Wow, what a week it’s been! Time seems to move faster and faster and now all of a sudden – poof – our first born begins Kindergarten. Man, I’m not ready for this. I remember back to the day he first started pre-school at age 2 1/2. Now, here we are 3 years later, and I can hardly believe it. Griffin is more than ready for it – me, not so much!
And then Facebook and Google show me these photos from years past and it gives me all the tears! Look at our sweet baby – I remember the day this photo was taken. And the next photo when he was such a big boy as he began sitting in a high chair. Whew, now he’s riding a bus!
We began the week on Monday with his Elementary Open House. Upon arriving at school we found his classroom and got to check out his new space. We found his name on the table he would be sitting at and met a couple of his new classmates (Mason and Jackson). We found his school supply kit (I did the convenient pre-order through the PTO) and unpacked all of his supplies into the various bins and organizers. We spent some time walking around his room and finding where he puts his folder each day, his book bag and coat, lunch bag, and so on. We were in his room for a long enough time that we barely had time to find where the bus arrives and how he gets to his classroom from the bus drop off! Five o-clock came quickly and we had to rush out of there to get home and changed in order to get to swim lessons! Sadly, we missed the popsicles on the playground – so instead we had a sweet treat at home later that night. 
On Tuesday night, the eve of Kindergarten, I created Finn’s yearly first day of school sign. Nothing spectacular, but a sign to record all the details of the year :). 
We surprised Finn with a scrumptious breakfast for his first day. Daddy made Tiger paw pancakes and Griffin had the biggest one!
We headed out a bit early before the bus to get our annual first day of school photos. Jim and Pat spent the night as they’d been helping with the kids the past couple days so thankfully they were able to take some family photos. Griffin looks so excited and SO grown up. I still just can’t believe it. 
Our driveway has always been the bus stop for elementary, middle, and high school bus runs. We love it! Cooper, Cole, and Abbie got to hang out for a short bit and we snapped some group photos of all the kiddos. Seems hard to believe these kids have been best pals for the last 3 years. They have assigned seats on the bus and Griffin and Cole sit right behind the bus driver, Mrs. B, whom by the way seems awesome! Getting on the bus we tried to get Griffin’s attention but he was so intent and focused he didn’t even turn around! I snapped a pic once he got on his seat – he had a rather unsure look on his face. But by the time the bus went down the street and came back through to leave the neighborhood we could see a slightly happier face through the window (at least for Cole, who was sticking his tongue out!).
Kevin ran an errand after the bus left and swung by the school so he capture the first day of school sign 🙂 We were both able to be home to get him off the bus – and he was SO EXCITED! He got off the bus and was so happy to see Reid and tell us that he loved school! We went inside and he scarfed down a snack of pretzels with nutella and his celebratory School Bus cookie. He brought home some coloring pages, artwork, and a booklet about his first day of school – where he chose the “excited” emotion to express how he felt about his first day. We figured since it was early and we were all home we’d go out to Griffin’s favorite place to celebrate his milestone day so off to Rooster’s we went. 
Since we are in between caregivers again, we’ve been enlisting the help of both of our parents, which we are super thankful for! On Friday, Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein arrived in time to spend a short bit with us in the morning before Griffin got on the bus. He was excited that he got to see both sets of grandparents this week and that everyone got to see him get on the bus. 
Here are a couple of pictures Mom texted to me from their day home with Reid. It is SO quiet during the day with just Reid around. He babbles some but isn’t yet talking, and when he’s taking a nap it’s super peaceful around here! And a bit strange. 
And before long it was the end of day 2 of Kindergarten! Since Reid has just begun walking he enjoys having reign outside while we all wait for Griffin to arrive. 
I snapped this shot off Facebook which details the enrollment for Olentangy for the 2018-2019 school year. It will be fun to see how this compares to when Griffin is in High School (which is currently the largest high school in the district, by enrollment – Liberty). 
I was so happy to receive an email from Griffin’s teach which was sent to all parents. It detailed things about the first day of school and included photos! How neat to see Griffin in his classroom with his classmates. 
There’s never a dull moment around here and the second day of school is no different. Once Griffin got home we did a fast change into our wedding reception duds and headed downtown with Griffin for Lisa and Brian’s wedding reception party. We left Reid at home with Cameron so he could enjoy sleep and we all could enjoy a more pleasant evening not chasing him everywhere! Griffin had so much fun dancing and hanging with the kids. It was a really fun reception with a live band, lots of dancing, drinks, and fun with several of our neighbors. Oh, and the succulents in the flowers came from Millcreek. Fred’s wife’s company, Madison House Designs, did their flower arrangements. The food was tasty and I love that Griffin devoured his salad. 
On Saturday, Griffin and Kevin joined Lisa, Brian, Cole, Cooper, Bill, and Tammy (Brian’s parents) for some fun at Pins Mechanical in Dublin for a couple hours. Reid and I joined them later and then our family headed for pizza at Tommy’s in Dublin. 
These kids. They play together all the time when the boys are at Brian and Lisa’s. This night I went outside and they are all suited up in play outfits running like crazy from each other on separate teams playing spy. 
