Happy Sunday!

In a book on crystals, Amaya found instruction on making geodes and this girl was off to the races. First she mixed 2 parts hot water with 1 part salt. Then she stirred in food coloring and poured into egg shells. After that, we waited for the water to evaporate so crystals could form.

Pretty!

The kids are working on book reports about animals and had to look through dozens of options.

Sammy: Steven, come to page one hundred twenty four. It’s really cool!

Steven: Sammy, come to page one hundred thirty six! There’s a red robin.

Sammy chose a polar bear. Steven picked an octopus. Amaya picked a dolphin.

My first best girl and I.

Muscles. Grrrr.

February was CARES month at school. I think I shared the cards that the kids made for the Novi Police Department. This month, the school is visiting the various recipients to deliver the cards and care packages and all kids are welcome for all drop-offs. This week Steven, Sammy and Amaya went to Providence Park Hospital to thank the health care workers.

March is also reading month. Every night, Monday- Thursday, different teachers are reading bedtime stories on Zoom. SSA have really enjoyed it, so far, and there seems to be great participation from kids at school.

Friday was Harry Potter day at school. The kids have awareness of Harry Potter but not details. (Though I can’t wait to read the books with them in a few years.) Steven and Amaya did want to dress up, though, and pulled out their wizard and witch costumes.

Penni got into the spirit, wearing Amaya’s witch hat.

“Charlie is the only person who can do a handstand not on a wall. Everyone else has to do them on walls.”

On Friday night, Steven fell asleep right on top of me. It’s been a weekend of “I love you, mama” and “Mama is the best.” He’s definitely got the gift of expressing his love for his family. <3

We played a lot of Animal Crossing this weekend. Lots of swimming, fishing, chopping, building, selling and visiting. Also a lot helping each other out.

SSA were playing out back yesterday when Sammy came in kind of sheepishly. I asked what he needed and he asked if he could give me a hug. Kind of unusual for Sammy to come in for hugs but I’m always game for Sammy hugs. While we’re hugging he said, “hold on a second, I need to give Amaya a signal” and ran back outside to give Amaya a thunbs up. I still don’t know what that was about!

Up to something…

Amaya and I played a game of Go Fish and I asked for the same card every time. She lost it when she finally drew the card she knew I’d ask for.

Discovery Channel shows with Daddy.

Amaya worked hard throughout the day to make a fort that she, Steven and Sammy could sleep in together on Saturday night. She made Sammy his own “room” – his preference. She and Steven were together under the big blanket and she needed something to hold it up over their faces but she also wanted to be able to see Steven. Her solution was to open up a cardboard box so she and Steven could look through it but it could still support the blanket.

Amaya is so creative and focused. We saw her working on a project that turned out to be a brick oven pizza with pineapples and olives – her favorite. I love watch the kids execute their wide variety of ideas.

It was a beautiful, cool, clear day so the we planned some playground time today. The kids couldn’t agree on where to go and there are a ton of playgrounds near to each other so I agreed to do one hour at their school playground for Sammy and Amaya and another playground at a “fort” playground of my choice for Steven.

Only kids at the school playground.

Amaya’s trick.

Steven’s trick.

The 2nd playground was packed. It’s really interesting to me that masks are so normalized in our area. All of the kids over toddler age and almost all of the adults were wearing them.

A whole group of kids spent ages in this contraption that has 2 levels and spins around. When it was time to leave Steven was super bummed and told me, “Every time we make friends on a playground we never see them again.” He was also excited to tell me that he, Sammy and Amaya “made an entire group of people become friends.”

When we got home, Jason, Steven and Sammy went to the basement to organize the exercise room. I asked Amaya to go downstairs and report back on what the men were up to. She came back upstairs with a report. I’m dying over this lol.

We wrapped up the weekend with a new Raddish Kids kit. We made meatloap and coffee cake. Amaya and Sammy were really excited to mix it all up.

Have a great week!

*Title by Steven

Oh, look. We’re home. Work school work school work school at home. We’re used to it but I’m still regularly struck by how unusual this is.

Steven and Sammy spent some time looking at history stories together. Steven, in Penni’s cardigan.

Steven and I returned from New York with a lot of new clothes for Amaya, from Charlie. A top pick in the bunch is this LOL shirt with Charlie’s name on it. A girl in heaven.

Friday was Purim so it’s been a focus for the week. Nana got us hamentashen which we brought home from New York. The kids loved eating them all week! (So did I.)

Tuesday was a big day for Steven. We had a check-in with his eye doctor who said, because of his hard, hard work, he doesn’t have to wear a patch anymore! Steven has been patching for ~20 months, recently for 4 hours a day, and has been such a great sport about it. When we started, his best corrected vision in his right eye was 20/40. Now it’s 20/25 and he can even get some letters at 20/20. Way to go, Steven!!! We’ll check in again in 3 months just to be sure his vision is stable.

I asked Steven if he was happy and he said, “I feel really good.” We texted Daddy and called Nana and Grandma Sunshine to share the good news. This picture was taken while Grandma Sunshine was praising his hard work.

Over a year ago I was given supplies to make paper dolls. The kits had all sorts of skin types and clothing and accoutrements. This week the kids got them out and got crafting.

Amaya and Charlie, by Amaya. If you look closely, you’ll see their names and “BFF” on the dolls.

Chase, by Sammy.

By Steven, clockwise from the top left, Gabby, Penni, Amaya, Mommy, Steven, Daddy, Sammy.

In preparation for Hebrew school on Sunday, the kids made Purim groggers with kits provided by the school.

It’s warming up in MI. The highs were in the low/mid 40s all week! Sammy had to run outside to get something he forgot and he even ran outside without a jacket. Just briefly – but I see the light!

The kids had their 7-year well check on Friday morning. By chance, I saw Dr. Nancy Spangler at the office. She was the kids’ first pediatrician who left when they were young toddlers to run pediatrics at St. Joe’s hospital (where they were born). It turns out that Friday was Dr. Spangler’s last day before retirement. What a special opportunity to say thank you.

