Steven, Sammy and Amaya are enjoying crafts more and more these days. Play-doh is a current favorite, along with kinetic sand. It’s so neat to see them engaging with crafts more deliberately. There’s imaginary play and they can also use the toys/accessories now.

Apparently I have to live with the fact that play-doh colors are going to get all mixed together. That’s a tough one!

Everyone is still enjoying music class. Anna joined with Ben and Sam so the kids are able to see their new friends outside of play dates.

The Extreme Coaster remains a hit. I can’t wait until it warms up and we can get one of our own for the backyard.

This little face just slays me.

On Wednesday, we had a re-do on the birthday lunch that we had to cancel on their actual birthday. The kids got downtown with Megan and we went to the Hudson Cafe. I’m so lucky to have three 2 year olds who eat out at restaurants so well. The only drama was my doing when I spilled an entire glass of ice water all over Amaya. She rolled with the punches, though, and fortunately there was a change of clothes in the diaper bag.

Celebrating TWO!

I think what really made everything better for Amaya was bacon. She loooooved the bacon. She wouldn’t let go of the bacon!

After lunch, we had a few minutes to stop and visit my office. Amaya? Still holding bacon!

It was a great visit. It’s always a lot of work to coordinate during the work week but it’s such a treat to see Steven, Sammy and Amaya in the middle of my day.

With all of the car drama, we’re lucky that Megan can fit three seats in her car!

On Friday, Ben and Sam came with Anna for a play date. It’s really cool that Megan and Anna both enjoy getting together with everyone. I love that SSA have a chance to socialize with other kids. They talk about Ben and Sam and I’m told that Ben & Sam call them the “trippos”.

The adventure continued on Friday, first with a visit from Grandpa Homey! Yay!! Everyone loves when Grandpa Homey comes to visit.

And I had a special weekend planned with my amazing triplet mom friend, Hannah. She came to visit from Baton Rouge and it was so, so special to have her here.

Grandma Betsy couldn’t visit this trip but FaceTime always helps with that.

To help this weekend, Anna came back on Saturday and Sunday mornings and, on Saturday, she surprised me with pigtails for Amaya. It’s almost too much to take!

Steven, Sammy and Amaya spent a ton of time looking at photos of Ben & Sam on Anna’s phone.

Anna also had craft time with the kids. First play-doh, then kinetic sand. We’re working on keeping the sand on the table.

The amazingly mild winter continues and Hannah and I were able to get out for a walk on Saturday afternoon. It’s almost unthinkable! Out for a walk in January in Michigan. Amazing.

With so many adults around, there was a lot of attention for everyone.

I read a new book to Amaya and Steven.

Hannah got in some snuggles with Amaya.

Daddy looking at photos with Amaya and Sammy.

Grandpa Homey loved on everyone, here Sammy and Amaya captured in photos.

I will admit I’m a little obsessed with this next picture. The kids have really started trying to get involved in the kitchen. They want to see what I’m cooking and want to participate when they can. They’ll carry their stools over to see as much as they can. I was making chili this morning and Steven, Sammy and Amaya were so excited to help me prep. It’s really special.

The best part of cooking the meal is eating it. Steven picked at his chili. Amaya used her spoon to eat two full bowls. And then there was Sammy.

Sammy. That was fun to watch. (Not as much fun to clean up.)

Here’s Steven this week!

Sammy, this week!

Amaya, this week!

Helping Megan make eggs.

Megan is off in the Caribbean with Mike so Jason and I will both have some time home with Steven, Sammy and Amaya this week along with some fill in help from Stephanie and a visit from my mom for Thursday & Friday. Friday is SSA’s 2 year well visit. I can’t wait to find out how they’ve grown.

Have a great week!

This week was BIRTHDAY week for Steven, Sammy and Amaya! TWO!!

I was off from work on Monday and got to spend the day at home with Nana, Savta, Megan and the kids. We had lots of creative play during the day.

Nana and Amaya reading

Savta and her Sam Man. At it again.

Push nose…

Get tongue!

We opened our birthday present from Megan and Mike. It was just what we need to be sure our kitchen is stocked! A grocery cart and food! It’s so much fun seeing SSA get into the concept of opening gifts. Though Amaya still thinks they’re all for Ha-ka.

When Megan was putting the cart together, she had to hammer in some pieces of the wheel. Steven saw this and, when he got his hands on the wagon, he tipped it on it’s side, got his hammer, and mimicked the same fixes that he saw Megan doing. It was awesome. This is such a great, creative age.

