There was a lot going on this week! We wrapped up our wonderful visit with Grandma Betsy. The kids fall school photos came in. I took a quick trip to CA. Nana and Savta came to visit. We hosted our annual triplet family Halloween party!

The weather was beautiful on Monday and taking advantage of it was a no-brainer. We have to maximize nice days in October. Madison and Grandma Betsy took the kids to Three Cedars Farm for a hay ride and pumpkin picking.

A phone booth! The kids love “old time” phones with cords like when mommy was little..

On Monday night, Madison was teaching Amaya dance moves.

I took a break from my new legos to watch.

Monday night, the kids got the idea of sleeping on the floor. It seemed like a fun idea but, quickly, Sammy realized his bed was much more comfortable. Steven seemed to be up and out of “bed” earlier than ever.

School pictures! Amaya looks nothing like herself with that stiff smile but they’re cute photos, none-the-less. We even have cameos from Morminer and Puppy.

After work on Tuesday, Steven was soooooooo excited to show me how he organized the fridge. I think he gets the instinct from his daddy though Jason says this particular organizational style is most reminiscent of Grandpa Homey. 🙂

Before bed, on Grandma Betsy’s last night, everyone “read” stories together on the iPad.

Jason called on his way home from work and, while Sammy was talking to him, he decided he wanted to have a call with Daddy and Grandma Sunshine. Happy guy.

Steven needed a turn, too. Amaya, however, said, “I don’t want to talk to any people. I just want a back massage.”

While she was waiting for her back massage (yes, she gets one every night before bed instead of a back rub), she worked hard on her dolls’ hair styles. So proud of herself!

“Now take a picture from the front so we can see them smiling.”

Wednesday, October 24th was my 14 year Sallyversary. Three states. Seven homes. One marriage. Three kids. Still my best big girl. <3 <3 <3

Wednesday afternoon I flew to San Francisco for a work meeting. Madison made sure to send me pics of my sweet kiddos. She’s got this gig down pat (and you can see that Sammy’s well beyond his eating issues).

Our for dinner with 4 SFO area triplet moms. Wherever I go, there we are! All bonded by the birth of triplets in 2014.

Ready for school on Thursday!

I’m obsessed with Amaya’s perfect little hands, mirroring Ms. Christina, in this photo. (She’s got the ballet bun, standing next to Sammy.)

We paid for recital costumes this week. (In October! For a June recital!) Steven officially withdrew from tap. He’s content waiting for jazz each week and is still insistent that tap is too loud. Sweet boy.

While I was waiting to fly home from, Nana and Savta arrived!

A new Saturday tradition is Starbucks with Nana! The kids love it and Jason and I love it because we both get to sleep in!! Big, BIG smiles.

Sammy, in his Savta’s lap, watching shows while we waited for our annual Halloween party.

Halloween 2018! We have Captain America, an Ice Cream Cone and a Chicken!!

I remember thinking we’d be picking coordinating costumes for the kids at this age but they have idea of their own and it’s fun to see those ideas come to life.

We had 4 other families join us for the Halloween party on Saturday morning – all families who’ve been with us for the prior three years, as well. Every year it’s easier and, this year, the kids actually played together – a first.

Sammy Chicken, cutting his grapes.

It’s always fun to go to a friends’ house and find new toys to play with. The kids visiting were very busy, right away.

Storming the castle!

15 kids and four were girls. They gravitated toward each other pretty quickly – especially Amaya and Sarah (Belle) who both wanted to spend their time doing crafts. Sarah’s mom and I are going to work on a play date for the two of them. They’re both the only daughter in a houses of brothers – plus Sarah has a older brother, too.

Steven made Liam his pet Lion. “Do you want to pet my Lion?”

Sarah and Amaya

Sammy wasn’t interested in playing with the other kids. I think it was a bit much. Fortunately, his Daddy was there to snuggle with.

And, when Daddy wasn’t there, he had the chair. lol

The moms! Bethany – Julie – Me – Julia – Nina.

The whole gang!

