Little Valentine(s)

Happy Valentine's Day! Patrick declared today "the best Valentine's Day ever!". He went to a birthday party this afternoon where they had a jumpy house INSIDE, which just about blew his mind. Add to that a little Valentine present and some chocolates an he was over the moon. We had a nice dinner at home, which even included heart shaped brownies for dessert. Hope you all had a great day too!

I'm Going To Disneyland!

We got back from a nice little trip to Disneyland last night, we had a blast but it was soooo cold down there! I packed warm clothes for everyone but we really could have all used the extra heavy duty jackets us Northern Californians save for the few times a year it dips below 55 degrees. I even bought a scarf and gloves for myself because I thought I just might freeze to death out there on one of the rides. The drive down and back makes me wonder what I did in a prior life to deserve such cranky travelers. Patrick has gotten better with age (and with the investment in a portable DVD player) but Molly was at her limit after about 90 minutes in her car seat. Needless to say, it was a long trip. But worth it!

Patrick loved every minute of it all, especially the parade, the Peter Pan ride and the ginourmous Ferris wheel. Molly enjoyed Small World and people watching.

My mom and I made Molly the most adorable little Minnie outfit. Molly got about a million comments on it, but sadly it was so cold I didn't get a better picture than this, you can just see the top of her blinged out Minnie shirt.



Sleeping Beauty's castle was decorated for Christmas. Having been to Disneyworld a couple of times in the last few years I can say with great authority that Sleeping Beauty's castle is much smaller, and much less interesting than Cinderella's castle at Disneyworld.



I bought Patrick and Molly each a pair of Mickey ears. Patrick pretty much wore his straight for 3 days. He plans on taking them to school for show and tell.





We rode the teacups 3 or 4 times, we were even able to walk on with no lines!



Patrick has the same appreciation for churros that his mom and dad do. Here he is enjoying the Christmas parade with a churro snack.



Patrick really loved the huge Ferris wheel at California Adventure. I did not thankyouverymuch. Besides the fact that it was freezing up at the top, there were no seat belts and I was having visions of Patrick jumping up, prying open the doors and flying out. Tom assures me that these kinds of thoughts are not normal. Whatever. Molly and I sat out on subsequent rides.



We got to meet up with some friends while we were down there, Patrick and Calvin had a blast taking Fantasyland by storm. Calvin even tried to convince Patrick to ride the Haunted Mansion. We got as far as the elevator room before we took the chicken exit.



And finally Patrick got to "meet" two of his favorite characters, Mater and Lightening McQueen. He was actually a little giddy about getting to have his picture taken with them!



We have a nice time, but I am so glad to be back home. Molly seems to really thrive on her routine and is sleeping much better at home. I am sleeping better as well, hotel beds just aren't the same.

Up next on the agenda for this week: getting a Christmas tree, doing a little shopping, visiting with Auntie Cheryl who arrived from Holland, going to a wedding and a gingerbread house party. I am exhausted just thinking about it all!

Artist's Life

The other day Patrick was playing with watercolors on the deck (oh how I love the school supply sales at Target this month!). We had a very serious conversation before he started about how paint was only for the paper, not for the house (there was an unfortunate incident with crayons and stucco earlier this summer that did not end well). Patrick was outside playing around, I was in the family room with Molly. I went out after a few minutes to check on him and found this:

When I asked him what he had done he said "nothing". Lord help me.


And while I'm on the subject of art, just when I was starting to worry that Patrick missed out on those artistic genes, he started drawing recognizable things! Here's a happy face he drew on his Aquadoodle.




And last week Patrick went to his first birthday party at Pump It Up. It's like Chuck E. Cheese for the '00s (what do we call that?), but full of large inflatable jumpers and slides. The birthday girl was turning 3, and her friends seemed quite impressed with the place.



Here's Patrick with the birthday girl Skye and his friend Calvin. Moments after this picture was taken a small war broke out over who got to sit in the giant chair.

Roller Coaster Ride

We're putting those Great America season passes to good use! Today we met up with Skye and Jo Ann (and their mommies!) for a few hours at the park and we even ventured into the water park inside. My cousin Isabel just turned 12 and is helping me out one day a week this summer as a mother's helper. It's great top be able to take Patrick and Molly out and have an extra set of hands. Patrick just adores Isabel and had a great time playing with her today. Molly was an absolute angel and slept through most of the outing.

Hold My Hand

The school year is winding down for Patrick, and despite the very rocky start it's been a really wonderful experience for him. Today his class had an end of the year field trip to the Junior Museum in Palo Alto. It was really cute to see Patrick interact with his teachers and his friends (even if he does listen to his teachers better than he listens to me!). Patrick's best friend at school is a little boy named Valentino. Today they were running around the museum holding hands, it was the sweetest thing :)

(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear

I'm a little late in posting these, but on Monday Patrick had a birthday party for his playgroup friends at Build A Bear. The kids were all VERY cute and seemed excited to pick out their animals and dress them up. Patrick chose a dog but did not want him to wear any clothes, rather he wanted him to ride on a skateboard. Turns out HE wanted to ride the skateboard, even since we got home he's been insisting it is his and he wants to ride it in the kitchen. I don't think so.

Waiting to stuff their animals...


Kissing the heart before it gets stuff in with the dog...


The kids lines up with their new creations...


