Trouble Makers

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Besides Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum (Francie and Kate, above:) we brought Ollie up to Red Bluff this trip to cause some trouble. He is in heaven up there chasing squirrels and running around all day with Sadie. The big project one day this weekend was the "burn pile" that had been building since last Thanksgiving. Heff and Doug got to be pyros and set a pile of wood, yard clippings and all kinds of stuff on fire, while Opa supervised the fire. Ollie was circling the pile waiting for a rodent of some kind to jump out... his efforts paid off when a little mole jumped out and quickly met his demise in Ollie's mouth. A while later a big rat jumped out and Ollie pounced missing the little sucker by a few inches. He saw it jump BACK in the burning wood pile and my genius little dog decided his instinct to kill was stronger than his instinct not to jump into red hot burning flames. He dove right into the biggest flaming part of the burn pile and pulled out the rat who was by this point a RAT ON FIRE! He killed the disgusting burning rat and staggered around aimlessly looking like a Tom & Jerry cartoon doggie... you could see the stars circling his pudgy little head! His whiskers and eyelashes were singed off and he smelt like a cooked little sausage :) I wonder if he learned his lesson?!

Scorched puppy whiskers

That hurts... (The skin on his nose is now falling off, yuck. I found the 1% of my heart that actually cares about animals and let him sleep on our bed today, safe from little grubby hands, to recover.)

The big cheese :) Ellie the rule follower tried her best to keep all these little ones in line. It's a tough job.

When it's cold and wet outside what do you do? Climb on the doll-house, of course.

This picture was taken AFTER we moved this dollhouse away from it's previous home next to the banister/stairwell... Francie gave her parents a minor heart attack when we found her perched on the roof looking out at us over the railing.

Little climbers...

and little bums :) Francie on the left and Kate on the right

Ellie wants a big hug from Francie...

But not long enough to click a decent picture of course!

Happy Birthday Oma & Nana!

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December 28 is Claire and Cathleen's birthday... 61 this year! (I wouldn't normally tell Oma, but Kat's cake gives you away:) We had a fun day hanging out at home with everyone, playing with the ponies and continuing work on the chicken coop. We had a great seafood Cioppino for dinner and we opened presents (Francie is starting to think this is something that happens on a daily basis) and had lots of fun with all the family. Thanks for sharing your birthday with us Oma & Nana!

Aunt Kat made a delicious Lemon Four-Layer cake

Happy Birthday to you!

The big girls let Francie play with their new markers. As you can see Kate really liked her "stinky markers."

The staircase is a great place for art projects at Oma's

"My cousins wear me out"

I love these silly "Cranky pants" I found on Etsy a while ago that finally fit

Ready for dinner in matching hats from Nana... at least Francie is predicatable!

The cooperative cousins

Heff wondering how in the world I have kept him confined to the compound for three days straight... in the "old days" he was off hunting and galavanting until dinner

Isabel loves hats! and cute mini apron her mom made her

A rare moment of cuddling for Francie and Isabel... "I'm gonna tickle you!"

Kisses for my cuz! This is REALLY rare for these two... they "love" each other like sisters ;)

Throw Ellie in the bunch

4... 3... 2... 1...

Late night poker game

Oma got a straight flush! Birthday luck.

We let some overly exhausted girls watch French singing penguins on YouTube

They're getting sleeeeepy....

... AND they're out!

More from Red Bluff

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It doesn't get much better than this!
Ellie, Sadie, Francie and Ollie running out to the barn.

Mom with the girls

Barn raising

It was a team effort

Mark's well designed coop frame... Donald and Heff gave up helping and came inside for beers when Mark and Craig were discussing each cut of 2-by-4 at length down to the "cosine" :)

Baby Patrick!

and his Mom Auntie "Mo-Mo" according to Francie

Santi and Francie. Santi just needs a tutu.

