my reflection (and my camera) while we were out on the hike. Everybody says Maisie looks like me- my sister calls her MiniMary (which technically is her name anyway!) That's a compliment to me- I love my little Maisie Moo.
"Christmas" morning after presents we all piled in the big rigs and drove down to the river for a hike. It was chilly and about to rain but made for fun in the mud for the kids and an adventure for everyone :)
The Jelly's Ferry Bridge
Setting out
Mark, Sarah and Clara Marie
Mary and Heff :)
Patrick Moby wrapped up on Maureen
Potty break (first time peeing outside- her Dad was so proud)
Big girls
Snuggled up
Thanks for suggesting the girls carry the giant stick the whole walk Uncle Mark
Oma and Isabel bringing up the rear
cousins on a log
add the babies with their Daddy's (the three brothers!)
Heff and his woodsman babies
Ellie and Maggie
Uncle Cake
Uncle Mark and Clara
Uncle Bri-nan
Almost the whole Famn Damily
Craid, Andrea and Thomas
Aunt Sarah
walking back
It took Isabel a few shots to warm up to a smily photo with her mom
I'm so lucky I married in to such a fun family :)
The next morning we let the kids loose to open presents from each other and their Oma and Opa. Oma found them all Monkees which were a huge hit. Then the wrapping paper started flying...
and Ellie, Kate and Maureen made these ADORABLE handmade dolls for each little girl and each one came with a cool cigar box home. Ellie handsewed the hair and they all painted the faces on and accessorized them. SO CUTE!
Uncle Mark put Clara's busy box on his head
and Band Hero arrived (thanks Amazon Prime) for the big kids
We made December 28 our official Heffernan Christmas Dinner which also falls on the birthday of the twins- Claire and Cathleen. Everyone pitched in for an International themed dinner and the house was filled with smells of curry, flour and Hungary :) We opened the adult presents that night and decided we have reached a new level of chaos with so many people and little kids in the house!
and Patrick, well... Patrick NEEDED a bath. He loves tiolets. He found a toilet WITH a surprise in it. Stirred the pot (pun intended) and splashed it all over. He got a bath- but he pooped in the bath too. He got another bath. Now he's all clean :)
Francie was the last kid standing and pulled out the waffle iron when we weren't looking. Almost woke the whole house up dropping it on the floor and we had to convince her to wait for morning for Oma's famous waffles. The moms and dads did karaoke on the PS2 all night but I'll spare you those photos :)
Six kids and Uncle Brian (who Francie now calls Uncle Brian instead of Dad) in the dark with headlamps and Maglights. We ran one short but Isabel settled for special night vision goggles. I love Izza-bizza.
Kat and Donald bought a horse-tire swing for all the kids... it was a huge hit!
Heff and his baby girls ready to play outside
I love these 4-wheeler pictures! Heff has a new profile pic...
like this old one from when Francie was a baby!
new pink jackets from Jannie
Teaching the tom-boys how to drive a 4-wheeler
Somebody loves the ride with Dad
make that TWO somebodies
can't even see the babies on the buggie
I ventured outside. Shoes off and time to go hibernate back inside
Christmas in Red Bluff starts December 26 and everyone piles in to the Heffernan's for lots of food, fun and cozying up inside. I didn't leave the house for the first two and a half days and when I did it was only to go down to the barn :) my favorite kind of relaxing. The cousins are having a ball- 11 kids under 7 this year! Pretty soon we may have to adopt some ideas from the Duggars with 19 Kids and Counting in one house.
They put on a show singing a few songs as the self proclaimed "Bunkhouse Club"
and did lots and lots of "projects"
in matching striped pants thanks to the Target clearance rack
Oma's house looks very festive and the dinners are soo tasty
The bathtub gets a little tighter every year...
Maisie even joined in... but wasn't all that happy about it
ice cream for dessert after the bath (parents weren't thinking on that one)
cozyed up in PJ's after their bath for a slumber party
Christmas Eve is the big night in our family to celebrate Christmas with aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings. We went to the 4:00pm children's mass at Nativity with a cute little pageant then picked up our presents at home and headed to Jannie and Grampa's house for cracked crab dinner, swaps and lots of Christmas merriment.
Faces of Family... say it all this year :)
Francie did a few "shows" for whoever would listen
the "kids" ran upstairs to hide when Santa came after dinner while he left the presents
Maisie's face gives away her feelings about getting carseat for Christmas
Jannie pulled through and gave her an Elmo too
We had three swaps this year- Go Green for adults, Board Games for kids and Kaky's Favorite were the themes this year
Emmy brought back James's swap entry for "memorable" from a few years ago- Mary's 5th grade birthday party, still made fun of to this day... The Frontier Pioneer Party in a Box!
thanks guys
For "Go Green" Mimi picked dry-fit underwear you can wear for two weeks straight :)
and my Dad got a carbon credit... "what the hell is this bull***t?"
Kaky's Favorite gifts from everyone who loved her to each other
December 23 we met everybody at the St Francis hotel on Union Square in SF for our annual overnight with my moms siblings and all the cousins. We really missed Kaky this year- last year at this same dinner/overnight was the last night she was so much herself- laughing and taosting and asking us all what was new in our life. The next day she fell and ended up in the hospital- none of us would have guessed her lively, beautiful spirit that night last year would be gone three short months later. We miss you Kaky but we know you were there watching over us all!
