Musical Moments

If you haven't caught this theme in my blog before, you will be convinced after this brief post...being a mom of 3 boys is a LOUD calling.  It's a blast, it's a challenge, it's my dream come true of being a mom, but it comes with its very own decibel level.  The boys have been in a performing mood lately.  This past weekend, on their very own, Koen and Tavin created a stage in their room, complete with microphones, speakers, amps and wires made out of Duplo blocks.  They can dismantle these creations and set them up anywhere.  They treated me to a performance of epic proportions on Saturday night.  Here's just one snippet where their little brother totally stole a moment (and look how he knows to go up to the mic!, Penn see, Penn do!).

Now, on Monday I got another treat for the ears...a pots and pans parade.  Penn and Tav are my amazing little independent players and they are learning to combine their gifts and find things to do together.  On Monday after lunch they found all my metal pots and pans and scavenged in the utensil drawer for wooden spoons and decided to put on a parade.  Priceless.  I have to mention these moments of inclusion just absolutely empower Penn to know that he is keeping up with big brother and at the same time, Tavin is proud to be leading and taking the charge for a change.  Watching these brothers become better and better friends every day is such a gift (amidst the noise that it all creates!).

A Night at the Farm 2014

"A Night at the Farm" has become a tradition at our church.  I think this was our fourth year attending.  The boys love it.  They have room to run, we are all outside cooking hot dogs over the fire, hanging out with friends and most importantly taking a tractor-pulled hay ride!!  This year was the best weather year yet.  80 degrees on our way there and it didn't get below 65 even after the sun went down.  Spectacular!  Doug had to do a wedding rehearsal, so our friends, Megan and Sky, let Doug use their car and they drove up with me in the van with Marshall and all my boys.  It was like a big, happy family, such a fun drive despite it being rush hour.  Oh, how I love these special friends!  Once we got there, there was already a nice crowd gathered for the event and we just settled in to the fray.  You can see Penn up on the hill exploring a tree.

A sweet friend from church just adores Penn.  She is usually greeting at the service we go to and Penn won't pay her much attention except for a questioning high-five or two.  Well, Angela is now part of Penn's inner circle.  I think he was just more relaxed in the atmosphere of being outside (and no where near nursery).  Angela was thrilled to finally have some attention reciprocated and I was happy to have some help entertaining Penn.

About 20 minutes after we arrived, the bounce house was inflated and the boys were thrilled.  They bounced so much!  

Penn was a lot younger than the rest of the bouncers, so he got a few minutes to himself in the house to safely bounce.  Wouldn't you know he bit his lip and bled like crazy while in there by himself!  Oh well, still happy to be bouncing!

As I mentioned before, the big attraction of the event for my boys each year is the hay ride.  This year was Penn's first time and he LOVED it.  I think it helped that his big brothers were old pros.  They actually part of their dinner on the start of the ride since I had grilled some dogs for them just as the tractor pulled up.

Penn was just in awe of being pulled by the tractor.  Here's Mr. First-Time Hay-Rider with his beloved tractor in the background.

Here are Sky, Megan and sweet Marshall (it was Megan and Marshall's first hay ride too!) with some other sweet friends.

Say "cheese" Penn, Mommy wants proof she took you three on the hayride on her own!

Sky saw my attempt to be in the picture, so he took a few pictures of me and the boys.  We might be an urban family, but I think we fit in just fine on the farm!

Look at the amazing view if you looked up...a canopy of green with hints of the leaves turning colors for the Fall with a backdrop of utterly blue sky.  It just doesn't get better!

Sweet Tav taking it all in.

Keep those heads and hands in the trailer boys!!  

No, they actually did a great job being pretty chill on the ride, just taking it all in.  Last year it was pitch black when we went on the ride, so it was so fun to take it in as the sun was setting.  The boys loved it as did I (although I really, really should've used the restroom before I went...so bumpy for this prego belly!).  Doug got to the party shortly after the hay ride and then things were a lot simpler for me.  We stayed until after sunset so the boys could run around with their flashlights in the dark.  Then it was off to home for a good nights' sleep after all that beautiful fresh air!  Thanks for another great Night at the Farm, North Way!

2nd Grade Show-n-Tell

On Thursday night, Koen's school had an open house for parents to come and see what the kids were up to and get a glimpse of what they do during the school day.  Since I'm always curious for more details and constantly wish I could be a fly on a wall in Koen's classroom, I was thrilled to get to visit and see a little bit more about Koen's school day.  Koen was so proud to show it all off too.  He takes so much pride in his school, I'm so thankful that it has been such a positive experience for him.  A parent couldn't ask for more as a child starts their education.  Tavin got to join us for the open house.  He specifically asked if he could come because he wanted to see where he would go to Kindergarten.  Koen and I were happy to have him along and he was quiet, attentive and just took it all in.

Here's the proud second-grader showing off his deck and his binder.

And some fun creation he made with his classmates.

