9 months

connor is nine months old. he is now 17 pounds 3 ounces and 26.5 inches long. wow. he has really changed in the last month. it is just crazy. he started crawling shortly after turning 8 months and has just been going everywhere. he crawls really fast so i have to run around closing doors to the laundry room and other places leading to steps. he will grab onto any little chair and climb up to standing. oh my. there has been lots of falling down this month. poor little guy.

he also got his first teeth. oh yes. mommy became a victim to that first tooth. ouch. he now has two. so cute. i love his little smile. he loves to say dada. everything is dada. he will say mom mom momaa when he is hungry and just waking up but after that everything is dada or da.

he has been so much more active this month. i put him in the little blow up pool and he loved it. he was splashing around like crazy. he gets so excited on our outings. i take him everywhere with me. now if all three are not with me i feel like it is too quiet. i actually like the chaos of having all three. they are really sweet together most of the time. it is a challenge though. i usually have connor in the baby carrier and then i push the double stroller with mason and dahlia. i get quite the workout going up hills. we are having such a fun summer together. my little angel is growing up.

susies pool

we have been swimming at susies house again this year. we love going to susies to swim. too bad she is usually working and can't swim with us. she is so nice to let us crash her pool. mason and dahlia are really getting brave in the water. they have never been afraid of the water thank goodness but i think mason can't wait to really learn how to swim. he has a little swim ring and floaties that he uses to swim all around the pool. dahlia and bodhi love to swim in the little boat and take turns with that.

i usually put connor in the water carrier so i can wear him in the water with the other two. it is made out of neoprene so it keeps him warm and he loves to be in the water. we usually swim for at least an hour and he never cries to get out. of course all that swimming makes us hungry so afterward we head straight to golden spoon for frozen yogurt. strawberry for dahlia and vanilla for mason. yum.

the ponies

christina and i took the kids to family day at the del mar racetrack. i have never been there before. it was a long long drive. not too long to get there but the drive home took three hours! traffic was really bad. it was fun though. each of the kids got a free webkinz pony and there was tons of fun stuff for them to do. they had the whole infield set up with free activities for the kids. there were two huge blow up obstacle courses, pony rides, booths to create paper hats, airbrush tatoos, sand art stations, and more. it was too bad that the lines were crazy long. it made the experience much less fun. we stayed for about four hours and then it was time to go. mason and dahlia were getting tired. i was bummed that we really didn't get to see a horse race. you can't really see anything from the infield. you can barley see the horses run by. when we left the kid area everyone was too tired to go watch a race. if we do this again next year i will definitely watch a race.

zena's party

my niece zena had a pool party for her 9th birthday yesterday. she had the party at our friend's dad's house. parties there are always so much fun. they have a huge pool with a slide and separate hot tub. there is a large outdoor covered patio with a bar complete with a sink. there is never any need to go indoors. everything you need is right there.

i loved the party. mason and dahlia were in heaven swimming all day. they pretty much were in the pool the whole time. even connor had fun splashing in the kiddy pool. dahlia was very brave and went down the slide twice. so cute. miles and i were each assigned a kid or two to watch so there was really no down time for us to socialize. that is the one bummer of bringing kids to a party. you don't really get to talk to anybody. we had so much fun i didn't even realize when we left that we had already been there for seven hours. crazy. the poor kids were exhausted. it really was a perfect summer bash. happy birthday zena!

angels game

i took mason and dahlia to their first baseball game. miles stayed home with connor because he doesn't really like baseball. christina and zena went with us. we got tickets through the church so it was only $6.00 per person and that included a drink and a hot dog. what a great deal! mason and dahlia loved the game. the los angeles angels were playing the seattle mariners. i was so happy we won with a final score of mariners 3, angels 8. we didn't stay until the end of the game though. the kids got really tired around the 6th inning so we decided to leave. they were so good. i thought sitting through a long game would be too dull for them and they would go crazy but they were great. they just sat in their seat eating their hot dogs and watching the game. christina was so funny explaining the game to mason saying the first thing you need to play baseball is a pair of really tight pants. i don't think we even know the rules. it was really fun though. maybe next time we can get miles to go with us.

