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!”

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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!