Battle of the Cousins Round I

This evening Cade's soccer team, EMFC (Eugene Metro Futbol Club) Boca Jrs., battled his cousin Pascal's soccer team, EMFC River Plate, in an OYSA (Oregon Youth Soccer Association) game. It was their first official game against each other (though they've had hundreds against each other in the yard over the years!).

The Result: Cade's team came out on top 4-0 BUT they were still best buddies afterward!

Cade said before the game that he wanted to play midfield (he usually plays forward) so he could mark Pascal. And, Pascal's Dad (my bro, David) always reports that Pascal plays his best when battling Cade. Unfortunately, they did not match up against each other this time. But, I know there will be many rematches to come! Both boys played well. Cade assisted one of the goals and showed his speed and a few moves against the big boys (he is playing in a league of mostly 6th graders...he's in 4th grade). Pascal showed his strength and it was fun to see him dribble and cut through several players several times.

This cracks me up...Cade trying to slow down the opposition!

Pascal battling away

Cade in orange shoes, Pascal #34

Pascal defending away

Cade & Pascal, buddies after the game

Best of Friends!

Genevieve's First Words

It is always hard to know when a baby's first word can be considered that -- a word -- and not babbling. But I think we are there with Genevieve. She has been consistently saying 'Mama' the past week (starting at just over 9 months) when she wants me or is crawling toward me or sees me. She has made the 'mama' sound for over a month but is now very clear and related to me. She also says 'bye-bye', 'hi' and 'hello' here and there when waving hello and good-bye.

We can't wait to see what words are next! She sure loves to babble away or just listen to herself say 'aaahh' especially when we pat her back or bounce her so it sounds broken up. Too cute :)

Football, Soccer, Soccer, Soccer, Band

So I can look back one day and ask myself "WHY?!", here's a summary of our kids' Fall activities:

Cade:
-EMFC ('club') U12 soccer playing in a Portland league and in a statewide league (2 practices, 2 games per week)
-NFL flag football (1 practice, 1 game per week)
-Band (two early morning practices a week)

Gabrielle:
- EMFC U10 soccer playing in Kidsports 4th/5th grade league (2 practices, 1-2 games per week)
- 3rd grade Kidsports soccer (1 practice, 1 game per week)
- Little Metro guest player for Friday games (1 game per week)
- Basketball: 1 practice per week

Willem:
- Little Metro soccer (2 practices, 1 game per week)

Genevieve:
- Along for the ride!

Weekly total:
- Practices: 9 (plus 2 band = 11 total)
- Games: 7-8
= lots of fun, driving & craziness :)

It's a good thing I really do enjoy watching our kids' games! And it helps that the weather has been so nice...let's hope it continues through October till we head indoors for basketball!

Here are a couple shots of Cade's football game tonight (my camera was dying so they are not very sharp). Cade's team won again and the bottom one is of a nice touchdown he scored...

Link to best of Duane & Mary's professional wedding photos

Bethany got a great shot of me & my siblings!

I thought you all might enjoy looking at a few of the best professional pictures from Duane and Mary's wedding. Below is a link to the blog of the professional photographer, Bethany F Photography. Duane and Mary's pictures were posted on September 20 on her blog.

http://bethanyfphotography.blogspot.com/

By the way, I love her blog and peek at it often...you'll see it on my blog links to the right. Bethany is such a great photographer and has such a beautiful family.

Willem's 1st Soccer Game of the Season

Willem is so much fun to watch play soccer. He puts everything into it, works so hard and takes it so seriously. He was so ready to go out there and play after watching so many of Cade and Elle's games this summer. He is playing in the EMFC Little Metros league for Kinder - 2nd grade. Willem did great in his first game, scoring his team's lone goal in their 1-1 tie. Great job, Willem!

Nine Months!

Yesterday, Cade said, "Mom, Nev's been out of your stomach more than she was in it". Well put, Cade!

Our girl is nine months now and growing and changing quickly! Some highlights and milestones...

~Genevieve is eating more and more. She's tried quesadillas, broccoli, rice, bread, Cheerios, plums (loves 'em!), rice cereal, chicken, green beans (about the only thing she didn't like), black beans & bananas. I've been feeding her solids about one meal and one snack a day. The rest of the time I nurse her whenever she wants which is anywhere from every 2-4 hours (it takes less than 5 minutes).
~Genevieve crawls very fast and loves to explore our downstairs. She has not yet discovered the stairs.
~Genevieve has shown to be quite an independent player. As long as she's not too tired or hungry, she will play, crawl and explore for 15+ minutes on her own. That being said, she has also started to be a mommy's girl this month reaching for me when she is being held by someone else. She is fine with others as long as I am not in her view!
~Nev loves to pull herself up to a standing position, holding onto a table (or anything); she has let go to stand on her own a couple times for a very short time.
~Nev just got her 4th tooth (two upper & two lower now).
~Genevieve's schedule is all over the place! She usually gets one 1-2 hour nap in her crib each day and then sleeps 2-3 more times for 15-30 minutes in the car. At night, she goes to sleep anywhere from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm and usually sleeps until 4:00 am or 5:00 am, nurses and then sleeps with us until we are ready to awake anywhere from 7:00 am to 9:00 am (she sometimes will nurse a second time at 6:00 am). She did sleep from 7:30 pm till 6:00 am last night which I think was a record!
~Nev is a happy, easy little girl. She rarely cries for long and is pretty easy to settle if she does. She loves people and always has a easy smile and loves it when people talk to her.
~Genevieve is making all sorts of sounds and seems to like to hear herself 'talk'. A couple times it seems like she has said 'hey', 'hi' and 'bye' after someone says it to her but I'm not sure.
~She is a great 'waver' now!

