October has been filled with a lot of fun and adventure. We picked up Brutus on the 16th and brought him home where Lily was excited to see him (after she sniffed and licked my pants for a bit?!). She hadn’t been eating very well the last 2 weeks of his absence but since he’s been home she is back to her spunky self, even laying on Brutus’ “place!”. Jeff, Brutus’ trainer, gave us a training maintenance plan which includes a 15-30 minute walk each day, two 15 minute training sessions a day, maintaining door manners, and so on. I’ve made it my mission to take him on a walk daily before work (almost always, but I’ve had to go after work once or twice). I actually really enjoy getting out and working with him. He’s doing so well and is fun to give him commands and work with him to demonstrate those commands. He’s still a work in progress and is easily distracted by other dogs, people, and even blowing leaves on walks but it is so great to be able to go out and take him on a walk and hardly need the leash! We did find an engorged tick on Brutus the morning after we brought him home. Kevin got it off successfully (and intact) and after a call to our vet I sent it away to get tested and thankfully all test results indicated it was free from many tick-borne diseases including Lyme. Whew. I was worried!
We celebrated Lily’s 11th birthday on the 28th. It was nearing dusk before I was able to get her outside and get some photos! Thanks to Haya’s thoughtfulness we had a birthday party for her the next afternoon, complete with treats that Haya picked up for both Lily and Brutus. I arrived home to her and Reid having Lily in the party hat and treats ready to go!
Reid is enjoying going to preschool at NPCA. Like most schools these days the teachers now use an app and post class news and photos in the app throughout the day. In typical Reid fashion, he has quite an array of facial expressions. He’s been crafting cute fall pumpkins and artwork, exploring the fire truck, and playing outside on the playground. His school photos are cute too! Gymnastics is a mixture of Reid following along and doing the activities his coach demonstrates and also running away like a wild man to another area he’s not supposed to be in! This kid. He’s still taking two naps a day and if he doesn’t get his second one he’s delirious by 5:15 gymnastics class, hence the running around giggling and going nonstop. I’m trying to determine how to best adjust his sleeping as he does so much better with two naps but it’s not always feasible!
For COTA day (no school for Griffin and it was a Friday so no school for Reid) we went to our neighbors, the Bolan’s, for a halloween party. So many kids in costumes! Lots of new friends I hadn’t met before and quite a spread of food and fun.
I’ve had some fun time together with Griffin lately. He was off school on a Monday, so we took Reid to preschool and then we both had eye doctor appointments. He checked out wonderfully and I didn’t have any changes either. After our visit we headed to the zoo for a quick adventure before we had to return to pickup Reid at school. We fed the giraffe’s and talked about how their tongues are like sandpaper!
We joined the Bethune’s for the Dublin Spooktakular on a nice Fall night. Reid is a cowboy and Griffin is LLoyd from Ninjago, but on this night they went in their jammies as skeletons. Worked for us! We even found some skeletons walking around during our visit. They loaded up on more candy than they will ever eat and got to play different games and pet some animals at a petting zoo. Griffin was even so brave he wanted a tarantula to crawl up his arm!
Crazy face games at Roosters on a fun Friday night.
Kevin and I went to the Ochmonek’s annual Halloween Party again this year. We made rice crispy pumpkins and a yummy spider web bean dip (no pic of that tho). Kevin pulled off yet another awesome compilation for our costumes as Mary Poppins and the Chimney Sweep. He pieced together so many parts and so many people gave us the most fun complements at the party. I love that he does this each year – I just tell him the date and he takes care of the rest! He even put the ashes on his face using my mascara ! 🙂
Quickly on the night of trick or treat Kevin brought in the pumpkins and we had an amazingly quickly pumpkin carving session. Like, record setting in about 15 minutes! We were gathering next door at our neighbors for pizza dinner before heading out with the neighborhood crew for trick or treat. We’re really enjoying that there are so many kids in the neighborhood that regularly want to play with each other. Each day after school Griffin either heads to a friends house or they show up here! Trick or Treat was COLD and WINDY this year and there were snowflakes by the end of our adventure. We were happy to have Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong come visit and help hand out the candy to the kiddos.
We received news that Jim Trame, the father of John (Kevin’s best friend growing up) had passed away in early October. Fortunately, Kevin was able to attend the Visitation on Friday and Saturday we both went to the funeral which was in Dayton. Jim and Pat were a tremendous help as they watched the boys for us so we were able to go together. We planned to go to Dayton for the funeral and then head back, however, everyone was invited to Tom and Ana’s vineyard for a celebration after the service. It was indeed a celebration complete with music, fire, catered food and drinks. We ended up staying until 10 pm. It was an emotional day for sure. Kevin was a big part of their family growing up and has many lifelong memories with John, Tom, Karen, Steve, and Joe including 18 years of riding together in the DALMAC bike ride in Michigan. John was the best man in our wedding, Tom and Kevin ran a business together in the past, and over time they hadn’t kept in touch much. So it was a really nice day to see so many people that Kevin has told me about but I hadn’t met, and to see so many people young and old come up to Kevin and share stories going back 40 years. I think he knew a majority of the people who where there and there were tons.
We’re storing the MG TD in our garage and Kevin decided he would work on the patina. Can you tell the difference in the pic below? It’s looking really nice, now to find a buyer!
Fall Fest at NPC was a big success this year – one of the best attended ones that I can remember, really. Kevin and I had a small part this year, heading up the decorations and chili judging portion of the day. We had a new layout this year, chilis separated by category and separate areas for desserts, salads/sides, and hot dogs. Reid was a trooper. We got to church at 10:30 and left at 7:30 pm. He didn’t get a nap, but did lay down and “rest” in the portable crib. He thought it was the bees knees and wanted in it the rest of the evening. Griffin was a great helper and then once the festivities began he had fun with his cousins and friends. It was a fun night!
I am sitting here as the snow flies reflecting on these pictures from two months ago! As cheesy as it sounds, I truly wish I had a pause button. Time is moving too fast. Not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do. I regularly find myself having to do the things I “have” to do which aren’t necessarily the things I “want” to do. One day all of a sudden becomes the next day and then another month is gone.
I was able to venture to the zoo one day this week to meet a friend and her kids. We stayed for a few hours and at the end they headed out and we decided to do a few more things like ride the train!
Reid also has the greatest smile. He’s always lit up the room with his wide and cheery smile and now that he’s got a full set of teeth it’s even more precious. Here are some of his faces and his personality coming through. He was loving cuddling with Lily one night in his room behind the chair.
Kevin was invited to tailgate and attend the OSU-Indiana game this weekend with Chris, Paul, and a few of Chris’ family members. It was a warm one! He enjoyed the time. 
We’re enjoying our puzzling hobby and have found a few that are quite challenging. Especially when they are missing pieces! I’m the primary puzzler (even though Kevin was the one who got us started and bought several of them!). I enjoy sitting down and trying to make some headway in the evenings, though honestly I get addicted to getting a certain area finished and before I know it I’ve missed my bedtime by a great deal! Griffin enjoys joining me too and he’s actually quite good. And as much as Brutus might be to blame for eating the “missing pieces” we can’t blame him for getting them off the table – I think we accidentally drop them and then he eats them. We now have a good system in place so he can’t get to the pieces when they are on the table!