Izza-Bizza bundled up. Just try and touch your waist Isabel :)

Girls in tutus and their dogs

The cool hay fort Uncle Mark and Donald built, it had a secret tunnel entrance under the plywood. Francie climbed all the way up to jump-jump on the top... she has been a wild banshee all weekend (more on that in the doll-house post coming up next :)

Uncle Brian and Isabel walking down the path to see...

The newest addition to the Heffernan Stables... Nugget the Pony! He was a Christmas surprise for the girls from Oma and Opa. Oma told Jannie she now has a "grandchild magnet" :)

Ronan and Isabel having words

Oma and Dad taking the Doo on a Nugget ride

Pony rides were a big attraction at least once a day

Ronan's turn with the twins Claire and Cathleen... on their BIRTHDAY!

HUGS for Patrick

Isabel has so much love to give :)

Patrick says "STOP taking pictures and save me from being suffocated!"

Four Tutus

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You think these girls liked their tu-tu's? They were not seen without them very often this weekend :) Here they are checking on the horses from the back porch which only lasted until one of the big girls opened the chute to let them all run out to the barn...

What do you think Francie and Isabel are saying to each other?

Kate prefers to be naked, preferably with a tutu

Francie realizes I am taking a group photo... she's outta here

And begs to get out to see horseys

Christmas Morning In Red Bluff

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Francie says ""I TOLD YOU I DON'T DO GROUP PHOTOS!!!"

... More pictures from Christmas Part II in Red Bluff with all of the Heffernans!! We woke up for a big breakfast and pushed all the couches back for exchanging presents and watching the kiddies open their gifts. It is always fun to re-live Christmas again :) Francie had fun and was only a little overwhelmed by the end of it. It took all morning and was followed quickly by naps... then the pony rides and chicken coop building project ensued.

Francie and Isabel in their matching Christmas outfits

Learning to take turns... we let them duke it out until someone cries :)

2007 babies Francie, Isabel and Ronan

It's fun to "wide" Kate

"Ooooooo!" pretty beads and My Little Pony's in their stockings!

Francie go to borrow her Daddy's stocking Oma made him when he was little

Isabel and her new binky

Sisterly love from Kate and Ellie

I wasn't quick enough to catch this very rare "Cheese!" for the camera

One more try on the group photo... nope, not a chance.

"Help please"

Aunt Andrea reading Isabel a new book

Francie loving her new "Click, Clack, Moo" from her cousins

Cousin Chaos

Kate is very patient with Francie wanting to see/touch/play with all her things

Ellie is the only one who will look at Aunt Mary's camera for a picture, thanks Ellie :)

Twinkie-the-Kid Lunch Box Head

Dad helps open more presents

Andrea got the girls all Christmas Tu-tus!!! These were a huge hit and hardly left theit little waists all weekend

Oma bought the girls all matching Western Wear outfits... "check out this belt mom!"

Francie really wanted to tell Opa about her new belt but he was snoozing through the craziness

She told him all about it anyway

Andrea also unbelievably hand made this family tree for Oma and Opa!! It is gorgeous... she drew the tree on Illustrator, Craig jig-sawed it out from a piece of Oak, she researched all of the family names and dates, gathered the pictures and put together this tree for Claire and Tom. You are amazing Andrea :)

It is so neat to look at over and over

Oma bedazzled little book bags for all the girls! They had their own little Swap Ellie orchestrated to trade books each oth them already had :)

Kate was busy drawing on herself with her new face paint crayons from Aunt Sarah

Ellie helped make sure she covered every inch

Izza in her beloved new tu-tu... she slept in it straight through for two days

Giving some love to Baby Patrick

"I just love him so much I can't contain myself!!"

"Hey he has an ear too!"

"This baby is funny!"

