Scenes From Our Weekend

It was another busy weekend for us with a basketball game and an indoor soccer game for Willem (plus a fun playdate with Ethan squeezed in the middle), two basketball games and some soccer skills training for Elle (plus a Meleesa playdate squeezed in), ODP soccer practice and a couple sleepovers for Cade, and a couple indoor soccer games for me. Chad and Nev (and me most of the time, too) were along for the ride! We also watched cousin Roman play his first outdoor game of his winter club season and had fun at cousin Meleesa's birthday party. Chad took the camera along this time and took some pictures of Willem's last basketball game and of Elle's basketball game...

I love this picture as it shows Willem next to the smallest boy on our team. Willem looks like a giant compared to Macoy (who is the only Kindergartner on Will's 1st grade team).

Willem's team played great in this game. The other team was short a player so we let them borrow one of our players each period (thus the 'skins' in some of the pictures). Willem was on fire in this game scoring 24 points, getting about 15 rebounds and a dozen or so steals. His team is so much fun to watch as they are a mix of so many different personalities and levels but they all have so much fun playing!

Gabrielle's team started the YMCA league last weekend and have played four tough, close games, winning two and losing the other two by just a basket or two. The last two years they won all their 'Y' league games but this season they haven't been able to get by on their athleticism and decent ball skills. The other teams that play much more basketball are catching up to these soccer players in basketball uniforms. Elle still really enjoys the games (practices not so much) and continues to improve but she tells me often that she likes soccer much more!

 

Cade had so much fun this weekend with Liam and Pascal. He spent Friday night at Liam's house, one of his favorite places in the world. He really enjoys Liam as well as Liam's parents and triplet siblings. It's so nice he has found such a great best buddy. Then on Saturday, Liam and other best friend and cousin Pascal stayed with us. There was lots of nerf basketball (look how Pascal towers over Cade now!), soccer and video games!

Two

Nev has been two for a little over a month now and I have to say it's been a bit of a tough few weeks for her. We are so enjoying her big vocabulary and how expressive she is. We also love hearing her sing along to songs and dance whenever she hears music. But it's been tough for her being sick; she recovered after her hospital stay but then got sick again this week with breathing issues. Also, lately she has been really disliking her car seat as well as her crib and she has been fighting against every bath time and every clothing change. All of my distraction techniques that used to work so well are not doing the trick anymore. She has spent many car rides lately screaming the entire 45 minute trip and she's figured out how to get her whole upper body out of her regular car seat (as well as buckle herself right back in if she decides that what she wants to do!). Chad and I have since switched car seats in our cars so that the car seat in my car (where she spends more time) is now much tougher for her to squirm out of! So as you might have guessed, Genevieve has also been introduced to the timeout chair this month. I do my best to just keep calm, still try to distract, sometimes just ignore and then talk to her when she finally is calm. I know all of these are things she will grow out of but it is sometimes hard to see our sweet little girl so unhappy and frustrated!  She is a determined little girl with lots of spunk. I know our job as parents is to channel all that energy and figure out how to get her to use it in positive ways. It helps to see our big kids and how much they have matured and I know Nev will get there too! At least that's what I have been finding I am reminding myself of a lot lately.

Here is our happy Genevieve after playing outside... 

And here she is sleeping after I gave her a nebulizer treatment. A bright side of her hospital stay earlier in the month is she loves her doctor toys :)

Julie's Birthday Dinner

I love it when my friends have birthdays because it gets us together for an evening to catch up which we don't get a chance to do nearly as much as I'd like. Saturday evening we celebrated Julie's birthday at Mookie's Restaurant. Five hours flew by! I am lucky to have such great friends! Happy Birthday, Jules!

Julie, Liz, Christy, Me and Amy

And the guys: Doug, Chad, Kevin, Pancho and Donnie

Nev(er) a Dull Moment!

Here are some pictures of Genevieve over the past month. They are all just little things that happen in a regular day with Genevieve, some taken quickly with my cellphone. She is such a fun and spunky little girl, very adventurous and active, pretty independent and looking to be a little stubborn as well lately (changing her clothes each day, taking a bath and sharing have been challenges recently for her...and us too ;)

Here she is after heading upstairs to hang out with her big sis who, it turns out, wasn't really watching her as Nev had time to get into Gabrielle's make-up kit and put make-up on all on her own. She was pretty proud of herself when she walked downstairs to show me...

