Lately

In the midst of summer craziness, blogging has fallen by the wayside. But...in an attempt to catch up, here is a quick peak at what we've been up to lately.

The first weekend in August, we enjoyed our annual long weekend with dear friends in Newport News. Nine adults and seven kids make for a good bit of chaos, but tons of fun as well. We certainly look forward to this weekend every summer and this year was no different!

 The annual photo shoot

 

Of course, it can't be all serious all the time with this crew!

 

 I think that's almost a smile on Brennan's face!

We've also been capturing these last few weeks of summer by spending as much time outside as we can. It includes lots of bike rides, trips to the park and the Children's Museum (they have a couple fantastic outdoor water play areas), and fun in our own backyard.

Brennan the mechanic!

Fun with water

The side benefit to the sprinkler that I bought to help with keeping the garden alive is the fun it gives these water-loving boys!

Trains

In order to celebrate Brennan being potty trained (yes, folks, after a VERY long journey, he is finally completely daytime potty trained!), we spent yesterday morning at the Crewe Railroad Museum. There were several retired train cars we could explore and a nice inside display complete with an impressive model train display. The boys really enjoyed it and it was a great way to celebrate this big milestone in Brennan's life!

 

Swimming

We've thought for a while that it would be wise to put Brennan in swimming lessons. Since we don't have a membership to a pool or really do anything pool related outside of their little wading pool, we didn't really put a whole lot of thought into it. Until...Living Social put out a deal we couldn't pass up. We took the plunge and signed him up. It took a little while for his enthusiasm to perk up (and a little bribery to get him to actually participate in the class), but now he seems to be really enjoying it. We're glad for this opportunity for him to be exposed to a new skill, one that will hopefully serve him well.

Firstfruits

Ah, the beginnings of fresh produce from our garden! Granted, we've already had a healthy helping of cherry tomatoes and green beans, but now we're starting to really get the produce going. It's been fun again this year to see what things we can get to grow and what we may need to really rethink for next year. The boys have also really enjoyed seeing what comes out of the garden. Unfortunately, some sort of four-legged creature has also decided our garden is exciting and has been feasting on my big tomatoes (We may not get any this year because they keep getting eaten whether they are ripe or not. Bummer). But...all things considered, we are pretty pleased with how everything has been going so far. Can't wait for more fun stuff!

4th of July at Lewis Ginter

This morning we took advantage of free admission on the 4th to visit Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.  This was our third time in the last four years making this our special 4th of July outing.  We always enjoy our visits.  Here are some highlights and a little retrospective on our previous visits ... there's a theme!

 We arrived shortly after opening to get into the very popular butterfly exhibit before the lines got too long (wise move, as we saw later).  This "oriole" butterfly (not its real name, but it sure looks like an oriole) tried to hitch a ride to freedom on Brennan's hat!

 The rose garden is always a highlight.  The heat had done a number on many of them this year, but there were still quite a few exemplary specimens.

 

With temps in the mid-90s the water play area was very popular.  Unlike last year, Owen was pretty tentative about getting in and frolicking.

 The ubiquitous kids-in-a-tree shot!  What can I say?  I am a creature of habit, and I love boys in trees!

 Momma and Brennan.

 Big man!

 Very tempting to climb into the fountain.  The kids had a water play area -- what about us adults?

 The boys on the butterfly bench, 2012.

 The boys on the butterfly bench, 2011.

  The boy on the butterfly bench, 2009 (B.O. -- before Owen).

Sermonizing

On Father's Day, John preached at a friend's church in Charlottesville. If you would like to hear his sermon, you can check it out on their website. Enjoy!

Babylon

We just finished our week of VBS 2012. It was the boys' second year of attending and my second year helping out. We all had a blast! The theme of the week was "Babylon", all about the story of Daniel. It was a lot of fun to watch Brennan really start to take an interest in what he was learning and begin to ask questions about it at home. This is definitely one of my favorite weeks of the summer!

 

 

Summertime!

I love lazy summer days...fewer places to be, more time spent just enjoying the days. Lots of playing at the park and riding bikes on the trails and around our neighborhood. Lots of backyard playing and fun in the water table. Trips to the Stoney Point Fountains to cool off. Lots of creating with the train set and with homemade play dough. What a great time of year!

 

 

Summer Tradition

Having gone three summers in a row now, it's become tradition to take the boys blueberry picking. We braved the 90+ degree heat to get our berry treat and had a great time. Brennan loved helping pick the berries. Owen picked a few, but did a pretty good job just simply staying relatively close by, which is a successful outing where he's concerned! Now it's time for all the fun blueberry treats!

 

 

 

 

Everyday Life

About a week and a half ago, a friend from college passed away from cancer. You can read more about his story at his CaringBridge site. Our paths only crossed for a couple of years, but it was long enough to leave a definite impression on me. He was a musician and speaker by trade, and his music expressed a great depth that I truly appreciate. It's poignant to listen to his songs now and realize that he's singing in heaven now, enjoying the wonders and glories that we can only dream of here.

One of my favorite songs by him is called "Everyday Life", a prayer for the presence of God in our daily lives. It's easy to press in to God during the really big highs or lows, but it becomes more difficult during the daily routine challenges of life. As a stay-at-home mom, I find there can be a lot of mundane things in my day-to-day. This song expresses beautifully just how much I need Jesus in the midst of my daily mundane.

