Halloween 2013

Halloween is my least favorite holiday.  I'm not one for scary, spooky things (or sugary sweets).  But there are a few aspects of this holiday that I do enjoy.  Here's a list of my favorites this year...

1. A special activity with Koen after his school day.  Frosting the cookies we made yesterday.  He loves baking and cookie-decorating and I love these precious moments to chat with him and do something special together.

Koen was especially generous as he OK'd the fact we needed to use some of these special Halloween cookies for dessert for small group tonight.  He was happy to show them off for the group and I was happy for his spirit of giving on the fly (sometimes he does not do well with unexpected surprises!).

2. Homemade costumes.  Last year, Koen went as knight in a second-hand costume.  This year Doug took it to a new level adding cardboard armor (and we split pieces of the costume between the boys).  Here the boys are with their shields pre-armor.

I asked Tav to hold the shield down so I could see his face, but he said he had to read his "memory verse."  Doug had written the reference of the verse displayed on the front on the back.  Tav was apparently studying up.

 And with armor.  Watch out folks, here come the Mighty Melder Men.

This one's not quite sure how to wield his sword.  

Doug had fun prepping the costumes with the boys this week.  They did sort of look like robots, but it's OK, they knew they were knights and were excited, so that's all that matters.  Here are Doug and the knights heading out into the (unfortunately) rainy evening for trick-or-treating.

3. Sometimes the best things come in small packages.  Penn was a packet of Heinz ketchup for Halloween.  My sister spotted this adorable costume online a few months ago and just had to buy it for her younger nephew.  Thanks, Ab!  It was a hit!  Here's my little "package" before getting completely suited up.  He was enamored with all the colorful things by the front door (we have to have a basket of candy and then bags of backup to refill it throughout the evening).

Ok, now, prepare yourself for the cuteness.  Heinz ketchup has never looked so good.

I perched Penn on the porch with the basket of candy.  He sat there and was so enamored by the constant flow of people up and down our stairs.

Eventually Penn picked up on what we were doing.  Ok, people walk up the stairs, I pick something colorful out of the basket and drop it into the stranger's bag.  Got it.  And he did.  And so begins Penn, the candy man.  He LOVED it.  And I have to say the kids and parents were pretty big fans of this little ketchup packet.  Here he is waiting for our next customer.

4. Smiles.  I love how this night sends so many neighbors, friends and new faces out to the streets dressed all silly and smiling.  I love giving out the candy and seeing the kids all caught up in the fun.  I love seeing all of our neighbors out and about and I'm so thankful for where we live, the families we are surrounded by and the vibrance of the city life.  

Well, that's Halloween 2013 in a nutshell (or should I say a candy wrapper?)!

Cookie Carving

Yesterday afternoon Koen asked (in the sweetest way) about when he would get to make cookies with me.  And that just really pulled at my heart strings that he misses getting the chance to bake on a whim since he's so busy with school.  So I said, "Sure!  Let's make some pumpkin cut-out cookies!"  And thus began our afternoon activity today.  Of course we hit a few glitches...  The first was that when I went online to grab my recipe (it's an Allrecipes.com favorite), the Allrecipes.com site would not load.  That has never happened to me before (and actually the link I put in this post works just fine now (of course)).  Anyways, I had to conjure up my own recipe for the dough with Tavin in the morning.  Tav was adorable about it.  He said, "I think you should just make up your own, Mommy, you can do it, I know you can."  Well, the little guy was right.  I did it off of the half of the recipe I remembered and then the half I conjured up after consulting a few cookbooks with somewhat similar recipes.  Anyways, we managed. =)  After Koen got home from school and we finished homework and some unwinding, we called Tav down from his rest time post-nap and got to rolling out, cutting out and baking up some Halloween treats.  Here's where we hit snag number 2.  Koen crumbled.  Often about halfway through the week he loses his ability to handle normal life here and there.  Some days he manages fine, others he's a wreck.  Today was one of those days.  It breaks my heart.  I wish I knew if something happened during his day that brought this on.  Or is it just exhaustion?  Oh, how I wish I knew.  Anyways, we plodded through our project.  Koen did really enjoy it, he just was tough to manage with Tav and quite irritable.  But I felt good that I made the time to do a desired creative project with him that he enjoyed.  Poor guy.  So much going on inside this 6 year old.

