October has been filled with a lot of fun and adventure. We picked up Brutus on the 16th and brought him home where Lily was excited to see him (after she sniffed and licked my pants for a bit?!). She hadn’t been eating very well the last 2 weeks of his absence but since he’s been home she is back to her spunky self, even laying on Brutus’ “place!”. Jeff, Brutus’ trainer, gave us a training maintenance plan which includes a 15-30 minute walk each day, two 15 minute training sessions a day, maintaining door manners, and so on. I’ve made it my mission to take him on a walk daily before work (almost always, but I’ve had to go after work once or twice). I actually really enjoy getting out and working with him. He’s doing so well and is fun to give him commands and work with him to demonstrate those commands. He’s still a work in progress and is easily distracted by other dogs, people, and even blowing leaves on walks but it is so great to be able to go out and take him on a walk and hardly need the leash! We did find an engorged tick on Brutus the morning after we brought him home. Kevin got it off successfully (and intact) and after a call to our vet I sent it away to get tested and thankfully all test results indicated it was free from many tick-borne diseases including Lyme. Whew. I was worried!
We celebrated Lily’s 11th birthday on the 28th. It was nearing dusk before I was able to get her outside and get some photos! Thanks to Haya’s thoughtfulness we had a birthday party for her the next afternoon, complete with treats that Haya picked up for both Lily and Brutus. I arrived home to her and Reid having Lily in the party hat and treats ready to go!
Reid is enjoying going to preschool at NPCA. Like most schools these days the teachers now use an app and post class news and photos in the app throughout the day. In typical Reid fashion, he has quite an array of facial expressions. He’s been crafting cute fall pumpkins and artwork, exploring the fire truck, and playing outside on the playground. His school photos are cute too! Gymnastics is a mixture of Reid following along and doing the activities his coach demonstrates and also running away like a wild man to another area he’s not supposed to be in! This kid. He’s still taking two naps a day and if he doesn’t get his second one he’s delirious by 5:15 gymnastics class, hence the running around giggling and going nonstop. I’m trying to determine how to best adjust his sleeping as he does so much better with two naps but it’s not always feasible!
For COTA day (no school for Griffin and it was a Friday so no school for Reid) we went to our neighbors, the Bolan’s, for a halloween party. So many kids in costumes! Lots of new friends I hadn’t met before and quite a spread of food and fun.
I’ve had some fun time together with Griffin lately. He was off school on a Monday, so we took Reid to preschool and then we both had eye doctor appointments. He checked out wonderfully and I didn’t have any changes either. After our visit we headed to the zoo for a quick adventure before we had to return to pickup Reid at school. We fed the giraffe’s and talked about how their tongues are like sandpaper!
We joined the Bethune’s for the Dublin Spooktakular on a nice Fall night. Reid is a cowboy and Griffin is LLoyd from Ninjago, but on this night they went in their jammies as skeletons. Worked for us! We even found some skeletons walking around during our visit. They loaded up on more candy than they will ever eat and got to play different games and pet some animals at a petting zoo. Griffin was even so brave he wanted a tarantula to crawl up his arm!
Crazy face games at Roosters on a fun Friday night.
Kevin and I went to the Ochmonek’s annual Halloween Party again this year. We made rice crispy pumpkins and a yummy spider web bean dip (no pic of that tho). Kevin pulled off yet another awesome compilation for our costumes as Mary Poppins and the Chimney Sweep. He pieced together so many parts and so many people gave us the most fun complements at the party. I love that he does this each year – I just tell him the date and he takes care of the rest! He even put the ashes on his face using my mascara ! 🙂
Quickly on the night of trick or treat Kevin brought in the pumpkins and we had an amazingly quickly pumpkin carving session. Like, record setting in about 15 minutes! We were gathering next door at our neighbors for pizza dinner before heading out with the neighborhood crew for trick or treat. We’re really enjoying that there are so many kids in the neighborhood that regularly want to play with each other. Each day after school Griffin either heads to a friends house or they show up here! Trick or Treat was COLD and WINDY this year and there were snowflakes by the end of our adventure. We were happy to have Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong come visit and help hand out the candy to the kiddos.
