Here is our Mr. Smiles! He is a happy boy almost all the time. He loves to nap and snuggle. I love to walk in the door after work and as soon as I pick him up he just smiles so big and lays his head down on my shoulder :).
The weather this spring has been interesting to say the least. We woke up on the 2nd of April to several inches of snow! Needless to say it’s made my work scheduled not quite as busy as “normal” (whatever that is anymore). I’ve enjoyed being able to be home at a more “normal” hour and hang with the kids in the evening. 
It’s been snuggles all around lately with kids and dogs. Lils is snuggling on Brutus and Griffin is on him too. Though Brutus is one big boy he is really very gently and tolerant of anything the boys do to him. 
I’ve been working on Saturday’s until 2 pm or so and I’ve been leaving before they get up. This Saturday Daddy treated the boys to lunch at Firehouse Subs while out running errands. Later that night we had another fun Progressive Dinner with our neighbors. It was “American” this time so Kevin grilled some fabulous filets to go with our mashed potatoes and green beans. It was delish! The nights are always a lot of fun over the course of several hours and our three houses. This time we headed tot he Duncan’s for dessert as they weren’t able to join until later. We didn’t arrive at their house until nearly 9 pm! Kind of a crazy way to welcome them to our fun!
Kevin got some snuggles from Reid and he was so happy to get them! Reid does this for me all the time and Kevin wants some snugs too, but he usually doesn’t do it. This night at our dessert I gave him to Kevin as I was so hot holding him and he instantly did his tuck tuck shoulder lay. 
It’s also been an interesting start to flag football season with the cold temperatures. Griffin is wearing his winter hat as the center in the photo below and then chasing after the ball carrier. It was freezing and windy!
Griffin was given the sportsmanship medal this week 🙂
At work I’ve been working on the 2018 edition of the picking crews routes through the nursery. It’s an annual thing that is updated in our software system and then the pick tickets are printed according to the route throughout the nursery. 
We are so proud of Griffin for memorizing bible verses at school this year. Check him out!
I’m going to attempt to catch up from a couple of months of blog posts that I haven’t had the time or taken the time to complete. Each year once spring starts to arrive it seems most things get put on hold! I constantly tell myself I’m going to get caught up and stay up to date with the blog but then at the end of the day I’m beat and don’t have the energy or mental frame of mind to spend more time on a computer!
This week was Griffin’s spring break from NPCA and I was rather bummed that I was working all week. But as fate would have it, Debbie called off sick one day so I decided to stay home and have a fun day with the boys and I’m super glad I did. Finn and I went to the store for baking supplies and white eggs (as we always have brown) so we could dye easter eggs and making frosted sugar cookies. He had a great time getting his hands all colored and taste-testing the batter and frosting 🙂 And I enjoyed having a fun play time with him and having some coffee from my new bunny mug that Finn picked out for me. 
Griffin is really in to feeding Reid. Pretty much anything to do with Reid. Some of it is so that he can get attention too, but, honestly he just loves to help and do things for Reid. 
The beginnings of Finn’s basketball hoop were installed this week and a few days later the rest was set up. This boy is going to spend a ton of time (as if it could get more?) outside. He’s pretty stoked to be able to shoot hoops at any time and to be able to raise and lower the hoop by himself. We’ve been having fun playing 2 on 1 (typically boys against momma). We have a lot of fun and spend lots of time giggling. 
Griffin and Reid had an adventure day this week with Debbie to COSI where they explored a lot of exhibits, painted, played with colors and enjoyed a nice lunch. 
The end of the week Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong came to help watch the boys for a couple of days on Thursday and Friday while Debbie helped her mom recover after back surgery. They had lots of fun showing Grandma and Grandpa all their new tricks and skills. 
Griffin has still been enjoying several of his new birthday toys and gifts, including these dinosaur eggs that soak in water and then he digs for the dinosaur fossil located inside.
We headed up to Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein’s for Easter which included an Easter-egg hunt with the cousins, some time on the mule, and a quick stint at covering the greenhouse. Sadly we never got it done in early winter so are doing things in reverse order this year and are covering in spring! 
Amy took some great Easter photos after church on Sunday. Thankful to have these, she got some good ones!
Griffin and I put together the party favor bags for his upcoming birthday party this weekend. We formed a nice assembly line 🙂
Griffin loves to go in and help Reid – whether that be getting his pacifier that fell or just talking to him if he is crying. I like to peek in on them via the video monitor 🙂
For my birthday Kevin gave me tickets to see Blake Shelton at Nationwide. We enjoy going to concerts together and this was another fun night of good music and fun with several artists including Carly Pearce, Brett Eldredge, Trace Adkins and Blake. It was a late night for a weeknight concert! 
How can it be that our first born is turning 5! On Friday we celebrated Griffin with a super fun day. I was able to take the day off work so the day began by taking Griffin to school. Then I surprised him at lunchtime with his favorite – Jimmy Johns for lunch and rice krispie treats for all his classmates. After school we headed to the zoo for a short bit of exploration and then we headed to PINS Mechanical in Dublin for some Jenga, Duck Pin Bowling, Pinball games and then we headed home for gifts and cake. Reid took a bit of a nap and then we headed out (at almost normal bedtime!) for a birthday dinner at none other than Rooster’s, Griffin’s favorite restaurant. 
We are having a basketball hoop installed in our driveway for Finn’s birthday so we gave him some accessories to go along with it and to fuel his buckeye fever. 
On Sunday we met up with our neighbors at Dave and Busters for some gaming fun and lunch. Griffin loved it and Reid and I hung for awhile before we headed home for nap time. 