What I remember most about Dr. Spangler’s care was that, when the kids were babies, at every appointment she always checked in to see how I was doing. Her care of the kids included ensuring their mom was doing well. In those early days, especially during my maternity leave when we had appointments often, I was so appreciative of her care. And, of course, she was a wonderful doctor for Steven, Sammy and Amaya.

Penni came to the appointment with us so that, while each kid saw the doctor privately, the other two were supervised. Steven and Amaya had a lot of fun while Sammy was being seen. 🙂

All 3 Cline Kids are still growing on their curves.

Just a typical Friday afternoon when you have virtual school.

7 going on 15

Cuddling with Bobes

It’s been a relatively lazy weekend. Lots to take care of but also lots of good family time.

Jason and the kids built a bit yesterday. Magatiles are a near-daily activity.

EMS Steven and Dr. Sweety Girl spent some time caring for Jason. I think he’s recovering nicely from his heart transplant.

While the kids were at their well-check on Friday morning, their class had a science assembly with the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum. SSA were disappointed to miss it so Mrs. O’Neil got permission to record the zoom and sent us a link. So nice of her to do that! The kids already had some materials for the assembly which came home earlier in the month and the whole theme was space. Super fun!

Here, the kids are mapping the distance of the planets in our solar system from the sun. I love that they love science enough to voluntarily watch a science assembly on the weekend.

Sammy is learning to make scrambled eggs. Other than turning on the stove, he’s not far from full independence.

Sammy has two shirts he love – same design, one short sleeve and one long sleeve. They’re getting old and worn. One even has a hole. Though some effort searching, I found new versions of both shirts! Mom win!! The short sleeve arrived and the long sleeve is on the way.

The kids spent an hour and a half outside yesterday which brought their February outdoor hours total to 50! Thank you, Florida. 🙂

We started the day with Hebrew school and a Purim celebration. Queen Esther, a skeleton and Darth Vader all attended. It’s definitely not the same as being there in-person but the Temple does a really nice job trying to make it work.

After Hebrew School we had Part 1 of “Making Hamentashen”. We made the dough and set in the fridge for a few hours.

It was so nice out today. A real feel in the 50s!! I took the kids to their school playground and it turned out there were a ton of kids there play. SSA had a blast. Steven said it was one of his favorite playground days ever. We were there for two hours and they were running around the whole time.

Last kids standing…

Just a t-shirt outside in February!

Part 2 of “Making Hamentashen”!

We wrapped up the weekend with a meal from Amaya’s cookbook. Buckwheat noodles with peas and soft boiled eggs. It was really good and nothing I’d have thought to make on my own.

A big hug from Bobes during dinner. <3

That’s it for us! Have a great week!

Monday was a rude awakening with a lot of snow but these kids are resilient and out they went. It’s mid-winter break so they didn’t have school on Monday or Tuesday which definitely aided the return to normalcy.

What a difference a week makes.

Starting the closet cleaning process turned up a lot of old gear. 🙂

Sammy is ever the cook, even helping Penni make meatloaf for lunch. The kids are also more and more self-sufficient with basic needs. By the time Penni arrived on Wednesday morning, Steven and Sammy had made themselves microwave pancakes and Sammy had poured himself milk. What a great new era!

Wednesday was back to school…

Sammy in his new Naples t-shirt. Love it!

The kids are learning about the United States and our Presidents. Here’s Amaya’s interpretation of Lincoln. Lashes to die for.

Steven, explaining to Penni why the flag looks the way it does.

It’s C.A.R.E. month at school (Cooperate, Appreciate, Respect and Empathize) and each grade has a service project. The first graders are assigned the Novi Police Department so they made cards that will be delivered along with small care packages. The virtual learners are able to deliver their cards to a box outside the school. I appreciate that everyone can participate.

Steven

Sammy

Amaya

This girl’s hair! We are still working on the best care routine. It’s not straight and not quite curly but it definitely needs curly-type care. We’re trying Curly Girl approved hair product and a satin pillow-case. Really, though, I think we also need to work on sleeping in a scrunchy ponytail and/or plopping at night – a tall order for a 7 year old.

Two thirds of our kids were scared on Thursday night which led to this beautiful sleep situation. <3

Steven was showing Penni his favorite photos on his iPod and, if I can preen a bit, his favorite photo was one of his “best mama ever”.

There was significantly more inside time this week than last week – with obvious good reason – but Penni did a great job encouraging the kids to get outside as often as possible. Once they’re out it’s all good but the effort of going outside is sometimes an (understandable challenge.

Since Steven and I weren’t going to be around for the weekend so, Friday afternoon, the kids and I made a new Raddish kids recipe – cheddar, chive and bacon corn muffins. Not a favorite, but fun and easy to make. The kids also got a bonus patch in honor of their first full year in the program.

Still slayed by Amaya’s sleep mask

On Saturday, Steven and I made a quick trip to New York to see family. We had a 9:30am flight on Saturday morning with a flight back at 5pm on Sunday. When the kids were younger a trip this short would be too much, I think, but now it’s a breeze. A short flight with my expert fliers who know our routine inside and out.

I’ve been traveling with all of the kids together since Summer 2019 so it’s been a long time since I’ve had 1:1 travel. It’s as special as ever.

While we traveled, Sammy and Amaya set up a birthday party for their stuffed animals.

Steven wanted a picture together when we got to NY.

In-flight, Sammy and Amaya texted me to ask that I facetime when we land. Their wish is my command!

Amaya sent Chase and Charlie a care package that, by change, arrived today! Art work, Valentine’s cards and shells from Florida!

Nana and Savta came by for a good part of the afternoon. Poor Papa was under the weather. Steven was excited to show Nana how he plays Animal Crossing. Nana learned a lot of details about Steven’s island lol.

You can call Charlie, “Tootie“.

An hour outside in the cold meant some nice time by the fire when the kids came inside.

Exploring Voltron with Uncle Dave

At Thanksgiving time, Steven drew a picture of a slice of pizza and, on the back, wrote about being thankful for Dominos pizza. In January I finally, at Steven’s request, mailed it to Dominos headquarters.

