More Pictures

Hodgepodge of things

 

Here is the newest toy in the Hays' household.  I am not sure how long it will last because it takes up half our tiny living room.  But the kids sure love it!  It gives them HOURS of entertainment.  They sit in it, climb in it, and even pretend it is a "present" and close the lid and ask me to open it!  It has also been a house, space ship, and recliner for TV watching. (Bryan and I go all out for toys...) 

  I am such a sucker for girly pink frilly things.  And it doesn't help that I really like to dress Brooke up.  I just want to squeeze her little legs when she is in the leg warmers!

Its a good day to go outside.

We took our inagural spring trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium.  My friend Ashley and her boys joined us.  Jackson and Peter get along great.  They were walking around holding hands a good portion of the trip.  It was so funny.  This kid is so funny.  He kept his hand over his mouth the whole time we were in the "monkey house" because it was too 'stinky'.

 Peter kept asking, "Where are the grasshoppers? Can we go see them next?"
 Of all the cool things to see at the zoo, he wants to see the crop killing pests that hang around the deserts of Arizona?! Just wait little one, just wait.  Someday you won't want to EVER see one.

 Brooke thinks she is a big girl.  She kept on begging me with her sad puppy dog eyes to get out of the stroller and hang out with the big kids. 

 The Peacock.  Need I say more?

 Off to the aquarium...

 The best part- the amazing naps these guys take when we get done!

Wanna be photographer

   I really love taking pictures. I also have NO clue what I am doing.  I have an awesome camera.  Every once in a while I will push the buttons somehow to get the exposure time to change or accidentally move the focus from set 'middle' point and it will actually be on my subject.  Its amazing when that happens and I get really excited.  I have been picking my friends brains that have these mad camera skills.  I have a book that stares at me at night when I go to bed that is begging me to be read that is all about acquiring mad camera skills.  But I get too lazy and end up just getting out my camera and pushing buttons and taking random pictures.  (I think I take about 50 pictures a day)
Anyway, the point of all this is that when I went to the zoo today I took a bazillion more pictures and somehow I got a couple where I really like the lighting.  They aren't necessarily great positioning of my 'subjects' or anything.  They are just candid shots and I was desperately trying to get them to look at the camera (or just hold still).  The middle picture might be a teensy bit too overexposed for my liking, but I am proud of the 1st and 3rd- even though I am really not sure how I did it.

Logging Miles

     This week has been one of those weeks that reminds me that winter doesn't last forever- which is great because I have been feeling really down lately with all the horrible weather and grey skies.  We started the week off on Monday with a 40 mile bike ride on the GAP trail.  I was able to rope a friend into watching the kids for the morning (thanks again!) and Bryan, Tannon and I were on the trail by 8:00 a.m.  This was amazing in itself.  I don't think I have ever gotten the kids out (with food for them and us, along with bikes, gear, ect.) this early!  The other great part was that the weather held out for our entire ride as well.  This was my longest ride yet. Prior to this I had been 25 miles in one trip which was a disaster**
      We started out at about a 11 mph pace and after ten minutes picked it up to a 12 or so.  Bryan and Tannon are like two chatty girls so I passed them after 6 miles to let them gossip about their hot wives or whatever it is that they do.  I stayed ahead of them for a while until I REALLY needed a granola bar.  By then we had kicked up the pace even more.  I think we must have averaged about 14mph for 13 miles or so.  We hit the turn around point under I-70 (it is a HUGE bridge~if I would have thought about it, I would have taken a picture), stuffed our faces with some food, water and G2 and headed back the way we came.  I felt like I could keep pace until about mile 32 and I hit this mental + physical wall where my  legs whole body wanted to die. I was glad to be riding with the boys at this point because I didn't want to wuss out.  I am happy to say that we made it there and back in about 3 hours and 20 something minutes of peddling time.  We picked up the kids and Bryan was back at school by 1:00pm.  It was a really great experience and has got me even more excited for our trek in 3 weeks.
     Bryan and I sat down last night and planned out each leg of our trip and where we are staying along the way.  We are hoping to get at least 2 more big rides in before we leave.  I am hoping to ride from Ohiopyle (that is an awesome state park along the trail) back to McKeesport.  If the rain will just stay away... 
**The disaster trip: Saturday we attempted to take the kids on a really long ride.  They get REALLY heavy to pull that far in a trailer.  But the worst part was that my body decided to get sick on me when we were 12 miles in the middle of nowhere and I was MISERABLE.  I don't recommend it to anyone.

My Motto

Pigtails, Contortionism, and a Hat

Brooke's hair is FINALLY long enough to put in pig tails.  I am so excited!  And did she is figuring out that drinking milk isn't such a bad thing either.
This girl is really into climbing into tight spaces.  She usually finds a small space and goes in butt first and fold in half to get her whole body in.  Its pretty comical.  Here are some little spots she has found to hang out in:.

The kitchen cabinets

The bar stools

The train table

 She has also figured out how to climb on and off of "Thomas".  Now she is one step closer to keeping up with Peter!

 

Here are a couple fun shots of Peter.  He is REALLY tough these days to get a good picture of.  He just makes fake smiles and goofy faces on purpose.  Its obnoxious.

 

P.S. Don't you love it when my titles make my posts seem much more exciting than they really are???

