Mark & Sarah's Wedding Ceremony (Saturday)

/

Saturday morning we had a big breakfast and the crowd dispersed for beach walks/runs/hikes/naps during the day. I heard someone ask Sarah when the ceremony was going to be and she said "Whenever people get back from the hike." Talk about an easy bride :) The whole group stayed in three houses for the weekend. The Heffernans were in the big/main house where we did all the meals but the ceremony was on the beach at the Cahill (Claire's twin sisters family's) house on the water. It was beautiful and the sun came out right as we all convened on the sand.

Dad dressed up with the Doodle

Aunt Kat pushing precious cargo... Champagne for the wedding toast!

Jackie looking pretty by our favorite fish doors

Everybody walking over to the beach house for the wedding (we must have looked a little silly all dressed up:)

Heff (still coming up with his toast?:) with Francie at the beach house

Everybody heading out to the sand...

The girls (Maggie and Ellie) lead the way...

Everyone waiting for the bride and groom!

"I think I see Aunt Sarah coming!"

Kat and Donald

Sarah's parents Nora and Bill waiting for their only daughter to tie the knot

Here Comes The Bride! And Groom!

Bill Cahill (Heff's cousin) preformed the ceremony and read vows Mark & Sarah wrote...

with a little of his own humor thrown in :)

The sun came out and the weather was perfect for the ceremony

Mark was a dashing groom and Sarah looked beautiful (as always)

The Teters

Time for the rings...

And the Kiss!

The kids find more interest in the sand

Pronounced man and wife. Congratulations Mark and Sarah!

Family photo on the sand dunes

and time for some bubbly!

Heff started the toasts... he included an Irish blessing he said was one of his favorites that I had never heard and thought was very appropriate, "May you live as long as you want and not want as long as you live."

Cheers! (Francie got a little upset at all the clapping:)

Mark and Sarah are all smiles

Isabel checking out the kite surfers

Sarah's brother Dan gave another really nice toast to his sister and Mark

As did most of the siblings and Sarah's Mom

"That was the easiest wedding I've ever been to! Why'd you make me go to all those long ones Mom and Dad?!"

Andrea took over the camera for awhile until it hurt her wrists to carry the thing around:)

The happy couple

Mark gave a nice toast to his bride...

And Sarah to her groom and the whole family

We're all very happy for them!

Fun with champagne bottles

Nothing like Saltwater Sandals on the beach

One baby down for the count

Sippy cups and champagne bottles in Uncle Craig's hands

Proud Daddy

Craig and Andrea

Ready to party!

Ellie (as the oldest Heffernan granddaughter, we have a lot in common;) was the first one out and the last one in.

I forgot my green dress ;) The girls in green... Maureen, Andrea and Katherine

All the gals

And the guys

Mom with Francie

The Teter Family

The Cahill Family

and the Heffernan flock

We all love you Mark & Sarah!

... more celebration reception pics to come!

Mark & Sarah's Wedding Weekend (Friday)

/

This weekend we were up in Stinson Beach with all the Heffernans and the Teters (Sarah's family) for Mark and Sarah's long awaited wedding! Mark is Brian's younger brother (number 2 of 5) and he and Sarah have been dating for 8 years. They met on a kayaking trip to Baja California and have lived in Davis most of the 8 years while Mark was finishing his PhD at UC Davis and Sarah worked at bio-tech firm. The moved to Menlo Park (across the street from my parents!) last year when Mark finally graduated from his PhD program and got a job at Google. We love seeing so much of them and enjoying their gourmet cooking. Their wedding was very mellow... just family so 24 adults and 7 kids, and we all had a relaxing time with family and to celebrate Mark and Sarah's big day!

The girls in their shirts Mark & Sarah bought everyone for the Mexican Fiesta Friday night. Sarah, (bride!), Margaret (Heff's cousin), Andrea (Craig's wife), Katherine (youngest sister/twin) and Anne (cousin, married to Bill)

Oma and Francie-pants getting the house set up when we arrived

Kate and Ellie immediately found the spa (the kids spent so much time in the hot tub, it was a little green and yellow and stinkty by the time we left the house:)

Everyone pitched in to set-up, cook, entertain and make this a family event... Sarah's Dad Bill and her brother Jacob set up the main dining room table.

