Weekend Recap

/

We had a great weekend enjoying the sunshine and getting stuff done around the house!  Friday night we met up with a bunch of friends at Bumble and took over the outdoor patio - then we let the kids loose on Night Bright after the playroom closed...

Francie and Maisie have been doing chores in the morning (making their beds and picking up toys mostly) but quickly realized if they sleep ON their quilts and pillows they have less to make up in the morning :)

Saturday afternoon Brian took the big girls to Pescadero for the annual Troopy convention. Janie and I stayed home to do some errands around town - we loaded up the stoller to make some deliveries at Play and Bumble and then get some groceries - she was a trooper.

 

I treated her to a frozen yogurt with sprinkles :) 

Happy baby girl (who says "Cheeee!" for the camera now - hence so many JJ pics :)

Francie and Emmy drew a Unicorn and hung it on my door - love the rainbow :)

Me and my J! She accessorized herself in necklace, purse, Sophie the Giraffe and BlaBla for our walk

 

Dad and his girls fixing sprkinler heads and cleaning up around the house Sunday.

and JJ in the new water trough on the back deck - refuses to do anything but climb to the highest point!

Sunday night impromptu BBQ dinner with friends.... our first of the season (and served on the hot tub :)

Sunday night JJ woke up after everyone was asleep - we snuggled on the couch until she would entertain the idea of going back to bed :) 

 

For Goodness Snakes

/

This week at PLAY we had a music performance from Steve of Orange Sherbet, A real-life Fairy visit and show, Art and Science class with real animal bones and the grand finale Friday - "For Goodness Snakes" real snake show!! It was so cool - the girls woke up saying "it's snake show day!" It did not disappoint.

a huge black and white Tegu - with a 5 inch tongue. Janie is weary but wasn't afraid.

Three girls, four snakes

and then the 12 foot python came out

The snake guy, Brian, did an informative little presentaion and then litterally let the snakes go wild for the kids to hold. He taught them how to be quiet and slow around the snakes and then it was a free for all. Pretty impressive snakes!

 

Fairy Day at Play

/

We had a REAL Fairy from "Happily Ever Laughter" come visit for the morning at PLAY Wednesday - the girls jaws dropped when she walked in the place.  She did a cute puppet show and then balloon animals and face paint. Pretty good morning for three girls obsessed with fairies and princesses!

Maisie made sure JJ got a balloon too

Happy Baby donated some snacks for our "Play Cafe" for the day - yum!

Rainbos and sparkles. Best combo ever.

For Maisie Moo too

Thanks Miss Jingles ;)

 

Red Bluff Rodeo Weekend

/

Even though we left without Ollie we had a great Rodeo weekend in Red Bluff. It was 90+ degrees so we didn't actually make it to much of the rodeo besides the midway games and booths Sunday morning for corndogs and shaved ice :) The highlight of the trip was that we got to meet Molly Matthews - the newest cousin! She is adorable and we all got lots of baby snuggling time hanging out at Oma and Opas with everyone but the Craig Heffs there (we missed you!) Red Bluff by Instagram:

6 big cousins and a little Molly at 9 days old

Francie holding the new baby 

Maisie was pretty excited for a turn too

The girls, hot, sweaty and taking a snack break in the shade

Francie and Kate

Janie claiming her right to enter the Kids Only Zone

Snuggling poor little Maisie when she got sunscreen in her eyes

and trading her out for some Molly time (I hadn't moved much)

 

Chillin out for some movie time in the AC (Ice age appropriately)

Janie getting some love on Ollie

Our last picture of Ollie. :(

Don't even think about it :) We killed some time before the Rodeo opened Sunday morning by taking the kids to the pet store. This was the only doggie there thank goodness. And the girls didn't even ask if we could take home the 14 foot pythons in the store.... weird.

Oma and Oliver checking out the guinea pigs that run around in crazy circles like Oliver when he's excited :)

Maisie has crazy faces :)

SNAKES!

Heff and Mark backpacked the baby girls on two different hikes by the river. Janie makes him stop and pick up flowers so she can toss them back on the ground. But when you ask her "Did you have fun on adventures with Daddy?" She nods furiously YES with a little smirk - already knows a good thing!

