MaryJane Gets Baptized

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September 18 we baptized Janie at St. Nicholas church- our new parish just down the street! It was one of the nicest Masses we have ever been a part of (besides our wedding of course :) Father Larry did such a nice job making it special and we were lucky to have lots of family there to help welcome Janie as a catholic (especially considering it was 9:15am mass the morning after Beth's wedding!) Thanks to everyone for making the effort to come celebrate with us.

Casey Heffernan (Janie's godfather and Heff's cousin) flew up for the weekend with his girlfriend Jenna (the photographer for the event, thanks Jenna!)

Maureen helping me get her gown on

she wore Ann- her godmother's- dress from when she was baptized

Aww my sweet baby girl ready for her special day

Getting instructions before Mass

Opa, Oma and Aunt Maureen all here from Red Bluff

Ready for Mass

With the god-parents

they started Mass with us processing down the aisle while Father Larry introduced our family and Baby MaryJane

Blessings from the start

Father asked the girls to give her a blessing too- Maisie went in for the hug

The whole Mass Father used Janie's name and reminded us to welcome her into the church- it was a really special Mass for MaryJane!

after the homily we went up for the rite of baptism

She was eating up all the attention and smiling, cooing and looking around at everyone - Father stopped in his tracks here and said "I wish you all could see her BIG BRIGHT blue eyes looking up at me!"

Sweet girl

I wanted to let Casey and Ann hold her for the pouring of th eholy water part but she was so happy we didn't want to ruin a good thing-

"You see that ABA? I hardy even cried!"

Casey put the little baptismal garnet around her neck and everyone welcomed her as a catholic :)

I Look Pitty?

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This week has been nuts! I haven't been a very good blogger but we've been cranking at Bumble trying to get it all figured out. I thought the restaurant business was supposed to be easy? (JOKING!!) My very supportive husband has been awesome with the girls and loves to come hang out for a couple of Moose Drool Montana beers and dinner.

Tuesday night he took the ladies home at 9 for bed and I stayed putting together a few new Ikea purchases until 11:30. When I got home the house was dark but I heard a little voice jabbering. I found Maisie sitting in our bed next to a passed out sleeping dad, she had q-tips sticking out of both ears and surrounding her on the bed and mascara all over her eyes. She was talking to Heff going "I look pitty Daddy? You tink I look pitty? I clean my ears Daddy. You want me clean your ears?" I stopped her from shoving a q-tip in his ear and she knew she had been caught. She kept talking to a still sleeping Heff going "Mommy home Daddy!" I asked her what she had been doing and how long she'd been awake. She showed me the line up of make up she had laid out and I think it answered my question...

at least she wasn't stinky- she was putting on deodorant too

You are CRAZY MAISIE!

Extra Extra Tough

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Francie was delaying bedtime last night by singing some songs she made up.

"I'm not only beautiful,
I'm extra, extra tough.
I'm a mermaid named Ariel
I love mermaids-aids-aids
My name is Francie
I love Mermaids
When it comes to pushing (not sure what this line is about?!)
Mermaids can do that
I'm a little Mermaid- I love THAT
I'm extra extra tough
When someone- whennnnnnn someone-
When MAISIE hit me with her magna-tiles
I did not cry at all
because when trouble comes I'm extra extra tough
I'm not only beautiful- I'm extra extra tough."

and followed up with a little Maisie- singing a combo of twinkle-twinkle-ABC

Sunday with the Girlies

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It's only 3:30 and we've had a busy day! (*SIDE NOTE - I must be seriously sleep deprived if I thought Saturday was Sunday! This was all on Saturday- just called Sunday since I can't think straight!)

Cousin Grant stayed over last night and we had a party at Bumble with Aunt Tere, Uncle Bill, Jannie, Grampa, Cousin Kate and Cousin Grant and some friends.

Then we were all up early (despite my best efforts to sleep in) for some Bumble coffee and a busy day...

it was the Los Altos 64th Annual Pet Parade downtown (Heff had to work hard to convince Francie Ollie did not need a bath and a new leash to participate)

Then a BUSY morning at Bumble- we made heart shaped hard boiled egg halves for the Bee Bites menu :)

and sliders three ways for lunch

then we all blew off some steam at Stanford - the girls got to play around on the gymnastics equipment while Dad went for a run.

HAPPY NAPPERS!

Mornings with Emmy

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I love these Emmy! And I really love that when I am busy at work in the morning my girls are with the next best person- their awesome cousin EMMY :) Em is 9 years younger than me (only 9 months younger than my sister Ann) and we grew up about as close as sisters. Our moms were sisters and I was really close to Emmy's mom- my godmother Kaky. I am so thankful for all the time I get to spend with Em and for how much she loves my girls. She is SO GOOD with kids and babies just like her mom was... it's not easy to get three little girls up, fed, dressed and out the door to the park for a picnic or to the library for story time- she manages it with more ease than I do certainly! And she really loves it - just check out her facebook newsfeed where the highlights of her day are little girls being silly and the new triple stroller we added to the collection :) Francie, Maisie and Janie ADORE her and practically jump out of my arms for Emmy's. Heff and I are so lucky to have you in our lives and especially our girls lives Em- we love you!!

