This is a disaster

Just some Ari stuff...

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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.

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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...

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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

Mostly about Ari, with other randomness.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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*).

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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.

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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

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.

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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.

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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

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

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

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



And, speaking of fish...

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

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



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

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



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

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





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

Let me concentrate on eating my candy corn

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

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

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

I so knew she was going to say that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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