"Dear __________"

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This LOLcat has nothing to do with anything... I just thought it was funny. Actually, now that I think about it, the "mood" of it kind of goes with the mood of most of the rest of this entry.

---

And now, these...


* * * * * * * * * *


Dear People Who Shovel/Plow our Apartment Complex,

You do a really horrible job. I mean, I get that you have to work around a lot of cars and such... but don't you think you could do a better job with the sidewalks, at least? It's pretty sad when the scariest part of my morning commute is the walk from my front door to my car.

Sincerely,
Slip Sliding Away


* * * * * * * * * *


Dear Winter,

GO AWAY.

Seriously.

Cordially,
Wishing for Spring


* * * * * * * * * *


Dear Skin,

What is your deal? I put lotion on you all the time--heck, sometimes I even use baby oil--and still, you insist on being DRY.

OK, I'm sorry. I know you're trying your best, and that we both know this is really Winter's fault. No worries. I've already written Winter a succinct, but strongly-worded, letter.

Cuddles,
Sara


* * * * * * * * * *


Dear Awesome Knee-High Boots of Mine,

You are one of the best investments I've ever made. You don't keep my feet all that warm when they're buried in the snow, but who cares? You look fantastic, and you keep my legs dry when I have to slog through snowdrifts (which has been far too often this winter). Keep on rocking...

Thanks again,
Sara's Legs


* * * * * * * * * *


Dear "The Office,"

While I think it's super-cool that you're airing a one-hour episode after the Superbowl, tell me... how am I supposed to successfully DVR this? You'd better have it accessible online ASAP.

Signed,
Thanks for Finally Resolving the Dwandyla Triangle


* * * * * * * * * *


Dear ABC,

I'm psyched that you decided to pick up "Scrubs" this season to avoid it ending abruptly... but why did you have to go and cancel "Pushing Daisies"? I'm tempted to boycott "Scrubs" just because of that reason. I'm not saying the 2 decisions are related in any way... I'm just sayin'...

Signed,
Someone Whose Opinion Doesn't Matter Anyway


* * * * * * * * * *


Dear American Idol Judges,

I remember the good old days when you used to practically sneer at people who tried to beg their way into Hollywood. But this season I've seen not one, not two, but... well, several people acquire their Golden Ticket through groveling. What gives? Has the hot new judge cast a spell on you?

Signed,
Yeh, I Said She Was Hot--That's Not The Point


* * * * * * * * * *


Dear Friend Who Probably Wishes to Remain Anonymous,

Thankyou thankyou thankyou for the "They Might Be Giants" CD you sent me. I am loving every glorious, wacky minute of it. I really don't know how I have lived this many years without acquiring my own collection of their songs. Thanks for making that happen.

Hugs,
Your Little Glowing Friend


* * * * * * * * * *


Dear Ari,

I know you thought it was hilarious when you escaped the play area at the mall last night and took off running, but it was most definitely NOT funny. And I know you think you saw a hint of a smile on my face as I caught up with you, but again, it was most definitely NOT a smile. Must have been a trick of the light.

But seriously--don't do that again, kid. No, seriously. I mean it this time.

Kisses,
Your Favorite Mom


* * * * * * * * * *


Dear Tony,

Thanks for clearing my car off for me the other night. I know you would have done it even if I wasn't sick. And thank you for bugging me to take medicine while I was sick, too. Even though I rolled my eyes at you and griped about it, I know you harass me because you care. Just remember that the next time I nag harass you about something.

Love,
Runt

Snow angel

Monday was a nice sunny day--and apparently the first we've had for a while, since Ari spent several minutes going on and on about "The sun! Sun!" We've gotten a good bit of snow lately (the most recent coming in on Sunday), so we bundled Ari up and let her play outside. We took her to the playground, since there's a wide-open field there. Around the playground is a barrier, just tall enough to keep all the mulch in. Ari insisted on cleaning off "the step" before she entered the playground.



Tony helped her clear off the platforms on the playground...



Just a cute close-up shot...



You can't really see it, but Tony made a snow angel. Ari watched him inquisitively while he did this, so....



