Gabrielle Playing Soccer

Gabrielle loves playing soccer with her EMFC U10 soccer team 'Athletica'. The U10 year is almost over and she has tryouts for the upcoming U11 year this week. She is excited for another year, especially the summer tournaments, and also a little nervous about tryouts. She really wants to be on her 'Athletica' team (the 'A' team) again. For this spring season her Athletica team was separated into two equal teams (with a few players from the 'B' team playing with them) and the two teams (which consist of 3rd and 4th graders) played in the highest 4/5th grade Kidsports league. One of the Athletica teams is tied for first place and the other is 4th out of 9 teams. It is a lot of fun to watch these small girls play so well against much bigger girls and win with their skills and passing. I am proud of how hard Elle works and love seeing her have so much fun! Here are some shots of her playing Saturday.

"Oowie"

Genevieve's favorite word lately is "oowie". But she doesn't just say it when she is hurt. No, our little girl (future drama queen?) says "oowie" whenever anyone does anything to her that she doesn't want them to do. She says it (often in a pathetic way :) when we change her diaper, change her clothes, take her out of the high chair, put her shoes on, etc! It is pretty cute and funny now...though I wonder what we'll think of her saying it at age nine every time her siblings touch her even gently :)

In the meantime, Genevieve is so loved by her big brothers and sister and I love seeing that bond grow between them all. Here are some shots of her having a blast with them Saturday...

 

Gabrielle and Cade have been taking Nev on walks lately (they took the camera out with them yesterday). One of her favorite stops is this bull calf which loves to lick her shoes and eat hay out of her hands!

Athena, Gabrielle and Cade have also been giving her rides in the (broken) toy jeep. She loves it!

They also love tickling her and 'getting' her!

At Elle's soccer game yesterday, Genevieve loved running around in the sunshine. She looks so big exploring everything...

I want that ball!

Uncle Marcus brought her back closer to us when she ventured near the exit gate

 She is always making us smile!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the great moms out there!!! How lucky am I to wake-up (after sleeping in!) to a feast courtesy of Chad and the kids?! I love being a mom to our four awesome kids!

Gotta have the silly photo, too!

And some of my favorite candy!

Baby Genevieve Dancing Again!

The only television show Genevieve is interested in watching is 'The Wiggles' and I think it's because she doesn't actually sit still when she watches as you can see in the video below :)

I Love This Girl!

Today while I took our three big kids to school, Chad played with Genevieve and before they headed outside to play, Chad took a couple pictures. Nev is so much fun, always easy with a smile or a wet kiss. I just love her and I also love that Chad thought to take the camera out and snap a couple pictures himself of our sweet little girl!

Happy 2nd Birthday Jacoby!

My sweet nephew, Jacoby, turned two yesterday and we were lucky enough to spend the day with him which included a birthday party at our house! Jacoby is such a fun little guy and he was totally into his birthday party. He told his mom he wanted a cake, cupcakes, balloons and presents...and that's what he got! His cousins had a blast all together playing and celebrating with him. It was a fun afternoon with lots of nieces and nephews...

The birthday boy! He was so happy and proud when we sang 'Happy Birthday' to him

Before the party there were lots of preparations. Athena and Elle were great helpers and Amber did a great job decorating Jacoby's tractor cake

Jacoby's cupcakes and cake

Jacoby and Genevieve also helped...they played with water in the sink while we prepared! They both have such personality. It is fun to see them together; they seem to like each other but they are also trying to figure out their place with each other. They are learning to share more and more and made great progress on this visit. The cutest thing for me though was on Sunday morning Chad, the kids and I left early for church and, while we were gone, Amber and her family got up and left for Portland. When we got back, Genevieve was looking around and then stood at the stairs whining to go up. She was very persistent and so finally I took her up there to see what she wanted to do. When she got up there she checked all the rooms and I realized she was searching for her cousins, Jacoby and Antonia. She had her hands up with a questioning look wondering where they were and when I asked if she was looking for Jacoby and Antonia she got excited and I had to tell her they went home. It was so sweet!

Genevieve LOVED the balloons and was so giddy playing with them!

Pascal and Cade are very good big cousins to Jacoby. They learned from their big boy cousins, Roman and Daniel (and also Colin and Andrew on Cade's side)!

James, Antonia, Meleesa, Athena and Elle

Genevieve enjoyed the cake!

And finally, my little sister's beautiful, growing family! It was great having them visit us for a couple days!!

Gabrielle's Zoo Snooze

This past Tuesday I joined Gabrielle and her class (along with 30 other parents!) on the Zoo Snooze overnight field trip. We headed up to Portland Tuesday after lunch and got to tour the Oregon Zoo's hospital and commissary as well as see some animals up and close. After a full evening of touring, we all slept (30 per room!) in a couple of classrooms in sleeping bags! The next morning we toured more of the zoo and then headed back home after lunch. The best part of the trip was being with Gabrielle and seeing her excitement. She was very excited to go on this field trip and was so happy and excited the whole time.

St. Paul School's 3rd grade class with their teachers, Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Silva

Our small touring group: Trent, Brandon, Emma, Pheobe, Gabrielle and our tour guide, David

At the commissary learning about feeding the animals. Gabrielle (and her friends) freaked out when we went in the freezer and saw bags full of frozen (dead) mice, rats and rabbits which will be fed to some of the animals at the zoo!

We all loved touching and learning about the lizard, turtle and snake (not pictured)

Gabrielle and Jorja had a lot of fun together, as always!

Elle and me snuggled up before bed!

It was great that the animals were so active in the morning. We got to see so many animals up close.

As part of this field trip all the kids were assigned an animal to study and do a report on. Here is the White-Cheeked Gibbon, Gabrielle's animal.

I love my girl and so enjoyed spending time with her!