Most days, between when I wake up and the kids need to get ready for school, they take turns using my phone. Amaya watches videos on YouTube Kids and the boys generally play Minecraft. They’ve gotten really good at the game and even watch each other play and share tips.

Last week I mentioned that I forgot my wallet at home when shopping at Dick’s with the kids. I ordered the sneakers Amaya wanted on Sunday afternoon (from Dick’s) and they arrived on Monday. I’m glad I didn’t bother with an in-store pick-up. Sorry brick & mortar retail.

When SSA pay well together it’s magical. This week they spent a lot of time play games with balloons. There were team huddles, “hut hut”s and so much noise. Honestly, it’s exactly like I imagined it would be when I was pregnant. I hope they’re always friends.

Amaya realized that pushing on her slime in a certain way made it sound like a far. She and Steven worked out a routine to prank Jason.

Amaya pushed down on the slime. Then Steven said, “Who farted?” Amaya said, “me” and Steven said, “No! Just the slime!” They practiced together before Jason got home and then planned the time to try it out between episodes of Phineas and Ferb. “Don’t forget your line, Steven.”

Phineas and Ferb time is family time. <3

I’m still obsessed with this child in her sleep mask.

Later in the week…

Obsessed with this girl, too, who went to the vet this week and came back with a clean bill of health. Even her bloodwork looked good. Sally has some behaviors not atypical of old cats so it’s possible she’s losing her hearing or has some cognitive issues but we can all work with that. My sweet, sweet girl.

SSA are supposed to read for 20 minutes/day which Penni is managing on their downtime. Mo Willems is a regular favorite.

All the snow means it’s time for new snow boots for everyone. Steven was modeling his perfectly Steven pair of boots.

On Tuesday afternoon I had some errands to run. Since Steven and Amaya had alone time with me the week prior for dr appointments, I invited Sammy to join me. He was a great helper, as well. (Side note: I can’t believe how busy Best Buy was. It seems like they might have cracked the code for products people would rather buy in-person.)

On Tuesday evening we started our Thanksgiving prep. There was a lot to do and I didn’t want to leave it all for Thanksgiving day. One of our recipes was orange carrots (flavor, not just the color) so SSA got a chance to learn how to use the peeler. They did a great job. They can definitely add peeling to their repertoire.

With supervision, Steven and Sammy also practiced cutting with bigger knives. We worked on keeping one hand on the handle and one hand on top of the blade to push down, keeping fingers well out of the way of the knife.

Wednesday was another big prep day, aided by the kids’ half day of school. They grated about 2 lbs of cheese for baked mac & cheese.

I made 2 chocolate pecan pies and Sammy made pumpkin cheesecake bars. Another new skill was using the can opener – one we probably could have tried a while ago, to be honest.

Finally, on Wednesday, Steven made our orange carrots. I really love cooking with the kids. It’s such great time spent together.

The half day of school was understandably light on academics and high on fun. One project was creating these really cute turkeys – another craft possible because of materials sent home during a school work exchange.

Our Wednesday drama was candy related. Steven ran out of Halloween candy but Sammy and Amaya still had a lot left. They all had the same opportunity to eat two pieces of candy/day and they trick or treated together so I decided it wasn’t fair if Steven had none left while Amaya and Sammy still had candy every day. They could decide to get rid of the rest of the candy or divide it among them. I’m sure you can guess what they picked. Sammy and Amaya got to start by picking 6 pieces of their own candy that they wanted to keep. Then Steven picked any six pieces and on and on it went – 6 pieces at a time until every one had 28 pieces or, in our model, about 14 days worth. And it worked! (Then they found new hiding places for their candy so sugar-craving parents couldn’t steal any and throw off the plan.)

We’ve played so many board games this week. Guess Who, Sorry, Scrabble Jr, Blokus, and lots of games of Carcassonne. I love playing board games with the kids and also love seeing them play with each other.

Thanksgiving!! This year Sammy took charge of our turkey and “by take charge” I mean he did everything except manage it in the oven. He unwrapped it. He stuck his hands inside and pulled out the giblets. Sammy stuffed the turkey, buttered and brined it, and added carrots and onions. Soup to nuts – this was Sammy’s turkey. And it was the best turkey I’ve ever had – truly!

