The Big 5!

Brennan turned five years old yesterday! We celebrated the birthday boy by taking a trip to the Science Museum of Virginia, eating at his two favorite places for lunch (Chick-fil-A and Sweet Frog), a special outing with Daddy to go swimming in the pool at Grandma and Grandpa Downer's hotel, and pancakes for dinner. Cupcakes and presents were also a must!

We have loved watching Brennan blossom from little boy into big boy. Preschool has been a wonderful experience for him. He's been learning and growing so much during just the few months he's been there. He loves books and music and loves to sing some of the songs he's been learning. He's such a joy to us and we are so very grateful that God gave us Brennan!

Merry (belated) Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

 

 Brennan got his own tablet and has been having a blast learning how to play it!

 

Owen is our budding chef. He loves his new cooking stuff! 

Outing

One of the (many) things that I love about living in Richmond is that we are close enough to Washington, D.C., to make the occasional day trip up there. Yesterday was one of those occasions because John's parents are visiting for Christmas. We braved the cold weather (the wind chill was below freezing!) and scoped out the National Christmas Tree. None of us had ever seen it in person before. We discovered that around the base of the tree is a ton of model train displays, which absolutely captivated both boys. Every state and territory also creates ornaments for their own small tree which all surround the National Christmas Tree. Pretty impressive display!

Couldn't quite get the sign, but these are the Virginia boys by the Virginia tree!

 Part of the fun of having a new camera is testing out some of the fun features and settings on it.

 

The sole museum we visited on this trip was the Newseum, a museum entirely dedicated to news history. We spent a good three hours there and felt like we could have used a second day to go through everything. There were some pretty impressive exhibits, including actual portions of the Berlin Wall, a radio tower recovered from the World Trade Center, and a beautiful exhibit featuring the Pulitzer Prize winning photographs since the 1940s. Definitely worth it.

 The Berlin Wall

The radio tower from the WTC

Weekend

We got to see our friends, the Bredbenners, this past weekend (a bonus to visiting the IKEA that's in their neck of the woods). A trip to a park and decorating gingerbread houses were on the agenda for the day. It was a lot of fun for all involved! So very glad to have these dear friends in our lives!

 

 Uncle John and Corban having a "Darth Vader" fight at the playground

A work in progress

 Owen's finished product

Brennan's finished product

Box Fun

It's always fun to get a giant box. That means lots of decorating room (and even space for two little guys to fit side by side!).

 

BTLOG

Last night, we went to Andrew Peterson's "Behold The Lamb Of God" concert. For the fourth time since 2006. Can't. Get. Enough. Billed as "the true tall tale of the coming of Christ", it's become something of a tradition for us to go. Thankfully, he comes to Richmond every other year so we plan months in advance to clear our calendars for that night and attend.

If you've never been to this concert, plan now to come to Richmond in two years to attend with us. If you've never heard the album before, this is a must-listen. With a combination of fantastic musicianship and brilliant lyrics, he begins at the beginning of the Old Testament and it ultimately culminates with the birth of Christ. For both John and I, this goes far beyond music; it's truly become one of the best sermons we've ever heard.

If you've never heard anything from this album before, check out probably the most creative song:  "Matthew's Begats".

Can't recommend this highly enough. Already looking forward to two years from now (Brennan will be old enough to attend then--at almost seven years old--how scary is that?!?)!

A Mother's Heart

Brennan totally melted this mama's heart last night during our nightly devotional/prayer time. We came up with prayer list of people that we pray for regularly. Tuesdays are evenings that we pray for me. Brennan was sitting next to John, but during the middle of his prayer for me, Brennan moved over to where I was sitting on the other couch. He wrapped his almost five-year-old arms around me, laid his head down on me and said "I love you, Mama." I about melted. Brennan has never been very effusive with things like that, so this was the first time I can ever remember him taking the initiative to tell me that he loves me. Love that boy.

The thing that has been filling this mama's heart about Owen lately is how much he loves to "cook" in the kitchen. When we drop Brennan off at preschool, he immediately begins asking to go home to cook. I've been finding more excuses to be in the kitchen in the mornings lately to give him chances to actually help instead of just pretending. He was tickled this morning to get to help hold the mixer and stir things as we were making bread. His complete joy over getting to "cook" fills my heart. Love that boy.