ABA and Maisie- we wish ABA lived here! It's so much fun when she is home, but we know she loves Nashville and Pat (who is from Nashville) so we'll just settle for visits home and hopefully a visit out to Nashville sometime soon. Pat came to SF this year to celebrate Christmas with us too!
The Heff's ready to head out for drinks and dinner with the crowd
getting crowded
Uncle Jerry hosted us all in his room for cocktail hour
Uncle Jerry's bar- complete with champagne bottles chilling in the garbage and recycle bins
Cousins
Jannie didn't get the memo it was supposed to be a cousin-generation only picture :)
Ella and Francie
funny face
The College Age Cousins (minus Johners) Emmy~ SJSU, Connor- got in early to Georgetown and BC! and Claire~ soph at Boston College
The OUT-laws!
James, Ann and Em
Francie, Claire and Connor
more cousin love
Connor, John, Baby Ann and Allison
Then we all walk a few blocks for dinner at Sam's... table for 25
piled in the big booth
Ann and Awoo
Claire and Emmy
Maisie chewed on broccoli all night and got passed around
James and Em
godparents (who take their role very seriously :)
Johnners with Maisie
boys
bundled up walking back
Em and Maisie
Girls shopping at Macy's after dinner- open til midnight!
Connor with the girls
and throw Drew in there
December 22 we packed up to head to San Francisco to indulge a little in our little family tradition (followed by our BIG extended family tradition the second night). Heff and I have been going for a pre-christmas overnight at the Ritz-Carlton since we first met. We stay in, eat, drink and relax. Used to be a tad more relaxing playing scrabble and drinking champagne as newly engaged couple- but the girls make it fun and we even got them both down in time to watch a MOVIE (Heff and I have seen 2 other movies together in 4+ years... Juno, Knocked Up and this time The Hangover- hilar :) It was a fun night in the city!
despite Maisie being mauled by her sister :)
fun in a box- somehow we got upgraded to a suite and Francie was thrilled with her own "bed" (ok, it was a couch but don't tell her) AND her own bathroom! Perfect for our half-hearted attempt at potty training the last month or so (see diaper below) She is good at home but I'm a little too lazy to venture out and have to rush to find bathrooms just yet.
We took the girls swimming and hot tubbing in the basement (well- Dad swam, I hot tubbed)
Maisie is always watching her big sister
one of many sets of matching Christmas PJ's... gotta get the wears in now!
Daddy and Maisie snacking
Mom and the girls
"warm chocolate" and marshmallows for Francie
running BACK to the pool (tires them out for a good long nap :)
"Stop Mom! I have some pride unlike my sister!"
Heading out for some Christmas shopping!
and off to the next spot in our 10 days of Christmas craziness...
in Red Bluff and having so much fun playing PS2 Karaoke!
They don't know either... but they are excited for the festivities to begin!
sitting by the
fire
while (playing online poker tournaments)
and eating
my kinda
the littlest one above, Emerie only 9 days old! Monday afternoon we had the Mariani girls and some friends over for a Christmas Grandmother-Mother-Daughter (baby/aunt/brother) Tea :) It's a tradition we've been doing for three years now (although the first year had a much bigger crowd and we've kinda whimped out and gotten smaller- the Mariani family fills the house!)
Tracy and I with the littlest baby girls
Maisie and Stella (who didn't feel like wearing her shirt :)
Sofia busy on her cell riding King Harry
Whitney pretty in her red dress and red shoes
Kids at the train
and who's at the door?! SANTA!!
Moms and aunties watching
Cute Wil- the first one on Santa's lap
Joe Joe and Santa
Francie was a "wittle scared" and stayed safe on Jannie's lap NEXT to Santa
My godson James
Stella (the big girl Stella :)
Emilia
Sofia
Jannie, Grampa and Francie
Happy Kids (and THANKS for coming to visit Santa! Funny, our friend Dr. Durando had to close up shop early Monday afternoon and Jannie has been purchasing a lot of "velvet Santa suit" items on eBay lately...)
Nancy and Jannie
Heff and not-so-happy Maisie Moo
Tracy and Stella
Janna (looking great 9 days after having her fourth baby), Stella, Molly (looking great with Baby #3 Due in January!) and Heff with still-not-so-happy Maisie
Kids getting ready to do a "show" for everybody
8 kids hiding quietly under a blanket while the guests take their seats for the show
Merry Christmas! Jingle Bells and Rudolph to follow...
their audience
Nancy and her nine day old neice Emerie
Whitney's turn
Emerie Arlene
Mary and the Mariani girls (minus Julie!)
Only two more days to milk Fisbee for all he's worth!
Barfed on mom and herself at lunch so improvised to stay warm in a onesie...
Emmy and I walked by those cute woodsman-clad red plaid babies in the GapKids ads just one too many times... we had to do our own version with Francie and Maisie. Yes we totally ripped off BabyGap- but here it is :)
Life with our Four Marys! Raising Free Range Kids in Northern CA.
