Sisters and Dancing!

I love to watch Genevieve dance; she bounces up and down and just looks so happy when she is dancing. Her dancing and how she kicks and kicks when she is happy are two things she does that make me melt and that I always want to remember!

Here's our girl hanging out by the printer ready to dance. She has liked it there by my printer even more lately when Gabrielle plays her favorite music videos on the computer. Genevieve loves to watch and sometimes dance!

It's been hard to catch her dancing. She watches me with the camera with interest and seems to forget to dance (maybe a little camera shy?). But here's a sweet little video I did manage to get of her dancing a little...

Dancing Baby Gevevieve to Miley Cyrus - 10 Months

And here is a sweet (slightly longer) video that I love of Gabrielle and Genevieve hanging out together. Gabrielle is such a great big sis!

Sisters! Genevieve (10 mo) Dancing with Gabrielle

Dirt and Slugs?!

Genevieve continues to put everything in her mouth. The other day my brother, James, was in our house and noticed something in Genevieve's hand. He checked it out and it was a little slug! I still shutter thinking that it would have been in her mouth within seconds. How did that get in my house? Yuck! Here are a few pictures of her testing out some dirt and moss...

Genevieve at Ten Months!

These past couple days it has really hit me that Genevieve is going to be a year old before we know it! I saw a baby a couple days ago who is six weeks older than Nev and the baby was walking fast. It struck me that Genevieve will be there so soon! Wow!

She continues to be so much fun and such a happy little girl. I love that she kicks her legs every time she is happy like when she see me or Chad or her siblings, or when someone starts engaging her and talking to her. So cute! I have to remind myself that she won't do that forever and I need to relish it now!

Here's a quick Genevieve update...

~ Nev is eating a lot and loving it! She enjoys grapes, avocado, bread, pancakes, egg yolks, cheese, apple pieces, broccoli, Cheerios, Kix cereal, grilled chicken, black beans and more. She sits in her highchair to eat 2-4 times a day and mostly I just put the above food on her tray and she feeds herself.

~ Genevieve is a sporadic sleeper. A couple nights ago she slept 10 hours straight and then last night she was up for 30 minutes crying at around 2:00 am. I never feed her before 4:30 am but she will cry and we will soothe her a few nights a week in the middle of the night. She often sleeps 8 hours before we get her and then she'll sleep from 5:00 am until 7:00 am with us. When we are home all day (which is rare!) she takes a couple 1-1.5 hour naps. Otherwise I try to get one nap in at home and then she'll take a couple smaller ones in the car.

~ Genevieve is babbling more and more clearly. She says 'mom' and 'mama' very clearly. She says 'dada' sometimes. She also seems to say 'mo' for some things and also 'hi' and 'ya' but none seem real clear or consistent. She is babbling all the time and I am sure I will soon figure out what she's been saying all this time!

~ Genevieve loves to explore the downstairs putting everything in her mouth and standing up at all the tables and toys that she can. She has balanced for a couple seconds without holding on not too often. She gets up to a stand very easily against almost anything.

~ Genevieve loves to dance by bouncing up and down. It is so darn cute every time she hears music.

Here are some pictures Chad and I took today. It was a great Fall morning ...

St. Paul Auction

Last night we went to the auction at our kids' school. It was a lot of fun to have an evening out with Chad and hang out with great friends, eating, drinking, catching-up and even dancing a little. I was so glad that my brother, Marcus, my Dad and Kathleen joined us as well. Chad and I arrived a little after 5:00 and before we knew it, it was 11:30 and time to rescue the babysitter, my nephew Roman! Time flew by! I am so excited that we joined a group of our great friends in buying a wine tour again this year so we can look forward to a full day of wine-tasting, lots of laughing and some more crazy fun together :)

My handsome hubby and me

Great friends

Me and Marcus

My Dad and Kathleen

Willem's Final Outdoor Game

Willem played his last Little Metro game on Friday. He started the season playing in the Kinder through 2nd grade 3v3 games with his assigned team but the last few weeks he's been showing up early and staying late to play in games with the 3rd & 4th graders. He LOVES it and has enjoyed running all over the field playing his heart out and also playing goalie. He spends the week before the games talking about which team he wants to play for and then arrives and starts asking the coaches if he can play with them. It is fun to see him take control and get in the games. He does quite well with the older kids especially in the goal. On the field he does well in part because he plays so hard. He was excited to score a goal last week! It's been fun seeing him practice on his own more and more at home in the yard.

In the first pictures below he is playing goalie. I wish I had a better shot. I love his expressions in the other pictures!

Auntie Carrie's Birthday

Friday evening Chad and the kids went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate Auntie Carrie's birthday. Carrie always spoils us on our birthdays so it was nice to spoil her a bit. Genevieve's second cousin Nathera was also there. Chad said it was cute to see Genevieve and Nathera interact; Genevieve wasn't sure what to make of her cousin who, at 5 months was almost as big as her!

The birthday girl

Genevieve & Nathera

Genevieve and a cute little sad face

Kendall's Birthday Dinner

I had a great time last night at a birthday dinner at La Perla for my good friend, Kendall. Kendall, Mellani and I (pictured above) were joined by Carolle, Jeanie and Jenn, all soccer buddies who have become become running buddies and just good friends! It is strange that I am the 'old mom' of the group. I really don't think of myself that way...I remember being one of the youngest on the team not long ago! Three of us (the three above) have kids and have been married for a while (7ish, 12, & 15 years) and the other three are either relatively newly married or dating. It is fun to hear everyone's stories and perspectives. I hope we didn't scare the non-kid gals off from having them :)

I had forgotten my camera in the car but I really wanted a picture of us, so after dinner and chatting the evening away, the three of us who were left went to the car to get my camera. We ended up chatting some more and then tried to get back in the restaurant to ask the waitress to take a picture but they had closed the restaurant...so, we got a 'self-portrait'!

