goodnight

Today was a good day.

weaning

A month ago I had Liesl down to nursing morning and night. Well a month ago she was sick so I let her nurse during the day and now I am trying to stop it. Yesterday she was really tired because she did not take a nap, so by 4PM, when I think this video was taken, she was mad. This video was shot about 10 of 15 minutes into the fit so she was starting to calm down a little bit. I was not going to give in and ended up giving her a lolly pop to settle her down. The kids fell asleep at 7PM last night and it was a little weird, but Jason and I were able to sit down in peace and eat dinner.

Tonight we are going on our Critical Mass bike ride and the kids are spending the night at my parent's house.

messy party

What started out as some friends coming over and walking down to the park to play turned into a play dough making messy party.
Yesterday I went and bought some cheap white flour to make play dough and I thought the kids would have fun making it themselves. I don't know if very much play dough was made today, but the kids had fun. Porter just wanted me to make him a ball and had more fun changing his clothes and running around as Super Porter.

school

I had originally thought that I would send Porter to preschool one year before he went to kindergarten, but he got into a good school, so I decided to send him a year earlier. Next year he will be going two days a week, just like this year even though all but one classmate will be going MWF. I know Porter likes school but, I am so tired of school right now I can't wait to have an open schedule and be free to do what we want every day. In 8 months we will have to decide what school to send him to and it scares the shit out of me. I just don't think I can send Porter to school 5 days a week from morning to afternoon. There are a lot of great charter schools close to us, but they all have a full day kindergarten. There is this new charter school that just got approved that will be open in the fall that looks like it could be a good fit for us. Innovations Academy has a two, three or five days a week options and I think I would be okay with that. A year from now I wonder where I will be in my journey to educate my children.

no more wannabe

I started this blog in September of 2004 and wrote in it for a little over a year. I never told anyone about it and about a year ago I decided to start blogging again. I saved all my old posts thinking I would edit them and republish them, but that never happened. I don't know if anyone remembers this first post. I was having a hard time adjusting to life in North Park, it just felt so suburban to me. I now realize that North Park is so much more urban than Golden Hill is. I was just being dramatic and sad that it was not what I expected. We have lived here for more than a year now and I have really grown to love it. I can walk or ride my bike to two farmer's markets, the library, Balboa Park, the Zoo and numerous restaurants, bars and coffee shops. I may not be a NYC or SF urban housewife but I am a San Diego urban housewife. Goodbye wannabe.

Sea World

Saturday morning we woke up at 7AM to go to Sea World for the opening of the new kids area, Sesame Street Bay of Play. It was really early for us and we had to wake the kids up, but we made it there in time. The first thing we did was ride on Elmo's Flying Fish and both Porter and Liesl loved it.
We went and met Cookie Monster and Liesl was a little shy. Porter was sitting on the ground behind Jason's legs, so he did not like it at all.

Porter and Jason watching Bert, Ernie, Zoe and the Cookie Monster sing and dance on the ship.


We went to the Shamu show and saw some other exhibits, but left by 1:30 because the kids were getting tired. Porter ended up with a fever and headache that evening, so I am glad we left and did not push him to stay longer. We used to have season passes and I really miss being able to go whenever we felt like it. Now that the kids are older we are definitely going to get them again.

Want to win a cute Sesame Street Bay of Play cookie jar? Just comment "i want one" and I will randomly select a winner.

Sunday

Liesl and Miranda had a fun time playing in the mud today. In this photo they are wiping the mud off on the grass.

My parent's bought this airplane for the kids to play on about 2 months ago and it just sat in their yard unopened. Today I decided that we should put it together, so I started it, but Jason and my dad finished. The kids liked it, but I think they will have more fun with the other kids on it too.

dance party

We are heading out to the Casbah tonight to go dancing!

Elmo's Flying Fish ride

good day

Today we spent the morning laying around the house and the afternoon at a friends house. I took my sewing machine to my friends house and made a dress and skirt for her girls. It was a really nice day.
We are going to Sea World in the morning and we have to be there at 8:30AM. I usually don't get out of bed until then so it is going to be hard. I should probably go to bed right now, I am tired enough.

