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November 1-14, 2019

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We started November off with a photo session of the 1953 MG TD as we needed to get photos of the four corners of the car for the Bring a Trailer listing. It was a bit fun, shall we say, as the battery was dead and we could only locate our battery backs with one set of cables (not our true jumper cables) which weren’t effective. Finally we were able to borrow a pair of true jumpers from our neighbor and got her started and out into the street for some photos! The hour delay in all of that turned out to be a good thing as we captured some nice photos with the sun setting. Kevin took the boys for a ride down the street and back. Griffin also helped me get some photos of the hard top, acting as the “hidden” support to keep it propped up. Afterward I got some photos of he and Reid being goofy.  Monkey see, monkey do around here.  After we wrapped up our photo shoot we packed up the car, the dogs, and the kids and headed to Mansfield to get the HostaWorks Seed Shoppe ready for online sales for 2019. Kevin works all of that magic while the kids have fun playing. Dad and I got the labels printed for the seed trays and then I snapped some pics of Mom and Dad to use on the website this year. It was a fast weekend and the site launched well with only two sneaky pre-orders before the site was actually live.  As it turns out it has been a record breaking year for seed sales. The first 24 hours brought in crazy sales. The site went live at 5 pm, by 9:40 pm half the SKUs were out of stock and we had received 43 orders. By 8 pm the next night we were at 71 orders and 592 or 775 total packs sold, and only 39 of 148 SKUs still available. It was nuts!

I took Brutus on a walk with Mom and Griffin in the morning. It was one of my more frustrating walks with him to be honest. There were so many distractions and lots of newness so he wasn’t listening to best. But we got it in anyhow and he demonstrated some of his listening skills and commands as we got back home to Mom and Dad’s.

On Monday and Wednesday mornings I’m home to get Griffin on the bus and take Reid to preschool. Some of those mornings I haven’t had time to get Brutus walked before the kids are up, so we’ve headed out together. It has been pretty chilly a couple of times but the boys have been troopers and enjoy the brisk start to the day.  After texting back and forth with Brutus’ trainer about his pulling/barking/growling when encountering people or other dogs on walks he suggested a slip leash. We got one and I’m really happy with how it works and how you can more easily control the dog, taking the unwanted behaviors pretty much off the table.

Reid has brought home some fun art work from preschool. I met with one of his teachers this week for conferences and she had good things to say. He’s a good listener, he plays well on his own and with his peers, he’s able to do a lot of fine and gross motor skills well. She did note that he doesn’t smile much for them, but that they know he’s happy as he’s not seeming sad or upset. I noted that he’s very observant and also that he talks so much. She was surprised to hear me say that he’s a big talker, she said he doesn’t talk much at school. That honestly surprised me, though she explained that there are some strong personalities in the classroom. With that I’m not surprised at all, I can imagine Reid watching what’s going on. One thing she noted to work on was sharing, which basically all 2 year olds need to work on, lol.

One evening the boys put on their matching footed pj’s and decided to be goofy together. Griffin asked me to capture all of their silly poses. I love these silly boys!

On Sunday Griffin was invited to a friends birthday party at The Movement Lab, a fun ninja-warrior-like training facility. The all boy party was two hours of athletic ninja obstacle course, pizza, and cake!  I found him playing in his room early one morning making lego creations. He loves to play with people, but also loves his time alone to create.

On voting day, we like to take the boys to the polls with us to learn about voting and our civic duty. Afterward, we go to breakfast typically at Anne’s Kitchen in Powell.  We had voted, eaten breakfast, and were able to get home in time for Griffin to make the bus at 8:35 am!

For Veteran’s Day, Griffin’s school had a breakfast where the kids were able to invite a veteran and have breakfast with them. An assembly followed afterward. Griffin invited Grandpa Armstrong (US Navy 1960-63) as his guest. He wrote a cute little invitation for Grandpa. Grandpa drove Griffin and himself to school and I popped in quickly to snap a couple of pictures. They were treated to a pretty large spread of breakfast foods and cards and crafts handmade by the kids on the tables. Thank you for your service, Grandpa!

Early one morning I had to head to WestCamp, the printer for the Millcreek catalog, for the 2020 catalog press check. School was on a two hour delay due to the icy and sleet covered roads. It made for an interesting walk with Brutus in the morning. Lots of crunching with each step. While I was at the printer Kevin was home with the kids, who got all suited up and enjoyed playing in the snow for a bit. Good thing the snow pants still fit!

We hosted the main course of our neighborhood progressive dinner – chili, hot dogs, and ham/cheese sliders. It was a large crowd this time with 6 families (14 adults and 13 kids) and we barely had enough food! The kids always love this time together and it is fun to see them get so excited to move on to the next house. They like to be the first ones to each house before he next course begins.

We were SO EXCITED to receive this letter from Tyler Run on Thursday, November 14th. I opened it at 10 pm the night before we left for our Tennessee vacation. I was so excited followed quickly by so disappointed that we were not going to be in town for the assembly, in which Griffin would be recognized in front of the entire school for being a student in Mrs. Hale’s first grade classroom that has demonstrated TEAMWORK during the first grading period. There are two kids per class who are recognized each quarter. We are so proud of him! And we are thankful for his teacher, who nominated him for the award. We haven’t shared with him that he won this award yet, as it is a surprise. His teacher reached out to me and wrote the entire letter out in a message to ensure that I had received it. She said she nominated him before they knew when the assembly would be and she apologized that it was while we were on vacation! She has offered to present his certificate in front of the class on Monday, 11/25 (which also happens to be the morning I volunteer there this month) so Kevin and I will be there for that. So proud!