Four Years Running. <3

We wrapped up Saturday with a visit from Megan and Taco! The kids were so excited. Amaya explained, “We have to have playdates with May May now because she’s not our nanny anymore. She didn’t want to leave but she has to take care of Baby Taco and the baby in her belly.” Well said, kiddo.

Today was a relaxing day at home, bookending brunch out.

Amaya earned her prize for staying in bed so we were very focused looking for her next prize. (A set of costume jewelry.)

Nana is creating crossword puzzles for the kids! Four word crosswords, all three letter words with answers like “hat”, “tug”, “mat”, etc. The kids love them.

I picked up this set of Montessori sandpaper letters after seeing them in use at a school in Texas. The concept is you trace the letter with two fingers in the same way you’d write the letter. Afterward, you say the sound of the letter. From what I’ve read and been told, it helps learning to write letters but also helps dramatically with reading because of the repetition of letter sounds. (Always the soft vowel sounds to help with vowel placement in introductory words – hat, let, bit, rot, hut.)

Super Captain Elsa!

Nana spent the morning playing with the kids – crossword puzzles, board games and a ton of make believe on a ship that Steven captained. I also played Chutes and Ladders with the boys and Jason & I had to spend some time consoling Sammy who couldn’t quite get past his loss to Steven. It’s a good thing he beat me at the game a short time later. It reminds me of Chase at this age, actually.

Matching shirts!! SSA have always loved Nana’s “hand” shirt and now they have their own! Everyone together… working on tree pose in their matching shirts.

Tic Tac Toe while we wait for brunch.

Sammy really wanted coffee today so I ordered a cup of decaf for him. He added two half & halfs and a splenda and proceeded to drink 2/3 of the cup of coffee. It was adorable. He was so stinking proud.

We wrapped up the afternoon quietly at home. The kids got up to shenanigans and, in the midst, Sammy spent an age just sitting and talking with Savta. Oh, how he loves his Savta. It’s special.

And that’s it for this week! Have a great one!

Sammy does such a good job staying in bed until his green light come on. He comes in in the morning and says, “Mommy, the green light went on.” He always has puppy and he never wants to get dressed unless I have a decent bribe for him. Usually that bribe is playing with the map on my phone or using the stopwatch function to see how quickly I can shower.

Amaya and Sammy both earned their “staying in bed” prizes on Monday. I took this picture, though, because I loved this outfit to pieces. It’s so much fun to see what Amaya will pick to wear. As Steven says, she “wears really nice styles”.

She’s got sass and style. And is starting to look like such a big kid. I can’t take it.

The power of the stopwatch. (And maps.) Jason’s usually still asleep when I start getting ready and the boys are almost always awake. Literally watching time pass if often enough to keep them occupied in the morning. Other times they want to use Google Maps on my phones. Steven likes to try to find the “path” to school and Sammy tends to want to see Nana’s house.

This face. <3

All three Cline kids are ready for the cold weather! (Their mother is not.)

On Tuesday night, I asked Amaya if she had a good day at school and she made this face. lol

I asked again and was rewarded with this reaction. Somehow I knew something was up. 😉 Steven eventually ratted her out and said the didn’t have a good day at school because she wasn’t listening when Ms Bri asked her to come in from the playground. (Later, when I asked Steven if he learned anything at school, he told me, “I learned how not to be bad on the playground from Amaya.”)

Wednesday morning I was off to Dallas/Fort Worth for a work trip followed by a triplet mom getaway. It was early and everyone else was asleep so I set Steven up with Sofia the First in our closet to help him pass the time until wake-up time. He could barely look up to say goodbye. 🙂

I missed it in person but Madison had braided Amaya’s hair the night before to make curls. She was pleased!

I think I mentioned that I ordered a pillow for Amaya featuring photos of her princess meet-ups at Disney. She immediately knew this was the package and couldn’t stand to wait to open in up.

A happy, happy child with a perfect souvenir from our trip. Again, she looks like such a BIG kid!

Wednesday play time!

These scooters were gifts for their 3rd birthday from a fellow triplet mom and they’re still going strong!

My turn! This getaway was in Fort Worth and we had about 40 moms join the trip. We stayed in the Stockyards.

