Category Archives: milestone

September 18, 2016

img_9187Wow, I just can’t seem to keep up with blog posting anymore! Yet again I find myself a month behind – yikes! I do recall this week though as it was a busy and fun one.

During the week we headed downtown to the Slice of Columbus at Columbus Commons. We’ve gone every year since Griffin was born, making this our 4th trip! It’s fun to see how much Griffin has grown up and each year he participates in more and more of the kids activities. The event is a fundraiser for Nationwide Children’s Hospital where numerous pizza places donate their pizzas. You buy a ticket to get in and after that you can sample as much pizza as you’d like! This year there were probably 12 different pizza places – anything from indian flavored to regular pepperoni! There were several kids crafts and a balloon artist too. Finn was pretty happy with his sword, sword belt, and parrot combo. img_9174 img_9180 img_9195 img_9204Over the weekend we headed to the Delaware County Fair where we had our share of fair foods and entertainment. This year Griffin was big enough to ride several rides so he rode his first roller coaster! He also went on the helicopter ride, a dinosaur ride, and a race car. He also enjoyed sitting on numerous old tractors. He’s a lot bigger than the last time!img_9227 img_9228 img_9230 img_9234 img_9236 img_9240 img_9246 img_9249 img_9255 img_9278 img_9272 img_9259 img_9257 img_9269 img_9285 img_9294Uncle Sean was also in Ohio for a week long visit so we enjoyed the afternoon at Kevin’s parents. Even Lily came with us this time, she was quite happy about that! We all enjoyed a nice family dinner at Jim and Pat’s new house to celebrate Pat and Sean’s birthdays!img_9309 img_9305 img_9303 And here are a few others from our week. Finn and I stopped at the zoo and rode the camels and later that week he went with Debbie and Sammy too. And there’s one of Lily in her regular spot watching all of the neighborhood happenings. img_9160 img_9166 img_9162 img_9170 img_9168 img_9302

December 6, 2015

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December has arrived and we are in full holiday mode, as you can see. We’ve been busy with all kinds of activities from decorating our tree, to Finn’s first movie in a theater, baking, and having our yearly tradition “candy making party” at our house with family and friends. The days are ever-so-busy and seem to pass faster than I would like!

First things first, this year we have an Advent Calendar! We got a fun one with animals, wisemen, Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus so that Finn can help put them on each day. We found a printable “advent calendar” that had a verse for each day telling the story of Jesus’ birth.  The Angel was the first one on the calendar this year and Finn put it in the perfect spot.  IMG_2953IMG_2954IMG_2956
We took Finn to his first movie in a theater this week, to see A Christmas Story. He really seemed to enjoy it and didn’t make a peep the entire time. We went to a theater that serves food (and a ginormous bucket of popcorn!) during the show so we enjoyed some dinner during the movie. We are blessed with this little guy. IMG_2961We decorated our tree one evening in preparation for our candy party. Finn loved helping us and looking at all of the ornaments. We all love having such a tall tree! Sadly, we had one tragedy as the ornament that Kevin gave me in December 2011 when we first began dating fell to the floor as Finn and I were putting it up. It was a glass snow globe and unfortunately it shattered :(. Kevin snapped a photo though for memories sake. IMG_2975 DSC_0299 DSC_0305 DSC_0311 DSC_0323 DSC_0302 DSC_0309 IMG_2977 DSC_0316 IMG_2983 DSC_0321 DSC_0331 DSC_0336IMG_2987 DSC_0339 IMG_2985 DSC_0346 DSC_0349DSC_0439 DSC_0328Kind of at the last minute on Friday I asked Finn if he wanted to make some cookies. We made chocolate chip first, and then I figured it would be fun to make the cookie press cookies so he could help with the dough gun and then decorate them. It was fun (and messy)!DSC_0350 DSC_0355 DSC_0359 DSC_0363 DSC_0366 DSC_0374 DSC_0377 IMG_2996We awoke on Saturday morning and got right to party prep – making the peanut butter mixture that we would use later in the afternoon to make buckeyes! Finn is excellent at dumping. We have a pretty good system in place where I measure and he dumps. He’s also really good at turning on the mixer (!). IMG_2999Our friends and family began arriving around noon for our yearly tradition of making Hard Tack Candy and Buckeyes. Our flavors this year were cherry, black licorice, peppermint, sassafras, lemon, and cinnamon. And new this year, we made chocolate truffles too (chocolate/orange and chocolate/vanilla). We enjoyed the company of Mom and Dad, Amy, Andy, and the kids, the Mannings, Conrads, and part of the Kessler, Ryan, and Lewis families. We had a good sized crowd of 12 adults and 14 kiddos. Once again, Mom and Amy did a few crafts with the kids in the basement too, making Christmas ornaments – but somehow I didn’t get a photo of any! Lots of deliciousness by the end of the afternoon!IMG_3001 IMG_3002 IMG_3005 IMG_3006 IMG_3007 IMG_3009 DSC_0384 DSC_0385 DSC_0387 DSC_0389 DSC_0391 IMG_3020 IMG_3023IMG_3024 IMG_3025 IMG_3031 IMG_3035 IMG_3036 IMG_3026 IMG_3027 IMG_3028 IMG_3029 IMG_3037 IMG_3038 IMG_3040 IMG_3047 IMG_3051 IMG_3003 IMG_3004 DSC_0381 IMG_3012 IMG_3016 IMG_3017 IMG_3008IMG_3010IMG_3056IMG_3055 IMG_3059 IMG_3011 IMG_3030 IMG_3033 DSC_0399 IMG_3068 IMG_3067 IMG_3069 IMG_3070 IMG_3077 IMG_3060 IMG_3071 DSC_0410 IMG_3073 IMG_3063 IMG_3064 IMG_3066 DSC_0413 DSC_0415 DSC_0420 DSC_0423 DSC_0417 DSC_0436 DSC_0425 DSC_0430 DSC_0433Whew.  That was lots of work!!

