a weekend with mommy

On Monday morning I got a call at 7:15am as I was contemplating getting up and waiting for Madison to arrive at 7:30am. Madison’s car had trouble and she was stuck on the side of the highway. Jason was already on his way to an 8am meeting. The kids hadn’t eaten. Sammy wasn’t dressed. School is about 30 minutes away. I had a 9am meeting with my boss. ACK!

Steven, Sammy and Amaya rallied for me! I think they were excited about the change in routine. I let them eat breakfast – Mommy Yogurts – in the bathroom while I showered & got ready and then they got to eat a 2nd Mommy Yogurt each while we drove to school. (Mommy Yogurts have more sugar than their yogurt lol.)

We were out the door in about 30 minutes and I called the school on my way hoping they’d be staffed to let me drop the kids off early. They were! And I made it to work at about the same time I normally do. Amazing.

One casualty of the morning was Amaya’s hair. 🙂 She was rocking her rolled-out-of-bed look along with this special outfit she picked out.

Madison took the day off and I had an afternoon meeting I couldn’t miss so Jason took the afternoon off. Sammy was complaining of an ear ache so Jason took the kids to the doctor to get him checked out. Sammy was fine but had a strep test to show for his trouble.

Post-strep test treat!

Madison was back on Tuesday and it was nice enough for the kids to get outside for a little while. Sammy loved this huuuuuuuge stick.

Tuesday, after Amaya’s shower, Madison prepped her hair for t-shirt curls. I was so curious to see how it would turn out.

Holy cow! Amaya didn’t even look like herself with these curls. I can’t believe how curly her hair was and what a difference it made in her appearance. She absolutely loved it.

I love this picture. I really can’t believe how old SSA are getting. I see pictures like this and I can so clearly see 10 year old Amaya.

Jason and I both had time for after-work cuddles with the kids on Tuesday night.

“Mommy – do pictures with funny things on our faces.”

Sammy has almost outgrown his latest W For Wookie shirt. I think this is his 3rd one and I just ordered his fouth – in the largest size available. I love the consistency of Sammy having this shirt (and Steven with is R2D2 shirt) across the years.

SSA are studying space at school, which had led to lots of conversations about outer space and the universe. At bedtime on Thursday, Steven was so sad that it was still light out and he couldn’t see the stars. I knew it was going to be too cloudy, even after dark, but I let him stay up a little bit later than usual and we went outside to see what we could see. Even though it was too cloudy to see stars, the opportunity to put on his shoes and coat and go outside after bedtime was so exciting. I can remember moments like that from when I was a kid (watching a lunar eclipse with my mom) and it’s fun to get to do the same thing with my own kids.

After Steven goes to bed at night, he always asks me to come check on him in shalosh minutes. (That’s “three” in Hebrew.) This week he asked me how to say “minutes” in Hebrew. I wasn’t sure so I looked it up and told him that it’s “dah-kah”. Steven corrected me said, “No, I think it’s ‘dah-coat'”. Sure enough, he was right. I was using the singular “minute” and he remembered the plural from when Nana came to visit. He really does have a spectacular memory.

On Friday morning, the kids said goodbye to Jason before he left for work because, that evening, Jason was starting the drive to Minneapolis for the Final Four!

We had a quiet Friday night. Cuddles, bedtime and tv time for me.

“Are you going to send this picture to Daddy?”

Amaya came in to wake up up on Saturday, already dressed and with this new “style” for her hair. 🙂

Sammy wanted to try it, too.

We spent the early part of the day playing games. Steven is getting pretty good at memory. Sammy doesn’t pay enough attention (yet) to find matches besides by accident. Scrabble is a pretty long game but Steven and Amaya made it about halfway through together.

Steven and Sammy playing My Little Pony Guess Who?

Haircuts for The Brothers! This was Sammy’s first salon cut in about 3 years. He was nervous but realized pretty quickly that there was nothing to be afraid of. As you can see, Amaya wore her new style out.

Nothing like TV to keep these three focused and patient.

Sammy explaining “flash bees”. (Creatures from MLP.)

A happy kid talking to his Savta!

The weather was gorgeous yesterday! It was in the high 60s and sunny. Like, what seemed like most of our neighbors, we headed to the “wooden playground”. Steven, Sammy and Amaya can play so much more independently this year. It’s awesome. The only challenge at this particular playground is that the swings are set so high the kids can’t get on them by themselves. But, Amaya has learned to pump her legs on the swing! My announcement that I wasn’t going to stand and push them for an hour was probably good motivation.

