Our week in pictures

Well folks, we didn't get off to a very pretty start.

This little girl was picked up from daycare with a 102 degree fever and lots and lots of poop. Her pretty new dress wasn't looking so pretty.

Riding home in her loner clothes

I was one worried momma. For about two seconds. She was climbing the walls within thirty minutes of getting home. Just a little bit of snuggle time, some apple juice and Mickey Mouse was all the girl needed...

"I will NOT go to the doctor. I'm fine...see!!"

I was feeling relieved that my day off was the following day just in case she woke up feeling not so hot again. To my surprise she woke up feeling spunky and fun. Thank goodness because we had a VERY busy morning. We showered, dressed and started marking stops off our list.....clinic, office, walmart, nanny's, post office and most importantly the voting place. Tuesday was voting day. We were ready to vote for Papa Bill! We grabbed our ballot from the nice ladies at the table, made our way to the voting booth and prepared to make our marks. I always get so nervous when I'm filling out a ballot....afraid that I'm going to mark the wrong name I guess. Well it's a good thing I had Hallie there to help. She grabbed the pen from my hand while I was reading the paper and made a big ol' mark. And wouldn't ya know it...part of her vote landed right in the middle of Papa Bill's box. Smart girl.

Doing her civic duty

Hallie Grace got an extra special treat Tuesday afternoon. Nanny came over to play with her for a bit while I went to work for a bit. They spent their time together going for a walk around the neighborhood, playing at the park and stomping in puddles. Fun stuff! We spent Tuesday evening at the house having an election watch party for Papa and celebrating his big win!

I've been trying to stress the importance of teeth brushing these past couple weeks. We've begun some serious twice a day brushings....no more messing around. She gets plenty of high fives and hugs when she lets me get all of her teefers. It's been going very well. Well, mostly....

Her "not thrilled" face

On Wednesday we had a pretty cool surprise waiting for us on the doorstep. I've been seeing commercials for these neat little pillow racer toys on the Disney channel just about everytime we watch Mickey Mouse...which is oh, about every thirty minutes. I was anxiously awaiting Mr. Turtle's arrival all week. He was finally here.....

"Woah!!!"

"I feel like we've met somewhere before..."

Meet. Mr. Turtle.

The wait was well worth it. Seeing her face was so much fun. Despite her first attempt at "racing" on his back ending in a bad fall, she jumped right back on and kept smiling....

I didn't realize that turtles could buck....but that he did. She felll off several times. Sometimes straight back on her head. But she didn't seem to mind at all. In fact she was more worried about keeping him comfortable....

"Here's a little sip. It must be hard letting me sit on you."

We soon moved our fun outdoors....

She handed me her other racer friends to bring outside with us....

Surprise!!! Hal had some friends pop in to play on Wednesday evening! Cari and Tom's kiddos came along with her to return our baby swing. Hal was in her pjs and pretty sleepy but that did not stop the girl from playing her little heart out. I delighted in watching her show them her toys and run around the house squealing with excitement. Loved every minute of it. She did too.

Hitching a ride with Hannah

Having a pow wow with Sam and Hannah

Thursday began with a lot of snot and quite a bit of coughing. Poor baby girl. She's been downing allergy medicine on a regular basis all week to try and fight off this yuckiness. She was looking mighty cute in her new outfit from Nanny though!

Thursday evening I found her freeing her Goldfish. What do I mean by this? Well, she was dropping her snacks in the toilet one by one watching them "swim." Check out this guilty look on her little face....

"I still don't know what I did wrong..."

We finally, finally, finally snapped a picture of Hallie's dramatic bedtime shenanigans. I've mentioned before that she passes out in my arms on occasion while I'm carrying her to bed. This has got to be one of our favorite things that she does. I made Riley take a picture of her and her dramatic ways before I plopped her in bed last night....

Today was Grammy's birthday and I was in need of a change. I kindly requested that we go out to eat for a change. Within five minutes of sitting down at the restaurant I was kindly insisting that we get our food to go and leave. After a margarita of course. I think I could've used a couple more of those puppies. Let's just say that Hallie was not sharing in my enthusiasm about going out. We inhaled our food while she slopped cheese sauce on her shirt and face, rubbed salsa in her eye, tried to swallow an entire lemon slice, screamed when we wouldn't let her eat said lemon slice and made her presence known to the other diners. Twas great fun. ;)

I'll take a cranky with a side of whining.

I insisted on ice cream at Braum's after dinner (I think this happens maybe once a year). Ice cream is supposed to help a broken heart, right? I'm not sure about my heart but by the sounds of the happy girl in the backseat happily hollering "bite! bite!", the ice cream made someone happy. Oh yeah, and balloons. Balloons made her happy too.

That's a smile if ya can't tell. ;)

I literally slithered around like a slug the rest of the evening. Old and tired I guess. ;) After a couple failed attempts at taking a walk with Hallie and Emmi I finally gave up due to many protests and we retired to the backyard for some bubble time....

"No complaints here, mom"

This week snuck right on by. Very little sleep was had on everyone's part. Riley is having a hard time adjusting to the new mattress.....Hallie was having a hard time breathing through her snotty nose.....and I have no plausible explanation for my sleeping woes. I've got a hot date with my pillow in about five minutes in hopes that sleep will find us all tonight.

Looks like she's got a headstart

We've got a very full weekend ahead and lots of travel / celebration / fun to be had. And of course I'll be sharing every last detail. You betcha.

Wishing all our friends and family a very happy Easter Sunday!