Yet another milestone for Reid, his first cereal! He has been really interested in food for several weeks. Whenever I’m holding him and eating he often grabs for whatever I have or opens his mouth and his head turns and follows the food all the way to my mouth (how mean!) or he talks to the spoon or fork full of food! So with a plenty full weekend we decided why not pack one more thing into it and give Reid his first taste of rice cereal. Check out how messy he got. We brought up the high chair from our basement and he did pretty well sitting in it. Although he does lean to a side and then stays propped up from the side of the chair for now. He was so grabby that we went through 2 spoons since he grabbed one out of my hands and threw it on the floor. And another time he grabbed the bowl of cereal while I was holding it and spilled it all over everything! He is quite fast. But he seemed to enjoy the process. He was a bit tired so after the photo op and trying out the spoon many times we opted to mix a bit more and put it in a bottle for him to eat more easily.
Earlier in the week I was able to take the morning off work in order to take Griffin to a party for one of his Monkey friends, Julia, at her home. It was a “get to know our friends” party given by her parents. There was a balloon/facepainting artist there and the kiddos were able to make their own ice cream sundaes (a great mid morning treat in the eyes of Griffin!).
Griffin loves to take my phone and snap photos of various things. Sometimes I don’t even realize he’s done it since he knows how to take the pictures without unlocking my phone. I found this one from this week. He is very good about having independent play time in the loft where he colors or plays dominoes or other games on his own. He really likes lining up these piece :).
Griffin also got to make some tasty apple crisp this week with Debbie. It was delicioso!
This fall has been a pretty busy one. The weekdays and weekends seem to fly by. I’ve been swamped at work and when I get home I feel like I’m often working from behind there too. So the mornings we have to just be still and laze around are so nice!
Kevin was able to go to Griffin’s field trip to Leeds Farm this year with his preschool class. They had a good time on a brisk fall morning feeding the goats, riding karts, taking a wagon ride to pick gourds and such. I was bummed to miss, but am thankful that Kevin got to go and enjoy the time with Griffin. I was spending the days at Millcreek as we had a two-day visit with consultants in town from Florida/Montana to assist us with some process assessment and potential changes. It was a great two days of brainstorming, walking around the property, talking new and different processes for increasing efficiency, and picking the brains of the two gentlemen who have clients in every industry including over 120 clients in the green industry, many of whom are our vendors. There client list and efficiency gain statistics are impressive!
On Saturday, we had another progressive dinner with our neighbors. This time we went with an italian theme and began at our house with appetizers and drinks. We also decided it would be fun for the kids (and adults, lol) to carve pumpkins. The Buckeye-vs-Iowa game was on also and it ended up being a pretty intense evening! Nate and AJ are moving the first week of November so this was our last dinner before they depart. 
And if that wasn’t enough for a Saturday, it was also Lily’s 9th birthday! These aren’t the best pictures as I actually took them when I was upstairs feeding Reid during dinner with our friends! I didn’t break out the party hat this year :(. Seems hard to believe our girl is 9 years old. I remember when Kevin and I had just begun dating and she was still a bundle full of energy. She has arthritis is her wrists and shoulders and knees and hips and even with her daily medications she still has a slight limp which is better some days and worse on others. She and Brutus play pretty hard from time to time and she puts up with a lot from Griffin too. She’s as sweet as ever. She definitely does not like loud noises, shouting, amazon air bubble packaging (she leaves the room when we open boxes!), and she and Brutus have had more than a few battles when a new bag of food is being opened. And though I don’t get much these days, she still loves to cuddle on the couch, to hide and relax in small and tight spaces, and to be given any kind of people food that isn’t fruit. 
On Sunday we headed to Mom and Dad’s after church to get the Hostaworks website and seed shoppe up for business for the 2017 seed sale. We figured it would be best to be together in person to get it all right. We enjoyed our visit and got most everything done though we ran in to a bit of a snag at the end! Nothing that can’t be fixed with a bit of time though. 
One tidbit from the consultants is the idea of progressive work. It’s something I’ve seen many times before but we haven’t implemented yet at Millcreek. Here our crew is trying out progressive sticking, where each person sticks cuttings into a portion of the tray and then passes the tray along to the next person. Our team did a few sample trays and in doing so, even their first attempts, they cut their rates down from 10 minutes a tray to 6 minutes a tray – even in a less than ideal atypical setup using our production line as a table. We will likely be making this simple change in our propagation area. 