Ellie deserves the strongest cousin award. Pulling the horse poop cart full of kids ATTACHED to the pony pull cart full of kids. UPHILL. 

 

Good morning! All tuckered out.

Rodeo Fairgrounds - the bounce houses weren't open yet so Francie settled on riding the bull - Cowgirl Up!

Corndogs and Watermelon Icee's in the shade

See you next time Red Bluff! (this was driving up there but I love the hand holding) Car trips with the girls lately have gone like this... Janie konks out in the driveway heading home. Maisie about 30 minutes later. Francie 30 minutes later. And we have 10 minutes of peaceful, no-reaching-back-for-whatever-they-need-or-don't and country music until J wakes up! She is not a long distance car sleeper - but they are all good travelers usually we can make it with no stops.

Ode to Ollie

/

We are all sad to lose our little buddy Ollie. He was a quirky dog but he was a good dog for our family. Ollie was very protective of the girls but was very tolerant of their pulls/pats and rides. He went crazy when he saw or heard another dog on TV, he loved to chase and try to eat water out of the hose or where ever he could get it, he barked at any dog who walked by "his" sidewalk and he would burrow down in the covers to snuggle up if anyone would let him. He slept in the girls room at the foot of their bed and was a very patient dog to three busy girls. Ollie was only 9 but he'd been losing weight and seemed to be getting "old." You had a good life Ollie - thanks for 9 years!

One of our favorite Ollie stories was when were in Red Bluff and he chased a squirrel INTO the burn pile! Scorched whiskers and nose but no worse for the wear

He was still a little guy when I met Brian! I got Ollie down in the dessert when I was playing polo - we had a Jack Russell growing up and my friend had a litter of Jack Russell pups so I took one home :) Ollie was a good dog to me for a couple years before I met Brian! He used to ride around in the car on my lap and come with me to polo to ride my horses.

Brian had a dog when we met too - good old Sage - Sage and Ollie became fast friends and were fat and happy together on McKendry Ave

When we brought Francie home from the hospital Ollie was relegated to outside for a few hours with Sophie (and Sage but Sage probably didn't care!) but then was a good protective dog to the new baby

He gained some LB's after we had Francie! All those Cheerio's on the floor :)

and then Little Maisie was his buddy from the start

Ollie was there to pack up our old house and move into our new one

Wow - not his best stage of weight gain but Francie is helping his cause with a "not-her-best-photo" either!

Maisie (so little) "walking" Ollie when we moved to the new house before we fenced the front yard

This is how we would find Francie at night sometimes :)

and he'd curl up on the couch with Maisie every chance he got

and he'd manage to get in just about every picture we took

We would usually take him up to Red Bluff and he LOVED life on the farm. He'd run all over the place and then put himself to bed all tuckered out. We took him up this weekend and he lived it up. Janie getting her last pat-pats with Ollie up in Red Bluff on Saturday

Ollie had a GREAT last day at Oma's running around like crazy, jumping in the water troughs, chasing the chickens and playing with all the kids. He had been having some paralysis problems even at home sometimes and he must have done something to his spine digging in the mud, he couldn't walk anymore on his back legs so we gave him a bath and let him snuggle in his bed

Then we took him to our friend Dr Weber (a vet) and he put him down peacefully on the tailgate of his truck. Francie said her goodbyes but didn't want to watch it happen.

We buried Ollie in the orchard where Brian buried his childhood dogs and one of my horses is buried. Brian dug a deep hole and we saved his collar but buried him in his bed. The girls helped make a cross and a heart with his name out of sticks.

The saddest part was driving home from Red Bluff without Ollie and JJ was yelling "Ay-yeee! AY-YEE!" and looking up to see if he was sticking his head over the seat like he usually did.

We will miss you Ollie!!

Birthday CAKE

/

We tried, really hard to make a rainbow cake for Maisie's birthday per her request. It sure didn't look anything like those Pinterest beauties but it tasted good and she loved it. We scrambled to get it finished to head over to Mountain Mikes for a little birthday party Wednesday night. Happy Birthday Maisie Moo :)

Getting ready - the girls lined up their color choices from our extensive Bumble food coloring choices - Francie's a rainbow expert in case you've never noticed ;)

Mixing the color bowls (serious dish washing after this project) and Maisie with serious bed head after her afternoon nap

rainbow color batter

The final product on my lap in the car- pretty much a mound of cake layers and cream cheese frosting with rainbow sprinkles :)

Mountain Mikes for a pizza party!

