Red Bluff Christmas 2010

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We had a blast in The Bluff for four days celebrating Christmas and Oma & Nana's birthday this year. It's CRAZY how fast kids are multiplying up there! Oma is already planning a remodel for a bunk room- we're busting at the seams but we love it. We simplified gift giving this year to one gift per family and the kids weren't so overwhelmed (nor were the gift givers) We had lots of delicious meals and tons of fun hanging out together with the whole crowd.

Francie says "You're pretty tough Dad" out in shorts and a t-shirt in coooold weather to give 4-wheeler rides

there were four kids hiding behind him

they're off to the barn

Maisie wanted to ride on the "seee-ing" all day if she could

Looking for the horses

we had to force the kids inside to come eat- Maisie had blue lips :)

Maisie has gotten over her fear of the horses. She pats her bum and says "wide?" Uncle Donald doubled her up for a ride. Pretty happy little girl!

Maggie grabbed Maisie every chance she got

Oliver's turn!

Daddy and Opa hanging out by the truck

Thomas- not a fan!

Francie kicked Uncle Donald off for a chance to ride like a big girl

Little Stinkers

Anne with a flock around her for a story before dinner

My silly Maise pushed this chair up to sit next to me and drink her milk- little milk chin but gotta love that "cheeeeese!" smile :)

Maggie and Maisie lounging around (Oma converted the screen porch to an outdoor hanging out room with covers on the windows and a little space heater- it was great and we needed every inch!

Oliver is such a good baby- just goes with the flow

Lots of dress up and princess play upstairs

and a movie and popcorn treat- think Izza was worn out?!

Oma got the whole crowd matching doggie PJ's!

The birthday twins with all of their grandkids

silly faces

Donald and Bill cutting the rib eyes (the mongo sized Prime Rib just wasn't cooking in the rainy wind storm on the BBQ!)

ain't no stopping Heff! The wind was so crazy it blew screens off the new porch and kept us inside all day (no complaints here)

Everybody got to help blow out candles for Oma and Nana



Happy Birthday at the triple table

after dinner entertainment, watching Ducky play Angry Birds

oh the brotherly love… and the 19 feet 9 inches of it on one couch

parts 2 and 3 coming next!...

The Hunters

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Brian, Doug and Donald (both of Heff's brothers-in-law) had planned a big bow hunting trip to New Mexico the first week of this year. It turns out this week also had crazy record low temps and it was negative 28 degrees outside in the daytime! The couldn't really camp as they planned in the fresh snow and freezing temps and had adventures every night trying to find a hotel room to sleep. Sounded nothing but miserable to Kat and I as we got text and satellite phone updates but they were all smiles and even though no deer were to be had they loved the trip!

This was their NYE night in Truth or Consequences, NM. Heff texted me this photo- Kat and I joked they were like the first half of a bad joke… "A lawyer, a doctor and a cattle rancher walk into a bar…"

Planning out their route in a point.five star hotel room

Donald making cup-o-soup in the microwave for dinner (and the camera is blurry since it was in the back of the truck FROZEN!)

Happy Husband

Setting out in their rental truck packed with gear

This was the hotel they stumbled on one night- the only one for 130 miles. You had to use the phone on the wall (see the cord going under the door?!) to get someone to help you!

Turns out all four rooms in the hotel were booked and the only other hotel in town had burned down or something but the nice lady on the other end of the phone offered this "honeymoon suite" for half price since it didn't have running water after the pipes froze and burst. WOW.

Can't say I wish I was sharing that particular honeymoon suite with you Heff!

They left fancy pastries for breakfast and got the water turned back on late that night but were instructed to leave the water running all night so the pipes wouldn't burst again!

leaving the middle-of-nowhere New Mexico hotel room in their powder trail

Scanning for deer

I'm so proud of my husband for taking pictures of the trip as I clearly instructed! (even got him a waterproof case thing for Christmas as a hint :)

Home Sweet Home Wednesday morning! We missed you Dads!!

Lots of Fun with Ellie, Kat & Oliver

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We've been on a staycation with Aunt Kat, Oliver and Cousin Ellie (having so much fun I haven't even had time to blog all the Red Bluff Christmas pictures!) Our husbands were on a hunting trip to New Mexico together (Brian, Donald and Ellie's Dad Doug) for six days and just got back this morning. Kat was going to come hang out with me while they were gone and we thought it would be a fun trip for Ellie to sneak away on too- boy were we lucky to have her, she's the best seven year old nanny around! Kat and I have been joking we look like "Sister Wives"- going everywhere together with four kids to load and unload from the Suburban and my pregnant belly in tow :)

every morning when Maisie woke up she asked "Ahh-ver?!" and ran to find him, then asked Kat "Hold? Hold?" She loooooves this baby. Let's hope as much as her next sibling!

