pool party

we went to a graduation party today. my friend cheryl completed her bachelors degree in marketing. there was a big pool party to celebrate. the party started at five, so i was thinking it would be too late for mason to swim. i didn't bother packing his swimsuit. i was feeling a bit bad about that when every other kid was in the pool jumping and splashing. mason seemed content to run around the pool with the pool toys. he kept leaning in to grab more toys. everyone was so worried he would fall in, myself included. i was preparing myself to jump in and save him. man, you just can't have a relaxing time with a toddler at a party.

mason was cute. he brought out his drawing pad later and was making funny drawings during the karaoke. no, i did not sing. karaoke is not my thing.

my sister and ray brought bodhi and he slept most of the time. i was jealous. dahlia was a big hit. everyone loves babies. she was very good and i just had to keep track of who was holding her next. she was getting passed around. this made me a little nervous, because i didn't know everyone at the party. i figured i should relax a little and not be so nuts. most of my family was at the party and they wouldn't let a stranger run off with my baby girl.

i was a bit relieved when dahlia started crying and it was time to go home. i really wanted to sit on the couch with a glass of wine and relax. boy, things sure have changed in my world.

movie time

granny came to visit us again. yay. mason was so excited. he ran through the house saying "grannys here!, grannys here!" she brought him a dvd of thomas the train. he promptly went in the tv room to start watching it. i went to check on him about fifteen minutes later to find him fast asleep in his chair. funny, that's about how long i last during a movie.

we had a very nice visit and were sad to see her go this morning. no need to fret. next weekend is dahlia's baptism and she will be back.

sitting up

look at me. i am sitting up!


wooah. i was sitting up.



oh, hello.

food

dahlia had her first taste of real food today. miles fed her some rice cereal. she really seemed to like it. she gobbled it up. miles was making fun of me because i didn't want her to have any food until she was six months old. i didn't want to start her too early and run the risk of developing allergies. miles was happy to start her at four months. now that she is six months old i couldn't protest when miles pulled out the baby food.

i don't really like the baby food phase. it is really messy and kind of a pain. it is adorable to see their little faces covered in food though. too cute.

6 months

dahlia is six months old today. happy half birthday baby. how exciting. six months. i weighed her this morning and she is 15.5 pounds. she is getting so big. she has been scooting all over the place. scooting as in crawling without lifting her butt in the air. miles calls it the army crawl. she also has been lifting her butt up and getting on her knees a bit. not quite rocking yet, but almost. she can sort of sit up. not for very long though. we have not started giving her any food yet. i did let her taste my frozen yogurt and she loved it. i guess we can start giving her rice cereal now.

my sister jen and i took the kids to disneyland today. i dressed mason in shorts and a tee shirt and myself in a skirt. the day was so sunny and warm when we left my house. when we got there it had started to rain lightly. no problem. i changed mason into jeans, and we went to the park. we parked the strollers and got in line for our first ride. the rain really started coming down then. we were standing there thinking "wow, it sure is raining hard." of course it never occurred to us that we had parked our strollers out in the open. when we got back to them they were soaked. it wasn't that big of a deal for me, but poor bodhi's car seat was drenched. he is only 2 months old so jen still puts the car seat in the stroller. what a mess. we hid out in the nearby theater to escape the rain. we eventually got the strollers dry enough to put the kids back in. what a surprise to have it rain. i love the rain. i felt a bit guilty to let mason and dahlia get so wet. wee fun. i hope they don't get sick.

baby deer

we had a little surprise when we got home today from shopping. two baby deer and their mother were lounging in our front yard. so cute. we have deer come to visit us often at our house. i love them, but they eat almost everything we plant. it was a real treat to see the babies though. they are so cute.

jump jump

dahlia has learned to jump. yay. mason loved this jumparoo when he was a baby. we pulled it out from the garage and set it up for dahlia about a month ago. she didn't really know how to jump yet, and would just stand in it.

today was the first day she started jumping. yay. i love it. jump baby jump.

