Trying on Flower Girl Dresses

Cousins Meleesa, Athena and Gabrielle are so excited for Uncle Duane and Aunt Mary's wedding in August. They get to be flower girls and have talked so much about their dresses, shoes, hair, etc! Yesterday I took all three of them (plus Genevieve, Willem & Cade ~ the ladies at the dress shop must have thought I was a little crazy :) to try on and order dresses. They had so much fun trying them on and picking out shoes as well as playing with the flower arrangements, jewelry, hair pieces, etc. They looked so pretty. I can't wait to see them all dressed up in August! Gabrielle also found her dress for her First Holy Communion which is coming up on May 31st!

Gabrielle, Meleesa, Athena: their dresses for the wedding will actually be a pretty red color but in this style

Athena, Meleesa, Gabrielle

My sweet Elle

Meleesa looking so pretty

Gabrielle's 1st Communion Dress; I was so happy she found one as she had been a little resistant to the frilly dresses but she liked that this was was not puffy (or pooffy)!

A Great Weekend in Seattle

Cade had been counting down the days to our trip to Seattle for his soccer tournament. It was the first time he'd traveled out of the state for a tournament and he loves to travel plus he got out of school a couple hours early on Friday AND he got to play with the team an age group older than him! Finally, he got to play with his best friend and cousin, Pascal. I was excited to hang out with my brother, David, and Cade and Genevieve, maybe relax a little and enjoy watching Cade play with the bigger boys.

The highlight of the weekend was watching an MLS (Major League Soccer) game along with 40,000 other fans in a sold out stadium. We had to buy (expensive) tickets from scalpers on the street but we couldn't turn back after getting to downtown Seattle, parking and then walking the 20+ minutes to the stadium. The boys were just too excited! The Seattle Sounders beat the San Jose Earthquake 2-0 in a great game. After the game, the boys (Pascal, Dan & Cade) were on such a high singing o-lay-o-lay-o-lay-o-lay (a common soccer fan jingle) at the top of their lungs the whole way back to the car. Cade said he wants to play professional soccer even more after watching the game!

The tournament was a success despite the team losing 5-1, 4-1 and 2-1 in their three games. The team definitely improved as the tournament progressed and Cade showed that he can play with the older boys scoring all three of the teams goals. He did get frustrated in the last game...wanting to win SOOO bad. His coach said that will be his biggest challenge, learning to use that passion to win in a positive way and realizing that it is more about development as a player and team than winning games.

Genevieve was amazing on this trip. She was so good in the car the whole time and great at the games and a really good sleeper (must be a fourth child thing :). She was just fun to have with us!

On Sunday, we rushed home in time to watch and help coach Gabrielle's 5:00 game which was worth the rush! She and her 3rd grade team played great winning 8-2 against a good team; Gabrielle got four of the goals.

Cade #28

Cade & Pascal playing together

Waiting for the ball playing forward; Cade also played center midfield and attaching right defender

At the game waiting for it to start

Me and my brother with Genevieve

The crowd goes wild after a gooooal

The boys go wild, too!

Genevieve and me

The boys after the game

Singing 'o-lay-o-lay'...walking arm in arm after the game!

The tournament team

Genevieve trying out the new seat we brought with us

Gabrielle's game

Take Your Child To Work Day

Today Willem joined Chad at his work for three hours as part of 'Take Your Child To Work Day'. Willem did some 'work' in Dad's office, checked out the hazardous waste collection facility and then, the best part...they went to the landfill. Willem even got to 'drive' the compactor and the bulldozer! He told me afterward that maybe he could work half at the dairy and half at Dad's work when he gets older. Too cute! Luckily his sense of smell isn't too acute :)

At the Waste Management offices

In Daddy's office

At the hazard waste collection facility

Excitement at the Landfill!

Driving the compactor

With operator, Sharles, Willem's new landfill buddy!

Lots of garbage!

Ronaldo Watch Out!

Cade loves his soccer so much and is always practicing in our yard so I thought I better get some of that time on video to look back on one day! Here he is juggling 68 times (I missed the first couple for those who are counting!) and doing some 'moves'. His record for juggling is about 120 but he couldn't quite make it today! (Oh, and for those non-soccer fans out there 'Ronaldo' is Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the best soccer player in the world!)

Willem loves his soccer too but his first love is the dairy. And his favorite thing about the dairy is harvesting! We have been harvesting grass this week and Will is having a blast riding in the harvester, dump truck, tractor and bulldozer. Here he is running from the harvester to our car because it is time to get him to school!

Finally, Gabrielle played her first 3rd grade soccer game of the season today. Her team played the toughest team in the league and played hard in a 3-5 loss. Gabrielle really worked hard as you can see by her red face in this picture after the game where her Aunt/Coach Jenn is talking to the girls. Gabrielle got two of the goals tonight!

Genevieve is Four Months!