Ellie and Isabel getting a snack

Francie found the pile of German cookies Oma made

Aunt Sarah reading to Francie-pants

Christmas Day

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I accidentally took the day off from taking pictures on the one day a year most normal people do take a ton of pictures! We got a new "Flip" video camera from my parents I was playing with most of the day. (I'll post some video when I figure out the best way to download and edit but I love it!) But we had a great day on Christmas this year. We let Francie sleep with us and she was so exhausted from the Christmas Eve extravaganza she had no interest in waking up Christmas morning. Even her mom was up and out of bed before she was :) She was kind of rousing at about 8:30am and we asked her if she wanted to get up and see if Santa had come and she said "Noof" and snuggled back under the covers. She finally got up and found her new Cabbage Patch doll "Pattie Evonne" Santa left under the tree and a few other books and treats.

One little video clip I managed to down and upload but forewarning it's not edited and may be more than a little boring for anyone besides her parents to watch :)

We hung out at home watching the rain and wind howling outside before we ventured over to Jannie and Grandpa's house for John's eggs and sausage breakfast. Em and James came over with a whole load of gifts and Francie fell in love with a My Little Pony they gave her who crawls (yes, a crawling horse) and says "HI! I'm Scoot-a-loo!" It's in the picture at the top of the post and it's hilarious :) A few other pictures Uncle James and Em took with James' fancy new camera...

I love you Scoot-a-loo!

Too cool for school

"I thought you were kidding about that lemons in my stocking thing Mom."

Christmas Eve II in Red Bluff

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We headed up to Red Bluff bright and early on the 26th to celebrate the holidays in Red Bluff with all the Heffernans. We picked up Maureen, Ellie, Kate and Baby Patrick on the drive up at the Sacramento airport. Francie and I went in to baggage to find them and I came out carrying Francie and Patrick on my pregnant belly with Kate and Ellie towing their rolly back-packs close behind... I got a few looks from people who must have assumed I was right off that Salt Lake City flight :) We arrived at Claire and Tom's around lunch time along with most of the troops to check out the newest addition to the barn... there are too many Red Bluff pictures for one post so here are a couple shots from Heffernan Christmas Eve (Dec 26) and more to come soon!

Izza-Bizza and Francie back in their candy cane footie PJ's

"Hey Biz... don't they know they took pictures of us just like these last time we were in Red Bluff?!"

Funny-Face-Francie laughing at her cousins

Kissing Cousins

more blogs coming very soon... as I sit here inside at Oma and Opa's in my slippers sipping hot tea surrounded by seven other Apple laptops, thank goodness for wireless internet! Half of the group ventured out for a walk but I am vowing not to leave the house other than to visit the horses or check on the progress of the burn pile. It's 43 degrees out but nice and cozy in here by the fire with all the aunts, uncles and cousins :)

Christmas Eve

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Christmas Eve we celebrated at Jannie and Grampa's house with all the Arnerich (Jannie's side) relatives... but we sorely missed Aunt Kathy and her Christmas Cracker tradition. Kaky fell and broke her femur on the 23rd :( She was in the hospital having surgery on Christmas Eve. We really missed her and it wasn't the same without our Kaky, she wanted us to go ahead with the Christmas plans so we toasted her and will celebrate again WITH her famous crackers when she's on the mend. We had my dad's cracked crab traditional Christmas Eve dinner where the dishes all seem to get cleared and done pretty quickly as the kids await the Santa's sleigh sighting to run upstairs and wait for him to leave out the gifts. We opened a lot of gifts and lot of bottles of wine, makes for a fun night :) Merry Christmas!

Francie was wearing my "First Christmas" little red dress... Jannie was very happy to see I pulled it out of the depths of her closet.

"Come'on Soph."

Francie and her Jannie

The Christmas Tree

and the scene underneath

"Uh-oh it's LOUD again, the relatives must be here"

Ella, Francie and Luke playing around the train

"Merry Christmas" from James' nutcracker collection ;)

Emmy and Claire helping Francie open a present

Uncle Andy cleaning John's crab
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The boys around the artichoke dip

Of course Francie will look at the camera when Emmy is taking pictures, just not mom!

