Visitor

My mom came out last Thursday to spend a few days with us. What a treat to have Grandma Prechel around! The boys loved having Grandma on their turf and showing her the fun things in their world. We took some time on Saturday to head to the National Zoo and enjoy some of the beautiful fall weather before it turned colder. She flew back home to Minnesota this morning (back to below freezing temps!) and Owen has already expressed a couple times that he misses Grandma. Already looking forward to future visits!

 Bathroom humor is all the rage between our boys. Owen was THRILLED to get to hold actual (sterilized and coated) elephant dung!

Party Time

Brennan experienced his first Halloween party and costume parade at school. He was pretty excited about the party atmosphere, getting to dress up in his costume, and have Mama and brother come to his classroom. Just another first on this crazy adventure of school!

 With not much to occupy a preschooler, this is one way Owen spent his time in Brennan's classroom:  trying on the headphones

The costumed class

Festival

Last night, we attended the WEAG fall festival. It's become a yearly tradition for us, and this year we were grateful that it wasn't raining like it has done in years past! Brennan went dressed as a fireman and Owen went at Thomas the Tank Engine. After games, treats, and moonbounces last night, they are eager to put their costumes back on and go out trick or treating on Thursday night!

Apple Picking

John and Brennan both had this past Monday off, and with five days straight of rain and drizzle, this family needed to get out of the house! We trekked off to Carter Mountain for our annual apple picking. The mountain was quite muddy and slippery, but it was still nice to get outside and enjoy the scenery and fresh air!

(Sorry the photos look a little strange. I just discovered the camera was on a strange setting!)

October 15th

October 15th. Until last year, it was just another date on the calendar. Last year, it took on new meaning. October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. All around the world, at 7pm tonight, people will light candles to create a wave of light across the globe to remember those babies that aren't here with us. We'll light a candle tonight to remember Ella. Without anything tangible to hold on to, it's easy for let her memory fade. Lighting our candle tonight is one simple way to remember her, to acknowledge the reality of our sweet baby girl who lives in heaven. If you feel so inclined, help us remember Ella (and other babies that aren't here with us) tonight.

Indelible Grace

A few years ago, I was introduced to a musical community called Indelible Grace. For those not familiar with them, they are a collection of Christian artists take old, old hymns and set them to new music with the hope of reintroducing to each generation the beauty of hymns. This was really my first introduction to hymns besides well-known ones and the ones I grew up singing in the Lutheran church.

When we started attending our current church about two years ago, hymns were a big part of our weekly worship. Something about the lyrics captured me and hasn't let me go. The thing about hymns that is so appealing is that they go beyond the fluff that characterizes so much of Christian worship music today. There is a depth and richness to them that I find lacking in a lot of the contemporary repetitiveness of modern worship music.

John and I attended a concert given by Matthew Smith, one of the founders of Indelible Grace, last Friday. We've had some changes to our church worship over the past several months which has resulted in rarely singing hymns on Sunday mornings. That concert was truly food for a soul that is weary of the fluff and hungry for songs with substance. It also made me think about what my favorite hymns are. So...I thought I would share. If you have a favorite hymn, let us know in the comments :)

5.  "Jesus I Come (Out of My Bondage)"

4.  "By Thy Mercy"

3.  "All Must Be Well"

2.  "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go"

1.  "On Jordan's Stormy Banks"

(It was HARD to narrow it to just the Top Five! And, really, the top three all rank about equal!)

Pumpkins

Today was Owen's pumpkin patch field trip with all the three-year-old classes at preschool. The drizzle and mud (it has rained here for three days straight) made for an interesting morning. Owen was so excited to go and pick out a pumpkin; he's been begging for a pumpkin for weeks now! He loved the hayride and playing with the toys at the farm. Actually picking out the pumpkin was a little anticlimactic for him; as soon as he chose one, he was ready to head out. All in all, a good morning out.

 Surveying the options

 The final selection

Exploring the hay maze (and he did find his way through without help!)

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

Almost There

The start of kindergarten is just days away! Brennan has been eagerly waiting for this major milestone all summer long. Today we got to attend an open house at school, where we all saw his classroom and met his teacher, Mrs. Hass, for the very first time. We've been talking up how great kindergarten will be, but I think the reality is now hitting him that this is something that will actually be happening. On the way home, we asked him if he was looking forward to school starting and the reply was "sort of". Ready or not, when Tuesday rolls around he'll be heading off for a big, new adventure!

Conversations

I've had some interesting conversations with Brennan lately. It's been amazing to me that, a year and a half later, he remembers and still talks about his baby sister. We went for months without a mention of her, and then suddenly I've had three conversations with him about her in the last couple of weeks.

Watching coverage of the royal baby, Brennan suddenly asks me where baby Ella is. I have to answer that she lives in heaven with Jesus. That satisfies him.

Walking around our neighborhood this past weekend, a family hosting a birthday party gave Brennan and Owen each a pink balloon. As we headed home, Brennan turned to me and said that we were going to have a baby sister soon and her name was going to be Ella. Again, all I can say is that she lives in heaven with Jesus. This time, he asks why. No words. No answers. Just a tiny life cut short for reasons that we'll never understand this side of heaven.

