Thanksgiving with the Konyn Family

I love Thanksgiving with my family! We always celebrate Thanksgiving with the Konyn Family on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Though it is a lot of work getting it all ready (for 36 of us this time!), all us girls do it together and we enjoy visiting as we prepare the feast.

The day always reminds me of my mom. Probably more so because Thanksgiving six years ago was our first holiday without her. We celebrate at the house she and my dad built and I always think she should be there in the kitchen she designed and was so proud of. But I know she would love seeing us all together enjoying it. She always said she built the house for us all to enjoy and she and Dad (and my brother, Duane, who built it) did a great job of that! It was a great day ~ my only complaint was that it went by too fast!

The head cooks: Amber, Me and Jenn

 Selene & Gabrielle helping in the kitchen, too! Can you believe they are three years apart in age?

Selene, Gabrielle & Searra

 Dishing up!

Chad, Me and our baby at her first Thanksgiving

 

Amber (22 weeks pregnant) and Mary; hard to believe I was pregnant last Thanksgiving!

David and Amber

Pretty daughters with their pretty mom (Searra, Mariah, Jenn & Denisha)

 

Genevieve LOVES her Uncle David

Me with my oldest and youngest

 

Relaxing watching some football

 

Genevieve and her sweet wave

 

I was a little tired at the end of the day!

Turkey Day at the Ficeks

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Chad's parents and it was a great, relaxing day. I made mashed potatoes the day before and brought pumpkin pie and that's all I had to do. Chad and I slept in (with Genevieve :) and then we all headed to Bev and Gene's for a feast! All of Chad's four siblings were there by the end of the night and it was great to see all of them, visit, play cards and watch football. The kids had a blast with their cousins, as always!

Here's most of the crew who were there at dinner.

Cade and Willem love playing video games with cousins, Colin and Andrew.

Gabrielle was a card shark! She beat the grown-up in Spades!

Chad and his siblings, Pat, Tere, Carrie and Cindy.

 

Willem playing some Uno!

 

 

Nelly's Back!

Our dog, Nelly, was hit by a car on Monday morning. The car was probably driving at least 45 mph and the impact broke the car's headlight. We found out about it a few hours after it happened when we spoke to a neighbor who spoke to the driver of the car which hit Nelly. Apparently, Nelly ran off after it happened. Since then we have been searching for her in the fields and talking to neighbors. And, the kids have shed many tears. Cade said all he wanted for Christmas was Nelly back home. Well, his wish came true this afternoon, three-plus days later, when we got a call from my brother, James, that Nelly showed up at their doorstep (we were at Chad's parents for Thanksgiving dinner). She was very dirty, hungry, thirsty and has lost about 10 of her 75 lbs. She is also limping but otherwise she seems very good. Nieces Searra and Selene gave her a bath including a shampoo and blow dry! And she is now sleeping at home. Our kids are so excited, it is very sweet to see. We are all glad to have Nelly home again!

Can I Take Too Many Pics of Nev?

...If so, I am guilty! I just cannot resist!

I love her little girlie skirt!

She looked so cute with her hood on!

 

This picture is just so Genevieve. Something in her mouth looking up at us! Notice that her eyes are changing from blue to a greenish-blue.

On another note (with Nev still in the picture :), here's what Chad's been up to the last week. He had surgery on this heel last Tuesday to remove a bone spur and has been on the couch recovering the last six days. Needless to say, he's a bit bored :)

Willem's First Ever Basketball Game

Willem is in kindergarten and got to play in his first ever basketball game today. He is playing on a first grade St. Paul school team. He hasn't been loving the practices and told us a couple days ago (with teary eyes) that he doesn't like basketball. Cade and Gabrielle were very sweet and right away stepped in and told him, "Just wait till you play a game, they are SO much fun" (thank goodness for big siblings!). Well, they were right. After Will played today, I told him he had another game tomorrow and his response was, "YES!". You could tell he was loving playing! He was very focused when he played, played great defense and made good decisions (for a kindergartener!) with regard to when to defend, pass, dribble and shot. His team won; he tells me it was 24-12 and he scored two baskets. It was so much fun to see his reaction when he scored and when his teammates scored. They were so happy for each other. It was great. Will also had a couple steals and assists. I definitely had a blast watching him and look forward to many more games and seasons of basketball.

