Better than a blister

(That title will make sense to no one but my sister.)

One of my favorite Christmas gifts (besides the dance lessons that Tony got for me) was a small album my mom gave me. It was just a simple, plastic album that said "Sisters" on the front. Inside, it was filled with pictures of me and my (one and only) sister--everything from recent pictures to some of our very first pictures together. Even better, tucked into the back of the album was a CD. I assumed it was just all the same pictures, and it was... but it also contained a bunch more pictures. Most of them are pictures I probably have copies of somewhere, but who knows where the older ones have gotten packed away. Now, I have them all in one place, and I have them in digital format. It was truly a priceless gift--and one that I know my mom put a lot of time and thought into. (And yes, she made one for my sister, too.) Anyway, I thought I'd share some of those pictures with you.

I'll start with some relatively recent, not-too-embarrassing ones. First, here's one from my wedding day in 1998, with my sister as my maid of honor. (Hey, 1998 is fairly recent in the grand scheme of things. Shut it.)



And, for comparison sake, a picture from HER wedding day, about 7 years later, with me as her matron of honor.



I'm pretty sure I've posted both of those pictures before, at some time or another. But these, I know I didn't have copies of...



We don't need a third angel because we're so awesome...



Ok, going back even further in time... this was the night of my high-school graduation. It was after the ceremony, after the big party at our house... I finally got changed into some comfy clothes and opened gifts and cards from my family. I just love the way we're hugging here. (And I'm amused at the way my dad seems to be scolding my littlest brother Pete.)



Now we're getting back toward the really old, slightly embarrassing pictures. (And yes, I am absolutely purposely skipping all the really awkward junior-high-ish age pictures. Trust me, it's a good thing.) OK, first of all, I'll tell you who everyone is. In the front "row" is our cousin Navid, Mary, and my brother Dave. In the back "row" is yours truly (dig those pigtails, huh?), my brother Steve, and another cousin, Mariam (sister to Navid). What I really love about this picture is that it was taken at the house I grew up in. Or, at least, the house I always think of when I think of my "childhood home." If you look just above Mary's head, you can kind of see the treehouse my dad built us. I loved that treehouse--it was so awesome.



All of us kiddos, again with those same cousins (but a few years earlier). Left to right... Mary, me, Mariam, Dave, Steve, and Navid.



Not the greatest quality picture, but I love it because of where we are... at the base of the Old Man of the Mountain in New Hampshire. I know I've mentioned it a hundred times before, but we vacationed in the White Mountains of NH nearly every summer when I was growing up, so that area holds a very special place in my heart. And, L to R... Steve, Dave, me, Mary.



Me and Mary, chilling on the couch. Something about Mary's face really reminds me of Ari here.



Ah, this has to be one of my first pictures with my little sister. Dave, Steve, and me holding Mary. (Also... see my curly hair? Now you know where Ari gets it from.) Dang, we were cute kids, huh?



Another first picture of me and Mary together.



A picture of us with a bunch of Dad's relatives. That's me and Mary in the front, with my siblings and cousins and Dad's siblings and mom all scattered around.



And this picture... this one made me tear up. All 4 of us kids, with our grandparents (my mom's parents). My Grampa is still alive, but my Gramma passed away when I was 9, and I was so heartbroken. I loved her so much. But, the expression on my face cracks me up... that is such a "Sara face."



So there you have it... a nice little stroll down memory lane.

Christmas Day, part 2

OK, so where did we leave off with my last entry? Right... we headed down to my parents' house around lunchtime. Ari had a huge pile of gifts waiting for her. (All the ones to her left are hers. The ones behind her, by the tree, were for her cousin Micah. Oh, and few might have been for us grown-up kids and kids-in-law.) Don't you just love her hideous fake smile? *sigh*



I took a random picture of our feet because my mom gave me these totally awesome socks. Lookie! They're green and red and sparkly AND they have a furry cuff!



And then there was present-opening. So much present-opening. I shall try to refrain from showing you every single gift.

Ari was really getting into tearing off the paper. I love how she throws her whole body into unwrapping this giant box.



She got a ton of books! That makes her mommy super-happy.



She got some girlified Legos. When we opened them later, she was all excited when I offered to build her the car... for about 5 minutes. She lost interest, but for some reason, I kept building the silly car (which took me forever since I couldn't find the pieces I needed), and then I went on to build a house. It's obviously been way too long since I played with Legos.



Showing off another gift, with Grampa in the background.



She finally has her own nail polish, so she can stop mooching mine. (Though... hmm... I might have to mooch hers now. Hey, it's only fair...)



A Mickey Mouse Clubhouse purse.



My mom got her these 2 absolutely gorgeous dresses. The other one is mostly black, and then the skirt had gold detailing on it. And both of them came with a little doll-sized dress.



And how convenient... here's a doll to fit into the doll-sized dress...



My silly brother Pete, acting way too excited about one of his gifts. My sister and her family got this for him, as a gag, since he works at McD's.



My mom, and my handsome little nephew Micah.



My SIL Jess, Micah, and my brother Dave.



And lastly, a few of my favorite shots of the day. Ari and the tree. I know, she's not smiling, but I like her tilted pose.



I so love Daddy-daughter shots.



And I love candid ones even better.



And a family shot. Oh, that reminds me... we got some "proofs" from the portraits our neighbor took for us. I haven't had a chance to look at them closely, but they look really good. Hopefully I'll be able to share those at some point.



