I was in OH for the majority of the week so Jason and Sophia kept things running smoothly in the Land of Cheltenham.

It started with Monday – Valentine’s Day! The kids could have taken the bus to school but, with their Valentine’s boxes, we decided it would be much easier for a drop off. We had happy Valentine’s kids!

I eagerly awaited a Valentine’s Day delivery I planned for Jason and the kids. Love the Nest cam for these purposes.

Sophia heard me talking to her through the microphone and held up the delivery for me to see. Honestly, it’s pretty amazing that I can talk to people at my door while I’m away on business.

Sophia had surprises for the kids, too! They had a great day.

Tuesday, for Amaya’s swim class, the boys were all hands on Minecraft while Amaya did her thing.

Sally isn’t lonely when I’m gone because she’s got her little siblings. 😻😻😻

The kids had another snow day on Friday – well earned with very icy roads – and Sophia stayed over on Thursday night. Friday morning, while I drove home, they had a nice lazy morning which included some partner yoga. 🙂

Amaya built a new KiwiCo kit.

Amaya and Sophia went through a bunch of clothes from Charlie. Amaya absolutely loves her Charlie hand-me-downs. I hardly ever have to buy this girl clothes! (Thank you Charlie & team!)

Friday afternoon the boys had their first LEVEL 5 swim class and I was home from OH in time to take them. They were at separate times, 30 min apart. Steven volunteered to go first and got right in. I know I’ve said this before but I’m really proud of how far Steven and Sammy have come with their swimming skills. It doesn’t come as naturally for them as it does for Amaya and they’ve worked really hard to get to this point.

Making faces at Steven lol

While we were at swim, Amaya and Sophia made a neopolitan marshmallow recipe from a cookbook Amaya borrowed from school.

Ready to chill overnight

Sleep with Parent Night! It was Amaya Sammy and Sally with Daddy. <3

We had a super lazy Saturday. I think most of us stayed in our PJs all day!

The kids got to taste Amaya’s marshmallow treat. It was a hit!

Sammy and Amaya making up partner yoga poses.

When a Steven guy can’t fall asleep, sometimes I lie next to his bed and hold a sweet hand

Jason spent a good chunk of the day at the office. Amaya, Steven and I started the day watching Encanto and then the kids spent a number of hours in the playroom with legos and hot wheels and magnatiles, playing pretty nicely together the whole time.

Steven and I wrapped up our day with an hour-long hike through Maybury Park. It was warm enough to enjoy and the snow was really pretty. Steven is definitely my nature buddy.

Found a great piece of bark

You can’t get between Steven and a map

We thought the bark on this tree was really interesting

When we left, Steven wanted to take a picture of me here.

Finally, this week’s after school art program artwork. They did batik on paper.

Steven

Sammy

Amaya

Have a great week!

Well hello! This blog is coming to you from Columbus, OH where will be working until Friday. Five nights away – my longest trip away in over two years. In fact, it’s probably my longest trip since Erica and I went to Denmark, Sweden and Norway in July 2019. It will go by quickly but, on this side of it, the time away feels like a doozy. (Though, as I think about it, I’ve been away for four nights which isn’t all that different I suppose.)

To start, I found this picture of Jason and Amaya on the Novi Parks facebook page. Look how engaged they are with one another. I love this candid moment so much.

Oh look! A kid with a puke bucket!

Amaya woke up on Monday and said she felt sick. She promptly lay down on the floor with a bucket and stayed there for about 3 hours. The issue was that we didn’t have bus service last week and Jason had an early meeting so, until Sophia arrived at 11:30am, the boys had to suffer through a morning at home. Trust me, they didn’t mind. But it was still wild to send an email that the boys would be late because I couldn’t get them to school. Mrs. Bates was completely understanding.

Turns out, by about 11:30am, Amaya turned a corner. I don’t know if she was really sick or if feeling off made her worry she would be sick, after seeing what the brothers went through.

She’s still got tired eyes but a little soup cured that quickly.

Amaya ended up having a wonderful day at home by herself – broth (which she loves), paper airplanes, journaling, face paints… if nothing else, it was a nice mental health day for our girl.

So, so sick lol

For dinner, Sopha got dough, sauce and toppings so the kids could make their own pizzas. They absolutely loved it. They’ve done this in the past but it’s been a while and this time they got creative with their dough.

On Tuesday Amaya had swim and she’s getting closer and closer to passing level 8. After that we’ll have to decide if we want to enroll her in their swim club or find another place for her to take lessons. I think it will depend on whether she wants to swim for fun or to compete.

Amaya’s progress <3

Steven wanted to spend some of his birthday money on new Hot Wheels cars. (He now has over 100.) He found a set of seven 50th anniversary special edition cars on Amazon and really wanted them. They cost $50 which is a lot of money to spend so we decided to check eBay instead and he hit the jackpot. He patiently waited 6 days for an auction to end and won the cars for $30. Patience paid off! The cars arrived on Tuesday and he was thrilled.

On Wednesday, poor Sophia came down with whatever ran through out house the week before. I was able to rearrange my afternoon to get the kids from school (no bus this week!) and Amaya joined us at the boys’ swim class.

It was awesome that I was there this week because both Steven and Sammy graduated to level 5!! I’m so proud of them. They’ve worked so hard to overcome their fears and work toward becoming proficient swimmers. I know they both hope they can pass the JCC swim test this summer and I think they’re well on their way.

Showing off their Level 5 bracelets

Amaya was very happy for her brothers and wanted to be sure I remembered that she started off in level 5 lol.

Success!

Sophia was still ill on Thursday so Jason came home early to get the kids from school (a surprise!) and take them to gymnastics. Such a treat Steven, Sammy and Amaya. We made things easy with Jersey Mike’s for dinner.

