about everything in the stocking but fizzled out when it came to actually opening a present. I'm not sure she was feeling well.  Cole didn't mind that at all though - more presents for him to open!  He definitely enjoyed the unwrapping almost more than what was inside!

I was glad that our kids had fun especially glad that they remembered that it was Jesus' birthday.

A video of the kiddies enjoying the music at the mall...

Rick likes to listen to music and dance around with the kids (especially Lyla).  Well this particular morning, Lyla had decided she was NOT going to wear a diaper and she was going to wear Cole's underwear. (Granted she didn't have any of her own at this point. We went out and got her some, but she still prefers Cole's.  I kind of don't blame her since they fit so well and the panties just kind of lay there limp.)  She started bouncing to the music and clapping her hands.  Our little diva!

This adorable video was taken December 1st.  We always read to Cole and Lyla before bedtime. This time Cole decided he wanted to do it himself. He read the entire book and then started a second round so I grabbed the camera!