HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY MAISIE!

Happy Birthday Maisie Moo!! I can't believe you are FOUR. You are such a sweet little girl and a light in our family. You LOVE babies and your little sisters and ask me probably 12 times a day if you can 'hold Tessie' which you do with a big smile on your face. Yesterday I found you sitting on the front porch in a tiny chair holding her around the belly in her little onesie (you had gotten her OUT of her crib!) and had the iPod next to you playing music for her. You were whispering to her telling her what a good baby she was. You are so sweet Maisie!

we had a birthday celebration for you in the morning. You woke up and said "let's go see if there are decorations!" Emmy got you sprinkle donuts and Jamba Juice as you requested. You had cards from Jannie and Aunt Marge and your sisters. Mom and Dad got you art supplies and outdoor stuff. Walkie -Talkies even!

and Gladys our awesome housekeeper got you a HUGE hello kitty pinata filled with candy. She knows you well! She brought it two days early and you had it sit at the table with us every meal.

Dad got you dressed in your cute skinny jeans and tank top (you are bean pole Maise!) and brought you down to see

love all your cute little Maisie faces

opening presents

You wore a pretty pink dress to school (after Francie spilled a Jamba ALL over you at breakfast) with your new sparkly pink shoes from Emmy and a pink headband and pink bracelets. Not sure what your favorite color is? ;)

You love that you get to spend so much time with your god-mother Emmy - she made this cute collage for you - Maisie by the years!

Dad and I took you to school for your special birthday morning. Teacher Jamie was sick but Francie got to sit with your group for morning story time and a birthday candle

and even Tess, Emmy and JJ came to watch!

you were so cute up there - your friends were so excited to sing to you

then DAD got to read your favorite book to your whole class! (The Sneeches! thanks Aunt Maureen)

you looked pretty proud to have your Dad up there

he did a good job reading the whole book

we just had some family and neighbors over for dinner for your birthday. You made treat bags at PLAY in the afternoon and then we all went to Baskin Robbins and picked out a cake.

you and Francie decorated

then it was pinata time!!!

it's a spectator sport

Daniel did it in!

bye-bye kitty!

Gladys and her buddy Tiny Tess

more after dinner fun

and CAKE!

maybe already had some chocolate cookies face

make a wish

love that little face!

HBD MM!

presents

and the long awaited blanket Jannie MADE FOR MAISIE!

she was SOOOO EXCITED!

pretty good birthday :) here's to being FOUR!

Maisie the Mayor

Maisie was "The Mayor" of preschool and got to raise the flag in the morning and pick a "Vice President" as she called it :) We all went to school in the morning to watch her - she was so proud! (Heff actually took the girls skiing that day and waited to leave later since Maisie did NOT want to miss being Mayor.

Teacher Jamie asking her who she wanted to pick to be Vice Mayor -

She picked her little 3's group friend Chloe

spectators

proud Maisie

Raising it up

Teacher Jamie asked "Do you want to say "Ok have a great day!" and Maisie said "No thanks :)

JJ thought she was so cool to get to play for awhile. Emmy walked over to her and she looks over her shoulder and said "Emmy - go away."

walking home with the babies!

Cousin Campout

Last weekend we all got together with the Heff siblings for the "1st Annual 36-hour Pizza Oven Party Campout Bash!" Sarah had suggested we celebrate all the spring birthdays together so we rounded the troops and gathered at our house for the weekend April 5-7. It's not easy to move this group so we decided to stay put, cook three meals a day in the piza oven and camp on the island in the backyard. We split up meal duties and cocktaiul duties (equally important) and let the kids run wild! 

That's some serious cousin love

Francie and Izzy - BFFs

line um up and make um play Simon Says to get a photo op :)

Simon Says stick your fingers in your ears. #workseverytime

these three boys gotta stick together

Jumping for joy

brothers on the BBQ

Friday Night Dinner

and breakfast Saturday morning

just like camping! (only not ;)

Oliver

FOUR baby girls - the tail end of 15 cousins

Oldest three out of four (Ellie was busy cranking out potholders) Izzy, Kate and Francie

Ellie on the trike hauling kids

The island campout got moved to the grass in the backyar d- it had rained a bit and the creek was too high to risk crossing in the middle of the night for a potty break :)

lots of Dirt and Sunshine (or mud and cloudy weather but still...)