Claire, Ann, Emmy, Jerry and Connor

James, Francie and Drew at the kids table... Francie LOVES being with the big kids!

Francie pushed the little stool over to help Jannie with the dishes

Building towers with Gaunty Mimi and Drew

All the "kids" waiting for Santa to come upstairs in James' old room... and appearantly throwing gang signs to wish you a Merry Christmas. This is MY generation here but I am exempt from Santa for the first time this year and snuck up only to get a few pictures of course :)

Daddy explaining the "Santa waiting period" to Francie

After the chaos of everyone running down the stairs to see what was waiting there for them, Francie found her little barking, walking dog and hugged it :)

Drew got Rock Band II... lots of iPods, Blackberrys, Uggs and goodies left by Santa too

As Francie says "Ooooooo!" Emmy got a fancy set of makeup!

Time for The Swap! This year's theme was "Economy Buster" with a strict $25 limit, trying to get the most value or bang for the buck. Everyone brings a gift to throw in the pot and draws a number... you get to pick a gift and keep it or swap for something someone already opened that you like a little better.

Jannie gives a prize for the most popular gift and the best adaptation of the theme so it gets pretty competitive!

Jannie's 25 hardcover books from the library bookstore took top pick, my "Christmas decorations for next year" (I hit all the 75% off sales Christmas Eve morning) was close behind and there were some good entertaining cases of beer, busting the economy books, lottery tickets and champagne which always seems to make an appearance.

Almost bedtime... Francie is her Lanz PJ's with a ruffle butt :)

Night, Night

Meet the Blog Friends!

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We got to meet our blog friends in real life! The Shigo girls Kate, Ella and Claire and their parents Kerri and Phil stopped by our house on their West Coast tour the day before Christmas Eve. Kerri and I became "blog friends" last year, she found babyheff.com through a mutual friend and sent me a note about blogging and I started following their cute blog too. They are living in Munich, Germany for a few years and are a totally adorable family :) Kerri and I have been emailing all year and we think we are "BBF's" (Best Blog Friends) so Phil and Heff were giving us a hard time meeting for the first time ever in person, they were teasing us since we missed the Match.com phenom this was our foray into online "friend-dating" and hoped we weren't too disappointed in each other :) We couldn't stop talking for their hour-and-a-half visit and the girls were so cute playing with Francie... we hope they move back somewhere near us after their Germany adventure!!

Kate, Francie, Ella & Claire

They brought Francie cute stacking dolls from Germany and some real German chocolate for Mom & Dad :)

and had fun with the dress up chest!

Kate and Francie eating cookies

Ella

and Claire!

Thanks for making the visit! We hope we get to see you guys in "real life" again soon!!!

Christmas Tea with The Mariani Girls

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A few days before Christmas we celebrated the season with ALL 5 Mariani girls and their beautiful babies! Last year we had a "Three Generation Grandmother-Mom-Babies Tea" at Jannie's but we didn't really have our act together this year to plan ahead so we threw a last minute invite out to the Mariani girls and their mom Arlene and somehow they were all able to make it with the nine cute grandkids in tow... they are all such sweet kids with very good manners and they even let Francie hang out with them around the train and playing hide-and-seek. We had a surprise visitor too... SANTA came! Heff had just showed up to the party but "disappeared" somewhere the whole time Santa was there and missed seeing him, too bad ;) Santa sure did a good job!

The grandmothers... what would we do without them :) Arlene and Jannie

The newest additions, 2008 baby girls Stella Ann and Nellie Ann....

and Maddie Ann too!

The train was once again very popular with Joe and Emelia

Uncle Jerry came by to say hello but Francie wasn't too fond of the photo op

Molly sends Stella upside-down

Baby Ann, Nancy and Janna talking over tea

Francie showing the big kids her "ice!" (skaters that is :)

Emelia

Sofia

James, Whitney, Joe & Emelia coming down the stairs

Who's knocking at the door Joe?... it's SANTA!