I saw this picture on the wall that exemplified cooperation.  Koen loved this project.  They made a structure together using teamwork, marshmallows and toothpicks.  Koen enjoyed it so much he wrote and performed a song about it (seriously!).

Also on the walls of Koen's classroom were the self-professed hopes and dreams of each student.  Here's Koen's...I was excited to see it!

We found another piece of artwork out in the hallway that as you can see Koen was quite proud of!

Well, Koen, it looks like your year is off to a great start.  Daddy and I are so thankful that you love learning so much and that you enjoy your school, it is such a gift to send you off each day knowing you like it and that you are growing there.  We pray every day for your safety and that you would increase in knowledge and wisdom.  

Hazel & Penn are Friends

We hung out with my friend, Deborah, and her 3 kids all summer long on a weekly basis for the most part.  Each of my three have a pal that is close in age.  Penn is almost a year younger than Deborah's youngest, Hazel.  They didn't really connect this summer, but today when we had an opportunity to have a playdate at Highland Park, these two were totally buddies and it was adorable!  I grabbed a few cute pictures of their favorite activities...the pure joy of drinking at a water fountain...

...and then there's counting, "1, 2, 3, go!," and sliding down a wooden ramp together.

I love this phase of a child's life when they start to really make their own little friendships.  So fun watching you and Hazel this morning, Penn.  What a joy!

Impromptu Mommy/Tavin/Penn Rye Photo Shoot

Today the little guys and I ran a few errands and then drove over to the Carnegie Library in Oakland.  Doug needed the car for the afternoon, so this was a good spot for him to meet us and then take us home.  I love an excuse to go to a different library location and pick from a new assortment of books.  I had to get out of the children's department before checking out my weight in books as we had quite a walk back to the car.  We sat outside under the trees waiting for Doug to meet up with us.

When Doug got there, we headed back to the car which was parked across from Phipps.  Doug suggested we make a quick pitstop in the picturesque free side garden off of the conservatory.  It was lovely in there.  Like a scene come to life from the magical novel, "A Secret Garden."  Doug took the opportunity to take some pictures of the little guys with me and I was happy to pose with my sweet buds.  The sun was bright and too intense for the boys in this picture, but I had to include it because it has the impressive Cathedral of Learning in the backdrop.

This picture is really sweet.  Oh, how I love these two little guys.  They are such pals and I just love to soak up my simple moments with them on these weekday mornings!

In this final picture, it is sooooo sweet that Penn just randomly has his hand on my baby bump.  As if to include baby boy #4 in the photo shoot, "say cheese, baby!"

Biggest Duplo Plane Yet

Tavin has been our master Duplo block builder.  For the past year or more, he has come up with limitless creative engineering feats for his young mind.  Airplanes are his absolute favorite vehicle to build.  Last week he came down after a rest time in his room with a monstrous plane he had built, but today he outdid himself.  The wingspan is extremely impressive, especially when you think about the fact that he constructed in it in such a way that he could fly it all the way down from his room.  The length of the wings look like they would collapse when lifted off the ground, but oh no, Tavin thought of everything and this thing is a sound flying machine.  When I laughed out loud in amazement as he flew it into the kitchen, he was beaming with pride.  I had to take a few photos and pass them on.  

Good work, Tavin!!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game (one last time for 2014)

Yesterday Doug, Koen and Tavin had a special afternoon activity.  They got to attend the Pirates' last home game of the regular season.  Not only that, Nana came in for the day just to go to the game with them!!  The boys were obviously very excited about this outing.  Despite threats of storms, it turned out to be a gorgeous sunny and breezy day.  The four of them had a great afternoon at the ball park together.  Here are the few pictures I received...

Doug took this video of Tavin singing along to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."  

Was that not the most precious thing you've ever seen??  Clearly this kid is going to be a lifelong baseball fan.

Well, since I wasn't there I don't have much more info for you except that the Pirates won 1-0 and it was a pretty quick game.  The boys got to see two sets of fireworks during the game (one because they hit a new record of season attenders and the other because they won the game).  The boys loved having Nana there and it was nice for Doug to have these few hours with his mom and the boys in the middle of a heavy work weekend.  Thanks so much for coming out, Nana!!  What a special afternoon.  And Go Pirates!  They have to win a few more games to make it into the playoffs.  Here's hoping!

A Few Playground Playdates

On Thursday, Tavin, Penn and I got together with my dear friend Bethany and her two boys.  Will, her oldest, is a little younger than Tav, but they had so much fun playing together.  Probably the best ever in the times we've hung out.  It was great to see!  We met at Settlers Cabin Park and it was a lovely day and a great change of atmosphere.  They both specifically liked the train...

...and the swings of course.

It was a great visit as Bethany and I are such kindred spirits, we always have tons to catch up on and discuss.  So much so that it's hard to pull ourselves away and end the playdate, but finally we left around 1:30pm to get Penn down for a late nap.

