January 2021

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2021 has arrived! Both boys made it past midnight in to the New Year. Though the party quickly ended and we all headed to bed. On New Years Day we had the traditional pork and sauerkraut while the boys enjoyed primarily mac and cheese and strawberries.

I’ve been finding hidden treasures, partially eaten or just the wrappers around lately, typically in the pantry. I just gives me a good laugh, really. I can just imagine the faces I would see had they been busted in action. The boys and I made Buckeyes to start off the New Year. They both had fun rolling and dipping them in chocolate, and sampling of course.

Are you noticing a trend in the photos I’ve been sharing? This is the latest installment in the series entitled “where we find Reid sleeping”. This kiddo really needs an afternoon nap (it’s pretty obvious?) but refuses to take one in a formal way. Instead, we find him asleep in random places around the house!

I really love to see the kids playing together outdoors. If Covid has been good for anything, I love that the kids have had to enjoy each other’s company outside which means no shows, screens, or electronics. Just good old fashioned play. They play long and hard and almost always some sport or game is involved.

Reid is the biggest snuggler of all time. Anytime he sits with you he wants to take your arm and wrap it around him or take your hand and put it across him or next to him. It’s too cute, if you move your hand he will move it back where he wants it :). And Griffin loves to snuggle and watch a show or sport at the drop of a hat

Being on screens so much between school and using them as a “babysitter” from time to time while Kevin is working, Santa gave them the blue-light blocker glasses for Christmas. They like to wear them and I think they both look cute. They don’t even know they are for blocking the blue light, they just think they’re fun to wear. Hopefully it lasts.

We moved Reid up to a full-sized Big Boy bed from his toddler bed this month! It makes me sad to think he’s growing up, but happy at the same time. He is young at heart for sure and loves to be a baby. But he was ready for his big boy bed! I took him to Target and he picked out the sheets and comforter (with just a wee bit of help from me, lol). We rearranged his room some and got him all set up. He was all smiles.

Reid loves to play and unfortunately through Covid has missed out on being in preschool and laying with same-aged friends. He plays with Griffin or the older kids in the neighborhood but he’s really mostly doing independent play even when they are all together. He loves barbies, babies, and the color pink.

We went to visit Haya, Mo, and baby Summer at their place. Summer is getting so big and the boys loved holding her and sitting with her. Throughout Covid and the quarantine, Kevin began giving the boys and himself hair cuts. They sit through them really pretty well and Kevin has gotten pretty good at it, doing them every month or so.

As a fundraiser for the PTO at Griffin’s school, Beehive, the local Powell bakery had pizza-making kits (amongst other things) that you could buy. So we made our own pizza from scratch one evening and it turned out great.

I love the quiet of the mornings and my routine of getting up early before anyone else, feeding Brutus, and sitting down to have my coffee before our morning walk. Brutus knows after I finish my coffee and get up that it’s time to get his collar on and head out the door. We have a good system down. And then once we’re out we often get to see cool things, like the full moon or a fresh snowfall.

Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein sent a valentine’s package to the boys before they headed out of town for Florida. Once it arrived there wasn’t any keeping it taped up! They were both excited to have lovies with their names on them and in their favorite colors (buckeye for Finn and pink/red for Reid).

We remodeled our first floor and kitchen area in 2014 and painted everything on the entire first floor and loft at that time in a color called Collonade Gray. Kevin and I both dislike how dark our house is, so in an attempt to lighten it up we decided to paint our family room and kitchen walls white and also update the baseboards from the cabinet/cream color to white in the kitchen and from the oak color to white in the family room. We also took down the ceiling trim piece in the kitchen along the long wall since we didn’t think painting that white would look great abutting the kitchen cabinets above the fridge. At the same time, I began to paint the unfinished trim around the new windows that we’ve now had for two (!) years. Yikes. Never thought it would be that long to start painting any of them but here we are. It’s not a fast process and as it turns out after doing part of it and then spring picking up at Millcreek the finishing is on hold!

The boys of the house are the shovelers of the driveway after each snowfall. Griffin and Reid like to suit up and shovel for a bit and then move on to playing in the snow and building a snowman if the conditions are right for it.

Griffin’s teacher, Miss Peacock, entered her class into a contest and won a Tonie Box for each kid in her class! I don’t even recall if I posted about that, but in any case Griffin really loves it and loves the different characters that you can put on the top to listen to stories or music. So after a while we decided to get one for Reid so that when we put him in bed at night he can listen to a story or song to help him get to sleep. We got him the Frozen character, which is his most favorite song at the moment and also Cars, Toy Story, and a Fox with Nursery Rhymes.

Mom and Dad sent us this selfie from the beginnings of their road trip to warmer weather in Florida for the month of February. I’m glad they decided to go and get out of Ohio for awhile and enjoy the sandy beaches of Siesta Key!

The Millcreek construction is moving along with the first floor framing, electrical, and networking cabling has been run and the HVAC is installed. The insulation is in and the drywall has been hung, the door trim installed and stained. The second floor will house our IT room – we will finally have all computer and networking equipment in one place rather than three!

Our H2A workers are scheduled to arrive and begin work on February 6th. So Fred, Shaina, and I went to Ikea and loaded up on furnishings for the three apartments that they will be living in. Dressers, night stands, lights, kitchen supplies, bath towels, you name it we filled up our carts. It was hilarious. Fred was done after an hour, lol. But we got so much done and off our list of needs. It was a great trip. Afterwards I took home all of the towels and washed them all. Fun fun! We will be ready for these guys soon!