Happy Birthday, Kendall! 29, right :)

Dada and Doctor Appointment

Genevieve has started to clearly say 'dada' when she looks at Chad. It is very sweet. The other day, she was lying in bed between Chad and me and she looked at me and said 'mama', then at Chad and said, 'dada'. We were both amazed!

Genevieve went to her 9 month doctor appointment last week (at 9.5 months) and weighed in at 18 lbs 13.5 oz (55%) and is 27.75 inches (60%). Her head measured 17.87 inches (80%). She is definitely smaller than her siblings who were:

Cade at 8.5 mo: 20 lb 8 oz & 28 inches
Gabrielle at 8.75 mo: 20 lb 6 oz & 28 inches
Willem at 9 mo: 20 lb 4 oz & 28.75 inches

Here are some pictures from today...

Hanging out in one of her favorite spots, under my desk!

She just fits under it!

This morning I put Genevieve in front of the t.v. (Wiggles & Sesame Street)
for the first time & she seemed pretty interested for a few minutes anyway

Babbling away again! 'Aaaaaah'

This is a classic Genevieve look when she wants
something (or wants out!)

Getting tired

Nelly now loves to hang out next to the high chair and
Genevieve has started dropping food for him....great!

Working hard at eating her grapes and bananas.
A couple of her favorite foods!

Yum yum!

Yippie!!!

I had to write a quick post to cheer that my sister, Amber, is HAVING A GIRL!!! I am so happy for her (she already has adorable 17 month old Jacoby) and I am so happy that Genevieve will have a girl cousin so close in age to her. I am imaging girls' weekends, shopping trips, etc. with my sister and our girls! Amber is due in early April and I cannot wait to meet her little girl :) Check out Amber's blog (to the right: Amandi Family) for all the pregnancy details!

Amber & Jacoby looking at the ultrasound screen

Nev, Brandy, Amber & Jacoby

Mid-season update

My sister, Marilyn, is always asking for soccer updates (such a great aunt!) so I thought I'd post a quick mid-season update.

Cade:
Cade's EMFC Boca Jr team is playing in the top U12 Portland league and has now played eight games (yes, that's eight trips up and down I-5 in the past four weeks!). His team continues to improve as they work on mastering a new defense (called the 'Flat Four'). They tied both their games this weekend 2-2, making their season record thus far 0-3-5 (yes, that's five ties!). All their games have been close. Cade has three goals (out of the team's 10 total).

Cade's Boca team is also playing in the top U12 statewide league (eight best Oregon U12 teams aside from the Portland area) and his team is 1-0 in that league.

Cade's flag football team is now 2-1 and he is having a blast, looking forward to each game. He's scored one touchdown and had several interceptions and sacks.

Gabrielle:
Gabrielle's U10 EMFC Athletica team is playing in the top U11 (4th/5th grade) Kidsports league. Her team (consisting of four 3rd graders and nine 4th graders) played a team of very tall 5th graders and league leaders on Saturday; Elle's team outplayed them in the 1st half to a 1-0 lead but the other team tied it up on a free kick in the 2nd half ending it 1-1. Athletica won their Sunday game 4-1. Their record thus far is 2-1-2. Gabrielle has played center back (defense) most of the time but has scored one goal in her limited time playing forward.

Willem:
Willem has been a blast to watch in his Little Metros league. He is on a 1st & 2nd grade team playing 3v3 but has been LOVING getting to the fields early and staying late playing with the 3rd/4th grade teams. He loves to play goalie and did a great job playing that against the big kids. He is fearless! He also scored a goal against the big kids when he played on the field, dribbling over half the field, around defenders and being tenacious!

Cade

Gabrielle

Willem

Genevieve and Playtime

Genevieve (9.5 months) has been loving exploring and playing lately. She has discovered my printer which is of-course right next to where I work so she pushes buttons and is entertained by the lights and sounds while being right next to me (which is her favorite place to be these days). She also has had fun climbing in and out of her car seat. One not so good thing she seems to gravitate to is Nelly's water and food dishes so we try to keep the mud room door closed but even then she seems to find a piece of dry dog food on the floor in the other rooms and always quickly puts it in her mouth! Yuck! She also enjoys exploring the playroom while I try hard to keep little pieces of legos and other bigger kid toys off the floor! Another favorite past time for Genevieve is pulling herself up to the entertainment center and playing with the DVD and video game cases (i.e pulling them down and sucking on them :). Here are a bunch of pictures from today and yesterday of Nev around our house...

The printer...her favorite toy!

Doing some squats??

Another favorite...the car seat

Crawling around looking for her next adventure

Such a sweetie!

Pushing buttons and babbling away

She looks like she's guilty of something here!

Must not be working like she wants :)

I love this one

Cade loved this one and insisted I include it!

Love the drool...BTW she has 5 teeth now!

One last sweet one as she plays by the entertainment cabinet

Corn Harvest...Willem's Favorite Time of the Year

Willem loves the dairy and his favorite part is harvest time when he can ride in the harvester, bulldozer and dump trucks. He stays on top of how many loads have come in each day as well as the weather forecast. He cannot wait until he is old enough to drive some of the equipment himself.

One of Willem's favorite activities is watching You Tube videos of farmers harvesting their crops. He has asked many times if we could make a video of our corn harvest. I finally did it for him and posted it on You Tube. It's pretty weak (shaky filming and all) but I did it! Here's the link in case you are interested :) I even figured out how to add music (one of the few songs I have on my computer and also one Willem likes!).

2009 Corn Harvest Coburg Oregon

Willem standing by the corn which is about to be chopped

After a ride on the harvester

The harvester (with Willem in it) chopping the last bit of corn in this field