Happy Birthday Gabrielle!

So hard to imagine our girl turned twelve this week. Gabrielle continues to amaze us with her determination, smarts, kindness and beauty. We just love her so much and could not be more proud of her.

Stats: Elle is now 5 ft 4.5 in and will catch me very soon!

School: Our girl continues to impress at school with her 4.0 through her first two quarters of middle school. She is very organized and always prepared. She enjoys social studies most and says she doesn't like math or science much but still manages to ace them all.

Friends: Elle loves spending time with her cousins, Athena and Meleesa, most of all as well as her adopted-cousin Kyndsi :). She loves Jorja, her school and now soccer-again BFF, and also enjoys other friends from school including Kirah, Sarah, Elise, Emma and others. Elle also considers her soccer teammates to be her good friends as well. They all interact a lot via iPhone, texting, facetime, etc. 

Mile time: Elle ran lots of timed miles with her Athletica team this past spring and summer and improved a bunch with her best timed mile being about a 6:25. She is now with Sol (soccer team) and they don't run many timed miles. She is so determined when she runs and though she claims to hate those timed runs, she sure is impressive to me!

Favorite shows: Dance Moms, Cheer Perfection, Say Yes to the Dress

Favorite things: shopping, soccer, watching gymnastics, hair/fashion, hanging with friends, watching TV. Elle also reads most nights before bed.

Elle is also the very best sister any little girl could ask for. She is so great and patient with Genevieve and they really have fun together. I love love seeing them together and am so proud of Elle with how she handles, and just enjoys her little sis. 

I'll probably add to this as I think of more things to say about our girl...but really, we just love her so much and are blessed to call her our daughter! Happy Birthday Sweet Gabrielle!

Looking so grown-up all dressed for her first dance last weekend

A beautiful self portrait

Just a fun one. Love this smile!

I took this before school on her birthday. Notice the fun new blue sparkly Sperry shoes she got!

Nev and I brought Elle and her classmates cupcakes for her birthday. We also brought Elle 'Panda Express' for her lunch :)

After Cade, Elle and Will finished up with their practices on Elle's birthday we had dinner together at BJ's complete with a b-day pazzoki!

And, finally scenes from Gabrielle's family birthday party this evening. She is hoping to plan a friend party for next weekend...

 

These boys' serious/posing expressions crack me up (apparently Nev got into it too!)

Look at how tall Elle is getting

Watching some funny YouTube video

Nev getting the last bit of frosting!

Nev loves her Opa!

Friends!

Here are some pictures of friends from the last couple months that I want to be sure to remember...

Max and Willem love hanging out together

Jorja and Elle love to bake when they hang out together

 

 

Yes, these are chocolate cupcakes with actual cookie dough as frosting!

And take pictures :)

 

These pics of Cade, Will and Pascal crack me up

Love this one :)

The admiration Jacoby has of his big cousins is sweet in this pic

 

Pascal, Liam and Cade

Ben, Cade and Max

Just had to add a couple from Pascal and Davida's b-day party 

So sweet

This is from this past weekend's basketball tournament dance and may be posted again but I wanted to add this pic of some of Cade's best friends at school (Colin, Ian and Nicolas; Colin is a freshman at Marist and the other two are 8th graders at St. Paul who Cade has become better friends with this year)

Jace is another good buddy of Cade's

Superbowl Party at the Hakala's

Okay, I admit it...

...Cade really is taller than me! Yes, Cade has officially passed me up and actually did about 3 months ago. But now it is (painfully :) obvious. Look at the banner picture above which was only nine months ago and you can see just how much he has grown. He is now just a quarter inch shy of 5' 7" and weighs 128.8 lbs (at doc's office this week). Cade has grown over 4.5 inches the past 12 months and, according to his doctor, has put on 30 pounds in that time!

 

Cade with a couple of his buddies, Ben and Max, who are within a couple months of him

in age; fun to see kids sprout at different times during these middle school years.

