Tag Archives: cookies

October 15, 2017 ~ 21 weeks

This guy just keeps getting bigger and bigger. He’s growing up too fast and this week he’s reached another milestone where he turned over from back to front! So, it’s the end of swaddling around here and I was able to capture Reid having a cozy nap one of the last times he was snug as a bug in his swaddle. To this point he’s slept really well on his back and taken good naps as his arms are on lock down in his swaddle. We’ll see what the future holds! He also “holds” his bottle some from time to time :). Big bro likes to play sports ALL.THE.TIME.  He pretends that his spider man gardening gloves are football gloves and he runs around throwing the football to himself and continuously play calling while he’s running around. If I’m not in the room when he’s playing he will regularly come find me to tell me the score for the Buckeyes versus Penn State (or whomever today’s opponent may be). He likes to call out plays using J.T. Barrett’s name (sometimes pronounced J. Teen Bar-ret, lol). Check out that baby bird hair! It’s coming in more and more and after a shower he’s like a baby bird with fluffy and fuzzy hair.  He’s adorbs. And he’s a mama’s boy for the time being. When I arrive home from work it’s time for him to eat so he pretty quickly gets fussy once he sees me and hears my voice. As much as I try to have others hold him, he also seems to prefer having me hold him if I’m around. So, we’re gonna have to work on his flexibility! For now though, he’s surely my sidekick.  We had a TON of rain this week. One morning I went to leave for work and I opened the door to the Jeep, which we park outside in our driveway, and the entire driver side floor was flooded thanks to a leaky windshield/seal. Yikes. What a pain. I left anyway thinking I could just dry it up at the gas station while I filled up. Boy was I wrong.  I soaked up the floor and rung out a full size bath towel three times before I decided to head back home. 🙁   So of course I arrived at work about 45 minutes late, which seems to be the story of my life anymore. Despite all efforts and no matter what time I get up I can’t seem to arrive at work before 8 am. I literally texted George and told him my car floor was flooded – I felt so silly, like seriously, I’m not one of our seasonals making up some story that the dog swallowed my car key – this flooded floor business is real life. He got a good chuckle out of that when I arrived at work and described my morning.  Thankfully he’s as flexible and forgiving as a boss can be and it was no big deal.  Finn and Daddy had some together time the other day where they stopped at Chuck E. Cheese and Oakland Nursery. Kevin sent me these pics of Griffin next to a ginormous pumpkin and having some fun playing games.  Our friend Nicole gave us a huge bag of clothes that her son Jake has outgrown. They won’t fit for a few years, but this rob fits perfectly now and Finn thinks it is so cool. Not to mention super soft and fuzzy fleece!I take pictures of most of Griffin’s worksheets and art work from preschool and what he does at home with Debbie. I’m excited to see how well he does writing his name and numbers and will be happy to have these to be able to compare the beginning of the year to the end of the year! He’s growing up so quickly, he’s able to do almost anything on his own and we encourage him to be independent and self sufficient! He really enjoys doing things independently and is typically very proud when you’ve asked him to do something or go fetch something and he returns or completes whatever he’s been asked to do. He’s got a cute grin. Debbie and the boys baked some tasty fall cookies this week too using miniature cookie cutters. It’s so nice to come home to lovely baked goods (though not good for my health, lol) and the mini size were perfect. Though let’s be honest here, we all eat many each time – not just one! Even Reid “participated”.  We’ve enrolled Griffin in his second season of soccer. He’s really enjoying it and loves all of the exercise he gets during the 40 minute class. He’s definitely come out of his shell since he first began and he really likes Coach Aaron. It is a fun program and I love that it is so close to home.  This week I was the “mystery reader” for Finn’s preschool class on Thursday. I arrived about 15 minutes before the end of their day and brought two of Finn’s current favorites to read to his class. “Kid Amazing and the Blob” from the library and “Mousetranaut” from home. He was so excited for me to be there. He did his excited face and jumped up and down and sat in my lap after I finished reading. It was a sweet thing to participate in and I enjoyed getting to see him dance for a game in glass and interact with his friends.  This big boy is so funny. Most days when I’m getting ready for work he follows me around like he’s my shadow and when I sit down to put my shoes on he instantly bulldozes himself into me! So we play and wrestle for a few minutes and then he sits down and lays his entire body all across my legs like he’s just a little lap dog. He’s a sweet boy, even though he’s huge and clumsy with his feet. He regularly brings things in his mouth to me, like toys or things he knows he shouldn’t have, just to get attention.  I’m so far behind on blog post I forget so many things from the weeks, but I think this pic was from a date night that Kevin and I had when Debbie watched the boys. And this was bedtime! As if life wasn’t busy enough, Kevin and I agreed earlier to again head up our church’s Fall Fest, which was held this past Sunday. In the moment we always enjoy it, though this year I was beyond stressed and frustrated even during the event. Help isn’t always as plentiful as needed and this year I’ve had little to no time to work on planning since I’m back to work full time. When I get home I had high hopes of planning and organizing and list-making to organize volunteers and activities, but in the end I ran out of time. My frustration is with myself, as when I commit to doing something I want it to be done well (read that as I’m a perfectionist) and this year in my eyes it was so far from that. I was irritable and annoyed and frustrated and kept thinking to myself, I can’t wait for this to be over and I’m never doing it again. Just ask Kevin, there were many times I wasn’t very kind to him as I expressed my frustrations about everything. But in the end it turned out to be a very well attended event, the rain held off, the flag football games were able to be played (and Kevin got awesome trophies for the winning team this year), the chili cook off was great (we had 26 entries), and we were given numerous compliments and good feedback from the staff who interacted with many newcomers. So in the end, all was good, but I have a long mental list of improvements should we take it on again! Neither Kevin nor myself are very good about asking for help, hence we baked all 20 dozen cookies ourselves! It was simply throw them in the oven as we bought frozen ready-to-bake cookies from GFS, but that was a lot of rotations. So, note to self for next year, add this to the sign ups! Duh! And I at the very last minute asked Andy to seek donations to give to the chili-cook-off  category winners. He rocked that task out in a matter of a few hours and got awesome donations from Nothing Bundt Cakes, BW 3’s, Piada, and First Watch!

