So much to catch up on!  So here goes...

Daddy took the kids for Earth day to a fair of sorts.  There were free lima bean plants for the kids, coffee grounds to fertilize your soil, tons of trinket freebees and such too.  The best part was the kids could play on the firetruck.  Cole was in heaven!

Lyla checking out her Lima bean plant

Cole on the fire truck

We have such a fun filled summer.  It started out pretty hot but has cooled somewhat.  We got a little plastic pool for our backyard for those days you don't want to pack up to go to the pool but just want to cool off.

Lyla playing Super Why and fishing in our pool.

Cole loves to fill it up mostly and after that he enjoys doing anything to annoy his little sister - splash her with water, take the toy he knows she wants, etc.  I assure you it is all done out of his fun loving heart.  So boy.

Hiding under the sheets with daddy's phone.  Great fun!

Oh yes, and see that lovely raised garden bed?  I built that this year trying to cover up the dead grass there.  We now have lovely tomato plants and peppers blossoming there.  Lyla eats the tomatoes right off the vine.  In fact, I can't believe how much she likes tomatoes. She steals them all out of our salads like they rightfully belong to her.

We went to the Blue Bell Factory twice this year, maybe three. I can't recall really.  The kids love it there.  Well, they love ice cream, so why wouldn't they?!  In fact, I think ice cream has become a staple in our household.  Cole even started asking for ice cream for breakfast.  That's when I thought maybe we had a problem.  But we do bride our kids with ice cream so they will sit still and quiet during family scripture time.

Speaking of scripture time...Lyla likes to take our scriptures and read. She is the cutest thing reading anything because her vocabulary is so huge and she makes all these crazy facial expressions while she is reading. It is ALWAYS like she is reading the best book of all time.  I love it.

We have had some fun weekends in Austin with grandma and papa Rees.  Oak trees shed their leaves in the spring and the kids had a blast getting dirty in those!

There is a lantern on the back porch of their house.  Cole and Lyla love to be sung happy birthday to and then blow out candles. We do it every time they eat cupcakes and really any time they see a candle.  This lantern was no exception.  I think we sung happy birthday to each of them 5 or 6 times.

Oh yes, and blowing bubbles is always fun too.

We play outside a lot.  Lyla got a tricycle from grandparents for Christmas but Cole loves it too. It makes lots of sounds with tons of buttons to push and really is a great size for him too.  It is a little big for her still but she does great pushing it along with her feet.

Cole is quite the truck driver too.  He rides it nearly every day. Lyla rode it at first but for some reason won't sit in it now unless Cole is nowhere around. Hmm...not sure why but we sure do have a lot of fun with it. I will push Lyla in the stroller and Cole will drive it to the park.  He loves having that kind of mobility and freedom.  Plus he looks cool, right?

We took the kids to Bryan lake here in town. We had never been there before and though it is pretty, there is not anything there really so I doubt we will be going back soon but the kids still had fun.

The kids liked splashing in the water...and were a bit disappointed we wouldn't let them jump in. haha!  Her anger fits totally crack me up sometimes

So, let's see, what else is going on...
Lyla enjoys digging through trash (our recycling bins) but she even got into the diaper pail outside once.  She sort of has a gross obsession with seeing her messy diapers when we take them off. I had no idea it would take her as far as to pull out diapers from the can and open them.  It. was. gross. (No picture needed, right?)

We still go to lots and lots of parks. They love going all over town and keep asking for new parks. So far we haven't run out of favorites and new ones. Thank you College Station!  Oh, and Lyla is still in love with polka dots, but she definitely has an affinity for PURPLE now. It was yellow (as seen here) but I had to go out and get her a bunch of purple clothes and shoes because she would see other girls with purple things and be down right determined to get one of her own too.  I really can't dress her AT ALL.  She won't even pick between two or three things. She knows what is in her closet and will pick it out or tell me what to get!

We have read the book "Higher, Higher" by Leslie Patricelli so many times and it has become Cole's favorite thing to do.  He wants to swing up to the sky just like the little girl in the book. He is starting to learn to pump to keep himself going.

Lyla actually used to be afraid of the swings at parks for a while. I'm not sure why. She used to cover her ears when Cole would swing so maybe the squeaky ones bothered her?  But one day I guess she changed her mind and I happened to have the camera handy.  And ever since this day she is back at loving swinging.

