Brief Weekend Update

This weekend went so quickly!  It was packed with lots to do and lots of fun in between.  Here's a quick breakdown.  

On Friday, I had Koen's parent/teacher conference (and therefore he had no school).  Doug was on kid duty while I went to the conference.  Koen got great reviews and despite some tough (albeit totally normal 7 year old boy stuff) behaviors at home, thankfully at school he's really holding his composure and is enjoying learning just as much as I thought he was (he loves school!).  It was a positive way to start the day.  Next I stopped at Home Depot to once again pick up some paint.  Yep, that's right.  The kitchen wasn't enough, might as well repaint the dining room since the first floor is a wreck right now.  I've been wanting to paint it for a long time, so seemed like the perfect opportunity.  My sweet friend Taylor agreed to help me with it and Doug was on kid duty.  He took Koen and Penn to the library and out on errands, then picked up Tav from preschool and took them all out to lunch before returning for naptime.  Taylor and I were done by 4pm (started at about 11am).  She is such a fun painting buddy!  We chat and work hard and feel so accomplished when it's done.  Here's a glimpse of the old paint (covered with paint options the day before painting).

And here's the finished product (with the mess around of course).

Doug had to head out just as the project finished up.  He took Koen and Tavin with him to a wedding rehearsal he had to do up in Wexford because then from there they headed to the Penguins game!  Doug had found out earlier in the day that he had free tickets from a friend.  He was excited to take the boys.  For Tavin, it was his first real hockey game (he had attended scrimmages in the past).  Tav was thrilled.  Can you tell?

The game went to a shoot out and unfortunately the Pens ended up losing.  Thankfully it was Light Up Night in Pittsburgh, so right when the game let out the boys got to see fireworks being set off from the river and all the city's lights ablaze from every building and bridge.  That'll cheer you up.

On Saturday, the boys had early swim lessons at 9am.  We went out as a family and I ran an errand with Penn while Doug watched the boys swim.  They are both enjoying their classes so much, it's worth the drive and early Saturday morning rush.  Although we do look forward to when the British Swim School comes to the city in 2015!  We returned home briefly after lessons before again leaving as a family to meet a dear friend, Miss Megan Magee, for lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse in the Strip District.  Whenever she comes to town she manages to get us into her busy social calendar and we all appreciate it so much.  Thanks, Megan!  Sorry I didn't get a pic of you and the boys this time!  After lunch, it was naptime again and then Doug had to head out to do that wedding and go to the Saturday night service at Oakland.  So it was me and the boys.  We had a very nice, low key indoor evening.  I think we all need to chill after the busy days!  I got all the boys down by 7:15pm too.  The older ones were exhausted from their late night the day before.

Today we woke up to much warmer temps and we went to the 9am service at church and then headed to the playground at Schenley for some good fresh air time.  It was beautiful!  The boys ran around and collected sticks for a project later this week (Thanksgiving place cards...stay tuned).  And then lots of hide and seek and swinging and playing.  I did snap this picture of Penn who totally surprised me up at the top of this playground structure!

We headed home at lunchtime and then it was naptime.  Lately I've been using naptime to reorganize the kitchen cabinets since about 2/3 of them are installed.  It's quite a mental game and it is time consuming, but I like an organizing project (minus the fact it means I'm on my feet all of naptime which is when I usually catch a little feet-up time).  After naptime I got the boys back out to a playground until it was getting dark.  We arrived home in time for me to get dinner on the table, then it was bathtime and bedtime.  Unfortunately the last 2 hours of the day were high stress and high emotion amongst the boys and I.  They are really pushing with pulling each other down with sillyness sometimes and other times complete disobedience towards me or meanness towards each other and it is totally grating my nerves!!  I shed a few tears tonight, but thankfully all in all things ended OK and everyone went to sleep with a prayer and kisses and loves.  Doug's out of town again for a few days and tonight I felt like I might not have the grace and patience to make it through, but I'm hopeful it'll be OK when I wake up tomorrow hopefully refreshed and ready to start fresh with the boys.  They are great kids, I just can't let myself get caught up in every little thing.  Relax, chill out, ignore a little, stay consistent and love on them.  That's my advice to myself tomorrow.  Pray I can do it!

