Yet another picture of our happy boy Reid! Look at that smile and those cheeks 🙂 He is becoming so much more active with his arms and legs as well as his babbling conversation! If he wakes up and no one is around or he is covered up in the car seat with the covering he will often cry almost a scared cry. But as soon as he sees me or a familiar face and voice he often settles without even being picked up. He has been spending time on his activity mat and he’s doing really well getting his legs up in the air at the same time. 
This week I’ve headed back to work on a part time schedule working on Tuesday and Wednesday. There is plenty for me to do there with our annual Open House coming up on September 8th, plus I’ve been gone quite awhile. I’m grateful for the 13 weeks I had at home. My emotions are all over the place about returning to work. At times I’m happy about it and have lots of excitement to get back to my role and tackling new goals for the company. Other the other hand I love being home and want to just be home all the time. Or at least some of the time. I feel like an emotional train wreck here and there and Kevin can attest to my periodic crying spells. When Tuesday morning rolled around I was sad to leave. However, throughout the day Debbie put several photos in the app of Reid and Griffin which brightened my day. They made delicious Chocolate Reese Chip cookies – yummers! And the day passed quickly and I looked forward to heading home and taking Griffin to his first soccer lesson of the fall season. He had a great time and it was fun to see how much more excited he seemed and how he’s advanced so much since he last took lessons a year and a half ago!
This week was the solar eclipse, which was disappointing at our house! Griffin came home from the zoo and I’d made a pinhole viewer but it was cloudy skies around here. So I captured the images from the TV :). 
We’ve had beautiful weather and I’ve enjoyed sitting outside with Reid and Griffin. Griffin loves to be outside as much as possible and he likes to ride his bike on the driveway. I wish our dogs would just stick around and not wander away, but unfortunately, that’s not the case! So when I go out I’ll often take one or the other on a leash for them to hang in the driveway with me. Here Finn took Brutus around to explore a bit. 
Mornings around here are for snuggles. And picture taking apparently as I think a majority of photos I seem to take have the background of our sheets in them! In any case, Griffin especially loves to snuggle in the morning and he loves to hold his brother and talk to him and tell him how cute he is. 
We ventured to Delaware this week and ate at 12 West for dinner followed by Whit’s for dessert (for me and Finn at least :)). We took our family photo outside on the bench that Kevin and I had our engagement photos taken on after we’d picked up some Whit’s custard as well. Oh the memories!
And this is a frequent scene.  These two play together all the time. Sometimes quite and other times so noisy I can’t stand it! And Lily is super quick to snap at Brutus in reaction to his nibbling her neck or hind quarters to get her fired up. It’s pretty comical to watch sometimes actually. 
Griffin is really particular when he colors as of late. He enjoys taking his time and coloring very neatly, often with several colors per object like the bird and flower below. This is from his coloring during church on Sunday. Recently he’s taken to staying with us during the service and coloring his papers!
Sunday I had to go to Millcreek to take care of a couple of things so I took Finn with me. He’s always a good helper and likes playing at my desk. I didn’t realize until recently that he knows the name of my work. He’s been saying “when can we go to Millcreek and ride a golf cart?” or “when are you going to Millcreek”. It’s so funny to hear him say the name. I don’t know why I didn’t figure he knew it or paid attention to it. Just another sign that he’s growing up!
Thankfully Debbie watched Griffin and Reid while we were out having fun. When we got home she was putting down a towel near the dogs water bowl. I got the towel and was trying to fold it and Brutus just wanted to play tug with it so I finally dropped it and this is what he did.  Silly pup. 
Griffin has really been enjoying coloring. Nearly every morning he comes in when he wakes up and after a couple minutes picks out a picture and grabs his colored pencils and gets started. That along with Lily and Brutus snuggles are pretty regular around here. 
On Tuesday Reid had his 2 month well check (a bit late as we had been on vacation when we normally would have gone). He is doing great! I was surprised that he only weighs 13 pounds 8 ounces (66th percentile) as I thought he felt much heavier! He measured 23.5″ (55th percentile) 1 inch longer, though when I had her remeasure she got 24″ which I think is more accurate but she didn’t change what she’d written originally). His head is still a big one, lol, measuring 42 cm (98th percentile). 
One afternoon I was downstairs and I heard Brutus playing. I actually thought he was chewing his nylabone. I called for him and he met me on the stairs with a big half chewed roll of toilet paper! I walked up into my room and this is what I discovered! He’s always entertaining himself. 