Our pediatrician’s office is backed up and I couldn’t get three 8 year well-check appointments together. In fact, I could only get one now and there are two in May. Steven got the first appointment which meant an early pick-up from school. While he waited for us to leave, he powered through all of his valentine’s for his class. They don’t have to write the recipient’s name but he wanted to. I was really impressed with his focus – especially because he did it on his own while Sophia was out picking up Sammy & Amaya (long car line) and I was working in the basement.

Even at 8, the fish tank at the doctor’s office is a draw. Clean bill of health for this boy, as expected.

And here are some photos of the boys from school this week. (Steven will readily admit he often forgets to take off his jacket.)

On Friday night, the Cline men had a camp out with the boys in our master bedroom while Amaya made a basement fort for a girls’ night.

Saturday was beautifully lazy. (Until 11:15am when I remembered Amaya had an 11:30am birthday party. Yikes! Our girl hustled to get dressed and she wasn’t even the last one to arrive!)

Steven looooooooooves his Hot Wheels

The boys had another Zoom Minecraft afternoon with friends from school

Amaya sewed a phone case for herself. She needed more fabric so I let her cut up some old dress up clothes. Other than help threading the needles and knotting the end of the thread, this was all her.

Sally and I got in some wonderful cuddle time.

Jason had to work this morning so, before my drive to Columbus, the kids and I went to the Early Bird for breakfast. They were delighted.

Plus valentine’s day lollipops!

My favorite 5, caring for each other. <3

I headed off and everyone else stayed busy!

Trading Olympic cards.

Apparently Amaya is scoring for the Bengals. 🙂

It was a week of Valentine’s art!

The kids made their valentine’s card boxes for school. I know some folks go all out but we’re very happy with simple and easy.

They did Valentine’s artwork at their after school art class.

Steven

Sammy

Amaya

That’s it for us! Have a great week!

This week is hard to piece together. Sammy was sick all week long and Steven and Amaya had THREE snow days so the week sort of blended together, and probably not just for me.

Sammy was pretty miserable on Monday. He slept until about 9:30am and then laid on the couch until Steven and Amaya came home. Noise really bothered him and he barely drank anything all day. He didn’t want to be touched. It was a pretty sad sight. 🙁 When Amaya and Steven got home he went upstairs to our bedroom to stay away from the noise.

Sally knew that Sammy needed a little extra love.

Sophia was amazing helping to hold down the fort.

Tuesday this boy didn’t feel much better. He was still randomly getting sick and hadn’t had solid food since Saturday. His fever was also still in the 102s. 🙁

Chronicles of a sad, sick Bubba. 💔

Sleeping with his face in a bowl. Sammy, of all the kids, really hates being sick. I don’t blame him.

On Tuesday Sophia was able to run out to get the kids’ ceramics from their birthday party. They’re so cute! Left to right is Steven, Sammy and Amaya.

The kids wrote thank you notes which Sophia attached to the packages we’ll deliver to their friends.

Amaya and Steven had their after-school art class on Tuesday. They made multi-media collages – Amaya’s wit a painted rose and Steven’s with a painted tree. It’s such a cool class!

This is where it gets interesting. We new a lot of snow was coming – expected on Wednesday and Thursday. To ensure she could get to work and we had childcare, Sophia made plans to sleep over on Tuesday night. Since she was staying the night, she took Amaya to swim on Tuesday and I stayed home with Sammy.

Sure enough, Wednesday was a snow day! We were glad that they called in on Tuesday evening so the kids could go to bed knowing they were off the hook. Sammy still felt terrible, and had a fever, but Steven and Amaya were full of snow day energy.

Here, Steven was listening to me on a work call in the basement. “I can hear mommy but I don’t know anything they’re talking about.”

The Snow Day Gang

Making Valentine’s Card boxes for school

Gotta get out in the snow! The kids still love the sleds that Grandma Sunshine got for them 3 or 4 years ago. The hill in our backyard is perfect.

Post sledding joy

Sammy still had a fever on Wednesday but, for the first time, he felt well enough to watch TV. Until this point, he just lay around in the quiet feeling miserable. It was great to see.

He even had some toast and watched some of Star Wars (Revenge of the Sith) from upstairs.

The Star Wars girls downstairs

Thursday! Still home. Not a surprise and definitely a happy day for these two.

On Thursday, the light really started to return to Sammy’s eyes. Not 100% yet but so much better.

He even came downstairs to watch A New Hope with Steven and Amaya

On Thursday evening, Sophia braded Amaya’s hair in many braids so it would be crimped and curly for a big Friday night event.

Thurdsay night, Sammy felt well enough to talk to Nana on the phone!

Amaya had a hard time falling asleep on Thursday night. She rested on Jason for a while before settling in on the floor next to my bed. It was a happy compromise for my girl.

Look at this guy on Friday! He started eating more and spent the day happily watching TV.

Meanwhile, Steven and Amaya continued running through Star Wars movies.

Amaya lost a tooth on Friday afternoon. Now both of her front teeth are gone!

The big Friday night event was a daddy/daughter dance! Amaya has been looking forward to it for weeks. She picked out a dress which just happened to be the same dress she wore 2 years ago in a larger size. Her style is consistent.

In preparation for the evening out with her daddy, she asked that they make each other cards to give one another at the dance. <3

Amaya and Daddy

The boys and I couldn’t go out bc Sammy wasn’t quite well enough but we did order in cheesecake and watch an Octonauts movie together.

Unfortunately, in the middle of the night, Steven got sick. It seems we weren’t quite in the clear from what Sammy had. Sadness. 🙁

He was a trooper, though. Like Sammy before him, he spent all day in bed but he was feeling well enough for TV before and after a long nap.

Meanwhile, while Steven rested and Sammy watched marathon Phineas and Ferb, Amaya headed out for a snowshoe treasure hunt with her girl scout troop! It was a great adventure for her and it’s amazing to be at a phase where I can send her off with her friends.

