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April 16-30, 2019

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Easter 2019! While home at Mom and Dad’s we gathered after church for a very brief photo shoot. Amy captured all of the action and some really goods ones despite the crazy! Thankful to have these pictures.

Kevin brought the boys out to Millcreek, along with dinner a couple of times this spring. After we quickly eat in my office, Griffin begs for a golf cart ride so we took a quick spin around the nursery. 

It’s been a weird spring with the weather, which directly affects how busy we are at Millcreek. Fortunately, I was able to get out of work at a great hour and Kevin also made it home on this Thursday in time for us all to head to the Art Show at Tyler Run where we were able to see Griffin’s artwork displayed in the hallway. We walked around the school, played some on the playground, and then headed to dinner. It was a fun, yet unusual, weeknight together.  Finn, Reid, and I made Easter cookies this week. Reid helped with the cutouts and then he went to bed while Griffin and I baked and then decorated them. While we were decorating them I looked out our kitchen window and spotted a cool owl on our fence! I ventured outside and got a snagged a couple photos.  We headed to Mansfield on Saturday after I wrapped up working at Millcreek. The boys enjoyed playing with their cousins, our traditional Easter egg hunt and smash, a ride on the mule, playing ball in the driveway, and checking out Grandpa’s hostas.  I love this season of the year with the beautiful blooms and colors of spring. Our Rising Sun Redbud in the front yard is always one of my favorites along with the sweet smelling virburnum by our back porch.  Construction has begun on our new Westbrook Greenhouse which will serve as our Shipping Facility and also be used for growing plants for the down times of the year. It’s fun to see it going up after many months of planning! And here are a few others from the week including the crazy spill of water beads all over the kitchen floor as we were about to head out to get Griffin on the bus for school. Yikes! We also received the confirmation of Reid’s enrollment at NPCA this Fall – he will be a Guppy! Reid is also loving little babies lately and was swooning over Abby, our neighbors baby, during our recent progressive dinner. 

April 1-15, 2019

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Though the weather doesn’t always seem like it, Spring Season at Millcreek has arrived and longer days at work are in full motion. While I don’t like being away from the boys as much as I am, I do love getting updates from Haya throughout the day, including pictures and videos. They are having lots of fun! The collage of Reid was put together by Google and I thought it was a good one to share. It captures his many faces and moods. 

I’ve been home at good times here and there and on this particular night it was nice enough to go on an adventure through the neighborhood. Griffin really wanted to drive his car, so I traveled behind while he drove himself and Reid on a large loop down the street and back. 

While Griffin seems to have moved on from his interest in arts and crafts, Haya has tried to do some fun crafts from time to time. They made a model of the solar system out of foam balls on sticks and they drew the solar system on paper. We seem to have legos everywhere these days. Griffin sometimes puts the kits together but then takes the creation and eventually makes his own. He currently has an army of his own creations. It’s fun to see how he uses the parts he has and his imagination to build different vehicles. And then to hear him play with his vehicles in his room is fun too!

I’ve taken both Lily and Brutus to Millcreek this spring on my Saturday’s so far. It’s been fairly “quiet” and Lily is a piece of cake and happily greets everyone. I’m working on getting Brutus used to strange and new situations. He was so funny when he walked from the car across the parking lot to the shipping warehouse. He hovered close to the ground and smelled everything! When we walked in to the office he didn’t make a noise at anyone, but as new people would enter he was more skeptical. Still trying to persuade him to happily welcome people!!

Griffin is enjoying flag football (when the weather has permitted the games to be played). I basically spend 50 minutes chasing Reid and trying to keep him off the field. He’s a little pistol and when he decides to take off – he’s gone in a flash and there I go after him on to the playing field.  Griffin loves gardening with me and working in the yard. He’s also been in to climbing trees and cutting flowers. He loves to go greet Reid in the morning and one particular morning I watched the video of him going in and talking to Reid. Reid wanted out and it was kind of cute to see Griffin get him, lol. Gonna have to watch these two together!

We went to Powell’s Village Green Park for the Easter Egg hunt again this year. We met up with neighbors and friends and the older boys had a blast. Reid had his own kind of blast, by getting to his first egg, opening it, and eating the chocolate. Then he’d move on to the next. He didn’t have a care in the world about getting many eggs, just the one before him with the treat was good enough for him. After the egg hunt I went to work, Reid was home with a sitter, and Kevin and Finn headed to the OSU Football Spring Game. It was a nice day!

Later that evening we headed to the Bethune’s to celebrate Greta’s 6th birthday! I don’t have many photos from our time together but the kids had fun and Reid enjoyed the dessert, lol. 

On Palm Sunday at church Griffin joined the processional of kids waving palm branches and standing up on the stage for the first song of the service. We love this tradition at church. 

