A Rare Weekend at Home

It wasn't until I sat down at the end of Sunday evening that it finally dawned on me why this past weekend was so peaceful and relaxing.....NO DRIVING IN THE CAR! Well, except for a few trips here and there...and of course our twice daily Sonic drink runs. It's always nice to slow down and stop going, going, going. The first order of business: sleep in. That one didn't pan out in the end. Second order of business: make pancakes. That was a success! 

Baby girl likes berry cakes!

Riley was out the door early that morning before I even finished breakfast. He was in charge of the student athlete physicals at the high school and spent the morning making sure there were plenty of volunteers and things were running smoothly. While he was running the show up there Hal and I were running the trails. To say she was happy with my morning plan would be a downright lie. In fact she made me want to turn around and throw in the towel. The whining was not the kind of running soundtrack I was looking for. So I turned up the Pandora and had her dancing in the stroller to a little Black Eyed Peas. She was all strogged out and tired of her mom's peppy attitude by the time we made it around to the playground like I'd promised.

"Please tell me this ride is over."

She was happy to see four other little girls running around the playground. She ran from girl to girl doing her awkward but adorable side wave and hollering "Hallie!" introducing herself. My heart skipped a beat everytime she shared her name so clearly with the older girls. The way it rolls right off her tongue is awesome to me. I snapped a picture of her little chat session with her new friends while they hung out at the bottom of the slide. The little stinker was standing at the bottom of the slide after going down it on her own waiting on me to come down. She held her little arms up and gestured toward me as if to say "come on momma, I'll catch you".....

She was full of commands and just her general bossiness as we wandered every last inch of the playground. I think I heard her famous line "mama, ning" (mama, swing!) about a gazillion times.

It was a great way to start the morning both getting to burn off some energy and get plenty of exercise....

We ran a couple of errands and then stopped by Nanny's house for a quick visit which turned into a whole morning for Hal. While she had fun with Nanny, I had fun with Gracie....

Nanny was excited to show us her new camper that she'd gone to Dallas to pick up the night before. Hal seemed pretty keen on the idea of camping already after getting a tour of her soon-to-be vacation home. ;) Nanny volunteered to keep a very occupied Hal while I went home to shower and get dressed for the day. She was not missing me in the least. All she needed was her lawn chair and a little Capri Sun....

Riley had finished his work duties and was at Nanny and Papa's when I made it back over there. Katie and Carmen showed up a little later when Riley threw the hamburgers on the grill. We all sat out back chit chatting and playing with the babies....

Hallie was well past her naptime and not keeping it a secret. The whole neighborhood knew it was time for her nap I'm almost sure. But the girl toughed it out until lunch was ready.....

Oh wait, that's just Gracie on a bun!

This, my friends, is photographic evidence proving why naptime should never be delayed for Hallie Grace Fanning. I present to you Exhibit A:

The kicking foot just adds so much extra drama to the picture, dontcha think?

Once Hal woke from her nap we ( and I use the term 'we' very lightly) decided to take a trip to see what the carnival in town was all about. My enthusiasm quickly turned to boredom once we took a thirty second stroll through the entire carnival and realized there were no rides for Hallie. We also found out that Hal must've inherited her "thrill ride hater" gene from her dad because she didn't seem interested in the least at the sight of all the rides and games....

"Let's blow this joint"

Ladies and gents, may I just share a side note with you. Riley hates taking pictures. Here is a photo below of Riley's attempt (or lack there of) at getting a photo of Hal and I....

We decided to do something that we ALL love to do....EAT! We braved the thought of eating out in public with our tiny Thunder fan. To our surprise she was incredibly well-behaved and spent her time chatting with the people behind us and learning how to use crayons. I was ecstatic to see her actually coloring on the page and not eating the colorful sticks. Go, baby girl, GO!!!!

I may or may not have cried watching my baby learn to color ;)

I felt it was only appropriate to document just a peaceful trick out to eat with our favorite lady....

Faith restored

The Thunder playoff game was that night and Hal was more than willing to sport her KD gear that had been hiding in the back of her closet. Riley bought her this jersey about a year ago and at that time it was a dress on her.

But before we could leave the house I had to find the perfect way to add a feminine touch to her outfit...

"Mom, this bow never stops them from saying 'oh, what a cute little boy'."

We decided while the tot was on a good behavior streak we ought to take advantage and do a little shopping across the street. It took one look at this tricycle and that's when the streak ended....

"I want it, I need it, it's just my size."

I'm not sure if she was just offended that I called her a shorty or if she was just plain ticked off that the pretty pinks wheels weren't an option for her at this point....but either way she lost it. And we lost all desire to be in public and left promptly. ;) Hal and I spent the evening inside doing chores while Riley was outside doing this.....

All of a sudden I looked up and noticed that our backyard had turned into a forest of tree limbs. I'm tellin' ya...when that guy gets his mojo going he can't be stopped. A job that should take a couple of hours takes him about two minutes to complete. Before I knew it the three of us had the backyard cleared and the tree was loving it's new "haircut" it had just received. Ok, maybe it was just us loving it. ;) Before long it was bedtime. A time I choose to ignore. While most people look forward to bedtime I dread the crying that comes along with it. Our little bedtime fugitive somehow ended up in my lap on the couch around 11:30 as we were watching the Thunder game. I guess she figured if she was decked out in her jersey she ought to stay up and cheer them on. Ok, maybe she just wanted to snuggle. And honestly it was the sweetest moment of the entire weekend. Riley just stared at her from across the room as she nestled her head into my chest and closed her eyes. For a second I fooled myself into thinking she was a tiny baby again who wanted to be cuddly and sweet.

