Behind the times

I was a little behind the times, but I caught up quickly. I think it took me no longer than three days to watch each season of Downton Abbey. I'm obsessed. How can I wait until January 2013 for the next season?!?

8 months old!

My tiny baby girl,

How did you get to be so big? What happened to my little baby who loved to snuggle and just slept and ate all day long?

Ariana, you are my favorite, smart, pretty, happy little girl. We tell you all the time that Jesus has given you a happy heart. You have a smile for everyone. Your eyes smile before your mouth does and it makes my heart happy every time.

You're on the go all the time. Since you figured out how to really crawl on Mother's Day, you haven't stopped. You see something across the room - whether it's a toy, a newspaper, an electric outlet, or (best of all) a shoe - and you go get it. You can play on the ground for hours.

You've been pulling yourself up on the couch and scooting along it for the past two weeks now. One of your favorite things is to hold onto our hands and walk for as long as we'll let you.

Much to your daddy's delight, you're a total foodie. You haven't turned down anything we give you. Sweet potatoes and pickles are still your favorite. You can feed yourself now, though most of the food ends up on the floor or squished all over your hands.

Things you like:
Dancing with daddy
Eating
Grammy
Winston, our neighbor's dog
Your glo-worm
Keys
Baths

Things you don't like
Getting dressed
Diaper changes
Being in the car for more than 45 minutes

If I could change one thing....you would sleep better at night. I still nurse you to sleep and you wake up at least twice at night, usually at 2 and 6 or 7. I nurse you back to sleep. It's not uncommon for you to wake up in between; most of the time, we can pat your back or bounce you back to sleep. I handle night times for the most part with daddy helping every couple nights or so.

Other than that, you're my favorite and you are so happy and fun to be around. I love you so much, Ari.

Cousins!

Ari and I went down to Corvallis to help Halley out and play with little Thad. We caught him with his eyes open for a few minutes and took this picture. The rest of the day he was either sleeping or eating.

The sun was out in the afternoon and Halley and I walked around downtown with Thad in the moby and Ari in the ergo. Apparently we looked like hippies because the because the lady in the children's boutique we went into pointed out the organic cotton and bamboo section and said we looked like we would like those clothes.

Weekend!

Date night/Avengers: success! We went up to Bridgeport to see The Avengers in IMAX. I didn't realize that it was also in 3D - which I hate - but getting a refund was too much of a pain. The only superheroes I'm obsessed with are Batman and Iron Man (or, more correctly, I should say I'm obsessed with Christian Bales and Robert Downey Jr) so Iron Man with a preview of Dark Knight Rises makes for a pretty awesome movie. Plus dinner and shopping with my super fun husband....yeah, it was a good date.

Saturday was the Salem Etsy Team Spring Sale.....fun, but not what I would classify as a success. I sold five things and made $44. Oh well. I'll take pictures and list everything on Etsy tomorrow and then take everything down to The Fussy Duck.

After the sale, we went to Raymond an Brittany's for a Minute to Win It game night. Brittany's game nights are the best. Cute kids, good food, fun people and lots of laughs - especially when we played the game where you have a get a cookie from your forehead to your mouth without touching it.

Sunday: church and a really good message that too many people missed, Hailey's 2nd birthday party, a nap, yard work and sun. Ari took two half hour naps and both times someone was holding her but she did just fine.

Yeah, this weekend was a success.

Unsafe but So Much Cuter

Loving her completely-not-up-to-safety-standards high chair! All the high chairs in the stores are plastic monstrosities and we don't like plastic. So while I'm searching antique stores for an old wooden high chair, T let me borrow the one her daughter used 18 years ago. 

Who knew squishing bananas with no shirt on could be so cute? 

Yum.

Chickpeas and chorizo is pretty out-of-the-box for me, but I was at Southpark (my new favorite restaurant) in Portland a few months ago and decided to be adventurous. It was probably the best thing that happened to my mouth since Little Big Burger. 

I have been wanting to try to recreate it for a while and when I saw chorizo at Whole Foods, I put it on this week's menu. Two things: 1) yum! 2) I made it myself! Pretty proud of myself. 

Next time I'm going to adapt the recipe and include corn, more potatoes and double the chorizo. 

After dinner we picked up Ari's new high chair and went to the Kroc Center. Our little girl loves water. Sooo excited for swim lessons. 

Thrifting Success

Ari's room was missing two things: a place for hanging up clothes (since Isaac uses the closet) and a place to put pictures and knick-knacks.

Problem solved. I found this shelf at Goodwill last week and Isaac spray painted it to match her room and cover up some knicks. I think it's adorable.

I had been holding off on buying kitschy things since there wasn't a place to put them but now I have no excuse. Watch out, Isaac! I know how much you love knick knacks :)

 Linkin' up: High on Thrifting

<3