Willem taking a shot

Celebrating after making it!

Playing some good 'D'

He looked so cute on the bench, too! This is such a 'Willem' look (with Coach Ryan Harbert).

And making good passes!

Our Girl is 11 Months!

Can our girl really be just a month away from her first birthday? Amazing! Genevieve is so much fun and such a little love! She is easy-going and a mommy's girl right now. She loves to communicate, get our attention and the attention of strangers. Lately she's been waving, mostly with her wrist and fingers like a princess in a parade, to everyone. It is so sweet. I've been trying to catch it on video; hopefully I'll be able to post a video of it soon.

Cade, Elle and Will are having more and more fun with Nev. They think she is just so cute and Cade even says that she melts everyone's hearts and they often say they just want to squeeze her. I can certainly relate to that :)

More on Nev...

~We've seen Genevieve take two tiny steps but she is still a bit away from really walking and she doesn't seem too interested in it.
~Genevieve enjoys kicking balls; she laughs and laughs when I help her by holding her hands and putting a ball in front of her. She knows what to do. She seems to like balls in general.

~Genevieve is saying more sounds and we hear what we think is a word everyday but it is not always really clear exactly what she is saying. Willem swears she says his name :) She also says mama, dada, hi and more (maa).

~ Still just six teeth!

~Nev is a speedy crawling and pulls up on everything.

~Genevieve has shown some frustration when we take something away from her or if she really wants something. It is pretty cute now but I wonder if this is an indication she will become more insistent as she figures out more and more what she wants.

~Nev is a little explorer. She puts everything in her mouth and crawls all around and explores for a long time especially when she's in a new place.

~Genevieve enjoys all sorts of food; some staples are cheese, grapes, asparagus, broccoli, bananas, avocados, bread, chicken, sausage, pancakes and more.

~Genevieve really lights up when she sees her mom, dad and siblings and also when she sees her Uncle David and Uncle James who she sees everyday when I work with them.

~Genevieve has been sleeping pretty well. She will often sleep 8-10 hours though sometimes will awake in the middle of the night and will need her daddy to soothe her. Her napping is sporadic (our fault not hers :) though we try to get one decent (1-2 hour) nap in her crib each day. Other naps are generally in the car.

~Genevieve has been great on most all of our many trips to Portland. She usually just snoozes away as long as the car keeps moving.

We Love You Sweet Genevieve!

And Finally, Outdoor Soccer Season Ends

This past weekend was our last trip to Portland for soccer for at least three months! It's been a fun outdoor season but I am ready to have a few weekends in Eugene. Gabrielle's U10 EMFC team 'Athletica' played in the Oregon Premier League (OPL) tournament. Most of the top U10 teams (3rd/4th grade) in the state attended this tourney and Gabrielle's team made it to the championship losing 2-0 to a great team out of Washington. The great thing was Athletica won their pool group over their 'nemesis' this season, the THUSC Zirconium team (our girls call the THUSC team the 'Meanie Greenies'). Athletica had lost in very close games twice this past summer in tournament championship games against THUSC but this time we advanced past them. We all had a great time, watching/playing the games and hanging out together at our Embassy Suites hotel.

Here are the girls ready for kick-off. It was cold playing at 7:00 at night!

The championship was played at 5 pm Sunday evening on a muddy field which the girls loved :)

Genevieve was such a trooper all weekend enjoying all the attention from other moms. We may have a gymnast on our hands here! She insisted on Julie holding her this way!

It was cold though! But fun to snuggle with Nev who helped keep me warm :)

Cade's U12 EMFC Boca Jr team played in the OPL tourney last weekend and played well against some very good teams. They lost 1-2 to probably the best team in the state, FC Portland. The also had a tie, a win (on a great goal by Cade), and another loss which resulting in them just missing out on the semi-final game. They were 3rd in their pool group of 5 teams. It's been great to see Cade and his team improve against strong competition this whole season.

What Have I Done?!

No, I am not putting indoor/outdoor carpet in our family/dining room....

