I’m really seeing Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s reading skills develop this fall. I’ll never know how their development at this stage would compare to the experience they’d have in-person at school but they’re reading regularly and reading better and better every day. Mrs. O’Neil also regularly keeps kids to read with her 1:1 so I know their teacher has a sense of where they’re at. My favorite part of the kids’ developing reading skills is seeing it open the world to them.

Steven: “Into” is one of my favorite words.

Tuesday was picture day! I’m so glad the virtual kids were able to go to school for photos. I suspected the lure of the profit share would motivate them to figure it out. 🙂

Amaya and I negotiated clear lip gloss only for photos. This child would have otherwise showed up in a full face of makeup.

Sammy did his hair before they left. I’m not sure it held through to photos but I love that he took the care and had a point of view about it.

Picture day outfits – handpicked by the Cline kids!

Tuesday SSA were back to swim. After each lesson we get an email with these progress cards. I like to see the skills they’ll master. Amaya started with 0 stars over the course of her first few lessons so its cool to see her progress. I thought level 5 is a little advanced for her but she’s working so hard and making progress.

Steven is waffling on putting his face in the water. He’s done it but he’s still not excited about it.

For the very first time, Sammy put his face in the water! He was rightfully so proud of himself.

I had a big work meeting on Wednesday and really wanted a good night sleep. It was our typical Tuesday sleep-with-parents night and Sally has been a loud old cat at night – in the middle of the night – so Jason took charge on what I’ll gratefully call “Operation Mommy”. <3

Jason and the kids gathered upstairs and, though whispers, put a plan together. I was working downstairs but, out of the corner of my eye, I could see the kids literally tiptoeing around the house. It was precious. They moved all of Sally’s stuff into our master bedroom so I could sleep elsewhere and Sally free and then Jason and the kids hunkered down and went to bed in a big Cline (minus Mommy) sleepover. It was so sweet.

Amaya thought to bring in Sally’s stairs so she could look out the window.

The kids also made me phenomenal art that I’ll keep forever.

“I Love You, Mommy by Steven. When you come downstairs in the week I smile. When you go back up I am sad but I know it’s ok.”

MY HEART. This is so true. I come downstairs for snack and get the biggest smile from Steven, with a request for a hug, and I’m so glad he knows it will be okay, even if he’s sad.

Mom Love, a poem by Steven

Mom love is the best when your mom is awesome.

Sally Cat, by Steven

Sally Cat is the best. She makes life so much fun. We all love Sally Cat. She’s the best in the best house.

From Amaya:

“Mom Works It’s Ok

Mom works in the night. It’s ok.

Mom works in the day. It’s ok.

Mom works in the evening. It’s ok.

Mom is all done!”

(I swear I don’t work all the time!)

From my sweet, sweet Sammy. <3

The kids definitely have the perception of me working more than I did before, even if only because we’re all home together, but my lack of commute (as short as it was) gets me back engaged with them earlier than I would have if I was going into the office and the mid-day Hellos are highlights of my day.

I get to see their morning recess slime / floof parties!

When synchronous classes end, Mrs. O’Neil offers to let anyone stay on if they need to talk to her. The Cline Kids love to stay on until the last kid leaves which has meant that, at times, they’re the only ones left chatting with Mrs. O’Neil. Right there you can see Steven, Sammy, Amaya and Mrs. O’Neil wrapping up the day together lol.

The kids needed to collect leaves for a school project. I love Cheltenham Drive in the fall.

Back to swim for me, too!

Sammy does not like to be touched in photos and Amaya loves to gather her brothers around her in photos so this is compromise that Amaya came up with. She’s too much.

Friday (or maybe Saturday, actually) was my 16 year Sallyversary. Sixteen years with the best cat a family could ask for. Truly the best cat.

During this week’s art class, the kids did some Van Gogh inspired pumpkin art.

Sammy

Steven

Amaya

This week SSA did a test run of their Halloween costumes. We have Darth Vader, a cat and a glow in the dark skeleton. Three happy kids!

Sammy looks so old and so handsome and he’s so funny.

Steven said, “Did you see how I lowered my eyebrows to look serious?”

Most darling cat I’ve ever seen.

Sammy glows! This is definitely, and understandably, his favorite part of his costume.

We wrapped up Friday with more Sally love. Look at how Sammy is looking at her.

Saturday the kids got busy decorating the house for Halloween. They had a ton of fun – and it’s continuing into today – but I suspect they may feel differently about it when they have to clean up on the 1st.