Look what came in the mail this weekend. Amazing!!!

Back in the Land of Cheltenham, Daddy, Sammy and Amaya had a game & movie night.

I was thrilled to get these bonus pictures from Amaya. iPods for the win! She also sent a text that said, “The game winner is daddy.”

‘My Little Pony: The Movie” time!

Back in NY, the cousins gamed together before bed.

Sisters <3

We had a nice, very lazy day in NY. There was gaming and some more gaming. Steven built a Lego Air Force Once. The boys wrestled. 🙂 Nana came by in the morning and then again after lunch with Savta.

Amazingly, Steven and I were in NY together – just the two of us – this weekend 6 years ago! Had to recreate the photo. <3

While we were in NY, Amaya was very busy outside building an incredible snow fort! In Jason’s words, “She really focuses well on making them and placing them without them falling apart…She’s the most her, the most complete, the most happy, alive etc. when she’s doing something like this.”

It’s a late afternoon flight back to NY, some quick hugs with everyone and then right to be to get ready to start our week. Have a great one!

If we back up to last Sunday night, you’ll find Steven, Sammy, Amaya and I watching the Super Bowl with Jason thanks to FaceTime. For a long time, too! We wrapped it up in the 2nd quarter shortly before Penni arrived at the house.

Monday it was a school day / work day / pool day and Amaya was ready – wearing an oversized tank top that works perfectly as a pool cover up along with a big, excited smile.

The school set-up. Not bad!!

Like in December, the pool afforded SSA the opportunity to regularly swim between classes. The weather and the pool were even warmer than our last visit which was a big bonus. Last trip was great but we had a few cooler days which made it difficult to swim in the earlier part of the day. Not at all an issue this time.

The kids’ swim skills continue to improve. It’s amazing to watch. – The boys didn’t even want to put their faces in the water over the summer. I think late fall swim lessons and all of this concentrated time did the trick. In fact, Sammy is jumping in the pool and swimming in the deep end without a life jacket! And Steven, in his lifejacket and flippers, will swim the length of the pool. Meanwhile, Amaya’s perfected her underwater backflips.

Monday mid-day, while Steven and Amaya swam, Sammy and his cheetah watched on.

On Monday afternoon, Amaya got out of the pool and put on her PJs, only to get wet again and go for a swim in her jams. Why not, right?

Toward the very end of our last trip Sammy started to jump in the pool – first in his life jacket and, I think, without by the last day we were there. This time, he ditched his life jacket entirely by Monday afternoon and did an amazing job swimming all week. I bet he can pass the JCC swim test this summer.

Steven, loving the raft.

Last man swimming for the day.

At the Children’s Museum of Naples Amaya picked out an embroidery kit from the gift shop and has been working on it all week. She loves to sew and stitch!

Switch time together. A common theme for our evenings after dinner. Switch and Disney shows like Jessie, Bunk’d and Raven’s House.

We brought schools supplies with us which included craft materials for a virtual field trip. Amaya the Penguin!

This is Steven’s. He texted Jason this photo of it with a note that said, “It is a penguin face that is colored and color creative.” As a reminder, “Color Creative” is the name Steven coined for when he colors pictures creatively rather than the colors they appear in real life.

Tuesday at lunchtime – they’re back at it! Look at Steven go, with his face in the water. And Amaya – jumping right in!

Tuesday evening we went back to, what we call, Weena Wanna Beach (Weena Wanna Wenna Wanna Avocado!) to watch the sunset. The locals call in Vanderbilt Beach.

It was a lot warmer than last time and a lot more crowded as a result. Not too crowded, though. Don’t worry. We brought dinner, collected shells and took in the views. A pretty spectacular Naples evening if you ask me.

This girl found a sand dollar!

So beautiful. I have been fortunate to live in two places where the sun sets over the water – Naples and San Diego – and it really cant be beat.

Hi! It’s Wednesday and we’re back in the pool! Well, not quite “we”. Even though I worked all week I did find time to pop out and see the kids and even work outside when SSA were inside in class.

When we needed a rare swim break, Amaya got busy working on her embroidering.

With my girl. The humidity really did a number on my hair but I’ll take that over single digit temps any day.

The kids and I went out for dinner in Old Naples on Wednesday night. We found a great place right on the water. We could see small planes flying overhead as they took off from the local, executive airport, there was a fair amount of boat movement and just an overall beautiful view.

Laughing and laughing at the table games we were playing.

The favorite game was “telephone”. Some things never die!

I think it looks like Sammy has a fake background behind him.

It’s already Thursday! How can this be??

Penni and Amaya 🙂

I was able to put my feet in the pool during lunch on Thursday and also get some time to work outdoors while the kids were playing because it wasn’t in meetings. It was great!

Penni got in with the kids during their long Thursday mid-day swim.

JUMP!

Friday was a planned 1/2 day of school full of Valentine’s Day activities. Since we were all taking the day off on Friday, I gave the kids their school Valentine’s Day packets early. It was so nice of Mrs. O’Neil to put these together for them (and so much easier than us having to make cards for all the kids in their class).

After dinner time Switch time. Rinse, repeat.

On Friday morning I had one call and then we were all free for the day. Penni left early morning for her own weekend in Naples and the kids and relaxed until about 10am when we headed back to Delnor-Wiggens Pass State Park. Steven calls it “Beauty Wonder Beach” because of the shell he found last trip and Amaya calls it “Crabby Beach” because of the crab they found last time.

Ready for a gorgeous, hot day!

I got the kids some shovels and buckets at the concession stand and sand castles were the activity of the day. Plus shelling, of course.

Hot guy.

Water time!

“We always get ice cream when we come to this beach, right?”

Steven loved how curly his hair was on the trip. Can’t blame him. <3 <3 <3

On Friday afternoon it was back in the pool for our last swim of the trip. I got in too, this time and played “What Time Is It Mr./Mrs. Fox” with the kids – a game Penni taught them.

