Columbus Day Parade

Today we had made plans with our neighbors to go and watch the Columbus Day Parade in Bloomfield. Before that though we had a nice relaxed morning. Here are a few snuggly pictures Doug got of the boys while I made our picnic lunch...
So, around 10:30am we headed out to the parade. Koen has been a little intense lately (probably what we deserve after two weekends away and a traumatic event in between), so he was this mixture of ecstaticly happy and a terrible listener during the walk as well as while at the parade. Thankfully all in all he did really well. The parade turned out to be 2 hours long! The last parade we attended was Memorial Day and that one lasted about 15 minutes, so this was quite a surprise. It was a good thing we had packed a picnic. Tavin did really well waiting through everything. He and I enjoyed the marching bands the most. Koen and Delia loved basically everything, but mostly just loved being together all morning. They have the sweetest little friendship. Here are the pictures from the parade...

Me and the boys waiting for our neighbors. Koen's losing it. Tav's happy doing whatever (i.e. getting his bum wet on the dew-soaked grass).The lineup - super psyched to watch the parade.Koen and Delia were on their feet most of the parade. They danced, they waved, they collected the candy that was thrown (thankfully Hilary and I made it a game to collect it and stockpile it in the bottom of the stroller. This game prevented them from caring to eat it. Perfect!).The parade was really, really long. Very entertaining and really well done and you couldn't have asked for a nicer day, but still it's a lot for kids to sit through 2 hours of floats, bands, etc. Here they are in a glossed-over chill moment just waiting for the next thing to happen.The Shriners totally cracked us up. They had 3-wheel go-karts and then little race cars and then finally, they had theses mini-trucks! All driven by grown men over the age of 65 or 70. Very funny. Hilary and I asked Doug and Alex..."who will be the next generation of Shriners? Will our husbands rise to the occassion?" I think they were a little tempted to join after all the mini-vehicle stunts.Just more adorableness from Koen and Delia. They are such pals!Tavin and Huck were real troopers. They did an amazing job staying content in a 6 foot area for 2 hours! Look at Tavin's profile (and whispy locks) as he watches the parade.This was the last band of the parade. They were one of our favorites. What a great morning!!The boys took great naps. Tavin especially needed it as he is still recovering from his cold and his cough has been waking him up so much. Doug played with the boys while I finished dinner prep. Can you tell that Tavin got some work done and brother was the unfortunate bystander?Here's a playtime video of them tonight.

Update on CSI Melder Family

There is no other way to start this post than saying "thank you" to all our friends and family who have expressed their support, care and prayers as we react, respond and recover from the incident we experienced last week. We are investigating where we can bring more security in our home, I am healing from the terrible scare of having a stranger intrude our home and we are praying for redemption in the life of the man that actually commited the crime. Thank you to all of you for expressing your thoughts and prayers. We still need wisdom as we attempt to prevent future similar situations as well as we can use prayers for peace (especially for me!) as we continue living here in our home which is supposed to be a safe haven. But in all of this, I assure you that we have been so blessed by your concern and God's care for us through all of you.So, just to lighten it up a little. Here's a picture of my pepper spray stock that arrived today. Yeah, that's right, I'm going to be loaded with precautionary preventatives on every floor and in every situation from here on out. (Do you like the contrast?...the pretty flowers next to the Hello! It's reality, this world is grim.) But seriously, hopefully we will never have to deal with this again and hopefully we are just more aware of ways to keep safe from here on out. Thanks again for all the emails, calls and texts in the last 10 days. We have been overwhelmed with the amazing support of our friends and family near and far.

Lunch In The Sun

Today was beautiful in the Burgh. Although Tavin and I are quite under the weather with a cold/cough/nastiness, we still participated in a fun lunch out with Doug and Koen after preschool. Aunt Jen and Michael were able to join us (we totally screamed out to her from our car as we saw her walking to run some errands on our way to get Koen...love, love, love living close to friends!).

We figured despite the fact many of us were under the weather (Jen's not feeling so great either) that we might as well make the most of the gorgeous weather adn eat outdorrs for lunch at Harris Grill. Yum!

