Christmas cards...

I hope everyone had a good Christmas! We had a fun one overall. Aria gets it, for the most part. She had a little trouble with getting a finite number of gifts. The first night of gifts at my parents' house was a little rough when we had to explain to her that there were no more to open. But then we had stocking extravaganza at Dana's parents' house Christmas morning, and then gifts after breakfast, so we had to re-explain.

Aria liked Christmas Eve service (at 8pm). there's a funny story about that, but you'll have to wait for the official Christmas post. This post is about something a little different.

Right when we were getting our Christmas cards ready to go this year, we had problems with both of our computers. Dana's has our master address list, and hers is still down (I just really haven't had time to fix it). I'm pretty sure it's a motherboard issue, and the hard drives still work, but not sure yet.

So. We went old school this year and only responded to people who sent us cards. I used to follow this rule, but then we just kept sending cards no matter what. No biggie. Well, it's difficult when something you rely on like a computer is gone, with no written addresses, and this time of year is hectic, and you have a toddler, and a wife who's tired all the time cause she's busy making a son-bun in the oven (yes I said son). I'm sure you understand.

Also, a lot of people check here frequently, and are on facebook as well, so you know how we were this year.

For those of you who received a card, and are visiting here for the first time, welcome! check archives for fun videos and pictures, and please comment! It's how we know you are viewing the site. And for those of you who come here and didn't get a card, it doesn't mean we love you less!

on a serious note, we have a family member who had a horrible Christmas this year. Dana's maternal Grandmother fell on Christmas Eve and broke her hip and shoulder. She had Surgery on the 27th, and we visited her that afternoon. She has Alzheimer's as well, so she really is disoriented. She is improving, however. We wish her the best in this difficult time.

I scared of da fan!

So Aria woke up at 1:00 last night upset. I got up and went into her room and she was sitting up whining (not so much crying) about how she was scared of her ceiling fan. It was really the strangest thing. Kevin followed me in the room and we both reassured her that fan was not so scary and that it was ok. I picked her up at one point and she just clung to me, wide-eyed. I found it to be pretty sweet. Kevin came up with the idea of handing her a little plastic play knife that she loves and told her it was going to protect her. Somehow that was enough and we tucked her in and walked out (as she clung to the knife under her covers). She seemed to have gone back to sleep shortly after. I can't wait to hear if she talks about it this morning when Kevin gets her.

When Kevin got her she was telling him that the "fan has eyes." And when she was getting out of bed she found her knife and said something about it keeping her safe. Awwww, poor Aria, but I can't help but laugh...it is a little funny.

Living up to her name

Aria loves singing. really loves singing. A while ago she realized that the Alphabet Song, Twinkle Little Star, and Baa Baa Black Sheep are the same tune, and started to mix and match them.

"A, B, C, D, little star, yes sir, yes sir, three bags full..."

She'll wake up and start singing Itsy Bitsy Spider, or Mary had a Little Lamb, You are my Sunshine, Rock-a-bye Baby, The Bear went over the Mountain, Row your Boat, Song of the South (the zippity-do-da part), or some other song. Sometimes, she'll sing a song we didn't even know she knew! The other day, I was getting ready for work, and on the monitor I heard Aria stirring. I always wait until she calls "Daaaaaaddy", because I've found she can get cranky if I go in before then. Well she starts singing Old MacDonald.

"Old MacDonald had farm...
yo yo yo...
on that farm, had a sheep...
yo yo yo...
on that farm, had a dog...

"and BINGO was his name-o
B-I-N-G-O
and BINGO was his name-o"

I was hysterical as I entered the room, and Aria was all smiles - I think she realized what she did.
:-)

gummi bear!

When I was a kid, we would travel to Europe and stay at bed and breakfasts, ride the trains to various castles, museums, etc. Well, one time we were walking from our bed and breakfast in Munich to the train station. I was eating gummi bears. A red one dropped on the ground and I couldn't stop to pick it up because we were in a rush to get to the station in time.

It rained all day long, so when we were walking back to the bed and breakfast later that day, I saw my gummi bear. Lying on his back, pink, bloated to almost 300% of its original size, and perfectly intact!

Why am I babbling about gummi bears and what happens when they get wet? I dunno. but I do know that Dana has a little gummi bear! Here is a picture:

I imagine he's singing the theme song to the Gummi Bears cartoon in that cute little gummi bear fetus voice of his... Gummi Bears, bouncing here and there and everywhere! high adventure that's beyond compare! I am a Gummi Bear!

Coming soon to this blog! July 14, 2009...
...there will be other posts from now until then of course!

Thanksgiving Part 2

Yeah, I know i'm real late with this, but for Thanksgiving day, we spent it with Grammy and Pop-pop, Aunt Jennine, and Uncle John. Aria had fun as usual, and we even got to visit with Great-Grammy in Philly for her 90th birthday!

Grammy, Aunt Jennine, Mommy, and Aria

We watched Wall-E, and Aria sat through most of it. She kept telling us when "Wally's sad". We also went to a farm with a very nice petting zoo. Aria wasn't scared at all this time, and even helped feed the goats!

Aria saying hi to one of the baby goats

Later, Aria wanted to help out with the puzzle (a Thanksgiving tradition), and that led to a couple of temper tantrums. We managed those fairly well - we survived at least! :-)

Aria "helping" with the puzzle

Tired after a day in Philly

Thanksgiving Part 1

We had Thanksgiving at my parents' house on the Sunday before Thanksgiving day. We didn't get to go to church before, because we had to stop at the after-hours doctor to check on Aria's cold. she coughed all night, and her runny nose had really picked up. She was great for the doctor, and even asked if the doctor would look at her eye (she's used to the eye doctor we go to every 3 months). When the doctor asked her to open her mouth, she did right away! He was shocked at how good she was. It turned out that her ears and lungs were fine, so we really didn't have much to worry about.

We had a fun time as always! First stop was through the forest in my parents' backyard to my dad's farm. He's been building an barn for his tractors, but in this picture it looks like an ark.

Aria said "I check my email" whenever she played with this toy laptop.

Grandpa and Aria giving rides to Aria's buddies

Yellow means slow

On the way home yesterday from school Aria and I were talking about the stop lights. We usually do this because there are many and it occupies her. I always talk about how red means stop and green means go. She helps me by calling out what color the lights are. I was repeating for the millionth time "green means go and red means stop" in my sing-song voice and then I heard a little peep from the back saying "yellow means slow." Haha. Silly me forgot about the yellow! She's so smart!