Patrick with his skateboarding doggie...


And more cake!


And guess what? I'm still pregnant! :P Only a few more days until my c-section. No one thinks I am going to make it that long except my doctor. He said that the baby dropping is no indication of when she will arrive. Well it sure feels like it should be!

Random

I've been lazy with the blogging lately (um, and lazy about a lot of things, I'm officially in my third trimester so that is my excuse). But, this past weekend we did manage to take Patrick to the big dog show at the Cow Palace. Patrick was very excited at the idea of going to see lots of dogs, but in reality he was less than impressed. For a kid who smothers his own dogs with affection I thought it was an odd reaction. He seemed completely uninterested in the whole thing, and only showed a little interest in a few dogs, at one point asking if we could bring home a cute brindled French Bulldog. Patrick's favorite part of the day ended up being the Elmo cupcake we bought from a favorite bakery along the way home.



And a random mommy thought...all grocery stores should have these tiny carts. It makes shopping with a toddler much easier. So much easier in fact I will drive to the next town over and shop at the fancy grocery store just so Patrick can use one. A happy toddler is a happy mommy.


And finally, what happens when two 2-year olds make up their own game...

Short Temper

This is how the mother of all temper tantrums ended yesterday....



He fell asleep while crying in front of the front door. It was about 6 pm and he was out for the rest of the night! I'm not even sure what triggered the crying, it had something to do with not being able to rescue his friend Calvin from the roof. Calvin was not on the roof, nor in need of rescue but Patrick has been a little obsessed with all things relating to firemen (even insisting that his name is not Patrick, but "Fireman Sam"). So there he was, passed out on the hardwood floor. I moved him to his room and managed to get him changed into pajamas and tuck him in. He woke up enough to protest but went right back to sleep and didn't wake up until this morning. VERY unusual for him to sleep that long. Hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow. Two has been very tiring lately :(

Happy Halloween

Patrick was too cute today in every possible way. He started out his bid day at preschool where all 3 of the Tuesday classes sang a little concert of Halloween songs and had a costume parade. Patrick sat with his class and was so good, he didn't sing so much as he goofed around and giggled, occasionally making the hand gestures that went with the songs. They pumped him full of cookies and juice and sent him home for the day where we carved pumpkins and got ready for the real fun. Last year Patrick loved opening the door for trick or treaters and this year not only did he open the door but he handed out the candy. I bought Play-Doh for the smaller kids and Patrick would yell out "You want more Play-Doh? Did you get candy? How you doing kids? Happy Halloween! Trick or treat! You're welcome! You want more Play-Doh? We got more Play-Doh!". He had us cracking up all night. We took him to a few neighbors to trick or treat and he quickly caught on to the idea that knocking on a door meant candy! So it was a great day. Patrick crashed in bed and will hopefully sleep well tonight.







Yesterday our playgroup had a Halloween party, Patrick was a complete mad man in the bounce house. Here he is with his friend Skye (dressed as Uniqua from the Backyardigans).

School Days

Patrick had preschool orientation this morning, it went fairly well (but could have been better). As soon as we pulled up Patrick asked to go home, not a good start. He took a long time to warm up and get interested in playing. At one point the kids were served a snack and all of the parents went inside for a little meeting. When we got out 30 minutes later Patrick was crying and being held by one of the teachers, he was the only kid who had a melt down. It makes me sad but I know school will help him get over his separation anxiety. After school we went out to lunch with some friends. Patrick and Calvin decided it would be a good idea to run after each other in circles, which was fun until there was a small collision. I often find myself wondering what is going on in that boy's head!

June Bug

Time is flying! Summer is almost here and the weather is finally consistently nice. We spent some time at the park this morning with friends and had a lovely time. This afternoon Patrick sat in his stroller all 4 blocks to downtown, it was a big deal for me because he is so against sitting in the stoller and if we tried to walk together he would insist on being carried which just isn't doable as he creeps up near 30 pounds.

On The Beach

We had a wonderful adventure today. One of my bestest friends, Monica, moved to San Luis Obispo last summer. Her son Makaio turned one this month, and his birthday party was at Avila Beach today so we drove down for the party. Avila Beach is a wonderful little beach, and very kid friendly. We had a wonderful time, Patrick was so good in the car, he really only fussed for about 5 minutes each way (not bad for 400 miles round trip!). The portable DVD player has proven to be worth it's weight in gold :)

Tom and Patrick playing around


Patrick and me listening to the ocean in a seashell


Patrick got into the luau theme


The beautiful birthday family


And since this is my blog and I can, check out this house in Avila...

Garlic Blues

Patrick fell in love with a piece of garlic today. I was chopping garlic this afternoon and Patrick was very interested. He wanted to smell it and touch it (and I wanted to finish my cooking), so I gave him an entire clove (with the skin still on) to play with. Patrick sat down on his couch with it and very gently peeled the clove as he watched a DVD. He then carried the garlic around for the next 3 hours, sniffing it and declaring "Nummy, garlic smell good!". It was rather hilarious. I guess toddlers sometimes get attached to small inanimate objects. Patrick's friend Calvin had a recent affair with a coffee bean (until it ended up in his nose).



But alas, all good things must come to an end. Patrick gave his garlic clove to Ella who took a bite and spit it back out all mashed up. Poor garlic never had a chance.