Summer is here!!!

This weekend was work for Mom and Dad, but fun for the boys. We were putting flower beds in the backyard, FINALLY, and so that meant a lot of outside play time for the boys. We filled up their little swimming pool and let them have at it whlle we planted the flower beds. They played in their sand box quite a bit as well. They also enjoyed playing DJ for Mom and Dad with the radio we had outside. Austen and Jaksen would get tired of the other play things and go and sit at the radio and dance and sing into the antenna. Needless to say we no longer have an antenna on our radio, because they had a little too much fun!






Austen is now quite the little talker. He has really improved so much over the last month. It is amazing how they change so fast. He is getting really good with carrying on a conversation with you even on the telephone. He has also shown interest in baseball which makes Dada really happy. Our little lefty has been hitting the ball really well off the tee. He is very proud of himself when the ball goes a long way. Now we just have to work on catching and throwing the ball.


Jaksen is quite the dare devil. He thinks that he can pull up on whatever he wants. This has led to a lot of crashes and bumps on the head. His current teeth total is up to 5 and counting! He is such a Mama's boy too. He always wants me to carry him around and when I leave a room we are in, he chases after me. We are trying to decide if we want to get his hair cut. It is getting really long in the front and getting in his eyes, but we are afraid of getting rid of the curls. What do you think we should do??



I must brag on Adam and I for a minute. We actually grew a successful garden. Our first one ever. We should be harvesting some vegetables soon. We are very excited. We planted squash, cilantro, onions, tomatoes, jalepenos, and green beans. Here are some pictures of the prize garden!! Grandy, we might give you a run for your money one day! I guess this year we will have to mail you the tomatoes!

Texas,Graduation, and Vacation

I knew I was not going to be a good blogger when I started this and I was right. How sad is it for me that is has been almost 2 months since the last post. I have got to get better at this. Anyway, we have had a big last two weeks with the boys. We set out for TEXAS (which I miss dearly), to attend Uncle Ryan's graduation from Texas State, and to take our annual beach trip with the Pollard family.The trip down was pretty good. We were able to break the trip up a bit, thanks to Aunt Kelly for letting us stop in Dallas to spend the night. Then we made our way to San Marcos the next day. Congratulations to Uncle Ryan, we are very proud of you and really enjoyed getting to see you. While we were in San Marcos we also got to see Mimi, Pawpaw, Aunt Erin, Aunt Cara, and PawPaw's side of the family from Dallas. It was great to see everyone since it had been a while since the last visit.



I will say though, it is sooo tough to stay in a hotel room with little ones. It gets cramped and everyone hears everything, especially Jaksen!! Needless to say he was up a lot during our trip at night. We also got to go and hang out with Ryan at his graduation party on Friday night. Thanks to Mimi, Adam and I got to be without kids and have some time to ourselves for a little while. Thanks Mimi!!!! Have any of you out there ever heard of beer pong??? I had not either until Uncle Ryan introduced Adam and I to it. It is a great game and loads of fun!! By the way, Aunt Erin and I beat Adam and his dad at it the first time we played. It is always great fun to beat Adam at something!
Here are some pictures of the boys with Adam's family! Jaksen had fallen asleep on the table at the Ihop. It was pretty funny and he was just a little tired to fall asleep like this!!






We left out of San Marcos on Saturday headed to Nana and Grandy's for the annual beach trip. We got to see their new house which is very nice. I am glad for them that they have a nice house and that Grandy is now closer to his golf! Justin, Kelly and the girls came in on Sunday. Lucy and Austen hit it off immediately. They played well together while we were there. Austen and Lucy got to go ride tractors with Grandy and go pick vegetables from the garden. They had a blast to say the least.







We headed to the beach on Monday. It is a lot of work to get a big group of people all packed and rounded up! We got there and immediately headed to the pool and to the beach for swimming. Austen and Jaksen just love the water. Austen can actually swim on his own with floaties! He is such a big boy. Both boys loved the beach. Austen loved chasing and feeding the seagulls. Jaksen loved the sand, and did not mind the mouthfuls he got either. The breeze and sound of the water was quite relaxing to Jaksen because it seemed like every time we were by the water he fell asleep. Austen was just running after seagulls the majority of the time. We really enjoyed spending time with my brothers family and Nana and Grandy. My niece Annie is the cutest, happiest little thing ever. She always had a smile on her face. Lucy was our little destroyer at the beach. Every time Nana and I would build a few parts to a sand castle, it was all she could do to refrain from destroying it until we told her it was ok. She would have it gone in seconds! While we were there we had Kelly (sister in law) to take some family pictures of us on the beach. Needless to say they turned out AWESOME! She did a great job! Thanks Aunt Kelly. Here is a link to go and view the pictures: http://lala-photography.blogspot.com I have to say that the domino games got a little nasty while at the beach. It was me and Kelly vs. Adam and Justin. We beat them the first night, but were defeated after that. Husbands vs. Wives has become a tradition as well with the beach trip. It is a lot of fun! Overall the beach trip was fun but of course it went by to quick. We got back to Nana and Grandy's on Thursday for a few days of down time and then we set out to make our long trip back to Oklahoma on Saturday. We stopped in Bremond on our way back to visit Adam's grandparents and Mimi and Cara one more time. We left there and drove to Sherman and got a room for the night and then finished our trip up on Sunday. I must say that the boys did sooooo awesome on the trip. We only had one meltdown in the car and one at Nana and Grandy's. They were great travelers but I must say that we were all glad to be home and in our own beds. The trip was great because we got to see so much family that we do not get to see often enough. For all we went through, it was well worth it.

