Tag Archives: birthday

May 2022

May began with a fun Derby Party at our friends the Bolans up the street. Our fam sported some fun attire for the evening. It was a fun time with friends and fascinators – ha!

My annual Mother’s Day handprint painting! Each year I look forward to the new creative way the boys capture their hand prints. This year it is fun cactus plants with hand flowers! I also received a lovely necklace with Griffin, Nathan, and Reid.

This kiddo was lucky to get his face painted at the zoo on a trip with Lilly. I was working late and wasn’t able to see it in real life before bedtime so we facetimed and then he wanted to sleep that way so I could see him in the morning.  Raaawwwwrrrr!

Brutus and Reid both took note of the little birdy on our patio that wasn’t faring so well. They both just watched the birdy. It was cute to watch them watch the bird.

I think these Christmas family jammies are on like year 3. They are some of the most frequently worn when they want to match each other at night. And on this night they both wanted to show me their styled slicked back hair.

 

Kevin took the boys to the 1 year anniversary celebration of Father and Son Sports Cards and Collectibles shop. They had cake and fun activities. Griffin loves going to the shop and asks to go at least once a week. He enjoys looking through the boxes for specific players and also takes in cards (sports or pokemon) to try to sell.

On the 20th we celebrated Reid turning 5 years old! Woah, it seems so hard to believe it’s been 5 years since our silly, stubborn, fun, goofy, expression-filled, hug and kissing little man was born.  He loves movies and popcorn. He is always hungry yet never eats much in quantity and prefers food in crinkly packages (aka anything processed). He eats PBJ, mac and cheese, yogurt, crackers, butter butter toast, and loves his MILK and not much else unless it is a “snack”. This one keeps us on our toes.

This year Reid’s birthday fell on a Friday and being a weekday at the end of a busy spring week I didn’t have much free time to make a cake. My sister came to the rescue and made Reid an AMAZING rainbow cake (which is what he’d asked for) for his birthday! Look at this thing. It was so awesome and he was amazed. Being a Friday and Griffin’s soccer team had a game that evening and a pool party after at teammate Brady’s house – we opted for cake for breakfast and prezzies before school!

Reid enjoyed watching Sonic 2 with friends at the Dublin AMC for his 5th birthday (directly after a soccer game, of course)!

Reid’s birthday celebration continued with our family gathering on the patio! We also celebrated Graham turning 12! Woah. Last year before he will be a teenager!!

And here are some more soccer memories captured this spring. These boys on the OUFC B09 Blue team are so fun as are their families. We had a great fall and spring season and the boys improved to much throughout that time. They have such fun together and truly enjoy hanging out with each other. They go to so many different schools across the Olentangy district as well as private schools it has been fun getting to know others from outside of Powell.

Special roses from the boys on Mother’s Day at the game!

Spring brought our first out of town Soccer Tournament down in Cincinnati at the Kings Hammer tournament. The boys went 4-0 and were champions in their bracket! We spent two nights in Cinci getting to spend time with our teammates and families between games and in the evenings at the hotel and restaurants. It was fun!

To celebrate the end of the season we hosted a cookout after the last game. The weather thankfully was warm enough to be out on the patio and the boys played soccer and other games outside while many of the girls created art on the driveway. Sadly, our friend Xander injured his eye toward the end of the party slinging water balloons. Ugh. I felt terrible that it happened but our team rallied around him over the next couple of weeks (he ended up needing surgery for a partially detached retina) but has since healed well and we are so glad!

Prior to hosting the soccer team Kevin and Dad built our patio tables. He got the design from Chad’s tables (that Chad built) and made two tables for under our pavilion. Altogether we can seat 12 or when separated we can do 8 and 4 in different areas of the patio. Yay for having a big table!

Last day of school starts with a donut celebration for the kiddos!

And celebrating after school with dinner at Cap City followed by fun at Pins Mechanical. My busy work season is winding down as well.

We celebrated Abbie Manning’s graduation at her party though somehow we didn’t get a photo with her in it (other than the table decor!).

Brutus is such a good boy he often accompanies me outside when I’m working in the yard or just sitting around out front. Even when other dogs walk by he just lays there and I often don’t even know they are nearby. On occasion he may sit up. I love that he can have the freedom to hang out anywhere.

Dad was off on hosta adventures so Mom joined us solo for the Memorial Day Parade in Powell. Griffin walked with his Cub Scout Pack (along with Kevin) me, Reid, and Mom tried to find a shady spot on the sidewalk. Afterward we watched the flag burning ceremony that Griffin participated in at the Municipal Building in Powell.

Look at this 5-year old pre-K monkey and some fun pictures from school.

