When this has passed, I think there will be interesting articles written about the perception of the passage of time. I remember reading, once, about how variety in our days adds to the perception of time. For example, if you spend a week long vacation sitting on the same beach you’ll remember the vacation as shorter than if you spent the trip doing different things every day. So all the days blend together right now, but it’s also hard to remember a time when this wasn’t our lives. Reentry will be very interesting.

We had a good flow for distance learning this week. (Well, Penni did. With our thanks.) I’m so glad it isn’t a battle to get them to their morning meetings. I credit the way the teachers engage the kids and the fact that it’s never more than 30 minutes of live learning per day. Honesty, the fact that these teachers have “classroom management” for 22 5 and 6 year olds via zoom is amazing to me.

Steven, Sammy and Amaya are really into Master Chef Junior. (Thanks Nana.) They have their favorites and least favorites and it’s fun to hear them talk about the show. They watch every day after lunch.

On Monday afternoon, Gabby returned! The kids were so excited to see her which made my heart very happy.

From Amaya via Gabby, “Send this to Mommy. I love her.”

Amaya can truly turn anything into art. She found some sticks, branches of leaves and cut out a star to make a wand. I love seeing what she creates.

I’m still working on getting back to reading books every night. The kids have books as part of their eLearning but I’m not certain they’re reading enough on their own, or being read to enough.

The kids do their eLearning between ~11am and 12:30pm so, if I come down to grab lunch during that time, I can see them in action and hear a bit about what they’re working on. Here, Steven was excited to show me his math work.

The kids spent a while working on puzzles which made me realize we should probably bring out their more advanced options. If they can focus for long enough and stop losing puzzle pieces. 🙂

I’m not sure what this exercise was but all of the kids ended Wednesday with these random but, accurate, statements about animals.

Amaya found some feathers in our craft cabinet and made this lovely addition to her headband. I love it.

She’s also obsessed with barbecue sauce lately. At dinner tonight she dipped her avocado in bbq sauce and she asked me to buy felt to sew her stuffed bbq sauce bottle lol.

Dance is going okay. It’s a little hard for the kids to focus but they’re making it through class and seem glad to keep at it. I think I need a different option for flooring in the basement. I floor is a little slippery for tap shoes.

I logged into the zoom while I was working to keep at Amaya and Sammy in tap class. I think I’m going to do that again this week while they’re all in jazz. (Weird, since I’m just two floors up for them but also fun.)

Steven has a beginner rubix cube and was so excited every time he made a side a single color. He FaceTimed with Nana and Papa to show them his progress.

We’ve only made it through 4 chapters but I started reading the kids, “Hot To Eat Fried Worms”. I loved that book as a kid. I read it over and over again and I hope they have the attention span to get through the rest of it. Amaya is decidedly not eating fried worms, though.

I got a brief visit from Captain Marvel while I was working.

Piano lessons moved to Thursday this week and, from what I can hear, the kids are still progressing. I get the sense that zoom lessons are going to be the way we roll for a while. Mr. Anthony even sent us the sheet music for Into the Unknown as some (very) advanced practice.

With our Mario obsessed kids, Gabby found some drawing tutorials on YouTube that Steven and Amaya, in particular, love it.

Steven’s Yoshi.

Amaya’s Princess Peach

Steven and Sammy (and maybe Amaya) had a nature show-and-tell on Friday. Sammy couldn’t wait to show his big stick!

Amaya loves video chatting. She could talk to Charlie all day long. On Friday she was able to talk to her school friend, Abby. It mostly consisted of trying out different video filters with very little actual talking.

Reading a book to Nana, can’t be without the filter.

SSA have been sleeping with us a lot more than usual. I think I’ve mentioned that. On Friday night, Sammy was scared and afraid to be alone. He was in true distress. So he got to cuddle with Jason and watch the NFL draft until he fell asleep. (Which makes me think this was probably Thursday.) He’s such a sweet boy.

Weekend!! We all got out into the (sort of) sun on Saturday. The boys were excited to play “sports” with Jason. Damn, they were sweet doing their stretches, playing catch and t-ball.