Steven used black painters tape for his decorations. He’d want you to know that the ghost has a “word bubble” to say “Boo”.

For the first Sparty football game of the season, Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette came to visit. We made it work outside with a heater, a tv and roku. Pretty, cool!

Unicorn faces, compliments of Daddy’s face painting skills.

This morning we had our first day of online religious school. There were lots of technical issues at the start and it’s not nearly as good as being there but the Hebrew lessons engaged SSA and our temple knows that it’s not the same so the schedule is every other week rather than weekly until we can be back in person.

Me: What do you want to do today?

Steven: Wrestle with daddy.

This pretty much sums up fall in Michigan lol. Sammy wasn’t ready for a jacket but wanted a little something to fight the chill. 🙂

Little Wookie in the background, checking out hangers. This child is <3 <3 <3.

We had a nice lazy Sunday afternoon.

The kids got busy with the continuation of their Halloween decorating. Streamers, streamers everywhere.

Steven and I played a bunch of games together. This is such a fun age for games.

Sum Swamp! It’s an addition, subtraction, even/odd game. Basic math but really good for the kids right now and they’re enjoying it a lot. We didn’t even have any fits when Steven won and I came in 2nd.

I took a shot at face painting. I can’t get as elaborate as Jason but managed some ladybugs and a finger carrot. 🙂

And we wrapped up the day with some Raddish Kids enchiladas. Everyone took care to fold in the cheese. 😉

Have a great, spoooooooky week!

Monday was an out-of-the-ordinary New York Monday as Steven, Sammy and Amaya settled into virtual school from our Airbnb. Sammy was the most out of sorts about it – not wanting to have to do school in NY – and I totally felt him as I got ready for a day of work. Sammy’s blues where chased way by Nana, though, who sat by his side for his first zoom lesson of the day. That’s not an everyday treat!

Amaya set up and ready in her school spot.

I told Steven I wanted a picture of him in his school spot before class started. He said, “I’ll look at my computer so it looks like I’m at school and you can take a secret picture like Penni does.” lol

Jr. Astronaut Sammy, ready to Zoom

At lunch, the kids had a special treat and went to Nana’s house to cook a Raddish Kids recipe. (La Leche Cake) We aren’t spending much time inside Nana and Papa’s house on these visits but decided we were all comfortable with a short, masked visit by the kids to do some baking together.

SSA love looking at the pictures on Nana’s fridge.

In the afternoon, Savta came over to visit with the kids during a break. With Penni, they negotiated that Savta could stay through a lesson as long as everyone was able to remain focused. Mission accomplished!

Finishing up the baking…

After school it was right to Chase and Charlies house for cousin time. Nana took the kids as soon as school was out and I met them there later in the evening. The weather was terrible so everyone was stuck inside. The kids loved seeing C & C play their video games. Which makes sense. Sammy can spend hours watching someone named “Zebra” play video games on his table, of course he’d like to watch Chase play live.

What’s the saying? The cousins that share screen time together…

I think Nana would want you to know that she quickly took of her face shield and mask, and held her breath, to take these pictures with her grandkids. <3

Sammy has a remote control robot that he brought all the way from MI to show Chase. Chase was suitably impressed. (Thank you, Chase.)

Tuesday was even smoother sailing into the school day. It’s pretty cool that SSA could dive right in to school in NY the same way they would in MI. (Thanks, in large part, to Penni and to the loads of gear we brought with us.)

Savta came back on Tuesday afternoon during a break and, again, had a chance to watch the kids afternoon classes. She even helped with some schoolwork.

Working on writing numbers by 10s.

After school on Tuesday it was back to Chase and Charlies house for the evening. The last step of Monday’s La Leche Cake was whipped cream ghosts which Sammy proudly took care of for everyone.

I mentioned last week that the kids and I were sharing a room for the week. They took turns rotating between air mattresses and sleeping with me and it worked out just fine. We all slept really well, which wasn’t what I expected.

Wednesday morning, Amaya and Steven got cozy watching some baking videos.

Back to school on Wednesday morning. We’ve got a routine!

Nana and Papa’s neighbors were really kind and offered to let Steven, Sammy and Amaya play in their backyard during the day if they wanted to get out so, on Wednesday, the kids went over there at lunch recess. So cool!