My friend shared these photos of Amaya. Apparently her favorite part of the outing was when she had to play dead. She did it with flair! And look at those snow shoes!

I spent about 6 hours of the day cuddling with Steven. When he’s sick, he wants to be in physical contact with his mama and I’m happy to oblige.

Big bags under those eyes 🙁

It’s hard to tell, but Steven is lying across me with my thigh as his pillow.

Daddy got some rest time, too, with Sally standing guard.

Today, despite spending some of the morning on the floor, Steven was feeling measurably better than yesterday. He ate a good amount of dry cheerios and drank a reasonable amount of water. He still has a low fever, though, and is pretty low energy overall so tomorrow will be a sick day for this boy.

Jason had to go into the office this morning and, with Steven sick, I couldn’t take Sammy and Amaya to hebrew school. They’re currently offering a virtual option for K- 3 and 4- 6 for families uncomfortable with in-person attendance so we took advantage of that. They weren’t thrilled about online hebrew school (which I understand) but it was actually a really well run and engaging class. Better than they thought!

Showing fruits in their house. Sammy and Amaya were pretty pleased to have a mango and pineapple to share. (I have no idea of the context. I was upstairs with Steven when this all started.)

Sweet boy, unsure if he felt bad bc he was hungry or because he started eating again. The bucket is bigger than he is!

Amaya and Sammy got a jump start on their valentine’s cards for their classmates. Amaya has LOL and Sammy has Pokemon. Steven picked out Hot Wheels and they’re not here yet.

The afternoon was dedicated to minecraft, via zoom, with the boys’ friends. I think there were 6 or 7 of them that joined. Steven even rallied to play for a while. They haven’t done this in a while and are much better at playing together than in the fall of 2020. No surprise.

Steven stayed on for about 90 min while Sammy clocked in at over 3 hours.

I’ll wrap up with what the triplet moms are calling the Encanto Challenge. For two days, my entire facebook feed was full of photos of triplet moms recreating this image from the movie. Here’s mine.<3

Have a great week!

The kids had a great first full week as 8 year olds. It wasn’t even horribly anticlimactic after all the build up and excitement.

During TV time these days we’re rotating between Wipeout and Jeopardy. Two wildly different shows. Sally is still in the mood to hang out with us whenever we’re gathered downstairs. Steven likes when she walks or sits on him but only with a blanket barrier.

Tuesday was a super busy day for Amaya. All three kids had after school art on Tuesday until 5pm and Amaya also always has swim on Tuesdays at 6:50pm. This week she also had a gymnastics make-up class at 5:25pm. While Sophia picked up the boys at school after art class, I picked up Amaya and too her straight to gymnastics. From there it was right to swim and definitely a “sandwich in the car for dinner” night.

This was my first time watching one of Amaya’s classes. (I haven’t seen the boys yet, either.) Sophia’s videos are awesome but I loved to get to watch her myself. Amaya asked me to watch her from the doorway for the whole class and I loved knowing she wanted me there, too. She’s got great focus and clearly loves being in the gym.

Amaya is in the white and pink leotard and colored leggings.

Off to swim! No issues with energy for this girl.

The kids made dot art at their art class, using q-tips. Boats in the water with a little island. It seems like a wonderful program.

Steven’s art. He said his boat is on fire.

Sammy’s art.

Amaya’s art. It’s hard to see in the photo but she added glitter.

Nana had a weekend trip scheduled so, as an extra precaution, we all did a rapid test on Wednesday night. One of the boy’s friends tested positive on Sunday so I was a little nervous but all clear! Yay!!

This girl needed some daddy cuddle time after bed. She fell right to sleep, just like this. <3

Thursday was gymnastics day for the whole crew. The boys are working on supported hand stands. So much of what they do is focused on balance, coordination and strength. It’s great.

Sammy

Steven

Thursday night Nana arrived, with treats in hand! <3

My girl loves her baby dolls, even asleep. She’s got Chelsea, Rose, Minty and Chip.

Nana came in on Thursday night because the kids had a half day on Friday and would get extra Nana time that way. She was ready when the kids got off the bus and took care of their lunch. Then SSA called a meeting and got busy planning an obstacle course through the house.

While the kids were planning the obstacle course, Sammy said that Amaya is a “big liar” and she couldn’t be trusted. Amaya was outraged at the accusation.

The obstacle course! I was glad to hear it was cleaned up before my work day ended because it was hard to see beyond the wild m-e-s-s. It sounds like they had fun, though.

Bedtime books – Steven reading about anacondas. I don’t think I read much non-fiction at this age. He seems to love reading about predators.

Nighttime hugs for Nana!

Saturday morning, Nana, Steven, Sammy and Amaya took their usual trip to Starbucks for breakfast.

All smiles, even in the very, very cold weather.

It was a nice, quiet afternoon at home. We’re masking when we’re within 6 feet of Nana so you’ll see some masked and some unmasked photos throughout the weekend.

Sally joined us for Blokus. She didn’t even try to knock the pieces to the ground.

Amaya got busy with a bunch of science experiments and, when she needed adult supervision, Nana jumped in to help.

She created a volcano eruption, made CO2 to fill a balloon and made a rainbow “explosion”.

I got to take a nap with sweet Sal.

And Nana and the kids got busy with foosball and air hocky.

We had very limited plans for today but most of those went by the wayside when Sammy got sick in the middle of the night. Poor Bubba. Rapid test says no COVID but he has a fever, too, so it was a lot of naps and very little food/drink for this guy.

I mean, this face…

Cuddles with Daddy and Sally

Birthday presents from Nana and Papa which included gift cards to Dave & Busters and Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum. Can’t wait!!

We had a family date to watch Apollo 13 with the kids. This movie has to be in my top 10 and it still holds up so well. Midway, Sammy needed to rest so he and Jason headed upstairs for a long nap together.

Steven held our hands through the movie

Amaya did math equations during the movie 🙂

And that was mostly it for our lazy weekend. Aside from Sammy’s health, it was lovely.

