Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s 5th birthday started quietly at home with My Little Pony shows and lots of games. We were so into the games I lost track of time and we had to scramble to get ready for their party!

Sammy had asked for pumpkin pie for their birthday and it wasn’t ready on Saturday night so a last treat before they got dressed for the day was some 10am pie. Perfect!

Party time!! Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s party was in the Romp ‘n Roll room at their school. It was a perfect space with a large area for our guests – Elsa and Belle – and a separate room for pizza and cake.

Thank to everyone, especially Nana, who helped me get pictures of the day.

I was up for three sets of decor but all three kids wanted My Little Pony. Done!

Guests rolled in starting around noon and I think the final count was 19 kids plus SSA. <3

Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette

Nana & Grandma

Ready for Elsa and Belle!

It took my kids a short second to warm up to Elsa and Belle but once they were in they were in.

The kids played a game where they had to find Olaf and Lumier. First Elsa and Belle hid them and then SSA got a turn to hide the “friends”. Everyone got treats once they were found.

Cousins! Another parent asked me about my older daughter. I can understand why she thought that!

Belle led everyone in a dance to Be Our Guest. You can see Sammy hanging out in the back on the climbing structure. He was a little nervous to join in but Elsa took note and was on the case, coaxing him into the mix.

Love it. <3

Balloon animals were a hit.

Sword fights! The Cline Boys vs. the Greaves Triplets.

Amaya and Madison

Madison’s mom came to the party, too. I’ve seen her picture so many times I assumed we’d met but nope! She’s as wonderful as her daughter.

Pictures with the Snow Queen. Elsa and Belle did a great job balancing special attention for the birthday kids and including all the kids.

(This is the same Elsa who came to our house for SSA’s 4th birthday.)

Then and Now. What a difference a year makes.

After Let It Go with Elsa, there was one last activity – face painting! Definitely a hit with the kids.

Sammy is so sweet I can barely stand it.

Showing him a side view of his Olaf.

Steven got very worried at first and wanted me to immediately tell Elsa that he wanted his hand painted, not his face. Of course she was able to honor that request, and a few other kids followed suit.

Cake time! Well, first, photo time. I’m in my pony shirt, too! That’s Maude. I dig Maude. Maude digs rocks.

Nana & Papa. (I have no idea what Steven was doing with his face in these next few photos. Return of the Deranged Toddler Smile? lol.)

Grandma Sunshine

Happy Birthday, Steven!

Happy Birthday, Sammy!

Happy Birthday, Amaya!

Sammy asked for a massive piece of cake. The entire length of the cake. We had to cut the piece in half just to fit in on the plate. I decided it wasn’t worth arguing with him about, though, because he’d almost certainly stop before eating it all and his eyes were SO big. He made impressive work of it, though!

Their party wrapped up with some private time with Elsa and Belle. We took photos and then Belle and Elsa each gave SSA a keepsake. Belle gave them a medallion featuring the rose and Elsa gave them a ring made from an ice crystal. (To that, Sammy said, “It’s not cold. I don’t think I believe you.” And Amaya said, “You gave me this ring last year. Did you bring another one because you knew I lost it?”

The kids said they had a great time and it sure seemed like it.

All that was left was opening this pile of amazing gifts. Wow, wow, WOW.

Looking through a big box of craft supplies from Grandma Sunshine.

We wrapped up an amazing birthday with dinner at Outback (and more dessert) and then it was off to bed. But not before Steven finished his Lego helicopter from May May.

Early in the day Amaya told me, “Today is my first day being five.”

At the end of the day I asked Steven how it felt to be five and he said, “How would I know? I’ve only been five for one day.”

Fair enough Steven. But I hope, one year from now, you and Sammy and Amaya say it was fantastic.

Mommy loves you. <3 <3 <3

Well, first of all, Steven, Sammy & Amaya are FIVE years old. Five! I truly can’t believe it. It doesn’t seem possible. Five.

I remember thinking this milestone was so far away. And here we are! In some ways it’s hard to accept that I’m exiting the years of parenting littles and, at the same time, it’s such a joy to watch Steven, Sammy and Amaya grow.

They are wonderful kids with spirit, smarts, sass and sensitivity and each is unique in their own special ways. We’re very lucky parents.

Backing up a bit, on Monday Madison did an activity with the kids where they drew something they were looking forward to in winter. All three drew snowmen and snowstorms. Sammy gave Amaya advice and input on her design which I love because I feel like it’s most often the other way around.

Intense post-work game play on the “laptop”/

On Tuesday, I fulfilled a promise to dye Amaya’s hair. We went with alternating pink and red. She’s become a very mature client.

Loves her look!

We were wearing socks 2 sizes too small and SSA were thrilled to get new My Little Pony socks. Amaya immediately claimed Twilight Sparkle. Steven claimed Rainbow Dash and it was Fluttershy for Sammy. They really do respect that their sibling has claim on a pony. (And I have claim on Maude Pie.)

On Wednesday morning Amaya told me her stomach and throat hurt. My first thought was strep and I made her a dr appointment just to be safe. No one wants lingering strep at a birthday party. It was her leader day at school and she she said she wanted to go to school but, before long, she told Madison that she didn’t feel well enough to go – she just didn’t want to miss her leader day. Decision made. And it was a good one because the poor girl threw up about 10 minutes after that. 🙁

We really can’t catch a break around their birthdays. On SSA’s 2nd birthday Amaya, Megan and I all had a stomach bug. Last year, Amaya and I got a stomach bug the week of their birthday. And here we were again, days before the big day and Amaya was sick.

The plan was that I’d stay home with Amaya while Madison took the boys to school and then I’d go into work. We made it close to the plan except that Steven got sick as soon as they pulled up to the JCC. 🙁 Madison turned around with both boys and it was a stay-at-home/sick day for everyone.

Amazingly, no one got sick again that day but you know Amaya and Steven were in recovery mode when they both fell asleep on the couch in the middle of the day.

Samscicle stayed occupied.

By the time I got home, everyone was back to normal! What a crazy bug! Though I did spend the next two days worrying that Jason, Sammy or I would get it.

We wrapped up the day with Mommy vs. Kids rounds of Guess Who? (“Does your person have a hat?”

At bedtime Steven insisted that he was starving and, since he didn’t eat much all day, we let him come back downstairs for a bowl of cereal. It’s good odds he was playing us but, boy, was he sweet.

The Clines were in great shape on Thursday but poor Madison wasn’t. Jason took the kids to school and I took the afternoon off. Their excitement when I picked them up made it more than worth it.

Before they left, their friend Lisa gave everyone a hug goodbye. Apparently she does that every day.

It was Sammy’s leader day at school which meant he got to bring a book and a toy. His toy was his Shimmer and Shine music microphone. Before we left, he let each friend take a turn pushing the button. It was so cool to see him confidently interacting with his peers.

After school we went to pick up cookies for their in-school birthday celebration, scheduled for the next day. We needed Kosher, nut-free options which left us with one local bakery to visit. We saw some unicorn cookies while we were there and I had three kids who quickly suckered me into some extra treats.

By some miracle, I remembered that Thursday is dance day. We got to dance class just in time for 3:30pm tap and I was proud of myself until I realized that I left their shoes at home. Waaaaaahhh. The kids were in tears but I convinced them it would be okay to dance in socks one day. I texted Madison to let her know about my screw up and she said, “Well you still have time to go home and get them.” Huh? Turns out tap was at 4pm. Ooops. So I bribed the kids to get back in the car and go home for their dance shoes. Crisis averted.

