stuck at home

the kids have a cold so we have been staying home for the last four days. ugh. i get so bored not leaving the house. i still let them play outside, but i am not taking them to visit anyone. they are going a bit stir crazy also.

so i have been using this time to clean and organize the house. i went through all the baby clothes. yay. there is a huge bin of hand-me-downs ready for the new baby. i am so happy i don't have to spend money on new clothes for him. i also organized the kids room. we did a little rearranging of the furniture a while back. we moved the crib into our room and upgraded mason's toddler bed to a twin. he is in a big boy bed now. i would say he sleeps in it for about half the night before waking and running to our bed. not bad. an improvement over the toddler bed which was never used.

i am posting before and after pictures of the room. it is no longer a baby room. so sad. it is now a kid room. the only thing i don't know what to do about is the rug. the room looks so much bigger without it and it is much easier to clean the floors, but i think the rug was so cute. the rug is pretty dirty so i am going to try to steam it before i decide if i want to put it back. and i can't wait to do something about that white duvet on mason's bed. he needs something fun. maybe i will get creative with it. put my bend the rules with fabric book to use.

birthday sign for mason

i made this colorful birthday sign for mason's upcoming party next week. i had to make one for mason because i already made one for dahlia last year and i didn't want him to be left out. that of course means i will be sewing a third one next year but i will worry about that later.

i actually like the way this one turned out a little better than the one i made for dahlia. the colors are so fun and happy. i hand sewed the letters on and then machine stitched the rest. i made little pockets that are all joined together with double fold bias at the top. it was easy. i also love that i can reuse this sign year after year. i hate to spend $5.00 on a cardboard sign every year that just ends up in the trash.

fun weekend

wow. what a busy weekend. i had such a great time. on sunday i went to my friend kristi's birthday breakfast. it was a the hyatt in huntington beach. it was so elegant. it made me miss being on vacation. i was staring longingly at the people walking in with their luggage being carried behind them by the bellhop. sigh. it has been almost a year since i have stayed at a nice hotel. i miss it. breakfast was super yummy and it was nice to eat with the girls without any kids on my lap. yay.


after breakfast i picked up my kids from rebecca's house where my sister christina had so kindly watched them. thank you thank you. christina and i decided to take the kids to the movies. we saw cloudy with a chance of meatballs. this movie was so funny and kind of gross at the same time. food falling from the sky. yuck. the kids loved it but i think they had more fun playing in the fountain in front of the theater. go figure.

bridal shower

i went to the cutest bridal shower for my friend stephanie this weekend. she had a whole mad hatters tea party theme. i loved it. i was impressed with all the details they put into the decorations. i especially loved the little bottles filled with candy and the amazing cake that her maid of honor made. it was a fun shower and i was happy that my sisters and i got to celebrate with her.

stephanie is getting married in october and she has a really cool blog with all her wedding designs at love&lace. i don't know how she has the time to do so much. i am really looking forward to the wedding.

birthday party for miles

today is miles birthday. we of course celebrated by going to disneyland with the kids. we were taking advantage of the free admission on your birthday deal and upgraded miles ticket to an annual pass. he doesn't go as much as i do with the kids but i am able to drag him there enough times to make the pass worth it. after disney we met my sister and brother for dinner. i think it was a fun day. i hope miles enjoyed it.

we had a miles official birthday party this last sunday. the whole family came over for a grilled dinner and cake. it was so fun. we made steak and baked potatoes. the largest baked potatoes i have ever seen. miles was so happy to have a "man's meal." maybe i make too many salads for dinner. after dinner we had cake and ice cream while miles opened his gifts. it was so fun to have the whole family over. i can't wait for them to all come back for mason's birthday.

swim party

we went to a swim party at my friends dad's house on sunday. it was perfect weather for a party. the kids had so much fun. they swam for at least three hours. thank goodness i made miles go with me to help. i was so tired. luckily mason and dahlia preferred swimming in the hot tub which was the temperature of a nice bath. it was easier to keep track of them in a small pool. the house where the party was is so perfect for entertaining. they have a huge pool and a covered patio with a bar complete with a stove and sink for cooking and serving drinks. there is never any reason to run in the house. they can do everything right outside. how nice. it was a perfect party for the end of summer.

just the girls

today was so much fun. christina and i took zena and dahlia shopping. miles was nice enough to watch mason for me. ray and bodhi came over and spent the day with them so they got to have a guy time and we got to have some girl time. of course there was some shopping involved. we went to fashion island in newport beach.

dahlia loved the store anthropologie. me too. we didn't have too much time to shop so i think christina and i were both surprised that we found so many cute things. i bought my mother's birthday gift. i got her these matryoshka doll measuring cups to go with the apron i made her last year. she will love it. christina found the most adorable sundress and top. i can't wait to not be pregnant and wear cute dresses again. i was jealous watching her try on clothes.

we ended our shopping trip with lattes at starbucks. can you believe they already have the pumpkin spice lattes. wow, is it fall?

the fan

miles installed this fan in our tv room at the beginning of summer. we made a pact that we would not run the air conditioner this year so we could save some money. we have been sweating all summer. the fan is really nice and we run it all the time. we had installed two other fans last year in our kitchen and bedroom so the rooms that get the most use in the house now have one. i am happy to report that all our sweating has paid off. we were able to cut our electricity bill in half from what we paid last year at this time. i was so excited.

of course right after i wrote this post all the hills around us caught on fire and we had to close the windows to keep the smoke out. we ended up running the air conditioner on and off for about four days. man, i hope our next bill isn't too much more. i was liking saving some money.