How fun does that look, huh? Reid certainly had lots of fun playing in the paint this week. He created a lovely multicolored painting :).
On Monday of this week my Millcreek crew celebrated our 40th year in business with a participatory dinner at The Kitchen in Grandview. George and I chose the dinner theme, an italian one, and the entire crew helped prep all parts of the meal. It was a fun experience and lots of food prep mixed in with mingling amongst all the different stations. I posted up at the pasta station, where we made our own fettuccine! That’s the first time I’ve ever made noodles and I must say I really enjoyed it! We had a great salad (the dressing was SO good), pasta with chicken and red sauce, and green beans. For dessert we had a flourless chocolate cake. The meal tasted delicious! Fred and I put together a slide show of over 200 photos dating back to the historic photo of the “first day of production in 1978” all the way up to photos from 2017. Lots of changes and growth in those 40 years, and I’m thankful I’ve been there to experience it over the last 20!
The boys enjoyed some fun activities this week – of course the painting, of which Reid enjoyed painting not only the paper but also his body! Debbie did tell me that he wasn’t interested in eating it, which is great considering he usually puts everything in his mouth! The big kids made chicken noodle soup this week. Griffin loves to do this each year with Debbie. He thinks it is so fun to take the meat off the chicken bones (eek!!) and make the soup. I love that he enjoys it. Chicken bones aren’t my thing, lol. 
Reid continues to do really well sleeping. His naps are solid during the day and he’s still sleeping 12 hours at night. I sneek in to feed him and change his diaper once between 9:30-10 at night usually. And I love to find him amongst all of his pacis. Too many, I know, but you know what? He can always find one which makes sleeping at night for mommy and daddy that much better! Lately I’ve been noticing when I put him in bed that he has one in his mouth and he crawls or scoots around his bed to find another and then just kind of holds it in his hand or plays with it in his hand for a few minutes. Probably creating a bit of a crutch – but blue bunny that we got on Black Friday has been missing for 5 or more weeks, so he’s been going to bed with just his pacis. We’ve yet to unearth where blue bunny could be…..
And this boy has been sleeping hard too. He definitely grinds his teeth some and babbles in his sleep. And he is a sweaty hot-box! I find him in the craziest of positions all over his bed when I check on him at night!
And there are dog snuggles too. Brutus and Lils regularly hang out at the top of the brown stairs in the mornings. 
Awhile back I got these “iron beads” for Griffin but I must say, there require a lot of patience and fine dexterity! This particular evening Griffin said, “mom – I made a G!”. And sure enough, he’d made a huge G :). 
Reid, Finn, and I were all hanging in Reid’s room one afternoon. I had just unpacked a box of wipes and Griffin wanted to badly to put Reid in the box. He was able to do it all by himself (I kind of winced once or twice watching the attempts as Reid is not light, but he got it!). After he got Reid in the box he proceeded to get in himself and have the cutest conversation with Reid. “I just love you Reid” he said at one point. And they were just looking at each other. It was the cutest!
I’ve been struggling with poison ivy outbreaks over the last couple of weeks and one day this week Debbie texted me to see if I’d noticed a red spot on the back of Reid’s head. Instantly I thought it could be poison ivy because of where it was on my arm and how his head hits my arm when i hold or feed him. So I asked her to send me a picture – sure enough, he had gotten my poison ivy. Thankfully though it never really got bubbly and just kind of scabbed over. His healed very quickly and he didn’t ever seem bothered. Whew! 
We headed up to Mansfield for Mom’s early birthday celebration as they’ll be in Florida for her birthday. Graham wasn’t feel well so Andy stayed in Cbus with him, but the rest of us were able to gather for another tasty italian dinner and rich chocolate cake that Amy made. We spent the night and left early Sunday morning as we were in the nursery at church! Happy birthday, Mom!
Kevin and I went out on a breakfast date this week, it was like the fourth time we’ve been out together since Reid was born 8 months ago! I had a work meeting downtown so after breakfast Kevin dropped me off at the convention center and then and as it turned out he worked from home since it was Martin Luther King day. It was a nice snowy morning and we had a window seat at The Guild House downtown. So fun! And believe it or not, Kevin ordered the pancakes and I had the truffled eggs.
I love this sweet boy. On many nights lately we go in to check on Griffin and find him laying on the floor just inside his door. We can’t figure out why he’s doing it – we thought maybe his nightlight (yet he wants it on in order to go to bed) but the hall light is in his face when he’s at his door. Some nights he takes over all his blankets and lovey’s and sleeps there most of the night. 
Lots of brother time this week and many different expressions on Reid’s face. I realized I don’t have many diaper-like photos of Reid as he’s almost always wearing a sleeper or other outfit. So on this day I put him down on the floor in his diaper to crawl around. The next thing I knew Griffin came in with just his undies on too so that he could be in the pics. Hahahaha. We have so many toys from Griffin that we really haven’t gotten many things for Reid. The other day Kevin went through and replaced batteries on a bunch of Griffin’s old toys which hadn’t been audible in years. This remote is their new favorite. 
Reid had an ear infection awhile back and from that time I’ve paid more attention to him touching his head and ear area. He has kicked the ear infection, but really I’ve noticed him kind of touching or brushing his right ear or hair when he’s tired or upset. Here’s the perfect example, lol!
We have a great morning routine and it is my favorite time of the day where most days we all spend time together – even if it’s short!
This boy is a tummy sleeper just like Griffin, but when he’s on his back and sleepy he’ll tuck his hands behind his head just like Griffin does!
This week Debbie did some sensory bins with the kiddos. Reid really loved playing in the water and Griffin loved the flour. 
Reid is beginning to eat more and more table food. Here he’s having bananas and seemingly making his own puree!
You’re probably wondering why I have a picture of Griffin’s lunch! It’s just for looking back on some day to see what his lunches were like. This one’s complete with strawberries and pretzels to dip in nutella – yummers!
We’ve had quite a bit of snow this week and the timing was such that we had someone come plow our driveway. Kevin and Griffin cleared our sidewalk and front steps area and enjoyed playing in the snow for awhile. 
Our front oak and maple had some major limbs removed and I’m so excited to have a better view out our front windows and door!
Griffin and those socks. Nearly every day he wants to wear “pull up socks”. He’ll pull them all the way over his knees and then run around with his football and play call as he’s running around. This kid has a passion for sports – currently football is his favorite. He loves nothing more than to watch re-runs of the Ohio State football games (he asks for them by game “Wisconson, Penn State, Cotton Bowl” and so on!). And Brutus was loving playing with an empty water jug. Good to know cheap toys can bring loads of entertainment. 
This Saturday morning Kevin woke up and was so excited for the snow he had the idea of waking Finn up just before sunrise to head to Leatherlips park in Dublin to go sledding. He wanted to be the first ones there, so he got suited up while I helped Griffin get ready quickly. They grabbed a fig bar for a snack and off they went. They arrived and were the first ones there! And as it turns out there are times it is the best to be the first and other times that it is not best to be first! There were so many drifts and strong winds that they didn’t have the best luck making down the hill very fast! But they had fun and made good memories. They finished the trip off with a stop at Tim Horton’s on the way home for doe doe’s and hot cocoa and they were back home by 8:30 am!
I was attempting to get a photo of Reid’s hair – just for memory sake. But the kid never stays still long enough for me to get a non-blurry photo. So, you get the idea. 
And here are some afters of our trees. The front oak and maple are so cleaned out and limbed up! The spruces and dead ash are gone in the back and lots of other limbing done too. They did an excellent job – when I got home you couldn’t even tell anyone had been here. Not one branch, twig, or wood chip anywhere!