Reid, Titus, and Garrison – these three are buddies!

And our annual end of school neighborhood hang out. These two also love to play together. Abbie even calls him “Reidy” all the time.

Griffin has been invited to join the Black team for next season with Olentangy United. We are excited at the opportunity for him to play a level up (this year he was Blue, Gold was  a level up – for 2023 the team colors/names change from Gold to Black and Blue to White). We’ve learned two other teammates, Graham and Emerson, will also play on the Black team so we’re excited about that. But we will surely miss the remainder of our team and families who will be playing White.

March 2022

March arrived and with it came a fun month of birthday celebrations.

We started off the month with a trip to the dentist for both of the boys and healthy teeth with no cavities. To say I was surprised is an understatement. Teeth brushing is a regular battle at our house nearly every night. I just don’t get why it’s so dreaded and such an obstacle to bed time.

Once Mom and Dad returned from Florida we joined the Bethune’s at Mom and Dad’s house to celebrate Mom’s birthday a bit belated. At the end of the evening Grandpa demonstrated how he uses his zamboni to cut his hair on Griffin and Reid. He wasn’t able to convince them to sport his style just yet.

Early on my birthday morning Griffin served me a nice cup of coffee. It’s my favorite part of the morning each day.  He also made me a lovely birthday sign that was laid out in front of my gifts. As Kevin has continued each year, he and the boys decorate a birthday bunny cake for me. They each took turns with putting frosting on the cake (and in their mouths!).

Mom and Dad joined us for a weeknight dinner and cake for my birthday. It was so long ago (since I’m writing this post in November) that I don’t even recall what dinner was! Oh well, this is 46!

As birthday month continued, Griffin was up next with birthday #9. Woah, the last birthday in single digits! Not sure how we arrived here, but nonetheless here we are.  This is 9! As our tradition has become, we decorated Griffin’s door for him to bust through when he woke up. He came down stairs to the decorated kitchen and gifts. He was all smiles.

 

He opened gifts before school and was super excited for many of the sports cards he received. He’s also been loving the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book Series (sometimes though I’m not sure if it is the best influence!).

Thankfully the cake disaster was averted. I ordered a cake from Giant Eagle and when I called to confirm it before pickup, they hadn’t ever “confirmed” the order and therefore didn’t have it.  Yikes. This was the evening of his birthday!! So I went to Giant Eagle anyhow and bought one off the shelf and they put together some frosting for me to be able to write on it. Crisis averted and he was all smiles (and had no idea what had happened anyhow!).

For his birthday dinner (another Wednesday night) he chose Culvers. We typically would ride our bikes there but with Kevin’s recent Covid and lingering symptoms we decided to drive the car. Culver’s is a top choice for this kiddo.

We gifted Griffin a new bike for his birthday (albeit a bit before his birthday) as his old bike was getting pretty small and he was working hard to keep up with us on longer rides. He opted for another bright orange one, this one with much larger wheels and gear options.

Reid also received a new bike for his birthday. “Bluey” he calls it and he loves his new bike. It has a bell ringer and a cup holder and he loves bringing a water bottle along for rides.  For now we cruise around the neighborhood on it but for longer rides he still rides in the “bullet” as it’s a lot to ask him to keep up with the pace and distance and we likely wouldn’t make it much farther than Jewett Road without a melt down.

Griffin’s 9th birthday party was at TopGolf and included some good soccer buddies and the neighborhood crew. Sadly, I was sick and didn’t want to share my germs with anyone (thankfully not Covid, but still!) so I sat this one out at home. I was so bummed to miss his party. But he had a great time with golf and friends and food. I mean, look at the size of the cupcakes – thanks Costco!

This 9-year-old well check visit went great – though I didn’t snap a pic of the stats! But he is a strong and healthy kiddo. Dr. Houts was impressed by his knee recovery as well. We did learn that sadly Dr. Houts is retiring in July. He is our absolute favorite and we are going to miss our visits with him. We’re grateful for the care he’s provided to our family over the years.

Birthday’s continue…..this time for Jay and Miles whose party was a skating party at the Chiller. The boys both had so much fun and Reid, in particular, was Mr. Independent! He improved so much on his skates from start to finish.

Initially we signed Griffin up for Learn to Play Hockey sessions, which he was scheduled to begin on the day he came home from the hospital in January. So we punted, and transitioned his start to the next session in March. He was ready!

I did say it was birthday month, right? The celebrations continued for me, Griffin, and Amy with dinner out at Beer Barrel with the Bethune’s and Mom and Dad followed by dessert and prezzies back at Mom and Dad’s house. Griffin received a couple of boxes of, shall we say “antique” cards from Grandma and Grandpa via my cousin Rob whose dad was a huge card collector. These unopened boxes were relics! Griffin was pumped.