keeping cool

we are not running our air conditioner this year again. oh my. so far the summer has been really mild, but i think it is making up for it this week. ugh. it is so so hot. last night the thermometer said it was 91 degrees in our house at ten o'clock at night. at night! i can handle the day time heat but to have it hot at night is just too much.

so to get away from the heat we have been going to the air conditioned discovery science center. jen and bodhi picked up zena and met us there. i love this place. we have a membership so we don't have to pay every time we go. that is nice, and it is educational so i feel good about letting the kids play there. it is very interactive and they love it. the new rocket launch exhibit is a real hit with mason. dahlia thinks it is too loud. they both love the tinker toy exhibit. i think mason could build things in there all day. bodhi was fond of the dinosaur puzzle, and zena had fun looking at the grossology exhibit. there is something for everyone.

after our full day of playing at the science center jen and i were brave and took all the kids to eat lunch at california pizza kitchen. what were we thinking? it wasn't so bad though. connor was cracking me up shoving bread in his mouth. so funny.

itty bitty bean bags

i made these little bean bags for all the kids. they are made from the juggling blocks pattern in the book "denyse schmidt quilts." this was a really fun project. i thought it would be a good test for me to see if i could handle sewing a lot of tiny pieces for a quilt without going crazy. turns out i loved it. the hardest part was cutting all the fabric and keeping the pieces organized without dahlia mixing them up. i was good and used my fabric scraps for the bags. i made 15 bean bags! i was going to put the kid's first initial in the center of the bag but changed my mind and went with a little picture instead. that way they could trade bags if they wanted to. trains for the boys and flip flops for the girls. the pattern tells you to fill the bags with lentils and i was all set to do that until miles reminded me that the bags couldn't be washed. i ended up going to michaels and buying plastic bean bag filler instead. now i can throw them in the wash when they get dirty and they are fine.

i was thinking the kids would have fun playing a bean bag toss game. we dragged a large bucket out and let them take turns throwing the bags into it. they were not that good at following a game. it was pretty much a free for all bag toss. when they get a little older we can set up rings with different values to make it a little harder.

connor's baptism

connor got baptized. yay. i have been looking forward to this day for a very long time. we had him baptized at the wayfarers chapel where we were married. all three of our children have been baptized there. it is so nice to go back there and think that seven years ago when miles and i stood up by the altar there were only two of us and now there are five. so crazy. i love that we seem to return there every two years to baptize a new baby and remember the vows that we exchanged that day. although i think this tradition is coming to an end because we don't have any plans for more babies.

connor cried during his baptism and this really bummed me out. he is such a happy smiley baby that i didn't worry that he might cry. just one more reminder of how unpredictable kids are. it was still a sweet ceremony and i am so grateful that my all of my family was there to share it with us.

the baptism was at noon and we all went back to our house afterward for a party. we ended up celebrating the july birthdays at the same time. we had carne asada and salmon tacos. i served a pitcher of margaritas and made it a real summer time celebration. i made four homemade cakes for all of the birthday people so they could each have their own. susan, ray, bob, and jon all have their birthdays in july. zena also has a july birthday but she always gets her own party. it was so fun to have the whole family together. summer parties are so relaxing. the day went by way too quickly just like all fun parties seem to. thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate.

treasure bags

i made these cute treasure bags for all the kids. the bags are made with window screen so they filter out the sand when collecting shells.

the project comes from amanda soule's book handmade home. this is a really great book full of inspiring projects to sew for your family and home. i have a few bookmarked for the future. i had so much fun making these little bags. i used fabric paint and rubber stamps for the names and bought the window screen at a hardware store. i even made my own double-fold bias tape for the trim. i have been wanting to do that for a while. it was easy. i did have some trouble sewing the straps on the bag. they were too thick. i used belting. i actually broke a needle. i ended up buying some needles for thicker fabric so hopefully i won't be breaking any more.

the kids love their bags and have had fun collecting shells, rocks and leaves during our walks.