We had a wild and crazy time ringing in the New Year ;)

Shirley Temples to toast 2011 (at least the NYC ball drop 2011)

We went over to Jannie and Grampa's for some New Year's Day ham sandwiches and Jannie had all three girls upstairs with her- she gave them a can of shaving cream and told them they could "paint the mirrors"! Crazy spoiling grandmother!! :)

WOW. I came just in time to clean it all up

Action shot of Ellie zooming the girls around the backyard (Jannie and Grampa watched all three girls while Kat and I ran to TJ Maxx HomeGoods, our fav)

We did LOTS of projects, coloring, science experiments and crafts! Here are Ellie and Francie putting together and painting the birdhouse kit Francie got for Christmas from Oma

and we did a make-over to Francie's room- bringing in the play kitchen and setting her trundle up as a reading nook. Ellie was super helpful of course

The "Farmers Market" right in Francie's room- they were taking special orders all day

even has cafe seating

decorating cupcakes they made with Aunt Kat

and a "we'll see if this works" rock candy making project ABA sent us (we were only so lucky to steal Ellie for a week since she homeschools so we had to work in some lessons!)

Pinkberry at the Mall!

A stop by Brilliant Babies to check in

and lots of snuggly sleepover time- watching Toy Story here with their PillowPals :)

and the sun finally came out for some creek stomping!

off to explore

Poor Oliver and his doting nursemaids… the big girls all decided they should check Oliver for a fever.

He sure is a good sport.

Oliver is about as big as Maisie- except those big FEET! (she is already in size 9 shoes) but they wear the same size diapers!!

What a cutie - fun to have a baby in the house - thanks for all the fun Kat, it was a great week!

and thanks for all the help Ellie! (I sent Ellie home with a pile of cashmere/dry clean only sweaters that were too small or had gone through the wash and seriously shrunk- her mom is going to love me for sending high maintenance hand me downs;)

Cavalia!

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Monday Night Kat and I took all the kids to see Cavalia in the city. We really wanted to take Ellie and Kate when they were here in December but there weren't any shows the nights they were here. I heard they extended the show for two nights this week so we got tickets and trekked up to SF for the night! It was an 8pm show and we took them out to dinner beforehand- the kids were all SO good… the girls were captivated the entire 2+ hours and Oliver was such a champ he never made a peep! We had great seats and the girls can't stop talking about the amazing horses and dancers.

Ellie, Kat and Oliver at dinner at MoMo's before the show

Maisie and I in the booth

Dinner for Six

Cousin LOVE

at Cavalia ready for the big show!

Oliver is beside himself he's so excited

blurry iPhone pics in the seats

Ready for the horses!

Me and the girls

3rd row!

You can't really tell but Maisie was hugging and squeezing Oliver and pointing out the horses to him

Maisie sitting on Francie's lap (she reminded me Maisie couldn't sit in a real seat since she is a "lap baby")

What a great show- the kids were awesome!

and I couldn't resist the over-priced horsey souvenirs for the girls :)

Christmas Day

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We had our first Christmas morning in our new house and it was a great day hunkered down at home opening gifts, playing with the presents, cooking and hanging out with my family. It was a great Christmas- we fell so lucky to be making memories with our girls!

Opening presents

"new" bike! Heff was a good sport when I bought a bunch of stuff from an online tag sale from a blog I read in SF… we had to drive up and pick the stuff up, mostly for work but I couldn't pass up this vintage bike

as requested by Francie for the last two months "matching PJ's for me and my American Girl Natalie Emily"

new books!

and opening the gifts they got for each other at REI on a trip with Dad. Francie picked out a little birdie for Maisie and Maisie picked a pink headlamp for her sister

Then Christmas afternoon my family all came over to exchange presents and have a big Prime Rib dinner… we all exchanged "stocking stuffer" sized gifts this year, $5 limit and it worked great! Lots of fun stuff

Heff and Pat putting the big old prime rib on a rotisserie for BBQ'ing in the pouring rain - nothing stops my husband from his BBQ :)

ABA making dip- still getting used to the bangs!

Heff still soaking from the rain

happy Maisie

the aftermath

Christmas Dinner

watch out for the nerf gun!

Goodnight Christmas!

Fun Run

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We set out this morning at 8:30am after waking the kids up and bundling up for the Downtown Los Altos Fun Run 5K… we were going to cheer on Aunt Kat! We put little Oliver in the middle of the triple stroller and Ellie and I were double pushing until it started really raining and we did a u-turn for home. Donuts and the Rose Bowl Parade by the fire was just as good as far as we were concerned!

Ellie seems to think they should re-name this thing something other than "Fun Run" :)

Christmas Eve

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Finally posting all of the Christmas Eve madness after the Mr Jerry Christmas (he was the winner for the second year in a row) contest footage- we had a great night with my mom's family Christmas Eve at Jannie and Grampa's house. Always a great tradition with cracked crab, games galore and Santa coming after dinner. My photo documentation was still lacking in quality- but here was the night in review!

