A Week at Home

/

We've been up in Red Bluff so much this month it hardly feels like we're living in our house! This week has been filled with lots of exciting things - laundry, relaxing, playing in the backyard, laundry, playing in the front yard, walking to lunch and dinners at home. Yup I said exciting ;) It's been nice to do a whole lot of nothing for a few days. We did have to visit Dr. Cisco's office twice this week though for two sick girls but they are both on Amoxicillin now and on the mend. It was Francie's FIRST ear infection and Maisie just has a little cold/goopy eyes. We are loving "the pink drink" around here...

Francie harvested our first tomatoes, eggplants and squash of the season... we made beef curry with the veggies for dinner, they were yummy

and we put a big-girl crib in Maisie's 'room'! (half office, half maisie's room, half heff's closet... we're running out of half's in our cozy little Polly Pocket's mansion :)

Maisie-Moo has been "rolling all over the place" as Francie says when she holds her and doesn't like the wiggling ;) Francie didn't roll over until she was around four months old I think but Maisie flopped her little body over when she was ten weeks old and hasn't stopped. I thought it was just a flukey thing she was doing since she's so petite (yes, Heff and I somehow have a child one might even consider petite- she's only 13 pounds!) she could just flop herself over but she rolls back to front and front to back like nobody's business. I kept waking up to find her on her tummy in the bassinet so it seems like she's ready for a crib. We borrowed this neat little port-a-crib from Jannie's until Francie graduates to a bigger bed.

My big girls!

and their funny daddy

in other news... Francie is "trying" big girl UNDIES! not ready to take the plunge and give up diapers yet, but maybe soon. Diapers are just so easy! (If anyone has a new baby looking for some good toys, Emmy and I got this tummy time mat and all wood baby kicker/looker/play thing at IKEA- for $20!)

Francie luckily has no concept of climbing OUT of her crib, but loves to climb IN Maisie's crib to snuggle!

Not too bothered by her ear infection... but the day after I took Maisie in to see Nurse Kathy and Doctor Cisco Francie kept saying "my ear hurts. I need medicine too" and then picked up the TV remote and pretended to call the pediatricians saying "Hi Nurf Kafy... this is Francie. Heff-er-NAN. I need to come in please?" I figured I should listen to the little stinker and sure enough she has her first ear infection and wasn't faking.

Little Maisie has been a bit more bothered by her sickies and has been sleeping a lot and kinda lethargic- but she's still smiling a lot and doesn't complain much. I love my little Maisie-Moo :)

or maybe it's taken more of a toll on Francie than I thought... she looks pretty drugged in this picture playing with Dad!

That's all we've been doing this week. Hope all you nice people who read our silly blog are having a great summer so far :) I'm thinking the blog needs a makeover... any ideas??

Through Madeline's Eyes

/

Madeline Flynn is Heff's god-daughter and a very sweet almost 12 year old. She is SO good with Francie and Maisie, we can't wait until she can babysit for us. She asked if she could borrow my camera during the party and said "I'll be really careful" ;) so off she went with my camera strap around her neck and snapped away. She got some great pictures, I got to be IN some of them and it's always interesting to see things from someone else's point of view. We love you Madeline :)

It's HOT

Her dad, Brendon, and her god-father, Brian

and with the wives

Craig and Isabel

Mom and Maisie

Silly Spencer, her brother, and sister Eva

Francie with Jannie

the bow

trying to tap the last keg

for keg-stands

wine. half full or half empty?

Emmy and I (more often behind the lens ;)

violet

Eva and Kristie

Caught in the act

Grandma's with the baby girls

John and Tom after the BBQ

trying to Goose Katherine... I mean fixing the broken bustle ribbon ;)

Romantic river resting spot

Izza on Nicko's iPhone....

reading his infamous "list" (criteria he shows girls he meets before he will consider dating them. Hasn't changed it in 15 years. Used to be a laminated card in his wallet but times have changed ;) the part you can't see says "must have 1-3, must have at least two of 4-6, and at least one of 7-9". OMG Nick ;)

My cute husband and baby girl

with the bride and groom!

