Hugs and boogers and stuff

Patrick has been hugging everyone in sight. I think he learned this from preschool where at the end of class, everybody can give/get hugs if they so choose. Well, he chooses and with everyone. All the moms/nannys and most of the teachers get one. I usually get two if I have helped in the class that day.

He is also (mostly) very polite about things in general. He loves to say please and thank you and even will hand you his boogers instead of eat them (most of the time). He stretches his arm out and sings "I have a booger for you." Might not sound so, but it's adorable.

He's just started asking a few days ago about what words say. He put some of his fridge letters together to spell "UZP" and asked what that spelled. I told him and then rearranged the letters to show him "PUZ" and "ZUP." Of course, I don't think those are real words, so I might not be teaching him much. He asks what words are on billboards, the tv and books. He is very proud to know how to say the title of one of his favorite movies "ET." He knows that one pretty well.

We've been eating through our advent calendars and we practice counting. I don't suppose he knows what the numbers mean really but he's memorized up to 25...and even higher...we count to sixty every night before bed. I made up this game after he wanted to cuddle before being set down for the night for what seemed like forever. I decided to count to sixty (slowly) to give us some cuddle time

Thanksgiving Weekend 2009

Picking Beets

Patrick and I went to the farm this morning for our weekly visit. Patrick wanted to have a ride on the golf cart so we rode out to the beets and picked a few bunches. I can't wait to eat them!

Patrick's first visit to a mall Santa

We had heard from our friend Suzanne that Santa was at the Paradise Valley Mall already and I thought it would be fun to take Patrick today at lunchtime. We've been reading The Polar Express all week and I think he was ready for Santa. We had to wait for Santa to check on Rudolph (he does that from 12:30 - 1pm every day, according to his sign). So we ate bagels and cream cheese at Chompies and went back to visit Santa.

He was waiting for us. No lines. Phew! Patrick walked right up and got on Santa's knee and leaned back into his chest. I think he likes Santa. We'd been coaching Patrick on how Santa was going to ask what he wanted for Christmas but no such question was asked. Ok, time for pictures. We said "say cheese." So he did. However, no smile. We said "show us your teeth." So he did. No smile. This was the best of the 6 or so pictures they took. Exposed tummy on all of them too.

All in all, it was nice visit to Santa. When Patrick would tell us what he wanted for Christmas during lunch he said "presents, in my hands." I'm sure he'll be getting some of those.

Peach train around a bagel track

You think we're kidding when we say he's obsessed. :)

Catching the rain

FIrst day of preschool and other pics

Here were are practicing saying "cheese" to the camera. I took several pictures. This was the cutest. I didn't drop him off that day, we went together (this was last Tuesday). I did drop him off this Tuesday and he didn't even look twice. He had a great time with Teacher Doug and Teacher Kelly. I will go with him tomorrow since it's a co-op. I go every other Thursday and once a month bring snacks. I got hummus and pretzels but I'm not sure anyone will eat the hummus besides Patrick. Maybe I'll cut up a melon too :).

Last weekend I thought it would be fun to go to the Downtown Farmers Market and Sean thought it would be fun to take the light rail (aka Choo Choo Train) downtown. So, we did. It was super fun. We brought our stroller and loaded it with an insulated bag full of ice packs. We got cheesecake from AZ Cheesecake Co., pork (chorizo and ham) from The Meat Shop and hamburger from OX Ranch, honey and all kinds of great goodies. We said hello to Nina and Peter at our produce booth for Crooked Sky. They are the CSA coordinators in Ajo but they also come to town to work the market here in Phoenix. Talk about dedication. You're up at 5 to get to the truck to get to the market to set up and be ready by 7/7:30. Thanks Nina and Peter. :)

It's still a bit warm out but the market has lots of portable fans to cool you down. I can't wait to go when the market opens full time in October!

