Reid is beginning to eat more and more table food. Here he’s having bananas and seemingly making his own puree!
Griffin has had quite a fun week. At home he learned about the different senses and on this particular day he was learning about smell. There were several bowls with different things inside of them and you had to sniff them and use your sense of smell to determine what they were. He was so excited he saved them for when I got home so that I could try to figure them out! My sniffer is pretty good these days as I got them all correct!
You’re probably wondering why I have a picture of Griffin’s lunch! It’s just for looking back on some day to see what his lunches were like. This one’s complete with strawberries and pretzels to dip in nutella – yummers!
We’ve had quite a bit of snow this week and the timing was such that we had someone come plow our driveway. Kevin and Griffin cleared our sidewalk and front steps area and enjoyed playing in the snow for awhile. 
Our front oak and maple had some major limbs removed and I’m so excited to have a better view out our front windows and door!
Griffin and those socks. Nearly every day he wants to wear “pull up socks”. He’ll pull them all the way over his knees and then run around with his football and play call as he’s running around. This kid has a passion for sports – currently football is his favorite. He loves nothing more than to watch re-runs of the Ohio State football games (he asks for them by game “Wisconson, Penn State, Cotton Bowl” and so on!). And Brutus was loving playing with an empty water jug. Good to know cheap toys can bring loads of entertainment. 
This Saturday morning Kevin woke up and was so excited for the snow he had the idea of waking Finn up just before sunrise to head to Leatherlips park in Dublin to go sledding. He wanted to be the first ones there, so he got suited up while I helped Griffin get ready quickly. They grabbed a fig bar for a snack and off they went. They arrived and were the first ones there! And as it turns out there are times it is the best to be the first and other times that it is not best to be first! There were so many drifts and strong winds that they didn’t have the best luck making down the hill very fast! But they had fun and made good memories. They finished the trip off with a stop at Tim Horton’s on the way home for doe doe’s and hot cocoa and they were back home by 8:30 am!
Griffin also loves to hang out and play with Cole and Cooper when they are with Brian. They regularly play hockey or nerf guns and can hang out for hours. On Sunday Griffin and Kevin met up with them at the train show in town while I hung at home with Reid so he could get a good nap before c-group. 
I was attempting to get a photo of Reid’s hair – just for memory sake. But the kid never stays still long enough for me to get a non-blurry photo. So, you get the idea. 
And here are some afters of our trees. The front oak and maple are so cleaned out and limbed up! The spruces and dead ash are gone in the back and lots of other limbing done too. They did an excellent job – when I got home you couldn’t even tell anyone had been here. Not one branch, twig, or wood chip anywhere!
The highlight of our week was Reid’s baptism on Sunday! It was a special time and we were glad to have family join us. Mom and Dad came down the evening before and the Bethune’s joined us also for a tasty steak dinner. Reid’s morning schedule on Sunday morning was rather wonky as he only took about a 30 minute nap. Church typically falls right during his second morning nap so I thought for sure he would be cranky and make a scene. Boy was I wrong! His baptism was early in the service and he was a happy guy the entire time, only on the third splash of water did he wrinkle his face! But he didn’t cry and when Pastor Nate walked him up the aisle while everyone sang Jesus Loves Me he just looked around and took it all in! We headed to Matt the Millers for a nice brunch following the service. What a fun and joyful morning. 
Brutus has such a need for attention. He is basically a huge baby himself as he regularly inserts himself in every situation just begging for some love. He loves to get right up close to Reid if you happen to be on the floor giving Reid some fun interactive play. And he regularly just comes up and rests his head: on me, on the bedside, on Griffin, on a toy that is being played with. He can certainly be overbearing when he’s energetic but when he’s tired or calm he’s just like a big lovey!
Here Brutus is pouting because Kevin and Finn got all suited up to go play in the snow. He wanted to get in the car so bad that after they left he just went and sat like a statue like this for the next several minutes and just gave me this pitiful look. 
Griffin is great at playing independently. He often asks to go outside in the back yard to play whether it is with sticks or balls or hockey or just to go adventuring. This day he got all suited up to play in the snow. He loves to eat snow and he even threw snowballs at the window to try to get me inside :).
I went around and took some before photos of our trees as we’ve hired a company to come and give some major love to our mature trees. We have many low-hanging limbs that are pretty sizable and our front oak and maple in particular have grown together pretty heavily. We are looking forward to having a less obscured view from our bedroom window and to have more light in the house once the leaves are back on the trees. They are going to come in and do some crown thinning and raise up the bottoms. I’m pretty stoked. I would love to do it all myself but realize in this day that it just isn’t in the cards at this stage of life! Plus, what to do with all the wood after! They are going to crown thin and raise up probably 10-12 of our mature trees, remove two dead spruce trees, and remove a dead ash behind our fence that is covered in poison ivy – like super mature poison ivy that is about 2″ diameter branches growing 10-15′ up the tree. Ick – be gone yucky stuff!
