Category Archives: milestone

December 24-31, 2019 ~ Christmas and New Years Eve

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Well, it seems appropriate that as I sit here writing about the Christmas and New Years Even holidays it is blistery and snowing outside! Perhaps even more wintry than it was during Christmastime.

Dad, Amy, Greta and I did our traditional Christmas Eve Shopping trip this year a day early on the 23rd so on Christmas Eve we hung out around the house and had a lazy morning. It was a nice and warm day, quite unseasonable actually, so when I  headed out with Brutus we went on a nice and long 2 mile walk. The kids played hockey in the driveway along with Amy and Andy. Then later in the afternoon we packed up to head to Powell for Christmas Eve at NPC. We got home in time to drop off and feed the dogs, do a quick change out, and pack back into the car to head to church all in about 10 minutes. Whew. We didn’t really plan ahead for dinner but we lucked out and were able to enjoy a tasty spread at Koble in Powell on our way home. Yummers! Once we got home we put out cookies, carrots, and milk for Santa and then put the boys to bed. After a short bit we were off to bed ourselves as we knew we were likely in for an early morning.

The boys got up about 6:20 and once we were all downstairs we jumped right in to their stockings and gifts from Santa that were on the hearth. They were both excited for many of their gifts and moved right along through everything. Some of the top hits: Pokemon cards, Pokemon Go balls that crack open and have mini characters, and a PS4. Reid loved his kids karaoke machine and Griffin got some new winter boots.

Check out this picture from two years ago – Griffin is wearing the same sweater that Reid wore this year! These boys are getting big!

After a light breakfast at home we packed up into the van and headed to Mansfield for Christmas with Mom, Dad, Amy, Andy, Graham, Rowan, and Greta. We made it there by about 10, I think, and began with a nice tasty breakfast before digging in to more prezzies. After a restful afternoon we enjoyed a deluxe prime rib dinner and figgy pudding for dessert! Mom and Dad always go to great lengths to feed our combined army’s while we are there and we love it!

We hung out for the next couple of days which usually began with pretty early mornings for me and the doggles. I often got my cup of coffee at least started before I heard the pitter patter of the kiddos coming down for the day anywhere between 6:30-7 am. The kids played together outside, Rowan and Griffin played a lot of Pokemon cards, Greta used her pottery wheel, Reid and Greta (and Finn, a little) decorated a gingerbread house. Graham played his rubix cube and could often be found reading.

Kevin worked in the basement with Dad on the basement demolition tearing down the wall paneling, pulling down individual ceiling tiles and subsequent ceiling staples. Kevin also helped Dad move the internet and telephone from the basement to the upstairs den and in doing so needed the assistance of a helper in the form of a smaller body to climb into the confined crawl space. Enter Griffin! He was a great helper to get the wires through to where they needed to go. He was a bit apprehensive at first to go into a small, dark space but he worked through his nerves and did great!

After Dad’s office was relocated up to the dining room Kevin found Griffin sitting next to Dad talking football.  Now, this was well past his bed time, but this kid has a heart and passion for sports and it was really sweet to see and hear him having a conversation with Dad about the game they were watching :).  Oh…..and then they moved on to Poker!

These aren’t the greatest pictures, but the document our trip to the waste management facility to drop off a truckload of paneling and ceiling tiles from the basement. From the time I called to see what time they closed until we were leaving with an empty truck was about an hour. We busted booty to get it done and we made it!

And once we returned home I was anxious to get our dying tree taken down! It was hard and bristly and losing needles and I couldn’t wait to get it to the curb! The boys were happy to climb up the ladder yet again. Reid has NO fear, he just zips right up there. Griffin is a little more reserved but once he feels confident he loves helping and going up and down. Lots of play happened over the next few days.

