July is hot and the pool is cool 🙂 We scattered in a visit to Zoombeezi bay (me, Lilly, and the boys) in July in addition to our other trips to the pool. Reid is really swimming quite well. No more floaties!
We finally were able to get Reid his COVID shot! He was a champ at Powell Pharmacy and as always the staff there is great with everyone, especially kids. Reid also had his 5-year well check (in July! as I had totally forgotten to schedule it for around his birthday – yikes) and he is a super healthy kiddo. He weights in at 43.7 pounds (68th percentile), 43″ (48th percentile), and 16.61 BMI (81st percentile). No shots this go round though we did ask them to treat his largest wart on his right hand.
Several family fun activities in July included Bocce at Mom and Dads, family bike rides, and a movie date for Reid and me.
This summer we were home during the week of Vacation Bible school at NPC. The boys really enjoyed it. Griffin was a “Wagoneer” and Reid was a “Beetle”.
My parents are always planning fun activities and traditions for everyone. Traditions are something that I really love. This summer it was Griffin’s turn to have a weekend at Grandma and Grandpa’s all on his own. This is something each grandkid has gotten to do when they are 9 years old. Griffin was so excited to begin this weekend he was counting down the days for it to begin. Mom and Dad picked him up at our house and later that evening they showed in the tool box of fishing supplies they had purchased in order to teach him how to fish and cast the fishing rod. Their weekend also included a fishing trip to Mansfield where Griffin caught 27 fish, including two big bass! They took him to the playpen and he got to learn how to drive the Mule, a dinner out at Roosters, he painted a shark at the pottery shop, painted rocks at Grandma and Grandpas, and built a fun lego car! What a fun and memorable weekend for him.
While Griffin was away at Grandma and Grandpa camp we had Reid solo for the weekend. It was a busy weekend with a tour for Cultivate at Millcreek where a busload of people from all over the country came to tour our facilities. That took up most of my Saturday (and it poured rain all morning for the tour!). We took Reid on a fun date to Lion Cub’s cookies 🙂
We also went to the St. Timothy festival to see our friend Paul Koehler play live music. Reid loved all of the kiddo rides, balloon artist, and fun stuff.
Another cross country meet at Liberty Park. This time Griffin was running for Olentangy (lol). They ran 1 mile and Griffin finished in 7:48:21, 25th overall out of 100 boys. He had a lovely cheering section including Mom, Dad, Greta, Rowan, Graham, and Andy. The cuzzies even made awesome signs of encouragement for Griffin 🙂
Lilly, Reid, and I had a fun day cruising around the Zoo. We even rode a bunch of fun rides in the Jungle Jack’s Landing area and we rode the Dinosaur water ride.
A big week for Griffin was Crew Camp at the Historic Crew Stadium. This was a day-long camp (9a-4p) and had a lunch break. He had a fun week of skill drills and scrimmages playing on the real field at Crew Stadium, tours of the stadium, a bus ride to Lower.com with a tour of some cool places there too. The Crew players came through one day and gave high fives to the kids and Griffin was fortunate to get Derrick Etienne Jrs autograph on his Crew flag! The Crew 2 players signed their camp shirts and balls on a different day as well. They were long and hot days but he really had a good time and was of course enamored with meeting players!
More summer t-ball for Reidy. He has a pretty good throw and he likes playing on the field. Though he certainly remains distracted by the dirt infield and is regularly playing in it and dust flies everywhere. But this season he has shown so much maturity in that he is no longer getting so upset if he doesn’t get the ball and a teammate does instead. Woohoo!
Griffin finished up Learn to Play 2 Hockey at Chiller North this summer. He’s really liking hockey and we plan to sign him up to play CAHA House hockey this fall.
Friend Wyatt’s birthday party!
Reid lost his first tooth! It had been pretty loose for some time but he didn’t want it pulled. Eventually it kind of disappeared and we actually never found it! In order to leave something for the tooth fairy to visit, Lilly and Reid made a tooth for out of clay. It looks great, right? And sure enough the Tooth Fairy made her visit.
We had a fun visit with Haya and Summer before Haya’s little girl #2 arrives next month. And Kevin and I enjoyed a Picnic with the Pops at Columbus Commons with the Kessler’s, Manning’s, and Pilgrims one evening. It was really fun to bring our own food and drink and just hang out in the park and listen to music!
Mom, Amy, Greta, and I had a lovely afternoon of vacation prep in the way of pedicures (for me and Amy, Greta and Mom had previous during Greta’s camp weekend), a meal at Kitchen Social, ice cream at Jeni’s, and a walk across the bridge.
