Ari Videos

Ok so many of you will probably think this is overboard, and it probably is, but if you don't like it, don't read my blog :)
I have been compiling video of Ari, trying to catch all the little things she is learning. I finally sat down to edit it, and this is what I came up with...8 videos, about 5 minutes total of crazy "Ari-isms."
First I tried to capture a lot of the words she is now saying...I counted today and she knows about 13 words.
"Shoes"

 "Ball"

 "Dada"

Bike "ba" and "Car"

A story about Ari learning to talk...Whenever we could go outside Ari would stop and point at the "flowers" (dandelions, etc.) in the yard and say "bai". We couldn't figure out what she was doing and pretty much ignored it. Then Ari started pointing to pictures of flowers in books and saying "bai". We figured it just must be her way of saying flower, but it was strange. It wasn't until Ben was reading her a book that had pictures of both flowers and butterflies that he realized that her word for Butterfly was "bai"! She thought that flowers were butterflies :)

Crazy Ari "dancing" or something...

Ari's Favorite Game "Chase Me!"

Cutest video ever :)

 And the best...Ari walking!

Ok so maybe this was a little overboard, but you got to see Ari!

Springtime (almost)

The weather has been crazy lately. It is really a late spring. We have some beautiful warm days and others that are freezing. Ari has developed a love for the outdoors. We have been working on getting our garden started, and she is content to play for hours while we work.  She rides her bike, colors with (and eats) chalk, plays with our neighbor's dog, and chases her ball around the back yard. 
The breeze-way that we have between our garage and house has been a real blessing. It has turned into another play-room for Ari (who, by-the-way, has learned how to open the door to go out there). One day I had left the door open on purpose to let her wander a little and she took her favorite toys out there one by one (which is quite a feat for a girl who is still crawling). 
Ari has discovered the joy of playing in and eating dirt, and there is plenty of it with a freshly tilled garden :) She also loves to "pick" flowers, then throw them away from her screaming...I don't know if they are scaring her or have a strange texture, but as soon as they are picked, they are something to panic over. 

Her bike is serious business :) And as a mom, I have totally loved it. It rolls on carpet and hardwood, it is easy for Ari to maneuver, and it has really improved her balance and walking skills. I wouldn't be surpised if I wrote another blog post this week about her walking ;)

Ari is also a "ham." She loves to make people smile and will do almost anything to coax one out of you. No one who sits behind us at church can keep a straight face through the meeting. When my tutoring students come over, Ari puts on her wildest acts to get them to laugh. When I say wild, I don't mean tantrums, I mean throwing herself  around the room while giggling, babbling, and picking up random toys. I caught one of her "ham" moments here. She is not supposed to take her blanket out of her bed, but she does. Here she is rocking it in her cradle. 
 Enjoy some videos. Some I have already posted on Facebook, but I know not all of you are on there. 

You may have noticed that I go on blogging "spurts." They mostly correlate to how healthy everyone is in the house. I got a bad cold about 2 weeks ago and Ari has been teething, oh which by the way, she now has 10 teeth! That includes 2 molars.  So blogging was not the top priority, but I hope you enjoy the catching up...

Easter

We had a perfect day for Easter egg hunts yesterday. We invited friends and family to come and spend the day with us. I was really worried because they had forecasted  rain all day, but it stopped around 1 and started up again around 6, so we had a perfect window to play outside :) We had about 15 kids and about the same amount of adult, which made for a pretty good combination, there was always an adult near to help out. Because of the age ranges of the kids we decided to do 2 egg hunts. One for the little and one for the big. It worked out perfectly. Ben then gathered all the kids together and did a lesson on Easter. 

He had hidden 6 eggs with items in them about the resurrection. He called the kids up in order to open the egg and talk about what was inside. Some of the moms had asked where he had gotten the idea, and you can find it here, he condensed it down to 6 eggs instead of 12, and left the last one empty to symbolize the empty tomb. 

Ari didn't really understand the concept of the Easter egg hunt, but sat there saying "ball...ball" and pointing to all the eggs :)

They finished our new sidewalk the day before the hunt :) 

Over flowing baskets :)

Everyone got a ton of candy.  

Here is Arianna's Easter dress. She loves it...

Also we wanted to leave everyone with a beautiful Easter message. I think this is a great video to watch with kids. It makes the last week of Christ's life seem more real. 

Family Photo Session

We had an amazing photo session with J Design Studios  Here are some of the pictures we took :)

Sierra was in town and helped out, so I thought we should get some pictures with her too :)

Snow and Blankets

Ari has been having a great time playing with blankets lately...

 

 

We got a crazy snow storm and I thought it was a great chance for Ari to play outside :)

I love this picture, she looks so grown up!

(even though she still isn't walking)

 

My mom made her the Hello Kitty hat before she was born...this is the first time that she didn't pull it off her head when I put it on!

 I love those blue eyes!

I have to brag...

So Arianna still won't walk, but she does so many other amazing things!

Ari can color! She understands the concept and will not be fooled by leaving the cap on :)

She loves to read, this is what I normally find her doing. She would love me to read to her all day long. It is so hard to say "No, I can't read you a book right now..."
 

Ari has an amazing imagination. She treats her monkey like a person and talks to it. She also snuggles with it, covers it with a blanket and pats it's back...

 Ari can talk! It has been really hard to capture on video because she just wants to play with the camera, but she can say "ball", "brown bear", "duck" ,"dog", "dad", "where's the ball", and "book."

Ari loves to be outside! She has started to cry when I bring her in, or she sits at the door and tries to put her coat on to go out...I can't wait for warm weather!

Some other things that I haven't been able to capture with the camera...

• She makes noises when she plays with her cars and trucks

• If her nose isn't too raw she will let you wipe it, and will even blow!

• She still charms strangers with her smile :)

• She sleeps 12 hours at night, 7:30-7:30 (when she isn't sick)

• She has finally started to get cuddly, only when she is tired, but that is better than nothing.

What Ari does when I am not looking...

Today I was getting some work done...wait what was that? Work was actually getting accomplished while Arianna was awake? Yes! But that usually means Ari is up to no good. The other day when she was "too quiet" she had emptied her wipes all over her room, pulled all the blankets out of the closet,  and had unfolded all my neat piles of laundry...So what was she up to today? Well I caught it on camera...

Yup, she was "reading" :) she did this for at least ten minutes...Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? is her favorite book right now. I even took this video, edited it, uploaded it, and then went back in to check on her and she was still reading...Arianna is one amazing little girl.