Francie loved the ride-on toy the babies were all fighting over all weekend!

Craig (youngest Heffernan brother/Katherine's twin for those who need a family member refresher:) and Isabel taking videos

Oma and Megan (Sarah's sister-in-law who is due with her first baby Sept 8!) busy in the kitchen

Aly (aka Alistair, 2 yrs) with his mom Anne and Maureen (Heff's sister) due with number 3 Sept 18) with Francie. LOTS of babies around here!!

Even Francie got her own shirt from Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah to wear Friday night!

Donald (Katherine's boyfriend) making a HUGE bowl of guacamole (after he gave a little out to the baby moms to feed the little ones first:)

"UM-UM. Auntie Maureen is feeding my blueberries!"

Andrea (Craig's wife) and Jackie (Jackie is a sophomore at Santa Clara, she was Claire Heffernan's student in 5th grade and now lives at the Heffernan's when she isn't in school.)

Dan (Sarah's younger brother) helping out

Jacob (Sarah's youngest brother) making drinks

Father-of-the-groom OPA (Tom) supervising the troops

Mark and Sarah being good sports posing for pictures for me :)

Sarah and her Dad Bill... the father-of-the-bride!

Lots of cooks in the kitchen!

The Mothers... Sarah's mom Nora with Claire

The Dad's and the babies... Heff with Francie and Craig with Isabel (10 months this week)

What's so funny?!

Kat and Donald playing some ladder golf (it was a little overcast Friday evening but made for a dramatic background with the fog!)

The stressed out groom

Dan and Megan

Our little family :)

Jacob and Bill played bartenders for the weekend... they made some mean drinks.

All the kids LOVE Mark and Sarah who spent a lot of their wedding weekend on the floor entertaining them

This is as close as we came to a picture of the three babies all weekend

Most shots looked more like this... they are all crawling machines

The big girls were a little more cooperative. Maggie, Ellie and Kate.

Mary-everything-goes-in-my-mouth-Frances

She caught on quick... unless she learned to crawl AND carry the toy it would be quickly stolen away by another baby!

A group photo! As Mark called them the "Heffer-Teters"

Bride and Groom with their parents

Sarah playing ladder golf with the kids

And the babies take over...

Francie and her mom

Heff checking out the girls and their art projects

Tom, Heff and Francie hanging out before dinner is served

almost ready for a home-made Mexican Feast!

The Twins... Cathleen and Claire

Check out that bar! (and remember this was for 24 adults and 2 nights)

Coordinating Craig Heffernans

Anne and Aly

Brian and Francie

"I'm turning 3 tomorrow!" Kate

We brought the tables from the patio inside to seat everyone for dinners...

Plates are cleared.. ready for dessert!

BBQ at the Beldings

/

Monday night we went down to Aptos for a BBQ at Aunt Kathy and Uncle Rich's house. Emmy has been staying at my parents house since she got recruited to play soccer at San Jose State and has 6am practices! Kaky and Rich threw a "thank you" party for my parents for helping out and for my dad driving Em to San Jose on his way to work in the mornings. It was also my Dad's birthday May 24 so we've been celebrating all weekend :) We had fun playing Ladder Golf in their backyard... this family is not at all competitive ;) It was fun to see all the aunts, uncles and cousins!

Emmy and the Johnets

Everybody watching the "Ladder Golf" Tournament

This might be our new favorite game

James and Em taking a break from the game to play with Francie-pants

Emmy and Francie eating some Cheerio's

Em makes it in the finals!

James and Jerry (yup, those are my brothers Paige & Icie)

Uncle Jerry kept score for hours AND donated the 100 bucks to the prize pot in true Grandpa Jim style :)

The twins! Cousin Emmy and Johners with Francie

"Dad! Why can't I have a turn!?"

Baby Ann and Aunt Kat in blue

Happy Birthday Dad/Uncle John/Grandpa!

