Fall Fun

We are having such a beautiful Fall!  Not too much rain and many mild days.  The leaves are all changing and falling and crunching beneath our feet, the sky is often a crisp blue and the air follows suit with its fresh flavor.  On a beautiful Fall day, it's my goal to get outside and breathe it all in myself and also share it with the boys (plus, they always need to run off energy!).  We've had several great opportunities the last few days.

On Friday, Doug picked Koen and Tav up from school with his sidekick, Penn.  They were all off to a follow-up appointment for Tav's breathing/cough (jury is still out on what's going on, so we are just still treating it), but I figured why not have them all get flu shots and Doug was the lucky guy who got to break the news to them and take them.  They took the news pretty hard, but they were champs about the shots.  And afterwards, Jansen and I met them at the playground to run off the stress of the shots, the cramp of the school day and the stored-up energy young boys never seem to run out of anyways.  Tav and Koen played really well together, here they are hiding behind a tree, but I caught them when Tav broke their cover.

And they're off!

Only slowed down by the snacks I brought.  Ha, ha!  Gotcha!

It was just a gorgeous afternoon and so nice to be spending it outside with the boys.  A great start to the weekend.  We unfortunately had to cut it about 20 minutes shorter than I had planned because Penn had to go to the bathroom so bad (he said) and they had removed the port-a-potty for the season...of course when we got home and he tried to go he said, "me not need to go now, Mommy."  Classic!!  

Saturday, we had a super fun Fall day with the Troxells, their families and a bunch of mutual friends.  They live in a neighborhood that hosts a Halloween parade.  Now, I really don't like Halloween as I scare easily, but this parade is so adorable.  All it is is one fire truck leading, then dozens of children dressed up in their costumes and their faithful parents followed by another fire truck.  Before heading down to the parade though, there was pumpkin carving and a fire in the Troxell's backyard.  It was a perfect Fall day, cool, comfortable and cloudy.  

Little buds having a snack on the stairs...

Penn stuck around for a couple more "donuts."  He was a big fun of the fun pumpkin muffin donuts I made to share.  Here's the recipe in case you are curious to try them for yourself.  They were a big hit!

The boys all had fun at the fire of course.  All they needed were some choice poker sticks from the woods surrounding and the fire fun was limitless.

The Troxells have the best swing setup.  Penn really enjoyed it this time, but all the Melder boys got on it at one time or another.  Here's Penn and I...

Tavin and Alex and Andy were screaming, screeching and laughing their heads off!

Penn didn't want to be on the swing with the crazies pictured above, but Koen happily joined him.  Penn was pleased.

Cora, a friend's little 3 year old girl, was at the party.  Penn has met her before, but this was the first time they played together.  They were so cute on the swing.  They were on there for quite awhile.  Penn said, "she's my friend."  So sweet!

A little before noon, we all got the kiddos in their costumes to head down to the parade route.  Janse was up from his nap and got to participate too.  We had a near meltdown when Penn had a costume malfunction, but Aunt Megan saved the day with a safety pin.  Phew!

Here are all the kids (Koen was helping with photography).

Jansen was just begging for some full body pics (well, actually I wanted to make sure to get some, he put up with it).  Cutest ketchup packet I ever saw!!

We headed down to the parade (pretty much a mini-parade ourselves).  Doug got this shot of Olaf and Fleury, the goalie heading to the hill.  Now there's a funny sentence.

The boys were very satisfied with the parade experience, especially since it ended at the firehouse (or as Penn calls it, "the weee-ooo-weee-ooo home") where the firefighters cooked hot dogs for all the kiddos!  After that we headed back to the Troxells for a few more moments of play and then we went home for naptime (the kids were just a tad exhausted).  

In the last few days, we've had a few more opportunities to get outside.  The weather has just been lovely.  Not too cool and often sunny.  On Sunday night, I took the boys to the playground after Jansen's nap and brought his dinner as well as snacky dinner for the big boys.  We stayed outside all the way until bathtime it was such a nice time.  Can't you tell they enjoy the outdoors in the Fall?  Pretty happy boys!

I hope this Fall drags on and on and Winter starts late this year.  I'm loving it!!