This last pic was taken Monday at the farm in between 6 week old corn rows. The corn is growing so fast. Patrick is still practicing saying "cheese" for the camera. He's getting pretty good at it.

He's a singer

On the way home today from running an errand. Patrick starts singing. He repeats this phrase 3 or 4 times.

"I love Goooorrrrrrdddoon. I looovve Thomaaas. I looovvve Jaaames."

These are his trains. So cute.

New haircut - short and sassy!

July was a wild and crazy month - SO FUN!

I flew out to see Jenny in LA and left Patrick for the first time over a weekend. I think Sean and he managed OK without me/Mama. They had lots of fun playing trains and eating out with friends.

Jenny and I saw 500 Days of Summer (the cutest movie!), ate at Tender Greens (her brother Bob's favorite place), went to the Santa Monica Farmers Market, visited the beach at the Santa Monica Pier, ate at Real Food Daily, cooked dinner using the farmers market finds (poached eggs over frisee with bacon balsamic dressing, sauteed eggplant and garlic, and tomato corn chive salad), got a treat at Mashti Malones (had the creamy rosewater and herbal snow), slept in, ate brunch with my friend Tiffany from college, cruised Mulholland and Laurel Canyon, grabbed Slurpees, went to the La Brea Tarpits and shared a burger and rings at Umami Burger. Phew, we were pooped by the end. Such a good time. I'm trying to drag Jenny out here sometime in September/October...

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Theeeennn, the next weekend I invited my friend Jack up to Phoenix from Tucson to go with us and the Dinoffrias to Big Surf in Tempe - had to see where Rick Kane surfed in the movie North Shore. We all felt like we were 12 years old again. It was so fun! Really! We all want to go again. The boys and girls took turns watching the kids and we ran up the ramp as fast as we could to pack in as many rides down the slides as possible - hurricane falls, the abyss and tornado twisters. I can't wait for next time. We did the pizza buffet at Cici's afterwards - and we tried the macaroni and cheese pizza. Weird but tasty.

Sunday we met up with the Schneiders (and Dinoffria's again) for lunch at Chino Bandido. Mike Schneider and Jack and I know each other from working at KAMP Radio. It was nice that Jack and Mike could catch up too.

Later that evening, we met up with the Dinoffrias and Schneiders again for dinner at Metro and the Slow Food showing of Food Inc. - it was a perfect weekend!

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This last weekend, Sean Patrick and I set out to visit "Papa" in San Diego for our last long weekend until November/December. We got there Thursday and went directly to Pat and Oscars for some ribs and a veggie sandwich. We got to meet Keenan's girlfriend Nicole for the first time. She was great Keenan - good work!

We spent the whole day Friday at La Jolla Shores. It was beautiful. Perfect swimming day. Patrick played in the sand and made sand castles. Surf was low key, water was warm and clear and it was crowded but not too crowded. We pitched our tent (after a few hours on the beach) on the grass from lunchtime until we left about 5. Sorry, no pictures from Friday, was afraid to get my camera sandy.

Saturday morning we tried to enjoy a nice breakfast at Dad and Keenan's favorite breakfast place in Shelter Island - Point Break Cafe. The new cook wasn't the best - but Patrick got his yogurt and fruit parfait that he likes so much. We cruised up the coast to Torrey Pines Glider Point to watch the paragliders. I think we'll have to try it someday - it looks really fun.

We spent the afternoon at the Del Mar Racetrack. Papa was clever and thought that it would be fun to park at the Solana Beach train station and take the double decker buses to the fairgrounds. Perfect idea for Patrick, he loved it!! We bet a few races and didn't win a thing, oh well. Patrick did learn how to clap for his horse. He liked number 7 in this race.

Sunday we got lucky and got into the Broken Yolk Cafe in Pacific Beach without having to wait. Breakfast was outstanding and then we took the scenic route to La Jolla's Children's Beach to look for seals. We didn't see but a few seals. That was OK since we had fun playing "I'm gonna get you" in the grass nearby.