Sammy got lots of compliments on his shirt!

A splinter finally sent us home. 🙁 On the way to the playground we happened to have been talking about the time Steven got a splinter in NY. I think it was 2.5 yrs ago but of course he remembers. In this picture he was explaining that, if a manticore got a splinter, you’d hear it roaring all through the playground.

24 hours later and the splinter is still stuck. We’ve got a baking soda paste working it’s magic under some band-aids. Fingers crossed we can get this sucker out without too much effort.

We had big evening plans so I convinced the kids to try to nap for an hour so they could stay up late. Amaya and Steven went to bed with no issue. Sammy fought me on it until I told him that he didn’t have to sleep – he could just hang out in his bed with puppy. Of course he fell asleep. 🙂

After naps we played outside for a while and then headed to dinner reservations at Garage. SSA were great. It’s so nice to be able to take them out for dinner and really enjoy our time together instead of just manage the process of being out with all of them.

Amaya and Steven played tic-tac-toe. Big kids!

Sammy ate his entire meal and I had to order a second set of burgers for him!

Our big evening adventure was a sleepover in our master bedroom! At first I thought I’d share the king with all three kids but realized quickly that no one would get good sleep. I was able to convince the kids to split up between the master bed, an air mattress and a huge bean bag. Steven even brought in his own bean bag for his “aminals”. All three of them brought most of the contents of their own beds for the night. (And, for what it’s worth, they were clear with me that it wasn’t really a sleepover because they were in their own house.)

We watched the end of the Auburn/Virginia game. (Sammy: This is the longest half a second ever!) Then we watched one episode of the new season of MLP and a bit of the Sparty game. Everyone but Sammy was scorin’ for the Spartys.

Steven bought the telescope out again, once he noticed it was dark. It was a clear night so I took the kids outside, one by one, to look at the stars. I realized this was a first for them! In the winter, when it’s dark early, we don’t go outside at night. In the summer, it’s light out for too long. I don’t think they’ve ever had a chance to stargaze!

Steven went first and was curious to know how we know if it’s a star or a planet.

Sammy was completely taken.

“Can you believe how beautiful and bright the stars are? They light the night.” “I see some lights that aren’t glowing as brightly so I know they’re planets.” “The sun is the main star but we can’t see it when it’s nighttime.” “Did you have any idea the stars are so beautiful and twinkly?”

It was pretty amazing to share that wonder with him.

Amaya told me the stars were “amazing” and then asked if we could sing Twinkle Twinkle to them. So we did.

We had a long, quiet day at home before a dinnertime birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. The kids spent a good amount of time playing in the backyard.

Sammy collected his weight in rocks. When he came in, we went through an exercise where we each said whether or not we liked the rock. If we both liked it, we put it in one square on the table. If we both didn’t like it, we put it in another square. If we were split, we put the rock on a “line” between the squares. He was totally into it which managed to hold my attention while we looked at at least 50 different rocks. 🙂

We rounded out our weekend with a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. After the party two weeks ago, the kids were so excited! Wow, it’s loud there. But I can see exactly whey the kids like it so much. Endless games for two hours plus pizza, punch, cake and prizes. What’s not to like!?!?

Steven wanted me closes by to collect his tickets.
Sammy wanted to check in now and then.
Amaya wanted to pretend I wasn’t there.

Steven was super cute playing air hockey with other kids, often ones he didn’t even know. He’ll talk to anyone!

I’d come upon Amaya just doing her own thing. She wasn’t interested in playing with her school friends, either. She just wanted to play the games.

She doesn’t even know I’m there.

So many tickets! I thought Steven was going to end up with the least but he wound up winning more than double both Sammy and Amaya. Now sure how he pulled that off!

Sammy was focused. He had the games he liked and was set on earning tickets. He was the only one who wanted to know who collected the most.

Steven was excited to sit next to his friend Ethen.

Everyone was so funny with Chuck E! Sammy ran right up to him.

See Steven sneaking into a picture?

I did not try very hard before I left the house. No one cared, especially not my children.

They had a blast!

Now everyone is in bed and Jason is nearing the end of his long road trip home to us. <3

Some artwork from this week…

The kids drew photos of their best friends.

Amaya picked Ms. Bri.

Steven picked Ethan.

Sammy picked Madison. (It’s interesting. Sammy is hardest on Madison but he also has these times when he clearly demonstrates that he cares about her.)