Francie in her new sweater

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Wednesday we had tea in the city at Lovejoy's Tea Room with Paige and Icie (sorry Coogan girls, we "cheated on you" at Lovejoy's!) Francie is sporting her new Crossover Jacket Jannie knit for her... and guess who has a blog? www.JanKnit.com :)

Chubby-cheeks Wesley

with his crazy mom Paige

Thanks for the new sweater Jannie... can't wait to see what else you knit to show off on the blog!

Francie's Sunday

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Francie is gearing up for her trip to Hawaii and sporting her sunglasses from James and Em :) We took advantage of the nice weather Sunday (back to rain today) and walked downtown Palo Alto to see the "Tour of California" prologue bike races. Francie didn't like all the cow bells, whistles and horns as the motorcycle, followed by bike rider followed by trailing car raced by at 35 mph! She grabbed Heff's arm so tight she left marks in his skin :) We also had two of the couples we've met through our babies, Icie, Bert and Estelle and Paige, Chris and Wesley over for an impromtu brunch Sunday as they both live within walking distance and Heff made a huge batch of pancakes and sausage... glad they could come over so I didn't have to eat them all!

The babies were of course little angels and played while we enjoyed our pancakes and mimosas :)

Francie already bracing herself for the next biker...

Just chillin with my Whoozit

Francie Logging Miles in Her Stroller

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Saturday Heff took Francie for a run in the jogging stroller bright and early over to Stanford Chapel and back, they did their usual routine stopping for coffee for Dad and at the swings for Francie. She comes home and crashes for a few hours, perfect for Mom's schedule! We all got moving and walked downtown to Heff's office to hang the map John is lending Heff for his new office, picked up some beers on the walk home and then walked to Mark and Sarah's for a delicious "Hot Pot" dinner with some of their friends!

WOW! This is this original map of San Mateo County from 1894... John bought it at a bookstore 20 years ago and it was hanging in his old office at Ropers for most of that time. Heff picked it up Friday and they had to take the top off the elevator in the building to get it out! It is perfect for Heff, the real estate attorney and Watson, the Will & Trust attorney. Francie thinks it's pretty cool...

Outfit change at the office necessary :) Notice the new carpet and nice new wall boards Heff installed while we were there...

This might be a good way to watch Francie growing taller! She is up to the "South Boundary" right now :)

Thanks Dad!

All dressed again and loving that new carpet smell :)

A walking machine ready to head out to Mark and Sarah's with beer in her buggy

Check out this spread

We boiled meet, vegetables, tofu and all kinds of spicy stuff into the night :)

Francie finally realized she has dogs. It is actually pretty cute to watch her laugh at them... but still doesn't improve the standing of the dogs in this house. :)

Francie's W.T. Playdate

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Paige and Wesley had us all over to their place Friday for a "White Trash" themed playdate :) Paige went all out and had White Castle Burgers, Tater-Tot Fries, Snow Balls, Pork Rinds, Beef Jerky and Franzia (wine-in-a-box) just to name a few of the snacks! We had a really fun afternoon watching the babies start to notice each other more (Estelle was the youngest at 4 months and Leo the oldest at almost 7 months) and even steal some toys from each other! very appropriate for the theme i guess :)

Here was Francie's outfit... cut off jean shorts (or "jorts" as Dad calls them) with her camo dress, hat, binky, deer slippers and camo Lovey Jannie bought her from Wal-Mart to top it all off.

"I LOVE this Lovey Jannie!" Wes looking wishing all these babies hadn't invaded his double wide...

Ummm, both dreaming of the day they too can suck on pork rinds...

or just fingers...

Wes getting some lovin from Mom

"It's okay Wes, someday we'll get them back for dressing us up like this."

