Celebrate good times, c'mon!

Happy Birthday to the "Kinder Queen"...

 Just a few Balloons to celebrate the occasion. "Special Delivery"... 

 Miss Bailey was sick on Gracie's special day but she was sure to leave a note behind... (thank you miss Bailey!)

 Birthday Goof balls!...

Per request, Gracie's birthday cake was 'Hello Kitty'...

 Happy 6 years our sweet princess!

 We surprised Gracie with a birthday gathering with our close friends. Just cake and ice cream and a lot of fun!

 Check out this AWESOME suitcase (Pink fur - u can't go wrong!) Gracie got from her most favorite California grandparents! Mommy was a bit jealous! ;)

 Just the kiddos hanging out...

  and taking a bath together...

 This was a note we received from Miss Bailey on the Monday following Gracie's Birthday weekend...

 Just for giggles I put one of Gracie's old dresses on Ezzy... (we are told often "what a cute girl" he is but even in a dress he still looks like a boy to me... I could be biased. What do you think?)

 First feeding of Rice cereal... (verdict is still out as to whether he likes it or not)

 He definitely has the makings of a messy eater just like his big sissy...

 Hanging out in an old pair of overalls that Mark used to wear. Gracie wore these too, except she was 7 months old when she wore them, not 4 months like our little chunk :)

 Happy 4 months lil Ezzy!

New year, new adventures

To celebrate the new year we took Gracie to see her first musical, 'Elf'. 

Singing, acting and dancing - all things Gracie-esque... needless to say, she LOVED it! 

The first FHE of the year was a family game night; 'Twister' was our game of choice and even Ezzy played a round! Parker tried to get his paws in there too but I quickly put the kabosh on that! 

Gracie & Ezzy are finding things in common - the T.V. being one of those things (uh oh!)

This past weekend we took the kiddos up to see the snow. We had so many layers on Ezzy that by the time we put him in the final layer he was a human stick - I picked him up by the collar and we couldn't help but laugh! We decided to capture the moment...

"Snow"body loves these kiddos like I do!

"This is how she rolls"...

"All fun and games till daddy gets hurt"...

My snow angels...

After watching Gracie fly down hills, topple over, and get all wet, Ezzy wasn't too sure about getting on the sled but he did it without any fuss or tears (such a good boy!) and Gracie enjoyed the company...

Just us girls holding on for dear life!...

All things are better when they are done with you...

This past weekend we also celebrated Gracie's 6th bday at 'Build A Bear Workshop'...

Here Gracie is "Stuffing her bear"...

Giving her bear hugs...

Making a wish for her bear (to be placed inside the bear's heart)...

Gracie later told me that she had wished 'her bear would know how much she loves it'. 

Sounds like she already has the makings of a great mommy :)

Gracie's princess bear ('her daughter' as she refers to it).

After the bears were stuffed the kiddos got to 'wash' and 'dry' the bears under real dryers and then comb them. 

(This was their favorite part of the experience)

Then they got to pick out clothes for the bears and dress them.

Afterwards they printed their birth certificates where the girls had to chose names for the bears. Gracie looked at her princess bear in her fairy dress and called her "princess fairy". 

Afterwards we went to red robin for lunch. Here is Gracie with her cousin Remedy...

(This pic was taken for Grandma Marlene:)

After the kind people at red robin sang their famous birthday song Gracie dove into her treat, sharing with Remedy of course!

Happy Birthday Gracie! - another year bites the dust! :)

And so far, HAPPY New year to the Francis Family!!

Christmas memories

Christmas was very good to the Francis family. We frolicked for 3 full days in a row; 

starting Sunday the 23rd and ending on Tuesday the 25th.

On the 23rd we hosted a family Christmas party where we gleefully cheered on the Seahawks.

Here is Gracie & Ezzy with their favorite uncle, Andrew.

Ezzy got to meet his cousin Keaton (1 year) for the first time.

Ezzy opening his first present...

Gracie as a pink leopard with her cousin Remedy as Spider girl...

Family pic on Christmas eve...

It was the year of 'hello kitty'...

(Gracie also received a 'hello kitty' CD player, alarm clock & watch.

 I told you it was the year of 'hello kitty'!)

My brother Austin (with Ezzy), Mark, and my brother Andrew...

Ezzy on Christmas morning...

Gracie was pleasantly surprised with her gift of a Barbie car!

Family photo on Christmas morning...

The holidays brought out the best in Ezra!!

His personality is really starting to flourish as you can see in the following video of him...

Here is a video clip of Gracie performing with her new keyboard and microphone that Santa brought her...

We had such good time this year celebrating Christ's birth and making memories with our loved ones. We have much to be grateful for!! What a blessed year it was for us. Can't wait till 2013!!