May 1, 2016

IMG_5906Spring cookie baking! Finn, Debbie, and Sam made some cute and tasty spring themed sugar cookie cut-outs this week. They even found eyes in all my baking goodies to use for the chicks! IMG_5903 IMG_5904 IMG_5905 IMG_5909 IMG_5910 IMG_5907-COLLAGELots of spring rain this week so that Finn was able to make the most of his new rain boots. What is it that kids just love about splashing in puddles? He just loves it! IMG_5916 IMG_5915 IMG_5913And more fun with artwork and exploring the Powell parks. IMG_5901 IMG_5900 IMG_5899Our seedlings are doing pretty well.  Everything has germinated and growing pretty good. IMG_5896 IMG_5898And I thought it would be fun to show Finn how plants use water and how it travels through the entire stem up to the tips of the flowers. Since blue is his favorite color that is what we used!IMG_5892 IMG_5893

December 27, 2015

IMG_3552Seems like I can’t ever catch up – 2016 is already almost a month gone and I’m still working on Christmas pictures.  But here goes! It was a nice holiday season – certainly lots of nice time spent with family and friends! December was super busy with something on the calendar almost every day. Fun things, of course. We headed over to chez Bethune for a cookie making party on our first day of school break for Griffin (and thankfully, it was a Monday so I wasn’t working!). Lots of fun was had making cut-out sugar cookies and frosting.  There were sprinkles *everywhere* but the kiddos really had a fun time and the results were delish!  And endless fun complete with dragon tails too. IMG_3538 IMG_3543 IMG_3545 IMG_3546 IMG_3549 IMG_3565 IMG_3566 IMG_3567 IMG_3569 IMG_3556 IMG_3562For Kevin’s birthday Griffin got him tickets to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 3D.  We headed to Easton for some date night fun that included dinner and drinks at the theater. Kevin really enjoyed the show which made me happy. In all honestly the plot was kind of lost on me, not being a Star Wars follower, but it seemed pretty good!IMG_3570And a *huge* transition around our house this week too – Finn is moving on up and is now sleeping in a big boy bed! We were putting him to bed on Tuesday and and Kevin started looking at his crib and decided to take the front off.  I was rather surprised (and sad to be honest) as I wasn’t at all prepared to do such a thing. We hadn’t even talked about doing it.  But Finn was so excited he just kept saying “it is perfect!” and he had the biggest smile on his face. He laid down with his blankie and animals and we told him that he had to stay in his bed and call mommy or daddy when he woke up.  He did just that. And for the next naps and nights of sleep he stayed right in his bed.  He hasn’t missed his crib one bit.  He loves his big boy bed and it was probably long overdue, but it was a sad night for me and I shed far too many tears than I would have ever thought!IMG_3577 IMG_3580 IMG_3581Griffin was really excited to open his gift from Sammy and Debbie.  Sam was at his dad’s house so he wasn’t here when Finn opened it – but he just loved his Doctor dress up set! And he loved helping Debbie open her gift too. IMG_3592Next up was our Traditional Christmas Dinner party at the Howard’s. It is always a fun-filled night spent with friends. Each year Christie gives each person their ornament (it is always the same ornament for each person that is marked with your name and the first year it was put on the tree) to put on the tree. And there are so.many.kids! This year we snapped a couple group photos of the kids and adults. And then there is the famous gift exchange with the prized posession being the Christmas sweater that comes back year after year. This year’s winner was Jennifer Assaf and though she doesn’t look too excited in the photo – she assures us the sweater will travel well in 2016. IMG_3598 IMG_3606 IMG_3607 IMG_3608 IMG_3613 IMG_3617 IMG_3616 IMG_3604 IMG_3619 IMG_3634 IMG_3638 IMG_3640 IMG_3641 IMG_3642 IMG_3645 IMG_3649 IMG_3650 Kevin was pretty happy about our take home from the gift exchange. He promptly set it up when we arrived home at 1 in the morning! IMG_3655 The next morning was Christmas Eve so we woke up bright and early and completed our Advent calendar by putting Baby Jesus up and reading the last scripture verse. Finn really enjoyed our readings and being able to choose where to put the piece on the calendar each day!IMG_3659 IMG_3661After our traditional day of Christmas shopping with Dad, Amy and I wrapped gifts and then the whole family headed to Christmas Eve services at Linden Road. We always enjoy the service and the candle light at the end. We were again successful in capturing family photos after church too.  IMG_3662 IMG_3666 IMG_3669 IMG_3670 IMG_3677 IMG_3680 IMG_3683 IMG_3691 IMG_3701 IMG_3703 IMG_3704

