Elle Playing in The Pit

On Saturday Gabrielle got to play basketball with her Oregon Magic team as part of the halftime entertainment for the last UO women's game at 'The Pit' (Mac Court) before the games move to the new Matt Court. The Oregon Magic 5th and 6th grade teams played against each other. Elle played great, getting a couple rebounds and a steal in the five minute mini-game they played. Willem, Elle and some of Elle's teammates also got in pictures with the Duck (but, just like Santa, Nev wanted nothing to do with the Duck close-up)!

 

The Duck was pretty funny, as usual.  Chad even got a visit from the Duck while Chad was in the restroom - awkward :)

 

  Elle is #33

 After the mini-game, her team did a huddle and a little cheer

Christmas is Looking to Be Lots of Fun...

...based on the excitement Genevieve showed opening the two birthday presents she got to open on her birthday yesterday. Nev was so cute giving us excited expressions while opening her gifts and then she was so excited when she saw what they were. First here are our goofy kids as I tried to get a picture before we sang Happy Birthday to Genevieve.

And with her mommy and daddy...

 

Genevieve was so cute blowing out her candles...

And here she is opening her first gift (check out her expressions)...

And her excitement playing it for the first time...

And then she gets really into it!

And here's gift number two (a pillow pet)...

I am so excited for Christmas with our four sweet kiddos!!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Genevieve!

Our little girl, so full of spunk and personality, turns two today! She made our family complete and is so loved by her siblings and mom and dad (as well as so many cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends)! One thing Genevieve is NOT into right now is pictures. Lately all I get is a turned head, a grumpy look or she just runs away...

So, for some two year old pictures, I just tried to sneak a few in...

Every once in a while I get lucky and she flashes me a smile (here in the halls of Mac Court)...

Or she at least looks toward the camera...

Here's more on our spunky little girl:

~ Genevieve thinks she is one of the big kids and wants to join in on everything her big siblings do. She is often upset when they go to school or all leave her for something. I rarely have to entertain or play with her when her siblings are here because she is happy just hanging out with them.

~ Nev loves being active. She loves to run and have us chase her. She also loves to dance, kick the soccer ball, attempt to shoot baskets and have us hike her the ball and then chase her. People often comment on how fast and coordinated she is.

~ Genevieve loves to play with her dolls and she enjoys playing with her 'Little People'. She also likes to draw though it always seems to end with her drawing all over herself!

~ Her favorite show (requested multiple times a day) is 'The Wiggles' though frightfully she really enjoys watching any shows her older siblings are watching such as iCarly and Suite Life on Deck.

~  Genevieve has been known to befriend strangers in restaurants, coffee shops, while shopping and in church. She will walk up to them and just start talking away. 

~ Genevieve is a pretty good eater though I wish she'd drink more milk (she prefers water); she loves eggs, sausage, granola or power bars, burritos, chicken nuggets, green beans, asparagus and, of-course, anything sweet.

~ Genevieve has definite opinions about what she wants to wear on her body and her feet! She often will get upset when I try to change her outfit and sometime will take it off if she really doesn't like it. There are certain things she will usually refuse to wear like skirts. Sometimes, though, I just put it on her fast as she protests and then try to distract her.
~ We haven't given Nev any timeouts yet though it wouldn't surprise me if there are some in the near future :)
~ Genevieve talks a ton and we understand a lot of it. She talks in 3-4 word sentences and can repeat almost anything.
~ When  Nev does something she probably shouldn't be doing or she's not sure she can do and I 'catch' her, she gives me a big cheesy smile like 'I'm so cute, how can you tell me no!'

~ Genevieve takes one nap each day. About half (or less) the time it is in her crib though these usually last only 45 minutes. The other days, she naps in the car while I pick up the kids from school and then take them to their practices. She usually gets in 1-2 hours in these naps but because they usually start around 2:30, it mean she goes to bed a little later (9:00 pm instead of 8:00). Nev wakes up whenever I get up (usually 7:00 am) as she usually sleeps with us for the later part of the night (which I love :)

We Love Our Sweet Genevieve So Very Much!!!

Our Attempted Santa Visit

Wednesday we visited Santa and attempted to get a photo of the kids with him as we have done every year for the past 10 years but Genevieve would have NOTHING to do with it! We thought she would be great because she is so outgoing and she was waving at Santa (from afar) as we walked through the mall. But when it was our kids' turn to sit on Santa's lap, Genevieve completely panicked; she screamed, her face turn bright red and she turned away. We tried and tried but there was NO way she was getting anywhere near Santa (not even on Gabrielle's hip next to Santa). And since the three big kids are no longer Santa believers, we decided not to get a picture with just them. So, the only picture we got was 30 feet away from Santa on my mobile phone!

