A Time to Blog...

My baby girl has been growing despite my requests for her to stop. ;) And not just growing at a normal rate.....but it seems that she's growing and changing at the speed of light. It's so hard to find time to stop and write about all the ways she is changing. In fact it's getting harder each week. I discovered that managing two blogs, being a mommy and wife and having a full time job was a bit much to handle. Instead of being a therapist I may as well join the circus because I'm getting a lot of practice with juggling lately. I feel this incredible pull to spending more time at home. I'm still holding out hope that work will remain slow(er) for the summer so that Hal and I can spend more quality time together. 

Friday. A time to blog. Just call me the nap time blogger. Life moved so quickly this week that I had forgotten that I'd actually taken pictures or kept a mental catalogue of Hallie time. As I uploaded pictures today I only had a vague recollection of each of them. Shame on me. But I'm thankful to have this wiggly girl to put up with me....

Pictures are in no particular order. In fact I can't even remember what days they were taken. See what I mean?!?!

Try as I might I did not get my work done during the work day and had to take lil red to the clinic with me. Saying I dread doing this won't make sense unless you've seen how she transforms into Miss Danger the moment we walk through the door. Getting work done is quite difficult when every five seconds I'm bombarded with "MOMMA, BALL!!!!! BALL!!! BALL MOMMA!!!! DER, BALL MOMMA!!" And then there is always the habit of crawling on the equipment that makes it super easy to focus on what I'm doing....

One morning this week I was summoned by a sleepy little girl to her future siblings bedroom. I repeat: FUTURE sibling. In the far future. Not near. Not at all near. Ok, glad we covered that. ;) In this room lies her unassembled red car. She couldn't care less that it does not have a properly functioning steering wheel or that it's lacking the side decals. Heck, it doesn't even have a door....or a roof! She's thrilled with her convertible and really really needed it that morning. It was still in the living room that evening and we cracked up laughing when we realized she'd found the cup holder on the back of the car and placed my drink in it.....

"Nevermind the steering wheel horn"

She loves the water hose and scored a big time chore the other night......

All that work....MUST. HAVE. WATER.......

Man, she's good help. Who trained this girl!?!?!?!

I'll take advantage while she's too young to ask for an allowance

I'm quite thrilled about her desire to help out. Does she not look like a big girl holding that hose!?

Carmen and Katie joined us for dinner this week and got a first-hand view of what dinners at the Fannings are like. 9 times out of 10 it involves the use of food as a telephone or an instrument. On this particular night Hallie's "principal" called on the phone (ciabatta bread) to tell her dad about her bad behavior at school. She was a little too willing to let him talk to her superior....

"Dad, don't believe anything he tells you"

The girls played for a few hours that night and surprisingly didn't get into any trouble....

"Well what did you expect?"

They were sporting diapers and looking mighty cute together. Carmen is jabbering more and more and getting so big...

Hal's been on a big reading kick this week and can be found like this quite often reading to herself and pointing out pictures to me.....

Reading her animal magazine from Gman

Storytime with Aunt Katie

Studying up!

Last night we were just a pair of girls missing Riley (who had traveled to Tulsa for work). We were glad to hear from Aunt Katie and took her up on an invite to come over for the Thunder game and yummy drinks made by bartender Luke. The girlies are getting closer to the point where they will play well together. Until then, Hal will continue to put on her "too cool for school" act around sweet Carmen. I think it won't be long until she is begging Carmen to play with her...

"What's up cuz?"

Luke made some amazing nachos which Hal and I both partook in. She cuddled up with Aunt Katie in the chair for awhile....

The look on Hallie's face when Nanny walked in the door was priceless. They caught up on lost time and took a few runs through the sprinkler. I have a feeling that Nanny is the only person on the planet that could convince her to do that. She was up well past her bedtime but it was well worth it....

This morning we had a quiet morning of breakfast, cartoons and lots of relaxing. We both slept in until 8:30 and lounged around in our pajamas until mid-morning when we decided to show our faces to the outside world. Outside world = Walmart. My face was hidden under a ball cap which also happened to be covering the mess of hair on my head. But Hal was all dolled up in pink and ready to take on the store. Her enthusiasm actually made Walmart somewhat enjoyable. And the fact that we reached a big milestone also made me a very happy momma. Today was the first day that she acted like a civilized human being at Walmart. I'm sure it's evident from my posts that I rarely go shopping without my partner by my side. Well, she's not actually by my side...she's always in the basket providing close-up entertainment for me at all times (except when she's screaming in the checkout line). BUT TODAY she helped me push the basket, grab items from the shelves, rode on the end of the basket and walked beside me the entire thirty minutes we were in the store. Whoa. I am still sort of in shock that she didn't cause a scene, make a spectacle, scream for dear life, or beg for anything and everything she could spot with her eyes. Nope. She amazes me everyday with her new grown-up ways....

The only unwanted item that we left with was a frog pet pillow that she became attached to in about three seconds flat. I should've known to avoid that aisle! ;)

There you have it. My less-than-mediocre update for the week. Somewhere up there in my tiny little brain are all of the things I'm forgetting. But this will have to do for now.

We are rested and ready for a Father's Day weekend that promises to be filled with food, fun, family and FATHERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lots and lots of FATHERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!