Birthday at school!!

Ms. Bri went all out with their crowns. Steven has a sheep (Morminer), Amaya has a unicorn and Sammy has his puppy!

And birthdays mean we get visitors from NY! Nana, Papa, Savta, Chase and Charlie flew in in the early afternoon. Aunt Sara arrived late night and Uncle Austin drove from Pittsburgh. Yay!

I can’t overstate the noise level when the kids got together. It was incredible.

Lighting the Shabbat candles with Nana and Savta.

On Saturday morning, Nana got up with all 5 kids. They watched a little TV and then headed to Starbucks while the rest of us slept.

Ms. Fashionista

The newest STEM kit came from Grandma Sunshine and Chase & Steven spent a nice amount of time together building a roller coaster. Super cool!

We opened up a ton of presents! Lots of legos and ponies. 🙂

Steven is getting better and better putting his legos together. He just needs a little bit of support but, really, he’s got it.

Amaya is also doing a great job, and has a ton of focus on her projects.

EMT Steven is on the case to help Daddy! (Thanks Auntie and Dod Shuki!)

Steven, Sammy and Amaya all loved these wonderful bowls from Grandpa Homey and Grandma Betsey. They also got fun stuffed animals and a spirograph! <3

Nana got a well deserved rest.

And, the kids took an opportunity to go play in the snow! It was perfect snow for their sleds and we’re lucky enough to have a hill right in our backyard.

We wrapped up our Saturday with a rousing game of Guess Who? Fast becoming one of my favorites.

On the last night with 4 year olds, Jason and I put balloons in the kids’ bedrooms to mark the morning as soon as they woke up. FIVE. It’s incredible.

I’m already a day behind on the blog update and I still haven’t covered their actual birthday. I was so tired last night that I fell asleep in Steven’s bed at 8pm. I’m going to save that for it’s own update tomorrow. But needless to say, they had a phenomenal day.

As we prepare for the big FIVE, here are the Clines.

Despite how it looks from the photos above, Steven struggled through the photo shoot. The next two photos are more representative of his mood through most of the hour. He was especially displeased at the request to hold Sammy’s hand.

Photo credit: Daphne Doerr Photography

Monday was a return to routine after our two week break. Steven, Sammy and Amaya were ready for school! (Mostly. Mid-week, it hit Sammy that he wasn’t spending as much time with his parents but he recovered by the end of the week.)

It cracks me up that the boys wear their hats over their hoods.

Amaya put Madison in jail.

Steven, explaining stuff.

Piling on daddy!

Steven is still passing by the time before bedtime by rotating through family on Facetime. The top targets are Grandpa Homey, Nana & Papa, Aunt Ouize and Chase. He’s getting pretty proficient with it, too.

The kids brought home these “thankful” statements that they wrote back in November. Lowercase letters are very new for SSA.

Steven and Amaya are pretty solid with their uppercase letters but you can see that this is a new exercise with lowercase. According to Ms. Bri, Sammy struggles a bit with writing because he doesn’t hold his pencil firmly enough. In response to a similar comment from another parent, an occupational therapist in my triplet mom group suggested we slide nuts on the pencil – secured by rubber bands above and below – to give the pencil more weight. General hand strengthening fine motor skill activities are also recommended. I need to remember to doctor a pencil for Sammy and see if it helps.

Sammy wrote, “I am thankful for Savta.”

Amaya wrote, “I am thankful for Elsa.”

Steven wrote, “I am thankful for Ms. Bri, My Ma – Steven.”

Tuesday was warm and wet so Madison took Steven, Sammy and Amaya on a puddle hunt. (Spoiler alert: our block consistently has mediocre puddles. But it’s still fun to hunt for them.)

Jason and I both had some quality time with SSA after work. I read some stories and Jason, at Sammy’s request, explained his workday to the kids – complete with spreadsheets!

It was back to dance class for me on Wednesday night. Before I left, Steven grabbed on to my leg and we had a fun gag where I pretended I wouldn’t be able to dance well because something was weighing down my leg. What could it be? We laughed and laughed and laughed.

When I came home from dance, I found Steven on the iPad and about 500 screen shots on my phone from his various conversations. It went something like this:

Mending is skill I wouldn’t have said I have in my arsenal but the past (almost) 5 years have demonstrated that necessity is the mother of skill development. Sammy ripped the side seams of his favorite rash guard. He has many others but really wants to wear his octopus to swim class so I got to work and fixed it for him. I also sewed a hole in a pair of Amaya’s favorite leggings. It looks rough, but I got the job done. It’s a weird dichotomy. I don’t like doing the work but I do like doing stuff for my kids.

After work on Thursday Amaya wanted to build legos with me but I already promised to play Carcassonne with Steven so we made a deal that I would build with them before work/school if they got ready right away. So this is how Madison found us when she arrived on Thursday morning. (And Friday morning.)

It was back to dance class for SSA! They were definitely ready.

I got a text from Madison that said, “Amaya is getting annoyed with Sammy. She’s having to tell him which way to go and when to do moves. She was just pointing trying to get him to turn around. You should have seen her face!”

Watching his brother and sister.

Steven’s turn to join in for jazz class.

Thursday bedtime books with Daddy.

The Original Three – getting ready to Facetime with Bobes.

In addition to Facetiming everyone he knows. Steven also loves to send texts to Jason.

Saturday was our annual family photo shoot with Daphne Doerr Photography. Steven was a pistol. He was whiny and difficult for at least half of the time. It was very frustrating. Fortunately, it doesn’t take a full hour of smiles to (hopefully) get a handful of good photos in the key combos (family, kids, mommy/kids, daddy/kids). Fingers crossed she worked some magic.

Me, trying to help. Only somewhat successfully.

As a staying in bed prize, Amaya got this Disney Princess paper doll set. She spent about two hours, maybe more, coloring each princess with photos of the princesses as her color guide. I’m really impressed with her focus.

Sammy got to help Jason change a light bulb. The kids was so excited to help.

The kids and I built my TARDIS and then Steven and Amaya got busy playing.

The Weeping Angel is telling the Dalek, “I’m going to turn you into stone.)

We had a quiet morning at home before going to a birthday party for a school friend, Shoshana. (It was Shoshana’s family who hosted us for Rosh Hashana.)

The kids each wanted to play a game just with me. Sammy and I played a Candyland train game and then Steven and Amaya each played a game of Carcassonne with me. They’re getting really good! I realized that playing 1:1 is a great way for them to develop their skills, too, and it’s fun because our individual turns come so quickly. So we’ll do more of this!

Sammy made new slime. We got lucky and had extra glitter glue in the house. Much easier than play doh.

Amaya and Steven made a whole host of cards for Shoshana. It was very sweet.

Yesterday, the kids were asking Jason about the work he does. They haven’t spent time at his workplace the way they have at mine so, today, Jason Facetimed with them from his office. They loooooved it. Amaya asked about his work talking to banks. 🙂

Love notes from Steven. <3

Our friend Shoshana had a birthday party at a dance studio today. They started with a craft, danced for a while and then had cake. Steven typically turns down cake, saying he doesn’t like it. Today he wanted to try it again and exclaimed loudly and with joy, “I like cake now!”

