Saturday Morning Popwiches

We have a ritual now where I get the popovers ready just as soon as I get up. Patrick and I play while they cook and then we all eat popovers either stuffed with scrambled eggs or fruit.

They are scrumptious. I also made "Nana's peaches" today with the less-than-great peaches I got at Safeway yesterday. You basically put a small pan on high and then throw in the cut up fruit with some sugar and a little water. You cook it for like 10 minutes and *poof* you have a great fruit spread for your toast or popovers.

We've been having fun watching the Olympics. I'm sad it's over tomorrow but this time I will make sure to watch the whole ceremony. I missed most of the beginning extravaganza but I won't this time.

These days, Patrick can

• find your nose,
• blow you a kiss,
• play peek-a-boo with his hands over his face,
• say mama, dada, water, dog, cat (for cat he says with a high pitched voice - aaahhhh - his version of meow), snack, balloon, banana, nap, fruit, yogurt, milk, moo - like a cow, book, out, up, that, what's this, what's that, moon, leaf, hot, fish...that's all I can think of for words right now.
  
• roll the toilet paper into a pile on the ground,
• race past me crawling to splash in the dog water bowl before I pick him up,
• hug and kiss you all day long,
• plays sitting up on his knees and bounces on them...walking is not far behind
• empty the contents of my wallet in about 5 seconds
  
• identify all balloons and dogs and cats in his surroundings,
• and put down more Larabars than any kid I know. He really likes the cashew cookie ones.

Saturday mornings make me think of the Chicago song Saturday in the Park. Just happy and relaxed. Now that Sean's back at school, it's sort of another regular day for Patrick and me. But that's okay, we get to have fun Saturday nights. This Saturday night, tonight, we're excited to go get the last bobblehead at the Diamondbacks game. This time though, I think we're just going to get the doll, cruise around a bit at the ballpark and then leave to get some tasty grub. Maybe that Caribbean place I was reading about lately, Breadfruit. I wish Pasta Bar was open already, 'cause that's where I would want to go for sure. It's Wade Moises' (formerly of Sassi Restaurant) new restaurant with all freshly made pasta and locally sourced ingredients. Yowza, that will be goOOoooOOod!

For now, I'm off to clean up from breakfast. And before I forget, I have been meaning to mention my favorite cleaning products. Besides Oxyclean, which is necessary for a little baby, I love using my Seventh Generation Lemongrass and Clementine Zest dish soap, which almost makes me enjoy cleaning...almost. I also love my all purpose cleaner that I use as my floor cleaner in my floor mate (almost necessary with an all tile floor house) and as my general countertop spray cleaner - I just keep refilling my spray bottle with water and about 1.5 teaspoons of the cleaner. I use Mrs. Meyer's Lavender all purpose cleaner. It's the most wonderful smell (I imagine it's what an orange grove in Provence would smell like) and you only use a smidge to get things clean. Great!

TTFN.

Patrick's first trip to the beach

Thanks Keenan for the great trip to San Diego. The Leucadia Beach Inn was so nice and clean and a great location. We arrived last Saturday and immediately checked in and grabbed our Pizza Port and went to Ponto Beach in So. Carlsbad. Sean buried Patrick and he loved it.

He didn't mind the water either. That was a different story when we went the next day at Torrey Pines...a tad cold.

Sunday morning, Patrick and I cruised around Encinitas and grabbed some great grub from a cute little place called Honey's. We all got ready and then headed down to San Diego to meet our friends Chris and Beth and their family for lunch at Point Loma Seafoods (Sean's favorite place). After that, we went to Sea World and spent some time at the Sesame Street Play Land. We even got to take a picture with The Count and Burt.

Wow Sunday was busy...after Sea World, Patrick took a nap, we got changed and went to the Torrey Pines Beach to actually get in the water. It was a little too cold for Patrick so we just built sand castles for a little while with the beach toys we've had for months in his toy box. We then rinsed off and had a great quick dinner on the patio at Fidel's.

Monday morning, Patrick and I again cruised around...but this time in Cardiff. We stopped at VGs and the Seaside Market for some pastries, local produce and some ice for the cooler for the drive home (and Sean's knee).

We had a great time in San Diego and can't wait to go again next month with Grandma and Grandpa to Campland on the Bay. Yay!

So you think yer funny, eh?

Mary Mary Quite Contrary...