The finished embroidery! Way to go Amaya!

Last trip, in December, we flew back on Saturday and I left thinking about how nice it would be to have one more day of down time. It would bookend 4 days of school/work with 2 days of pure fun on either side. So this trip, I still booked the Airbnb through Saturday but we got a hotel near the airport for Sunday night.

I was a little unsure of this plan because it left us without a home base and, wow the house was nice, but it worked out perfectly. We left the house by 10am on Saturday and drove to Ft. Myers to drop the bulk of the bags at our hotel so the electronics wouldn’t fry sitting in the hot car all day. From there, we headed to Ft. Myers Beach which was the perfect way to end this trip.

While Naples is full of quiet calm beaches, Ft. Myers Beach is truly a vacation hot spot. All along the beach there are beach-side restaurants. You can rent chairs and umbrellas as well as jet skis, banana boat rides and parasail. Local boats dock in the water and it’s shallow a long way out – no more than waist deep on an average adult. There’s so much to see and do. As a bonus, the kids loooooved the soft, white sand.

That morning Sammy said, “Do you think this will be the best day of our trip?” And I think we all agree it was!

We found a perfect lunch spot right on the beach. Tables in the sand. Great food. Perfect view. It was spectacular. Steven said it’s his favorite restaurant ever.

There’s a view of the restaurant in the background. It looks like a dive but it’s the best kind of beach dive and definitely somewhere we’d return.

After lunch we found a spot to camp out on the beach. It was hot, even with the Gulf breeze, so we rented four chairs and two umbrellas. (By the way, Steven called seagulls “gulfgulls” because we were on the gulf. Love it!)

You just have to get ice pops from the roaming ice cream guy, right?

The water was amazing. Shallow, like I mentioned, with a nice pace of waves for the kids. Steven was braver than ever, venturing out with his brother and sister. I just love watching these kids grow.

Can you see in this photo how far out the water stays shallow? Even I had a blast going in. (But not as much fun as all of the people out in the water holding their boozy drinks. 🙂 )

In the sand, Amaya made a park complete with monkey bars.

Steven’s big castle

Sammy, chilling out

We had a dinner reservation at a open-air restaurant right on the beach and the timing worked out perfectly. One last hurrah!

We finished dinner in time to see the sunset from the pier.

And, since it was the last day of vacation, wrapped up our week with ice cream (Llamalicious) and snow cones.

This trip did wonders for our time outside!

Today we headed back to MI. So hard to leave but also so nice to be back.

Daddy – meeting us with Valentine’s surprises! <3

Steven used our red cups to leave a Valentine’s Message of his own – a heart with H V D inside. <3

Now we’re getting back to normal in cold, cold MI with warm FL on our minds. What *an amazing, amazing opportunity we had this week. I’m truly full to bursting.

*Thanks to Steven and Amaya for the name of this week’s blog.

We’re coming to you, again, from Naples, Florida! We booked this trip when we were still here in December because it was so much fun and the winter loomed so long and cold ahead of us. I honestly can’t believe how quickly the time passed. As we were driving around this weekend it felt like we were just here.

This trip we’re staying in the same area as last time (North Naples / Vanderbilt Beach) but in a house about 10 blocks over. The house we’d been at wasn’t available and I think it worked out for the best because the house we found has a screened in pool (fewer bugs, no leaves) and also gets some sun during the day which was the only downside of the pool at our December house.

But before we get to FL, here are a few highlights from earlier in the week.

The kids needed to pick out books to read in a system called “Epic” and Amaya spent some time work Sammy looking through books she’s read and making recommendations.

This week Sammy lost his 2nd tooth, and then lost his tooth! But it seems the Tooth Fairy is ready for all situations.

Mornings are for gaming in the Cline house. It’s definitely going to be an adjustment (and rude awakening) when Steven, Sammy, Amaya and I have to actually leave the house for the day, each day.

The kids have been learning about plants and the plant lifecycle at school. Here, Steven’s watching a video of a plant grow from a seed.

Here, Sammy is trimming grass that he grew as part of the lesson.

This week we started the second semester of school which includes some schedule changes. The kids’ “Specials” – Art, Music, World Language and PE – will now be synchronous instead of just video lessons. Where the kids used to just go outside and play during gym time, they’ll now have live gym lessons for 20 minutes, twice/week. At their first gym class, Steven told their teacher in response to something we didn’t hear, “No, I’m a triplet with Sammy and Amaya. We’re best friends, too.”

My heart. <3

Amaya absolutely loves my colleague Sean. Penni took this photo of us together, before she left, while I was finishing a meeting and Amaya was sitting on my lap watching Sean on my screen.

Photo and artistic interpretation by Amaya 🙂

This week, in addition to the schedule change, the kids also tried out working at the table together. According to Penni it’s going really well. The only piece to work through are small group break-outs where they’re all talking to different people on their screen and trying to talk over each other.

On Friday, Steven went to school in Penni’s sweater.

Also on Friday, we headed to the airport! Hooray!!

I’ve got two hand-holders in the back seats.

Off we go! From a real feel of -5 to 70s! Whoo hoo!

We landed on time and made it to the house by about 9:15pm. We toured the house, unpacked quickly and it was off to bed for all 4 of us.

Saturday morning in FL looks just like FL morning in MI.

A little after 10am we were ready to head to Marco Island. I haven’t been there in a very, very long time but it’s know for it’s shelling which is definitely a draw for the Cline Kids.

Again, we have two hand-holders in the car.

It was a loooooooong walk from the car to the gulf. I logged 2,000 steps, exacerbated by all of the gear I was carrying but it was worth it in the end.

We had warm weather, a nice breeze and intermittent sun and clouds for the 3 hrs we spent at the beach. Most of that time was spent collecting shells.

So. Many. Shells.

Beach waves!

There’s a guy who makes sand cows on Marco Island. He even has a Facebook page his daughter runs called, Marco Island Cows. They were incredible. This picture doesn’t do it justice.

We got back home in time for 2 hours of play time in the pool. I’m hopeful the kids get as much time in the pool on this trip as they did in December. It’s such a perk of vacationing down here.

