Welcome Baby Holden

Finally, after the long anticipated birth, Holden James Franks made his debut on December 24th. We were so lucky to have been in town to meet him before heading back to AZ. This little boy sure did a number on his mommy! He was 9lbs. 3 oz. and Keri had no drugs!! I am so glad her and the baby are both doing well and are healthy. We just wish we lived closer so that we could see them all more often.
Can you tell who the proud Papa is?

Good job Keri, Holden is such a gorgeous baby, I am so proud of you! We can't wait until we get to see him again. We love you guys.

Christmas 2008

Every year we spend Christmas morning with my family in Chico and then head over to Clearlake in the afternoon to be with Jeff's family. We are very fortunate that our families only live 2 hours apart. It's still a little crazy though considering we have 2 BIG Christmas's with each family all in one day. By the end of the day I think both Rilyn and Jeff and I are all exhausted. Here's Rilyn at Grammy and Papa's checking out her presents. It was fun this year watching Rilyn enjoy unwrapping her gifts.
I finally got Rilyn to slow down for a second and let me take a picture of her and her best friend Hector. Poor guy got carried around a lot, but I have to say he was quite the trooper! Thanks Hector for putting up with Rilyn for 3 days. A picture before the craziness began at Jeff's parents house. Everything looked so beautiful and festive! Jeff's mom goes all out on making her home a little winter wonderland.One of our only family pictures we were able to take during Christmas, but of course Emerson was asleep. Merry Christmas 2008!

Christmas Baking Day

So, another tradition this time of year is for my Dad and I to bake together. We always look forward to this each year. We crank up the Christmas music and set aside an entire day to bake all different kinds of goodies for our neighbors and friends. This year we decided Rilyn was at an age where she could start assisting us. Below is a picture of her attentively learning how to roll a peanut butter ball. Next, she moved onto the cookie cutting station. This was a little more challenging for her and I think she was a bit confused as to why they weren't ready to eat since they looked like cookies. Here, as my Dad would say, she was eating our profits! We had to explain to her that the cookies weren't for us, but I know she just wanted to make sure her cookies were good enough for others to enjoy. Here's Chef Lobosky creating his all-famous peanut butter balls. It is funny because we bake about 8 different things throughout the day and my Dad only gets to make the pb balls since they are so time consuming. He complains every year about this task, but his treats get the most praise! Luckily, Great Grandma Mary came by to help out with the baby and was my stirring assistant. She also was a taste tester, which is a job I think we all enjoyed. We had to take a picture of Emerson in her Santa suit, since this will probably be the only time she wears it. By the way, did you notice how I didn't make any of the pictures during baking. So much for it being about me and my Dad only, I think I have been replaced.

Girls Night Out

It's tradition that every year my high school girlfriends and I get together for our annual Christmas party. This year was a little different since the two local girls that usually host our party are both pregnant. We decided it would be easiest on everyone to just meet out for appetizers and drinks at our friend's new restaurant, Crush. The food was delicious and my wine was amazing! The most exciting part was that my friend Keri was having contractions five minutes apart the whole night. We envisioned us all grabbing a bottle of wine and heading to the hospital together to celebrate! Unfortunately, Little Man hasn't come just yet, but Keri is definitely in labor and will hopefully be holding her baby by the end of the day!

We have been crazy like usual, running around from place to place, trying to make the most of our time home. We were able to go spend a couple days with Grammy, Papa and the doggies after coming down from the cabin. Rilyn has really grown attached to their dog, Hector. Every morning she would wake up asking for him. When she went potty she would want Hector to come listen too! We will be heading back up to Clearlake to spend Christmas with Jeff's family, so I will definitely get a picture of Rilyn with her BFF Hector. Jeff was able to get to the Bay area for two days to see his friends, Oscar and Gene. I wish we were all able to spend time together, but with the two little ones it would have been too much work. I think Jeff probably enjoyed his time without having to be "Dad" too.

Lake Almanor with the Family

Guess what, we got very excited because FINALLY we had a big snow! What a difference a day can make. We probably got 2-3 feet of snow overnight. Rilyn was so anxious to get out a make a snowman and play.

Here's Auntie Hollie keeping Boo-Boo warm while the rest of us enjoyed watching Rilyn and Gramps out in the snow.This is a view of what we woke up to on our 3rd day up at the cabin. It was so beautiful and always fun to be the first tracks made in fresh snow.

Can you tell Rilyn was having a blast in the snow. She loved throwing it up in the air and watching it fall down.

Unfortunately the snow was so dry it was hard to pack, therefore this was the best snowman Gramps and Rilyn could make. At least she was able to finally make the hugely anticipated snowman, with a carrot nose and fruit snacks for eyes.
Rilyn and Grandpa decided to go for an "animal adventure" and follow the deer tracks. She explained to Grandpa that if they followed the tracks they would find where the deer live. I think they were out in the snow for over an hour, thank you to Gramps since the rest of us wanted to stay inside where it was nice and warm!

Lake Almanor With "The Kids Only"

The first day we got up to my parents cabin there was no snow, as you can see in the back ground. For the first two days it was just us, Jeff's sister, her kids and my brother. Rilyn loved playing with her aunt, uncle and cousins.

Here is Sarina giving some attention to her new cousin, Emerson.

Finally, there was some snow! Cheese everyone. Here is Michael, Leslie, Sarina, Auntie Jenn and Jeff.

Rilyn was so happy to finally get to go play in the snow, although there wasn't much yet.....