Here's Nev enjoying a yummy berry smoothing that Chad often makes for the kids...

Here's one a caught of her after she said her eyes hurt from the sun and she needed my sunglasses...

Here she is trying on all my necklaces and bracelets. Oh did she have fun for quite a while...

And just a random Nev smile...

And finally, we were having some fun washing her hair!...

We can't imagine our lives without this little girl we love so much! In fact, Cade continues to beg us for another baby (sorry, not gunna happen :) because he just thinks Nev is 'so darn cute' (he says that most days!) and fun and adorable (plus I think that competitive streak in him wants to have more siblings than his cousins)!

What a Weekend!

Last Friday Chad and I flew down to Phoenix to spend a long overdue weekend with just the two of us with the hope that the icing on the cake for the weekend would be for us both to watch the Ducks play in the BCS National Championship game. Our Friday through Sunday was heavenly. Our days went something like this: sleep in until 11:00 am, hang out in the room and watch a movie, workout in the hotel gym, shower, finally get something to eat around 4:00 pm, then take a walk in the sunshine and/or shop a little and then return to the hotel room and lounge around some more, watch another movie and read our books until finally crashing around 1:00 or 2:00 am. Heavenly...

...until Monday morning when we received a call from Chad's mom that Genevieve was in the hospital for respiratory issues. She had had a 103 fever, a bad cold and trouble breathing. Bev took her to the ER Sunday night and with her oxygen level in the 80's, they kept her in the hospital. She, just like Cade and Gabrielle as toddlers, was severely affected by the dreaded RSV virus and needed oxygen and steroids to open up her airways. Fortunately, we knew she was in good hands, and having been through it with Cade and Elle, we knew she would bounce back with the treatments. The toughest part was hearing that she said (numerous times), "I want my mom, I want to go home."  So hard to hear when there is no way you can be there for your baby as she's feeling sick and being poked and prodded! But, like I said, I knew she was in good hands so I was determined to enjoy the day with Chad and Amber at the BCS game.

Amber flew into Phoenix on Monday and met us at the hotel to head to the game. We arrived the stadium in the early afternoon so we could spend lots of time meandering around the festivities.  We were also on the lookout for a ticket for Chad, which we couldn't find for below $1,800 before kick-off (Amber and I were lucky to get a couple at face value of $335).  The tickets were still $1,100 at halftime.  Unbelievable.  Chad ended up watching the game with about 30 other ticket-less Duck fans (and a few Auburn fans) just outside the stadium on a 21" TV. And he is excited to use the money he saved to buy a new tent :)

While walking around before the game, Amber and I especially loved people-watching all the Auburn fans, who were mostly dressed up liked they had just stepped out of a J-Crew catalog.  While us Ducks were all wearing UO t-shirts and jeans, the Auburn men wore khakis, penny loafers and tucked-in button-up shirts, while the Auburn girls wore blue or orange dresses, knee-high boots and cardigans.  Really!?  Crazy football style, but fun to look at!

Amber and I headed into the stadium with enough time to walk around and get settled before the game.  Our seats were in the end-zone, but the view turned out to be okay since we were pretty high up.  The game was crazy, with the unexpected low-score, trick plays by the Ducks and in the end, a field goal by the Tigers/War Eagles to win the title 22-19.  It was such an emotional sports experience. My stomach was in knots the whole game but especially when the Ducks were down 11-19 and trying to score in the 4th quarter and trying to get a two-point conversion too. It was so very exciting when we tied it up 19-19 with about two minutes to go. I really thought our Ducks were going to pull off another amazing win.   The loss was a big disappointment but the game and the experience was still amazing. I hope we get the chance to experience another chance at the national championship but regardless, I walked away a very proud Duck!

Our self portrait complete with an 'O'! I am so lucky to have my sis to enjoy the Ducks with (and I know our other sis was just as nervous as us watching the game in Nicaragua!)

