Easter on The Ranch

We spent Easter Sunday on the ranch together with just our little family - a rare event coming from big families on both sides! We had intended to go to Easter mass in Fort Jones - even stopped by Saturday to check the time at the adorable little church in town! - but after a late night at the neighbors the girls were all sound asleep at 9am and seemed ambitious to get up, fed, dressed and have pleasant church goers ;)

but the Easter bunny still found us!

and then we had an egg hunt up behind the house

my Ukrainian egg attempts. Not winning any awards here ;)

the girls found them and hid them all again 

JJ in her finest Easter ranch wardrobe

her curls are the best after she actually has a shampoo ;)

and this kid made fast friends with a pet Lizard - carrying it around everywhere and insisted on bringing it home in a Tupperware habitat with straws for air holes. #sorrylizard

and there were many lizard shows. JJ was Francie's loyal assistant (just don't ask her to hold the lizard)

I love my view from the cozy couch in this little cabin :) happy Easter!

and another reason to celebrate - the end of Lent means Heff and I can drink our road trip Diet Cokes again, woohoo! ;)

Winter Lodge Skating Show

Jannie has been faithfully taking the girls to ice skating lessons for two seasons and this year they got to be in the show! They practiced every week, cousin Kristy was their coach and cousin Karie were so sweet to make the girls feel so special. 

Getting ready to go - they were in the "Rush Hour" scene as taxis! 

Friday night - girls went in early when Jannie dropped then off with the cast and we took our seats in the stands!

the second act! They rocked it!

and then got to sit in the stands with us to watch the rest of the show. Dad gave them flowers ;)

after the show with superstar coach cousin Kristy!

and the second show Saturday night with cousin Karie!

and lucky girls got to take the poster home!! 

they had a sleepover at Jannie and Grandpa's - loved seeing this post from my mom

and they sure were spoiled by Auntie Em and Janes who all watched the show and brought flowers for the stars ;)

Francie's Grizzly Greatness!

Skater Girls

The girls have turned into little skater girls :) Their new friend Breaker taught Francie and Maisie how to skateboard last Thursday night when we had dinner - I came out in the cul de sac and the girls were crusing from the top of the hill down where the boys would catch them. I almost had a heart attack but they looked like they knew what they were doing!

At the end of the night Breaker GAVE Francie his skateboard to keep. For reals it might have been the best moment of her life to date :)

Francie slept with her skateboard all night and when Emmy came over she opened the door and said "EMMY. A 12 year old boy... named Breaker... GAVE ME his new skateboard." 

and we were the first ones in line at Skateworks in Downtown Los Altos Friday morning for skate helmets - they used their 100 bonus points, hard earned helmets!

Dad and his skater chicks (oh JJ always got to be the joker)

Skating the afternoon away with Dad

CrayCray JJ

and one afternoon we went to the park so they could skate around and around.... Tess and I had time to catch up on the swings

Then Friday they had their first official skate lessons!! Skateworks has a half pipe in the back and gives lessons - all three at the same time!

Maisie taking it seriously - J not so much

Francie looking like a pro

and Tess is happy to watch from the sidelines!

Go skater girls! Now let's hope we don't end up in the ER anytime soon...

Camping with Dad

While Maisie and Tess and I were in Europe - Francie got to go on her solo camping and fishing trip with her Dad! (and JJ got some Oma time... which means Oma got asked 100 questions an hour for 2 days, thanks Oma!) I got these awesome photos from Heff via text - so cute to see my big girl having SO much fun with her Dad!! They caught 30 (yes 30!) fish and kept this one for dinner.

a stop at 5 Dot Ranch to check out our meat purveyor

the first night of camping it was actually pouring rain... so they stayed at Oma and Opa's cabin at Lake Almanor. and played THREE hours of board games. Francie could play all night - and beat her dad as often as she could :)

and the next morning - a successful turkey hunt!

School Photos 2012

wow - great of Francie but not Maisie's best :) This was the day Francie insisted on a headband AND bow/hairband and Maisie came out dressed in too-short leggings and a hand-me-down "San Jose State Princess" pink and purple t-shirt with a crown on it (thanks Emmy :) I MADE her promise to put this smocked dress that was mine on for the picture. They came back and I said "wow looks like Maisie is out of a polygymist cult" and Heff goes "that's because you made her wear that dress!"

Sorry about the watermark - not springing $99 for the originals of these images!

Big Girl Francie

I had to post more pics form our Alameda day from Emmy's Instagram :) It was such a fun one-on-one day with my big girl Francie… who turns 5 years old next week! Trying to keep her big day a priority over baby waiting - she's being a good sport about it. Love ya France!

E for Emmy

wagon rider (until we bough too much stuff!)

Can't believe my big girl is almost FIVE!

YAY for Francie :)

Francie and her Emmy