Big Thanksgiving Weekend

We started out the weekend in Tucson with my family. Dinner was so great! We had the usual turkey, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, green beans, stuffing with sausage and celery, pumpkin pie and pecan pie. Yum! We had dinner with the folks above and both my grandmothers, Nana and Grandma Jo. Patrick had a lot of fun but he was not feeling so well. :( He hadn't been sleeping at night (hardly at all!) due to teething. So, we had fun during the day and then a marathon of trying to sleep at night.

We mustered enough energy to go to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum on Friday. Patrick really enjoyed touching the ground squirrel through the plexiglass. We also got to see an otter, a beaver, some scorpions and snakes. Usual desert stuff. It's a great museum that is sort of like a zoo and botanical gardens mixed together with a bit of history thrown in for fun. It got a bit chilly and Patrick was "all done" after about 2 hours. He used his hand signs to tell us he was ready by shaking his right hand left and right.

Then Saturday we packed up and drove up to Mt. Lemmon to check out the snow. This was Patrick's first time seeing snow. We hadn't planned on going up there so we dressed Patrick in 2 shirts, a fleece jacket and his fleece/nylon vest. I think he was warm enough, especially since we had brought some hot chocolate with us in a really old looking thermos. How old is that thermos, Mom?

As usual, we have all the pictures loaded on our web album. So, go here and scroll down to the bottom if you want to see all that snow and a few more pictures.

We headed home once we got home from Mt. Lemmon at chowing down on the Burrito Bandito at Paco's Tacos. They serve a chile relleno in a burrito stuffed with beans rice and enchilada sauce. It's wonderful but I did have heartburn later that night. :(

We raced home to get ready to visit with Sean's friend Jerry from elementary school. He had brought his girlfriend Christina home to meet the family. It was really fun to see them. I made tomato soup and grilled cheese. Not too fancy but I think we all liked it after all the heavy eating this weekend.

Then earlier this afternoon we headed over to Sean's sister Katy's house to visit with the whole family. We'd gotten together to celebrate cousin Ryan's 4th birthday. Happy Birthday Ryan.

Here we are above. Back row: Uncle Jim, Grandma GG, Aunt Vicki, Nana Cyndy, Uncle Connor's girlfriend Abby, Me. Front Row: Uncle Todd, Cousin Ryan (Birthday Boy!), Cousin Emily, Aunt Katy, Cousin Jacob, Uncle Connor, Dada/Sean, Patrick, Shooter the dog.

Ryan got lots of loot and we had a great cake and lots of fun.

Thanks and love to all the families for such a great weekend!!!

Hike, Schnepf, Matchy and Mac

Patrick and I went on a quick little hike yesterday. We went to the Piestewa Peak Nature Trail. It was very nice. The weather was nice, the walk was nice, the snack was nice. It was very fun. I think I'd like to rent one of these ramadas for a party someday. Or if we were having Thanksgiving here, that'd be cool.

So, I totally forgot to blog or post pictures from when we went to Schnepf Farms with Chris, Beth and Wes November 1st. So, here are a few, in no particular order. If you want to see them all go here.

Here's a cute pic where Daddy dressed himself and I dressed Patrick in almost the same outfit, it wasn't on purpose, totally coincidence. So, we had to take a picture.

And this is my fabulous new idea. I have been freezing meals for Patrick in a silicone muffin tray. I am pretty excited about it. There are so many new frozen health meals for kids out there. I thought I would make my own. I have really enjoyed the Deceptively Delicious cookbook. This is the mac and cheese recipe - the one with squash not beans (I added some dried mustard and nutmeg to the sauce, and cauliflower florets, green beans and cannelini beans to the mix). Patrick loves it and I don't have to stress in the kitchen if he's hungry and doesn't want to wait for me to cook. I just pop a frozen muffin meal in a microwave safe bowl, cover with plastic or an upside down plate and cook for 2 min, mix and serve. So easy!

Cruisin' the aisles

Chillin'

The homemade sandbox

Say cheese!

Humming and the red cup

He's humming walking around the backyard collecting things in a red
cup this afternoon. He shakes the cup periodically to hear the rocks
rattle around.

He has beensuch a good boy today. We went to lunch with my friend
Mary at Olive and Ivy today and he sat quietly the whole time. I
think it was the nice weather (we sat outside) and the ambiant trance
electronic music. It's a little hypnotizing.

Future rocker

I like chocolate pudding

If you dig coupons...

My friend Camille has shown me the way in the world of coupons. The best thing that she's shared is this website: http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/

It's awesome! Click on "screaming deals by state" and see where there are things for free or very cheap with coupons.

The key I think is to get the Sunday paper (look for a $1 Sunday paper coupon - if you don't already get the paper) and then keep all the ads and store them in a nice way by date.

Go on that website and match up what you want (your shopping list) with the coupons you've saved and the grocery stores that are offering the best deals and voila! Savings galore.

I've only been saving the coupons in an organized fashion for the last 3 weeks or so but I'm excited for all the savings to come.

For those of you who have time, Bashas' is doubling coupons up to and including $1 through today so check the website and print some of the printable coupons and good luck!!

Thanks Camille!!!!!!

Adorable at Daddy's Office

Halloween 2008

Sean was his office costume party winner bringing home 100 bucks. Yay Sean/Daddy! If you don't already know what he is, he's Bender from Futurama.

We were afraid that Patrick would be afraid but he knew it was "Dada." He's been saying Dada a lot these days. The way he pronounces Dada is sort of like the Police song "De do do do, de da da da." The Da da's at the end is what it sounds like. So adorable!

Here's our little lion at his first house trick-or-treating. He didn't do much roaring or say "trick-or-treat" but he did do a great job walking up to the houses. We are so happy to live near a great trick-or-treating spot. Our friend Liz mentioned that her in-laws live on Wagon Wheel and that they close off the street and really make it a special event. Well, she was right and we were so warmly welcomed into the world of trick-or-treating. Nana Cyndy, and cousins Jacob, Ryan and Emily (who were a skeleton, Buzz Lightyear and a pricess, respectively) came to eat pizza and go trick-or-treating with us. It was a great Halloween!!

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Here is a video of our pre-Halloween practice trying on the costume and roaring. You can barely hear it (turn up your volume) but he does roar at the end.

And, as always, check out all the pictures we post on the Woods Family Photo Album. I usually only pick some of the best to be featured on the blog. Here is the October album that includes the other pictures from Halloween.