Holiday Parties at Bumble

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I've been slacking with lackluster posting this week- we've been wrapped up in the holiday craziness - especially at Bumble (which means work, not play, but I'm not complaining about the business for Bumble) We had some fun holiday parties with friends but mostly busy putting on a few big holiday events at Bumble. One night we had the whole place rented for a company party- imagine that NO kids! Here are some pictures - Christian helped me decorate for the holidays and for the "mature" crowd...

Chef Marc behind the counter

Santa Hat desserts! (saw this on Pinterest of course)





our favorite wines

Some of our talented servers and hostess for the evening!

the fish tank looks coolest at night - especially now that the snails are working hard eating algea. Francie and Maisie named every one of them Lola. We have almost 100 fish now- just waiting for some Puffers!

Still a few days/nights left to enjoy the holiday spirit at Bumble - come by for dinner or afternoon tea to enjoy it!

In my funny-looking, too-small, Bumble-theme Santa Hat - finally sitting down after the party and ready for BED. Thanks to everyone who helped pull off a great party

Bumble Holiday Tea

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Sunday we had a private event at Bumble in the morning and then a Holiday Tea for kids in the afternoon… and Santa made an appearance! It was a really fun day - I set home a photobooth, we had the kids make frames for the photos, we had gingerbread cookie decorating and TONS of kids running around! The crowd was smaller for Santa and the girls got to tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

here comes SANTA!! (in case anyone needed an espresso from the friendly Barista Martin while Santa was reading Llama Llama Holiday Drama… uhhhh you had to wait a few minutes.)

Story time in the playroom

Loves it from a distance and Dad's safe lap

Check out big girl JJ looking for trouble!

time for Santa's lap

Francie jumped right up "Hummm… I want a princess bike, princess roller-skates and an Ariel swimming pool." interesting choices.

Maisie would only go "hold Santa's hand" if Dad helped her...

but then busted out "Um Um Um - I want tink-r-bew rorrerskates and tink-r-bew bike and tink-r-bell swimming pool."

I love these little Maisie expressions :)

Janie - not so sure about this big guy! Looked at him for awhile and then signed "ALL DONE!"

Cousin Clara's turn! She wanted to go with Uncle Brian too.

fun day at Bumble

THANKS SANTA!!!

more photobooth funniness...

Sarah, Clara and Caroline! I love this shot of all three of them… too bad I forgot to take any pictures of the cute tea party!!

Heff and the girls (he also gets credit for the cute festive outfit coordinating while I was at Bumble getting ready :)

This was my favorite photobooth picture - "JJ look at the camera!" poor child

It's a trend

My babes

Tis the Season

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A quick re-cap on our December so far... as you can see FISBEE (our friendly Elf on a Shelf) showed up for the third year in a row. Man I love this guy! He flys home to Santa every night, reports the good and bad behavior and then comes to a new spot in our house every morning for the girls to find him. Someone (not me- maybe Heff ;) is very good at remembering this every morning!

We still have the tantrums, bad behavior and oops around here...

but on the 9th day of Christmas Fisbee left a little early reminder that it's the Christmas season - he left 9 Christmas books on the mantel for the girls to pick at bedtime for the next 9 nights. (I saw this idea on another blog- of course that mom did 24 books and hand wrapped every one with a note from their elf - I clicked on her amazon suggestions, opened the box on the doorstep and threw them on the mantel this morning. Other blog mom wins.)

I'm still cranking away at Bumble (when does this restaurant business get easier!!?) but Emmy is such a rockstar with the girls in the mornings!!!

They take Ariel and "Mersa" (Maisie's favorite doll who she is usually pretend-nursing) to the park

and play house with them. Emmy is the grandma. (Francie told Maisie she was the dad and Maisie goes "I'm not a boy!" and Francie said "Well you look like one with that haircut.") tears followed

Francie has one more day of preschool for the semester. She is still bringing home at least 3 rainbow paintings a day. and dressing herself complete with accessories, as you can see

Cousin Kate is working at Le Cirque so we get to see a lot of her which is a treat for us! She comes down at least once a week and makes the girls "cocktails" and paints their nails.