I knew the day was coming when we were going to remove the front of Reid’s crib and turn it in to a big boy bed so I snapped some photos of him sleeping in his crib. Those big cheeks still get me. It’s always such a milestone and a happy yet sad one. He had been climbing out numerous times each night;it was pretty much a fun game for him and he had a really good system in place! While I was at work one day Kevin took the front off while he was home with the boys. Reid was SO excited to have a big boy bed. Ironically, I checked in on the video monitor while I was at work and I saw it all happening. His reaction was cute and the video below is when it all went down, lol.

 

This next series I describe as the “many faces of Reid”. this boy just has so many expressions. I mean all day long whether he is happy, sad, mad, silly, whatever it is he has an expression for his emotion and it cracks me up. It is one of the many super cute personality traits of our feisty little man.  I love it when he looks at me, squints his eyes and smiles and says “I miss you mommy”.

 

For New Year’s Even we had a few neighbors over to our house for a low-key hangout. George, Ella, Dewey, Griffin, and Reid all played together for quite some time. We had pizza, lots of finger foods, drinks, and party favors. Carlene, Matthew, and Jade joined us a little later and even Brutus and Lily got to come downstairs before the ball dropped. We were sitting down just talking and turned on the ball drop and believe it or not we completely forgot to pop the champagne and get our drinks ready for the countdown! We scurried at the last minute and made it just in time.

September 1-21, 2019 ~ Reid starts Preschool!

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Well, these last few days of September have felt more like summer with the heat! But these bathing suit pics and water balloon fight were from earlier in September at Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein’s house with their cousins. Though I’m not sure who enjoyed it more, the kids or Grandpa? I love Reid’s joyful smiles. We enjoyed a tasty dinner followed by smore’s on the deck.

I’ve been taking the boys out once a week for dinner after swim lessons. Most weeks we end up at Culver’s or Cane’s so we’ve accumulated enough scoopie tickets that each Finn and Reid were able to redeem it for a fun toy. We went home with another plush Scoopie and football!

Griffin has gotten rather creative in his room lately. He’s taken to making cages out of his books for many of his lovies. He’s organized them by animal type (tiger, bear, etc). I must say he put a lot of thought in to it and it was pretty neat to see the cages all over the perimeter of his room. Then he told me he slept in his closet, lol.

I’m not sure how it can be, but our little baby’s first day of Preschool arrived on September 4th! We woke him up that morning so we could snap some pictures before Griffin got on the bus – and he was so sad he began crying that he wasn’t getting on the bus too! I told him he gets to take the Mama bus, ha! He was excited to go to school though he was over me taking pictures and at one point in the kitchen walked over to me (as I had my phone up) and said “No!”, “no more pictures” and then he came over and swatted at my phone 🙁 . This boy, he is sassy. When he’s mad or frustrated he’s a hitter and a biter! Thankfully, he knows he shouldn’t do it and shortly after he says he’s sorry. I felt bad doing it, but I actually wrote that on his pre-school papers for his teachers this year. I figure it’s better I tell them up front and hope it won’t happen at school.  He also threw a fit on the kitchen floor, I can’t even remember why anymore, but by the time we got to school he was happy and ready to head inside. He happily walked down the hall (after we convinced him we weren’t going in to the sanctuary) and he put his bag in his cubby, his water in the carrier, and his lunch in the basket. And off he walked right in to the room with a big old smile on his face!  I went back to pick him up at 1 pm and he was all smiles from ear to ear. I asked him how his day was and if he was ready to go home. The first thing he said was “go home and have pbj?”. I asked him if he wanted a sweet treat to celebrate his first day and at first he said no! But after a few minutes he said he wanted ice cream so we stopped at Graeter’s on our way home for a special treat.

