Box Painting

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We were preparing for some new guests at our house (more on this next - if you know me at all you will never guess "who" these guests are) so the girls got to work making cardboard box houses and painted them with Emmy one morning... love the color :)

getting boxes ready in PJs

Patio picasas



Janie made sure to stop and snack on Trix, a bagel and her milk - this is her latest "NO." face we see all day

Just Some Pics

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It's already Friday!? We've had a fun week... family visits, dinner with friends, work, play and more of the usual! how awesome is the picture above Emmy snapped one morning? Emmy is so good! 

Tuesday playdate at Stanford with Emily, Lucy and Nolan - La Baguette for breakfast and a little Gap Kids sale rack!

Doing a little "market research" for a new idea in the DTLA (Downtown Los Altos :) we took the girls to Chuck E Cheese Wednesday night. How is that place so bad yet so good!?! Janie was fitting right in sporting a onesie untucked and unmatching all night (how did I get a 14 month old who likes to pick her own clothes?) and Francie riding the balloon bike barefoot. awesome.

Maisie picked this dress herself at GapKids the other day when we had a mall shopping playdate with Emily, Lucy and Nolan. She's pretty proud of it but it kinda looks like it should be for a 20 year old not a 3 year old :)

CA Ave Paint Store. The girls found "dollars" in my urse while I was paint sample matching - at least they know how to use a coke machine but Orange Soda?! and right before Chuck E Cheese too- sugar overlaod at it's best.

Diapered baby collecting grass and dirt in a sippy.

Maisie modeling her dress for Emmy and Francie - so big!

and speaking of dresses - the girls "decorated" their room one night for a party. Hot pink crepe paper torn in little pieces ALL OVER the room and then they told Janie this TP mess was a new dress. She does not look so amused. 

Oh sisterly love :)

Emmy has been planning such fun mornings for the girls. They know when the sprinklers go off on the soccer fields in town and go get drenched on hot days! And they frequent the Pet Shop looking at the kitties to be "'dopted" Francie is still begging for a cat, not helping.

Thursday night I had to work in the afternoon so Brian took the pink gang to the Nature Preserve to run around and shoot arrows. They tried a triple ride on this trike but Heff has that picture :) Uphill was too heavy to carry more than the Lion!

Francie is a rockstar on the bow and arrow- making Dad proud! She is also asking Heff to hep her build a cannon to "kill Gunnysack"  Gunnysack is a trick I learned at the mormon mom conference I went to (a whole nother post!) who comes when you leave the house and takes/eats any toys that were left out. IT WORKS. 

Janie's favorite words "NO NO!" to the poison oak after we told her not to touch it 12 times she started telling her sisters.

Happy Friday from Maisie Moo!!!

 

Weekend Recap

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We had a great weekend enjoying the sunshine and getting stuff done around the house!  Friday night we met up with a bunch of friends at Bumble and took over the outdoor patio - then we let the kids loose on Night Bright after the playroom closed...

Francie and Maisie have been doing chores in the morning (making their beds and picking up toys mostly) but quickly realized if they sleep ON their quilts and pillows they have less to make up in the morning :)

Saturday afternoon Brian took the big girls to Pescadero for the annual Troopy convention. Janie and I stayed home to do some errands around town - we loaded up the stoller to make some deliveries at Play and Bumble and then get some groceries - she was a trooper.

 

I treated her to a frozen yogurt with sprinkles :) 

Happy baby girl (who says "Cheeee!" for the camera now - hence so many JJ pics :)

Francie and Emmy drew a Unicorn and hung it on my door - love the rainbow :)

Me and my J! She accessorized herself in necklace, purse, Sophie the Giraffe and BlaBla for our walk

 

Dad and his girls fixing sprkinler heads and cleaning up around the house Sunday.

and JJ in the new water trough on the back deck - refuses to do anything but climb to the highest point!