If you want to learn more about the fight over preserving Children's Beach for the seals, click here.

We ended the trip with another great lunch at Point Loma Seafoods. Sean had to have his scallop sandwich and I was still full from breakfast - just had the ceviche. It was great. We met up with Sean's friend Jerry and his girlfriend Cristina. Keenan also came with his friend Audrey.

We had a great time and can't wait to plan our next trip out there!

It didn't take long for Patrick to konk out from the weekend.

And as usual, check out our online photo gallery for all the pictures from our travels and happenings - this link is for the July 2009 album: http://picasaweb.google.com/jennifer.woods/PatrickJuly2009#

Snakes!!!!!

Somebody loves snakes ;)

Black-eyed peas

Here's Patrick at the farm this week checking out the ladybugs on the
black-eyed peas. Notice one Teva and one flip-flop...his choice.

I'm posting this as we watch Short Circuit, or "robot" as Patrick
calls it, for the hudredth time in the last few weeks. :)

He's starting to look so big!

I think his new haircut makes him look older!

Twinkle Twinkle and Other Videos

I've been saving up some videos to post, so here goes:

The other night Patrick and I were home alone while Jen was out playing with her girlfriends.

During the bedtime ritual, I asked him to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.





This is a quick video from our trip to the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium with cameos by the Dinoffria Family



And here is my little man shaving like Daddy:



He loves his new ATV PowerWheels:



What a big boy getting his haircut:



And, last but not least, Patrick swinging by himself:

Patrick's 2nd Birthday Party

We had such a fun time yesterday hanging out with a few family members and friends. Patrick has been playing with his new toys all morning and we tried to use up some of the leftover bread from the grilled cheeses by making french toast.

Here are the pictures we have from the party. If you have any good ones, send them to me and I'll add it to the album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jennifer.woods/PatrickJune2009#

For those of you who got to try the watermelon punch. Here's the recipe:

Watermelon Punch

*pulp from a watermelon
*can of frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
*2 cups pineapple juice

Put the melon pulp in the blender - seeds and all. Blend until smooth. Strain through a mesh strainer into a large punch bowl. Add the lemonade concentrate and the pineapple juice. Mix and serve in pretty glasses over crushed ice. For extra panache, throw in some mint leaves. I will do that next time. :)

Check out my new cookbook

Hey there,

My new book is hot off the presses at Blurb! Take a sneak peek and place your order if you're so inclined...

It's a book release, and you're invited -- check out my new book at Blurb:
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/514043/a1eb67e23a0d7088bf38a1ea1d4a6592

Thank you,
jenwoods

Sunny with dark sky. Locusts. Love this weather.

6 pictures for you

Bye Bye Indigo Young from Music Together, you've been great. Patrick is ready for his next set of classes: swimming! So far, he's hating them but he'll get better. Then this fall: preschool!

Here is Sean and Patrick at the farm's Farm Day last Saturday. We ate lots of great stuff. Check out my blog post about how the day went (haven't written it - as of this posting time) at crookedskyfarms.com.

Bye bye Camille and the Craws (John, Lydia, Sam and Rachael) we will miss you and wish you much luck in Kansas City. We hope you eat lots of great BBQ in your new house! Thanks Beth and Chris for lending us your house for the goodbye party this last Saturday night.

In case you didn't know already, Patrick is obsessed with trains and Thomas the Train. Here's his Thomas overalls. I think these used to be Sam's. Thanks Camille!

Just liked this cute picture.

And this one too.

Note: for all you blogspot bloggers, if you email your pictures from picasa to your blog email (the one you set up) it takes like two seconds to put them in a post, then go edit. I did that this time, kept the title as the email title it uses when you use this method. Lots of pics lickety split.

New craigslist rug ;) love it!