Thankfully his 3-year-old brother is a little easier to read.  Tav loved making moons out of his rolled out dough.

The finished product later on the cooling racks.

After dinner my little bakers enjoyed the proceeds of their efforts with a few of the thin, tasty (yes, my made-up recipe turned out well!) cookies.  Doug slipped Penn a crumbled cookie while I had my back turned.  

And yes, the third little Melder boy likes his momma's baking too.

Friendly Pumpkin Fun

I love our neighborhood.  I love our neighbors.  I love the parents, the kids, I love it all.  A few nights ago one neighbor let us know that she had pumpkins from a family farm outside the city that she wanted to give to the neighbor kids to decorate.  A couple other moms jumped on the idea and there you have it...a friendly evening of pumpkin fun.  Simple and sweet (my fav).  Each family brought different decor items for the pumpkins and the kids brought their creative imaginations and there you have it.  A super fun evening.  Here's Koen and Tavin working hard on their pumpkins.

Penn couldn't participate in the pumpkin decorating, so he just played.  

When Koen was done with his pumpkin he spiced things up a bit for Penn and took him on some wild rides (and nearly gave me a heart attack!).

When Tavin was done with his pumpkin he set to work "raking" with Perry.  

All in all, a great evening on our street which we are so thankful for.  Thanks in particular to Stacy, Audrey and Jennifer.  We are so thankful for our great neighbors!

Little Brother Love

As of late the two little guys have really been learning to "play."  They've been great with little squealing chase games or scoot the car around games, but it's as if every day they are learning new ways to relate and enjoy each other and I get the privilege and the pleasure of watching it all unfold.  Here's well, a lot of pics, to prove the point...

Wrestling on Monday.  Tavin is very patient with Penn and he usually loves the new attention and companionship from his little bro.

On Monday night the little guys and I headed up the street to play with neighbor friends while Doug and Koen worked on their own project (stay tuned for homemade knight costumes on Halloween...oh goodness).

On Wednesday, Tavin and Penn had a super fun morning together.  First they played at home.  I caught a few pics of their hilarious game of hiding from each other in the tent on the third floor.  

Penn seems like he is going to burst with joy being involved in playing with one of his big bros.  It's so precious.

At about 10:30am the clouds parted and the temp got more mild, so I got these boys out to the playground.  They had A BLAST!  Tavin followed Penn around everywhere with a huge smile and Penn was loving being in the limelight leading the way (note Tav smiling and satisfied in the backround).

I can't get enough of this kid.  Sunglasses or not, Ah, dorable.

Penn was all over the place.  Crawling like a mad man.  Occasionally he would stop when his hands got sore on the asphalt or cement.  Here he is contemplating his next move.

"Now should I climb on the wall, or beside the wall?"

Tav has been showing off some moves he's learned in his creative movement class at preschool lately.  This kid is a natural athlete and his balance must be part of it.  You should see what he can do!

"Hmmm, I had a little brother somewhere...."

Penn was determined to crawl his way back to big brother, Tavin.  Look at that determination!

After all that work, it was time for some swinging for Penn.  He was a little tuckered out, but the ride in the swing brought him back to smiles.  And Tav loved pushing him!

A final shot of one of the activities that kept them busy at the playground today...  Penn is going to be one to keep an eye on, seriously, head first down the slide already?

I am LOVING watching Tavin and Penn grow this special brotherly bond.  I'm sure there will be many more a post on this subject. =)

Apple Farmer Annie Muffins

A few weeks ago, I requested yet another book from that list of book ideas for Fall I found on Pinterest.  Tavin enjoyed the book, but he was really interested in all the recipes in the back. We never did the recommended craft for this book, but we did make the Apple Muffins.  Tav had been begging me to make "apple muf-wa" for days and I decided the perfect opportunity would be to make them for Tav's preschool class as we had snack duty this Tuesday.  So, on Monday morning we finally made our Apple Farmer Annie Muffins.

