The highlight of our week was Reid’s baptism on Sunday! It was a special time and we were glad to have family join us. Mom and Dad came down the evening before and the Bethune’s joined us also for a tasty steak dinner. Reid’s morning schedule on Sunday morning was rather wonky as he only took about a 30 minute nap. Church typically falls right during his second morning nap so I thought for sure he would be cranky and make a scene. Boy was I wrong! His baptism was early in the service and he was a happy guy the entire time, only on the third splash of water did he wrinkle his face! But he didn’t cry and when Pastor Nate walked him up the aisle while everyone sang Jesus Loves Me he just looked around and took it all in! We headed to Matt the Millers for a nice brunch following the service. What a fun and joyful morning.  Brutus has such a need for attention. He is basically a huge baby himself as he regularly inserts himself in every situation just begging for some love. He loves to get right up close to Reid if you happen to be on the floor giving Reid some fun interactive play. And he regularly just comes up and rests his head: on me, on the bedside, on Griffin, on a toy that is being played with.  He can certainly be overbearing when he’s energetic but when he’s tired or calm he’s just like a big lovey!
Here Brutus is pouting because Kevin and Finn got all suited up to go play in the snow. He wanted to get in the car so bad that after they left he just went and sat like a statue like this for the next several minutes and just gave me this pitiful look.  Griffin is great at playing independently. He often asks to go outside in the back yard to play whether it is with sticks or balls or hockey or just to go adventuring. This day he got all suited up to play in the snow. He loves to eat snow and he even threw snowballs at the window to try to get me inside :). I went around and took some before photos of our trees as we’ve hired a company to come and give some major love to our mature trees. We have many low-hanging limbs that are pretty sizable and our front oak and maple in particular have grown together pretty heavily. We are looking forward to having a less obscured view from our bedroom window and to have more light in the house once the leaves are back on the trees. They are going to come in and do some crown thinning and raise up the bottoms. I’m pretty stoked. I would love to do it all myself but realize in this day that it just isn’t in the cards at this stage of life! Plus, what to do with all the wood after! They are going to crown thin and raise up probably 10-12 of our mature trees, remove two dead spruce trees, and remove a dead ash behind our fence that is covered in poison ivy – like super mature poison ivy that is about 2″ diameter branches growing 10-15′ up the tree. Ick – be gone yucky stuff! On New Year’s Day we headed over to the Bethune’s for a tasty spread of carnitas. Reid enjoyed a carrot – that’s the only real pic I took apparently! We’ve also been enjoying some chill family time together.  We’ve always loved the hat that Griffin has worn for the last couple of years. We wanted to get a similar one for Reid and while shopping online Kevin found a coordinating one for himself :).  This kid is growing up fast. He seems to really enjoy school though honestly some days I can’t even get him to answer any questions about his day! I do miss being able to take him and pick him up. I feel really disconnected from the classroom happenings and seeing other parents but I do appreciate being able to keep up with things via the weekly email update from his teacher. His handwriting is getting really good and he is picking up on words as we drive around in the car and he’s regularly signing cards and writing his name on all of his papers both at home and school.  As much as I wish I was, I’m just not super interested or talented when it comes to making meals. Don’t confuse that with eating meals, lol, I’m plenty happy to do that! But as we begin to introduce more foods to Reid I’m realizing we need to eat more cleanly, particularly less processed foods which he shouldn’t have. I usually get home from work around 5 and Reid eats shortly thereafter and heads to bed around 6. So on a normal night after I get him down I make dinner of some sort. Kevin has been working late hours so it’s usually just Finn and me so we’ve been keeping it pretty simple. Pinterest for the win on this one.  This is the typical scene when Reid has food. Brutus and Lily nearby – hopeful to catch any scrap they can.  This picture isn’t even close to how great this sunrise was in person. I was on my way in to work and caught the sun rising just before I turned on the road headed to Millcreek.