What another busy and fun week we’ve had! As you can see, Reid is enjoying the holiday season and his first round of so many fun family traditions. He also had avacado for the first time this week as you can see what remains on his face for this picture. He’s pretty curious about it and is good at picking it up and getting it in his mouth. From there he makes the funniest faces, gags (which I REALLY don’t like but know is normal), and then spits most of it out as he’s using how to use his tongue to move food around. He’s just got the best smile :).
Throughout the week this week we tackled our tree and got it all decorated. Each year after Kevin gets the lights on, Griffin gets to choose the first ornament to put on the tree. It’s so much fun to open the box of ornaments that are his and remember each one and why he was given it. This year he chose a new ornament that he had picked out on Black Friday shopping with Kevin – a moose! He really does love decorating the tree and says the cutest things. I usually hold him up on my shoulders so he can decorate higher up on the tree and then we get on a ladder at some point too. This year he was so excited to get on the ladder and he went super high up all on his own without any encouragement. Once he got up he said “I’m a brave man” shortly followed by “okay, it’s kinda scary up here I think I want to get down!”. But he stuck it out and hung some ornaments on the tree. We save the ones all the way at the top for Daddy since you have to basically be on the top step of the ladder and then reach high! 
I love sneaking in to Reid’s room and checking on him at night. This picture is fuzzy since it was taken in mostly dark, but this night he was clutching his bunny. He honestly doesn’t seem to care if he has it or not, which is fine by us, but I thought this was cute :). 
Here are the boys one morning after Kevin and I headed off to work. It brought a smile to my face!
Debbie is really good about doing art projects and painting. It’s also fun that Griffin and Sam are old enough to take pictures of things now too! Here is Reid stamping his reindeer feet for his reindeer project. 
Paci’s everywhere, eh? But at least this way he soothes himself when he wakes up and decides he has to have one! He’s definitely a tummy sleeper and moves around in his bed a TON. The pacifiers regularly fall out of his bed (er, he throws them out or drops them when he’s banging them against the slats!) so having multiples is a good thing. He also prefers the 0-6 month pacifiers as the 6+ month ones have a new shape with a little roundness to the end. I’ve found that he will take them when he’s happy, but if he’s tired or fussy he will put one it and take it right out and try another. Kinda fun to watch on the video monitor. 
And here we are in our unplanned but color coordinated winter pajamas!
This week I took Griffin to school a couple days which was fun as he was Top Banana! He was super bashful about me wanting to take his picture but I got it nonetheless. 
As I’ve probably mentioned time and time again, Brutus is always in the midst of the action. He just begs for attention by inserting himself into every situation and he absolutely loves to lay on Reid’s blankets when they are on the floor. 
Reid isn’t really pulling himself up yet, but if you prop him up against something he’ll hang tough for a few seconds. He is more inclined to bounce his little legs and do a dance than stand still. 
I really enjoyed picking Griffin up from school and hanging out at home. One afternoon it was a terribly yucky weather day out so we snuggled up on the couch and watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It was the perfect thing. I had Finn model his Thanksgiving hat from school before we watched our movie. Shall we say, I’m not the best about emptying his folder each day after school. 
We’re enjoying our new couch and in particular sitting in our family room on quiet evenings after Reid and Finn are in bed for the night. There isn’t anything better than a Christmas tree, blanket, and hot beverage!
On Saturday Kevin and Finn (and Brutus and Lily for 2 minutes) went out and raked up our leaves in the front yard and walkway to clean things up for our guests. Finn loved jumping in the pile, Brutus wasn’t quite sure what to do, and Lily sniffed around and then was happy to come back inside. Later that morning we had our annual Candy Making Party at our house with Mom and Dad, the Bethunes, Mannings, Conrads, and Ryans. It’s one of my favorite Christmas traditions and of course all about family and treats. Mom planned and made some super cute crafts with the kids, we decorated sugar cookies, made buckeyes, four flavors of hard tack (sassafras, lemon, peppermint, and cinnamon), and caramel pretzel bites. It was constant motion for several hours but tons of fun!
Reid was a great napper during the party which was a great help! Then when he was up he was a happy guy and a hit with everyone who was here. 
The Ryans brought us a beautiful flower arrangement too. Such a thoughtful gift and so pretty! My favorite are the hypericum berries. 
I woke up on Saturday morning and discovered that Reid has gotten his first tooth! His lower left has just broken through his gums. He is really not bothered but it certainly explains all the drool and the stuffy nose and congestion he’s had over the last week or two.
On Tuesday, ironically Trick or Treat night, both Griffin and I had dental check ups. He checked out really well with healthy teeth and no cavities. Since it was Halloween all of the office staff were dressed up, even Dr. Bob! I visited a new dental office for my first visit ever to an office that wasn’t my Dad’s! I, on the other hand, had two cavities 🙁 Not too bad I guess for not having had regular check ups over the last several years. Later that evening Jim and Pat came up for our traditional Trick or Treat night. Sam and Debbie stayed for pizza and trick or treating with the rest of our neighborhood crew. Reid wore Finn’s Astronaut costume, which I didn’t even try on him until it was time to put him in it to leave. It happened to fit perfectly – thank goodness. He’s a super cute astronaut to go along with his big brother who was a Storm Trooper. The kids this year were so FAST! They ran from house to house at full speed and we hit each house in our neighborhood in about an hour and a half. A great night of fun. Kevin mentioned to me the next day how much he really enjoyed just walking our neighborhood and watching Griffin have such fun and joy. I couldn’t agree more! He had a fun time. 
Debbie snapped this pic of some tummy time this week. Sweet Brutus just loves to be close. 