But when we cut it open it still looked pretty cool! Janie is MAD mad JJ mad I am taking a picture instead of giving her cake

Family picture time

 

 

Maisie's Pre-Birthday Dinner

/

THREE fingers is hard to do :)

Sunday night we had dinner at my parents house to celebrate Maisie's upcoming THIRD BIRTHDAY with the family! She was soo excited to have the spotlight on her and requested a "tiger cake" from Jannie. Specifically a cake with a baby tiger and a mom tiger. Wow big request! My Dad went down to Jerry's cakes and asked for exactly that - the guy practically charged more for the tiger than the cake but Maisie was SO excited about her tiger cake! Thanks Jannie and Grampa!

Maisie and her godparents

new sparkle shoes! Thanks Christian!

and a new Tangled doll from James and Em - love the hair

Maisie's fan club over for pizzas

Jan and Jan

Cousin Kate!

Trike rides with Emmy on Jannie's new adult size tricycle Jerry gave her for her birthday :)

THREE!

toe nail polish time by Kate

Maisie and Jannie making Maisie's own pizza!

cool lights photos by Uncle James

Happy Birthday to Maisie

Being silly with Uncle Jerry

Jannie MADE Maisie her own felt memory game - her favorite game to play these days

and Grampa went to Toys R Us by himself and found a big stuffed Lion to go with her tiger cake. She LOVES it.

lots of patient watchers

Buzz Lightyear PJs and a lillipop from Uncle Jerry

Francie "assisted" in the lollipop consumption

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAISIE!

Red Bluff Easter

/

We were in Red Bluff for a long weekend - Thursday to Monday - for Easter with the Heffernans! Only about half of the crowd was there but it was a really nice weekend relaxing at Oma and Opas. Kat and I made our usual trip to Redding for outlet shopping and Target and even got Pedicures at the strip mall nail place - always an adventure :) We were on baby watch since Maureen was due Monday but baby Molly waited to make her appearance!

Janie in the barn- not one bit scared of Paco the miniature donkey

Four-wheeler cart rides by Dad

and again later after hot tub time - Janie's face cracks me up

My big almost 3 year old!

Maisie and her birthday bunny cake. She can be a shy little girl but when all the attention is on her she eats it up. i love her little expressions

BBQ Baby (like this photo of Francie :)

One night we went over to the Flynn's to help celebrate Spencer's 11th birthday - it was great to hang out with them, we don't see enough of the Flynns lately!

Eva and MaryClaire were so sweet giving the little girls pony rides all evening

Toddling out to the orchard

Francie holing one of their TWENTY-ONE barn cats. Wow.

Don't get any ideas girls

JJ loving the pasture

and getting a ride on Stanley the pony!

This dog Lucy looks like our old fat version of Ollie :)

Happy Birthday Spence!

Back at Oma's barn - painfully dirty baby pictures :)

Birthday dinner for birthday girl

my little godson Oliver - getting ready to be a big brother!

Patrick looking sharp in his new tux PJs (redding Gap outlet finds :)

one of the many favorite activities

Go Dad Go

Barn chores (or just making a mess of the chicken coop)

Serious chicken love

I jumped on the back of Heff's four wheel ride to be a tour guide - the kids were cracking up at my attempt to be funny.

cousin love

cute dad ;)

silly, silly girls

"She did it."

Barn playing time with a beer- doesn't get much better!

Francie and Patrick - best buds when the older girls aren't there :) and it helps that Patrick catches the chickens for Francie to hold, he's the expert

"Why doesn't this one GO?"

Not afraid

barn dancing

Easter lunch hunt kids

The big girls Ellie and Kate!

cute recycled egg collectors the Matthews kids made from milk galloons and hot glue

Strike a pose France (forgot to pack their THREE matching easter dresses! But got these rompers at Target Redding that worked even better for running around in the dirt :)

Sugar high kids sharing candy

Doug collecting the REAl eggs in his Sunday best

Lazy mom watching from the swing

Welcome Molly Matthews!!!

