Catching up in pictures

I don't know why I'm so bad at keeping up with this blog lately. I think I just keep forgetting about it. Anyway, here's some pictures of what's been going on around here...

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A picture of Her Highness, all dolled up in a dress-up outfit she got for Christmas. She insisted on wearing those earrings to church the next day.

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I don't think I've mentioned that we now have fish... 2 killifish that we hatched from eggs, a guppy, and an algae eater. Well, the 2 killifish died a few weeks ago... Tony's pretty sure they got caught up in the filter. So he went out and bought 2 tetras. Ari named them Dasher and Blitzen, which I thought was wildly creative of her, since she tends to name her stuffed animals "Puppy" and "Bear" and "Bunny" and so on. Anyway, here you can see one of the tetras right in front of the treasure chest, and the other one is peeking out from behind it. (No, I don't know which is which without seeing them side by side. Tony and I decided that the fatter one is Blitzen because he probably can't "dash" as fast as Dasher.)



And, speaking of fish...

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We've had a ton of snow lately, which means I've ended up taking a couple days off work here and there. On one of those snow days, we spent some time playing outside. After all that playing in the snow, Ari and I came inside and dried off while Tony finished up snowblowing and shoveling. Ari decided she wanted to watch "The Wizard of Oz" and got her Wizard of Oz storybook so she could read along.

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The Steelers won the AFC Championship last Sunday, which means they are going to the Superbowl! I did my nails on Saturday night, in Steelers gold (well, not quite the same shade of gold, but close enough)...



(Yes, I know the pinky nail looks different. I had this glittery gold polish that I thought would look nice on top of the other gold, but instead it completely covered it up, and I didn't feel like redoing the nail, so I simply did the same thing to the pinky nail on my other hand and pretended it was all part of my original plan.)

Then, on Sunday morning, Tony and I donned our Steelers gear. And, oh yes, we wore the jerseys to church.



(I wanted to do a peace sign, and Tony wanted to do a "we're number 1" sign, so my weird sideways 1 is my compromise.)

Even Ari got in on the action, with some temporary tattoos that we happened upon in a store the night before.





I'm sure, come Superbowl Sunday, we'll be donning all the same gear as we cheer the Steelers on.

Let me concentrate on eating my candy corn

Just some Ari-related randomness, since it's been a while since I've done this...

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In the car the other night, Ari started talking about how she thinks that Nan (her great grandmother) wears a wig, which led to a discussion about how some people's hair changes color when they get older. So, naturally, that led to this...

Ari: Is my hair going to change color when I get older?
Tony: Not until you get really, really old.
Ari: Like Mommy?

I so knew she was going to say that.

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We were at my parents' house a few weeks ago, and they gave Ari a little container of candy corn to take home (the 2 of them have gotten her totally hooked on that stuff). I told her she could hold the container in the car, but that she couldn't eat any.

About halfway home, out of nowhere, Ari says, in this sad little voice, "Daddy? Tell Mommy that I am SO sorry."

We exchanged a confused look, and then Tony asked Ari, "OK... why?"

In the same sad voice, she replied, "Because I accidentally ate one candy corn."

I whispered to Tony, "Uh... did she just tattle on herself?" And then I had to try so hard not to burst out laughing. Because, honestly, it was dark, and she ate only one piece... there is no way I would have ever known she did that. But I guess SHE didn't know that.

I am amused that she said "accidentally" too. Silly kid.

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Speaking of candy corn... this happened on a totally separate occasion... Ari was playing in her room when I called her for something. I don't even remember what it was, but I called out her name as I was approaching her room, only to hear her sigh and say, "I wish you would just let me concentrate on eating my candy corn."

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I was driving in the car with Ari a couple weeks ago, and out of nowhere, she told me that she has a pet lobster, for real, that lives in her sleeve and is very shy. I thought it was cute, and later tried to get her to tell Tony about her pet lobster. But she made ME look like the idiot when she said, "Oh, Mama, I was just joking about that. There's no lobster."

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And last but not least... Ari's latest artwork, which is currently adorning my cubicle. She's very into writing her whole name now ("Ariana" rather than just "Ari")...