Fuzzy Navels and Franzia in the baby's bathtup... nice touch Paige

Francie and Isaac with attitude

"Hope he isn't looking at my bald spot"

What went wrong?... the chain reaction

and here comes Leo looking hot in his wife beater

Lindsey and Issac pulling off the theme well

Erika and Leo

Estelle ready to lounge around the Trailer Park pool...
"Francie's Mom, you blog this picture and you're dead meat!"

Estelle says "Take her picture, she looks just as ridiculous as I do..."
Josie hiding from the camera "I know my mom made me wear this stupid shirt"

Francie joins in... "Don't listen to them Josie, we all look ridiculous"

Francie and Mom

Jordie sporting the coozie for her wine cooler with Cozy Josie

Icie and Estelle

The babes... Estelle, Francie, Josie, Isaac, Wesley and Leo

...with their mommies

Line em up...

Francie too busy posing for the camera to realize Leo took her favorite Lovey

"Um, I think that is mine Leo."

"Fine, take it back Francie"... "Not with all your boy cooties and slober on it Leo!"

The playdates that never end... yup, we started at noon and it is after 6pm by the time we cracked the champagne

Francie in her evening-wear rolling the sticky ball in her feet, that's my girl

Until the next playdate just remember--
... (the button says "My Mommy Group Can Beat up Your Mommy Group")

Birthday Party for Heff

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We had dinner at home with John (Jannie is still in Nashville), Kat and Donald, Mark and Sarah, Mark, Gina, Will and Anna Ryan and Miles, Chrissie, Emma and Owen Keep too. Happy Birthday Heff!

Aunt Kat with Francie, Emma and Chrissie

The pink Pup was a big hit with the neighbor kiddies

Miles and cute Owen

Kat and I made Heff a pink raspberry cheesecake :)

Francie got scared at the candles and happy birthday part and stuck out that lower lip!

"Why are all these people singing and looking at me?!"

Presents!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEFF!!!

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Yup, my cute husband's birthday is on February 14. He has had 36 birthdays full of pink and red hearts... how very much un-Heff :) Francie and I decorated the house last night after he went to bed so he woke up to hearts and birthday wishes everywhere he turned. We going to lunch to celebrate (to the Goose of course) and then having family over for dinner at our house. Pictures of the party and willing participants who fore-go their romantic Valentines Day plans tonight!

Check out her Fancy Francie shoes and very appropriate "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" shirt from Daddy's co-worker from DLA (and our good friends) Rachel, Steve and Helena :)

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Francie loves her cousin Emmy! We had her last night for dinner and then took her over to her "dorm room" at the Johnets so John can take her to soccer practice/weight training in San Jose by 6am! She's crazy. But we LOVE seeing her so much now :)

Francie checking out the latest gossip in US Weekly with Emmy

"Can I pull off the Shiloh look Mom?"

"What? You still haven't finished my Shiloh blanket!"

Francie says, "HAPPY VALENTINES DAY" blog readers :)
(we got these cheesy cards made at the photo shop a couple weeks ago... we sent a few out but don't get your feelings hurt if you didn't get one, they were kind of a joke:)

Dad's Playdate

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Heff was wondering when it was his turn to playdate so Tuesday night we had a get-together with the Dads too at Brilliant Babies. We had 10 couples and their little ones, all under 6 months. One of our Brilliant Babies clients, Ken Buck, came to take professional family and baby portraits in the Romper Room and we had lots of beer, wine and snacks to keep us all entertained. The babies played well together :) just starting to grab hands and faces of each other. We all hung out in the playspace from 5-8:30pm and didn't want to party to end so 5 of the hold out couples and sleeping babies rallied over to Bistro Vida for dinner too... the babies ALL behaved and let us have a great dinner, we enjoyed it while it lasts! (above Leo, Isaac and Francie with their Dads Josh, Chad and Heff)

The playgroup

Francie and Asher checking each other out

Scott, Asher and Amy... Asher likes to sit like his Dad!

Paige, Wesley and Chris

Francie and her Daddy... loving the Heineken

Moriah and Baby Natalie in her party best

"My friends are all here mom!"

