365 days, swear I'm doing it!

I have been slacking here, but I'm doing it fine on facebook. It's a lot less time to log into facebook and load up pictures there. Here it takes too much messing around with stuff. That and they always put your pics in your blog in reverse order and I have to spend time copying and pasting in the correct order. How dumb is that?

Anyway, a lot of the pics I've taken is on the computer that is currently overheating, so instead you've got these.

Jan something or other. The Walgreen's freezers were down, but they kept everything in. I bet that was gross after a few hours.

Jan 6th.

Rod got a haircut at the his new barber. The woman he always went to before had retired. This guy isn't as precise. His barbershop has nothing newer than 1986, and all the old guys sat around talking about politics, but it gets the job done.

Jan 2

I am picking two pictures today, though they are not in order of when I took them. Today we went forth with Christmas money to Davenport to spend it. Aria spent hers at Gamestop and bought a Dora cooking game for her Nintendo DS. We also bought some extra styluses and a case for her DS and games. Afterwards we went to Toys R Us where much fun was had and she bought a giraffe to add to her extensive collection of giraffes. We now officially have a herd.

This pic is from when we went bowling:

Aria's style was she would throw the ball. It would make a horrible clunk down the lane and then roll painfully slowly onward until it would knock down anywhere from 1 to 4 balls. Oddly enough this strategy only put her 4 points behind Mama. This is the point where she threw the ball and it got stuck between the bumper rail and the gutter.

This picture was taken in Starbucks at Barnes and Noble. Rod went in to get himself a new controller for the Xbox360. We stayed in B&N to have a caramel frappachino, a coconut velvet cupcake, and a water. Aria wanted them to write her name on her water like they did my name on mine. She also said that the bag held grass for her giraffe to eat.

365 Day Project

I am going to try to partake on the 365 day project. It will make me take at least one pic a day, no matter how uneventful and boring it is, and therefore capture memories that I would have otherwise forgotten. Big fat wheee!

But first some firsts:

first song heard of the new year: Hot Shelle Rae's "Tonight Tonight"

first show watched: How I Met Your Mother

current favorite song: Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga

last movie watched of 2011: MacGruber

And now the pic: Jan 1st.

This is Rod and Alex playing Call of Duty at about 9pm. Today they went to a Heroclix tournament. Rod won. He was undefeated. He won about $90 worth of stuff. That justifies the $25 fee to play.

Mary watched Aria today. Aria had a good time. She said they played dominoes and singing. I worked today. It sucked, but it wasn't busy so I cleaned the meat cases and avoided unloading frozen/dairy truck. Score!

Halloween!

It was 55 degrees so we dressed warmly. I was smart as Aria's Hello Kitty hat doubled as a mask and a warm hat for her ears. She wore gloves and a coat. She also wore two shirts and leggings under her Hello Kitty skirt. I wore my hat and gloves as well. We were prepared for the journey.

I didn't have a route in mind. I thought that we could just start walking and see where our feet took us. The first house was on the corner. Aria was very good, said Trick or Treat obediently, and dutifully replied thank you. After about the third house was when she started getting really excited about this trick or treating business.

The usual was out there. There were witches and ghosts. There was Mario, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Spiderman. Babies were lions, teddy bars, and crayons. Pre-teens went out with no costumes begging for candy. Come on, kids, at least try. My personal favorite was the group of girls dressed as Robin, Batgirl, Wonder Woman, and Supergirl. I like that they had a theme.

My Hello Kitty started getting really brave at the 4th street we were on. She told me, "No, Mama, I'm brave. You stay here. I can do it myself!" So my big, brave girl would insist I stay at the sidewalk as she went up to the doors and knocked herself. I was quite proud that she would thank them without prompting many times. A few times I had to remind her, but every time I didn't I was pretty proud. When people did not recognize her as Hello Kitty she was sure to correct them.

At one house she came down and announced to me, "That man has big hands." That was funny.

Officer cousin John was on patrol. He pulled over and gave Aria a glow necklace. She was pretty excited about that. It was getting pretty dark too, so it made her feel better because she's kind of afraid of the dark.

She was quite offended by the smokers around. At one house she told me the smoke hurt her eyes. At another house she came back coughing and complaining of the smoke. As we passed a house on the way home, a man smoking tried to give her money but she just cried, "Mama, he's smoking! Mama, that man is smoking!" She's really offended by smoking. She complained about the smoking all the way home then.

Aria's basket was so full that the strap was breaking and I had to carry it. It also broke. All of the contents won't fit in the candy jar, even after taking out the stuff that she can't have. She wants to eat it all at once and gets pretty irate when you tell her no.

Funny random addition: When I was at Walmart, a coworker asked me what I was supposed to be-a hippy? I said, "What? This is how I always dress."

Day 3 Festival of Aria Bowling Party

Aria had a great time at her bowling party. All day she kept asking me "Is it party time yet?" When it finally was you couldn't get that girl out the door fast enough. We showed up at the bowling alley. Mom was already there so I put her to work carrying things for me.

Aria picked out a Hello Kitty cake, and I got another sheet cake. Rod didn't think I needed to buy so much, but a whole cake and a half was gone by the end of the party, so I think that I did. We also had two pizzas, and by request I ordered my grandpa some chicken fingers.

