Happy guy! It’s been a whirlwind week yet again with the a trip to Mansfield and Enon for Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping, and our annual Christmas tree hunt at Cackler Farms. As always, each day is filled with fun yet passes too quickly. We really feel fortunate that we get to see all of our family for each of the holidays, though I wish we could spend a week at each place rather than a day or less!
Mom and Dad had fun kids activities for all of the cousins – turkey brownies! It was fun to watch each kid make the creation their own. And sneak some candies during their creation (oh wait, was that just Finn?!).
Reid had his first finger food – celery! He was so wanting to participate and put food in his mouth so we gave him a celery stalk and he made some serious headway gumming and chewing on it. He was a happy guy.
Lily and Brutus make themselves right at home and they like to be near the fire in the family room. Lily gets extra spoiled by being up on the comfy couch!
Griffin really loves to sleep next to Brutus. Some day I hope we can have him sleep in Finn’s room at our house. But for now, there are far too many things to destroy in his room – not to mention that Brutus gets up super early in the morning (5:30-6:30ish) to start the day with his breakfast and we don’t want Griffin getting up that early!
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is our traditional seed planting day. We weren’t as efficient as years past with the new dynamic of Reid and just spending time together hanging out (and eating, of course). We were able to get about 8 trays done though. And Griffin and Rowan enjoyed learning about what we do and helping Grandpa set out the flats and get the shelves ready for planted trays of seeds. 
On Thanksgiving morning we woke up (early!) and by 8 am Griffin and I had our pecan pie in the oven! He loves being the mixer and dumper. And it was yummy if I do say so myself :). 
Watching a bit of the Macys parade before we headed outside (in the 28 degree weather) to take family photos! We caught the Power Rangers balloons. 
Amy brought her camera and took our family photos, cousins photos, and photos of all of us together. I even included the outtake, lol. This is only a portion of them that I had on my phone – I’ll add more when I get them off my other computer!
We enjoyed a yummy lunch at Dave and Gayle’s house along with most of the Armstrong family. Even though we eat two meals, there is hardly any overlap in the food other than turkey and mashed potatoes. And my favorites are always the side dishes anyway! The kids get to feed the horses special treats of apples and peppermint crunch treats. I enjoy petting them and feeding them too – I always thought I’d have a horse someday but I doubt that will ever happen and I wouldn’t even know how to care for one! But I picked Dave’s brain about his horses and that was fun. I guess maybe like grandkids – they’re fun to visit and then you can leave!
I realized I didn’t snap any photos of dinnertime in Mansfield but I did get a few random pics. 
The kids put on a concert for us where they each played a piece of their own creation on the piano. They were quite fun to listen to and quite different from one another. They were cute and proud. 
We hit up Polaris and Easton this year on Black Friday. The crowds, traffic, and parking were crazy but we had great success and enjoyed a nice breakfast at Bob Evans and dinner at Bon Vie. Reid did great for the whole day. We put him in the stroller seat for the first time (as opposed to the car seat attached to the stroller) and I think he enjoyed being able to be reclined and have a more spacious seat. 
On Saturday we headed to Cackler to get our Christmas tree. It was a nice afternoon and we found a tall and pretty one really pretty quickly. Kevin brought his battery powered drill so we were in and out pretty quickly. We went during the first part of the Michigan game so we were eager to get home and see what was happening. We ended up getting a 12′ Cannan Fir that we love!
Matching winter pajamas!
Kevin and I brought the tree in and set it up on Sunday. Then while Griffin and I ran some errands Kevin got it straightened up and the lights put on by the time we were home. It fits perfectly in the corner of our family room and we didn’t have to trim any off the top this year :). 
And here Brutus is getting comfy on our new rug. We got it back in February but have had it rolled up in the loft until we had new furniture to go with it. Our new couch arrived on Sunday – so now our room is transformed and we are looking forward to enjoying our new digs.
Another week in the books here. Time seems to be moving quickly though this week we were able to enjoy the long Memorial Day weekend. Kevin was home and we did our traditional trip to downtown Powell to watch the parade. We always meetup with my friend Kim and her family and this year we spontaneously went to their house after for a cookout. It was quite nice to catch up and for her to meet Reid. We had to wake Griffin up to go to the parade!
Griffin is really liking taking photos lately. He took some with the big camera and others with my phone. He even knows how to take a photo on my phone without having to unlock it!
Reid slept through almost the entire parade, until the very end when he piped up and wanted to eat. Here he is beginning to realize he’s hungry!
Our annual parade-day family photos. 
We headed to Macy’s to shop for a chair for Griffin’s room. Kevin’s parents were very kind to gift a chair to us for his room so we can move the leather recliner to Reid’s room. Here these two are trying out the chair we ended up choosing. It’s perfect for his room as it’s a durable almost denim-like fabric in gray and wide enough to fit 2 or three people (depending on who they are, ha!). 
We had a lovely dinner of BBQ beef sandwiches, pasta salad, jello and chocolates brought to us this week by the Pilgrim’s. It was delish. We’ve been very well cared for by our friends and family!
Griffin had many fun adventures this week. We’ve been keeping his routine pretty normal. Debbie has been coming around 9:30 in the morning and he starts the day with breakfast followed by art projects, learning games, play or adventures. 
On Friday Kevin, Griffin, Reid and I went to the “Celebrate Spring is Over” Millcreek party at Plain City Lanes Bowling Alley. Kevin and Finn bowled and we enjoyed pizza and other tasty treats. We were there far longer than I had anticipated, nearly 3 hours! Reid once again slept through almost all of it until the end when he was hungry. My fellow Millcreekers enjoyed seeing him and remarked at how cute and small he is. I think he is so big! 