Sarah and Aliza bjorning to walk home (lucky they live so close to downtown)

Ben, Josie and Jordie

Lindsey and Isaac

Francie had a wardrobe change for the photo shoot... taking some pictures with Dad (who turns 36 tomorrow!)

And another outfit (would expect any less?) Valentines PJ's for the rest of the evening festivities

"Josie, your hand tastes even better than mine does... and it's not as big as my mitt so I can almost fit the WHOLE thing in my mouth!"

What playgroup does best...

Francie scratching her head, "Hey, where did Natalie go?"

Flirting with Wes

"Hey Wes, will you be my Valentine?"

"Only if you hold my hand Francie"

Leo the senior member of playgroup

Round Two... dinner at Bistro Vida a couple doors down from Brilliant Babies. The owner let us take over the back half of the restaurant with strollers and carseats :)

Sleeping babies

Bert and Icie (Estelle's mom and dad)

Jordie and Ben (belong to Josie) just a little blurry after my French 75 :)

Erika and Josh (Leo's parents)

Crazy Paige (her husband had to go to a Rugby coach's meeting so she was the ninth wheel for the night:) with the Heffs

Francie & Emmy in the Photo Booth

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Emmy is playing soccer for San Jose State now and commuting between Aptos, San Jose and Menlo Park... by planes (well buses), trains and automobiles since she doesn't have her license yet (sorry Em, I went there:) So we get to see Em all the time now!!! Francie LOVES her and it is a huge help to have Em hanging out with me at the office sometimes. She entertained Francie last night in my "new office" while I put up pictures and organized the other new rooms. Francie was cracking herself up in the iCamera on Photo Booth.

Francie Has a New Office too

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Francie has been having fun lunching with the ladies and hanging out with Mom and Dad. We have been moving Heff into his new office finally after the carpet guys finished yesterday. It looks great and is such a treat to have Dad working in the same building! We re-organized Academic Trainers offices and classrooms upstairs too so I have a "real office" (not just spread out all over the place) upstairs too. It has lots of playthings to keep Francie busy while I work, space to play with her on the floor and a crib for nap-time. I'll get some pictures when we finish tomorrow. A few pictures playing around at home in her cute pink dress...

Waiting for Dad to get the last load of books from his old office

Francie "I-bet-I-Can-Palm-A-Basketball-Someday" Heff

"Let's go Dad!"

Back home after a long day working on the new office! Sitting in her Bumbo while Dad opens some wine for mom. Yup, she's a drooler...

OMG Suzi! :) Our friend Suzi Tinsley dropped this off on our porch today... the GIANT Penelope the Pup from FAO Schwartz... Francie says "Get a load of this thing mom!

"How come you don't let me snuggle with Sage or Ollie like this mom?"

She loves the big Pup! Thanks Suzi :)

Happy Birthday Jannie!

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Wednesday we celebrated Jannie's birthday all day! Francie and I picked her up in the morning for a lunchtime party at Lovejoys Tea Room (our faaavorite!) in SF with the Coogan girls, Mary Kane and Barb with her baby boy who is only 3 weeks older than Francie. We had a nice afternoon and they saved our favorite big round table by the window for us. We came home for a wardrobe change and to hang out with cousin Emmy for awhile then piled in Grandpa Johns car to head back up to the city for dinner with the boys, Em and Allison at Joe DiMaggio's in North Beach. It was a YUMMY dinner and a fun night out to celebrate with the family.

The birthday girl with the baby girl

Yummm... beer.

Cousin Emmy the New Spartan Soccer Star smoochin' Francie-pants

Look at our BIG GIRL in a high chair!!! The waiter asked if we needed a high chair and I said "Oh no... um ok we'll try it!" and in true Jannie fashion proceeded to tell the young waiter it would be her first time trying a high chair at a restaurant... I'm sure he cared.

"What is this thing I'm sitting in?!"