The craft was creating rainbows with fruit loops. It took a second for SSA to get comfortable joining the group with Steven last to get in the mix. I noticed that, in group settings where he’s uncomfortable, he’ll tell me that he can’t do XYZ because he’s itching and he scratches his back. It’s an interesting response/coping mechanism. I wonder if his discomfort actually makes him itch, if it’s just an easy go-to excuse or some combination of both.

Regardless, once he got into the groove he was totally into the craft.

This really sums up Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s approach. It always has, in fact. I could go back to artwork from when they were two and a half and see similar themes. I love it.

When we first got into the dance room, SSA absolutely clung to me. While the rest of the kids were dancing and having a blast, Steven, Sammy and Amaya wouldn’t leave my side. Eventually, I asked if they wanted me to dance with them and they said an immediate “yes”. Once I joined them they let loose and had so much fun. Sammy went from being the most reticent to the most enthusiastic of the three. Steven spent most of his time spinning in circles. Amaya had fun but stayed pretty close by my side the whole time. It was so much fun to watch them. (Especially Sammy.)

Last pic. Chase. Suddenly nearly a man. Blows me away.

Oh, wait. One more thing. I had this exchange with Amaya earlier in the week with a witness (Madison).

Me: We’re not eating chips on the carpet any more. I’m cleaning up a ton of crumbs. People don’t live like animals.

Amaya: Well, technically, people are animals.

This girl…

Have a great week! It’s Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s last week as four year olds!

Madison was sick on Monday and my office was closed so I had an unexpected day on my own with the kids. We started off slowly with quiet play time at home. Lincoln logs are making an appearance again and the kids can actually build structures on their own now. It’s always cool to see skills evolve from needing our assistance to independence.

When I learned that Madison couldn’t make it to work on Monday, I decided we needed an adventure. That adventure was our very first movie at a movie theater! Things I was nervous about:

1. Each of the kids having to go to the bathroom at different times during the movie.
2. All of the kids getting nervous and all of them wanting to simultaneously sit on my lap.
3. One or two of the kids wanting to leave while one or two others wanted to stay.

My fears were unfounded! At least for this movie trip. We got to the movie theater early, stocked up on snacks and got comfortable in our seats. The move theater has reclining seats and SSA loved working those buttons. Everyone made it through 2+ hours of Mary Poppins Returns and enjoyed the movie, too! In fact, the original Mary Poppins has since become a quick favorite in our house.

Steven called this a Sphinx. 🙂

Taking it all in. We were there pretty early – a good 20 min before the movie started. The theater filled up with a lot of families as it got closer to movie time. (I knew I could count on Amaya to not sit next to me if I positioned it as a big deal to get to sit next to a friendly stranger.)

Success!! <3 <3 <3

Amaya has been doing a lot of coloring lately and there’s marked growth in her ability to color in the lines and think about different color choices.

New Year’s Eve! How is it 2019? I don’t understand where time is going. Wasn’t I just pregnant? Wasn’t I just living in San Diego celebrating the year 2000? Wasn’t I just angry at my mom for making me skip a New Year’s Eve party in high school?

Steven, Sammy and Amaya were ready for the new year – as much as they can understand it. 🙂

Our midnight countdown at 6:30pm.

Happy New Year!

I think I’ve mentioned that we gave Steven an iPad to watch when we wakes up. (And for pre-bed Facetime and texting.) I’m not sure if I also mentioned that Amaya is clever and, after seeing the headphones in Steven’s room, realized he was watching shows. The end result was Kindle Fire’s for Sammy and Amaya so they can do the same. This week was the first week and there was definitely a learning curve for Jason and I with regards to making this work for everyone. The big problem is that, if Sammy or Steven happen to wake up at 3:30am, they’ll get out of bed and watch shows for the next 3.5 hours. That is NO. GOOD.

Tuesday, the 1st, was Sammy’s first morning with the tablet and it showed clearly when he fell asleep on Jason for well over an hour. Precious little boy.

Our New Year’s Day outing was a late lunch at Zingerman’s Road House. The bonus of a 2pm meal time is it means we’re only on the hook for breakfast at home and then a few snacks. Easy peasy meal day! And you can never go wrong with Zingerman’s.

This child, with his steak knife and decaf coffee. It’s too much. <3

Then and Now – Happy New Year!

Madison was back on Wednesday and Jason and I were back to work. I think January 2nd is the saddest work day of the year – after all the excitement of the holiday season and the quiet time at the office the week prior. We spiced it up with a lunch visit from Steven, Sammy and Amaya! I remember when their lunch visits felt like so much work but this visit was a breeze. The kids were great listeners, used their inside voices and made me feel like a hero with how excited they were to see me.

Everyone took a turn using the mouse on my computer. I have two monitors and Sammy was so curious about how the cursor moves from screen to screen without seeing it in the gap between the monitors.

Steven brought this picture for me. It’s another tornado. Of course. You can see that the house doesn’t have a door and is missing a window – the window is the square in the air next to the tornado and the door is the rectangle in the base of the funnel.

Queen Amaya and Princess Tiger had a relaxing afternoon. “Queens are very important.”

Thursday was a trip to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum. It’s been a while since the kids had a blast.

Steven saw a twister!

The kids went to a presentation/lesson/class all about percussion instruments.

Making firework handprints!

This week we played a lot of Carcassonne – a gift to me from the Scofields. I’d never played the game before, and it’s not intended as a kids’ game, but Steven, Sammy, Amaya had I have been having a great time playing together. They’re really getting the hang of it!

Blokus is another new favorite. It’s definitely the season of games around here.

I mentioned the issue with the tablets. I have a morning routine of checking the cameras in the kids’ rooms and the netflix logs to see what happened over night. I noticed that Sammy was up, getting his tablet at 3:30am. If I had any doubt that he’d been up for hours, his mood in the morning confirmed it. Before he even ate breakfast, Jason scooped Sammy up and took him to our bedroom where he ended up napping from about 8:30am- 10am. That put in place the new curfews on the tablets (which I didn’t know existed) so the kids can’t use them before 5:30am. Hopefully this does the trick.

I wish we didn’t have them for Sammy and Amaya because the generally stayed quietly in their room until wake-up time but there’s no way we can get away with that now that they know Steven has one – and it’s been a game changer for Steven (who’s slept ~10 hrs/night the past two nights!).

While Sammy was napping, Steven and Amaya got their Lego on.

SSA love when their daddy draws them pictures – a big activity of late. They have lots of requests and Jason always delivers.

I’m assuming Steven asked Jason to write these specific words / sentences on the picture.

Steven drew his own picture of Rainbow Dash.

Steven, Sammy and Amaya all wanted some one on one time with me on Saturday so Jason worked with me to help make it happen.

First up was Steven, who wanted to go out for pancakes for lunch. We went to the Early Bird cafe in Northville where he charmed our waitress and the other patrons. One lady even stopped by our table on her way out to tell me how cute Steven is.

“I’m getting big enough to put my own butter on my pancakes. Soon I’ll be a whole hand.”

Next up was Sammy, who was ready in his coat when Steven and I got home. Originally he wanted to bring cupcakes to a fire station but changed his mind at the last minute and wanted to go somewhere to eat so we decided on Starbucks. First, though, was a trip to the car wash.

