Poppy's swings

There's typically an argument about who gets to go first when Poppy starts swinging. Nobody wants to be left out! Although I say that and this time when I pulled out the camera, Reese was once again inside. She was playing Legos and My Little Pony on her bed and missed out. 

Funny story about Layla in that coat - she put Reese's coat on by herself and then asked me for help with the buttons. She wanted to show Daddy, but I thought he wasn't getting home for another 20 minutes, but she didn't care. She wanted to wait for him. Well, an hour later when he got home, she still had the too-big-coat on. I couldn't believe it. Such determination and patience.

 Matson's turn!! 

Layla is two!

(see her one year old photos here.)

  
A few words to remember Layla at two years old. She...

+ continues to bring JOY to our family.

+ is in the mix.

+ has a great big personality.

+ talks nonstop, and therefore communicates extremely well.

+ loves her brother and sister. She might say their names about 50+ times while they are at school, and she tells everyone about them.

+ loves her daddy too.  She won't let him get away without giving her a kiss before changing out of his work clothes.

+ never meets a stranger, unless very tired.

+ says "hi!" to everyone at the stores, which brings a lot of smiles to people. It's truly a joy to watch her interacting with others.

+ has unruly hair that needs to be pulled back.

+ takes out all clips from her hair.

+ has to wear a shirt over her footie pajamas b/c she'll take them off in her bed. We all know that doesn't lead to good things! One poop fiasco got her an extra shirt every single time she's in bed. :)

+ loves bubble baths (unlike daddy-o who doesn't like giving them.)

+ loves to sing and dance.

+ has several favorite songs... "Dinosaur", "Away in the Manger", "Twinkle, Twinkle", "Glasses, Read, Read".

+ wants to listen to her music in the car all the time, and some of the songs over and over and over and over. 

+ has a habit of pulling or rubbing her ponytail.

+ loves going on playdates to "Anna-Cake's" house. Translation: Anna and Kate's. All I have to do is mention Anna and she's ready to go. One day when Liz showed up to pick up Layla I was barely out the door and Layla was climbing in the car yelling, "Bye, Mom!" I wasn't sure what to think of that! She does love her friend Anna though, and they play really well together.

+ counts very well, even in Spanish.

+ loves "Boots and Dora" and "Daniel Tiger".

+ knows several shapes. No colors yet.

+ has a new favorite word: "What?" It's just behind "no!". It's about to drive me insane. :) I think she does it to me just to make me repeat myself. I need to break this habit now.

+ says she loves something by saying, "I love it, heart!" With Valentine's Day this week we are seeing hearts a lot.

+ thinks she doesn't have to take a nap. She'll play in her bed for 2 hours some days. I would say she takes a nap about 50% of the time these days. :(  Makes it easy for her to fall asleep at night though.

+ says "thank you" to me almost every single time I give her something. It warms my heart.

+ is one solid girl. At her two year check up she weighed in at 31 lbs! (91%) Can we say HEAVY to carry?! It's even harder when she's arching her back or trying to slither out of your arms.

+ measured 34" in length at her two year check up. (65%).

+ has the most loveable, contagious smile. See my happy baby girl...

Matson joined us outside for these photos, while Reese stayed in the warm house to work on homework. These two have a really, really sweet relationship. They can play for the longest time together in Layla's room or outside in the backyard. 

We love you little Layla!!!

winter hat

Gram, this one's for you. 

This photo is perfection in my eyes. 

It was actually a quick snap while Layla was playing with Matson in the backyard.

Thank you, Gram, for the sweet knit hat. 

Layla has been wearing it on the cold winter days. 

Two Hula Girls and a Ninja

It's quite the miracle that I picked up my big camera to take these pictures, but I thought it was about time, especially on Halloween! The kids were too cute dressed up as hula girls and a ninja. And, we had a very fun evening. We started things off by going to a party at one of Reese's classmate's house. We then trick or treated with a big group of friends before breaking away and making our way back to our house. The streets of our neighborhood were filled with families and dressed up kiddos. I love seeing everybody out and about. We were a bit worried that halloween would be rained out b/c we had torrential rainstorms for two days. So much of our neighborhood was flooding that morning, but the skies broke about 2 o'clock and Halloween went on! 

Some individual pics:

The kids with some of their friends...

 Out on the streets after the sun went down...

Back at our house handing out candy to the last of the trick or treaters...