She loves her new snake toy

Grandpa and the Doodle

James and Em

Jerry and Allison

The Johnets

What a cute Dad :)

James with The Ems!

Francie's Sunny Monday

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We had a great Monday... Francie and I went to work for awhile at lunch time to meet with the girls who are the Directors of Academic Trainers and Brilliant Babies to check in. Then we checked in with Dr. Cisco's office to make sure Fracnie-doodle didn't have an ear infection.. she has been kind of pulling on her left ear, but he said she looks good and not to worry. Then we had some playtime on the grass in the front yard since it was a nice sunny day (a break from the rains!) and capped our afternoon off with a 2 hour walk with Moriah and Baby Natalie who live across the fence. We stopped at the park and Francie tried out the swings for the second time in her life! Dad took her for her first time on his run this weekend :) She LOVED to swing!

Afternoon playtime outside

"Does my hair look OK mom?"

Francie loves playing with her toys now! Aunt Mimi gave her these fun John Deere animals on their tractor

Tummy time

Snuggling with mom and getting her daily dose of vitamin D

Is it bad that the thought passing through my head when taking this picture was "This would be a good obituary photo for old Sage"

Ollie the fierce beast protecting his family in the front yard (where were you when they stole that car out of our driveway Ollie?)

Sitting up and laughing at mom cursing the dogs ;)

She's happy even when she tips over!

And a few more photos from last night hanging out with Dad after the Superbowl... he sure can make her laugh!

Francie's Favorite SuperBowl Commercial

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Francie LOVES football. We haven't been able to break the news that there will be no more football after the Superbowl... we put her on her Gymini during the game and she turned herself around to watch intently. When we went over to the Carter's Francie entered Jerry and Georgia's pool... she won $20 with the half time and third quarter winning scores. Nice work Francie :)

This was her favorite Superbowl commercial:

E*TRADE Trading Baby

Francie's Mellow Weekend

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We were hoping to make it back up to Red Bluff this weekend, but Heff had some work to do and we'd have a few busy weeks coming up (before our trip to Hawaii at the end of the month... yeah!) so we ended up at home for a quiet weekend catching up and playing with Francie. We had Mark and Sarah over for dinner Saturday night and they cooked a Middle-Eastern feast, it was delicious and took long enough to cook we had time for a Super-Scrabble game in between :) It was, as Heff says, a "torrential storm" Saturday night so they took our truck home, left their bikes here and came back over for a pancake and Lucy the Pig bacon/ham steak breakfast Sunday morning. We spent the rest of the day playing around on our laptops and playing around with Francie-doodle (Hummm, which one does Mary love more? Just kidding... Francie of COURSE!) We had our own chip-n-dip Super Bowl party and made it over to the Carters for a Super Bowl visit too.

This is Francie the Big Girl's favorite new way to ride in her stroller, she sits up in the end with her toys all around her :) (yes, I know we should change the Bugaboo out for the seat from the bassinet, but I love all the room in the bassinet! We have so much stuff in there for Francie, we call it her "condo")

Daddy singing songs to Francie

Silly girl cracking up

Funny faces

Francie's Cousin Ronan Visits

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This week Brian's cousin Margaret and baby Ronan (8 months) came down to stay with us for the week! We were busy with play groups and playdates, we took a great Baby Sign Language class and Heff took us all out for a nice dinner Thursday night. Francie is learning lots of new things from cousin Ronan... they look cute together both packed in the back seat of the car and even shared some toys.

Cowboy Ronan in the exersaucer

Ronan checking out the Francie-Doodle hiding out under her cowgirl hat

"What are you looking at?"

Bedtime! Ronan did great sleeping in Francie's crib at night, Francie is still in her bassinet in our room (I guess she'll outgrow it soon but I'm in no hurry to move her:)

"Look Ma, no hands" Francie has gotten good at sitting up on her own!

But it doesn't last long :)