Look at those blue-eyed babes! Here we are enjoying a quick dinner at Panera after swim lessons this week. Reid ate really well – he had lots of the grilled cheese sandwich and some fruit, and Finn re-fueled all the energy he burned from being in the water.
Finn and Reid went on a quick trip with Jenn to Target this week too. It’s been so rainy and yucky that they went out to get a new fun game to play, and while they were at it Finn chose some blue jello too, lol. And they stopped at Culver’s for a free treat too. Pretty good days for these guys!
My snuggle bud Brutes. This boy just wants to be sure he’s loved!
Friday marked the third anniversary of Nathan’s birth and death. Each year when June rolls around, actually more like May 15th, all kinds of thoughts and memories become more vivid as the date is a constant reminder of losing our little boy. Each year we visit the cemetery together, say a prayer, and then have dinner together after as a family. Even though three years have passed it so often still seems surreal and the emotions can be overwhelming. We don’t yet have a headstone or a family plot stone at the cemetery – hoping we will be able to make that complete by next year. Thanks to my parents for the thoughtful arrangement to remember all of our boys, the red roses for Griffin and Reid and the white calla lily for Nathan.
Saturday began the summer baseball season for Finn. This year it is coach-pitch so it’s a step up! Griffin is enjoying it and gets so excited during the week and counts down the days until he has a game. 
After his game we were home and Reid and Kevin were napping. I had asked Finn to play on his own for awhile so I could get some bills paid and work in the office for awhile. As I was working I thought, forget this – let’s have some fun! So we headed to the zoo only to find out they closed early for Zoofari! So we quickly switched it up and went to Zoombeezi instead – thankfully Finn was wearing his dri-fit OSU gear (basically like a suit!) and I had on yoga pants, flip flops, and a dri-fit shirt too! He had a blast in the tiny tides area for a couple of hours. 
I love these smiles!
Sunday was Father’s Day, and Kevin was excited to take Finn fishing for the first time ever. They headed out (in the crazy heat!) to Liberty Park for an afternoon adventure. As it turns out, Finn caught a fish really quickly (not very realistic first fishing experience – but they clearly stock the pond from this area where they were fishing!) and he was pretty happy about it. He held the fish and then they threw him back in! My favorite part is his outfit. He had asked, “so guys, what do you wear when you go fishing?.” We told him just comfortable shorts and shirt. He was asking about getting wet and such. And then he came down in this outfit, complete with his boots to keep his feet dry. Love this boy and his attention to detail – camo for fishing 🙂
I’ve realized I don’t have too many recent pictures of Kevin with both of the boys so during our dinner at Rooster’s I wanted to snap a pic. That went as well as I thought it would, as in not well, but here are a few for memory sake. 
And this week we received Finn’s Kindergarten information from Tyler Run! He has Mrs. Menary and will be going to school on Tuesday/Friday and every other Wednesday. He is in the same class as our neighbor, Cole, so he is super excited!
And be sure to check out the videos! Thanks to Google for the Father’s Day video.
Well, now that Summer is here we’re in fun-mode and gearing up for our summer trip to Florida by getting some life jackets at Costco, of course! On Monday morning we headed to downtown Powell for our traditional trip to watch the Memorial Day Parade. This year we were joined by our neighbors too so Griffin enjoyed gathering up all of the candy with Abbie. 
After the parade we headed home and had family, friends, and neighbors over for a backyard cookout and party for Reid’s 1st birthday! We had plenty of scrumptious food grilled by Kevin and numerous sweet treat options including Reid’s smash cake and a cute fox cake and sugar cookies from a local bakery. The cake was lemon and was so delish! Reid enjoyed smashing his cake – or rather eating all the frosting! He learns that naturally from his brother. Thanks to Amy for many of these great pics!
And here are a few others from our week. Can you believe I took the boys to Graeter’s again? It may be a habit. 
The boys sure love when Grandma and Grandpa visit! 
Griffin has started swim lessons at Aqua Tots in Powell in preparation for our trip to the beach. He’s going to be going twice a week which I think will be really helpful as he’s pretty timid in the water right now. This pic is from his first lesson where he was NOT excited to get his face in the water and he held on pretty tight to his teacher. 