Craig's cocktail supplies and my pretty birthday flowers from my girls at work

Saturday mid-day trip to let the kids (and adults!) play at the arcade and check out The Makery - Oma and ALL her chicks!

White Ladies and Sidecars

Saturday Night pizza making! Jannie brought all the essentials

Matching PJ's from Aunt Kat and Oma!

Saturday afternoon run for more provisions (no kids, just needed empty stroller to haul the booze. totally normal)

The fire that burned for 3 days!

Sunday morning Mark made HOMEMADE bagels. From scratch. they were amazing!

Picnic in the front yard while the dads packed up the tents and cars - what a fun weekend!

Easter at Jannie and Grampa's

We went over to Jannie and Grampa's for Easter afternoon for lots of fun with cousins.

Francie with her buddies Caroline and Brooke

and it isn't a party til Jannie brings out the Cascarones!

I got to demonstrate the crackin egg technique on Drew- good sport Drewby!

Mimi practicing

sister smash!

Emmy let Tessa "pretend" to get her :)

Wine and confetti - happy UJ

Beautiful Emmy and her buddy Tiny Tess

Jannie and her girls! (just missing Scarlet James!)

and then it was egg cracking contest time (a Greek Easter tradition we adopted! Last egg end to crack wins)

Line up

last ones standing - Jerry and Heff...

Jerry wins!

basking in the glory -

... but notice quiet little Maisie in the corner...

Maisie still had an uncracked egg! (questionable if she cracked with anyone ;)

Jerry ready to take her down - (no a godfather would never do that...)

and it's MAISIE for the win!!

pretty happy about it

and then on to pizza making

if anyone in the family will want to be in the restaurant business - it's this one. (don't worry, we'll tell her to wise up)

pass the baby time

and trike rides

aw such a sad face for cousin kate!

the teenage boy cousins - Luke, James and Drew are very patient with the baby girls!

and where's crazy J been in these pictures? Oh there she is :)

HAPPY EASTER 2013!

HAPPY EASTER 2013

How am I so lucky to have these four little girlies?! They even agreed to put on pretty Easter dresses for me - and a few of them smiled for a sisters photo on the front porch before we left for Easter at Jannie and Grampa's (some ladies walking by the sidewalked stopped to watch the picture taking spectacle as Heff was trying to make them smile and look behind me - when I called it "I think I got ONE" he said "Thank God - let's not do that again til next year." The ladies laughed at us :)

This is how a lot of them looked ;)

and of course many many like this

but we sure love them!

Red Bluff Weekend

We were in Red Bluff last weekend to hang out with family, eats lots of food, drink lots of beer and watch lots of children. My favorite activities! :)

The Matthews arrived with their 1 week old lambs who required round the clock bottle feeding. lots of helpers here.

Oma had some more landscaping put in so the beloved horsey swing is over a beautiful new grass area. makes the backyard picturesque for farm kids life for the grandchildren!

the kids are all so close (15 in 10 years but 13 of them in 5 years!) it's interesting to see who pairs of with who - it's different each time we all get together. This time, Kate and Francie were BFF's

and JJ was buddy-buddy with "Claraline"

the kids spent lots of time out in the barn watching over the baby lambs

Ellie put the time in to teach them how to drink from a bottle

Patrick, Clara and Maisie tearing things up (in the dress up favorites of course)

Kate stopped long enough to let me take her picture

two more trouble makers

and a hard-working, deserving a break dad (he might kill me for posting - but looks so cute when he's snoozing :)

dinner time chaos

and sunset super heros

"give me your mean face" (love)

Tiny Tess taking her photo-of-the-week on her 6 month birthday, and her signature JanKnit

morning swinging in PJs

how many kids can we fit on the airplane

Maureen and two baby girls (Molly and Lauren)

barn kids

Mary(Jane) had a little lamb...

ok all the Mary's have little lambs (thanks for lending Ellie and Kate)

and after a quick overnight, we stopped at the Long's ranch to say hi and grab some almond wood on the way home. Sutter and Chandler gave us a tour of their new barn and 4H animals

JJ is securely over her fear of horses!

and Tess loved the barn

not afraid!

lucky she has such nice sisters

Sutter showing off her prize lamb - ready for the show almost

she was so sweet with the girls!

lots of fun in Red Bluff, as usual. Be back to the dirt and fun soon!