In the afternoon the Spanish work was light (work on counting to 20) so everyone took advantage of the beautiful day and Nana, Savta and Auntie took the kids to the Halls Pond playground. I was busy working but I see these pictures and it makes me so glad we took this trip. This is what it was about. <3

And then, in the afternoon, back to the Goldbergs and back to the trampoline.

The class has a Star of the Day and, as prep, everyone has to make a Seesaw video about themselves. Part of the video includes drawing and explaining (via audio) what they picked. I love these.

Amaya’s favorite food is ice cream. She also loves cookies, Charlie and Hoppy.

Steven’s favorite food is peas. (Not his daddy’s favorite food as a kid!) He also likes music, painting and pigs.

Sammy’s favorite food is pizza. He also likes cats, dogs and watching TV. (Sammy was star of the week on Thursday. He got to pick the Go Noodle activity, the class watched his video and they asked him questions about himself. He loved it.)

Thornton Creek uses the 7 Habits of Happy Kids as a social-emotional foundation of learning and it’s woven into weekly classwork starting in Kindergarten. The kids are writing about scenarios associated with each of the habits.

Steven loves Habit 4. He and Penni were disagreeing about something and when they came to a compromise Steven said, “That’s habit 4! It’s win-win!”

Steven’s answer to the question: “First play a game of kickball and then go on the slide.” Win-win!

Amaya loves working on the Habits but might need a tutorial on this one. “First would do art and then I would play gaga ball.” Win-win for Amaya! lol

The kids have two hours between Zoom classes on Thursdays. Usually that time also includes their music special but, since we were in NY and it was a beautiful day, Nana, Papa and Savta took the kids to Long Beach to play. So much fun.

The beach! It’s amazing that SSA got to visit the beach in NY in October.

Aaaaaaand, back to the Goldberg’s. 🙂

The NY Airbnb has a jet tub (hot tub, to the kids) so they had a long, FUN bath on Thursday night. We had to drag them out, and I don’t blame them! So. Many. Bubbles.

Before the fun started… (Interesting to me that they wanted to keep their underwear on to bathe together. Which is, of course, totally fine.)

Higher…

And higher!

Friday afternoon, after school, was a trip to pick pumpkins. It was on Amaya’s to-do list and were determined to make it happen. My mom found somewhere covered to go do their “picking” in the rain.

Friday night (our last night, booooooo) was back to the Airbnb for cousin time and then Shabbat.

Wrapping up the week, Amaya checked off the last of the activities on her list.

Accomplished: trampoline, tattoo, bake a cake, fashion show, IHOP, pick pumpkins, make up and nail polish.

Not accomplished: bracelets, sleep over, art, make pancakes.

Not bad!!

Saturday morning we packed up (for hours) and then stopped by Savta’s house before we hit the road for MI, by way of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

We made our way out of NY slowly, thanks to the usual Queens and Bronx traffic, and took our first break at Big Pocono Mountain State Park. It was so pretty. The fall colors are amazing. It was so much nicer than a rest stop pit stop.

While Steven was trying to get photos of race cars on the mountain (don’t ask), Amaya had a chance to facetime with her Daddy. 🙂

We drove until ~10:30pm and made it 6.5 hours of drive time in just over 10 hours. Not my best time but it was one of our more relaxing drives, split between the two of us, save a situation where Steven got car sick. Poor Bobes. 2/2 with puking on a MI/NY road trip.

This morning we headed out around 9am and were back home by 1:30pm. Safe and sound in the Land of Cheltenham!

I caught up on some work and the kids caught up on some Dad time. A highlight for them was looking through new ball cards of Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Very cool cards.

The boys also had a chance to carve the pumpkins they got in NY. High on their to-do list!

Now we’re settling in for the night so we can back to our regular Monday routine. It was a great, great week.

Monday started with a dentist appointment for SSA. The first in a year because we were thwarted by COVID in the spring. Jason took the kids and successfully got them through x-rays. Apparently all three have some movement in their bottom teeth with Steven’s the loosest of all. The tooth fairy may be visiting soon! Steven also seems resigned to the reality of braces at some point.

There was some drama over the weekend because we had wild turkeys in our backyard and Steven missed the chance to take pictures of them. Sure enough, the turkeys were back on Monday and Steven got his coveted photos.

Checking out a dead baby snake…

Monday was a gorgeous day and they enjoyed an afternoon trip to Three Cedars Farm with Gabby. Look at that sky! No filter!

I always get sad in September because summer is ending / over and every October I’m reminded that we still have some nice weather yet. It’s truly only miserably cold in MI for four or five months of the year lol.

