Little Man in Black

Wow. That was a long (!) and unintentional blogging break. Ever since our move six months ago, I seem to have lost a bit of motivation to blog. I lay the blame squarely on the advent of iPhones entering the Downer household. With the ability to upload pictures right from our phones so the majority of our target audience can see them comes less desire to sit at the computer. But...it's time to resurrect the blog.

 I listen to music a lot during the day. As a country music fan, I listen to a good bit of country (not most of the current stuff--there is debate over whether that's actually country--but I digress). I have discovered that Owen really likes the song "Ring of Fire". We were listening to Alan Jackson's cover of that song yesterday and Owen was singing along at the top of his lungs. He allowed me to capture it on video today. Oh, the cuteness!

A Special Birthday Announcement

My parents submitted Brennan's birthday information to our local news station, KTTC, which presents a "Birthday Spotlight" every weekday morning. Brennan was a lucky one chosen to be highlighted this morning!

Merry Christmas!

From our house to yours, Merry Christmas!

 

Prechel Family Christmas: 2014 Edition

We celebrated Christmas slightly early this year with my parents and my brother and his family. Good food, lots of back-and-forth banter and laughs, and telling of some family stories that have become legend over the years.

Grandpa with Huey, Dewey, and Lewey. Or Grandpa with the Three Stooges. Or Grandpa with his three grandsons. Also, Owen and James are super close in age--with nearly identical cheesy grins. Maybe it's just a little boy thing? Or a second-born thing? Either way, the cuteness of these three together is over the top.

Cousins. Family. Christmas. Doesn't get much better than this.

Our Scout

Brennan is officially a Cub Scout! This was the first year he was eligible to participate, so we got him registered a few weeks ago. This past Wednesday was his first official Cub Scout event--a trip to the fire station. So much fun to see him dressed up in his uniform!

Fall Festival

On Thursday, my mom and I took Brennan, Owen, Grace (my brother's daughter), and James and Julia (his stepkids) to the Olmsted County Historical Society for their fall festival. It was a great way to spend some time on the day off school. Plus it gave the kid some great cousin time--a big part of the reason for relocating here. There were all kinds of fun things to do:  scarecrow decorating, pumpkin painting, decorating canvas backpacks, rope twisting, sauerkraut stomping. It was definitely a great way to spend the afternoon!

 Posing in front of our decorated scarecrow Grace named "Emily"

 Grinding corn kernels into powder

 Taking the corn off the cob. We were hard pressed to get him away from this fun activity!

Fall in Minnesota. Doesn't get much better than this!

Acorn Treats

A while back, we signed Brennan up for a subscription to "Clubhouse, Jr." magazine. This past month was the first time he's really taken an interest in looking through it. His attention was caught by an article about making acorn treats. With MEA (Minnesota Educators Association) break this week (it means Thursday and Friday off school for the kids), it seemed like a great time to try out this activity.

 Both boys worked hard and well on their acorns

The finished products. Cute, aren't they?

14 Years

In November 2000, I received an early Christmas gift:  a year-old black and white cat named Jenna. The name "Jenna" didn't quite suit her, so I renamed her Esther.

For three years, that cat was my baby. She was the friendliest cat imaginable, more dog-like than cat-like. She'd come running to greet me when I got home from work. When she slept at night, some part of her needed to be touching me. I even had one night when I woke up and she was wrapped around the top of my head like a hat! She had free reign in my apartment and gladly took it. When John entered the picture, she became our baby, but with a few limits on where she could go (no more counter tops or table top for her--TV trays being an exception!).

 

After Brennan arrived, things began to rightly change. She became less "baby" and more "cat". Once Owen arrived, it really changed. We had also moved into a smaller house with less space for her to have some sort of respite from two small boys. Once Brennan and Owen grew a bit and learned how to treat her, we started seeing her out and about with the family more. But she had also grown older and with age came some health problems. She developed a significant heart murmur and started throwing up a lot.