Lauren and Annabelle came, which made Aria very happy. Lauren was shy at first, but then she warmed up to everyone. She, Ari, and Anna were playing tag. They also all got to bowl a game. It was cute seeing these kids try to roll a ball that is half of their whole body.

Aria loved her presents. Now I need to figure out what to do with them. I have started going through Aria's toys to get rid of the ones she doesn't like, but there aren't many that I can really get rid of. I guess I'll have to buy bigger totes.

After the bowling party, Aria wasn't ready to go home. There was still trick or treating being done at Walmart so I took her there. We dressed her up in her Hello Kitty costume and headed up to the store. Because it was almost time for them to quit, a lot of people just gave Aria what was left of their baskets. The kid came home with a ton of candy.

Aria has discovered pixie sticks.

Aria's 4th Birthday- Festival of Aria Day 2

Look who is 4!

Mama, am I 4 yet?

Ah, the thrill of birthdays when you are young. There is nothing better than a birthday. This little girl was all smiles from the moment she woke up until she went to bed, and even then she was asking me, "Is it still my bowth-day?"

We started the day by eating breakfast and then me dressing her up and forcing her to pose for pictures for me. Then we went to Walmart to get items to make her birthday cake (as well as a few extra things cuz she is the birthday girl). Normally I would be working and anyone who saw me and commented on that fact, I'd tell them I took it off because it was Aria's birthday. Then she'd get lots of birthday wishes, money, hugs, and she got a whole sheet of stickers from the people greeter. That's when Aria decided that birthdays were pretty awesome.

Then we stopped at Papa Murphy's where she got more birthday wishes, and some money as well. We took her newfound treasures to the dollar tree where she spent it on a knight's armor dress up and a balloon. Therefore everyone can know that their money was well spent on making a birthday girl happy with useless stuff.

When we arrived at home, Rod was up so we opened presents. She got lots of good stuff from Mama and daddy, Aunt Vickie and Gan, Grandma Mary, and Grandma Marva. Her favorite, though, was her guitar.

No, daddy, this is how you hold it. Let me show you!

Aria has wanted another guitar since her ukelele broke. The play ones aren't good enough for her and she recently told me that her Wiggles guitars are too "little and funny" for her to play with anymore. She picked out that guitar herself. From the moment it was out of the box, Aria had that guitar. When her daddy tried to move it so that it wouldn't get broken, she ran over as fast as she could, grabbed it, and said, "No, daddy! My TAR!"

Maybe she'll actually want to learn to play it.

A birthday is not a birthday without a balloon.

I had a gluten free cake mix in the cupboard and so I made that. I figured that way Rod could have some cake and other people could have nice, gluteny cake tomorrow at her party. We had frosting that had mini M&M's in it. Aria ate all the candy letters that we didn't use to decorate.

Here she is licking the bowl.

I'd also like to mention that nobody likes to be sung to like Aria does. When you sing Happy Birthday to her, it makes her really really happy. She always asks you to sing it again. She grins the whole time you are singing to her. Most people are mortified, she really loves it.

As well as blowing out the candles.

Festival of Aria Day One

I like to call August National Jacque Month. That's because my birthday is in it, and I am totally full of myself. I think that everyone should celebrate because what better reason to celebrate than that I was born? I know, I can't think of a better reason either.

I am passing on my narcissistic values to my daughter by declaring this the first day of the Festival of Aria. That was because Rod took today off so we could celebrate Aria's birthday all weekend. That means that Aria gets three days of birthday fun. That sounds like a festival to me.

So on to the celebrations!

But first, Aria on a pumpkin.

We ventured forth to Coralville and to the Family Museum. Rod had never been there and Aria's last visit was when she was two. Both of the children with me loved it. Rod and Aria both liked the ambulance, the doctor's office, and the shopping center. The real fun came with the flight exhibit though.

This was one big, awesome slide. I went down it. It was FAST!

Rod went down it too.

Don't worry, Daddy. I can land us.

Rod and Aria went in the flight simulator. You sit in a little plane and pretend to fly it. You can actually buy the game and play it with a joystick, but sitting in a little plane with real controls is way more fun. Aria ran them into a house, several trees, but copilot Rod got them back in the air. I did it once too. I did about as well as Aria.

This is how you make a rocket.

There was a section where you made a rocket out of paper and then shot it to the ceiling with air pressure. That rocked. Aria just wanted to cut the paper, but Rod and I made two pretty awesome rockets. Aria got to shoot them upwards. Rod's made it to the ceiling. Mine did too, then the second time it went up it got stuck on the window ledge.

The whole world in her hands. Okay, lame, I couldn't think of a caption.

You really should have seen how much time they spent dispacing air to make the two balls fall or roll or fly up, or do whatever. It was very serious business.

and then with a roar they were both on their way. Each knowing they'd meet on some other day.

Afterwards was a trip to Coldstone. Aria's signature ice cream treat is a scoop of cotton candy, a scoop of another flavor (this time vanilla) and covered in sprinkles.

Afterwards we stopped at the mall again so that Aria could play in the play area, and then so we could get some books at Barnes and Noble. Oh, and so I could go to the bathroom ten million times because I had coffee and then 2 tall glasses of tea. My bladder is voicing its displeasure.

A pretty darn good day. Little girl was happy. She spent all day hugging and kissing us. She gets very cuddly when she is happy. She also took a power nap on the way home, which we are paying for because she is still up. This is the last day my little girl is three. Four years old, here we come.