Finally, here are some pictures of the boys from school this week!

Have a great week!

What a great week for Steven, Sammy and Amaya. It started with a day off school for MLK Jr. day and ended with big birthday celebrations.

On Monday, Sophia came early to spend the day home with SSA. Unlike Winter Break, which was non-stop activity, this was a much-needed quiet day in the house.

It started with Sorry – a game I can remember playing with my own dad as a kid. Sammy was excited here because he was in the lead.

Amaya made delicious brownies with Sophia. In fact, even though I offered to bake them with her on Sunday, she specifically asked to wait to do it with Sophia because she and I “can cook together all the time.”

They were delicious.

Watching MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech

Where there’s Steven, there are Hot Wheels.

Amaya made bathroom stalls for her baby dolls.

My two best girls.

On Tuesday, Sophia made dinner that included crab. Sally approved.

Wednesday night was Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s last sleep as seven year olds. Really crazy. As has become tradition, after they were asleep we put balloons in their room so the celebrating could start as soon as they woke up.

Happy EIGHT to Steven, Sammy and Amaya!! They were full of birthday energy all morning long. To make the early hours extra fun, I drove them to school so they could skip the bus and have more time at home. It was special for me, too. Everything about their birthday feels special to me. <3

Eight! I feels so right but I also feel like I was just pregnant.

A picture rom the boy’s teacher. The kids told me their classes sang happy birthday and Amaya got an extra rendition in music class. Mrs. Bates gave the boys birthday coloring sheets and pencils and Sammy got some beautiful tissue roses from Cici, a girl in his class.

I picked the kids up early, at 2:30pm, so we could go out for a family dinner in a Deadwood igloo at 3:30pm. But, first, presents from Grandpa Homey and Auntie & Dod Shuki, plus gift cards from Uncle Austin and Krissy. <3

The Clines, celebrating eight! We had an igloo reservation last year, too, when we weren’t eating in restaurants and it seemed like a fun tradition to continue.

Amaya turned her cookies into an 8.

An early dinner meant we had time to play Super Mario Life after dinner – a gift for Sammy from Auntie and Dod Shuki. Even Sally wanted to celebrate.

Happy Birthday time! The kids got to enjoy a cookie ice cream cake that Sophia made for them.

Inside 8 balloons

On Thursday night, after the kids were asleep I headed to the airport to pick up two special birthday visitors – Aunt Sara and Charlie! Yay!! It’s been two whole years since they visited.

Remarkably, the kids headed off to school on Friday morning even knowing that Charlie was asleep downstairs. Steven said he never looked at the clock so often during the school day.

I was upstairs working when the kids got home from school and the screams were loud enough that everyone in my meeting heard the commotion. Big, BIG energy in the Cline House. <3

Even with the excitement of seeing Charlie, Amaya still took a break to make a plaster volcano from the science kit the Goldberg’s gifted her. This child is incredibly independent. She did the whole thing herself, with typical Amaya focus.

I Hop dinner! Love having these two in the house with us.

About two years ago, when we got bunk beds for Steven and Sammy, we got Amaya a single bed. She was a little jealous until we explained that her bed has a trundle for a mattress for special visitors. After a long covid wait, Friday night was her first chance to use it with her most favorite visitor.

These two…

We had a loud, but calm, morning before heading to Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s birthday party! We wanted something that could be “covid safe” which was particularly prescient thinking with the current omicron concerns. The choice was pottery painting at The Bee’s Knees – a place I’ve shared in the blog a few times before. Kids wore masks and we sent home cupcakes instead of eating them at the party.

Three weeks ago, the kids and I visited to pick out the pieces they and their friends would paint. Steven picked an ATV. Sammy picked a puppy. Amaya picked a penguin. I picked the fourth, a fairy.

With SSA and Charlie, we had 19 kids attend and, fortunately, the place reserved for just our party. I was a little nervous about 20 young kids in a ceramics place but they all did great! No catastrophes. 🙂

The birthday kids, before their friends arrived.

Picking out the paint colors. They each got to pick 2 colors, plus grey and white. Sammy was so cute. He wanted to be sure there was a pink color to use for the inside of the puppy’s ears.

A fun part of a Bee’s Knees birthday party is putting your thumbprint on the wall, which is turned into a bee with your name and age. (SSA all remembered that there was a 90 year old with her thumbprint on the wall.)

I think they’ll love seeing their thumbprints when we go back in the future.

One big table for all the kids, mostly segregated by gender. All of the kids sat next to their closest friends – Amaya with Milan and Charlie, Sammy with Nolan and Steven with Jack.

Amaya and Milan – with their penguins.

Birthday boys

The party was 90 minutes which was more time than the kids needed for the craft so we opened presents – something that the kids loved. I can’t believe how much kids like watching their friends open gifts! But they do and it filled the back part of the party time well. Steven, Sammy and Amaya have very generous friends who’ve left them with toys to build & play with for a long time to come. (Amaya was particularly happy to receive a special multi-color pen from Milan, that Milan knew she wanted, and a little rainbow “BFFs” sign. Steven got a ton of new Lego sets and Sammy got a bunch of Pokemon stuff.)

All of the pre-glazed / pre-fired pieces.

After their party, Charlie subbed in for me and the kids finished Thursday’s game of Super Mario Life. Steven was the winner.

Cousins!

Steven, Amaya and I left the house early this morning to take Aunt Sara and Charlie to the airport and then swung back home to pick up Sammy for Hebrew School. The afternoon plan was a birthday party but it was canceled due to COVID so, instead, the kids spent their afternoon playing with birthday presents.

Sammy and Amaya making a Snow Globe craft that Amaya was gifted. I love when these two work together.

Daddy, getting ready to temporarily step in for Sammy in Super Mario Life.

