little lovie

so, i think everyone knows that dylann carries a security blanket around, right? if not, she does and has been since she was about 6 months old. she named it "pink" and it goes everywhere with us. EVERYWHERE!

since logan is now 6 months old, i thought i would go out a purchase one for him, but i just couldn't find one that i liked. so i made one.

went to fabric towne usa last night and found this cute flannel print

pinned it together with a soft yellow flannel and some wide satin ribbon

and ta-dah!

a small, security blanket for logan - we'll see if he gets just as attached as dylann did to hers. wonder what he'll name it?

princess for a day

dylann was invited to maxine's 4th birthday party this past weekend.

what an event! it was held at olivia's tea house in ventura. if you haven't seen the place, it's a bright pink little house on main street, near downtown.

as all of the little princesses arrived, each got to pick out their gown of choice - there must have been 100 different outfits and shoes to choose from!

after picking out their gowns, accessories, and shoes each little girl was pampered with an updo, nail polish, and lip gloss.

here is dylann checking her "look" in the mirror - i think she is a bit stunned.

after all the little ladies were coifed to perfection, lunch was served. each setting included a tiny little teacup and teapot filled, of course, with pink lemonade.

here is the guest of honor, queen maxine, picking from her own tower of tea sandwiches, mini pizzas, and hotdogs.

here are all the girls at the giant heart shaped table surrounded by dolls and all sorts of girly, over-the-top art.
and for dessert - cotton candy, tiny cakes, chocolates and gummy bears. what else would a princess want?

fair fun

the ventura county fair is in town - and wednesday was $1 day (meaning admission was only $1 as opposed to the normal $10 fee).

i was a little hesitant about taking this day on without the help of ray as i would be carrying logan while making sure dylann didn't get lost in the mass crowd of people.

i explained to dylann that she would need to be my big helper if she wanted to go to the fair and she obliged. we packed her little, pink, hello kitty backpack with water, my camera, and a bottle for logan and we were on our way.

this year she was able to get on a lot of the rides by herself because she had reached the height requirements; that, and she is a self proclaimed "big girl" now.

here she is all proud of herself controlling the helicopter ride all by herself

and riding the racecar
and on the jumpin' star
she then asked if we could go on the ferris wheel together. i really didn't want to go on it because of my fear of heights, but i just couldn't say no to her. she kept pointing things out in the distance and rocking our seat and asking me, "this is so fun, right mommy?" to which i would answer, "yes, it's fantastic" with my quivering voice.

what a great day we had together! i think we may go again next wednesday!

can we play now?

although we purchased our home nearly 1 year ago now, we rarely spent any time in our back yard. probably because it used to look like this:

for the past month now, we've been working on removing the old, cracked concrete and the dead, fox tail-ridden yard.

first thing we did was rent a kaboda. ray used this thing for an entire weekend, ripping out the concrete and then removing the dead grass, rototilling and then leveling the yard.

the following couple of weeks were spent leveling and grading the yard some more and then installing irrigation.

then, because we are infested with gophers and moles, we decided to roll out some rodent wire before laying our sod. there will NOT be any dirt hills in our yard - may god help those poor suckers if they manage their way through.

lastly, instant grass! oh how i love sod!

now we just have to wait 10 days until dylann can invite her friends over to run and play in our new back yard - but she asks every day, "can we play now?"

deja vu

although logan is only 4 months old, he loves to stand upright (with help, of course). so yesterday i thought i would prop him up in his crib and take a picture:



after looking at this photo, it occurred to me that i had taken the same shot of dylann when she was a baby. after looking through my digital files i found it. and get this, it was taken at exactly the same age - 4 months, 10 days old



i just love how they both have the same crazy hair veering off to the right.

how does your garden grow?

With little green tomatoes

great big lettuce

and pretty strawberries all in a row

art & roses

Today I ventured into Santa Barbara for I Madonnari - the Italian street painting festival. I tried to convince Ray to come along, but he and Dylann wanted to ride their bikes to the playground instead. So off Logan and I went.