Sunday night impromptu BBQ dinner with friends.... our first of the season (and served on the hot tub :)

Sunday night JJ woke up after everyone was asleep - we snuggled on the couch until she would entertain the idea of going back to bed :) 

 

For Goodness Snakes

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This week at PLAY we had a music performance from Steve of Orange Sherbet, A real-life Fairy visit and show, Art and Science class with real animal bones and the grand finale Friday - "For Goodness Snakes" real snake show!! It was so cool - the girls woke up saying "it's snake show day!" It did not disappoint.

a huge black and white Tegu - with a 5 inch tongue. Janie is weary but wasn't afraid.

Three girls, four snakes

and then the 12 foot python came out

The snake guy, Brian, did an informative little presentaion and then litterally let the snakes go wild for the kids to hold. He taught them how to be quiet and slow around the snakes and then it was a free for all. Pretty impressive snakes!

 

Fairy Day at Play

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We had a REAL Fairy from "Happily Ever Laughter" come visit for the morning at PLAY Wednesday - the girls jaws dropped when she walked in the place.  She did a cute puppet show and then balloon animals and face paint. Pretty good morning for three girls obsessed with fairies and princesses!

Maisie made sure JJ got a balloon too

Happy Baby donated some snacks for our "Play Cafe" for the day - yum!

Rainbos and sparkles. Best combo ever.

For Maisie Moo too

Thanks Miss Jingles ;)

 

Red Bluff Rodeo Weekend

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Even though we left without Ollie we had a great Rodeo weekend in Red Bluff. It was 90+ degrees so we didn't actually make it to much of the rodeo besides the midway games and booths Sunday morning for corndogs and shaved ice :) The highlight of the trip was that we got to meet Molly Matthews - the newest cousin! She is adorable and we all got lots of baby snuggling time hanging out at Oma and Opas with everyone but the Craig Heffs there (we missed you!) Red Bluff by Instagram:

6 big cousins and a little Molly at 9 days old

Francie holding the new baby 

Maisie was pretty excited for a turn too

The girls, hot, sweaty and taking a snack break in the shade

Francie and Kate

Janie claiming her right to enter the Kids Only Zone

Snuggling poor little Maisie when she got sunscreen in her eyes

and trading her out for some Molly time (I hadn't moved much)

 

Chillin out for some movie time in the AC (Ice age appropriately)

Janie getting some love on Ollie

Our last picture of Ollie. :(

Don't even think about it :) We killed some time before the Rodeo opened Sunday morning by taking the kids to the pet store. This was the only doggie there thank goodness. And the girls didn't even ask if we could take home the 14 foot pythons in the store.... weird.

Oma and Oliver checking out the guinea pigs that run around in crazy circles like Oliver when he's excited :)

Maisie has crazy faces :)

SNAKES!

Heff and Mark backpacked the baby girls on two different hikes by the river. Janie makes him stop and pick up flowers so she can toss them back on the ground. But when you ask her "Did you have fun on adventures with Daddy?" She nods furiously YES with a little smirk - already knows a good thing!

Ellie deserves the strongest cousin award. Pulling the horse poop cart full of kids ATTACHED to the pony pull cart full of kids. UPHILL. 

 

Good morning! All tuckered out.

Rodeo Fairgrounds - the bounce houses weren't open yet so Francie settled on riding the bull - Cowgirl Up!

Corndogs and Watermelon Icee's in the shade

See you next time Red Bluff! (this was driving up there but I love the hand holding) Car trips with the girls lately have gone like this... Janie konks out in the driveway heading home. Maisie about 30 minutes later. Francie 30 minutes later. And we have 10 minutes of peaceful, no-reaching-back-for-whatever-they-need-or-don't and country music until J wakes up! She is not a long distance car sleeper - but they are all good travelers usually we can make it with no stops.

Ode to Ollie

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We are all sad to lose our little buddy Ollie. He was a quirky dog but he was a good dog for our family. Ollie was very protective of the girls but was very tolerant of their pulls/pats and rides. He went crazy when he saw or heard another dog on TV, he loved to chase and try to eat water out of the hose or where ever he could get it, he barked at any dog who walked by "his" sidewalk and he would burrow down in the covers to snuggle up if anyone would let him. He slept in the girls room at the foot of their bed and was a very patient dog to three busy girls. Ollie was only 9 but he'd been losing weight and seemed to be getting "old." You had a good life Ollie - thanks for 9 years!