A Little Glimpse of Life this Week

Here's just a glimpse of what we've been up to this week...

Monday we woke up to FREEZING temperatures.  Koen was excited to head to the bus stop with tons of gear on, all prepared.

The next day we stepped it up a notch with a scarf (to be like Daddy and even warmer).

On Monday I attempted to host a playdate with a new mom from our church community, but it was a complete fail since that was the day we ran into the kitchen glitch that halted the project and so I spent about an hour of her hour and a half here with the contractor or on the phone.  I feel like I'm totally off my hosting game these days!!  Thankfully she was sweet and totally just entertained her daughter and Penn and completely understood, but I felt awful!  Clearly I got no pictures during the few moments I spent with she and her daughter.  On Tuesday, Penn and Tav and I had a fun playdate at my friend Bethany's house.  Tavin loves her little guy, Will.  Bethany and I are kindred spirits that used to work together and the time always flies with all we have to cover and catch up on and I again forgot to snap pics of the boys and their friend!  Oops!  On Tuesday I developed some horrible laryngitis from a terrible cold, so Wednesday we had a pretty chill day, just some errands (the Home Depot of course was included) and lots of at home time trying to rest my voice while parenting three boys.  Today we had a full day starting with Tav's speech therapy at 9:15am.  Usually it's in the afternoon on Fridays, but this week we had to switch it.  Penn tagged along happily as usual. We dug up this retro peg lite toy in the observation room.  He loved it.

After speech, we headed out on a few errands (yep, Home Depot included again).  Then we got home in time for baby Marshall to visit for a few hours in which he mostly napped, then ate a little lunch (meant to get a picture of the cuteness...he's such a little love!).  Then it was time for Penn to go down and Tav to rest.  When Koen got home his buddy, Ellie, hung out for a bit waiting for her mom to pick her up.  Koen was thrilled.  This meant some time to play with their Pokemon cards.  He has a very small collection, but he is so attracted to this game because so many friends at school participate.  I'm not even sure he completely gets it, but he's so social, he's just happy to be in on it with his peers.  Ellie is an aficionado on the subject, so he loves some extra time with her to play and figure it out more.

After Ellie left, I loaded the boys up in the van for some playtime and dinner at a friend's house.  Such a blessing, especially without a fully functioning kitchen!  My friend Deborah and her husband, Grant, hosted us and the boys were so excited to spend some time with their kids Miles, Claire and Hazel.  Before dinner they played a ton all over the house and even a little outside, but after dinner, they settled into some priceless puppet and magic shows.  Tavin and Claire started it off with a story about an alligator eating Little Red Riding Hood.  Tav got to be the alligator.  Hilarious.  Check out the audience too.  I was impressed the big boys would sit and watch the younger siblings.

Then Miles and Koen used a cute set of "magic tricks" that Miles had to put on a magic show.  So cute!  

Penn was hilarious watching the shows.  He would laugh if everyone else laughed and he was so happy to sit in a little chair next to Claire.  Too cute!

It was a great night.  So nice to do something different and enjoy a meal around a table with another family we love so much.  Thanks Deborah and Grant for opening your home to us tonight.  It was a blessing to all of us!

It's Project Time, Part VII

Does it seem like these Kitchen Project posts just keep going on and on???  Well, they do.  That's because the Kitchen Project just keeps going on and on and on.  I had such high hopes that November 25th it would all be over, but unfortunately we hit a snag this week that has again pushed the completion date into December (exact date still unknown).  Here's where we are now.  Upper cabinets are installed, but lack the crown molding.  But at least we can see the fresh, clean look that is to come! 

Island is set (it actually also has doors and pulls now too).

And the pantry has been installed, including its pull-out drawers.  Our old pantry was amazing and it was quite a mental challenge to redo my whole organizational system, but I'm having fun brainstorming it.  I think I'm about 50% of the way there.

Now that the painting in the kitchen is done (well, I'll have a lot of touching up to do after the cabinets get finished being installed), it's time to move on to the dining room.  Only problem is I am having the worst time picking a color.  I want something bright and airy, but that also has warmth and it needs to flow from the gray of the kitchen to the brown of the living room.  I know it's a trivial thing, but I just can't decide!  Doesn't help that my favorite color looks way too much like the living room color when the sun has gone down even though it's several shades lighter.  