Don't you wish you were having this much fun with Emmy and the girls this morning? I DO!

Wait, What Just Happened?

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These last 3 days have been a little CRAZY. Ok maybe a lot crazy. The picture above is a good summary! (the 7 Carter-Simo siblings at Beth's wedding in the photobooth- we all carpooled/teased/grew up as neighbors and shared Sunday Night Dinners for a lot of years! Not sure how we managed to get all of us in that photobooth at once but I love this picture!)

I have way too much to blog but here is a mini re-cap. Since Friday in our little world we…

*Welcomed Heff and Uncle Donald home (thankfully. and this pic was from the send off ;) from a 12 day hunting adventure in the Alaskan Wilderness. Yes he left the day after Bumble opened but trip had been planned for 2.5 years!

(my husband is THIS insane and I am weird enough that I love it :)

*Had a big (hilarious) night out for Beth and Greg's Rehearsal dinner that anded up with this picture on my iPhone after tearing up Downtown Palo Alto

*Hosted a Bridesmaid Luncheon at Bistro Vida for Bethy and these 9 lovely ladies (sorry this pic was from a pre-wedding drink at the bar the next day but I forgot my camera at Bridesmaid luncheon!)

*Had a blast at Bethy's wedding Saturday night!

*Had fun cousin fest sleepovers at our house with 10 Heffernan house guests for the hunters return/birthday/baptism (and Oma was here all week- thanks OMA!)

*Baptized MaryJane on her 7 month birthday

*Which was also this big girl's 4th birthday (we went for mother-daughter birthday pedicures and I let Francie pick my toe color/flowers/sparkle - I will be wearing shoes for awhile ;)

*Threw an Ariel/Little Mermaid theme party for Francie's big 4th birthday (it was a combined family baptism party for anyone who thinks it's weird they didn't get invited!)

*Worked long days at Bumble - check out our new cool Lego walls in the kids outdoor area

*and had ABA and Pat home for the weekend for the wedding and baptism/birthday celebrations!

So why am I up at 2am instead of sleeping? GOOD QUESTION! We are going to be happy to get back to our little family routines this week. Good night :) more blog posts later.

Missoni Girls

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Jannie scored some Missoni for Target for the girls last week on the crazy day Target was sold out by 8:02am! You better believe she was there early at the Sunnyvale Target (our fav 2 story store) and found cute sweaters and ballet flats for the big girls and an adorable outfit for Janie. Jsanie and Oma were going to take the girls to lunch Wednesday but decided they couldn't NOT come to Bumble so we had a fun afternoon hanging out at Bumble with all the ladies.

JJ and the castle her sisters built

SO BIG!

She is officially a crawling machine

I love her expressions lately :)

I'm gonna get you!

Maisie in her BumbleBee get up she made with the playroom teachers

Silly girls

REALLY silly ;)

Emmers and JJ

Bumble/Missoni advertising ;)

Thanks Jannie for the cute clothes (and waking up early for them!) and Oma for all the help this week!

craziness. When is my husband coming home?! (he flew in this morning- TG and can't wait to post his trip pictures! don't check this blog for a few days if you are a PETA member)

Safari Adventure

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Saturday and Sunday we drove out to Santa Rosa for an overnight party at Safari West with some friends - the girls loved it! Brian was hunting with Donald (more on that later!) so Oma, AUnt Kat and Oliver came along with us. Maisie said "Mama- next time- we come here - we come with DADDY!" They knew it was right up dad's alley- tent camping in the wild with wild safari animals all around us! We didn't get all that much sleep but we survived a "camping night" even without my camping husband :)

Oma and Kat with the under 1 year olds ready to go on a Santa Rosa Safari

When we arrived they had a "petting zoo" out on the grass - Oma introduces Janie to a Burmese Python

Picking ou tour truck for the jeep tour

I didn't know they had monkeys on Safari?!

Francie says "MOM it's a Scarlet Macaw!!" (thanks Diego)

Big girls riding high in the Jeep
Francie
Maisie
Janie-I-Mean-GIRAFFE!

Pretty cool!

The King and Queen of Safari West - the Rhino's

Oliver snacking while he tours the wild

Maisie not so sure- she scooted all the way over when we came near big animals

and back to clean up for dinner in our tent cabins after the tour

Francie and her buddy who showed up dressed exactly alike!

Decked out for dinner! Why wouldn't you dress up as wild animals when you are among them right?! :) (check out JJ peeking out from the lion head)

I mean- Maisie you just crack me up (this was BEFORE she barfed all over mom after dinner and said "uh oh I barf on my cheetah costume?! You wash my cheetah costume mom!?" priorities.)

Oliver joins the crowd

Wild cousins

JJ the Lion says Raaaaarrr!

Janie trying to bat the lion mane out of the way

Maisie still has a thing for Oliver- and he loves her right back

"I see you Ah-ver!" - check out Oliver walking like a big guy!

That's a lot of wild animal bums in one shot ;)

Up close

Little Cheetah walking to dinner

Always on the lookout

The kids found a tree to climb and were pretty happy while we had wild wine on the patio :)

I missed the photo op but after waking up at 4am the girls snuck outside to say good morning to the giraffes when the sun came up. A pretty cool place for an overnight!