Canada Ice Fishing

We had an awesome adventure to Banff Canada the first week in March! We had some airline miles to burn and a free week so we scouted around and picked Banff (ok I admit I it wasn't the poolside pina colada trip I was imagining - but my husband won) We invited Oma, Jannie and Grampa to join us - four kids, ten adults hands = real vacation! I have so many pictures so breaking it up - here are the photos from our full day of ice fishing out on a frozen lake in Calgary - quite the adventure!

plane ride was pretty easy, less than 3 hours! But on a small plane with 2 and 2 seats on each side so we were all spread out. It took us about 45 minutes to print our boarding passes and get an infant pass too. Turns out it causes some problems when 5 of 9 travelers are named MarySomething Heffernan! Don't even get me started on customs...

we started out the drive from Calgary airport to Banff with two Suburbans for all of us and all of our gear. We took JJ and Tess - the grandparent mobile had the big girls

Backree on the other sled

what a tourist

some of the scenery

We drove out about an hour to go ice fishing! The girls were so excited. I had been cooped up in the hotel the first two days while the crowd took the big girls skiing but Tess and I decided to brave the cold and adventure out for some fun. I was so proud of Jannie and her willingness to do this crazy stuff with the girls too! (Not that she hasn't always been adventurous- but the great outdoors Heffernan style is pushing it!)

Grampa and JJ - ready to rock the long trail down to the lake. Looks just like pictures of holding me and my siblings bundled up in the snow - except in color ;)

trekking

Jannie and Grampa - the guide taught us to say WHISKEY when we smile! :)

the girls and the bait hitching a ride

Brian and Oma - the expert fishers!

I swear Tess is in there somewhere

OUT in the middle of a frozen lake. Took me a bit to get used to this...

we found our ice hut

the lone boys

and the girls inside the hut - don't worry the ice holes were only 6 inches wide

we let the girls and the grandmas fish for while in the hut - it was a little crowded!

here fishy fishy

Dad didn't last long without a fishing pole in his hand

Tess says "what the heck are we doing out here mom? the hotel was so warm!"

FIRST FISH! Didn't take long!

purty. JJ was not a fan

Grampa warmed up Tiny so I could have a turn (didn't catch anything, I never do!)

Jannie didn't either - we are not the fisherwomen I guess. Left that to Oma and Heff and Grampa!

but we made sure grampa got a turn - just like the old days on the Lake Tahoe pier!

the girls ventured off to make a fresh hole in the ice with the guide

Happy girls

very happy dad

they have the patience I don't

Jannie is bundled up in that ice hut with a heater and JJ - smart girls!

Tess and I just kept busy taking selfies of ourselves and watching the fishing. She's thrilled ;)

hot chocolate break while dad mans the pole

Maisie back for more action

Jannie and her girls

Maisie was so proud of the "rainbow" she made in the snow

and snow angels

OMA caught this fish - Jannie held it for a photo and when I Instagramed this pic she got all the fish-catching credit - just to set the record straight Jannie wants to make sure everyone knows this was Oma's fish!

yum yum

not giving up - she wanted to stay there all day

so pretty

lunch time!

Family photo

and that's a wrap - back to the hotel for afternoon cocktails!!!

Cousin Visit

We had a great visit from the LA cousins a couple weekends ago. Isabel, Thomas and Ilona got lots of time to play in the creek, build forts, walk downtown and help pick the girls up at school. We had dinner one night with Mark and Clara and the girls were back to their mischief! They somehow emptied the contents of their organized closet (my dot system!) onto the floor and jumped on it. Aunt Mary was not very happy :) but it was great for the kids to have so much time to play together! We love all the cousin time we can get.

creek play

building a fairy fort (we strung twine up and stuck branches and sticks in between them - I might have gotten into this as much as they did :)

Maisie having some Maisie time

Thomas and a walking stick

big girls hard at work

snack break picnic

little T

little woodland creatures

Maisie and Izzy

JJ on the teeter-totter

love the girls laughing together in the background - and Crazy J face of course ;)

Emmy and Tess having a moment

lessons in physics

Big girl JJ throwing rocks

and then... the ice cream truck showed up! (Emmy has him trained to make a special loop by our house everyday :)

i mean what's better than Dora and Tweety "ice cream" that's been sitting in a truck getting freezer burn for who-know-how-many-years?

oh and Sponge Bob

the our nice neighbor invited us to come pick some Meyer Lemons from his abundant tree. Yes please!

they had visions of a lemonade stand. I had visions of a Sidecar ;)

lemonade won...