/

Maureen had a healthy baby girl last night at 9:56pm!!

Molly Sarah Matthews (LOVE her name!)

8 pounds 4 ounces ~ 20.5 inches

Big sister Ellie - who was chomping at the bit for this baby to come out so she could hold her! I was almost Ellie's age when my baby sister was born and I remember how much fun it was to help take care of her. Maureen is lucky to have Ellie around. (Kate is looking thrilled ;) I hear she was tired - she'll perk up soon I'm sure)

Patrick will hold his place as the lone Matthew's boy. As of yet no one has a "brother" within the cousins but my guess is Kat has a boy so we shall see!

Happy new family if six! Congratulations Matthews family (PS love your "Girls Can Save the World" shirt Ellie- I agree!)

National Sibling Appreciation Day :)

/

Well since it's apparently National Sibling Appreciation Day - and one of our siblings is currently in labor! - I thought I would recap a little about all of our siblings and where they are now. The girls sure are lucky to have all these awesome Aunts and Uncles!! (and more of these great "sister" shots of Francie and Maisie that Em took today coming next)

I'll start with the Heffernan siblings...

Brian's younger brother Mark (by 2 years) and his wife Sarah live right here in Mountain View with their cute girls Clara 3 and Caroline (1 tomorrow!) Mark works at Google as an engineer and Sarah is a scientist with a company based in Davis CA. They met on a rafting trip in Baja and then loved in Davis for 8 years while Mark got his PhD. We get to see them for lots of impromptu all-girl cousin dinners and dates.

Brian's middle sibling/sister Maureen and her husband Doug - I took this picture on Sunday, the day before Maureen's due date with baby number four for the Matthews family! Oma reports Maureen is in labor as we speak - can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl to start the streak of 2012 babies. Maureen and Doug live in Chico CA (just south of Red Bluff) with Ellie 9, Kate 6 and Patrick 3. Doug is a colorectal surgeon in a practice with his Dad in Chico and Maureen raises happy kids, chickens and an orchard of fruit trees. They were in Salt Lake City and then New Jersey while Doug finished residency and fellowships - we are glad they are back in the area for all the family fun.

Brian's youngest sister Kat and her husband Donald (pictures with little Oliver 18 months in the backpack) are expecting number 2 next month. They live in Red Bluff, Donald puts lots of miles on his truck as a cattle rancher originally from Burns, OR and Kat teaches at the local elementary school- used to be Kindergarten and now Special Ed (she's got some great student stories :) They find their way down the Bay Area often to camp out with us so Kat and I can go to Target and hang out. (Kat used to live with Brian when I met him so we got lots of time to spend together early on) We love that they come to visit and we get to see them in Red Bluff so often.

and the other half of Brian's youngest (the twins) is Craig and his wife Andrea. They get two pictures because I love both of these photos of them :) Craig and Andrea live in LA (but we are hoping to sway them up north soon!) and are busy chasing after Isabel 4 and Thomas 2. The lost little Angel Elise last summer but are expecting a new addition to their family in June. Craig is also an engineer and Andrea is a photographer and a great artist. Her blog is andreaheffernanblog.com where you can see lots of her beautiful work.

so between those 5 siblings we have 11 cousins and FOUR more babies on the way in the next five months. Every Christmas we say "NEXT year is going to be crazy with more babies" and somehow manage to top it every year! Just wait til we have 15 teenagers running around :)

Those are the HEFF siblings! Happy Sibling Appreciation Day :)

and on MY side of the family...

James is my younger brother by 18 months and is married to Emily (who I knew before he did!) They met at the University of Arizona and got married last summer in Menlo Park. They just recently moved down to the Bay Area from San Francisco and live on a cute cottage on the same street as my parents! They have been DIY'ing machines decorating and setting up an awesome "closet" for Em (you have to see the pics, it's a whole room my brother handy-manned into a fancy closet!) and making it look cute. They have a blog on newleywed life at www.mrandmrssimo.com