First thing this morning, around 9am, it was back into the pool for 3 of us. Sammy thought it was too cold so he ended up just hanging out but Steven, Amaya and I all went in. Steven and I for an hour and Amaya for 90 minutes. Our girl really loves to swim.

Last one standing

iPod time while I got ready to head out. What was life before devices? Does anyone remember?

The kids loved the Children’s Museum of Naples when we went in December and it was rainy midday today so we headed back. Again, it did not disappoint. We were there for about 2.5 hours and SSA would have stayed longer if I wasn’t anxious to get out to eat (in time to get back to swim some more before it gets dark).

There was a whole area set up with a focus on Argentina. It was really interesting. We learned about what it’s like to go to school in Argentina, about their money and the common foods they cook. We learned about their favorite sport, the largest bird of prey (Andean Condor) and the Cave of Hands. It worked out well because, when we arrived, Steven had said, “wouldn’t it be nice if this was a museum where we learned stuff?” And so it was.

Digital painting

Last time we were here, as we were leaving the museum Steven saw this train table area. We were literally walking out and I wasn’t going to stop to play more. He was really sad about it, though, so it was very satisfying for me to see him enjoying the trains today.

There’s a big industrial play kitchen that the kids played in for a solid hour, I think. They served up meal after meal after meal. There’s a jukebox that plays different instrumental national anthems and Steven made sure that everyone at the museum heard the US national anthem over and over and over again. And then again. 🙂

Like last time, after the museum we headed down to Old Naples to eat dunch/linner on the water. Last time was The Dock. This time was The Boathouse. I thought the waitress was going to fall over when Sammy ordered the stone crab claws lol.

Steven is loving his FL curls, aided by my hair gel. (The humidity wreaked havoc on my hair which Steven called “bushy”.)

Sammy loved his stone crab and also shared some of my snow crab legs. Steven tried swordfish because “it’s my favorite fish and I didn’t know you can catch it” and loved it. (Broiled, juicy and seasoned well.) Amaya and Steven both tried my crab legs and, this time, loved them. Whoo hoo!!

Her future’s so bright…

Toward the end of our meal, an older couple who’d been dining by us came to our table to say that they were so impressed with how well behaved the kids are and how well they eat. These are things I already know but loved having SSA hear it from the mouth of strangers.

Typical Florida – you’d never know it had been grey and rainy a few hours earlier.

The kids were given pens by our waitress after she saw how much they liked the one I used to sign our bill.

We stopped at a little tourist shop before heading back to the house and Sammy picked up this souvenir. Yikes!

We wrapped up the day (pre-Super Bowl) with more pool time. Penni arrives tonight and tomorrow starts school & work. As much as we’d rather just play, play, play we know that we’ll get ample sunshine and downtime through the week.

Have a great week!

I absolutely love Amaya’s commitment to her face mask. Coolest girl I know.

It was a quiet school week. The last week of first semester! We’re halfway through first grade! What an unexpected year. Here, Steven is doing some math games.

The boys got to work shoveling snow to take some of the load off their father.

Snow swimming.

It’s common for me to have meetings through lunch but the days I can eat downstairs are such a treat. It’s an unusual year but there are definitely pieces that mean so much to me and these extra moments with SSA are the lion share of those pieces.

By chance, Sammy and Amaya wore the same shirt design on Monday – both made with Amaya’s screen printing kit. <3

Sammy learned how to slice mushrooms this week!

Cooking up those mushrooms. Photo credit: Amaya

In fact, now that SSA have iPods, it’s not unusual for the kids to text me all sorts of photos. This one came from Amaya during my workday on Friday.

This one today, showing me a sandwhich she drew.

On the subject of art, Amaya wanted to draw Bob Ross. But she didn’t wanted to draw a male version. Here is her interpretation. I love it!

Sammy drew this awesome dragon.

There was no school on Friday as teachers prepped for 2nd semester changes – which are more extensive than usual as some kids return to in-person learning. With extra downtime, came extra Switch time.

Amaya was after Sammy’s Pogo Jumper. Steven came to his rescue and, ultimately, Amaya decided to buy one with her own money.

We had a very, very lazy weekend at home. It was great. We even decided to put away Ticket to Ride, midgame, and finish another day.

Amaya demonstrating Feats of Strength.

If you need someone to chop, slice or dice green onions for you – Amaya is the girl to call. Not an green onion ends up in a Cline recipe without Amaya’s chopping skills. (Better than Gordon Ramsey!)

Our favorite breakfast days are sushi mornings. Steven even made a point to leave some of his dinner for today so he could have sushi for breakfast.

Sammy’s got sashimi and rolls to enjoy.

Today Amaya did an art project inspired by Alma Woodsey Thomas! So cool!

We did finish our Ticket to Ride game today and Sammy was our winner.

We wrapped up the weekend with steak and marsala sauce, cooked by Sammy.

I’ll leave you with this photo of little me with my cousin Mike and our great grandparents, Herman and Rose Kier – Savta’s parents. <3

Have a great week!

Sunday night was rough – especially for Amaya and Steven. Amaya cried herself to sleep, staring at a picture of Charlie. It was heartbreaking to see but, as hard as leaving was, we were all so glad to visit.

Early Monday it was back to the airport. As always, Steven was drawn to the airport map. We left from JFK and out gate was as far away from security as it could be. I can remember coming into that gate one, years ago, when I was traveling alone with the kids. We got in late and no one wanted to walk so I pushed the double stroller and carried Steven – along with all of our bags – for what seemed like forever.

Sammy, king of the moving walkway.

This trip was another first – two of the kids sat in a row behind me instead of next to me. We’ve come so far and grown so much. Seat assignments still included m&m bribes but SSA are truly such capable travelers.

Where’s Steven?

Back home with Daddy!

On Tuesday, Gabby celebrated the kids’ birthday with them. Such a special treat, with gifts that truly speak to each of their interests.

Wednesday morning – January 20th! We have SEVEN year olds!