Speaking of paint indecisiveness...Penn and Tav deserve a shout-out for their numerous trips to Home Depot with lots of patience and some super cuteness.  Who's that hiding behind the painter's tape?

And did you notice what's in Penn's hand?  Yep, that's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  We've been at Home Depot a few times a week lately and every time we grab a friendly, singing reindeer or other toy from the display next to the front door and the boys are immediately happy throughout the trip and then they happily leave them back at the display on the way out with the other animals (I'm guessing because Home Depot has become such a normal spot for us, they just assume we'll probably be back tomorrow!).  Here are the boys just hanging out with their pals.

And a video of Tav enjoying his puppy choice dance to song.

Well, that's about it for the project update.  By Thanksgiving we should have all the cabinet installed and hopefully maybe even all the trim and details done.  We should also have the new fridge in and the template taken for the granite.  That will leave only the granite installment left to bring our project to completion.  Here's hoping there are no more delays!  I can't wait to have my kitchen back and get organized, cooking and baking again!

Daddy's Back, Gramma's Gone

Late Thursday night Doug got back from the Dominican, although the boys didn't get to see him until Friday morning.  He had to work that morning, but spent the afternoon hanging out with his bugs.  We are all thrilled to have Daddy back!!  It did mean though that it was almost time for my mom to leave.  We all went out for a fun dinner at the Sharp Edge on Friday night to celebrate being all back together and Gramma's last night in town.  We were so happy all together that none of us brought our phones and I forgot my camera.  So no pictures of this fun dinner out.  Thankfully today I got a final shot of Koen and Tavin with Gramma at swim lessons before we dropped her off at the airport.  Super sweet swimmers with their Gramma!

Doug hung out with Penn Rye while I had the big boys at swimming lessons and dropping off Gramma at the airport.  Then when we got home at 11am, Doug got the big boys right back out the door for some fun Daddy time.  (And I got some chill Penn time).  First they headed to Marty's diner in the Strip District.  It was a hit!

Then they went to the Heinz History Center which was free for the day!!  And to top if all off, it was National Pickle Day, so they got little pickle buttons and got to do pickle taste testing.  They are huge pickle fans, so they were thrilled.  They are also big George Washington fans and were happy to run into this George Washingtonasaurus.  =)

The Heinz History Center includes a cool Sports History section.  Tav posed as a Penguins goalie.  Super cute!  One scary little dude (not really, he's too adorable).

Although it's hard to say bye to my mom, thankfully I know she will be back in 6 weeks or so for Christmas.  That makes it a little easier.  And of course, having Daddy back is huge!  Thanks for spending so much quality time with the boys today, babe.  We are all glad you are back!

It's Project Time, Part VI

As usual, it's been an exciting few days in the land of chaos!  This kitchen project really keeps me on my toes (well, ok, so my kids keep me on my toes too, but right now with the project, the kids, pregnancy and life in general I'm doing quite the tap dance!).  So on Sunday my friend Taylor and I painted the kitchen.

On Tuesday, I sold the pantry!  Yay!  I'll miss this amazing piece, but we had to get a new one that would match the rest of the cabinets.  The new owners will love it though (and he just happens to be a pastor too!).

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I painted all the baseboards and trim that will be put back in the kitchen once the cabinets go in.  This picture is pre-paint and about half of what I had to do.

Yesterday (Thursday), our cabinets were delivered!  A pretty amazing turn around time of one and a half weeks since I put in the official order/payment.  The Lord keeps providing in these practical ways to keep this project going and funded.  I'm so thankful!  I came home to the cabinet truck pulling up and it was snowing, so of course, it felt like Christmas!  Merry Christmas to me!

This morning our contractor was here to start installing the cabinets.  We had a few complications and questions to work around with the cabinet people, so while I was engrossed in that, Gramma hung out with Penn in the playroom.  She caught this adorable picture.  Somehow he posed perfectly!  Precious!

Later Penn and I ventured into the kitchen to see how the cabinet work was going while the contractor was on lunch break.  We didn't mean to coordinate so well with the paint colors.  Ha!  You can see a glimpse of the cabinets behind us.

