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!