So on Sunday morning we took it easy when we woke up, starting with yummy snowman pancakes that Daddy made for Finn!IMG_3090 IMG_3089

September 27, 2015

DSC_0219It’s been another fun week for the Armstrong family. Finn had his first visit to the Dentist this week and he was a-w-e-s-o-m-e! We went to Haring Pediatric Dental (turns out Dr Haring is from Mansfield!) in Dublin. They recently moved in to their new office space and it is really cool. Their logo is a turtle and the entire office is themed with turtles and nautical things. They have the neatest “waiting room” for the kids. For the exam, Lynette, the Hygienist, gave Finn a pair of cool spider man sunglasses to wear. She explained each of the instruments before she used it and he got to choose his flavor of fluoride (watermelon, of course). She told him anytime he wanted a “drink” to let her know and she would give him one out of the water gun. Sure thing, he asked twice for water, ha! She assured me that we did not have what she considered a “normal” visit for a 2-year old as she kept praising how great of a patient he was. She asked if we had been practicing, which we hadn’t, other than a couple quick photos in the car right before hand. He checked out great, though he has two spots (one on each lower eye-tooth) where there was an interruption in the formation of the enamel and it appears as round spots on the front of his teeth near the gums. She said most likely it won’t be a problem, but can make cavities more likely there. At the end of his appointment he was watching her work on the computer and she asked if he wanted to help, so she put him right on her lap and told him what she was writing up.  I told her his favorite part of the keyboard is to press the “zero”, but he didn’t ask her to do it!. IMG_20150922_084345459 IMG_20150922_084517232 IMG_20150922_085039173_HDR IMG_20150922_085214280 IMG_20150922_085309044_HDR IMG_20150922_085826717_HDR IMG_20150922_090643054 IMG_20150922_090747213 IMG_20150922_090858873 IMG_20150922_091003569_HDR IMG_20150922_091421610 IMG_20150922_091634728 IMG_20150922_092208080Friday evening was the Preschool’s Fall Fest at NPCA. There were hot dogs, ice cream, and many games for the kids to play. After completing each game they won a prize for their bag. Finn’s favorite was the whistle that he chose after tossed a ring around a pumpkin – which was the Guppy class (his pre-school class, hence the fish theme) activity for the night. IMG_20150925_193105075 IMG_20150925_193140875 IMG_20150925_191331421_HDR IMG_20150925_194549663 IMG_20150925_195139873 IMG_20150927_202642780Saturday we had an afternoon adventure to Mansfield to pick apples with Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein. We went to Apple Hill Orchard and got to see roosters, a goat and sheep, we took a long wagon ride around the farm, and we picked lots of yummy apples.  And while we finished picking apples, Kevin went across the street to their store and picked up a dozen WARM apple donuts and apple cider (the aroma of them fresh baking the donuts percolated through the entire apple field where we were picking, so of course we had to buy some before we left!). We picked Honeycrisp, Jonathan, a golden variety and an unknown (to us) red apple. They are delish. And Finn loves to be hoisted into the air to pick the highest apples possible. Kevin, Dad, and I all took turns – but daddy wins the prize for the highest!DSC_0172 DSC_0175 DSC_0176 DSC_0179 DSC_0180 IMG_20150927_221623 DSC_0184 DSC_0187 DSC_0189 DSC_0197 DSC_0198 DSC_0201 DSC_0204 DSC_0207 DSC_0209 DSC_0210 DSC_0215 DSC_0219 DSC_0223 DSC_0232 DSC_0237 DSC_0242 DSC_0244 DSC_0248 DSC_0249 DSC_0254 DSC_0260 DSC_0266 DSC_0280 DSC_0284 IMG_20150926_183823852In other things, I hadn’t checked in on the garden for any harvest lately and once I did – check this out! Our one ginormous zucchini. It is as tall as Finn’s waist!IMG_20150927_150511912 IMG_20150927_150633515And here is a favorite of mine from Saturday morning, Finn woke up after 9 am and was a super happy boy! He likes to be worn as a hat!IMG_20150927_091730704