The Whole World

Athena in car today:

Mom, when will the whole world die?

Me: Well, I hope that never happens.

Athena: Well, when all the people are dead then the world will die.

Me: If there aren't any people, maybe some of the animals will still be alive?

Athena: Yes, but they will live underground because the world will be gone.

• This child is always asking me such difficult questions!
  

Tomatoes and Birthdays

My friend was away on vacation this week and generously allowed me to pick up her CSA box for her. There were tons of tomatoes and since we aren't huge raw tomato lovers, I quickly wanted to use them up before they went bad. I made a quick and easy salsa without a recipe, and it turned out fantastic. I cut up tomatoes, red onion, and added cilantro, lime juice, chili powder, sea salt and chiles. Then I put it all in the food processor and lightly processed it so that it was still a bit chunky. I could drink this stuff up, so super delicious! I also made some tomato sauce and for the first time I actually peeled the tomatoes (you know where you boil them for a minute and the skins come right off!!!)!. I then cooked it down with onions, zucchini (also from the CSA), garlic, and added ground almonds in the end. The sauce was a really pretty color because of the heirloom tomatoes, it tasted amazing, I know it was because it was so fresh, probably picked that morning. I have to admit I'm reading Kinsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle right now, and it kind of inspired me to cook more from scratch as I had gotten pretty lazy with the move, etc. While she kind of makes some lame arguments against veganism that can be hard to get past, I do enjoy her work and take from it the parts I like. I think she is an amazing author and person. Anyway, so where was I? So on to the birthday...!

We celebrated today with family and it was a relaxing day by the pool. My brother brought Indian food from Punjabi Tandoor which was fantastic as always. He kind of knows the family that runs the restaurant so they seem to understand and respect his requests for "no dairy" and obviously no meat. My SIL made the cake and it was beautiful. My camera is still MIA but she took some pictures that maybe I can share later on. It was chocolate mint, my favorite! We served it with So Delicious Coconut milk based ice cream, what a treat. My belly was so full after all of this. So the day was pleasant, everyone hung out by the pool and got to chat and it was a beautiful day here. I even got surprised by 2 of my cousins stopping by which was nice. My family lavished me with thoughtful gifts, from roses to stainless stir fry pans, hula hoops to hemp shoes. Ah, such a lucky person. My kids gifted me with no major meltdowns, and an all around pleasant day. Rowan took a nice long nap too.

Still alive

I'm still here, survived our first move. There will be another in our future. We our renting a place for now, our house is sold, and now we can just hope to find a new house soon.

Rowan was majorly sick all weekend. Most likely rotavirus. Poor guy was just a limp noodle for about 48 hours. Thankfully he was still nursing or he would have had to be hospitalized I'm sure. Today he is improving, had a good appetite. I'm thinking we've turned the corner, but this illness has had its ups and downs so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

Athena is doing beautifully with the move. She wants us to buy a condo. She loves having an upstairs, and swimming with Dad every day. We even got to have lunch with him today right at home. That was nice!

We're moving, 1st haircuts, fevers

The moving truck comes Friday to move us out of this place. We will be staying in a condo for awhile as we continue to search for a home to buy. The condo is right by Chris' work, as in a 5 minute walk, has a pool in the complex, walking distance to Whole Foods/Trader Joes, a playground is nearby as well. It all sounds lovely, but I'm really starting to realize that we are really leaving this house forever. The house my babies were born in. I am really excited to be moving on, I think it will be better for our family, but I know I will miss it here. No, not the crazy ants that invade year around, or the smallness, or the millions of projects we've done to keep this place alive. But I know I will miss my yard. My yard used to drive me crazy, but the kids are finally at an age where they really enjoy playing out there. Rowan wakes up each morning and asks for "eeeeng, eeeeeng" (swing). They love filling up the pool, playing in the sandox, checking the tomatoes ("maaan-oooohhs"), gathering rocks and twigs. It really has been a rather nice summer out there. So yeah, I'm gonna miss it, but I hope we find something that I love even more. Athena has been acting out a lot, I'm sure it is because of the move. I keep forgetting that though in the moment and getting really frustrated with her. Luckily, she keeps me laughing with her random anecdotes.

Rowan got his first haircut today, but then suddenly came down with a high fever so I left my camera at the park in my panicky state. He is OK, and my friend has the camera. She is also the one who cut his hair. I can't stop staring at him. His lovely mullet is gone. It was starting to look like I cut his hair like that on purpose, and while I should be OK with that, due to my roots in the "T", I just couldn't let it go any longer. I'll probably never see those curls again as they looked like those baby ones that never come back. He looks absolutely adorable, but different. It will take some time for me to get used to it. It feels different too. I can't wait to post pictures of it so you all can see but it will probably be a few days until I get the camera back. So, that is all. His fever was up to 104.6, the highest he has ever had (athena got up to 104.9 when she had a kidney infection once though). Looks to be a virus, I even took him to the Dr. as I was kind of panicking.

Well, I should be packing, but I just can't get in the mood for it. Poor Chris will be stuck packing it all (again). The last time I was 8 months pregnant so I used that as my excuse, this time, I don't know what it is. I guess I just don't know where to begin. Luckily, we don't have to be out of here for another week. The house will be termite tented monday though so we'd like to have just about everything out by then.

If you need a dinner recipe, then make this. It was so good. Thanks VeganYumYum.

Kidical Mass

Tonight we took a family ride with a bunch of other families for the first "kidical mass" ride in our city(as far as I know it was the first). It was a lot of fun and I really hope the group continues to grow. The idea is:
"To celebrate the fact that Kids are Traffic Too. For family fun on vehicles that don't hurt the future! Another excuse to pedal with your family."

If you are in the San Diego area, then check it out:
http://pedalmamas.blogspot.com/

http://www.kidicalmass.org/

Midwife cat

While driving today Athena out of the blue asks us:

"Want to know the most funny cat thing?" (we say sure)

"A cat midwife!" (this was followed by lots of laughing from us all, then I ask if it is a person who is a midwife for cats, or an actual cat midwife?)

"It is a real cat midwife!" she says. (we all laugh again and again because it is so funny)

She adds, "She just says 'Meow, Do It, Meow, Do It!" (followed by more laughing)

Athena is one hilarious little girl.

SOLD

There is a SOLD sign on our house now. I can't even believe it. We still don't know when we have to be out of here, but the realtors will be talking this weekend. I'm guessing we have only 2 weeks or so. So much to do...like find another place to live! We are planning on renting in the area we'd like to buy since we haven't found anything we really love yet. So, I'll keep you all posted. Some day I'll be back to cooking regularly and blogging with all kinds of awesome pictures, but for now this will do.