Wow Santa is here!

Joe-Joe tells Santa what he wants for Christmas

James' turn!

Santa held a captive audience for having 10 kids under the age of five

Nancy and her beauties Joe, Whitney and Maddie

Francie trying to see Santa from under the ottoman

Tracy and the leader of the pack Emelia

Even Sofia got on Santa's lap!

Emelia has lots to tell Santa

and cute Wil too!

Maddie was brave but she's not so sure about this big guy

This was as close as Francie got

And she wanted nothing to do with the candy cane Santa gave her

Bye Santa!

The kids all watching him walk away down the street to find his reindeer

Emelia found ABA's wig!

Francie's turn now that DAD is back :)

Sisters... Janna, Molly, Nancy, Tracy & Julie

Francie with Janna's bunch... James (my godson!), Wil and Stella

They are too adorable :)

Wil says "ok, Francie... off my lap" while James snuggles his little sis

An Exciting Saturday Night....

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We were expecting a mellow Saturday to relax and unwind before Christmas craziness... but boy were we in for a surprise! Saturday morning we had breakfast at Lefty O'Douls, walked around the city and attempted a little shopping (not suggested with a sleeping baby in a stroller (I waited 25 minutes for an elevator that wasn't full trying to get off the fourth floor at Macy's.) So we snuck over to our next stop at the Ritz-Carlton and looked forward to a quiet night together... but little did we know we were in for quite an exciting night!

Keep reading to find out why I was taking pictures of champagne glasses ;)

"Wait. Where are we?" Francie woke up in this bed and looked around a little confused as to where she was. Then all of the sudden she starts saying "Oma! Oma! Opa! Go-Go, click-click!" We asked her if she had a dream about Oma and the horses and were just as confused until we realized the room was painted the same color as the room we stay at Claire & Tom's... she thought we were in Red Bluff and wanted to go see Oma and the horses!

Jannie and Francie sharing a morning snack at the St. Francis

She loves "scrolling" through photos of some cute baby on Jannie's iPhone

Breakfast/brunch at Lefty's

And after we abandoned shopping efforts we checked out the ice-skaters in the daylight

wandered around Union Square

Did some people watching

And met up with Aunt Kat and Donald who were Christmas shopping in the city for the weekend too!

We hung out for awhile and then parted ways with Jannie and Grampa to hit our next hotel stop

After a debacle in the St. Francis valet garage (they "lost" our car, but to give them a break it was NUTS in the city!) we found our way to the Ritz-Carlton a few blocks away for our annual Heff "family tradition" overnight. They sure took good care of Francie... her own baby sized Ritz robe, cute crib and bag of goodies including outlet covers, baby shampoos and a night light!

And her favorite treat... a balloon!

She indulged in a luxurious little bathtime :) and it's a good thing they had a robe for her since our bags were still MIA in our yet-to-be located car!

She's looking for trouble

Checking out the view

"Ahh this is the life."

We hung out in the Club Lounge snacking

and Kat and Donald came to join us for a drink...

We convinced them to ditch their dinner reservations and hang out with us for the night, snacking on hor d'vours and the open bar in the Club Lounge... Francie was pretty excited "Kat!" and "Daa" decided to stay

Donald, it turns out however, now had a problem. He pulled me aside and told me he needed some help on a "top secret mission." At first I thought he needed help figuring out what to buy for Kat for Christmas... until it hit me and I asked him "ARE YOU GOING TO PROPOSE TO HER!?" He said, "Yup, tonight at dinner was the plan." So basically Heff and I ruined his well planned engagement! Some quick thinking and Donald changed gears... we called the concierge and plotted a new plan. The hotel helped set up a suite with a view in the hotel with candles and rose petals :) We made up a story that because the hotel felt so bad about our car being lost they wanted to upgrade us to a suite... but I didn't feel like moving all of our stuff so maybe Kat and Donald should go check it out and see if it would be worth moving while Heff and I tended to Francie :) Donald was skeptical she would fall for it, but as Heff said "we had Kat at 'upgrade'" So they took off to check out the suite...

