Soliloquy

Ari in review, 2011 version

2012-01-19T15:45:00.002-05:00

Yes, yes, once again I have been severely neglecting this blog. I am trying to decide what to do with it. It used to be pretty much strictly Ari-centric... and while there's nothing wrong with that, I am contemplating "expanding" this blog into more than just a review of what's going on with her.

That said, however, this post will be all about her. Nothing like a little procrastination, right?

If you follow me on Twitter or are my friend on Facebook, you know that I like to share funny/random things that Ari says/does. It's not because I'm trying to be one of those obnoxious parents who's all "You guys, my kid is the CUTEST and FUNNIEST human EVER!" But I figure, hey, if it amuses me, then maybe it will do the same for someone else, and who am I not to share the funny?

A couple years ago, I did an "Ari in review" post, wherein I collected most of the Ari quotations I'd tweeted during the year and stuffed them all in one post. So I thought it would be fun to do it again, because it's kind of nice to have all this stuff in one place (for ease of future blackmailing, of course). So feel free to skip... or enjoy.

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

Ari: Mama, I'm almost a grown-up.
Me: Oh yeah?
Ari: Yeah, because I'm almost as tall as you are.

Ari: So, Mama, do you have to go through Texas and all the states and then you get to space?
Me: Uh, something like that.

I asked Ari what her favorite thing at the gymnastics event was, and she said, "My favorite thing is that I'm glad I love you."

Me: Ari, don't cough in my face. You don't cough in people's faces.
Ari: Don't you love me?

Ari: When I get to heaven, I'm going to look for Sasha and Ivan because I bet they miss me. And I bet Ivan will jump on me.

I overheard Ari calmly explaining to Sharla, "I am not a dog. I am a people and I am in charge of you."

Me: Guess what?
Ari: What?
Me: I love you very much!
Ari: Guess what?
Me: What?
Ari: I love your very stinky feet!

Ari: Know what? A caterpillar goes into a raccoon and then becomes a butterfly.
Me: I think you mean cocoon.

Ari: Mommy, how do I look?
Me: You look like a monkey.
Ari: Now you say, How do I look?
Me: How do I look?
Ari: Like a elephant.

Me: Ari, I love this picture. But you know what?
Ari: What?
Me: I love you more.
Ari: You know who I love most?
Me: Who?
Ari: Sharla.

Ari: When I grow up, I'm going to be a farmer for 5 years, and then I'm going to play basketball and go to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Ari, frustrated with her inability to find the right red crayon: "These crayons look red but write pink. Why does God keep tricking me?"

I scolded Sharla for chewing up something she wasn't supposed to have... then heard Ari whispering to Sharla, "It's ok. I still love you."

Ari: Mama?
Me: Yes?
Ari: I love you. And you know what? I just decided I love you even more than that. I don't know why.

Ari: The reason I don't cough into the air is so I don't get God sick.

Me: Ari, eat your breakfast.
Ari: I can't. My tongue is too itchy.

Ari tried telling me that "babies" rhymes with "chainsaw." Obviously she still has a lot to learn in school.

Me (reading Ari a bedtime story): "... Cookie upset the trash can."
Ari: That's silly. How could a trash can get upset?

Ari: Tomorrow I have to wear my rock star shirt because I want to feel like a rock star.

Ari: Mama, you know what? I pretty darn love you.

Ari (right after apologizing for a bad attitude): Mommy, I love you so much and I just can't believe how pretty you are.

Ari: You know what I want to be for next Halloween? Apple juice. Oh no wait, I'm just thirsty.

Ari, hiding from Daddy: Mama, tell him I turned into an invisible ghost and went to California.

Ari: What's God's middle name and last name?
Me: He doesn't have a middle or last name.
Ari: So he's just God? Hmm. I think he's Dr. God.

Me: Ok, no more cookies. 2 is enough.
Ari: I can't help it. You're the best baker ever and I just love them so much.

First day of school

2011-09-06T20:33:00.001-04:00

First day of school was today!

Of course I made a point of getting her dressed early so that we could take plenty of pictures before she left. She wanted one with Sharla, of course…

And then we had to do some with Mommy and Daddy…

And then some with just her…

This is one of my favorites…

At this point, it was a couple minutes before noon. Afternoon kindergarten starts at 12:30, and since we had no idea what time the bus would be there, we made sure we were outside early. And it was a good thing too… no sooner had we taken that last picture than the bus pulled up. It was totally empty, which must mean she’s the very first stop. We were a little startled, and didn’t want to hold up the bus, and she was eager to go, so as soon as it stopped, she bolted right on, and I snapped this picture…

The bus driver was sweet, though… if you look at that picture, you can see she is getting Ari’s attention, which resulted in her turning around and me getting a slightly better picture.

She took a seat right behind the driver, and poof… just like that, she was gone. I didn’t cry… probably because it all just happened so fast. We didn’t even hug or kiss her goodbye, heh. But I think I would have been fine either way. And it was probably better that we didn’t drag it out.

We walked to the school to pick her up at the end of the day, and I snapped a couple pictures on our way back. Here you can see her backpack, the one we scored for free at orientation.

And then I grabbed this shot, another favorite of the day…

Once we got home, she chattered our ears off all about her first day. I think it’s safe to say she loved it.

Oh, and after dinner, we worked on her first school project… an “about me” poster. Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea.

My kidlet is a kindergartner, you guys!

Catching up on the rest of July

2011-07-26T15:52:00.001-04:00

I have been neglecting this poor blog... prepare for some major catch-up and lots of pictures...

A couple entries ago, I posted from our visit to the butterfly conservatory, where we bought a monarch caterpillar who made itself a little chrysalis. Well, she hatched perfectly, right according to plan. Yes, she is a girl, because she has no spots along the black lines in her lower wings (not to be confused with the spots on the edges of the wings, which all monarchs have).

Tony got her on his finger... she couldn't fly yet because her wings were still wet.

Tony helped her move from his finger to this plant. Here you can see more of her wings. They were still wet, but when she moved, they flopped around a little, so it looked almost like she was flapping them.

I have to say, this was a pretty cool thing to see. I don't remember ever hatching any butterflies when I was little, so I guess this is the first time I've been able to watch a caterpillar turn into a butterfly. I kind of want to sing "The Circle of Life."

The weekend after Ari's birthday, Tony's mom and his sister and her kids came for a visit. Our town does a huge 4th of July celebration each year, usually the weekend after the actual 4th, so we spent some time attending that, starting with a parade on Saturday morning.

Ari with her cousins Taryn and Michael...

And the 3 cousins again, with Grammy (Tony's mom). Yes, I realize Michael and Ari look like they could be siblings. Just further proof that she takes after Tony's side of the family.

I snapped this picture before leaving for work one morning.

I know... it's a sickeningly sweet picture, right? And, she is totally his mini-me. I have to tell you, though... it was really hard to leave, when all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed with them and go back to sleep.

The latest story is this... My darling daughter decided to open one of her birthday toys with the kitchen scissors, and managed to stab her hand. Tony got the bleeding under control, and off to the ER they went. Tony sent me pics after the fact. I'll warn you that the first 2 are a teensy bit icky, but the last 3 should make up for that.

Le wound.

All stitched up.

She needed 2 stitches. The doctor put some numbing cream on her skin in preparation for the needle of novacaine, and Ari freaked out about having a shot. So they irrigated the wound and asked her if she felt it, and either she said no, or said it didn't hurt. Not sure, but either way... she refused the shot, and they stitched her up with just that numbing cream. Tony said he saw her flinch a few times, but she kept saying it tickled. He said to me, "I know she must have felt it... I guess she just REALLY didn't want that shot."

All bandaged up, with Dora stickers for her troubles. Also note that her kitty has a matching bandage--a little perk of going to a children's hospital, I guess.

Checking out kitty's bandage... Or maybe comforting kitty?

And a smile.

Here's hoping she learned her lesson about playing with grown-up scissors.

Party pictures

2011-07-06T10:57:00.000-04:00

I tried to get a couple more pictures of her in her party dress (besides the one I took with my phone and posted a couple days ago). She is so into "posing" lately...

And making extreme faces...

The pool was a huge hit. And we could not have had more perfect weather.

Taking a break from the pool...

...for cake!

She was acting all shy about being sung to...

Pinata time! I was asking her to smile for me, so I could get a picture of her with it before it got smashed, and her little friend Nathan heard me and gave me a cheesetastic smile... love it.

Of course Ari got the first swing. I love how she looks totally prissy in this picture.

With all the party prep and such, I never got around to wrapping Ari's little presents from us in time for it. Which actually worked out well, because I wrapped them that night, and she got to open them the next day, on her actual birthday.

A nightgown. She's really into nightgowns now (as opposed to regular shorts/pants/shirts pajamas).

She wanted this so badly when we were in the store a couple weeks ago, and I put her off and bought it later.

Another pose and crazy-face...

Sharla wanted to get in on the pictures too...

And a family shot. Love this one... it's my new Facebook profile pic.

Happy 5th birthday, Ariana

2011-07-03T08:13:00.001-04:00

I do this entry each year...

From this...

(Birth Day--July 3, 2006)

..to this...

(1st birthday)

...to this...

(2nd birthday)

...to this...

(3rd birthday)

...to this...

(4th birthday)

...to this.

(5th birthday)

Happy birthday, Ari!

Attack of the butterflies

2011-06-27T20:59:00.001-04:00

So, this weekend was a busy one. It started with a bang on Friday night while I was brushing Ari's hair before bedtime. I noticed that there seemed to be a few pieces that were shorter than the rest. I asked Ari if she had cut her hair with scissors, and she softly admitted that she had. When we asked her what she'd done with the hair, she said she'd put it in the laundry basket in our bedroom... and sure enough, there was a clump of hair hidden underneath a sweatshirt in the basket. So not only did she lop off a chunk of hair, but she hid the evidence, the little rascal. Luckily, her hair doesn't look too bad. It just kind of looks like she has side bangs.

Tony's dad came for a visit, and one of the things we did on Saturday was go to a nearby butterfly conservatory. Basically, they have a huge indoor garden area where you can walk around, and there are hundreds of butterflies flying loose. It was pretty cool. And I have pictures.

Ari, sitting on a bench outside the gardens. I think she was flapping like a butterfly.

They had these feeders throughout the conservatory... I think they had sugar water in them.

I felt bad for this guy... he was missing a big chunk out of one wing. The workers kept picking him up and putting him on a tree, but he kept trying to fly and ended up on the ground. Hopefully no one stepped on him.

These butterflies had transparent wings... it was really cool to watch them fly.

Another butterfly...

Some of them were really huge. You can't really tell in this picture...

...so here is one of those really colorful ones with Ari, for scale. (You can kind of see the results of her haircut in this picture... that little chunk of hair over her right eye was NOT that short before.)

Ari was a bit pouty while we were there because she wanted so badly for one to land on her. Tony finally assisted her by getting this one on his hand and then transferring it to her. She was in HEAVEN.

And here she is with Pappy (Tony's dad).

And of course we had to come home with one of these... a monarch caterpillar.

I know you probably can't read the little card, but it says that he should form a chrysalis within a day or so. Sure enough, this morning, I found this...

I don't know what that black thing dangling is, but it looks suspiciously like a part of the caterpillar, and I hope it doesn't mean anything bad. The butterfly should "hatch" in a week to 10 days, so that should be fun to watch.

A glimpse of heaven

2011-06-05T22:38:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to share Ari's latest drawing (that she made for Tony, as evidenced by the "DAD" in the corner [she always adds her own name too])...

I asked her to tell me about it, and she explained that it's a picture of heaven. Across the top, from left to right, is God, Sasha, Ivan, and Great-Grampa. And Great-Grampa is throwing a ball for Sasha and Ivan. The scribbled line beneath them all is the floor of heaven. And under that is all the planets... and under that is the sun.

How sweet is that? I love it. I just wish she'd drawn it in a color that's a little easier to see than yellow.

A burning ring of fire

2011-05-25T10:47:00.001-04:00

Tony's latest home-improvement project... a fire pit in our backyard...

He's been talking about wanting to buy one, and I figured he meant a stand-alone one that we could put on our back patio or something. But this worked out even better. We had a spot in our yard where a tree had been removed, and no grass was growing there. So he dug it out a little, leveled off the ground, did some other stuff that I wasn't really paying attention to, and then bought this metal frame to enclose it. It really does look nice.

First order of business, of course, was to buy ingredients to make s'mores...

Ari doesn't like marshmallows... she just likes to roast them and then make other people eat them. I don't like them either, so Tony ended up eating several before he finally made her stop.

I tried taking a picture at night, but my phone takes crappy pictures in the dark. Oh well.

That's it?

2011-05-11T08:52:00.001-04:00

Tony and Ari went to the Home Depot Kids' Workshop on Saturday morning, and since it was a Mother's Day project, I stayed home. I took advantage of the alone time to go for an extra-long walk... and even though I left before they did, I was home for more than an hour before they got back. Yes, Ari completed the project (which I totally forgot to take a picture of, oops), but they also came home with all this...

That's not even all of it, though. Tony's been talking for a while about wanting to get various plants for the yard, so I'm not really surprised that he took advantage of being at Home Depot without me.

He spent the afternoon transplanting the flowers--some in the front yard, some in the back, and a few for Sasha and Ivan's grave. We've been saying for a while that, come springtime, we'd replace the fake flowers with some real ones. We also took care of another project that was waiting for spring--making stone markers for their grave.

I'm glad to have that done... it was often in the back of my mind, and it's kind of a good feeling to have that completed. Call it "closure" or something, I guess.

Tony and Ari both got me very sweet cards for Mother's Day. I was especially amused by Ari's card... rather than one of those cutesy cartoony cards that are typically designed for kids, she selected a "grown-up" kind of card.

Tony said he read her several cards, but she turned them all down. Then she grabbed this one, and as he read it to her, she kept picking up on certain phrases, saying stuff like, "Oh, Mommy is always there for me!" and decided that this was the one she wanted.

On the left, she drew our house, a heart, and I think she said the brown circle was the sun. When I asked her what the V's were (thinking maybe they were meant to be birds), she said, "Those are checks." Well of course.

Tony brought home dinner the other night--a rotisserie chicken, corn on the cob, and twice-baked potatoes. Ari was fascinated by the corn on the cob... I don't know if it's the first time she had it, but it's definitely been a while at least, so if she's had it, she doesn't remember. She just thought it was the coolest thing to eat it that way. Also, she kept calling it "corn chops" and it was too cute for me to correct.

After supper, Ari saw me and Tony hugging in the kitchen, and said, "I want you guys to kiss the way you did when you got married." So we chuckled, and obliged her. Her response: "That's it?"

At bedtime, she said, "Mama, you're my little koala bear" and then proceeded to crack up. I have no explanation for her sometimes.

Some vacation pictures

2011-04-28T10:05:00.001-04:00

We spent some time this week at our timeshare. Since this is all new to us, we chose to hang out at our "home" resort, and since it was fairly close to home, we did a lot of back and forth trips, some without Ari, and some with her. So... I have pictures.

Our room had an amazing jacuzzi tub. Ari loved it as much as I did...

All these pictures are from Tuesday. I got Ari dressed and she insisted on wearing this hat, then asked, "Mommy, do I look fashion?"

We spent most of the day at a place called Hancock Shaker Village... the highlight being a behind-the-scenes tour of the barn and baby animals. (As it turns out, this is the perfect time of year to see all the baby animals.) Here's Tony and Ari walking in, with the big round stone barn in the background.

Ari with a duckling.

And with a chick. (Obviously not your typical fluffy yellow chick... and I don't remember what kind of chicken this was.)

Ari and some other girl saying hi to a cow...

And this was on the behind-the-scenes tour. Ari told me later that the lamb was her favorite.

They took us into a pasture and let a whole flock of sheep out of the barn, then let us all feed them. Ari kept wanting to hold another lamb, but none of them were too keen on that idea...

Here's Ari holding a piglet... I think they said this one was about 3 weeks old.

And another piglet... this one was only 3 days old.

Meeting a calf...

In another part of the village, they had a big hands-on area... here, Ari was weaving on a loom.

That's all I've got for now. I do have pictures from Easter, but they're all on my regular camera, so it will take me a little longer to get to those. (I took all the above pics on my Droid, and it's a snap to upload them from that.)

The weekend is over

2011-04-12T14:16:00.000-04:00

Woo hoo, the weekend is OVER.

I know that seems a strange thing to say. It wasn't a bad weekend... just a crazy-busy one, and one that has been months (or, you could argue, years) in the making. Our church celebrated its 10th anniversary this weekend, which, of course, was a Big Deal. But everything went so well. The concert was fantastic (and our Praise Team did a decent job being the "opening act" which was a huge relief, seeing as our rehearsal just before the concert didn't go so smoothly), and the service on Sunday was great too. I would share pics, but I was much too busy to take any. I think I got tagged in a few pics and a video on Facebook, though.

And in spite of all the busyness of the weekend, I still managed to squeeze in a little "me" time. I took Sharla for a long walk on both Saturday and Sunday, and it was lovely. This new Easy-Walk Harness is the best thing EVER, and now that she's walking so nicely on leash, it makes our walks much more pleasant. Which is part of the reason we walked for so long. I think I tired her out well. Exhibit A...

They are always so cute when they're sleeping, right?

And Ari's latest artwork for me. In case it's not obvious, that's our house and Sharla.

Last night, I took the dog for a walk while Tony and Ari ran to Costco. I was unsuccessful, though, because said dog did not want to walk. (Side note: What kind of crazy dog doesn't want to go for a walk?!) So I brought her home after tiring of trying to convince her that walking is fun and good, and continued the walk alone, which included much walking after dark.

When I got home, I was greeted by an exuberant 4-year-old who made me close my eyes before revealing this surprise...

Aww.

Just 2 videos

2011-04-03T18:54:00.001-04:00

Just a couple quick videos of Ari and Sharla.

Ari inherited this 4-wheeler from her cousin, and she's really gotten good at maneuvering it. Which is a good thing, seeing as this crazy puppy likes to chase her on it.

And here's a close-up of Sharla. If you look closely, you can see the Shar-Pei wrinkles on her face. Also, her ears have started folding themselves differently... now they lie like triangles, instead of being all funky.

Puppy love

2011-03-30T16:38:00.002-04:00

I began writing this just a few days after we adopted Sharla, forgot about it, and finished it today.

"Oh, I didn't tell you what she did earlier today," he says, out of nowhere. I smile, ready for yet another tale of our daughter's adorable antics. But, instead, he tells me how, when he got out of the shower earlier, he found her in front of the TV, watching "All Dogs Go to Heaven" (I marvel for a moment that she was able to set it up all by herself) and... crying. All alone. And how he hugged her and comforted her and they had a sweet talk... but as he's telling me, my heart is aching for her still-mending little heart.

Then later that night, she is begging our friend Wayne to play with his phone, and he makes the mistake of introducing her to this app where a cartoon cat repeats everything you say in a faster, higher pitch. He demonstrates it for her, and her eyes widen as she giggles. He hands it to her, and she holds it quietly for a moment, as if contemplating what to say. And then, clearly, I hear her soft voice, talking to the cat. "I'm feeling sad about Sasha and Ivan. Can you make me happy?" The cat's reply is garbled, since she spoke softly, and Wayne and I share a look across the room. He shows her again how to use it, and she finally understands, and then proceeds to spout nonsense words and silly noises the rest of the evening.

And then Saturday... Saturday we find this sweet little puppy, and she steals all of our hearts in seconds. And my daughter tells me in the car, "I still miss Sasha and Ivan, you know," as if she needs me to know this, as if she needs to clarify that this puppy doesn't fix that, and I can't help my smile as I tell her that that is OK, and she may always miss them, and maybe, just maybe, Sasha and Ivan are watching over her, and if they are, they are happy for her. She seems struck by that last statement, in a good way, as if the concept never occurred her, and I wonder if that was the right thing to tell her, but in the moment, it seemed the only way to let her know that yes, it is OK to be happy again after a great loss, it is OK to love another dog, it is OK to be sad and happy all at the same time, because Lord knows I am.

Saturday night, she is frantically searching her room for her "Doggie Heaven" book, one that she hasn't asked me to read in a while. She can't find it, and, a tad impatiently, I tell her to pick something else. So we read, and I tuck her in and ask her for her song choice. As she is thinking, she suddenly says, "I'm going to talk to God about something first," and squeezes her eyes shut. When she opens them a few moments later, she wants to tell me, but we are interrupted by a tiny puppy entering the room, and suddenly she asks, "Can I hug my doggie good night?" Moments later, I am done singing, and I tuck her in and leave for the night. Except mere seconds later, I hear crying coming from her room--not fighting-sleep crying, but real, honest-to-goodness crying. I reenter her room, somehow knowing the answer before I even ask her what's wrong. "I miss Sasha and Ivan," she sobs, and I hold her close and cry with her. "Will you stay with me til I calm down?" she pleads, and of course, of course I will, and I'd even stay with her until she fell asleep if she'd asked.

It was moments like those, in those first few days, that made me wonder if we did the right thing, if maybe it was too soon. But moments like those are far outnumbered by the moments when I hear her coo to her puppy, when she hugs that little body close to hers and buries her head in puppy fur. Or moments when we all go for a walk and she calls out loudly to every person we pass, "Look at my new puppy!" Or the way she says things like, "You're my best dog" and "I love you."

And it is moments like that that make me believe we did the right thing. Because, grief... it is a strange thing. I know this. I know all too well the turmoil of mixed emotions. And I have my sad moments, too, just like she does, and will continue to (especially when she makes me read her "Dog Heaven," because I still can't get through that book without crying). But those sad moments are fewer and farther between, for both me and her, but maybe her more than me. And I watch her through the kitchen window, curls flying as she runs through the yard with a clumsy puppy on her heels, her laughter seeping through the closed window, and something in my heart soars. I always knew she was going to be OK, probably long before me.

The pupling and the kidlet

2011-03-28T10:45:00.001-04:00

The pupling and the kidlet are still cute as ever. Observe...

Ari is getting better at handling Sharla. We've had several talks with her about how she needs to show Sharla she is the boss (and let me tell you, it feels a little weird to instruct your 4-year-old to be bossy, heh), so Ari is getting better at being a little more forceful when she tells Sharla "No" or "Off." On Saturday, I overheard Ari calmly explaining to Sharla, "I am not a dog. I am a people, and I am in charge of you," which totally amused me.

Buddies

2011-03-20T21:38:00.000-04:00

These 2 are going to be great buddies, I think...

This last one is my favorite...

Family of 4

2011-03-13T20:43:00.001-04:00

I'd like you all to meet the newest member of our family...

She's a 4-month-old Lab/Shar-Pei mix.

We made a trip to the Humane Society on Saturday, and came home with her.

And yes, I realize that Ari is blurry in all these pictures. Guess she was too excited to hold still.

Well, in this one, Ari just looks crazy...

Ari named her Sharla. No idea where she got that name from, but it's kind of accidentally clever, since the pup is part Shar-Pei.

One last picture...

She looks so much like Sasha did as a pup. And she is a sweetie. I mean, typical puppy, so we've cleaned up a few messes, but that's par for the course. I should get some video of her and Ari together, because they are just too cute. I think they're going to be great friends.

This is a disaster

2011-03-11T12:21:00.000-05:00

Just some Ari stuff...

Random little Ari conversation... as we were driving home from Target one night...

Ari: Mama, I'm hungry.
Me: Well, when we get home, we can get you a snack real quick. What do you want?
Ari: Umm... how about circle cookies? [Side note: That's what she calls Nilla Wafers. I don't know why.]
Me: OK, we can do that.
Ari: No, wait. Do we have Goldfish?
Me: I'm pretty sure we do.
Ari: Do we have Swedish Fish?
Me: Uh... I don't think so. We haven't had those in a while. We'll have to buy them sometime soon.
Ari: Oh, man, I meant to tell you to put them on your list, but I forgot. This is a disaster.

The funny thing was, she wasn't really being all that dramatic about it--she almost said it matter-of-factly. Crazy kidlet.

Tony and I both have this app on our phones called "Magic Marker"--you can draw/write on the screen with different colors. Tony let Ari entertain herself with his at the DMV, and she made these 2 pictures for me...

Conversation with Ari, while she lay snuggled in my arm...

Me: I love your face.
Ari: I love your whole body.
Me: Yeh? Well, I love your whole body, plus all your insides.
Ari: Well... I love your heart.

It's almost spring

2011-02-18T15:52:00.000-05:00

Mostly about Ari, with other randomness.

Shopping for Valentine's Day cards with Ari...