Happy Easter and Jaksen

This is the Corley version of the easter bunny!!




Yes, once again I have not posted in a while and I am just now getting to the Easter post as well. Easter was great here except for the rainy mess that came in on Easter Sunday. We knew the weather was going to be yucky on Sunday, so we did most of our Easter festivites on Saturday. The weather was beautiful that day, which made things even better. There is a place outside of Bartlesville, called Woolaroc. It is a huge ranch and musuem that was started by Frank Phillips. It has alot of differnt wildlife animals, which Austen loves to look at as we make our long drive in. Austen also loves their petting zoo and cool playground. It is really a family and kid oriented place which is great for a family outing when the weather is nice. Every year they have an easter egg hunt for kids. I found it on the internet and decided it would be fun to take Austen to a real easter egg hunt with other kids. They had the kids broken up into age groups which was really good too. Austen was in the 2-3 age group. They did not really hide the eggs but just threw them out on the gound which was good so they could ensure that each kid would get some eggs. Austen was very excited about the eggs when he saw them . We actually practiced the art of easter egg hunting on Friday so he would be ready. When they were about to start the hunt he got really excited. I thought for sure he was going to get lots of eggs and be an all pro easter egg hunter. Well, I guess I was wrong. They finally said go, and off he went. He did great at first, and collected several eggs, but then he stopped getting eggs and just found more enjoyment at watching all the other kids get the eggs. By the time he came out of his smiling trance, the eggs were gone. I guess he is going to be my people watcher. He is always looking at what else is going on around him, instead of paying attention to what he is doing. Silly boy, but when he realized all the eggs were gone he came over to Adam and I with the biggest grin on his face. Yep, he only ended up with four eggs, but you could not replace how proud he was of those 4 eggs. He felt like the most triumphant and successful easter egg hunter on the planet. He definetly was to us. He did a great job! After the hunt, we went to the petting zoo and played on the playground for a while. By the time we left, both boys were exhausted and passed out in the car on the way home. It was a great day!

Jaksen, Jaksen, and more Jaksen! That pretty much sums up how our lives have changed around here. He is officially crawling all over the place and I mean all over the place. Which leads me to the next comment of he is into EVERYTHING! Some of his favorite things to get into is of course the dog bowls, the little rock things in the fireplace, and whatever big brother Austen has or is playing with. He is constantly on the move and now in the last week pulling up on things by himself. He can pull up and be standing with very little effort. The part he does not understand is that he has to hold on or he will fall. We have already had many a crashes and I know a lot more to come. He thinks he is the biggest boy when he pulls up on the table and is able to hit it over and over again with his hand like he is playing the drums like Uncle Justin. He is going to be the little dare devil who is not afraid of anything. When we tell him NO about getting into things, he stops, sits down and looks at us with the biggest suck you in smile ever, and then turns and continues to do what he was going to do in the first place. WHAT A MESS!!! He is definetly keeping Adam and I busy, because you cannot take your eye of him for a second or he is right where he should not be. Imagine that!! He is such a joy though as well as Austen. It is never dull around our house, and I think as they get older there will be many stories to tell. By the way, I just looked in Jaksen's mouth and we should have some top teeth any day now. I can feel them, they are right there.

I still have some videos to post but maybe one of these days I will have some time to figure it out and actually do it. For now we have just have some pictures for your enjoyment. And thanks to Nana and Grandy for the cute matching easter shirts. I thought they looked really handsome!!!

What a cutie pie!

Let's see, I need to get into something!

Jaksen on the move.


Check this out, need I say more!!!


How about a little brotherly love. They really do play well together and are always up for making each other laugh.

Easter Saturday at Woolaroc!!

Getting ready for the big hunt!




Finally, the big hunt!




Austen did not like the easter bunny, but Jaksen liked the donkey!!!



Austen and his friend Jake. These two have become great friends!