Thomas is a silly one!

BFF's - since birth!

eatin' all the M&M's

love my big girl

and super jealous of her four arms ;)

wait a minute....

cute trick ladies

they were in rare form

out from behind the camera - rare unless Andrea is there! Me and Ilona

and cute with her momma

walking downtown

Bumble/151/PLAY visits

this was them trying to "clean up" THE BIG MESS. I guess I stopped being mad long enough to take a photo :)

bedtime stories

and school pick up Tuesday morning!

family photo op

thanks for the fun visit guys!

we had way too much fun!

Tiny Eats

We started Tess on baby food this month! I waited til 6 months with Francie and Maisie but JJ was ready at 5 months (and helped her sleep better!) so we tried Tess too. She was smacking her lips looking at food and seemed hungry for something more. I tried a bottle last month too, and a few times since but she refuses - but now that she takes food she can stay with Emmy in the mornings while I go to work which is great for both of us! :) She loves apples, pears and bananas. Not a fan of rice cereal or squash yet. We tried a yummy one at Bumble last night

ah the messy baby feeding stage - fun to start... then you have to do this THREE times a day? ;)

bananas - she likes it I swear.

and she LOVES the new Big Dipper Baby Food we are carrying at Bumble now!! can't get enough :) (post on home page)

Dinner with Warners

We had another fun Thursday night - with the Warners! Rachel and Steve came over with some good wine and their cute kids Helena and Ben who entertained the girls all night. Poor Ben - the only boy got dressed up in a dress and makeup, what a good sport :)

pizza making Steve and Rachel - so much fun to catch up with them!

kid approved dinner

We've Got a Roller!

this week was the big roll over - go Tess! (still has barely done it for ME - just anyone else watching ;)

Tessa's Photo-A-Week project is still not forgotten! It's become kind of a fun ritual :)

JJ's Birthday Party

Francie and Maisie threw JJ a "Doggie" birthday party with family on Monday night for her 2nd birthday. Francie stayed up late setting up the scene... "SO. there will be a photo booth in that area, a doggie crawl game in that area, food and snacks in that area, adult stuff in that area..." Brian looked at me and goes "Get used to it!" (just like her mom ;) JJ loved her party and her sisters did a cute job making her feel special and TWO!

opening her presents in the morning

Francie decorated...

this is the photo booth ;)

love her "snack station"

even Oma and Opa came to celebrate JJ! She was very excited to see them

we made pizzas in the pizza oven! been giving it a breaking in but will do more as the weather gets better - learning a little more every time from Jannie

photos by Maisie

and wouldn't be a party without Lindabobbi!!

and Kiss-tain, James and Em with Scarlett!

dancing puppy dog (lots of doggie gifts)

thank you hugs for Maisie and Jannie

cute Emmy and tired looking Tess

UJ and Luke were so nice to make the trip over the hill too!

Happy Birthday to our JJ

birthdays, arrows, rainbows.. and JJ! all my favs ;)

Heff's Birthday Party

For Heff's big 41 this year we had a mellow day with the girls and then hosted a birthday dinner with some of his friends at Bumble. We had a special Valentines dinner for the kids in the playroom and a white linen pre-fix menu for the adults to sit back and enjoy - it was delicious and a fun way to mix it up at Bumble for a special occasion... Heff's birthday of course (Valentines Day who?)

One of the families that came had three girls, 9, 7 and 5 but Francie clung on to the oldest like glue ("it's an oldest thing mom") and thy claimed one of the adult tables as their own for a sweet little dinner date :) the converstaion was amazing since this girl HUNTS with her dad. (pretty much maide Heff's birthday this relationship blossomed )

little girls with their buddies Emily and Tracy

and it's not a party until JJ breaks out the Wild Turkey

As of Late

just catchin up! I added an "Instagram Feed" on the side bar so you can see the day-to-day happenings in real time - haha ;) nothing too exciting around here just more of the same fun and craziness with the girls!