I’ll wrap up this amazing week with some pictures from the Thornton Creek STEAM class Instagram page. I found our trio in action, designing and sharing their ideal schools.

Steven mentioned that, by chance, he and Sammy were paired together. I guess it’s bound to happen sometimes!

And that’s it for us! The Land of Cheltenham has EIGHT year olds!

Amaya had a Girl Scouts meeting on Monday night and, to be extra safe, it was via zoom instead of in person. Since it was at 7pm, she showed up ready to go in her PJs and Brownie vest. <3

On Tuesday, I took Amaya to her swim class – as I do. I’m going to have to figure out how to take the boys more often because they’re getting jealous but Amaya’s class is at 6:50pm and theirs is at 5:10pm which is really hard to accommodate with work. Once in a while, though, I can make it.

Steven, looking absolutely adorable IMO, in his sleep headphones.

This week the kids started an after school art program run by the Northville Art House. There are two four week sessions, with classes once/week on Tuesday’s after school. The kids were really excited to get to stay at school after the day ended just like the kids in the afterschool Kids’ Club program.

This first week, they did drawings of koi fish with charcoal.

Swim for Steven and Sammy – happy boys jumping in!

On Friday, Amaya did one of the “Jokes of the Day” for the school announcements. I wouldn’t normally get to see it but the school sent out a video of the day’s announcements because they announced the winner or the yearbook cover contest. If Steven hadn’t told me about Amaya’s participation, I would never have known to look out for her.

If you want to see Amaya, forward to 5:50 at this link: https://watch.screencastify.com/v/eJiyyPdojanEKwrKHSQr

Sally has been super affectionate lately. She loves being around the family. I don’t know if it’s her age or the kids’ age or what, but she can’t get enough of us and it makes my heart happy.

Jason and Sweet Sal

Mommy, Steven and Sally

Look how chill Sally is with all of these petting hands on her.

Amaya and I had a basement sleepover last night and, while she waited for me, she read some of the newest borrowed book in her favorite series – Dork Diaries. In fact, in the morning I found her reading by the light of her iPod. She doesn’t have tremendous stamina yet, but I love to see her choosing to read.

Early morning reading

Saturday morning! Family time!

While we waited for a pre-birthday visit from Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette, Steven had a long phone conversation with Charlie. No video… they were just chatting.

He looks like such a big kid here.

Amaya and I also started the process of dying her hair. We haven’t dyed it since school started and Amaya’s ready for some birthday color.

Hanging out with tinfoil in her hair.

Grandma and Aunt Annette came around 10:30am and SSA were ready to open some birthday presents. They’re turning EIGHT!?! But how???

Suuuuuuuuuper cool hat from Aunt Annette. Steven wears it well.

Classic games from Grandma! Knocked it out of the park with the choices and we all spent a great day digging into the new games.

SSA and Grandma playing Uno

Look who’s hanging out! In fact, she let me pick her up off my lap and deposit her on Jason’s.

Amaya’s new look! Love it.

Playing Mastermind. Remember that game? Steven, Sammy and Amaya are at a great age to start playing and love it, too.

Grandma and Amaya playing Mandala. I’ve never played but I’m excited to learn.

Definitely a gaming family.

And there’s Sally again!

Before Grandma headed out, Amaya displayed her reading skills with some more Dork Diaries.

Cool cat building a lego set

Sally was back with the family for shows (Wipeout!) and story books (How to Eat Fried Worms).

This morning, the sky was a beautiful blue and the frost on the trees was so pretty. Winter in MI sucks, and is often very very grey, but today was lovely – even in the frigid weather.

The boys had a make-up swim lesson today and Daddy took them! A treat for Steven and Sammy and, I think, Jason too.

It was a game afternoon – Uno, Mandala, Mastermind and Carcassonne. One of my favorite kind of days.

My friend Laura dropped off a few peanut butter alternative for us to try – four flavors of granola butter, wow butter and a sesame butter. The kids wanted to do a blind taste test so I put the spreads on crackers and gave them each a sheet to track what they thought each was. Steven won with 4 correct followed by Sammy with 3 and Amaya with 1. Amaya really liked the blueberry granola butter.

We had some cuddle time, football time, and Wipeout time and then it was ready to wrap out weekend.

That’s it for us! We have three kids who are ready to turn EIGHT on Thursday. Have a great week!

*I was going to title this blog “Winding Down Seven” but Steven said it made him sad because “once I turn eight I’ll never be seven again.” Sweet sweet boy.

Its funny how winter break already feels like it was so long ago. The kids had a great week back at school and we were back in our routine easily, after Monday morning. I even went into the office twice this week.

At this time of year, 8am brings very pretty sunrises while we wait for the bus. The picture doesn’t do it justice. Though is is now also the time of year where mornings are too cold for this lady and I watch the kids get on the bus from a front window in our house. Thank goodness for the bus tracker app that lets me know when the bus is approaching so the kids don’t have to stand outside for too long. (Of course they’re also outside in this weather for two recesses/day.)

Into the cold….

Amaya had a make-up swim lesson Tuesday so she had back to back classes. Heaven for our girl.

I just love Steven in his As hat. I think it’s such a good look for him.

Swim for the boys on Wednesday. They’re slowly progressing through level 4. I love videos of them jumping into the water. They’re getting more and more confident. I know Sammy hopes to be able to pass the deep water swim test at the JCC this summer which will probably take progressing into level 5 but he’s got time.

While the boys were at swim, I finished up work the the day and Amaya read some of her Thea Stilton book. The kids love books, being read to, and sometimes reading to us, but aren’t yet very interested in a ton of solo reading time.

Back go gymnastics! The kids seem happy when their classes cross paths.

Steven reading his shark book to Daddy. He said he was the Hollywood sign on top of Mt. Daddy. 🙂

Early on Friday morning, Sammy and I headed to the airport for a weekend in NY! The last time he and I had a solo trip was June, for Chase’s Bar Mitzvah. Between then and now we’ve had two trips with all of the kids and solo trips for Steven and Amaya so I was really glad for this 1:1 time with Bubba.