One of our favorite Ollie stories was when were in Red Bluff and he chased a squirrel INTO the burn pile! Scorched whiskers and nose but no worse for the wear

He was still a little guy when I met Brian! I got Ollie down in the dessert when I was playing polo - we had a Jack Russell growing up and my friend had a litter of Jack Russell pups so I took one home :) Ollie was a good dog to me for a couple years before I met Brian! He used to ride around in the car on my lap and come with me to polo to ride my horses.

Brian had a dog when we met too - good old Sage - Sage and Ollie became fast friends and were fat and happy together on McKendry Ave

When we brought Francie home from the hospital Ollie was relegated to outside for a few hours with Sophie (and Sage but Sage probably didn't care!) but then was a good protective dog to the new baby

He gained some LB's after we had Francie! All those Cheerio's on the floor :)

and then Little Maisie was his buddy from the start

Ollie was there to pack up our old house and move into our new one

Wow - not his best stage of weight gain but Francie is helping his cause with a "not-her-best-photo" either!

Maisie (so little) "walking" Ollie when we moved to the new house before we fenced the front yard

This is how we would find Francie at night sometimes :)

and he'd curl up on the couch with Maisie every chance he got

and he'd manage to get in just about every picture we took

We would usually take him up to Red Bluff and he LOVED life on the farm. He'd run all over the place and then put himself to bed all tuckered out. We took him up this weekend and he lived it up. Janie getting her last pat-pats with Ollie up in Red Bluff on Saturday

Ollie had a GREAT last day at Oma's running around like crazy, jumping in the water troughs, chasing the chickens and playing with all the kids. He had been having some paralysis problems even at home sometimes and he must have done something to his spine digging in the mud, he couldn't walk anymore on his back legs so we gave him a bath and let him snuggle in his bed

Then we took him to our friend Dr Weber (a vet) and he put him down peacefully on the tailgate of his truck. Francie said her goodbyes but didn't want to watch it happen.

We buried Ollie in the orchard where Brian buried his childhood dogs and one of my horses is buried. Brian dug a deep hole and we saved his collar but buried him in his bed. The girls helped make a cross and a heart with his name out of sticks.

The saddest part was driving home from Red Bluff without Ollie and JJ was yelling "Ay-yeee! AY-YEE!" and looking up to see if he was sticking his head over the seat like he usually did.

We will miss you Ollie!!

Birthday CAKE

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We tried, really hard to make a rainbow cake for Maisie's birthday per her request. It sure didn't look anything like those Pinterest beauties but it tasted good and she loved it. We scrambled to get it finished to head over to Mountain Mikes for a little birthday party Wednesday night. Happy Birthday Maisie Moo :)

Getting ready - the girls lined up their color choices from our extensive Bumble food coloring choices - Francie's a rainbow expert in case you've never noticed ;)

Mixing the color bowls (serious dish washing after this project) and Maisie with serious bed head after her afternoon nap

rainbow color batter

The final product on my lap in the car- pretty much a mound of cake layers and cream cheese frosting with rainbow sprinkles :)

Mountain Mikes for a pizza party!

But when we cut it open it still looked pretty cool! Janie is MAD mad JJ mad I am taking a picture instead of giving her cake

Family picture time

 

 

Maisie's Pre-Birthday Dinner

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THREE fingers is hard to do :)

Sunday night we had dinner at my parents house to celebrate Maisie's upcoming THIRD BIRTHDAY with the family! She was soo excited to have the spotlight on her and requested a "tiger cake" from Jannie. Specifically a cake with a baby tiger and a mom tiger. Wow big request! My Dad went down to Jerry's cakes and asked for exactly that - the guy practically charged more for the tiger than the cake but Maisie was SO excited about her tiger cake! Thanks Jannie and Grampa!