Party

Yesterday we drove up to LA to my sister's house and it only took us 2 hours. Amelia's 6th birthday was today so she had a party with her friends. One of the benefits of homeschooling is that you can have a birthday party at 12PM on a Thursday. The food was good and the party was fun. Liesl had a fever when we woke up yesterday, but I decided that we would go to LA anyway. She was very clingy and had a hard time sleeping in the car, so in the evening I gave her some ibuprofen when the homeopathic pill my sister had did not work. Liesl perked up and felt better, but sleeping was still hard for her so I did not get much sleep either. This morning Porter was being really mellow and emotional. During the first part of the party he just wanted to sit on the couch with his blanket. I would go in the house to check on him and he would just ask for a hug. He eventually did come out of the house, but would go back in for 10 minutes here and there. When the pinata broke and Porter did not get a red lolly pop, his favorite, he started crying a lot. I know Porter can be emotional but he was overly emotional today and when he was crying I said "he's not feeling well today" and it reminded me of something my sister told me. I can't quote her on it, I am sure she will correct me if I am wrong, but she said something about parents of bad behaving kids making a lot of excuses for them. I really don't want to be like that and when I said that, it made me feel like I was doing just that. Anyway, it was a good trip, but I think I should have stayed another night because I felt like we rushed out of there with a mess for Shauna to clean up. We left at 3 and did not get home until a little after 7. The traffic was so bad, but the kids were good and did not complain that much.
Some photos of before the party.

can't blog

My sister is not letting me post a proper blog tonight because my "to do" list is a mile long. What started out as a small birthday celebration has quickly turned into a full out party with home sewn gift bags, pinata and craft. I had better get working on the list before it gets late.

misc.

This evening I made a dress for my niece and some vegan cupcakes to take up to her birthday party in LA tomorrow. On the way up I am going to stop at Griffith Park to have lunch and let the kids ride the horses and train. I think I will look up some cool little vegan cafe to have lunch at, any suggestions?
I can't believe my niece is going to be 6 years old. I remember talking to my sister on the phone when she was in labor, seems like yesterday.


My garden is not doing very well and it is frustrating. The tomato plants have these little green worms that at making the holes in the leaves, Porter's winter mint plant is full of the green worms and aphids and the dirt in my planter box if full of these little tiny bugs. I spent some time today looking for and killing the worms and that is my favorite thing in the whole world to do.

I had better get to bed so I can get an early start!

Pool Party

Liesl got this suit at playgroup today and put it on at the park. When she woke from her nap she wanted to go swimming. She was standing by the front door demanding to go swimming so I told her she could go swimming in the bathtub with her suit on and she liked that idea.


Anyone catch House tonight? During a bathroom scene there was a sticker on the back of the stall that said "vote for change '08"

blah blah

Today we walked up to the North Park art festival, I think that is what it was called. We walked around and listened to some music and walked home. I went with some friends to a BBQ and Jason stayed home with the kids, so that was nice. There is a lot on my mind but I don't want to write about it, time for bed.

garden

Anyone know what is eating my tomato plant?

bike ride

It was so warm tonight I decided to ride my bike to the Turf Club in Golden Hill. My friend was celebrating her birthday so I had a few drinks with everyone and then rode home. I love warm night bike rides!

yum yum

Jason's old friend and his wife are in town so we are going to go to Bombay for dinner tonight. We have not been there is so long, since way before they move across the street to their new location. I had selected Bombay for every celebration for a while and Jason was getting a little tired of it, so we stopped going there and I miss it. I am looking forward to a yummy dinner tonight.
Today at Porter's school was "Mom's Morning" ,so I stayed for the first hour and we made a frame, read a book, had a special snack and played for a while. It was fun to hang out with just Porter for a while. Jason stayed with Liesl and took her for a walk to Starbucks.
This afternoon I was trying to pick up the house and the kids were driving me crazy. I sent them outside and filled up some large tubs with water to play with. The filled them up with rocks and then Porter just wanted to dump the water out so I had to keep on going outside and did not get much done inside. The kids had fun, but they are being a little more needy and clingy than normal.

Switzer Canyon

My friend and I have talked about going on a hike/stroll through Switzer Canyon for a while. We decided to do it today and the kids had a great time. It is so much more fun for them to play under a tree, wander and explore than to play at a playground. Liesl did not poop on the potty this morning so she pooped in her diaper, not a big deal, but then Porter asked to go home and I just said alright we will leave soon. About 15 minutes later he asked to go home because he had to poop, not 5 minutes later he is freaking out because he can't hold it in any longer. I ran over to him, picked him up and took him to a spot under a tree an held him so he could do his business. That has never happened to him before and he has been holding his pee longer than he should and it is resulting in more accidents. The hike was fun and I want to try and go on a hike at least once a week.

why do I try?

Today I went to Rosie's, the best fabric store I have found in San Diego, to buy some thread. I always look at the sale fabric and found a nice striped one, so I bought some to make a skirt. The last time I tried to make a dress for myself it was a disaster, I don't know why I tried to make something for myself again. I was inspired by this post from Childhood Flames. I know she is a teen and probably a size -2 but I thought it might be cute on. I chose to ignore the little person that was whispering in my ear "Hello Natalie you are 30 years old and have had two children, elastic waisted skirts will not look good on you". It was a disaster, but Liesl put it on and thought it was a princess dress. I don't know if I should cut it and make it a skirt for Liesl or take it apart and make her a dress out of it?