I have to just say that Koen was amazing. Doug had a chat with him on the way to the restaurant and he totally followed through. Amazing! He literally sat and colored without saying a thing for the first 20 minutes we were there. In general, coloring is a big new thing for Koen, meaning it actually holds his interest for a long time, not to mention he colors in the lines!!!

Here are a few cute pics we caught from our time at lunch. Thanks for joining us, Aunt Jen. We love you!

Three Boys For An Hour

I had to title the post that way. Anything else I thought of as a title definitely sounded like we were expecting again or something (Three's Company, Three Boys, etc.). No, that's not the case, we just had a little buddy over for lunch and play before naptime.

Before that though we went to playgroup today at Osceola for the first time in weeks. The boys kept me on my toes, so I only got a few pics. Here's Tavin back in Burgh-wear. Super cute in his jeans and long-sleeve under T-shirt, don't you think?
And here's Koen. He had a good day with some moody moments. His outfit is a little odd. I'm really trying to be good about him picking out his own outfit as long as it is weather appropriate. He's so cute despite the randomness of the outfit. So, anyways, after our time at playgroup we got home in time to have lunch with the boys' neighbor buddy, Huxley. Koen was so excited to help take care of him and he really does do a nice job with little kids. He asked to get down after lunch so that he could help "comfort Huxley." Precious! He was great with sharing his toys and showing Huck how everything worked...Tavin did pretty well sharing too. It's fun to see him play with a little guy his own age. They just enjoy watching each other. It kept them quite occupied.I was in the kitchen putting some dishes away and things got really quiet. I was a little nervous, but turns out the boys were just all entertaining themselves. I think Huck should come over more often! Something about Koen having to play "helpful caretaker" really improves his big brother attitude! Well, the boys are all sleeping. Huck was so good to take a nap here! Tavin is actually up already. The poor thing has another cold with quite a cough. It woke him up of course. This kid never gets a break!

A New Chapter

Many of you probably didn't even realize, but in addition to doing the Mommy thing, I've worked part-time for the company I used to work full-time for prior to becoming a mom. The company has always been so generous to allow me to work part-time and then after having Tavin I worked from home without even having to go to the office. It was a great situation. A lot of work for sure, but a blessing that I could be home with the boys while also making money to make ends meet. This summer Doug and I finally hit a point where I could quit my job and we set our sights on the date of October 1st for me to be done working. The company was again very understanding of my desire to just focus on being a mom for now. And I definitely needed it personally as there is almost no downtime in one's life when you work from home with no childcare. Most naptimes and after bedtimes were filled with laptop work. It worked well for years, but it was definitely time to move on. So, I have. As of this week, I am a full-fledged, full-time mom. I'm excited to start this new chapter for me and my family. We are thanking God for this opportunity (and thanks to Douglas for encouraging me and supporting me in this career move). Oh yes, and look at the lovely flowers my parents sent to help me celebrate my "retirement." Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Florida Again!

In an odd scheduling situation, Tavin and I actually went back to Florida for the second weekend in a row this past weekend. So fun! The reason for the trip was that my big brother, Phil, and his lovely wife, Leah, had their first child this summer, Eleanor, and I still hadn't met her. This weekend happened to work for both of our schedules (and Aunt Abbie came to meet Eleanor too!). Since I didn't have a computer with me, I'm doing a big (heavy on the pictures) catch-up post. Enjoy the ride, Tavin and I certainly did!