Our sweet Genevieve is four months old! Here are some milestones:
- A couple weeks ago Genevieve rolled from her tummy to her back. She is close to rolling from her back to tummy.
- Genevieve is quite the 'talker'; she loves to make eye contact and then chirp away to you with her little screeches and coo's. She gets very excited when she 'talks'.
- Genevieve often laughs loudly and seems to be quite ticklish!
- Nev is quite entertained by her siblings; they are figuring out what makes her laugh and smile!
- Our girl is good in the car most of the time though I sometimes have to reach back to her when I am driving, hold her nuk gently in her mouth and put my hand over her face.
- The past month (plus) Genevieve has been sleeping from about 9:30 pm until 6:30-7:00 am; she still sleeps in the little bassinet in Chad and my bed.
- In the past week Genevieve has started taking a longer nap on her own for about 90 minutes. She usually takes that longer nap in the morning in the little bassinet on our bed.
- Aside from that longer morning nap, Genevieve sleeps a lot in the car in the afternoon as well as in the swing or in my arms.
- We haven't trained Genevieve to fall asleep on her own much yet. We are enjoying rocking her a little too much :)
- Genevieve continues to be a good nurser. She nurses every 2.5 - 4 hours (except at night).
- Genevieve likes to stuff her hands in her mouth & suck.
- Genevieve is a very happy, content girl; her tummy problems are much better now. They only occasionally surface making us bounce or rock with her for a few minutes until she settles.

We Love You So Very Much, Sweet Genevieve!

Girls' Weekend

This weekend was our annual Girls' Weekend. A group of my some of my dearest friends have gotten together now for 10+ years. It started with a small group of high school friends and one college friend and has expanded from there. It was so nice to get together, relax, eat & drink, chat, scrapbook and even sunbathe! I feel so very lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends. It was fun having a couple babies along this year and especially nice for me to have friends wanting to hold and love Genevieve while I got a little scrapbooking in myself. We went to Amie and Mike's gorgeous 'cabin' at Diamond Peaks.

Dinner the first night the lodge ~ Amie (with Dominic), Sheri, Brandy, Sandy, Christy, Julie, Leticia, Genevieve (Liz not pictured)

Brandy holding both babies!

Sun Bathing! Hooray for sunshine!

Genevieve & Dominic holding hands

Genevieve & Dominic born 17 days apart (Dominic is older)

Indoor Soccer Champs!

Tonight my co-ed indoor team played in the league championship (there are 5 or 6 sessions each year and at the end of each 8 game session the top two teams play each other for the championship). I love playing on this indoor team which has been together for over 10 years. I play with two of my brothers and my sister in-law. Many other family members have also played over the years; unfortunately Chad retired this past summer. We play pretty much every Sunday all year around and I sometimes think of how sad it will be when we don't play together anymore. I hope that is still many years away! We played a tough (I got a few bruises), fun game against a really good (and young) team and squeaked out a 6-5 win. It was especially fun to have our kids cheering us on (loudly at times) throughout the game!

Juan, Di, Leticia, Bryn, Mike
Ellie, Jenn, James, Marcus

Ouch...another bruise from soccer; this time on my ankle!

Happy Easter!

We had a very full and happy Easter. The day started early with Mass at 8 am. Easter always reminds me of my Mom as it was her favorite holiday and I thought of her and her positive outlook and faith during Mass. She would have loved our family brunch and Easter egg hunt after church. The kids (ours, their cousins & and our friends' kids, Ty & Payton) were very into it and it was fun to see them running through the lawn at my Dad's house in search of eggs! After the hunt, I played an indoor soccer game with my brother and sis in-law. It was good to get some exercise because we then headed to BJ's for an early dinner with Chad's family. After dinner we spent a couple hours visiting Chad's Dad at the old Sacred Heart Hospital rehab unit. It was great to see Gene doing better and getting stronger and visiting with Chad's family which always leads to fun and interesting conversation. We hope you all had a blessed and happy Easter.

Our sweet kiddos

A family picture; not always easy to get!

Chad & me with Genevieve

The Easter egg hunt is on!

So much fun to watch the kids hunt!

Dinner with Chad's family

Gabrielle and Grandma

Cade & cousin Pascal being goofy

Grandpa loves Genevieve!

My handsome hubby stealing a minute to read the paper!

A Fun Day

After Willem and Gabrielle's soccer games today, I met Amber and my Dad at Starbucks and chatted for a while. Amber and I then headed to Costco to shop for Easter brunch; Jacoby got a good meal trying all the samples! When we got home we went for a walk in the fields, something I love to do when the weather starts getting nicer and the fields dry up. Then it was off to my niece, Mariah's, 14th birthday party. What a great day catching up with Amber and the rest of my family (I even talked to my sis, Marilyn, in Nicaragua for a little while on the walk)! I always love it when we get together and especially when Amber and Tony can come down from Portland.

Starbucks with my Dad, Jacoby, Me and Amber

Jacoby and Genevieve: the two youngest cousins at Costco

Jacoby and Amber on our walk

Me and my girls!

Leticia and Genevieve

Heading back home

Jacoby staring at the cows!

Gabrielle by the cows!

The boys playing basketball with Uncle Tony

Typical craziness at Mariah's birthday party!