Friday

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Scenes from around the house Friday... Maisie above climbed in Janie's "new" (hand-me-down-thanks-to-the-Farwells) crib we set up. She has yet to sleep in it but we are working on it! I broke down and got the cheapy, plastic baby mobile that projects some images on it or something. It hasn't solved any problems but the big girls think it's cool ;)

and Francie was at Nature Camp this week! Today she insisted on wearing her Minnie Mouse dress from Aunt Kat under her camp shirt and Minnie had to tag along in last year's camp shirt.

Hanging out at home for the afternoon- Double Doll Stroller Trouble

Triple Trouble

I love a baby in a white onesie on a hot summer night, that is until it requires a change 5 minutes later ;)

This was last night. Maisie devoured our appetizers "Slalami and Shhuto" for dinner then woke up at 2am so thirsty she came into our room shouting "Mom! Dad! I need Baa-bee! I shirsty! Need water!" Heff got up with her and had to read books, fell asleep on the couch in their room and then got up at 4:45am and decided to just get up and work. Not a good night thanks to the slalami!!

Nature camp pick up yesterday. Hard to recognize Francie with a ponytail!

Good morning Janie shot.

James and Em Get Hitched

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Saturday was the big wedding day for my brother James and his bride Emily. They were married at 2pm at The Church of the Nativity and then celebrated with a rockin reception at Rosewood Sand Hill. Everything was pink and beautiful! We are very excited to finally have Emily officially a Simonson and had a great night with lots of family and friends.

Ann and I getting ready in the morning

Francie was the photographer - obvis

My big girl

Em taking some pictures with her photographer before the wedding

After an event filled few hours (my brother Jerry almost passed out right before leaving for church and my Dad had to call 911! 10 emergency vehicles at Rosewood later he was ok but dehydrated from the heat, not eating enough food and drinking a Rockstar!)... we took pictures at church, settled the girls for a nap with a babysitter at our hotel room and a swim with Uncle Mark and Clara for Francie at the hotel pool. We arrived at the reception and are ready to relax.

Lucky Lady in between Bammer (my brother and our family's good friend/one of the best men) and Heff

Baby Ann and I in our pinks with my brother and best man Jerry-I'll-never-drink-RockStar-energy-again-Simonson

Must have been feeling those Pinkalicious-tini's out in the hot sun by this point ;)

Ann and Pat looking good

Bethy and Greg- the next couple to go down the isle!

Donald (borrowing Heffs wedding tie- my fav :) with Janie, Jill and I. We just need a Jack ;)

Jill might kill me for posting this- I think her sister Beth stole my camera and took these but you look gorgeous Jiller! :)

Bride and Groom cutting the cake

After dinner outside the ballroom turned PINK for dancing, photobooth fun and dessert








my cute godson Oliver made an appearance late night too!

Janie hits the dance floor with Uncle James and the now official Auntie Em!

I love this picture of my parents so much I had to post it again in a non-pink version :) I sent it to them and they both wrote back to me without cc'ing the other- my dad said "Great pic. Jannie is ageless!" and my mom said "what a cute dad :)" It's nice to see after almost 35 years of marriage they are still so cute! we think so too Jannie and Grampa.

Congrats to my brother and new sister-in-law!

Backyard BBQ Rehearsal Dinner

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A happy post in the middle of everything... My brother and Emily got married last weekend- a very joyous event on my side of the family in the midst of sadness on Brian's. We tried to balance celebration and heartache. Friday we flew down to LA and back that afternoon to make the Rehearsal Dinner at my parents house. My parents did a great job planning a festive backyard BBQ on July 1 at their house and we toasted (and roasted) my brother and his bride-to-be.

Janie all decked out in her 4th if July duds

arriving at the Rehearsal Dinner at my parents house from the airport - not the best picture when your camera is on artificial light settings and your eyes are swollen from tears all day

furrowed brow Janie girl- looks a lot like my brother Jerry's baby pictures

Maisie hanging out with Brian and my dad's brothers

Emmy and the JJ

James and Em with their mommas

Such pretty decorations Jannie :)


Mimi, Em, Janie and Claire

Claire having a deep conversation with Francie when she eyes her baby sister… "come here J… I can walk around with you..."

Janie trying to hold her own

Maisie ringing the bell for dinner

cousins looking sharp (love your turquoise dress ABA :)

James and Em at dinner before the toasts

The girls insisted on sitting on Jannie's lap and then Maisie was set on having her PJ"s on but no one else could do it but Jannie. She was a good grandmother and marched the girls upstairs for PJ's but we had to hold the toasts to wait for her!

