On Monday I lived a dream and came home for lunch with Steven, Sammy and Amaya. It’s an amazing bonus of working so close to home. I can get just about 30 minutes with the kids which is more than enough to make it worthwhile. It was so much fun that I also came home on Tuesday and Wednesday.

With a little bit of extra time in the mornings, I can put SSA to work before I leave for the day. Cleaning potatoes is a perfect morning activity.

Happy kids in the bath on Tuesday! The weird thing is that Steven has been totally hit or miss on the bath for the past month. Some days he’s fine and other day’s he’s hysterical about not wanting to swim. We need to figure this out because it’s brutal for everyone when he’s sobbing through his bath.

Wednesday was a “pool” day. We brought the water table out, too, at Steven’s request.

I got this new puzzle with an ebook credit from B&N. It’s great for the kids at this age. They’re learning their letters well, and love it, but need us to reinforce or correct them. The puzzle says the name of the letter as the place it so they can practice/play on their own.

Mommy selfies during tv time.

On Thursday, Megan took Steven, Sammy and Amaya to Funtastic – the place where they had their 2nd birthday party. It was opening later than we expected so the kids were treated to bacon and canned peaches at a Coney Island. Who doesn’t want surprise canned peaches and bacon!?!? They look like such big kids sitting in the booth.

The first time we went to Funtastic was for a birthday part in October 2015. 9 months later it’s a world of difference when the kids play here. They’re so much more confident and capable in the play space.

Our excitement this week was a visit from Nana. Yay! Nana hasn’t visited since May, before her back surgery, so everyone was very, very excited.

On Friday morning, Nana and Megan took SSA to the Ann Arbor Hands on Museum. It’s still somewhere that’s best to go with 2 adults and their family membership is great because both a caregiver and grandparents are included.

Steven wearing Nana’s cow sock. Two year olds love cow socks.

Friday afternoon FaceTime with Aunt Sara.

Saturday morning, Nana and I took the kids to Maybury Farm. This trip they had a little garden that we were able to explore. SSA saw peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, squash and cucumbers. It’s neat for them to be able to tie the foods they eat to their origins. (Though we don’t yet do the same with the chicken, cows and pigs.)

Brothers! Most of the time, I think they look nothing alike but this is one of those moments when it’s so obvious to me that Steven and Sammy are related.

A trip to Maybury always includes a visit to playground.

Before we went home, we had a snack in the general store courtesy of Nana. Nothing says “I love you” like three little packets of airplane pretzels.

In the afternoon we spent a bit of time out in the backyard. Steven, Sammy and Amaya love playing ball with Daddy. Sammy, in particular, looooooves to play catch. He gets so excited!

Afternoon FaceTime with Auntie.

Watching the Olympics!

This morning we got out early and went to a local park.

Afterward, it was brunch in downtown Northville and we wandered through a street fair. One huge bonus of changing the kids’ schedule to a later, shorter nap is that we can do so much more together on weekend mornings.

Amaya wanted to walk with one foot on each yellow line.

Listening to live music.

Nana scored us some cool, red sunglasses!

Steven this week!

A quick story about Steven. I was comforting after his bath freak-out and he saw a photo hanging on the wall of two boats in the water with Santorini cliffs in the background. He told me that the “man and the lady aren’t in the boat. They are in the car driving back to their home. We can’t see their car because it’s too far away.” I don’t know where this imagination came from but it’s really incredible.

Sammy this week!

We have a book called Pizza Friday. It’s about making pizza. Sammy gets a huge kick out of pretending to throw sauce from the book on Nana. He just giggle and giggles!

Amaya this week!

Oh, Amaya. Do you see she’s wearing a tutu under her dress and a baby legging on her arm? Her style is all Toddler and I love it.

She’s been spending a lot of time taking care of Baby Jenna lately.

No more legging on her arm but she’s added her science/construction goggles.

🙁 Steven wanted to push a button that Amaya was pushing and this was the result. Our poor girl. It was some bite! I thought we were past this phase but apparently we still need to watch out when Steven is pissed.