Halloween!

Halloween continues to change little by little for us as our family grows up! This year Cade opted out of trick-or-treating all together. He opted for working out with cousin, Roman, and playing cards at my Dad and Kathleen's house instead. Gabrielle didn't join us for trick-or-treating for the first time this year. Instead, she went to her friend Elena's house with Jorja and other soccer teammates & friends for a Halloween party and some trick-or-treating with the group. Thankfully, Genevieve and Willem were still excited about heading out through the neighborhoods with Chad and me along with Amber, Jacoby, Nia, Viv, Carsten, Marcus, Davida and Athena. We met at David's house and spent a surprisingly relaxing hour and a half venturing through the neighborhoods. We got an early start at 6 pm which was nice as it definitely got busier as our time out trick-or-treating went on. It was so cute seeing Genevieve skip with pure joy out of the few houses after trick-or-treating shouting out to Chad and me what candy she received! She was also great about saying thank you quite loudly after receiving her candy at each house as well! The kids all had fun but were ready to call it a night well before 8 pm. After leaving David's house we made one final stop at Opa and Kathleen's house for a little more candy.

Earlier in the day, I got to help with the Halloween party in Genevieve's classroom. The best part was how excited Genevieve was to see me when I first entered her classroom. And, the kids' singing performance at the end was adorable as well! Here's a link to the a YouTube video of a couple of her class's Halloween songs: http://youtu.be/buSfnp3m1lY

 

 

Our Busy Fall

It's been hard to find time to post on here lately. But, I still committed to documenting our family's life via pictures on our blog. There are just a lot more iPhone pics than anything else lately! So, here are some of the things we've been up to this fall so far.

In September Gabrielle's soccer team got to play a scrimmage at halftime of the UO Ducks women's game. Her team did great, showing lots of skill and athleticism. I was impressed, and Elle had a couple nice assists to her teammates. Elle's team also had a lot of fun hanging out together and a little with the UO team before the game.

Photobombed by the UO coach Kat Mertz

We've been lucky to have a couple visits with Amber and kids in the last few weeks both here in Eugene and in Portland. It is always great seeing my sis and watching our kids enjoy one another! Here are a few pics from her visit to Eugene in September...

 

Gabrielle and Jorja have been great friends since first grade, it's so nice they now play soccer and basketball together again. Here are a few pictures of them from earlier in September...

Gabrielle has also made some other great friends from her EMFC Sol soccer team, including Delaney. They were great playing with Genevieve and letting her do their make-up...

 

Nev always puts smiles on our faces with her spunky personality. These pictures of her sparring with Chad crack me up....

 

 

A few more fun pics of Nev....

Of-course, it would not be fall without soccer. Elle's team (EMFC Sol Blue) is doing great so far, in second place in the league just below the top state league. Will's EMFC Valencia Blue team continues to improve though are sitting in about 8th (out of 13) in the 2nd division. Cade is playing this fall with EMFC Celtic Blue while his usual teammates are playing on their high school teams. He has been playing great at a new position for him, center back; he's excited to get back to his Boca Blue team and playing more at forward but we are proud of him taking a leadership role on the Celtic team. Here are a few pics from the past month...

Gabrielle stretching for a ball 

Elle playing tough 'D' at center defense

 

Willem showing some finesse!

After game freezes with some teammates

There has also been some football played this fall! Willem is having fun playing 4/5 grade flag football. He's doing great especially on defense getting lots of flags. His team is playing in the semi-final and hopefully championship game this weekend. His team was 6-2 in the regular season.

Nev has been so into Ariel lately and is, of-course, super excited about Halloween. She picked out the Ariel costume below, has been painting lots of Ariel pics and loved designing and helping me carve a couple 'scary' pumpkins...

 

I also got into the Halloween spirit, dressing up for a girls only Halloween party with my CrossFit friends. I knew I could only go for a couple hours and didn't want to spend any money on the costume, so I was happy my friend, Chris, helped me come up with a fun costume...

 

 
In the past month we also discovered that Gabrielle is now taller than me! She is a full 5'6"!! It is a little strange but I really do love it!

This past weekend, the kids had six games in five different cities (Bend, Lake Oswego, Salem, Vancouver and Gresham)! It was a busy weekend but lots of fun too as we got to go to a Timbers game and Cade and Willem got to walk on the field with the players for the national anthem!

We met up with Amber and kids for dinner before the game

on the right, Meleesa, Willem, Athena and Cade

Another big part of fall for us is watching the corn harvest come in. Below is a cool picture David took (from the top of the silo) of our huge corn silage pile...

And, finally, a picture of Cade at Ben Hakala's birthday party with lots of furute Marist Spartans (from St. Paul, O-Hara and Willamette Christian schools)...