Nev and Nia Sleepover and More

Last Saturday, Nia came over in the late afternoon for a playdate and sleepover. Genevieve was SOOO excited when she found out earlier in the week that Nia was coming for a sleepover. Nev has been asking for a sleepover (like her big siblings) a lot lately and she had never really had one. She kept asking when Nia was coming over and she also kept repeating to me and everyone that talked about it that Nia's dad, mom and brother were NOT coming over, JUST Nia! The girls had so much fun together. They play and played and played, never fought and never asked to watch a movie or T.V. They had a tea party, played doctor, colored, played with Barbies and Polly Pockets and even did my hair and gave me a foot massage :). The evening fly by. At bedtime (9:00), we let them watch one short 20 minute show in Chad and my bed and then it was time to sleep. Genevieve fell asleep quickly and Nia took about 25 minutes but she was quiet and content the whole time. We look forward to many more cousin sleepovers with these two!

Such sweet girls!

Foot massage for me! Nia wasn't so sure about it but Nev and I give them to each other sometimes so she was trying to show Nia :)

 

Dinnertime!

So adorable!!!

The girls were sleeping so soundly in our bed, we didn't want to move them so Chad ended up on the futon on the floor!

Here are a few Instragram pics I took over the past couple weeks....

Nev often gives Willem hugs when we pick him up from school or when they are driving in the car together :)

Cade gets in on the action too sometimes (she loved that he tried on her rain jacket)

 More hugs after school! I always love picking up my kids from school!

Genevieve come to CrossFit with me most Friday mornings. She really wanted me to take a picture of her art last Friday!

Meleesa and Elle played dress-up (in my heels) the last time they hung out together. They are looking so grown-up!

Lots of tea parties lately!

Nev testing out her new rain boots and rain jacket

Willem's Flag Football

I was a little nervous to let Willem play flag football with his classmates this fall because of  his busy club soccer schedule. But Coach Ryan has been great about scheduling all the games and practices for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. So, Willem has been busy with soccer Tuesdays, Thursdays and the weekends and with football the other days. And, he has LOVED it all. He has never complained about any of the practices or games for soccer or football. 

Willem's St. Paul 2nd and 3rd grade Kidsports flag football team has gone 6-0-1 so far in the regular season (winning games, 13-8, 24-0, 26-0, 25-24, 24-16, 14-12 and tying 6-6 with one game to go). Willem has played mostly at running back, quarterback and safety. He has been so much fun to watch, scoring in all the games and usually scoring two or three TD's per game either running, passing, receiving, kick-off/punt returns or even stripping the other team's QB of the ball and running it into the end zone for a TD! Willem has also gotten to take most of the kick-offs and he usually kicks the football over all the kids' heads and then it often rolls to the 20 yard line or further. Willem really understands the game and is therefore able to anticipate the game beyond his years. He is also usually one of the 3 or 4 tallest kids on the field and also one of the fastest. It's been fun seeing his classmates play well too and progress so much throughout the season. Ayden has scored quite a few TD's as well; Ethan and Ayden have both caught a lot of passes from Willem and made some good long runs which has been fun; Ben P. and Ayden are also good QB's and have thrown some good passes to Willem. Just lots of fun all around and I am feeling very fortunate to have such a fun, fast and smart little guy as our son. The last regular season more game is Friday and I'll try to take more pictures as I realize I don't have that many, but here are a few I've caught on my phone...

Making the catch that would would lead to a TD

Ayden looking for Willem just before he passes it and Willem scores!

Chad has helped coach when he can

Wet but happy boys after a rainy win 

Love this :)

Willem (15) is definitely one of the bigger kids

Nev's playdate with Libby

On the first day of preschool Genevieve immediately made a friend, Libby, and they have been inseparable at school since. Nev and Libby had their first playdate together today (Nev's first non-cousin playdate) and it was a success! The girls played princesses, they put on princess dresses and shoes, jewelry, belts and even asked for lip gloss and hairspray! They were so cute. We then headed outside to the dairy. Libby was a little unsure of the dusty and flies at first but she quickly adjusted and they had fun seeing the cows and baby calves and then playing in the cottonseed. I was happy with how the girls shared, played, laughed and just had a lot of fun. Here's to lots more playdates together!

So excited to be leaving school and heading for both of their first playdates ever!

 

Love that Libby insisted on heals, hair bows, jewelry and hairspray (we skipped the lip gloss!) 

All dressed up :)

Checking out the cows

Our daredevil! She was jumping from so high and then started doing backward rolls down the hill; Libby was a little more cautious but got more daring the longer we were out there!

Portland Timbers Game

In late August, a big crew of Konyns got to go to the Portland Timbers vs. Vancouver game. Always such a great atmosphere there in downtown Portland. And the great company of my siblings, their spouses, our kids and my nieces & nephews plus a 2-1 Timbers victory made it a perfect evening!

So fun that Amber and I have girls near the same age :)

 Willem and Nev being silly in the car. Love this!

Corn Harvest 2012

Corn harvest which takes a couple weeks each fall is in full swing at the dairy. Willem continues to say this is the best time of the year. He loves to check out the harvest if he has time after school and tells us he loves the smell of the corn. "It's the best smell in the world!" he tells us. Nev and I got to take it all in on Friday when Amber came to visit with Jacoby and Nia. We first went to the fields behind James and Jenn's house and they loved riding on the harvester with Alan...

 

 

 

Alan was great with them and after their ride, he spent time explaining the irrigation pivot to Nev and Jacoby...

The kids then had a blast playing in a little patch of corn that hadn't been cut yet. They ran through the rows and chased each other. We then spotted a little bunny rabbit and a baby bunny that were probably a little traumatized that their home (the corn) was being cut. The kids chased the bunnies and had fun finding them in the corn rows...

  

 

After lunch and picking up Willem, Cade and Elle at school, we headed to the fields behind our house where Rafael was harvesting. Willem joined us which Jacoby especially loved. The kids got another ride on the harvester and just loved checking out all the action. Willem was really in to finding corn ears that were left in the fields, he collected them and then threw them into the unharvested corn so that as little as possible of that good corn would be wasted. Jacoby and Nev had fun helping Willem out...

After a few fun pictures, we watched the dump trucks dump the corn silage on the concrete slab and the bulldozers packing the corn silage pile. Thank you, Amber, for making the trip down to Eugene and spending a great great day with us!!