Ella makes my heart a little heavy, especially this Christmas. Sometimes I want to get angry over the unfairness of life; this should have been our first Christmas with three. But when I find myself starting to get sad or angry, I find comfort in asking Jesus to give her a big hug from me and to let her know how much she is loved and missed. Can't wait to get to heaven to give her my own big hug! So...instead of another "first Christmas" ornament on our tree this year, Ella gets a different, special ornament. One that reminds us of how much more wonderful her Christmas will be this year (and every year). Miss that girl.

Holiday Weekend

For the time in nearly five years of living in Richmond, we braved the crowds downtown to attend the Grand Illumination celebration. It was a fun atmosphere and we got to see the Christmas lights go on for the season downtown.

 

 

The next morning, we got to watch the Richmond Christmas Parade from the comforts of the Convention Center, complete with breakfast and activities for the kids. It's become a tradition for us the last three years. What made this year more fun was that both boys were keenly interested in watching the parade this year. The biggest hit for Owen, though, was watching a semi drive by on the street behind the parade!

Long Weekend Recap

We were so grateful to have a four-day weekend with lots of fun family time and some great times with good friends. Raking and blowing leaves were one of the big projects we tackled this weekend. We love our yard and love our trees, but this is the time of year when it's hard to remember why!

See if you can locate Brennan in this picture!

It was also time to appease the littles and set up the Christmas tree! There is a rather large fascination with Christmas lights, so getting the tree set up and decorated was one of the highlights for the weekend for the boys.

 

  

We capped off the weekend with a visit to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens for their Garden Fest of Lights with some dear friends. For little boys that love Christmas lights, this was a perfect outing for them! There were Christmas lights everywhere in the garden, including some pretty impressive light sculptures. Our favorite was a giant dragon over the path that you walked through! There was also an entire room of model trains that I wasn't quite sure we'd ever get Owen out of. It was a great way to cap off the Thanksgiving weekend and get us ready for the Christmas season.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

No, that's not our family, but I've been lazy with the camera lately, so this is the best I can do. Enjoy :)

Thanksgiving Feast

Yesterday was the Thanksgiving Feast at the boys' preschool. All the kids sang a song and then we had a big potluck lunch. It was a lot of fun to get to see Brennan and Owen up front in their first school performance!

That time of year

It's that time of year again when our trees begin shedding their leaves and needles, thus requiring large of amounts of raking and blowing on our part. We started getting the yard cleaned up last weekend and began making the "wall" in front of our house (the county will come by and vacuum up all the leaves and pine needles to make mulch; we just have to get everything to the curb), which we anticipate to grow even larger as the weeks pass. But...of course after all the hard work, there needed to be a little bit of fun!

 

 

Quick Wrap-Up

We had a great few days with my parents during their visit, despite a couple of pretty rainy and windy days that drove us inside. The boys loved getting lots of extra attention and Brennan was thrilled to get a special shopping outing with Grandma and Grandpa!

We took some time on their last full day with us to visit a Civil War battlefield near Petersburg. The adults learned a good bit about what took place there and the boys enjoyed all the outdoor time, complete with lots of running and checking out the cannons!

 

 

Apple Time

My parents are here visiting for the next few days (just in time to ride out a hurricane!), and the boys, Brennan especially, are incredibly excited for a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Prechel! It's the first time we've seen them since last Christmas, so we are very grateful for a long overdue gathering.

We spent yesterday afternoon out at Carter Mountain Orchard for our annual apple picking. This was the first year we've ever gone so late in the season, but were still able to get a lot of good cooking and eating apples. It was great fun to get to share this annual fall trip with the grandparents!

An attempt to reach some high up apples!

 

Hmmm...should I pick an apple or run down the rows? Such a tough decision...

 

WEAG Fall Festival

West End Assembly of God's (WEAG) annual Fall Festival has become a Downer family tradition, and this year was no exception.  Even last year's cold and rainy night didn't dissuade us.  Fortunately, last night was pretty mild and the rain held off until about 7:30, when we were leaving.

Owen enjoyed a few games (especially the ones that involved water or throwing things) and looking at the assembled fire and police trucks.  Later he got brave and did one of the big inflatable slides and then, confidence bolstered, he did a big-boy bounce house that also had a slide in it.  Go Owen!

Brennan was great at the games - especially the bowling one - and enjoyed sitting in the driver's seat of the police mobile command unit.  He also enjoyed a bounce house and several trips down the big inflatable slides.

A good time was had by all!

Owen the Triceratops and Brennan the Lion!

Look out world!  This lion can operate pedals.

The headgear didn't last long, but he couldn't do anything about that tail.

Even lions need a snuggle once in a while.

That's one happy dinosaur!

Just because...

...it's too fun to wear underwear as a hat!