Our Lego Lady. She loves her Lego Friends sets. I think it’s great that Lego has sets that appeal to all sorts of interests but they definitely seem flimsier and less substantive than the Lego City sets – which is only a big deal in that they seem to fall apart more easily. Amaya flew through this set in one afternoon. <3

Bubbalish, getting organized on a Tuesday morning.

When you have school at home and you have a break, paint those nails!

As a staying in bed prize, Sammy picked out this bubble thing which is totally Sammy. I got a 2nd so he’d have someone to play with. It doesn’t really rebound but he doesn’t care. He got the biggest kick running straight into me.

Sammy always talks to Nana via Caribu on his “sleep with Mommy” nights. They read a book and do activities together.

Their corroborative, digital coloring project – broccoli for Mommy.

Bedtime buds, while Sammy was with me.

The kids had some state testing this week and their class was divided into two groups so they didn’t have their normal 9am Zoom class. The weather was beautiful so Penni took the kids to the playground. We’ve got to take advantage of school-at-home when we can!

Sammy wrote out notes for a new “Small Moments” story. He had to document options for places, people and events to include.

His people ideas were Savta (SOFD), mom and dad. His place ideas were NY, Disneyland and Beach. He picked Savta, Mom and NY. (He wanted to be sure I knew that he didn’t pick daddy because daddy wasn’t in NY for this particular event.)

Another sample of Sammy’s writing in his book journal.

I believe this says, “I think that Lilly is kind because she helped Ginger and told Ginger she could be Lily’s flower girl.”

Amaya has been so excited for our trip to NY. She spent the past week or two drawing out a check list of activities to do with Charlie. Trampoline, tattoo (temporary), bracelets, bake a cake, sleepover (Not COVID approved), fashion show, art, takeout from IHOP, make pancakes, pumpkin picking, stress ball and make-up. I love everything about this. <3

My sleeping loves.

Thursday was swim class number 3! Tuesday with Gabby went great and they were totally ready for Thursday’s class. Amaya jumped right in again. Steven and Sammy have already made progress. Sammy put the bottom half of his face in the water and Steven put his whole head in the water! Amazing.

I got this smile from Amaya after she saw Steven put his head under. 🙂

Friday was buzzing with energy. We were leaving for NY right after their last class ended and the kids were thrumming. It was hard for me to concentrate all day, too, to be honest.

Here was their art project for Friday’s art class. I love how differently they each interpreted the same assignment. The source art was Van Gogh’s Mulberry Tree in Autumn.

Sammy’s

Amaya’s

Steven’s

I also love this drawing Sammy did of Piggy.

Off we go to NY! This time the kids have school and I have work so Penni is joining us on the trip to help with virtual school while I’m busy with (virtual) work.

My Bubba. He had a run-in with Steven at lunch “recess” and ended up with a scratch on his face. He wanted to be absolutely certain no one could see the scratch. Mission accomplished!

We got a later start than last time so we didn’t make it as far, but with two drivers, were able to drive until ~11pm. Unfortunately, when we got to our hotel they were out of clean rooms so we all sat in the lobby for an hour while they cleaned rooms for us. The kids were total troopers.

We got a decent night sleep before heading out again at 8:30am.

Morning cuddles for Steven and Amaya.

New York or bust!!

Ready, ready, ready! (Also, check out the gorgeous fall colors we saw all the way through Pennsylvania.)

Auntie was an addition to the car, as well, when we learned we’d get to see her on Saturday afternoon.

Pit stop at the same scenic overlook as last time. A new tradition, perhaps? Or, perhaps soon enough we’ll be back in the air for our trips to NY.

Amaya loves this “Little chicky” graffiti.

MADE IT!

I’ve shared the photo of the Amaya / Charlie pillow that I got for Amaya after our last trip. We got one for Charlie, too, and Amaya wanted to deliver it in person. Another mission accomplished.

Amaya said, “Last trip we had the pool and this trip we have the trampoline.” Truth. They looooooooove jumping on the trampoline.

After checking off “trampoline” on her list, Amaya and Charlie (and Sammy) moved on to “bake a cake”.

Since Penni has her own bedroom, SSA and I are roommates on this trip.

Today was overcast but warm so we made it a city day and headed into Manhattan for a visit to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. Penni was taking a day to visit the city so we dropped her off in Times Square on the way.