She loved my new version of "Mockingbird" in which I forgot what came after "momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring." My new lyrics went a lil something like this...." momma's gonna buy you a sour lime." That's just one of things I love about her...she doesn't judge on singing talent or content.

The next morning brought about church and a fun breakfast with Matt and Heather. Our Sunday school class has sort of fallen apart since the busy month of May began so we opted for a trip to Braum's instead of have a class with just the four of us. After breakfast we came home where my two sidekicks prepared for their Sunday nap ritual...

Step #: read the paper

Step #2: clean up after lunch

Step #3: sleep.

As usual I used this quiet time to run errands and workout. It felt good to finally get my running shoes back on for a long Sunday run after having run only two times since the half-marathon. Instead of motivating me to run more (which I had expected it to) that dang race has made me incredibly lazy and worthless. For real. I'm hoping that is what I needed to get out of the running rut.

The sleeping beauties were awake. One was full of energy to tackle the yardwork. The other was full of sass to wear her mother out. Hey now! So not fair, I didn't get a nap. I feel like I need superpowers like the superheros have. A power pack that I can strap on and press a button anytime I'm drained. I probably would've been smashing that button all day long. I had picked out some fun new summer toys for her during my naptime shopping trip and figured she'd be thrilled to see one of her new toys. Twas not the case....

"Hey you. Don't think you can buy my love."

Mr. Paranoid (about his new grass in the backyard) asked us to set up her new beach ball sprinkler in the driveway which apparently turns into the equivalent of a skating rink when wet. Not a great combo. If you are assuming that she fell then you would be incorrect. It was I, the mother, that fell. Ix-nay on the ater-way. She was not feeling it in the least. My next offer for fun was sure to win a few smiles though......Sonic drink and a trip to the park. All the needed was her hat. Lil read has made quite the habit out of digging for her pink Nike hat in her bottom drawer and plopping it on backwards. It gets me everytime!!

Ok, so one would think that the park would be a sure bet, right? What's there to cry about at the park?? Well at our neighborhood park there is plenty to cry about.....

As you can see she is quite the distressed little girl. I'm not sure if it was the rocks that were piled up at the bottom of each slide blocking her from going down....or if it was the bully who was throwing rocks at her who had piled the rocks on the slides. She gave him a piece of her mind and shook her finger at him. Usually I would be reprimanding her for this kind of behavior but in this case I just sat back and enjoyed every second of it. This is the boy who has been telling me that this park is in their backyard and it's not for any other kiddos in the neighborhood. He also deliberately threw a handful of rocks in Hallie's direction just to test my patience. I'm glad I had my little fireball with me to back me up! We left the bully behind at the park and made our way back home. I was thrilled when Katie called to see if her and Carmen could come over and play. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hal and I were looking for some entertainment while Riley continued to work outside. Before the girls came over we gave her sprinkler another shot on the side of the house which turned out MUCH better. She didn't fully embrace the squirty fun but she got a good start to some summer fun.....

"Whoa! So this is what this is all about"

Tip-toeing around it

Her cutie-patootie green polka dot bikini was quite pleasing to my eyes.....

And so was her cute little self walking up the hill to greet the neighbor holding her daddy's hand...

After giving our neighbor a "hi" and smiles she was parched and found the nearest watering hole...

About the time we went inside and dried off a bit, Carmen and Katie had arrived. Miss Thing was dressed in Hal's itsy bitsy teeny weenie yellow polka dot bikini from last summer. I just couldn't believe that my little chunk fit into that at one time....

While Carmen crawled around and explored, Hal dug through her baby bag and found Hilda the Hippo and a baby rattle. When Carmen realized that she wanted Hilda my little smarty decided to do a little sneak behind the back move and hide the hippo rattle. Where do kids learn this stuff?!?! She ended up relinquishing Hilda and sharing. Oh the "s" word....what a foreign concept.

Carmen put her knee pads to good use that afternoon on the cement and showed off her newest skill for everyone.....

"clap" "clap" "clap"

I was so thankful for the company as it kept Hal happy and occupied.....

Katie and I talked all about their big Jamaica vacation that they were leaving for that following Monday morning. She was obviously very thrilled and had a smile that wasn't budging...

This girl, on the other hand, had an edge to her. Big shocker, I realize this.

Can you feel the attitude oozing out of her??

The bed of Riley's pickup is one of Hal's favorite places to sit. Or run. Or jump. Or threaten to jump from. You get the point. My other point is that I am in love with these two crazy fools....

They are two peas in a pod and more alike than Riley even realizes....

"Stick em up partner"

Steven and Rachelle walked by with the boys and stopped to say hi. Hal got yet another lesson in sharing as she watched cried and threw a fit as her future boyfriend take a drive in her convertible.....

"Is anybody gonna take my side on this one???"

This is what kept Riley occupied while us girl sat around the driveway playing and chit-chatting....

The big Memorial Day weekend car show is coming up and he was giddy about ol' blue coming out of retirement. Hal snuck a bit of time in the driver's seat until Mr. Paranoid caught her testing out the steering wheel and we were quickly ushered to the passenger seat. ;)

All that driving made for a hungry gal. She's her mother's daugther....no doubt. 

In summary......

The whining could've been a little less. 

The screaming could've been a lot less. 

We could've done without all of the two-year-old sassiness. 

But this momma didn't have to drive in a car listening to the tantrums. 

So all was well.

All in all the three of us had a nice little family weekend. 

....with no driving. ;) 

(had to throw that in one more time)