Processed with VSCOcam with c3 preset

Processed with VSCOcam with c3 preset

IMG_3710Christmas morning was a lot of fun this year. All of the kids are at a fun age for opening gifts. So much so that sometimes (or fairly often to be honest!) the gifts didn’t always make it to the appropriate recipient before it was opened! Each of the kids had fun giving out the gifts and of course opening and playing with what they received. Santa did bring Griffin a very cool helicopter and a trumpet! They were the first things he found by his stocking (along with Abominable – which was another favorite) and he was pretty excited!
DSC_0007
DSC_0011 IMG_3765 IMG_3767 IMG_3769 IMG_3771 IMG_3775 IMG_3780 IMG_3797 IMG_3798 IMG_3800 IMG_3802 IMG_3804 IMG_3811 IMG_3812 IMG_3813 IMG_3814 IMG_3820 IMG_3821 IMG_3823 IMG_3826 IMG_3830 IMG_3832IMG_3833DSC_0020We took a bit of a break to have breakfast. Each of the kiddos helped Grandpa make our pancakes and Kevin made scrumptious mush! Finn wanted to be right the the whole time and he was helping protect everyone’s hands and keep them all “safe” from the heat of the griddle!IMG_3838IMG_3841IMG_3843IMG_3846IMG_3847IMG_3848IMG_3850IMG_3851DSC_0027IMG_3855 IMG_3860 IMG_3864One of our most favorite Christmas gifts was this nativity set that dad made for our family!  Isn’t it just beautiful! Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and the three Wise Men each stand up on their own are and it’s just so unique, a one of a kind!IMG_3866 IMG_3871 IMG_3874 DSC_0029 Papa is using his new seedling watering mister!IMG_3876 IMG_3878 IMG_3879 IMG_3881On Christmas evening we came back home, dropped off the dogs, and headed to Christy’s birthday dinner hosted by Jennifer at her new house. It was another fun and cozy evening with yummy food, fun friends, and goofy kids.  IMG_3887IMG_3888 IMG_3895 IMG_3903 IMG_3908 IMG_3909 IMG_3915 IMG_3917 IMG_3921 IMG_3922 IMG_3928 IMG_3931 IMG_3933On Saturday we headed to Enon for the Armstrong family Christmas at Cookie and Steve’s house. But first, a stop at Young’s for some Ice Cream! Griffin always enjoys playing with Ora and soaking in all the attention from Grandma, Grandpa, aunt’s, uncle’s, cousins, and such! After the extended family gathering we hung out at Brett and Missy’s house for awhile and opened gifts (and played with them too, lol!). IMG_3959 IMG_3960 IMG_3969 IMG_3973 IMG_3979 IMG_3982 IMG_3988 IMG_3989 IMG_3992 IMG_3996Earlier in the week before Christmas, Debbie took Griffin downtown to the life-sized nativity. He really enjoyed being able to walk up to all of the animals and people. We love that he learns about Jesus and the story of Christmas not only with us and at school, but also through Debbie! <3. IMG_4068IMG_4067IMG_4066IMG_4065