Thanksgiving Prep - Baking, Baking and More Baking

Yesterday Koen and I made cookies to bring along with us on our Thanksgiving trip as gifts.  This morning the boys and I made more pumpkin bread so that we could have something to share for breakfast on Friday morning at Nana & PopPop's.  The boys both had jobs, but in this picture Koen is really concentrating on his stir and Tav is building a tower of ingredients.   Oh, how I love these boys.

Here are a few of our packages.  Koen helped me put them together and tape on the ribbons, etc.  I love baked gifts and the holidays, perhaps two of my favorite things. =)

That wasn't all though, Koen and I made pumpkin pie in the afternoon as one of our contributions to the meal tomorrow at Nana & PopPop's.  Koen was all business.

The house smelled great today with all these holiday scents and I just loved the warmth of the baking projects and time with my guys preparing for the holiday with family.  I love this time of year!!

Snowy Start to Winter

The Melder boys (all 4 of them) LOVE the snow.  The drama of the anticipation and the fall, the crunch under their feet and yes, even the taste.  The boys have had fun this week tracking the storms and watching the true fall, accumulation and melt.  And then of course, enjoying playing in it.  Tuesday morning, Penn enjoyed breakfast overlooking the snow at that point.

Before preschool, Tav spent a few minutes shoveling.  Perhaps one of the best parts of his day.   Look how happy!

In the late afternoon, the boys played in the backyard shoveling and then gave each other the first sled rides of the season.  

In the evening (after an afternoon of slushy rain), the boys enjoyed shoveling the sidewalk despite the soaking sleet.

Penn was pretty upset that 1) I wouldn't let him have the freedom to crawl up and down the stairs with no supervision or 2) he wasn't able to go outside with his bros.  You can see he's a little splotchy from all his fake/scream-crying.

On Friday the snow continued on and off.  Unfortunately much of the snow had been washed away with rain, but the big boys still managed to play outside for awhile with Penn looking on in wonderment again (excuse the mullet he definitely has at this point, I will eventually get the courage to cut his hair).

Well, that's it for the snow updates.  I'm hoping this is a really snowy year as the boys just love it (and my NH heart loves that they do).

Home Church - Showing Thanks Through Sharing

Well, the weather has taken a severely chilly turn in the last 48 hours here in the Burgh.  Doug needed the van since he was preaching from Wexford, so that left us to walk to the East End campus.  Well, that was the plan until I checked the weather forecast for Sunday the day before.  High teens with super cold wind chills.  Probably not the best weather to walk my 3 kids a mile to church.  So, last night I got to work throwing together a Home Church lesson.  Of course, I had to incorporate the Thanksgiving holiday, so I landed on Showing Thanks Through Sharing.  The boys were super excited to do Home Church again.   I would rather go to actual church, but in lieu of that, this was a fun activity for part of our morning.  We started with some songs.  I picked some about giving thanks and sang them with Penn on my lap.  Koen played guitar and Tavin played harmonica.  Let's just say, the neighbors will appreciate that our windows were closed.

Right after our singing time, the boys spotted a large tow truck parked in front of our house, so we took a break to watch and see what it was up to.  These 3 are pretty cute.

After the tow truck pulled away (Koen determined that it must have just been taking a break as he didn't pick up a car), we continued our Home Church plan and the boys got to watch a Hermie DVD about sharing.  Penn was super cranky, so I entertained him on the couch and he entertained me.

After the show, we headed into the kitchen for snack and craft time.  We reviewed the verse I introduced before song time.  Our theme for today, Hebrews 13:16.  The craft was that on the back of the verse the boys were supposed to draw something that it is hard for them to share, but that they could work on sharing better.  Koen chose to also decorate the verse.

Then it was time to bake some bread.  We had talked about how thankful we are for the things the Lord has blessed us with, even simple things like our clothes, toys, home and the food we eat.  I thought it would be helpful to do an activity where we could make something to share, so we baked pumpkin bread.  I forgot to take a picture, but it looked and smelled delicious and the boys did a great job not complaining about not digging in themselves.  Instead we blessed their babysitter, Miss Kylie, with it tonight.  Our final activity was storytime, which unfortunately we had to postpone until after lunch because of Penn Rye Cranky Pants.  Oh well.  For our storytime, we read "Thanksgiving Graces."  It is a great story about sharing and even relates it beautifully to Jesus' miracle of the 5 loaves and 2 fishes and the feeding of the five thousand, so we paused to read that as well.  