She also helped merchandise the shelves at Bumble for a little holiday shopping!

We sold out of these "chew beads" for mom's with teething babies to wear in a few days! Such great gifts... Buy them here!

We had sushi dinner with friends and JJ sat at the big kids table!

Francie and Maisie were invited to an ELEVEN year olds birthday party on Sunday in SF at Lovejoy's. It was a pretty big deal :) (thanks Hannah!)

Francie helped me dye pasta one night at Bumble for craft projects in the playroom. We were pretty proud of our rubbing alcohol and food coloring brightness (and she loved the rainbow obvi)

In the spirit of the season- we painted the kitchen. AGAIN. It was red (like the color around the switch plate). Heff said this was the first thing he remembers liking when we saw this house. When he was in Alaska I kind of accidentally painted it pale blue (it was supposed to be green-ish). No one really liked it. So we went back to red- but it's a "much better red" :)

We decorated the tree (as in planned to have a family night putting ornaments on it and drinking hot chocolate by the fire. but what ACTUALLY happened - Heff threw the lights on including one strand of Shotgun Shell lights Kat gave us as kind-of-a-joke and I questioned keeping up with the other strand on our whole living room tree? so he quit putting stuff on it and Emmy and the girls threw some ornaments on one morning. the rest are strewn around the living room. Same result kinda right? ;)

Emmy took these hilarious pictures in the cute Shigo-hand-me-down PJ's that say "Santa.. I can explain"

My little elves trying to get a Christmas card photo for Oma and Opa (I won't give too much away!)

Tis the Season! Now to start our Christmas shopping....

The Great Alaskan Adventure

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Heff and Donald set out on an un-guided 12 day adventure in interior Alaska in September on a search for a great big Moose. Brian had been planning this trip for years - it was supposed to happen in September 2010 but Kat was due with Oliver in October so they pushed it back a year. Brian and Donald were SO excited and we were all at home happy to get the updates they were a little farther down the river everyday. Heff gets so much out of these trips in the wilderness - it was hard for us to let him go (especially since it ended up being 2 days after I opened Bumble!) but I am happy he gets to do things like this and he has a brother in law who loves it just as much.

Brian made a great video documenting the trip...

Alaska - 2011 from B Heff on Vimeo.

and here is the short version in photos!

They flew into Fairbanks, then drove to Tok, then flew these little planes into the wilderness! The service that dropped them off hadn't flown anyone out to this remote spot in 50+ years.

Fueling up -

and away they go

dropped them off here and said:
"see you in 9 days, 30 miles down river."

off to chase a Moose

excited for 9 days of nothing but walking, floating, spotting, dragging rafts, camping out and hunting

They were supposed to "float" the river but the first 6 miles there wasn't enough water to float so they did this:

They set up camp every night somewhere along the river and did their best to hide their scent from the bears

Onward!

Finally some floating water

camp on the river - sleeping on rocks? ouch!

it got COLD- well below freezing every night.

morning Four Barrel coffee (from Bumble :) early on the river

Donald thought he was going to strike it rich panning for gold with a dinner plate. Didn't "pan out" :)

Nap time on the river

Heff had a satellite phone to check in every night, 2 GPS devices, a satellite text GPS and a Spot locator. He texted me messages every once in awhile - I was pretty excited to see this one (half excited for them to get a moose and half excited that it means they might come home a day earlier :)

waiting

and there he is! 1800 pound HANK THE MOOSE

they shot him at 8:30pm and came back early to start the gutting process

I'll spare you the photos in between the shoot and the clean

packed up ready to take Hank home (at least a lot of meat, his antlers and cape - other meat went to the pilots and locals and the bears and wolves enjoyed a warm gut pile :)

and these are going to fit in our living room?

bringing home the bacon-i-mean-moose

pretty beautiful place! 10 points to Heff and Donald for taking such good pictures :)

The Outtakes

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Sunday after the Christmas tree expedition Jannie was intent on getting a picture of all three girls for her Christmas card... let's just say we didn't even come close! The girls were tired and not cooperating, not that a 4, 2.5 and 9 month old ever cooperate for photos unless Emmy works her magic. My mom said it reminded her of trying to get Aunt Mimi to help her shoot a Christmas picture of me, James and Jerry and we were so annoying Mimi walked out mad as can be at us! I know the feeling :) But at least we got some entertaining outtakes...

this was Francie's idea. She must have been surfing the web at awkward family photos.com too much lately

cone heads

get me outta here

Jannie bribed with the candy drawer. Didn't work so much

maybe if they are contained in the crib?