Steven and Sammy both helped make the roux for our baked mac and cheese (which was a huge hit with Amaya).

Steven and I tried to play a concurrent game of Memory but there was just too much going on so Amaya filled in for me.

Dinner!! We had turkey, baked mac and cheese, mozzarella spinach, orange carrots, stuffing, tater tots, pecan pie and pumpkin cheesecake bars. The carrots, spinach, mac & cheese and cheesecake bars were all Raddish Kids recipes, rounding out our first 12 months of kits. I know SSA are hoping Nana and Papa keep the subscription going for Hanukkah.

Well earned pride for a job well done…

Steven and Amaya made Thanksgiving cards for everyone. Here’s Mario who Amaya drew for Sammy’s card.

A card for Chase, thanking him for a stuffed raccoon she always sleeps with.

Carcassonne! It’s such a fun game. We’ve started tracking the winner of each game, too. So far, over the past week, it’s Sammy – Steven – Steven – Amaya. And I’m not even letting them win!

I was off on Friday and so were Penni and Gabby so the kids and I planned a day that included a hike at Island Lake State Park in Brighton. We took a 2 mile route and walked it over the course of about 1:15. The kids all brought plastic bags to collect nature items they found. It was a really nice day.

In 2020 my friend Nina has been tracking 1000 outside hours with her kids. I love the idea so we adopted it ourselves, starting on 11/2. We’re just tracking to 500, to start, and it’s definitely motivating outside time in a different way. After our hike we had a snack at some picnic benches so we could log the full 90 min for the hike time.

We also made a list of Things We Want to do After Coronavirus. <3

Hey look – more Carcassonne!

On Friday, Sammy convinced us to have a family sleepover downstairs and Steven convinced us to celebrate with the Phineas and Ferb movie.

Reading last week’s blog to Steven, Sammy and Amaya. I’d forgotten earlier in the week but Amaya remembered. Keep in mind that they’re my audience now. 🙂

On our Friday hike Steven was disappointed that we didn’t do the longer 3 mile hike so I agreed to go back with him on Saturday morning. We had a blast. It was cold but the sun was out and we made good time because 2/3 of the hike was already familiar. Steven took pictures at all of the marker signs, found some cool nature items and we both loved the view of Trout Lake – much better on a sunny day. Steven named this lake “Beauty Lake.”

This post has arrows pointing to the “Long” and “Short” trails. Steven is pointing to the “Long” arrow which is the direction we went.

Steven’s Beauty Lake hike collage, which is in his printed picture book.

These three had their own fun while Steven and I were off hiking. <3 <3 <3

Both boys got great haircuts from their daddy this weekend!

And, what do you know? More Carcassonne! (Sammy ran from the picture as a got-ya to me.)

How Steven watches Monk on Sunday mornings…

Steven watched an episode of Crafty Carol where she made a castle out of cardboard and he wanted to do the same so we cut up some boxes in the garage and he got to work.

A flag with his castle’s symbol. On the other side of the flag it says “Steven’s”.

Beneath the red decor you might be able to spot his mailbox.

While Sammy and Jason were shopping for pants, Steven, Amaya and I spent about an hour and a half outside. Steven also sorted and organized his pinecones from his hikes.

Jason and Sammy were gone for hours and Sammy came home with 5 or 6 new pair of pants that he’s excited to wear. Success!

While Jason grilled steaks, Sammy and I grilled asparagus with parmesan, garlic, salt and pepper.

After photographing the chefs, Amaya took a sweet picture of her daddy.

We wrapped up the weekend with a whole family game of Carcassonne. Mommy is officially on the winner board!

Finally… Charlie’s results are in and it’s a fractured growth plate – also her right arm. I’m still incredulous that these girls both fractured their arms within 48 hours of each other.

Have a great week!

The weeks are starting to blend together a bit with all the time at home but everyone is still trucking along.

Every now and then I pop downstairs during class time and love when I get to see the kids participating. It’s going to be weird for all of us when SSA are back at physical school. Some day.