... he showed her how to make one.



When she was finished, she took a look at it. We joked that it didn't really look like an angel--Tony called it a "snow monster" at the same time that I called it a "snow demon." Oh, we are so clever.



I asked her for a smile, and even though this kind of looks like one, it's not. It's her telling me, "Noooooo!"



Apparently she liked making snow angels. The only problem with her laying down in the snow was that she had a hard time getting back up, due to all the layers. It was kind of funny to watch her waddle around in all her snow gear.



She took one last ride down the slide before we went inside. Tony cleared the snow off of it for her, so there was a giant snow pile at the bottom to "catch" her.



Now that I've lured you in with pictures... Wait, don't go! There's a video at the end, I promise.

In other news... we are still struggling on the potty-training front. What I mean is, we are attempting to walk that fine line between just giving up completely and making this issue into a Big Deal. Tony tried a couple stealth tactics yesterday, but he underestimated our child. He tried putting big-girl underwear on her, and she wet them. So he took them off and let her go commando under her sweatpants. Next thing he knew, she was proudly announcing that she peed, and pointing to the kitchen. Sure enough, there was a puddle on the kitchen floor. Not only did she have the presence of mind to pee on the linoleum rather than the carpet (thank God), she also made sure to remove her pants first and lay them aside. Tony wasn't exactly laughing about it when he told me the story, but I was. Hey, I wasn't there and didn't have to clean it... therefore, it is funny.

Speaking of her craftiness... dinner time is another fun time of day. She doesn't want to eat, and again, we don't want to make it a Big Deal, but we do want to enforce some basic ground rules, such as requiring her to stay at the table until everyone is finished (you know, that whole "family dinner" idea). To no one's surprise, dinner time is the time she magically seems interested in going potty--merely because she knows we will let her leave the table to do so. Last night, she took it a step further by telling me she had a poopy diaper. I just shook my head at Tony and said, "I cannot get over how devious she is."

He just shrugged and said, "Well, that's why they call it the Terrible Twos."

"Well, yeh... I figured that meant temper tantrums and such. Not flat-out LYING."

So we've been having conversations with her, trying to explain to her what a lie is, and that it is wrong to lie. Maybe I'm naive (I hear you parents-of-older-children snickering at me), but I never thought I'd be needing to have talks like that with my two-year-old. We have our hands full with this one.

But on to more pleasant stories... Ari is learning how to play hide and seek... emphasis on the word "learning." She and Tony were playing the other night. At first, she was the hider and he was the seeker. And she was the worst hider--she'd either giggle and give herself away, or she'd just flat-out pop out of her spot and go to him before he even got to her (sometimes, while he was still counting). After a while, they switched. Tony showed Ari how to cover her eyes and had her stand inside the bathroom with her back to the open doorway while she counted. Ari's pretty decent with counting... she counts to 20, though she gets the numbers all mixed up after 10. And because of that, she stops counting whenever she feels like it. Tony found a couple good hiding spots, and I helped Ari along with hints like, "Hey, Ari, wherever the dogs are? That's probably where Daddy is." Later in the game, she decided to tell him where to hide. At one point, she started walking out of the bathroom while she was still counting, peeking through her fingers as she went. So not only is she bad at the game, but she's also learning how to cheat to make herself appear to be good at it. That's my girl, all right. I can't wait to teach her how to play mini-golf by Sara's Rules.

She also has an obsession with pockets now, started (I think) by a couple new outfits that have hooded sweatshirts with pockets in them. This morning, when I was getting her dressed, she wanted to stick her hands in the pockets of her jeans, even though I still needed to get her shirt on. She had a bit of trouble squeezing her hands in, so she was more than thrilled when I put her winter coat in and she could easily slide her hands into those pockets. She walked out to the car like that, and even turned down the chance to carry her milk into the babysitter's house later (something she loves to do) in favor of slipping her hands in those magical pockets once again. There is something so grown-up looking about watching my child saunter away from me with her hands tucked casually in pockets.