The Intrepid! I haven’t been since I was a kid. Steven was so excited. He kept squeezing his fists saying, “eeeeeeeee!” over and over again.

Steven’s got to have a map. 🙂 This was an Israeli fighter jet.

Inside the command & navigation area.

Pretty cool.

The Intrepid also houses the Enterprise space shuttle. It was a prototype that took some flights within our atmosphere to test out certain functionality. It’s scale, though, and nearly identical to the shuttles that flew. (One difference is it didn’t have a working heat shield.) So it was awesome to see and now Amaya can add a 2nd space shuttle to her list after also seeing Endeavor when we were at the Los Angeles Science Museum.

Nana and Papa <3

The kids got souvenirs and Sammy picked this interactive astronaut helmet. Suits him perfectly!

The whole gang!

It was a great day! When we got back to LI we spent the afternoon at the Goldberg’s house, the kids trampolined and we got to visit with Savta a bit. Tomorrow is a school day and work day and then more family time.

Have a great week!

Now that the kids are back in school, we are focused on getting back to daily reading. Which we probably should have done during the summer, too, but we just didn’t have it in us. Now the basic goal (and school driven expectation) is that each of the kids reads for 10- 15 min/day. Totally doable. An online program they use for school – Raz Kids – supports independent reading but the kids can just click on a word if they don’t know it, which they generally do without trying to sound it out, so reading to us is definitely better for SSA at this point.

Jason, Penni, Gabby and I are a collective reading support team.

Morning decaf and a book.

Mo Willems books are perfect for Sammy and Amaya right now.

Steven, reading a book about his friends Q and U. (Reminds me of when Charlie’s Kindergarten class had a wedding for Q and U.)

On Mondays the kids share about their weekends. I overheard Steven saying, “We made up two new holidays – National Sports Day and National Dads Day. You have parties and get cake.”

Amaya wrote about her weekend: “I went to the pool this weekend. Have you gone to the pool? I passed the swim test.” (They needed dry erase boards this year and it was a great idea for small writing and math assignments.)

I was off on Monday for Yom Kippur. Since we didn’t have in person services I did an online Yizkor service in the morning and the kids skipped their last zoom class of the day for the online kids service.

At lunch we did some of the activities provided by the religious school. First we did an activity where we made a felt bullseye and stuck velcro on little balls. The idea was to think about how we try to hit the bullseye with our thoughts and actions but don’t always hit the mark. Even so we can see where we missed and try again.

There was also a craft where we used balloons and cups to make whales that could spew out puff balls. This was mostly to tie the activity back to the story of Jonah which didn’t totally resonate for me but SSA loved the whales.

Lord. Steven, Sammy and Amaya (mostly Sammy) wanted me to join their online gym class. I couldn’t refuse but, wow, I’m out of shape. We spent a good 20 minutes moving around the house like various animals. I think, here, we were crocodiles. It was harder than it looks!

Each week they do motions to this cute song about Tony Chestnut (Toe Knee Chest Nut). I will admit I got into it.

Tuesday Spanish (?) class cuddles.

Another mom texted me that some of the kids from class were going to a playground after school so Gabby took SSA to meet up with them. According to Penni they really needed to burn off some energy. We try to do “recess” and their PE activities but it’s not the same as running around with friends.

Crab Leg Tuesday with my Bubs. Amaya tried some, too, but hated them. At least she gave it another shot. Bonus – more for the two of us.

For a couple of weeks the kids have been working on an assignment to write a “Small Moment” story. They did a draft and, this week, had to turn it into a final version to submit to their teacher. Amaya was so focused. They had all week to work on it but she worked into the evening on Tuesday to get it done. The extra effort paid off, too! Later in the week anyone who was already finished was able to drop off a zoom class early. I liked seeing her self-motivation.

Even though we’re not at school, everyone got new Gator Gear.

A glimpse at what Amaya’s work area looks like during the day. (Plus some laundry.)

I see pictures like this of Amaya, on Messenger Kids with a friend, and automatically flash forward 10 years.

Thursday night was Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s long awaited swim class at Aqua Tots. I’m sure Amaya would want me to remind you that she’s in Level 5 and the brothers are in Level 3. And the brothers would probably want me to remind you that they don’t care. 😉

Amaya was ready. She walked right up to her entrance door like she owned the place. Which worked out well because the boys were more nervous – about where to go, about what would happen, etc. Amaya’s independence let me focus on them. They wanted to be sure they could see me through the glass. Amaya wanted to be sure I could see her through the glass.