Riding a real long horn. It was huge.

While I was living it up in TX, the kids had dance. The tap class is just 4 or 5 kids which is nice for all the attention they’ll get. Steven is still saying that he’s not interested in tap so he waits with Madison while Sammy and Amaya dance.

Jazz class, with all 3 Clines.

Friday was picture day at school. We had outfits set in advance and Madison was on point to get the kids set.

Megan would always call this look “Banker Bobes”.

The kids could get photographed with a favorite friend. Sammy and Steven wanted to bring Puppy and Morminer. Here, Madison was showing me that they were safely on their way home from school.

Class growth chart! Interesting to see how SSA measure up (literally) with their peers. If you can’t read the labels, from L to R, Steven is first, Amaya is 2nd in the row and Sammy is 5th.

Goofing off during TV time.

Back in TX, we were ready for authentic TX BBQ for Friday night dinner.

All the moms! I think we have 143 kids between us.

Some of my first true (and dearest) triplet mom friends… all with triplets born in January 2014.

While I was gone, Jason sent me a text that summed up our kids reactions to my absence:

From Sammy…”I’m not right without my Mommy.”
From Steven…”I love Mommy more than you.”
From Amaya…”I’m good regardless.”
🙂

The Cline kids had a lazy day at home on Saturday hanging out with Jason, Rosie and Grandma Betsy who made plans to visit from IA this weekend!

I had my last day with my friends, taking in Sundance square, eating Mexican food, hitting up a dueling piano bar and dancing at an 80’s bar.

On the board for us at the dueling piano bar. It’s true!

Saturday evening, Madison came to hang out with the kids. The plan had been a hay ride but the weather didn’t cooperate so she improvised and brought hot chocolate (a first for SSA!) and treats for them to eat which watching It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. (Also a first!)

Today I had a day of travel and the boys started early working on their spreadsheets, connected to our TV display. Learning young! 🙂

I am HOME to my family and had a wonderful homecoming. As always, it’s a treat to see Grandma Betsy interacting with Steven, Sammy and Amaya (like no time has passed).

I also got to start work on my Apollo Saturn 5 rocket with special help from a special girl.

I’ll leave you with a video of Steven drawing a map.

And that’s it for the week. Have a good one!

Jason was off from work on Monday & Tuesday so, Monday, the kids had a chance to help him with yard work. One of their favorite activities!

A chance to use the blower is a particular favorite for all three kids.

Through the week, I had helpers continue to help me work on Voltron.

Tuesday morning smiles!

It was one last day of warm weather and the kids made the most of it. I’m really going to miss nice weather & outdoor time as it gets colder. Sammy told me he’s excited for winter, though, because it means snow and his birthday!

We also had someone come out for Best Buy to do some measurements and advising on new kitchen appliances. As reported by Jason, Steven sat on the couch with his tape measure in case “Best Buy Nate” needed help. And he did. 🙂

On Tuesday night we finished Voltron! It’s really cool. Even better looking than I anticipated and the project was as much fun as I’d hoped.

Next up, the Apollo Saturn 5 rocket.

Wednesday was another warm day and Madison had the good idea to have a lunch picnic with SSA after school.

Madison said, “I don’t know what they’re doing but they’re having a lot of fun!”

Mugging for the camera.

Fall leaves to stomp in before dance class. That crunch is so satisfying.

Sammy and Amaya are really loving tap! I can’t wait to have a chance to see them in action. It’s a small class, too. Just 5 or 6 people which means lots of individual attention.

Jazz!

This girl sleeps with so. much. stuff. So much stuff. A million friends and just as many blankets.

I got myself a little 6×6 Shutterfly book with pictures from my trip to CA. Amaya went through page by page to show her brothers. Steven is already counting down to his trip, which isn’t nearly as soon as he’d like, and Sammy says June is way to far away.

Bedtime shenanigans. The kids were playing pirates and I asked them to pause to pose for a picture. Amaya has really been getting into posing lately. (And, yes, she’s sleeping in a bathing suit.)

