Christmas Eve Eve

/

Saturday Night my sister Ann and her husband Pat were in town so we had dinner at our house with my parents. It was a RAINY weekend with a huge storm that brought the creek level up the highest we have ever seen it! We stayed inside all day listening to the rain and Heff would go down to check the waters. It actually came above the "island" on the other side and was running back into the yard from the Redwood Grove - crazy! 

Usually the creek looks more like this - crazy how much comes in when it is raining, it goes back down pretty quickly after a few days too. I love listening to the rushing creek (can you see the rope swing in the picture above?)

Heff checking out the rainy wet backyard -

Jannie making dinner with her sidekick - she squeezed some lemons and Francie comes in and goes "Yum smells like cocktails."

and we had another reservation for the horse and carriage rides downtown to let Jannie take the girls! I almost forgot about it and we finsihed dinner right around 8:30pm, I asked if anyone wanted to rally and bundle up and Jannie jumed up for the carriage ride!

Ann and Emmy went too with the three big girls - I dropped them off and sweet talked the driver into dropping them off back in front of the house - it was so fun for them!

Jannie brought the girls an early gift - 30 GIRL playmobile pieces :) Francie was miffed the train came with only boy characters

and the next morning Francie brought this up next to my bed. I was feeling like I was getting sick so she thought I needed some extra water, a rose and chocolate - never hurts to kiss up the day before Christmas!!

and Jerry texted me this - doing 11th hour christmas shopping and asked what Maisie wanted. She meant a real live polar bear but I love his response "If this exists I WILL FIND IT." anything for his goddaughter!!! what a good brother :) 

 

 

and The World Didn't End!

/

Friday was 12-21-12 - the date the Mayan calendar ended and supposed end of the world - but thankfully we are all still here! To celebrate (kidding) Emmy and I took the girls to Build-A-Bear. They earned 100 bonus points for doing helpful things above their normal chores and good listening (the hardest part about being 3 and 5) so they could choose to redeem for a date night by yourself with mom and dad, ice skating outting or going to build-a-bear. Of course to Heff's dismay that one was the winner this time. Off to Valley Fair...

they picked the rainbow tie-dye and psycadelic purple bears. awesome. Janie at least picked the cute dog that looked the most like Carl!

washing their bears and picking out new outfits

and home being very silly girls!

 

love it France

then Heff and I went to a client's "End of the World party" for a couple hours that night in our matchy-matchy Bumble patagonia jackets we had made for all the awesome staff. Super cozy!! (sadly missed the family night out in the city this year!! Dinner out in SF with four little girls is not as fun as it used to be especially since Tess doesn't like to sit in the evening. give us a few years to be back ;)

and just because it's a cute Tessa picture :) can you tell these are my favorite cozy PJ's of hers!?

 

Catching Up

/

The Thursday before Christmas Emmy was sick so we had impromptu work with mom day. Tessa had an eye appointment so Heff took JJ to avoid the wrath of Crazy J in a hospital waiting room and then I picked her up to go to Bumble with me and Tess. We got the girls at school and went to Bumble to get some last minute work done before the holiday craziness starts!

Francie at Nutcracker preschool practice - the Guiding Light! (more pics from the show next :)

Tess had a morning appointment to check on her eye - all good. Very thankful the surgery fixed the tear duct!

Cheeese! JJ the candy cane

a little Area 151 arcade play after they earned some good behavior points at Bumble - never gets old! I played one handed while Tessa took her nap

stopping by to see Christian and Cousin Kate at the store 

and rocking JJ to sleep - she's spent :) 

 

More from December

/

a bunch of pictures I haven't blogged...

Red Bluff piggie night

Friday before Christmas off to deliver gifts to all Heff's clients at their offices (great face Maise)

I told Heff this was exactly what Chinese torture would be for me - getting three kids IN-AND-OUT of three carseats multiple times (I think they went to 12 places!) in one afternoon. In the rain. Without naps. TORTURE.

Sista love

poor Tess

She's in ONE play and now she thinks she lives on Broadway ;)

Monkey see, monkey do

Oma's outfits for her Christmas card

I asked her "you sure you don't want this one?"

Big girl

Pixie girl

Crazy girl

Baby girl

Outtakes

I think this was the closest we got!

Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas!!