And, I saved the best for last... My mom watched Ari on Tuesday which, as you know, was Inauguration Day. She taught Ari to say "President Obama" and... well, just watch the video. It's much better than any explanation I could give you. (By the way, her silliness right at the beginning of the video? That is SO her.)


Ariana 1-21-09 from Sariana on Vimeo.

What do you do with a B.A. in English?

So we had our date night on Friday night. We took Ari to my parents' house (to spend the night) and made it early for our 7 PM reservation at the restaurant. We debated whether we should be frugal and try to stretch our gift card to last for another dinner, or if we should splurge. We decided to go all out--after all, what's the fun in having a gift card if you're still worrying about how much your meal costs? So we got an appetizer, we both ordered drinks, and Tony got the biggest steak he possibly could. We had a great time at dinner--both of us were in playful moods.

Tony made a comment at one point about how I needed to eat my mushrooms, and I reminded him that I don't eat mushrooms because they are a fungus. He played the old, "Well, have you ever tried one?" and I retorted, "Have you?", and the next thing I knew, he was telling me he'd eat one if I did and I was saying, "You're on." He counted to 3 and we both ate them at the same time. Of course, it was disgusting, just as I knew it would be, and he rolled his eyes at me, saying I was just saying that because I didn't want to admit it wasn't that bad. I took a swig of my drink to wash out the taste, while he thoughtfully shared his review of the mushroom, trying to describe the texture and taste, ignoring my eye rolls. Yes, we're dorks, but at least we amuse each other.

The check came, and we gulped when we realized we'd spent our entire gift card in one shot. I figured we'd come close, but didn't know we'd use up the whole thing. But like I said, that's what gift cards are for.

We thought about going to a movie after dinner, since there was a theater just down the road. But we got there a little after 8, and there were no movies showing until 9:30. And besides that, there was nothing we really wanted to see, especially at theater prices. So we decided to head home and rent a movie instead.

We have completely different taste in movies, and nowhere is it more obvious than inside a Blockbuster, when we're trying to agree on one, just ONE, movie to rent. We spend the whole time trying to talk the other one into the ones we want to see, and mocking each other's choices, and so on--all in good fun, of course. And then, inevitably, we end up getting two movies--one to make each of us happy. But we had a gift card, and since Blockbuster has a new policy where you can rent a movie for one night only at a cheaper price, the gift card covered almost the whole price of both.

We slept in on Saturday, per our plan, and did a little housework before leaving for "Avenue Q" at 2. And wow... it was so hilarious, but cruder than I expected. But overall, it was a hysterical show--I laughed so much. The very first song was called "What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?" which made me chuckle right then and there, because *I* have a B.A. in English. Despite the crude humor, there were some heart-warming moments, and the music was incredibly catchy. I don't know that I'd recommend it for everyone (I definitely wouldn't take my teenage kid with me), but if you've got an offbeat sense of humor and aren't easily offended and can handle a lot of swearing, you would like it.

The rest of the weekend was fairly normal. Saturday night we ended up renting 2 more movies. When we were there on Friday night, the computer printed out a coupon for a free non-new-release rental, and I told Tony I knew exactly what I wanted to use it for: "Little Shop of Horrors," which I've never seen and have always wanted to. When Tony went to get it for me (isn't he sweet?) he also picked up "The Kite Runner," remembering that was one of the movies I'd tried to talk him into the night before (again, isn't he sweet?). We watched "The Kite Runner" together--it was good (Tony declared it one of the saddest movies he'd ever seen), but not nearly as gripping as the book (which, I'll warn you, is heart-wrenching). I watched "Little Shop" by myself, and I loved it--so quirky and weird, but also funny and charming, with incredibly fun music.

Monday was a lazy day, and we concluded the day by taking Ari to my parents' to spend the night again (since Mom is watching her today and it's easier to just take her down the night before).

If you made it through all that, you deserve a reward. How about some Ari pictures?

