the friend...online

This is probably old news for everyone, but I just discovered The Friend Magazine Online(click) and it saved me last week when I had to come home from church early 'cause I was sick and needed some entertainment for the kids. They colored pictures, did puzzles, and played games all online with cute primary music playing in the background and had a grand-ole' time while I laid on the couch...it was a life-saver! Zanna stayed home sick from school three days last week and she asked for this site many times as well-- thank you lds.org for being so entertaining and uplifting!

Here's a couple old videos of the kids "playing'' the piano and singing "Jesus entered Jordan's waters." Zanna (4 yrs. old) James (2 yrs. old)

a little more catch-up

journal entry

Week 24…. 1/22/2010

So much has happened since last wrote, but I am happy to say I am feeling really good and even more excited to meet this new little one. My first trimester was tiring and I was a little nauseous now and then but nothing too bad. I got in a bad “funk” for a while where I didn’t feel like doing anything- cooking, exercising, reading, being social etc. and I was a little worried that I wouldn’t get back to normal. My calling (RS Pres. In Little Neck) got really busy for a while and we also had a lot of visitors and I got sick and I think just really worn out. The holidays came and it was really busy here in NY and I just couldn’t wait to for a break!! We went out to UT for 2 weeks and it was so nice to be with family and have a break from the day-to-day tasks. It was even better to get to be with Dave for 2 straight weeks without the hospital involved and the kids loved all the dad time.

Dave and I were both so busy before the trip that we had many little “hiccups” happen to us in the beginning of the trip….here’s the list:

• - we paid an extra $72 to check bags that could have been carried on
• -we packed our headphones in the bags that were accidently checked so we didn’t have them for the long plane ride.
• -I realized at the airport that I had forgotten my camera (I had put it in the church bag in the morning and forgot to put in back in my purse before we left) and was so sad!!!
• - we had to sit on the runway for two hours before even taking off and it was so frustrating because I had changed our tickets to make it to the “Christmas Sing-A-Long” at the Patricks and I didn’t know if we were going to make it (we did…two hours late!!)
• I bought a pair of earrings at the airport for my sister-in-law for Christmas and put them under the seat in front of me with my purse, but since Dave and I changed seats during the plane I grabbed his bag and he grabbed my purse and NO ONE GRABBED the earrings. I realized it the next day and LUCKILY they had been turned in to the SLC airport lost-and-found...phew!!
• - Dave and I were supposed to leaved for CA the day after we arrived in UT and luckily I decided to check our itinerary right before we went to bed that night. I pulled up his email and found two one-way tickets home from CA but we didn’t have a flight out in the morning!! I nudged him awake and said “Dave, what did you do? We are coming home twice but have no way of getting there!” An hour or so later and $150 later we had tickets to CA on Tuesday and went to bed exhausted! I had to reorganize all the kid-watching in the morning…but we were so grateful for all the help!
• -Dave slept terribly that night, had a bad pillow or something, and woke up with a terribly kinked, sore neck that lasted for the next 3-4 days…he looked like an old man whenever he turned to talk to me or drive and it was pretty funny J
• (One good thing that came out of this is that we were able to be at my family’s dinner Monday night and have Zanna’s b-day party with her, which we would have missed if we had flown out that day—I was pretty happy about that J
• - Dave spent the morning that we left for CA researching apartments and homes for rent that we were going to check out and when we got in the rental car to head out to these places, he realized he had left the paper in the front seat pocket of the plane!! I wasn’t even surprised at this point…

My excuse for all this was pregnancy, but I’m not sure what Dave’s was…he is having pregnancy sympathy right now so maybe that’s it. He’s talked about his feet hurting, gaining weight, and being really tired…I think it’s kind of cute.

We had a great trip to CA and it was really nice to just get some SLEEP!! We found some good options for apartments and may just enjoy living in a gated community with a pool, fitness room and bbq’s for a year. They are a little pricey, but the whole area is pretty expensive so we may just do it for the year and go from there. We are exploring other options…JD”s grandparents condo and apartment managing so we’ll see what happens. We also just had a great time ordering pizza late at night in the hotel, going to a movie (The Blind Side) eating Vietnamese and Thai food and having a great afternoon/evening in San Francisco. We ate clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, Trish’s mini donuts, did some great Christmas shopping and just had a low-key, relaxing time. As crazy as things were before we left, we needed this trip and came home feeling much more rejuvenated and relaxed.

end of journal.

