Here the boys are a couple months ago in their Santa hats being silly playing together in the loft. Next they both suited up in their super hero outfits, which we ended up having Reid wear as his Trick or Treat outfit since it was the perfect fit. 
Griffin and Cole play together after school every Monday and Tuesday (when the boys are at Brian and Lisa’s house). Brian sent me this cute pic of the boys in their unplanned matching Batman shirts.
The boys and I took in some nice weather this week. I also had an eye appointment and for the first time ever took both boys with me as tag-a-longs. Thankfully, Dr. Bryan is pretty laid back and engages the kids in conversation. 
Griffin has been doing really well with his sight word booklets. This week he earned two stickers in his pink booklet. He is not very fond of practicing at home with me. When I bring it up he usually sighs and and rolls his eyes and says he doesn’t want to do them. His personality is such that he doesn’t want to be incorrect or fail at anything, so he’d rather not try to do it. I certainly get the perfection thing, but I’m sad that at such a young age Griffin already is prone to not wanting to be wrong. So we’re working on that! Once we go through the words and work through any that he doesn’t know I usually get a big smile (and his signature lip lick) once he goes through them all. He does enjoy reading to his brother!
It was also Fire week at school so the Liberty Township firefighters came to Tyler Run to talk about Fire Safety. The kids got to go outside and check out the firetruck and see the firefighters in all of their gear. 
Daddy was able to come to soccer this week and watch Griffin in his 3 on 3 play. Griffin seems to enjoy playing the 3v3 rather than the “lessons”. 
I had some special visitors at Millcreek this week! Dad and Bob Solberg came for a tour. Bob hasn’t been to Millcreek before and he wanted to see our operation and learn a bit about how we grow, starting with how we propagate. We had fun walking around :). 
Griffin enjoys going in to Reid’s room in the morning when we wakes up. It’s fun to get on the video camera and listen to what he says to Reid and to see the two of them interact when we’re not around. Another fun fact: Griffin loves to get in his bed with him and talk and play! I caught him climbing out and also reading some books to his brother. 
It was a busy weekend with Fall Fest at NPC and a birthday party for Griffin’s classmate, Ethan, on the same afternoon. I was able to break away from church setup for a bit to take Finn to the party. He had fun running around outside at Emily Traphagen Park. Then we headed back to NPC and finished decorating and setting up. Kevin and I took on a smaller role this year with Fall Fest. It was both good and frustrating. The event definitely had a lot of people (despite the poor sign up numbers online) and by the end of the night every pot of chili was empty!
October 14, 2018
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These boys. Though the last few months have been somewhat challenging and stressful finding childcare it’s pictures like these that warm my heart. There have been many a days where I just want to throw in the work towel and just be home with both of them. And if I’m being honest, even when I have great child care at home I still want to do the same. Then there are other days when I feel like I’m a terrible Mom and it’s better for them to not be around me all day every day. Part of what I love about in-home care is that the days are flexible and full of adventure. The boys headed to the zoo this week with Hannah a couple of times and afterwards one day they went to the newer Duck Donuts for a sweet treat. Who would say no to that? 
Since we are new to Tyler Run this year I’m doing my best to learn about the school and get to know people and things about it. I decided I would go to the first PTO meeting of the year, despite my tendency to dislike situations where I may not know anyone and feel like the out of place new person. But I went, and my friend Claire was there as well as my neighbor Alex. And it was nice to learn about the PTO, what it does, and start making connections. I didn’t even know that Alex heads up Dads and Donuts, so I’m going to help her with that in a week or so and Clair and I may takeover the book fair as co-leaders. Yikes – I may be in over my head with that one. Me, leading a book fair? I can hear everyone now “she doesn’t even like to read”. Yes, I know, the irony. The upside of going to the meeting was being able to stop in to see Finn at lunch!
Finn passed his next level in his sight word book this week! Go Finn! He brings home lots of papers each day as they are working their way through the alphabet and numbers. I’m not sure what is normal and what isn’t in regards to getting all the numbers and letters correct at this age. He seems to struggle with 3’s and 5’s so we’re going to work on that. I know I gravitate toward pointing out mistakes and flaws, and I’m really working on pointing out the positives so we’ve been focusing on how well he is doing with so many numbers and letters.
Another selfie by Finn. I enjoy finding these in my photos since he’s learned how to take pictures without having to unlock my phone :). He also took a picture of his magnet creation. Baby gates are good for more than just safety!