I helped Jane and Kathy from our neighborhood plant our entryway on Saturday morning. We planted 50 Lantana and 48 Sedum pretty quickly and they look quite nice!
After we dropped Finn off at school for his last “normal” day of the year I headed to Millcreek with Reid to check in on the troops. See that big boy taking charge at my desk?
It was bike day on Monday also, so we took Finn’s bike for the day and he enjoyed riding around during the day with his classmates. 
Reid had his 1-year well check on Tuesday this week and he is doing so great! He weighs 21 pounds 14.6 ounces (60th percentile and up 4.5 pounds from his February 9 month check), is 29.5″ (36th percentile and 1.5 inches longer than 9 months) and his head circumference is 48.4 cm (96th percentile, up from 79th percentile in February). He is cruising along couches, chairs, tables and anything he can pull himself up to. He’s a happy boy, who loves to sleep at night and nap during the day. He loves to play and his smile is so big and bright. He’s a stubborn little man that knows what he wants and he often screams to let you know he wants it, he wants down, or he’s not happy you took something away or removed him from something he enjoyed doing. He’s got the most cute (and most pathetic) sad scrunchy lips when he’s sad or tired and he regularly takes his index finger to his lips when he’s without his paci but really wants it. He certainly does love his pacifier, so much that he sleeps with one in his mouth and his backup in his second hand. It’s not uncommon if he wakes up sometimes and has lost his spare that he’ll cry for it until you get it for him. Then he quickly plops down in his bed, lays down, and goes back to sleep. He is so fun!
And here is our soon-to-be graduate on his last morning as a Monkey at NPCA! He was excited to take gifts to his teachers Miss Laura and Miss Lori. His graduation ceremony was at the end of the school day. The kids were so cute they sang several songs and recited their memory bible verses during the ceremony. Finn’s face was obscured in almost every photo I took of the group up on stage, but if you look hard you can find him! He was the first kid of all the graduates to receive their certificate and thanks to Aunt Amy we got a good pic! After the ceremony we had cake before heading to First Watch for a celebratory lunch with cousin Greta, Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein, Aunt Amy, Uncle Andy, cousins Graham, Rowan, Greta, and of course me, Daddy, and Reid. 
And google has been showing me several “then and now” photos so I wanted to include a few. Time is flying by!
And here are a few others from the week. Reid enjoying his yogurt, Finn so tired after taking a nap one afternoon that when I brought him down to the kitchen he fell back asleep on the chairs, and Brutus wanting in on everything as always. 
On Thursday we went to Get Air in Hilliard for cousin Graham’s 8th birthday party! It was an hour or letting out all kinds of energy!
And on Friday Daddy had a surprise fun day at the zoo with Griffin! They spent the afternoon exploring the zoo, riding camels, and having a fun time together. They also went to the local bike shop and bought Griffin a new bike helmut for him to use this weekend as we teach him to ride without training wheels!
You’ll have to check out the video of Griffin learning to ride his bike without his training wheels. Kevin let go of the seat and he was on his way – never looked back! He was so happy and we spent probably 45 minutes to an hour of just watching him ride his bike! Then we went in to the library and checked out some new books before heading to Bob Evans for a celebratory breakfast. 
And of course at some point in the week we went to Graeter’s where everyone always wants to sample my ice cream cone. Griffin’s selfie was one he took while out playing in the yard one day. He asked for my phone and then showed me this. 
Three or so years after we had the birch tree and alberta spruces removed from the front of our houses we finally got some boxwoods planted. Albeit on one of the hottest days of the week and finishing in the dark as we didn’t start until nearly 8 pm once the sun was going down and it was the slightest bit cooler! And we are not at all looking forward to the Jewett Road closure toward Liberty Road where they will be putting in a roundabout this summer. Ugh, it makes the commute to work and home and pretty much everything we do in Powell pretty ugly as we’ll have to take 315 and Powell Road for most things. But hopefully the roundabout will be nice once it’s done!