Yesterday, playing with bubbles, the boys like to pretend that the bubbles go to heaven. Can Ella see them? Maybe. Then Brennan asks me what Ella looks like. Again, no words, no answers. I tell him that I don't know, that we'll find out what she looks like when we get to heaven.

Now, all these conversations have also given me the chance to explain, as best as I can to a five-year-old, how a person gets to heaven--salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. His heart is open, he listens.

Heaven. That place I never really gave much thought to for so long--just chalked it to that "someday" place I'll go when I die. Now it has become the home of our only baby girl. How I ever long for that home these days. We'll get to see Ella for the very first time and finally Brennan will have the answer to his question of what she looks like. He'll probably even get the answer to his question of why she died, if it will even matter once we are all together and reunited.

Life has moved on without her here with us. But the questions still linger. And we always point to heaven, to the One who called her there after such a brief existence with us. Heaven. Can't wait to get there for that wonderful reunion!

Lately

Owen has really been into bubbles lately. He loves watching them, creating them, and asking where they go. When he asked Brennan yesterday where bubbles go, Brennan told them that they go up to heaven. Such a sweet brotherly moment. I'm so grateful for such a big bubble stash as well, since this has been a summer of bubble love!

Our big goal for this summer has been to potty train Owen. He's going to be attending preschool again this fall, two days a week, and they require potty training. After a couple of months, we think we are able to safely say:  mission accomplished! He's been a rock star, especially once everything started to click for him. To celebrate this big milestone, we had breakfast at Country Style Donuts (the best donuts in Richmond) and then headed to the Virginia Aviation Museum. Both boys loved exploring the planes and even got to sit in one. It was a great way to celebrate this little boy who is growing up way too fast!

Final Day

Today was our final day in Minnesota. In some ways, we are eager to get back home to our own house and sleep in our own beds again. In other ways, it will be pretty sad to leave. We've had some wonderful days full of family fun, some time away from the kids, and plenty of grandparent time! We've played, relaxed, and taken some trips down memory lane (there have been some definite changes to my home area over the last 10 years of being away!). We are all so crazy grateful for this time here and are already looking forward to next year :)

We spent the morning out at Oxbow Park in my true hometown of Byron. John was slightly disappointed that he didn't see any buffalo on our trip out to the Black Hills, but this morning made up for it! The zoo at the park has a whole herd and John was thrilled.

The boys had gone swimming at the town pool while we were on vacation, but they had such a good time that we wanted a chance to see what all the fuss was about. Wow! We were blown away by how great the pool was there. There was a fantastic kids area with a lion slide and towering sprinklers, an actual swimming area, a diving board area, and two gigantic water slides. We had a blast there and would love to move here just to go to the pool!

Semis

Today was the long-awaited day for the boys:  semi ride! My grandpa was back in town and we spent the afternoon out at their farm. Semis have been on the brain for these boys and Owen has been talking about doing a semi ride since probably January or February. What a thrill for them!

Before the big ride. Excited and ready to go!

The boys with their two great-grandparents

Black Hills

John and I arrived back in Minnesota yesterday after our vacation within a vacation. Mom and Dad watched the boys for us for three days so we could have a few glorious kid-free days. The Black Hills of South Dakota called our name.

With limited time there, we tried to pick the highlights to enjoy, starting with Mt. Rushmore. We attended the night program there, where a ranger spoke, the park showed a short movie showcasing each president featured on the monument, and then the monument was flooded with light. Afterward, they called up all former and active military to help lower the flag.

 

 

The next day, we took the scenic route out to Devil's Tower, Wyoming. Our drive took us through Spearfish Canyon, an absolutely gorgeous drive complete with a couple stops to take in waterfalls. We stuck our hands in Spearfish Creek and were amazed at how clear and cold it was!

 Roughlock Falls

 More of Roughlock Falls

View of what we were driving through

Devil's Tower was pretty spectacular as well. We hiked around the base of it and viewed climbers tackling the mountain (after seeing how steep it is--no thank you!). Driving out, we stopped to enjoy the prairie dog town. It was great fun to see those little guys scampering all over the field!

 

 View as we drove in to Devil's Tower

Because we were so close, we zipped up to Montana so John could check off his 43rd state. We weren't there for long, but long enough to make it count!

 

Yesterday, we headed back to Minnesota. Our first stop was Wall Drug for breakfast and to take in the experience. It's basically a large mall-type place complete with lots of touristy-type kitsch. Lots of fun and totally worth the stop.

 The enormous T-Rex "feeds" every 10 minutes. We caught him in the middle of his "feeding".

 Riding the Jackalope!

Our final experience there was probably my favorite:  Badlands National Park. Absolutely amazing. Words (and photos) fail to describe how incredibly beautiful this place is. We stopped at most scenic overlooks and did some walking and climbing around. I left the Badlands in awe of God's creation with two songs in my head:  Rich Mullins "Calling Out Your Name" and Andrew Peterson "Nothing to Say". Those express my sentiments perfectly.

The only snake we saw (thank goodness!)

 Bighorn sheep--ewe and lamb