On Friday, Ben and I went to Costco to stock up on some stuff before Dad’s trip and to get supplies for Ben’s epic 2nd birthday party!

Because it was just the two of us, Ben got to ride in Eva’s car seat (a special treat for a younger brother).

Going to Costco together used to be part of our weekly routine, especially last fall when Eva was doing preschool at Mrs. Macadam’s and Ben and I would go grocery shopping during her class. But, for ALL the reasons, we haven’t done this since February. Here’s a picture from our last Mom-Ben date, pre-Sam and pre-pandemic.

Ben was a little tentative at first, out again in the big warehouse store, but he soon adapted and gladly welcomed all the treats that joined him in the cart.

Then we went to Target and got a special monster truck toy to act as a cake topper. Ben desperately wanted Mom to open it, but since Mom said no, he quickly set his sights on Grandma:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/idQPn8udyBxfyKG87

On our trip out, we also stopped by Baby Madeline’s house to borrow her Bumbo seat for Sam to try. Sam loved the feeling of being right there in the middle of what his siblings were doing. But he immediately started trying to push himself out of it by standing. His use of the Bumbo was thus short-lived.

By the end of Friday afternoon, the living room had devolved into chaos. But we picked it all up using the pick-up-ten-toys-to-watch-an-episode-of-Nom-Nom game in time for our last summertime pizza night with Dad (we took a break from sourdough crust experimentation to revisit PJ Hamel’s deep dish).

After the kids were in bed, Dan whipped up a quick monster truck piñata. He’s cool like that.