Then we made a quick stop at Target. I wanted to get a 2nd OK to Wake clock for Sammy and Amaya’s room. Now the kids have one clock that tells them it’s okay to use their table and another that says it’s wake-up time. (When I explained this plan to Steven – who had a clock on order – he said, “I don’t want a clock to control me.” I was really taken by that response. But he’s still getting the clock. 🙂 )

When we got to Starbucks Sammy said, “I want to eat a food that is not healthy. What food is the worst to eat?” 🙂 We settled on cake pops.

Amaya rounded out the day with a sushi dinner date.

She asked me to tell her the letters to write, “This restaurant looks like a house.” In fact, it does.

Another patron also complimented Amaya when we were on our way out. She said that Amaya was a wonderfully behaved young girl. Amaya responded by announcing that she’s four years old, some people call her a princess and she’s wearing lipstick. (She was.)

We had a quiet Sunday. Our only outing was to Five Below to stock up on more Staying-In-Bed prizes and I also took the opportunity to get goody bag supplies for the kids’ party. (Two weeks. I really can’t believe it.)

Here’s Amaya decorating a frame that holds her Twilight Sparkle picture. When Jason gave her the plain frame she said, “I want it to be beautiful”.

Sammy, eating the sushi we brought back for him.

TV time. Honestly, the kids wouldn’t notice the apocalypse around them while they’re watching their shows.

I’m going to wrap up with two Steven stories.

First, I found out that there’s a Father/Daughter dance in Novi in early February. I told Amaya about it and, shortly after, Steven came to me with his voice shaking and asked, “Do you think it’s fair that the dance is just for daddies and daughters?” I asked if he wanted to go to a mother/son dance with me and he burst into tears crying, “I hope you can find one because I love to dance, too.”

Sweet boy.

Fortunately, I did find a mommy/son dance the first weekend in March and Steven, Sammy and I are all registered.

And here’s Steven mastering Facetime. He’s so funny. He needs to be talking to people so he finds people to talk to. Chase. Aunt Ouize. 30+ minutes talking to Grandpa Homey.

• 

• 

Actually, one more thing. I need to share this video of Sammy trying to roll his eyes at me lol.

Have a great week!

Monday was the first day of the kids’ winter break and they declared a pajama day. Madison was a great sport in her one piece PJs. 🙂

Tending to their garden.

My office was closed so I spent the morning at home before running out to see Green Book. Amaya had an appointment at Mommy’s Hair Salon.

We were treated to a concert…

…with dancing.

There was an epic light saber battle between Rey and Darth Vader.

Steven made this sign and then asked if he spelled “Stop” correctly. When I told him that he hadn’t, he had a meltdown. “I don’t want to have to write it all again!” He did, though, because it was most important to Steven that the picture was correct. I like this version best, though.

I wrapped up my day with Lego time.

Amaya wanted me to take a picture of her outfit and her hair. She wasn’t so happy to see herself scowling, though, and asked for a do over. She does have magic eyebrows when she’s annoyed with me.

She liked this one much better.

(Side story: I had this exchange with the kids, trying to reinforce the idea that whoever they are is more than enough.

Me: Do you ever have to be anything other than who you are?

Amaya: No. Unless I can be a unicorn. My sweatshirt even says so.)

As is Jewish custom, we headed out for Chinese food for lunch on Christmas Day. I’d never been to this restaurant before and it was fantastic. The food all had a very homemade feel.

Anticipating a lack of kids’ menus and crayons, I brought our own paper to write on. Thankfully, because it was a long wait.

Amaya and Steven practice writing often and seem to gravitate toward to more than Sammy does. I was so proud of Sammy’s work to write “I love you”.

Steven ordered a chicken salad and loved the chicken so much that he asked me to call the waitress over so he could tell her that the restaurant “makes the best salads”.

He even insisted on letting Sammy and Amaya taste. 🙂

We had a relaxing rest of the day – games with Daddy, legos with Mommy and lots of requests for Daddy to draw pictures – mostly of unicorns.

Steven asked Jason to draw him a city, which Jason did – complete with tornado sirens on the top of two buildings. Steven colored it in and added sky, a tornado, hot and cold air coming together to make the tornado and a part of a building flying into the tornado. At the bottom is water and a hurricane.

On Wednesday, Jason and I headed back to work and the kids went to Tiny Town. It’s been a while since they’ve been there and they had a blast. So cool to see them aging into the older age range. Madison said they were great with the littler kids – very careful.

It was a warm-ish day so they also got outside for a bit. We need to take every opportunity presented at this time of year.

Homemade pizza for dinner!

Amaya sleeps with all the friends in her bed. She looks so delicate. (She’s not.)

Steven decided to try to fall asleep on his floor. When I moved him to his bed, he kept a solid grip on Morminer. 🙂

Thursday was a lazy day at home that started with a dance party for Amaya and Sammy. They’ve learned how to twirl each other.

An art project to make people that look different than they do. Amaya initially wanted a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes (not so different lol) but eventually decided on a man with green eyes, dark hair and a puffy hat.

Luna, by Sammy. Rainbow Dash by Steven. Twilight Sparkle by Amaya.

Milestone! The kids can clear their plates from the table and discard any food that’s left! They can even load the dishwasher if the plates don’t need to be rinsed. Soon enough they’ll be doing all the dishes.

On Friday, Madison took the kids to the Henry Ford museum. I’ve never been but, after hearing all about it from the kids, I almost feel like I’ve been there. They loved it.

This bedroom reminds me of my childhood. <3

Jail! The kids will tell you, “When you get in trouble kids go to time out and grown-ups go to jail.”

This is the actual Rosa Parks bus and Sammy is sitting in Rosa Parks’ seat.

I got a civil rights lesson from Steven. He explained that people didn’t like other people because of the color of their skin and that isn’t fair. We shouldn’t care if someone’s skin is a different color. And the bus driver shouldn’t have called the cops when she [Rosa Parks] wanted to sit in her seat. Everyone should be able to sit in whatever seat they want, not just the very back seat, and she should have told that to the bus driver. It’s a start.

On Friday night, the Scofields came to visit! Aunt Ouize, Uncle Todd, Nancy and Abraham stayed with us from Friday evening until Sunday morning. Grandma Sunshine joined them, too, and Aunt Annette came for dinner on Friday night. It was a great, low key family weekend.

Bedtime story book with Aunt Ouize! Alysia is a kindergarten teacher so I told her to expect lots of questions and calls and messages from me next year. 🙂

Game night for the grown-ups.

Grandma Sunshine got up with the kids both mornings which was nice for everyone! (And appreciated! <3)

Steven, Sammy and Amaya played so many games this weekend and they’re getting really good at it. Focus varies, but we’re actually playing legit games with them now. It’s awesome.

It was such a mellow, relaxing weekend.

Sammy, making “Nana’s house on Long Island” out of kinetic sand.

Steven and Nancy

Steven and Abe. (Steven loves holding court. He loves an audience.)

Sammy and Daddy watching Sparty basketball. Sammy measures time in the average length of the shows he watches. “How many shows until the game is over?” (He wanted to watch his shows. 🙂 )

Perhaps the worlds biggest magnatile tower?

To Aunt Ouize. <3 It includes a jail and a self portrait.

When everyone left today, Jason headed into the office so the kids and I watched a movie and then went to Applebees for lunch. They’re great lunch companions.

I’ll leave you with a few shots of Facetime with Steven. He’s so funny. We talk for a minute or two and then he says, “Hang up time” and – boom – he’s gone! In the picture with the crayon he was telling me that it’s interesting that the wrapper is red but the crayon is pink. “It’s getting even interestinger!”