Me: OK, Ari, here are the cards you can pick from. There's one with kittens, one with bears, one with mice, one with raccoons...
Ari: (looking elsewhere) How about this one?
Me: No, that one says, "To my wife" and you don't have a wife.
Ari: Yes I do... you're a wife.
Me: Yes, but I'm not YOUR wife. Now, these are the cards you can pick from--
Ari: (still looking elsewhere) I like this one.
Me: Nope, that says, "To my husband." You don't have a husband yet.
Ari: But Daddy is a husband.
Me: But not YOURS. OK, really, you can pick from these 4 cards... kittens, bears, mice, raccoons.
Ari: Um... (grabs the raccoon one) ...I think this one.
Me: You sure?
Ari: Yup.
Me: Good.

Ari got her dance costume last Friday, and ohmygosh, the cuteness...

I snapped the pic right after she blew a kiss, which, no, I did not tell her to do.

When Ari woke up on Valentine's Day morning, she went and cuddled with Tony for a few minutes, then sat down at the table and started coloring. (Hmm... now that I think about it... maybe he put her up to this.) A few minutes later, she presented me with a card, and said, "Happy Valentine's Day!" I thanked her, and asked her what the drawing was, and she happily chirped, "A spider!" Um... thanks?

Today was my first day wearing sandals this year, and I could not be more happy. It's almost spring, y'all! (Yes, I said "y'all." On purpose.) I couldn't resist adding a totally cheesy spring-tastic border to this picture.

This reminds me, though, that I need to redo my toenails... this polish is leftover from Superbowl Sunday (*sadface*).

Ari: Mama, what would happen if I ate you?
Me: Well first of all, that's gross. And second, you'd get in trouble and go to jail for the rest of your life.
Ari: Forever and ever?
Me: Yup.
Ari: Would I get to see you?
Me: Um, no, because you ATE me.

I usually pack my lunch for work the night before, and a couple nights ago, when I grabbed my lunch bag, I noticed there was a little pack of peanut butter crackers in it already. I asked Tony if he had put them there, and he said no. Then he remembered that Ari had gotten those crackers from someone, and since neither of them like peanut butter (weirdos!), he told her that she could give them to me. So I guess she decided to just go ahead and slip them in my lunch bag.

The next evening, I was washing dishes when she came and showed me a heart that she colored for me. I admired it, and since my hands were wet, I asked her to put it down on the counter for me. Later that night, when I went to pack my lunch, the heart was in my bag. And it occurred to me that this is kind of the opposite of how things usually are... usually, it's the mom slipping little notes or surprises in her kid's lunch bag, and instead, I have my kid sneaking things into my lunch bag. She's such a sweetheart (despite her cannibalistic questions).

Another great mom moment

2011-02-10T13:37:00.001-05:00

First of all, get a load of the size of this snowdrift at the end of our driveway. I put Ari next to it for scale (and because she's cute)...

It's not as high anymore, because Tony spent some time hacking it down so that we could see to get out of the driveway. But it gives you an idea of the ridiculous amount of snow we've had around here.

I snapped this picture of Ari one morning right after she woke up. Check out her crazy bedhead hair and rosy cheeks.

She came to me first for some cuddles, then saw the calendar on the table and screeched, "Why is my calendar not on the wall?" I explained that it's February now, and I took it down to remind her that she needs to color the picture sometime soon. So I guess she decided not to procrastinate.

Tuesday night, before we left for our weekly church group, I noticed Ari was sitting at the far end of the dining room table, sifting through her crayon box. I offhandedly asked her what she was doing, and she glanced up and replied, "Nothing" with a little grin on her face. Exactly the kind of reply that makes a parent wonder.

So I headed toward her, asking again what she was up to, and noticing that one hand was in her lap. This time, she came up with a better reply. "I'm just picking out some crayons," she said innocently, still grinning at me.

"Uh huh," I replied, and in one swift move, I glanced at her lap and snatched the paper out of her hand.

But it wasn't paper. It was a sheet of heart-shaped stickers, and all at once, it dawned on me. "Oh... were you making something for me?"

"Yes," she said, in the smallest little voice. And then she started crying, real tears and everything. I felt awful, and even when I swooped her into my arms to apologize and comfort her, it still took her a couple minutes to settle down.

I am the best mom ever, right?

Anyway, she must have forgiven me, because when I got home later, she made me close my eyes while she handed me this.

Catching up in pictures

2011-01-28T11:05:00.000-05:00

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...

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.

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...

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.

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

2011-01-07T09:49:00.000-05:00

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

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.

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.

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."

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."

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")...

3 months

2010-12-15T17:04:00.001-05:00

I wonder how long it will be before I can breeze by the 14th and 15th of each month without remembering Sasha and Ivan. Well, not that I want to forget, but you know what I mean. Anyway, today marks 3 months since we lost Sasha and Ivan. I've been working on this entry for a while now, and kept putting it aside, partly because it was simply too long to write all at once, and partly because it was just too hard to write sometimes. But I want to share with you the stories of how Sasha and Ivan joined our family, and a little bit about what they were like. This is a really long read, just so you're warned. But there are pictures...

Sasha

I remember the first day we saw her. It was 2000; we were living in Florida, and planning to move to Connecticut in just a few weeks. We decided to wander into that pet store, just to browse. All my life I'd wanted a dog, and Tony was a dog-lover, too, so I knew someday we'd have a dog. I just didn't know it would be that soon.

It was a pet store, yes, but the animals they sold were not the pricey purebreds in a lot of pet stores. They were rescues, and when you bought them, all you had to pay was a $100 adoption fee to cover their basic shots and such. There was a whole litter of black puppies, some with white markings, that had been rescued, each of them in separate cages. And Sasha... she caught our eyes immediately. I don't even know why. But we were both in love. We managed to talk ourselves out of it on that first visit, and did that whole "well, if she's still here next time we come, then maybe" game, feeling sure that a cutie like her would be snatched up immediately. But the next time we came (I don't know how many days later it was), she was still there, and according to Tony, we played this little game a few times, our resistance wearing thinner each time. And somehow we got the crazy idea to adopt a puppy less than a week before moving over 1,000 miles away.

I remember those first few nights--trying to keep her quiet because we weren't supposed to have dogs in our apartment, trying to crate-train her and failing miserably. I remember her nipping me constantly and me finally breaking down and crying one day because I was sure she hated me. She was my first dog, and though I had bought and read a few books about raising a puppy, I really had no idea how puppies acted, and couldn't help taking it all a little personally.

And then came the day we were going to leave. The truck we rented had a little sliding door in the cab that opened into the back of the truck, and Tony somehow managed to magically pack the truck to create a little space for Sasha. There was a couple feet of floor space, and then our armchair, so she had a soft place to hop onto. And surrounding all that were various bookcases and dressers and such (I think our mattress was on top) to keep her from getting anywhere else in the back of the truck. We laid newspaper on the floor and hoped for the best. And to our complete surprise, she only peed one time in the truck.

I should mention, too, that we didn't drive straight from Florida to Connecticut. Our first stop was New Orleans (to visit friends); then Atlanta, Georgia (again, friends); then Pennsylvania/Maryland (to visit Tony's family); and then finally Connecticut. And we were in Connecticut less than a week before making a 12-hour road trip to Prince Edward Island to vacation with my family. Poor pup probably had no clue where her true home was for a while.

Us with Sasha, Prince Edward Island, 2000

It didn't take us long to settle on a name for Sasha, though I'm not entirely sure what led us to that name. But I later found out it means "defender of mankind" and thought that was pretty cool.

I don't remember a lot of details of Sasha's puppyhood. She was your typical puppy, though... nippy and always destroying something, etc. She especially loved to dig holes, but we did a little reading and learned that if you put cayenne pepper on the edge of a hole, the dog won't keep digging there. Of course, that didn't stop her from just making new holes.

When we potty-trained her, we trained her to ring a set of jingle bells by the door, which was a "trick" that always impressed visitors. It wasn't my idea--I read it in a dog book--but it was brilliant, and easy to implement. All we had to do was ring the bells like crazy every time we took her out, talk excitedly about going potty, and soon she put it all together and realized that ringing the bells meant it was potty time. Because of the way our first apartment was situated, you couldn't see the door from anywhere in the apartment (it was kind of in its own hallway), so it was a great way to know she had to go out. She caught on so quickly, too... she was always a smart dog.

We did take her to obedience school, and though we struggled at first (especially when I had her), she did beautifully. People were always impressed by how well she listened to us and obeyed commands.

Sasha's first home, our apartment, late 2000 or early 2001

It wasn't all good times when she was a pup, though. She and I had quite a few power struggles and I tried to teach her that I was above her in the pack. She never had any issues with Tony, and I'm sure the fact that he is a guy with a deep, commanding voice, is the reason. But me... we had our moments. But once she learned her place in the pack, things were beautiful. But we always had to be careful with her around other dogs. She was never one to back down, and wouldn't take any other dog trying to dominate her. She put Ivan in his place more than once after we got him...

Ivan

I don't know when exactly we decided we wanted a second dog. Probably because it wasn't some big "decision" we wrestled with. We just adored Sasha, and kids were nowhere in the plans, and we knew we wanted another dog. A perfect opportunity presented itself when Tony's sister's dogs had a litter of puppies. The mother was a black lab and the dad was a chocolate lab (both purebred), so the litter was a mix of both kinds. Before we ever met the puppies, we both "agreed" that we'd get a chocolate one, and a male, just for variety's sake.

I don't remember if we decided on a name before or after we met the puppies (I'm thinking after), but we knew we wanted a name that "went" with Sasha's name, so I started researching Russian names. Most felt too long and complicated for a dog, and I leaned toward "Boris" for a while (mostly because I found it amusing), but we eventually agreed on Ivan.

When we met the puppies, during a visit in Christmas 2004, we did find a male chocolate one that we both liked. But then there was this scruffy little black one with wavy fur that just loved me. He would come to me when I called him, struggle to get to me when the other pups were scrambling all over my lap. I remember looking across the room at Tony one time, and Tony just smiled at me. We both just knew. So much for our chocolate lab. Ivan had picked us (me, specifically), and that was that. We figured his extra playfulness would be a good match for Sasha... little did we know that he would NEVER calm down.

He wasn't quite old enough to leave his mother yet, so Tony drove back down about a month later (January 2005) to pick him up. I remember Tony texting me a picture of Ivan, hunkered down on the front seat of the car, looking scared. Tony had a crate in the backseat, but said Ivan just kept whining, so he finally brought him to the front seat.

Ivan in his first home with us, our apartment, 2005

We quickly learned that Ivan was a big chicken. In all fairness, I know, he was a puppy, so the whole world was new to him. So maybe it's unfair to call him a chicken. But even as he got older, he was still afraid of a lot of random things.

Ivan had lived in a one-story apartment and was paper-trained, so our two biggest obstacles were getting him to pee outside (and once snow covered the ground, we had a new challenge--teaching him that it was OK to pee on the snow... Tony even scraped snow away to reveal the grass, to prove to Ivan that it was fine to pee there) and teaching him to manage the stairs (he was terrified of them at first, then learned to go up but was scared to go down, and finally got the hang of them).

One of the first pictures of them together, 2005

As for how he and Sasha got along... well... I mentioned that Sasha is a pretty dominant dog. And based on "pack mentality" she was obviously the alpha. And Ivan was just a dumb puppy. She had to put him in his place many times, resulting one time in a gash on his nose that left a permanent scar, and resulting another time in him losing a baby tooth because she knocked it loose. And we knew all this scuffling was to be expected, and that we had to let them work it out. And they did. Though we often got the feeling, through the years, that Sasha was merely tolerating Ivan. But Ivan adored her. He adored everyone, actually.

You can see a couple marks on his nose here, from scuffles with Sasha, 2005

You would be hard-pressed to find a more loving dog than Ivan. I don't think I ever once saw him be mean. Oh, sure, he'd bark up a storm when someone came to the door (and being a huge, male dog, he had quite an impressive bark), but as soon as the door was opened, his tail was wagging and he was eager to make a new friend. We always joked that if someone ever broke into our house, he would love them to death.

As for his fur... like I said, both his parents were purebred labs. But as he grew, his wavy coat turned into longish, wavy and almost curly fur. I really don't know how to explain that... recessive gene? I don't know enough about genetics to wager a guess. I never wanted a long-haired dog because I knew grooming would be a pain (and it was), but I had to admit his coat was gorgeous. Everyone always commented on it. We used to joke that he was a "dumb jock"... pretty to look at, but totally stupid. We said that lovingly, of course.

When we decided to have a baby, of course the dogs were a concern, as far as how they would adjust to this new creature, how we could prepare them, etc. We did all we could do, but ultimately, we knew time would tell. We were more worried about Sasha, since we knew she had an aggressive streak, and less worried about Ivan, since he was just a big dumb lovebug. Sasha was great, though. Again, it seemed like she "tolerated" Ari in the same way she tolerated Ivan, but we never had any "scares" with the 2 of them. And of course we taught Ari how to behave with the dogs and kept them supervised, so we weren't putting all the responsibility on Sasha.

But Ivan, he was fantastic with Ari. She could do ANYthing to him (and I have pictures to prove it), and he wouldn't mind. He was almost desperate for affection... we joked that you could beat him, and he would still nuzzle you and beg for more. Again, we taught Ari how to handle him, and would scold her if she pulled his fur or sat on him or anything like that, but it didn't matter to Ivan. It was almost like he was thrilled to have a playmate who adored him as much as he adored her, since Sasha wasn't quite that into him. He really was Ari's dog, and the perfect dog for a kid to have.

My favorite picture of Ivan and Ari together, November 2008

I could go on and on about the 2 of them, but this is plenty long enough, and like I said, I just wanted to tell the basic stories of how they joined our family. I'll end with a couple more pictures...

Fall 2009

The last picture I have of them together, July 2010

A workshop, a party, and a parade (and more)

2010-12-06T13:29:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning, we went to our second Home Depot Kids' Workshop. This month's project was a picture frame, which you can kind of see in this picture. I guess Ari was more excited about the certificate.

After that, we ran a few errands, including picking out a birthday gift for Ari's friend Molly, whose party was that afternoon. The party was small, but the kids had a great time playing together, and we ended up hanging out for a while after the "official" party end-time.

Sunday evening, I somehow got talked into taking Ari to the town's "torchlight parade" by a few friends... which, as you might guess by the name, doesn't start until after dark. I guess they do this every year, where they dress up all the firetrucks in Christmas lights and put on a little parade. I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of going out in the cold weather, but these are the things you do when you're a parent, so I bundled us both up and off we went. The parade wasn't all that long, which was fine, because it was plenty cold. Even Ari was complaining about it at the end.

Funny side story... some of the firefighters who were marching in the parade were handing out mini candy canes. When one of them handed one to Ari, I prompted her with "What do you say?" She immediately said, "I don't like this." Wrong answer, monkey.

Steelers won last night, so woo hoo for that.

One last thing before I go... Ari's latest artistic creation. That's her in the middle, with our house on the left and an apple tree on the right.

Weekend highlights and pictures

2010-11-29T12:31:00.000-05:00

That title is so boring, blah. But at least you know what this entry is about.

OK, so a quick recap of the long, long weekend. Thanksgiving Day was good... plenty of food, good company, etc. I didn't take any pictures, but my mom did, so I'm stealing these from her Facebook page...

Me and Tony...

Our spread. Toward the bottom of the pic, you can see the "placecards" my SIL Jess made... they're supposed to be little Mayflowers, with a pretzel-stick mast and candy corn inside the cup. She's so crafty.

I think Mom caught Ari by surprise. Or, maybe, caught her being up to no good.

Friday, we spent most of the day shopping. We didn't go out ridiculously early, but we still managed to find some good deals, and made a dent in our Christmas shopping list. Highlight of the day for Tony was finding the Polamalu jersey he wanted. He's been wanting a Steelers jersey, and he found a great deal at a store in the mall a few weeks ago, but all they had was Roethlisberger. He went ahead and got it anyway, and asked them to call him if they got a Polamalu in. This past Friday, since we were at the mall anyway, he decided to check the store again, and lo and behold, there was his Polamalu jersey. He got a great deal on both jerseys. And I guess this means I'm done Christmas shopping for him, so I'm happy too.

Later on, we were in another store, a gift and collectibles type of store. The owner came over to us and was telling us about their sales. When he was done, Ari said to me, "I wish I could buy something." She had 3 pennies in her hand--change from another store that we'd given to her.

I gently told her, "Well, sweetie, I don't think there's anything in this store you can buy for 3 pennies."

The shop owner looked down at Ari and said, "Wanna prove Mommy wrong?" Then he picked a rooster Beanie Baby off the shelf and handed it to her. "How about I sell this to you for 3 pennies?"

She nodded slowly, while I just blurted, "Are you serious?" And he was. So my little rascal got herself a $5.99 Beanie Baby for 3 cents. I'm pretty sure that was the highlight of her day... she hasn't let that rooster out of her sight since then.

And the highlight of my day? Discovering these in Wal-Mart...

Yes, they taste just like the Girl Scout cookies. So, so good.

Saturday, we decorated for Christmas--mainly, putting up the tree. We're going to do outdoor lights this year, but we need to take some measurements and then buy some before we can make that happen. Ari was even more excited about the tree than she was last year.

Ari putting the very first ornament on the tree--her new Barbie ornament. (Every year, we buy her a new ornament, and now that she's a little older, she helps pick it out.)

It lights up... I think that's the reason she likes it so much.

Wearing one of our Santa hats...

Since she didn't smile in the first shot, I tried to coax her into smiling for the next one, and this was the response I got...

Well, Merry Christmas to you, too, Miss Sulky.

Sunday was a fairly normal day... church, then lunch. And then the satellite receiver on the TV in the living room died on us. The receivers on the other TVs work fine, so it seems like some wiring went bad or something? Tony got on the phone with tech support and they had him try a bunch of stuff, none of which worked. So they're sending a technician out--but the soonest he can get here is Wednesday. Tony was bummed that he didn't get to watch his Steelers win.

And now, 'tis Monday... should be a fairly quiet, normal week. Probably the last one for a while, because it's going to be December by the end of the week, and then the holiday madness really starts. Bring it on!

Spice rack shelf type thing

2010-11-08T09:30:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning, I took Ari to Home Depot for one of their Kids' Workshops. I'd heard of these workshops before, and finally decided to look into them. Their website says they are for ages 5-12, but I figured she was close enough. And there were definitely a couple kids that were younger than her, so I didn't feel bad.

The project was a spice rack (though if you ask Ari what it is, she'll tell you it's a shelf). Here she is, hard at work.

And the final product. We'll leave out the part where I tell you that I put it together the wrong way the first time around.

I caught her right between smiles here.

The best thing about this was that it was entirely free. Not only did she get to do the project, but she got an apron and a pin, and will get a pin each time she completes a project. They also gave her a sticker sheet and 2 coloring pages. She was in heaven.

I went on a little baking binge last night. (Did I mention we went apple picking on Saturday? Because, you know, we needed more apples.) I made brownies, another apple pie, and something called "apple crunch dessert." It reminds me of a cobbler, except the topping is a bit crunchy instead of being soft. It tasted good, so that's all that matters.

You want thingamabobs? I've got 20.

2010-11-01T10:03:00.000-04:00

Or, at least, I have Halloween pictures.

Saturday evening, we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. Ari chose Minnie Mouse for her pumpkin, and I got tasked with carving it. It occurred to me... I think this might be the first pumpkin I've ever carved. It was certainly the most intricate. I had to "freehand" a few spots because I wasn't able to trace the pattern correctly, but all in all, I think it came out well. Ari liked it, so that's all that matters.

Tony carved the bigger pumpkin, using 2 different patterns--a spiderweb with some added ghosts.

And here are both the pumpkins, lit up on our doorstep on Halloween night.

And another shot of the pumpkins, using the flash. We set out a basket of candy since we wouldn't be home.

In the evening, we headed to a friend's house for trick-or-treating... it's become a tradition to go trick-or-treating in their neighborhood with a group of friends, and it seems our group grows a little every year. It's a lot of fun because it gives us grown-ups plenty of company as we wander around.

I got a couple shots of Ari, as Ariel, before we got going. Excuse the bizarre "smile."

Oops, forgot her magic wand.

A closer shot of her hair. I think it came out really good. It was definitely the perfect Ariel color. The only problem was that even after it dried, it rubbed off on her clothes and on the seat of the car. But it washed right out of her hair with no problem later on, so I'm sure it will come out of everything else just as easily.

And the whole gang. We've got a vampire, a knight, a mummy, and a hippie in the back row... Super Girl, Ariel, and Barbie in the next row down... and then little Joey, who wanted to be "an egg" (his mom made the costume).

And then off we went. All the kids seemed to have a great time, and in true princess style, Ari got tired out pretty quickly and insisted on riding in the wagon the rest of the time. She even skipped several houses because she didn't feel like getting out from under the blanket we brought. Can't say that I blame her, though--I was pretty chilly myself about an hour or so into it.

And now it's Monday, and it's November... where has this year gone?

Indulge me

2010-09-19T22:11:00.001-04:00

Indulge me for a moment, will you? Just a few favorites of mine...

Ari was about 4 months old in this picture...

Ivan was always her dog...

I have no idea what the three of them were looking at, but this picture amuses me.

Ari's 2nd birthday party...

She could do anything to him, and he wouldn't care.

This may be an all-time favorite… I love the look on Ivan's face.

My sleepy Sasha...

Ivan and Sasha...

As far as I know, this is the last picture I have of them, taken on the morning of Ari's 4th birthday party. She insisted on having her picture taken with her "doggies" even though they weren't being too cooperative.

I'm OK tonight. I just miss them.

Sasha and Ivan

2010-09-17T09:55:00.004-04:00

I let the dogs out on Tuesday night, not knowing that the 2 doors on the porch were both wide open. I let them out from the basement hatchway and then was busy getting Ari to bed. Tony was out on an errand. It wasn't until after he got home (and then a few minutes after that) that we realized the dogs were gone. I didn't know the doors were open, hadn't even thought to check for that.

He started off walking, and then went to driving, searching for both of them, while I stood at the end of the driveway like a helpless idiot, staring up and down the street, hoping to catch sight of them. Tony would circle back now and then, and ask if I'd seen anything.

And then, on one of his trips back, he pulled into the driveway. "Did Ivan come back?" he asked.

"No," I replied, wondering if that meant he had Sasha with him.

"Sasha is dead," he said grimly, getting out of the car.

"What?" I replied, hoping I'd heard him wrong, but he repeated himself, and I wailed, "No..."

And then we both started crying. He was searching for some heavy-duty trash bags so he could go retrieve her body. A couple cops got a call about a dog being hit and pulled her off to the side of the road. As Tony was driving around, he saw those cops and stopped to ask if they'd seen 2 dogs... and then realized what happened.

I called Wayne, sobbing, asking if he could come over and stay with Ari so I could go with Tony to get Sasha. Tony tried, half-heartedly, to talk me out of it, but I insisted on going. And I didn't want him to have to do it alone.

When we got there, I knelt beside Sasha, and touched her fur for the last time. She looked somewhat normal--not badly mangled or anything--but there was blood coming out of her mouth. The cops were so nice--told me to take whatever time I needed. They were the ones that put her in the bag--and that was the part I couldn't watch.

Tony and I drove around for almost an hour after that, searching for Ivan, but there was no sign of him. Later, Tony even went out alone, again for another hour. Nothing. We left the lights on and doors open all night, in case he found his way home.

Ari didn't know anything yet. She was asleep when all this happened, and I took her to the babysitter's on Wednesday like normal. I stayed home from work.

Tony made calls all morning on Wednesday, to the police, the pound, the nearby school, friends, animal hospitals, etc.--no one had seen Ivan at all, but all those people were keeping an eye out for him.

We had some errands to do that day, but before that, Tony wanted to search for Ivan one more time, in daylight and on foot. And we found Ivan. He was right across the street from where Sasha got hit, huddled under a tree. We must have driven by that spot 2 or 3 times the night before, calling for him. But I guess he was too hurt and/or scared to come out. I was the first one to spot him, and he wagged his tail for me. But we had to coax him out, and he came out slowly, carefully. Obviously injured.

We took him to the vet, and he was just too badly injured... we chose to put him down. We had some alone time with him. We both said our goodbyes. He just lay there, looking so sad and weak. So not like himself.

Tony rented a machine from a nearby company--something like a miniature backhoe, I think--to dig the grave for Sasha and Ivan. Pastor, Greg and Wayne all came over to help and offer support. When he was finished digging the hole, we got the dogs ready. The animal hospital put Ivan in a white cardboard box, and before we left, Tony asked them if we could have an empty one for Sasha. So we had to transfer her into that box, which was... it was hard. Tony kept asking if I was sure I wanted to help him do it, and I insisted I was, though I honestly tried not to look too closely at her. We made a print of one of her paws (because the animal hospital did that with Ivan) and then wrapped her in one of her favorite blankets).