{this picture was in the app his classroom teachers use of lunch during the first day 🙂 }

Griffin has been enjoying first grade. He arrived home one afternoon with a “Paws-a-tivity” note for spreading kindness! He particularly seems to enjoy math and has on a few occasions said he wishes he was at school so he could do math! I was like “we can do math here!”. We went to the Scouting Carnival held at his school to learn more about Scouts. I can’t say that I really learned anything as the Den leader for 1st grade wasn’t able to be there and I basically chased Reid around trying to keep him from interrupting kids while they were playing the various activities. At one point it was a screaming fest in the lobby. Kevin wasn’t able to join us as he wasn’t able to get out of work and we had to leave at a specific time to get to soccer – but I decided to sign him up and see how he likes it. As it turned out, the first “pack” event was the following Saturday which was a camp out at Camp Lazarus. Kevin and Griffin had quite a fun time and got to know some kids and parents. The kids in his Tiger den did a skit about Tigers (which Griffin was a tiger and he got to do his favorite tiger running on 4 hands and feet as he escaped his den). The enjoyed smore’s, a nice night in the tent, and bacon and stuffed french toast the following morning. That same Saturday the popcorn sale began too. Kevin and Griffin had gone and picked up a “show and sell” package of popcorn, etc., from the leaders and also made it to the Scouts store as you have to be in uniform to sell. Grandma Beilstein was the first customer as Kevin took the options to Mansfield when he picked up the MG TD to bring it back here for storage. On Sunday, Griffin and I headed out around part of our neighborhood and he was really successful selling to every house that answered their door! He was pretty excited about that. On Monday, there was no school and I was scheduled off though I had to go in for a meeting so Griffin got dressed into his uniform, we took his popcorn, and he setup a station in our shipping department and had another successful sales hour. We’ve been having swim lessons, soccer skill development class, and i9 soccer each week so we’re on the go a fair bit.

One weeknight our neighbors had invited us to join them in visiting the Tecumseh Land Trust field of sunflowers in Yellow Springs. I wasn’t sure about going as I knew Kevin wouldn’t be able to make it leaving as early as they had planned to go, but I decided what the heck – let’s do it! So I got home from work, loaded the kids in the car, and we hit the road at 4:30. We walked the field of sunflowers with Cole, Cooper, Brian, and Lisa and snapped some cute pictures. It was hot! And it had been hot the previous few days also and the sunflowers were just beginning to perhaps pass their prime. It made for a fun memory and then we headed to Young’s for dinner, ice cream, and a quick goat feeding session before heading home. It was a late to bed kind of night!

Reid has been doing some fun artwork at NPCA. They have a structured plan to what they go through each week (letters, numbers, bible verse, etc) and he’s brought home some of his creations. He was super excited one day when he got to ride in Griffin’s seat (one time, special treat!) in the Jeep so Haya could have the van to pick him up. It’s been another season of car seat installation and switching around here! The class pictures are from his teachers. He’s also had a fun couple weeks, including an excursion to the Powell Splash Pad during it’s last day of operation for the season. It was super warm!

My new “snack plate” idea that I tried at dinnertime so the kids could have make their own choices from a few different options of fruits and cheeses. It went pretty well. There’s a pic of the Harvest Moon from our patio and some giant turkey vultures on our roof recently!

Haya took Reid and visited Griffin for lunch this week. He loved having her there and introduced her to all of his friends at lunch. Reid was a handful and basically stole Griffin’s chocolate milk, so Griffin had to go get another one for himself! His art teacher is using Artsonia this year, an online site where the kids artwork will be uploaded and you can then order things with their artwork and part of the money goes towards the school. I surprised Griffin with a mug that I bought with his crocodile sharpie/watercolor painting. He did it all himself and I thought it was super great!

Daddy has been away for a couple days on a guys golfing trip in Michigan. This one appeared in my room Friday morning before my alarm went off! We spent a wet Friday night attempting to go to the Hilliard Davidson versus Olentangy Liberty High School football game but got rained out (or at least lightning delay and then we met our expiration!). Saturday morning was picture day for Soccer, which didn’t happen due to the rain. Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein came to Griffin’s soccer game and essentially sat in the rain for an hour! Most games had been delayed/cancelled during the thunder so games resumed starting with Griffin’s but many kids didn’t show up, so they ended up combining the two red teams and two blue teams to play against each other. We lost 0-2, but Griffin played really well. He’s one of the quickest kids out there and he had several really great kicks and stops. He also used some of his new tricks he’s been learning at weekly soccer skills class – like running toward the ball, stopping it with one foot while he runs over it, and then turns and kicks it the other direction. Good stuff! I’d liek to get pictures, but usually Reid is sitting watching YouTube on my phone. It’s the easiest thing I can do to keep him off the field or not have to chase him all over the back 40.