Madeline and Maisie (ok I took this one)

Black and Whites



dancing duos

thanks for taking pictures Madeline!

Mr & Mrs Doverspike!

/

I'm saving the ceremony pictures until I get my hands on Emmy's but here are some of my favorites from the reception! Jane Flynn was very gracious to open her beautiful yard on the river for the wedding reception. It was such a picturesque spot and everything looked gorgeous. But it was HOT! Anyone who was at our wedding know's what I mean (Heff and I had a very unusual heat wave, record setting day on July 22, 2006 in Menlo Park where the temp hit 106 degrees... if you can believe it, this was even HOTTER!) Even the cake melted just like ours did! But we loved every minute of the party and danced til we dropped when the sun finally went down. Francie changed her outfit four times and hit the sprinklers with her cousins, Maisie was a trooper (too hot to complain?) and Heff and I had fun reminiscing about our wedding day three years ago. Congrats to Kat & Donald- I couldn't ask for a better brother-in-law to join the family!

of course when I saw this picture I though "awwww.... how cute"

until I saw this! MARYFRANCES!!! (look closely ;)

Donald's brothers- Stephen and Daniel with their new sis

they made gagging faces right after I took this picture ;)

The flowergirls. Emmy can do better, just wait ;)

and my Maisie-Moo

The Heffernan Crowd

Ready for the party- rosey cheeks with Auntie Em

Heff's good friend Jennifer G. looking beautiful on her first trip to the Bluff!

The cake just delivered and fresh out of a freezer... didn't last long in this heat!

Emily and Andrea

Sneaking in a little nap on her Jannie in the shade

and almost ready to party again after sleeping with her sister

We're all hoping this doesn't lead to a future in pole-dancing

speeches under the tent

Raise your glasses

cutting what is left of the cake!

First dance- Chris LeDuex "Look at You Girl" (Heff loved it!)

and the last dance... fittingly was "Cowboy Take Me Away" (Sneak Peek to Emmy's photos!)

The single girls waiting for a bouquet

and the groomsmen lend a hand for the garter

Madeline taking Francie and Violet for a walk

James and Em hanging out with Maisie under the oak trees

The Imperial Valley crowd... The O'Neils, The Heffs and the Wells families were neighbors and good friends when Brian's family lived in El Centro for the first 16 years of his life. The Heffernan's had 5 kids and the Wells had 9 kids! Gina and John Paul Wells gave a cute speech and said since they both had so many kids no one else would invited them over for dinner parties so they just socialized with each other!

Kat and Gina

more family photos... we all want to live vin Jane's house!

time for some dancing!

Cowboys can cut a rug!

Francie even took center stage with her moves once!

France was a dancing queen all night... she must have run 200 circles around the dance floor!

Ann and Pat flew out from Nashville for 48 hours to come to the wedding- it was so great to see them for a quick trip

James and Em came too... hanging out while the sun is going down (they planned ahead and brought a chnage of cooler clothes!)

Jerry and Allison loved Red Bluff! God-father tricks ;)

We are HOT (can you tell ;)

Sadie and Ellie cooling off

A-woo got Maisie right to sleep and kept her happy for so long! Thanks Allison ;)

Pissy Sissy

Our whole family in Red Bluff! Heff and I are so lucky both of our families get along so well. My dad was the BBQ man for the wedding and braved the 111 degree heat AND a hot fire pit! We all had such a great time... thanks for including all of the Simo's Katherine & Doanld!

Back to the party

dancing with the newlyweds

Last dance...

Goodnight!

Getting Ready

/

The wedding was at 2:00 Saturday so we had planty of time to get ready at the house. Kat was a very relaxed bride and everything was easy- the mimosa's helped of course! She had girls come to do her hair and her make-up and Gina (Wells) was nice enough to come by and do the bridesmaids and mother-of-the-bride hair :) We had to wait until the last minute to give the little girls baths (that barn dirt is too tempting) but Isabel and Francie seemed to know the plan- we couldn't find them for a good ten minutes until someone heard noises coming from Opa's shower. They had a little too much fun with the kids berry shampoo before the shower! You should have seen Andrea and I trying to give them a bath/shower in the shower stall covered in slippery shampoo while we had our hair done- thank god for my go-go-gadget arms ;) It was fun to be there with Kat getting ready for her big day.