I took advantage of a Sky Club pass to bring Sammy in with me – a rarity. Sammy, in particular among the kids, loves the fine life and was so happy. “I can eat as much as I want.” He was also thrilled with our Comfort+ upgrades on our flights.

Sa-tis-fied.

Ready! Between weather and the recent rash of flight cancelations we were worried we’d be delayed but we landed in NY a little early which gave us a full afternoon with family. Well, Sammy. I was working for the afternoon.

It worked out perfectly because the Goldbergs all had a snow day on Friday! Sammy didn’t even have to wait for Charlie or Chase to get out of school.

Making lemon cookies – one of Sammy’s favorites.

Uno and popcorn

Video games – a big theme of the weekend

Coveted Savta time during dinner

This trip, Sammy asked if we could stay at a hotel. For a variety of reasons, I agreed. While I missed out on the extra time with Sara, it was special to get even more 1:1 time with Sammy. On Friday night, we stayed at a hotel (motel?) not too far from Sara’s house.

Getting cozy and picking a sleep story to listen to…

Morning books & snuggles before heading over to the Goldberg’s house.

We got to Sara’s around 9:30am and everyone besides Sa was still asleep! To avoid waking everyone, we went to the basement where Sara, Sammy and played some Super Mario Kart together. That lasted until Chase & Charlie woke up and subbed in for the adults.

Back in the Land of Cheltenham, Jason shared this photo of a morning snack Amaya made. I heart that Steven loved it and asked for more! They’re wheat thin sandwiches of sliced pickles, crushed walnuts and cream cheese.

Late morning was bowling excursion that lasted through lunch. My shoulder is bothering me so I didn’t bowl but I had fun watching this foursome. Sammy (Puppy) took the first game and Charlie (Silly Monkey) took the second.

Sammy’s winning score.

The afternoon included time with Nana, Papa, Savta and Auntie. The kids spent time out in the snow and played more of Sammy’s video games. This time I think it was Super Mario Party.

Warming up by the fire after coming in from the cold. To be safe, we all masked inside when Nana, Papa and Savta were there.

It was very difficult for Sammy to say goodbye to Savta and Nana at the end of the night. This boy loves so hard. ❤️

Steven also loves hard. ❤️

The kids go to sleep to either sleep stories or mediations and it was uncomfortable for Steven to wear regular headphones so he got these adorable sleep headphones. Mr. Fox is comfy and wireless. Upside is comfort and we don’t have to remember to remove it at night like we do the kids’ wired headphones. Downside is it’s one more thing to charge.

Since we were staying at a hotel, Sammy and I picked a Hampton Inn right by LGA for our Saturday night stay. It saved us 30 minutes in the morning and, honestly, we probably could have taken an even later shuttle than we did. He wasn’t happy to be leaving though, which I can totally relate to.

Ready to go!

Amaya’s baby dolls were helping judge Steven’s hot wheels racing contest. Steven loooooves his car and Amaya loooooves her dolls.

Shortly after Sammy and I got home, we were sent upstairs for 2 hours while Steven and Amaya engaged in a bake-off. We couldn’t come down until it was done so we could judge fairly. Steven was the winner but it was close!

The aftermath!

That’s it for us! Have a great week!

It was another amazing break week at Camp Sophia for Steven, Sammy and Amaya. So many adventures each day.

Monday started with a visit to Buddy’s pizza and glow-in-the-dark mini golf. When they wrapped up, they headed over to a bowling alley. Bowling was toward the top of their list for the week.

Mini golf + glow in the dark… a kid’s dream.

Sophia smoked them! Amaya was the “kid winner” as we call it around here.

Bowling! I don’t love bowling and I’m not good at it but the kids looooooved it so I may give it another shot. Sammy and Steven each got a strike and, as the boys tell it, Amaya got a lot of splits.

Sammy, jumping in the air after a good roll. (Is that what it’s called? A roll?)

Steven has this smaller rubix cube that he’s been working on. He said, “I got all of the colors on each side! But not at the same time.” lol

Tuesday was a visit to Stemville in Northville. I haven’t been here yet, but it was the kids’ second visit and they had a great time again. Places like this are right up their alley. Hands on STEM fun.

On Tuesday night, the kids had a chance to Facetime with Grandpa Homey. <3

Wednesday was a trip to the zoo! I don’t think I can do the cold in grey, 30-something degree weather but Michigan folk are built of stronger cold-weather stock and Sophia and the kids had a blast. Sophia said they had almost as much fun in snow piles as they did seeing the animals.

Giraffes! I’ve never been to the zoo in the winter so I didn’t know you can see giraffes indoors at the Detroit Zoo. So cool. A giraffe even came over to say “hi” and the kids report that two of them “kissed on the lips.” (Amaya loves it. Steven says he likes romance but never wants to kiss on the lips because it’s gross. Sammy had no comment.)

We ended the day with Crab Fest. For Mommy, Daddy and Sammy only. 🙂

Thursday was a visit to Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum. The kids had a blast playing the games, including some “old timey” ones. Sophia said, “It’s so cute when Sammy is excited and he jumps and runs around and smiles. He’s been doing that a lot here.” I can absolutely picture it.

This girl came home with a lot of lollipops.

On Friday it was my turn for an adventure with the kids. We went to the Michigan Science Center in midtown Detroit. We’ve never been but saw it next to the Detroit Institute of Arts and were excited to check it out. We were there for about 3.5 hours and the kids were non-stop the entire time. I was busier than it looks in pictures but empty enough that the kids didn’t have to wait much for their experiences.

This was set up like a pinball game with a spring loaded trigger. The goal was to arrange the metal tubes in a way to get the ball to return home. Steven and Sammy both spent a while on this.