After more research, we also ended up purchasing another Jeep on Saturday. The Jeep Commander was in need of more repairs and we’ve decided it’s not best for us to keep putting money into an 11 year old vehicle. Kevin’s parents are going to keep it and get it repaired. So we have a 2018 Jeep Cherokee, a small SUV for me to take drive during the week for work and such. I love it and am thankful that I didn’t have to be a part of the car-buying process at all thanks to Kevin’s research and negotiating skills! They even drove it to our house to deliver it since Kevin drove to the dealership by himself :).
This was a big week around here! First, we got the news back regarding Brutus’ growth on his back right leg – it is a benign histocytoma. Whew, I was thankful to hear the news. He saw Dr. Mansfield at our vet practice and I really like how she interacts with our dogs and her personal phone calls to give us information. She is great!
Brutus reminds me so much of Cammie. He loves the sunshine and loves to just soak it in. He’ll lay in the sun on the hot black driveway or on the patio. I regularly find him inside in our bedroom or in the dining room soaking in the rays. 
Griffin had lots of fun while I was away too. Debbie and the kids made applesauce and even Reid got in on the action. Oh, and Brutus too, of course. He’s never far from the activity. 
Debbie took Griffin to his soccer practice this week. I was happy to see this pic in the app while I was traveling to Portland. 🙂
Grandpa got a lot of outdoor time with Griffin during their stay. Here they are getting in a game of Lacrosse after I got home. It was a beautiful and sunny Friday morning!
Here is some more of Griffin’s artwork from this week. The fire department visited preschool and they learned all about fire safety and were able to see the fire truck visit school. 
On Saturday we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to Young’s for Reid’s first fall trip there. We got several of our traditional pics that we took when Griffin was little, sitting on the cows and riding the wagon to go pick a pumpkin. Griffin picked a lovely orange fella. Afterward he and daddy played putt putt and then we enjoyed dinner at the Jersey Inn. Reid is so ready to eat big boy food. He talks and moans and watches me eat every time I’m holding him while I’m eating. Soon enough big guy!
This guy just keeps getting bigger and bigger. He’s growing up too fast and this week he’s reached another milestone where he turned over from back to front! So, it’s the end of swaddling around here and I was able to capture Reid having a cozy nap one of the last times he was snug as a bug in his swaddle. To this point he’s slept really well on his back and taken good naps as his arms are on lock down in his swaddle. We’ll see what the future holds! He also “holds” his bottle some from time to time :). 
Big bro likes to play sports ALL.THE.TIME. He pretends that his spider man gardening gloves are football gloves and he runs around throwing the football to himself and continuously play calling while he’s running around. If I’m not in the room when he’s playing he will regularly come find me to tell me the score for the Buckeyes versus Penn State (or whomever today’s opponent may be). He likes to call out plays using J.T. Barrett’s name (sometimes pronounced J. Teen Bar-ret, lol). 
Check out that baby bird hair! It’s coming in more and more and after a shower he’s like a baby bird with fluffy and fuzzy hair. He’s adorbs. And he’s a mama’s boy for the time being. When I arrive home from work it’s time for him to eat so he pretty quickly gets fussy once he sees me and hears my voice. As much as I try to have others hold him, he also seems to prefer having me hold him if I’m around. So, we’re gonna have to work on his flexibility! For now though, he’s surely my sidekick. 
We had a TON of rain this week. One morning I went to leave for work and I opened the door to the Jeep, which we park outside in our driveway, and the entire driver side floor was flooded thanks to a leaky windshield/seal. Yikes. What a pain. I left anyway thinking I could just dry it up at the gas station while I filled up. Boy was I wrong. I soaked up the floor and rung out a full size bath towel three times before I decided to head back home. 🙁 So of course I arrived at work about 45 minutes late, which seems to be the story of my life anymore. Despite all efforts and no matter what time I get up I can’t seem to arrive at work before 8 am. I literally texted George and told him my car floor was flooded – I felt so silly, like seriously, I’m not one of our seasonals making up some story that the dog swallowed my car key – this flooded floor business is real life. He got a good chuckle out of that when I arrived at work and described my morning. Thankfully he’s as flexible and forgiving as a boss can be and it was no big deal. 