NOPE.

Not a chance

love the band-aids Maisie

If we give JJ an apple Francie already gnawed on?

FORGET IT

"How about an Ariel smile?" works for Number 1. Number 2 has to see what an Ariel smile really looks like instead of looking at the camera

NO WAY JOSE

Maybe if we distract them with the christmas figures the girls look for on the windowsil every year

NOT THAT EITHER!

WE TRIED! Little stinkers...

Nativity Christmas Tree Lot

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Sunday we went with my parents to the Nativity School Christmas Tree Lot so we could both get our trees and throw them in Brian's truck. Sunday afternoon was a little slim in the pickings before the Monday shipment supposedly but we found some good ones. The girls were a little tired and cranky but we managed to get in, get a tree and get out- all in the holiday spirit :)

strike 1 trying to get a Christmas card picture for Jannie - strikes 2-200 in the next post on Outtakes :)

Crazy Maisie had to get in on the nutcracker action. Don't all Nutcrackers have binkys?

Dad and the J looking for a tree

WAY up in the air!

Francie and the "Charlie Brown Tree" they gave her when the Natvity dads recognized us as the BBQ people!

and Maisie just wants to bring home the dirt she "found"

Jannie, Grampa and Janie

Jannie babysat all three one night last week and JJ loves her Jannie now!

Grampa showing off the hot chocolate Francie made for them

Janie gets to try some

"Hummm what do I think of this stuff?"

"I LOVE IT!"

New Baby Nolan

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I got to go to Packard Thursday to meet 24 hour old new baby Nolan Charles Longhurst! He arrived on 11-30-11 and was 8 pounds and 13 ounces. My good friend Emily has Lucy (14 months!) and we've been anxiously awaiting Nolan's arrival (Nolan is her maiden name- so cool!) I was there for Emily and her husband Chris' first date and met Lusy a few hours after she was born when I was at the hospital anyway for Janie's ultrasound or something- and felt very privileged to meet the new addition. Congrats Emily, Chris and Big Sister Lucy!

Emily looking way to put together to have just had a baby

All BLUE - It's a BOY!

Proud Parents

Emily checking out her new son while Dad watches from the background

Chris and Nolan

Emily (in my favorite Dear Johnnie gown she borrowed :)

Sweet Baby Cheeks

I tried to get a picture of "the yawn" like last time
Nolan and Dad

Lucy and Dad (October 2010!)

Big hands

Congrats Longhurst Family (we'll get Lucy in the picture next time- she is still getting used to this I-am-only-1-and-I-have-a-brother idea)

let the craziness begin!

Festival of Lights

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We headed out last night to the Downtown Los Altos Festival of Lights Parade to kick off the holiday season. The girls were tired from the morning birthday party but all napped and rallied to meet our friends the Farwells for some fun. The parade is a cute tradition - all the businesses sponsor a little float covered in lights and Santa pulls up the rear- just like the Macy's Thanksgivign Day Parade - but different ;) Bumble forgot to sigure out how to sponsor one this year but we gave out little cups of hot chocolate and warm ginger snaps when people walked by. It was a fun night just hanging out and nice to have Bumble as a homebase when the crowds roll in to DTLA!

my three little nutballs! love the faces girls

they each have a stocking at Bumble :) (might still be trying to figure out a stocking for JJ at HOME but at least they are covered at Bumble :)

We met the Farwells at Bumble for an early dinner and some wine-to-go :) and walked down the block to parade watch. Heff and Jay picked a convenient spot BEFORE the parade technically started so we watched the lining up and yelling for everyone to get in there places but at least missed the crazy crowds 3 people deep everywhere else and the kids were just as happy

kids watching intently

Best seats in the house

especially for Maisie Moo

granted it was dark out but still no good shot of all three little ladies

this was close ;)

Kelly and I with the little ones

Francie and her buddy Stella being silly

Rub-a-dub-dob four kids on a Bob

Back to Bumble for Movie Night and a refill!