We Love Our Sweet Genevieve!!

Horsey Ride From Opa!

Our kids are so lucky to have a fun, healthy, kid-loving Opa! My dad comes to our house most days that he is not traveling to go over work stuff with me but also to say hi to our kiddos. And, if they are lucky (and under 30 lbs!), they get a horsey ride from him! Our three big kids had numerous horsey rides from my dad when they were little and now it is Genevieve's turn. I remember loving getting horsey rides myself from him!

Here's a quick video I made today of Genevieve's first horsey ride from Opa...



Can you believe my dad is 70! I want to be like him when I grow up :)

More Food for Nev

Genevieve has been eating about one small meal/snack a day the past week and below is a video link of her first time eating rice cereal. She seems to love all of the food she's tried and we are so happy that we seem to have another broccoli lover (like her siblings); she gnaws on the stalks for a long time, seeming to enjoy the taste! So far she's had broccoli, rice cereal with bananas, bread, bean burrito, bananas, Cheerios & green beans.

Genevieve Eating Rice Cereal for the First Time

And here is a cute picture I just received (thanks, Amber) of Genevieve out at the soccer fields from a couple weeks ago. It's pretty classic of her time at the soccer fields late this summer (and just like today; Cade & Elle had their first games of the Fall season today): the sun is out, she's crawling around, happy and a little dirty.

Mom of Five?

This weekend I get to experience what it's like to be a mom of five kids...my 16 month old nephew, Jacoby, is spending 4 days (and 3 nights :) with us while his mom and dad get a well-deserved break and spend the weekend in Vegas to watch Beaver football. Jacoby is a great little guy who loves the dairy, has a fun, laid back personality and is luckily a great sleeper! My kids adore him and the feeling seems to be mutual. Cade asked if there was any way we could keep him! So, halfway into his time with us, it's been busy but surprisingly manageable....of-course, I haven't attempted to get any work done which has helped. And, there was the diaper changing incident yesterday where I changed Jacoby's poopy diaper and before I knew it Genevieve had grabbed it and had a dirty wipe in her hand. I quickly grabbed it back, took the diaper to the trash and washed my hands only to come back to the family room and see Genevieve with poo in both hands, on her clothes and mushed on the floor! Yes, somehow the poo had fallen out and she had gotten a hold of it. Craziness! And I forget some of the logistics with two babies, like how to get Genevieve buckled in her car seat without Jacoby running off to the dairy! I'll get it all figured out by the time the weekend is up! Here are the two cuties watching bubbles fall...

Back to School

Our kids headed back to school today. Willem to Kindergarten, Gabrielle to 3rd grade and Cade to 4th grade. I am always sad when summer ends. I love the carefree summer with no homework, lunches or early alarms. Willem was a trooper as always, heading off without any worries, pretty happy to go and he had a good day (I was very happy that he told me all about it). Gabrielle was sad to see summer end and isn’t a huge fan of school but she was still a ‘little excited’ (her words) to start a new school year and her day went well (a little boring she says but she was happy). Cade, on the other hand, was pretty much devastated that school was starting again. Ugh…he tells me he wants to be home-schooled (not my skill set at all :) or anything but just does not want to go to school. The day went a little better than he expected but he still thought it was very boring and he dreads going again tomorrow. I wish there was something I could do to make it better for him. Usually once he gets in the groove of it and summer is a distant memory, it gets better. Let’s hope so for all of our sake!

Cade, Gabrielle & Willem; stripes & polos!

It's always fun to get a picture of the house in the background for our annual back to school pictures

Kindergartener Willem!

Gabrielle: Grade 3

Elle!

Cade: Grade 4

Jackson, Noah, Hayden, Willem & Ethan

Willem & Ethan

Gabrielle, Jorja & Emma

Cade with Genevieve, Joey, Jace, Ben & Travis

Genevieve Attempting to Eat Bananas

We haven't started giving Genevieve solid foods on a regular basis yet but in the last three or so weeks she's had tastes of a few things like bread (which she loved to suck on) and bananas (which she mostly spit out but still was interested in for a little while). Here are a few pictures of her trying bananas for the first time earlier this week.

Trying to take a big bite

Hey, these are not bad

All done now!

Lips & Tongue & Crawling

I've been meaning to capture Genevieve's signature looks of late...she is constantly doing cute things with her lips and tongue. She is also crawling up a storm. I have to be sure to keep the bathroom and mud room doors closed otherwise she is in the dog's bowl or the trash can! She also seems on the cusp of saying words; there are times I think she says something or repeats a word but I am not quite sure. Here is my attempt to capture some classic Genevieve expressions. And there is a quick video at the bottom of her crawling.

This is a very typical Genevieve expression the past few weeks!

And, again!

And, if it's not the lips, it's the tongue!

Notice the tongue as she tries to pick up a leaf

I like this picture of her eyes. They are still blue but seem to be changing to a little more greenish lately

Just a classic Nev smile

Genevieve crawling at 8.5 months:

A Few More Wedding Photos

Amber captured a few things I missed in my pictures of the wedding (look for her full wedding post with many more great pictures coming soon at Amandifamily.blogspot.com)...

I loved Mary's shoes

Another cute one of the flower girls

Willem lining up the bubbles! Such a thing Willem would do. I wonder if he's pretending they are corn or silos or what?!

A toast (there were many!) at the reception

Lots of fun dancing!

Naomi was such a great sport dancing with Cade

Proof of the ice luge shooters!

The cute, happy couple!

The whole Konyn gang!