"I wish that I could be as set as stone.

Unmoved by all the things that tear my soul.

Held together by a word of hope.

In everyday life.

I wish that I could only hear the voice,

Whispering to me love's only choice,

To bring salvation to this lonely boy,

In every day life.

Everyday life is where I need you most.

Everyday life is what tears my soul.

Everyday life-God I need you close to me.

Breathing only just to stay alive.

Dragging my soul out into the light.

Well aware the biggest fear I fight 

Is everyday life.

All the joy I've known is cast aside,

By all the foolish things that fill my life.

Still I wonder will I survive

This everyday life.

Everyday life.

Everyday life is where I need you most.

Everyday life is what tears my soul.

Everyday life-God I need you close to me."

Father's Day 2012

What a busy day this has been for our family! But what wonderful time we've gotten to spend with family and friends. We started out our day pretty early, heading to Charlottesville where John was scheduled to preach at a friend's church (our former pastor from Orlando is now the senior pastor there). He did a fabulous job preaching on fatherhood!

Since we were in Charlottesville, we opted to head to Carter Mountain on our way back home. We've only ever been there in the fall in order to pick apples, but this time we trekked up the mountain to pick peaches. Our neighbors went last year and brought some back for us, and they were the most amazing peaches. So...11 pounds of peaches later, we are already looking forward to some peach cobbler and peach pie and simply eating peaches.

 

 

 

 

 

Day trip

There are so many reasons to love living in Richmond. One of them is that we are close enough to Washington, D.C., to take some fun day trips. With John's parents visiting this week, we headed to DC for the day yesterday and explored a little of our nation's capitol. We took in the views from the Old Post Office tower and explored the exhibits at the American History Museum and the Natural History Museum. We also learned a valuable lesson on this trip:  try not to plan a trip to DC shortly before school lets out because every middle/high school class in the surrounding area will also be visiting. We will keep that in mind for our next visit and plan accordingly!

 

 

An Early Morning Dialogue

4:10am. I have already been laying awake for a while, so I'm the first out of bed when I hear Brennan start making crying noises (fake crying when he wants attention). I head in to his room to figure out what's going on.

Me:  "What's up, bud?"
Brennan:  "There's something in here."
Me:  "What? What's in here?"
Brennan:  "There's something in here."
Me:  "What's in here?"
Brennan points to his floor lamp, which has been in his room from the very beginning:  "There's a lamp in here."
Me:  "What?!?! Go back to sleep."

Some kids dream up monsters in the closet. Brennan takes issue with a floor lamp. Things that make you go "hmmm".

The Real Deal

Owen is fascinated by the computer. So much so that we got him a toy laptop for Christmas. But...he prefers the real deal. His latest thing is now to climb in the chair, move the mouse around, and type on the keyboard. Sigh. It's hard to get irritated with him when he's this cute!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! I am definitely enjoying all that this day has brought so far (breakfast in bed!) and all that is still to come (grilling dinner and Sweet Frog frozen yogurt--yum!). Definitely treasuring the three precious gifts God has blessed me with:  Brennan and Owen here on earth, sweet baby Ella waiting in heaven but always in my heart. What a gift to be a mama to these!

 

 Wearing our matching shirts to support our team--thanks Grandma and Grandpa P. for the fun gift!

Alternative Uses

Sometimes, when I place a huge order for diapers from Amazon, they arrive in a gigantic box. The box then lends itself to all manner of creativity. For Owen, it became a place to chill out and look at new library books. For Brennan, it became an elevator and a house. For both of them, it was a wonderful object to push all around the house. Hmmm...maybe we could get rid of all their toys and just have a selection of boxes for them to play with!

Golden Afternoon

Spring in Virginia doesn't really get any better than what we've been having lately:  mid- to upper-70s, clear blue sky, gentle breezes. Perfect days for playing outside! Little boys get big spaces to get some big energy out. This mama gets to delight in all the laughter and squeals that ensue from all the activity.

 

 

Season Finale

When we committed to our church, Third at Pump Road, last October, one of the big draws for us was our Missional Fellowship. This small group (which was actually quite large!) was a tremendous blessing to us. We had two semesters worth of great curriculum and loved, loved, loved the fellowship that came with it. This was a group that we did life with. We are so very grateful for our Missional Fellowship! We had a cook-out yesterday to wrap up our time together before taking the summer off. With the size of our group what it is, we are going to be splitting into two separate groups next fall. We had one last hurrah with the entire group (minus two people) before the group becomes two. What a blessing this group has been to us over these last months!

Berries

It's that time of year again. Strawberry season! We love our annual tradition of picking strawberries, something we've been doing since Brennan was a year old. It's been great fun to establish some fun traditions as a family, and this is definitely one of our favorites!

 

Brennan loved helping pick, but Owen preferred to march up and down the rows.

Because sometimes it's just plain fun...

 ...to wear a strainer on your head! These photos are from a couple weeks ago, but to cute to resist posting any longer. Owen even tries at every chance to get the strainer out of the kitchen cupboard and walks around with it saying "hat, hat".