I helped Tony carry the boxes from the shed to where we were going to bury them, but then Greg helped him get them down into the hole. Tony and I stood there for a few moments with our arms around each other. He asked if I wanted to say anything and I said no--I'd said what I needed to say already. Tony whispered a quiet goodbye. Tony and I threw the first shovelfuls of dirt in, and then the guys helped us with the rest.

Ari's babysitter agreed to keep her later than normal, since we didn't want Ari to have to watch the burial process. We were originally planning to tell her as soon as she got home, but then we realized she would be getting home close to bedtime, and it didn't seem fair to tell her something like that and then send her off to bed, so we decided to wait until this morning.

After we buried the dogs, we had some free time before the babysitter was going to bring Ari home, so we went to a nearby craft store and bought some fake flowers--basically, a set from each of the 3 of us--to put on the dogs' grave.

When Ari woke up Thursday morning, she crawled into bed with us like usual. I got her breakfast and then dozed off a little longer while she watched TV. Eventually, though, she woke us both up. She lost interest in her TV show and began burrowing under the covers, goofing off and playing. And then suddenly she was saying, "I'm a dog, woof woof!" and Tony and I looked at each other across the top of her head and knew that this was the time.

And so... we told her. We told her the truth, as carefully and simply as we could. We didn't want to tell her they "took a trip" or "went to sleep and will never wake up" or anything that might confuse or scare her more than necessary. As we told her, I watched her face fall and her voice get sad, and I... I don't think I thought she would understand it so well. I was glad to have Tony to "tag team" with--to take over talking when I was too emotional, and for me to be able to do the same for him. We talked for a little while, answering her questions, and then talked to her about how we buried them in the yard and if she wanted to, we would take her to see it. She agreed, so we all got up to get dressed. She went to go potty while I found clothes for her, and no sooner had she gotten in the bathroom than I heard her crying. I ran in to her and just held her. "I'm crying because I miss Sasha and Ivan," she said, and I cried with her and told her I missed them too, and that it was OK to cry.

When we got to their grave, we talked to Ari a little more, and told her which dog was in which spot. Ari chose to place her flowers in the middle, between the 2 dogs, and I placed mine near Sasha and Tony placed his near Ivan. Ari played around in the soft dirt a little, drawing pictures for the dogs with her fingers and writing random letters. Then she pretended to plant flowers in the dirt, using rocks as seeds. We told her in the springtime, we can plant some real flowers, and she liked that idea. Tony asked her if she wanted to say goodbye to them, or say anything about them, and she said no. But then, a few minutes later, on her own, we heard her softly say, "Good-bye, Sasha and Ivan."

As we walked back inside, she said to me, "Thank you for showing me where you buried Sasha and Ivan" in such a small, solemn voice. I didn't know what else to say other than "You're welcome." And then I told her she can go "visit" them anytime she wants to. After we got inside, she seemed to be better. I got myself ready and came in to work late.

There's so much more in my head and in my heart... I feel like I'm just telling the facts here, and not much else. I told Tony yesterday that I feel like the sadness comes in waves... like I'll be fine one minute, and then the next, I'm bawling, and sometimes the oddest little things trigger it. There are certain things I am trying not to dwell on, trying not to beat myself up for. But honestly, the hardest part so far has been watching Tony and Ari suffer. Tony... I have known him for 16 years now, and I have never, NEVER seen him cry the way he did on Wednesday. And Ari, my sweet Ari... I knew she would understand on some level, but I think I underestimated how well she would understand, how immediate and pure her sorrow would be. I know, though, that we will all be OK.

And before I go, I want to thank you all for your support. I appreciate your kind words and your love so much, more than you know.

Sasha and Ivan

RIP Sasha (3/29/00 to 9/14/10)
RIP Ivan (10/16/04 to 9/15/10)

My little gymnast

2010-09-12T22:56:00.000-04:00

Ari started her gymnastics class on Friday night, and because I'm a total nerd, I took a picture of her before we left. Yes, that's a chocolate chip cookie in her hand... great snack, right? And don't blame me for the sandals/socks combo... I wanted her to wear sneakers, and she insisted on the sandals, and I didn't fight it. Whatever footwear she had, she'd be removing it once we got there, since they don't allow "street shoes" on the floors.

When we got there, the waiting area was crammed full of parents and kids. It was a bit crazy. We managed to find a couple empty seats, and I struck up a conversation with the mom next to me, since she had a little girl who looked to be about Ari's age and who I thought might be in Ari's class. Turns out, I was right. Her daughter, Hayley, was 5, and had been taking classes at this dance school for 2 years. I tried to introduce Ari to Hayley, but she did her shy thing and buried her face in Tony's shoulder and refused to say hi.

When it came time to send her in, she lingered in the doorway a little. That other mom (I never did catch her name... I'm not as good at chatting up strangers as Tony is) encouraged Hayley to take Ari in with her, which I thought was so sweet, but Ari refused. I was bracing myself, at that point, for Ari to refuse to go to class, but after another minute or so, with a little gentle coaxing from me (just stuff like, "Look, all the other kids are in there, so it's time for class to start"), she walked right in. She was still a bit hesitant, walking slowly instead of bounding in, but she never looked back. The teacher began to take attendance, and when she called Ari's name, Ari barely raised her hand, so it took the teacher a second to find her. After that, Ari glanced our way, so we waved goodbye to her, and she gave us a small smile and waved back, like it was no big deal. I was so proud of her.

Her dance studio happens to be right next door to a Friendly's, so the half-hour that her class lasted was the perfect amount of time for us to grab some ice cream to go, eat it, and then pick her up. We got back there right as the teacher was handing out stickers to all the kids, and for whatever reason, Ari was the last to get one. When she turned and saw me, she broke out in a huge grin, ran to me, and threw her arms around my leg. And then, we could not shut her up. She went on and on and on about her class and all the cool stuff they did the whole way home. And once we got home, she wasted no time in showing me all the things they'd done in class. Oh, and the shoes we'd ordered for her had arrived, though we didn't get them until her class was over... so we let her put them on and prance around the house for a while, and she just thought she was hot stuff.

I can't tell you how happy I am that she enjoyed her class so much. I figured she would, but she can be a bit shy and/or stubborn sometimes, so you just never know with her.

Also, I should add that I managed to get a lot more unpacking and organizing done this weekend, and even though there are still boxes and random piles of stuff lying around, this place is starting to really feel like home, and I just love it.

Oh, by the way, we bought a house

2010-08-31T16:26:00.000-04:00

Well, if you haven't seen my update on Twitter/Facebook or heard from someone else... we just bought a house. Got the keys yesterday, and are planning The Big Move this weekend. So... you guys want to see pictures of the house? Of course you do! There's a lot... just a warning.

OK, so... tada! The front. And my awesome little car.

And as you walk under the carport, you come to this little room... I don't know what to call it. It's not a garage. We've been calling it a porch, but that doesn't sound right. Anyway, whatever it is, it's extra storage, so woo hoo.

See? All kinds of room for stuff. I'm thinking we'll keep the grill in here, so we can grill no matter what the weather. And we might make a little spot for the dogs too, so they can come in out of the rain or whatever. (They're indoor dogs, but still... they have to be outside sometimes, and if they have a little covered spot, then I won't feel bad about leaving them out there.)

And then when you walk out that last door, you have our backyard. Ari is so, so excited about having her own pool. (And, bonus... our neighbors on both sides have pools, so I'm hoping they can help us figure out how to take care of ours.) Tony is excited about the huge shed. And see those trees? Just beyond them is the elementary school Ari will attend next year. And even better... a few houses down from us is a paved walkway to the school. And if we wanted to, we could make a little gate in our back fence, clear some trees, and make a little connecting walkway to the main walkway... that's how close it is. (Oh, and by the way, that's my dad, my brother Pete, and my mom, along with Ari, in this shot.)

And if you walk out in the yard and turn around, here's the back of the house. Not too impressive, I know. But there's a decent-sized concrete patio.

OK, inside the house. When you walk in the side door that's under the carport, the first room you enter is the kitchen. All new Pergo floor. And I love the tile backsplash. And all the cabinet space.

And when you turn around, there's this nice little window that opens into the living room.

And the living room, from one angle... that's the front door on the left.

And from the other end of the room. Lovely bay window, and a fireplace with wood stove (that currently is not working, but oh well).

And as you walk down the hall, this is the first room on your right... a third bedroom, technically (since it has a closet), but we'll be using it as the office/dining room.

There's a built-in hutch at the front of the room.

And the bathroom. It's got this Victorian feel to it... check out the old-fashioned toilet. I love the sink/vanity. And you can't see the ceiling, but it's an antique-ish tin ceiling.

There's even a stained-glass window. I'm thinking the owner of the house made this himself... he had a huge workshop in the basement, and there were a couple pieces of stained glass down there.

And an old clawfoot tub... and a built-in cabinet with a stained-glass door.

Guess whose room this is going to be?

And, our room. (Just wait... it gets better.)

Vaulted ceiling AND a skylight. I may never leave this room...

And one last shot of Ari... she was all proud of herself for figuring out how to climb up into this window in the living room.

And there you have it. As you saw in that backyard pic, my parents and brother came to see the house last night. My parents had seen it a couple months ago, just before we made an offer, but Pete hadn't seen it, and he's leaving for college in a few days. I took them all there myself with Ari, while Tony ran an errand. Once he got there, I took Ari home, since she hadn't had dinner yet. When Tony got home later, he said, "Oh, I met one of our new neighbors."

"Of course you did," I said, smiling. And he went on to tell me that she has two older kids, about 15 and 20, and on and on... so I guess they must have had a lengthy conversation. Which, again, is no surprise. I've no doubt he'll end up meeting several more neighbors before we even move in.

Pirate poses, and other pictures

2010-08-19T14:18:00.001-04:00

Tony's sister and her family were here over the weekend, and on Monday, we took the kids to a nearby children's museum... the kind of place where there are all sorts of hands-on activities for the kids. They had a blast. And I have pictures.

Look at the way she has her hand curled around his arm... so sweet.

She cooked us a meal in the little kitchen area. I like the look of concentration on her face.

She's not smiling in this picture, but you can see the beginning of a smile on her face...

I hate that this picture came out blurry, but I'm keeping it because it cracks me up. She and her cousins were pretending to be pirates, and this was one of her mean pirate poses.

Ari and her cousin Michael doing pirate poses (with Uncle Mike in the background, getting a scarf ready for Taryn's head). Doesn't Michael look like he could be Ari's brother, rather than her cousin? (This pic may not be the best example, due to Ari's weird face...) Just further proof that Ari takes after her Daddy.

You know, I often joke that if I hadn't been there when she was born (ha ha), I would wonder if she was really my kid, because I think she looks nothing like me. But something about this picture, even though she's making a weird face, made me go, "Whoa. Maybe she IS my daughter after all."

In mutual weirdness

2010-07-30T09:36:00.001-04:00

Welcome to a special Sara-and-Tony-themed entry. No no no, don't leave... I promise it's not going to be all mushy and sappy. Sunday, August 1, will be our 12-year anniversary (I know... crazy, right?), so in honor of that, I compiled several of our random conversations to share with you all. Plus a couple of quotes that I like. And a picture. Well, just read, you'll see.

"I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life."
~ Rita Rudner

Me: OK, I know these pants are long on me, but be honest--do they look stupid?
Tony: No.
Me: Then why are you smiling?
Tony: Because I just can't believe how short you are.
Me: Shut up.

(This conversation happened while I was pregnant... just FYI.)

Me: OK, I bought this bag of Cheez-Its so that I could have some to eat on the ride home tomorrow.
Tony: OK...
Me: There's no Cheez-Its left in this bag. I don't know where they went. There are supposed to be 6 servings in this bag.
Tony: Well, maybe they're on the floor. Remember, you dropped the bag earlier and some fell on the floor?
Me: Yes, you're right.
Tony: Are there a lot on the floor?
Me: Tons.
Tony: Probably 4 or 5 servings worth, huh?
Me: Absolutely.

(Another conversation that happened while I was pregnant. Not that I wouldn't scarf down a bunch of brownies when I'm NOT pregnant...)

Tony: Are these 3 brownies the only ones you saved?
Me: Um... yeah, that's it. Just 3.
Tony: You ate the other ones, didn't you?
Me: Maybe.
Tony: So are these 3 for me?
Me: If you want them, you'd better eat all 3 right now.

Tony: Hey, we should go see a movie on Friday night, since Ari is going to be spending the night at your parents' house.
Me: Oh, we should! But I don't know what's playing.
Tony: Well, "Saw 5" opens on Friday.
Me: Oh really? Well, so does "High School Musical 3."
Tony: (silence)
Me: *smirk*

Scene: We've just gotten in the car, getting ready to leave the mall and head to Target...

Me: Um...
Tony: (smirking and pointing) Target is that way.
Me: Hey, what makes you think that's what I was going to say? Maybe I was going to say something else.
Tony: (still smirking) Oh yeh? What?
Me: That... I love you. Can't live without you.
Tony: Well, you would have asked eventually.
Me: Not if I guessed right!

Me: Well, I gained 50 freaking pounds when I was pregnant.
Tony: Nuh-uh, it was more than that.
Me: No, it wasn't.
Tony: Yes it was. You weighed, like, 120 when you got pregnant, and you were over 170 by the end.
Me: No, I weighed 127. And I was 172 by the end. So, technically, that's less than 50 pounds, so THERE.
Tony: Yes, but that 172... that was what you weighed at your last appointment, right?
Me: Seriously? Are you seriously going to argue about this with me?
Tony: *laughs*
Me: (scowling) I severely dislike you.
Tony: *laughs again*

Tony calls me at work one day...

Me: Hello?
Tony: I need to know if you are afraid that aliens are going to attack us.
Me: Wha...??
Tony: (slowly repeating himself) I need to know if you are afraid that aliens are going to attack us.
Me: (confused) What in the--
Tony: Because there are not 1, not 2, but 3 different cups here on the kitchen counter, all with just a little bit of water in them...
Me: (starting to understand) Ohhh...
Tony: So I just needed to know--
Me: (laughing) Yeh, yeh, I know... like in the movie "Signs." I don't know why they're there. I guess I forgot about them. You know I do that.
Tony: How could you not notice that you already had 1 or 2 other glasses already out?
Me: Is this the only reason you called me?
Tony: Um...
Me: Oh. My. Gosh.

The scene: I've just come downstairs. Tony is on the couch watching TV. When he sees me, he just stares at me with a big grin on his face.

Me: (suspiciously) What?
Tony: (pulling out all his boyish charm) How much do you love me?
Me: (with a sigh) Not that much. Why?
Tony: (still being charming) Do you want to make me some red velvet cupcakes?
Me: (thinking of the dishwasher that needs to be emptied and the sink full of dishes, and knowing how much he hates doing dishes) Do you want to do the dishes?
Tony: (pondering my counter-offer) Yes!
Me: Crap.

A conversation around our anniversary last year...

Me: *sigh* So when are we going on another cruise?
Tony: 15 years, baby.
Me: We should go now. Like, tomorrow.
Tony: We've already talked about this. We'll take a cruise every 5 years. We did one for our 10th anniversary, so you have to wait until our 15th.
Me: Psh, c'mon. 11 years, 15 years... what's the difference? Close enough.
Tony: Doesn't work like that.
Me: Ooh! I've got it!
Tony: *sigh* What?
Me: I've been IN LOVE WITH YOU for 15 years. Almost.
Tony: Yeh... so?
Me: So, that's 15 years. Cruise! I win!
Tony: Nice try.
Me: Hmph.

One of my favorite pictures of us... taken in the spot where we got engaged (not on the actual day he proposed, but several years later).

"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."
~ Author Unknown

Tonight is "date night," and Ari is spending the night with my parents. We're doing the typical "dinner and a movie" and I'm really looking forward to it. It's been way too long since we had an official date night.

Ooh, crap, I still need to get him a card...

Happy weekend, everyone!

Live and in concert

2010-07-21T09:02:00.001-04:00

Ari was a bit hyper before bedtime last night, so I whipped out the video camera for future blackmailing purposes. I couldn't decide which one I liked the best, so you get all three.

This one is mostly about a turtle, I guess...

Ariana 7-20-10-1 from Sariana on Vimeo.

This one is about "a ladybug going across a wonderful land."

Ariana 7-20-10-2 from Sariana on Vimeo.

And this is the "puppy one." No toys were harmed in the making of this video.

Ariana 7-20-10-3 from Sariana on Vimeo.

Ariana's birthday party

2010-07-05T11:50:00.001-04:00

So, Ari's birthday party... I have tons of pics, and a video. But first I have to tell you what she did the night before her birthday. I got a call from Tony that afternoon, shortly before I was ready to leave work, telling me that Ari had gotten a bead stuck up her nose. He had tried unsuccessfully to get it out, and was on his way to our doctor's office to see if they could help. I have no idea what possessed her to do such a thing, but it seems like the kind of thing a kid needs to do at least once, right? At least she told him what she'd done... other than that, we might not have even known.

The doctor's office was not able to remove the bead either, so I met Tony and Ari, and all 3 of us headed off the ER. I was bracing myself for a long wait, since the last time we were there (shortly before she turned 1, when she got a nasty cut on her forehead), we waited for hours and hours. But to my surprise, we were led right in. The nurses swaddled her in a sheet to keep her arms from flailing around, and Tony held her head while I lay next to her and cuddled her. The doctor told us he was going to insert a thin, flexible catheter up her nose, past the bead, then inflate a balloon and pull the catheter out, dragging the bead with it. But he actually ended up pushing it back so far that she swallowed it. At least, that's what we assume--it was definitely gone from her nose, and she wasn't choking on it.

She did really great, too. I mean, yes, she screamed bloody murder as they did the procedure, but up until then, she was fine. And even afterwards, she was asking the doctor a million questions, so I guess that means she didn't hold a grudge. And she got a real toy as well as some stickers for being such a good patient. Crazy little monkey. I'm hoping she's learned her lesson, but I wouldn't put it past her to do it again.

Anyway, once we got that fixed and got her home, she went right to bed and slept through the night... and even slept in the next morning. When she wandered into our bedroom, we wished her a happy birthday and she seemed thrilled to realize that it was FINALLY the day we'd been talking about for so long.

First of all, a quick video that I took while we were preparing for the party. She wanted to put her own candles on her cake.

Ariana 7-3-10 from Sariana on Vimeo.

I took a couple pictures in the morning, before the party. Ari wanted a picture with her 2 doggies, but they just wanted to wrestle...

Tony bought a Slip'n'Slide, and it was a big hit.

We've had this giant basketball set for a while... can't remember where we got it...

See? The Slip'n'Slide was a hit. Also... can you spot Ari in this picture? ...Yup, that's her in the left corner, and yes, she is pouting.

I call this picture "It's my party and I'll sulk if I want to." (She was pouting because she said the other kids weren't letting her have a turn on the Slip'n'Slide, so I told her she just needed to get in line like everyone else, and all was well.)

This orange float came with the Slip'n'Slide... it's meant to be used as something to flop onto as you run and dive. Ari sat on it, and then said, "Hey, it's not going by itself." And before I could explain how it was supposed to be used, 2 of her friends jumped in to help her. I thought it was sweet.

Ari made a new friend at her party... this little earthworm. She wanted to keep him, and was a bit disappointed when I told her no. (Also... I don't know what her crazy expression is about.)

You can't really see in this picture, but she was cooing over her little wormy friend.

We had water balloons, too, which were also a big hit (and a pain in the neck to clean up afterwards). Somehow, our friends Greg and Jason ended up on balloon-filling duty...

A shot of Ari with her cousin Micah, who's going to be 2 in September... and my brother Dave supervising.

Ari, cradling a water balloon, trying to decide what to do with it...

Ari throwing another water balloon at our friend Meghan (who's also one of her teachers at church). I love this action shot... see the yellow balloon to the left? It actually bounced off Meghan and broke on the ground.

Present-opening time! Ari loved these little binoculars... we have a pair she likes to play with, so now she has her own.

She got $15 in a card, and for some reason, decided to put the bills on her shoulders.

One of several dresses she got. She is SO into dresses lately... I love it.

This fairy costume was another favorite gift of hers. In fact, she liked it so much, she insisted on putting it on right away (as you'll see in the next few pictures). The little girl who gave it to her was so pleased that Ari loved it so much--it was the cutest thing.

Cake time!

Blowing out the candles... I wonder what she wished for?

And look, you guys! She's eating her birthday cake! For the first time!

Pinata time! This was the only picture I got, but I got it right as someone pulled the string that released all the candy... great timing.

And lastly, my favorite shots of the day. This was from our morning photo shoot... I wanted to get a good picture of the birthday girl, and figured I might not be able to once the party madness started. (Yes, this is the same one I posted in the last entry.)

An "artistic" shot... don't you love the balloons growing out of her head?

I love love love this shot... it's so hard to capture a real smile out of her, because when you ask for one, she just makes weird faces or gives a fake smile. I caught her on the tail end of a ridiculously-cheesy grin... again, perfect timing.

And that was the party. Ari had a great time, and it seemed like everyone else did too, so it was definitely a success.

Our 4th of July was fairly quiet. We had church in the morning, as usual, but in the afternoon, we napped, then ran to Wal-Mart and the grocery store, and then just came back home. We watched some neighbors setting off fireworks for a few minutes... our town does its huge fireworks display next weekend, so we will definitely see a full show then.

Today, we all slept in, and in a little while, we're heading to the theater to take Ari to her first movie... Toy Story 3. I'm hoping she'll enjoy the whole experience. Then, after that, we're going to do a little shopping--we need to return a dress she got for her birthday (it's a duplicate, so we'll return it and let her pick out a new one), and then hit up another store that she got a gift card for (it's called Justice... seems like it's more geared toward older "tween" girls, but I'm sure she'll find something she likes). Then, after that, who knows. This is kind of her day--our chance to do something as a family, just the 3 of us--so we'll see what she feels like doing, I guess.

Happy Birthday, Ariana

2010-07-03T22:10:00.001-04:00

I did an entry like this last year on her birthday, so I thought I'd do it again... and add this year's picture to it.

From this...

(Birth Day--July 3, 2006)

..to this...

(1st birthday)

...to this...

(2nd birthday)

...to this...

(3rd birthday)

...to this.

(4th birthday)

The party was a great success. Tons of people, but it was a gorgeous day, so we were all outside, and everyone seemed to have a good time. As I helped Ari eat her cake (yes, she ate her birthday cake for the first time this year), she said to me, "This is the best party ever."

More pictures to come, of course. But not tonight. I'm going to go veg on the couch for a while.

On Lyme disease

2010-06-29T22:14:00.002-04:00

I didn't share anything about this earlier because I figured there was no point in doing so until we knew something for sure. The short story is... Ari got pretty sick last week, we took her to the doctor, they suspected Lyme disease and sent her for bloodwork, and we got the results today which told us that she does indeed have Lyme disease.

So now that I know for sure that Ari has Lyme disease, I did some research. I figured I would go ahead and share it all here in case you ever find yourself in need of this info.

From the CDC's website, a very brief summary...

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system. Lyme disease is diagnosed based on symptoms, physical findings (e.g., rash), and the possibility of exposure to infected ticks; laboratory testing is helpful in the later stages of disease. Most cases of Lyme disease can be treated successfully with a few weeks of antibiotics. Steps to prevent Lyme disease include using insect repellent, removing ticks promptly, landscaping, and integrated pest management. The ticks that transmit Lyme disease can occasionally transmit other tick-borne diseases as well.

From WebMD.com...

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted by a tick. . . .

In the early stages of Lyme disease, you may experience flu-like symptoms that can include a stiff neck, chills, fever, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, fatigue, muscle aches, and joint pain. You also may experience a large, expanding skin rash around the area of the tick bite. In more advanced disease, nerve problems and arthritis, especially in the knees, may occur.

Erythema migrans is the telltale rash which occurs in about 70% to 80% of cases and starts as a small red spot that expands over a period of days or weeks, forming a circular, triangular, or oval-shaped rash. Sometimes the rash resembles a bull's-eye because it appears as a red ring surrounding a central clear area. The rash, which can range in size from that of a dime to the entire width of a person's back, appears between three days and a few weeks of a tick bite, usually occurring at the site of a bite. As infection spreads, several rashes can appear at different sites on the body.

