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 ;)