I was SO nervous... I can't even imagine how nervous Donald was! I got four glasses of champagne ready for a toast and of course blabbed the story to everyone sitting around us :)

Oh and by this point Francie was taking her nap on the carpet next to dad

The waiting was killing me! But they came out of the elevator with big smiles on their faces and a beautiful Tiffany's ring on Kat's finger. She said Yes of course :) (Donald did a great job picking a ring at the Tiffany's on Union Square earlier that day... but since they only have size 6 rings in the store Kat gets to sport it on her pinky until hey get it sized)

Pretty and sparkly!!

He really surprised her! And we were thrilled to be a part of their special night... sorry for screwing your plans up Donald :)

I love this picture, they make a cute couple. Now let the wedding planning begin! Summer 09 Kat?

I think I am almost as excited as Kat is :)

Francie woke up finally and we had to tell her all about what she missed. When we ask her what Uncle Donald gave Aunt Kat she says "YES!" CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES DONALD & KATHERINE!!!

"I gotta call Oma and tell her all about this!"

A Night in SF at the St. Francis

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Friday night we were up in San Francisco for our annual family overnight to kick off the Christmas week. We all stay at the St. Francis on Union Square and have been going since I can remember (even when we could still put Baby Ann in a crib in the closet:) All of my moms siblings and there families showed up Friday afternoon for a little shopping before taking over the lobby bar for drinks and Shirley Temples then a walk to Sam's restaurant at our table for 26. The guys usually follow dinner up at The Cigar Bar and the girls and the kids shop til they drop since the stores are open until midnight at least. It was a fun night as the festivities begin!

Cousins Luke, Ella, Connor, Emmy and Claire in the lobby bar

Drew, Johnners and James

A cute picture of Jerry and "Aaa-woo" :) (aka Allison)

Francie convincing Grampa to take her over to the Choo-choo around the gingerbread house

Silly girl with Emmy and Claire

Aunt Mimi and Uncle Andy

Another round please!

Twirling with Emmers!

Ann and Pat

The holiday scarf gang

Uncle Jerry and Emmy

Uncle John and Ella

Mom and her Francie :)

Checking out the choo-choo train

Everybody bundling up to walk to dinner (or to cheat and take a cab:)
Jer and Allison

Pat and Ann

Grandpa carrying the baby girl through the crowds

Lots to window shop along the way with Grampa and Jannie!

It was a little LOUD for Francie... those eyebrows tell it all :)

Allison with a near-miss evaded the "kids table" this year!

Uncle John.. just released from an overnight in the hospital was told he might have gallbladder issues and to stick strictly to this diet. He had to admit he'd NEVER eaten a thing on here and proceded to induldge in calamari, onion rings, bread and butter, oysters with tabasco, a tuna steak (THIS was his so-called "healthy choice") and just a FEW alcoholic beverages.

Our booth is at max capacity this year...

Cheers to that! (whose little arm is that?)

Francie toasting!

Uncle Jerry spoils Francie with her favorite Happy Feet clips on his iPhone

James couldn't break tradition wearing the wreath ;)

We love Uncle Jerry!!! He treated ALL of us to dinner!

We saw Santa on the walk back through Union Square... Francie is in shock :)

Checking out the ice rink

and the huge tree in front of the hotel

Jannie, Francie, Em and Mare out in the chilly night!

