Thanksgiving- A Full House!

We were so lucky to have all the Francis kids out here for Thanksgiving this year! We had all 11 of us staying at our place and I wouldn't have had it any other way.  Good thing we all like each other so much! We ate tons of food, played a hilarious game of "True Colors" went out to a delicious Italian Restaruant, ran 5 miles, played some Xbox, and just chatted and hung out- it was great! Thanks for making all the effort to come see us- we love ya!

The four Francis cousins rockin' out!

Kim's delicious refrigerator roll recipe turned out beautifully!

Port Washington Turkey Trot- 5 miles in the cold!

these shirts are HOT

The Francis Ladies doing their thing

Dinner turned out to be DELICIOUS with everyone's help

Rach stayed a little longer and we had a day in the city- 

Central Park

subway

ice skating- it was too cold to really go, so we pretended :)

zanna and her look-a like

the fam

"Five to stay alive"

Zanna turned 5 on the 11th of Dec. and we partied!!!

We had fun using our new cake decorating kit to make her cake- thanks Holly!

played a little "pin the princess on the castle"

even Jess was able to come- yeah!

she got to celebrate with her pre-k class with her some good ol' hostess cupcakes

her special present this year was a girls night out in the city

to see the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall for

the "Christmas Spectacular" show with Bailee, Olivia and Rachel

It was a girlie night come true and although it was the coldest night of the year- we had a blast!

 I can't believe this little girl is 5- she is the best!

Dave surprised me with this... (in November)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thanks, Grandma, for making this happen- we love you!!!!!

"The Franci Funny Dance"

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

so, I have not blogged in about a month and I'm afraid if I don't start back soon I may never come back. i have just lacked the motivation lately-- but we have been doing so many fun things! I feel like I want to share, I just can't find the "umph" to get it on the blog. So, we are alive, we are not sitting in our house doing nothing, we are just BUSY and tired, but happy and will hopefully be back sooner than later.

here's a pic, just for fun- see you soon!

little neck's got talent!

These are from our WARD TALENT SHOW (Little Neck Ward) and it was an awesome night.  My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard at what people came up with and it was just fun to see people from church in a whole new light- we had some hot, hot, hot ladies dancin', great musical numbers, hilarious Japanese skit, cute kids, and the missionaries kickin' some marital art booty! I was happy the kids actually performed and afterwards we made huge, gooey ice cream sundaes- great activity for anyone looking for something fun for their ward :)

another first

This is Zanna's first school picture and I think it turned out pretty darn cute! I had a clip in her hair that morning, but it ended up on the other side of her head for her picture- oh well :)

Last night the kids were playing "I Spy" and she kept saying, "James, it's FRONT in my face!"

Dave and I laughed out loud the first time we heard her say it, and now if we are looking for somthing we say, "It's front in my face!"

recommend it to all...

The Secret Life Of Bees

Dave and I saw this last night for our "free Tuesday movie night" and I would recommend it to everyone! I absolutely loved the book and would recommend reading it- preferably before  seeing the movie- to anyone looking for an excellent, heart-felt, inspiring read.  It made me want to be a better mom and just make sure my kids know they are loved and will always be taken care of.  Dave liked it too, even though he still has a hard time understanding why I like to read/watch things that make me sad, and I think it was good for him to go to movie like this for a change- it was a refreshing change from all the fast-paced action or comic book movies we've seen lately.  Two thumbs up!

I'm Starving...

...and no, it has nothing to do with the post about "my sad day". but, between Sunday fasting and then waking up today and not eating because I had to go to the doctor at 9:00 for some routine blood work, and then having a dentist appt. at 11:00am to get a little filling- where afterward they said "don't eat for 2 hours"- I'm dying!! It's been 3 hours now, but my mouth is still so numb that I'm afraid to eat and chew my cheek and lip raw!

I have plenty of healthy, yummy things to eat-- halloween sugar cookies, halloween brownies, chocolate cupcakes with coconut (my favorite!) a whole apple pie, apple cake and two pumpkins full of trick-or-treating candy--all these things are in my house RIGHT NOW- is that gross or what??

but, I guess I'll just go have some water and hope it doesn't dribble down the side of my face...

Some festive pic's of the kids

the Primary Halloween Party

James' usual reaction to huge cookie (they made them at Joy School)

Zanna had a Pumpkin Patch at her school and this is her cute little Pre-K Class

101th post!

This is my 101th post- I think I will celebrate with some funny kid sayings 'cause their have been a lot lately...

