outing with daddy

miles took the kids to disneyland yesterday. am i jealous? yes indeed. how sad that i had to work while they were playing. they went with jen and bodhi. mason was so excited to go. in the morning he said go buzz. go buzz. which is his way of saying he is going to see buzz lightyear. he then started rattling off all the things he would see at disney. the train, boat, hippos, dinosaurs. i was surprised by how many things he remembers from there. he has been talking much more. i love his little voice. i am glad that miles got to spend some alone time with the kids, and that he is actually taking them out of the house. here are some photos from their adventure.

7 months

dahlia is seven months old today. she is so adorable. miles took her to the doctors last week and she is 16 pounds 6 ounces and 26.5 inches long. she is in the 50 percentile for height and 40 percentile for weight.

lots has changed this last month. she can now sit up unattended. she doesn't sit for very long, but she can do it. she is almost crawling. i swear she is just teasing us with this one. she gets on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. when she wants to move, she gets on her tummy and pulls herself. she hasn't quite figured out how to move on her hands and knees yet. she can actually get around pretty quickly. today she went from her room to the tv room in the short time it took me to grab a load of laundry. she is fast.

she has also started eating food this last month. she has tried rice cereal, apples, pears and carrots. so far she loves the fruit and carrots best. she was not crazy about the rice cereal. miles mixed the fruit in it and then she seemed to like it better. i guess it was too bland.

anniversary

miles and i celebrated our five year anniversary today. i can't believe we have been married for five years. wow. that sure went by quickly. i remember on our honeymoon i asked miles if we could return to australia for our five year anniversary. it sounded so far away. well, we did not make it back to australia this year. i have now revised my request to celebrate our ten year anniversary in australia.

we had a nice evening together. we drove to jen and rays house to drop the kids off. they were nice enough to offer to watch them for us. they live close to the beach and lots of great restaurants so we walked to dinner from their house. dinner was delicious. we went to houstons. the restaurant was pretty casual which was fine with me. i got to have sushi and miles got a steak so it was the perfect menu for both of us. after dinner we walked to the beach and watched the sunset. it was very relaxing. i was wishing i was on a boat or a plane. i am longing for an adventure. we could see the planes taking off from LAX and i kept wondering where they were going. after a short time, we walked back to jen and rays house for champagne and dessert. i had chocolate cake. mmmmm. it was a nice ending to a romantic evening.

little photographer

i let mason run around and take pictures with my camera last week. i like to let him take pictures even though it really makes me nervous. i keep thinking he will throw the camera on the ground when he gets bored like he does with his other toys. miles and i have talked about buying him his own camera. something cheap. something i wouldn't cry over if it broke. i like his pictures. they are so interesting. he has a pretty good eye for composition. i love the picture of his shadow and the lines of the chair. so graphic. perhaps we have a budding artist on our hands. ahh. just like mom and dad.

pumpkin and little guy

when mason was a baby miles and i started calling him little guy. it just became his name. my sister christina started calling him mister. we used to wonder out loud what dahlia's nickname would be. would it be little girl? nope, after she was born she became pumpkin. i am not sure why miles decided she would be our little pumpkin. perhaps it is because she was born on thanksgiving and he had pumpkin pie on his mind. who knows. you can never plan nick names they just happen. christina has since started calling her dee dee. so there you have it. our pumpkin and little guy.

working girl

i took a freelance job for a month. it is with my old coworkers doing graphics for a television network. i actually went back to work last week, but i was so angry about it i didn't want to write. i have since calmed down and have settled in to my new routine. i am hoping this will only be a temporary situation and i will be back at home with the kids next month. we will see. meanwhile i am trying to be positive and have some fun designing.

i actually love to design. it has been a long time (7 months) since i have done any design. not counting my personal projects of course. i was a bit worried to go back and work. could i do it? have i forgotten how to design and animate? will i suck? turns out i am doing just fine. not much has changed in the last seven months. i am having fun being creative again.

miles is watching the kids by himself this month. i am jealous of course. he is doing a pretty good job. the house is a mess, but the kids are clean and fed and seem pretty happy. at least he is focused on the important things. i had a mild freakout when i found out he was microwaving my breast milk. "what!!! why are you putting the breast milk in the microwave??? it kills all the nutrients. we have a bottle warmer. use the bottle warmer". let's hope he is doing it right this week. i wonder if i should set up a nanny cam. just kidding.

