Sunday, March 28, 2010

An Afternoon with Friends

On Wednesday of Spring Break the kids and I met up with a group of good friends at Putters. The grown-ups chatted while the kids played for 5+ hours.  Time sure flew by! It was great to catch-up with the gals and see the kids having fun.

 Me with three of my dearest friends who I've known for 20+ years (Julie, Christy, 
Liz and Me). Sandy, Julie H. and some of the hubbies joined us as well

And nearly all of Julie, Liz, Christy and my 12 kids! Elle's friend Jorja is also in 
the picture (Genevieve and Natalie are missing)

Ben, Cade and Jack

Jorja and Gabrielle

And Genevieve trying her hand at golf :)

We Heart Embassy Suites!

For the second Spring Break in a row, the kids voted to spend a couple nights at Embassy Suites in Portland for our little Spring Break getaway. We all decided the rain made the beach sound less enticing, so we spent the days swimming in the hotel pool, enjoying yummy breakfasts, a Cheesecake Factory dinner, a little Washington Square and soccer shop shopping as well as lots of relaxing and March Madness basketball games in the hotel room. It was a great little break!

The kids always beg to swim 2-3 times a day when we are at Embassy Suites!

I love Nev's new swimsuit!

Willem had fun playing with the ball in the water. He played catch with Chad while diving into the pool as well as just catch with other kids in the pool. There was also a big game of Marco Polo!

Watching some March Madness

Daddy getting attacked by his kids....some payback I am sure!

We got to meet up with Jacoby and Amber for a couple hours at Washington Square...just 10 days until her due date now! It was so funny to watch Nev and Jacoby play at Pottery Barn Kids. Jacoby was a bit territorial when it came to the toys but Nev is still young enough (or maybe just happy-go-lucky) that she was pretty clueless to it, mostly waving and saying hi to Jacoby and sharing her snacks and drink all the while sweet Jacoby was trying to make sure she didn't touch 'his' stuff. I think they make a good combo. Too cute!

Genevieve had fun running in the hall of the hotel and playing in the elevator. We all took turns taking her out of the room when she started to get bored. It's great having big kids to help with the little one :) Genevieve was actually really good though, happy to be around us all and explore all the new things in the room most of the time.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Tulip Fields!

It's been a great Spring Break! I do not want it to end! I'll post more pictures later from our break but first here are some from our trip to the Tulip Festival in Woodburn. We stopped today on our way back home from a couple nights in Portland. What a gorgeous day it was! It has been so nice relaxing and enjoying our kids this break...did I say I don't want it to end?!

Genevieve, Willem, Cade, Gabrielle...What a lucky mom I am!


I love Nev's new shoes!

Daddy and his baby girl!

Nine year old Gabrielle




Me and my BIG boy. I look at this and still imagine my baby boy! Can he really almost be 11?!

Willem always feels most comfortable on a tractor!


Me and my girl!

Genevieve had fun playing in the tunnels and the hay. I love the light in this picture

Cade is so good with his little sister!

Genevieve got sooo excited watching Gabrielle fly in the air in the trampoline harness

Monday, March 22, 2010

Amber's Baby Shower

I am so excited Amber's little girl, Antonia ('Nia'), is due in just over two weeks! To celebrate, I hosted a small baby shower for her at Cafe 440. It was a fun and relaxing afternoon with great company and great conversation!

Brandy, Amber, Searra, Mariah, Denisha, Chris, Terry, Frances, Amy and Betty

Kyndsi, Athena, Meleesa, Gabrielle, Sydney

Cafe 440

Gabrielle and Me

My Sis and Me

Having fun watching Amber open gifts

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Genevieve at 15 Months!

Another season has passed and Nev is a quarter year older! On March 18th, she turned 15 months and her personality is sure coming out! She is such a social girl and her favorite word is "Hi". She says it to everyone while waving at them and trying to get a reply. Yesterday I was walking with her past a set of bleachers and she turned to the people sitting in them and starting waving and saying "Hi, hi, hi"! So typical and so Nev!


Genevieve is also very active. She is always moving and climbing and on a mission! Last week I was at Cade's soccer practice and I watched her walk 60 yards down one end line then 80 yards down the opposite sideline to a set of stairs that led up to a playground we had visited several weeks ago. She never looked back at me and had no fear. She knew where she wanted to go and she went!


Genevieve continues to love kicking the soccer ball and also now loves sitting on and pushing herself along on riding toys. But those seem to be just about the only real toys she is interested in. Genevieve much prefers playing with shoes, strings, necklaces (she'll make anything a necklace), tupperware, paper & pencils, cell phones, keys, etc. Genevieve will put anything that even closely resembles a cell phone (such as a calculator) up to her ear and starts talking away!


Genevieve may be cute and is very sweet but she also has an opinion and isn't afraid to share it :) She has definitely entered the stage where she realizes what she wants and isn't as easily distracted. Whenever my brother David comes in the house she starts 'talking' away and pointing making it clear she wants him to take him outside (like he so graciously does most days). She has also had a few tantrums and whiney times as she works to try and get what she wants :)


Genevieve loves water now and enjoys her baths again too (she went through a couple months where she resisted taking baths). She loves to climb up to the sink (which scares me!) and play with the water and 'brush' her teeth.


Genevieve is a very happy girl. She loves to smile and laugh and interact with people. She is not shy at all and will often walk up to kids or grown-ups and start 'talking' to them and obviously craves that interaction.






More about 15 month old Genevieve...

She's started to want to take her clothes off and run around without her shirt. She figured out how to get her shirt off for the first time this weekend and fought so hard when I tried to put it back on (we were in public so I did want it back on :)!

Says more words but not consistently though she 'talks' all the time. She does say 'oow', 'hi', 'please', 'uh-oh', 'mom', 'da' consistently and we've heard 20+ other words once or twice.

Nev usually takes one 2 hour nap and sleeps from about 8:00 pm until 6:45 am most nights (though those times can vary an hour either way).

Genevieve is a good eater and loves broccoli, pancakes, eggs, milk, oatmeal, bananas, beef, chicken, muffins and much more

Nev watches about 10 minutes of TV a day, usually 'The Wiggles'!

We've stopped nursing this week except one side once a day in the morning (sometime in the 6:00 am hour) to catch a little extra rest. We stopped nursing completely at 16 months, one week.

We Love You Sweet Genevieve! Happy Year and a Quarter!

Fun on the Trampoline!

With the beautiful weather this weekend, we decided to clean off the trampoline and play! Genevieve had SO much fun running on it and being bounced by Gabrielle and me. Nev was laughing so hard and couldn't get enough. She was not at all bothered by her falls and only wanted more! I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time on the trampoline with her this summer.