 

And here are a few videos of Reid doing his ABC’s and 123’s!

 

September 22 – October 4, 2019

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I love these kids and I am so thankful I get to be their Momma. Most days I feel like life is blur with so many things going on between work, kids activities, meals, errands, appointments, and so on. Stress has been rampant lately and I’m on overload but I’m trying to do a better job and having more patience (that’s a hard one for me, as if you didn’t know) and caring less about order and tidiness (that one is equally as hard for this control freak).

We’ve been enjoying the outdoors, despite unseasonably warm temperatures. These kids love to be with each other even though it often escalates into fighting and crying and tattle-tales after a short bit. They are loving to be all matchy matchy with their clothes whether during the day or at night with their jammies. From OSU, to Crew, to Aqua-tots, to glow-in-the-dark skeleton pajamas, fishy pj’s, etc. I think it’s adorbs and will encourage it as long as I can. I’ve even purchased matching sherpa-lined jean jackets for fall 🙂 Also, despite having a ridiculous number of shirts – Reid will choose a “go buckeyes” shirt every.single.day from his closet! I swear, these pictures are taken on different days…..

Lily isn’t feeling her best the last week or so. I’m not entirely sure what the trouble is. Maybe she’s sad that Brutus isn’t here or she’s just not feeling well. She’s not eating regularly, including not wanting her pills even when they are in peanut butter pill pockets or bread. She will, however, eat her food if there is human food mixed in (brisket, pizza, bread, etc). She’s eating about a meal a day. She’s also struggling with her walking and is doing the bunny hop with her hind legs more and more. It’s really sad to watch her decline. This girl has been through the thick and thin of life with me and it’s rough to see her like this. She’s not very confident coming down the stairs anymore and her back legs often collapse  on a stair or two on her trips down. While Brutus has been away she’s getting more time out in the front yard with us and I think she’s really enjoying that. She often just lays down in the grass and sniffs the air. She makes it all the way down the drive to the mailbox, checks out the neighborhood dog activity, and then lays down to rest.

Reid seems to be loving school. His Guppy class teachers use an app where they post pictures and I find that Reid is often displaying his unique personality whether through his cute expressions or being the one-off kid doing something no one else is, lol. He’s brought home several cute crafts and Haya says he’s always happy when she picks him up. Both boys are loving Pokemon and Daddy has gotten them each their own book. It’s cute to seem them play and talk and make trades together.

Can you find Reid in the picture below?  Hint: look in the mirror, lol 🙂

We went to Fall Fest at NPCA and both Reid and Finn enjoyed playing all the little games and getting prizes. Reid was so excited when he got the ring around the cone in his Guppy class! And Griffin got three balloons in a row with the slinging game.

We had parent-teacher conference with Mrs. Hale this week for Griffin and he is doing really well. Math is clearly his strength though he is also doing well and as expected in reading. She shared that he is great to have in class – he’s pleasant, kind, helpful, a good listener, he follows instructions well, and so on. He got his second “Pawsome” note this week for showing good “effort” during stations. Essentially, while Mrs. Hale is working with a small group of students, the other students in class work at stations with their small groups. Griffin was able to get two magic words worksheets done (and done well!) when the expectation was one worksheet. He was so proud, this was his second Pawsome note! I love that his teacher is very encouraging and the TRES Pawsitive Promise (Teamwork, Respect, Effort, Spreading Kindness) is fashioned after TRES (Tyler Run Elementary School).  Griffin has gone to the school nurse twice (two Thursday mornings in a row) complaining of his heart stinging or his ribs/chest stinging. I took him to the pediatrician on the first Thursday and he checked out fine. Scares this Momma though! I visited him at lunch that first Thursday and then picked him up to take him to the doctor, so he didn’t ride the bus home. He was bummed about that – he loves riding the bus and being with his friends. For now we’re just keeping an eye on him.

Check out this handsome boy all ready for picture day at school! He chose this nice button down shirt 🙂

Griffin went to his friend Vinny’s birthday party at a Tae Kwon Do facility and he broke this board! He really had fun – might be our next class enrollment, lol.

We ventured up to Apple Hill Orchard for our annual apple picking with Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein (and apple donuts, lol). It was a busy day as we had soccer and a birthday party in the morning and afternoon before we could leave). We picked a bag full of apples and then the kids chased chickens (literally) and played a bit on the train. We had a tasty brisket dinner and lots of tackling grandpa.

 

Brutus is away at camp and while I don’t hear from his trainer, Jeff, really frequently when I do hear from him the feedback is great! I’m so excited and encouraged to see where he was at 4 days and then again at 2 weeks in the videos below. I’m still uncertain how this will translate to once he’s home and how he’ll listen to us, not Jeff or his other trainers, but I’m hopeful that he will carry his training through to any environment. I asked Jeff about training him regarding people coming to the door/ringing the doorbell as he talked about this during our evaluation at our house. The text he responded with was great!

 

 

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!