Brian and the girls were up in Red Bluff for TEN days and I joined them Monday-Sunday from Nashville (Heff picked me up at SFO- what a husband :) We had a great time just relaxing and spending time with all of the Heffernans. The girls spent lots of time checking on the horses in the barn, feeding, riding and getting dirty with all the animals. Oma took good care of my little turkeys while I was gone and kept us all fed and happy all week- thanks Oma!

Riding off into the sunset on Sherman the new addition to the barn- he was a vaulting pony! and Francie even gets to "ride" him by herself sometimes with no one leading. Good horse!

Isabel and the Craig Heffernans arrived from LA on Wednesday - the girls went running of with IzzaBizza!

"Where's Paco?"

Maise-Snaggle

Francie is sort of transitioning out of naps. She gets quiet time for an hour or two in her room still but doesn't always fall asleep. I was hoping she'd nap until she went to college but no such luck. So sometimes this is the no nap afternoon result...

and after 7 days of therapy and "you will like this"- Maisie got over her fear of beasts and actually rode Sherman (before she had a 2 foot rule).

"Mom if you blog this, will people will think I'm one of those horse girls??"

patient Sherman in my old polo bridle

Thomas gets a turn

and nighttime "Snipe Hunting" became a ritual for the big girls with Heff. Funny- they never found a snipe and after all his tall tales about what snipe were and what they looked like, the girls came in and said, "let's google snipe" to find out they looked nothing like Uncle Brian described!

Katherine and I kept ourselves busy one afternoon doing a hallway makeover on Oma's entryway where we all tend to pile our jackets, cameras, diaper bags, purses and shoes on the chest. it gets to be a mountain with 21 people in the house! So q quick trip to the Redding Target (always a highlight) and some furniture building and hook hanging later we had organization. Each family gets a bin and shoes in the basket!

The girls on a chicken hunt (chickens are all dead- damn coyotes!)

Love for her little sis- didn't last long I'm sure

"Yeah they left me in the dust..."

A girl after her Opa's heart... fascinated by the water tower

Hide and Seek with Isabel

"Found ya!"

Lots of football on the couch. Pretty nice way to spend Thanksgiving week!

and maybe a few naps too...

The cooks were all certainly busy in the kitchen! Kat whipped up a few amazing Pioneer Woman favorites - French Onion Stuffed Mushrooms and Homemade Buttery Rolls Dipped in Butter... yummm

Francie logged some time in front of the window waiting for Kate and Ellie to arrive from Chico

Maureen brought homemade pies

Ellie made hand-drawn nametags for Thanksgiving dinner

Heff had some great hat-head going on

Oma and Opa and their brood ready for dinner

Ellie managed the younger troops at the kids end of the table

The cute Doverspikes after dinner!

Kat is such a good mom- as expected :)

and Oliver could NOT be any cuter!

Dish duty by most of the non-cooks, all thankful for such a yummy meal!

and after dinner matching Moose Pj's for all the kids! Attempts at a group photo were pretty unsuccessful- Andrea I hope you got some expert ones! Some of my favorite outtakes...