Texas with the Janse Man

This week we've been in Texas!!  Not a bad place to visit in the dead of winter, I gotta say.  Jansen has been quite the sweet travel companion as usual.  Oh how I love traveling with my babies!!

Here he is on the plane, ready to go!

He was a party animal on the first flight and totally skipped his morning nap.  Here he is finishing up his lunch on the second flight.

And then the slap-happy baby fell asleep promptly after his meal!! 

I loved the sleepy snuggles!!

We arrived in Austin and spent some time at Aunt Abbie's.  Jansen got reacquainted with Pickle, their dog (through the back door glass though).

Then we were off to a friend's in San Antonio for a few days.  I didn't get a lot of pics, but I did get these cute pre-bath photos.  Oh, those blue eyes!!

 For the weekend, we got to go back to be with Abbie and Zac.  They are such great hosts and Abbie had all sorts of fun plans for us.  Our big outing on Saturday was Hamilton Pool.  This has been on my Pinterest page of places I'd like to visit for over a year now.  I can check that one off my list.  And it was just as amazing as I had hoped.  Gorgeous!!  Here are the pics from our venture down to the pool...  In these first two, the green is actually the water!

Janse was super snuggly and tired and just liked being carried in the Ergo.  I love having him so close and he was a sweet hiking companion!

Isn't it beautiful!!!???!!!

My hiking pals...such a sweet time with Ab and Janse.

 More angles of the pool...

We had a picnic lunch in the shade of the cavern walls at the edge of the pool, with the soothing sound of the waterfall right behind us.  Glorious!

There's another trail that takes you from Hamilton Pool to the river, so we decided to hike it after lunch.  It was a little tough hiking with Janse on my front, so I decided to try him on my back for the first time in the Ergo.  We both loved it.  

Janse was super tired from the day before (we traveled during afternoon nap and he never took one, plus I woke him from morning nap for this adventure).  I could feel him getting heavier and leaning against me as we hiked.  It was just a matter of time before he was happily snoozing on my back.  So sweet!  Here's the outcome of our hike to the river.  So beautiful!!  And it was really warm, I wanted to go for a swim!

In this pic, you can see how Janse has just fallen asleep with his head resting on my back.  

He woke up briefly before we trekked back, but then was out cold the whole hike back to the car.  

What an amazing, special outdoor adventure with my sister and my baby!!  Such a lovely day!  Thanks for planning it, Ab!  We had another fun, well-planned morning on Sunday, but unfortunately it was pictureless!  Abbie and I left Jansen napping at home with Uncle Zac and we walked from Zilker Park into the city for some brunch.  We got to sit outside in the shade and then we took a longer, more roundabout walk back to the car.  Another gorgeous day and such a treat to be with my sister!  Jansen and I will be heading to the airport shortly, so I'll close out this post.  I had a fun travel to Texas with my little tag-a-long, Janse, and with gorgeous weather, friends and family.

Grampa & Jansen

Gramma and Grampa came down for another visit.  I did a terrible job snapping photos this time, but it seems all the pictures I did get were of Jansen and Grampa.  They are a sweet little pair.  Jansen continues to be much more easy-going than the other boys with people outside of our immediate family and he was familiar with Gramma and Grampa from our long time together over Christmas.  He warmed right back up to them and loved spending time with each of them.  Sorry I didn't get any Gramma/Jansen pictures, but here's Grampa and Janse!

Reading (and then when Janse hears the camera he just has to pose!)...

Playing piano (every time Janse participated he finished with clapping for himself)...

Project time (Janse was acting like he wanted to help Grampa hook on his booster seat!)...

So few pictures to share the beginnings of a special bond.  Hopefully next time I'll get more of both Gramma and Grampa loving up on their littlest Melder grandson (and maybe a few with the big boys too...oops!!).

Snow in the Burgh Finally

So, I'm a little behind, but we finally got some good snow here in the Burgh!  Last Friday and Saturday we accumulated about 6 inches I think.  It was plenty for the boys to spend hours shoveling, playing and sledding.  Here are some pictures and videos.  

Sledding at sunset was pretty spectacular!!

Penn & Tav (watch for the wipeout)...

Penn & Koen (look how far they go!)...

This is just a funny one of Penn running alongside Doug in the snow.  Ahhhh, to be a kid again!

Hopefully we will be blessed with some more fun snow in the coming weeks, it makes wintertime so much more fun!

Troxell Time

Today we enjoyed a fun Sunday afternoon and evening at the Troxells.  Uncle Nate and Aunt Megan are always such gracious hosts and love on us and the boys so well.  And it's a lot of boys...6 total and they are LOUD!  But it's fun because we are all just hanging out, playing games, being families together.  We even got a few hands of a card game in when the kids were playing and Jansen was napping.  Amazing!  We had a good family dinner together (I mean, crazy and fast, but delicious and special to all be around the table together.

Here are the few pictures I got from the afternoon...
The four little guys played Tavin's new game, Sequence.  It was pretty amazing they could all participate in the same board game and hold interest for awhile!

Tavin received a belated birthday present from the Troxells.  He was thrilled.  Alex has the same National Geographic almanac and Koen has the 2015 one and they LOVE these books packed with info and pictures!

It got a little crazy during Jansen's nap, so at one point we caved and let the boys all watch a little TV show.  They were thrilled and all piled onto the couch together (Koen was at a birthday party not too far away for a chunk of the afternoon).

Doug and Nate were helping Megan with some dinner prep in the kitchen, they were keeping an eye on the football game, but Jansen was just keeping an eye on the camera.  What a little performer.  The lineup of the two guys and the little man is super cute.

Terrible job of photography this time around, but it's no reflection on the good time that was had with wonderful friends.  Thanks to Nate and Megan for their hospitality and the delicious dinner.  We love you guys and are so thankful for your faithful friendship!

Jansen and Koen Antics

Just a quick video to show you the fun Jansen and Koen have together.  Koen is so great with Jansen and Jansen gets such a kick out of his big brother!  Janse isn't quite as animated in this video because he's distracted by how much he loves me and I'm standing there trying to film, but you get the picture that he and Koen make up the cutest little games and have a blast doing anything together.

Appx. 11 Month Photo Shoot

I had a few minutes in the hotel this morning alone with Jansen.  I decided to take a few photos of Janse amidst the fluffy white backdrop.  So, a few days late, this can be a little 11 month photo shoot.  Prepare yourself for the cuteness...it's intense!

Here he is timing his eyes to squint for the flash.  But he's also laughing.

Smiles.

 Precious toes.

 Note the adorable curls behind his ears!

 Grabbing his toes!

 Mr. Serious.

 I think he's wondering if this is ever going to end.

 Full body shot.  Thinning out a bit and getting long!

 He was smacking his arms around like crazy!  But I loved this face.

Before his morning nap, I gave him a quick bath.  Couldn't resist the opportunity to grab just a few more photos.

 This fearless little fish gets absolutely soaked by all his own splashing.  He's a bit red in the face, but I love how when his hair is wet, his eyes look even bigger!

That's it, folks.  Sorry so many, I'm just pretty crazy about this little guy.