July 4th Weekend

We had a very nice July 4th weekend.  On Friday, Doug took Koen and Tavin for a big boy adventure.  They canoed at North Park!

On July 4th, we had a huge day.  It started with breakfast with Miss Megan Magee at 8am!  She was a trooper to start her day with us (loud and hungry boys = a chaotic kitchen!).  Unfortunately with all the the chaos, I forgot to get a picture.  But she was loved on by the boys and Doug and I enjoyed catching up with her of course.  Megan left around 9:30 and Uncle Dave, his fiancee, Margie, and his three kids arrived around 10:15am.  Koen and Tavin could not wait! (Hence why we had them go to the playground, that bottled up excitement was not well contained in the house!).  When the cousins arrived, Doug took our 3 big boys and Dave's 3 to the playground (Dave and Margie had some wedding planning work to do).  The boys were thrilled to go play with their cousins.  They came back to the house and continued playing here after about an hour.  Koen and Michael enjoyed playing Legos together (and Koen sort of allowed Tav to join).

Penn got totally spoiled with attention from Daniel and Kiersten.  Anything he wanted to do they were game for it.  It was so sweet.  He had them read to him, play ball with him.  Penn performed somersaults for them and got totally slap happy with all the attention of course.

Penn wasn't the only one to get doting attention though.  Jansen got his fair share.  Kiersten and Daniel are both amazing with little ones.  

Dave and Margie got back around 12:30pm and we all had an All-American lunch (pulled pork, sweet potato chips, and a spinach salad).  It's always such a blessing to be with family.  The meal was such a nice time of fellowship and the boys just "ate up" every minute with their cousins!!  The big boys and Doug had big plans with the cousins and Dave and Margie for the rest of the fourth, but first, there was a little more time with the littles.  Check out Penn reading with Daniel.  So precious! 

Around 2:30pm, Doug, Dave, Margie and all the kids age 5 and over headed out to the Pirates game!!  Here are the pictures I got via text from Doug, starting with the awesome F-15 flyover.

Buddies!  And I feel like I see some family resemblance here??

Brothers!  Hilarious picture of Tavin!

My boys loving the Pirates and loving their Dad. =)

The baseball game was over in record time (literally!  fastest MLB game in 5 years!).  So there was quite a bit of time to kill before the fireworks show after dark.  The boys started by cooling off in the Water Steps on the North Shore.  Tavin was thrilled to get refreshed, he was totally overheated after a few hours in the sun.  

I got this sweet pic from Margie.  She said these three were inseparable all evening and got along really well.  So special! 

Here's the view from their fireworks spot.  Looks pretty good.  They had a "blast," get it?

I went to bed before the tired boys arrived home after 10:30pm!  I did have my own exciting evening with Penn and Jansen though...Gramma and Grampa arrived!  They came into town to be with me and the boys while Doug goes away for work the week.  I didn't get a picture with them their first evening here, but we just all enjoyed the quiet night just enjoying the reunion with more loved ones and the little Melder men.  What a special day!

On Sunday, we all went to the 9am service at church.  And by all, I mean all...Gramma, Grampa, my 4 boys, Doug was there for work of course and then Margie, Uncle David and his 3 kids were there too.  Such fun to have a huge family representation!!  We got our final hugs in after the service.  And Kiersten got a picture with her personal favorite...Penn!

Gramma and Grampa came home with me and Doug was off to another service at another campus.  Dad and I got the 3 bigger boys out to the playground.  Grampa was a good sport with helping Penn do what Koen could do on his own.  He looks pretty happy about it!

After the playground, we headed back home for lunch and then Grampa and Koen took Doug to the airport for his trip.  We had a pretty normal afternoon and evening, just more special since Gramma and Grampa were around to help and spend time with the boys.  

Well, that's our July 4th weekend.  Stay tuned for updates of what's going on here with Daddy away and Gramma and Grampa here (which I am so thankful for by the way!!).