Maisie and her godparents

new sparkle shoes! Thanks Christian!

and a new Tangled doll from James and Em - love the hair

Maisie's fan club over for pizzas

Jan and Jan

Cousin Kate!

Trike rides with Emmy on Jannie's new adult size tricycle Jerry gave her for her birthday :)

THREE!

toe nail polish time by Kate

Maisie and Jannie making Maisie's own pizza!

cool lights photos by Uncle James

Happy Birthday to Maisie

Being silly with Uncle Jerry

Jannie MADE Maisie her own felt memory game - her favorite game to play these days

and Grampa went to Toys R Us by himself and found a big stuffed Lion to go with her tiger cake. She LOVES it.

lots of patient watchers

Buzz Lightyear PJs and a lillipop from Uncle Jerry

Francie "assisted" in the lollipop consumption

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAISIE!

Red Bluff Easter

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We were in Red Bluff for a long weekend - Thursday to Monday - for Easter with the Heffernans! Only about half of the crowd was there but it was a really nice weekend relaxing at Oma and Opas. Kat and I made our usual trip to Redding for outlet shopping and Target and even got Pedicures at the strip mall nail place - always an adventure :) We were on baby watch since Maureen was due Monday but baby Molly waited to make her appearance!

Janie in the barn- not one bit scared of Paco the miniature donkey

Four-wheeler cart rides by Dad

and again later after hot tub time - Janie's face cracks me up

My big almost 3 year old!

Maisie and her birthday bunny cake. She can be a shy little girl but when all the attention is on her she eats it up. i love her little expressions

BBQ Baby (like this photo of Francie :)

One night we went over to the Flynn's to help celebrate Spencer's 11th birthday - it was great to hang out with them, we don't see enough of the Flynns lately!

Eva and MaryClaire were so sweet giving the little girls pony rides all evening

Toddling out to the orchard

Francie holing one of their TWENTY-ONE barn cats. Wow.

Don't get any ideas girls

JJ loving the pasture

and getting a ride on Stanley the pony!

This dog Lucy looks like our old fat version of Ollie :)

Happy Birthday Spence!

Back at Oma's barn - painfully dirty baby pictures :)

Birthday dinner for birthday girl

my little godson Oliver - getting ready to be a big brother!

Patrick looking sharp in his new tux PJs (redding Gap outlet finds :)

one of the many favorite activities

Go Dad Go

Barn chores (or just making a mess of the chicken coop)

Serious chicken love

I jumped on the back of Heff's four wheel ride to be a tour guide - the kids were cracking up at my attempt to be funny.

cousin love

cute dad ;)

silly, silly girls

"She did it."

Barn playing time with a beer- doesn't get much better!

Francie and Patrick - best buds when the older girls aren't there :) and it helps that Patrick catches the chickens for Francie to hold, he's the expert

"Why doesn't this one GO?"

Not afraid

barn dancing

Easter lunch hunt kids

The big girls Ellie and Kate!

cute recycled egg collectors the Matthews kids made from milk galloons and hot glue

Strike a pose France (forgot to pack their THREE matching easter dresses! But got these rompers at Target Redding that worked even better for running around in the dirt :)

Sugar high kids sharing candy

Doug collecting the REAl eggs in his Sunday best

Lazy mom watching from the swing

Welcome Molly Matthews!!!

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Maureen had a healthy baby girl last night at 9:56pm!!

Molly Sarah Matthews (LOVE her name!)

8 pounds 4 ounces ~ 20.5 inches

Big sister Ellie - who was chomping at the bit for this baby to come out so she could hold her! I was almost Ellie's age when my baby sister was born and I remember how much fun it was to help take care of her. Maureen is lucky to have Ellie around. (Kate is looking thrilled ;) I hear she was tired - she'll perk up soon I'm sure)

Patrick will hold his place as the lone Matthew's boy. As of yet no one has a "brother" within the cousins but my guess is Kat has a boy so we shall see!

Happy new family if six! Congratulations Matthews family (PS love your "Girls Can Save the World" shirt Ellie- I agree!)