My Dad stalling by telling inappropriate jokes- i love it :)

Friends & Family enjoying the warm summer night






time for bed.

More Love

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It is amazing how something so sad can make you appreciate your family so much. I know these cousins love each other and are so lucky to have each other and they know this too.

Out for a walk

Ellie the oldest in the front peddling three cousins behind her

Group nap

lots of love to go around...

Best Buds ready to make Friendship Bracelets

Cousins on the ledge - Francie, Maisie, Clara and Isabel

plus one cute Thomas

Izzy has lots of love for her brother

telling secrets

they both picked their favorite boots

always inseparable for awhile when they are reunited

Diva in a blue dress

this pretty much sums up the past week, kids running everywhere in chaos and trying to keep a smile on our face in between tears and sadness. We are appreciating the little rugrats- our own and our sibling's children- more than ever.

Cousin Camp 2011

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We have a full house here at the Heff's for Cousin Camp 2011! 10 out of 11 grandkids (we miss you Oliver!!!) are with Oma for a few days of cousin fun. Craig had to come up for work so Andrea and Isabel and Thomas came to stay with us - sounded like a good excuse to Oma and Maureen to bring Ellie, Kate and Thomas to come join in too! Everyone is staying with us at our house except Clara and Caroline who live a mile away :) It's pretty crazy! Every bed and floor space for something resembling a bed is occupied and we've been pretty much just hanging out around the house, playing in the creek, doing art projects, playing dress up, cooking up good food and watching the kids run around with their cousins.

Water fairies

Maisie barking orders "Thomas SSSSIT HEE-RE!" until he realizes he better not set a precedent and let her boss him around!

Cousins



Maisie wouldn't take her tinkerbell costume from Aunt Francy off all day

Super Supervisors with babies. Maureen holding Caroline and Sarah with Janie - Heff on his way to get someone a beer probably :)

Cheese!

Andrea, Thomas and Ellie (I am hoping Andrea got better group shots than I did - I'll leave the real photos to her!)

Silly kids

But good job stepping up to the plate as a baby holder Francie - especially over a moving body of water ;)

Lots of dam building and animal rescuer playing

What do you do with 7 wet, dirty kids? Hose them off in the drained out hot tub of course

Crazy Two-Year Olds all clean

Kate and Francie love (Shigo hand me down pile outfitted almost all 7 of these kids after the post creek wash down since the TRIPLE matching outfits are all in the next few years sizes- thanks Kerri!)

The playroom looked like a bomb went off. I'm dealing :) Andrea relaxing on the couch for a short moment of peace, she is 8.5 months pregnant with number 3!

Uncle Mark dipping Ellie into the hot tub/bushes abyss for a lost toy- brave girl ;)

Maureen busy in the kitchen with Patrick and Janie to assist (thanks for all the cooking Oma and Maureen!)

Sippy cup extravaganza for dinner

KIDS table! All but Caroline and Janie old enough to hold their own

and after dinner s'mores by headlamp (have you seen the flat/stackable new square marshmallows?! I stood in Target dumbfounded at the pure genius of them today- why did no one think of this sooner?!)

Want one?! More Cousin Camp fun to come!

Bye Bye Baabees

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Little stinker is TWO so we finally decided she needs to give up her bottle. The first night I made her a sippy cup like her sister's for her milk before bed and she looked at me like I had two heads, threw it at the floor and said "No! My OWWWWN Baabee!" and then went to the drawer and got out all five pieces of her bottle.

Not giving up that easily.

Doing the hold it on your mouth by suction trick...

and it fell

If you know how to put together a Born Free bottle you are too old for it!

yes YOU maisie!

Monday Madness

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Catching up with all my random uploaded photos today! We had a great Father's Day weekend - mostly working on the house outside.

Last Sunday morning I work up at 5am - and since Janie had actually slept for 5 hours straight I was wide awake and ready to party :) So I dragged Christian to the Alameda Antiques Fair with me. We were at Peet's coffee a few minutes before they opened- I felt like Heff! Janie came with us and was a good girl while we shopped

I found this cute trike for Maisie to follow her sister around on

Sunday night last week we had dinner at my parents house with our good friend Mary Swanson- visiting on a crazy birthday/wedding tour of the US from Seoul Korea where she lives with her husband. Always great to catch up!

We had to take a picture of all the Marys!!

Poor Maisie had a bad rash that came out of nowhere. We emailed the pediatrician's office with this picture and the dr diagnosed "Slap Cheek" - a virus where this lacey rash shows up on the arms, legs and cheeks after the virus goes away. We didn't even realize she'd been sick but the rash stuck around all week.