Amaya spent ages creating the perfect path for her ball.

We made paper airplanes and threw them through targets. (Or tried to. None of mine made it.)

A chemistry tutorial, making slime.

My girl <3

Snowboard racing! Even I got in on it.

Really for New Year’s!

Amaya was a volunteer at the science show. She helped demonstrate how lasers are used to remove cataracts.

We got home in more than enough time for a great New Year’s Eve celebration! This year, the kids were determined to make it to midnight and 2/3 did it.

Such little babies….growing up.

We watched football, played Blokus, and had a great game of Super Mario Kart.

I did not win.

By 10:30pm, this boy was tired.

Just before 11pm, we headed up to the big bed to watch NYE celebrations, while Jason finished the football game. This was at 10:56pm and sweet Sammy was still awake.

By 11:02pm, he was out.

We tried to wake him for the ball drop but he was o-u-t.

I literally held Steven up in my lap to help him make his goal – and we did it! At one point he said, “this is torture!” Someday he’ll learn the joy of being asleep at 10pm on New Year’s Eve. 🙂

Before bed, he turned the clock to midnight.

Yesterday was mellow, mellow, mellow. We were tired and up for a lazy day at home. A game of Set, some tv time…nothing of note – just what we needed.

First real snow of the season for the kids! It’s still amazing to me how kids can play in the cold snow for so long. Five minutes and I’m done for! It wasn’t great sledding snow but that didn’t stop them.

Sammy, the stinker, got a kick out of piling snow up against the back door so we can’t open it. He got a real kick out of cackling at us through the window while he worked. <3

The rest of the day was mellow – sports, science kits, hot wheels, jewelry crafts. I think we’re all (sort of) ready to a return to the regular routine tomorrow.

Have a great week!

The kids had a fabulous first week of vacation at, what I’m calling, “Camp Sophia.” I’ll back up to the beginning…

First of all, look at how sweet my little Sally is. She loves it under my bed and I took this photo of my sleeping girl on Monday morning. <3

On Monday, the kids spent the day at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. They watched a movie called “Ocean to Orbit” about underwater training for space missions. They were able to sit on the Rosa Parks bus (the bus) as well as exhibits on flight, lego, cars and more.

While I finished up work, Daddy and the kids played a game of monopoly. Steven and Sammy finally finished it on Friday and Steven was the winner. (Again.)

Tuesday morning found Steven and Amaya playing Scrabble Jr. I love when I find the kids playing board games on their own.

Tuesday’s adventure was a visit to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum. The kids had so much fun that they went back after a quick stop out for lunch. The kids’ favorite section was where you throw balls at a target and a machine clocks your throwing speed. They were also very excited to tell me about how wet they got playing in a water area.

On Tuesday evening, since he was home, Daddy took amaya to her swim lesson. She was so excited to have him there!

Wednesday’s big adventure was a trip to the Legoland Discovery Center & Aquarium and the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. It’s been ages since the kids have been to the Legoland Discovery Center.

A huge hit was building cars to race on a test track.

“Amaya says ‘hi!’”

“Steven says ‘hi!’, too!”

After lunch was aquarium time. They were able to touch sea anemones & starfish.

Popping up in the middle of the fish!

On Wednesday evening, it was my turn to take the boys to swim. I regularly take Amaya because her lesson is at 6:40pm but the boys’ 5pm class is too early in the day with my work schedule. It was a quiet week so I was able to make it happen – at Sammy’s request. ❤️

I think they spent as much time waving to me as they did swimming.

I’m so proud of how far they’ve both come.

My fishy boys

Steven, cuddling with his mama and two purchases from Legoland and the aquarium – Sealy and Spider-Ham. (We watched Into the Spiderverse for the first time on Saturday and officially met Spider-Ham. 🙂 )

The boys got word that there was a coyote in our neighborhood and immediately went looking for it. Really reminds me of living in the UTC area of San Diego, on a canyon, when it was common to come home at night to a coyote staring at me on the walk to my door.

On Thursday, Sophia took the kids to the Cranbrook Institute of Science. The day started with a planetarium show on Michigan’s night sky. It’s updated every week to stay current with the sky that week. It was the kids’ first time at a planetarium. After that, they spent hours looking at rocks and more rocks and more rocks. I can’t believe how much they love looking at rocks! And taking pictures with rocks! I only share a couple of them here but there were so many.

“This is going to be my favorite picture ever.” (And, at one point, Steven said, “I could be in this museum forever.” Well definitely be back!)

Amaya put all the bones in the mastodon.

Amaya’s high score for spinning this top was 120 seconds.

Sammy was proud of how long he made this spin.

On Friday, Sophia was off and so were Jason and I so we settled into a long family weekend together. We had a lazy morning before going out for “Dunch” at Bonefish grill. With 3:00pm reservations we were home by about 4:30pm and settled in together for the kids’ first watch of The Last Jedi. One more movie to go!

My sweet, sweet girl on Sleep with Parent night – plus Penguie, Minty and Chip.

Saturday was suuuuuuuper lazy. I woke up at 8am and eventually surfaced to find Jason back asleep downstairs and the kids watching Phineas and Ferb. Shortly after, we transitioned into a morning movie – Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse.

It was also a game day! All 5 of us played Clue (Daddy won). The kids and I played Carcassonne (Steven won) and Amaya, Sammy and I started a game of Scrabble Jr which is still in progress a day later.

We’ve been tracking scores for Carcassonne for over a year and Steven has won the most games, by far.

The kids are getting once/week speech services for help with their “R”s and Amaya has been so diligent with her break homework. I’m really proud to see her work so hard.

Today, because we’ve been pretty stagnant for the past two days, the kids and I took advantage of a sunny and not-horribly cold day to check out one of the trails at Kensington Metropark. It’s a 1.75 mile trail around one of the lakes with, reportedly, a fair amount of sun.

Off we go!