After a quick fun filled 1/2 a weekend in Tucson for my mom's birthday, I've decided to try to plant a garden. We used some fresh herbs from my mom's container veg garden for our great dinner on Saturday. It was super tasty (esp the steaks - thanks Dad!) and great company. We got to hang out with (left to right) Connor's girlfriend Abby, Sean's Brother Connor, my mom Kim, my dad Cleve, my brother Keenan, Keenan's roommate Mike, Sean, Patrick and Me (not pictured). After dinner Sean and I went to go see Hellboy 2 at the Park Mall. Boy, I was not used to being out so late - we got home at 12:30! But, I did it and it was pretty good. Think Pan's Labyrinth-style characters in the movie. Fun :)

My mom said that she transplanted seedlings. Well, lucky for me, my local home store didn't have anything right now (so I must be crazy) but we got seeds and we've made 2 mini greenhouses with upside-down Sterilite clear storage boxes.

Here are the filled extra party cups.

Here are the seeds.

Here are the cups before filling - I cut a hole in them with a knife (for drainage.)

Just like this.

When (I hope) the seedlings sprout, I hope to use this stuff. It's called Terracycle and it's made from worm poop and packaged in recycled soda bottles. So genius.

I hope to keep you all updated as to what is growing and how they're doing.

If you are in the desert and intersted in knowing what to plant and when, here's a great resource: http://www.urbanfarm.org/Planting_Calendar.pdf

And if you are interested in sourcing some unique seeds (I haven't done this yet), you can find some great stuff on the internet.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/home.aspx?ct=HG

http://rareseeds.com/

http://www.seedsavers.org/

This is where Farmer Frank gets his seeds. Farmer Jen, here we come!

____

PS. Fun fact I learned today (unassociated to anything in this post but related to great Summer songs): Holiday Road, the theme some from National Lampoon's Vacation was written and sung by Lindsey Buckingham. Can't believe I didn't figure it out after all these years...Lindsay's the greatest. Here's a You Tube clip from a live performance. And for all of you embarking on a road trip this summer, get excited with this original theatrical trailer for National Lampoon's Vacation.

Farmers and Chefs and More Swimming!

Thanks Mom for coming to visit earlier this week so that I could make it to the Farmer Chef Connection Event for Edible Phoenix (see picture below - that's Bob McClendon, Mike from Bon Appetit, Greg from Quiessence, the Litchfield Park Food and Bev Manager and the guy from the Queen Creek Olive Mill). It was fun and I got to see some old buddies I hadn't seen since Patrick was still in my tummy. It's gotten me motivated to want to join a CSA again. I am going to see if Desert Roots Farm has any room. I miss my CSA veggies.

We've been swimming every day this week since it's soooooooo hot. The pool itself is pretty hot which is kind of yuck but it's nice to take a dip anyway!

Parties Parties Parties

We're having a great summer so far doing a lot of swimming in the pool and hanging out with friends and family. I've drifted a bit from my usual blog schedule but we've needed time to clean up and get ready for the next fun event. Below is a picture from the weekend after the big birthday party.

I had forgotten to break out the pinata at the birthday party so when we had some friends and family over for the 4th, we had to use it then. I think the final blow came after cousin Ryan and our little friend Preston had taken so many turns whacking that thing that it just couldn't hold all the Laffy Taffy and Nerds that had been in there for a week!

I think we were at Pick up Stix when I took this picture. Patrick was really into sticking his tongue out. Nowadays it's sticking his finger up his nose, and sometimes one finger in each nostril at the same time. Nice!

This is at the Children's Museum of Phoenix. This just opened and so far it's a blast. We're glad that our friends also got annual passes because we might just move in. These are giant bean bags that Patrick is trying to climb over. He really enjoyed it!

This was in the car after from being at the Children's Museum for a few hours, he was laughing all the way home!

Yesterday we had a great time with Sean's whole family over here to celebrate his Mom's husband's daughter's graduation. We ate great food, played in the pool and had a super fabulous time. Thanks for everyone's help making it a great day. Congratulations Sheryl!!

The Birthday Boy

Swimming lessons came to an end on Friday. They gave us a certificate of completion and a popscicle.

Here's a picture of the pool that we've been at for the last 2 weeks. If you can see in the shadow, Patrick is leaning in for another lick.

Then Saturday was all about the big luau Patrick 1st/Jennifer 30th Birthday Party!
I think we had about 30 - 35 people in total at the party. The house was full of food and fun and shave ice.

The fishy take home boxes filled with aloha buttermints, shells and a beach monkey beach ball.

My mom's pinapple pupu platter from back in the day, good thing she's kept it! :)

I finally put up these cute curtains that I'd been hanging on to. I hemmed them any everything. Like our very own cabana!

Sean's surprise for me was to fly my friend Jenny in to town. When she arrived Friday night I was totally confused at first but so happy! Patrick was happy too!

Here's a picture of one of the cupcakes that Jenny and I decorated for the party. You might be able to see but we attempted to make a wave design with frosting and a toothpick at the bottom. Here's a link to the recipe.


We had a great day and I'm still washing dishes and doing laundry from the busy weekend. Boy was it worth it!