• 

• 

• 

We have two more days at home together before I go back to work. Tomorrow I’m going to take the kids to their first movie theater experience to see Mary Poppins. Good luck to all of us!

Monday started eventfully when Amaya and Steven came running to tell me that Sammy was writing on the walls. Writing on the walls!! When I asked him why he did it he said, “I didn’t think Amaya and Steven would tell.” I guess he missed the point that we were going to see it. We took away his tv privileges for they day which was a tough pill to swallow but I he seemed to understand that he’d made a poor decision.

Later that day, I got a text from Madison that said, “Sammy asked me to help him get the pencil off the wall. He showed me where he colored and asked if I’d help him.”

I’m so, so proud of our Sammy. I didn’t tell him he’d have to help clean it. I didn’t let Madison know about it in front of him. All on his own he decided he wanted to make it right and thought to ask Madison for help.

When I got home he showed me what he did. After lots of hugs he said, “But I still didn’t get tv today.” 🙂

Grandma Sunshine got SSA a STEM subscription for the year and there are monthly shipments of STEM toys & activities. This months is a garden! It uses some cool hydroponics with straws and strings for the watering. Lots of fun!

The new routine for Steven had been challenging because he wanted us to check on him every 5 minutes. Sara had the great idea of using Facetime instead. I got him set up with my iPad and showed him how to call my phone if needs me while he’s waiting for me to call. (“I push the one with the J.”) So far, so good! We’re on the phone more frequently than the “ever 10 minutes” I’m going for but it’s better than running op and down the stairs.

Tuesday was a quiet day at home with lots of play time.

Steven likes to show that he can balance without holding onto anything.

Puzzle teamwork. They all do the outside and Steven leads the inside.

Helpers for my legos!

Steven organizes the pieces by size and shape. 🙂

Have I mentioned that Steven is obsessed with tornadoes? He loves to watch tornado videos on Youtube and most of his lego structures are tornado shelters. This is a tornado he drew for Jason. It’s got wind, the tornado (with a face) and a barn (with a face.)

Right now, as I type this, he’s running through the house pretending to be a tornado.

Just a cute morning Sammy. <3

On Wednesday, Steven went in the DEEP END of the pool at school! I’m so proud of him for trying! I wish we didn’t have two weeks of school break between now and his next lesson. Hopefully he’ll keep up the momentum. (Sammy occasionally goes in deep end though now he’s saying he’ll only do it if Nana, Ms. Bri or I take him. Amaya loves to swim and is learning to float on her back.)

It was really nice of Ms. Bri to send me these photos.

Monday evening, Madisosn asked me if it was okay if her “m-o-m” came to visit on Wednesday. Amaya immediately said, “You mom is going to visit on Wednesday?” Our days of secret spelling are starting to wane.

The kids all had a great visit with Madison’s mom. They read books, made slime and showed Madison’s mom how they tap dance.

No one wanted her to leave!

Wednesday after dance I was home in time for FaceTime with Steven.

Amaya in jeans! Megan’s cousin has an 11 year old daughter who’s old clothes have been boxed up for a while. She kindly gifted them to Amaya who loves them. She loves them enough to wear jeans! Shocker.

Thursday was a car lunch at Steven’s old physical therapy office where he had a check-in appointment with his orthotist. I wasn’t surprised to hear that another pair of orthotics are in order. The orthotist is going to make them a bit differently, with longer plastic on one side, to help with his balance. He noticed that Steven walks with his toes curled, gripping the ground, which he said is usually done when a child doesn’t feel balance. Apparently this change in the orthotics will help with that and allow him to walk more naturally.

For this round, he picked police cars with one blue strap and one yellow strap. I was told that this decision was the longest part of the appointment and the opportunity for two different color straps was a last ditch effort to get the deal sealed lol. Even afterward Steven told me, “I couldn’t decide!”

Dance class! Sammy and Amaya started as the only two in tap class for the week (out of a class of 5). Eventually another friend arrived.

They learned this routine to share with the parents/caregivers. Love, Love, Love.

Practicing their recital dance. 🙂 Amaya told me she has trouble with the “Shuffle hop step” so we’ve been practicing.

Tornado videos

At bedtime on Thursday, Amaya and I had this exchange:

Amaya: I want more than two kinds of earrings when I’m a grown up.
Me: Then you can get some.
Amaya: How?
Me: You can earn money to buy them.
Amaya: But I don’t want to go to a workplace or kid sit or babysit.
Me: Well then it will be hard to earn money.
Amaya: *thinks for a minute* How do princesses earn money?

It always comes back to princesses with this child.

Friday was pajama day at school again!

Twice in just about a month – another visit from Ashley! SSA were so excited.

Check out Amaya’s camouflage pants (from Madison’s cousin).

Daddy cuddles.

At bedtime on Friday, Steven told me to come up and put him to bed because he was “quite tired”. When I mention that the iPad did something I didn’t expect he told me, “That’s silly because a computer can’t control itself. We have to control what it does.” Every day they surprise me with something they know.

Tornado shelters!

Jason regularly goes to a small local bar and, for the holidays, the manager got the kids small gift bags. It was so, so thoughtful! She even said that she got three of the same things because she remembered him saying that it can be world war three when they get different stuff. Remarkably, Steven picked the bag with blue, Sammy with green and Amaya with pink. They had fake snow, bath bombs and silly string!

Designing a castle with daddy.

Amaya and Steven helped me build the Hogwarts Express.

The kids and I went to Target to grab a few things and we weren’t sure of the aisle for cold packs. Steven called Morminer to find out, since she works at Target.

One of the things we came home with was a silly string blaster. It was about 2 minutes of action per can but the kids had a blast in those two minutes. And I think we’re done with silly string for a little while. Clean up is a lot less fun.

Another goal for the day was to get footie pajamas for the boys. Tomorrow the kids and Madison are having a pajama day. They convinced Madison to wear her footie pajamas and the boys don’t have any so we went to rectify that. Steven ended up with this sweet Rainbow Dash footless one-piece and he’s been wearing it for 24 hours straight. He’s straight up adorable in it. Sammy decided to forego footie PJs and got a My Little Pony bathrobe instead.

Back massages for mommy.

It seems Sammy has a real aversion to bangs on his forehead. He wanted his bangs out of his face until Jason could cut his hair, which he did right after dinner.

The kids got another set of K’Nex for Hanukkah so we broke them out and they were a hit all day. It’s nice that we have extra eyes, wings and feet. It makes for fewer fights. They’re also old enough to look at some of the suggestion photos and make them on their own now. Steven really took to that today.

I offered to take SSA out for lunch and Sammy and Amaya wanted in. I was thinking Applebees but they quickly vetoed me in favor of sushi. This time we sat at the sushi bar which is much easier to do with 2 than three.

Amaya will eat the seafood occasionally but she seems to prefer avocado rolls and cucumber rolls.

Sammy, on the other hand, immediately knew he wanted tuna, salmon and “crab legs”. He threw in an avocado roll for good measure. (It’s funny to hear Amaya say, “I don’t like sashimi.”) I just need to keep working on getting him to uses his chopsticks. They gave him kid-friendly ones but he prefers his hands.

