Having fun in the kitchen and knocking another item off our summer bucket list: make a pie! Finn and I made our first blueberry pie of the season this week to take to the Pilgrim’s for the 4th of July festivities at their house. Yummers. I still need to perfect the baking – this time it turned out a bit soupy, but still delish. We enjoyed hanging out with friends (and family, ha!) at the Pilgrim’s and were also able to walk to Coffman High School for the Dublin 4th festivities which include a million bounce houses for the kids to burn some serious energy!
Earlier in the morning we started the day by building and then destroying a “downtown big city” building. 
Finn went down to the Columbus Commons for Kids on Friday with Debbie. There are a lot of fun activities, including baseball, hockey, and planting seeds (oh, and free ice cream sandwiches!). Here Finn planted a bean and watermelon seed. He also ventured to the zoo where he continues to enjoy the fun of having a Gold Membership so he can feed the giraffes and ride ponies, camels, and rides for “free”. 
Kevin and I have been lucky enough to enjoy date nights lately. I had arranged with Debbie to stay late one night a week while her son is away at his dads for several weeks this summer. So we headed to Aab India and enjoyed some yummy Indian food. When they brought out our food they called this one the “tv dinner”, ha! Even Finn got to enjoy some leftovers the next day as we saved the round, donut-looking ball for him. Apparently it was delish! 
On Saturday we made a late in the day decision to head to the Clippers game. Kevin had rented a trailer to bring home some trees we purchased for our front yard. Those two picked up our trees and brought them home and it was perfect timing that I got home from Millcreek (we were on the Cultivate’16 Grower Tour this year) in order to have an evening of fun. It was a hot night, but a fun one! 
We had on our summer bucket list to attend 3 outdoor concerts – I think we’ve already surpassed that! Going back to our dating days Kevin and I have always enjoying hanging out listening to live music and since we’ve had Finn we’ve always taken him along. He likes to dance and be silly. We were joined by the Bethune’s, Eilerman’s, and Manning’s this week so we had a nice fun crowd. 
And remember our caterpillars? After what seemed like forever, on Saturday the first one emerged as a butterfly! After watching it for a day Kevin and Finn released it on Sunday. Then a bit later when Kevin and Finn were mowing the yard they found a baby toad!
Spring cookie baking! Finn, Debbie, and Sam made some cute and tasty spring themed sugar cookie cut-outs this week. They even found eyes in all my baking goodies to use for the chicks! 
Lots of spring rain this week so that Finn was able to make the most of his new rain boots. What is it that kids just love about splashing in puddles? He just loves it! 
And more fun with artwork and exploring the Powell parks. 
Our seedlings are doing pretty well. Everything has germinated and growing pretty good. 
And I thought it would be fun to show Finn how plants use water and how it travels through the entire stem up to the tips of the flowers. Since blue is his favorite color that is what we used!
Pancake-maker-helper Mr. Finn here. One personality trait about Finn that has been the same as long as he’s been able to express it – Finn always wants to help and do what Mommy and Daddy are doing. I don’t know, perhaps most kids are this way, but I’m talking he’s like that down to what we are eating off our plates! If we make dinner and I put everything that Kevin and I are having, except perhaps one item (one time I didn’t give him any lasagne – why I’m not sure, because he does like it!) on his plate, he quickly sees what he is missing and asks for it. He’s the same way about helping in the kitchen. Anytime I bake (sadly, I do that more often than make full-on dinners) he is in the kitchen in an instant saying “I want to help!”. So here he is helping Daddy make some mini pancakes. 
Spring is in full swing at Millcreek, which means I’m gone long days and also working Saturday’s for the next several weeks. The pictures are few, but they are cute reminders of how blessed we are having Debbie care for Finn. She has been with our family for 2 1/2 years and we are grateful for that. Multiple times per week Finn goes on fun outings to the zoo, the local parks, the splash pad, pet store, library story time, book store, Franklin Park Conservatory, COSI, Culver’s, Handel’s (ice cream places, of course) and such. And when he’s home she has an educational plan for the week too with a letter, number, color and concept or skill she works on with him. He paints, colors, makes all kinds of fun art work, does science experiments and Debbie takes photos of their adventures and crafts and puts them in our app so we can see them while we’re away at work. I really love seeing his adventures and how happy he is – these photos are from Debbie this week! 
We enjoyed a fun evening with the Howard’s this weekend. Kevin and other friends helped Chris build benches in their gazebo and at the end of the night there was a fun cookout with everyone. Finn was there throughout the afternoon with Kevin (I was working) and loved playing with the other kids. Jake, Nicole’s son, even made a short “basket” for Finn so he could shoot hoops with them in the driveway :). 
And this is always my favorite week of spring in the garden, when the blooms of our Korean Spice Viburnum open up. They have the prettiest pink buds that open to the most wonderful smelling flowers. I just love it. Every year I go out in the morning that the first open and take a photo before I go to work. They don’t bloom for long, but their scent fills up our patio and porch and I’m in heaven!