Uncle Jerry - My brother Gerald works for Driscoll strawberries in Watsonville (making his mother very proud :) and is the lone bachelor in our bunch of siblings (no pressure Jer :) He went to Cal Poly SLO and lived in SF for a few years before Santa Clara Business School. He's been at Driscoll since he graduated and is an expert in the "futures" of agriculture. Jerry and Heff share a love of hunting and the outdoors and are planning a few trips out into the wilderness soon. Uncle Jerry is always a big hit with the girls when he swoops in to rile them up, give them some candy and then head home! (if your single you also get two pictures - as long as they have sibling love showered on Jerry :)

and my Baby Sis - Baby Ann (or ABA to the girls) with her husband Pat! They live in Nashville, TN where Pat is from and Ann went to school. They met while Ann was in grad school at Vanderbilt and Pat was in Business School there. His family all live in Nashville so they get to spend time with their four nieces in the south (AnneMarie, Emma, Mia and MaryEva). Ann started her own business called Smart Sprouts which I am very proud of her for and love to "talk shop" about over IM everyday and Pat is in Health Care software. They have a blog too at Ann and Pat: Nashville Newlyweds

This seemed like a fitting "all sibling" pic from Beth's wedding since the Carter kids were in it and we grew up neighbors fighting just about as much as siblings! Happy Sibling Appreciation Day to you guys too :)

and thanks to my parents for giving me my siblings! (I would have made a horrible only child :) My mom spent hours and hours on the playroom floor with us growing up, coming up with fun games and competitions and fostering a love for each other to look out for our siblings and to be friends more than we fought. And my Dad spent hours and hours building forts, driving us on road trips and photographing our childhood. He has always been a hard worker spending lots of time at the office to this day - but when he's not at the office there's no golf or hobbies to occupy his time - it's family! Thanks for setting the example Jannie and Grampa :)

Tuesday Pizza Night

/

Last night we were sitting around at home in the rain after the girls woke up from naps wondering what to do with ourselves and Heff suggested going out for pizza - at Mountain Mikes after Jannie's suggestion they have a great arcade for kids! We called Brian's brother Mark who was home with his girls waiting for Sarah to get home from work in Davis so we all packed up our rain coats and hit up Mountain Mikes for 50% off pizzas Tuesday :)  We sat while we gave out these:

Maisie Moo hit the "jackpot" on one of the games and got all these tickets. Little snaggletooth was pretty happy about this.

And thanks to a few other fortuitous coins they ended up with 612 tickets - enough to EACH get the light up princess necklace at 200 points instead of the one they were working up to share. Thank goodness :)  I love the poses here... especially Clara.

Home for PJ's - Maisie says "why these are not fitting me?"  18 month sleepers don't work on an almost 3 year old so much. (my dot system of labeling sizes for the girls failed on these :)

But JJ was pretty proud of herself stealing BOTH necklaces while the girls were getting books and putting them on.  What a fun impromptu Tuesday night!

 

Turning 34

/

Thursday I had a great day on my 34th birthday! The girls brought me breakfast in bed, Heff stuck around to work the morning with me at a breakfast table at Bumble over laptops, the girls came down at 11am with Em for a special Andy Z concert at PLAY, Christin (her birthday too!) and Cat came to Bumble with the makings of a fun birthday lunch out on the patio at Bumble, we had Glamour magazine come do a photo shoot of a local "tech celeb" at Bumble and then we packed up the car and the kids to drive up to Red Bluff for a long easter weekend - and capped it off with family birthday dinner at Rubio's at the Nut Tree half way stop.

All around a great day - I couldn't have asked for a better birthday with my family doing a bit of the usual and a little extra fun. But I feel like everyday is my birthday thanks to my sweet husband and crazy little girls, I know I am very lucky to have them and all this fun in my life!

My present from Francie - love the assortment including a comb, baby shampoo, Ariel egg wrappers, candy and an orange. She worked very hard on decorating the box with Em all day!

Girls in dresses on one of the cool new playmats at PLAY (picked all the dresses themselves - Maisie pulled this Lily out and goes "Gaga- this still fit you?" No Maisie it's too small "Yessssssss." And so it begins...

"OH!" Jannie's not sure about all this love

Rocking out with ANDY Z!

Janie's trick lately - when she doesn't like something that much she plugs her ears

Pretty birthday flowers from my friend Cat!