Of course Sammy and Amaya wanted to get in on it, too!

We also had some fun with painter’s tape. First up were shapes. Find your shape and stand in your shape!

Then we moved on to a line. Turns out 2 years olds really like walking a line.

In the afternoon it was time for haircuts. Oh, boy! I’m glad I had 2 reinforcements. I’ve done it on my own but it’s nice to have the extra hands. Sammy did pretty well this time but Steven lost his mind when the hairdresser sprayed his hair with the spray bottle. Lesson for next time – wet the comb, not his hair.

Unintended adventure came our way on Tuesday when our van was hit by a truck while Megan was on the way to music class with the kids and Stephanie. Just awful! The good news is everyone is okay. The bad news is our van is in the shop along with my car that’s been under repair since I had my accident the first week of December. Hopefully that’s it for Team Cline and Team Megan for a long time!

Here’s everyone bundled up, waiting for Daddy to come rescue them.

Steven can tell you all about the accident. Man. Truck. Boom. Boo boo. Lools (Wheels). Policeman.

If only that was the end of our adventurous week. Tuesday night, Megan came down with a terrible stomach virus. By 1am, I had it. Shortly after was Amaya’s turn. This meant we were all down for the count on the big BIRTHDAY. At least, Megan and I were. Amaya recovered by morning and Daddy stayed home with the birthday kids to celebrate their day while I spent the entire day in bed. I’ll have a do-over birthday lunch with my not-so-baby babies next week.

Here are Steven, Sammy and Amaya on their birthday!

Happy Birthday, to you!

I still love bath photos. The day will come when my kids can’t bathe together so I’m enjoying it now because they’re adorable together.

Megan put everyone to hard work cleaning the floor. Free child labor!

We have new birthday play doh that came with very age appropriate toys. SSA really got the hang of pressing shapes into the play doh. The hardest thing is keeping them at the table with their crafts. Everyone wants to run around with play doh and crayons and kinetic sand. Not happening. (Well, mostly not happening.)

Another triplet mom has a son who also loves planes and she had the great idea of showing YouTube videos of airplanes taking off and landing. It was a hit! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane!

Jason was home sick on Friday so he had to go into the office today. He managed to get a bit of quality time before he left.

When it was time to leave, Steven and Sammy walked him to the door.

And everyone lined up to watch Daddy’s car drive down the block. I have distinct memories of doing the same thing as a kid. I can picture my dad’s VW Rabbit parked in front of the house, watching it drive away.

Sometimes, when I’m alone with SSA, they all want my attention at once. Or they don’t all want my attention but I need to get something done and they don’t want me out of their sight. Today the distraction was toilet paper. Always effective for about 20 minutes of independent play.

It was a crazy week! Car accident. Sally has a UTI. We all got sick. Turning TWO. Jason and I had our 5 year anniversary. There may still be a mouse in the house. But here we are, living and laughing and as lucky as can be. Happy Two, my loves!! And happy FIVE, my #1 guy.

Here is Steven this week!

He’s the first to grasp the idea of sleeping with his head on the pillow.

With Steffie

The new play doh set came with this small purple shovel. Steven loooooooves it. He doesn’t want it out of his hand. Well he lost it somewhere in the house. We all spent about 45 minutes looking for it. “Shovel. Find. Mama. Shovel. Shovel. Find.” Eventually I had a moment of inspiration and looked inside the record storage compartment on their record player. I should probably get a back up shovel stat.

Sammy this week!

Watching fishies

“Say Cheese!”

Amaya this week!

She’s so serious here but there’s something I just love about this photo.

Two hats!

First Dolly got a ride, then Amaya.

And a wrap up of this week’s blog with a mommy/kiddo selfie. Have a great week!

Today Steven, Sammy and Amaya are two! TWO! How on earth did that happen? I swear I was just pregnant.

I am endlessly grateful for the joy, laughter, tears, stress, and love these three children bring to my life. Jason and I are lucky, lucky parents. Happy birthday, kiddos!

We’re just three days from TWO and, today, we celebrated Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s 2nd birthday!

Their party was at the Funtastic Play Center in Canton, MI and it was a ton of fun. It’s a great space for a party full of two years olds but also has enough to entertain older kids, as well. The party theme was Sesame Street given recent fascination with Elmo, Cookie Monster and “Abby Dabby”.

We got in a quick family photo before everyone arrived.

Sesame Street sweets!

Playtime!

Nana and Sammy

Uncle Austin, Aunt Dena and Lavinia came all the way from Pittsburgh to celebrate with us.

