We haven’t yet come up with a nickname for Reid though we often call him “monkey” or “stink bug” or other names we use for Griffin. I’m thinking perhaps “cheeks” or “smiles” are good fits though 🙂
Griffin continues to love “Debbie days” and these photos are just part of the reason why. He’s always learning through play similar to when he’s at school but instead at home and in his comfy clothes. We are blessed to have her. She loves Griffin and Reid as if they were her own and teaching them along the way is just a bonus.
Ever since Reid was born I’ve placed my hand on the side of his face to settle him down or get him to fall asleep. I love that he’s taken to grabbing my arm whenever I put my hand or arm near his face. He just clamps down and holds on!
Griffin typically takes showers but every now and then he enjoys a “play bath” where we fill up the tub with bubble water and he plays with his toys for a half hour or so. This particular day I thought, hey Reid needs a bath – let’s have him take a bath with Griffin. He was a bit apprehensive to hold Reid and then pretty quickly Reid squirmed and went under for a quick second. But no worries, back up quickly bathed and all done!
I took many pictures on the 20th, for Reid’s four-month birthday. He moves to quickly that I don’t think I got one photo that didn’t have some part of it blurry! But this collage sums up our quick photo session pretty well.
Whenever I clean, which is rare these days, Griffin sees what I’m doing and wants to help. He will often do things to earn money for Happiness, the girl his preschool sponsors through Compassion International. He loves going to the cleaning closet and getting out various supplies. He really enjoys being a helper. 
I’ve begun walking to get some exercise to enjoy the nice weather and to blow off steam once I get home from work. Being gone more than three months has me playing a lot of catch up and there is no shortage of work. Since I’m trying to unbury myself I rarely leave the office so by the end of the day I’m ready for some fresh air! Griffin is loving his new bike and we’ve discovered a Free Library in the neighborhood across Jewett Road. So our new thing is to go on walks and donate/take a book! Jack and the Beanstalk has been Griffin’s favorite bedtime story for a long time now and on our first discovery of the free library what book was in the box? Yep, Jack and the Beanstalk! He was so excited. I felt super accomplished on this morning as we got our walk in before church! 
Some days are just down right tiring. Griffin hasn’t napped since summertime and he rarely falls asleep when he sits or lays down during the day (unlike his Mama, lol). This day was another story, however, as he fell asleep on the dog bed!
And here is a short video of Reid babbling and eating his feet!
We have a 4 year old! This guy was so excited and happy when he woke up on his birthday! It was a Thursday so Finn had school that day. I was able to take the day off work and take him and pick him up at school. We had fun adventures in the afternoon as we headed down to COSI for an afternoon of fun and exploration. He enjoyed mixing colors and playing with all kinds of toys and with the water tables. At the end of the afternoon we were able to meet up with Daddy for a trip to Pins Mechanical where we were hoping to go Duck Pin Bowling, however, it was a 2 hour wait! So instead Finn played on a bunch of the pinball machines.  We then headed home to let the dogs out and feed them dinner before we continued on to Star Lanes for traditional bowling. We had a pizza dinner table side at our lane. Finn did great and has really gotten the hang of bowling. Afterward we played a few games in the arcade. 
Finn’s birthday gift was a big kid bike! He was really excited and went on a quick couple of loops in our kitchen with Daddy’s help. The bike is just a tad bit too tall for him, even on the lowest seat setting, so he’ll have to grow into it. We’re hoping to leave the training wheels off since he is so great on his balance bike!
For his birthday cake on his actual birthday he asked for a strawberry spiderman cake. 
And here are a few others from the week. Â Finn wearing his “yoga pants” outfit – his absolute favorite “comfy” clothes. Â Lily and Brutus doing their thing. They like to battle each other and play-bite each others faces. And Griffin and Sam on St. Patrick’s Day – complete with all things green!
The kiddos had a fun soup-making day where they pulled the chicken and made chicken soup. Yummers, it was quite tasty and they had a great time!
This week was Griffin’s Pre-School Orientation on Thursday. This year he is going to be a Tiger and will go to school two days a week, Tuesday and Thursday. I went with him and met his teachers, Miss Jen and Miss Irma, and we played for about a half an hour. It was just a short visit so he could see his classroom and get comfortable with his surroundings. Afterward I thought it would be fun to have a little date together since I was off for the day. We went to First Watch for a nice brunch and then headed for a fun activity at Color Me Mine. Griffin chose a huge Spider Man coin bank and I chose a simple pleated bowl. We both had a lot of fun painting our projects and we will get to pick up the finished projects next week!
It was also a rather noisy week as we got a new roof! It took about two solid days of work, with a crew of about 6 or more guys working all day. I was pretty nervous to pick the shingle color as we have a huge roof and the wrong would look bad, obviously! But I must say, we picked an excellent color! Kevin and I were both quite happy with it as it goes really well with our new paint color and has some flecks of our brick in it as well.
Google just so happened to remind me of the below photo from one year ago. A lot has changed since then – our house color, a new roof, new skylights, and our shrubs out front have grown like crazy! We also planted three new trees this year. I’m excited for next spring already!
Finn had a fun week of play too. He often gets out with Sammy and our neighbors Cole and Cooper early in the week. They have a lot of fun together! He and I ventured to Graeter’s one afternoon with Lily (she had her follow up appointment for her teeth, so she was with us) and she got a pup cup! And we’ve gone on several bike rides this week in our neighborhood. Finn has really been enjoying riding his bike and he is getting to be really great balancing and lifting his feet off the ground for long stretches of time. He’s gotten so much taller that we had to raise his seat up a notch. I remember when we gave him this balance bike he couldn’t stand all the way with his feet on the ground yet!
