This update comes to you from NY where I’m on a brief work trip. With the return to normalcy after a month of holiday prep and fun, the week felt long. But I was happy on Monday morning when the kids got on the school bus without complaint and jumped back into their routine.

We’re starting religious school on Sundays on 1/26 and, with that, came a synagogue membership. We joined Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, MI. It is one of the largest Reform congregations in the US with over 3,100 member families. I grew up in a Conservative congreation so it will be a change for me but it feels right. There are many, many families with interfaith marriages and they are progressive with regards to things like same-sex relationships. That kind of visibility and acceptance matters a lot to me. The temple has a ton of programming and an active community that I’m excited to be part of.

Religous school is Sundays from 9:30am- 12pm and runs 24 Sundays of the year. It would be nice if the round trip drive was a little shorter (for me lol) but it sound like a great, play based program.

To welcome us, a member dropped off a challa last Friday which SSA enjoyed for breakfast on Monday morning before heading to the bus.

Nothing like a little fun with daddy before bed.

Evening story time is often a pile-on, which I love, but it’s a special treat to get 1:1 reading time. (This was Amaya’s new library book which everyone wanted to hear and I ended up reading three times in a row.)

It makes me so happy when the kids are loving with each other. There’s a facebook group called “TRIPLETS” that’s open to anyone and adult triplets often share photos together. I know there’s so much I can’t control about it, but I do hope that Steven, Sammy and Amaya are connected and friends as adults.

I have a cute video I’d share, too, but YouTube has removed it for “inappropriate content”. Same with another video of the kids having a freeze-dance party at bedtime. Such salacious content!

Sammy has taken to sleeping between the wall and his beanbag. He falls asleep in a flash and seems to stay asleep so I’ve just been covering him up with a blanket before I got to bed. I’ll be able to add some of these pictures to the internet montages of “weird ways my kid sleeps”. 😉

Mama and Sal. Still my first best girl. Sammy and I had a talk the other day about how long cats live. He said he hopes she lives longer than most cats and I agree wholeheartedly. <3

We had family photos this weekend. I can’t get over how old Amaya looks. I paid her $1 her to wear this dress because “the color is brown, not yellow, and it’s ugly and I won’t even be able to look at the pictures”. She also wanted me to cut off the strings at the top but got comfortable with them when I told her we’d make a bow.

Another win for the day was collaborating on a hairstyle we were both happy with. And it didn’t even cost me!

Here are a couple of behind the scenes sneak peeks. No more red couch family photos! It’s the end of an era!

On Saturday the kids and I dove into this month’s Raddish Kids recipes. The theme was Swedish Eats and all of the recipes were Nordic which was really cool given that I just traveled to the region this summer and Jason is a viking. All the kids got into it, though Sammy was the only one willing to touch the raw meat and only for a few minutes before he got grossed out.

We made Nordin cinnamon rolls and Swedish meatballs. Both were delicious.

Sammy did an amazing job helping me with the gravy. We talked about how to stand safely at the stove and why we want to hold on to the pan handle while we stir. He’s going to be quite the (safe) little chef.

Serving the spoils of our labor!

This morning I head to NYC – early – for a work conference. I had a chance to see Amaya before I left which was an unexpected treat. I have a great view from my hotel room on 6th and 54th and sent some photos to Jason to share with the kids. Steven saw them and said, “Oh, she’s in the city?” <3 I love that so much.

Jason has an early work meeting on Mondays so Grandma Sunshine came to spend the night and the five-some went out for dinner at Outback followed by frozen yogurt. I wish I was with them but appreciate pictures so I can live vicariously.

Have a great week! We have a big one ahead – birthday lunch at school and Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s birthday party!