We got invited to a Chinese New Year celebration at Maisie's friend Marissa's house - her older brother and sister put on a great show teaching them about Chinese New Year traditions

big sisters are the best

the sun is out again! spring fever means ice cream afternoon trips

happy tiny in her bouncy while we cook dinner

Tess getting some morning sun... and JJ pretends she's the baby

party in Tessa's crib! (I loved your comment Bethy- where was JJ? "In the VIP crib party" of ocurse)

I love this picture of the Troopy Sara took - spring also means the Troopy comes back out! (now just have to figure out how to fit in our new, smaller garage)

JJ and Daddy - what a pair :)

trying to get Tess to take a bottle - attempt 2 = no go. (but tried a new kind of bottle last night and she had about an ounce! small steps)

Dad did a record 6 minute install of FOUR car seats in the truck - those things are such a pain!

night night (also working on getting her to sleep like this in HER bed!)

Happy Birthday JJ!

Janie is TWO today! Happy Birthday Crazy J. You sure keep us entertained round the clock! 

You are a hilarious kid Janie. Last week at the park a mom asked Emmy how old you were and Emmy said "She's 1" and JJ shoots Emmy and the Mommy a dirty look and goes "NOOOOOO! Emmy. ACTUALLY - I free-and-a-half." and goes back to playing. Well now you're at least TWO J but glad you think you're pushing four :)

You wake up every morning from your crib (still sleeping 9pm-ish to 9am-ish and taking a 2-3 hour afternoon nap - when you go-go-go you have to sleep-sleep-sleep!) and you call for DAAAADDDDY! or sometimes EMMMMMY!

Valentines Sweethearts

This Week

Just some photos! We tried real food for Tessa - Maisie was very excited to help. Apple sauce was the choiuce - didn't go over so well as you can see ;) 

Assembly line after bathtime

Crazy Maisie!

and the daily walk to school...

rolling up in their chariot

ready to LEARN - or play. whatever :)

tried to get Maisie to give up the binky "for lent" but we are at least down to only in bed. small steps (Francie said she thougth Tess should give up boob for lent #justwantstogiveherabottle)

dentist appointment = no personal space. Learning about teeth cleaning while mom texts on her phone about work, uses one hand to keep the baby happy in her seat on the floor, endures teeth cleaning and let's Francie use the water sucker thing. 

Dad's turn

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEFF!!!

Heff Happenings

The Heff's happenings as of lately... :)

Brian took Francie to the Stanford Women's basketball game last Sunday - the Agnich girls had two floor seat tickets and couldn't go so they offered them to us! Heff thought it would be fun for a little Dad date with France - she loved seeing GIRLS playing sports (although they sat in the bleachers so they could get snacks the whole game :)

Tessa has been getting so much personality! She still doesn't love to sleep at night but she does take good naps in the morning and afternoon - we are almost on somewhat of a schedule, shocker for me ;)

play at PLAY last week. Francie wore a fancy dress (this particular one was from James and Em's wedding as the flower girl:) every day of the week. Then after her adventures with her Dad she found custom cowgirl JEANS and came home to tell me "no more fancy dresses for me!"

Walking downtown for family dinner at Bumble - 4 deep in the stroller (this thing is a tank)

Friday night run to the hardware store after dinner. I started Operation red Wagon project at 5:30pm when it was just getting dark, Heff was nice enough to go along with it and then I ran out of spray paint 80% of the way through! OSH at 8:30pm looked like this:

Sunday morning I went to the Alameda Antique faire with Tess and my "A Team" Rashelle/Sara from work and Emmy the baby whisperer and Christian the picker/filter for waht I want to buy :) We had such a fun trip!

and then I snuck in an afternoon nap and woke up to this - Heff is such a good dad, he had Tess in the Bjorn for hours AND the Superbowl was on! But he was stomp rocketing it up with the girls outside. I just sat on the step smiling watching this for awhile :)

that's a happy Daddy's girl

they worked on this GoCart project while I was in Alameda. Francie designed it on paper and they used the milk cartons we can't seem to get rid of. We took it on a maiden voyage walk to Shoup but had a technical difficulty (axel fell off) and had to return to the pit at home to fix it

and big news around here - Francie is all registered for KINDERGARTEN!!!

nightly routine - beers and bottles! keeps us sane ;)