The sushi chef was awesome. Amaya noticed his blowtorch and the kids mentioned that they got to see use last time they came to the restaurant. He quietly and kindly made up three individual pieces of roll, matching what we’d each ordered, and heated it up with torch. Sammy and Amaya were absolutely thrilled.

We wrapped up our afternoon with more “snow”. Everypony had a great time.

A bedtime story with Daddy, and that was our week!

Have a great one! Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating. <3

On Wednesday, Madison completed interviews with each of the kids. Here are their un-coached answers.

What’s your name? Amaya
How old are you? 4
How old am I? 8?
What’s your favorite color? Pink
What’s your favorite food? Grapes
Who’s your best friend? Henry
What’s your favorite song? I can’t remember
What do you like to watch on tv? My little pony
What’s your favorite animal? I would say bunny
What are you scared of? Lions
What makes you happy? Elsa
Where’s your favorite place to go? Ummm I would say Tiny town
What do you want to be when you grow up? A princess
Who loves you the most? Mommy and daddy

What’s your name? Sammy
How old are you? 4
How old am I? More than 8 since you’re a grown up, 9
What’s your favorite color? Blue
What’s your favorite food? Ice cream
Who’s your best friend? Ms. Shannon
What’s your favorite song? Abcs
What do you like to watch on tv? My little pony
What’s your favorite animal? Gorilla
What are you scared of? Dragons, they are definitely not good
What makes you happy? Savta
Where’s your favorite place to go? The mall
What do you want to be when you grow up? A popcorn seller
Who loves you the most? Um I don’t know

What’s your name? Steven
How old are you? 4
How old am I? 11?
What’s your favorite color? Uhh green
What’s your favorite food? Pears
Who’s your best friend? Evelyn
What’s your favorite song? I don’t know
What do you like to watch on tv? My little pony
What’s your favorite animal? Dogs
What are you scared of? Dinosaurs
What makes you happy? Mommy and daddy
Where’s your favorite place to go? School
What do you want to be when you grow up? A police man
Who loves you the most? Mommy and daddy

Just the sweetest!

Monday was a cold morning. Fortunately, SSA had new hats from Aunt Annette to help keep them warm. 

Some snowman art. 

I can almost always tell who’s art is who’s from looking at it. Almost always. They definitely have their own unique styles. 

Steven

Sammy

Amaya

The game-fest continued into this week.

Everyone was up eeeeeeeearly on Tuesday morning and everyone napped on the way home from school.

Amaya had a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday afternoon. It was late in the day but still during my work day so, to save me time, Madison, Steven and Sammy dropped Amaya at my workplace. While we were waiting for the doctor, Amaya told me she hoped it took a long time so we could spend more time together just the two of us. <3

BIG KID. It blows my mind. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were putting the kids in the little infant scales to measure their weight and height.

Steven’s been having trouble staying in bed in the morning, and staying alseep until as reasonable hour. It hasn’t been unusual for him to wake before 5am, or just after, and it’s nearly impossible for him to muster the discipline to stay in his bed. We tried moving him to his own room but even that wasn’t doing the trick and the whole house has been tired as a result. (See above for post-school naps. 🙂 )

While I was the doctor with Amaya I took the time to talk to Dr. Heinen about it. She was quick to suggest that we’re putting him to bed too early and suggested that, even though the “books” may say that a child his age needs 10 – 12 hours of sleep/night, he may be just fine with less than average. That started our campaign to keep Steven up an hour later than Sammy and Amaya. Tuesday night was day one and we go him set up with toys and crafts to play with. Dr. Heinen warned that it might take a week or two for him to settle into the new routine but we’re 5 nights in and so far, so good! The only challenge is that Steven haaaaaates to be alone so we need to check on him regularly for that hour. If it was Amaya we’d be able to say, “you can stay up later than the brothers if you play quietly in your room for that time” and we’d never hear a peep for the full 60 minutes. But Steven loves to be around people. In fact, when I told him the plan he said, “Okay, we’ll see if I can handle it.”

He wrote his name, Sammy’s name and he tried to write Amaya. The “MO” is for Mommy and the D is for Daddy. The circle gradient lines at the bottom of the page is “sound vision”.

The kids are starting to get into math, Amaya in particular. It’s even more fun now that they have their abacuses! Madison got a cool craft where you do simple addition to solve the key for the colors to use to color in a penguin.

Most of the time some combo of the kids are fussing or crying when I leave the house for dance class. On Wednesday, however, they were so engrossed in their scrabble game that no one batted an eye!

Sally is getting braver and braver! She can be found downstairs, near the kids, more than ever.

Thursday was the day Nana arrived!! Madison and the kids planned to pick her up at the airport so they went out for lunch on the way.

Pay phone shock lol

It turned out Sammy wasn’t feeling great. He wanted to go home and nap instead of napping in the car on the way to the airport. Nana took a car to our house and then she took Steven and Amaya to dance class while Madison stayed home with a tired Bubba.

Tap (Amaya is in black behind Miss Christina)

Jazz hands! Amaya is front left and Steven is the boy. 😉

Bedtime stories with Daddy <3 <3 <3

Bedtime cuddles with Nana. What’s surprising me most about his new routine with Steven is that Amaya and Sammy haven’t said anything about it. I’m surprised, to be honest. But I’ll take it! I really don’t want to have to try to explain why Steven is up later than they are and, while he doesn’t taunt them with it, he’s not terribly  discreet.

On Friday Nana took the kids to school and it was pajama day! Sammy was particularly excited to get to wear his slippers.

Shabbat with Nana!

In the afternoon, Sammy was thrilled to have some 1:1 game time with Nana while Steven and Amaya played monopoly with Madison.

Since I’m not one for cooking and I wanted to be sure that Nana had dinner to eat, I brought home sushi which meant sushi for everyone. Even Steven ate an entire California roll. Sammy powered through 6 pieces of sashimi tuna and salmon and then moved on to rolls I ordered for the rest of us. Amaya was mostly happy to have her avocado roll.

Lighting the Shabbat candles. Amaya is holding her nose because she said, “I smell bread and I don’t like bread.”

Saturday morning Nana kept up her tradition of getting up with Steven, Sammy and Amaya and taking them to Starbucks for breakfast. Jason and I love this tradition as much as they do! (While they were out, I took Jason’s car to a car seat check at a Novi fire station. Sammy and Amaya are pusing 40lbs which means it’s officially time to move from lower anchor to seat belt installs in one of our seat models.)

Legos!

I got some sight word cards to supplement what they’re doing at school and the kids love it. Steven will say, “When is it time to g-o.” It’s no pressure and feels like a game.

Books with Nana

Nana had them cracking up at lunch time.

Our afternoon activity was a production of “Tinkerbell in Story Land.” The plays are a lot of fun for kids their age and they follow along really well. For the first time Steven was even willing to try sitting in a seat by himself. The way it folds up always made him nervous.

After the play we had plans to go out for dinner. Steven was adamant that he wanted to eat at home while Sammy and Amaya wanted to go out to eat with Nana. So that settled that. Sort of. When we got home, Steven said he wanted to go out to eat but he also wanted to stay home to get more time to play with his legos. He kept crying, “I can’t decide! Why can’t I decide?!?!” It was so sad. Eventually I made the decision for him and we stayed home together. I think he was tired and didn’t seem like he was in the right frame of mind for dinner out.

Much better! Right call!

Thank you, Nana, for taking Sammy & Amaya!