here is a picture of my precious babies this morning. i am so jealous when i leave in the morning. i want to crawl in bed with them and snuggle up.

reuse me

ray found many new uses for the whole foods bag we got when we forgot our canvas ones. in the spirit of repurposing he made a costume, and a mini sled for wood floors. his creations are modeled by mason and dahlia.

the earth thanks you ray for being so creative.

fathers day

happy fathers day to all you dads out there. i let miles sleep in this morning and relax a bit while mason and i made him pancakes for breakfast. it was nice to lounge a bit during breakfast.

jen and ray came over later and the guys hung out while the girls (and bodhi) went shopping. we had to pick up some last minute gifts for my dad. it is also my dad's birthday today. a double celebration for him.

we all drove to my parents house afterwards to celebrate. my brothers made fish tacos and carne asada. my sister christina made sangria. it was so good. she made the sangria with a firestone rose that we tasted at their vineyard. i think i might have to order some for the summer. i don't usually like rose, but this one is really yummy.

we had a really nice day. i am sad the day is over. the weekend seemed to just fly by.

baby's baptism

dahlia and bodhi were baptized this morning. we woke up at 6:30 to get ready. we had to be at the chapel at 9:00 am and it is about an hour drive from our house. miles' mom and friend jake showed up at 7:00 to caravan with us. we were all still in our pajamas. my sister christina and her daughter zena stayed the night last night to help us make all the food. that goodness she showed up to help me. i never would have got it all done.

the ceremony was at the wayfarers chapel in rancho palos verdes. it is where we got married almost five years ago. i love to go back there. it brings me back to my wedding day and the vows we exchanged there. it was a perfect day. a little chilly in the morning and a warm sunny afternoon.

i was so proud to be standing up by the altar with my little daughter and husband by my side, and my son in my arms. we are a family. i love it. it is so strange to think that there was just the two of us up there five years ago. dahlia and bodhi were so good. they did not cry at all during the short but sweet ceremony. i love that they were baptized together. mason was baptized with his cousin zena so it has become a bit of a tradition to share the occasion with a cousin.

we went back to the house for brunch with the family. everything was so good. all the food was delicious. i enjoyed a bellini with fresh peach juice. mmmm. i also made a blackberry and peach trifle for dessert that is irresistible.

everyone was so tired after brunch. we sat around and talked. there were a few gifts for the kids that we opened. it was a perfect get together. i feel so thankful to have such a loving family willing to get up at the crack of dawn to see my daughter baptized. thanks to everyone that was there.

more amusement

my sister and i took the kids to knott's berry farm yesterday. it was great. we had planned to go to disneyland, but our passes were blocked. it would have cost us $40.00 to go. we decided that was too much money so we went to knott's for $30.00 instead. i haven't been there in a few years. there are not that many rides that the kids could go on. most of the rides are roller coasters. it was great to see it, but i wouldn't want to go all the time. mason had a blast in camp snoopy. he was so funny riding the cars. he would throw his head back and laugh. so funny.

i liked riding in the stage coach. mason was bored waiting so i let him take pictures with my camera. he took this cute picture of his sister sleeping.

bodhi and dahlia were great. bodhi smiled at me for the first time. so cute. we met my mom for dinner later. i had a giant salad. jen and i were starving. i was sad when it was time to go home. i wanted to stay at my mom's house longer.

vino

i went wine tasting with my sisters and mom today. it was so fun. we woke up early and drove to los olivos. my sister is a member of the firestone winery so we got the vip treatment. it was so nice. we got free tastings of at least twelve wines and then the guy was nice enough to give us a short tour of the winery. it was so cool. i love all the barrels of wine stacked up. my mom was so funny and proclaimed she was snockered after the first five wines we sampled. the guy helping us was very nice and kept us laughing the whole time.

the weather was perfect so we sat outside and enjoyed a delicious lunch of sandwiches and sparkling water on the vineyard grounds. after lunch we tasted wine at one more vineyard close by and then headed home. we stopped for ice cream in santa barbara at mcconnells. i got brazilian coffee. it was a little bit of heaven. so good.

what a fun day. i can't wait to enjoy all the delicious wine we bought this summer.