On Wednesday, I took Brutus to the trainer where he will be spending the next 4 weeks. Ugh, it is so weird around here without Brutus! Even though he can be a piece of work sometimes I find it so odd when he’s not where I he would normally be – like his face at the dinner table, laying at my feet, waking me up in the morning, etc. Jeff, the trainer, sent me a picture of him the first night and has given a couple of updates via text. He seems to be settling in well from the sounds of things.

The MG TD made it’s way to our house thanks to Kevin and Jim making the trip up to Mansfield to bring her down using the Jeep and a rental trailer. We were able to get it off the trailer, took her for a spin around our neighborhood and got a couple quick videos, and then parked her in the garage for storage until she meets her new owner.

The Millcreek Open House was another great success.  Our new Shipping and Growing Facility is {mostly} complete with the exception of the overhead doors and irrigation lines. It’s a pretty one! The weather was beautiful and we had record attendance for the day. Both seminars were really well attended and the food was delish. I was exhausted at the end of the day!

 

August 2019

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We spent the last couple weeks of summer packing in all sorts of activities and wrapping up our Bucket List. We did super-great this year, accomplishing most everything on our list with the exception of a couple things! It definitely was a busy summer and seemed to fly by faster than any other yet.

Summer baseball wrapped up on a perfect sunny morning. Griffin did really well this season both fielding and getting some great hits. He is pretty focused out there.

On Saturday afternoon we headed to the Irish Festival. We essentially spent several hours in the kids play area and then had some dinner under one of the tents. Reid is at an age where it makes it challenging to really do much other than kids stuff. And like most his age, waiting doesn’t come easy for this toddler. So while we’re happy to have gone, Kevin and I decided next year we’ll get a sitter and go for an adult afternoon/evening where we can take in more of the actual festival!

One of the items on our summer bucket list was riding our bikes to downtown Powell for dinner and ice cream, which we were able to (mostly) accomplish! Kevin rode his bike to Library Park by our house where he met me and the boys. We took my bike and Griffin’s bike in the van and parked there so we wouldn’t need to bike on Jewett Road as there aren’t any sidewalks. We rode all the way to City Barbecue and Graeter’s on another nice evening. Once dinner was over we hopped on our bikes and about 10 feet away from City BBQ the pedal of Kevin’s bike fell off.  It had been loose on our way there and we were hoping to make it home, but it wouldn’t stay on. We switched Reid’s chair to my bike and the boys and I headed thru town and back to Library park. We tossed our bikes in the car and drove home to drop them off and then headed to pick Kevin and his bike up at Village Green Park. A memorable trip!

This was my version of showers for the boys on this particular night, lol. The both thought it was great and I must say it was actually quite fun and full of laughter.

Another summer bucket list item was camping in the back yard and making s’mores! We had the perfect night weather-wise and Kevin and Griffin had setup our camp in the back yard complete with our neighbors fire pit. Lily and Brutus joined us outside for pizza and ginormous s’mores. Then we got ready for bed and the boys watched a show on the tablet before lights out in the tent – all 4 of us plus Lily and Brutes. After about 15 minutes in the dark of Reid still getting up and wondering around inside I decided to throw the towel in and take Reid inside. So that night Kevin and Griffin and the dogs slept in the tent. The following day was a busy one starting with a birthday party for our friend Sammy, then a baseball game for Finn, followed by a fun night at Crew Stadium, which we got tickets through Locker Soccer for a special night where the kids got on the field before the game to play, they sat on the benches during the team warm ups, and then a halftime got to go to the tunnel and smack hi-fives to the players as they returned to the field. It was a nice evening – another perfect fall temperature night – so Griffin and I took a turn in the tent when we got home.