Well, that was Home Church.  Not eloquent and not perfectly timed for sure since it took half the morning to complete, but I hope it helped remind the boys that God has blessed us with so much and that we should remember to thank Him for all of it and be willing to share those blessings with others with grateful hearts.

Penn Rye Walks!!!!

I'm going to let the videos speak for themselves (for the most part), but Penn Rye is now a walker!  He just all the sudden got it this morning.  I caught him standing up just chilling on his feet, so I said, "Ok, Penn Rye, now walk."  And that was it...he did it!!  I went crazy of course and then the rest of the day attempted to catch similar circumstances on camera.  Here are some of the best takes.  

Penn Rye, I am so proud of you.  I'm of course naturally a little sad because with each step of progress and accomplishment I know you are growing out of these precious baby moments and farther from my arms.  But I'm so thankful for your healthy, happy development and can't wait to see the little boy, the young man and one day the great man you will become.  

Snowy Saturday Night

On Saturday afternoon, Koen and I noticed quite a nice little snow squall happening.  Tavin was thrilled to see the ground slightly covered once he was up from naptime.  He begged for me to let he and Koen go out and play in it.  I gave in and piled them into their snow gear for the first time and sent them out into the snowglobe of a backyard.  They were thrilled (and poor Tav's face is covered with raw red eczema today as a result, that poor kid!).

Penn was a mess last night and seeing his big bros out in the snow without him didn't help.  Thankfully dinnertime did cheer him up.

And after a big dinner he had the energy to show off his latest walking skills, "look, Koen, I'm walking holding just one of Mommy's hands!"  Toddler tibia can't stop this kid!

Thanksgiving Prep - Placecards

Later this week we are headed to Nana & PopPop's for Thanksgiving!  We are all very excited for the holiday with family and this chilly, carless weekend was a perfect time to fill some of Koen's down time with crafting in preparation for it.  We spent quite awhile on Saturday afternoon making these adorable turkey placecards.  

Lots of scissor, glue and tape work to keep Koen's fingers busy (here's the simple stuff that went into this easy, yet hands-on craft).

It was a really nice time for the two of us to hang out and have fun too. =)

See you soon, Nana & PopPop!  These kids (and all the turkeys) can't wait!

Penn and the Shopping Cart

Penn was a busy boy this morning.  He spotted the shopping cart right after we returned from dropping Tav off at preschool.  It kept him busy for most of a half hour.  He spent a lot of time walking around pushing it and then would stop periodically to set up shop.  He had a very specific plan on how he wanted things arranged and worked on it for quite some time (I was spying from the kitchen and tried to keep myself from laughing.  So cute!)

Oops!  He spotted me and gave me a cheese face without even asking.  Oh I love this kid!

Around 10am a neighbor friend came over with her newborn to chat mom stuff and let the babies be babies.  She had to leave around 11am and Penn went right back to his shopping cart project.  This time he started with walking.

After several laps it was time to set up shop again.  This time in the kitchen window.  He was very specific putting the syrup and ketchup bottle on top of the pickles.  This must be some interesting grocery store!

Well, I'll stop for now.  I just love this little guy and our quiet moments together doing the simple stuff.  And not to mention that I am still just praising God every day as he gains more strength on his left leg and it's clear by these pictures and the video that he is doing great up on both feet!  Thank you, Lord!

My Little Helpers

Yesterday was one of those simple mornings with my little guys where we just hung out around the house playing, enjoying time together and yes, of course, I squeezed in a little multi-tasking.  I told Tav I was hoping to dust and he said he wanted to help clean.  Well, sure!  Here he is doing an excellent job dusting the dining room chairs.  Who would've thought of just climbing under the table to do that job?  Ah yes, a 3 year old.

Penn wanted to get in on the action too, so Tavin lent him his toy dustpan and broom (yep, that's right we have cleaning toys. They're never too young...).  He wasn't actually sure what his goal was, but he had fun!

