the baby blanket

i finally finished this baby blanket that i started sewing a year ago. it was the first thing i ever tried to sew and my sewing machine didn't do the right kind of embroidery stitch to finish it so i just shelved it. my machine still does not do embroidery stitches but i just followed the zigzag option in the book so i could complete it. the pattern is called super quick and easy baby quilt from joelle hoverson's book last minute patchwork + quilted gifts. while it was definitely not super quick for me it was rather easy for a first project. i think it is very cute and our new baby will just love it. now i can get miles to stop teasing me about how the blanket is coming along.

farmers market

yesterday the kids and i went to santa monica so we could go to the farmers market with jen and bodhi. i had all these visions of buying lots of great fruits and veggies for the week. after walking around the market for a while i realized my vision was not going to happen. it was super hot and crowded. it was also kind of expensive. i have seen organic produce at my whole foods for less. i usually can find some great food and prices at the farmers market but this time i didn't end up buying much. the only thing i bought was some freshly squeezed orange juice for mason which he quickly devoured. i was kind of bummed.

mason really wanted to see the ocean so we walked to the bluffs and let the kids out of the strollers so they could run around. they had a great time running in and out of the trees. we finished our short visit with lunch at panera bread. it turned out to be a fun visit and of course mason and dahlia cried when we had to leave.

expecting

i probably should have mentioned by now that miles and i are expecting our third baby. yikes. i was reluctant to tell the world until we were done with all the genetic testing and i was safely in my 2nd trimester. it is official now. we are having another baby. it is a boy. the baby should be here sometime around december 11th.

we have been doing a little baby prep around the house this week and we moved the crib into our room. i just finished washing the sheets and ironing the bed skirt. it looks so cute. i think i got my first tinge of excitement looking at the empty crib and imagining a baby sleeping in there. most of this time i have been in a state of panic that i will never be able to take care of three little ones. i am sure the closer i get to my due date the more excited i will be. three kids. oh my.

painting ceramics

christina and i took our kids to color me mine last week. it is one of those stores where you pick out a ceramic piece and paint it there. they will then fire it for you and you can pick it up the next week. the kids really had fun. they all picked their own piece to paint. mason of course picked a train. zena picked a mermaid and dahlia picked out a starfish.

it was a little expensive. they charge $5.00 per kid to paint plus the cost of the ceramic. they were all about $20.00. so it ended up being around $50.00 for my two kids to paint. not exactly in our budget but oh well. we picked up the finished pieces yesterday and they look great. i am surprised how dark they got. i would definitely do it again. it would be a cute thing to do for a mothers day gift, or birthday gift for grandma.

camping day

we are too broke to take a vacation this year so we decided to camp at home instead. we set up the tent in the backyard on saturday morning. christina, zena, jen, ray and bodhi all came over to camp with us. we had such a fun day. the kids spent the day swimming and running in and out of the tent. they loved the tent. we stayed outside all day. grilling dinner and then playing cards. of course no camping trip would be complete without smores. they were yummy, but very sweet. i tried to have dahlia and mason sleep in the tent when it was time for bed, but dahlia woke up screaming and mason never fell asleep. he just cried. so around 11 pm, (way too late for my kids) we changed plans and moved inside to a comfy bed. christina and zena were the only brave ones who actually slept all night in the tent. go campers. jen, ray, and bodhi didn't even try. they knew bodhi would not sleep there.

yesterday the kids went on a little nature walk and then it was time to clean up camp. mason was sad to see the tent go down. i think we might do this again this summer and keep it up for 2 nights. i was glad we had the house nearby though. i never would have got any sleep. maybe next year we could do some real camping.

shopping spree

i went a little crazy last week shopping online. now that all the packages have arrived i am so excited about my new stuff. although i am feeling a little guilty about all the purchases. here is what i got:


new books for me. i did buy two of these used and used a 40% off coupon so it is not as bad as it looks.

new books for the kids. they are really into charlie and lola right now.

fabric for some sewing projects to be started right away.

ok, i am done shopping. it is out of my system. i am now going to have to take my credit card and freeze it in a block of ice like rebecca bloomwood in confessions of a shopaholic.

chalk art

i took mason and dahlia to orange county today. we picked up their cousin zena and went swimming at aunt susan's house again. we had a great time. jen and bodhi came too. after a full day of swimming and eating frozen yogurt mason did not want to go home. we decided to stay at my mom's house for a bit and let the kids draw with chalk in the backyard. they had a blast. dahlia had chalk all over herself. she was laying on the ground drawing. mason loved it also. he was getting into drawing his robot. we have some sidewalk chalk at our house but i never think to take it out. i am going to pull it out of the closet tomorrow. a new medium. yay!

the o.c. fair

we went to the fair yesterday. it is the last week that the fair is in town and we didn't want to miss it. i thought we would go for a couple of hours and get bored but we stayed the whole day. wow. the kids loved it. there was tons of things for them to play with and explore including a petting zoo, a sand pit filled with toys, miniature tractors to ride, and a pork and beans display including find the plastic pig in the beans. so odd but fun. mason and zena rode a couple of rides and zena won a stuffed monkey. of course there was lots of unhealthy food that we carefully avoided except for some frozen yogurt. i think i saw a sign for chocolate covered bacon. what? christina and jen took the day off so we could all go together. it was so fun. we were all exhausted when it was time to leave. now of course we wish we could go one more time. oh well, we will have to wait for next year.

dress for dahlia

i am sewing again. yay. i made this cute bubble dress for dahlia. i should say i finally made this cute bubble dress for dahlia. i bought the pattern from oliver + s a year ago and it has just been sitting there on the shelf mocking my laziness. i got a burst of energy last week and decided to sew it. i love the way it turned out. i have never made any piece of clothing before so i am very proud of how cute it is. now that i started sewing again i have all these projects lined up to make.

movie night

christina and i took the kids to movie night in the park yesterday. this started off being really fun and just ended up with a lot of screaming. i think the kids just got too tired. the best part was eating our dinner on blankets before the movie started. mason and dahlia were really more interested in running around than actually watching the movie. i was starting to feel bad for the people sitting near us. we ended up leaving before it ended. we are going to try it again next week.