Erythema migrans is often accompanied by symptoms such as fever, headache, stiff neck, body aches, and fatigue. These flu-like symptoms may resemble those of common viral infections and usually resolve within days or a few weeks.

In its early stages, Lyme disease can be effectively treated with antibiotics. In general, the sooner such therapy is begun following infection, the quicker and more complete the recovery. Antibiotics, such as doxycycline or amoxicillin taken orally for two to four weeks, can speed the healing of the rash and can usually prevent subsequent symptoms such as arthritis or neurological problems.

That's a pretty spot-on description of what Ari had. She had been fighting off what seemed like a normal cold, so I'm not sure if that was a symptom of the Lyme disease, or something unrelated, but when she broke out with the fever, that's when we knew she was definitely sick. Tony was the one who spotted the rash, which formed around her left ear. All I noticed was a red spot just in front of her ear, which, like I said earlier, made me think maybe she'd bumped her head. But Tony was the one who pulled her hair back and realized it formed a ring around her ear. And she kept complaining about various body parts hurting--probably the joint pain described above.

Lyme disease is only transmitted by ticks, and it's not contagious from person to person. So at least we don't have to worry that she shared it with any of her little friends. As far as how she got it... well, obviously, she got it from a tick. But we have no idea when that happened--our only guess is that it was somewhat recent. But neither of us ever saw a tick on her.

We caught it in the early stages, which is a good thing. She'll be on amoxicillin for 2 more weeks, for a total of 3 weeks. And then I think that's it. The doctor just told us to keep on the lookout for the return of any symptoms, such as the rash, or joint pain/swelling. The general consensus, from what I've read, seems to be that the earlier it's caught, the better, and that a person can make a full recovery. There are some sites, though, that seem to think it's something that's always lurking in the background in a person's body and can recur at any time. So... I guess we'll see.

As far as Ari herself, she is definitely feeling better. Pretty much all her symptoms are gone. She does feel a little warm from time to time, but I'm not sure if that's a low-grade fever, or just me being extra alert to her temperature. But she is most definitely back to her usual sassy little self, which is great.

Diva-licious

2010-06-14T08:55:00.000-04:00

I watched the Tony Awards last night. Man, I love that show. For the performances more than the actual awards and such, though, of course. It's like a lovely little preview of all the hot new shows on Broadway. It makes me miss New York City. If I had unlimited cash, or won the lottery or something, I would definitely blow a ton of money on seeing every single Broadway play I could.

While watching the Tony's, I completed Workout #2 of Week 1 of the "Couch to 5K" program. (Yeh, I started on Friday, so my "weeks" are going to be a little messed up, but oh well.) For the first week, the workouts consist of 5 minutes of brisk walking, then alternating 60 seconds of jogging with 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. Totally doable so far... though I'm sweating like a pig by the time I'm done, and I HATE being sweaty. But, it's all for a good reason... to get myself in better shape, to be able to run a 5K, to push myself a little farther than my usual.

I've got a few Ari pictures to share. She picked this whole outfit out herself at the store the other day--the shirt, the hat, and the sunglasses. And then picked them all out again on Saturday when we were getting ready to go to the church's spaghetti dinner. She looked like such a little diva, I just had to get some pics.

She loves having her picture taken lately... can you tell?

This pose was completely her idea... she's recently learned how to do thumbs-up...

The peace signs were my idea...

She packed her own bag to take with her too. She's so self-sufficient lately...

And a nice picture with Daddy...

And a not-so-nice one with me. Guess she didn't want to share the spotlight with another diva?

I'll be saving a lot on shampoo for a while...

2010-06-05T12:31:00.004-04:00

I've been growing my hair out for a loooooong time now, with the intention of donating it, and I finally got up the nerve to chop it all off last night. Initially, I planned to donate it to Locks of Love, mostly because that was the only hair donation program I'd ever heard of. But I went with the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program instead. I forget how I first heard of the Pantene program, but I liked it initially because they only require 8" instead of 10". Then I researched it and learned that they donate all their wigs for free to cancer patients. What's not to love about that?

You can find out more about the Pantene program here.

So, you want to see pictures, right?

Of course, I had to take a couple "before" pictures. I only wanted one of the back of my head, but Tony insisted on a front shot too, so that's why you get me making this "Do I HAVE to?" face.

This one of the back of my head really made me go "Whoa." I don't often get a straight-on view of the back of my head like that. My hair was really long!

When I got to the salon, I told the lady that I wanted to donate my hair, and pulled a hair elastic and Ziploc bag out of my purse. She was a little weird about it at first... seemed kind of nervous or something. And she kept asking me if I was sure I had enough, which annoyed me a little. Like I'm really going to hack off that much hair without checking to make sure it's long enough first.

Anyway, once we got past that, she was great. I was a little surprised how long it took for her just to cut off the ponytail. I figured it would be a quick snip-snip and she'd be done, but she actually had to spend a couple minutes sawing away at it, coming at it from both sides, before she finally got it off. I know my hair is thick (and she commented on that too), but I didn't expect it to be quite that troublesome. It was amusing.

So this is what I ended up with, to donate. I put an extra elastic on it, just to make sure it all stayed together, because if it's not in an elastic, they can't use it. I printed out the donation instructions online, and saw that they put a little "ruler" along the right edge of the page (which you can't really see in this pic, but oh well). All in all, I actually ended up with 10" to donate. So even if the ends are a little too scraggly for them to be able to use, there's definitely still a solid 8" there.

And, now, the moment you've been waiting for... the "after" pics. I waited until today to take these, after my hair had been washed, dried, and straightened. First, the back view...

And the front...

And a closer-up view. (Ari gave me that flower and insisted that I put it in my hair.)

And of course, the big question is... do I like the new 'do? It's OK. I don't hate it... I think it's just that it's SO different, so I'm not quite sure what I think of it. I mean, I knew it was going to be really short, but seeing it in reality was a bit jarring. It will grow. And, more importantly, I donated all that excess hair to a good cause... so I can't really be too sad about it, can I?

I went to the post office this morning, and mailed my hair. Because I knew if I didn't do it right away, I'd likely forget, which would defeat the entire purpose.

No going back now... :)

Weekend pictures and stuff

2010-06-01T16:08:00.000-04:00

Surprisingly, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures this weekend. So I stole most of these pics from other people (ahh, Facebook is a wonderful thing).

We had a ton of people over on Sunday afternoon/evening for a big cookout. Highlight of the afternoon for the kidlets was running through the sprinkler. That's Ari in the purple. (And yeh, ignore the crazy date.)

Toward the end of the evening, we remembered that we needed to change the outdoor signs our church uses (which are stored in our basement) so that they could be put back on display with our next coming event. When we were done, I struck my best Vanna White pose...

We went to my aunt and uncle's house for a picnic on Monday. Before we left our house, I wanted to get a picture of Ari in her oh-so-cute outfit. I let her pack a bag of toys to keep her occupied in the car, and she thought she was hot stuff, trotting around with that backpack and her hands full of extra toys that didn't quite fit. And of course, seeing her with that backpack made me imagine her going off to her first day of school... which is only a little over a year away. Craziness. (And in case you're wondering, wearing socks with her sandals was HER idea, not mine. I managed to talk her out of the socks later.)

And Tony jumped in on a picture...

I stole the rest of these pics from my mom's FB page. Here's a 4-generation picture... my Grampa, me, my mom, and Ari...

And Ari and her Grampa (my dad)...

My cousin's daughter Emma (who is just shy of 2 years old) and Ari... I think this picture is so cute. They both adored each other.

Hope you all had a lovely Memorial Day weekend!

My heart belongs to ME

2010-05-24T12:23:00.001-04:00

Just some random stuff about Ari...

As I was getting Ari dressed one morning last week, she said, "Mommy, can you put my hair in a pretty ponytail? I want to look bee-YOO-tiful today!"

Of course I said yes. And also made a point of telling her that she's beautiful no matter what.

Lately, we've been teaching Ari her address, Daddy's phone number, etc. I mean, they say it's important for kids to know stuff like that, right? The problem is, she likes to share that information with random strangers--last week, it was the cashier at Target. I guess we need to make sure we also teach her the right times to share that kind of stuff.

She's getting a lot more bold with strangers, lately, which amuses me. She talked to a man in a wheelchair at Target, asking him his name and what he was doing. When we were walking a few nights ago, she asked the same questions of a man we passed on the sidewalk... and then proceeded to invite him over to our house. Goofball.

We've been struggling a little bit at bedtime with Ari. She's always been a fantastic sleeper, and would usually go to bed with no issues. Now, she keeps getting up. At first, she would say she had to go potty--and how can you argue with that? But then it would turn into 3 or 4 trips to the potty, so we finally told her she would get in trouble if she got up and didn't go potty. But now she's moved on from that to just making random excuses to get up--like saying she wants different pajamas, or different animals for her bed, or there's a light shining through her curtains, or she misses us. Really, it's SO hard not to laugh at some of the crazy excuses she comes up with. There was one time recently where she kept yelling for me, and when I finally went to her and asked her what was wrong, she went, "Um... uh..." and I swear I could see the wheels turning in her head as she struggled to come up with a legitimate reason for calling me. Little rascal.

Ari brought me a toy car yesterday, saying, "Mommy, look." She shoved it under my nose and calmly said, "Spider." And, indeed, there was a real, live spider sitting on the seat. I set the car on the coffee table, trying to be all calm and cool, and told her to go get me a tissue. When she came back, she kind of grinned nervously at me and said, "I'm scared." Of course, I told her not to be, trying my best to be reassuring. I picked up the car, turned it upside down, and hit it lightly against the table, figuring it would be easier to kill the spider if it was on the table instead of in the car. Sure enough, the spider fell out, and I went to smash it with the tissue, feeling pretty proud of myself for being so chill about this. Except the spider kind of started to move, and my fingers were kind of right on the edge of the tissue, and I kind of half-smushed it with my bare fingers, and as soon as I realized I'd done that, and also not really killed it, I yelped like the sissy little girl that I am as I lifted the tissue and brought it back down right on top of the spider, killing it for good. Then I glanced at Ari, and she was just staring at me, a bit wide-eyed, but with a hint of a smile, as if she were trying to figure out how to react. So of course, I went back to being the calm and cool mom, and laughed and said everything was fine. Then she grinned full-on and said, "I knew you could do it, Mommy!" And then I laughed for real and hugged her.

Conversation Tony and Ari had as he was putting her in her pajamas last night...

Tony: Hey, Ari, do you know what your shirt says?
Ari: What?
Tony: It says, "My heart belongs to Daddy."
Ari: No, it belongs to ME!

4 things

2010-05-17T15:59:00.001-04:00

It's Monday. Blah. No one really likes Mondays, right? So I thought I'd share something upbeat... a few little stories of things that have touched my heart recently.

1. We went for a walk as a family on Friday evening. Ari has a giant red wagon that we always bring with us, so she has something to ride in when she gets tired. When she does want to walk, she usually insists on pulling the wagon, which is fine with us. She was doing that on Friday, kind of running a little, when she tripped and fell. Her hand had gotten trapped under her body and taken the brunt of the hit, so 2 of her knuckles were scraped pretty badly and bleeding. Of course, she was crying and sobbing, and we had nothing with us--I didn't even have any tissues in my pocket. And we were a good distance from our house. We tried to calm her down, cuddling her and then sitting her in the wagon and continuing to walk, but she just kept crying and bleeding. I was thisclose to using the hem of my own shirt to sop up the blood on her fingers. Then Tony spotted a woman sitting out on her porch and asked her if she possibly had a tissue or papertowel or something, explaining that our daughter had scraped her hand. She scurried inside quickly, and came back out with a few papertowels, an entire box of band-aids, and a bag of chocolates for Ari. She was SO nice. We blotted the blood with the papertowels, then bandaged up Ari's fingers, and once Ari stopped crying, she started interrogating the lady (a sure sign she was feeling better)... "What's your name? Do you have any brothers or sisters? Where are your sons? When will they be home?" The lady gave us a couple extra papertowels and a whole bunch of extra band-aids, and even kissed Ari on the forehead as we left. It was so sweet, and I was so touched by her kindness. She told Ari that her 2 sons were all grown-up (in their 20s), so I'm sure she loved having a little kid to fuss over. I wish I could remember what house was hers, to thank her.

2. Later Friday night, I was at the computer working on church-related stuff, and Tony was out in the living room watching TV. My phone buzzed with a text message... from Tony. He wrote: "I love you so much... You are my best friend. My soulmate. My wife. My lover. My one and only. My true love. I am so blessed to be married to you. I LOVE YOU!!" When I mentioned it to him, he tried to act like he didn't know what I was talking about, silly boy. The next day, we were at the wedding of a couple friends of ours, and he kept looking at me with this look in his eyes... and kept stealing kisses throughout the day. Weddings make us BOTH sappy, I guess.

3. I had just stumbled out of bed on Sunday morning, and was barely even awake, when Ari joined me in the bathroom. She, of course, had already been awake for a good half-hour or so (but even still, she's totally the type who wakes up fully alive and alert in the mornings). She came over to me and stood in front of me for a moment. "Mama," she cooed... and man, I wish you could hear the way she says that sometimes. It's the sweetest, most loving tone. Anyway, as she said that, she wrapped her arms around me and I asked, "What, sweets?" She sighed a happy little sigh and added, "I miss you, Mama. And I love you." Just totally out of nowhere. Not sure why she was saying she missed me, since she'd been lying beside me in bed not 2 minutes earlier, but the "I love you" was especially precious. There's nothing--nothing--like an unprompted "I love you" from someone you adore.

4. And last, but not least... a friend of mine here at work brings me chocolate every Monday, and he just delivered my weekly fix... today, I got 2. Dove dark chocolate. Mmm. I know it's such a small thing, but it makes me smile every time. It really is the little things.

Mother's Day weekend

2010-05-09T22:32:00.001-04:00

This has been a pretty busy weekend. Friday night, we did some shopping for Mother's Day cards and gifts for our moms, and then let Ari play around at the mall a little, riding the carousel and things like that.

Saturday morning, our church participated in "Community Day" in the town where our church meets, for the first time. It was pouring down rain on Saturday morning, so everything got moved into the town's middle school. We got a good spot, though, and everything seemed to go well. Of course, we wandered around to check out the other booths, too. We came across one for a dance school in the town--they were having a drawing for a free year of dance class, and we both entered. Plus, Tony got chatting with the people running the booth and got a lot of information on the school and the classes they offered for kids Ari's age. Then, later in the afternoon, they had several of their dance classes perform--almost like a mini-recital. Ari saw all the girls walking around in their costumes and wanted to watch, so we snagged some great front-row seats, and she sat and watched the entire show, which lasted well over an hour. At the end of the show, they did the drawing... and pulled out Tony's name. So we now have our choice of one dance class for Ari, for one full year (as in, a school year... so, September through May/June)... for FREE. We are so excited. I hope Ari will love it. And even if she doesn't... hey, it was free.

I got my Mother's Day gift from Ari on Saturday afternoon, which was a good thing, because Sunday was so hectic. She painted this frame in preschool, and then Tony provided the picture (which I guess makes it a joint gift).

After Ari went to bed that night, I treated myself to a little trip to Kohl's and bought these 2 purses as a Mother's Day gift to myself. I couldn't decide which color I liked better, so I bought both, planning to return one. But now I think I might keep them both... I love the style. I'm using the silvery-gray one right now.

Then I made banana muffins... from scratch. Because I rock.

Sunday was church, of course, and before the service started, Pastor pulled me and Kerry aside and presented each of us with a new Bible, as a way of thanking us for all the work we do with the church. I thought that was so sweet of him.

After church, we headed to my parents' house and spent the afternoon there. We had dinner, dessert, played some board games, and just hung out. Dave, Jess, and Micah came over later in the afternoon, too.

I wanted to get a picture of me, my mom, and Ari.

Tony took this shot in between poses. I love it. Candid pictures are the best.

And last but not least, a couple of videos. On the way home from the mall on Friday night, Ari kept making up all these crazy songs, about all sorts of subjects. There was even an entire song dedicated to poop, and a song about the dogs that ended with "And Ivan licks Sasha's butt." But she did sing some sweet songs, too--about the seasons, about Daddy, and about Mommy. I tried to get her to continue when we got home, and even though these songs are cute, they're not nearly as insane as the ones she was inventing in the car.

This first one is the Tummy Song...

This is the Spring Song... She even added some "interpretive dance" moves to this one...

A trip to the zoo

2010-05-03T09:48:00.001-04:00

On Saturday, we went to the zoo. The idea entered my head during the day on Friday... the forecast was calling for such nice weather, and it seemed a shame to "waste" it. Plus our library has a free pass you can borrow that's good for up to 2 adults and 4 children--but it's first come, first serve. Luckily, I was able to get it on Friday night. I had Ari with me when I went to the library, and I made sure to grab a book that featured a lot of zoo-type animals. (She cracks me up when we go to the library--she'll just pull random books off the shelves and hand them to me. But at least she's interested in books, so I'm not complaining.) Once I had the pass, I told her what we were going to do the next day, and she was suitably psyched.

I grabbed a quick father-daughter picture right inside the entrance...

This display was right next to the condor. I like her little pose here...

The prairie dog exhibit was one of my favorites, and Ari's too, I think. They had a tunnel under the hill with several holes you could climb into a get a closer look at the prairie dogs. See Tony and Ari in that middle one?

We stopped by again later in the day, and here are me and Ari in the same hole. I'm amused at the obvious height difference between me and Tony. And for the record, I was even standing on my tiptoes in this picture (I had to, in order to see over the edge).

Close-up of some prairie dogs because they're just oh-so-cute...

They had a table set up where kids could do stamps of some animal footprints. Yeh, don't ask me what animals these are... I totally don't remember. But Ari got a kick out of doing this.

This zoo had several types of birds that were free to roam the premises, and Ari just loved that. She kept wanting to catch one. Here, she's following a pheasant.

OK, look at the difference here... picture with Daddy, Ari is smiling nicely...

Picture with Mommy... she's trying to strangle me. (Nah, I think she was just hugging me. I think...)

I love the smile on her face in this picture...

And here she is, following a free-range rooster...

I should have gotten a video of this... she was cooing at this duck (? goose? whatever) in the sweetest little voice...

Among the free-roaming birds were several peacocks, and this one put on a lovely display for us. I took a bunch of pictures, because it was so pretty, and I don't think I've ever seen a peacock do that in real life. (Don't worry, I won't show you all of them.)

OK, just one more...

I thought these 2 ocelots were so adorable...

You can't even see what Ari was looking at in this picture (a pygmy marmoset, if you're curious), but I just love the look on her face.

Near the bison exhibit, they had a small display with a bison skull and some patches of their summer and winter coat.

And then the lady manning the display table offered to take our picture. I think it came out pretty nice. It even features the bison (who we found out is named Dakota).

They had this giant hollow log the kids could climb into...

We spent probably about 3 hours roaming around the zoo. And once we left, she quickly conked out in the car. I think it's sweet the way she's clutching her library book here.

And that was our Saturday. Sunday was church as usual, then we spent the afternoon hanging out at a friend's house. It was just as sunny and warm as Saturday had been, plus a little more humid. But the kids (a total of 5 of them, all age 6 and under) played outside ALL DAY. They were sweaty and flushed, but still had so much energy. One of Ari's little friends has a quad, so they all got a chance to drive/ride it. (Ari just rode--but she loved it!) And when they weren't riding, they were playing elsewhere outside... and Kerry and I even took them all to the park, and they still kept going and going and going. Of course, by the time we got home, Ari was thoroughly wiped out, so the bedtime routine involved a lot of crying and whining and even screaming. But once I got her into bed, she pretty much went right to sleep.

And that was our weekend.

Miscellaneous ramblings

2010-04-30T11:38:00.000-04:00

I woke up with a headache this morning. That just seems so unfair, to wake up with a headache. Kind of makes me wonder what I was doing in my sleep.

I'm on the e-mail list for Victoria's Secret, and the subject line of the latest e-mail I got from them said, "Hello, Bombshell." They sure know how to flatter a girl.

Kristin Chenoweth was on "Glee" this week, and she was, once again, fantastic. Her character is hilarious. And she sang at least twice--maybe 3 times? Anyway, it was another stellar episode. I love that show.

Had the following conversation with Ari a few days ago...

Me: (noticing what's in Ari's hands) Ari, where did you find those barrettes?
Ari: I got them from your stupid car.
Me: What did you say?
Ari: I got them from your car.
Me: Ari, we don't say "stupid."

I was so amused at the way she "censored" herself when I asked her to repeat what she said. Devious little thing.

I was reading Ari the story of "Peter and the Wolf" a few nights ago... the Disney version. I had completely forgotten, until we got into it, that there were animal characters named Sasha and Ivan (the names of our dogs). Ari was so excited to see names that she recognized... but seemed a bit confused too, since Sasha was a bird and Ivan was a cat.

Monday morning, I dropped Ari off at preschool. Tony picked her up, then took her to my parents' house, where she spent the night. So I wasn't going to see her again until Tuesday after work. Tuesday afternoon, Tony called, and said Ari wanted to talk to me. We chatted for a little while, and then she asked, "Mommy, are you at work?" When I said yes, she asked, "When are you coming home?" I told her around suppertime, and all of a sudden, her voice got so sad as she said, "But, Mommy, I waaaaaaant you." I told her I missed her too, but I would see her soon. She repeated, even more pitifully, "Mommy, I waaaaant you." Gah, break my heart, why don't you, kid?

Since we were child-free on Monday night, we had a random date night, and we went to see the movie "Date Night" (how fitting, right?). It was so funny, just as I thought it would be. I mean, Steve Carell AND Tina Fey together? How could it NOT be funny?

I have to show you Ari's latest skill... she can write her name. The 3 letters across the bottom (I-A-R) were her first attempt--she knows it's A-R-I, but for whatever reason, she put the letters all over the page. I praised her for writing the letters so well, then told her the right order. So she wrote them again, in the right order, at the top left. Then she declared, "I want to keep practicing" and wrote her name once more.

Then she wanted to write my name. I asked if she meant Mommy or Sara, and she said Sara. So that long wavy line at the bottom is the S. And then you can see the A-R-A. And then she added that tiny vertical line at the bottom right and told me it was an I.

I'm glad I took pictures of these, because a few minutes after I did, she scribbled all over them and covered up all the letters. Silly kid.

And that's all I've got for today. It's going to be a gorgeous weekend here--sunny and in the 80s. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Miscellaneous pics, BlackBerry style

2010-04-26T15:59:00.000-04:00

I realized the other day that I have a lot of random pics in my BlackBerry that I never got around to sharing here. So I figured I should download them to my computer and/or online web albums, and then post a few here. They're of Ari (of course, right?), and the dates are just for my own reference.

11-8-09... Helping Grampa in the kitchen. I'm not sure how much she was actually helping, but I still thought it was a sweet moment. She loves her Grampa.

11-12-09... She joined me in the bathroom one morning while I was getting ready for work, and decided to make herself comfy. I like her "What? Is there something weird about this?" face...

12-5-09... In the bathtub (obviously), shooting me a cheese-tastic grin.

12-28-09... I really thought I had posted this one. She wanted to try this hat on in Wal-Mart, and I died laughing. Tell me she doesn't look JUST like Baby Happy from "Rudolph's Shiny New Year."

2-3-10... Keeping herself entertained at the barber shop while Tony got his hair cut. The slightly-crazed look in her eyes amuses me.

2-19-10... Ari fell asleep in the car one evening on the way home from somewhere. We tried to wake her up, but she was dead to the world. So Tony pulled her into his lap in the driver's seat, where she nestled up against his chest and fell right back to sleep. It was too sweet not to take a picture of.

4-7-10... We bought her a headband (the kind that wraps all the way around the head), hoping she would take to it and that we could use it to help her keep her hair out of her face. She insisted on putting it on by herself in the car, and this was the result. And the face? That's her telling me not to take her picture. I think she was a little miffed that I was laughing at her.

4-23-10...When Ari was sick last Friday, Tony put her hair up in a ponytail, for purely practical reasons (to keep her from puking in her hair a second time). I rarely put her hair in a ponytail because it has this really stubborn natural side part and it doesn't comb straight back very well. I don't know what his trick was, but he got it to work, and there's just something about this profile shot of her that I love.

And I just have to throw in this last one...

3-13-07... One of my all-time favorite pictures of Ari. I took this with my old cell phone, and was impressed that it came out so clear. She's a little over 8 months old in this shot...

Conversations with Ari

2010-04-21T09:21:00.000-04:00

On the way home from my parents' house the other night...