Amaya wasn’t into anything sports related so she and I went for a walk.She left this message at Nico’s house lol.

Our little outing turned into a nature walk. We watched birds, picked dandelions, looked at the interesting trees in our neighborhood.

Amaya was most excited when she found a “pine cone patch”. I love that the little things still please 6 year olds. She was so happy to collect these little baby pine cones.

When we got home, the boys were excited about the pine cone patch, too, so I took a walk with each of them, as well.

The Clines! Eating delicious grilled steak ala Daddy.

Even her nature finds became art.

Watching The Phantom Menace, Sammy got right up close to his Daddy again.

I was finishing my Lego diner and Steven asked if he could please make the car that finished the set. I can’t say no to my little lego master. He did great!

How sweet is this? It’s the garage I did last year connected to the diner. And there’s the car Steven made.

Steven probably spent 3 hrs this weekend working on a Lego creation of his own. Once side is a restaurant complete with decorative fish tank and the other side is a playground. He saw how I connected my garage and diner and got the same type of pieces to do the same.

The Cline men and I played a little baseball today. Amaya didn’t want to join in but appointed her self Team Photographer. She had us pose those this photo. “Steven and Sammy and Daddy get down on your knee. Daddy and Sammy put your hands on your hip. Mommy and Steven put hands on shoulders.” lololol

We wrapped up the weekend with our April Raddish Kids kit and made carrot cake cookies with cream cheese frosting. I truly love being in the kitchen with them. <3

It was a good weekend and also a hard weekend. I think the kids are feeling the strain of being cooped up. (I know I am.) It’s a lot of together time for them in the same place, day after day. We have a routine but this just isn’t normal. Same for everyone reading this, I know. I’m trying to balance how I handle bad behavior – the difference between frayed edges and straight up defiance or belligerence. It’s hard. My own fuse is short so I need to remember that before I react, and also in how I think about the kids’ behavior right now. We all need balance and boundaries. It’s a work in progress.

Have a safe week.

This week was our formal start to distance learning. On Monday morning we were given an activity schedule for the week with literacy, math and science lessons – all online. We were also given access to Google Classroom, Zoom and Flipgrid. This is in addition to some other learning sites we were already using. Since it is a slow build, the face to face time was limited to Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for Amaya and Wednesday & Friday for Steven and Sammy. Their live sessions with their class are about 30 minutes long and, to a large degree, mirror their morning meetings. The kids also had to record some videos on Flipgrid. For example, they all had to introduce themselves and share two things they miss about school. On the list for all three Cline kids was “free choice.” 🙂 For Friday’s Zoom meeting, everyone had to bring a favorite stuffed animal.

To get in the zone, on Monday we started following the schedule of weekly activities. Penni gets the work started around 11am at the same time we used to do slightly less structured eLearning. So far, so good.

Coming downstairs between meetings means hugs. <3

On Monday evening I played a game with each of the kids – Memory with Steven and Amaya and Chess with Sammy. We had to put a hold on our game of chess after about 30 minutes. Sammy is very thoughtful about his moves.

Steven earned a staying-in-bed prize on Tuesday morning a guitar so he was especially excited to lead music class. One of my favorite parts of the week is when I hear their music time kick-off downstairs.

Amaya was reluctant to go outside for most of the week. I think she was still nervous about bees or wasps, even though we explained that the house had been sprayed and no insects were building nests around but it was still a push to get her outdoors. I think she’s also still disappointed that we said “no scooters” for the time being. We just don’t want to risk a visit to the ER right now.

Piano! I can’t wait until we can have lessons in our home again.

What day is it? Who knows!?!? Must be Wednesday. It was the first day for live Zoom meetings with their classes so Penni gave each of the kids some distance through the house so they wouldn’t speak over each other. By all reports, the first live session went well. And then, shortly after, it was on to online lessons.

What does April in MI mean? Snow! Go figure. We got a dusting on Wednesday and then it snowed for most of the day on Thursday. We even broke out the snow pants for recess.