Chrissie turned 40 this year and while Kevin and I weren’t able to make the fun trip to the Dominican Republic with friends I went out with the girls to celebrate at Novella Osteria in Powell. This place is delish and it was awesome that Lisa was able to pick all of us up in her car and we all rode together.
Summer is for sleepovers too, right? Miles spent the night and Reid joined in as well in Griffin’s room.
Kevin’s company had a social gathering at Lincoln Social as many employees were in Columbus from Mexico and other areas out of town. It was a beautiful night to enjoy the rooftop bar and Kevin was able to arrange using the space via his connection to friend Alan Assaf (who is the COO of company who built and manages the property).
Oh Reidy. I remember when Griffin did this kind of thing too. This boy is so silly.
When Griffin returned home from his weekend with Grandma and Grandpa he wanted to show Reid all the things in his tackle box. They sat on the garage floor and went through the whole thing!
Here is a pic of the brisket that Kevin gave a go at in our patio Smoker. It was tasty! And below is a pic of the front garden. I’m pretty happy with how this garden is maturing and the pop of pink with annual color is nice too.
Reid is on the move anytime he’s on the ground. Over the last few weeks he has gotten really smooth at mastering his transition from crawling to sitting. New this week he learned how to go up on his knees! I was kind of surprised as he was just crawling around his room and went over to his activity box. Next thing I knew there he was, up on his knees and he stayed that way for a good minute or so.
Griffin needed to make his own valentine box for his school class this year. He could make it any theme (or no theme) that he wanted so he enjoyed painting it and decorating it with stickers. He is also getting to be so fast at writing his name! My friend, Laura, taught the Monkey class about heart health this week and she sent me a couple of pics from the day, including Griffin making his stethoscope and listening to his heart :). 
Little did we know when we went out for Pizza that it was national pizza day! He hit up Dewey’s in Worthington for some tasty zzzaaaa. 
Our cable has been weird for quite some time as you basically can’t watch live tv on any tv other than our bedroom. We were able to get the service tech’s here on Saturday so while Kevin dealt with them Griffin and I hung out in his room (with the dogs, of course) and line his dresser drawers with OSU liner from Grandma and Grandpa. Mind you most of the drawers are full so you can’t see too much of it, but Finn thinks it’s pretty neat!
We enjoyed some time watching the Winter Olympics over the weekend and I thought what better shirt to put on Reid than one with ski jumping! Ha! Snuggle buds. 
This particular meal Reid was trying out plain butternut squash. To say he wasn’t a fan is a pretty fair statement, but Debbie filled me in that by the end and then the next meal he actually seemed to be ok with it! Reid has been trying many new foods, most seem to be fruity – so I’ve made an effort to have more veggie options so he won’t get his Mom’s sweet tooth and only want the sweet stuff, lol. 
I love this. Reid isn’t much of a snuggler these days. When it is time for nap or bed he basically just wants put down in his bed where he babbles for a few minutes and then falls asleep on his own. I’m not complaining – but I do miss the snuggles! This particular morning he was hungry, but otherwise I don’t think he wanted to be awake. He didn’t even get down to play, he just leaned in while sitting upright (which he never does anymore!) and just cuddled. I love that he “tuck tucks” his arms just like Griffin. 
We were enjoying a nice lazy Saturday morning in bed and we each had a snack bar when I realized Reid was getting antsy as he wanted one too! We decided, why not, let’s get one for him. Next thing I knew Kevin walked in with the high chair for Reid! We set him up and he sat there and enjoyed his Mum Mum with the dogs hoping to get a piece. Next thing, wouldn’t you know, he was able to grab my coffee and proceeded to pull it over – which resulted it in breaking on the bed frame and spilling all over the side of the box spring, bed frame, night stand, carpet, and wall. Um, no more lazy Saturday morning. Ugh! Oh well, memories made. Funny thing is he did the same thing at Dewey’s with a beer the night before. This guy has some fast hands (and some slow learning parents apparently!). 
Brutus just loves to be loved. I mean, who doesn’t, really? He is so playful when you get down on the floor and just wrestle with him or pet him and talk to him. He usually ends up biting my arms playfully and eventually getting up and running like crazy through the house. 
Mom and Dad are enjoying a lovely vacation down in Siesta Key. I was super amazed and impressed when they sent this pic of the sand castle they built for the Super Bowl. Wowzer, pretty impressive, eh?
Facebook continues to show me images from the past – check out this one from 9 years ago (9 years, really?) of the dogs. Hailey, Cam, and Lils – what a crew they were together. I miss those girls! I wonder what they would think of Reid and now Griffin as a big kid :).
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!