On New Year’s Day we headed over to the Bethune’s for a tasty spread of carnitas. Reid enjoyed a carrot – that’s the only real pic I took apparently! We’ve also been enjoying some chill family time together. 
We’ve always loved the hat that Griffin has worn for the last couple of years. We wanted to get a similar one for Reid and while shopping online Kevin found a coordinating one for himself :). 
This kid is growing up fast. He seems to really enjoy school though honestly some days I can’t even get him to answer any questions about his day! I do miss being able to take him and pick him up. I feel really disconnected from the classroom happenings and seeing other parents but I do appreciate being able to keep up with things via the weekly email update from his teacher. His handwriting is getting really good and he is picking up on words as we drive around in the car and he’s regularly signing cards and writing his name on all of his papers both at home and school. 
As much as I wish I was, I’m just not super interested or talented when it comes to making meals. Don’t confuse that with eating meals, lol, I’m plenty happy to do that! But as we begin to introduce more foods to Reid I’m realizing we need to eat more cleanly, particularly less processed foods which he shouldn’t have. I usually get home from work around 5 and Reid eats shortly thereafter and heads to bed around 6. So on a normal night after I get him down I make dinner of some sort. Kevin has been working late hours so it’s usually just Finn and me so we’ve been keeping it pretty simple. Pinterest for the win on this one. 
This is the typical scene when Reid has food. Brutus and Lily nearby – hopeful to catch any scrap they can. 
This picture isn’t even close to how great this sunrise was in person. I was on my way in to work and caught the sun rising just before I turned on the road headed to Millcreek. 
Christmas morning! Reid is on a pretty solid schedule these days. He awakes for the day between 6 and 6:30 am and is up for an hour or less before going back down for a short hour-long nap. Then he’s up to eat play and another nap in a couple hours. Repeat for the afternoon. We’ve been giving him new foods to try and occasionally rice cereal too. He’s getting to be a pro at sitting in his high chair during meals and loves to watch others eat and then put food in his own mouth. While he doesn’t actually ingest much, he’s eaten bananas, pears, cucumbers, carrots, celery, broccoli and he loves to have rice husk wafers too.
Whew. There were an amazing number of gifts under the tree but we finished in remarkable time. The kids played together with several of their new toys throughout the morning and afternoon. We enjoyed a super tasty breakfast of pancakes, sausage, bacon, and eggs. Griffin loved being the “meat man” and serving everyone their sausage and bacon. And he is quite good with the tongs if I do say so myself!
I saw this photo and instantly laughed. Rowie and Finn were building Finn’s lego kit when Mom opened this gift from a friend. Their expressions are so funny!
It was neat while being home to be able to read the article about my Dad that was written up in the Hosta Journal magazine when my Dad received the 2017 Eunice Fisher Distinguished Hosta Hybridizer Award at the National Convention in Indianapolis this past summer. Mom and Dad kept the award under wraps (neither Amy or I knew he would be receiving it) or I totally would have been there to see him receive the award. Such an awesome honor and I’m super proud of him for pursuing his passion of breeding hostas. 
Time passes far too quickly and before you knew it we were off from Mansfield and headed back to Columbus to head to the Howard’s for Christie’s birthday dinner. This year they hosted at their house. It was a low-key affair as usual and a good time to catch up with friends. With Reid’s bedtime schedule the evening was a bit challenging getting him to sleep (in a strange and loud place!) but we finally got him down for the night in a pack and play and he was out until we left. Thankfully he can roll with the punches pretty well!
And here are some photos from the remainder of our week. Kevin took the entire week off work and it was really nice to have him home and have some family time where we didn’t have anywhere to be or be on any schedule! I did work on Thursday and Friday so Kevin and the boys enjoyed some guy time at home.
Unhappy boy, lol. 
Later that afternoon, since it was frigid outside, we had planned to go to the theater and watch The Star, an animated movie about Christ’s birth. We met up with Lisa who brought Cole and Cooper. We headed in with all the boys (including Reid, we planned for Lisa to drop the kids with us for the show since tickets were limited) and had some tasty movie treats while we watched the show. Fun times!
We are very grateful that my Mom handmade the mobile for Reid’s room as a Christmas gift to us. It is perfect and the woodland animals and colors match his room perfectly. Thanks, Mom!
And here is our final family photo of 2017. We enjoyed an evening at home and after the kiddos were in bed Kevin served up a very pretty and tasty tray of snacks that we enjoyed while we got ready to see the ball drop. 2017 has been an incredible year!
And from December 30th, Griffin loved playing in the yard and he and Kevin ventured off to the Dublin Leatherlips park to go sledding down the hill!
