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 🙂