4th of july and crawling

i have decided that jen and rays house is the magic house for crawling, or maybe the 4th of july is the magic day for crawling. either way both dahlia and connor started crawling at jen and rays house on the 4th of july. two years apart that is. hurray for connor. we can now say he is officially crawling.

we spent the holiday weekend at jen and ray's house. christina and zena were also spending the weekend there. we had big plans to take all the kids to the beach and let them play in the water, but it was just too cold. instead we hung out at jen and rays eating yummy food and chatting until it was time to go see the fireworks. i decided to not go this year. dahlia is really afraid of fireworks and it would be way past connor's bed time so i stayed back with them. miles took mason with everyone else to the firework show. somehow it doesn't really feel like the 4th of july for me without fireworks. i was happy when everyone came back and we all stayed the night. it was so fun to have a sleepover. we were all so excited to hang out together.

today we took a long walk to the beach and the santa monica pier. the kids got to play in the sand for a while. i was wishing we had put them in their suits and did the whole beach thing. they really wanted to play in the water. we will have to have a full beach day soon. mason and dahlia love it. after playing in the sand the kids had corn dogs for lunch on the boardwalk. we had a nice leisurely walk back to jen and rays and then stayed for dinner. it was such a lovely weekend. i am sad to be back home. it felt like a mini vacation.

i found it!

i found my wedding ring! oh my gosh this is just the best news ever. my wedding ring has been missing for six months. i realize this news would be more dramatic if i had published the post explaining when i lost it, but i was too sad to finish writing it. i had replayed the moment that i lost it so many times in my mind. going over every detail trying to figure out what had happened to it. it played like a csi episode where you can see the trajectory of the bullet in slow motion as they try to recreate the crime scene.

on new years eve we were getting ready for a party at our house. our guests were just starting to show up and i was rushing to get dressed. my sister christina was in the bedroom with me combing dahlia's hair when i reached for my necklace. the necklace caught on my wedding ring and dragged it along to the edge of the shelf where it fell. i heard one ping and then nothing. i remember telling christina that i had just dropped my ring and could she look for it by her foot. was she stepping on it? we looked and could not find it. i searched all over the floor and then called miles to help me. everyone was soon searching for the ring that must be right there. i mean i just dropped it. where could it go? after a good half hour to hour of looking i decided to not worry about it that evening and just find it in the morning. we were having a party after all.

starting january first i looked everywhere for the ring. i started to doubt that i saw it fall and broadened the search to the whole house. i searched though many closets that hadn't been cleaned since i moved in. i went through 25 bags of trash. yes 25 bags. this was the christmas trash. ugh. i had the rubber gloves on and looked through every piece. just in case it had been thrown away. gross. we took the doors off of the closet and looked in every corner. i took every single thing out of miles closet and looked through it. after two weeks of looking i sort of gave up and hoped that it would just show up one day. i often wished i could go back to that moment it fell and just slow down. not pull my necklace so quickly so it wouldn't catch onto my ring.

so last night i was laying in bed unable to sleep thinking about my ring wondering where it was and if i would ever see it again. i got out of bed and laid on the floor where the ring fell. i noticed there was a very small gap, less than half an inch between the bottom of the last drawer on the vanity and where the frame met it. perhaps the ring bounced off the ground and into that gap. i was going to look that instant but connor started crying so i waited until morning. first thing when i woke up i asked miles if he ever pulled out the vanity drawers and looked there. he said he did and i could vaguely remember him doing so. i decided to look anyway and pulled out the drawer and shined my flashlight in there. there it was. just sitting on the wood floor. i can't believe it. i never thought i would see it again. i have never been so happy to see an inanimate object.

i really never thought i could be so attached to an object. i would just think about the ring missing and cry. it really could never be replaced. even if miles bought me another one it would not be the one that we exchanged our vows with. i love that ring. i pulled the ring out, kissed it and checked to be sure that it was the real thing. there on the inside of the ring was the inscription proclaiming how much miles loves me, "more than chocolate cake."