We have a 1-year old! Our little man Reid turned one on Sunday and we’ve had quite a busy week leading up to his big day. The end of Griffin’s school year is near and they’ve begun to send home some school stuff including pictures and name tags so I’ve included some in this week’s post. 
Griffin really does love being a big brother. He’s regularly wanting to help feed Reid, share his food with Reid, give him his bottle, pick him up (which Reid does NOT like usually), give him hugs and snuggles. 
Griffin has rediscovered his Magnatiles recently and has been making all kinds of creations. He made this awesome heart for me and when he showed it to me and said he made it for me because he loves me. Awe, love this sweet boy! The second photo is of him in his room after bedtime, yes he’s asleep, and he made all of those creations after he went to “bed”. 
Mom, Dad, Jim, and Pat were again our saviors this week as they helped us by watching the kids while we were away at work. We couldn’t have made it through this period between caregivers if not for each of them! The photo of Finn on the couch asleep is from Jim and Pat – he fell asleep on his way home from pre-school in the car and they brought him in to the couch and he continued to sleep! He was wiped out as he rarely naps these days!
Kevin and I have been on the Generosity Team at church over the last year and a half. Our team led the capital campaign to raise the funds to pay off the note on the building by May of this year – which thanks to the faithful contributions of our congregation was a successful effort and the building was actually paid off early in April. Our team planned a celebration to thank our church and coupled it with a party also celebrating the 25th anniversary of the church. We had a worship team from another church come and give a concert, there were games, food trucks, and the official burning of the church “note” in the back yard fire pit. Kevin took the day off on Friday to run all of the errands to Costco, Aldi, etc., and gather the necessary food and drink items. The church provided drinks and side-items as well as “tickets” to the food trucks for each attendee. Kevin made 15 pounds of pasta salad at home (and it was delish – and we ate it for the next week as there was plenty left over!) and we had other items including a green salad, strawberries, apples, grapes, and cheese trays. On Saturday morning I went to our neighbor, Lisa’s, bridal shower downtown and then quickly headed home to change and head to church to help with the final prep and laying out the food before the official event began at 4 pm. The weather was looking dodgy and it poured rain at 3:30 but it cleared up just before our event began! Yay! It was a great time and really well attended and the food trucks were all great!
After our busy Saturday we headed into an even busier Sunday – Reid’s first birthday! This picture is from Reid’s party on May 28, but I wanted to include it here as it is the best shot I have of him with a huge smile on his face 🙂 When we got Reid from his room on his birthday he was in fun spirits. He’s loving the fan and enjoys crawling all over our bed and trying to escape your reach. Sunday morning I headed with Griffin and Reid to Finn’s football bowl game to conclude his season with i-9. They played at Liberty High School’s football stadium this year. The kids had a great time and it was a nice morning to watch a game. Simultaneously Kevin was at the special church celebration service – which ended up being nearly two hours! We didn’t want to both miss the service as it was a special one which celebrated the 25th anniversary as well as the conclusion of the Generosity initiative. Whew, Kevin made it right at the end of the game and although Finn was finished playing he was there to see him get his trophy and grab a team photo. It was a fun season as Cooper, our neighbor and Finn’s buddy, was on the same team – go Ninja Bulldogs! This same day last year I was in the hospital after just having had Reid and Kevin went to Griffin’s Bowl Game with his parents! Time flies!
After the game we headed home for a short bit and then I left to meet two potential nanny’s to watch the boys this summer. I met with one at 1:30 and the next at 2:30 – both went well and since we knew we needed to act fast we ended up setting up second interviews for later that evening at 6:30 and 8! It was such a whirlwind, but we ended up hiring Jenn (who we interviewed first) and she agreed to start the next day. Whew, basically 24 hours after interviewing her she was at our house. But I spoke with her references and reviewed her background check, got her BMV record, and feel really good about her. We’re super thankful it happened so quickly! Just before the interviews Finn and I decorated Reid’s cake and as soon as I got home we hopped in the car and headed to Dublin to watch Greta’s Dance Recital! She did a lovely job and it was cute to see so many dancers on the stage doing different routines :). 
After the recital Mom, Dad, Amy, Andy, Graham, Rowan, Greta, me, Finn, and Reid headed to Max and Erma’s for a quick dinner. Kevin headed off to meet with the two interviewees so we could get that done over the weekend rather than trying to figure out how to do it during the workdays. Reid was pretty tired by this point as you can see, lol, and Finn really enjoyed his sundae for dessert. 
This poor boy – after Kevin got home from his second interview it was nearly 9 pm and it was the first time we’d all been home together where Reid was awake and our first chance to do gifts and cake. I was actually rocking him in his room thinking we would just do it the next day when Kevin arrived home and we decided to just go for it. So he doesn’t look the most spunky in these pics but here they are!
This happy guy is so excited when you go into his room and greet him after his nap. And he is such a great sleeper, sometimes so much so that I think something is wrong because he sleeps SO much or at least seems as though he’s always ready to go back to bed! This week we were certainly thankful for the help of Jim and Pat on Monday and Friday and my parents on Thursday of this week to care for the boys. Since this post is after-the-fact, it turns out the Debbie has decided to quit and gave no notice. Rather, she told us she was “sick” for several days, texting at crazy hours of 12 and 1 am that she wouldn’t be coming. Friday of this week was her first “call off” but next week they continued until she quit via text on Wednesday afternoon. I had reached out to her mom as I was genuinely concerned about her and her behavior of calling off for nearly a week, at strange hours of the night, a couple times via a “friends” phone as she spilled water on hers. It just kept getting more and more strange. It turns out she didn’t appreciate the conversation that Kevin had with her on Wednesday of this week, and even though as a part of that conversation we setup a time to meet on Friday to discuss some things – that is when her call offs began and she never actually came back to work. It’s a shame and it’s upsetting that she chose to quit in such an immature and unprofessional way after 4 1/2 years of being with our family. I’m upset at the manner in which she departed and that she lied to us over several days saying she wasn’t “feeling well” even though she basically also removed all of her belongings from our house the last day she was here. It will be a big change for Griffin moving forward, not only for Debbie no longer caring for him each day, but also for him not having his best bud Sam around either. But we remain grateful for our parents who have really helped us out in a bind this week (and next!). Somehow I didn’t manage to get any pics of the Armstrongs :(. 