As we were walking, we saw people standing quietly with their hands out. When we got closer, we saw that they had bird seed in their hands and birds were flying up to their hands to eat. Incredible! We were able to find some bird seed on benches and tree stumps, and I always go on nature walks with plastic bags because, inevitably, the kids find rocks they want to keep. So we gave it a shot!

At first we didn’t have much luck but, eventually, we found out groove. It was so cool. We’d stand quietly in areas with birds and, sure enough, they’d land on our hands to eat. Amaya was first to get a visitor. It took some time for Sammy to get a nibble but, eventually, he made some avian friends, too.

We were out for about 90 minutes, much if the time spent feeding birds, so we were pretty cold by the time we got back to the car but also very excited about our unexpected adventure. We’ll definitely return – and this time we’ll know to bring bird seed of our own.

Even Sally took advantage of the nice weather today. 🙂

And that’s it for us. One more week of school break for Steven, Sammy and Amaya! Have a great week!

There were some serious vacation vibes in the house this week. The kids felt it. I know I felt it, even though I won’t actually be on vacation.

Monday started with Pajama Day at school, which both Steven and Amaya chose to participate in.

All three kids gave gift cards to their bus drive, Mr. Ed, and their teachers – and wrote accompanying cards. Steven and Amaya really let their sentiments be known. I love that, every year so far, the kids think they have “the best teacher ever”.

Steven, to Mr. Ed.

Amaya, to Mr. Ed.

Steven, to Mrs. Bates

Amaya, to Mrs. Boomer.

On Monday night, sweet Sammy had trouble falling asleep so Jason and I let him fall asleep on the couch with us. Out he went, pretty fast. And, unlike his brother and sister, once he’s asleep it’s extremely rare to see him before morning.

The frost is in the air! So much so, that I’m waving to these kids from the front door rather than standing at the bus stop with them. Though that doesn’t stop Steven for watching for me in the front window and waving his love as he boards teh bus.

On Tuesday, we had plans for Sophia to pick Sammy up from school early so I could take him to a 4pm dentist appt. Early in the afternoon, I got an email from their dentist (a classmate’s mom) asking if I wanted to bring in Amaya, too. (Steven was seen in October.) That was an easy “yes” so Sophia brought home a very surprised Amaya early, too. I really appreciate their dentist making that offer.

After some initial nerves over x-rays, both kids were cool cucumbers.

I asked Sophia if Steven was surprised or upset to be the only one coming home on the bus. She said he was so happy and said, “I feel like the only child right now!”

Happy kid when I got home. 🙂

In the evening, I took Amaya to swim. Even this counts as 1:1 time in my book. Sammy asked why I always go to Amaya’s swim lessons but not his and Steven’s. The reason is that Amaya’s class is at 6:40pm and the boys have swim at 5pm, which interferes with my work hours. But this coming week it will be very easy for me to take them at 4:30pm so I blocked my calendar and that’s the plan!

Steven’s loving a shark book that he borrowed from the school library. (He even renewed it this week!)

Wednesday was “wear something that lights up” day at school. Sophia picked up some glow sticks for the kids and they were all set.

Office building art by Steven. “Do you know how I made all of those straight lines? A ruler.” 🙂

The kids had a great gymnastics class on Thursday. We have to register month by month (and it fills up really fast which is very stressful) but we’re all set for January. They’re closed for the next two weeks so this was the last class of the month. And Steven was yelling to the people in his group, “Watch my sister!”

Apparently Amaya and Steven kept yelling to each other to watch what they were doing. “Watch this, Stevie!”

Sammy, talking to a friend in his class.

Amaya is in the middle of the screen on the front-most bar.

The boys can get stickers each class for achieving in these categories.

On Thursday night, it was Steven’s turn to have trouble sleeping. He fell asleep on me and, to be honest, I was in heaven.

After school on Friday, the kids told me, “we didn’t do any learning today!” I remember that energy well. I should also mention that, on Wednesday, the kids got home just in time for the boys to go to swim because their bus driver, Mr. Ed, dressed as Santa and handed out gifts. If you’re interested, there’s a video here on the school district’s Facebook page. About the live video Sammy said, “We’re going national.”

Here are some photos of the boys through the week.

On Friday, we kicked off a great weekend with a visit from Nana. <3 Everyone was so happy!

Nana and Amaya, working on paper airplanes.

Steven reading his shark book to Nana

Amaya and Steven have taken to sleeping in the basement guest room Nana’s first night here. We have a king and a queen bed in there so it’s perfect. (Sammy takes the opportunity to sleep with me.)

On Saturday morning, Nana and the kids had their traditional visit to Starbucks.

Love, love, love.

We had a delightfully lazy day. Nana did Kenken puzzles with the kids. The kids made paper airplanes. We played Clue. We watched the Live show of Annie that aired a few weeks ago. (Nana was nostalgic for when I was in the show.)

We wrapped up the day with a drive through the Wayne County Light Fest – our third annual visit, this time with Nana!

This morning, the kids, Jason, Nana and I played an epic Foosball / Air hockey tournament.

Amaya was ready to win

Amaya was the foosball winner

Steven and Sammy won the toilet trophies. They were each winners in the battle of the losers games. (Do you see the little toilet handles on the trophies?)

Nana took home the championship trophy!

This afternoon was even lazier than yesterday, I think. There was football, legos, KiwiCo kits.

Amaya worked for a long time, independently, to make this crane that picks items up and then lifts the crane. Patience, determination and focus – she’s got them in spades.

Late afternoon, we made a delicious Raddish Kids dessert – marshmallow whipped cream filled chocolate crepes. They were really good and I’m pretty happy to know how to make crepes.

Always posing <3

Pre-dinner games with Nana!

Bedtime shows. This boy is very sad his Nana is leaving tomorrow. 🙁

That’s it for us this week! The kids are excited for the week off and all of the adventures they have planned with Sophia.