Maisie also practiced her photography skills

We had a creek burial for the last two fish. Francie was sad. Maisie pretended to be (takes after her mom ;)

We moved the girl's rooms around to officially share. They are both in Maisie's room now and we've had 5 nights of successful sleeping together. Francie actually goes down easier than she used to (books and then we say goodnight, she used to have to have someone "lie with me" most nights. This pic was in transition...

We walked to Shoup one afternoon and Francie wanted me to take her picture on the zip line thing. By the time I got my phone out she was jumping off :)

Torturing a brave gopher - kept them busy for half an hour sticking snacks down the hole. Gophers don't like turkey.

JJ watching her crazy sisters

Maisie is so proud of J when she rolls over

and for pretty much anything she does. Janie is a good sport

We stopped at a friend's after the park and they fed the girls dinner with salmon- Maisie ate it hand over fist! Francie took some convincing (still thinking about those goldfish? ;)

This weekend we went down to Morgan Hill for a baby shower for my cousin Lori. Here are Francie and Maisie with my cousin (technically my Mom's cousin) Kris and her daughter Mandy who hosted - they gave the girls mini ice cream cones they were pretty happy about

More cousins Marty and Kristi who is due with her second in September- so many baby's this year!

Saturday night we went to a Cars 2 Premier fundraiser in Woodside - Jannie and Grampa took the girls for baths and dinner after a full day so Heff and I could enjoy the cocktail hour and dinner, then brought the girls up at 9pm to bundle up in a field under the stars and watch the movie on a big screen- it was such a fun night!

love the mason jars :)
movie time!

and Maisie Moo started vaulting now that she is TWO! She loved the "wide the hosey" part and would only participate in the rest of class if she was right next to her sister, holding her hand half the time. Made it hard for Francie to do sommersaults but she was a good sister about it!

Love the fake serious face. Go Maisie Go :)

Father's Day was a family WORK day around the house. Jannie and Grampa met us at Summerwinds to buy plants and then stuck around our house for lunch and planting, pruning, moving furniture, decorating and helping ALL day! Jannie was a huge help of course- and Grampa was a good sport to spend his Father's Day watching babies and golf. We didn't stop moving all day until we BBQ'ed dinner for everyone (James, Jer and Em came over too!) THANKS JANNIE AND GRAMPA! and to my husband for working away his Father's Day :)

Nativity Carnival

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The annual kicking-off-summer-vacation Nativity Carnival was last weekend. We always sponsor and work the Tri-Tip BBQ dinner and my dad was awesome this year to do all of the prep and shopping to cook 2 cases of tri-tip. We packed up the girls and did our best to help cook up and serve up some meat but I think most of what we did was cut it up in bite size pieces to feed kids. The girls LOVED the rides, games and carnival atmosphere. I don't think I've missed more than 1-2 carnivals since I was 12- always a great time!







This was "Goldie." Friday night she came home with us and became a part of our family. Francie showed her around the house and told her all about the members of her new family. We got her fish food Saturday morning. She died Saturday night at 6pm. Carnival round 2 we came home with a new Goldie and two more friends. There are 4 dead goldfish floating downstream in our creek as of last night. Damn fish!

Life Lately by iPhone

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I finally uploaded and deleted all 2,000 pictures on my iPhone. 200 of which were screen shots of some Umizoomi game Francie plays where she moves this car around the screen- so my photo roll looked like a flip book. Other than that we FINALLY got some summer weather and have been enjoying it as much as we can!

We met our friends for lunch the other day and Francie and Maisie got to play with their buddies Isaac, Wyatt, Jasmine and Kayley.

One of them found a snail, Francie and Maisie always call the gross little slugs they find "Lola" so Lola turned into the hit of the lunch.

Uncle Jerry turned 29 on June 6! Dinner at Sundance to celebrate

Happy Birthday Jer!

We've been taking some late afternoon walks downtown when Heff has to work late- he's been super busy at work! Francie has her warm chocolate ;)

Nothing better than a sleeping baby - Janie has been better at night! ONE night she slept from 11pm-5am but of course I had been up until 2am :) She sleeps well in her bassinet now from 9/10ish until 1am or sometimes later and then

After Maisie and Janie's check up they both got shots- Maisie was tough - anything for a lolly pop! and there is a new study that a little sugar rush right before and after the shot helps mask the pain so Nurse Kathy suggested even JJ have one - she loved it!