Look What I Can Do!

Renae is becoming very independent. When I start to do something for her, she will often say "my?" which means "I want to do it. She has learned to do a lot by herself. These are just a couple examples from a month or two ago.

Here, Daddy had just left to go play a late soccer or basketball game. Renae wasn't feeling well, but she wanted to go outside too. Next thing I knew, she was standing next to me with her coat on (upside down). The weather was nice and I couldn't say no to that face after all her hard work to get her coat on. I told her she needed to get some shoes on too, which she did by herself (on the wrong feet).

This is just a random picture of some crazy hair after a nap and a very cute face.


Renae likes to be like Daddy. Here she is putting on shaving cream and deodorant. (She did the deodorant completely by herself including taking off her pajamas, finding the deodorant, taking the lid off and knowing where to put it.)

More Alaska pictures

Here are a few more Alaska pictures and stories from Meggan's blog:

Boating Attempt
Exploring the Island
Out on the Boat - I loved this day. On the way back in the boat, while Donnie, Lyssie, and Renae were sleeping, we turned on the music and Mandy and Kenzie danced around in the boat's cabin. It was so peaceful, being there with family surrounded by the gorgeous landscape.

Blue's Clues Birthday Bash

Yesterday, April 30th, we celebrated Renae's 2nd Birthday. We had a Blue's Clues motif. I made the two devil chocolate cakes and Shonda did the stacking and the frosting. Shonda did a great job!

Here is our creation of Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper. We were in a time crunch to get everything ready so I did not make a baby paprika. You also can see the three clues we made and the notepads underneath.
The activity was asking the question: What would Renae like to do for her birthday? I hid three clues outside and we had all the kids and parents go draw them. The kids mainly ran around and scribbled on their pads. The parents drew the pictures and we had "thinking time". No big chairs to sit on though.
The Clues were: an ice cream scoop, a cake server (knife thingy), and a small plate. One of our friends said it was to do the dishes! Silly Jordi! It was however to eat cake!

The only candle that we had was our Eeyore candle. I had to dig out the wick to get it to even burn this high. Renae didn't seem to mind and she blew it out in two tries. I wasn't close enough the first time she tried.

This is Renae waiting to blow out the candle. Like every good two year old, she also tried to touch the flame. Luckily Shonda was quicker than Renae.

I wanted to have Renae cut the first piece of her cake. Here she is cutting it. It was great. She kept moving the knife back and forth to help the knife move down the cake.

In Craig Hayes family tradition, we had only Christmas wrapping. At this point, Renae didn't mind. She was happy to rip it open and find out what she got!

Dora the Explorer from her Nana Hayes. Thanks Nana!

A puzzle from Doug, Sharlene, and Brigham Bitter. Thank you, She loves it!

Sidewalk chalk in the form of Vegetables with eyes that move from Jordi, Julianne, and Gerald Andrews. It looks silly and we plan to have lots of fun! Thank you Andrews!

Go to town Renae!

This is a 3d drawing board that lights up. Thank you Jared, Kari, and Reagan Shuey!

Renae needed some help opening this one. It was toddler proofed.

And when the toddler proofing was over, she received three books! The Jungle Book, Pocahontas, and the Lion King. Thanks to Andrew, Heidi, and Hyrum Potter.

There was one more present, but we got caught up in taking pictures of everyone who was there and so we didn't get a picture. But just know Nana, that when we get the doll house built, we will get a picture of it and post it. Thanks to everyone who came out to Renae's party and played with us.

After we had opened all the presents, Renae looked up at me and said: More? She even signed it. More?

Today, May 1st, is Renae's Birthday and later we will be giving her our gift. We'll post her birthday dinner and present from us later. Hopefully tomorrow. (Ya know keep our blog from becoming outdated...)

--Craig