Where In The World is Maisie Sandiego

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???... doesn't give much of a clue does it? But she is a happy baby this morning! Antibiotics for her double ear infection (turns out it was two different infections and she had to have TWO different antibiotics!) and teething under control so she slept allll night last night with mom. A big improvement from the past few nights.

And No she is not in San Diego :) That title is only funny if you played weird computer games on your Apple 2GS in 7th grade.

A Girl's Gotta Go

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Francie thinks she is a pretty big girl lately. She banned diapers from the house (we thought we should save some for long car rides but apparently she thinks she can just can go outside like dad if she needs to) Jannie told her it was more polite to say "A Gurl's Gotta Go when a Gurl's Gotta Go!" so she says "Gurl's gotta go Mom..." all the time now and tells me "A girl went" since she goes in and closes the door without me. She talks to her parents like she is a teenager sometimes too. Heff teases her and she says "DAD! It's un-ass-cepetable to antagonize me." and when Heff asked her if she was feeling happy or sad she said "Don't ASK me questions like that Dad!" Geeeez France.

She put my heels on and walked out to tell me "It takes a woooong time to wearn to walk in uncomfortable shoes Mom." Amen to that MaryFrances.

(please try not to notice the toilet seat left up in this picture :) How is a Gurl supposed to Go without falling in DAD?!)

She even had a sleepover party with Emmy, Roxy, Nina and Jannie staying up past midnight playing Blockus and making chocolate chip cookies. When I dropped her off she said "You can leave me here now mom."

I just love my big girl.

even if she needs a haircut.

Cirque de Soleil

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Heff and I went out Sunday night for a date night to see the "Ovo" Cirque de Soleil show in the city. The nice people at our bank invited us to the event they hosted- and yes we know they must have us confused with someone who actually puts a lot of money INTO the bank) But the show was amazing! I had never seen a Cirque de Soleil and couldn't believe how cool it was- especially for an old vaulter like me :) We had drinks and really good food before the show, great seats and to top it off we ran into some friends of Brian's who have a vaulting daughter at the same club I vaulted at so I got to talk about gymnastics and horses the whole intermission :) My husband sure has a lot of things to make fun of me for!! But it was a great night out. Thanks Jannie and Grampa for taking such good care of the girls- we picked them up napped, fed, bathed and pj'ed up!

Heff in the pre-party tent teasing me for taking camera phone pictures AND making fun of how much worse my camera phone is that his beloved crackberry ;)

Of course I wanted to take a cheesy picture of the two of us outside the tent when we left but... yup, you guessed it- I remembered Heff saying "dork" when he saw a couple taking self portraits on the way in- sorry you married a big dork Heff!

such a cool thing to see...

Meet Mickey and Minnie!

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This morning the girls and I took the train to Hillsdale with some playgroup friends to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse at the mall. Wow... it was a little insane with a ton of moms, strollers and Disney crazy kids. Mickey and Minnie made their appearance and Francie's face LIT UP- she was sooo excited! They danced to a whole ONE song and that was the extent of the show! So we waited in a long line to meet Mickey, had to make a run to a bathroom, and got back just in time to hear "Hey kids, say goodbye to Mickey! But here comes Minnie!" The kids were a little sad but Francie was happy showing Minnie her picture on her shirt :) Can't wait for Disneyland!

Ronan, Francie and Maisie commuting on the morning train

Maisie's first CalTrain trip

heading back to Menlo Park! (thank goodness ;)

Cousins in Menlo

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Monday night Claire, Tom, Maureen, Ellie, Kate & Patrick drove down from Red Bluff for the night before Maureen's flight home with the kids the next day. We squeezed the last bit of playtime out of them before they head back to New Jersey- we probably won't see them until Uncle Doug finished his fellowship in June and they are California residents again! Mark, Sarah and Clara came over for dinner. Lots of cousin love!

Kate at the kids table

Ellie reading to Francie-pants

Four Monkeys in A Crib

taco fixings

Ellie and Francie - the big sisters - had a special connection :)

and Ellie is sooo good to Baby Maisie! I love seeing Ellie walking around with Maisie on her hip- reminds me of me when I was her age :)

Aunt Maureen with six listeners on her lap for a book
Clara
Patrick the Little Monkey

Playing dress-up...

News of the New Year

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Can you guess?!

what do these signs point toward?...

Francie is potty trained, even at night! Starting the new year with one diapered down... and down to one changing table. Of course we have a few accidents here and there and tonight I heard Heff say "Don't wipe your face after you wipe your bottom." (awesome huh?- at least it was just a Maisie wipe after she was running around naked-banshee after a bath, but still, gross!) It frees up more room in our "wittle house" for important things like dolls and hair accessories.

She's very proud of herself.

Just like cousin Isabel (in their matching Potty Patty Pants from Jannie)

"What about me?! All this news about my sister... I can wave, clap, say Mama (mostly when I'm mad) do SO Big!, Smash 'Um Down, and I even stood up all alone for the first time the other day!"

And she's got a double ear infection and hardly even complained.. on antibiotics and the mend.