The girls... Kat, Ann, K-Bac, Jan, Kaky and Mimi

It gets a little chilly when the sun goes down at the beach... cute matching outfits James and Em ;)

The final-final five

Oh cousins..

Francie asleep on Dad after a full day of parties

Alexa's 2nd Birthday Party

/

Memorial Day Monday we went to our neighbor's across the street for their daughter Alexa's second birthday party. They had a HUGE bounce house in the front yard with a slide so big the adults ended up a little injured :) Francie wore a party dress and tried to hold her own with the big kids.

Alexa the Birthday Girl!

Francie and Dad

Francie "Babysitting" Baby Adam on the grass

Francie started out in the little bounce house and thought it was pretty fun... Emma came in to join her the unconventional way :)

"How do you make this thing go?"

Miles took Francie for her first trip down the slide! Looking like she's not so sure about this...

Getting ready to go...

WEEEEEEE!

Taking a break with Dad

Mom's turn!

She loved it... good thing she isn't old enough to say "again... again... one more time!" or I never would have finished my first beer :)

Willows Neighborhood Cocktail Party

/

Saturday night was our neighborhood "Moms and Babes" cocktail party at our house. We had 12 moms in the neighborhood on the committee to plan the event and since we were hosting we didn't have to do all that much... it was an easy way to throw a party! It was a "Caribbean" themed night and we had almost 40 couples come for lots of rum punch, wine, champagne, beer and good food. We all made appetizers that went with the theme and has pulled-pork sliders, fish cakes, blue corn and coconut muffins (thanks Baby Ann for making my assignment for me!) and lots of other tasty stuff.

The Caribbean Bar

Auntie Baby Ann came over to help with Francie while we got the yard ready with the other moms and dads who helped out. She agreed to babysitting duty Saturday night (even though I asked her thinking Jannie would be around to help, but turns out my parents were at a wedding all night!) Baby Ann is proud to say she has NEVER changed a diaper (yeah for the Child Development major) but she did a great job with Francie-pants at my parents house with Ollie, our annoying dog, too.

We had lots of brightly colored decorations and flowers (Jannie said it looked a little like a set up for a prom;)

Sandra at the dessert table

Check in with your date. If anyone knows the story about Heff's driveway (doing the hardscape in his bachelor days) he has palm fronds and banana trees ETCHED into the entire driveway (apparently that's how Tongan landscapers "fix" cracks in newly laid concrete.) I overheard one of the guests looking at the very appropriate driveway theme and say "WOW. That's permanent."

"How long do you think they'll let me stick around this party before I get sent off with my A.B.A!?"

Getting my last few minutes in with the Doodle before she goes!

Baby Ann whipped up this Coconut Cake for fun and donated it to the cause... little miss Future Homemakers of America.

People started arriving around 7... we made a last minute trip to REI this morning for some rain tents just in case as the weather was not very cooperative this weekend. It ended up not raining during the party but the tents helped a little keep everyone warm. We even had some Steel Drum live music!

Neighbors down the street in both directions... Louis & Jessica, Mike & Gretchen (who both have baby girls around Francie's age!)

Some of the other party planning girls...

and husbands...

The Heffs and the Ryans don't miss a good party!

The New Backyard is Done!

/

Just in time for the neighborhood cocktail party we're hosting tomorrow night... the new backyard landscaping and updating is done. Heff worked SO hard most days after work and last weekend, it looks great. He built a playpit for Francie, a redwood patio outside our room, a chicken coup yard and an outdoor shed for all my overflow of stuff! We got some new outdoor furniture and lots of new plants. Should be ready for summer BBQ-ing and parties!

This "playpit" will probably only contain Francie for another 6 months or so... but we are going to enjoy it while we can! It's so nice to have a place she can crawl around and not get into too much trouble while we can sit and relax. We got outdoor "fake grass" for the floor of the pit, it drains water right through, it is soft enough to play on and it stays pretty clean :)

Dad home after work watching the Doo play on her new artificial turf

The chicken yard

The outdoor furniture and patio

Silly girl making faces! (Can you see my new shed all finished in the background!?)

"Hummm... I can walk if I use this truck."