Prior to leaving on a trip to North Carolina with Jim and Pat to attend Pat’s brother Bo’s funeral we celebrated with a couple of gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong too. Then we all packed in the car and started our journey to Carolina Beach. On our trip down we spotted the most awesome rainbow!

We drove most of the way and then stopped at a hotel for the night. The following morning the boys enjoyed some pool time before we took off for our final destination. The timing of the trip worked out such that it was spring break week for the boys and I decided to take the week off as well.

We rented a fun family-sized golf cart for our weekly stay. We were at a condo with beach access via a nice walkway out to the beach. The weather was nice and sunny though also very windy from time to time!  The water was SO COLD but the boys wanted to play at the beach regardless so we made several trips to the beach including to watch the sunrise on a couple of occasions.

The big machines are bringing sand back in from out in the ocean and making the beach along the waterfront larger as it was in the past. The sand gets washed out into the ocean. It was really cool to see this equipment work and how the sand is brought back from deep in the ocean.

The sun is shining – but there is a chill in the air!

Bo’s family planned a nice cocktail and hors d’oeuvres gathering at the Sea Witch in Carolina Beach. We attended along with Jim and Pat and were able to spend time with other family and friends (or in my case meet many new people!). Afterwards, we joined Kevin’s cousin Kyle at her place where she lives with her mom Connie, Bo’s wife, who suffers from dementia. Many other friends and family joined as well and the boys were also able to burn some energy outside at the soccer field.

Our trip was a mix of lounging, eating, beaching, and exploring. We took the ferry to Southport, explored the town and had a lovely dinner. We’ve been to this town previously during our summer vacations with the Beilstein clan.

We watched the sunrise a few times. It was beautiful – and COLD and windy!

We visited the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher and also did some exploring on the rocks at Fort Fisher.

Back in Ohio signs of spring are appearing! I flew home two days early from our family vacation in order to go on a previously planned trip with my friends Amy and Jaime to Indianapolis for the weekend. That will be in my next post. Here are a few other random pics from the month.

May 2021

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As it turns out, May 2021 was a really jam-packed month. Things like Mother’s Day, Reid’s 4th birthday, Graham’s birthday, lots of outdoor fun, and Mom and Dad closing on a home in Dublin!  Get ready for photo overload.

Our seeds have sprouted and we’re looking forward to having things like peppers, zucchini, sweet peas, tomatoes, beans, and perhaps jack-o-lanterns though I typically have problems keeping those alive!

This spring our front garden is really looking nice. We planted some new Emerald Towers Sambucus (Elderberry) bushes at the far end near our norway maple to fill in the big open space.  And a late May frost as you can see on the blades of grass.

Our outdoor fun continues and each and every soccer game we went to Reid wanted to wear Griffin’s old uniform :).  Often when I garden out front I take Brutus out with me and he just lays around sun bathing in the grass. He’s not fond of looking at the camera though when I take pictures!

More s’mores fun at the Bolans!

This photo will either garner giggles or rolled eyes I’m sure, but this was life in May. Distance learning for Griffin – he was not enjoying the basement much and so began to like to do school in the kitchen or the patio. Reid, not a fan of always going in the potty but if you offer him the opportunity to go outside will never pass it up (though typically a bush is best, lol).

I enjoy taking Brutus on walks each and every day. We typically walk a mile, either through our neighborhood or one of the surrounding ones. Brutus does so great off-leash, I haven’t used it in forever. Sometimes the boys like to come with me and while Reid is well beyond stroller years, I like to walk at a brisk pace and not stop – so the stroller is more for my selfishness than his need!

We’ve enjoyed taking bike rides as a family this spring and on this particular night we rode our bikes up to the downtown Powell and enjoyed dinner on the patio at Koble.

Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong made it up to one of Griffin’s soccer games this spring. Reid loved having some attention during the game, ha! This marked the end of the spring soccer season for Griffin!

At this point, the secada’s seem like a distant memory, but these images remind me of the invasion we had this summer! They were SO LOUD in our neighborhood it was crazy! At first, we didn’t seem to have many but man did that change! The kids thought they were pretty cool, I’m not a big fan!

A fine display of Reid’s self-given hair cut and his new baby “Ariel”.

This boy plays hard and then sleeps hard. Check out the drool marks and finger impressions on his face!

Each year for Mother’s Day what I look forward to the most are the treasured tiny handprints (which are getting pretty big) from the boys on a painting that they create. I have a little gallery on the wall in our bedroom and love to see what they come up with each year. Lilly also helped the boys make the cute planted flower pot cards this year too.