Our children think water puddles are their personal pools.  The park closest to our house gets a huge one after every rain.  But they run all around the neighborhood to get in the deep puddles. They know where they are and just drag me along.

They love anything with water. They enjoy watering our flowers and even love helping wash cars.  Had to wash theirs down too ya know!

Lyla is starting to reject naps.  I hate it mostly because she her tired attitude is an angry attitude most of the time.  But I understand that she wants to be in the action so fights the sleepiness. I am afraid by the end of summer with our other trip to NY planned, it will be the end of naps.  However, early bedtime is nice too!  She is still VERY attached to her blankie.  We can leave the house now without it but it is still a necessary item for comfort and sleep.

We tried potty training Cole by bribing him with a Cars 2 Airplane.  He was moderately successful and after 7 days I gave it to him.  After which he proceeded to pee on my floors so I took the plane away.  He endlessly moped for it but knew he could only get it if he wore undies and went to the bathroom and he told me flat out that he did not want to do that.  But, in the end, he was being good (I can't remember at what) so I rewarded him with the plane again.  This is the instant he got it back.  He played with it nonstop for about a week. It is still one of his favorite toys and definitely one all the his friends want when they come over.  

So potty training....if Cole is naked, he will always go to the bathroom or ask to put a diaper on to go poop (does NOT want to do that in the potty).  SOoooo this boy knows how to do it and we are just waiting for when he decides he is done with being lazy and wearing diapers.  Tick. tock. tick. tock.  Lyla may just beat him to it.  

OH! And another big step for Lyla....she is actually letting me play with her hair! Bows are kind of out now but she likes braids and pigtails. YAY!!  Maybe she will let me go back to bows in a few months. Please, Lyla?

I can occasionally get Cole to take a nap, but I have to wake him after a half hour or so otherwise he can't fall asleep at night and is wandering around his room or coming downstairs until 10 at night or later.  Getting him to wake from a short nap is definitely a challenge.  Hanging him from his feet seems to get giggles instead of anger so far.

We had a rough beginning to summer and sunscreen. Turns out both of my kids have allergic reactions.  Cole's is far worse, but I have to be really careful with them. I steer clear of spray sunscreens. They seem to be the worst offenders.  These bumps and redness (and itchiness) stay until that top layer of skin exfoliates.  Ouch!

Lyla thinks swim suits are for every day wear.  She loves accessories too.  Sunglasses, bracelets, watches, necklaces,

and nail polish!!!  She asks to change it frequently and needs to have at least SOME color on each finger and toe at all times.  Silly girl.

Oh, and did I mention this is how Lyla eats a burger?  She really only likes the cheese and only recently started finding eating the bun acceptable to her palate.

Cole still loves trains.  He really enjoys this take and play set he got for Christmas.  It is the most requested to be taken outside too.  He creates his own little town and I get to be Sir Topham Hatt and send the trains on various errands.  For the longest time, it was his favorite playtime activity to do while Lyla napped.

We have had many adventures watching the swallows build a nest above our back door and then dive at us like REAL ANGRY BIRDS!  I let them stay until their babies left the nest, but then I realized something was wrong - they were not leaving!  They all lived there and laid MORE EGGS and we had double the birds diving at us.  So we had a friend come by and take it down - especially after I found out all the gross things that can happen from having a birds nest by your house. I won't go into detail.  I had to knock their rebuilding down a few times but so far they are gone.  We expect them to come back next year and try again.  They leave a scent so they know where to build every year.  Fun. Fun.

We have had a lot of friends come over to play too. They are entertained and for the most part things go pretty smoothly. It is a welcome break for mom and kids.  The boys all enjoy cars and trains and we certainly have plenty of those!  This was just too cute when he and his friend, Seth, plopped into our two tiny rocking chairs to watch Cars 2.

Here are a few more videos of the kids having a good time. They love their cousin Jacob. He is just loads of fun and keeps Lyla giggling.

They also love to go to our two adjacent neighbors homes.  They are older couples so they enjoy the kids too.  Here they are playing in the rocks outside one of our neighbors homes.  Cole was sure she would thank him SOoooo much for picking up the rocks Lyla threw out of the garden bed. Such a good-hearted boy.