Ari: Why isn't Gramma coming with us?
Tony: Because she's going to stay home with Grampa.
Ari: Why?
Tony: Well, because she's married to him, and they live together, and they like to spend time together.
Ari: Oh. *pause* Are you and Mommy married?
Tony: Yes, we are.
Ari: Are Brandon and Kerry married?
Tony: Yup.
Ari: Are Ty-Ty and Molly married?
Tony: No, Ty-Ty and Molly are brother and sister.
Ari: Oh. *pause* I think I need a brother or sister so I can have someone to stay home with me and play with me all the time.
Tony: Well, what about Mommy and Daddy? You have us to play with.
Ari: No, I think I need a brother or sister.
Tony: What about Sasha and Ivan?
Ari: No, I need a little sister to play with.

Before bedtime a couple nights ago...

Ari: Mommy, do you have a baby in your belly?
Me: Nope.
Ari: Remember when I was a baby in your belly? That was a long time ago.
Me: *smile* I remember.
Ari: Do I have a baby in my belly?
Me: No, you don't. And you won't, till you're a grown-up.
Ari: How do I do that?
Me: Ha, there is no way I am having THAT conversation with you right now.

Important note: We are in the CAR.

Ari: Mommy, let's play a game!
Me: OK, what do you want to play?
Ari: Hide and go seek!
Me: Uh... Ari? I don't think we can play that in the car.
Ari: Yes we can! You count, and I'll hide.
Me: Um... OK.
Ari: Count, Mommy!
Me: 1... 2... 3... 4... 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ready or not here I come. (turns around) Uh, I found you.
Ari: *laughs* OK, now I'll count, and YOU hide!
Me: Ari, seriously, this is not going to work.

Easter Sunday

2010-04-05T16:39:00.000-04:00

If you missed them, there are more Easter pics in the previous entry.

So, Easter Sunday... I wanted to take a few pictures of her before we left for church, in case I didn't have time later or in case she ruined her dress somehow at church. So that's where those last couple photos in the previous entry are from. I also made a lame attempt at a father-daughter shot. The sun was really bright, and we didn't have a lot of time. But see those flowers on the right? We bought those from our local fire station on Friday. I guess they have a flower sale every year, as a fundraiser, and Ari has been obsessed with the fire station lately, so we took a walk up there, figuring we'd support the firefighters and let Ari get a close-up look at the trucks. Even better, she got to go inside 2 of them. She was in heaven.

After the church service, they had an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids. See her excitement? I'm pretty sure this was the highlight of Ari's day. Her Sunday school teacher told me that was all she talked about during the entire class.

Showing me one of her first finds...

Action shot!

After she was done hunting eggs (i.e., when there were no more to be found), she started hunting dandelions.

But then soon, she decided she needed to check and make sure all the eggs were really gone. Also... why does this picture make me think she's just about to tumble down a rabbit hole or something? Maybe it's the blonde hair and the blue dress and the fact that I saw "Alice in Wonderland" not too long ago...

I like the expression on her face here...

After church we went to my parents' house for dinner. We made a couple attempts at a family photo. Sometimes I wonder why I bother...

Then my mom set up a little indoor Easter Egg Hunt for Ari, which she loved. (This is another one of my favorite pics from the weekend.)

Showing me her eggs...

She also opened the Easter package she got from Tony's mom. Here she's struggling with the envelope on the card...

Tony helped her open it, and she was thrilled to discover $2 inside. (She's already to the point where, every time she gets a card, she wonders out loud it if has "dollars" in it.)

This picture cracks me up... Tony was trying to read the card to her, but she's peeking into the bag to see what's next.

She also got a cute outfit. I asked her to hold the shirt up for me, and she purposely held it over her legs.

Then she wanted to crack open every single plastic egg to see what was inside...

My brother Dave, Jess, and Micah came over later in the afternoon. Ari played shy with Micah for a few minutes (that's her new "thing"--playing shy with people she knows), but then warmed right up to him. We tried to get a picture of the two of them, and I'm sure you can imagine how well that went. This was probably the best of the 4 or 5 shots I took.

And... that's it. Hope you all had a Merry Easter!

Easter eggs, colored and tattooed

2010-04-04T23:01:00.002-04:00

I took way too many pictures this weekend. So this will be the first of 2 Easter-related entries.

Matt and Kristin and their brood came over on Saturday evening, and Ari and Nick colored Easter eggs (with help from me and Kristin, of course).

Here we are, just getting started...

Ari wanted to check her eggs every 2 seconds or so...

I think she was telling me that this one wasn't done yet... (Do you dig her tattoos? Can you see mine?)

This was her last egg, which she insisted on dunking into several different dyes.

Trying to get Ari and Nick to pose for a picture. Asking them to say "cheese" produces these crazy/fake smiles...

After the eggs dried, it was time to apply the tattoos. There was a whole sheet of tattoos, and you simply rubbed them on to the egg with a little stick. They actually looked really good once they were on.

Showing off a few of our eggs...

Still hard at work... (I love the way she has her face pressed up against mine...)

Ari was great at helping peel away the plastic layer over the tattoos...

Ari and Nick, with their finished eggs on display...

And a final group shot...

Next entry will be pics from Easter Sunday. But here's a sneak peek...

And this picture is one of my favorite from the weekend. I had taken several shots by this point, and she was already getting sick of pictures...

OK, now I'm really done this time.

Just call me Mama

2010-03-22T17:03:00.001-04:00

Every night at bedtime, Ari asks me, "What am I going to do when I wake up?" No matter what my answer is, she usually doesn't react much.

But last night, when I said, "Well, you're going to go to Zane's house--"

She interrupted me excitedly with, "And go to preschool?!" When I said yes, she replied, "Woo hoo!"

(Oh yeh, by the way... Ari's starting preschool. Through a lady in our church, who also has a little boy around Ari's age [which is why she calls it "Zane's house"].)

This morning, I was running late and asked Tony to help me get her ready, which meant he had to wake her up. Her first words to him were, "Daddy, Mommy said when I wake up today, I'm going to go to preschool!"

Maybe I should have taken a picture of her this morning, to mark the occasion. She's been going to this house for the past 2 weeks, though, so it doesn't feel like a big change yet. Maybe it will sink in later this week or next week, when I realize I'm taking her there every single day.

I'm really hoping she does well with this, and I think she will. It's not like she's been home with Tony all the time--she's gone to a babysitter's twice a week for the past 3 years of her life. I'm assuming she'll adjust easily to a 5-days-a-week schedule. And it will be different because she'll be with other kids her age now. And besides all that, I really think she's ready for it. I'm excited to see all the things she's going to learn.

Speaking of that, her drawing skills have really improved lately. And by "lately" I mean literally within the past week or so. She's enjoyed drawing for a while now, but it's usually mostly unrecognizable scribbles. And even when it is something recognizable, it's just a few random shapes, or a couple numbers or letters--nothing that really looks like a purposeful drawing. But last night at the restaurant, she drew a picture of a monster on the back of her placemat. I really should have kept it, or taken a picture of it before we left, because I was so impressed. She made the outline of the monster in jagged lines, and drew 2 eyes and a mouth (a smiling mouth, too, which she said meant it was a happy monster). Then she drew what looked like 5 or 6 buttons going down its body. There were 2 crooked horizontal lines for arms, and 2 vertical ones for legs--and at the bottom of each leg was a little scribble that looked like a foot.

Her imagination is expanding too. Her newest thing is to make her toys talk to us. For example, we'll be in the car, and she'll say, "Mommy?" When I reply, she'll say, "No, Bunny wants to talk to you." And then Bunny (or whatever toy she happens to have) will ask a question like, "When we get home, can we play outside?" Yesterday, she was playing with her plastic spoon at lunch, and when I asked her what she was doing, she said Spoon was singing a song. Then she said Spoon wanted to tell me a secret, and held the spoon up to my ear, right next to her mouth, as she whispered to me. I'm just waiting for her to learn how to disguise her voice when she does this.

She told me a few days ago that she wants to be a princess. When I told her she already was, because she's my princess, she replied, "No, I want to be a REAL princess." If I hadn't known better, I would have sworn she rolled her eyes at me. As imaginative as she can be, she can also have her moments where she's amusingly realistic.

The next day, I watched her kiss Tony on the cheek and declare, "Daddy, now you're a prince!" I giggled and told him, "I guess that means she thinks you were a frog before."

She's taken to calling me "Mama" now, which totally baffles me. She alternates between "Mommy" and "Mama" but I really have no idea where she's getting "Mama" from. We never use it ourselves, and I don't think I even know any friends of hers who call their mothers "Mama." Sometimes it even comes out as "Mumma" which amuses me even more.

I have just been so moved lately by how big she is getting... all the things she can do for herself now, the way she can carry on a conversation, the crazy things her imaginative little brain comes up with, and so much more. And yes, there's the flip side--the meltdowns and pouting and tantrums and yelling and downright meanness. But as much as all that kind of stuff frustrates me, I can't help but realize that it's just further proof that she's growing up, trying to learn to deal with strong emotions and the unfairness of life and the rejection of friends and not getting her way all of the time.

I really need to take some videos of her soon. If not for posting here, then at least for my own sake. She's growing and changing so rapidly lately that I feel like mere words are not enough to "capture" her.

Just got a text from the preschool teacher (sent to all of us parents)...

I just love your children. Thank you for this opportunity! They are all truly wonderful, so good, so helpful, so kind... just all around great! Hope u have a great afternoon!

Guess they're all having a good first day. :)

Randomness, courtesy of Ari

2010-03-16T16:34:00.000-04:00

In the car on the way home last night...

Ari: Mommy?

Me: Yeh?

Ari: Are we off the highway yet?

Me: Nope, not yet.

Ari: Don't lie to me.

Me: I'm not. We're still on the highway.

Ari: (very seriously) Don't lie to me, Mommy.

Me: (thinking) What...??

Ari's excuses for not sleeping and/or getting out of bed last night:

No more than 2 minutes after I laid her down... "I just can't close my eyes."

After shouting, "Mommy, I need you!" over and over... "I just can't go to school if I don't know all my numbers."

To Tony, when he asked why she was out of bed... "I just want to look at you."

Gimme that Filet-o-Fish

2010-03-12T16:33:00.000-05:00

Just some random stuff...

The weather has been so nice this week... sunny and in the mid-50s. We've all been taking advantage of it--including Ari. We got her a bike helmet and knee and elbow pads for Christmas, and this is the first chance she's had to use them. She's ridden her bike a few times before, but this is the first time she's done it with all this gear, and somehow it makes her seem so much older...

Wednesday, after work, I embarked on a sneaker-shopping mission. I've had my sneakers for... well, for too long. I mean, when the tread on the bottom has been all smoothed away, you know it's time for new ones. So off I went to Kohl's, armed with a 20%-off coupon (side note: Seriously, Kohl's, don't I deserve a 30%-off coupon sometime soon?). Turns out they were having some good sales too. So I am now the proud owner of these shiny new sneakers...

And I'm also the proud owner of these snazzy shoes. (C'mon... did you really think I would enter the shoe department and only look at sneakers?)

I have never bought shoes that color before, and normally wouldn't, but they were on clearance, and I thought, why not? I always buy black or brown, to be practical (since they go with almost everything), but these will go with quite a few pieces of my clothing. Plus, they're cute!

I also came home with this shirt. But I blame Tony for that one.

A co-worker of mine came into our room earlier with this...

It plays that annoying McDonald's "Gimme that Filet-o-Fish" song. It even includes a dance remix of it (though he spared us from that version).

Grrr....

We went to Coldstone last night so that Tony could get his free birthday ice cream. Of course, I planned to get some ice cream myself. But they were having issues with their freezer, and the only flavors they had were sweet cream, pumpkin, and mint. Ew, ew and ew. I was highly disappointed.

We went to the mall last night, figuring we would let Ari play in the play area while we were there. But as we approached it, she asked if we could go to the bookstore (AKA Barnes and Noble) instead. We asked her if she was sure, and she insisted she was, so off we went. I was so proud. I parked myself next to her on a kiddie-sized bench, and must have read her at least 10 books.

Note to self: On Idol elimination nights, stay away from Twitter and Facebook until AFTER you've watched the show.

This just makes me so sad...

So this weekend, we "spring forward." Sure, we lose an hour of sleep, but I'm looking forward to having more daylight at the end of my workday.

Also, Tony and I have a date night planned for Sunday night... dinner, and then Alice in Wonderland. And Ari is spending the night with my parents again.

Plus, "Celebrity Apprentice" starts on Sunday!

It's going to be a good weekend.

There is nothing for me but to love you

2010-03-05T08:43:00.001-05:00

Is there anything sweeter and more soothing than watching your child sleep? Especially when it's "accidental." She was watching TV, and was so worn-out from her busy day that she drifted off to sleep, just like this.

This picture makes me smile.

Parenting skillz

2010-03-03T09:10:00.001-05:00

In the car on the way to dinner Monday night...

Ari: What happens if we meet a mean giant?

Tony: Daddy would beat him up.

Me: (to Tony) Way to promote violence...

Ari: But Daddy, if you beat him, he would get back up.

Me: Well, maybe we could talk to him, and tell him to stop being so mean... and tell him that we want to be friends.

Ari: Or we could shoot him!

Me: (muttering) Great...

Ari: What if we see a ghost and the big bad wolf?

Tony: Well, Daddy could shoot the big bad wolf and we could eat him for supper.

Me: (to Tony) Dude...!

Ari: No, we not going to eat the wolf!

Tony: Well, maybe the ghost would scare the wolf--

Me: (cutting him off) OR we could talk to the ghost and the big bad wolf, and we could all be friends.

Tony: (grinning at me) Or that.

Mama who bore me

2010-02-28T20:36:00.000-05:00

This weekend has been jam-packed, holy cow...

Friday, I left work early and got home around 4. Tony had already dropped Ari off with my parents, so we had the house to ourselves. We had a few gift certificates for a few different restaurants, and decided to try a new-to-us place downtown, just a couple blocks from the theater. Tony called to make a reservation, and we were set to go.

The restaurant was great... cozy atmosphere, great food, even valet parking. It's right across the street from a huge park, so it would be even lovelier in the summer, I'm sure.

The service was so fast that we found ourselves with lots of time to kill before the show. So we both ordered dessert... he got boring vanilla ice cream, while I got this decadent chocolate truffle that I couldn't even finish.

Then it was time for the show, "Spring Awakening." I didn't know much about it, but a co-worker of mine saw it in NYC (starring Lea Michele, the girl who now plays Rachel on "Glee") and she raved about it. I knew the show dealt with the topic of teenagers experiencing their "sexual awakening," but I had no idea that was the entire focus of the show. It was a powerful show, with a huge range of emotions--sweet and funny in parts, totally raunchy in others, and heartbreaking in others. I don't know that I'd rank it as a fave, but I enjoyed it.

I managed to sneak a pic of the stage before it started (shh, don't tell)...

On our way out of the theater, I managed to pull a stupidly clumsy move. We walked into the wrong parking lot, and there was a drop, marked by a short wall, between that one and the one our car was in. Rather than walk back out to the sidewalk and all the way around, we decided we could handle the short jump down from the wall into the next lot. Tony jumped first, then took my hand to help me. I jumped, and landed on both feet, but somehow my leg gave out and I went down, hard, on my right knee. Tony held on tight to my hand, and if not for that, I might have injured myself even more. So now I have a lovely bruise on my knee.

We got up on Saturday, picked up Ari from my parents (they said she was perfect for them--yay!) and headed off to see "Nickelodeon Presents Storytime Live!" Moose and Z hosted it, just like they do on Nick Jr, and there were stories with Ni Hao Kai-Lan, the Backyardigans, Wonder Pets, and Dora. Ari had various reactions, ranging from total involvement and complete excitement to boredom to being scared of the most random stuff. Silly kid. But when we asked her in the car how she liked it, she said, "I laughed and I laughed and I was scared and I was scared and it was really funny and I liked it."

We came home and put her down for a nap, and I decided to take one too, since I was suddenly not feeling well. Later in the evening, Matt and Kristin came over, with all their kids in tow. We had a nice visit with them....ordered Italian food from a nearby pizza place and played Mario Party after all the kids were asleep.

Then today was church, which always makes for a crazy day. We had to be there earlier than usual, since Tony's teaching a class before the service for the next few weeks, and then we had a ministry leader's meeting after the service--at our house.

So now the guys are over, watching TV, and Ari is in bed, which means I finally have a few moments to breathe and relax. Tomorrow starts another week... and we're going to dinner with my parents and brother and his family to celebrate my Mom's birthday. And so begins March, the Crazy Birthday Month in my family... And then before we know it, it will be spring! Can't wait.

I'm so adjective, I verb nouns

2010-02-19T10:09:00.000-05:00

Just some randomness for you...

So last Friday night, like the wild and crazy couple that we are, we stayed in and watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Yep, the whole thing. I know that is the first time I've ever sat through the whole thing, and maybe the only time I've ever watched a significant portion of the ceremonies at all. I have to say, though, parts of it were really cool. But maybe that's just because I have a soft spot in my heart for Canada, being that I'm a pseudo-Canadian myself.

And I was all giddy to see Iran marching in the parade of nations. Go Iran!

I haven't watched much of the Olympics since then, though. Sometimes I'll catch bits and pieces when Tony's watching it, but I haven't gone out of my way. Though I must confess, I was up way too late a few nights ago watching curling. It's just so strange... I couldn't tear myself away.

I kind of hate being on Royal Caribbean's e-mail list. Because every time I get an e-mail from them, it makes me want to go on another cruise even worse than I already do.

On a related note, I am so DONE with winter and SO ready for springtime and sunshine and flowers and skirts and bare legs and sandals.

I was on my way to work on Wednesday morning, when, just before my exit, a police car pulled up behind me with his lights flashing.

I pulled over, of course, but I was honestly baffled. Fine, I was going 68 or 69 instead of 65, but was he really pulling me over for that? When he came to my window, he told me he was pulling me over for the crack in my windshield. Oh yeh. That. That crack that started as a chip and has been growing slowly for months now, to the point where it's now a long horizontal line that extends almost the entire way across the windshield. That crack that Tony keeps reminding me I need to get fixed. That crack that I keep saying I'll take care of, but that I keep forgetting about.

Luckily, he only gave me a warning, both a written one and a stern, almost-fatherly, verbal one. Of course, I thanked him and promised to take care of it.

And like the good little girl I am, I called my insurance company that afternoon, got it all set up, and yesterday afternoon, the windshield repair guy replaced it while I was at work. When I got in my car at the end of the day, this is what I saw on my dashboard...

Yes, it's mine--a teeny bottle of VS Dream Angels Heavenly. I'd forgotten it was even in my car. But I guess the windshield guy must have found out, figured it was important, and put it somewhere where I would see it. I was amused.

Every time we go through the automatic car wash, when we get to the end, where the huge dryers turn on, I'm always tempted to roll down my window. Just to see how strong that wind really is. But I'm guessing that's probably a bad idea.

Ari has been so thrilled to see me when I get home from work lately... it's the sweetest thing. She'll scream my name, her entire face lighting up, and run to give me a hug. And then she'll gab my ear off for several minutes, telling me all about her day. When she gets excited, she stammers a little, which means it takes her even longer to get her words out. The other night, she was babbling away at me, stuttering and stammering adorably... and for some reason, was turning in circles, too. I felt bad for cracking up in the middle of the story she was telling me, but I just couldn't help it.

While watching an episode of Dora about them helping a lion find the circus...

Ari: (excitedly) Mommy, sometime can we go to a circus and see a lion?!

Me: Sure, sometime.

Ari: (burying her head in my shoulder) But... I'm shy of lions.

Me: Um... OK... so... we won't go?

Ooh, I NEED this shirt... (from noisebot.com)

Possibly this one too...

I'll never finish loving you

2010-02-14T21:38:00.001-05:00

I passed him a note in church today, being silly.

"Will you be my Valentine?" it read.

Underneath were two checkboxes, one marked "Yes" and one marked "No."

He took it from me and grinned. I saw his hand start moving--way too much movement for making a simple checkmark or an X.

"You're not allowed to write in your own answers," I hissed playfully into his ear, assuming he was writing something like "Maybe."

He handed it back to me, and I saw that he had indeed written in his own option.

It said, "Forever." With a big X in the box beside it.

It went along nicely with the card he gave me later in the afternoon.

Silly boy. I am the one who is lucky, not him.

Hope you all have had a lovely Valentine's Day.

XO

On love letters

2010-02-02T08:54:00.002-05:00

There is an article in the February issue of Reader's Digest on love letters, mostly an interview with Bill Shapiro, editor of a book of love letters. The article also features excerpts from various love letters. These 2 were my favorites....

I look at you now and feel my breath catch just as it did on that drizzly April day when your poor father walked you down the stairs and into marriage. And I think now, just as I did then, that I already have more than my share of blessings without ever counting past the first. You are my one, but that isn't the first blessing. The first is knowing I am yours.

~ Jay Heinrichs wrote this to his wife, Dorothy, 28 years after that April day. It appeared on the first page of a book of photos of their life together, his anniversary gift to her.

darling I can't replace you

~ From Jenny Weaver to Mark Bjerke, college students in Santa Rosa, CA, written on the flap of the envelope

But it was this question/answer in the interview portion that really spoke to me, made me pause, and has infected my mind ever since...

Q: We know that love can be fleeting. What possesses us to write all this stuff down?

A: We want love to last, and we think it will. Writing it down is a hopeful act: It guarantees that in some way, it will last. It's like taking a picture of a baby--you are capturing something you know is going to change.

I never would have thought to compare writing a love letter to taking a picture of a baby, but it makes sense, and it really is a great analogy if you follow through with it. From the moment your child is born, you know she's going to change and grow. So you take pictures--millions of them. Why? Because she's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, sure. But also because you know she's going to change faster than you think, and you want to capture those first smiles, those first teeth, that funny way she wrinkles her nose when she laughs.

But just because she changes, doesn't mean the love fades. If anything, it grows stronger and deeper. At least, that's how it should be. And the same applies to romantic love, as well. Yes, it changes. But that's not necessarily always a negative thing. Love is supposed to change, in size, in depth, in a hundred little ways you may not even see until you look back, like looking back at a picture of an infant, and smiling as you think, "Oh, remember when...?"

On a shelf in my closet, I have a basket stuffed full of cards, notes, and letters from Tony, from our college years, when we were dating. Not every single note he's ever written me, but still a decent amount. I couldn't help looking through them the other night, as this entry rolled around in my head... as I did, I found the first birthday card he ever sent me, a series of letters he wrote for me to open on an airplane trip home (4 of them, all numbered and with instructions), and the first note he wrote to me after we were engaged. But I also found piles and piles of "just because" notes--the kind he would write for no special occasion, other than to tell me he was thinking of me. I am so glad I have kept these cards and notes. I love knowing that, at any given moment, I can sift through them and remember those days when we were first discovering love, all giddy and silly and foolish and bursting with butterflies.

And even though we've been married for ever and ever, and we see each other every day, and we can say "I love you" and other such phrases right to each other's faces, there are still moments when he writes me little love letters. Even if it's nothing more than a sticky note with a short message, or a few words on an index card. Somehow, those tiny little notes mean more to me than the frilly, flowery cards he sometimes gets me for a birthday or anniversary, even though he always adds his own personal words to those. There's just something about an unexpected note... maybe it's because I know that there's no obligation behind it, that no occasion or national holiday prompted him to write it... that he chose to write it simply because he wanted to.

So here's a question for you... when the last time you wrote a love letter to someone?

Me, it's been a while. So I am adding that to the top of my To-Do List for today.

A 92nd birthday party and more

2010-01-30T16:26:00.003-05:00

I was going through some old pictures on my computer, and I realized I never posted this set. A few weeks ago, we went to a birthday party for my Grampa, at my aunt's house. He turned 92 years old.

Ari with my parents...

Ari insisted on helping Grampa open his presents...

Then it was time to sing "Happy Birthday"...

...and time for Grampa to blow out the candles.

I made a couple attempts to get a picture of Ari with her great-Grampa, but couldn't get both of them to look at me at the same time...

My mom and her dad...

Me and my silly daughter...

One last photo, completely unrelated to the rest...

We did a little shopping last night at The Children's Place. With sales and coupons (they let me use 2 coupons at once--score!), we paid less than $40 for all this loot.

The jeans are 4T (and thank God for adjustable waist pants), but she is almost outgrowing her 4T shirts, the little weed, so all those tops we bought are a girl's size small, AKA size 5/6. It's such a strange thought to me, to be shopping in the "girl's" section rather than the "toddler" section.

Ah, I knew there was something else I wanted to post. I took this video of Ari last night, showing off a trick the babysitter taught her so that she can put her coat on by herself. The way it starts off cracks me up. She is such a little ham...