Winter Wonders

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I love those rosy cheeks after nap time :) I have LOTS to catch up on for our kick-off-to-Christmas weekend! So while I'm uploading pictures and trying to blog while I chase Francie around the house... I'm posting a couple wintery-wonderland pictures my friend Susan sent me of my old polo horse "Alberto" who is retired on her ranch up in Oregon... looks like a good life as long as you've got a winter coat:) And a few more random pictures from Thursday and Friday before I dive into our weekend post.
Stay warm and Merry-almost-Christmas!!

Francie bundled up to feed her chickens...

"No one told me they made jackets for your fingers Mom!"

"How cool are these? They make 'um for Ollie too?"

Mag-lights are not easy to pick up with 15 month old arms... add mittens and it's truly a task :)

Back from helping Dad work in Uncle Mark's shop

And Owie came over to play... makes for a fun day for Francie!

Francie is learning to use a fork... her favorite meal lately is cooked carrots in soup (must have bullion :)

PACKAGES and PRESENTS just show up here?! What a fun time of year :)

Staying Warm and Keeping Busy

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We've had a good week so far! Trying to stay warm in this freezing cold California weather, hanging out at the office (Academic Trainers is in BUSY season before finals!), playing with friends and getting ready for Christmas. I'm a pretty big whimp in the cold so Francie and I hang out at home in the mornings until at least the sun melts some "frost" (or... until noon;) and then go out and about for a few hours immediately followed by going home for comfy Juicy's, hot tea and cranking the heat.

Yesterday we had our Tuesday playgroup over for some hot cider and cookies... it was a tight squeeze but the babies had fun running around for an afternoon together.

Francie and Asher were hiding out in Francie's room

This morning Francie was trying to convince Ollie he wasn't supposed to be on the bed... but she got little sidetracked having too much fun snuggling up to him (she certainly didn't get this love of animals from her mom!)

Sliding off the bed... "Weeee!"

Being silly in her winter dress before our lunch date

"See ya Mom."

Her latest attempt at a "Cheese!" for the camera ;)

Twirling for me to show off her dress and the biggest bow I could find (thanks Le Cirque :)

I love these ruffle-bum-tights :) and her new trick is turning OFF all the lights in the house... a few more glasses of milk before she can reach the ON level

We had lunch with Alexis and James and then walked around downtown Palo Alto

we hit the Apple store...

and the bookstore

James and Alexis hanging out in Border's kids section

"So many choices I don't know where to start."

She managed to find her favorite Doggies book in the shelves. She calls it "nnn nnn nnn" after Doggie # 3

"You don't expect me to give this thing up do you?"

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas

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We've got the tree trimmed, the lights up and at least a few gifts wrapped... we're almost ready for Christmas! Heff was just saying he underestimated how much fun Francie would have with all of the preparations and decorations for the holidays. She says "KRIS!" when she see decorations and "Ho-ho" for anything related to Santa (or old men with beards ;) We had a fun weekend filled with Christmas Cheer...

When we were little we had a swiss au-pair, Moni, who made us each a little advent calendar to hang from our doorways with a wrapped little toy or candy to open each day. We've carried on the tradition and usually make a version of the calendar for someone we know every year. I made this "re-usable" calendar with little santa bags a few years ago for my nieces Ellie and Kate, they brought it back for Francie this year. I was a little delayed getting it filled but we're counting down the last "12 Days of Christmas" :)

Francie "helped" make these little advent/12 Days calendars for our neighbors Emma & Owen

and kind of a long story... but I "met" these cute girls Kate, Ella and Claire through our blogs :) They are living in Munich for a few years and their Mom, Kerri has mutual friends who told her about our blog, she emailed me once for some tips on Squarespace blogging and we've become "internet friends"! and yes, our husbands think we are crazy. :) So they sent us a great harness for Francie's pram all the way from Germany... we wanted to return the favor so I made them a little advent calendar too. We hope to REALLY meet these cute girls on their Christmas visit to the Bay Area next week!! I feel like we know them already... they are so cute!