The following day we headed to my friend Jaime’s house for a pool party with my college girl friend crew and (most of) their families. We enjoyed a nice cookout and all of the kids and adults were in and out of the pool and hot tub for several hours. Another great afternoon of sun and fun! It’s crazy how quickly these kids are growing up – Audrey turned 13 this month!

On Tuesday, 8/13, we headed to the Open House where Griffin met his first grade teacher, Mrs. Hale. He explored his room and put away his school supplies in his desk. It was a short but fun visit. Afterward we headed for haircuts which were in dire need before school started Thursday!

I’ve been working on being more prepared with meal ideas for the week and having easy and quick dinners to make on the weeknights. It’s been working out pretty well and the boys have been eating well too. I actually snapped a pic of Reid eating spaghetti, yay!

The first day of school was on Thursday, 8/15. Griffin was so excited he walked into the kitchen fully dressed with shoes and socks on at 6:50 am! He went out and talked to the middle schoolers at 7:30 am (our driveway is the bus stop for all – elementary/middle/high). Kevin prepared a fun pancake breakfast, including a tiger paws and 1st! Griffin has the most genuine, huge smile with his plate of cakes. We hung out in the driveway with Haya and our neighbors and all of the kiddos awaiting the bus. Haya brought Griffin a 1st day of school present  skeeball! Wowzer, this boy has it made! We love having our driveway be the hub of activity :). I’m really liking his teacher, Mrs. Hale. I enjoyed going to the Curriculum night and learning more about her and her teaching philosphy and the plan for the year. She uses an app called Bloomz and regularly posts class updates, including photos, throughout the week. Some of the pics below are from the app.

We headed to Nocterra for a spontaneous hang out with our neighbors on Friday afternoon at the end of the first school week. The kids had a lot of fun and were sweaty messes by the time we went home.

I found this selfie on my phone and while it’s dark I think it’s a cute one of Finn :). This boy is growing up too fast for my liking….he’s got a tooth starting to poke through on the bottom and hadn’t lost one yet, that is until on Sunday night, after the first couple days of school Griffin asked Daddy to pull it! Kevin made a lasso using floss and sure enough that baby was so ready to come out it flew across the bathroom and hit my leg! Griffin said it didn’t even hurt! He was excited to use his Tooth Fairy box for the first time. Earlier in the afternoon on Sunday we gathered with the Bethunes, Mom, and Dad at the Dublin South Pool to celebrate Rowan’s birthday. It was quite a warm day and many others had the same idea but we had a great time. Reid has really become a water bug and Graham walked all around the pool with him. Dad and Rowan tag teamed the water slide too :).  Later in the week on Wednesday, Griffin came home with a tooth missing! His tooth came out in class and he got to go to the nurse who gave him a tooth necklace in order to safely get his tooth home. I was amazed, it made it all the way home even on the bus! This kid has had a big week!

On Wednesday, Reid had his “meet the teacher” morning for a half hour, where he can play in his classroom, meet his teacher, and get comfortable with his surroundings. His Guppy class is in the same room he is in on Sunday’s during church so he’s already pretty comfortable there. He will be going to school on Monday and Wednesday’s from 9:30 am – 1 pm.

On Friday I took Reid with me to Millcreek for a couple hours to get some things done on my “day off”.  He enjoyed pretending to drive the golf carts and tractors. He did really well as we were there for just less than 3 hours. He watched some Peppa , his most requested show, on the tablet to keep occupied.

Later on Friday Griffin and I went to the St. Joan of Arc Festival just down the street. Reid stayed home and went to bed and Daddy got some quiet time.  We met up with our neighbors Abbie and her dad Bernie and the two kids went from ride to ride for a couple of hours. It was cool outside by the end of the night – I could have used a jacket!