That's it for now.  Next week hopefully lots of progress installing the cabinets on Monday and Tuesday and then the granite company comes to take final measurements for the countertops and then those will be installed a week later.  We are getting sooooo close!

School Boy Updates

This week Koen's animal report came to culmination in an Open House Zoo Day in his classroom that all the other elementary grades were invited to, as were the parents of the 2nd and 3rd graders.  It was so fun to get to see him in his element, with his peers and watch him represent his hard work.  His teacher told me that he actually asked if he could work through snack time, just to do some more research and add to his report.  Love it!  Here are the couple pictures I grabbed of Koen, the Red-Tailed Hawk expert.

Good job, Koen!  You exhibited so much hard work in this project and I loved your desire to do it with excellence and enthusiasm!

Now for Tavin...  Today I got to have the parent/teacher conference with Tav's preschool teacher.  It was so fun to see his hard work, hear about the friendships he's making and the strengths he's showcasing in his classroom.  His teacher particularly pointed out his desire to well in his work, how he tries hard and most of all how he is so caring with his peers.  Great review, Tavin!  Tav was actually grabbing lunch with Doug while I was at the conference, but I got a text with a picture of our dapper, adorable preschooler.  Keep up the good work, Tavin!

Daddy Flies Out, Gramma Flies In

On Saturday we had to again bid farewell to Douglas.  We had a nice family morning first though thankfully and then just as we dropped him off, we picked up my mom (yay for Gramma!).  

Anyways, back to our morning.  Koen and Tavin started some new swim lessons.  They are unfortunately all the way out in Robinson, but after just one lesson, I'm telling you it's worth it!  Our gym lessons were nice, but not very organized and didn't prove extremely helpful due to large class size and not much routine.  These swimming lessons (British Swim School) are organized and productive.  As a former swim instructor myself, I was thrilled with the instructors and their approach.  I can't wait to see how the boys thrive.  They both did really well in their first lesson.  Here's a picture of them in their class-color swim caps.  So cute!

Doug hung out with Penn (so he wouldn't be jealous about getting in the pool) and they had a lovely, chilly nature walk.  Penn had a blast!

After swim lessons, we all did some errands together (which I thought was fun, but I think Doug was sort of over it after our second store).  Then we had a quick lunch at Chick-fil-A before dropping Doug off at the airport and picking up Gramma.  Having to say goodbye to Douglas/Daddy, was made a lot easier by at the same exact time saying hello to my mom/Gramma.  Right after the airport, we headed to little Marshall's first birthday party (a shared party with his little friend, Lincoln).  Here's a few shots I got of them "eating" their first cake.  Happy Birthday Lincoln and Marshall!!

From there we finally took Gramma home (we had been out of the house since 8:15am!).  We've had relatively simple days since she arrived, although I've been cramming in as much work on the kitchen project in as possible with the backup.  For instance, on Sunday, my friend Taylor came over for the afternoon and evening to paint the kitchen and Gramma had Melder boy duty.  The weekdays are flying by with the school routine, etc.  Gramma is finding lots of time to bond with Tavin and especially Penn this trip (Penn has no time constraints except naptime =)).  Tavin has learned how to play "Sorry."  He asks Gramma to play every afternoon.  He is getting good at it!

We've had some beautiful Fall days, so we've been getting the boys out in the fresh air as much as possible.  Gramma has been a huge help doing much of the swing-pushing (Tav and Penn are sooooo into the swings!!).  Here's Penn swinging on Gramma's lap with "Barkers."  Penn doesn't like to let Gramma out of his sight!

This morning Gramma and I took the little guys to Farmhouse Playground at Highland Park.  Tav and Gramma had a little walk to explore.

Penn was waiting for their return.  Hi "Bah-Bah" (that's how he says "Gramma").

Penn got some attention from Gramma though too (on the swings of course).

This evening we got all 3 back out to Osceola before the sun set.  Koen was running around with kids his age, so I still haven't caught a pic of him with Gramma yet, but of course, there was more swing time for the little guys and Gramma.

So far our week without Doug is going along well.  Can't wait for his return, of course, but so thankful for my mom being here for backup and company (and just some much needed time together!).