Francie is looking more like her Daddy!

Crawling on the turf

and playing at the table

I think the Doodle likes her new playpit!

Thursday Night at the Old Pro

/

Thursday night we walked down to the Old Pro in downtown Palo Alto for Icie's husband Bert's birthday bash. Baby Ann just got home from Nashville (yeah!) and joined us for the party... Francie came too of course, Old Pro is one of her favorite hot spots ;) We had lots of beer, fried food and even got a little bull riding' in (and I have the bruises to prove it) Francie slept through most of the night in her stroller under the bar tables. It was a fun evening... Happy Birthday Bert!

Erika and Leo (glad we weren't the only ones with a baby in a bar)

Here comes some bull riding

Sisters Mare and Baby Ann. (some guy came up to hit on Baby Ann in front of Heff... the poor guy didn't stand a chance at anything more than 8 seconds before he crawled away)

Bert on the Bull

Narrowly escaped injury... here with his lovely wife Icie :)

Yes, we went there. Baby Leo on the bull

My turn...

still alive climbing out of the pit

Francie's Hawaiian Playdate

/

Wednesday afternoon we had a playdate at Heather and Carson's house. It was an "Aloha Hawaiian" theme and they hosted with Lindsey and Isaac too. We had yummy Mai Tai's by the kiddie pools! The babies were crawling all over the deck and getting into trouble :) Carson had been sick so Heather had her mom watch him for the playdate, she was awesome to host it anyway without her baby. There were a few new moms who came and we had fun getting the babies together and checking out the new things they are all doing now... they get bigger every time we see them!

Hanging out on the patio with the babies. A new mom joined us with her 5 month old twins Dylan and Nathan who were so cute

Francie and Leo hanging out in the ball-pit pool

Leo is getting ready to do some serious walking!

Yummm...

Francie and Isaac crawling off into the sunset :)

Group shot

Francie got a little mad for this picture... turns out Estelle had a bit of a "leak" problem that ended up all over Francie! It took the moms awhile to figure out whose it was :)

NOT HAPPY!

The little poop issue required a few outfit changes...

We all had fun, thanks Heather!

Busy Day Tuesday

/

Tuesday night we had dinner at the Skidmores with Ann and Jen. They had a cooking class at home in the afternoon so we got to enjoy the fruits (vegetables, chicken and salads) of their labor :) Jen moves back to NYC tomorrow, we will miss having her around so often! Francie LOVED their English Bulldog puppy Randall... it was so cute to see them playing together but also kind of sad since Francie is just getting excited about dogs and Sage is gone. She was giggling like crazy and would throw toys to play fetch with the dog! It was a fun evening.

Look at that tongue!

Randall had a time out outside to calm down after Francie riled him up, but she still wanted to play

"Ohh I like that puppy!"

Just hanging out with Jen...

And got her PJ's on to watch American Idol and snuggle with Ann

We had lunch Tuesday with a friend from junior high who I ran into recently and has a baby the same age as Francie! Kyla and I went to 6th-8th grade together but her husband Shaun and I went to Kindergarten-5th grade and then high school together! Hudson, their baby, is so cute and Francie had fun eating puffs and laughing with him while Kyla and I had lunch at Empire Tap Room in downtown Palo Alto.

You know your 8 month old is too big for the bassinet when...

You can see her tooth!

Silly babies

Hudson

At home we helped Dad finish up the planting in the backyard and building the shed... Francie didn't want to get her shoes dirty and mostly watched.

She thinks everything is funny these days

Her playpit is mostly done! We're just trying to figure out what to put on the floor of the pit...

And the chicken cage is pretty much Ollie/raccoon proof after some work (Thanks Heff:)

Ode to Sage

/

After 11.5 years
14 ruined carpets
2 destroyed couches
65 pounds of Tri-tip
12 sticks of butter
1 dead duck
3 whole roasted chickens
25 stolen sandwhiches
32 freshly-baked cookies
and 15 disposable diapers...