Grandma Sunshine and Sammy

Something upset Steven and, while he was crying, Amaya came over to hug him and rub his back. It was precious.

Megan and Amaya

Sammy and Savta (“Fa faf”)

Grandma Sunshine and Steven

Amaya and her buddies, Kayla and Makenzie

Our attempt at a group photo. Amaya wasn’t having it and Sammy wasn’t too thrilled either but it’s great to have a photo of most of our amazing guests!

Funtastic has a great back room for food and cake. They are closed to the public on the weekend so we had the whole place to ourselves and the staff really went above and beyond for us.

Big kids eating their birthday lunch.

Nana and Grandma Sunshine!

Savta, with her baby’s baby’s babies.

Cupcakes to celebrate TWO! Steven, Sammy and Amaya loooooooved their cake.

We had a great time! Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us!

Steven, Sammy and Amaya received a number of wonderful gifts from friends and family. We’re opening them over the course of the week and tonight we opened gifts from Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette. It’s so much fun to see them get excited about presents!

Wrapping up the visit, Steven and Amaya cooked for Aunt Dena and Lavinia.

Nana got some Steven cuddles.

And a familiar sight – Sammy on Savta’s lap. <3

Here are some more photos from our fun family weekend.

Papa reading to Bobo.

Savta reading to Sammy and Amaya.

Nana reading to Aunt Sara.

Sammy is obsessed with his Fa Faf. Wherever Savta goes, so goes Sammy. It’s beautiful.

I love how complete at peace both Savta and Sammy are in this photo.

Papa reading to Amaya.

Playtime with Aunt Sara.

Sammy and Savta. BFFs.

Out for dinner! SSA devoured their fried pickles, mac & cheese and chicken with a side of chips and sweet potato fries.

Just a few more photos from the week.

The kids love watching for snow blowers and snow shovelers outside. They like it even more when it’s daddy doing the shoveling!

Can you spy daddy?

We have a love/hate relationship with baths. Everyone’s going through a phase where they hate when I rinse soap from their hair, Steven most of all. But they love playing with the running water from the faucet.

Busy kids entertaining themselves.

Music class started up again for the winter. Thank you Aunt Sara and Uncle David for this session’s music class!

Steven this week!

Sammy this week!

Amaya this week!

My three bees. I love you, kiddos.

We’re in countdown mode to TWO. I thought I’d be less emotional than their first birthday but here I am, nearly a blubbering mess at the thought of Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s 2nd birthday. I don’t know where time goes. Everyone says “don’t blink” or “the days are long but the years are short” and it’s so very, very true. I feel like it was just yesterday that I could feel them all moving inside me. Now here they are – fully formed little people with preferences, interests and opinions.

We’re still loving the fish here in the Land of Cheltenham. When Jason got home from work on Monday, Steven heard the garage door and said, “Dada. Home. TV.” When Jason walked in the door, Steven said “Fish. TV. On. Please.” We could not resist. We watched the fish at least three times this week.

Sammy, comfortable on the perch.

Steven loves the perch, too, but on his tummy.

This pose killed me.

Stephanie joined Megan on Tuesday morning to take the kids to Funtastic. Last visit before their birthday party! I’m hoping that all of the time there will help them feel comfortable next week when we celebrate TWO.

Stephanie and Sammy

Stephanie and Amaya

This week we were also lucky to have an overnight visit from Grandma Sunshine!

We got some new magna tiles this week. Of course Jason and I needed a play date to test them out. They’re mommy & daddy approved!

We had story time with daddy. He’s lucky he has a big lap! Everyone is a bit more squished for mommy story time.

This is so cute I can’t take it. Amaya stood on her stool and helped Megan make their breakfast. She was so proud of herself!

Steven wanted in on the action, too! I can’t wait until they’re just a touch taller and can really participate in the cooking.

When I was pregnant with SSA, I met Bethany through my 2014 triplet group. We live locally and Bethany delivered her trio 11 days before I did. She and her family have been in the blog a few times and they’re back in celebration of their 2nd birthday! TWO. I need to keep saying it over and over again because it doesn’t seem possible.

Here, Sammy, Amaya and Steven had the perfect seats to enjoy their pizza.

Steven loved this stuffed dog and, after a short adjustment period, their real dog.

With Bethany. I’m so grateful for the friends I’m making on this journey.

This morning, Steven decided a kitchen drawer was a perfect step stool. It’s not. He kept falling off, even when Amaya wasn’t pushing him.