Steven, Sammy and Amaya each got to open a present before school. Sammy got his long coveted Mario Kart game and controller, Steven got a Nintendo Switch and Amaya got an iPod Touch – exactly what they were hoping for. 🙂

Digital kids.

Penni took this awesome picture of me with my three sweet babies. <3

The kids also wanted to be sure to get an annual birthday photo in front of the fire place. Amaya tried to get a little closer to Sammy but this was the staging he preferred. 🙂

School day fun-time with Penni.

Our BirthDAY treat for Steven, Sammy and Amaya was late-afternoon dining in an Igloo at Deadwood Grill. It was awesome. We had a two hour time slot. The Igloo was warm, clean and came with a bluetooth speaker. It was so nice to eat out together after so long and the novelty of the environment added to the experience. Plus, Jason and I left work early and the kids got to skip their last class of the day.

Steven, watching a train go by.

Present time came with a BIG surprise for the kids. We surprised Amaya with her own Switch and Steven & Sammy with their own iPods.

Amaya’s reaction was perfect, priceless and totally genuine.

Happy Birthday!!! I absolutely can’t believe seven years have past but here we are, the luckiest parents with absolutely incredible kids.

On Thursday SSA made the most of the snow we had left, rolling some huge snowballs. (It’s snowing right now, too, and the Brothers got some nice time out in the snow earlier today between time playing Animal Crossing and Minecraft.)

On Friday, Jason and I celebrated TEN years of marriage. What an incredible ride it’s been. <3 To celebrate we took the day off work together and hung around, binging Master Chef.

Speaking of Master Chef, our stand mixer arrived so Sammy picked a recipe from his Master Chef Junior cookbook to make this weekend – Chocolate Lava Cake. I’m pretty excited to have a stand mixer and move past all of the improvising we’ve done up till now.

Amaya’s female spin on Pete the Cat.

Amaya and Sammy made Jason breakfast on Saturday morning. Here he is, contemplating the masterpiece in front of him.

A priority for the weekend was learning how to play Animal Crossing. We checked that off the list and, today, figured out how to visit each others’ islands.

Brothers, helping brothers

Steven, showing his Daddy how he plays Super Mario Odyssey. (I swear we have screen time limits but they’re primarily enforced on weekdays. We go more with our gut and the flow of the day on weekends.)

After Zoom Hebrew School, where the focus was Tu B’Shevat (think, Arbor Day for Israel), the kids planted some parsley which will hopefully grow in time for Passover in late March.

Steven was excited to do a craft he saw on Crafty Carol this morning. “I’ve been waiting to do this since 5:57!” The project was crafting a jet pack and, even though we didn’t have all of the necessary supplies, Steven came up with alternatives to get the job done.

We had our first Cline meet-up on my Animal Crossing island. <3

As I mentioned, Sammy wanted to make chocolate lava cakes so that was our afternoon activity. The insides gushed chocolate just liked we hoped!

And, before dinner, Steven and I took an impromptu nap together. I can’t think of the last time I napped with one of the kids. I love this.

That’s it for us, from the Land of 7 Year Olds! Have a great week!

Monday came, and Slothy was ready for school!

The kids did Opinion Writing this week.

I think my favorite part of Sammy’s are the exclamation points, especially after Sammy’s name. He’s Sammy!, for sure!

Topic: Favorite Season

My Opinion: The best season is summer. (Steven picked winter.)

Reasons: You can go to a pool. Go to a beach. Hot weather.

I’m convinced, Sammy!

Steven has a different opinion than Sammy. His favorite season is winter. Steven likes winter because:

1. My birthday is in winter
2. Driving through pretty lights
3. Collecting ice

Conclusion: I love winter so much

I have been hard at work, wrapping and wrapping birthday gifts. Can’t talk about them yet, though, because Steven, Sammy and Amaya are going to read this with me before January 20th.

Steven asked for a Nintendo Switch and took Sammy’s box, which we still have, to measure against the gifts to see if one is the right size lol.

After work one day I found SSA cuddled up on the couch with Slothy (and Sammy’s Whammy Puppy) playing the sweetest games together, and singing original songs about Slothy. What a truly amazing experience to grow up together.

Until we dig a lake, new remote control boats need a test drive in our bath tub. Still fun!

Amaya wanted to be sure that Slothy can travel safely to NY so Slothy tested out a mask. 🙂

How I (sometimes) roll… business on top, lazy Sunday on the bottom.

The kids are working on their first 300 piece puzzle – a prize that Sammy picked out. If we were willing to leave it out until they finish, I actually think they’d work through it pretty quickly.

The cooking skill of the week was slicing apples. Definitely a “supervision required” activity but Sammy did a great job!

Bedtime snuggles <3

On Wednesday night I got some snuggles with my Bubba.

The Clines! <3 <3 <3

Bedtime book selfies! Every night a different Cline kid gets to pick our bedtime story. Whoever’s turn it is also gets to sit on my lap for the book. This night, Steven chose “Bear Snores On.” A classic favorite. (I always hear this book in Aunt Ouize’s voice.)

We are still all about magnatiles in the house. The deal the kids and I made is that we’ll put their creations away every night but SSA first get to take photos as memories.

On Friday afternoon the kids and I both took half days off work/school and headed to the airport for a pre-birthday weekend in NY! I was so worried COVID would interfere with this trip but, in the end, it enabled the trip because we were able to safely stay with the Goldbergs for the weekend.

Slothy and her mask. 🙂

These kids have it down.

We were so excited to see Aunt Sara at La Guardia!

Charlie worked incredibly hard to get the house ready for three birthday kids. Streamers and banners everywhere – plus crowns, necklaces, lollipops and a pinata. Amazing!

Cousin dinner

Uncle Dave and Slothy – fast friends!

One of the best sight’s I’ve ever seen. <3

Before bed, Charlie read the kids some chapters from a Junie B Jones book. Steven loves Junie B Jones!

Post-breakfast lollipops, compliments of Charlie.

Late morning, Nana, Papa and Savta came to spend time with us.