As Mondays usually go, Tav and Penn were still in PJ's past 9am when we embarked on the project.  Why not?

Penn usually stays underfoot when we work in the kitchen.  Here he is playing with the cabinet door that leads to the trash can.  Yep, 3rd kid.  This is acceptable play.

We made a ton of muffins and Tavin was so patient to wait and try them with his class (I was afraid I wouldn't have enough).  Turns out they were a big hit.  We brought in the book with the muffins and Tav's teacher read the book to the kids during snacktime.  Tav was pretty happy about the whole situation.  Apple Muffins made, check.  Apple Muffins eaten, check.  Happy preschool friends, check.  =)

And Grace Carries Us Through

This weekend has continued to go quite well and I just continue to thank the Lord for his mercy!  Some huge answers to prayer include solid health all weekend, particularly for the pastor who preached 5 times this weekend, then the fact that the boys, especially Koen, have been in great spirits has made my job a lot more enjoyable.  Thank you, Lord!  Here's a few more pictures I grabbed from the remainder of our weekend.

On Saturday afternoon, Koen and I carved the pumpkin he had picked out that morning.  Doug had asked me to cut the top off for Koen so that he could scoop it out as an afternoon activity and then it would be all prepped for them to carve the face into in a day or two.  I was intimidated initially by the size of the pumpkin and fearful I wouldn't be able to handle the task, but thankfully the Henkel knife and I managed just fine.  And once Koen and I had cleaned out the inside I was so curious to see it all lit up that I asked him if he wanted to just go ahead and make the face with me.  He was super happy to continue the project, so we went for it.  Check it out!  Not too bad, huh?  (And don't worry, Doug didn't mind at all, he was happy we could do the whole thing and have the satisfaction of completing the project).  Doesn't Koen look proud?  He drew the lines for me to cut for the mouth as he specifically requested it to be "spooky."

My attempt to get Koen, the huge pumpkin and me in the same shot.  =)

After our pumpkin carving, we settled into the relaxing part of the afternoon and then were all rested and ready for Miss Kylie to stop by after the little guys were up from their naps.  We love Miss Kylie.  She often stops in to catch up and then offers Doug and I a chance to go out after the little guys are in bed (yes, please!).  This was such a night and perfect timing since we had been invited to dinner at a friend's house after the Saturday night service.  The boys and I enjoyed Miss Kylie's company (as seen here) while I prepped dinner and they played with macaroni.

After dinner Miss Kylie helped me keep the peace so I could get things cleaned up and then get the little guys to bed before my dinner out with Doug.  Thanks so much, Kylie!  It was a fun change of pace to have you join us for that often crazy time of day!

Today Doug had the car, so the boys and I walked to the East End campus.  This provides us a more relaxed start to our Sunday morning routine since the service doesn't start until 10am and we don't have to leave until 9:30am (our usual routine includes the 9am service at Oakland).  Anyways, we enjoyed a pancake breakfast, some Lincoln Logs in the living room and then headed upstairs for outfits.  Koen insisted on wearing a tie like Daddy and how could a Mommy turn that request down?  Then, of course, Tav wanted to also be like Daddy and wear a tie.  Finally, I had to dress Penn up so that he went with the brothers and this was the final product (as seen in this super fast smartphone attempt at a photo shoot).

Penn would not sit still and fought, but Koen held on for dear life while posing like a pro.

Oh boy, really losing it now!

Utter defeat.  He's given up.  Yet Koen is still pleased with himself to be wearing that tie.

We had a nice morning at church (including the fact that Penn survived the whole time in nursery again!).  The boys and I walked home, but first with a stop at Target, which although quick, pretty much put Penn over the edge.  Thankfully he sprang back after lunchtime.  Koen and Tavin did an awesome job playing together much of the remaining time after we got home and before nap (with one intense blow-up).  We are just now coming off of naptime and hopefully things will continue running smoothly.  Only a few hours til bedtime though and I'm looking forward to enjoying some more of these little guys before they are out for the night.  The days do fly and on ones like these, sometimes I really mind. =)