Mom put Ari's hair in a ponytail on Saturday, complete with bobbypins to hold it in. When we came to pick Ari up on Saturday, I scooped her up in my arms to give her a hug, and she said, "Mommy and Daddy so proud of you." My mom laughed, and explained that she had told Ari that Mommy and Daddy would be so proud of her if she left her hair in the ponytail for us to see. Mom got a picture, and I asked Ari to give me Eskimo kisses, thinking that would be a good way to get her to hold still, and to get a good profile shot. As you can see, she not only refused to give me Eskimo kisses, but she covered her nose with both hands and then smashed her face against mine to make her point. Goober.



I forget what she was watching on TV (probably Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), but she insisted on having a pillow, a blanket, and her cup.



The next several photos were her idea. She told me she wanted me to take a picture of her with her "Mooka Mooka" (that's what she calls her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse set--based on the magic words they use on the show, "Meeska, Mooska") and her "sand castle" (which is what she calls her princess castle). But once I got the camera out, she flat-out refused to be normal.

First, she turned her nose up at me...



Then she gave me a barely-there, totally-fake smile...



Then I got this (I guess you could call it a smile--an evil smile)...



I have no explanation for this one...



And then this...



So I gave up.

Spaghetti-Os, Mickey Mouse... a perfect evening

Just a few Ari stories....

Ari is in this "phase" right now where she wants to be carried all the time--especially going upstairs/downstairs or walking out to the car. I tease her about how heavy she is, how she's killing Mommy, stuff like that... but honestly, I kind of enjoy it. Even though her legs are long enough to get all tangled with mine when I carry her up the stairs.

She is becoming quite a little punk. And it's not even so much in her words--it's these faces she comes up with. I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm looking at a teenager. We keep having little talks with her about not having a bad attitude, but I'm not sure how much the concept of "attitude" is sinking in for her. But aside from the sullen faces, she's still a little smart aleck. I was disciplining her about something the other night--I can't remember what it was, though. I corrected her sternly, putting on what I thought was a good "Mom Look"... and in reply, she grinned and said, "Ari funny!" I attempted to reply "No, you're not funny" but didn't finish the phrase before I started laughing. I have really got to get a handle on that.

We're still struggling on the potty-training front, so we're employing sneaky tactics to get her to sit on the toilet. For example, I'll read her a book while she sits on the toilet, to keep her occupied and holding (relatively) still. Lately, though, I've been taking full advantage of having a BlackBerry and using it to play YouTube videos for her. I played "Birdhouse in Your Soul" for her one night, and she's been asking for it every night since. She really gets into it now, even attempting to sing the words. I really should get a video of her singing along, because it's pretty cute to hear her going, "Ooh watches oh-er you... bir'house... your sooooooooul!"

She has this little toy that she's had for a while, but suddenly loves--it called a "Fridge DJ" or something (it's magnetic) and it plays lots of different songs. Among the songs it plays are a few versions of the alphabet song. Ari insisted on having this toy at the dinner table with her the other night, and happily sang along to the alphabet song in between bites. She is getting pretty good--you can hear almost every letter when she sings now. (She used to kind of mumble the "L, M, N, O, P" part, but that's understandable, since that part is so fast.) She also enunciates her letters much more carefully, too, as though she's trying to prove how well she knows them.

I've noticed, too, when it comes to music, if I sing along with her, she watches me very carefully--specifically, she watches my mouth. It's like she's actually concentrating on learning all the words, and wants to make sure she's doing it right. So, in turn, I've been making an effort to exaggerate the movement of my lips when I sing with her, so she can see how the words are formed. Even when she's not picking up on the words, she'll still twitch her mouth, imitating me. She tends to pick up on the last word of a line first (I think a lot of people do this when they're learning lyrics), and she'll sing it extra loud and hold it extra long, as if that makes up for all the other words she missed.

And to conclude, a couple of Ari videos. Sorry my voice is so loud in these--I guess I was holding the camera closer to myself than I thought.

1st video... Yeh, I know her hair is out of control... I think (*gasp*) it may finally be time to get her a haircut. Anyway, note the over-dramatic coughing--whenever she notices that one of us notices her coughing, she'll cough a few extra times on purpose. My favorite part is at the end when I'm telling her to say bye a few different ways, and when I ask her to blow kisses, she starts to say, "Blow ki--" before she realizes, oh, she's supposed to actually DO it, not say it.