Fun with super hero crafts from my secret sister.

Honestly, it’s been so hectic that I haven’t even asked Penni how dance is going. It seems nearly impossible that we’ll have a recital but it’s still worth taking the classes. (Did I say that last week? Every week is the exact same.)

Sammy wanted me to die his hair black so we gave it a shot on Wednesday. He was so sweet and so excited.

Not sad, just serious for his photo op.

Its been a little more difficult than usual to work in bedtime books. I think its the change in routine for all of us, so I’m really happy when we pull it off.

Thursday! Back at the table. Go figure.

For STEM time, Sammy did some archaeology digging for fossils.

The kids found a dead butterfly outside. Penni said they were discussing what would happen to it.

Friday’s Zoom set-up. And, yes, this means getting dressed in the morning is no longer an option.

I’ve got to keep the kids out of my work space during the day but, every now and then, there’s a good reason for a visit and it always includes hugs and smiles. It’s a little hard for all of us to have me home during the day but not present.

If you’re curious about how Amaya perceives life these days, I think this drawing sums it up.

I had the good idea (terrible idea) to let each of the kids play quietly in my room while I worked on Friday afternoon. It might have been a good idea if I’d kept it to one kid at a time but it ended up with all 3 of them which meant fighting and my whisper-yells. Before it went downhill, Amaya was legitimately working quietly on her artwork.

It’s not just a cat who sits and peeks out my window while I work lol.

Light saber fights! There’s lot of Star Wars play happening around these parts since we’ve been watching the movies.

Saturday I turned 44! I slept in and then enjoyed a breakfast prepared by Steven, Sammy, Amaya and Jason.

There was drama because Steven told me about a party they were planning for me. Amaya was furious. “Get over here now, Steven.” She said they agreed that the party would be a surprise and now it was ruined. Fortunately I remembered that Jason has a machine that erases memories and balance was restored.

My first surprise was a birthday cake! And the candles were arranged in the equation 4 x 11 because I mentioned to Jason that I like when my age is a multiple of 11. <3

The kids arranged a party for me with art stations and lego stations. They even had gifts for me. What a haul!! Amaya made goody bags, too, full of her stuff and paper confetti. It was so sweet.

My little loves. (Check out my self-hair cut! This was the first time I styled it since I cut it last weekend. And, yes, Steven was in a mood. There were some issues with the contents of his goody bag.)

Amaya wanted her lipstick on and didn’t want me to do it for her because it’s my birthday. She she turned to her daddy for help.

Sammy got a daddy haircut, complete with a lightening bolt.

I gave Amaya rainbow ends but she wouldn’t let me cut her hair. I tried to explain that she needs healthy hair if she wants it to keep growing well but she wasn’t having it.

I had a birthday Zoom date with three of my closest friends. (Triplet moms, but I don’t need to qualify the friendship that way. It’s well beyond that.)

We all have BBG triplets born within a month of each other. He we are with our daughters.

Return of the Jedi time!

Amaya made me a birthday crown with a matching bracelet. I love the added touch of her “44” lol.

As a final birthday treat, we took a trip to Kensington Park to watch the sunset over the lake. It was really special. The air was cool, the sky was clear and I think the kids realized this wasn’t an everyday family outing.

Sammy, more than anyone, appreciated watching the sun slip behind the trees across the lake.

Today was a clam, easy day. It started with Zoom religious school. It’s okay. I think everyone wishes it was just a bit later in the morning but it’s only 30 minutes so a pretty easy commitment, and the last day for the year was already scheduled to be 5/4.

Amaya watches baking tutorial on her tablet and saw a recipe for Elsa cupcakes that she wanted to try so we made it happen. They’re dense, but edible, and the kids are getting better with their baking skills. We talk a lot about the precision needed for baking that isn’t as important with other types of cooking.

Elsa cupcake!

The kids played outside for a short while today. I’m so glad they have each other through this.They can flight like the best of them but having the built in playmates is amazing.