Finn and Daddy had some together time the other day where they stopped at Chuck E. Cheese and Oakland Nursery. Kevin sent me these pics of Griffin next to a ginormous pumpkin and having some fun playing games. 
Our friend Nicole gave us a huge bag of clothes that her son Jake has outgrown. They won’t fit for a few years, but this rob fits perfectly now and Finn thinks it is so cool. Not to mention super soft and fuzzy fleece!
I take pictures of most of Griffin’s worksheets and art work from preschool and what he does at home with Debbie. I’m excited to see how well he does writing his name and numbers and will be happy to have these to be able to compare the beginning of the year to the end of the year! He’s growing up so quickly, he’s able to do almost anything on his own and we encourage him to be independent and self sufficient! He really enjoys doing things independently and is typically very proud when you’ve asked him to do something or go fetch something and he returns or completes whatever he’s been asked to do. He’s got a cute grin. 
Debbie and the boys baked some tasty fall cookies this week too using miniature cookie cutters. It’s so nice to come home to lovely baked goods (though not good for my health, lol) and the mini size were perfect. Though let’s be honest here, we all eat many each time – not just one! Even Reid “participated”. 
We’ve enrolled Griffin in his second season of soccer. He’s really enjoying it and loves all of the exercise he gets during the 40 minute class. He’s definitely come out of his shell since he first began and he really likes Coach Aaron. It is a fun program and I love that it is so close to home. 
This week I was the “mystery reader” for Finn’s preschool class on Thursday. I arrived about 15 minutes before the end of their day and brought two of Finn’s current favorites to read to his class. “Kid Amazing and the Blob” from the library and “Mousetranaut” from home. He was so excited for me to be there. He did his excited face and jumped up and down and sat in my lap after I finished reading. It was a sweet thing to participate in and I enjoyed getting to see him dance for a game in glass and interact with his friends. 
This big boy is so funny. Most days when I’m getting ready for work he follows me around like he’s my shadow and when I sit down to put my shoes on he instantly bulldozes himself into me! So we play and wrestle for a few minutes and then he sits down and lays his entire body all across my legs like he’s just a little lap dog. He’s a sweet boy, even though he’s huge and clumsy with his feet. He regularly brings things in his mouth to me, like toys or things he knows he shouldn’t have, just to get attention. 
I’m so far behind on blog post I forget so many things from the weeks, but I think this pic was from a date night that Kevin and I had when Debbie watched the boys. And this was bedtime!
As if life wasn’t busy enough, Kevin and I agreed earlier to again head up our church’s Fall Fest, which was held this past Sunday. In the moment we always enjoy it, though this year I was beyond stressed and frustrated even during the event. Help isn’t always as plentiful as needed and this year I’ve had little to no time to work on planning since I’m back to work full time. When I get home I had high hopes of planning and organizing and list-making to organize volunteers and activities, but in the end I ran out of time. My frustration is with myself, as when I commit to doing something I want it to be done well (read that as I’m a perfectionist) and this year in my eyes it was so far from that. I was irritable and annoyed and frustrated and kept thinking to myself, I can’t wait for this to be over and I’m never doing it again. Just ask Kevin, there were many times I wasn’t very kind to him as I expressed my frustrations about everything. But in the end it turned out to be a very well attended event, the rain held off, the flag football games were able to be played (and Kevin got awesome trophies for the winning team this year), the chili cook off was great (we had 26 entries), and we were given numerous compliments and good feedback from the staff who interacted with many newcomers. So in the end, all was good, but I have a long mental list of improvements should we take it on again!
Neither Kevin nor myself are very good about asking for help, hence we baked all 20 dozen cookies ourselves! It was simply throw them in the oven as we bought frozen ready-to-bake cookies from GFS, but that was a lot of rotations. So, note to self for next year, add this to the sign ups! Duh! And I at the very last minute asked Andy to seek donations to give to the chili-cook-off category winners. He rocked that task out in a matter of a few hours and got awesome donations from Nothing Bundt Cakes, BW 3’s, Piada, and First Watch!