Birthday Party at Bumble

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Sunday morning we got to ATTEND a party at Bumble! (usually working too hard on the other side :) It was a Car's the movie theme and pretty awesome- not just saying that :) The girls tolerate Cars as a little recess from the Princess world so they had fun with their buddies and played hard for 4 hours - nothing like a birthday party to wear your kids out!

and look who's STANDING UP!

all decorated to party it up

I mean- check out this cake! Two tiers of "polka dots" and carrot cake made by the talented ladies at Studio Cake in the Willows who do all of our custom theme Bumble birthday cakes!

Cars, hot wheels, race tracks, cars... more cars

Like a moth to a flame - this girl is to arts and crafts

Dad on feeding-Janie-the-squirmer duty while I take pictures

Maisie wore herself out helping to line up the cars

taking a break with the bink and wearing Maisie's necklace (Maisie said she "had to borrow it")

Kale chips, hummus and grapes oh my. (don't worry we threw in gingersnaps to balance the too-healthy-ness)

Heff cracking up at Janie's expressions watching the car speed past her hands and up the loop - old school race tracks were the biggest hit of course!

Thanksgiving at Our House

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We had half of the Heffernans including Oma, Opa and Demi and Cahills at our house in Los Altos for Thanksgiving this year! We were challenged to cook a 40+ pound turkey raised by the Matthews in Chico and freshly butchered on Sunday. We had a three day event getting the bird ready, pre-eating and then BBQ'ing all day Thursday starting the fire by 9am (wouldn't even come close to fitting in the oven) It was a great Thanksgiving with lots of kids, lots of food and lots of fun -especially to host for the first time at our house!

My 18 pound baby and our 40+ pound bird

Thanks to these kids - Ellie, Kate and Patrick (with Maggie and Aly) for raising this turkey for us all!

I will spare the process of how the turkey got to this point from walking on two legs - but those are some big mean birds! Thanks to Doug, Maureen, Joe and Bill for doing the dirty work. Getting de-feathered... looks like a process!

And thanks to Bill and Anne for bringing the bird to our house and brinning it for 2 days - here it is coming out of the brine to go on the spit

makes the cutting board look tiny!

3 man process

It took two engineers and one lawyer to rig up this contraption complete with a deflector to cook the turkey for 7 hours

yummmmy!

view from above - there was lots of "watching the turkey" (aka drinking beer, playing Scrabble and watching kids on the rope swing)

Heff and Baby Caroline

Bill making sure no one is cheating in Scrabble

Anne reading books to Aly and Caroline

Sweet Caroline looks more like her sister Clara everyday

Dad and JJ taking a break

Maisie-Moo and her best buddie "Care-la"

On a nature hunt for table decorations

scavengers

These girls were big helpers

Aly is pretty excited to try the bow and arrow at the Nature Preserve

Little climbers

So serious about the shot

Francie and Ariel getting a ride from Maggie - the girls LOVED following Maggie's every move this week and I loved how well Maggie taught them to clean their room and the playroom after the usual playtime tornado hit!

Love this shot of Maggie on her first attempt. and she hit the target!

patient "Uncle Bi-nan"

Francie's new favorite silly faces


JJ girl in a cupcake hat hand-me-down

big kids

big kids being crazy

thanksgiving table with the leaves and things from our walk

Cousin Kate joined us and all the chaos! she still loves us despite burning her mouth on wakefields, the girls making her paint every little finger and toenail over and over, lots of talk of changing diapers and one barfing kid (Clara was sick all day!) to round out her Thanksgiving

Heff and I made brussel sprouts and red grapes for a side in the giant lodge pot

and 7 hours later the turkey is done!

BBQ men in headlamps

it was a 3 man job just to bring the thing in the house (Donald was working hard on the couch :)

Winner winner TURKEY dinner

Now who is going to carve it?

good work cavemen

all while the girls made the rest of dinner warm and cozy inside

time to eat!