Toilets and Kids

What is with the obsession with the toilet?  I don't understand.
I feel like I spent the first 18 months of Peter's life keeping him from it.
Then we potty trained and I thought he was over the urge to splash around in it.
I hate being wrong.
I woke up yesterday morning to some really strange sounds in the bathroom.  I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to find Peter having waaaay too much fun with the plunger.  He was plunging the toliet, then the floor and his feet.   
What the heck???

Then tonight he disapeared after dinner to 'go potty'.
After a 10 min disappearance to the bathroom I went upstairs to check on him and he was using the toilet scrub brush to scrub in the toilet, out of the toilet, the walls, vanity, and of course the floor.  Fabulous.  Anyone else have this problem?  I think I am going to have to do a better job of keeping these intriguing items in lock-down.

Dear Diary,

 Or not.  What I am trying to say is I am writing a Journal-type entry today.  For those of you that hate to read- Get over it.  Just click the back button and check some other blog with more pictures.  For those of you unfortunate souls that have chosen to read on, I have a lot to say to say.  Sorry. :)

I would like to say that March has flown by.
Unfortunately, I can't.

    I feel like it took FOREVER to get to April.  Its not that I have some vendetta against March or anything.  I am just sick and tired of this crappy cold weather.  I am usually not a complainer. (okay, that's a lie)  What I mean is, I am usually not a complainer on my blog.  I try to keep it mostly upbeat.  *Key word- Mostly*   

To summarize the month- It was way too long.  Too cold.  Too snowy.  Too rainy.  Too cloudy.  Too Gray.  It really wasn't all bad. Really.  Bryan had 2 four day weekends.  That was awesome.  One of which we took a trip to Washington D.C. with the Nelson's to go to the Temple and to check out some historic sights.  It was a blast.  And I bet you wouldn't believe me if I told you when we left Pittsburgh, it was snowing. (gasp!)  
We went to Mt. Vernon and walked through George Washington's estate.  Pretty freaking cool if you ask me. We also went to the Museum of Natural History, saw a St. Patrick's Day Parade on Constitution Ave, walked about 40 bazillion miles, saw most of the war memorials, took a picture with Honest Abe, took a potty break in what has to be one of the nation's busiest (and smelliest) bathrooms underneath the Lincoln Memorial, ate lunch on the grass in front of the Washington Monument and discussed all the incredible biking possibilities around the DC area.
     

    Brooke turned one.  That was probably more fun for me than for her.  She also had her 12 month check-up.
       Stats: Head Circumference- 75%
                Length: 31 inches- 90%
                Weight- 21 lbs- 50%
 I am shocked that we actually have a kid that is above the 50% for anything.  And for as much as this one eats, I would have thought it would be weight!  (She is a garbage disposal.  Her Uncle Ryan would be so proud!)
  
     We switched Pediatricians offices too.  What a relief.  The place I was going to had great doctors, but every time I went we waited at least 1.5 hours to be seen.  It was my worst nightmare- Germs everywhere combined with bored kids.  It produces pretty poor results.  Especially with an obsessive compulsive/germ-a-phobe mother.
 
     Bryan had to grow a mustache for one of his classes (how in the world it relates to dentistry is beyond me).  I have one word for mustache's in general- Ewwww.  He may or may not have looked like Hitler.
He kept the darn thing for the majority of the month.  Maybe that was why it seemed so long.
  
I read a bunch of books this month.  I have added about 20 more to read soon.  I love when I find some good reads and can find the time to sit and enjoy a book.  (It is very tricky to do that!)  I am going to read our book club book, Life of Pi written by Yan Martel.  Another on my list is The Count of Monte Cristo written by Alexandre Dumas.  I also have a couple cake decorating books and photography books on my list as well as the usual Book of Mormon study.  Which brings me to one of my goals this past month.  I am FAR from perfect on it, but I have found that if I do my scripture study before I read anything else or turn on the TV, I actually get it done.  Otherwise I am putting it off until bedtime, and I end up falling asleep reading them.  Wow.  That sounds terrible.

Bryan and I have gone for quite a few bike rides.  Regrettably, they have been in the snow, rain, wind, and cold.  Every once in a while we have been graced with the sun's bright presence. We are planning on doing our crazy bike ride to DC the end of April.  I am really hoping the weather cheers up a bit because we have some high mileage rides to get in to be ready.  The kids love the rides.  Our little trailer is perfect! 
 
     Peter has become enraptured with the alphabet.  It is pretty awesome.  He loves Word World and when he is done watching it he wants to 'build a word'.  He gets all the fridge magnets and arranges them into his own dictionary of words.  He also goes around making up his own spellings for everyday objects.  For example, the table would be "b-e-e-g-h-a-t-e-l".  Or something of the sort.  I didn't say he was good at spelling.  He is just learning the concept, which is really cute to me.
     He is also loving his train set, as usual.  But now he has added the element of conversation to his trains.  He sounds just like George Carlin.  Kind of.  "Thomas is a really useful engine, said Sir Topham Hat" and "The troublesome trucks wiggled and giggled...said Percy"....  It cracks me up.  I love listening to him ramble on and on about the next big adventure his trains are going to take!
  
     Brooke is, well, into everything.  EVERYTHING.  Including the toilet.  And the dishwasher.  And the my clothes hampers.  And my kitchen cabinets.  And I mean that Literally.  She loves climbing in things.  I am just glad I caught her before she was totally in the toilet.
 
I promise to post pictures soon.  I have a ton.  Way too many probably.
   Until next time, peace out!
           Jamie