It's hot! Eat a popsicle!

In honor of the ridiculous hot temperatures today, (currently 91 degrees says my favorite weather website), I'd like to show you the lovely May day when we introduced Eliza to popsicles. We made homemade popsicles with yogurt, lime juice and fresh local strawberries, and the bites I had were quite tasty. I think the girls liked them too, as you will see.

In order to let the girls enjoy the popsicles without being fussed over (since these weren't the brilliant idea 'slow-melt' popsicles you can find at the store), the girls were herded outside so we could eat them without fear of a huge mess on the floor and/or furniture. With the promise of popsicles for snack, they didn't mind heading outside.


Eliza's shirt was removed to help ease clean up. She didn't mind since she asks to be naked all the time. They were instructed to get shoes on so we could go outside. Here is Eliza's official popsicle-eating-outfit - she picked out the boots herself.
So far, so good, she didn't make too much of a mess. She was too busy eating and pointing at the camera.

But then she got down to the last little bit and she was faced with the eternal Popsicle dilemma - How do you get those last bites off of a popsicle? She went with the shove-the-whole-thing-in-your-mouth-gag-reflex-be-damned method.

And then she was done, and all was good, even if she does look like she got in a fight with the popsicle and lost.

And just to give you more context, it was perfect popsicle-eating weather (though not like today, can you imagine how quickly a popsicle would melt today?!!!), sunny and warm; Blizzard thought it was hot. The patio could use a good weeding.

And the azaleas on our back patio were finally in bloom, only a couple weeks past most normal azaleas. I guess you'd call them "late-bloomers." HA!

Finally, two more pictures just for fun.

We have Eliza running after bubbles.
"Bubbles!" "Pop!" she says delightedly when we get out the bubbles. We don't have a picture of the excited fast feet dance she does when it's time to go out side for bubbles, but she does that dance regularly.

And we have Hayden posing with her animals. Notice that the bear is dressed in one of her dresses and the monkey is wearing a vest. She's really into dressing things these days. It's cute until she pulls out the entire contents of her closet.

Hope you're staying cool! Eat a popsicle!!!

Moments

Though I have many blogs sitting in my mental "to write" folder, I thought I'd just share a few photos that capture little moments from the past week or so. Soon I will try to get the big blogs - our trip to NC, Lori's wedding, apple blossom festival, etc - put together and posted but for now, just these little tidbits that make up our wonderful life.

Eliza and Blizzard share a moment. I will admit this is partially staged. They were sharing a moment for real, but then Eliza started scooting backwards as she's prone to do these days, and by the time I got my camera, she was out of the frame. But luckily she and Blizz still wanted to work on their staring contest skills when I moved her back.
Yesterday was a dreary day. And of course, right as we all get suited up and strapped in for a walk, it started to rain. But we didn't let that deter us. We walked - all of us - up a few houses, then came back and played outside for a bit. Hayden thought it was fun to try to taste the rain.
As the younger, defense-less, sister, Eliza was recently the recipient of two stickers after a trip to the doctor. Ironically, the trip was a 6 month check up for Eliza - but Hayden got the stickers, and decided Eliza's back was a good place to put them. Eliza didn't seem to mind.
A little play time for the girls. This usually devolves quickly into "gentle!", and "we don't bop our sister on the head" and "you can't roll over her!" But Eliza keeps laughing and Hayden keeps coming back.


And here's Jason attacking Hayden with belly zerberts. She thinks it's hilarious and often asks for more!And now two of my favorite recent pictures of the girls. Eliza with a big laughing smile and little nose scrunch. Off centered because I was playing peek-a-boo behind the camera to get her to laugh.
And Hayden looking gorgeous in the sunshine as we were finishing up dinner. I love the different expressions I caught on her face.

Hoppy Easter!

This is NOT going to be the post about our Easter shenanigans. I still have some resizing and thinking to do about that one - though we did have a splendid time. But I did want to send belated Easter wishes with the home "photo shoot" I did with Eliza for her 6 month birthday. This is reminiscent of Hayden's Santa baby shoot, but with much more pastel. :)

(This one's Hayden, in case you couldn't tell by the change of outfit...)