Ariana 1-14-09 1 from Sariana on Vimeo.

2nd video... Behold, the power that Mickey Mouse Clubhouse holds over my child... Also, I've never seen her do the "roll call" part so loudly before--showing off for the camera, maybe? And notice how her "bye" is much less enthusiastic this time around.


Ariana 1-14-09 2 from Sariana on Vimeo.

3 Ari stories

I came home from work one night last week, and when I stepped in the door and looked down the hall, I saw Ari standing at our sliding back door. Tony and the dogs were outside and Tony was staring at me through the glass with "A Look." It didn't take me long to figure out what had happened. Ari's known for a while how to lock and unlock that door. But the door also has this button on the floor as an extra security lock, and apparently, she's now figured out how to step on that button to lock the door... but hasn't learned how to unlock it. I showed her how (for future reference) and we let Tony in.

Tony stepped in and informed me, "I have been out there for a good 10 minutes trying to get her to unlock the door for me."

I had a quick chat with Ari about NOT playing with the doors and the locks on the doors... and made her apologize to Daddy. And as soon as she turned to him to do so, I turned my head away and died laughing.

---

Ari is becoming quite the little music lover, much to my delight. She still loves the "Mamma Mia!" soundtrack, and is even learning the words to "Honey, Honey." And as cute as that is, I have to admit that it's a tad disconcerting to hear my 2-year-old sing, "He's a love machine, oh he makes me dizzy." So, in an effort to broaden Ari's musical horizons, I've been forcing her to listen to "The Little Mermaid" Broadway soundtrack in my car. She protested at first, but I suckered her in by enthusiastically telling her, "It's Ariel! You know, princess Ariel? This is her, singing!" She was quiet, and skeptical (yes, I could tell) at first, but I know I am winning her over, because she's starting to request "the Ariel song" from me at bedtime. Of course, this could be anything from "Part of Your World" to "The World Above" to "Beyond my Wildest Dreams" (or even parts of "If Only"... hmm, they really did add a lot of songs to the Broadway show), since she doesn't yet know the difference. So really, everyone wins here. She gets to learn some new songs, and I have more song options at bedtime. (Note to self: Get over "Little Mermaid" obsession and find more kid-friendly music for Ari.)

---

We were watching football Sunday night--Tony was happy because his precious Steelers were playing, and winning. So they scored, and Tony yelled really loudly. Ari just kind of looked at him, so he told her, "Say 'Go Steelers!'" She obediently yelled, "Go Steelers!" Then no more than 10 seconds later, something else happened, and Tony yelled, "Holy crap!" And Ari also yelled, "Holy crap!" And me, I just laughed.

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And that's all. But knowing Ari, I'll have more stories soon.

Very brief weekend recap

I tried writing about our weekend in paragraph form but it was getting long and boring (even to me), so you get it in tasty, bite-size bullets instead...

Friday night

* Were going to go bowling. Got cancelled. Boo hoo.

* Ended up having an impromptu dinner out with Matt and Kristin, and their son (and our future son-in-law) Nick.

* At said dinner, Ari attempted to charm her way out of her highchair by hugging my arm and sweetly saying, "I want Mommy." I, of course, saw right through her, and made her stay put. Mom: 1, Ari: 0.

Saturday

* Got yet another migraine within 15 minutes of waking up (which made the 3rd in 4 days), which pretty much killed my morning.

* Dropped Ari off in the afternoon at Pastor and Dawn's house, for an overnight stay.

* Met Matt, Kristin, and several of their family members at Olive Garden for a surprise birthday dinner for Matt's 30th birthday. (PS He was indeed surprised.)

* Spent the rest of the evening at M and K's, watching TV and playing Disney Scene It.

Sunday

* Church, as always.

* Spent the evening with M and K, watching the Steelers take down the... other guys. (Yeh, I was totally paying attention.)

* Ate a lovely dinner, cooked by Matt and ready just in time for halftime. (Exception: Ari did not eat, not even one bite. Who's surprised? Not I.)