Strutting their stuff back to Bumble with girlfriends

Cheers! Sunny lunch with girlfriends on the patio

Sharing our cupcakes with MaisieMoo

And Janie, post cupcake just chugging

JJ helping pose to check the lighting for the...

GLAMOUR magazine photo shoot!

my little buddies at Bumble Sebastian, Matthew and Dash serenaded me with "Happy Birthday to You" - they were so sweet!

Heff got me my favorite road trip snacks...

and then immediately after I took that picture some guy sideswiped us! Way to start the trip - but no big deal, always could be worse. Francie was fascinated "Is that guy going to JAIL now?!"

Road warriors - JJ glued to the screen to watch her first DVD in the car (Wild Alaskan Animals)

Rubio's road stop birthday dinner!

and I forgot to blog (or take any pictures but this slightly blurry one Heff took) my birthday dinner at Sundance Wednesday night with my family and a few friends -

Feels pretty good to be 34 - thanks for all the birthday love!

Farm School and A Busy Day

/

Francie was back to preschool today after a 2 week "Spring Break" (partly because we missed a Tuesday and then they had 1.5 weeks off!), Jannie picked her up for a lunch and See's candy shopping date and THEN she came home just in time to head off to "farm school" at Hidden Villa.  She chose her outfit herself today - down to the rabbit ears she wore the entire time at the farm. Way to fit in France.

Mountain Mike's pizza date with Jannie. When Jannie said she only had 4 quarters for the machines Francie said "it's ok Jannie, they have a money machine." (I'm not worried though because coming home tonight I had a parking ticket on my car for being there ALL day and she was terrified if I had to pay the $54 ticket we wouldn't "have enough money to eat tomorrow")

While Francie was at school Emmy brought Maisie and Janie downtown and they hit some secret town easter egg hunt with perfect timing! Plastic eggs with candy hidden all over town! (I think b/c it got pretty much rained out Saturday?) Wow Maisie. Also dressed herself and did her own hair. Not sure what this face is, little nymph!

JJ happy in the stroller with an easter cookie

and then they met me at PLAY to play :)

This was Maisie when we walked home at 2:30 for naps. She woke up a little too early this morning and got some good couch time in with Dad while he worked from home at 6am.

after naps Heff and I walked the little girls downtown to meet Francie's carpool for dinner at Bumble after farm school- M and J both in backpacks! 

and these were from yesterday but they were at the park with Emmy in full princess regalia. 

but didn't stop them from jumping in the creek!

Light sticks at Jannie's Sunday - we meant to do a plastic easter egg hunt with these inside them at night but after we "activated" every one of them we forgot to do the hunt! next time :)

No Foolin

/

That was no April Fools joke :) Janie is really gonna be a big sister! And she doesn't even seem as mad about it as we made her look. Emmy took the pictures and put the "Baby Heff #4" announcement together - she's so good! I am 17 weeks along and feeling good - a little different than the other three (less migraines but a little morning sickness) so maybe that means it's a boy but I always think boy and, well, I'm always wrong. We are just thankful to be expecting another little character to add to our brood and figure it can't get much crazier than it already is :) Thanks for all the well wishes!

Easter egg dyeing at Jannie and Grampa's Sunday night

Tye-dye for egg dye

love the new pose for photos girls

These were the outfits BEFORE egg dying (thanks Suzi-me-downs) for Palm Sunday mass at Nativity. JJ not having any of it

and some insta-action from the past few days - light table play at PLAY

New staff in the girl's eyes = new blood who don't know all their tricks yet :)

Maisie pretty darn excited about Taco Tuesday

Jannie and Francie coincidentally in yellow - all around!

Her own trip to the shopping center with Jannie - she was "asking" to see the easter bunny! Jannie spoils her :)

Back to PLAY with new kickers!

Art class Thursday with metallics on fabric - lots of textures!

and Francie asked if she could fix dinner one night. I would never say no to that! This was the "picnic" they had on the counter. no complaints!

after a few days of rain (finally) the sun came out. Francie was outside for awhile with the plant/pot her cousins Maggie and Aly made her for Christmas. I asked her what she was doing "Just watching my plant grow mom."

and a trip to good old Valley Fair with Emmy and Linda last week too - we love some CPK and cheesy mall shopping. And I love these stinkers!