Isabel couldn't understand why we'd set up such torture... tu-tus right before her very eyes she couldn't touch!

Francie being silly

Aunt Francy came over and cuddled up with Maisie Moo...

while she helped Aunt Kat write a cover letter applying for a Kindergarten job she just heard opened up! Isn't that what you did on your wedding day??!

Flowergirls ready to help Aunt Kat walk doen the isle

Francie in Jannie's latest creation... the smocked seahorse dress

the pretty bridesmaids bouquets

Kat's good friend Karlee did all of the flowers- they were perfect!

for the flower girls

Heff was busy working all day setting up BBQ's and generators for the wedding but wrangled Francie and Isabel back up from the barn while the girls were primping

It was still a cool 100 degrees in the morning shade... that's nothing

Gina working on Andrea's hair

Makeup

Clara's a little nervous about what all these girls might do to her hair and pretty face!

Pow-wow of the babies... "Clara, let's never work this hard to look good."

Patrick shirtless for the ladies

Kat and Karlee almost ready to go... time to get Katherine to the church on time!

Kat & Donald Rehearsal Dinner

/

We are back home, unpacked and still talking about what a fun wedding weekend we had in Red Bluff with all of the Heffernans, Doverspikes, Simonsons and lots and lots of friends and family. Friday night was the Rehearsal at the church at 5pm followed by a Prime Rib BBQ hosted by the Doverspikes at Claire & Tom's house. The kids all had fun getting down and dirty in the newly opened up play area next to the barn while the adults went through lots of mint iced tea and cold Coors Lights on the newly built patio (concrete poured Wednesday!) up above. Donald's family are such nice people... It was a great night!

Francie and Violet getting their party dresses on

Silly Izza-Bizz!

Everything looked so pretty

Jannie and Francie (and Violet of course)

Heff, Maisie-Moo, my dad and Kellan, one of Donald's good friends/groomsman

Andrea and Isabel

A new cousin to play with Clara and Maisie in Black Butte! (Heff's first cousin Jessica & Dan's new baby girl) Trillium Bella

Nick Wells (who sang Sweet Home Alabama and a few other country favorites at our wedding- we loved it!)

How cute are these little animal puppets Vickie Wells made for the grandkids! She designed them herself and each one had a little tongue popping out and tails too!

Speeches

Cousin Kate

Cousin Isabel

Donald's Dad, Mark Doverspike, presenting brands to Kat's family (we got them too!) One is Donald's personal brand (a variation of his family's Hotchkiss Ranch brand- it's a "10" on it's side) and the other is the Heffernan's great-great-grandfather Casper Borchard's brand (C with a B in the middle). We can brand our steaks now :) This was such a cool gift

Welcoming his new daughter-in-law

Donald had a few "roasts" during the rehearsal dinner speeches

together

The Johnets (we all got to sit w Katherine and Doanld Friday night- lucky us ;)

Glowing Bride-to-be

Francie staying hydrated

Nothing better than playing in the dirt while Mom and Dad are busy at the party

Bride and Groom... I'm sure Emmy's photos will be way better than mine so I might have to post a "Part II" later!

Kat & Donald's Big Day

/

Today is wedding day! We are all excited for Kat and Donald. The rehearsal and BBQ dinner at the Heffernan's last night were so much fun. We dialed up HOT weather for the wedding weekend- just like Brian and my wedding day (106 degrees in Menlo Park) it hit 111 degrees yesterday on the way to the church for rehearsal!!! Emmy is the photographer and got some great shots last night already...

practice makes perfect

Violet practiced too

Dad and his girls

Kat and the Cowboys

Red Bluff BBQ

The Heffs

We are all so excited for you Kat & Donald!