Hello Noah

Parker has followed through on his promise to try more vegetables and he has actually slept through the night for 3 nights in a row.  For those of you that don't know, we have been in the new house about 8 weeks and this is the first time he hasn't been up in the middle of the night so its a big deal!  Grandma Dawn promised Parker a fish if he tried more vegetables and she delivered.  It took a few days for the fish to get a name but Parker decided on Noah.  Noah is the name of a boy that was at Parker's daycare from age 2-4 and Parker misses playing with him so he picked that name.  "Now I will have a friend named Noah to play with again", how cute is that!

Crosby decided he was going to put on mom's shoes in the closet, not sure what this means for the future: )  Right now he loves shoes, cleaning and laundry.... and eating of course.

Jon and Jenny attending a wedding in GB and stayed at the house last weekend.  Parker had a blast playing with Jon.  First they played dominos with Jenga blocks and then they decided to be reptile hunters.  Parker had so much fun he cried when it was time for them to leave.  He is such a caring kid and loves every minute that people spend with him.  Hopefully he never takes that time for granted.

Noah plunging into his new home

Parker checking it out

Fish kisses

Grandma and Parker

So much love and happiness

Crosby putting Pen's shoes on

We are in trouble!

Jon and Parker setting up blocks

Nice work boys, now knock'em down

Reptile hunters

Jackpot, they caught "charcoal" the
 biggest snake in the house

MN Visit - Day One

The family hopped in the man van after picking Parker up from school on Friday and drove thru the cities to Alexandria MN. Traffic was surprisingly good the entire way.  The boys slept pretty well once we got settled down for the night.   Saturday was a blast, we were able to see pretty much the whole family and the weather was nice enough to be outside.  Enjoy the pictures, we are getting ready for day 2 here.  What could be in store?  Family pictures, playing with the cousins and much more!

Grandma Teresa and Crosby

Parker was playing frisbee with everyone

Grandpa Steve and the boys

Parker couldn't be more excited

OK, this is embarrassing...for Crosby!
And that's why I posted it.
Good old #2 with everyone watching 

Cousins catching up and playing.

Football time

Love birds

Watering the flowers for Grandma Porter

All the kids playing with Jeffrey

Natalie and Crosby sharing the football

QB in the making

Uncle Jeffrey and the kids.  You have no idea
how much Parker loves the
time he has with the family.

1st day of school

9/1/2011

Parker woke up today, took a shower, ate breakfast (a huge bowl of cereal), had his vitamins, brushed his teeth, spiked his hair and was ready for his first day of school.  Crosby seemed just as excited as Parker which was pretty cool but Penny was definitely the most pumped.  In fact, we forgot to make lunch for Parker.   Good thing we paid for the lunch program the night before.  Parker told me he had to eat a hamburger but he didn't eat the bun.  He also picked chocolate milk for snack time and then white milk for lunch (maybe the talks about healthy choices are paying off!)  Sounds like day one was a success, he was excited about the whole day and is ready for more.  Tomorrow they are doing gym class and testing out the new shoes, should be interesting.  After school we are headed to MN to visit the family for the weekend.  Can't wait, Crosby has to show off his walking skills.

The boys after breakfast

The classic 1st day of school picture

Love this picture

En route to Hemlock Creek

Walking to the playground

No 1st day jitters with this kid

Like I said, Penny was pretty excited and proud today

One more with mom on day 1 of school

It begins, boys hanging with boys

In line and headed to class

Crosby has no fear, he walked around the
playground like he owned the place

Happy 1st Birthday Crosby

Thanks everyone for making Crosby's birthday so much fun!

Crosby's getting ready before everyone arrived

The kids were sooooo excited!

Parker helped pick the first gift to open,
it was the biggest one.
Crosby knew exactly what to do, rip it open!

Madisyn picked out a winner!  Look at that smile!

Smash cake....

Not sure what to do but he was smiling as usual....

What a mess but it was worth every minute

Time for a bath!

We're back

No new house pics right now, we will get some taken soon.  We have been without internet for almost 3 weeks so the posts have been delayed.  The house is coming along slowly, its hard to commit to anything right now so its pretty empty, especially on the walls.  This week we celebrate Crosby's 1st birthday, can't believe he is going to be 1 already.

It has been a busy 3 weeks.  We moved and are working the vendors to finish little things in the house.  Spent a day in Door County on the beach, think we should get a pool b/c the kids love being in the water.  2 weekends ago we went with the Berggren's to Rhinelander to enjoy the cottage and the lake.  Parker and Brian were crazy on the jet ski and the tubes.  I think Parker is ready to try waterskiing but we'll probably wait until next year.  Pen and Parker went school shopping for supplies, soon he will be off to school full-time, crazy.  Busy summer but it has been a good one.

Crosby went to Snips and Giggles for his first haircut this weekend.  Both boys had their first haircut there, they do such a nice job of working with the little ones.  Parker wants to grow his hair out like Brian so he didn't let us touch it with a scissors but he did lets us spike it up.

That's it for now.

Before

Don't worry, we kept the curls.

Parker with his spiky hair

Our baby boy playing after his haircut.

2 weeks and counting

Today we stopped at the new house to see how the carpet installation was going and it was totally finished.  The house looks great.  We need to do some serious cleaning!  This week the house should be complete.  There are some small things that need to be worked on this week but we are so ready.  Looking to move in 2 weeks from now.

A shirtless Mellenthin...
get ready neighborhood,
we are coming soon!

Our room

Our closet (more Penny's than mine)

The boys rooms (the are identical)

Living Room with carpet

Living Room again

Stairs...Crosby climbed all the way up
without help on the first try.

Basement Living/Play area

Parker was catching flies and releasing them

Crosby finally got to crawl around the
house and he was super excited