This boy always loves to lay out his clothes and see his “choices”. He’s most often prefers to color coordinate his tops, bottoms, and socks. 
On Saturday we headed up to Mansfield for Graham’s birthday party at the Infield and Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein’s. It was our first road trip as a family of 4+2 and it wasn’t the best of starts! We needed to take a crate for Brutus (as he destroys at least one thing a day currently by chewing!). Needless to say that is pretty large. With all of our gear, people, gifts, dog accouterments, and so on we were loaded to the max. And on top of that Brutus either didn’t want to get in the back or wouldn’t fit, so he rode on the floor of the back seat. Or, as it turns out he sat up and partially on my lap at times. Yikes. This dog cracks me up. He is a giant yet such a baby. He really needs a lot of attention. He regularly picks up things he knows he shouldn’t have and brings them right to me – just to say, “hey, look at me”. He literally wanted to get in my lap in the car. It made me realize it had been many weeks since he’d been in a car for any length of time and even on the trips we’ve taken him on we’d been putting him in the back seat where he would sit on the floor. Guess that’s what he’s gotten used to and the fact that two kids and an adult and a bunch of things were there this time didn’t seem to faze his wanting to be there too!
Once we unloaded the car and crated Brutus we all headed to the Infield for an afternoon of Go Karts and mini golf. It was HOT outside and I was wearing Reid in the Ergo baby carrier for the first time. He slept just fine, but man, I was sweaty hot and so was he when we got him out to cool us both off (hence his smile, perhaps?).
This time Griffin was tall enough to drive the kiddie go karts. He was either tired or unsure of things in the beginning as he didn’t quite get how to work the car. But he got the swing of it after a bit. 
We celebrated Graham’s 7th birthday and Dad’s 71st birthday with cake, ice cream, and presents. Afterward I walked around the yard with Dad and checked out his seedlings. Things are looking great and very colorful! 
Our first photo as a family of 11!
Reid’s first piece of mail arrived this week – his social security card!
And here are some others from our week. 
I took this picture on the morning of May 31st and later that day Reid’s umbilical cord fell off. 11 days – it was a thick cord!
Griffin asks regularly to hold Reid. He’s super sweet about it and likes holding him for about a minute. Then he asks you to take him off – he’s heavy!
He is wearing 3 month clothing already and it fits really well! Yowzaa. 
This is Brutus’ regular spot in our bedroom, especially if he’s being disciplined (read that as yelled at) for doing something bad 🙁 Griffin also loves to cuddle with Brutus and Lily. Brutus is getting pretty big and Griffin just loves laying on him, literally, on him. We ask him not to lay on him directly but to cuddle next to him but he just loves to do it. 
Here is a picture of Griffin when he was about 9 or 10 weeks old. This is at the Memorial Tournament with the Manning girls. He looks about the size that Reid is now! And you can see how they look different – different noses, eyes, and chins for sure. 
We started this week by celebrating Kevin’s birthday on Monday evening. Griffin and I had gone shopping together so that he could pick something out for Kevin. His choice? A pair of batman pj’s so they could match! He was so excited to give him his prezzie and that night when Kevin put them on he had the biggest smile on his face :). 
Kevin and I went out for his birthday dinner with friends Chris, Christie, Chad, and Nicole. It was a low-key dinner at the Bogey finished off by some chocolate and vanilla cake. Griffin was happy to stay at the Howards and play with the girls. 
The annual tradition of hanging our ornaments on the Howard’s Christmas Tree. 
We got our first real snowfall this week. It happened to be on Tuesday, which was great as I had the day off work and was home with Finn. As soon as I picked him up from school he wanted to go outside and play. So once we got home he headed out to the back patio for a bit and played. Then he ventured to the front yard where he had some fun making snow angels. 
Tis the season for baking, right? Debbie had a cookie making day with Griffin and Sam and they just loved it. And I must say the results were delish!
On Saturday we had our annual candy making party at our house. This year we were joined by Mom & Dad, Amy, Andy, Graham, Rowan, and Greta, and our friends the Ryan’s, Conrad’s, Manning’s, Vertucci’s, and Kessler’s along with their kiddos. It was a big crowd for sure and we had a lot to accomplish! This year we made buckeyes, decorated already made from scratch (by Amy and kids) sugar cookies, and four batches of hard tack candy (lemon, peppermint, cinnamon, and root beer). The kiddos also enjoyed crafting down in the basement thanks to my Mom, who came up with the craft ideas and led the (at times) crazy crew in crafts 🙂
After the candy making ended we were all pretty beat! But Mom and Dad, Amy, Andy and kids stayed for a pizza dinner to celebrate Kevin’s birthday. Griffin and Greta were enjoying being silly together with their tiger “babies”. 
On Sunday Griffin and I headed out on a mission to finish some Christmas shopping. He asked me to hold something which I didn’t want him to have, so I gave him my L.L.Bean gift card to hold since it was attached it a cardboard backing. We were talking about Christmas and gifts and I asked him what he would like for Christmas. Out of nowhere he said he wanted a puppy! Since I was in a parking lot, I turned around with the video on and asked him again. Watch the next two videos for his response. It was super cute! I had nothing to do with the idea, really, I didn’t. I sent them to Kevin, who responded, “where did he get that idea? puppy?”. And my reply, “the front of the gift card because he is on the present box”. This kid, he cracks me up. But in the second video you’ll hear him talk about how he wants three dogs because Hailey and Cameron went to Heaven and he wants Lily to have a playmate so we can have 3 dogs again. 🙂