After dinner and the Santa fiasco we helped the kids with their Christmas shopping. It is fun to see their personalities come through as we shop. Gabrielle saved her own money and kept telling Cade (who has much more money saved than Elle) he had enough money of his own and he shouldn't ask Mom for any Christmas shopping money (he has a very hard time letting go of his money!). Cade did want to find a special gift for everyone though somehow he kept going back to his favorite store, GameStop! Gabrielle was very diligent and struggled to figure out the perfect gifts. Willem was happy with anything we suggested and just wanted to be done shopping after five minutes! Here's another picture of the shoppers.

I am always pretty exhausted after Christmas shopping with all our kids but they love it and look forward to it every year (well, except maybe Willem)!

My Workout Partner

 

For the past year I have been working out at Eugene Crossfit and have loved it! A couple times a week Genevieve joins me. She spends most of the time in the fenced off kids' area but when we are warming-up or cooling down she often joins us and insists on doing exactly what we are doing. She's going to be a great little Crossfitter! Here are a few more pictures of me at Crossfit over the past year that I downloaded from the EugeneCrossfit blog/website.

 Chad joins me occasionally

With Kendall (in yellow) who introduced me to Crossfit

The new Eugene Crossfit location is near Valley River Center so we get to run on the bike paths nearby

A House Divided...Again

No, we are all Duck fans here, but our family was separated again this weekend and I think we better get used to it with three kids in club soccer and with two of our kids playing basketball as well. Chad and Cade went to Seattle this weekend for his final two outdoor games of the year (yes, outdoor soccer in Seattle in December...cold and wet)! His team played great, winning their game Saturday and then today they tied, 1-1, the U13 Crossfire Premier team which is ranked 11th nationally (for U13 club teams - yes, there is a website that ranks teams). It is Crossfire's only blemish this entire fall season. Way to go Cade and his Boca Jr teammates! His team finished in the middle of the twelve NW Champions League teams (six top teams from WA and six from OR).

I hated missing Cade's games but was glad I was here to watch Willem play two indoor soccer games and two basketball games yesterday. I also got to spend some time with Elle and Nev which was fun. Willem is always a blast to watch. He always works so hard, he takes it very seriously but he isn't too hard on himself and is a great teammate. In indoor soccer he is playing against older boys (often 5th graders); his team lost both games Saturday but they were both close. In basketball, he is playing against other 1st graders (a nice change!) and his team won both games. Willem was on fire yesterday scoring 22 of his teams 42 points and getting a ton of rebounds and steals. He is playing with a fun group of boys and his coaches (my friends, Donnie and Christy) are great and very positive so it's been a great season. Willem definitely prefers soccer but says he is happy we convinced him to play basketball.

Willem in goal, ready for a shot!

 Nev entertaining her sis at the game; Elle took some pictures while I watched.

 Willem taking the ball down the court. It's always so much fun watching these first graders play basketball!

Will is always hustling! 

Getting out of the crowd 

He may be intense on the court but he's pretty darn sweet!

St. Paul Werewolves!

Another shot of Willem playing goalie. Look at how big the other boy is. Will did play half of each game on the field but those pictures didn't turn out so well :)

Three Nights in Vegas....

...and boy did we have fun! My dear friend, Kendall, has invited me to her girls' weekends the past several years and I finally got to take her up on her offer. There were six of us girls, Patti from Florida (played pro softball with Kendall), Amy from Brownsville (fellow crossfitter and Texas A&M swimmer), Tanya from Portland (played softball at Texas A&M with Kendall), Heather from Eugene (fellow crossfitter and also a St. Paul School mom like me), Kendall and me. I had never met Patti and had met Tanya and Amy only once. But, because they are friends of Kendall, I knew they would be fun, confident and easy-going and I figured we would all get along and have a great time together. And I was SO right! It was like we had all known each other for a long time. We chatted for hours and hours, shopped, ate great food (including a splurge at a very nice steakhouse in Caesars Forum and a tasty In-And-Out Burger dinner another night), took in the National Finals Rodeo, danced two nights away (at Koi, Jet and Pure night clubs...until 5 am one night!) and mostly laughed and laughed until our stomachs hurt! I didn't take my camera along this time so I just have a few shots from i-phones. Kendall's brother, Matt, did join us one evening for dinner and shopping at Victoria Secrets (lots of blushing from Matt) and took a bunch of fun pictures with his nice camera so hopefully I can post some of those later but here are a few of our i-phone shots for now. Thanks, Kendall, for bringing a fantastic group of gals together for three great nights in Vegas!

Heather, Amy, Me, Patti and Kendall

At the rodeo: Kendall, Amy, Patti, Heather, Tanya and Me

Another rodeo shot

 

And one more of the girls!

To top it off we stayed in an amazing, new and modern two bedroom suite at Planet Hollywood Westgate Towers courtesy of Kendall's timeshare. We had amazing views and were right in the middle of the strip.