Most of our weekend was wonderfully lazy. I even saw two movies this weekend! TWO. (A Star Is Born and First Man.)

I got myself some legos to try to build the kids a jewelry holder but they were promptly, and probably rightly, appropriated.

Steven took his helicopter apart to make a sled!

Amaya was excited to see a picture of her curly hair. (Thank you, braids.)

The boys got haircuts from Jason yesterday which you can clearly see here around Steven’s smiling face. He was explaining to me that he was frozen and I needed the magic word to unfreeze him. The magic is new. On Friday he was not listening at school to the extent that his teacher asked the center director, Ms. Shannon, to talk to him about it. He told Shannon that his dinosaur, Charlie, but a spell on him that made him not listen. Shannon did some counter magic and “called” Charlie which seemed to do the trick but “magic made me do it” popped up on and off all weekend. We’ve had a few conversations about being responsible for our actions as well as counter spells to use if there’s “bad magic” around us. This morning, there were a ton of words that made Steven freeze, including the word “yes”. Fortunately, there were also a ton of words that unfroze him. His imagination is so much fun and, still, he also needs limits it’s used as an excuse for not listening or inappropriate behavior.

Knex with Daddy

The kids did a bunch of puzzles this morning. It was interesting to see the variation in their skill level. Steven really impressed me. He can do 35 piece jigsaw puzzles without a visual reference while he works. He was so focused and just had a really good sense of how it all came together. Sammy still needs (and wants) more hands on support while he’s doing puzzles which probably means one-on-one puzzle time could be a valuable activity.

This afternoon we went to a Halloween play at the children’s theater with plans to see the Northville skeletons after, followed by dinner at Garage. On the way there, Amaya and Sammy were pretending to be asleep. Can you see Sammy snoring? lol

Spoooooooky. (I am saying that in Steven’s voice. He says, “spoooooooky” cuter than anyone I know.”

The kids got to dress up for the play. Sammy chose the Cinderella dress. Amaya chose Elsa. (Of course.) Steven was a police officer. Jason and I let the kids wear what they chose.

Sammy is a smart kid. I think he knows that he’s not surrounded by other boys in princess dresses. I worry about assholes being mean to him but I’ve had friends remind me that there will always be assholes ready to be mean about something, and he wore this dress with so much happiness and confidence.

After the play we walked around town looking at the skeleton display. We were standing all together and some guy walked by and said, “Is your son in a dress?” I looked at him and immediately said, “WHAT ABOUT IT?” The woman he was with said, “It’s Halloween”, and put her hand on his arm. He took a step back and said, somewhat apologetically, “I was just asking.” He wasn’t just asking, though. He was judging out loud in front of my kids.

As he walked away I said to Sammy, “He was saying he liked your dress.” And Sammy smiled and said, “I’m glad I wore it.” My heart just about exploded.

I’m so glad he didn’t pick up on the judgment or tension.

At bedtime I talked to the kids about how it’s okay to like things even if our friends don’t or say we shouldn’t. We all took turns role playing responses to people who tell us something we like is “yucky” or “silly”. We said things like, “I don’t care if you don’t like it. I do and that’s all that matters.” Some of our examples were about Captain America, Elsa, Shimmer and Shine, what we wear to bed & adults who play with legos. “Adults can play with legos if they want to! I don’t care if you think it’s silly. I like playing with them and that’s all that matters.” SSA seemed to have a lot of fun with it. I hope talking about these things now, at an age appropriate level, helps even a little when someone, inevitably, makes fun of them.

I also ordered two books about boys who, sometimes, like to wear dresses. The books seem to take more of a focus of explaining that it’s okay, even if other people say it’s not. I don’t think we need to read these books yet because no one is saying that to the kids. It’s just…I don’t want to overthink all of this, but I thought it could be good to have them ready in the house in case someone does tease at some point.

For all we know, Sammy will grow out of this soon. Whether he does or doesn’t, I want to be able to help him always feel as secure and confident as he did today.

