2021 has arrived! Both boys made it past midnight in to the New Year. Though the party quickly ended and we all headed to bed. On New Years Day we had the traditional pork and sauerkraut while the boys enjoyed primarily mac and cheese and strawberries.
I’ve been finding hidden treasures, partially eaten or just the wrappers around lately, typically in the pantry. I just gives me a good laugh, really. I can just imagine the faces I would see had they been busted in action. The boys and I made Buckeyes to start off the New Year. They both had fun rolling and dipping them in chocolate, and sampling of course.
Are you noticing a trend in the photos I’ve been sharing? This is the latest installment in the series entitled “where we find Reid sleeping”. This kiddo really needs an afternoon nap (it’s pretty obvious?) but refuses to take one in a formal way. Instead, we find him asleep in random places around the house!
I really love to see the kids playing together outdoors. If Covid has been good for anything, I love that the kids have had to enjoy each other’s company outside which means no shows, screens, or electronics. Just good old fashioned play. They play long and hard and almost always some sport or game is involved.
Reid is the biggest snuggler of all time. Anytime he sits with you he wants to take your arm and wrap it around him or take your hand and put it across him or next to him. It’s too cute, if you move your hand he will move it back where he wants it :). And Griffin loves to snuggle and watch a show or sport at the drop of a hat
Being on screens so much between school and using them as a “babysitter” from time to time while Kevin is working, Santa gave them the blue-light blocker glasses for Christmas. They like to wear them and I think they both look cute. They don’t even know they are for blocking the blue light, they just think they’re fun to wear. Hopefully it lasts.
We moved Reid up to a full-sized Big Boy bed from his toddler bed this month! It makes me sad to think he’s growing up, but happy at the same time. He is young at heart for sure and loves to be a baby. But he was ready for his big boy bed! I took him to Target and he picked out the sheets and comforter (with just a wee bit of help from me, lol). We rearranged his room some and got him all set up. He was all smiles.
Reid loves to play and unfortunately through Covid has missed out on being in preschool and laying with same-aged friends. He plays with Griffin or the older kids in the neighborhood but he’s really mostly doing independent play even when they are all together. He loves barbies, babies, and the color pink.
We went to visit Haya, Mo, and baby Summer at their place. Summer is getting so big and the boys loved holding her and sitting with her. Throughout Covid and the quarantine, Kevin began giving the boys and himself hair cuts. They sit through them really pretty well and Kevin has gotten pretty good at it, doing them every month or so.
As a fundraiser for the PTO at Griffin’s school, Beehive, the local Powell bakery had pizza-making kits (amongst other things) that you could buy. So we made our own pizza from scratch one evening and it turned out great.
I love the quiet of the mornings and my routine of getting up early before anyone else, feeding Brutus, and sitting down to have my coffee before our morning walk. Brutus knows after I finish my coffee and get up that it’s time to get his collar on and head out the door. We have a good system down. And then once we’re out we often get to see cool things, like the full moon or a fresh snowfall.
Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein sent a valentine’s package to the boys before they headed out of town for Florida. Once it arrived there wasn’t any keeping it taped up! They were both excited to have lovies with their names on them and in their favorite colors (buckeye for Finn and pink/red for Reid).
We remodeled our first floor and kitchen area in 2014 and painted everything on the entire first floor and loft at that time in a color called Collonade Gray. Kevin and I both dislike how dark our house is, so in an attempt to lighten it up we decided to paint our family room and kitchen walls white and also update the baseboards from the cabinet/cream color to white in the kitchen and from the oak color to white in the family room. We also took down the ceiling trim piece in the kitchen along the long wall since we didn’t think painting that white would look great abutting the kitchen cabinets above the fridge. At the same time, I began to paint the unfinished trim around the new windows that we’ve now had for two (!) years. Yikes. Never thought it would be that long to start painting any of them but here we are. It’s not a fast process and as it turns out after doing part of it and then spring picking up at Millcreek the finishing is on hold!
The boys of the house are the shovelers of the driveway after each snowfall. Griffin and Reid like to suit up and shovel for a bit and then move on to playing in the snow and building a snowman if the conditions are right for it.
Griffin’s teacher, Miss Peacock, entered her class into a contest and won a Tonie Box for each kid in her class! I don’t even recall if I posted about that, but in any case Griffin really loves it and loves the different characters that you can put on the top to listen to stories or music. So after a while we decided to get one for Reid so that when we put him in bed at night he can listen to a story or song to help him get to sleep. We got him the Frozen character, which is his most favorite song at the moment and also Cars, Toy Story, and a Fox with Nursery Rhymes.
Mom and Dad sent us this selfie from the beginnings of their road trip to warmer weather in Florida for the month of February. I’m glad they decided to go and get out of Ohio for awhile and enjoy the sandy beaches of Siesta Key!
The Millcreek construction is moving along with the first floor framing, electrical, and networking cabling has been run and the HVAC is installed. The insulation is in and the drywall has been hung, the door trim installed and stained. The second floor will house our IT room – we will finally have all computer and networking equipment in one place rather than three!
Our H2A workers are scheduled to arrive and begin work on February 6th. So Fred, Shaina, and I went to Ikea and loaded up on furnishings for the three apartments that they will be living in. Dressers, night stands, lights, kitchen supplies, bath towels, you name it we filled up our carts. It was hilarious. Fred was done after an hour, lol. But we got so much done and off our list of needs. It was a great trip. Afterwards I took home all of the towels and washed them all. Fun fun! We will be ready for these guys soon!