Griffin definitely has a love for animals. He’s told me he wishes we could have a cat. Sorry buddy, that one’s not gonna happen! But this week Haya took the boys to the pet store where he got to play with several animals, including holding hamsters. As it turns out, about a week or two later Haya got a hamster for herself and her hubby (a compromise from a puppy) and has since brought it to our house for fun. Griffin loves holding them, Reid isn’t quite sure yet. 

We are loving having new windows that open! I love it when the weather is perfect to open up the house and enjoy the breeze and all the sounds of nature. This week Kevin installed window clings in our garage windows. They have a “blinds” pattern and really look nice from the street. No more dirty yucky garage blinds anymore and no new ones that will need to be cleaned!

New windows are now mounted in the porch, just one to go and then the framing of them, etc. There’s still lots of finishing details, lighting, and painting to do on the inside. We’re excited to be able to use it at some point this summer….

I love this throw back of Reid. I remember this picture at Kingwood Center when Reid was a baby. He was so smiley! Maybe it’s the orange that ties the pictures together. I’m struggling with the fact that this sweet little boy is about to turn 2!

And here is some video of the week, including Finn scoring a touchdown!

March 17-31, 2019

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St. Patrick’s Day started with green pancakes to go with the green necklaces and fun plates. Later we had green avacado toast too :). 

It seems this spring is yet another weird weather one. On March 18th we awoke to a pretty winter scene of snow. I snapped some pictures before heading to work as it was a beautiful sight – just not one for March!

Griffin had his 6-year checkup on the 18th. Time sure if flying by, I’m not sure how it’s already been six years. But this boy is growing like a weed, gaining 6 pounds and 2.75 inches in a year. He’s up to 47.3 pounds (60 %ile) and 45 3/4″ (57%ile) {Head circumference 15.8 cm / 65%ile}. He didn’t have to get any shots (no more until 11!) but I talked to Dr. Houts about how now and again Griffin is really washed out and has no color in his face. I was telling him how I’ve been anemic and so he suggested they could run a quick finger-poke blood test, which they did. It came back really good, he is right in the middle of the range they want to see – so no worries about that! I took him out for our traditional ice cream treat at Graeter’s afterward. 

We received Griffin’s Kindergarten class photo this week. They put each of the kids names on the picture, which at first I thought strange but then found kind of neat. At least that way we can remember everyone’s names years from now!

I took Finn with me to Millcreek to pick out some new houseplants. I’ve finally decided to replace the ones that have been dead for months, ha! We took a quick tour around the place and I let him “drive” the jeep, so he was a happy camper. Second pic, selfie by Finn.  Later that day we planted seeds for our vegetable garden. We skipped doing it last year, figure we’ll give it a go this year, but perhaps in pots. Time will tell. 

It was a beautiful afternoon so we decided to head to the zoo to enjoy the nice weather. Griffin got to ride a pony (we tried Reid, but he was scared!) and we all rode the train.

On Sunday we headed to New City Presbyterian church as afterward we went to Homestead Park to celebrate James Kessler’s 40th birthday at the pavilion. The kids enjoyed playing on the playground equipment and we scarfed down pizza before we had to head home for nap time. It was quite the crowd as most of the church came too!

For my birthday Kevin and the boys gave me a bike. This week Kevin installed Reid’s seat so now we can head out with everyone! We took it on a quick test drive before leaving on a surprise spring break trip with the kids to Great Wolf Lodge. We weren’t planning to do anything, but as the week went on I just thought it would be fun to do something for break. We spent Friday afternoon and night, Saturday, and until mid-afternoon Sunday enjoying Great Wolf Lodge in Mason. There are numerous restaurants, an arcade, ice cream shop, etc., all within the hotel so once we were there we didn’t need to leave! We had a good time. 

Haya has planned some fun activities with the kids lately. They drew out the solar system and then also assembled it on sticks with styrofoam balls. Next, they are going to paint all of the planets. Griffin, who once loved arts and crafts, hasn’t really been into it much with Haya. When I asked him about it he told me he always got to do things with Sam and it’s not as fun to do them himself.  Ugh. Well, we’ll keep trying!  The picture of Finn in his pj’s was the Tuesday after his birthday. He chose for everyone to wear PJ’s to school to celebrate his birthday (since they don’t allow you to bring in desserts/treats). That was super fun for him, this boy would live in jammies or comfy clothes if he could. 

And here are a few Millcreek updates.  Pump House number 2, going in out in the I-pad is coming right along. We also sent our first-ever shipment to Nevada via common carrier, so I included pics of that just for fun. The plants arrived a week later all in fine condition. There’s a first time for everything. And this year we’ve changed our shipping TV’s from vertical to horizontal in order to accommodate all of the many sizes we’re growing. Things are always changing. 

A few videos from the week are below.