We attended the calling hours and funeral of our friend Chad’s step-dad who passed away after a long fight with cancer. He was a really well known and respected farmer who was heavily involved in different organizations and in the community. The turnout at the calling hours and funeral was incredible, we waited an hour and 45 minutes in line and we didn’t arrive until 7 pm, three hours into the calling hours. The funeral procession also drove through his farm en route to the cemetery where a combine had been placed as well. We certainly have wonderful memories of our visit to their farm in the fall of 2014 when we rode in a combine with Dave. He taught us about farming and showed us much about how the combines work.
Reid now sleeps in only a warm sleeper or a long sleeve onesie and a sleep sack. Since he is no longer being swaddled he definitely prefers to sleep on his belly, just like Griffin. I’m also becoming increasingly aware that I’ve encouraged poor sleep habits. He will not fall asleep without his pacifier and if it pops out and he wakes up he is not able to get himself back to sleep without it (since I’ve long been popping it back in when I hear him wrestle and cry). Having him near me in our room has been great but I’m beginning to think we should have moved him to his own room a month or more ago as he now is very aware when he is alone and he really can’t get himself to sleep on his own at all. If I put him down still awake it always ends in screaming and crying or if I put him down nearly asleep he will often startle and wake up and I’ll have to start over again. Ugh. Much to work on in the coming weeks. 
Here are a few others of me trying to snap a pic of his first tooth. He’s too quick so most of these are a bit blurry and it’s pretty hard to see a white spot on his gums!
Griffin had school pictures this week too and Kevin snapped this pic in the morning before he left for school. 
I like putting in pictures of some of his school work so that we can go back and see how much he has improved over time. This week it was all about pumpkins! 
On Friday we joined my parents and the Bethune’s for dinner at The Spaghetti Warehouse. I didn’t get too many photos other than this one of Finn showing us how he likes to eat his noodles. 
Yet another milestone for Reid, his first cereal! He has been really interested in food for several weeks. Whenever I’m holding him and eating he often grabs for whatever I have or opens his mouth and his head turns and follows the food all the way to my mouth (how mean!) or he talks to the spoon or fork full of food! So with a plenty full weekend we decided why not pack one more thing into it and give Reid his first taste of rice cereal. Check out how messy he got. We brought up the high chair from our basement and he did pretty well sitting in it. Although he does lean to a side and then stays propped up from the side of the chair for now. He was so grabby that we went through 2 spoons since he grabbed one out of my hands and threw it on the floor. And another time he grabbed the bowl of cereal while I was holding it and spilled it all over everything! He is quite fast. But he seemed to enjoy the process. He was a bit tired so after the photo op and trying out the spoon many times we opted to mix a bit more and put it in a bottle for him to eat more easily.
Griffin loves to take my phone and snap photos of various things. Sometimes I don’t even realize he’s done it since he knows how to take the pictures without unlocking my phone. I found this one from this week. He is very good about having independent play time in the loft where he colors or plays dominoes or other games on his own. He really likes lining up these piece :).
Griffin also got to make some tasty apple crisp this week with Debbie. It was delicioso!
This fall has been a pretty busy one. The weekdays and weekends seem to fly by. I’ve been swamped at work and when I get home I feel like I’m often working from behind there too. So the mornings we have to just be still and laze around are so nice!
Kevin was able to go to Griffin’s field trip to Leeds Farm this year with his preschool class. They had a good time on a brisk fall morning feeding the goats, riding karts, taking a wagon ride to pick gourds and such. I was bummed to miss, but am thankful that Kevin got to go and enjoy the time with Griffin. I was spending the days at Millcreek as we had a two-day visit with consultants in town from Florida/Montana to assist us with some process assessment and potential changes. It was a great two days of brainstorming, walking around the property, talking new and different processes for increasing efficiency, and picking the brains of the two gentlemen who have clients in every industry including over 120 clients in the green industry, many of whom are our vendors. There client list and efficiency gain statistics are impressive!
And if that wasn’t enough for a Saturday, it was also Lily’s 9th birthday! These aren’t the best pictures as I actually took them when I was upstairs feeding Reid during dinner with our friends! I didn’t break out the party hat this year :(. Seems hard to believe our girl is 9 years old. I remember when Kevin and I had just begun dating and she was still a bundle full of energy. She has arthritis is her wrists and shoulders and knees and hips and even with her daily medications she still has a slight limp which is better some days and worse on others. She and Brutus play pretty hard from time to time and she puts up with a lot from Griffin too. She’s as sweet as ever. She definitely does not like loud noises, shouting, amazon air bubble packaging (she leaves the room when we open boxes!), and she and Brutus have had more than a few battles when a new bag of food is being opened. And though I don’t get much these days, she still loves to cuddle on the couch, to hide and relax in small and tight spaces, and to be given any kind of people food that isn’t fruit. 
On Sunday we headed to Mom and Dad’s after church to get the Hostaworks website and seed shoppe up for business for the 2017 seed sale. We figured it would be best to be together in person to get it all right. We enjoyed our visit and got most everything done though we ran in to a bit of a snag at the end! Nothing that can’t be fixed with a bit of time though. 
One tidbit from the consultants is the idea of progressive work. It’s something I’ve seen many times before but we haven’t implemented yet at Millcreek. Here our crew is trying out progressive sticking, where each person sticks cuttings into a portion of the tray and then passes the tray along to the next person. Our team did a few sample trays and in doing so, even their first attempts, they cut their rates down from 10 minutes a tray to 6 minutes a tray – even in a less than ideal atypical setup using our production line as a table. We will likely be making this simple change in our propagation area. 