Steven was so into the play. He was the cutest when he clapped. He told me he’s going to dream about the witches tonight. They were his favorite. Oh! And he also said he wishes he was a grown-up so he could be on stage! If he keeps up the interest there are lots of kids’ theater workshops he can try in a few years..

I looks silly here but Steven said he liked the picture so here it is. <3

Checking out the skeletons. They really are super cool. They’re posed ALL over Northville and the displays are so creative.

Perfect triplet doorways. 🙂

Dinner at Garage!

I have one last story this week. At lunch today, we were talking about dinosaurs and Sammy asked if they went extinct because they didn’t eat enough healthy food. Great question! We talked about theories of dinosaur extinction and Sammy asked how a meteor could fall to the earth if there’s no gravity in space. THIS KID. It’s so cool to start to see Steven, Sammy and Amaya apply these concepts in new contexts.

And that’s it for this week. Have a good one!

I’m going to start this week toward the end, on Thursday, when Amaya and I set off for CA for a girl’s weekend. My friend Addie lives in Orange County and has a daughter who was born a month after SSA, as well as a 6 year old son. I couldn’t pass up the chance for our girls to meet and there was an added bonus of Addie living just 30 minutes from Disneyland. I never expected any of my kids to have an early childhood Disney experience!

We set off early and, as always, the fountain at DTW was the first sight to see.

READY!!

Amaya was awesome on the flight. She was easily entertained for the 5 hours with snacks, shows and her notebook. No naps, though. This girl doesn’t sleep on airplanes.

We made it to LA!! Addie’s husband, Matt, came up to LAX with Mary to pick us up. Amaya was immediately thrilled with the TV in the van. No surprise there.

We spent the afternoon at the California Science Center. It was a perfect place to visit for this space geek. So much to see from the early days of the space program and Amaya & Mary hit it off right away. One of our friends commented that this photo is like young Jodie Foster & young Britney Spears lol.

I always feel like my nose is cold and this infrared imaging proves that I have a cold nose!

My girl. <3

See our necklaces? I bought this Disney Princess neckace kit for Amaya at the airport on the way out LA. She gifted me with Cinderella, kept Ariel and Tiana for herself and gifted Snow White and Belle to Mary.

SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR! I’ll be honest, the girls weren’t quite as impressed as Matt and I were. They were much more interested in the gift shop. I’m so excited I got the chance to see the shuttle, though. So cool.

Very early in the trip Amaya figured out that Matt could pick her up pretty easily. And, thus, his nickname “Uppy” was born.

When get got back to Orange County, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the house with Mary. Amaya loved to see that Mary has a rock collection, too.

Back in MI, it was dance day! Since Steven isn’t taking tap, Sammy was on his own without Amaya. He was a little unsure but Madison walked him in and he did it! I’m proud of my Bubba. I’m sure it was a bit unsettling when he’s used to having Amaya there with him.

Passing time during tap.

Steven walked right in to join Sammy for jazz. I’m glad he has a class/activity he likes.

Friday morning was DISNEY DAY! I tried very hard to manage my expectations but I knew how excited Amaya would be to see all of the princesses. She brought her Elsa dress to wear even though I told her I couldn’t be sure we’d see Elsa. (In fact, up until Wednesday I was sure we wouldn’t because Elsa and Anna are at California Adventure and I didn’t realize we had park hopper tickets thanks to Matt’s brother who works at Disney and got us highly, highly discounted passes.)

This girl was ready to go!!

A real castle!

One of our first stops was the carousel in Fantasyland. It was the first time Amaya was willing to go on a moving horse on her own and had a blast. I think the recent fair rides helped her get past her prior hesitation. She had this same smile all day long.

Our first princesses – Ariel and Snow White! So much wonder and joy. It was magical. These “princesses” are so engaged and sweet with the kids. Amaya felt special in each and every conversation.

Here, they’re noticing that Ariel is on Amaya’s necklace.

Riding Dumbo together.

Storybook land ride.

Princess Elena! Amaya was the last one in line to meet Elena. Lucky break! While we were waiting she said to me, “Mommy, if Princess Elena is real, that means Sofia is real, too!” I can not break that little girl’s heart. She’ll figure it out in time.