Sage has gone to doggie-heaven :(

He was in bad shape last night and we took him to the vet early this morning. They did some x-rays and blood work and he had a huge mass occupying half the space in his abdomen so his intestines were all pushed over to one side. Miraculously, he didn't have any diapers in his system (which we thought was the problem.) His blood work showed low counts where they were supposed to be high and high counts where hey were supposed to be low. He had a 104 degree temperature, labored breathing and a rapid heart rate. Brian made the decision it was time to say goodbye to Sage. It was a sad day (even I admit it) but we spent some time with him while Francie was laughing and pounding on his head, evoking a little tail wagging, and told him he'd been a good dog to Brian and our family. I think everyone will always remember SAGE!

Sage we'll think of you often. We'll think of you....

... when we sleep through the night for 8 uninterrupted hours, missing those quality 5-10 times we didn't get up to let you out to go potty or to get Ollie out of the fought over bigger dog bed.

... when we sit in peace after finishing dinner wondering why we don't hear the incesstant barking that usually followed putting a fork down

... when we sit on the couch without having to get up to let you out, then let you in, then let you out again a few minutes later scratching the newly painted door all the while

... when we eat a Hacienda burrito without your wet nose in our lap whining for meat

... when I no longer have that satisfying feeling of vacuuming up a daily canister full of your dog hair in every corner and crevice of the house

... when we can actually leave the room while a hot dinner is sitting on the counter or the table and not worry about every last morsel being devoured in a single swoop

... when we walk on the hardwood floor and don't slip on your dribble

... when you wake up the baby barking because you need help walking when your back legs fell asleep from being sedentary for too long

... when you wake me up loudly gnawing on your feet and grumbling about your ears

... when we come home and the garbage can is still upright and the diaper pail contents are not spread all over the floor so we have nothing at all to clean up after

Francie sure did love this dog, just like her Daddy ;)

And I admit we'll also miss Sage for...

... the shoes and pillows you brought to the door to greet us when we got home everyday

... your company while you followed us around in the house and in the yard

... your constantly wagging tail

... your faithfulness to your dad and your family

Sage was very tolerant of Francie's pounding, crawling and squealing

I never thought I would say this but.... I'll miss you Sage!!

No more fighting over the bog dog bed... there is only one bad dog left

Leave a comment with your favorite, infamous, worst-dog-ever Sage stories...

Francie Runs the Bay to Breakers!

/

On Sunday we woke up bright and early to head up to San Francisco to walk the Bay to Breakers with our neighbors the Ewers. The Bay to Breakers is a famous 10K in San Francisco that close to 75,000 people participate in.. there are some "real" runners in it but the majority of the people are dressed up in theme, wearing funny costumes, or buck-naked (oh, except for the running shoes!) It was entertaining to say the least. We planned to take the train up in the morning and have someone pick us up after the race in the city (did I mention LOTS of alcohol is also involved?) So even after a late night with the playgroup girls we were up and at the train station by 6:40. Damn CalTrain. The train finally came 30 minutes late and whizzed right by us! Appearantly it was FULL, but they didn't even bother to tell us and there wasn't another train for awhile so we just drove up finally.

Waiting at the Menlo Park train station at 6:45am for that elusive train

The Ewers: Sandra, Ben and Baby Alexa at the train station

Ben and Heff with their baby girls

Pit stop at Whole Foods for some beer

Paper or plastic?

Look at all those crazy people!

The theme for our group (Ben's co-workers) was "Mani-Pedi Spa" as Ben does accident re-construction and his office had an old spa pedicure chair left over from some lady who died after contracting some disease in a spa chair! They re-rigged this thing with wheels and a keg on the back so that the beer flowed freely from the hose on the foot bath! Here is Alexa riding in style:

Dad ready for his pedicure (I know I was after walking almost 10 miles!)

Just one of the MANY naked asses Francie saw

Heff carried Francie in the backpack (thanks Yellow House girls!) the whole way. She was a trooper

Look at ALL THOSE PEOPLE behind us! It was craziness

"What have you gotten me into this time?"

We saw our friend Jen Goldstein along the way... kind of amazing in this many people but Jen doesn't miss a good party :)

Sleepy-do by the time we got to the top of the hill

We'll have to make this a tradition!