I would love to post pics of Christmas, but I don't have ANY! So, until I get on my family to send me theirs you'll just have to believe me that is was a FABULOUS trip and one I did not want to end.

I will try to post a belly picture soon-I don't have any yet, but I have plenty of belly...so stay tuned :)

here are some oldies from last year...

mix-up dinner, nails, and dress-up

January Update...

We carried out the Mumford Family tradition of the New Year's Eve Mix-up Dinner again this year with friends and had a great time at the

"Starry Sky Diner"

The Menu ...

1. Saturn and rings (pasta and meatballs)

2. the moon's surface (garlic bread)

3. shining stars (corn)

4. meteor tail (green beans)

5. the milky way (jello salad)

6. the black hole (chocolate pudding/oreo dessert)

7. rain like substance (sparkling punch)

8. the little dipper (spoon)

9. a instrument used to hold a tripod (fork)

The items are served in 3 courses and the silverware gets served and taken away as indicated on each person's menu...

Ed's first course was a drink, a spoon and a fork...he sure missed these later on in the meal :)

Jim was also not so lucky and had fun slurping up his pasta, jello and pudding in one course

Zanna got lucky and actually had a normal course- past, fork and bread

James and Olivia both ordered corn, bread and one utensil

The night was messy and entertaining as usual and I loved sharing one of my favorite traditions from my childhood with our great friends! (dave wasn't able to come so that was pretty lame, but hopefully next year...)

New clothes from Grandma Francis-- thank you!!

James feels very cool in his new robot shirt and hoodie sweatshirt

Dave learning a new skill...

this was his first time painting nails

and Zanna LOVED being doted on by her dad...he did a great "AB pattern of pink and red" as Zanna described what she wanted!

Last Monday we had our lovely girly friends over since the kids were off for Martin Luther King day. Rachel (their mom and my amazing sewing friend) made these skirts for the girls and they LOVED wearing them together! I was supposed to make Zanna's and did all the cutting and the initial sewing, but then got too overwhelmed, busy, tired, lazy etc... and she finished it for me-- THANK YOU RACHEL!!

Zanna found this costume I picked up for her at our stake's "goods exchange" and was feeling the Wonder Woman vibe...she even told James that he should be "Wonder Man" for Halloween next year.

Jack and Mason came over to play and the kids loved being super heros together...they are a tough bunch :)

We traded baby-sitting this week and Dave and I went out on Tuesday and saw Avatar in 3-D and then had some amazing gnocchi in pomodoro sauce at Gino's... I'm going to miss the Italian food here in NY!

P.S.- we liked Avatar and would recommend it, but it didn't change my life or anything :)

Francis Family Pictures in December

I was definitely not looking forward to this session of family pictures (except for the fact that I love having family memories) because it was in the dead of winter cold, I am well above my ideal weight :) I am very pasty white and I had been staying up really late with family and eating out a lot. But, despite all these factors I think they turned out cute and I love that the whole Francis Family was together. There will be two new additions this year, ours in May and Amanda is due in March, so we'll have to get new pictures again soon but I am very glad we did this and think Amanda's mom did a great job!

kinda cheesy, kinda cute...

there's a 6 year-old in the house!

Zanna had a few birthday celebrations this year and the first was a night out in the city to meet Jess for our last birthday party with her at TGIFriday's!

It was FREEZING in the city, but Zanna was happy and loved wearing her new, fancy coat.

We walked from Central Park West and 78th to Times Square...

Zanna wasn't so happy here

(in front of The Shops at Columbus Circle)

James' mop after taking off his beanie

traditional smiley-face ketchup

the birthday-girl sundae...all the workers came out and sang Happy Birthday too

(she got really hot and ended up in just her tank)

the kids and I have met Jess many times in the city for dinner and this was the FIRST time in almost 3 years that Dave was able to come....doesn't he look excited??

we took the subway back to the car and she just looked too cute!

On Zanna's real birthday I took treats to her class and Jess was able to come as our star guest :)

The kids LOVED her and they could not stop laughing (see video below, it will make you smile to see all those cute kindergartners)

We also had a little b-day party with our buddy Jack, who's birthday is the day before Zanna's.

Raegan was so cute to get pink plates and napkins and a princess balloon to go with the Spiderman theme that Jack wanted. We made pizza and salad and played pinned the tail on the donkey...it was a great night!

Zanna and Jess at school party.