/

from our family to yours! This year our card was a combined Merry Christmas/Announcement for Tessa/We've Moved card. Way to pack it in on one stamp. Jennifer Baciocco took our family photos and Sara helped me pull it all together on a card that we printed in town (way to shop local huh? ;) I'm pretty sure Jen might have photoshopped someones head to produce a photo with all six of us looking towards the camera - but we'll take it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!

Snow Day 2012!

/

Snow Day 2012 at Bumble! Saturday we declared a Snow Day at Bumble and Area 151 for a party and then for our customers - the snow showed up at 7am and we thought they would blow it in place (in the front yard and courtyard) but it was in cartons on pallets - 15 tons of it!! Heff saved the day by shoveling it all into place for us along with the very nice ice guys (the owner is married to a friend from grammar school we figured out quickly - they also have four kids!) It was a COLD day so the snow stuck around and we felt like we were all in the mountains!

Maisie Moo helping Dad all morning

JJ in REAL snow! (kinda) 

People did a double take when they walked by :)

thanks snow man (in shorts!)

Cute Bumble girls serving drinks to warm you up

I spy Tiny Tess

yummy spread ready for the guests

JJ chugging milk (we all kinda jumped out of bed to get the snow ready and never went home all day - hence the PJ's and you shoulda seen my awesome outfit :)

Love this pic of Maisie and her BFF Marissa

sledding!

hay bale ski slopes

and guess who showed up?

the girls are holding out on what they want - making Santa sweat it!

 courtyard at 151 all snowed in too... if you missed the DTLA snow this year (it did last about three days!) we'll try to make it a tradition for next year!

 

 

Insta-Lately

/

time to catch up on the iPhone dump with an "Insta-lately" post!...

 

matching unders - after a sleepover at Jannie's. Love the long sleeve, no sleeve, short sleeve differences.

That's my CRAZY JJ!

Seriously... the cat is a saint.

and Maisie Moo - love the expressions she can run through in a matter of seconds

Big girl doing an art project - her favorite thing to do

 

 

and I finally got this blog printed on REAL PAPER in case the internet/world explodes on Saturday when the Mayan calendar ends. I printed them in 3 month/quarter increments on SharedBook. 18 volumes so far, some way thicker than others for some reason (usually when I wasn't pregnant or didnt have a newborn - oh wait that only happened once :) still 2012 to be printed though!

getting in the holiday spirit - another classic Maisie face 

Backwa came over for dinner one night when Jannie was busy - what a treat!

Merry Christmas :)

Tessa's first Christmas - still got all the "Baby's First Christmas" outfits from Francie that fit perfectly since their birthdays were so close :)

love these little monsters (on Francie's adopted "blankie" - it was mine when I was a baby, she loves that :)

and we went to a beautiful baby shower for Em at the Skidmore's last Thursday night - I missed the memo it was a ladies event and Heff came along - he was a good sport! (and admitted a party at the Skidmore's is never a problem - food and everything are always amazing!) It was a fun night for Em

 

Uncle Jerry's 60th

/

Unlce Jerry turned SIXTY! John and Kim had a family bash at their house in Aptos Saturday night to celebrate. It was a fun night to toast the Big Guy. Heff got 2+ inch prime steaks from our meat purveyor that were amazing and my brother Jerry made an awesome video tribute to Big Uncle Jerry with interviews from his siblings and voice over by Francie and Maisie :) it took a ton of work and was so fun to everyone to watch.  The girls had a blast with their big cousins (technically my cousins :) and didn't wnt to leave. Good thing Christmas is only a few days away!

Francie adores Ella who was so sweet with her all night (and always!) 

little stinkers on the couch - missing Maisie

that's Maisie high-tailing it from photo ops!

but then my brother Jerry asked them to pose on the couch and THIS was the result. Wow. 1) they listen to him 2) the George Costanza posing is more than a little awkward. Maisie's face is priceless, she's such a funny kid!

Special watsonville family birthday cake. lots of candles UJ!

letting the stinkers blow out the candles

Happy Birthday Big Jerry!!

 

 

 

 

Horse & Carriage Ride

/

We went for our now annual tradition Horse & Carriage ride through downtown Los Altos on Sunday night! We surprised the girls - they all had baths and got PJ's on then we piled them in the stroller to walk down to the toystore to make their Santa lists and then casually walked by the pick up place and told them the horse was waiting for US to take us on a ride. Janie was beside herself!! When we went bu Bumble we stopped and got some carrots for "Bonnie" the horse too. 

