Red Herrings

Last night we attended our first child's first school production.  We felt like real adults sitting in the audience of an elementary school performance.  My how time flies!  I took a picture of the happy (and stunned) parents as we waited for the show to begin.

Koen has been looking forward to this production for months.  And the school's administration, teachers, volunteers and students all worked very hard to produce it.  It was very entertaining and super cute.  The 4th and 5th graders had the big parts and they were impressive with their line delivery and cute acting.  Koen's class of Kindergartners went on stage during scene 5.  They were red herrings.  The plot of the production was about some "super sleuths in training."  In scene 5 they were learning about "red herrings."  I was unaware of the term, but apparently it is well known in the detective world. A red herring is a tangent that misleads an investigation basically called such because of the smelly herring fish that criminals used to use to cover their trail and confuse the search dogs.  It was tough to get pictures with all the spot lights, but you can see Koen holding his herring and dressed in red beside/behind the girl in the trench coat (far right).

At the end of the show all of the elementary school students were on stage for the theme song.  The kindergartners were in front and Koen was on our side, so we were able to get a few pictures of him singing it out (he's all the way to the right).

It was a super fun night.  Doug and I enjoyed the show, Koen was thrilled to be a part of it and loved taking the whole experience in.  Good job, Koen.  Looking forward to next year's production already. =)

Cups Are Pretty Exciting

With every child I feel like you learn to appreciate different aspects of the developmental stages.  One of my favorite things about the baby stage that Penn is at is just how exciting common items are...the measuring cup, the plastic lid, a metal spoon, etc.  Well, today I gave Penn a plastic cup to play with after he had chucked all his baby toys off of his exersaucer (this is his routine when he's playing in that thing).  He gets so excited about cups, it is very entertaining.  I tried to capture it for you to laugh at and enjoy as well.  Oh, yeah, keep an eye out for the silly big brother, Tavin.

Best Buds

Yesterday and today we had the opportunity to have some quality time with some of our favorite playdate friends and one of Tav's best buddies.  Huxley.  These two go way back, well, all the way back to before they were born.  Check it out.  Here's Hilary and I prego with these little guys back in early December 2009.

Tavin and Huck have celebrated birthdays, holidays and just regular days together.  Here's a smattering of photos of these two over the last 3 years.  Starting with June 2010.

About a year later in July 2011... 

Then January 2012.

And now a few photos of these friends at present.  Just as tight, but growing into quite the independent big boys.  Here's yesterday at Hilary's - super silly snacktime.

And then Tavin loved all of Huxley's fun toys including this race track hill.

Today Hilary had a hair appointment down the street from our place, so Huck came over for some play time.  The boys got along even better than yesterday and they were so pleasant that it made for a super special and easy-going morning.  Here they are on a break from reading some books.

And then again, silly snacktime. =)

Huck, we love spending time with you and look forward to lots more memories, fun celebrations and silly snack times.  Lots of love from the Melders (and especially Tavin!).

Penn's Newest Thing

Penn got to try another new thing yesterday.  I stuffed some peeled apple slices into this teething/eating thing.  It's a great little item for babe's like mine that have teeth already and are dying to be gnawing on real foods.  If I were to give him an apple slice to mess with he would certainly bite off small pieces that could choke him or shove it too far into his mouth, so this little tool/toy is a great alternative.  He loved it (and who wouldn't love a cold, hard apple-flavored chew toy?).  He also loves the camera so the first shot he just smiled at me.

In the second shot, I was able to get the picture while he had the thing shoved in his mouth.

Also good news...this kept him happy and engaged for 15 minutes while I cleaned up lunch stuff.  Always a win. =)

New Idea: Resurrection Eggs

I recently stumbled on this idea on a blog I keep an eye on...Resurrection Eggs.  I love good ideas to engage our very young ones in the real meaning of "Christian" holidays like Easter and Christmas.  This one is particularly easy and just a helpful way to have a resurrection-focused quick Bible reading every night for the 12 days leading up to Easter.  I'm excited to see how it goes.  Koen helped by painting the egg carton for the eggs yesterday.

And today I wrote out the Scripture references and put them in the 12 holes of the egg carton and then filled the eggs with the 12 different specified objects.

Tonight is our first night (I wanted to be able to finish up with the 12 days one day before Easter).  I think Koen is a little too excited (he thought the eggs were going to be filled with Legos for him).

Koen Feeds Penn

Lunchtime is always quite a juggling act between lunch prep and service for the big boys while also prepping Penn's baby food and then spoon-feeding him that.  Today was extra chaotic due to Koen and Tavin's intense energy and hunger level, so I decided to include Koen on the process.  He LOVED feeding Penn and Penn was just happy to be getting his food without minute long pauses between every few bites.  Koen was a bit of a tease to get Penn to open wide and laugh.  It was pretty entertaining.  Enjoy the video!

My Little Leprechauns

Happy St. Patrick's Day!   This is a big Pittsburgh holiday as we have quite a large Irish population.  Our parade (yesterday downtown) is actually the 2nd largest in the US I guess.  Well, for our family, St. Patrick's is really just another day, but I did try to get us all in some form or shade of green for church today.  Once we were home I decided to try for a picture of all 3 boys together.  As usual, each picture is interesting and not perfect, so I thought I'd share my favorites which have some good looks of at least 2 out of the 3 each and the combo of all 3 is always entertaining.