It's a good thing I like hanging out with my hubby as much as I do because it was just the two of us for three (wonderful) days straight.

 It was SOOOO good to get home and see our little Nev. We went to the hospital straight from the airport and I spent the night there with her and she was released Wednesday morning. She was very happy to see us and has been pretty attached to me since! She has recovered well and is just fighting a cold/cough now.

A Ragtag Bunch!

Who'd think this ragtag group of boys could be so much fun to coach and watch!? This is actually only about half of Willem's Rovers White indoor team and Cade (far right) has only played in a couple games when the team was short players. But, it sure has been fun watching this group (along with Massimo-8, Zane-8 and Gideon-9/10) play against 11 and 12 year olds in the U12 league at Kick City Indoor and win four of their seven games so far. This picture was taken after a recent game when this bunch beat the undefeated 'House' team in a close match. The 'House' team is made up of huge (it's all relative :), mostly 12 year olds who had decent skills but just didn't have the hustle that these boys did. Most of the game, the three youngest kids (Will, Irwin and Hector) played mid and forward and scored most of the team's goals, racing and juking past the big 5th and 6th graders. They were pretty proud and so was this mom and coach ;)

Irwin (age: 8), Hector (8), Garrett (9), Dan (10), Willem (7), Keegan (10), Cade (11)

Final Game at The Pit

Saturday evening we went, with our kids, to the last men's basketball game at Mac Court. It was a good game, the Ducks kept it close until the end losing by five. We all had fun soaking in the atmosphere of Mac Court for the last time, reminiscing about the many games we've been to there. We've had season tickets for about ten years and Chad and his parents went to many games there when he was a kid. So many good memories over the years! Let's hope we have many more in the new Matthew Knight Arena.

Nev had a little stomach bug Saturday and slept most of the game in our arms. We all went down to the
court after the game as well as took one last look at the court from the upper deck.

More Scenes from Christmas Break

Christmas break was filled, once again, with family, sleepovers, soccer camps and friends. Here are a few collages of our break. I didn't get any pictures of the numerous sleepovers or soccer camps but I did get some of Nev's first try at Play Doh, playing with cousins and uncles, 'The Best Day of the Year: Shopping with my Friends the Day After Christmas' and more!

The three little cousins playing with their uncles James, Marcus and Tony (daddy, of-course to two of the three little cousins) ~ Sweet Nia smiling away ~ Lunchtime with cousins ~ Me trying to get a little work done amidst the happy-chaos with David

Play Doh with Cousins

The Best Day of the Year! Thank you, Christy, for your well-timed birthday!

New Year's Eve!

I love New Year's Eve at my Dad and Kathleen's house. It is one of my favorite nights of the year. Tons of my extended family as well as friends gathered together starting around 3:00 pm and the party ended (a little early this year) around 2:00 am. The kids ran around outside (I'm not quite sure what they did!), played video games, joined us in some of our games, played pool and did a little dance number for us! The grown-ups played poker, pinnacle, 'The Dice' game, Scattegories and more. Then, at midnight, the kids banged on pots and pans just like I did as a kid. We also all ate a ton of great food all afternoon and evening.  I love the food, the games, chatting with everyone and watching the kids enjoy it all too. Genevieve made it to midnight as did all the kids (except 8 month old Antonia). We were joined this year for the first time by the O'Connor family and we hope they will be back! Happy 2011! I am excited to see what this year has in store for us!

 

Winter Dairy Walk

Amber, Tony, Jacoby and Antonia spent a few days with us this past week and Amber and I took Jacoby and Nev on a dairy walk one afternoon which is something I rarely do in the winter. The kids loved the puddles, mud, cows, equipment, cottonseed, hay, milk parlor and more. We had fun taking some pictures and watching them soak it all in. The differences in our kids' personalities is also fun to see. Jacoby asked tons of questions, wanting details of everything; he is also pretty cautious. Genevieve dives into every and anything and is fearless. So much fun!

 Amber and Jacoby had just taught Nev to stomp with her light up boots in the house. Nev of-course applied her stomping to the puddles!

 Genevieve loved the cottonseed and running on the tall hay bales

Jacoby was most interested in learning about and watching the scraper tractor, front loader and separator