Farm Day RSVP

Hi! Wanted to see who all of my friends can make it to the farm day this Saturday at Crooked Sky. You're all invited but I wanted to know who could make it so that Frank knows how much stuff to buy and I know how much stuff to cook. If you could email, text or comment to this post, that'd be awesome. Also, I need to know by the end of the day today. Sorry for the late notice, hope you get it! :) If you don't reply in time, you're still invited! No worries!

Memorial Day Weekend - Video

Will's Birthday Party - Video

Memorial Day Weekend

Sorry it's taken me a while to post about our trip to San Diego over a week ago. I've posted the pictures on our web album: May 2009

We had Sean's co-worker David watch the animals and housesit for the weekend.

We drove over in our new used 2006 odyssey and boy was that a nice difference from the little Mazda 5 (that I still like) but we have much more leg room and it's just nicer all around.

We got checked into the Sheraton Symphony Hall downtown and then met up with my family and Sean's friend Jerry and his girlfriend Christina. We motored/sailed the harbor for the evening and Patrick did a great job wearing the life jacket. However, he did not do a great job sleeping that night.

Didn't matter 'cause we had such a fun day the next day that we didn't need much sleep to keep us going. We were lucky to have the Ethnic Food Fair going on at Balboa Park. We ate food from France, Lebanon, Argentina and Ireland. So good. We also went to the Railroad Museum and checked out the model trains and a Thomas play area. Patrick was stoked.

After Balboa Park Patrick napped in the car while we drove up to Torrey Pines State Beach for some sun and sand. Patrick wasn't into getting in the water so we just built sand castles.

For dinner we drove down to North Park to visit with a college friend of my dad's Jim Keenan and his wife Sam. They made some great ribs and slaw and Patrick climbed the stairs in their backyard about a hundred times.

The next morning we played in Shelter Island, eating at the cool new breakfast place that still has the Boll Weevil sign up. I think that's a good idea so that not too many people find out and make it too busy to frequent. Great menu and we were stuffed.

We played at the park the Cabrillo Elementary School for a while to work off the breakfast and then walked over to Keenan's place to say goodbye.

The trip home was easy and we'll definitely be back again soon. Maybe 4th of July? :)

I Love You/Watching Nemo Movie

Sean got me a Flip Video Camera to keep in my purse so that I can take more video. This is the first of 3 videos he took this evening. Lots of "I Love Yous" in the house still. :)

Big boy bed

Patrick got a big boy crib conversion this weekend since he climbed out of his crib twice last week. He's also been on an "I love you" rampage which I can't say I'm sad about. He says it about every 2 minutes. I wish I didn't know that it will end some day.

This picture was from our farm visit last week. It was very hot out!! The farm is getting ready for an open farm day on Saturday June 6th at 9am. We'll be there and you should too. We'll be roasting corn and touring the farm. Details are on the Crooked Sky website: http://crookedskyfarms.com/csf/?p=175

The farm is looking pretty nice these days. Here are a few pictures I took last week.

If you want to see all my farm pictures (I took all but one of these), check out my flickr album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37420802@N06/show/with/3481877472/

Having fun in Tucson and Queen Creek

Patrick and I went down to Tucson last weekend to give Sean some time to study for finals this week and last week. We were so happy that Papa drove in from San Diego to visit too. My parents are still working on selling their home in Tucson so that they can move back to San Diego. Keenan and my dad are there now and just waiting on my mom. So, if you or someone your know is interested...check out their house.

Patrick and I got our hair trimmed while in Tucson. I think we both look good. Here's a picture of Patrick's new 'do.

For mother's day weekend we went to Schepf Farms and picked peaches at their u-pick farm. It was only 92 out but it felt like 115 degrees. We didn't stay long. We then drove to Joe's Real BBQ for some pulled pork sandwiches, mac and cheese, homemade root beer and lemon cake. Yummmmmmmy. For more pictures from the last few weeks and at the peach farm: click here.

He realllly likes vaccums