The Grey Lodge Reserve

Today we headed to the Grey Lodge Reserve with Nana. We didn't stay too long since by the time we finally got there it was close to naptime. It was cool to see all the different birds and Rilyn especially like seeing the snow geese. It seemed as though there were millions of them, and they would all fly over us in a huge flock. It's hard to see, but if you look closely you can see a large flock in the back behind Rilyn and Nana.

Here's Rilyn getting excited to head up to the cabin tomorrow, let's hope the forecast for snow is right. All she keeps talking about is building a snowman and having a snowball fight.

Back To Cali....

Unfortunately, I finally found some time to blog, but am using my parent's computer and can't figure out how to upload pictures. We made our way to California to spend the holiday's and had a great trip here. We left Monday afternoon, stayed in Valencia, which is the halfway point, then made the rest of the way on Tuesday morning. Everything went well, the girls did surprisingly well, Emerson pretty much slept most of the way. It is nice being home, Rilyn is really enjoying all the Christmas lights, decorations and tree that my parents have up. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas......We are still trying to get used to the cold weather, but that's all part of the Christmas season, right? Well, hopefully I can figure out how to get some pictures up soon. We are heading up to my parent's cabin in Almanor on Saturday morning, where Rilyn is so anxious to play in the snow, so I will have to get pictures up by then!

Home For The Holiday's

Here's a picture of us with our wonderful neighbors, Clay and Molly. Most of you know them and know how much we love them! They are the nicest people and we are so lucky to have such great neighbors.

Our Little Reindeer enjoying her snowman cookie that she decorated.

Tonight was our neighborhood's annual "Home For The Holiday's" Christmas party. Rilyn was very excited for the event since she new there would be horses, snow and santa there. The first thing we did was take a horse and carriage ride while singing carols with Mrs. Claus. Next, she went to play in the snow that they brought in. When she caught a glimpse of Santa she decided he wasn't for her. We really enjoyed our night and were glad my Dad was able to go with us.

Grandpa's Here!

My Dad arrived yesterday, but could only stay to visit for a couple hours before heading to Scottsdale for work. He will be back to stay with us on Saturday night, which I know Rilyn is excited for. While my Dad was here he enjoyed working on getting smiles out of Emerson. I think he was surprised how big Emerson has grown since he was here when she was born. Looking back in my journal from when Rilyn was born, she was just 7lbs. 7 oz. at 2 months. We weighed Emerson yesterday and she is already a whopping 11 1/2lbs. at under 2 months. What a difference!!

Rilyn decided we should become robots today, it is amazing how creative kids can be.

Double Take

It was fun to dress Emerson in a warm outfit for once, since I decided to take her for a walk this evening while Jeff and Rilyn hit the park. We are definitely looking forward to being in California soon where the weather will feel more like the holiday's. Anyways, I remember when Rilyn wore this outfit towards the end of the season in Washington and I loved it then and still love it now! It is crazy to Jeff and I how similar the two girls look, it will be interesting to see how much they look alike as they grow.

Here is Rilyn at 3 months.....Funny thing is Emerson, at 6 weeks, is already about the size Rilyn was at 3 1/2 months.

New Found Fun

Jeff got a Wii for his birthday this past year and has really enjoyed using it. Tonight he decided to teach Rilyn how to play with him and it is so cute seeing her "fish". She loves it and gets so excited when she catches something. We might be up all night though, because after every game she tells Jeff, "let's play again Dada", and I think he is having just as much fun as her too!

6 Weeks, Can You Believe It?

Today Emerson is 6 weeks! It's hard to believe that is possible, time really does pass quickly. She is such a great baby and I melt every time she smiles at me. She has just started cooing and it's funny to see how hard she works at getting such a little sound out. Rilyn is still enjoying having her around and is such a big helper to Mama. I love my girls!

Here's even more proof that Rilyn is Jeff's daughter, she is already a little tickle hound. She loves when Dada tickles her back. Every time he stops she'll say, "no Dada, more tickles", huh, that sounds familiar. :)

Enchanted Island

We decided to venture out today and meet our friends Annette, Maya and Cruz at Enchanted Island. We didn't know what to expect, but it turned out great. The kids got to ride the merry-go-round, train, helicopter, cars and bumper boats. They really seemed to enjoy themselves and we couldn't have asked for better weather. What a fun day!

This picture is hilarious because the girls kept saying they wanted to ride on the dragon, and once on, it goes a lot faster then we all expected. As you can tell, Rilyn would scream she was "all done" each time she would pass by.

Where Does Pee Come From?

Lately it seems as if we have been in the house a lot, so Jeff decided to get Rilyn out to get some fresh air. They took her Dora bike out into our alley way and she had a blast riding around.

Today while Rilyn was in her room playing she ran out saying she had an accident. I asked what happened and she told me she went poo-poo (which really means pee-pee), but she had a pull up diaper on so I wasn't too concerned. She then went on to tell me how her "poo-poos" were in her belly and then her gooza (which is butt in polish). Jeff and I looked at eachother and started cracking up. I guess that makes sense to a kid on where pee comes from. She later decided she needed to give her and her babies a bath to get "all clean".

Thanksgiving Day Part II

Although Kendrik may have not said much, it looked like he was a happy customer! Overall, our Thanksgiving turned out great and we were so thankful to share it with our friends The Rifkins and our neighbor, Molly. We did miss our families and friends that we are away from, but hoped everyone enjoyed their turkey day!

I have to admit I was pretty proud of my turkey, it turned out delicious. Don't be too impressed though, my gravy didn't turn out so we had to use store bought gravy.