Eight More Weeks

It's almost like when I was pregnant and would remember each Sunday or Thursday another week was done until the big day. Only this time it's a count down for Cade until he can run, jump, twist and play soccer again! Cade is out for 12 weeks because of a fracture of his vertebrae (under L5) in his lower right back and a stress reaction on the lower left side of his back. April 10th is the big day for him and it's been tough having to sit and watch his teams play soccer and basketball these past four weeks. He's been going to all his soccer games and practices still and also to his basketball games and, though it helps to be around his friends, he says it is soooo hard to not play. He's been going to the physical therapist and, luckily, he can (and does) ride a stationary bike, aqua jog, do push-ups, pull-ups and wall sits to maintain strength and fitness. It is nice to actually have a diagnosis after all the back pain Cade has had over the past year beginning with an awkward and hard fall in a soccer scrimmage last January. Lots of prayers that his back will heal completely in these 12 weeks (and maybe his knees too) so he can go back to all his activity strong and healthy in eight more weeks!

Clockwise from upper left: The $1.6 million nuclear bone scan and CT scan machine, physical therapy at EPT, CT scan results showing little fractures and 'hot spots', Cade's been doing more TV watching and video game playing these past 4 weeks

Genevieve and Davida

Davida and Marcus came over for a visit yesterday and Genevieve asked if we could take some pictures. So fun to see how interested Nev is in Davida and how she loves her little cousin. (Genevieve 4 yrs, 1 month, Davida 12.5 months.)

Genevieve also wanted some pictures of herself with her stuffed doggy...
 

And with Nev there are always a few sassy pics as well :)

Geography Bee Champ

All those hours watching The History Channel and Discovery Channel as a little boy paid off with Cade winning his middle school geography bee. His amazing memory also helped him a bit! Here's a write-up from the school's weekly newsletter:

Geography Bee Results
Please join us as we congratulate our
middle school Geography Bee champion,
Cade Ficek. Competition among
our 7th and 8th grade classes was well
represented. Finalists in the final competition
were: Joska Fischer, Reece Canizares,
Jacob Harwood, Dawson King,
Andrew Meyers, Savana Lindstrom,
Max Menezes, Joey Weilbrenner and
Evander Pindell. Good job, everyone!

Cade never told me his school was doing this geography bee and he didn't tell me when he made the finals. He just mentioned non-nonchalantly that he won and then I was approached by numerous parents and teachers who asked me if we studied together for it and congratulating him. Apparently in Cade's world, if it's not a sports award, it's not that big a deal! He is now on to a state championship in Portland; I wonder if he will tell me when that is?!

More from January

January is always busy for me with all the extra year-end financial work I have on my plate. But, we've still managed to do some fun things and I've managed to take a few pictures, though mostly with my iPhone. Here are a few...

Our sweet Nev. She asked me to take her picture with only her little head out of the water :)

There's been lots of basketball this month plus lots of everyday fun and memories with Genevieve and a few visits from Marcus and Davida.

 

 I was so lucky to spend a Saturday and Sunday in Portland with two of my oldest and dearest friends, Chris and Julie. It was heavenly to chat, shop, go to a movie, sleep in and relax with them for a couple days!

While I was in Portland, Chad made a little fire with smores for the kids! It was great getting these pictures via text while I was in Portland. I love knowing I married such a great guy!

 Here's Nev at CrossFit one evening while Chad and I worked out. She drew a picture of our family and then copied by 'Ficek' and she also wrote a very good letter 'G' for Genevieve. So fun to see her learning!

And here's our silly girl posing with her hand-me-down vest from her friend Savannah. She was pretty proud to be wearing it!

Getting so big!

  The day before school started again after Christmas Break, the girls and I went to the mall for pedicures (for me) and manicures (for Nev and Elle). So much fun to hang out with my daughters!! Love them so much :)

A picture from Christy's birthday lunch, followed by shopping (unfortunately I had a stomach bug that required me to go home and to bed for the afternoon after only a little bit of shopping).

Picture from Winter Skills Soccer Camp (Elle is in the middle in the back row, her cousins, Athena, Meleesa and Selene are in the picture too)

 Willem's camp group