This was the week before mother’s day, aka one of my most busiest weeks of the year, especially with the years odd April weather our May has been busier than “normal”. It was so great to arrive home to a tasty meal made by my parents, including dessert of angel food cake with a homemade blueberry reduction sauce. Yummers! Dad and Finn have developed a hobby of running to the store together to get the days dinner stuffs. If you know my Dad, you know he doesn’t like to sit still (or when he does he’ll end up napping – now you know where I get it, lol!). 
I so loved going to NPCA for the Moms and Muffins morning with Finn. We played connect four (he is really good!) and he showed me around his classroom. We played with some toys and then Mrs. Laura read the paper that each kid completed about their Mom. He’s pretty much got me down. Well, he could have just stopped at my mom is really good at “working”….and left off the “out”. This boy has my heart! 
Later during the school day the kids went to a nearby pond for a nature expedition where they looked for frogs and various insects. My friend Laura helped chaperoned and sent me these pics 🙂
Good old Brutes. He has ruined so many things from shoes to clothes to toys, lovies, and so much more. This puppy stage is always a long one with labs. But underneath it all he has the sweetest disposition. It’s not often the first thing you notice about him, as he can be overbearing, he has a deep and scary bark, and when he’s full of energy he can be a handful. And eventhough I’m sometimes cautious with him around strangers or people who are uneasy around him, I have no concerns at all about him with the boys. He let’s these kids do any and everything to him and he’s never once reacted poorly. They climb on him, wrestle him, pet him, push him, tackle him, and on and on. And when he’s tired he’ll just lay there and take it all in, like the picture below (which is terribly blurry but you get the point). He could care less that Reid is smothering him, crawling over him, and dumping all kinds of things off the shelf all over his face. He just lays there and lets it all happen!
After Griffin’s football game on Saturday we headed to Mansfield for Mother’s Day. Not wanting to always show the highlight reel, I included this one of Reid (and check out Greta’s expression) not really digging my photo request. 
We explored Dad’s hostas and he showed Finn lots of his raised beds. And I love the photo of Reid up in the tree looking at Dad 🙂
And here are a few photos from Mother’s Day with my Mom! We are in front of the Coral Burst Crabapple tree that Amy and I gave them several years back. This might be the best year yet for flowering 🙂
Morning snuggle time is the best way to start my day! It makes it hard to leave in the morning though for sure. 
Reid continues to enjoy meal time and is learning to eat more and more new foods. He definitely seems to favor meat (sausage, beef, chicken) and sweet veggies (peas, corn, carrots). He’s hit or miss with fruits as some days he’ll eat them and others not. He does love pears for sure. Strawberries and blueberries sometimes, watermelon he kind of plays with, canteloupe he’ll usually eat. Raspberries are usually a negative. Just depends on his mood I suppose. 
Debbie took the boys to Library Park and Franklin Park Conservatory this week and Finn loved seeing the butterflies. This was Reid’s first time there and it looks like he had fun too 🙂 In all honesty since I’m writing these post several weeks after the fact and Debbie is no longer our nanny, I have mixed emotions looking at these pictures. Happy that they had so much fun with her and she loved them well and sad that things ended the way the did. It could have been so much better. 
These next two pictures Finn created at pre-school and I put them in here as a reminder to myself about the simple joys of being a kid and the ways they find happiness and fun in the littlest things. Man, I wish I were a kid again some days! 
Mr. Reid becomes Mr. Sassy sometimes when he doesn’t have something he sees someone else does. He’s getting really good with the contigo cups so I’ve started giving him one when I give Griffin one. He loves it!
We joined the Bethune’s, Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein, and other friends for Greta’s 5th birthday with a party at the rink. Finn hadn’t been on the ice in probably two years. He was definitely timid in the beginning but after a short bit he was off and skating on his own! Check out his hockey shirt that he chose for the day, a hand-me-down from his cousins 🙂
Reid really resembles Rowan a lot as a baby (is that enough R’s?). While we were at the Bethune’s we checked out a photo album from when Rowan was the same age as Reid (around 47 weeks). It’s crazy how much they look alike and how their hair is very similar too!
Great photo of the grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa!
Griffin is often my errand buddy. The two of us head out on adventures and Reid stays home with Daddy sometimes. We headed to the Polaris area and decided to get Finn a lunch at the new Corner Bakery. He loved it and I loved the manager who was so friendly. He walked around and as he stopped to talked to us he invited us up for a free cookie after his meal. Of course Finn was happy about that 🙂
And here is another Saturday morning photo snapped by Daddy of the boys having a fun morning while I was away at work. Boxes make the best toys. 
On Sunday I met up with my college friends for brunch. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen each other and while we didn’t have a long time to hang it was good to see everyone and get updates on everyone’s lives! It’s been 20 years since we graduated from OU! Yikes!