Again, as is tradition, Nana put the kids to bed while Jason and I went out for dinner. She’s got this.

Today, while Jason spent a 2nd day at the office, we took SSA to Jurrasic Quest at Suburban Showplace. All of these huge dinosaurs were animatronic. Super cool.

We waited in a long line for a chance for Steven, Sammy and Amaya to drive these cars. So much fun!

While Nana waited in a line for a chance to ride dinosaurs, the kids and I tracked down the bounce houses. Sweet Steven didn’t want to try the moderate bounce house with Sammy and Amaya but was thrilled to find mild option geared for the younger crowd. 

Petting a “real” baby dinosaur. Sammy told me that it had to be real because it moved all of its legs and when it moved its head it almost bit him.

Sammy hopped on a dinosaur and immediately decided it wasn’t for him but Amaya and Steven took their dino-rides. 

Dinosaur crafts

Getting pretzels with Sammy

Digging for fossils

Mommy and Bobes. <3 Just prior to this photo, he was having a loud conversation with Morminer. Apparently she was there and not behaving and needed to go back home.

I’ll wrap up this week with 2 stories.

First, Steven and Amaya conspired to say that Sammy was lying when, actually, Sammy was the one telling the truth! I had no idea that we were already at a point for conspiracies like this. Guard up!!

Then, this happened to re-warm my heart (after Steven bumped his head):

Amaya: “Stevie, I’m sorry that happened to you.”
Me: “Amaya, what a nice thing to say!”
Amaya: “That’s what sisters do.”

And that’s it for the Clines (+Nana). Have a great week!

Monday really kicked off the full Hanukkah week for Steven, Sammy and Amaya and, boy, were they ready for 8 Crazy Nights. 

A local mall was hosting a Hanukkah party in concert with a Chabad center and some local sponsors. Madison took the kids for an afternoon adventure. They got there right at the start and were the first ones there but it got more crowded as time went on. The kids played games and made crafts but their favorite part of the “party” was learning how olive oil is made.

Lighting candles for night 2! (Special thanks to Madison for helping capture so many special Hanukkah moments this week.)

Gifts were a ton of games from Auntie and Dod Shuki – Hungry Hungry Hippos, Yeti in my Spaghetti, Memory and First Orchard. They love them all! First Orchard is a basic game and a special kind of fun because it’s cooperative. Either we all win, or we all lose. Playing the games together was the first time I heard one of the kids tell another that they’re not being a good sport lol. (That came when someone took extra Hungry Hippos marbles.)

On Wedesday afternoon, there was time to play lots of their new games. I really can’t get over how old Amaya looks these days. It blows my mind. Oh! And the kids finally started swim at school! It had been delayed two months while the school contracted with a new swim provider. Amaya is swimming on Tuesday and Steven & Sammy swim on Wednesdays. The first week was a success. Amaya took her lesson (though was sloooooow to get out of the pool at the end of swim). Sammy took a lesson, too, and Steven was willing to put his face in the water. A lot changes with age and exposure.

Hanukkah night 3! Steven said, “I can’t wait to light candles and then open presents!”

Gifts tonight were from Madison! It was a cornucopia of fun stuff including an orange “wig” for Amaya, gloves, blankets for the kids and cool licensed washcloths. Thank you, Madison!

Wednesday! Day Four! 

Steven was so proud that he was able to do his solar system puzzle all by himself. (After he “wasn’t a good sport” during Hungry Hippos, Madison redirected him to another activity.)

Showing the planets to Sammy and Amaya.

The big fun for Wednesday was a Hanukkah visit from Megan and Taco!!

Lighting our day 4 candles…

Megan treated the kids to more games – Guess Who?, Scrabble Jr and Monopoly Jr! SSA wanted to get playing right away.

Sammy, explaining Yeti in my Spaghetti to Megan. He also made sure she knew she could “read the constructions.”

I love this picture with Sammy racing in the background. <3

It was so special to get to see Megan and Taco during Hanukkah!

Day 5, Thursday, started with morning candles and gifts. We had a big Hanukkah party at school that night and would be getting home right at bedtime – after bedtime, in fact!

Thursday was our first day back to dance since 11/8. Steven had a fever, then was Thanksgiving and then we were in NY. The kids were glad to get back!

After dance, I met up with the kids at the JCC for their annual Hanukkah party. They serve dinner and have crafts but the highlight, for the boys, was the DJ and the dance floor. It was so much fun to see the kids out there this year. They’ve come so far over the years. 

As soon as he was done eating, Steven popped up to go dance telling me, “I’ll be over there if you need me!”

Photo credit below to the JCC. These are all kids in SSA’s class. It was interesting watching Steven try to get in there with the girls – sort of with them / sort of on the periphery. It’s weird (and hard) to see the kids start to navigate true social situations.

Amaya was independent at the party but had the least interest in dancing and the least interest in what anyone else was doing, including the other kids in her class. She was almost solely focused on the art projects.

When he wasn’t dancing, Steven spent his time telling everyone that Doctor Octopus was on his way to destroy Earth. He was quite serious about the warning, even telling the grownups he saw. His friend Lisa got on board but Evelyn, below (and Steven’s favorite) was very confused.

A clear highlight for Sammy was dancing with Ms. Shannon. He was eyeing her all night. 🙂

Steven also showed off his moves for Ms. Shannon

Another winner from the JCC photographer. Our Sam Man had a blast.

On Friday, the kids worked on a Hanukkah art project that we didn’t get to complete the night before. Remarkably, Madison had also planned to do a nearly identical craft that she found on pinterest. I’d left the supplies in my work bag so Madison and SSA swung by to pick everything up on their way home from school.

I came home from work on Friday to find everyone deep into Marvel Memory.

Night 6 candles! I’m so impressed with how careful and capable Steven, Sammy and Amaya were when they lit their menorahs this year. They also have a great command of the prayers, which are so cute to hear them sing.

The highlight gift on Friday night was a Shimmer & Shine genie castle with magnet magic.

Saturday morning started with Scrabble Jr. (Games, games and more games!) I wasn’t sure it would be age appropriate despite it saying 5+, but it totally is. One side of the board has words/letters pre-filled so the kids just have to do the matching. 

First Orchard. Since it’s cooperative, it’s most fun when we win as a team in a close call against the raven.

The highlight on Saturday was lunch and a Hanukkah celebration with Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette. On Thanksgiving, one of the kids asked Annette if she celebrates Hanukkah. She said, “I don’t celebrate Hanukkah but I’m coming to celebrate it with you because you celebrate Hanukkah.” <3

Sammy & Grandma playing Hi Ho Cherry-o.

Steven, explaining to Aunt Annette how his tornado shelter works.

Annette taught the kids how to play Monopoly Jr and they were immediately hooked. They roped Grandma in for their 2nd game.

Day 7 candles!

Presents!!

Before I even came downstairs this morning, Steven had set up the monopoly board and was ready to go.

I brought the lego table out to the living room so Steven could hang out with the rest of us while he worked on his new tornado shelter. (Notice a theme?)

Jason and I decided to light the day 8 candles early in the day so SSA could enjoy their final day of gifts all day long.

The kids got abacuses from Aunt Ouize & Uncle Todd. Amaya and Steven are sleeping with theirs tonight.

From my cousins Joe & Nicole, Amaya is wearing her Elsa coronation dress. She kept it on all. day. long. In fact, she was Elsa most of the day except for when I had to text Elsa to confirm that even Elsa wears tights in the winter to help stay warm.