The Kreeft Kids- Claire, Drew and Connor in their very festive outfits. Claire made her skirt from a Target tree skirt and glued on "Merry Christmas" as the trim- very impressive Claire :) Connor found his sparkly shirt and won the title of the Croatian Ice Dancing Star. Drew was looking very handsome.

Emmy B and Mr Jerry Christmas (the godparents :)

Francie with Luke and James ~ Maisie with Claire and Emmy

Pretty Ella

Maisie Moo the little Christmas Elf (in her size 6 month outfit)

Francie told Jannie "there are PRESENTS under your tree with my name on them!"

SANTA came to play!! (10 year old version of Santa- and my cousin Luke disappeared to take a nap during the same time) Francie was 100% smitten with the "little Santa who came to play with me" and was stuck to his side all night. She never even questioned it and was so sad when he had to go back to the North Pole!

Cute cousins with Santa (love the girls' faces)

The first time Santa has ever sat on Uncle Jerr's lap!

Santa pile up

James and Em with Little Santa

Claire in a recent college grad sandwich (Congrats Em and now Johners!)

Santa Babies

Besties

Mimi and her college kids (Connor is a freshman at Georgetown this year and Claire a junior at BC but going abroad to Africa next semester!)

ABA and Pat- Ann found this black dress up in Jannie's dress up closet- she thinks it belonged to great aunt kay or margaret!

Maisie showing off her photography skills- notice Mr Jerry Christmas and his alterations to the sign behind them

We are all very thankful for another Merry Christmas!

Noodle fun at the kids tables

After Cracked Crab dinner Jannie started a new tradition… "Box or No Box." The youngest person started and picked a door to find either Hershey's kisses, a pick a prize ticket or CASH :)

Luke picked the grand prize $50!

Ella got the next best - $20

Then we heard some hoofs on the roof- everybody upstairs while Santa comes!!

Too cool for school crowd hiding in ABA's old room during the Santa waiting…

SANTA has left the building…

Then present exchange - everyone drew a name. Kim had Maisie and Ella made her the cutest Fluffy Dog from build-a-bear with a dress that matched Ella's! Maisie Looooooooved it.

Twinsies!

Then time for the Big Swap. This year's theme was a "re-gift" but the catch was if it was lame you gave it back to the gifter to take home as their prize :)

"HA! These people are all crazy!"

and then Christmas Contest Time- thanks to our judges for staying awake until midnight for the big competition!

They took their jobs very seriously

awww family love

Behind the scenes- I think this was when Drew made Jerry download "You Can't Touch This" for his act

Francie doing rounds with her new trailer on the the trike and new Jessie doll "riding upside down" in front of her… hold on Jessie!

Uncle Jerry was Emcee and Jannie had to get the hook out for her other brother John who kept tap dancing his antlered way on stage

That's just what big sisters do!

Brian had been up since 4:30am with a puker Maisie (so was I but at least got a nap) so he was a trooper staying up and still smiling into the wee hours of family comedy

ABA changed her outfit even before the awards ceremony

Spectators

Lots of laughs at the favors from the final act

Closing ceremonies… Francie and her buddies

Santa must have had a long night delivering presents after all this craziness!

Christmas in The City

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We went up to San Francisco the two nights before Christmas for our annual family tradition getaway. As Francie says "It was just OUR family the first night then ALL our family the second night!" We had a fun night in Wednesday- Brian took the girls swimming and hot tubbing and we let them watch a movie on the hotel DVR. Thursday though I woke up sick with a flu bug- no fun! But Heff kept the girls entertained - two morning excursions on the cable cars- and we made the most of it. Thursday night was the big family dinner at Sam's- always crazy!! Heff took the girls early to Uncle Jerry's hotel room for the pre-party while I took a nap and then met them out for dinner feeling better. Then the last morning Brian took the girls for another early cable car ride and Grampa was waiting at the top of the hill for his favorite granddaughters and his favorite tradition :) All in all it's always a good pre-party for Christmas!

Lollipops and Christmas movies.. not a bad night

Maisie's pretty happy about it

Sick mom and snaggletooth

Chicken Legs says "CHEEEESE!"

bath time

Dad trying to make the girls laugh on their way to Sam's for dinner

I wonder what he was doing to make them laugh?? ;)

Our favorite Shigo-hand-me-down coats but on the wrong girls- a pretty good sign I was SICK!

Maisie's "Room"

My pictures are lacking since I was feeling so crappy but here are the collection of iPhone pics- the best I could do!

free beers and free cookies = happy husband and happy kids

Francie and her Bestie Shirley

love for Daddy

Hotel swimming!!

after bath… love the look Maise

Francie smiling for once

SAM's Dinner….

piling in to Sam's from the rain

dinner table for 28

Jannie at the kids table

family photo :)

Lip gloss!!

and more lip gloss from Janni'e purse

ABA and Pat (Maisie is still sacred of ABA in her new bangs :)

So many funny faces

Dad's giving rides after Sam's

Double Decker! (I fixed Maisie's jacket after this :)