Tavin must think we weekly get on a plane and fly to Florida now. We boarded super early Friday AM, so when we arrived late morning in Florida Tavin was exhausted. He conked out in the back of Uncle Phil's pickup on our way back to his house from the airport. So precious! So exciting to finally meet Eleanor when we got back to Phil's. She looks like she's thinking, "now, who on earth are you?" Don't worry, you'll see that we bonded later on...After lunch and a nice long nap for Tavin, we decided to try a night out on the harborwalk at the Seafood Festival with the kiddos. It was a late night for Tavin since we didn't even leave until his bedtime, but it's kind of fun to do something different and out of the ordinary every once in awhile. These past 2 weekends I've been so impressed with how he just rolls with the punches. Here's a shot of the hectic festival.A pitstop along our walk through all the food vendors for Eleanor to have a bottle. Isn't Phil such a natural? I was so impressed. It's awesome to see your brother turn into a Daddy. Phil, you are great at it!And here's my little travel trooper being hilarious as he takes it all in - a little slap happy at this late hour for him.So on Saturday we took it slow in the morning. Here's Uncle Phil loving on his little one. Precious!Leah, Abbie and I took a walk with Tavin and Eleanor. After that Abbie, Tavin and I headed to the beach for an hour or so to play in the sand and the surf with beach bum, Tavin.You can't really see Tavin so well in this picture, but it's the only sister picture Ab and I took, so I had to include it. It was so great to be with one of my best friends all weekend and share Tavin with her and enjoy Eleanor with her as well all while catching up on life together. I love you, Ab!On Saturday afternoon/evening, Abbie and I got to babysit Eleanor so Phil and Leah could go on a date. We had so much fun bonding with Eleanor and we took lots of pictures. Here are a few favorites. She is such a doll and such a good baby. What a joy to hang out with her for a few hours!Both Tavin and Eleanor were exhausted that afternoon and took marathon naps. Tavin didn't wake up unitl almost 5:30pm and we had to wake up Eleanor around 6pm. Of course, I took the opportunity to snap a few asleep photos...so cute!It was fun having Tavin and Eleanor hang out that night as Ab and I handled the two "babies" on our own. Tavin really enjoyed Eleanor (after the first few times he got super jealous when I held her of course). Anytime we were in Phil & Leah's house he would walk in and say, "baby?"Here's Tavin checking out Eleanor's dinner. He wasn't quite sure about all the baby stuff, but he was definitely interested.After Tavin went to bed, Eleanor was still up, so she hung out in the Baby Bjorn while Ab and I made pizza.Eleanor did great that whole night. She took an awesome long nap until her mom and dad got home to feed her one last time and put her back to bed. Ab and I were quite proud of ourselves and also had a nice evening hanging out. We were happy the new parents had a night out to be adults also.

On Sunday for lunch we headed out to a cool development on the bay where there are lots of restaurants with outdoor eating and a great playground. Can you tell he was a little hungry and ready to get on the road? Not to mention he loved Uncle Phil's truck!Here we are on our noon-time adventure looking for a good spot to eat, of course we settled on pizza!Here's the sweet couple. It was so much fun to be with my brother and sister-in-law. I wish we lived within a few hours of each other instead of a few days away.And here's the cute family!Can you tell Tavin was a little cranky and hungry? Look how annoyed he looks!!Now look at him post-pizza. A happy camper again (a little messy too).After lunch he found a little fountain to play in. He just loves the water. Anytime he sees a lake, ocean, fountain or even bathtub he says, "bubble."Here's Phil wearing the Baby Bjorn in public for the first time. So cute!Here are the Gagnon siblings (and a hidden Eleanor). It was so great to be with my family. I'm so blessed that my brother and sister and I are still so close.Tavin enjoyed the playground. He, of course, picked this huge swing as the one he wanted to swing in.Then he wanted to do this ropes course that the playground creators had put right in the toddler area of the playground. I struggled to get through it in my flip-flops while trying to help Tavin through it. It was a disaster waiting to happen!You can see the sheer joy on my face that we made it to the other side! Tavin laughed the whole way, he thought it was hilarious!Tavin loved playing in between these windows and doors they had. A little bit of a peekaboo. He kept coming over to my window to have a chat or wave goodbye.This is our last picture from our trip to meet Eleanor. It's an apporpriate one. Tavin definitely got used to his baby cousin. He was sweet checking in on her, babbling to her, squeezing in her bumbo and playing with her baby cell phone. Here he is trying to lay next to her on the pillow helping her with some tummy time on the Boppy. Phil and Leah, thanks so much for hosting us. Abbie, it was so wonderful to be with my sister for a weekend. I have to give Tavin huge props for putting up with another fun weekend in the sun (that also included odd sleep schedules and lots of plane time). I can't wait until my next chance to see Eleanor. I miss her already!