• Whenever we drive to the city Zanna yells, "Mom, there's the ENTIRE State Building!"
• When she says the first Article of Faith she says, "We believe in God the INTERNAL Father
• Today in church the speaker said "...this was back when President Hinckley was still the prophet." James was actually listening and said, "Mom, STEAL the prophet! Why did they steal the prophet?"
• I told James to listen to his body so that he knows when to go potty and he said, "but mom, my body doesn't say anything."
• I asked James how he knew something and he said, "I just learned it up."
• At dinner James said, "Mommy, when can you kick me out of this house?" (where is this coming from??)
• Before naps James asked, "when we do naps can I wake up?" I said no :)

Hope these made you smile... I got a kick out of 'em!

fall festivities

are these cool or what? we turned the lights out, ate roasted pumpkin seeds and admired our amateur carving job- we were so proud!

James hates getting his hands messy, so this was the extent of his pumpkin cleaning- 3 fingers.

Zanna's all about the mess-- she dressed for the occasion.

the kiddos and their cute blue eyes

Dave had another day off and we headed up to the Bronx to Stew Leonard's (I posted about this place before-0ne in CT- and I know it's just a grocery store, but it's the coolest one I've ever been to) This pumpkin was 490 lbs.!

the have singing animals and a petting zoo...

and they make their own ice cream and have great sprinkles and dipped cones!

On Sunday afternoons we like to walk to this park down the street from us and this past Sunday there were a ton on leaves to play in...

it was a great day for a dive in

little posers

Our latest adventures

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

first visitors: Ashley, Jackson and Grady (my cousins and her kiddos)

• Arrival: Monday night late
• lots of playing, feeding, cleaning!
• great time to chat with my "twinner cousin" 
• a meltdown for me one morning
• an 8 hour drive home by herself with the two little ones- brutal
• Departure: 2:00pm Friday afternoon                   
  

second visitors: The Heaston Crew- Dan, Mandy, Cadence, Cami, and Holly

• Arrival: Friday 1:00pm
• playing at the park on the beach
• not so hot/really bad service Mexican food for dinner in Port Washington
• eyebrow "threading" and a little trip to Sephora :)
• FAO Schwarz- "the really big piano show"
• "Serendipity" for Frozen Hot Chocolate and Huge Sundaes
• Playing in Central Park with Dan the "Manny"
• Dan and Mandy seeing "Wicked"while I parties with the little ones
• Departure: 8:30am Sunday morning

little excursion to Hershey, Pa for Me and the kids

• Departure: 1:00pm Sunday after Church
• met Caroline and Owen at Mandy's for dinner and COOKIES!
• made hair bows late into the night
• a trip to Sharp Shopper
• Fun picnic to Cocoa Castle to see lots of friends- thanks for coming!
• Chocolate World- of course!
• Dinner at Mr. Sorrentos
• A visit to the Manor and Briarcrest
• A late night drive to NY and great view of the city at night- beautiful!
  

last visitors in NY: Caroline and Owen McCann

• Arrival: Monday night 11:00pm
• playing in Central Park
• lots of Subway rides
• Staten Island Ferry to the Statue of Liberty
• Vietnamese dinner in China Town
• Toys 'r Us and Times Square
• Spiderman sighting
• search for a McD's cone late at night
• laughing at Brian Regan and "the Office"
• a beautiful drive around Long Island and the North Shore
• Long Island pizza- yummy!
• An awesome, awesome beach day at Nickerson Beach (in October!)
• Departure: 6:45 am to the airport

What a fun, adventurous, exhausting couple of weeks! Thanks for coming to party with us- we love you guys and invite anyone else who wants to come stay and play with us in NY! 

my sad story

So, here's my big announcement- I AM NOT PREGNANT! But, listen to the comment I got the other day... I was at COSTCO and I saw a friend I hadn't seen for a long time (since the beginning of this past summer) She is about 30+ years older than me and from another country-- not sure which one-- and very open with her thoughts. 

Anyway, she said, "oh, Melanie, how are you? we haven't seen you for such a long time...(small pause) you've put on some weight."   

 I think "uh, yeah a little, but nobody is supposed to talk about it..."

so I say, "um, yeah, but not for any good reason."

the other friend she is with says excitedly, "Oh, for a GOOD reason?"

and  I sadly have to reply, "no, I said, not for any good reason."

this is the first time this has happened to me and it was not fun or something I would recommend to anyone.  as if I wasn't already a little self conscious about this and then this happens- great! So, I went home and had some pizza and some mini twix's- it was an awesome day in my life.

the coolest McDonald's by far

It has hardwood floors, a sun room and pillars- it's beautiful!

We finally bought some plants to fill our pots that have been sitting on our shelf for 13 months!

the kids had a great time gathering some dirt and rocks outside to help fill the pots and have loved watching them grow.

Zanna planted some sugar snap peas and James helped plant our "basil in a can" and they are actually both growing really well already. We had lots of pots in Hershey and I was really missing that so i am happy to have the green around again :)

We bought the plants at Hicks Nursery a couple of weeks ago and had fun seeing all the pumpkins  

and eating the roasted corn on the cob. It was a really nice day and Dave actually had the Saturday off so we lived it up- pumpkins, plants, mexican for lunch and a McD's cone!

This is a peanut pumpkin- cool huh?