Ariana 1-30-10 from Sariana on Vimeo.

Free to a good home

2010-01-27T09:18:00.001-05:00

Well, my dear little daughter had a busy, busy day yesterday. Here's the rundown (in rough chronological order)...

1. She colored on the hardwood floor with a Sharpie, hiding behind the couch as she did so. (Thank God that Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is indeed magic.)

2. She got a hold of some stamps and plastered 20 or so on the underside of the desk. (I don't even want to think about how much money that is.)

3. She peed her pants while playing outside with Daddy. (Um... how exactly do you clean pee out of a pair of boots?)

4. She stole the kitchen scissors... but was caught by Daddy before she was able to cause any destruction. (I don't even want to know what she had planned...)

5. She peed her pants again while we were out and the babysitter was here, this time standing on top of the toilet and thus getting the toilet lid cover wet as well. (Yes, yes... she was THAT close to the toilet and still peed herself.)

6. When the babysitter put her in the shower to clean her off, she managed to spray water up over the top of the curtain and down the wall (which we discovered when a guest in the downstairs bathroom told us there was water dripping down the window). This was all happening right as we got home around 8:15.

7. As I dressed her in clean clothes, I discovered the empty box of Disney Princess band-aids on the counter. I never did get a clear answer as to where they all disappeared to, though I did find one or two on the floor later.

8. With the help of a friend, she carried 2 cups of water upstairs. One got spilled on the carpet at the top of the stairs. I caught her dumping the other one into a basket, which meant, of course, another puddle on the carpet.

9. I also noticed that she had pulled the snowman candle out of her window and out of the outlet. (With all the water she was playing with, it's a wonder she didn't electrocute herself.)

10. I made her come downstairs, and got her set up munching on some Teddy Grahams in the dining room. Several minutes later, she came to me with wet hands, and when I went to investigate, I discovered she had filled a Pringles can TO THE BRIM with water. (At this point, I banned her from getting water from the fridge door on her own EVER AGAIN.)

11. No more than 10 minutes later, she peed her pants AGAIN (the 3rd time, if you're keeping count).

By this time, it was way past her bedtime, so I gave her the world's fastest bath and put her devious little butt in bed. Once I did, I joined Tony in our room, where he'd already flopped on the bed. We just exchanged a look, shaking our heads and smiling, and I posted the following on Twitter/Facebook:

"Free to a good home: 3-year-old girl. Very cute, mostly housebroken. Answers to the name Ari."

The babysitter (Ari's regular sitter, not the one from earlier in the evening) commented on FB almost immediately, and I replied with a comment of my own, listing all the things Ari had done. Tony filled me in on what I'd missed while I was at work, and by the time I was done typing, I was dying laughing. I'm sure there's probably more stuff we're not even remembering. Or maybe just haven't discovered yet.

Good thing she's so cute.

Fat lip

2010-01-19T08:39:00.000-05:00

My darling daughter has a fat lip, thanks to me. I was helping her step out of her Belle dress the other night, and she started to step before I had it fully down to the ground. Right as I was in the middle of telling her to wait, down she went, straight to the tile floor. I really can't fathom how she didn't injure or knock out any teeth. I guess her poor bottom lip cushioned them really well. She's a trooper, though. She may have inherited my clumsiness, but she's inherited her Daddy's tough-guy persona.

But despite the ugly lip, I love this picture of her... her giant blue eyes, the way her curls frame her face. If it weren't for that injury, this would be a pretty good picture.

Coloring and conversations

2010-01-13T17:58:00.000-05:00

Ari and I colored last night. Can you guess who colored which picture?

A few recent Ari conversations...

Ari: Who dances?

Tony: Well, Mommy and Daddy dance.

Ari: I dance too. I dance cool. I like when the music is loud and then I spin around and dance. And I dance cool.

On the way to the babysitter's, I had the "Glee" soundtrack on, and in my rearview mirror I saw Ari's head bopping around...

Me: Hey, are you dancing? *starts bopping my head around like hers*

Ari: (seriously) This dance is only for little kids.

(When I told Tony about this later, he said she said the same thing to him the other day. Maybe it's her way of "getting back at us" for all the things we tell her are for grown-ups only?)

Conversation during the last couple minutes of our drive to the babysitter's house (on a different day)...

Ari: Oh, I guess I see something!

Me: What, baby?

Ari: Pretty colors!

Me: Oh, I see them too. That's because the sun is coming up. You know how the sky turns pretty colors when the sun goes down?

Ari: Yeah.

Me: Well, it does the same thing when the sun comes up. And that's called sunrise.

Ari: Why does the sky turn pretty colors?

Me: Because... well, because God made it that way.

Ari: Oh, I see a pond!

Me: Yup, I see it too.

Ari: Why do ducks live in a pond?

Me: Because they like it there.

Ari: How come there's no ducks there now?

Me: Oh, because it's too cold.

Ari: No, it's not, it's warm.

Me: No, baby, I think it's too cold for them right now.

Ari: No, it's not. They're warm.

Me: OK, if you say so.

And... one last Ari conversation... except this one isn't necessarily a funny one... just one that got me thinking...

Ari wanted to watch "Lilo and Stitch" a few nights ago. She and I have watched it together once, but a couple months ago. When Lilo's sister first appeared on screen, Ari asked, "Why is Lilo's mommy mad?"

Without really thinking of the implications of my answer, I jumped in and said, "Oh, that's not Lilo's mommy. That's her big sister."

I should have seen Ari's next question coming: "Where is Lilo's mommy and daddy?" (For those who don't know... *spoiler alert*... Lilo's parents died in a car accident. It's Disney--don't act surprised.)

I hesitated only a moment before deciding on the most direct and honest answer. "Well, they died."

And then I held my breath and waited for the repercussions of that answer.

Her response was to point at the screen and yell, "Lookit that monster guy, he's so funny!"

I glanced at Tony and said, "Wow, I got off that easy? Awesome."

I know as she gets older, I won't get let off the hook as easily. But if she had kept questioning, I don't think I would have avoided her questions. I might have stumbled a little, trying to phrase my answers appropriately, but I would find a way to tell her the truth, in simple terms. I guess I look at it this way... she's going to learn about death sooner or later. Anything we can do now to ease her into some sort of understanding about the concept of death can only be helpful.

I keep forgetting how quickly she's growing up. She amazes me almost every day with the things she remembers, the questions she asks, the adult-like phrases she uses (like last night, when she said to me, "OK, Mommy, here's the deal..."). I guess I keep thinking that I still have years before I have to handle tough questions with her... and more and more, I'm realizing that's not true. I need to start thinking a little more about how to answer her, so I'm not caught off-guard.

Shall we dance?

2010-01-07T09:05:00.001-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, we had our first dance lesson (Tony's Christmas gift to me). When we got there, we immediately met the 2 who run the place--Karrie (who seems to double as the receptionist/secretary also) and Todd (who seems to be the owner). There was an elderly couple just leaving as we got there, so Todd introduced us to them. As the man reached to shake my hand, he murmured, "Oh my, aren't you pretty." Heh.

Oh, I remembered to take a picture of my outfit...

We filled out a couple short questionnaires first, with questions asking why we wanted to take classes, what we wanted to learn, etc. Todd chatted with us for a few minutes when we were done with the forms, taking notes on the things that we said. He said it was so they could get to know us better and help personalize our classes so that we would get the most out of them. Then he let Karrie take over, and we headed to the dance floor.

Right before we entered the room, she told us that the man always escorts the lady onto the dance floor. So Tony offered me his arm and we stepped onto the floor together. She asked us what we wanted to start with and we both just fumbled for an answer. I told her flat-out where I was coming from... I have never, ever danced. (I don't count slow-dancing, because really, that's just hugging and shuffling around a little.) And neither of us have ever taken a class.

She went through a couple short exercises with us, to get us used to some of the movements involved in dance, and then we started with the waltz. She showed Tony his steps first, then showed me mine, then brought us together, having us simply hold hands. Then after we had practiced like that for a while, she taught us about connections. She had us "hold" hands by pressing our palms together, with our fingers pointing straight up, and using the pressure we were putting on each other's hand to take our cues from each other.

Next was the rumba (the "Latin dance of love," she said), which, to my surprise, is the same steps/pattern as the waltz, just to a different rhythm. With the waltz steps under our belt, we caught onto that one pretty quickly. Then she had us work on our "frame"--in other words, actually holding each other instead of just standing palm-to-palm.

We ended with a little bit of salsa. I found myself having more trouble with that one. Not because the steps were necessarily any more complicated, but because we'd spent the entire lesson doing essentially the same movements, and now I had to do something different. That's definitely the one I need to most practice on. Before we left, we set up our next private lesson for Monday.

I was so nervous going into this. I know, I know--I'm lame. What's to be nervous about, right? But, really, I am so uncoordinated, and like I said, I have never EVER danced. I had no idea what to expect, and I had no idea how I would be. I mean, for all I knew, I just wouldn't get it, and would flub the whole thing up. And not that I'm saying I'm a natural or anything, but I think I held my own. Sure, I messed up (yep, stepped on Tony's feet a couple times), but for the most part, I felt like I was getting it. I did well with feeling the rhythm of the music, which makes sense, I guess, given my musical background. It's just a matter of getting my feet and the rest of my body to cooperate.

I pretty much spent the whole time grinning. Partly because I was nervous and self-conscious, which tends to make me giggly and silly. But also because it was just such a blast. It was so fun to be doing this with Tony, both of us total beginners and learning together. And when we finally got to the point where he held me in his arms... I kind of melted a little. I've always imagined ballroom dancing would be such a romantic thing to do... and it was. Even when we screwed up, it was still just SO much fun.

And the best part was that Tony had just as much fun as I did. I mean, fine, this was his idea and it's not like I forced him into it. But to hear him say that he loved it and enjoyed himself... that just made it all so much better. I can't wait for our next lesson. And yes, I am totally going to practice at home in the meantime. Because I'm a cool nerd like that.

Ari in review

2010-01-01T18:21:00.001-05:00

I had the idea to do a 2009-in-review entry, pulling stuff from my Twitter feed, but holy cow, I didn't realize I talked so much on Twitter. A year's worth of tweets is way too much to sift through. But as I was reading back through some of my old tweets, I realized that a lot of them were things Ari said to me. And she's pretty random. So this entry is courtesy of my wacky kid. (And now, I have this stuff all in one place, instead of having to dig through Twitter to find it.)

January:

Me: "Ari, who's your favorite mom?" Ari: "Daddy." Me: "Hey! Who's your favorite mom?!" Ari: "Uh...a kitty cat?" (followed by a devilish grin)

Me: "Ari, it's bedtime. Go to your room." Ari: "Chop chop." (I'm so proud of myself for teaching her that.)

February:

Me: "Be careful." Ari: "I am. Lookit. See? I not falling." ... 5 seconds later, she fell. Would it be wrong to say, "I told you so"?

March:

Ari: "I got you a present." Me: "What is it?" Ari: "Maybe it's a snake in your bed."

Me: "Ari, don't hit me with your brush." Ari: (soothingly) "It's OK." Me: "No it's not!"

April:

Ari: "I have makeups." Me: "You have what?" Ari: "I have makeups." Me: "You mean hiccups?" Ari: "Yes. Makeups."

Me: "Ari, you are a noisy little human." Ari: "No, you're a noisy human. But I love YOU!"

Me: "Ari, you're pretty." Ari: "YOU'RE pretty. You're my cute girl. I love you!"

Ari: (after removing every. single. magnetic. letter from the fridge) "Who's going to pick up all these letters?" Me: "Um, YOU are."

May:

Ari: "I love you, Mommy." Me: "Aww, thanks." Ari: "Can you leave me alone now?"

Me: "Ari, I love you." Ari: "OK."

June:

Ari patted me on the head and told me, "You're the best doggy ever."

Ari just told me to look at her and when I did, she said, "Eww, I don't want to look at you!" And then she laughed. And is still laughing.

July:

At bedtime, Ari said, "Don't remember me!" I assume she meant "Don't forget me"? Either way, it's cute.

Me: "Ari, you are a nice girl." Ari: "I'm a VERY nice girl!"

Ari just told me, "You're my best buddy." Then, 2 seconds later, she said, "Wait a minute....you're not my best buddy" with an evil grin.

August:

One of the best ways to wake up in the morning is to the sound of a little 3-year-old voice whispering, "I love you the most."

Ari: "Mommy? Mommy?" Me: "What?" Ari: "Nevermind." (Repeat twenty thousand million times.)

September:

Ari's right hand is looking for her left hand, which is sleeping. Or so she tells me.

I'm watching "The Wedding Singer" with Ari. She just looked at Adam Sandler and said, "That boy is a great singer."

Ari: "Mommy, I want to tell you something. Earlier, I stepped in the box with the blanket & I'm sorry." Me: *laugh* Ari: "And that's funny."

October:

Ari (while watching football): "Did you see those 2 boys fall down? That was funny. Whoa, look at that throw! Wow, it was really fast!"

Ari: "Who got you that flower?" Me: "My friend Dawn." Ari: "Why?" Me: "Because she likes me." Ari: "Why?" Me: "I have no idea."

Just finished my dinner and Ari told me, "Good job, Mommy! You're the best daughter ever."

Ari: "Sometime can we ride on a pirate ship?" Me: "Where are we going to get a pirate ship?" Ari: "We can buy one!"

Ari is looking for her lost sock by yelling, "Sock! Oh so-ock!"

Ari: "Do you know what I'm thinking?" Tony: "What?" Ari: "That Mommy loves me." Tony: "Aw, does Mommy love you?" Ari: "No, the doggies love me."

November:

Me: "Ari, you're a nut-burger." Ari: "No I'm not!" Me: "Yes you are." Ari: "Yes I--no I'm not."

Me: "Thanksgiving is a special day where you eat lots of food & talk about what you're thankful for." Ari: "I'm thankful for my doggies."

Ari: "Yesterday I sat next to my friend Megan. Can you say Megan?" Me: "Um... Megan." Ari: "Good job, Mommy!"

Ari's explanation for her boo-boo: "I fall down later, I kinda tripped a little bit. But don't touch it because it very, very hurt."

Ari: "Mommy, have you ever been to a volcano?" Me: "Nope." Ari: "Maybe sometime I can give you a ride in Daddy's car and we can go to one."

Emma (to Ari): "Is Nick your boyfriend?" Ari: "Yes. I like him all the time."

Ari: *snuggles up to me* Me: "Are you tired?" Ari: *sigh* "Yes. I had a busy day."

December:

Me: "Ari, want to go shopping?" Ari: "Yes! Maybe we can get me a blue dress." Me: "Why blue?" Ari: "To go with my blue socks in my drawer."

Me: "Ari, I love you." Ari: "Aw, shucks."

Ari: "I don't like eggs." Tony: "Oh, they're really good." Me: "You should try them sometime." Ari: "But some people just don't like eggs."

Better than a blister

2009-12-29T15:54:00.001-05:00

(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

2009-12-28T22:43:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-27T22:03:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-18T10:36:00.000-05:00

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!

Birthday, in bullets

2009-12-15T08:57:00.001-05:00

My birthday, in bullets...

* I told Tony my birthday wish list: to sleep in on Saturday (sleeping in is not an option on Sundays, due to church), a massage, and some key lime pie.

* My sleeping-in wish was granted on Saturday. I vaguely remember Ari crawling into bed with us and watching a couple of her shows, but at some point Tony took her downstairs and I fell deeply back to sleep. I didn't crawl out of bed until after noon. It was wonderful.

* We spent most of the afternoon Christmas shopping. We are almost done. Now I just need to wrap it all.

* I got my gift from Tony right after midnight. Sweet boy knows how impatient I am.

* On Sunday (my actual birthday), Tony and Ari surprised me with a cake when we got home from church, complete with 2 number candles that made a "33." Ari helped me blow out the candles.

* All 3 of us took a long nap Sunday afternoon. More wonderfulness.

* We ordered Chinese for dinner. I ate in my jammies. A perfect ending to our lazy afternoon.

* My gifts and cards from Tony and Ari....

* Yes, Tony got me 2 cards, because he's a nut like that. Here's the inside of the mushy card...

* And if that's not enough mush for you... (Of course, you should know, she sang me the song perfectly right before I started recording her. The camera brings out the ham in her, I suppose.)

Ariana 12-13-09 from Sariana on Vimeo.

When I see you smile, I see a ray of light

2009-12-10T09:23:00.000-05:00

Apparently the key to catching a genuine Ari smile (as opposed to a fake one) is to just give Tony the camera. What can I say... the girl loves her Daddy. He took some pictures a couple days ago...

OK, fine, she was in a silly mood, but those smiles are much realer than the ones she throws us when we ask for them.

This is a little more natural... (Can't you just see the mischief in her eyes? Or maybe it's just me...)

Tony said they spent quite a while outside that day, adorning the driveway with their chalk artwork. (Just another example of how she's like her Daddy--the cold weather doesn't bother her at all.) If you look at the very bottom of the picture, you can see he drew her swingset.

And here she is, chasing Ivan... or maybe trying to sneak up on him. He is totally her dog. She could do anything to him, and he wouldn't care.

Both of the dogs--Ivan on the left and Sasha on the right. See that scratch on Ivan's nose? Apparently he and Sasha had a little scuffle the other day. And of course she totally won because he is a massive wuss.

And, to finish, a couple more of the kidlet.

Bet you any money she was either begging Daddy to pick her up, or insisting on seeing the pictures he'd been taking.

Love love her big blue eyes...

And that's all for today, folks.

Beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

2009-12-06T22:34:00.002-05:00

Saturday morning, Ari was up early, as usual, but we put on the TV and lounged around in bed a little longer. This has become our Saturday morning routine, and I love it.

After we dragged ourselves out of bed, Tony ran off to do some errands, and after I got myself and Ari ready, I did some errands of my own. Just one, really--Kohl's. Ari got some money from her Pappy (Tony's dad) for Christmas, and she's in desperate need of some 4T clothes (since her shirts and pants are suddenly becoming too short on her). Armed with coupons, we headed off to Kohl's.

When all was said and done, I got her 3 pairs of pants (adjustable waist, FTW), 3 shirts, and a pajama set... and I even snagged a pair of jeans for myself. Everything I grabbed was on sale, and several of the items rang up cheaper than they were marked. I had $10 Kohl's cash from a previous purchase, a $10 coupon I'd gotten in the mail, and a 15% off coupon. I didn't figure I'd be able to use all 3 at once, but the cashier said she'd try... and every single one went through. My grand total was $40.23. I was totally psyched. (I saved $117, according to the receipt.) Even better... I grabbed the jeans without trying them on (Ari was getting a smidge antsy at this point), which I never do... but I tried them on when I got home, and they fit fantastically.

Tony left around 3 with his crew of guys, ready to spend the afternoon tailgating before the 8 pm college football game they had tickets for. The cold drizzle of rain had become more steady by the time they left, and it turned to snow not long after. Figures it's been oddly mild most of the fall, and we get our first snow of the season on the day they plan to spend 8+ hours outside. They were all still excited about going, and I was more than happy to spend the rest of the day indoors, being lazy with Ari. We watched "Monsters vs. Aliens" (cute movie) and played around. After she went to bed, I continued my laziness and watched a couple movies. Hey, it's not often I get the remote all to myself.

This afternoon, we finally set up our tree. Tony got it from my parents' house a few days ago, but with crazy schedules and such, we didn't have a time when all 3 of us were home together until today. Ari was so into it this year, which was so sweet--ever since Tony brought the Christmas stuff home, she's been asking when we're going to set up the tree. And yes, I have pictures.

Showing off her new Little Einsteins ornament. We've started a tradition where we buy her an ornament each year, something symbolic, and the idea is that when she's all grown-up, she'll take all these ornaments with her to put on her own tree. Her first Christmas was a no-brainer--we got a "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament. The past 2 years we've gotten a Belle ornament and a Nemo ornament. But this year was the first year she actually picked one out on her own--and we weren't surprised when she chose Little Einsteins.

She was also very excited about the star for the top of the tree. (Note that she still has the Little Einsteins ornament in her hand. She didn't really seem to understand that it was a decoration, not a toy. I'm surprised she didn't break it before we got it on the tree.)

Helping Daddy put the star on top...

Of course, the Little Einsteins ornament was the first one to go on the tree... and then she had to take a moment to admire it.

My mom gave me a few ornaments that used to be on our tree when I was a little kid, so I had to get pictures of them. I mean, they're practically antiques now, right?

This gingerbread house was one of my favorites as a kid, and I always insisted on being the one to hang it. I let Ari do the honors this year. (OK, fine, I might have helped a little.)

I like the thoughtful look on her face in this shot...

She was so careful with the ornaments...

...even though she was super-excited.

And, in case you haven't gotten enough of her, here's a short video of her decorating the tree. This was the only ornament that got dropped the whole time--and of course, I caught it on film. Oh, and don't mind my voice--I'm still fighting off this cold that seems fully focused on my throat and on making me sound stupid. Well, stupider than usual.

Ariana 12-6-09 from Sariana on Vimeo.

What am I going to do when I wake up?

2009-12-04T15:51:00.001-05:00

I got a freelance job yesterday evening, and spent a solid 3.5 hours working on it. Kind of killed my evening, but I know the paycheck will make it worth it. He also told me he has another job for me this weekend, which means more money in the bank. Sweet.

I lost my sunglasses a few days ago, and was a little distraught. They were my favorites, not only because I got them on clearance for $6, but also because they actually fit me perfectly (with most sunglasses, the arms go way past my ears, so they slide down all the time). And I also loved them because they have a ton of memories attached to them now. They were my constant companion on our cruise last year...

That's me (in case you couldn't tell--I know sunglasses are such a great disguise) in St. Maarten, shell-hunting on the beach. Ahh, that cruise... I miss it. I want another.

Anyway, I'm happy to report I found my beloved sunglasses under my passenger seat this morning. Why I hadn't thought to look there earlier, I don't know.

Tony is going with a bunch of guy friends to a college football game tomorrow. The game isn't until 8 pm or so, but they're planning to tailgate most of the afternoon. This is becoming a yearly tradition--I believe this is the 2nd or 3rd year they've done it, and they keep adding more guys to the group each time. I'm sure they'll have a great time, and me, I'll be having a great time all snug and cozy in my nice warm house.

I was in the mood for a hot chocolate a couple mornings ago. There's a Dunkin Donuts like 2 seconds down the road from me. But by the time I was ready to leave (I was running a bit early and everything), I decided that it was too much effort.

It's a sad day when you realize that you're too lazy for even the drive-thru.

We taught Ari a while ago to say "bless you" when someone sneezes. On her own, she decided to start blessing coughs as well. And anytime she has a little fit of coughs/sneezes, she'll say that she has the "bless-yous." It's too adorable to correct.

I've just recently noticed that Ari calls our "office" the "opposite room." Or maybe she's trying to say "office" and it's coming out "offosite"? Either way, it's so cute.

At bedtime a few nights ago...

Me: (leaning down to kiss her) Good night, Ari.

Ari: What am I going to do when I wake up? [<--That's become her standard bedtime question.]

Me: Well, you're going to hang out with Daddy and Mommy's going to go to work.

Ari: How about you stay home and Daddy goes to work?

Me: (smiling) Aww, it doesn't work like that, sweetie.

New niece (and other news)

2009-12-01T16:22:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving update, bullet-style....

* Biggest, most-fabulous news first... My sister had her baby on Wednesday! A gorgeous little girl, Esther Azar (Azar = my sister's middle name). I get to visit them in January and canNOT wait.

* 9 1/2 hours in car for a trip that should only take about 6 hours is highly annoying. Thank God the trip home wasn't that long. And that Ari, for the most part, was good.

* Forgot the camera, so I have no pictures to share. FAIL.

* Ari warmed up very quickly to all the relatives this time. Probably because she's old enough now to actually remember them. But it's still sweet to see her hugging and loving on them so easily.

* Had 2 Thanksgiving dinners, only a few hours apart. Good thing I skipped breakfast that day.

* Tried pecan pie for the first time. And not just pecan pie, but pecan pie with chunks of chocolate in it. Mmm...

* Celebrated Christmas while we there. Ari was spoiled rotten. Among her gifts--a train set, and a tool bench with an extra set of tools. Love it.

* Did a little Black Friday shopping. Went out at a normal time instead of killing ourselves to be up and out before sunrise, which means I didn't get the Chi hair straightener I had my eye on, but oh well. Still got some other sweet deals.

* Among the Black Friday deals was a new camera. But since we had no memory card for it, there were still no pictures taken. By us, anyway.