Can you believe our little Easter bunny is 6 months old?!!! And so freakin' cute!!! (I mean, I love bunny ears on just about anything, but Eliza really makes them adorable in my completely unbiased opinion.)





And like I said, bunny ears are just the greatest, whether on an extremely tolerant dog...a smiling (or yawning or screeching) baby...

or homemade ones on a two year old. Who, by the way, has recently made a habit of donning these bunny ears and hopping around the house singing "here comes Peter cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail." Makes me laugh just to think of it.

Anyway, I hope you had a happy Easter!
Happy Six Month Birthday to Eliza!
(yes, it was a couple weeks ago - we've been busy.)

Fall Fun

It's October and that means it's officially fall. We've been lucky enough over the past week or two to have some really beautiful fall weather, which is well timed with the changing of the leaves. I just love the bright fall colors up against a vivid blue sky. Ahhhhh! All together, it makes being outside quite delightful, and we've really tried to take advantage of the nice weather while it lasts. (It has snowed in October before!!!)

A week or so ago, my dad came up to State College for a conference. (how great is it that he has a conference in State College! What are the odds?!!!) It was wonderful to have him visit and see all of Hayden's new tricks - even though she wasn't running at 100% due to a nasty cold, at least at the beginning of his visit. On the last day of the conference, dad played hookie and we went out for a hike, heading up to walk Jackson Trail off Route 26. The trail was a bit rocky, but relatively level since it follows the mountain ridge - nice when carrying a 23 lb baby on your back! We went as far as David's Vista where we took a few pictures and let Hayden try to do some rock climbing.
We even managed to get all three of us in a picture together. Can you believe that everyone is actually looking at the camera?!!! Now if only Blizzard could stick her face up next to ours! Even though Blizzard missed out on the group shot, she still had a good time scrambling over the rocks, investigating smells and climbing on logs. Yep, that's right, our dog can climb trees. When we made it back to the car, the clouds had started to disperse and the sun was coming out. It wasn't completely clear, but we still had a pretty good view down into Happy Valley at Jo Hays Vista. After waking up from a little catnap on the return trip, Hayden was in good spirits and managed a cute little smile on the bench looking out over the valley. (but she wasn't very impressed with the view.)
She eagerly took some water when offered it (it's hard work riding on someone's back!) and was happy to help carry Blizzard's leash and her cup back to the car. Thanks for the great visit Poppop!
Our next fall adventure was last weekend when we decided to experience the Fall Festival at Way Fruit Farm for the first time. It was a very busy that day because the weather was absolutely gorgeous - 70s and bright sunshine! Even Sarah Palin stopped by in the morning, though I can't say that I was excited to hear the news. We brought Brittany along with us and bumped into Kathy and her kids, and our neighbors -Mandy, Scott and Noah! Such a popular Saturday destination!

First we went on a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch. Hayden thought the tractor was pretty cool, and enjoyed the ride.

At the pumpkin patch, we searched and searched for the best pumpkin to take home with us. Hayden (and Mommy) were a little bit overwhelmed by all the choices. They all looked great - so nice and round and orange...

...luckily Daddy stuck with it and picked out a great one. Brittany was drawn to a non-traditional pumpkin - one that was still green! We thought it was a good lesson for Hayden to learn that pumpkins come in all different shapes and colors. :)

Brittany was also nice enough to take a family photo. Aren't we cute?!!
Hayden had a great time sitting next to Brittany on the ride back from the patch. Once back at the farm, we let Hayden wander around the pumpkins set out for people who didn't feel the need for the pumpkin patch experience. She liked using the pumpkins as a drum and trying to pick them up to practice her weight-lifting.

Hayden discovered that the best thing about pumpkins was that they make perfect seats! She sat on all different pumpkins - finding a good one, turning around and backing up to it oh so carefully, then kind of wiggling/bouncing around to get comfortable. Who knew pumpkins are such good places to sit?