Saturday Work and Playgroup Progressive

/

Saturday was a busy day with the neighborhood garage sale on our street. I put out a few things but tried to help Heff sweating it our in the backyard building the shed and finishing the last of the backyard improvements. Francie and I hung out with Emma (7) and Owen (4) from next door and had a taste testing contest for the Lemonade Stands... Owen was a pretty good salesman in the garage sale department and sold a kid about his age a few of his old bathtub boats. After selling the kid on them and how much fun they were, taking his money and waving goodbye he said, "Thanks OK! I didn't want them anyway because they sink!" Nice work Owen. After a quick Home Depot run we caught up with Paige, Erika and Icie for some baby playing. We are so lucky to have friends with babies the same age who live so close! We ended up doing an impromptu BBQ at our house after cocktails and pre-party at Paige and Chris's place just a block away.

Heff worked on the new shed with a little help from his sidekick

We tried to keep her drinking lots of water in this heat

It's much more fun to play under the exersaucer

Paige and Wes with Icie and Estelle... hanging out poolside for the pre-party "Playgroup Progressive"

Wesley showing an uncanny resemblance to Francie's doll (my old doll!) and yes we know, the doll is a little creepy but you are just cute with those eyes Wes!

Getting them all to sit still has become an impossible task... at least Estelle is waving hello, or maybe "bonjior"

We moved the party to our house for BBQ Tri-tip... the kids ate puffs off the ground

Francie says "MOM. I don't know which is worse... the fact that you sprinkled snacks on the ground for us to eat or the fact you showed your friends how Beth Carter taught you to stick puffs to our foreheads" (they will stay there for hours)

Mmmmmm. Puffs.

Paige got in big trouble from her hubby for this one!

Sorry Chris... I encouraged her :)

Erika and Josh (Josh was a good sport... he leaves at 5:45am tomorrow for Panama!)

Heff's hard work in the background... the shed is close to being done!

The moms: Erika and Leo, Mary and Francie, Icieand Estelle, Paige and Wesley

Poolside Playdate

/

It's HOT here!! The kind of record breaking heat where the newscasters are reminding you to take care of your pets (humm... maybe?? just kidding) So we had a record day of play dates/groups/lunch/etc. We went to a new Music Together class at 10:30 this morning at Holbrook-Palmer park that Francie loved. She woke up early to go to the dirt store with her dad for some more flagstone for the backyard and after no napping she was pretty tired by 10:30am and I thought about not going but she powered through it and loved the music and songs and seeing all the big kids running around like crazy. Then we had lunch with Kelli and Landry before we went to Baby Sign Playgroup at DayOne at 1:00pm. It was almost 100 degrees out when we finished class. HOT. We went to Icie's pool to swim and hang out with Francie's buddies Estelle and Wesley.

Champagne and Baby Bottles are always a good combination right?

Francie crawling away from the camera and Estelle chewing on her sunglasses (better than nuggets huh Icie?) PS... I am mourning. My camera is broken. I got a "fatel error 99" message and it has to go back to Canon for servicing. Maybe why Francie has time to escape the shutter on my not-as-quick-to-snap digital cam here. May be bad news for the blog.

Estelle's Swim-daiper Wedgie

Tickle-tickle

OUCH. Francie pinching Wes' belly! You'll get her back one day Wesley.

Cute Wes always taking it from these girls

Aww... Callie standing guard over the babes

Losing their attention...

Francie's First Peninsula School Spring Fair

/

These pictures were from a week and a half ago but I had to throw them up on the blog. Peninsula School in Menlo Oaks throws a Spring Fair every year that used to be the highlight of the year for the neighborhood kids. It's a little different now.... when you are grown-up and no longer own a tie-dyed t-shirt, the thought of eating raw honeycomb only makes you think of the possibility of botulism for your infant, watching adults dance to the hippie-groovin' live music is not just awkward you actually wonder how many of them are high and you don't have stashes of identical tickets left over from 'Mary's Summer Fun Camp' to burn on making homemade buttons, clay pinch-pots and riding the zip line.