We put Francie's on the mantle... she already knows right where to go every morning to open up a present

And to really get us in the Holiday Spirit, we delivered our Adopt-A-Family gifts bright and early Saturday morning. We had two families and picked up Jannie's family gifts for her too, they all had babies or little ones so it was some fun shopping and even better to meet the very deserving families.

Saturday night we had my parents over for dinner and Francie got to open her first present off the advent calendar

Uh-oh! A naked baby running around the house ;0

Nothing better than a that cute little baby butt and chubby legs!

Getting ready for mass Sunday morning...

Mom and Francie bundled up

"I just gotta watch my Fancy Francie video one more time mom." (or as she calls it "No-no!")

Francie caught trying to sneak a present... "Who saw me do it?"

Willows Dad's Caroling Night

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Friday night was the big Willows Dad's Group Christmas Caroling Expedition... or boondangle or disaster or whatever you want to call it :) They started at the local preschool with a wagon full of beer and egg nog and made their way through they neighborhood with a song list and guitar accompaniment. It was a pretty impressive turnout of at least 20 dads and they actually sang (I guess most would after enough alcohol:) Francie greeted them on the porch and danced while they sang then asked for "more please!" They moved on but made their way back to our house around 10:30 for the finale with Adam Sandler's Hanukkah Song and continued the party in our backyard. I made them muffins but they devoured them and ordered two large pizzas and made a last minute trip to Willows Market before it closed when they ran out of beer. Rumor has it a few of the dad's had a little trouble getting out of bed the next day :)

Francie just hanging out with the guys... late night pizza and beer, ummmmm.

The empties as evidence the next morning :)

The Moral of The Story

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Francie's favorite book lately is "The Little Red Hen." It's pretty much the only non-board book she will let you read to her cover to cover and the only one she will flip through page by page by herself. Dad says she is a budding anti-socialist ;)

"Ahh there you are my favorite little book."

"Dad read this one again please"

"Hey, this hen-hen looks a lot like my chick-chicks"

"I'll just read the story again by myself if my parents are too busy taking blog pictures and reading about The Great Alaskan Hunt" (can you guess which parent was occupied with what?:)

"That's right hen-hen, you don't need their help! Especially not that yucky cat..."

"Wait, I forget what happens next... I can't turn the pages fast enough"

"Can you believe they actually wanted to eat the bread when they didn't even help?"

"Good job Little Red Hen. You didn't need the silly Goose, Duck, Cat or Pig to sow, plow, harvest and bake that grain of wheat!"

But even better than a book with a good moral to it... it doesn't get much better than Francie and Heff both asleep on my lap at the end of the night! (sorry about all the sleeping pictures Heff, my camera was sitting right next to me, I couldn't resist holding it over my head and shooting you and Francie sleeping like babies!)

Christmas "Yights!"

/

Thursday night we lit up the house with Christmas lights finally! Francie loves driving through the neighborhood looking at the "yights" and was in heaven when she saw them lit up on her house. It was soo cold this weekend we hurried inside when we were done but she kept standing against the window with her nose on the glass to "yook!" at the lights. Heff wanted colored lights on the house (I voted for white but he won when he reminded me how much more fun colored would be for Francie... and OH do they blink, 16 different ways;) We got the tree in the house and set up but opted for vegging on the couch with Francie and laptops and put off lights and decorations for one more night, that post to follow. We're in the Christmas Spirit now!

"So you say our house will look as cool the neighbors Dad?"

Emma and Chrissie came over to check out the progress... Feel free to make fun of my outfit Baby Ann, Francie said "ho-ho" and called me Santa. ouch.

All lit up

Spooky Francie with her MagLite (which she calls the "Chick-chick" since she associates it with going out at night with dad to 'tuck the chickens in':)

"Let me outta here Mom!"

We brought the tree in after we did the lights... it left a trail of pine needles on the floor of course and Francie did not like the mess on her floor. She walked all over the needles saying "Hay?!" like the alfalfa all over Oma's barn!