Tag Archives: puzzle

October 7, 2018

I am sitting here as the snow flies reflecting on these pictures from two months ago! As cheesy as it sounds, I truly wish I had a pause button. Time is moving too fast. Not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do. I regularly find myself having to do the things I “have” to do which aren’t necessarily the things I “want” to do. One day all of a sudden becomes the next day and then another month is gone.

Reid’s personality is so fun. He’s sassy and stubborn. Sweet and silly.  He makes the most skeptical faces. He’s not talking much (and I’m becoming more concerned that he isn’t) though he understands everything and listens well to what you ask him to do (unless he’s demonstrating his stubbornness). He will throw a “tantrum” if you remove him from something he wanted to do – he’ll often just sit down or lay down entirely on the floor and grunt and make a mad face.  It’s actually pretty cute. Here he is eating his raspberries as finger puppets :).
I was able to venture to the zoo one day this week to meet a friend and her kids. We stayed for a few hours and at the end they headed out and we decided to do a few more things like ride the train! Reid also has the greatest smile. He’s always lit up the room with his wide and cheery smile and now that he’s got a full set of teeth it’s even more precious. Here are some of his faces and his personality coming through. He was loving cuddling with Lily one night in his room behind the chair.
Kevin was invited to tailgate and attend the OSU-Indiana game this weekend with Chris, Paul, and a few of Chris’ family members. It was a warm one! He enjoyed the time.  We’re enjoying our puzzling hobby and have found a few that are quite challenging. Especially when they are missing pieces! I’m the primary puzzler (even though Kevin was the one who got us started and bought several of them!). I enjoy sitting down and trying to make some headway in the evenings, though honestly I get addicted to getting a certain area finished and before I know it I’ve missed my bedtime by a great deal! Griffin enjoys joining me too and he’s actually quite good. And as much as Brutus might be to blame for eating the “missing pieces” we can’t blame him for getting them off the table – I think we accidentally drop them and then he eats them. We now have a good system in place so he can’t get to the pieces when they are on the table!

August 19, 2018 – Griffin starts Kindergarten!!

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!