Happy Thanksgiving!

those are some worn out kids- everyone slept well!

MaryJane ~ 9 months

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Janie turned 9 months old on Friday! Janie Girl you are at such a fun age right now. You have a HUGE smile showing your bottom two teeth and you laugh when you smile sucking all the air in you can. You are a very happy baby and we are so lucky you are a part of our family- you take very well to your baby of the family role and eat up all of the attention.

You are a squirmy little baby but you are long and lean (95% for height usually and 25-50% for weight) and you still wear size 2 newborn swaddler diapers (but so does Maisie right now when she isn't wearing big girl undies so that's not saying much). Most of your clothes are 9-12 months but you pull off some oversized hand-me-downs too :)

You have super blue eyes - like your Opa and your Dad… they look like they might stay blue but your sisters both turned hazel/green so we'll watch to find out.

You have a few party tricks - "How Big is Janie" but you usually answer with one arm up, only sometimes with both. You wave HI and BYE like crazy - especially when you see your Dad. You can clap your hands pretty well too. Here's a wave when you were riding on Beezer

You always curl your left foot when you are sitting - I was a little worried about it but it seems to be just a quirk, maybe a "babinski reflex" thing!? (Uncle Bob the pediatrician says maybe when she starts wearing shoes it won't be so sensitive - you haven't had a sock on your foot a day of your life yet so maybe I need to start de-sensitizing those tootsies!) and you love to blow raspberries like this too silly girl

You have been crawling since you were 5 months old and didn't learn to sit up very well until after you were crawling- maybe survival for getting away from those big sisters! Your sisters love to come up behind you and pick you up- carrying you all over and squeezing your belly. You don't like this so much and put up a fuss until they put you down.

I think you might be an early walker- you almost stand on your own and cruise along the furniture like a champ

You love to dress up just like your sisters - okay maybe THEY love to dress you up but you are a good sport about wardrobe changes

But you sure love your sisters! Your face lights up when you see them and they make you laugh running around, being crazy and hiding from you. You LOVE your Emmy too and kick-kick your legs and wave your arms until she picks you up- especially in the mornings. Your sisters are your biggest fans - Maisie calls you Sweetie - as in "Oh I'm sorry I dropped you- it's okay sh-weetie" :)

You are a great eater - you have been on formula and big girl food since 6 months and you eat 2 jars of baby food at every meal plus some of whatever we are having. You like Puffs ok but prefer meat, pasta, bread, cookies or anything else you can get your hands on. You drink 6 ounces of Gerber Good Start about 4-5 times a day. As soon as we put you in a high chair you get very demanding for food!

You are FINALLY a good sleeper, it only took the first 5 months of your life for me to figure out you like your own space to sleep- your own crib, lights off, fan on for white noise and no one to bug you. You used to sleep in our room and you were up every hour! But since then you've been sleeping 12 hours and only occasionally get up in the middle of the night for a bottle. You were taking 2 solid naps a day but now you seem to have consolidated them to one looong nap - 3, 4 or 5 hours long! We are not complaining but sometimes you make me turn into that crazy mother who keeps checking on her sleeping kids :) But you wake up happy as a clam after a long nap like that.

You love your dad's arms best of all- it's so cute to see you reach out to him when we are in church or walking around. You are a Daddy's girl for sure

You are a great little traveler and already have 5 countries stamped on your passport - it took me 25 years to do that! You are a seasoned flyer and adapt well to time changes and being on the go.

You have a serious side and sometimes get scared and cling to us like glue - you don't like ot be turned upside down and we think you might be a little scared of dogs and big animals

You don't really like to ham it up for the camera- but Emmy and I are persistent and catch you sometimes

I love you JJ girl!!! I can't wait to watch you over the next 3 months turn into a 1 year old and continue to watch you grow up into a little lady. I predict you will be head strong and know what you want in life. You'll toddle after your older sisters but you won't let them tell you what to do. You'll be funny and like to make everyone laugh I think too. Your Dad predicts you will be be a bit off a goof, kind of like Maisie. :) We are so lucky to have you in our life MaryJane!