Francie's First Haircut

Francie had her first haircut today! Heff and I battled over whether she would go to MY favorite hair guy, Raul, or his faithful barber, The Dirty Cuban. I won. We went to the La Belle salon this afternoon and had a pow-wow of stylists deciding how much to cut, what to do with the curls and how to clean up her mullet. Raul didn't think she'd sit in the chair but she was pretty excited about her smock and the twirling chair and sat pretty still the whole time. Raul worked quickly and she looks like such a big girl now! She still has a few curls but it got the clean-up it needed :) Even Dad approved.

Raul goes to work... she was a little skeptical at first...

Her face looking at herself in the mirror was priceless!

Still sitting pretty with her favorite special pink shoes of course

Dad was a good sport in the salon and Raul commented how "charming" he was :) Francie and I agree.

"Just make sure I can still wear my bows Raul."

"What do you think Mom?"

All done "Thank you" and a hand out for "Hi Meet You!"
(her version of 'Hi, nice to meet you')

"Let's go dad... leave a good tip."

Mom and Francie back home

The cleaned up Mullet

I picked a white bow but she INSISTED on the giant blue bow this morning. It's starting.

Looking for her beloved doggie hiding behind the shed

"You better hold me Mom, I don't think I should be out in the chicken coop with my party shoes on."

My First Haircut!

More Emmy B Photography

Tuesday when we were in Aptos visiting Kaky I brought my portrait lens down for Emmy to play with. She took a few shots of Francie in the backyard and... OMG Emmy is amazing!! Not that a 17 month old is an easy subject but somehow Emmy gets incredible pictures everytime she has a camera in her hands and a baby nearby :) Good work Em.

Mary Regan, Mary Frances and Mary Elise :)

Francie loves her Emmy-lou! These two are too cute on the bike...

March 8 & 9

Sunday we spent the day in Aptos with the whole family for Uncle Rich's birthday (March 8) and Aunt Kaky's birthday (March 9). We shared a lot of tears and a lot of laughs... it's a hard time but being together is nice. Heff and Francie came straight down to the beach from the airport and we BBQ'ed for Uncle Rich's birthday and all took turns holding Kaky's hands.

We all picked a "heart shaped rock" Jannie collected to remember this weekend
(Kaky's post here)

Kaky's four siblings with their Kaky hearts

Janet making it a competition of course trying to guess who will pick which rock.. she was right on at least 6 or 7 :)

The Little Doo

The twins and Francie

Emmy B photography :)

I missed my Francie

Francie and Emmy

Obsessed with the kitty-cat "Cousin Murray"

She says "Yucky! ew goss!" I wonder who taught her that?

Grandpa and Francie

Sunlight

Francie pretending she is a "little tiny baby" with Aunt Mimi's tiny baby

Daddy's hands

Francie's says "Am I really related to all of these guys?"

Happy Birthday Uncle Rich (and good job on the candle choice Uncle John and Uncle Jerry... there was talk about throwing six 12 packs of candles in the cart on the Uncle's solo mission to Safeway until one reminded the other it might be hard to actually fit 67 candles on one cake:)

Cousins and the cake

Uncle Rich shared the honors with Francie

Make a wish

"One for me..."

"One for Emmy."

Listening to "Kaky's Song" on the iPhones

We love you Kaky.
We know you're holding on through the birthdays so you don't miss all the fun.

Surprise!.... Happy Birthday Uncle Craig

Happy Almost 30th Craig & Katherine too!

The real reason for the big adventure to LA was a surprise party Andrea had planned for Craig's 30th birthday! The twins turn 30 at the end of the month so ANdrea planned an early surprise party for Craig. Oma, Opa, Heff and Francie kept Craig and Isabel out of the house all day so Andrea could set up and Kat and Donald showed up to help too. They had a busy day and showed up back at the house with the guest of honor who was truly surprised. Everyone had a great time with friends and family, great work pulling off the surprise party Andrea! Francie had SO much fun with Isabel and keeps talking about her "big hugs" :)

Francie and Isabel

The boys lounging around at John & Barbara's house

Oma reading to the girls

Uncle John wanted to take the girls to the beach but Aunt Barbara reminded him how many toys and "things" you need to take toddlers to the beach so he settled for a trip to the park :)

The girls loved the slides!