Hi Papa!

I know I said something else was the best but this is truly the best.

Another birthday special treat was silly string – which led to silly string wars.

SSA, Chase and Charlie spent ages on the trampoline. Steven and Chase were the last two standing, with nearly an hour of jumping time. The trampoline is definitely a bonus perk of our visits.

Some TV down time

Savta and Sammy always find their time together.

Pinata time! It took more than 15 minutes to break the pinata and it was calling in the big guns – Chase and Charlie – that finally did the trick.

In the afternoon, we went to Levy Park in Merrick to climb the “mountain”, see the views, and check out the dock. We walked 2.25 miles and had a great time together.

Two really pretty pictures that Nana took.

Steven, Amaya and Charlie played an “office” game which involved interviewing the adults for a job as Charlie’s assistant. “I hear you’re looking for a new job. Why do you want a new job.”

This interview notice was delivered to Aunt Sara by Amaya.

She got such a kick out of interviewing us.

Sunday was the official birthday celebration day. (Though, truthfully, it spanned the weekend.) On Saturday night, the birthday message was delivered and set up on Aunt Sara and Uncle Dave’s yard. I might love it even more than the kids do. 🙂

Sara, Dave and I checked it out after the kids were in bed.

The (almost) birthday kids! SEVEN. I mean, how? HOW?

The birthday kids with their birthday message. It was cold this morning.

Sammy noticed the puppy right away.

Birthday cupcakes! Jojo for Amaya. Lego for Steven. Mario & friends for Sammy.

Amaya and Papa cuddles.

Nana, staying diligent.

Gin Rummy with Nana and Chase/Sara. Steven was sad that I didn’t win.

Art for Savta

Storytelling with Savta

Happy Birthday, Steven, Sammy & Amaya!

Another hour on the trampoline!

Auntie and Dod Shuki came to celebrate with us, too. <3

Sammy was gifted a Scruff-a-luv which he’s tending to with Charlie.

Steven is working on a new Minecraft pirate lego set. (Amaya has a Jojo themed Caboodle for her make-up.)

It was a phenomenal visit. Now we’re ready to head home in the morning and celebrate Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s 7th birthday on Wednesday!

We’ve entered the age of devices in the Land of Cheltenham. In the mornings, Sammy has his Switch. Amaya or Steven ask for one of my phones for messenger kids or minecraft and, whoever doesn’t have my phone, generally asks to use my Switch. (“Switch Lite, mom”, say SSA.)

Here, Sammy and I are playing 2-player Super Mario Odyssey. <3 (photo credit: Steven)

Our housekeeper came on Monday so the return to normal also came with a day of school in the basement.

Movement break!

We’ve entered month 4 of our outdoor hours tracking. December definitely got a boost from our trip to FL. (November is a bit short because we didn’t start until 11/8 and the early part of November was beautiful.) So far, I’m not bothered by the cold weather but that could be because I don’t go anywhere. No freezing car to drive at the end of a work day. 🙂

The kids all made New Year’s resolutions at school. Amaya’s is to eat an apple everyday. Sammy’s is to play two board games every Saturday. Steven’s is to play with magnatiles every weekend.

When Amaya’s stuffie Slothie talks to Jason, she calls him “Papa”. Amaya drew this picture of Slothy free hand. Just the sweetest.

While I was working on Monday afternoon, the kids came rushing in. “Mommy! Quick! Sammy is showing Sally to our class!” It was so cute and, fortunately, I wasn’t in a meeting at the time.

The kids got thank you cards from their teacher and I loved hearing Steven read his. Reading opens up a whole new world.

On Tuesday SSA had show and tell. Sammy brought puppy, Steven brought his big inflatable shark and Amaya brought Slothy.

Now that the playroom is clean and clear, the kids can actually play in there! A 20201 miracle.

Oh, this picture. I’m including this in the spirit of recording real life with the kids because maybe, someday, they’ll like having a picture of their mom with a shirt on her head. (Plopping my curls.) Steven was scared to go to sleep so he settled in with me and fell asleep while I drank wine and watched TV.

In Wednesday’s early hours, Amaya lost her 2nd tooth! Two in the course of a week. She said she likes losing them but doesn’t like how it looks. Steven’s big tooth is already almost fully in. Sammy’s too. I forgot that the gaps don’t last that long.

Another parent night for Steven. This time the tv was on while he was still awake so a big pillow blocked his view and gave him the perfect propping spot for his printed picture book so he could see his mommy’s face as he drifted off. <3

Some art! This week we have Forky, from Toy Story. First is Sammy’s followed by Amaya’s drawing.

Sally has, remarkably, turned into a very patient cat. She sat for a good while on Friday night while the kids had their lovies and stuffies pet her.

Steven has been interested in building a Lego pirate ship for some time – not from a set, but on our own – so, on Saturday morning, we spent about an hour and a half building together.

Lots and lots of Legos.

My pirate ship building buddy.

On Saturday afternoon, while Sammy watched Master Chef with Jason and Amaya played Link’s Awakening, Steven played Minecraft with four school friends. It’s very interesting for me to observe the chaos of 5 six year old boys trying to play a video game together, remotely.

We were back to the fort playground on both Saturday and Sunday. I’ve noticed that almost all of the families at this particular playground are in masks. It’s such routine for SSA at this point that I think they’d feel odd without a mask on when they’re out of the house.

More master chef and Nintendo time.

My two girls.

When you’re a Cline kid, you eat sushi for breakfast. 🙂

It’s Sunday, not Saturday, but we fulfilled Sammy’s resolution with two board games today – Catan Jr. and Ticket to Ride. Amaya was the Catan Jr. winner. I was the overall Ticket to Ride winner and Steven was our kid winner.

Back to the playground for another hour of fun.

Tonight Amaya and I made a dinner recipe she picked out from her cookbook and then Jason and Sammy made us a delicious dessert.

“Send this to Penni and ask if she made this because she has the same cookbook.”

Amaya was annoyed at me at this point in the process. We don’t remember why.

That’s it for us for the week!