Seriously short blog post, but those are often my favorite.  Just a quick snapshot of a little bit of our day doing our thing.  =)

Toddler Tibia To Date

Today Penn and I had a checkup regarding his fracture, two and a half weeks since the injury occurred.  It was a little bit of a waste of time, but I felt like I had to do my due diligence and attend since the surgeon had requested the follow-up appointment.  Here's Penn standing as he was much of our waiting time at Children's.

As evidenced by the picture above, Penn has improved very quickly from the original lame baby crawl.  Just in the last few days he has been standing again on his own without hanging onto anything and he's also started walking again while pushing a walking toy.  The doctor was pleased with his progress as you can see Penn and I are as well.

Thanks to all our friends and family for their prayers.  Although Penn's bone is most likely still healing from this fracture, for all intensive purposes Penn is pretty much recovered and regaining the lost time in walking practice.  Stay tuned for a walking post in the coming weeks. =)

Back Together

I've had a few inquiries regarding my hiatus from the blog again.  Well, I've been busy getting this gang back together (including our abode).  Doug did a fantastic job hanging with the sick little guys and nursing his own cold, but he warned me with a text on my travels home to keep my expectations low on the condition of the house.  He wasn't kidding.  It took me a few days to tidy up, do the laundry and then give it all a good clean, but by Thursday we were pretty much back to normal.  Just in time to have some very special friends over, Kristen and her daughter, Olive.  Kristen and her husband, Dave, used to live here in Pittsburgh and attended our small group for three years.  Right before the birth of their Olive, they moved home to Texas.  We've had only one other opportunity to meet Olive since that move (Labor Day 2012) and so we were overjoyed to find out they would be in town a few days and Penn and I could have a little playdate with them.  Yay!  Penn and Olive got along great.  It was super adorable that they both had an interest in sitting in little chairs over and over again with one another.  Just perfect for a photo opp.

Olive and Penn were fast friends and they look forward to their next playdate which we already know is going to happen in February when we head down to Texas for my sister's wedding we will be staying with Dave, Kristen and Olive for a few nights.  Penn's pretty excited.  =)  

On Friday, Koen had the day off from school for parent/teacher conferences (where we got a glowing review of his first few months of school, good job, Koen!).  Doug had to work part of the day, so I took the boys on a long walk to Tav's speech appointment at Children's and then back down to Osceola for lunch and play before heading home for nap.  It was a beautiful Fall day and we all enjoyed being outside.

On Saturday, Doug and Koen had some much needed one-on-one time grabbing a haircut for K and then a lunch date at Chipotle.  

Today I took Tav back to Children's again for speech therapy.  I snapped a picture of him working with Christal, his new therapist.  

So, as you can see we are back to normal at home, at school, at speech therapy.  Well, you know relative normal.  Each day has its nuances, special outings, random happenings, but it's great to be back doing the Melder Family thing all together again.  =)

Away with K, Part 3

On Veterans Day, my brother had the day off (we did not even think of this when we planned the trip so it was such a great surprise!).  It was neat to spend Veterans Day with my favorite vet and he had such a lovely outing planned for us.  Before we even got to that though, we had a beautiful start to our morning out on the kayak.  Our dolphin friend from the night before was out fishing for his breakfast and put on a show only feet from the bow of our kayak.  

Koen, of course, had to get his hands on the paddle and he did quite a good job of paddling us around the bayou shores.

After our kayak time (which I'm hoping to repeat on our final morning), we played with Eleanor outside until Phil was ready to go.  Koen got very into the sidewalk chalk (why is it never this fun at home?).

Eleanor and I also took a walk with "Francine," her favorite doll, up and down the driveway while the sidewalk artist was finishing his masterpiece.  This photo is blurry cause this little one was determined to keep that dolly moving!

So around 11am we headed out into the boat just Koen, Phil and myself.  We headed out of the bayou and across the bay to Destin for lunch.  Koen got to drive the whole across the bay.  Although he thinks he's a pro (you should hear his prideful commentary about his skills!), he did make adjustments based on Uncle Phil's recommendations and instructions.  Oh the boldness of this child!!  So different from my meek and fearful manner as a child, so hard for me to relate and not want to curl up in a shell like a hermit crab listening to this confident son of mine!

