nana and pumpkins and corn mazes

It was the first full(ish) week of school and everyone did great! Bussing is still an issue for the district like it is everywhere but we’ve had pretty good luck so far. Except for one day when the bus was 15- 20 min late and one day when the bus was about 35 min late getting home, the kids have been close to on time. On Friday, the kids actually got home when we expected. Hopefully it keeps up.

We have a bus app that tracks the bus on it’s way to our house. In the morning, Steven loves to watch the bus on it’s route to Cheltenham.

On Tuesday evening Amaya had a make-up swim lesson so our new nanny, Sophia, and I went together. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to swim with the kids so I loved getting to see her class.

I went into the office on Wednesday for a board meeting and the timing worked out perfectly. The kids were on the bus by 8:10am and I was at my desk before an 8:30am meeting. We’re really lucky that the bus schedule works out so well and that I work so close to home.

It’s been a long time since we’ve taken a bus stop selfie!

Deer walking across our street! Love the deer, fear the possibility of ticks in our yard.

The kids and I stayed home on Thursday for Yom Kippur. We had a quiet morning, which included celebrating Chucky’s birthday. (See that smart pink track suit she’s wearing? A sweet gift from me.)

It was a beautiful day so Sophia and I packed lunch for the kids and took them to two different playgrounds in the late morning/early afternoon. At this time of year I’m very conscious about spending as much time outside as possible.

After the playground, the kids and I went to Temple Israel for their Yom Kippur Family service. It was such a wonderful experience. Temple Israel has a beautiful outdoor sanctuary and the service is geared to families with kids ages 6+. I think there were probably 200- 300 people there. Such a nice community!

Afterward, the kids and I baked apple bread – another Raddish Kids recipe.

Mrs. Bates, the boys’ teacher, sent another end-of-week video of the class. I love looking for Steven and Sammy in the pictures. It looks like such a great classroom environment. I’m so happy for the boys! (Unfortunately Amaya’s teacher lost her mother this week so was out for a few days so, while communication isn’t as consistent, Amaya seems very happy as well.)

We’re very proud of Steven for coming home with this Bravo card from music. The back says, “Your child went out of his/her way to be cooperative in music class today. This “Bravo” award is to show my appreciation for such fine behavior!”

We are about to have a string of tooth fairy visits in the Land of Cheltenham. All three kids have loose top teeth (their first) and the boys’ are about ready to fall out. I am really going to miss their little baby-tooth smiles. I know it’s time but this is a hard one for me.

This weekend we had another visit from Nana! She’s back on a monthly schedule!! Since the kids are in school it’s a quicker trip – Friday afternoon to Monday morning – but we can have a lot of fun in that time.

The kids were showing Sally a book about a cat that goes to NY. Sally has been so great with SSA. She loves to be pet and is super patient with the kids. I love it.

A first for us – on Friday night Steven and Amaya slept in one of the beds in our basement guest room with Nana.

Tradition continued on Saturday morning with a Starbucks visit for breakfast. <3

It was a busy Saturday. After Starbucks, we went to Aquatots for a make-up swim lesson for the boys. After going to Amaya’s lesson on Tuesday, it was nice to see the boys at swim, too.

Amaya was hard at work coloring, working to earn a discount on swim lessons from a coloring contest. I promised SSA that any discounts earned would be shared with them.

Nana, the kids and I spent the early afternoon in Northville. They have a small little heritage festival to support Northville High School so we checked it out.

For the first time, we stopped into the Northville Art House. Each of the kids picked out their favorite paintings.

Nana and Amaya’s favorite

Sammy’s favorite

Steven’s favorite

Steven also really likes American flags

Checking out some gourds. All 3 kids left with pumpkins, compliments of Nana.

They had a petty zoo with goats, sheep, llamas and a pony. Sammy loved feeding the little goats.

Lunch outside

The kids really liked this 3D chalk drawing and had fun posing inside the art.

We all rounded out the afternoon at the playground by Novi high school. Such a nice day!

That front tooth of Steven’s is on its last leg.

Steven and his pumpkin

Amaya has been so busy with art this weekend. She cut and painted memory foam for squishies and painted her new little pumpkin.

Sammy got a rocket slingshot at the festival. It was a huge hit until it landed on our roof. 🙁 Should have seen that coming.

Bedtime story books. We just started a new Legend of Korra graphic novel.

This morning Nana took the kids to Hebrew School and we had a quiet early afternoon at home.

Sammy and his giant pumpkin.

Jason helping Amaya carve her mini pumpkin while Steven paints his.

Carved hearts!

Nana helping Steven with “The Hardest Hidden Picture Book Ever”.

Early afternoon, the kids, Nana and I headed to Maybury Farm for their corn maze. This is our third year and the kids were determined to get through it without relying on photos we took on the map. Fifty five minutes and we did it!

A map of the maze.

The biggest dead ends have maps to get you back on track. We hit two of them along the way. The kids are holding scavenger hunt sheets. Along the maze were stations with the answers to farm-based trivia questions.

After the corn maze we went to the “next-door” playground at Maybury park for a bit and then Nana and SSA tooled around Northville while I waited for takeout.