Izza-bizza is a tu-tu girl :)

The Heff brothers man the swings for the girls

A visit to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Heffernan's grave

Little florists

Back at Isabel's house for puzzles and playtime and PARTY!

Adventures with Dad

Francie and Heff flew down to LA this morning to visit with the Heffernan clan. Brian and Uncle Mark had to leave their wives behind thanks to Southwest's fear of 8-9 month pregnant ladies. They were thinking they'll probably be mistaken for two gay guys on the flight with their toddler :) Francie is having lots of fun with Dad and they are sending me updates from dad's camera "shone" (phone) to keep me from missing them too much...

She told us she was "packing" too last night. Then she put on Dad's shoes and carried her "purse" and said she had to go to a "meeting." Don't bother her- she's busy.

Got a sticker at security and made it through a safe 7am flight

Tuckered out after playing at John & Barbara's house in Newport Beach AND a visit to the park with Isabel (all this in a day when I am still at home in my Juicy's at 3pm organizing baby clothes:)

and a visit to Granpa and Grandma Heffernan's gravesite after lunch

I'm sure I'll get made fun of by my in-laws for my OCD packing of Francie's outfits last night... How else would Dad keep the matching bows/tights/shoes/onesies straight!?

and this is what I am doing at home to keep myself entertained...
I think they call this "nesting"? :)

but the end result is oh-so-worth it

I have an addiction to buying baby clothes, apparently, evident by the fact my favorite's from "Le Cirque" get their own bin.

Which one will it be!? (The only thing I have purchased for the new baby are two onesies! I know I only have one child and she is a girl but somehow I ended up with just as many newborn boy outfits from the first time around... I really thought Francie was going to be a boy!)

Kaky's Song... "I'm So Glad I Had So Much Fun"

It's hard to post about anything else when we are all thinking ALL the time about Kaky. Our good friend Molly Coogan wrote and sang this incredible song as a tribute to Kaky and just sent it to us today. It's called "Kaky's Song" and is just so "Kaky" :) We are all in awe of what Molly created for Kaky, it is beautiful. Just hit play to listen...

Our Kaky who is ALWAYS so much fun.

The story behind the song... when Kathy and Anne Coogan were alone recently at the hospital, she asked her what she was most afraid of? Kathy paused for just a moment and said, " That I will miss all the fun". Anne replied, "You are not going to miss a thing." And with such a level of calmness and assurance she said... "I know." After Anne shared this story with Molly, Molly said she "couldn't get the fact that she didn't want to miss all the fun out of my head." We can't get this beautiful song out of our head Molly. Thank you.

• * * * * * KAKY'S SONG ~ BY MOLLY COOGAN * * * * * * * * *

Maybe I'm not ready to go
but you're - standing at my door
And the sun's going down and the waves are rolling in
Right across my shore

But, what if there's a party down the street
What about all the new people I could meet
and the stories we could tell and the laughter that we share
Oh, none of this seems to be fair

So don't make me go til the last glass is poured
Until everyone's asleep
And the lights are all turned out and the band is gone away
Oh, why won't you let me stay
'cause what if I'm gone before it's all begun
I don't wanna miss all the fun

When I sail across the wide eternal sea
When they carry me home will I still be me
Will my laughter still ring out
Will you hear me shout
That I am finally free
Will my memories still keep all my pictures of you
Will all my thoughts stay the same
And years after all of this is through
Will you still remember my name

So don't make me go til the last glass is poured
Until everyone's asleep
And the lights are all turned out and the band is gone away
Oh, why won't you let me stay
'cause what if I'm gone before it's all begun
I don't wanna miss all the fun

I don't need any parting gifts
I know my send-off will be grand
Let's just keep telling jokes and smiling hard
and never let go of my hand
Because each and every morning the grass will still be green
Mary will still glow and the dishes will get cleaned
And when your pouring tea into my favorite cup
I'll be off somewhere else living it up

So thanks for giving me the last big pour
I'd love to dance with you and drink some more
But the lights have all gone out and the bands no longer play
but I'm not really going far away

And I know it's only just begun. I'm so glad I had so much fun.

Yes, I know it's only just begun. I'm so glad I had so much fun.
***************************************************

Sarah, Jannie and Molly Coogan Dec 2007 @ Francie's baptism

Anne Coogan (Molly's Mom) and Kaky laughing at Lovejoy's... you make us all laugh like this Kaky, we love you.