For Griffin’s 4th birthday we gave him a big kid bike. It turns out it was a bit large and we were hoping to transition him right from his balance bike to a big kid bike with no training wheels. We finally gave it a go and he did pretty well! We decided to put the training wheels on though as he just isn’t tall enough yet to get safely off and on and stop himself easily. 
This week Debbie put some pictures in the app and one of them is the picture at the top this week of Reid. Griffin took it all by himself! He’s getting pretty good 🙂
I love that google puts these together. Makes my blog-making much simpler. 
On Thursday evening we headed to Dublin for the annual Kid’s Dash as a part of the Irish Festival. This is Griffin’s third year running with his cousins. It was really nice weather, almost fall-like with a breeze and low humidity. They had fun and this year were included in Dublin’s promo video they posted to Facebook!
Saturday was Griffins last t-ball game of the summer. It was a cool morning and perfect weather to spectate. We headed from t-ball to Emmaline’s birthday party which was full of fun frog activities. Kevin was even coaxed into helping get the kiddos prepped to play “push the lips on the frog”. 
We quickly stopped at home after the party to grab Brutus and Lily and then we were off for Enon for the day to visit with Sean, Chris, Eliza, Max and Charlotte who are in town visiting Jim and Pat in advance of their 50th wedding anniversary party. Bretty and Missy were there as well as Sebastian and Alexis who were in town with baby Damian. They were visiting from Florida and luckily we were able to see them while they were here. Damian was born 6 days before Reid so it was neat to see them together. 
Sunday we headed to the Dublin Irish Festival for the day. We met up with Sean, Chris, Eliza, Max and Charlotte and we all enjoyed tasty food (I had a delicious potato pancake!), music, and a lot of children’s activities. The younger kids all loved the bounce and inflatable activities. Griffin loved being  “ninja” on the red ball course (see the video below). He probably did it 6 times. He also was brave and waited in line to climb up a really tall inflatable and then jump from the top – which is probably somewhere around 20 or more feet tall! When you jump you land on a super tall (8′ perhaps) inflated surface to cushion your fall. He was so brave he barely paused at the top, just long enough for me to give him the thumbs up.  I was so super bummed that somehow I screwed up the video recording and only got him reaching the top prior to jumping off and then at the end running off to hug Kevin.  Ugh!  Then I was unsuccessful in getting him to do it again. Oh well, it’s the courage he had we are most proud of!
And I love this picture of Griffin from May of 2014 (14 months old) and then from this week with Brutus. Growing too fast!
The work continues on Reid’s closet, but we are nearing the end! The drawer unit that Kevin built is in place and he is cutting and installing the shelves. Then it will be touch-up painting and putting things into the closet, yay! Â 
I love how Griffin wants to regularly cuddle with Reid. When in comes in our room in the mornings he is always excited if “Reidy” is awake and he can snuggle up with him. 
For the 4th of July we were invited to the Pilgrim’s home in Dublin. They have a fun gathering of food and friends and the evening concludes with a prime view of the Dublin fireworks which we are able to walk to directly behind their house! This year we took blueberry-amaretto squares which were delish. But I’ve decided that I need to make a half recipe as there is always so much leftover when there are many options at a pot luck! So I’ve been eating the leftovers here….yikes!
When we did tummy time this particular evening Griffin was so encouraging to Reid, it was really cute to watch. Â He was so excited for him when he got his head held so high!
We have a bit of a problem with our gutters! With all of this rain lately it’s apparent that our front gutters outside our bedroom window and the back gutters on the patio need some love. The screens on top of the gutters perhaps aren’t meant to take in the volume of rain that we’ve been receiving in this big downpours lately. So, another project for the list.
On Friday we headed to the new Duck Donuts near Polaris to pick up Saturday morning treats. I didn’t realize that you choose a glaze, topping, and drizzle and that the donuts are made to order! I stayed in the car with Reid while Griffin and Kevin went in and selected the patriotic assortment along with a custom one I requested :). Â Afterward we headed to Star Lanes for a couple games of bowling. Griffin has been asking to go bowling for two weeks so he was quite excited!
Saturday was another game of t-ball and also team photos. Thankfully we made it there early, with his glove, bat, and hat and a big smile! Also this week Finn got to be the last batter, which means his hit is a grand slam home run! I was able to record it, check out the video below. 
Brutus is happiest when he is touching a human or Lily! He regularly cuddles right up next to her or touches her body in some way when they are in the same room. He also loves the outdoors and constantly chews on sticks!
And check out this cutie! Again, filling out 3-month outfits really well 🙂