On Friday, Doug worked most the day, but he had the van, so helped he helped me out by getting Tav from preschool and then taking him to his speech appointment.  We had a window in between the two for him to eat his lunch and we decided we'd all meet at Osceola to enjoy yet another gorgeous September day together for that brief time.  It was lovely.  Doug brought Tav's bike and he had a blast perfecting some skills.  Can you tell how happy this kid is?  He comes home smiling ear to ear from preschool and then is so proud to be showing off his continuously improving 2-wheeler biking skills.  PS - Penn's having a blast in the background working his way across the bumpy bridge.

I got a video too of how Tav continues to get better at getting himself started.

Proud Tavin went on to speech therapy in these great spirits and was able to show off to his therapist, Miss Christal, the fact that he has pretty much mastered the "th" sound in conversation in the last few weeks.  It just finally clicked and he got that he needed to correct himself and pause to get it right and it's been amazing to watch these last few weeks.  Christal was so impressed that she moved him on to his next focus sound.  Great job, Tavin!

On Saturday, we spent the morning at a favorite playground in Schenley with some dear friends visiting from out of town. This is a busy weekend for Doug and I with Doug having a lot of work events around some visiting artists he brought in for a lecture on Friday night and then they are contributing to the worship services this weekend.  One of the artists in the lecture is a friend in the music industry who know lives in NYC with his wife and 4 kids.  We wanted to spend some time with them all and help get the kids out into the gorgeous day, so we thought the playground meetup would work and it was a huge success.  We adults got to catch up and the kids thoroughly enjoyed the playground.  I didn't get a chance to take many pictures though.  Here's the one I got of their oldest, Evie, enjoying the twisty turny things the boys love.

I only wish we had more time to spend with these guys and let our kids get to know each other more, but we'll take what we can get!  Thanks for spending the morning with us!

As you can see, we've been taking full advantage of Pittsburgh's amazing weather week and its parks and playgrounds.  Love this city!

Transitioning Into the Fall Routine

So, the first few weeks of school have flown quickly by as I get used to the new routine (as well as the rest of the family).  I've been loving the slower pace around the house during the school day and also loved watching Koen thrive in the school atmosphere.  He just loves to learn and be amongst his peers at school.  Such a blessing!  Tavin is also really enjoying his new preschool class and especially the new privilege of getting to go to preschool 3 mornings instead of just 2 this year.  So, positive start for sure.  That being said, I haven't exactly figured out the most efficient routine particularly with time for me, so hence the blog has suffered.  But I will give you a quick pictorial review of some of what we've been up to...

On Saturday, Koen got to start Soccer Shots, a simple soccer program for kids.  He was so proud.  

On Sunday, we had a fun playdate with Uncle Nate and his boys after church.  We went to Blue Slide Park to change things a bit.  My boys LOVED the blue slide.  So many cute pics and videos I just have to share!

And the videos...

Nate's boys weren't as big fans of the slide.  Nate was a trooper trying to help them experience the fun.

Thanks for hanging out as usual!  We love our Sunday mornings with you guys!

On Monday, Tav went to preschool.  Penn was supposed to have speech therapy, but Miss Allison was sick, so Penn and I just had a slow start to our day (PJ's, second breakfast).  Penn sent this happy smile to Miss Allison to make her feel better.

On Tuesday, I had a great mom moment.  I FINALLY took Tav for his 4 year appointment.  Yep, that's right...9 months late.  Somehow I missed it last December/January amidst all the sick visits that time of year I guess.  I got the wake up call when I tried to get a signature for Tav's vaccination form for preschool and the receptionist had to tell me I never got him vaccinated at 4!  Mom-fail!!  Tav was a huge champ at the doctor's proving to be an excellent example to Penn that the doctor's office really isn't his worst nightmare.  Here's a couple classic yearly check-up shots of Tav.

Penn, the unsure sidekick.

Tav was healthy and happy.  Praise God!  His stats were 43 and 1/4 inches (75th percentile) and 39 lbs., 8 oz. (50th percentile).  Not worth comparing to Koen since I'm 9 months off!

After the doctor's appointment, we headed to Osceola Parklet for some gorgeous, crisp Fall air and a snacky lunch with a lot of time on the swings.  Oh, how I love hanging out with my easy-going little guys!

Today Penn and I sent Koen and Tav off to their respective schools and then had a lovely, long visit with a dear friend of mine.  After she left, we went on a quick little walk before Tav would be home and we found quite a project going on that Penn could not keep his eyes off of.

Later after naptime, we headed up the street to play with some neighbors.  The boys love their buddies, Perry and Everett.  We are so blessed to have such good friends up and down our street and these guys are our always a great way to have a blast between naptime and dinner.  The boys were hard at work being construction men (or was it garbage men?) tonight.

Well, that's a wrap for a brief overview of what we've been up to the past few days!  Thanks for your patience with me as I get used to this new routine and figure out where the blog is going to fit! =)