This evening I convinced Amaya to let me cut her hair. It looks so much healthier!

Some art from the week.

A clay flower, by Amaya.

“I think Elsa is a love bug.”

When you’re having trouble connecting to Dreambox math games, you think the internet is wicked.

Sammy is ready for it to be 100 degrees.

Have a great week! Stay safe!

Well, here we are. At home. Starting to get stir crazy like the rest of the world. We had some gorgeous weather days and also snow, so I’m longing for beautiful spring weather where we can be outside as much as possible and feel a little less confined.

Gabby wasn’t able to come to work this week and, fortunately, Penni was able to cover her hours. It feels absolutely impossible to conceive of both caring for the kids in the manner they need and deserve, and getting our work done successfully.

On Monday, we tried a number activity where the kids drew numbers in salt with their fingers. I remember hearing that using your finger helps train the muscle memory better than using a pencil so I jumped at this activity provided by our kindergarten teachers. Steven, Sammy and Amaya know their numbers but still write some of them backwards.

This was an interesting week for Northville. The school board held a meeting on Tuesday night that was, for lack of any other description, a total shit show. The goal was to roll out their distance learning plan and “revolt” is putting the response lightly. For reasons I still don’t understand, the district decided to more than double the amount of recommended online learning and made most of it synchronous, which eliminated any flexibility. The board meeting lasted 4 hours (before I finally left the Zoom) with parent after parent – and teacher after teacher – expressing their dismay. With nothing left to do but change course, the district came back two days later with a new plan that seems much more reasonable. It starts to roll out this week so we’ll see how it goes. I’m excited for the kids to have a little time with their teachers and I’m hopeful that the plan and workload is manageable for most families – including ours.

I’ve been working a lot, often well into the evening, so I promised the kids I’d get up early on Tuesday morning and play a game with each of them. Sammy picked chess and he truly gave me a run for my money!

The kids still seem genuinely happy to do their work. I hope that continues when it’s more specifically directed by their teachers. Steven’s already said he doesn’t want to have to go on Zoom with Ms. M each day, but maybe that will change when he gets into the new routine.

My girl is back to blonde. 🙂

We’re still doing our “specials” on schedule and Penni has been great at keeping the kids on track for their music class. It’s pretty fun to sit upstairs, working away, and hear their cacophony downstairs.

Remote piano lessons were even better this week, I think. It’s definitely not the same but the kids are learning & relatively well focused.

Steven made this for Mr. Anthony before COVID hit.

On Wednesday, SSA spent the morning working on wooden puzzles that Nana and Papa sent them. Penni was saint-like working through it with all 3 at once. Though, Steven did want as much independence as possible.

A sample finished product – Amaya’s unicorn!

Week 2 of remote dance class also seemed to go more smoothly. It’s not the same, but I’m glad they have the opportunity to stay connected.

It’s Passover! We expected to be in NY for the week but everyone made due and stayed connected thanks to Zoom. I made charoset and Jason got me gefilte fish and horseradish. Amaya is obsessed with both matzah and charoset.

Found the afikomen! I hid three, so everyone could find one. I planned on giving each child $1 but Sammy was insistent that it was worth $10 and he won me over. It was only fair, then, to get Steven what he wanted (a small lego set) and honor Amaya’s request, too (blue lipstick).

The whole gang. <3

Amaya won’t let me touch her hair but she’s letting Penni give her fun hairstyles. I love that smile.

On Thursday, Amaya had a Zoom bingo date with some classmates to play bingo. She was very eager to join which made me happy.

We left the house on Thursday! Hallelujah! In preparation for Distance Learning, the district loaned us three chromebooks for the kids. They’ve been sharing my laptop which isn’t feasible when they have concurrent live sessions and more online work to do. We we managed a contact free pick-up of our laptops outside Northville High School. From there we went to McDonalds for happy meals. And then we stopped by a local elementary school to drop off art the kids made for hospitalized patients.

Sammy event provided tissues. 🙂

It was crazy weather this week, as evidenced by Steven’s attire. 60 and sunny. Snow. Sleet. MI doesn’t know how to do spring.