The Queen of Ice Cream and her baby, Slothy, got busy on Monday with some Lego sets. A multi-tasking woman of many talents. 🙂

The kids spent some time on Monday using stencils to paint canvases that I had in the house.

Penni had taken a picture of Amaya but she said, “Wait, I wasn’t ready. Take another one.” The kids definitely have this blog top of mind when we’re taking (many) photos during the week.

We had a Raddish Kids recipe we hadn’t made yet so, on Monday night while Steven played with Legos, Sammy, Amaya and I made Alpine Pancakes. Delicious. We made the batter from scratch and it included rolled oats. The kit also came with shapes for creative pancakes.

Steven has this glow-in-the-dark mobile kit that he worked on for a while on Tuesday. “I’m going to paint Jupe now,” he said.

Sammy still looooooooves slime and, fortunately, he also still has a slime kit.

Checking it out, and sharing, with Amaya.

The hill in our yard continues to prove itself useful. It doesn’t take a lot of snow to get going and the kids can play outside on their own, which is great. It’s going to come in handy the rest of the winter while we remain (mostly) stuck at home.

On Wednesday afternoon, Sammy had his first Minecraft play date. He and his friend Ruxin met up on FaceTime and played Minecraft together in Ruxin’s realm. It went really well. They stayed on for 2.5 hours! I’m glad there’s a way for the kids to be social when they can’t be physically present with their friends for play dates. (On Saturday, Steven had his own Minecraft play date with Ruxin and their friend Quinn.)

The kids have digital watches from Vtech and one of these features is a “Silly Meter”. You take a picture of someone and it tells you have silly they are. Amaya was working the system to increase her points lol.

I worked a half day on Thursday and then was off. (Jason was off on Wednesday and Thursday.) After I finished for the day I got some amazing cuddles from SSA. <3

It was warm enough on Thursday afternoon, and sunny, so Steven, Sammy, Amaya and I went to a playground where the played for an hour or so. It was quiet there and I had a parking spot right in front of the playground entrance so I sat in my warm car, with the window cracked, while the kids played. It was amazing to be able to do that!

Home in time for a New Year’s Eve dinner which included crab legs for Mommy and Sammy.

We decided the kids could try to stay up until midnight and, after dinner, we still had 5.5 hours to go. We kicked off our night watching Soul – which was a bigger hit for the adults than the kids. I got in some great cuddles, though.

Ready for 2021! I know the big theme of New Year’s was leaving 2020 behind us but we had a lot of wonderful moments in 2020. Steven, Sammy and Amaya finished Kindergarten. They started first grade and are doing so well with school from home.

We kicked off 2020 in NY and had another trip over President’s Day weekend, oblivious, to what was to come. We did our best to see family with outdoor visits with Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette and, by August, made it back to NY with two week long visits – one in Aug and one in October.

Amaya passed her deep end test at the JCC pool and the boys made tremendous progress in swim lessons at Aqua Tots. We also had a fantastic trip to FL in December. Plus, the year was full of family time – cooking, games, cuddling – and that counts for a lot.

So while the pandemic was rough, and still is, 2020 was still full of a lot of amazing memories.

Then and now!

A tired fying squirrel playing Super Mario Party.

Steven was the first one down, just after 10:30pm. Amaya watched NYE coverage and rubbed his back.

Shortly before 11am we carried a sleeping Steven upstairs and settled in. Sammy was out about 5 minutes later. Amaya fought the good fight and fell asleep at 11:35pm. So close!

Jason and I promised the kids we’d try to wake them if they fell asleep before midnight. At about 10 to 12 we tried out best. We tried really hard. But these kids were not going to wake up for anything.

I’ve watched this video at least 10 times now.

Happy New Year!

The 1st was a pretty quiet day. Queen Amaya, Sammy and I made some yummy chipotle bbq chicken for dinner, with cheesy cauliflower. Definitely something I’d repeat.

Sammy is not the only one with a Switch. I have a Switch Lite (as the kids would want me to clarify) and, on Friday, I beat Link’s Awakening. Playing a Legend of Zelda game takes me right back to 1988. It was awesome.

We woke up on Saturday to a dusting of snow that iced over a bit – perfect for sledding. Amaya headed out on her own for a while before we convinced her brothers to join her. The first outdoor hour of 2021!

Amaya had a tooth hanging on by a thread and I wanted one last picture of her with all of her baby teeth. It’s so bitter sweet for me.

All my kids together!

With so much downtime, there has been a lot of gaming over break. Here we have Amaya on my Switch, Steven playing minecraft on one of my phones and Sammy on his Switch. Right now, as I type this, Steven is playing on my Switch and Amaya and Sammy are both in a classmate’s Minecraft realm.

At Steven’s request, we played Catan Junior. Amaya was our winner this game.

It’s also been a weekend of magnatiles. With the cleaned-up playroom, it’s easier than ever for the kids to play with their best toys.

While I was making dinner, Amaya pulled out her tooth! She was sitting on the couch with Jason and just pulled it out! Our girl. <3

The center bottom tooth next to the one she lost is loose, too, so I think Amaya will be the last to loose a first tooth and the first to lose a second tooth!

Tooth fairy pillow! We have one believer (Steven), one non-believer (Amaya) and one on the fence (Sammy).

We woke up to more snow today. It wasn’t good sledding snow but the kids were able to make snowballs and snow people.

Snowlady!

“Mountain Man”

A new Raddish kids kit arrived so we made homemade ravioli. It was more work than I expected! The dough was dense but Amaya and Steven both said they liked it a lot – and Amaya doesn’t usually enjoy ravioli. I’ll call it a win for the experience and the first-try outcome.

Steven, Amaya and I found the energy to also make a delicious dinner. Amaya took pont on the green onion, as she often does, and Steven was on celery duty.

We wrapped up our weekend with a family game of Carcasonne. Steven was our winner today.

And Sally joined us for family dinner! Sweet girl. <3

Tomorrow it’s back to our regular routine which is always jarring for me. It’s been a great break, though. Happy New Year!