From Uncle Austin, Steven got a restaurant kit and spent a good part of the day taking and preparing our orders.

The kids are still earning staying-in-bed prizes and, in an effort to keep things more cost effective, we took a trip to Five Below today to stock up on an assortment of prizes to choose from. Miss Elsa is all set with her coronation gifts. 😉

Our week, and Hanukkah, wrapped up with monopoly with Daddy.

It was a great week! Thank you to our friends and family who helped make it so special. <3

What a week! For the first time ever, I took all of the kids to NY for a long weekend. Usually our trips as a group are for 9 nights but this was a bonus 4-nighter to celebrate Savta’s birthday, Gene’s birthday and Hanukkah.

The kids started their week with warm enough weather to get outside again. They worked with Madison to get all of their deck toys put away for winter. Their hats over their hoods kill me.

We’re still working on the “staying in bed in the morning” process. Steven seems to be key. He literally can not wake up and stay quiet if there are any people he can possibly talk to. I mean, I get it. If I woke up and was wide awake and had no real sense of how long I had to lie their quietly with nothing to do, I’d struggle too. However, waking up his siblings (or parents) isn’t an okay option. We’re trying to see how it works with Steven in his own room and Amaya and Sammy together. To make it work, we had to move a lot of stuff into Amaya’s twin bed.

Madison is working with on basic math with SSA. They write the numbers. They draw hash marks to indicate the number to help visualize basic addition and subtraction. Amaya was really into it.

Wednesday was our day to head off to NY! It was also a day off for Madison’s mom so she came to meet the kids. Sammy said, “I met Madison’s mom and I loved her right away.”

Watching and waving goodbye.

Off we go! Flying alone with the kids is still one of the toughest parenting tasks I have but it’s getting easier and easier every time. I’m sure a lot of it is attributable to age though I also credit some to our routine. They all know exactly what to expect and in what order to expect it. Plus, cooperating and listening means m&ms when we get on the plane.

Steven, Sammy and Amaya love pushing their backpacks into the xray machine.

We found a great spot by the fountain to eat dinner. It’s so much nicer than sitting down by the gate. It also means we can eat first and then make the long journey through DTW. A few less things to haul.

The Delta pilots are always so nice to the kids. They were even invited into the cockpit again.

Amaya was the only one to take them up on it. How sweet is this???

Amaya sat next to the “Friendly Stranger” (who never materialized). That meant she got the Kindle the whole flight to NY. It’s been a good way to encourage someone to sit across the aisle from the rest of us.

Steven and Sammy had to share the ipad which they did very well. I’m so used to flying on planes with TVs on the back of the seats. (They are, too.)

Steven narrated most of the landing for us.

Like he’s been doing since he was a baby, Sammy fell asleep immediately upon touchdown. Out cold. I managed to get Steven out of the row and Sammy totally unbuckled before he even stirred.

Petting a pup! Sammy said, “We can’t have a dog at our house because of Amaya.” (She’s scared.) Hate the break the news, Sammy, but Amaya isn’t the only “no” vote on this one.

We found Papa!!

On Thursday, our big adventure was a trip to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. I’m trying to get the kids into the city every trip now that they’re old enough to do more and to appreciate it. They seemed to really be into the idea of going from one island (Long Island) to another (Manhattan).

The highlight was making art from scraps. Even I got into it!

Steven made a “stop and go” sign.

Amaya made jewelry.

Sammy mad abstract art.

Posing with her necklace.

Rather than take his art home, Sammy decided to leave his artwork at the museum where other people would be able to see it when they visit. <3

Stop. Go.

We’ve got presidential aspirations for all three Cline kids. (Though today, at the airport, Steven asked me what “president” is.) I love this little set-up.

Once we made it back to Long Island it was time to visit with Chase, Charlie, and Aunt Sara!

Chaos.

Charlie was explaining the solar system to Steven. “Mercury is the planet that’s closest to the sun but Venus is actually the hottest planet.”

Legos with Chasey. Men after my own heart.

It is not practical for Steven, Sammy and Amaya to share one room every night so I made a deal with them that they could rotate sleeping with me. All things considered, I think they’re exceptionally good at taking turns.

Friday morning, Amaya was ready to roll in a new dress.

As a Hanukkah present for Charlie I’m flying her out her for SSA’s birthday. To give her the gift, I made her a paper airplane ticket. Amaya wanted one, too. It says, “Amaya’s Ticket. From Mommy.”

Steven reviewed Amaya’s and decided to make his own.

Before the day got started, SSA helped Nana bake pumpkin pies.

Then we headed off to Savta’s house! There’s always so much to see and do when we’re there.

This is how Amaya rolls. She can be so mature.

As a big treat, we all got to surprise Chase & Charlie at school and take them out 45 minutes early. Steven, Sammy and Amaya ran to their cousins for hugs. I love these happy faces.

Nana and her grandkids.

Papa and his grandkids.

Getting done up with Charlie…

Board games!

Born 85 years apart but bonded forever. <3

We had a belated Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night, in large part to celebrate Savta and Papa’s birthdays. Dave’s parents joined us, as well, and Steven was smitten. In fact, he insisted on sitting next to Allen at dinner. Here, Allen was explaining how his hearing aid works.

Allen and Syvia also got gifts for the kids which was so thoughtful.

Sammy’s one-eyed-pig-cat. 🙂

Happy Hanukkah!! It was a day early but the Cline Kids were ready to celebrate with the Goldstein (Poppy Steven) and Weintraub (Nana) sides of the family.

We started the day at cousin Glori’s house along with Mark, Miles, Sailor, Spencer, Jamie, Cooper, Jordan, Heidi, Craig, Benjamin, Isobel, Sebastien, Alex, Chadwick, Sara, Dave, Chase & Charlie – all the cousins and our kids. It’s so special that we do this every year.

Charlie – Spencer – Amaya

Posing with props

Glori and Steven

Steven is pointing the arrow at someone he loves <3

Sammy, playing his first video game with Chase (Mario Kart)

Amaya and Alex playing Mario Kart. She was so excited!

Gifts, gifts, gifts. 🙂

The whole Goldstein gang.

Next we were off to Sara & Dave’s house to celebrate Hanukkah and Jake & Naomi’s 8th birthday.

Sammy say auntie come in and raaaaaaaaan to her. “Auntie!” This kid can make you feel so loved.

Steven got Lite Brite as a gift and was immediately obsessed.

Playing the slots.

“I won so many coins on my first try!”

Laughing, laughing, laughing with Mike.

Savta and her 9 great grands. So awesome.

This morning, before heading out, Steven needed a bit more Lite Brite time – first with Amaya and then with Nana.

And we were off!!

Steven said, “This is the first time I walked down the jet bridge!” Until now, he always insisted on being in a stroller. He still wants me to pick him up to put him on the airplane itself but Amaya and Sammy will now step over the gap on their own. Progress! (It was cute… in front of the gate agent Steven mentioned that he wanted me to pick him up to put him on the plane. The gate agent said it makes her nervous, too. 🙂 )

Hope to Daddy and ready to play with all our wonderful gifts from NY.

Giant solar system floor puzzle.

Jewelry kit.

Lego table from Nana & Papa!

It was a special week and a wonderful start to Hanukkah. Have a great one to everyone celebrating!