On Thursday we had a “second seder” with family that was really more of a “time spent visiting with one another” kind of thing.

Inspired by Chase and Charlie, forts are the hot new thing in the Land of Cheltenham. It’s a lot of books lol. The kid are making forts again right now and doing it with far fewer things that need to be put away later.

Friday yay!!

Amaya’s blue lipstick came. She’s obsessed.

Friday night / early Saturday, I woke up in the middle of the night and went downstairs to turn off some lights and run the dishwasher. (Don’t get me started on how I feel about keeping dishes flowing through the dishwasher.) It gave me a chance to get these precious pictures of the Cline men sleeping together.

Saturday!! Amaya spent a good portion of the day making bracelets and checking her lipstick.

There was ball card organizing.

We had a Cline-Scofield-Burge zoom date! I’m really pleased because I figured out how to use TV audio so now we’re totally set to connect. Only thing we’re missing are microphones so we don’t have to worry about the laptop mic picking us up.

Amaya and Sammy did their own Cosmic Kids yoga sessions. I want to subtly continue to encourage these. It’s so good for them, especially on days when they can’t get outside. These bodies need to move, move, move.

Watching The Empire Strikes Back! (My personal favorite.) Sammy thought it was interesting that the title lets us know the empire is going to strike back. 🙂

This week my lego challenges form the kids included Hoppy and C-3PO.

Tonight’s forts!

Some writing from the week.

Amaya cracks me up. This goes back to the number activity with salt. “Penni wasted the salt.”

Nice job sounding out “independent”.

That’s it for us! Happy Passover and Happy Easter to all.

Another week at home. Here we are!

This past week was virtual spirit week at Thornton Creek. We didn’t make it all 5 days but Steven, Sammy and Amaya were excited to wear their Gator Gear on Monday.

Mid-week, our governor officially announced that we won’t be returning to school this year. It’s so sad. I mean, so much of this is so sad but I’m still struggling with the idea that the kids are missing so much of their kindergarten year. It’s obviously for good reason but it still stings.

My daily view, including Ms. Sally.

Steven, Sammy and Amaya had a lego challenge to make cars, followed by car races.

I think I’ve said this for the past two weeks but I’ve been really happy with how well the kids are diving into their daily learning. It’s not all that much, truly, but I’m glad it hasn’t been a fight.

Next week (4/13), our school district is going to start more deliberate distance learning. I’m curious to see what it entails and, from my exchanges with our principal, hopeful that it is sensitive to the work/home school balance so many families are trying to find.

The week prior, Penni brought a pizza lunchable for lunch and Amaya wanted one for herself so Jason picked some up for the kids. Sammy was absolutely thrilled to tell me that he was drinking Kool-Aid which is full of SUGAR. Just absolutely tickled.

Monday’s Doodles with Mo involved making a birthday crown for his wife so, once again, we celebrated Hoppy’s birthday. 🙂

Tuesday was a pizza challenge!

Sammy is working on his math. Steven is working on his writing. (Penni had the great idea to challenge the kids to write at least four of their own words. They still want help spelling and it’s hard to push them to try on their own but also important.)

At “recess”, the kids played with cool styrofoam planes that Penni brought.

We can’t have Mr. Anthony come to our house for piano lessons but he was able to set them up via Zoom. This gave Amaya and Sammy a chance to start lessons and for Steven to dive back in. It sounds like they did really well with lessons over Zoom so I’m glad for the opportunity to keep momentum.

While Amaya had her lesson, the boys joined their class (for the first time!) to celebrate a classmate’s birthday. It was chaotic. No one was muted and no one could hear anything. I had to step away before Ms. M got things under control so hopefully that happened.

We’ve had the kids sleeping with us far more than usual. I think Jason and I are both a bit more indulgent than we are. Maybe because of the situation. Maybe because they’re not heading to school every morning.

Who could resist this?

Oh, look! It’s Wednesday we’re still here.