We’ve signed Griffin up for i9 Soccer for the Fall season and the first game was Saturday. Griffin is all about sports. He is the most intent player out there, so focused and hard core! He did really well considering this is the first time he’s done soccer on a team that plays games! One of his teammates scored at the end of the game to tie it up for a 2-2 tie. Kevin is coaching along with Brian, our neighbor, and Cole and Griffin are on the team together. It will be a fun fall season.

After soccer we headed to Enon for the night. The boys stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while Kevin and I headed to Dayton to have dinner with Sarah and Kara before heading to the Lauren Daigle concert at the Nutter Center. After dinner we had 1.2 miles to drive to the concert – and would you believe it took us more than an hour to get there! Traffic was insane, unlike any traffic I’ve sat in for Buckeye games or concerts anywhere I’ve ever gone! But we made it after the warm-up artist (don’t even know who it was!) and before Lauren began playing. It was a lovely show, she has one of the most flawless voices I’ve heard especially in a live concert. It was great.

On Sunday we enjoyed a lazy start to the day and then were off to Young’s for a bit of fun in the batting cages, the barrel rides, playing in the corn bin, and ice cream – of course! We fed the goats too before heading back for dinner at Grandma and Grandpas. Another great weekend of fun!

Now that school has been in session a couple of weeks we’ve got a good routine down. Weeknights are busy as Griffin has swim on Mondays and Soccer on Tuesdays, then soccer again on Saturday mornings. We grab dinner after swim (as it starts at 5) and this week stopped at Culver’s. There was a face painter there so both boys got Spiderman on their cheeks. They were delighted. Afterward we had to make a quick pit stop at Target, in their skeleton pjs nonetheless. My little skeletons were crazy characters running around Target. Then it was home and to bed.

And here are a few more from the end of the month. Haya sent me this picture of Reid which I thought was perfect! Griffin is becoming more and more brave as he’s learning to climb trees. It makes this mama nervous though I’m encouraging him to do as much as he feels comfortable doing! On Thursday night the boys and I went on a 35 minute bike ride going through several neighborhoods near us. It was a lot of fun as we explored new to us places on bikes and then finished with a sweet treat in the driveway.

We kicked off the Labor Day weekend on Friday with pizza at Dewey’s, Ice cream across the street at Graeter’s, and then putt putt nearby in Westerville. We hadn’t been to the Westerville Golf Course before but are glad we went as the mini-golf course was fun and beautifully landscaped. We will go back when we can spend more time and take in the batting cages!

Saturday morning it was up and at ’em for breakfast followed by a short trip to COSI to see the Jim Henson exhibit before it leaves! We were able to see many of the Sesame Street characters and various artifacts from Jim Henson’s puppeteer career. We also explored the dinosaurs and got wet in the kids water area. Then we headed home to watch the Buckeyes win the first game of the season. Go Bucks. The boys enjoyed playing flag football during the game, lol.

I’m excited that we have two canteloupe and one watermelon growing this year in our garden, however, they’ve come down with powdery mildew and I’m not sure the fruit will mature before the plants die off. Ugh. It’s a good thing cucumbers are easy – that’s about the only thing we seem to grow reliably in our garden each year.

 

 

And here are a few shots at Millcreek. We took several members of our team up to Corso’s in early August. Many of our staff hasn’t seen the new shipping process in action, they’ve just heard us explain it. To get everyone a bit more comfortable and to see things with their own eyes we took a field trip. Then a couple weeks later our consultant was in town and we did a “mock up” in our new facility. We took the team out with batch pull tickets to pull the mass items from the greenhouses, then took the racks in and ran them through the process in the new facility and got them staged in the supermarket. Then we shopped the supermarket for individual orders.  So many moving parts!! It is really cool to see it all come together, but there are so many details to still iron out. This spring will be quite different.

The electric and dock/driveway areas are nearly complete. This week we were able to have our main driver pull down into the dock and “mock” position the truck in each of the 4 dock lanes. It’s going to be good  – and tight – with the western most dock lane, but he got in and out and says it will do – Woohoo!