Tiny Tess at home ready to go out in the cold

Dinner at Bumble on our way - JJ had her baby in her Ergo just like mom the whole night :)

Cheeeese!

Family photo op with the horse and carriage - double fisting babies!

JJ soooo excited 

too dark for iPhone photos but you get the idea, lots of excitement

and home after a fun night. Dog pile on Dad and she says "I poke you eye DADA!"

 

Twelve Week Tess

/

Tess is twelve weeks old and we've managed to get a photo every week so far (one might have snuck in on a Saturday) but it really is amazing to see those little cheeks and legs chubbers up! 12 weeks doesn't seem very long but look how big she is... feels like she has been a part of our family for a lot longer :) Tessa has many nicknames (on top of the fact Tessa IS her nickname!) these days including Tess, Tiny, Teeny, T and the girls favorite "Quinney" or "Cressia" not sure where those came from. She is getting better about not screaming at night before bed and is really alert and smily. Love having my little sidekick!

Changing Seasons

/

Saint Nick came last week! Someone (named Heff) remembered, thank goodness. The girls were super excited and consumed all 92 lifesavers that same day (little silver and white mice wrappers all over the house!) Tessa's came under her little hot pink John Deere socks since she doesn't have boots yet :) December is already going by too fast but trying to squeeze in old and new family traditions where we can!

last family dinner with the Thankful Tree before it comes down and Chrismas cards go up!! Send us your cards - we love looking at all the families cute pictures in December and keep them in a box from each year. I bet the girls will love looking at the old ones in 10 years :)

and we went to PLAY one night for a PJ party - the girls snooped out these Hello Kitty flannel PJ's I got them for CHRISTMAS in a Target bag hidden in my room! They came down all dressed in them, even JJ and I said "What!? those were for Christmas!" and Francie goes "Well you didn't hide them very well."

My sidekick Tessa and I hard at work with a Candy Cane Almond Milk Latte. cozy cozy.

and Jannie and Grampa/Back-a-wa SPOILED the girls one night with their Christmas present early! A Playmobile vintage but working great TRAIN SET. Thanks J and G!!

I mean... this kid.

and speaking of cozy - #janknits

Picking Our Christmas Tree

/

Saturday we went out on the hunt for a Christmas tree! We went back to our old stomping grounds to support the Nativity School tree lot and stooped at Jeffrey's for burgers and shakes on the way. The girls were in their German outfits Oma brought them back from her trip (we took a photo for Oma in the morning and they didn't want to change out, Francie said "Mom I just feel so grown up in this outfit.") so we were quite the scene at the tree lot (ie "does that crazy lady dress her kids like that all the time?" sort of :) . Jannie and Grampa met us there and we hauled a tree home for them too!

Tess in her coordianting outfit (no dirndls for infants :) 

off we go

Maisie insisted on holding Tess - she's not so sure

JJ found her Jannie and Back-wa!

Big girl, feeling so grown up :) (now just act like it little stinker!)

all of us, barely 

family photo try #2

Little J keeping us on our toes

Candy Canes for bribery

Jannie and Grampa love! (Maisie was already buckled in the car - once buckled you don't get out :)

Tree made it in the door - hasn't made it to decorating stage yet. and we STILL can't find Fisbee the Elf!! Man what a waste of all these days of scare-tactic parenting. Moving did not bode well for last year's utterance from Heff "I hid that Elf so well the girls will never find it."... humm us either!

 

Instagram Wall of Fame

/

We put up an Instagram Installation today on our hallway wall today. I used CanvasPop to print up 12 by 12 canvases of my favorite Instagrams from the past year and hung them in a 7 by 4 grid in the hallway. The girls love looking at the photos of themselves :) and it's pretty amazing these were all taken with a camera phone. I think it's fun that it's a wall of real everyday life to remember all those day to day memories! I might update a few every few months but we'll see - could stay just like this for a long time!

The Creek is UP

/

The creek in our backyard has been a rushing river with all this rain! I gets flowing like crazy during a storm (don't worry we don't let the kids out of our sight!) and then goes back down to a babbling brook (ie much more safe) as soon as it stops raining. Sunday was CRAZY - these pictures were at about noon when it crested, then it broke over the walls in the Redwood Grove and flooded the paths! We've seen it a little higher in the past but this was pretty high and the first time in this house we've had water in the creek. Exciting stuff around here! :)

this is a panorama from our neighbors house

that's a lot of water!

no rope swinging today :)