We purchased our first family puzzle and put it together pretty quickly! We’ve begun to enjoy sitting down together at the table and putting them together. Griffin is really quick at finding matches!
August 19, 2018 – Griffin starts Kindergarten!!
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We’ve had another week of summer fun around here including the season’s last baseball game for Finn. Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein came down and watched him play. It was actually one of the best games of the season with several great hits and plays by the kids. There was so much improvement between the first game and last. 
On Sunday we headed downtown Big City to see the Clippers play. Again, another super hot day, but thankfully our seats were in the shade and there were very few people around us so we had plenty of room to spread out. Reid did really well and spent time cruising down our aisleway. It was Family Fun day where the kids and parents can run the bases at the end of the game. Griffin and Reid (with Kevin’s help) rounded all four :). 
Some of these are kind of fuzzy (not sure I’ll ever be a great photographer) but they serve as good reminders of what our typical days are like at home. The loft is really a great playspace with the carpeted floors and all of the kids toys in one place. The boys like to play with each other and Lily and Brutus often get in on the fun together too – both with each other and with the kids. Brutus tries so hard to get everyone to play with him often bringing things he know he shouldn’t have!
Griffin had a dentist appointment this week where he got two fillings (a milestone I’d rather not have had at this age!). He did so great! They have a tv overhead so he happily watched a show while Dr. Nick worked quickly – we were done in 25 minutes. This practice is certainly efficient (and not inexpensive since we don’t have dental insurance for the boys or me. The used both laughing gas and novocaine – the mask helped to act as a shield where Finn couldn’t really see what was happening so I don’t even think he knew that he was being given a shot here! Afterwards we went to Bob Evans and had a tasty breakfast before I went in to work. Griffin was SO SAD that he couldn’t go with me to work that he cried for probably 10 minutes, just begging to go with me and “work” in my office with me. Poor guy, I was so tempted to take him with me – but I offered a movie at home and he took me up on that instead. He continues to do really well at swim lessons. It’s fun to see his confidence grow each week – just look at his launch off the side. 
George, Fred, and I took a trip this week up to Corso’s in Castalia, OH to see their shipping process in action. We are seriously considering changing our shipping process from a pull by order pick to a “batch pull” pick system where we pick 3-4 trucks at a time. We’ve been looking in to this process since last fall as it is one that would require a new shipping and supermarket-concept facility. Corso’s is very different from Millcreek as they service box stores (Lowe’s and Home Depot) and grow a very limited number of sizes, they have order minimums of shelf quantities, etc., but to see the process in action and view their setup was very helpful. It gave us many ideas and much to talk about!
Morning snuggle time is the best way to start my day! It makes it hard to leave in the morning though for sure. 
Reid continues to enjoy meal time and is learning to eat more and more new foods. He definitely seems to favor meat (sausage, beef, chicken) and sweet veggies (peas, corn, carrots). He’s hit or miss with fruits as some days he’ll eat them and others not. He does love pears for sure. Strawberries and blueberries sometimes, watermelon he kind of plays with, canteloupe he’ll usually eat. Raspberries are usually a negative. Just depends on his mood I suppose. 
Debbie took the boys to Library Park and Franklin Park Conservatory this week and Finn loved seeing the butterflies. This was Reid’s first time there and it looks like he had fun too 🙂 In all honesty since I’m writing these post several weeks after the fact and Debbie is no longer our nanny, I have mixed emotions looking at these pictures. Happy that they had so much fun with her and she loved them well and sad that things ended the way the did. It could have been so much better. 
These next two pictures Finn created at pre-school and I put them in here as a reminder to myself about the simple joys of being a kid and the ways they find happiness and fun in the littlest things. Man, I wish I were a kid again some days! 
Mr. Reid becomes Mr. Sassy sometimes when he doesn’t have something he sees someone else does. He’s getting really good with the contigo cups so I’ve started giving him one when I give Griffin one. He loves it!
We joined the Bethune’s, Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein, and other friends for Greta’s 5th birthday with a party at the rink. Finn hadn’t been on the ice in probably two years. He was definitely timid in the beginning but after a short bit he was off and skating on his own! Check out his hockey shirt that he chose for the day, a hand-me-down from his cousins 🙂
Reid really resembles Rowan a lot as a baby (is that enough R’s?). While we were at the Bethune’s we checked out a photo album from when Rowan was the same age as Reid (around 47 weeks). It’s crazy how much they look alike and how their hair is very similar too!
Great photo of the grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa!
Griffin is often my errand buddy. The two of us head out on adventures and Reid stays home with Daddy sometimes. We headed to the Polaris area and decided to get Finn a lunch at the new Corner Bakery. He loved it and I loved the manager who was so friendly. He walked around and as he stopped to talked to us he invited us up for a free cookie after his meal. Of course Finn was happy about that 🙂
And here is another Saturday morning photo snapped by Daddy of the boys having a fun morning while I was away at work. Boxes make the best toys. 
On Sunday I met up with my college friends for brunch. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen each other and while we didn’t have a long time to hang it was good to see everyone and get updates on everyone’s lives! It’s been 20 years since we graduated from OU! Yikes!