REID – IS – 4 !!!

We celebrated Reid’s 4th birthday on May 20, a Thursday morning this year. As is our tradition, we had our kitchen all decorated and ready for Reidy when he came downstairs. He loves to get up and get dressed right away, 4.5 days out of 5 in OSU gear.

The Bethune’s came to one of Griffin’s soccer games and brought Reid’s birthday gifts with them. Reidy loved opening the gifts right away and later once we were home was obsessed with playing with the fighting robots.

Given that we’re still in a pandemic and aren’t really spending time in other’s houses, we didn’t think hosting a party for Reid would be ideal. Instead, we decided to rent a movie theater and invite some friends to a small showing of Tom and Jerry The Movie. It turned out to be perfect for Reid. Snacks and a show. He just wanted to sit with me and Kevin, not any of his friends! But I’ll take it as long as I can get it.

Griffin was my cake helper this year and spread frosting on our Dino cake like a champ! We decorated with Dots and sprinkles and a toy dinosaur!

And this was too cute not to include – 1 year birthday and 4 year birthday pic!

Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein and the Bethune’s joined us for a birthday dinner for Reid and Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong visited a couple days later too. This boy was flooded with birthday celebrations!

Reid had an excellent 4-year checkup with Dr. Houts at Powell Pediatric Care. He weighs 38.9 pounds (75th percentile), is 41″ tall (67th percentile) and his BMI is 16.27 (70th percentile). He got a couple of shots and as we like to do, we spent some time together afterward with breakfast at The Locust Table in Powell where we were able to sit outside and watch the train go by! Then we stopped at the park on the way home for some outdoor fun.

While we did not anticipate an entire year of Distance Learning for Griffin, that’s what we ended up doing. Griffin was a real trooper. He definitely went through phases of loving it, then not liking it. A bit of boredom, and a bit of defiance (or cutting his hair, holes in his shorts while being bored on the computer, etc). But all in all he did so well. His computer navigation skills are impressive! His teacher, Miss Peacock, was wonderful and did a great job of working with the kids. She was always available for individual calls (via Teams) and was so upbeat. We really loved her. On the last day of school she dropped off some things at each and every kids house! And even included something for the “honorary” second grade siblings.  She gave each kid a coupon for the Little Ladies Soft Serve food truck, good for a treat on the last day of school – so we were able to go see her in “real life” and say thank you later that evening!

To celebrate the end of the school year we had a water-slide pizza and ice cream party at the Bolan’s house. These kids are ready for the summer!

May brought several trips to Mansfield to help Mom and Dad begin to prepare for their move to Dublin. We went up Memorial Day weekend to help clean out all kinds of things that one accumulates after 40 years of living in a home! The Bethune’s joined as well and we established a good system of Amy and Andy feeding out things from the basement workspace window to Kevin and I who were in the backyard loading the Mule. Then we drove the loads to the front and filled up the dumpster. We got to be pretty good at tetris-like packing that thing! The kids thought it was really cool to be up in the crawl space and help empty out things as well. Lots of giggles and chatter in there.

While in Mansfield, at the end of our workday we headed for a short stint at the Infield to celebrate Graham turning 11. Woah – that’s getting old!! This was also Reid’s first time that he is big enough to drive the bumper cars on his own – he was pretty excited. We also played some putt-putt and Griffin hit up the batting cages.

Later that evening Grandma and Grandpa had a little coin sorting activity for the grandkids. This “helped” clean out Grandpa’s coin drawer :). they were all pretty excited to sort and then count up their “earnings”. Woah!

It was a nice weekend spending time with everyone together at 1179 Pearce Drive for one last time. It was also sad! So many good memories in this home. It is hard to imagine Mom and Dad living elsewhere and not returning to Mansfield to visit or for the holidays. On the other hand, being only 20 minutes away is going to be really great!  I walked around and tried to capture the outdoor gardens and hostas that Mom and Dad have tended to and hybridized for so many years. I keep teasing them that they can now come garden at our house :).

The boys always love riding on the Mule when visiting Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Grandpa likes to go on fun adventures through the woods behind their house. Griffin got to drive and there were a lot of giggles from Reid and Griffin. You can check out the video for some giggles.



 

And here is where Mom and Dad will be headed – Wind Rose Way in Dublin, just a short 20 minute drive for us and and 5 minute drive for the Bethune’s!

There was a very nice article written in the Hosta Journal on the Beilstein Family Hostas! I’ve included it here. It even has some nice photos of plants in the family plot 🙂