The kids had Hebrew school again where they worked on Hebrew and learned about Passover.

Seder plates!

On Wednesday we also got back to dance classes, again via Zoom. I didn’t push dance clothes, just shoes. And it seems like week 1 was a success.

What day is it? Thursday? Sammy made some slime for his STEM hour. This boy loves slime so much!

During Thursday’s Mo, we learned that Friday would be his last Lunchtime Doodles. 🙁 Sadness! We’ve enjoyed it so much.

Thursday with my Bubba. He’s sleeping with me again tonight and said, “As soon as I’m awake and you’re awake show me the picture you took when I was asleep.”

It’s warming up!! Thursday was absolutely gorgeous. I even got outside for a 20 minute break. On Friday, Steven, Sammy and Amaya did their independent reading out on the deck.

On Friday evening, three Master Mo Doodlers graduated from Mo Willems’ Lunchtime Doodles program. <3

We ended our “school” week with FaceTime with Aunt Bonnie (Grandpa Homie’s sister). She read the kids a bedtime story and we had a great visit.

Our weekend mornings are laaaaaaaazy. Despite being home all week, the kids are scheduled so the free time and downtime is definitely appreciated, even now.

On Saturday afternoon the kids participated in a Fairytale Entertainment zoom event with Belle, Hulk, Captain America, Olaf, Spiderman and Anna. It was about 30 minutes long and included songs, dancing and super hero moves. Amaya was, far and away, the most into it. She even had me take her braids out when she realized she would be on camera. There was conversation among the kids about whether or not it was the real Hulk and the real spiderman.

Roaring like the Beast.

On Saturday evening, the Goldstein cousins & family had our own zoom happy hour. There’s no upside to coronavirus, but I’m glad that we’re finding these ways to connect that, in normal circumstances, we may not have.

Before bed on Saturday, the kids issued me Lego challenges.

* Amaya asked me to make glasses.

* Steven challenged me to make a boat without repeating any colors.

* Sammy wanted an evil flying robot.

It would be a lot easier if I had access to the breadth of pieces the LEGO Masters have. Those glasses were tough!

My prize from Amaya.

After a super lazy morning, we joined a Temple Israel zoom to sing Passover songs with other kids in the congregation.

Since we’d been so lazy, Jason and I kicked the kids outside. To motivate them, Jason had a contest to see who could find the biggest wood chips. Which evolved into a lesson on area and then a contest to find the weirdest wood chip.

Amaya didn’t want to wear a jacket but she put on tights, a Darth Vader skirt under her dress and wore leg warmers on her arms. She’s always had a very specific and deliberate sense of style. 🙂

Sammy’s weird wood chip!

A stink bug made it into the house and the kids freaked out. They made stink bug traps from paper towels, green and blue items and gum. (Apparently stink bugs like green and blue?)

Aaaaaaaaand – drumroll – today we played our first family game of real Monopoly. Goodbye “jr”. Jason picked up the Frozen II version. I think he’s been waiting for this day since the kids were born.

They did great and he’s right about it being a really good way for the SSA to practice math.

Since stink bugs like blue and green, Amaya wanted to hide her eyes.

Our special guest – Grandma Sunshine!! Grandma played along with us which, I think, worked pretty well. I rolled for her and managed her money but she was a full member of the game, making trades and everything. So cool.

Sunday Sleepover.

Here’s some art work from the week.

A rainbow bee from Steven

Not only does Sammy sign his artwork, “Mo”, but he started signing his schoolwork that way, too.

Amaya practiced spelling the words that mean the most to her.

Sammy signed this piece, “Misdr Mo”. (Mister Mo)

Amaya made a picture to send Misdr Mo.

Sammy’s picture with his siblings: Amaya, Me, Crazy Head.

Sammy wanted to be sure to write about weekend plans he knew he could deliver on. “This weekend I am going to go to the bathroom. How about you?”

Amaya insisted that “Tap” isn’t a word and wrong “Sink” instead.

I’m a love bug!

That it for quarantine week 3. Have a good one! Stay safe and healthy!