(Brennan at age 2. Of the two boys, he's the one who loved her the most.)

The day after we pulled in to Rochester, she ended up at the vet with blood in her eye likely related to her heart issues. Once we got settled into our new house and she started to get familiar with the place, we started to notice a small change in her behavior. She began following us around everywhere, wanting to be with us and near us and on us anytime a lap was available. Looking back, we believe it was her way of saying good-bye.

 

September 20, 2014. When we were getting breakfast around, we noticed Esther curled up in a rocking chair. After calling her name with no response, we discovered she had passed away peacefully in her sleep. We were able to bury her at my grandparents' farm which was a nice bookend to her life since that was her very first home after I adopted her.

Closing this 14 year chapter was pretty rough. Despite the difficulties of the last few years with her, she was deeply loved and is deeply missed.

(Yes, her nickname was "The Dude")

Fall Tradition

Our annual fall tradition from the time Brennan was tiny has been apple picking. In Virginia, our orchard of choice was always Carter Mountain. Without that as an option, we needed to find a new apple orchard to continue this favorite family tradition. Thankfully, Sekapp Orchard stepped in--with the added bonus of being only about 15 minutes from home. There were tons of apple varieties to choose from, including Sweet 16 which was the most amazing apple I think I've ever tasted. So grateful to continue this special tradition in our new home!

 On the wagon on our way out to go pick apples

 Picking Harelson apples, our new pie apple

 Owen didn't want to pick many apples. Instead, he wanted to eat apples. He was rewarded with a Honeycrisp that he devoured.

In addition to picking apples, there were plenty of other activities for kiddos, including a corn maze.

The View From My Kitchen

Our kitchen and dining room windows face west. That means we've been treated to some pretty amazing sunsets. I don't think I will ever get tired of watching the sun set from our kitchen window.

Catching Up

I admit...I haven't had the mental space to blog much (at all) lately. Not to mention the fact that our camera has basically been shelved now that iPhones have entered our lives. We've been taking plenty of pictures, but they've primarily been on our phones--and it took me until today to figure out how to get said photos off my phone and onto the computer.

With sidewalks all around, we've been focusing on helping Brennan get more comfortable with his bike skills. Pedaling has been a difficult skill for him to learn, but he finally was able to master it more this summer. Getting him started on the bike was an even bigger challenge. Thanks to having lots of sidewalks and lots of opportunities to practice, in late September he finally achieved the bike skills that he's been so eager to learn (and that we've been so eager for him to learn).

Whirlwind

After just over a month of feeling like we were in a whirlwind of prepping, purging, packing, moving, and unpacking, it finally feels like we are started to get settled. Most of the boxes are unpacked--there are still a few that need to be sorted through and hopefully stuff purged from them before getting stored. We are slowly figuring out a routine--John goes into work much earlier than he did in Richmond, Brennan's school starts an hour later than his old school did (which subsequently results in getting out of school an hour later as well), and Owen attends preschool in the afternoon instead of the mornings. Minor changes that have all felt significant in this time of so much "new".

We are also getting familiar with our new hometown as well. For me, it's been a strange homecoming. Not having lived here for 11 years, it almost feels like I should be returning to the Rochester of 11 years ago. Not so. A lot sure has changed and there's a certain amount of disorientation that occurs when things that seem like they should be familiar just aren't.

Having family nearby has been a fabulous blessing that we are extremely grateful for. We've already gotten to attend my brother's wedding, visit with lots of extended family, the boys have had sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and Owen has already gotten to ride in Great-Grandpa's semi truck! Very grateful for the gift of family in this particular season of life.

We haven't been neglectful in taking photos either! Without further ado, here are some pictures from our recent adventures.

 

 A bigger house means more furniture. More furniture mean putting things together. Putting things together means we need big strong muscles :)

 We went to the annual Fall Festival at Quarry Hill. There was food, games, and a presentation by the National Eagle Center. It was pretty special to see an eagle so close!

Presenting his finished pumpkin

 

Presenting his finished pumpkin