It really is amazing what these artists can do with a little chalk.


After strolling through the artwork for a while, I decided to go and sit in the rose garden for a little quiet time. It's one of my favorite places in Santa Barbara - I remember going there often when Ray and I lived up there.

tadpole adventure

Yesterday, a friend of ours invited us to take a hike in Meiners Oaks to search for tadpoles.


Even though we started out around 4pm, it was still pretty hot out there. Mind you, I was carrying baby Logan on my chest inside a black Ergo - whew!


When we finally reached the water, it was as if the angels were singing (at least for me). I was hoping that the watering hole would be a bit larger so that we could all cool off a bit - well, at least there was some shade.


We scooped up a few little guys and brought them home. Our mission is to keep them alive until they turn into frogs, at which time we plan on taking that hike again and returning them to Meiners Oaks.

organic mother's day

For a long while now, I've been thinking how nice it would be have a vegetable garden. I can imagine going out there with my kids, watering and watching the harvest grow and then picking them for our dining pleasure. I also secretly hope that this will encourage my daughter to eat more vegetables.

Well, today, my wonderful husband and daughter built a container garden for me!!!

Here is Ray sanding the edges of the posts that he had cut at 45 degrees to make the container more esthetically appealing


Dylann helping Dad - she is soooo strong!



Here it is, almost done. They are going to build 2 of these. Each one will be 4' x 6'.


And here are some of the vegetables we will be planting



Stay posted - we'll continue this project next weekend. Buying soil, planting the veggies, and getting dirty.

baby hats

Near the end of my pregnancy, I couldn't seem to keep my hands off of anything sweet so I decided to keep my hands busy knitting instead of shoveling fists full of chocolate biscuits into my mouth.

I think I knit about 5 hats that last month. Here are a couple of them:




I made a really cute hat for Dylann too, but I can't seem to get her to put it on for a quick photo.

First Beach Day of 2009

Yesterday was our first trip to the beach in months. Yes, we could have gone to the beach before April, but the weather was either too cool or I was just too pregnant, or baby Logan was just too little. It was also my birthday (yes, I'm 29 again).

Here is Dylann loving the beach and visiting me in the shade for a moment:



And here is Logan enjoying his first trip to the beach:



I swear, he does smile - I just can't seem to get it on camera yet.

love for baby brother

dylann has always been a very nurturing little girl, and now she has her own little real live baby doll.



sometimes she wants to help out a little bit too much, but i guess i can't complain - she loves her baby brother!

and baby makes four

Wow - has it really been 5 months since my last blog? How sad.

So much has happened, but the most exciting news is the arrival of little Logan. Dylann has baby brother! He came into the world on Friday, January 30th.


Here is my birth story:

First, let's just say that I wasn't the most pleasant pregnant woman. I was uncomfortable all the time - hot, swollen, and miserable. So by the time January rolled around, I was done being pregnant - even though my due date wasn't until February. And to top it off, during the last few weeks of January, Ventura got a heat wave. The normal 50-60 degree weather was nowhere to be found, only 80-90 degree, not good for me, weather - UGH!!!

I had my regular appointments with my midwife, Kathy Wingland (the best btw), and the Thursday before Logan arrived, I asked her if there was a way to get things progressing. She offered to strip my membranes, to which I said, yes, PLEASE!!!

That night I started having contractions at around 11pm. First every 10 minutes, but by 12am they were 3 minutes apart! My husband was in a panic thinking I might have the baby at the house or in the car on the way to the hospital - it was pretty funny.

After arriving at CMH, labor was progressing steadily and my midwife showed up at about 3am. She stayed by my side, as did Ray, until Logan was born at 7:32am.

I had the birth I had always wanted - drug free and allowed to move freely without an IV holding me down. Amazing what the human body can endure.