These goofballs! This is sometimes how we leave swim lessons, still in goggles (and Reid isn’t even taking lessons right now but he walks around for a half hour with them on anyhow). Reid left his on through dinner at Raisin’ Canes too.

Get ready for picture overload. Between everyday happenings, my birthday, Griffin’s birthday, his birthday party at Star Lanes and our progressive dinner with neighbors, there’s a crazy number of photos it seems.

Haya has snapped some pics of Reid that capture his personality pretty well. Mac and cheese for the win on this day for lunch. Reid is so particular. He won’t eat plain pasta noodles or lasagne/johnny marzetti/spaghetti noodles, but he will eat mac and cheese (sometimes, not all the times but when we likes it he goes for about 3 servings!). He also can’t stand to have you brush his teeth. Seems he’s a control freak (like his mama) and just wants to do it on his terms and on his time, but this particular night he was happily brushing along for awhile so I snapped a pic.

He likes to be just like the big kids when outside. It’s pretty cute to watch him try to use the big hockey stick! He’s definitely a spirited one. 

This picture of Lily showed up in my Facebook feed, of her 10 years ago at the back door of my old house. Crazy that it has been a decade since she was a pup. I can still remember her feisty growl when I’d try to lead her in a certain direction on a leash to go potty. Brutus continues to be a big baby who lets you know when he really wants something. In the photo below in Griffin’s room, I was laying on Finn’s bed during bedtime routine and Brutus just kept coming over trying to get me to put him out. He doesn’t really NEED to go out, he just WANTS to go out. He begs by laying his arms and face across me all the time to tell me he wants something. Silly big baby. 

Now that our new windows are in and the trim is up, Kevin hung Griffin’s stained glass back up and we put Reid’s up for the first time in his room too. Everything is coming back together! Now, to just get the window trim painted……

This picture captures a few things: Reid sharing and Griffin with his pouty face that pops up when things aren’t going his way, lol. We’ve had a lot of fun, super-bubbly baths late that the kids really enjoy. They just splash, giggle, and generally have a good time. It’s a good way to end the day.

My birthday was on a Saturday this year, so to my surprise when I walked downstairs on Thursday, Haya had arrived with flowers, chocolates, and a balloon for my birthday (she doesn’t work Friday’s with us). It was a sweet way to start the day 🙂 On Friday, the Bethune’s, Mom, and Dad came to celebrate birthdays for Mom, Amy, and me. We had a cookout for dinner (we’re pretending it’s nice spring weather) followed by cake (a delicious one made from scratch my Mom) and multiple ice cream options. Dad took the pictures below of each of the kids. 

On my birthday morning I wasn’t allowed to go downstairs until Griffin awoke. He slept in pretty late! Once Kevin and the boys were downstairs I was called down and walked in to the kitchen to find them standing in front of a new bike for me! I was super surprised! Even though I’ve mentioned for awhile that we haven’t gotten to take family bike rides I hadn’t ever thought of receiving a bike as a gift! So, now I’m looking forward to getting some much needed exercise. We just need to figure out a solution for Reid! And I love my card made by Griffin, complete with my age!

Later that afternoon we went on a brief family hike at Highbanks. The day kind of got away from me (I started with a 9 am interview for a girl as a solution to our need for a Friday caregiver) and Kevin had reserved dinner for us at Cap City at 4:45 pm, which seemed early but turned out to be a great time! We all had a lot of fun walking and exploring. I’ve resolved to do more of this and less of the chores I seem to get wrapped up in. I find it hard to balance working full time (or more) and then fitting in the household chores of laundry, cleaning, vacumming, etc., along with just open time to play with the kids. I’m usually more included to get the “chores” done than just have fun and play. Hoping to change that!

We stopped at Nocterra, a new brewery in Powell, on our way home from Cap City and met up with Chad and Nicole for a drink. It is a fun, kid-friendly place about 5 minutes from our house! They have a chalk wall, kids games, and it’s a fun atmosphere for all. We plan to head back there soon. When we arrived home, Kevin and Griffin decorated my traditional Bunny Cake 🙂

On Sunday we had Griffin’s 6th birthday party at Star Lanes after church. We had a few neighbors, a couple classmates, his cousins this year and Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein. The kiddos got to bowl for a game, then play in the arcade. There was food for everyone during the bowling and cake before the arcade. Everyone was sugared up. 

On Monday night we headed to the Mumford and Sons concert with Chad and Nicole. It was a last minute thing, they had 2 extra tickets, so we decided to go for it. We had apps and drinks at Barley’s first and then headed to the show. It was a fun night!

I drive west and north in the mornings, so I don’t get to watch the sunrise other than in my side and rear view mirrors, but this particular morning it was such a colorful sunrise I snapped a pic in the mirror. 

We hosted our annual Spring Seminar at Millcreek on Thursday, March 14th. We had 45+ attendees and a good time was had by all. 

And here are a few randoms – the pups enjoying some warmer weather (finally!), Griffin with his new nerf gun from Haya. 

Griffin’s birthday was on a Saturday also. This kid, he didn’t ask at all about gifts the entire day! I can’t even recall at this point what we did all day long, but we didn’t get around to doing gifts until 6 pm, just before heading over to Bernie and Alex’s house for the start of our progressive dinner. Griffin was so excited when he opened his Dog Man book, all of the Paw Patrol Beanie Boo’s (he now has them all), and the Hot Wheels Osmo Game for the new iPad. He also thought it was pretty cool to be able to play with his friends all night long and that we ended the night with the dessert piece at our house, complete with a cake a singing him happy birthday.  Our theme this time was Mexican, so Griffin and Kevin went to the mexican grocery store and amongst mexican desserts, also picked out a Pinata for the kids to smash at the end of the night.