And one last picture. This is from church on Sunday... the kids rehearsing for their part of the Christmas program. That's Ari, 4th from the right. (And that's the back of my big ole' head in the foreground.) She didn't sing all the words, but she sure did shake her hips! That's my girl.



And so concludes the Christmas pictures. I do have more pictures to share--they're not necessarily Christmasy, but they were a Christmas gift. Those will be coming at some point.

On Christmas Day in the morning

OK, here we go with the Christmas pictures. You ready? This looks like it will be at least 2 entries. This one will just be Christmas morning, at our house.

I took pictures of her stocking and the tree with presents the night before, so I wouldn't forget in the morning.





Ari crawled into bed with us sometime in the middle of the night. I noticed, somehow, but was too tired/lazy to want to get up and put her back in bed so I let her stay. She burrowed under the covers with us, and miraculously, slept in. I think it was about 8:45 or so when I finally stirred, and even then, I still had to wake her up. Tony and I went ahead and took showers and got ready before heading downstairs, and she played quietly in her room. A nice, relaxing morning. I love that she's so excited about Christmas, but not so excited that she wakes us up before dawn and won't let us have a minute's peace until we start opening gifts. And yes, I know those days are coming.

We let her attack her stocking first. Her words of the day were "ow" and "tricky." Don't ask me why. Guess my wrapping job was craftier than I thought?



I chipped in to help her with most of the gifts--helping her get started, at least.



It got to the point where she'd ask me for help without even really trying first. Silly kid.



Holding up one of her new outfits. She's cheesing at the video camera, which was set up on the other side of the room. I didn't even know she knew it was on.



Her new bike helmet...



More new clothes. We had a little shopping spree at The Children's Place (and I saved 25% because I opened up a credit card with them). Honestly, though, she needed some new clothes. She's suddenly solidly in 4T, and most of her 3T clothes look kind of ridiculous on her.



She was quite willing to pose for the camera... but not so willing to smile nicely.



Her eyes crack me up. Guess she really liked these pants...



Holding her shirt upside-down...



I love the color of this sweater. It's going to look so great with her blue eyes.



"Look Mom, no hands!"



I got her a new Color Wonder set. I debated between Disney princesses and Handy Manny, and ultimately went with Handy Manny. Judging by her reaction, I think it was the right choice.



We made her open all the clothes first, and then saved this for last... her "princess horsie." She'd told us a couple times that she wanted a "horsie" or pony, so we got this for her. Then, a couple days before Christmas, she kept telling me. "Mommy, I got you a present!" When I'd ask what it was, she'd say, "A pony!" So I'd say this gift was a hit.



I finally swiped the camera from Tony.



And then Daddy got the super-fun task of freeing the horse from all the packaging.



Love this shot. Yes, I prompted her to thank him and hug him, but it's still a sweet picture.



And so ended our present-opening routine. We cleaned up a little, finished getting ready, and then headed to my parents' house around lunchtime. So those pics will be in the next entry. For now, I need to start getting ready for tomorrow, because it's back to work after a 4-day weekend.

Snowman and gingerbread people

Just some pictures from the past week or so...

We played out in the snow last Saturday... well, what was left of the snow. Ari had been begging us to build a snowman, and we finally got around to it. Tony got it started, and she grabbed a big shovel to help. I'm not exactly sure how she intended to help with that shovel, but at least she didn't knock it all down.



Of course, within about 5 minutes, she lost interest, leaving Tony to finish it.



She decided snow angels were a much better idea. The snow was a bit too crunchy, though, and she didn't have enough weight to really leave a good impression.



Then it was time to swing. Don't you love this face? She was mad because she wanted me to push her and I told her to try on her own. (She is so at this phase where rather than even try something, or do something we know she can do, she'll whine for help, moaning that she can't do it. So our tactic is to tell her she needs to at least try before she asks for help... which leads to more whining. But more often than not, she'll give it a shot and end up doing it completely on her own, without our help. If only she would remember this. *sigh* Oh, and if you're wondering, yes, I gave her a push after I took this picture. I'm not completely heartless.)



Tony, putting the finishing touches on the snowman...



Can you tell I forced her to pose with the snowman? Hey, I figured if she was going to drag us out in the cold and insist on making a snowman, she was going to at least pose with it.



Back to making snow angels. (I love the expression on her face here.)



Tony instigated a snowball fight with her. Here she is, launching a counter-attack...



If you look close, you can see the snowball "exploding" on her chest. I love the look on Tony's face. (And don't worry... she loved every second of this.)



And that's where these pictures end, because at that point, Tony talked her into ganging up on me, and I fled for cover inside the house. I mean, uh, at that point, I was getting really cold and decided to go inside and warm up. Yeh, that's it.

These pictures are from a few days later. We bought a gingerbread cookie kit (with the cookies already pre-made), and Ari had been begging to make them, so we did these quickly before bedtime. I did the icing (though I asked her what she wanted me to do), and she was happy to put on the candy pieces and gumdrops. (Don't mind the mess on the rest of the table--our church small group has been collecting clothes for a family, and we were organizing them last night.)



A close-up of a few of the ginger-people. After she went to bed, I decorated some of them a little more, since I had a ton of extra icing and candy. I may have overdone a few of them. So this picture is a bit better than the final result.



Putting on gumdrops...



She took her job quite seriously...



And that's all for now. One week till Christmas!