Indoor Soccer Anyone?

Opa, Me, Genevieve, Gabrielle and Jacoby watching a game in the pub at Kick City

 We spend so much time at the Kick City indoor soccer facility each winter. This past Sunday we were there for an 8:00 am game for Elle, a 1:00 game for Will, then Will had training from 4:00-5:30 and Gabrielle from 5:30-7:00. During the winter, Gabrielle usually has one or two games a week plus a couple training sessions, Cade usually has a game each week and Willem has one game plus a training. Finally, I usually have two games each week throughout the winter. Chad often calls it our home away from home. Luckily the kids are always happy to go there and I usually feel like I can relax when I am there watching the kids! It'd be a little frightening to figure out just how much time and money we spend there each winter!

A Little Walking

Genevieve with 'big' cousin Jacoby playing away (maybe he's been her inspiration to walk more :)

Genevieve is walking a ton now! This evening she turned the corner ~ she seems to be choosing to walk more than crawl. It's a little sad but mostly just fun to see her walking! We videoed her early this morning and captured just a few steps but a lot of sweetness! That video is below. I did try again later to capture more steps but she didn't want to perform for the camera. Oh, well! She walked over 40 steps several times this evening (just not when the camera was on). I am sure in a couple days I'll capture her walking across the room.

A Few Steps for Nev and Lots of Sweetness - 12 Months (4 days)

Cookie Exchange & Basketball Update

Wednesday night some of my girlfriends got together for a cookie exchange and to celebrate Sandy's birthday. Sheri was so gracious to let us take over her kitchen. We made quite a mess! It's been so busy lately with the kids' activities, work (I had a midweek trip to Seattle) and getting ready for Christmas that a couple hours with friends was a much needed and much enjoyed escape! Thank you, Sheri!

the whole gang

 

Happy Birthday, Sandy!

 

So many yummy cookies!

 

Kyndsi and Genevieve

I also wanted to give a quick update (first of many) on Cade's 4th grade 'Eugene Flight' basketball team. This is his third year on this club/AAU team. There will be lots of practices, games and tournaments! They started practicing about four weeks ago and have already played in two tournaments; in Eugene and Albany. So far they are 7-1 playing against all 5th grade teams and they won the tourney this weekend. They are scheduled to play in tournaments in Seattle, Tacoma and Portland over the next three months gearing toward the state championship tourney in March and possibly a regional tourney after that; it'll be a fun, busy few months ahead (what else is new :)!

Fred, Miles, Jack, Jaren, Henry,

Mitchell, Keelin, Jace, Cade

Genevieve's Party and One Year Milestones

Tonight we had a family birthday party for Genevieve. We all had a great time visiting and eating but poor Genevieve wasn't feeling too well. She was very sweet but just wanted to snuggle. You can see it in her eyes in these pictures that she is tired and not feeling great. She did perk up and start kicking her legs when we sang 'Happy Birthday' but wanted nothing to do with her cake! She is such a sweetie.

 

Genevieve with her Mom & Dad

 

Grandma with her Nev

 

The Ficek clan

 

Genevieve & her Opa

 

Genevieve loves her Uncle James

 

Kathleen, My Dad, Jenn & James 

 

 Genevieve loves my brothers and definitely gravitates to them. Here she is with Uncle Marcus

Cousins, Mariah, Searra & Roman

 

 And one last one of our kids before the school Christmas program the night before

Here are some one year milestones:

~Genevieve is walking more but still prefers to crawl. We've seen her walk 10-12 steps several times.

~Nev sleeps through the night about half the time and the other half wakes and cries for a while between 2:00 and 4:00. Sometimes Gabrielle can't take it (they share a room) and brings her to our room where we let her snuggle with us but I do not feed her anymore in the night. Nev's nap schedule is pretty sporadic though I try to get her one good nap at home for 1-2 hours.

~Genevieve is usually good about going to sleep without fussing when we lay her in her crib though about 1 in 4 times she will cry for up to 10 minutes.

~Genevieve is still nursing about 3-4 times a day but she has drank milk and water from a sippy cup and I expect to ween her in a couple weeks.

~Genevieve has 7 teeth now with the 8th nearly through.

~Some of Nev's favorite foods: grapes, bananas, quesadillas, peanut butter sandwiches, yogurt, oatmeal with banana and raisins, cheese, pancakes, broccoli, potatoes. She sits in her high chair to eat 2-4 times a day and also eats on the go with us.

~Nev understands and responds when I ask her to give me something

~Genevieve says mama, dada, hi, hello, ca (for Cade), and many other 'words' that sound very much like something but are not quite clear.

~Genevieve has not generally liked going in her car seat lately but stops struggling once we get her halfway buckled.

~Nev has been into climbing a lot lately and loves climbing into small chairs, boxes, drawers, etc.

~Our baby loves music and often kicks her legs and shakes her arms when a she hears a catchy song.

~Aside from Chad and me, Nev really loves my brothers and always reaches for them when she sees them. She is also very comfortable in Opa's and Grandma's arms. She also gets excited when she sees her siblings.

~Nev is pretty active, liking to crawl around a lot though she will snuggle in my arms with her nuk for a while when we arrive at a practice or church. But then, she's off! She will get distracted for a while going through my wallet and purse! Food also works to keep her settled in my arms.
~ 21.0 lbs (50%); 29.5 inches (65%); head: 18.5 in (90+%)
~Genevieve has just started to clap her hands. She is very happy and proud of herself when she claps :)

~Genevieve continues to be a happy, sweet, awesome little girl!