And there you have it. Another thrilling weekend in the life of Sara. Not sure what's on deck for this week itself, but next weekend involves another child-free night/date night (thanks to my parents). Is it Friday yet?

"Daddy's a sucker" and other stories

Before I start, one quick question, for anyone who's on Facebook... is anyone having trouble logging into their Facebook account? I am, and it's not even an error message. I'll go to the login page, enter my e-mail address and password, and then it takes me to a page that says, "You must be logged in to view this page." So I log in again... and round and round we go. I tried saying I forgot my password, and then re-setting it... and it worked fine for that session, but the next time I tried to log in, the same issue popped up. I sent an e-mail to FB about it, but who knows how long it will take them to answer me. Just curious if anyone else is having or has had this problem.

(Also, the Twitter feed in my sidebar is labeling every Tweet as "31 days ago." Weird, huh?)

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OK, it's about time I did an Ari update, since I realized just the other day that she is now officially 2 1/2 years old.

She's regressing on the potty-training front, which is frustrating us. It seems to have started back when she was sick with that double ear infection in mid-December. I mean, you know how it is when you're really feeling poorly--you just lay around and don't want to do anything. So we were understanding when she didn't want to go on the potty as often. And by the time she was recovering from being sick, we went away for Christmas, which threw her off her routine, and now everything is just all messed up. She'll still go on the toilet if we suggest it (sometimes happily, sometimes whining about it), but she's lost the desire to actively do it on her own, like she had been doing. I'm not sure how to handle this--I don't want to make it into some huge issue and therefore turn her off from it even more. So I guess we sit back and wait for her to show interest on her own again. Is it "normal," though, for a kid to regress like this?

On to the fun stuff... she is getting to the stage where she's learning how to joke around with us. For example, she'll point to me and say, "That's Daddy" and point to Tony and say, "That's Mommy." Or she'll ask us what a pig says, and when we say, "I don't know, what does a pig say?" she'll reply, "Woof, woof!" and then giggle.

I mentioned before that she's learned to ask "Why?" Well, now she's learned the question "Why not?" except she doesn't know how to use it properly. For example, we'll tell her we're going to the mall, and she'll say, "Why not?" Of course, we don't really want to correct her, since that would only encourage her to ask "Why?" instead. She'll figure out the difference eventually.

Tony's been teaching her how to count to 20, and she really thinks she can. She's almost completely ignoring the numbers 1-10 (and, for the record, she still skips 6), and will proudly rattle off, "11, 12, 14, 18, 17, 20!" Obviously, we still have some work to do with counting. But, in her defense, she is starting to learn how to count objects correctly. It used to be, that if, for example, she had 3 chicken nuggets in front of her and we asked her how many she had, she'd randomly point at each one of them more than once and say, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10!" Now, every so often, she'll actually point at each object only once and come up with the correct amount.

She is totally picking up on some less-than-perfect phrases from us. We've caught her saying things like, "aw, shoot" and "holy crap." So we encourage her to replace those with "aw, man" and "holy cow." Yeh, I know that's probably not any better, but at least it's a step. She also says "oh my gosh" which she pronounces like "oh my josh."

I was joking around last night... I forget the whole story, but Tony gave her a cookie and I said to Ari, "Ari, can you say, 'Daddy's a sucker'?" She repeated it perfectly and Tony just rolled his eyes at me. Well, today, out of nowhere, she said, "Daddy's a sucker!" Oops.

We both sing to her a lot, and often, we sing made-up songs. One that I sing to her every now and then goes, "Ariana, Ariana, Ariana, you're so cute." (Yeh, I know--I'm a lyrical genius.) I was singing it to her absent-mindedly the other day... I softly sang, "Ariana, Ariana, Ariana" and then stopped. Next thing I knew, she piped up, "You're so cute!"

Today as we went upstairs for naptime, she was half-walking, half-crawling up the stairs. I was right behind her, and noticed that she would take a couple steps, stop, shake her butt, take a couple more stairs, stop, shake her butt, etc. I laughed, and asked her what she was doing. She replied, "I shake my booty." Oh, help me...