The middle of the night wasn't very good to us. Matson came down with the stomach bug at 2:30 in the morning. :(  Reese came down with it the next day at school. :(  And then Matt partially got it the next day. I say partially b/c he never did throw up. He was a total trooper that day too and rode to my parents' home and went to the Texas football game with Reese, Matson and me. More on that later. After the stomach bug the kids haven't wanted any candy. I think we will donate what I haven't eaten to the dentist office for some money. She sends it off to the troops overseas along with a toothbrush. 

Family

Another one for the treasure chest!

{Also taken at Nathan & Dani's wedding in Pennsylvania.}

Mom + Daughter

I will treasure this photo forever. 

{This photo was taken this summer when we were at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania for Matt's brother's wedding.}

Field Day 2013

Reese described Field Day as fun, happy, exciting and hot. And, she was right! 

Coach B set the kids up for a morning of fun. Each class rotated through 10 different stations and everyone participated in each one. I was able to get a lot of great pictures of the morning, but will only share enough to get a feel for the day. 

I'm not sure what this one was called, but they sent a water soaked sponge down the line and the person at the end squeezed the water into the bucket and ran it back to the end of the line.

A quick brother-sister photo op!

A good picture of the scene. 

Reese and her friends. 

I promise I didn't set this one up. 

They just love each other and surrounded Layla to cheer on their team during the roller scooter race.

Next up, the obstacle course.

I learned this day that Layla loves watermelon. She even ate the rind.

This is a shot of Layla's fan club. The kids in Reese's class just adore her. Everytime we are up at the school Layla's stroller is surrounded. It's just precious. And I have to say that Layla was an absolute angel this day. She stayed in the stroller the entire morning. There was so much action and attention that she didn't even ask to get out. So, I left her in and took pictures! :)

Tug-O-War!! Go Team Llamo!!

They won!

It's so cute to see them stick together even when they are out with friends and at school. 

That may change over the years, but a sweet friendship is forming. 

Pause for a shot with mom. 

They ended the morning with the good ole classic potato sack race!

Layla Bayla

Layla Bayla is 18 months old now and she's a hoot! The above picture so accurately shows her personality it's unreal.  (We have it on display in our living room.)  About Miss Layla...

She smiles and laughs all the time. 

She is into EVERYTHING! 

She climbs EVERYTHING!

She wants to be apart of everything, and she makes sure she is. 

She talks to everybody she meets. 

She waves and says "hi" and "How do?" to any neighbors going by. (That means "How are you?") 

She understands everything you say. 

She repeats anything you say. We have a lot of fun with this at the dinner table. She's our entertainment. :)

She talks and communicates over and beyond normal for her age. I love it when she comes over to me to ask for help and then leads me to what she needs help with. 

She nods her head with raised eyebrows to communicate "yep, that's right, that's what I want." and has most recently started saying "yeah".

She says "milk" with the most adorable cluck at the end, so it's more like, "mil-cluck" instead of the k. It's hilarious!

She calls Matson "nanny".

She sings "e-i-e-i-o, moo-moo".

She's fascinated with a small "Humpty Dumpty" book we have and loves to hear that rhyme over and over.

She wants you to watch her do stuff. I feel like it's really early for this. She will call to one of us, "watch, watch!" and then do what she wants us to see. I'm always amazed. :)

When she wakes up in the morning she plays in her crib for a good 30 minutes. Gives me time for a cup of coffee before she's unleashed!

When I am chewing gum she will come stick her tounge out at me b/c she wants me to blow a bubble.

Bubbles are the best distraction to get her to stay in the church nursery.

She's learning spanish in the nursery and says adios, bravo, ahola, and a couple more I don't know. She understands the spanish and will show her caregivers what they are saying.

She and Matson will play outside in the backyard together for 30 minutes without needing help. They can get into some mischief together. Today I went out there and the two of them were soaking wet from head to toe from playing in the water faucet.

One of her not so good traits...She's really rough with other kids. She goes up to others and grabs them. We first started telling her "gentle, soft" but she would just go in for the grab so now we tell her "no touch!" She loves other people so much, but is learning to be nice to them so they like her back. :)

She's not too big on the pool. She likes it okay, but is totally content out of it.

Let's see, what else...She's so sweet and fun and loveable and squishy! :) Everyone, especially my mom friends who don't have small children anymore, want to squeeze her chubby legs. I love to do it too and I probably do at least 15 times a day!

We love you, Layla Bayla!!

Sprinklers!

If my memory serves me right this was the first time we pulled out the sprinklers to play this year. It was back in early May. Matson and Layla had a ball! Reese chose to stay dry this time.