Still, Jannie and I ventured over for a trip down memory lane (don't worry.... not THAT kind of trip:)

Ice cream anyone? err... accident waiting to happen anyone?

Oh wait... did I think that last picture was an accident waiting to happen? No I meant THIS one. (Seriously that kid is like 6 and they are throwing him off the fire escape on a zip line.) Michael Jackson-esq??

"What is going on around here?"

Francie is getting high just looking at the hippies

But she is doing her darndest to fit in wearing her kinda tie-dyed jumpsuit, purple Uggs and her new knit sweater from Jannie (we love the sweater though Jan!) Prayer Arrows anyone?

Francie, you will never sneak down to this haunted school at midnight with garden tools as protection and do Ouija-Board on the roof deck trying to contact Mrs. Coleman 'the mansion ghost' EVER. (not saying that I ever did this... at least not admiting it)

Francie is so ready to get out of here and back to her Republican roots. And I apologize in advance for anyone I have offended in this post who call themselves hippies or who are associated with Peninsula School. I am kidding mostly :)

Francie's Day at the Beach

/

Wednesday Jannie, Francie and I went down to Aptos to hang out with Gauntie Kaky and Gauntie Mimi and Cousin Emmy at the beach. We stopped at Kaky's first and showed off Francie's latest tricks.... crawling like a mad-baby, pulling up, saying "Da-Da" and giving "High Fives." We all had lunch at Zelda's in Capitola on the beach and then did some baby shopping. Francie is S-P-O-Y-L-E-D (I know it's spelled, wrong it's a long story :) and Kaky bought her a cute cute new tunic top, Mimi bought her a little Wilbur the ig Piggy Bank and Jannie got her these little surfer girl skull and cross bones shoes Shiloh Jolie has too (Well Francie, I guess since we still haven't finished your Shiloh blanket the shoes are the next best thing.

\

Francie-Doodle and Kaky-Doodle (her nickname-namesake!)

Back at home Francie was making the rounds around the house, always ending up at the dog's water bowl...

I don't really see an end in sight to this problem.

"Haha suckers."

Looks like Double-Trouble

"What?"

Emmy bought her these cute Lucky jeans with butterflies on the back pocket(you know the ones that say "Lucky You" on the zipper fly? These ones say "Lucky Me" :) and matching butterfly shirt (even Jannie thought it was cute and she has some strange aversion to butterflies)

"Check out my tush!"

"Just don't make fun of it!"

Loving her Daddy

Francie's New Play Yard

/

Heff just finished construction on our "Play Pit" in the backyard for Francie. It is basically an 8 by 16 foot outdoor playpen :) Complete with rubber flooring, a drain and a bench around the outside for the Moms (and Dads) to sit and drink cocktails while they watch the kids play. Sounds like we're ready for our next playdate huh! We tested it out last night when Uncle Mark, Sarah and Aunt Kat were over for dinner and tonight we threw her in naked (since it was like 80 degrees at 7pm today!) and brought out some water toys I got today in Capitola. She LOVES to splash and has free reign to crawl all over this thing... nice work Heff! (PS... I know that plastic bin full of water is dangerous Dad and it was only temporary until we get a water table. I already dumped it out so you can sleep tonight)

Francie says "Seriously. You guys have to see this new playpit my dad built for me!"

The plants need a few weeks to fill in but this is the as is view of the new play and chicken yard from the side with Aunt Kat and Dad watching the Doodle making tracks

"This Dad I got is a GOOD one!"

The yet-to-be-landscaped Chicken Yard! We moved them outside this week. They are 7 weeks old now and look like real chickens! (Did you know the chickens we eat from the store are usually only 2 months old!?) Ollie is still shaking at the chance to gobble them up.

We put stall mats on the bottom of the play pit and Heff sealed them up with some special tape that will make it all water proof (and it even has a drain at the end so all the water drains out into the street!) The seals are a little slippery as Francie found out the hard way.

No getting out of this one Francie! (ah, so nice not to chase her everywhere)

Last night the Menlo Oaks sibling crowd came over for dinner... Mark and Sarah with Francie

It's going to be a fun summer!