She also likes to announce when her naptime is over by hollering, "Ari awake now!" Today, we discovered she was awake because Tony coughed loudly, and we heard this little voice from upstairs yell, "Bless you, Daddy!" Tony yelled back a thank-you, and she replied with, "Ari awake now!" Yeh, no kidding.

And to end.... an example of some of the crazy conversations I have with her...

Me (while snuggling on the couch with Ari): Ari, are you my snuggle-monster?

Ari: No, Ari a girl. Ari a LADY.

---

Well, OK, I'm not done yet. I've got pictures. Not that you're going to complain, right? I took these on Saturday, and didn't realize until after the fact that these were taken on the day she turned exactly 2 1/2 years old.

Oh and by the way, she dictated this little photo shoot--posing in the wagon and with her Mrs. Potato Head was totally her idea. Which was cool and all... but I still couldn't get her to look at me and smile at the same time.

Well, OK, fine, she did... but it's blurry. Gah!



See? Smiling, but with her eyes closed and looking away from me. By the way, this wagon was her Christmas gift from her Uncle Chris, and she loves to pile it full of toys, and then climb in there with them and bury herself in them.



I love the way she's biting her lip as she's concentrating here--she gets that from her Mommy. And, also.... check out those lashes.



A smile... and she's almost looking at me.



One last, odd smile.

2008 in review

Well, it's a new year, and before it really gets going, I thought I'd put together a little "2008 in review" entry. I added some pictures to keep it interesting. I also included some links to old entries that explain a little more about some statements. But they are more for my own reference/benefit, so you're under no obligation to click any of them.


January:

Ari turned 18 months old on January 3...



I wrote a dreamy little entry about wanting to take a cruise for our 10-year anniversary, never thinking it would actually happen.


February:

I finally got back to my pre-pregnancy weight! (Took me long enough, right?)

Tony surprised me with 50 long-stemmed roses at work on Valentine's Day...



We got a much bigger tax return than we anticipated and realized we actually could go on a cruise for our anniversary.


March:

We took a trip to New York City to see "Rent" for Tony's birthday.

My nephew Matthew was born, to my sister Mary and her husband Josh.

We found an anonymous $200 cash in our mailbox one Sunday when we got home from church...




April:

We saw Cirque du Soleil's Kooza with several friends--the 4th Cirque show we've seen.

Tony and Ari took a trip to visit his family for his mom's birthday, leaving me home alone to contend with
killer bumblebees and dead mice.


May:

I flew to Ohio to visit my sister and meet my new nephew Matthew...



I joined Twitter, which has become one of my favorite websites.

I got an awesome Mother's Day gift from my mom--a photo collage. First time I ever saw myself in Ari...




June:

I did my first "Day in the Life" entry (which ended up being a 2-parter). I'd link you, but all the picture links are broken. But here's a taste of the coolness you're missing out on...



I finally got around to finding a regular (i.e. not OB/GYN) doctor and had a physical for the first time in over 10 years.

I had my first-ever MRI (due to my migraines and other symptoms) and it turns out I'm normal in the head. (*insert jokes here*)


July:

Ari turned 2 years old on July 3...



My friend Kim her adorable kidlets came for a weekend visit...



Our old college friend Steph and her adorable kidlets also came for a weekend visit (different weekend, though).


August:

We celebrated our 10th anniversary on August 1.

I flew to California to see my brother Steve graduate from language school...




September:

My nephew Micah was born to my brother Dave and his wife Jessica...



I got my annual review at work--it was glowing, as usual, plus I got a raise. They love me.

Left for our week-long Caribbean CRUISE! (FYI, that link takes you to the first of 10 entries regarding the cruise.)...




October:

Still cruising...



Tony finally got around to getting a new wedding band...




November:

I started my "101 in 1,001" list (which is still a work in progress).

All my married siblings came into town for Thanksgiving, and we celebrated Christmas together and enjoyed watching all the cousins interact...




December:

I turned 32 years old.

We visited Tony's family for Christmas.

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And, there you have it--2008 in a neat little package. Here's to 2009 and all the surprises it may bring...