December 1-31, 2020

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It is December and that means Alfred is back! Griffin spotted Alfred on the family room bookshelves – he was even properly wearing his mask and came with a note this year.

With December came snow and at the first good snowfall Griffin was out on the back patio just after 6 am one morning! He joined me for a walk with Brutus and we finished by enjoying snow fresh snow together.

We got all dressed in our matching pajamas and fixed some hot cocoa prior to decorating the tree this year. Even Brutes had jammies to match, though I’m not sure he was as excited as the boys and me.

Reid has no fear on the ladder, easily climbing high to help hang or deliver ornaments. Griffin conquered his fear and gained more and more confidence by climbing high too. We took advantage of a special Graeter’s promo of free delivery and capped the evening with bowls of yummy peppermint ice cream 🙂

We met up with the Manning’s and Kessler’s for a walk outdoors through the Columbus Commons which was decorated with Christmas lights. It wasn’t too long of a stroll, but it was fun and we were able to have hot cocoa together in the parking garage, lol.

When Lexi arrived on the morning of her birthday we showered her with a surprise of gifts and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. The boys were excited to watch her open things up.

And here are a few of just some wintertime shenanigans.

Given the Covid-19 Pandemic, we still wanted to find a way to share Christmas gifts with our friends and neighbors. We had the fun (funny?) idea of giving everyone a bottle of wine along with a container of clorox wipes, holiday themed disposable face masks, and a roll of toilet paper – ha! Signs of the times. We had fun assembling them and then driving around the neighborhood with the Tim Horton’s, the tail gate up, boys with their Santa hats on running up to everyone’s front doors to make the deliveries. The boys had the best time and were full of energy.

Afterward the boys were happy to snuggle on the couch in the new OSU blanket given to us by the Stephens. It is so cozy!

Ugh. Boys will be boys. Kids will be kids. However, I cannot stand finding things like this!! I walked in my bathroom one day to a disaster in which Reid had pretty much completely emptied my jewelry drawer and mixed and tangled everything together. I about lost my marbles. Kevin, as he so often does, found the perfect gift that he gave me for our anniversary and hung it up around the holidays. So I took to one of my favorite things and began organizing. So much better now to see and find what I want to wear!

Making mom’s recipe of chocolate macarons and Grandma Kirk’s Swedish Tea Cookies!

Another evening of winter fun we picked up hot cocoa and drove around looking at Christmas Lights, including one neighborhood that has a light show choreographed to music that you tune in to via radio station. It was pretty neat.

Here the boys are opening gifts from Abir Elmosleh and the Bolan’s (to remember 2020!). And then their Christmas gift from Lexi, a fort-making supply bin and blankets she made for each of them. They were in heaven. She also painted an awesome piece for Kevin and me of the boys. It’s a cute wintertime scene of them playing in the snow. We love it!

Kevin took Brutus to give him a holiday bath. He always looks so scared in these pics but Kevin says Brutus actually does great and seems to like it. He comes home smelling and feeling much better, that’s for sure!

Once again, amid the times of Covid, we did not gather with family for Christmas. Instead, we set up a time for Mom and Dad and the Bethune’s to come to our house where we setup tables in the garage and exchanged bags and boxes of gifts this year instead. Not nearly the same as all being together on Christmas morning, but a nice short time to gather nonetheless. All masked up with our winter coats on! Kevin also prepared awesome charcuterie boxes for each family. Delish! The Bethune’s gave us cute snow man mugs, hot cocoa bombs, and a fresh (still warm) loaf of homemade sourdough bread. Yummy!

Reid was exhausted and fell asleep at the end of our garage meetup. We put him down for a short nap and then decided to head to Enon to deliver the gifts and charcuterie box we had for Jim and Pat. It was a snowy drive but a fun one. We enjoyed our charcuterie in the car during the trip :).

When we returned home it was time to put out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots and a candy cane for the reindeer. Then we read the last reading from our Advent calendar and the boys put baby Jesus in the cradle.

Christmas morning the boys woke up early to a fresh snowfall and full of excitement to see what was under the tree. So many fun things including a pink remote control jeep for Reid, pokemon cards for both, OSU clothes, Reid’s own mug, a soccer ball and football pants for Griffin, the list goes on. These boys are blessed beyond measure.

Mom and Dad sent us some pics from their Christmas day too and once again we were able to Zoom everyone in on a call later in the day.

Christmas dinner wasn’t quite the same, but we made do and enjoyed quite a feast of filets, turkey breast, roasted carrots and broccoli, charcuterie, cookies, and Mom’s figgy pudding that she delivered with our gifts. It’s not Christmas without the figgy pudding!

Later in the evening with had a phone call with Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong while the boys opened their gifts from them. The were super excited with their new cameras, gamers, and robot!

Random photo of our oven not being this clean since we bought it. A Christmas break project to clean it up after I mistakenly turned the oven on one day while a plastic Ikea kids plate was in there. Yikes. It was a super long cleaning process but turned out pretty well in the end.

I was fortunate to have some days off in December and on this particular day we went to the barn with Lexi to see and ride Tango. It was cold and the fields were SO wet and muddy. But we had lots of fun going through the pastures, meeting other horses (and a mini horse about Brutus’ size), and doing some riding in the barn. The boys each fed treats to Tango and had a great time. I even got to ride and it’s been a LONG time since I’ve been up on a horse!