Dress Up Time!

Kylee enjoyed dressing up the other day and wanted to surprise us with her outfit. This is how she looked when she was all done! (Notice the sunglasses on under the monkey mask, which is upside down.) HA!

Playground Fun

We love it when we are able to take a walk (especially in the morning before lunch) and head to one of the local parks. We have a lot of different parks that are connected by trails so it is nice to have different options to go to.

Kylee decided that "Friend Doggie" was going to get to come along for the fun on our latest walk. She kept him in the stroller and walked him the whole way!

As soon as we got there both kids were off. They kept moving from one thing to the next, which wasn't a big surprise. Ryland was able to climb the ladder completely independently. He usually gets pretty far on his own, if not the whole way, but this time he attempted a curved ladder and did it with ease.

The "circle swing" is a big hit for both kids.

They had fun on the regular swings too.

Ryland has also picked up on one of Kylee's favorite activities at the park. To find a bar, usually above the slide, and swing on it like crazy. It was pretty amusing to watch the two of them go. Kylee has been able to swing and get some good air for a while now but I was pretty impressed with how high Ryland was able to get too. These are definitely my two little monkeys! : )

A Sneak Peak at #3!

Here is a quick picture of Kylee's and Ryland's newest brother or sister. (That's right, we still don't know ... and won't until delivery day!) Everything looked good at our appointment and all measurements seemed to be right on track for a December 23 due date. The technician did have a few "scary" words for us ...... she said, "Wow, this is an active little one!" Ha! No surprise there I guess but Pete and I were hoping for a bit of a calmer demeanor. Maybe he / she is getting all of its energy out now, but we aren't going to hold our breath. : )

Hanging out with Jack

During one of our days back in Pennsylvania, Jack brought down a few of his favorite games from his house to play with Kylee. It turned out to be a successful game time with both kiddos. Other than Star Wars Trouble (Kylee lost interested after about 30 minutes!) both kids played each game in its entirety ... with little to no arguing. : ) The list of games we played while we were there included: Tepee Memory (this one was a blast from the past that I found stored in my parents' house), Kids' Sequence, Trouble (I ended up finishing this game with Jack), and Don't Break the Ice.

Here are a few pics of the kids playing Don't Break the Ice.

This next picture doesn't really go with the whole "games with Jack" theme of this post but I just had to include it. As we were heading back to Virginia, we set up a movie for the kids. When Ryland fell asleep we hooked Kylee up with the headphones. I turned around to find her with both sets of headphones so that "friend Doggie" could listen to the movie too! HA! Love it! : )

More Fun in MA

Canobie Lake was another one of our little trips while we were in Massachusetts. Kylee and Ryland had fun on the kiddie rides. Without her riding partner, Jack, though Kylee was a little apprehensive to go on some of the rides alone this time. Ryland was able to ride on most but the ones that he couldn't, and adults couldn't, she decided to pass on. Aunt Laurie took a few for the team though and gave Kylee a partner when needed. : )

The bouncing cars were popular again this year. Last year Kylee (and the adults that rode with her) enjoyed them. This year, Ryland got to have a try at them too. Verdict -- a great ride! : )

And of course we had to ride the Merry-Go-Round.
We also went to the Franklin Zoo in Boston. The kids had fun looking at all the animals.

There were also a couple playground and things for the kids to ride. The truck that the kids are in is actually sticking into the lion's cage. When you sat in the driver's seat you were on the other side of the glass. It was a pretty neat idea, I thought.

And of course another big hit for Kylee and Ryland was a board where you could put your faces into the holes. I don't really know why they love this thing so much since they can't see what they look like but whatever works.

Beach Trip

We recently took our trips up north to visit with family. We went to Pennsylvania for a few days, headed up to Massachusetts for a bit, and then back to Pennsylvania. While we were in Massachusetts we went for our annual beach trip. In the past we have walked to the beach (carrying Kylee) looked at the ocean (still holding Kylee) and left (again, while carrying Kylee.) Kylee is NOT a fan of the sand on her feet (Honestly, I'm not a big fan either so I guess it is my fault.) So, this year we took water shoes with us and a new set of beach toys that was used for "cooking" on the beach. We got to the beach and Kylee actually wanted to keep her flip flops on. I was a little unsure of how this would go but she walked through the sand by herself! We set up the toys and it seemed like things would work out for us this year. We were actually at the beach for 2 hours!!!! This broke our previous record of 10 minutes. : )

We also go to meet the newest member of the Cookson family while we were in Massachusetts. Samuel Diego Rodriguez came by to hang out with us a lot while we were there. It was so great to meet him! Kylee calls him "Go Diego" instead of Sam!

Sam enjoyed some beach time with him mommy too. : )

Ryland, unlike his sister, had NO problems with the sand. He got right down into it and was dumping it everywhere. We decided that Kylee is like me and Ryland is just like Pete ... neither one of them could care if they have sand stuck all over them for hours after leaving the beach. Kylee and I prefer the scenery and towels while we were there. : ) There was also a huge pile of rocks near the section of beach we were sitting on. This was also a huge hit for Ryland and he loved trying to climb on the rocks.

Kylee played with her cooking set the entire time we were there. If you notice though, she was perfectly sitting on her towel so she could play with the toys and keep her body as sand free as possible. She had a great time mixing all of the ingredients together while we were there.

Kylee didn't get the water herself though. She would always ask someone else to get it for her. Well, no fear Ryland decided that he would help her out the one time. He would walk down to the water and hold the bucket in the air hoping it would fill up. : ) He finally realized that he need to put the bucket down and when he did a bit of a wave came and took him down too. Once he was up and on his feet again he went right back to it -- not phased by it at all.

Here's hoping next year's beach trip is another "record breaker." : )

Randoms from July

As I was organizing pictures I realized that I had a few that didn't really "fit" anywhere. But I still thought they were worth sharing. : )

Kylee and Ryland were enjoying their snack and an episode of Go Diego Go on their new couch. : )

Ryland LOVES his pasta! And these pictures show why we only have pasta for supper on bath nights. Ha!

Lately, Kylee has really enjoyed helping me in the kitchen. She has been helping get supper ready a lot ... and she is pretty good at it too. Here she is helping me make mini-sheperd's pies. (Don't worry, we don't usually cook without pants ... not sure why she was here.)

One of Ryland's new obsessions is playing on the iPad. It is actually pretty crazy to watch him and see how he is able to navigate his way with very little help.