We docked the boat at the Boardwalk under the Emerald Grande and walked down to Dewey Destin's for lunch.  Phil and I both enjoyed some Grouper sandwiches and Koen had some fried Amberjack, the fish was fresh off the boat that morning! Yum!  After lunch we took a few pics.

Koen was so cute about really wanting a picture with Phil.  I just love seeing my brother get to know my son (even if he does drive him a little crazy at times).  Such a special thing!

Me and my travel companion.  He was being so weird in this first picture, but it actually turned out cute.

Uncle Phil told him to be nice to his mom in this picture.  That's a little better.

Koen suggested he take one of Phil and I and I'm so glad he did because otherwise we probably wouldn't have gotten one together!

Next we boarded the boat again and went out into the Gulf for some fun crashing and thrashing on the rolling breakers coming in at the pass.  Then we cruised around to see the beaches from the ocean view (as we are usually looking out from the sand).  Then we beached the boat on this special Destin destination where there are sand dunes in the middle of the bay.  Koen was so excited to be on the beach.  I made him run out some of his pent-up riding in the boat energy.

Then we set to work on a "fortress" as he called it.  I started it with him, but then he continued working on it by himself for about 20 minutes.  That afforded Phil and I a nice time to chat with our feet in the water.  Ah, paradise.

By then it was 3pm and we jumped on the boat to go back home.  Koen again got to drive the whole across the bay and Phil and I just soaked up the perfect, couldn't be better November Florida weather.  I gave Koen some rest time (i.e. it's vacation, so he got to watch some of a DVD) and we all enjoyed some quiet after the big adventure out on the boat and in the sun.  After the girls were up from their naps we headed out into the backyard to play under the final sunset of our stay.  Here's Phil and his littlest, Elizabeth.

I got my hands on her a bunch on this final evening too thankfully.  Such a sweetie!

Eleanor and Koen love being on the swingset together.  I was so happy that they could engage and play so well together despite their age gap of 4 years.

Eleanor even trusted Koen enough to join him on the swing that Koen says is for big boys.  He promised to go slow and did a great job keeping his little cousin safe and happy on the ride.

Just another cute photo of Elizabeth (had to cram in as many pics from Gramma and Grampa as possible, I think Elizabeth thinks I'm crazy!).

Koen took this one of my and my little buddy.  It's blurry, but worth saving anyways.

Right as the sun went down Koen developed a fun little chase game for he and Eleanor.  She loved it and kept saying, "that funny" and "again!"

Elizabeth thought Koen was fun too.  She would swing back and forth and grab at his face squealing with delight.  This pro big brother had no problem being entertainment for his sweet, little girl cousins.  

After the sun went down it got dark and cool fast, so we headed inside to play a little more before diner.  It was so cute because all 3 of them were somewhat playing together.  Koen even developed a special game to involve Eleanor in his restaurant.  

So, as you can see we had another full day of Florida fun.  We have been so blessed by good weather and great moments with my brother and his family.  Totally worth the trip (and the super long way we came).  Now, what is going on back home you ask?  The boys are recuperating from the colds that flared up intensely over the weekend and Doug, Tav and Penn had a relaxing day enjoying one another at home.  Doug said that Penn and Tav just played together all day.  They were content just to be around each other busy.  Precious.  Here's just a glimpse I got via text.

Doug sent me this adorable video of Penn too.  It made me so happy to see how healthy and well-rested he looked (Sunday pictures weren't worth showing as they were too depressing, poor sick babies!).

I'm so looking forward to getting back to my 3 other boys.  I miss them so much.  I'm not so excited to get back to the cold though.  Check out this texted picture I woke up to this morning.  First accumulated snow.  Ugh.  That's going to be shocking after the warmth and sun here!

Well, that's the end of my weekend away with K.  We will have to leave Phil's house about 10:30am this morning, so we will try to soak up the last moments of warmth, sunshine and time with Eleanor and Elizabeth before we head to the airport.  Thanks so much to Douglas for encouraging me to come and caring for the little guys.  And thanks to Phil & Leah for hosting Koen and I.  It's been a great visit!