DC Day

This past Saturday, we headed up to DC with our friends Cole and Jared to take in some sights. We spent a good chunk of the morning looking at monuments (for all the other day trips we've done to DC over the past several years, we hadn't yet really done the monuments). We took in the Jefferson Memorial, FDR Memorial, the new MLK Jr. monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. Then John and Jared took the boys for the afternoon so that Cole and I could visit the National Holocaust Museum. We had perfect weather and good hangout time before heading our separate ways for dinner. Already looking forward to our next trip to DC!

 We started at the Jefferson Memorial. The boys were gearing up for a long day of walking ahead. They sure were troopers, though! Plus, they slept great that night!

 In front of one of many water features at the FDR memorial

This was pretty impressive up close!

Lately

Apparently blogging has fallen by the wayside as of late. Despite having only a kindergartner and a preschooler, it feels like our September has gotten insanely busy. Ah, well. We've had lots of good things happening lately, though.

Our whole family attended the second annual "Ride For Life" sponsored by The Family Foundation. John was working it, but the boys and I got to enjoy the speakers and watching the large number of motorcycles who had gathered to show support for the pro-life movement. The boys were crazy excited about seeing all the bikes, and Brennan enjoyed riding his own bike up and down as well.

Speaking of motorcycles...this past Saturday, John took Brennan to a University of Richmond football game. It was a Kids Club evening, so there were fun things for kids to do. A balloon artist was there, working his magic, and Brennan ended up with a balloon motorcycle that was left in the stadium after the artist had left. The boys have both had a great time playing with it!

We were blessed this weekend to also be on the receiving end of a fabulous swingset. Another family in our church had outgrown it and wanted to pass it along to someone with younger kids. We are all so crazy grateful for this gift, as well as for the help of a fellow church member to help us (read:  John) get it taken down, transported, and reassembled. It was nicknamed "Beast" when it was being moved. As you can see from the picture, it's pretty accurate!

Another First Day

Owen started preschool today! He will be attending two mornings a week. We have been so grateful for our preschool and are so glad that he will be heading there again this year.  Dropping him off this year was a much different experience than last year. Oh my, last year he really had some separation anxiety about attending preschool for the first several weeks. This year, he marched right into his classroom and started playing without so much as looking back. Independence is a nice thing, but watching the youngest growing up is a bit bittersweet...

Kindergarten!

Today was the first day of kindergarten! He set off excited, but started to look at little bit nervous as he got on the bus. When we picked him from the bus stop, he was really excited about everything that he got to experience today. I know the excitement won't be there every day, but I am so grateful that his very first day was such a positive experience for him.

 

Transformation

After talking and planning for a LONG time, we finally took the weekend to transform Brennan's room from a single room into a shared room. It has long been our desire to move the boys in to the same room and convert Owen's room into a play room in an attempt to contain some of the toy explosions and take back our living room. This weekend became that long dreamed of weekend full of painting (the room went from tan to Arctic Shadow), assembling, and rearranging. There will still be little details and organization that will happen in the days and weeks to follow. But the room has officially been transformed.

They are so excited about their new beds (Owen will be making the transition from crib to big boy bed this upcoming weekend--we just couldn't do that much transition the night before school starts!) and we are excited about bringing some organization and much needed purging to the toys once Owen's room officially becomes the play area.

A fabulous benefit to shopping at IKEA is getting to see some dear friends who live near there. The boys loved hanging out with their kids and experiencing some backyard trampoline fun! 

 The look of a boy experiencing the top bunk for the very first time

 The finished product :)

 

He chose his bedding himself (monster trucks) and is SO excited about his new bed