I just bought some lovely indoor/outdoor carpet at Jerry's along with padding so our kids can work on their soccer skills this winter in our family/dining room! Cade's coach recommended some on-line skills training videos that we can play on our computer which is in this room. So we've been rolling out the indoor/outdoor carpet when our kids want to do a training video. The carpet then tends to stay out for a while until I've had enough, roll it up and store it in our playroom.

Our kids had three days off from school during the week last week and, with the cold and rain, it was driving me crazy to see the kids watching TV and playing video games too much which is also why I went out and got the carpet.

It cracks me up that in these pictures Genevieve is just crawling around amongst the commotion! Story of her life, I'm afraid!

Leaves and More Leaves!

We are lucky to have a several beautiful, big, old trees in our yard like this one which is my favorite. This picture was taken in late summer.

Unfortunately, these beautiful trees have tons of leaves that fall this time of year!  Today the kids and I spent almost three hours in the front yard raking away. I think Genevieve must have known what we were doing and wanted no part of it as she took her longest nap in a long time sleeping through the entire job! It was hard work but when we were done (and after teacher conferences where we picked up some good report cards) I took the kids to the mall where we got pretzels and the kids got a little something for $5 each. My hands are a little callused but it feels so good to have it done and that we did it together!

Here are Cade, Gabrielle and Willem dumping the last load. Luckily the front loader came when we were done, scooped it all up and dumped the leaves in the burn pile.

Yeah! All done!

Happy Birthday Chad!

Yesterday was Chad's birthday! And, just like my birthday in July, we spent it watching our kids play soccer in Portland! We tried to make it special by enjoying dinner at Chevy's the night before with our kids and our friends and fellow soccer parents, Jason and Michelle, and their kids, triplets Liam, Shea & Maddy (unfortunately, I forgot my camera). Dinner was followed by swimming in the hotel pool and then a second day of soccer games. Cade got a nice goal (for his daddy of-course :) in his final game Sunday. We tried to spoil Chad with some gifts, Paradise Bakery goodies and a trip to Sportsman's Warehouse. I think it was a good day for Chad. He definitely deserves it for being a fantastic Hubby and Dad!

Happy Birthday, Honey! We Love You!

I did get a picture of the kids with the birthday boy when we got home last night...

Tea with the Girls

On Friday the kids got out of school at noon and Brandy had the great idea to meet up with our daughters at Ruthie B's tea house for lunch and tea. This was my first trip to Ruthie B's but it won't be my last! It was such a cute place with lots of antiques and just a neat atmosphere. It was fun to visit with my friends and be there together with our girls. 

Genevieve, Brandy, Me, Julie, Sheri and Sandy

Kennedy, Natalie, Lucia, Jessica, Jorja, Gabrielle & Kyndsi

Our Little Helper

Genevieve is in to everything nowadays and just seems more and more aware. She knows when her siblings are upstairs and tries to figure out how to get around the barrier to join them. She seems to understand so much more of what I am saying and wants to communicate with us. She wants what we are eating even when she is getting something of her own - but she wants to try what we have! She is also showing signs of getting a little frustrated when we don't give her what she wants (or take away something she really wants). She is starting to have her own opinion and wants to express it more lately :) It is very cute and fun to see her personality coming out more and more.

Genevieve also loves to 'help' with the dishwasher and the wash. Here we caught her helping away.

And here is just a sweet picture Chad took of Nev...

Eight Pack?

Ok, I am not sure this is quite the thing to blog about (and Cade may get mad at me for it :) but Cade was running around the house without his shirt once again and I had my camera out (once again) and I decided to take a couple pictures of Cade's lucky genetics in the ab department. Of course his love of playing sports, his enjoyment of doing sit-ups (something he learned from his big cousin Roman) and his crazy high metabolism also contribute to this ten year old boy's little six pack :)

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Our kids are so lucky to have a Grandma they love so much and who loves to spend time with them and spoil them! We celebrated Grandma's 72nd birthday tonight with a yummy dinner at BJ's Restaurant. Can't you tell how much she adores them looking at her in these pictures :) Happy Birthday Grandma!!

With Chad and Grandpa, too!