day in the sun

today was just beautiful. the weather was much too warm to stay indoors. we decided to it was a perfect day for a swim. we grabbed the garden hose and started filling the little blow up pool in our yard. while the pool slowly filled with water we sat on a blanket and enjoyed ice cream sandwiches. yummy. dahlia loved laying in the shade. she was so content to watch her brother. she would laugh at him and make her cute dolphin noises.

when the pool was full mason decided he did not want to put on his swim trunks. he just stripped down and jumped in the pool naked. it was so funny. our little nature boy would climb out of the pool and run around the yard. then jump back in the pool. miles and i could not stop laughing. when he finally got tired, we got him dressed and had a delicious lunch of homemade carrot soup with crusty bread on the patio. what a great day.

going green

my sister got me this book called green chic for mothers day. i love it. i have only read half of it so far, but i am implementing some of the ideas already. here are some of the simple things we have done to become more green. (trendy i know, but it is a good trend)

1. we changed out four of our regular incandescent bulbs to the energy star-rated CFLs. easy, and they were only $1.99 each.

2. we now use (when we don't forget) canvas bags for groceries. i must say i still feel awkward about this, but it is growing on me.

3. i turn out all lights not being used directly. this is really hard for me. i really like lots of light. i guess i am scared of the dark.

4. we wash all our clothes in cold water. to be fair i have always done this. not much change here.

5. unplug all phone and camera chargers when not in use. i had no idea that they still draw energy when they are not charging anything. done.

6. give up bottled water. ok here is where i draw the line. i saw erin brockovich. i am not about to start drinking tap water. especially not in los angeles. please. i will however stop buying small bottles of water. i will now only buy huge bottles of water and put it in my thermos to go. there. good.

there is more to do, but it is a start. i will let you know how our green adventure continues. meanwhile here are some pictures from the park today.

mothers day

i hope everyone had a wonderful mothers day yesterday. miles and i took the kids to visit my mom and dad. we met them, all five of my siblings, and my grandmother at a mexican restaurant. it was cool to have the whole family get together again. my mom didn't want to cook. she said she has had six kids and should get the day off. fair enough. we went back to my sister susan's house for dessert.

it was jen's first mothers day this year. bodhi was cute. he is getting so big. i can't believe he is already 2 months old. my kids were pretty well behaved at the restaurant. i still am waiting for that meal where i don't have to hold a baby in my lap. a girl can dream. dahlia was wearing the cutest white dress. it was fun. i love being a mom.

movie night

my sister and i went to her daughters school last night for movie night. they showed a movie outside on a big inflatable screen. it was a bit too cold for movies outside but we bundled up. it was so nice. there was free popcorn and sodas. free! yay. we didn't end up staying for the whole movie. mason and dahlia started crying. i think they were tired. it was almost over at that point anyway.

during the summer the city plays free movies in the park. every friday we pack up our beach chairs and blankets and bring snacks for the movie. i love it. i don't think it starts until june or july though. i can't wait for summer. so many festivities.

buzz

mason surprised us a couple of days ago by showing off his new lego creation. buzz lightyear. we were so impressed. he made it all by himself. i was especially impressed with the wings. so clever. he really is very artistic. he loves to draw and build things.

i was inspired by another blog to start having craft time with him. i need to figure out easy crafts that we can do together. he is only two so i don't want to start with something too complicated. or messy.

hi train

yesterday turned out to be such a fun day. i was going to go visit my sister jen and take the kids to the beach, but dahlia had a runny nose, so jen thought it wasn't a good idea to come over. she is very worried about bodhi getting sick and i don't want to be the first one responsible.

i really wanted to get out of the house so we decided to take the kids to travel town. it is a free park nearby that has old trains that you can climb in and look at. there is also a small train you can ride around for $2.50. mason loved it. he kept waving at the trains as we rode by saying hi train. hi train. so cute. we packed a picnic lunch and ate in the sun. it was so nice. mason rolled down the hill holding his apple slice. i remember doing that as a child. it is so funny. i would never want to do that now. i kept thinking "oh no, his clothes are getting dirty." i love how kids are completely oblivious to things like this. both kids fell asleep on the way home. it was such a nice day and really made me appreciate the time i have with my family.