We Love You So Much, Sweet Genevieve!

Happy 1st Birthday, Genevieve!

A year ago at this time, Chad and I had just arrived at the hospital anxious to meet our little girl! She was born at 8:29 in the evening and, as Cade told me this morning, it was one of the best days of our lives (he actually told me it WAS the best day of his life so far). He was right! We love our sweet Genevieve and cannot imagine our family without her!

This morning, after getting lots of 'Happy Birthdays' from her siblings, Chad and I took Genevieve to my Friday morning coffee gathering where we had her first birthday celebration of the day with some of my dearest friends. This awesome group of friends has helped so much this past year with their encouragement, support, babysitting and lots of baby holding especially during our kids' sports games. I really wanted to share this milestone with them! We all enjoyed watching Genevieve eat her first cake.

 

Genevieve was a little hesitant at first but then enjoyed the frosting. She never did dig into the cake (she must be my daughter :)

 

After coffee, we headed to the big kids' classrooms for Christmas parties. Gabrielle's class sang Happy Birthday to Genevieve and Nev seemed to enjoy the attention. Willem's teacher said that all Willem talked about this week was that his little sis was turning one! Nev's siblings sure love her!

A couple more pictures from the kids' parties...

 

 

Cade and Jace

 

Jackson & Willem

Tonight we will celebrate with a family party! Can't wait to see if Nev really digs into the cake!

A Sign of Things to Come?

Look what I saw when I walked into our playroom today to answer Genevieve's whine...

Genevieve had been whining for at least 20 seconds before I checked on her and saw her standing on the table! She had climbed up there using the chair but apparently didn't know how to get down. She's never climbed on anything before except stairs and drawers. Thank goodness she was patient and waited for me to help her down (I then promptly moved the chair away from the table)!

Halfway Through December Already!

It's been busy as usual so far this December and it is flying by. I am getting so excited for Christmas. Our kids are at such fun ages! I'm making good progress on shopping, decorating and wrapping and even managed to bake some sugar cookies with the kids Friday evening (the freezing rain canceling a few practices helped :). I'm trying to get as much done as possible so I can enjoy next week with the kids when they are off from school. So, I've been behind on my blogging. But here are a few pictures from the past week...

Genevieve looks a lot like Willem to me in these pictures. Maybe it's because she's without a shirt which is typical Willem :)

I love Nev's long eyelashes in this picture...

And her smile here...

 

Genevieve has been climbing into drawers lately...

 

And has been loving playing with everything in the drawers...

 

A tired little girl hanging with Daddy. She's been snuggling with him more lately since he's been home recovering.

 

We visited Santa this past week. The three big kids are all non-believers this year :(  Willem is new to the non-believer group this year while Cade and Elle haven't believed in Santa for years. So, it wasn't the most exciting trip to Santa. They all took the obligatory picture and Nev was a little unsure about it all. Oh well, they had fun shopping for Christmas gifts for each other and we had a good Subway dinner together.

 

Today was Willem's last basketball game of this season (though they may be playing an extended season after New Year's). Willem had fun and played great. He scored 2-4 baskets most games though was shutout this weekend against a good team. He was very focused and worked hard. It was always a lot of fun to watch his team play.

Willem has also been playing indoor soccer in the U8 league and he absolutely LOVES that. He plays his heart out and takes it very seriously. He loves to play goalie for part of the game and loves to score and then pump his fists or do another type of mini-celebration after he scores. He has even tried out some of his moves in the games like the scissors. He is tough and a hard worker and all those hours of playing with his big brother seems to have paid off!

 

Six Steps!!!

Before I head to bed, I had to document that our little Genevieve, 11 months and 19 days old today, took six steps today!! She took two steps for me earlier today and then, while I was at Gabrielle's practice, Cade and Chad saw her take six steps. I can't believe I missed it! I did see her take three steps later this evening. Before we know it, she'll be walking all around! Hopefully, I'll get it on video soon!

Here's what else happened while I was gone. Nev got into the Desitin! Eeek! She seems pretty proud of herself!

Portland ZooLights!

Saturday evening I took Gabrielle, Willem and Genevieve plus three of my nieces (Selene, Athena and Meleesa) to Portland to spend a great evening hosted by my brother, Duane, and my sister in-law, Mary. Amber, Tony and Jacoby joined us as well. It was a cold, cold evening and very busy getting into the zoo but once we got there it was so festive and fun to see all the thousands of lights and displays. The kids enjoyed it, especially my niece, Meleesa, who never gets enough of the animals! Genevieve was great in my arms as we walked through it all. The best part of the evening though was after ZooLights when we headed to Duane and Mary's house where we got spoiled with pizza, cookies, popcorn, a cozy fire and great company. The kids had a blast playing in their basement and with the laundry chute! It was so cute how they loved their house and exploring it all. And I  so enjoyed visiting with the grown-ups! 

Amber took a bunch of great pictures of the evening. She was teaching me all sorts of stuff as we were practicing with her camera and the cool lights.

Genevieve in the bus. Love the hat and jacket!

 

The whole group (except picture-taker, Amber)

 

Genevieve loved touching the lights 

 

 

The kids

 

Me and my boy, Willem!

Duane and Mary with Genevieve

Amber and Tony with Jacoby

 

The kids loved Uncle Duane's popcorn maker