Reid babbles a lot but still doesn’t have any words. It’s something I tend to be worried about since he’s 16 months only now. We’ve started putting Sesame Street on in the morning for the boys to watch. Griffin always loved it (and still does actually) and Reid will sit through it for 5-10 minutes before getting up and moving on to something else. He’s like me in many ways, he doesn’t seem to care much about tv in general whereas Finn will become glued to it if you put it on.
For Patriot Day, 9/11, the kids were asked to wear red, white, and blue to school and since I headed to work early that day, Hannah snapped this photo for me while they were waiting for the bus. Reid and Griffin have such different features, Kevin was trying to capture a good profile pic of Reid this morning. Everything about their faces is so different other than their eye color – they both have the clearest blue eyes, perhaps Reid’s are a shade darker than Finn’s. 
And I love this picture of Reid, kind of his half smile. This was at 6:30 in the morning when he was happy as can be to just be up walking around, screeching happily walking in our room and bathroom. 
Griffin frequently likes to empty out his “save, spend, give” bank and sort his money. I’m not sure why he does, but on this particular day he made this long design with his coins. It’s difficult to tell here, but each coin is neatly laid on top of the previous one – all in the exact same pattern. Kind of like dominoes. He’s big on observing and making patterns!
On Sunday, Todd flew in from LA to surprise Pat later this week for her 70th birthday. The original plan was for Kevin to pick him up at the airport and Brett to come up and take him to Enon. So we all hung out for a bit and the plans evolved and Todd ended up staying here a few days so the surprise would be bigger – as Sean was arriving Wednesday. Griffin was so happy to have uncle Todd here. He followed him everywhere and wanted to play with him constantly. I mean all-the-time. They spent plenty of time throwing the football and shooting some hoops in the driveway. Uncle Todd brought him a really cool hat, too!
Another milestone this week – Reid’s first hair cut! We figured at 15 1/2 months it was time to get a big boy hair cut. He has wispy bangs and long hair in the back that could use a trim so we took him to Cookie Cutters. To be honest I was a bit nervous as he is a particular one – not wanting to have his teeth brushed or wanting to sit still in restaurants in his high chair/seat for longer than 10 minutes! He did surprisingly well as he watched a few minutes of a show (he’s also not nearly into tv shows like Griffin was/is – he loses interested and moves along to something else) and then I distracted him with toys in a basket. We were in and out in less than 25 minutes! He looks super cute 🙂 
For comparison, here is Griffin after his first haircut at 12 months old. 
This face cracks me up. He has been making this face a lot lately, especially if I ask him to show me his teeth. He crinkles his nose and does a little snort sometimes. Silly little man. 
Friday was the annual Open House at Millcreek. I was super bummed this year that Griffin had school, so he wasn’t able to be there. It was the first one he’s missed! Kevin was able to come and bring Reid though, so everyone watched his walk all around before we sat down and enjoyed a tasty BBQ lunch. We had 2 seminars and a “40 years of Memories at Millcreek” segment that George presented in the afternoon. It was one of the most well-attended open houses we’ve had, along with great weather – which was a treat as it had been horribly hot earlier in the week.
A few others from this week: Hannah and Griffin made a tasty Fall Chocolate cake this week. He was really proud of his decorating. One weeknight when it was raining Kevin was outside mowing and had to cut it short. It had been awhile since he stopped mowing but he hadn’t come in yet, so I went out to check on things and discovered him playing football in the rain with the kiddos. They had a great time – they didn’t come in until dark and were all soaking wet! I really enjoyed watching that. They were all having so much fun. 
Griffin has been working on sight words at school and he brings home a sight word ring in his reading bag each day. He also has a sight word booklet that we work on at home and when he’s ready to be assessed by his teacher we sign it and send it to school with him. This week Finn “passed” his first list in his green booklet. Way to go Finn! He was so proud and happy when I we went through his bag that night 🙂 
Hannah and Griffin have also been working on this puzzle and finished it this week. Yay, finally one with no missing pieces!!
On Saturday I had to go to Millcreek for several hours to get ready for some consultants visiting next week. Griffin begged to come with me so we packed up his “work” bag and headed to work. As an added treat we enjoyed the leftover bbq from the open house the previous day. He got to enjoy the tasty treats after all! 
These two. They lay on anything that is soft and cuddly. Griffin loves putting his pillows and blankets on the floor and making various designs. Each night at bed time when we all parade into his room these guys settle right on to everything – despite the entire rest of the room being available for them to lay down. 
Naked baby with hulk hands, lol! I’ve realized that I hardly ever take pictures of Reid without his clothes on and he has the biggest and cutest belly! He was loving running around the loft wearing Griffin’s huge hulk hands. 