We received news that Jim Trame, the father of John (Kevin’s best friend growing up) had passed away in early October. Fortunately, Kevin was able to attend the Visitation on Friday and Saturday we both went to the funeral which was in Dayton. Jim and Pat were a tremendous help as they watched the boys for us so we were able to go together. We planned to go to Dayton for the funeral and then head back, however, everyone was invited to Tom and Ana’s vineyard for a celebration after the service. It was indeed a celebration complete with music, fire, catered food and drinks. We ended up staying until 10 pm. It was an emotional day for sure. Kevin was a big part of their family growing up and has many lifelong memories with John, Tom, Karen, Steve, and Joe including 18 years of riding together in the DALMAC bike ride in Michigan. John was the best man in our wedding, Tom and Kevin ran a business together in the past, and over time they hadn’t kept in touch much. So it was a really nice day to see so many people that Kevin has told me about but I hadn’t met, and to see so many people young and old come up to Kevin and share stories going back 40 years. I think he knew a majority of the people who where there and there were tons.
We’re storing the MG TD in our garage and Kevin decided he would work on the patina. Can you tell the difference in the pic below? It’s looking really nice, now to find a buyer!
Fall Fest at NPC was a big success this year – one of the best attended ones that I can remember, really. Kevin and I had a small part this year, heading up the decorations and chili judging portion of the day. We had a new layout this year, chilis separated by category and separate areas for desserts, salads/sides, and hot dogs. Reid was a trooper. We got to church at 10:30 and left at 7:30 pm. He didn’t get a nap, but did lay down and “rest” in the portable crib. He thought it was the bees knees and wanted in it the rest of the evening. Griffin was a great helper and then once the festivities began he had fun with his cousins and friends. It was a fun night!
Easter 2019! While home at Mom and Dad’s we gathered after church for a very brief photo shoot. Amy captured all of the action and some really goods ones despite the crazy! Thankful to have these pictures.
Kevin brought the boys out to Millcreek, along with dinner a couple of times this spring. After we quickly eat in my office, Griffin begs for a golf cart ride so we took a quick spin around the nursery. 
Finn, Reid, and I made Easter cookies this week. Reid helped with the cutouts and then he went to bed while Griffin and I baked and then decorated them. While we were decorating them I looked out our kitchen window and spotted a cool owl on our fence! I ventured outside and got a snagged a couple photos. 
We headed to Mansfield on Saturday after I wrapped up working at Millcreek. The boys enjoyed playing with their cousins, our traditional Easter egg hunt and smash, a ride on the mule, playing ball in the driveway, and checking out Grandpa’s hostas. 
I love this season of the year with the beautiful blooms and colors of spring. Our Rising Sun Redbud in the front yard is always one of my favorites along with the sweet smelling virburnum by our back porch. 
Construction has begun on our new Westbrook Greenhouse which will serve as our Shipping Facility and also be used for growing plants for the down times of the year. It’s fun to see it going up after many months of planning!
And here are a few others from the week including the crazy spill of water beads all over the kitchen floor as we were about to head out to get Griffin on the bus for school. Yikes! We also received the confirmation of Reid’s enrollment at NPCA this Fall – he will be a Guppy! Reid is also loving little babies lately and was swooning over Abby, our neighbors baby, during our recent progressive dinner. 
The Christmas holiday was a little different for us this year. After being in Mansfield for a few days, we headed back to Powell in the afternoon of Christmas Eve. After a morning of lounging and then all receiving our traditional pajamas (this year we did it around the kitchen table!) we headed back home and readied ourselves for church at NPC. This was the first year we’ve attended our church on Christmas Eve. It was a nice service of songs, a short sermon, and candles at the end. I spent the last 15 minutes perusing the hallways and lobby with Reid as he was operating on full-speed and wouldn’t sit still or be quiet. 
After we had opened almost all the gifts we had a quick and tasty breakfast of overnight french toast. Then we headed to the basement to “take a few toys downstairs”. Kevin had setup a new train track and we’d covered the air hockey table and put a bow on it. I was really surprised at how low-key Griffin was. He thought whatever was under the sheet was for us, not him! Once we uncovered it everyone jumped in and played a couple of games.
We headed to Enon for a couple days for the Armstrong Christmas. This year the Christmas gathering was at Jim and Pat’s house. Not long after we arrived Griffin was pretty excited to open gifts, so we opened them and then played with all the new toys. Griffin also loved playing on Grandma and Grandpa’s mini-trampoline. It’s a good way to expend some energy 🙂