Elena thought they should do an “Else pose.” Perfection.

After meeting Elena we headed into Royal Hall where we heard Cinderella had joined Snow White and Ariel. Both Snow White and Ariel remembered meeting Amaya earlier in the day and asked all about her day so far. She couldn’t stop beaming.

Cinderella!

We finished with the princesses in time for Amaya & Mary to watch a show that featured Belle. It was a princess smorgasbord.

It wasn’t all princesses. Amaya and Mary had a great time exploring Tom Sawyer Island.

They also took in the Small World ride. I was slightly disinterested to start, having forgotten how absolutely engaging it is with a particularly satisfying wait time:ride time ratio.

So much to see.

Amaya had a rainbow cookie with lunch and did nothing but lick off the icing while painting her face multicolor.

Our final princess at Disnelyland was Aurora. I got the hang of the app in time to take Amaya to meet her in the scheduled location.

With our park hopper passes we made our way to California Adventure. Disney in CA is so much more easily navigated than in Orlando. The parks are right across a small plaza from one another making it truly easy to back and forth. After an amazing ride, Soarin, we headed over to meet Elsa and Anna.

This was Amaya’s face the entire time she was watching the prior visitors meet with their royal highnesses.

When it was Amaya’s turn, I was quick to mention that Amaya was happy to see Elsa and Anna because the last time was back in January at her birthday party. They played right into it for Amaya. Didn’t miss a beat.

Even I got a turn in a photo!

Our penultimate Disney activity was the Disney Jr. dance party. Amaya was right there in the mix and it was adorable. After the dance party we wrapped up on an Ariel ride. We bought souvenirs before heading out of the park after an amazing 10.5 hr day at the parks. It was just incredible and I’m so grateful Amaya and I got to share the experience together.

Among the presents for Jason, Steve and Sammy and Amaya’s own souvenirs, I ordered this pillow for her as a permanent keepsake of her day at Disney. <3

Back at home, I had some happy boys.

Jason was working on something with the cabinet lighting and Sammy put up a barrier to be sure Jason would have a segregated work area.

Helping with dinner.

Madison learned about how much the kids enjoy Snapchat lol.

Amaya insisted I write the names of all of the princesses she met but was very frustrated that she can’t read them so we put symbols to use as cues.

Saturday morning started with a trip to Addie & Matt’s house.

This was Amaya’s chance to meet Nathan and my first meeting since he was ~6 months old.

Collecting rocks. As one does.

And art work. As Amaya does.

We spent the perfect afternoon at Laguna Beach. Amaya continued her campaign to get Matt to carry her around.

Checking out the tide pools. Amaya was hesitant at first but seemed to warm up fairly quickly – enough so that we practically had to drag her away.

We planned to go to a playground but found these sand dunes instead. (Maybe not quite dunes, but same general idea on a smaller scale.) Amaya spent the next hour rolling down sand hills. Because why not? They did this for, I’d say, at least an hour. Rolling, rolling, rolling.

And flying a kite for the first time!

We wrapped up our day, and our vacation, with ice cream.

Now here we are, heading back to our men after a mommy/daughter weekend we’ll never forget. <3 <3 <3

Just a little bit more from the rest of the week.

On Monday afternoon, SSA had a chance to play outside in the wet weather. Perfect when you’re 4!

Steven got new hightops that zip up the front around the toe. The goal is for him to be able to put them on himself, even with his orthotics on. So far, they’re just a bit too tight for him to make it work on this own but I’m hoping that changes with repeated use.

My little fashionista.

She’s also working on mastering doing her hair on her own. Not bad, in my opinion!

It took a while for the kids to get the coordination to hold the stencil down in one hand and trace with the other but they finally seem to have it down. Steven and Amaya do for sure.

Rescuing worms outside their school!

A little Steven piano playing.

Lunch out with Madison before picking out pumpkins.

Finally, we got photos back from a photoshoot that Megan did with the kids before her final days as our nanny. They’re wonderful and really capture the special relationship that she has with our kids.

And that’s it for our BIG, BIG week!! Have a great one!