Red Bluff Fair 2013

We went up to red Bluff the last weekend in September for the FAIR! My favorite weekend of all time :) and for once we didn't have a newborn or pregnant belly in tow :) We stayed at the 4H/FFA auction from 9am to 4pm and bought four hogs to have processed into sausage. We take this "know where your food comes from" thing seriously at Bumble! It took a lot of due diligence to talk to hog leaders and find out which pigs had never had hormones and were 100% sure fed all natural grain. The girls really got into it asking the kids about their pigs in the line up and running to tell us the stats. Francie even did her own bidding n the last ones!

Loaded up 5 kids deep - cousin Clara rode with us too!

Stop at FreeBird Burrito in Vacaville- rice and beans never disappoints

driving up - we saw smoke from far away and were shocked to find Hay Kingdom burning to the ground! Well I was shocked, Heff called it from 40 miles away!

Dinner at Oma's!

AHhhhhhh, Red Bluff. :) Oma's house is like a sanctuary!

Right on the swing - and JJ's already half naked of course

Saturday morning cousin wake up at Oma's - the best

Sprinty loaded up with 12 to go to the Fair!

Cousins

Let's do this

Corn dog pit stop

yum

tiny animal petting zoo

getting a good look at the pigs and 4H kids before they went in

Tessa hanging in there

cuties and corn on the cob

nothing healthy here - slushies (had to give um a sugar high to hang in there til 4pm!)

the girls carting around our buyers baskets and sneaking out candy

Uncle Mark took his crowd home half way through and came back for us in the Sprinter - haha at the sign Uncle Mark :)

little crowns

swingin

crazies getting dirty

Pinata time

Go Maisie Go

love these cousins!

Candy trading

lots of kids- and lots of large cars in this family

and driving home we made it 2.2 miles before we had a big time PUKER! poor tess. and poor Sprinter! :)

Dear Francie,

Dear Francie,

On your last night of being FIVE - I wanted to write you a note. Your Dad and I can't believe you will be a SIX year old tomorrow. We are so proud of what a smart, kind, sweet, thoughtful big girl you have become.

Your favorite saying is "Where there is a will there is a way!" (mine too :)

Your favorite food is: pasta and fruit, and anything Dad cooks on the BBQ. maybe popsicles sometimes too.

You area an expert swimmer and can go two lengths of the pool under water. You can stay in the water all day and when I retold you the story of being in my belly breech/upside down when you were due you said "that was because I like being in water so much!"

You are very sweet with all three of your sisters. You carry Tiny on your hip like a pro. You take extra good care of your little buddy JJ, making sure she has her shoes on and helping her learn how to do things. You always include Maisie, even when playing with new friends and you two are so cute together - I hope you will always be best friends!

You teach them all you know - and like to remind me that being the OLDEST girl is your favorite position (just like Mom and Jannie!) but lots of work!

You are very proud of all you have learned and you work hard to keep learning new things. You learned how to read this summer and nothing stops you - you pretty much taught yourself (with some help from the hundreds of books Dad never tires from reading to you at night) and now you read signs, menus, books to your sisters and chapter books for yourself. It's so cool to see your eyes opened up to this whole new world! You are a math whiz, counting by 5s and 10s and doing double digit addition in your head and on paper. You quizzed ME the other day and said "Mom, what is 60 plus 60?" and when I answered "120" you said "Ahhh! Impressive!" thanks France :)

You love to do art, color, draw, create and make new things. You are very creative and also a thinker. I can't wait to see the great things you will do :) You already do so many!

You love rainbows as much as I do! You also LOVE older girls and being around them - especially your older cousins Kate and Ellie (and all of your cousins!)

and cousin Ella too!

You love the outdoors and all the things your Dad can teach you about camping, archery, fishing, hunting, raising animals and being an adventurer.

and you love to dance, practice gymnastics (you do a great headstand!) and you are wokring on a cartwheel.. but what I especially love is that somehow Maisie has perfected a cartwheel and you are the first to say "Now that Maisie is a cartwheel EXPERT!" You are proud of your strengths but always proud of others too.

You are hoping for a real gear bike for your birthday from mom and dad, and ice skates from Jannie and Grampa. Jannie is a shoe-in but we'll see what Mom and Dad come up with :)

You chose a lunch date at a fancy restaurant with Mom and Dad for your birthday tomorrow. ANywhere fancy and "Italiano!" you suggested! We can't wait :)

Happy SIXTH BIRTHDAY my big girl! We love you! xoxo, Mom (and Dad :)

Scarlett's Baptism

Scarlett was baptized at Nativity church - we all went to celebrate (except Brian who was on his Alaska hunting trip) and had a great time. We tried to sneak Tess' head under the holy water - we have yet to baptize her!! But it was a beautiful day to celebrate our little buddy Scarlett James.

Emmy and Tiny!

we always warn Jannie about the "cheeese" face - ;)

I rushed out of the house with all four dressed in their Sunday best pretty proud of myself we got there on time - until I noticed Maisie's zipper was broken and her dress was wide open in church! hair bow saved the day

cute godfather Uncle Jerry

she's a Catholic!

big girls after church with Cousin Ella - she is so sweet with them!

and throw Tiny in the mix

Tainted LOVE!

We rocked out with TAINTED LOVE two weeks ago in Downtown Los Altos at Outer Space gallery - it was awesome!!

ready to rock - and testing some awesome cocktails!

JJ solo time - warming up

end of every song - splits for the win!

Tiny dancer and her sweet buddy

our neighbor girls showed up at 9:30pm - late night rockers

we were all dancing so long we were sweaty and had no voice left - but it was so much fun!

Rosebowl Flea Market

Alicia, Marisa and I Sprintered (yes, it's a verb :) down to Pasadena this weekend to scavenge the Pasadena Flea Market! We left early Saturday morning and drove down 101 to the Langham hotel - just in time to enjoy sidecards and the sunset! Then up EARLY Sunday morning to shop til we dropped. It was 100 degrees and PACKED! We didn't love this flea market as much as Canton Texas (could never get any better!!) or our home turf Alameda Antique Fair. Rosebowl was not well organized so it was hard to stick to a path of travel and there were lots of grouchy people - maybe didn't help we had our GIANT cart going down small isles collecting our goods!

And to top it all off it was Marisa's birthday!! Happy Bday!

we walked all over the property to find the last inches of sun

and we found sidecars on the terrace bar - cheers OJannie!

Early morning arrival!

We bungeed out carts together - it was awesome. and yes that's an industrial launry cart!!

what? We're pickers!

The saddest moment of the day - realizing we MISSED this white peacock taxidermy!! But we made BFF's with it's new owner. Love the flea market culture! (just better in NorCal and Texas than LA!)

and our final round we couldn't leave 400 year old St Francis behind. We love him even with his missing fingers (No, saints do not flip the bird)

Back to the hotel to crash- Juicy pants, club level snacks and cocktails and BAD TV! heff asked why the heck weren't we going out on the town... TOO TIRED!! And when 3 moms leave 8 kids at home, THIS is vacation.

surprise evening entertainment from our balcony. An intense Persian wedding, complete with Cinderella carriage and a 3 hour set up (guests dressed and waiting for three hours)

Monday morning heading home - love you Sprinter!

Somebody's gotta do it

Thanks for another fun scouting and scavenging adventure A & M!

I was pretty excited to come home to my stinkers... and my husband for taking such good care of them (he took all four to Target on a Saturday - he's nuts!)