I was so proud of he boys. Steven and Sammy both got out of their comfort zone, tried new things, and they both loved their lesson. The teacher was fantastic, too. I could see her working with them and following their cues about what they were and weren’t ready to do. I think they have a different instructor for their Tuesday class so hopefully she’s equally in tune.

Sammy liked the pool water but he really liked the shower water when they rinsed off after the pool, so he decided to start to rate and chart the water each time he swims. 🙂

Friday Bed Hair, Don’t Care.

Morning snuggles with my best girl.

We had two perfectly soft, ripe bananas that Amaya and Penni turned into bread and muffins. Very yummy!

When the kids are getting ready to zoom on the big screen things get a little wild.

Friday night shows and snuggles.

I forgot about the class playground meet-up so we had a nice lazy Saturday morning. Steven beat me at Go Fish a few times and then he beat me at Scrabble Junior.

Jason helped the kids with some Kiwi Co projects.

We went out Saturday afternoon for Linner. Or Dunch. Downtown Northville is continuing their outdoor dining and the couple of blocks where you can get a drink to go. The Northville skeletons are out and, while we’re really going to miss trick or treating at Street of Treats this year, it was still fun to see the skeletons. (Please let us be back to normal next fall. Please, please, please.)

Tiny (strong) beer.

Before bed, Steven led the way to decorate the house for Halloween.

Today was the 2nd and last day of in-person religious school for a while. 🙁 There having another session next week but we’ll be in NY (!!) so this was it for us. Between now and the end of the year there are a handful of zoom sessions but it’s not the same. The kids legitimately have fun with the in-person programming that’s put together.

Hot chocolate on the way home.

Sammy asked Jason to watch an episode of Emily’s Wonder Lab so they could try an experiment with a tea bag. It didn’t work, but we’ll try again eventually with a tea bag more like the one in the experiment. I don’t think ours opens up tall enough.

This girl is always ready to pose. <3

Before bed tonight the SSA held a dance party in the basement. They pretended to be JoJo Siwa (Amaya), Flash (Steven) and Iron Man (Sammy). Again and again they explained to me that I wasn’t famous – just a person in the audience. But people in the audience can dance, too.

There’s a lot of artwork and writing happening around these parts and I want to capture it.

For art class (I think), the kids drew dogs.

Scruffles is Steven’s canine alter ego.

Sammy drew Love Bug the Cute

Amaya’s drew a Lil pup.

According to Amaya, these are “symmetrical fish.”

Mrs. O’Neil read one of our favorites – Knuffle Bunny Too – and the kids had to write about losing something they love.

Steven is lying on the bottom of the bunk bed, thinking of Morminer who’s lost.

“Not so long ago I lost my favorite sleeping friend Morminer. I was so sad and I couldn’t sleep with her all night and I found it in the morning. I was so happy that I found Morminer. So happy Puppy was too.”

Amaya’s pictures tell the story from left to right. First she’s happy because she has Hoppy and then she’s sad because Hoppy is lost. Amaya was very proud of the tears.

“Hoppy is lost.” Short and to the point lol.

Sammy is thinking of the good times with Puppy.

“One day I forgot my special little puppy and I could not sleep.”

These are the “Small Moment” stories the kids are submitting this week. Amaya explained that a small moment story is a story about one specific thing that happens.

The Water Park, by Amaya J. Cline

“The bucket drops on us – splash! We are at Great Wolf Lodge.”

“Next we are in the deep end. My mom came in. Me, Mom, Steven, Sammy had so much fun.”

Last we were in the deep deep end. I was happy and it was a big place.” (Note that Amaya and I are in bikinis and the boys are in their life jackets.)

Steven’s Small Moment Story – “The Corn Maze in the Farm”

A very nice drawing of the corn maze map. “I went to a corn maze. Me, Amaya, May May and Mom and Sammy got lost 1 time. We went the right way a lot.”

“Next I kept going. We were almost there. It is fun.”

“We got there. It was fun. Really fun.”

Sammy wrote, “The day I left New York”.

“One day me and mom went to NY and we were leaving NY and I was sad at first. But it ended out ok.

“Then we were on the plane was in the sky.”

“We were home. The place I live home.” But the key to Sammy’s story is that, when you see the music notes it means they’re song lyrics and you sing that part. “The plaaaaace I liiiiiiive – home.”

And that’s it! Have a great week!