* Not a Black Friday deal, but I got my hands on the "Glee" soundtrack, Volume 1--happy early birthday to me. I am already wearing the poor sucker out. Will definitely be getting Volume 2, which comes out December 8.

* Went to IHOP with Tony's dad, and was all excited to finally try their eggnog pancakes... and then at the last minute, I chose gingerbread instead. A woman's prerogative, you know. But they were so yum.

And to end, a couple Ari conversations...

While getting ready for a football game to start...

Tony: Ari, say "Go Titans!"

Ari: (enthusiastically) Go Titans!

*pause*

Ari: (confused) They're not going.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As she snuggled up to me on the couch last night...

Me: Ari, are you tired?

Ari: *sigh* Yes. I had a busy day.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dinnertime conversation with Ari...

Me: (trying to remind her to eat) Hey Ari, how many bites of chicken do you have left?

Ari: 1... 2... 3... 4... 5. I'm going to be 5 years old.

Me: Well, yes, you will be, someday. But what are you going to be next?

Ari: (being silly) I'm going to be 1 years old! After 3 comes 1.

Me: Nooo... what comes after 3?

Ari: (giggling) 4!

Me: Right, you're going to be 4 next. What are you going to be after you're 4?

Ari: 5!

Me: Yup. And what are you going to be after you're 5?

Ari: 6!

Me: And what are you going to be after you're 6?

Ari: 40!

Me: Oh really? Then what are you going to be after you're 40?

Ari: 100!

Me: OK, so... you're going to be 4, then 5, then 6, then 40, then 100?

Ari: Uh huh.

Me: Gotcha.

5-car pile-up and more

2009-11-20T16:29:00.001-05:00

Just some random stuff...

I was late to work this morning due to traffic caused by a 5-car pile-up. Which reminded me... when I was a little kid, I used to take the word "pile-up" literally--in my head, I pictured cars literally stacked one on top of the other. So it always amazed me when they would talk about a huge number, like a 10-car pile-up, because I couldn't imagine how that many cars could get all stacked up like that.

Yeh, I was a super-smart kid.

I downloaded Pandora to my BlackBerry a couple days ago (if you don't know what it is, it's an online radio station/program/thing) and I love it. I've been having fun playing with it--you create your own stations, and you can thumbs-up or thumbs-down the songs, and it will remember and try to pick songs that it thinks you will like. Anyway, my point is, it's nice to have music when I'm working out now. There's a little nook on the treadmill that holds my BlackBerry perfectly and what's better, it even amplifies the sound. I am a happy girl.

I was trying to get Ari to hurry and do something the other day (walk up the stairs, I think?), so I said to her, "Come on, let's go." Then I found myself chanting, "Let's go, let's go, let's really go, let's fight, let's fight, let's really fight, let's win, let's win, let's really win, let's go, fight, win!"... an old cheer I learned when I was a cheerleader in high school. It came out so automatically that it made me laugh. And then it made me sad because there are probably a lot of important things I should be remembering that my brain has obviously rejected in favor of that super-lame cheer.

Ari asked me for some paper to color on a few nights ago. Then when she was done, she marched her little self right into the kitchen and hung all 3 sheets on the fridge by herself. I don't know if it was her way of saying we're bad parents who never hang her artwork on the fridge, or if she was just saving us the trouble, but either way, it made me chuckle.

Since we're talking about her... a couple Ari conversations...

Me: Ari, how did you get that boo-boo on your knee?

Ari: I fall down later. I kinda tripped a little bit. But don't touch it because it very, very hurt.

* * * * * * * * * *

During a playdate...

Ari: But yesterday, Abby wouldn't let me have a turn!

Me: Um, that just happened 5 minutes ago.

* * * * * * * * * *

In the car last night...

Ari: Mommy, have you ever been to a volcano?

Me: Nope.

Ari: Maybe sometime I can give you a ride, in Daddy's car, in the front seat, and we can go to one.

Turkey Day, a little early

2009-11-15T21:20:00.000-05:00

Saturday, we had my parents over for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, since we'll all be traveling over the real holiday weekend and won't see each other. Ari woke us both up fairly early, but we lazed around in bed for a little bit. When I finally got up, I told Tony that I'd need his help with the turkey when I got out. But when I was done my shower, he was already downstairs, doing this...

Basically, he was 2 seconds away from putting it in the oven. Which means he dealt with all the icky crap inside the turkey as well as handling the raw turkey itself. (I'm weirdly squeamish about dealing with food that looks too much like it did when it was alive.) I heart him.

I realized, after the fact, that I really know nothing more about cooking a turkey now than I did before, because the only thing I did with it was baste it obsessively and obsess over why the stupid built-in timer didn't pop when it was supposed to.

Anyway, I took over the food prep after that, while Tony and Ari took charge of cleaning up. Ari is in love with our Swiffer mops and actually asks if she can mop. Wonder how long that will last?

Somehow, "cleaning" also seemed to mean "playing the Wii." Hmm...

It's OK, though--I took a break at one point to play a quick game of Memory with Ari. In the end, she had 5 pairs and I had 3, so I explained to her that she won, but she replied, "No, I should have 3 because I'm 3 years old." Obviously we have a lot to teach her about how games work.

My first order of business in the kitchen was peeling a gajillion potatoes, which I'm glad I started on early, because it took me forever. Ari wandered in every now and then wanting to help, but there was nothing for her to do. So I enlisted her help later with the green bean casserole.

Ahh, nothing beats free child labor...

I kept sneaking little handfuls of the onions. Man, I love those things.

Mom and Dad arrived with this little gift for Ari, and she posed for me with her super-fake smile.

Like I kind of mentioned before, the turkey took forever to cook. According to the instructions on the wrapper, it should have only taken 4 hours to cook, but it took more like 6. That was the only point where I got a little stressed, because that's what I hate about cooking--trying to coordinate everything to be done at the same time. Ugh. But it finally finished cooking, and here's what it looked like before we hacked it all up.

Mmmmmmm.

Tony and my dad were in charge of carving the bird, while Mom and I got the rest of the sides ready.

And then finally--finally--it was time to eat. Here's the spread...

And then Mom offered to take a shot with me in it.

And then we ate... and ate and ate and ate. Everything tasted good to me, and everyone else concurred, so I guess it was a success. Well, Ari didn't really have an opinion, because I don't think she ate a single thing on her plate. She cut things up (that's her newest thing-to-do with her food, rather than eat it) and moved things around, but I don't remember seeing a single bite go in her mouth.

I had to take this picture of my lovely potatoes.

Think that's a lot? That's just the leftovers. Remember I said I peeled a gajillion potatoes? Well, by "a gajillion" I meant "2 bags." See, we bought 2 bags, and I could have sworn that we did that because Tony said I should use them all, but he insists he only grabbed 2 because they were buy one, get one free. Oh well. Guess we'll be eating a lot of potatoes in the next week or so.

Then it was time to clean up--ugh. The least fun part of cooking. Tony took the rest of the meat off the turkey....

...and the rest of us cleared off the table, packed up leftovers, etc. I washed the 2 pots the potatoes had been in, because I didn't want the potato gunk to harden.

After cleaning up a little, we all chilled for a bit. We played Wii bowling (and I totally won--go me) and watched a video of a magic show my parents went to see. Then we all somehow managed to find a little room for dessert--apple and pumpkin pies, brownies, and gingerbread cookies.

My dad offered to do some dishes and I told him he didn't need to do them all, but because he is awesome, not only did he wash them all, he also cleaned out our microwave for us (which was no small task, let me tell you). I heart him, too.

And now I have a fridge filled with leftover turkey, potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole and other miscellaneous foodstuffs. Anyone want to come over for dinner?

Conversations with the nut-burger

2009-11-12T16:37:00.000-05:00

Just an entry starring Ari, with special guest stars me and Tony...

Ari: Do you know what I'm thinking?

Tony: What?

Ari: That Mommy loves me.

Tony: Aw, does Mommy love you?

Ari: No, the doggies love me.

(Apparently, not even SHE knows what she's thinking...)

Me: Ari, you're silly.

Ari: No I amn't!

Me: "Amn't"? *laughs* Ari, you're silly!

Ari: No I amn't!

Me: *laughs*

(Repeat at least 2 more times, for my own entertainment.)

Ari: At church, I sat next to Megan.

Me: You mean Miss Megan, or your friend Megan?

Ari: My friend Megan. Mommy, can you say "Megan"?

Me: Uh... Megan.

Ari (proudly): Good job, Mommy!

(I guess she failed to notice I'd said it twice already?)

Ari: Mommy, can I sing "Mamma Mia"?

Me: Sure, go for it.

Ari: I'm gonna sing it all by myself!

Me: OK, sweets.

Ari: *pause* Um, Mommy, can you sing it with me?

Me: Ari, you're a nut-burger.

Ari: No, I'm not!

Me: Yes, you are.

Ari: Yes, I--no, I'm not!

(Ahh, the old Looney Tunes switcheroo...)

Me (to Ari): On Saturday, Gramma and Grampa are coming over for a Thanksgiving dinner.

Ari: What's Thessgibbin?

Me: Thanksgiving is a special day where you eat a lot of food and talk about the things you're thankful for.

Ari (without missing a beat): I'm thankful for my doggies.

Tony: Well, I'm thankful for Mommy and Ari.

Ari: And I'm thankful for my toys.

Tony: Are you thankful for Mommy too?

Ari: And I'm thankful for my toybox...

(I'm going to pretend she simply didn't hear him...)

Videos of that kid of mine

2009-11-06T07:52:00.002-05:00

Just a couple of Ari videos because we realized it's been forever since we've gotten video of her...

Ari talking to the camera and me reading a story to her...

Ariana 11-5-09-1 from Sariana on Vimeo.

Ari playing with the dogs. Ivan is so HER dog. I swear, if it weren't for how much she loves him, I'd have killed him by now. Or at least opened the door to let him out to go potty and then locked it behind him...

Ariana 11-5-09-2 from Sariana on Vimeo.

Pumpkin picking and trick-or-treating

2009-11-01T19:05:00.000-05:00

Lots of pictures, starting with some from last Monday. We were supposed to go pumpkin picking last Saturday with Matt and Kristin and their kids, as has become our tradition. But we got rained out, so we rescheduled to Monday afternoon. Of course, Matt and I were at work, so it was just Tony and Kristin with Ari and Nick, but they had a fun time.

The place has a little play area for the kids, right outside the corn maze. Ari and Nick loved this little playhouse, even if they were too big for it.

Getting ready to go down the slide. I'm sure she's just blocking the sun from her eyes, but it kind of looks like she's shielding her face from the paparazzi... ha ha.

Tony thought this picture was cool--that's his shadow.

There are a lot of pictures of them in this firetruck...

Ari wanted to get on the very top of the truck. I don't think she succeeded, though.

Hiding from Nick...

Peekaboo!

Tony said he and Kristin were talking, and suddenly realized they couldn't see either of the kids. They peeked in the window, and this is what they saw. Oy, this girl is going to be trouble...

They came home with one large pumpkin and 2 small ones. And we never did get around to carving them. But we at least had them out on our front porch, as a decoration. So that's something.

And now, Halloween. Ari dressed as Cinderella. She already had the dress (a Christmas gift from my mom last year) and since she already has the blonde hair, I figured, why not?

We went trick-or-treating with some friends that we've gone with for the past few years--it's become a tradition now, and it's a lot of fun to walk around in a huge group. Here's Ari and her friend Molly. This picture cracks me up--we didn't tell them to pose that way, but Molly decided to wave and Ari decided to hug her.

You can kind of see what I did with Ari's hair here--I was trying to complete the Cinderella look by putting it up. It kinda sorta worked, but by the end of the night, it was a wreck. Those barrettes look cute, but they do nothing to hold her wispy hair.

And here's the whole crew--Tyler and Julianna in the back, and Izabel (Julianna's sister) and Molly (Tyler's sister) and Ari in the front. Molly had wings that went with her outfit, but she didn't want to wear them, because she wanted to be a princess like all the other girls.

And the 2 Cinderellas...

We had good weather for trick-or-treating... it was windy, but weirdly muggy, so it wasn't all that cold. And the rain held off, too--it drizzled on and off throughout the day, but stayed dry for us at night. We were only out for about an hour and a half, but holy cow, Ari made out like a bandit. And of course you know I'll have to help her eat it. Just one of the many sacrifices of parenthood.

Right now, a bunch of the guys are over, watching football, and I spent a good bit of time making appetizers for them (gotta love those Friday's frozen appetizers), not to mention the brownies I baked beforehand. Now it's about time to get a certain someone into the bathtub and ready for bed, and then it's time for some Me Time.

It pays to procrastinate

2009-10-30T15:57:00.001-04:00

I have a container of chocolate pudding that has been sitting on my desk for about a week now. I brought it as part of my lunch one day and never got around to eating it. And haven't gotten around to it since then, either. This really worries me. What's wrong with me, that I would leave chocolate pudding untouched for so long?

Speaking of chocolate, my co-worker's boyfriend just handed me a bag of candy for Ari, for Halloween. I know him, through her, but he works in another department, so we don't really know each other that well. How sweet is that, though?

Of course, now I have to be strong and resist the urge to break into this bag and start snacking on the candy. Think I can last the whole day? Yeh, I don't think so either. And it's not like Ari would know.

Gah, I'm evil. I need to hide this bag from myself.

I was so bummed on Wednesday night to discover that "Glee" would not be on, due to the fact that Fox was carrying Game 1 of the World Series. I was so looking forward to it that night. I had a dream about "Glee" that night too--all I can remember is that Rachel and Finn were wearing blond wigs for a performance. Weird.

But I learned that the cast of "Glee" will be singing the National Anthem at Game 3, which is tomorrow night. I'll be out trick-or-treating with the kidlet, but I've got my DVR set.

Our neighbors across the street gave us a rotisserie chicken for dinner last night. They are an elderly couple, and so sweet--he's the one who helped me the other day when my car doors were frozen shut. They've started coming to our church, too. Anyway, right next door to us is an elderly lady who just lost her husband earlier this year--and our neighbor across the street helps her with yardwork. Well, since we moved in, he and Tony have been kind of a team--between the 2 of them, they take care of all 3 yards, sharing rakes and leaf blowers and lawnmowers and such. I think the chicken was our neighbors' way of thanking Tony for all his help. I thought it was such a nice gesture. It's a blessing to have good neighbors.

From Reader's Digest... This cracked me up...

We should have a way of telling people they have bad breath without hurting their feelings: "Well, I'm bored. Let's go brush our teeth." Or, "I've got to make a phone call. Hold this gum in your mouth." ~ Comic Brad Stine

You know how sometimes you're driving along, going with the flow of traffic, when someone comes zooming up behind you, then flies by you and everyone else, weaving and racing and just generally driving like an idiot? And you know how, when you see that, sometimes you just shake your head and think, "Geez, that guy is going to kill someone. Where's a cop when you need them?"? That happened to me as I was driving home yesterday... I was going about 70-75, following a few cars, when out of nowhere, this jerk in an SUV flies past us. He had to be going at least 90 or so. Next thing I know, the car in front of me, which up until then had looked like an average silver sedan, turned on its lights and started chasing the guy. Yup, I was right behind an unmarked cop car. And a few minutes later, I saw him and the SUV guy both pulled over by the side of the road. And I had to laugh. Because I'm mean like that.

I saved the best story for last...

A few days ago, I logged into AOL and one of their headlines was that Southwest Airlines was having a huge 72-hour sale, with tickets as low as $25 one way. I clicked on it to check it out, since I've been wanting to figure out a way to visit my sister after she has her baby. I wasn't too optimistic, because you know how it is with deals like this--it's only certain cities, only certain dates, etc. So I did a little roaming around and discovered that, based on the distance I was going, tickets would be $75 each way. Which is still not a bad deal. They had flights leaving from the airports I needed, and even the travel dates were perfect--I'd have to travel either the first 2 weeks of December, or January or February of next year.

So I talked it over with Tony, who said, "Go for it." My next order of business was to call my sister. She and I went back and forth for a while, figuring out a few details, and I made a note to talk to my boss the next day about getting the time off work. My boss was totally cool, as always, and told me to book the tickets first and then make the vacation request.

Everything was falling into place, so I planned to book the tickets on Wednesday night. But I wasn't feeling too well and ended up just putting it off. Then last night, I got online around 10--I had to do it last night because the sale ended at midnight. I had already checked out different travel dates and itineraries and such, so I breezed through the first couple steps. Then I was surprised to find that the tickets were no longer $75 each way... they were $50 each way! I have no idea why--maybe because it was so close to the end of the sale? I double- and triple-checked all the info--the dates, the airports, etc.--just to make sure I hadn't made a mistake, but it was for real. Needless to say, I booked the tickets immediately.

So now all I need to do is pray like crazy that there is no winter weather or anything else that would stop me from going. I am beyond excited--not only about going, but about the great deal I got. See, kids, sometimes it pays to procrastinate.

It's not fall till you jump in a pile of leaves

2009-10-25T21:34:00.001-04:00

Not much to say. It's been a nice weekend, full of spontaneous and unexpected changes of plans, but all good.

Just a few pictures of Ari to share...

My friend Kim made this skirt for Ari. How cute, right? (By the way, I told Ari to make a silly face, and this is what I got. I think I need to teach her what a true "silly face" is.)

So done with pictures...

And a random one from sometime last week...

Where it began, I can't begin to know when

2009-10-23T15:31:00.000-04:00

Man, I am dragging today. I went to bed way too late last night, and then had trouble falling asleep. Then, I think I had some kind of nightmare that woke me up. Either that, or I had a nightmare that I had a nightmare that woke me up. Meh. Anyway, my point is... I am wiped out.

I can't believe it's almost November. I'm still wearing sandals, my one act of rebellion against nature. I may have to wear pants and a sweater because it's chilly, but I will not give up my sandals until absolutely necessary.

Woke up on Monday to find my car doors frozen shut. Well, Tony's car doors, actually, since I was taking his car. I couldn't get a single door open. I went inside, spent forever searching for the de-icer, and even that didn't help me. My neighbor across the street, a sweet elderly gentleman, took pity on me, and managed to pry one of my doors open for me. From there, I got in and kicked the rest open from the inside.

Oh, and yesterday? It was in the 70s.

Last night on Jeopardy, there was a category called "Celebs Who Twitter." Oh, Jeopardy, you are so hip and cool.

You know, Vanna White has the best job in the world. I mean, she gets to play dress-up every day. She's probably got a whole crew of people who do her hair and makeup for her. Then all she needs to do is stand there and look pretty. And every now and then, she walks back and forth in front of the board, so she's even getting exercise while she works.

Of course, if you think about it, it's also the most pointless job in the world. I mean, they don't really need her to touch the screens to make the letters appear.

I bought some Vienna Fingers the other day. Mmm, mmm, good. It's been forever since I've had them.

My daughter is just as random as I am sometimes...

Ari: Sometime can we go ride on a pirate ship?

Me: Where are we going to find a pirate ship?

Ari: We can buy one!

Last night when I was getting ready for bed, there was a ladybug in the bathroom. This morning, no sign of the ladybug, but there was a spider. I can't help but wonder if the spider ate the ladybug. Ahh, the circle of life.

"Glee"... I just love that show so much. I mean, what other show can you hear "The Thong Song," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "Bust a Move" and "Sweet Caroline" (below), all in the same episode? (Not to mention the break dancing, waltzing, and swing dancing too.)

In my searching for "Glee" videos on YouTube, I came across this one... apparently, it's the same guy, singing all the parts, and then it's all spliced together. Here's his version of Glee's version of "Don't Stop Believin'"...

If you want to be me, be me

2009-10-16T22:10:00.000-04:00

We watched Extreme Home Makeover this past Sunday--the family was the Hill family, and throughout the episode, the family, as well as the people redoing their house, sometimes chanted, "Whose house? Hill House!" like a cheer or a battle-cry or something. When the house was done, it was spectacular, as always, and included a basketball court out back. They made a point of zooming in on something painted on the pavement, and I was horrified to see that it said, "Who's house? Hill House!" I'm pretty sure I even yelled something out loud. Oh the horror of that typo, forever emblazoned in huge letters on the pavement. *cringe*

I woke up on Wednesday morning to find frost on the ground and on my car. I warmed my car up so that I didn't have to scrape, but I was still annoyed. Frost? Already? Fine, I get that it's officially fall and all, but still. And if that wasn't bad enough, this morning there were flakes of white mixed in with the drizzly rain. Nothing is sticking, but STILL. We should NOT be getting snow yet. That's just wrong.

I think it's time for another Caribbean cruise, like NOW. Who's coming with me?

That reminds me of a joke...

Why does Snoop Dogg carry an umbrella?

Fo' drizzle.

(It's better told aloud, but still funny, right? ...Right?)

Have you seen those commercials for the T-Mobile MyTouch Google phones? The ones with that song, "And if you want to be me, be me, and if you want to be you, be you, 'cause there's a million things to do, you know that there are"? That song is stuck in my head right now.

You want to know how much of a nerd I am? That previous section... instead of writing something like, "Hey, you know that one cell phone commercial..." and then guessing at the song lyrics, I actually googled all that, so that I could get the exact name of the phone and the exact song lyrics. Because otherwise it would have bugged me.

Since I've been working out on the treadmill lately, it's given me some extra time to read. I recently read Sea Glass by Anita Shreve. I'd never even heard of her until a friend gave me this book--it was good, if not a little depressing. I like her writing style, though, so I will probably read her again. Right now, I'm re-reading 1984. At least... I think I'm re-reading it. I mean, I'm pretty sure I've read it before, but it's feeling so unfamiliar to me that now I'm wondering if maybe I just bought it and never read it.

So Ari got into the stash of Mickey Mouse band-aids a couple days ago...

When Tony asked her where she was bleeding (because our rule is... no blood, no band-aid), she said her knee. Apparently, "knee" means "entire leg" to her. (And for the record, there was no boo-boo.)

We had the guys over a few nights ago, and Ari declared she had to go potty. I followed her, since she usually still needs help pulling her pants back up. She walked in, saw that the seat was up, and declared, in this chipper little voice, "Oh, silly boys, leaving the seat up!"

I don't know why, but lately, Ari has been so excited when I get home from work... her face lights up, she yells "Mommy!" and immediately starts babbling my ear off. If I ask for a hug or kiss, I get one--and sometimes she'll even do that unprompted. She used to be totally indifferent to my homecoming, and I don't know what's changed, but I wish I knew, so I could make it stay like this.

Ari has reached the stage where she will actually sit still and watch an entire movie now. We've been working our way through the Disney classics--so far, we've got Pinocchio, 101 Dalmatians, Cinderella, Lilo and Stitch, and Aladdin under our belts. And I will confess that I am not above using my powers of persuasion to get her to watch the movies that I like. For example, the night we watched Aladdin, she initially picked Snow White (which I can't stand, since Snow White's voice annoys me), but I talked her into Aladdin. And once the movie was in, I kept talking it up to her. "Hey, look, Ari, there's a camel! Oops, the camel fell down. Isn't that funny? Isn't this a funny movie?" I know, I am so bad. But hey, she watched the whole thing.

On a more serious Ari-related note, she is a sick little munchkin right now. She woke up with a fever Sunday, which went down on Monday, and she seemed totally fine on Tuesday and Wednesday. She seemed to have a bit of a scratchy throat, but nothing more. But then yesterday she developed this horrible barking cough... it was so painful to hear, and she would cry every time she coughed. It kept waking her up last night, and at one point, I held her and cried with her--that's how bad she sounded. Tony took her to the doctor this morning, and they diagnosed her with croup (which could be unrelated to whatever she had earlier in the week, or it could be that it just took this long to develop the cough). So she's on a 3-day steroid regimen, and we just need to keep an eye on her and make sure it doesn't get any worse. I googled croup (since I really don't know much about it), and it described the symptoms as a "barking" cough--similar to the sound of a seal barking. And that's really a perfect description--that is just what she sounds like.

Anyway, keep her in your thoughts and prayers, if you would. Aside from being more tired and cuddly than usual (which is to be expected when you're sick), she's still her same, goofy self, and she's eating and drinking well, and taking medicine without too much protest--so I'm sure she'll be fine. She's quite a little trooper.

Yes, everyone, it's true... I was the last person on the planet to see the video of the JK Wedding Entrance Dance. You know, I am totally the type of person who gets all teary-eyed at a wedding the moment the bride appears at back door. I don't know--there's just something about the light in her eyes, the gorgeous dress, the entire picture, that brings me to tears. And I have to tell you... despite the "mood" of this video, I totally got all verklempt when the bride appeared. I know, I know--I am such a sap.