Fortunately, we have real step-stools.

And of course Sammy wanted in on the action.

We’re working on our music skills. What toddlers don’t love drums? And maracas? And bells?

Megan does most of our photoshoots but I love these sweat shirts and wanted to try to get a picture.

Sammy has mastered the art of smiling for the camera. Look at that little face. He even taught me that I should tell him to say “cheese” instead of asking him to smile.

Here are some photos of Steven this week.

Last to wake from his nap.

Selfie with Megan

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Sammy, this week.

Smiling for the camera!

Say Cheese!

Sammy picked up his toy phone, put it out in front of him, and started saying “cheese”. Pretend selfies! So we turned them into real selfies.

Amaya, this week.

Amaya and Kasey.

Poor girl has a cold this week. I think she looks worse than she felt but her nose and eyes were running all afternoon.

Amaya’s version of “cheese”.

Last photo for the week! Earlier, probably because of emotions over TWO, I was looking at photos from when SSA were first born. I saw this photo of Steven and immediately recognized this little face from a photo I took just last week. Love, love, love.

Have a great week!

Happy New Year! 2015 was pretty spectacular though I think it will always be hard for any year to compare to 2014.

Thanks to some party wear from daddy, we were able to celebrate the new year in style!

What a difference a year makes!

The whole gang.

We celebrated New Year’s Day with brunch at Bricks. We arrived right when they opened and had the entire place to ourselves for most of the meal. One again… easier and easier and easier. We’ll see how that holds up when we have full fledged 2 year olds but, right now, going out to eat with Steven, Sammy and Amaya is a great time.

Amaya and Steven were somewhat patiently waiting for Sammy to finish eating.

Saturday we had a play date with my friend Bethany and her trio, born just 11 days before SSA. We’ve met up a few times, most recently at the pet show where the kids rode horses.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to get the kids into Bethany’s house. There’s a little snow & ice on the ground so we couldn’t all walk in. It’s a new place so it wouldn’t go well if I took them in one by one. I ended up borrowing Bethany’s wagon from her garage. Easier than bringing one myself and it was a familiar experience for Steven, Sammy and Amaya, even in a new place. It’s a small detail but one of those things to think about when you can’t fit all of your toddlers in your arms.

The thing that really surprised me about the play date was how easy it was. There was minimal fighting over toys and only a few tears (when a toy CAT truck started moving on it’s own). Amaya was the first to go off and explore the new toys. Sammy sat on my lap and Steven stood by me for a bit but, eventually, they were comfortable checking everything out. I was able to drink my coffee and only spilled on Bethany’s carpet once.

Earlier in the week, Jason had some days off from work. This is his view upstairs when he’s hard at work in the basement. Dada! Daddy! Dada!

The kids love to play piano with their dad.

Now that the holiday madness has settled down, we put together this super cool race track from Aunt Anita. I think I like playing with it as much as the kids, do.

We also started to play with playdoh for the first time. I’m not sure Steven, Sammy and Amaya quite know what to do with it yet but they’ll get the hang of it over time.

Grandma Sunshine got SSA this easel as a Hanukkah present and they love when we spell names. They take our hands and walk us over to the letters. Their favorites to spell are Abe & Nancy. Chase, Charlie and Megan get some love, too. Today we also spelled Savta. Everyone is enamored with the “i”s and Steven can identify O and B. I honestly had no idea that they could start learning letters at this age.

There’s nothing like some greek yogurt fun with your salsa verde chicken and tortillas!

Steven, this week!

This is a puzzle that has a magnetic bug net to pick up the pictures. Steven got the magnet concept right away, and learned the names of all of the bugs in the puzzle. Thanks to cousins Michael & Rachel for this puzzle and the rest of SSA’s Hanukkah gifts!

Steven had a rough morning today. He’s in a “play” phase. So much so that he threw up his milk because he wanted to play, not eat.

Here he was crying because he erased the house he asked me to draw for him on his magna doodle. Every time I drew it he’d erase it and every time he’d erase it he’d cry. It reminds me of when Chase was little. One day he was making a tower with his blocks. Every time he built it he’d knock it over and every time he knocked it over he cried.

Classic Steven face.

We still enjoy watching the fish. Steven got comfortable.

Sammy, this week!

Sammy told Megan that Big Teddy had a big poop and needed a diaper change. <3

In Daddy’s hat.

This child loves a selfie.

When you ask Sammy to smile… 🙂

Amaya, this week!

Amaya asked Megan to take her picture.

Have a great week!