"Buy curtains please"

2009-10-09T15:57:00.000-04:00

Anyone else here a fan of www.passiveaggressivenotes.com? I was just there a few days ago, and this particular one cracked me up...

If you can't read it, it says: "Attention: I want to let you know to be more private with yourself in your apartment. If not I have 2 call the police. But I'm sorry but if I see it the next time I will call it. BUY CURTAINS PLEASE."

(Why is it that the people who write these kinds of notes have the most horrendous grammar?)

Anyway, it made me laugh because of all the curtainless windows we have in our house. I'm hoping we can get curtains soon--at least for the living room, if nothing else. It drives me CRAZY to have those windows wide open like that, especially at night, when people can see in and you can't see out.

I heard yesterday that there are plans underway for a Titanic Memorial Cruise, and of course I had to check it out. Tickets are on sale now, and the ship will sail in 2012, the 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. It will follow the same path as the original ship, pausing at the spot it sank for a memorial service, stopping in Halifax, Nova Scotia (where many of the victims are buried), and ending in New York, the Titanic's original final destination.

I get that this is meant to be a memorial and a tribute to the original ship and its tragic story, but am I the only one who finds this a bit creepy? And maybe a bit too much like tempting fate? I think I would be nervous for the entire cruise, and would spend my time counting lifeboats and watching for icebergs.

Ari's new swingset (well, she calls it a "play area") has a sandbox, and my brilliant child has figured out that she can make "snow angels" in the sand. Which of course leaves her caked with sand from her feet up to her curly head of hair. Which is just... ew. I mean, sand is fine at the beach, but I'm not liking the idea of her tracking it all over the house. I need to just get over myself, because she loves that silly sandbox, and she's a kid and she's supposed to get dirty, but still. I am not a big fan of dirt, in general.

I can't even talk about "Glee" or "The Office" because I'm sure I'll unintentionally spoil something. But they were both rather excellent episodes. (And now there's a certain YouTube video I need to look up.) And "Community" was great too. And "Parks and Recreation" is definitely growing on me. And "30 Rock" returns next week!

Oh, and fellow gleeks (AKA "Glee" fans), FYI... the soundtrack, volume 1, is being released on November 3. I know what I'm adding to my birthday wishlist.

All this TV talk. I swear I have a life, honest.

We swiped my parents' treadmill when we moved--they don't really use it, and we finally had room for it. I've been working out on it lately, and I love it. Mostly because I can read as I walk. Can't do that with the Gazelle, unless I want to get beaten up by the swinging handlebar-things. So I get to exercise my body and my brain at the same time--win-win.

Wow, I haven't yet talked about food. That's got to be, like, a record or something. Aren't you proud of me?

Target was out of my usual body wash the other day, so I grabbed a bottle of St. Ives Oatmeal and Shea Butter body wash. And ooh baby, I love it. This might become my new "usual." Don't know why I've never tried it before--as a general rule, I really like St. Ives stuff. Their apricot facial scrub is a long-time fave of mine.

Ari was looking at some of the pictures I've put up, and when she saw one from our wedding day, she declared, "Oh, look, there's Mommy all dressed up like an angel!" A little while later, she saw another wedding picture in our bedroom and said I was dressed up like a ballerina. Either way, it's sweet.

Ari was in our room last night, and she spotted a big fake rose on my dresser...

Ari: Mommy, who gave you that flower?
Me: My friend Dawn.
Ari: Why did she give it to you?
Me: Because she likes me.
Ari: Why does she like you?
Me: I have no idea.

Pictures of most of the rest of the house

2009-10-06T16:02:00.001-04:00

OK, ready for more house pictures? Good.

(Pictures of Ari's room are in the previous entry, if you missed them.)

Here's a picture of the outside again, because it's just so pretty. Oh, and that reminds me... I didn't take any pictures of that little sunroom off to the right. There's not much to see, really, and all that's in there are a few miscellaneous outdoor things, like Ari's wagon. Anyway...

When you walk in the front door, the living room is to your left...

View from the opposite side of the room... (The owners left that area rug for us--matches perfectly, no?)

The only thing left to be done in this room is hanging pictures and curtains.

When you go through the living room, on the left is the office... (Please excuse Ari's crazy eyes--I couldn't fix them in my photo-editing program.)

Another view...

Obviously the shelves need a little organization. And we could use some curtains as well (though it's on the side/back of the house, so it's not as much of a priority.) There's also a huge bookcase in there, but it's in dire need of some organization as well, so I didn't take a picture of it.

When you leave the office and head down the hall, you come to the downstairs bathroom (a full bath)... (Yes, Ari insisted on being in these pictures.)

You like the curtains? A friend of the family made them for me years ago, for the window in my classroom, and I almost got rid of them, thinking I would never use them again. But lo and behold, they matched this bathroom perfectly AND fit the window.

Side note: we didn't do any painting in the house. The colors that were already there were all fine with us, and even matched all the stuff we already had. We could paint if we wanted to, but we don't need to.

Then past the bathroom is the kitchen...

Another view (notice the fridge is already covered with Ari's magnets)...

Those 2 little white cabinets on the right used to be in our bathroom, but we didn't need them for storage here. So they became a small pantry.

I didn't take any pictures of the dining room, since that's the "staging area" right now for all the boxes we still need to go through. And there's really not much in there--just a table and chairs and a big bookcase.

OK, let's head upstairs. But before we do, Ari wants to pose near the messiest spot in the house. And of course this is the moment she gives me her best smile.

All right, upstairs. On the left is our bedroom. This is the view as you first look in the door. This is the only room where the walls don't match perfectly--they're the same pale green as Ari's room, and our bedspread is obviously not green. But they don't clash horribly either, so we won't bother painting.

And looking off to the left, our dressers. (I'll let you guess whose is whose.)

The only other thing in the room is the closet, which is boring (and small--Tony's clothes are all in the closet downstairs in the office because there was no room up here).

Then the upstairs bathroom... looking off to the left... You can't really see the color in these pics, but it's a nice sunny yellow--which coordinates nicely with the bathroom accessories we already had.

Another angle... (I'll go right ahead and confess that I need a stool to reach that top shelf... and I almost need to stand on my tiptoes to reach the lower one.)

And the shower curtain and the curtain on the window. Yes, this is the only room we have curtains in, because there were no blinds or shades or anything to cover that window. The only way you could really see in would be if you were standing in our backyard, but still. Putting up a curtain was a priority.

Speaking of the backyard... We're hoping to put in an invisible fence for the dogs, so for now, they are on leashes.

And the best part of all (at least, in a certain 3-year-old's opinion)... the swingset! She loves this thing. She's a little wary of the ladder on the back (Tony's going to install a couple handles to help her when she gets to the top), and she's not too sure about the slide (it's a little fast for her taste), but she loves the swings. She is just learning how to propel herself on the swings, too, which is so cute. Hmm, I think I took a video of her on the swings. I'll have to look for that later.

And that's all. Oh, wait, one last picture...

If I remember, I'll post pics of the dining room once it's cleared out. My parents are coming over for lunch on Saturday, so hopefully that will motivate us to get it done. All that's really left to be done is the finishing touches--putting pictures on the walls, getting curtains (for at least the living and dining room for now, since they're on the front of the house), and filling in the bookcases in the office and dining room. Oh, then we'll need to reorganize all the crap that got relocated to the basement, but that will get done eventually. At least the main living portion of the house is almost done. I'm really impressed with us, and how quickly we've gotten unpacked. And yes, in case you're wondering, I love love LOVE this house.

Ari's new room

2009-10-05T21:38:00.000-04:00

Drum roll, please... we have pictures!

I'll start with Ari's room, since that might just be my favorite room. I told Tony today that I want to kick her out of it so I can live in it.

What you see when you first walk in the door... her dresser and her big-girl bed...

Looking off to the right... her toy box, the rocking chair, and the bookcase with her huge collection of books...

The gable, with her shelves and her little princess table...

And past that, more bookcases (for toys) and her closet. And to the right of this is the door again, so we've come full-circle...

And here's a better shot of her big-girl bed, which we got for free from a friend of a friend...

She insisted that I take a picture of her sitting at her table...

Me reading her a bedtime story before bed that night...

And getting ready to go to sleep in her big-girl bed for the first time! (Yes, we're lame and had to take a picture of this moment.)

And that's all for now. More pictures to come in a future entry--probably tomorrow. I've taken pictures of all of the rest of the house (and the yard) except for the dining room, since that's where all the miscellaneous boxes are residing. So stay tuned...

Pictures, but not of the house

2009-09-29T15:07:00.000-04:00

So, the weekend... Saturday, the day before Moving Day, we spent the day at a nearby fair with Matt, Kristin and Nick (they got a sitter for the twins). We had these plans in place long before the house situation came up, and since they went to all the trouble of getting a babysitter, we didn't want to break the plans. It was nice, though--a fun, relaxing day before all the chaos of moving.

We spent most of the day letting the kiddos enjoy the rides. First was the train ride. (No, I don't know that guy... but you can see Ari and Kristin.)

I made a couple attempts to get the kids to pose together for a picture. Never could get them both to smile and/or look at me at the same time.

Then they got to ride in the belly of a dragon...

I couldn't get a good picture of them while they were on this ride, but I had to get a picture of the size of this ferris wheel. Tony took them, and neither Nick nor Ari was scared at all.

Thoughtful Ari...

Fake-smile Ari...

Waiting in line for our baked potatoes.

I think she was giving me a cheesy smile here... who knows...

I took them on the flying bee ride...

There were a few rides they could do alone, though... like this one...

And this one. (Before the ride even started, they were fighting over something... I think they kept wanting to grab the other one's steering wheel or something. That might be the reason for the expression on Ari's face.)

Since Daddy is a sucker, Ari got to play a couple of the carnival games--luckily, he chose those "everyone wins a prize" games.

Ari and Nick fishing...

Ari loved all the animals... like this sheep.

There was a place where you could watch baby chicks hatch. Then beside it was this incubator for some of the "older" chicks. Ari liked this section better--probably because she could get closer.

And the animal highlights of the day... Ari got to milk a goat...

...and ride an elehpant.

It was a great day--perfect weather, great company, and a couple of really well-behaved 3-year-olds. And I didn't once fret about packing or moving.

And yes, Sunday was the big moving day, and it rained all day, which made for some messy moving. But despite our lack of preparation and organization, things went much more smoothly than I thought they would. We had more people helping than I expected, and several of them jumped right in, grabbing boxes and packing up all the things that were still unpacked. We got all the furniture moved on Sunday, and then some, so it was definitely a productive day. On Monday, my mom and our friend Wayne spent the day with us, helping us unpack and get the remaining items from the apartment. (And then Mom treated us all to Cracker Barrel--yum.) There are still a few things at the apartment that we couldn't fit yesterday, so Tony will be taking care of that today.

The house is coming along. We have all the furniture situated where we want it, so now it's just a matter of unpacking all the boxes and bags. I'm having a hard time finding things, since other people helped pack--for example, I couldn't find my alarm clock last night (I used Tony's instead). But everything will turn up. In spite of all the boxes and the general mess, I am absolutely loving this house. I think Ari loves it, too. She has spent a lot of time just playing quietly in her room (and making quite a mess, of course)--I think she really digs having a huge room all to herself. In a flash of genius, on the first night I told her that her new room has a new rule--the door has to be shut at bedtime. She protested a bit, but didn't put up a fight when I actually did it. And the fact that she's slept perfectly must mean she's OK with it. I am so glad. Leaving her door open worked in the apartment because of the layout, but there's no way that would work in the house.

Anyway, that's enough rambling for today. And yes, pictures will be coming, as soon as we're unpacked. Which may not actually be "soon," but that's no surprise, right?

Oh, one more thing... on Sunday, Ari spent the afternoon with Pastor and Dawn while we moved, and they took her along with them to a political fundraiser, where she got to meet the mayor. Yep, first day in a new town and my kid meets the mayor (he's the one on the right; Pastor is the one on the left). I'm expecting her to get the keys to the city any day now.

On moving

2009-09-24T21:38:00.001-04:00

As excited as I am about moving into this house (and believe me, underneath my stressing about packing and other to-do list items, I truly am thrilled), there's a little tinge of sadness. I'm more than happy to give up apartment living for a real, live house, but I can't help but be a little sentimental about leaving this place behind.

We've been married for 11 years, and the last 7 of them have been in this apartment. And this was our first "real" apartment--meaning, this is the first one we signed an actual lease for, put down a deposit for, etc. The other places we lived before here were either staff housing (when I was working as a graduate assistant), or a missions apartment in the basement of a church, or an in-law apartment above the garage of a dear friend's house. Renting this apartment was a huge "grown-up" step for us. And there are a lot of memories here. The biggest one probably being that it's the place we brought Ari home to when she was born.

When I drive home from work now, I'm reminded that my days of making this drive are almost over. I find myself glancing out the windows of my car as I exit the highway--looking at the housing development across the street from the exit ramp, at the commuter lot on my left, at the Dunkin Donuts I sometimes visit, at the grocery store across the street that we always shop at--and I realize, with a bit of a start, that soon, seeing these places won't be part of my daily routine anymore. Maybe it seems silly to say I'm going to miss that commuter lot or that grocery store. But it's a little bit true.

And it's not even just seeing those places. I'm realizing that we'll be shopping at a different grocery store, a different Target, getting gas at a different gas station, frequenting a different mall--just because they will be closer. And none of that is sad or anything. It's just an odd thought. You get used to doing things a certain way after 7 years.

I could probably make a list of the things I will miss about this apartment, but it would be very short, and they would be small things. And the list of things that I'm looking forward to in this house is long....

Much more space. Including a basement for storage.

Ari having a room all of her own (instead of having to share her room with an old computer desk and a filing cabinet).

A washer and dryer of our own. (No more lugging laundry baskets across the parking lot to the laundry room and paying per load.)

Being able to park in a driveway right next to the house instead of a random parking spot in a huge parking lot.

Tons of windows that we can open to let in the breeze. (We only have a few windows in our apartment, just on the front and back, and it's almost impossible to get a good cross-breeze.)

A huge yard for the kiddo and the dogs.

A brand-new dining room set. (We bought it off the owners--they bought it used but refinished it, and it looks brand-new.)

Being able to finally fit all our furniture in our house. (We have a few chairs living at my parents' house due to lack of space.)

Being able to put up a Christmas tree in front of the lovely bay windows for all the world to see. (I know that's silly, but I think it's so cool.)

Possibly being able to put up Christmas lights and such. (Note to self: buy Christmas lights.)

A kitchen big enough to put an island in (a small one, but still). And nice new appliances in the kitchen, too. And a double sink.

An actual dining room, separate from any other rooms (which gives me hope that we'll keep the table cleared off, which means no more meals in front of the TV because the table is too cluttered to eat at).

I could go on and on, I'm sure, but I won't. And aside from all these things, there are all sorts of other blessings coming our way. A friend of a friend is going to give us a twin-size bed for Ari--white wood frame and mattress and all. The owner is selling us his swingset (that his boys are too old for), which I know Ari will just love. Matt and Kristin are lending us a desk so that we can toss our flimsy particle-board one. And there's there all sorts of other people offering to lend a hand with moving, unpacking, babysitting. It's enough to make my head spin--in a good way.

It occurred to me a few days ago that last year, on September 27, we were leaving for our Caribbean cruise.

This year, on September 27, we will be moving into our new house.

I wonder what we'll be doing on September 27 next year? (If you say "having a baby!" I will kick you.)

My new motto: DON'T PANIC edit

2009-09-21T15:25:00.002-04:00

In case anyone's interested, here's a link to that height calculator I mentioned in my last entry (the one that predicted Ari will be 5'8" by the time she's 18)... here you go. (That link will open in a new window.)

So, the weekend. Saturday was our most productive packing day. My parents took Ari for the afternoon and overnight, which was a huge help, and Tony and I buckled down and got a lot of packing done. We took advantage of Ari being gone to toss a lot of her toys. I got almost the entire kitchen packed up while Tony worked on the living room. But then we decided to take advantage of the fact that we were kid-free and headed out on a short impromptu date night--dinner at Johnny Rockets and dessert at Coldstone. Then Tony decided to do a little window-shopping, looking at things we might need/want for the house, and by the time we got home, it was late, and we got nothing else done. But I didn't care. It's been a long time since we've had a Date Night, and we both really needed that break from reality.

Sunday, of course, was church, plus we had a big potluck dinner afterward, which means we were there a lot longer than normal. Then I had freelance work to do, and then we coordinated with Matt and Kristin because they're letting us borrow a desk and we needed their minivan to move it. So needless to say, Sunday was not a productive day.

It's so strange to look around and see blank walls and empty shelves. I think between all the packing, and then showing the house off to friends, it's starting to hit me that this is really, truly happening. And holy moley, we have so much to do.... This week is going to be madness--we have commitments on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, and Tony has something going on Friday night. Plus the whole reason we're moving Sunday rather than Saturday is because we have plans with Matt and Kristin on Saturday. So that means we have tonight and Thursday night, and I have Friday night, to get it all done.

OK, no freaking out... it's only Monday. I should wait until at least Tuesday to start panicking. So, change of subject...

I realized just the other day that it's been a long time since I've taken/posted any pictures of Ari. So I commissioned Tony to take a few pictures yesterday, since she looked especially cute.

Ari decided to pack herself in a box.

At least someone is enjoying this mess of boxes...

Can't imagine where she gets her blue eyes from...

*** EDIT ***

As I said before, we got the keys to the house yesterday. Well, just one key. So of course, the first order of business was to get copies made. Problem is, the new key looks exactly the same as our current keys. Which won't be a problem for long, but still. We dog-sat our neighbors dogs the other day, and they gave us their teenage daughter's key to get into the house--a pretty purple key with a butterfly. I thought it was so cute and told Tony I wanted my new house key to be pretty. So Tony went off to get the keys made today, and called me to tell me my choices. And this is what I chose...

Those spots inside the hearts are actually little pink jewels. I love it. So so pretty.

I know, I am such a girl.

And if you're wondering... Wal-Mart.

You make me smile like the sun

2009-09-18T22:28:00.001-04:00

Apparently, randomness is my thing lately...

So, last week, we had a grand total of 3 boxes packed. Want to guess how many we've added to that total? One. Yes, you read that right. I don't know why I can't get myself motivated to do this. I think it's because it seems like such an overwhelming amount of work, so I'm coping with it by doing nothing. This is our last weekend to pack, since next weekend is Moving Weekend (holy crap!) so we HAVE to get some major progress accomplished this weekend. HAVE to.

So the fall TV season is well underway, which means you're going to hear me blabber on about the shows I love. (Don't worry--I will try not to spoil anything for you.) The third episode of "Glee" was on Wednesday, and once again, it was made of awesome.

Also, "The Office" premiered last night, and it was great. And I watched the new show "Community" and loved it. Like I need a new show to watch. Joel McHale is fantastic, though. ( I wonder if this new show means that Joel McHale won't be hosting "The Soup" anymore...?) And I'm a big fan of Abed, the kid that talks wicked fast and made all the "Breakfast Club" references.

We bought some of that toddler toothpaste for Ari a long time ago--you know, the kind that's safe for them to swallow as they're learning how to brush their teeth. Well, she hated it, so we haven't pushed the issue, and the tube has just been sitting on the counter for months. A few nights ago, she happened to see it as she got ready to brush her teeth, and she told me, "Mommy, I don't like my toothpaste." She paused, then asked, "Can I have some toothpaste?" I was startled, but didn't argue--I put a dab on her brush and waited for her to wail and moan about how she didn't like it. But instead, she happily brushed away and even started laughing. What a nut. I figured it was just a fluke, but she has cheerfully asked for toothpaste every night since then. Go figure.

Despite our lack of packing, we do have boxes everywhere, and I've told Ari not to play with them or in them, since we don't want them to get damaged. Ari was playing by herself the other night when out of nowhere, she declared, "Mommy, I want to tell you something." I looked up at her and she continued, "Earlier, I stepped in the box with the blanket and I'm sorry." When I burst out laughing, she giggled and added, "And that's funny."

Ari got one of those birthday cards that talks when you open it--she loves the thing, so it's become a part of her toy collection. She was playing with it the other night, opening it and listening to the characters yell, "Happy birthday!" and all the other stuff they say. When it was done, she chuckled and said, "Thank you, guys!"

Along those lines, she is forever talking to her toys now, and it is so cute. She talks in this soft little voice, making her toys and dolls carry on entire conversations. Of course, as soon as she notices you're listening, she stops, and will sometimes start giggling as she looks at you, as if she knows exactly how adorable she is.

I found some little online calculator thing that's supposed to predict how tall your child will be by the time they are 18. You fill in their gender, current age/height/weight, then the height of both parents. So according to all that, Ari will be 5'8"... which is a good 6" taller than me. Not that I'm surprised, though--it's not too difficult to be taller than me.

I found this quote the other day, and really liked it, so I thought I would share...

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit." ~Albert Schweitzer

I heard this song on the radio this week, and it caught my attention--it's called "Smile" and I think it's cute, if not a bit corny. Which is just my style.

A geek to the core

2009-09-13T18:51:00.001-04:00

Just some more randomness, from the mind of me...

I think the E! channel's "The Soup" is one of the funniest shows on TV. I don't know why I don't watch it more often. Probably because I don't pay attention to what day/time it's on. (Does anyone remember when it used to be called "Talk Soup" and was hosted by Greg Kinnear?)

"Glee" might just be my new favorite show. Sure, it's no "Pushing Daisies" (*sniff*) but it's definitely an awesome show. Much love.

Also, I know all the songs are on iTunes and such, but I really hope they come out with a soundtrack for the show. I would so buy it.

You know how back in medieval times, they used to have that torture machine called "The Rack"? It was a machine where they would tie up a person's wrists to a roller at the top and their ankles to a roller at the bottom, and then slowly turn the rollers and stretch the body until it was pulled apart. I'm thinking those aren't such a bad idea. No, I don't want to be dismembered, but a little stretch might not be bad. I mean, think how good it feels when you reach your arms up over your head and give your back a good stretch. If a machine could do it for you, I bet it would feel even better. Of course, it might be tricky getting the settings on the machine just right, and I imagine not many people would want to be the guinea pigs, so I guess it will never happen. But a girl can dream.

They should make a whole pack of Starburst that is just the pink ones. Because the lemon ones are just "meh" and no one really likes the cherry ones and the orange ones are just gross.

Ari and I were watching "The Wedding Singer" on TV, and during the one part where Adam Sandler sings Drew Barrymore the song he wrote (not the one at the end--the one where the verses are all soft and sweet, and then he screams the chorus), Ari was captivated by the song. And during one of the screamy choruses, she declared, "That boy is a great singer." I agreed with her, and she added, "Can I tell him that next time I see him?" I said sure, why not.

I watched some episodes of "Animaniacs" with Ari last weekend--totally my idea since, hey, there's only so much Playhouse Disney a person can stand. And I figured it was about time to introduce her to some real cartoon awesomeness. Ari was a bit unimpressed at first--she even flat-out said, "I don't like this show." Yet she remained riveted to the TV. Little liar.

That reminds me... you know what's a great word? Umbrage. Just say it. It's fun, and it sounds all fancy.

Wanna know where I heard it? "Animaniacs." Oh yeh. See, the show is funny AND educational. What's not to love?

(And since I know someone will ask.... it means "offense, annoyance, displeasure." As in, to feel umbrage at a social snub; to give umbrage to someone; to take umbrage at someone's rudeness. Now, go out and work this word into your daily vocabulary.)

I watched "Never Been Kissed" a few nights ago--it's one of those movies I will always stop and watch. Anyway, if you're familiar with the movie, you know that Josie is a copy editor/reporter, and spends a good deal of the movie correcting people's grammar. (A girl after my own heart.)

But it irks me so much that, at the end of the movie, in her Amazing Story That Saves The Day, she makes a HUGE grammar error. It would be understandable if it was a line of dialogue, because who doesn't screw up grammar in conversation? But the fact that Miss Snotty Copy Editor missed this in her own article?

Now, class, who can tell me what's wrong with the following sentence?

A geek to the core, most of my childhood days were spent doing extra homework I requested from the teacher.

If you said "dangling modifier," you are correct. Gold star.

Grr.

That said, I have to say, I love this line from that movie, where she's describing what a first kiss is like....

That thing, that moment, when you kiss someone and everything around becomes hazy and the only thing in focus is you and this person and you realize that that person is the only person that you're supposed to kiss for the rest of your life, and for one moment you get this amazing gift and you want to laugh and you want to cry because you feel so lucky that you found it and so scared that that it will go away all at the same time.

*girly, dreamy sigh*

Man, this entry is getting long. I should shut up now, or I may never stop. Hope you all had a great weekend!