Monday afternoon Steven had a check-in with his eye doctor. He’s still patching up to 4 hours/day in the hope that his right eye can gain enough strength to see 20/20 corrected. When we started patching he could see one letter at 20/40 and now he can see one letter at 20/20! With a row of letters, he can see 20/30. Pretty awesome. We’re going back in 3 months and the hope is that it will be the end of patching. Fingers crossed!

Sammy, experimenting in solidarity.

I got some special bedtime cuddles with by Bubs.

On Tuesday morning we woke up to our first sprinkling of snow. Before breakfast, Steven was outside on the deck shoveling. It was a very small dusting of snow but Steven was able to shovel a pile big enough for Sammy to use the snowball maker that he bought this summer. Gotta be honest – it makes great snowballs!

Very excited! I can only imagine how happy he’ll be when there’s enough snow for actual snowball fights.

Steven really enjoys reading. It’s pretty cool, and I can definitely relate. In 1st grade I read and read and read and read. (Which reminds me that, for school, we tracked the books I read on large index cards. I wonder if SSA would enjoy tracking the books they read.)

Sammy was trying to figure out how to access something on his computer and Steven and Amaya came to help him. They looks so old and competent. 🙂

Tuesday evening Steven was complaining about a stomach ache so he got into bed with some books while I finished up working. “I’m going to read in my mind, not out loud.”

While Steven was reading, Amaya and Sammy were playing in the basement and Amaya hurt her arm. She was babying it all night but was able to move it well so we assumed, at worst, it was a bit bruised. In the morning, however, it was swollen. Amaya wasn’t complaining about it but I decided to take her to the doctor just to be safe.

They were able to see her right away and the doctor agreed it was unusual for her to have that kind of swelling if nothing was wrong and suspected a buckle fracture. They don’t do x-rays at our pediatrician’s office so we headed home with plans to get an x-ray after lunch. We needed to get it done the same day but Amaya wasn’t in much pain so we decided we could wait until after my 11am meeting. (I’m really lucky to have a job where I can jump offline throughout the day for issues like this and the only concern anyone has is whether or not Amaya is ok.)

Pre-X-ray, sorting through ball cards that Jason left for the kids.

Jason left a note for the kids so Steven left one in return for his dad. (There was an interesting debate between the kids about whether or not “share” meant they all had to share every card or if they could share the card in a way that allowed them to pick ones for individual ownership. We settled on the latter.)

X-ray time! In and out, easy peasy. We got to see Amaya’s x-ray and, afterward, looked up images of buckle fractures to see if it looked like she had a fracture or not. We both voted “no” and waited for a call with the results.

I don’t think I mentioned that we had a few more days of amazing November weather this week. Amaya didn’t get to enjoy it quite the way she would have liked but Steven and Sammy made the most of it.

Aaaaaaand, by early afternoon we got the call from Amaya’s doctor’s office to tell us that the x-rays showed a buckle fracture. 🙁 The official report is “acute, transversely oriented, buckle fracture extending through the distal radial metaphysis and a concomitant acute transverse buckle fracture extending through the distal ulnar metaphysis.” It’s a stable fracture and pretty common in young kids but we still had to make an appointment with ortho and get a brace to stabilize it in the interim.

On Wednesday evening we had a school virtual science fair. We picked up science fair kits at the school earlier in the week and, after some technical difficulties, got connected. It was more like a magic show than a science fair. The “tricks” were cool but the guy running the program didn’t actually explain the science behind anything. SSA had fun, though.

Amaya negotiated sleeping with me due to her fracture. Couldn’t argue. <3

Amaya’s Thursday look. This child would have been in heaven in the 80s. (Also, it needs to be said again – thank you to Charlie, Aunt Sara and Uncle Dave for literally keeping Amaya dressed for years. We never have to buy her clothing because she has all of Charlie’s hand-me-downs.)

Penni is very good at pushing the kids outdoors. Amaya’s activities will be somewhat limited for a bit so we’ll have to see if we can still motivate her to get outside. She said she doesn’t want to play outside until she can go on the playset or sled.

Experimenting with writing with her left hand. No go.

Penni taught the kids how to make pom poms with yarn.

My sweet triplet mom friends Karie, Heather and Dianna sent Amaya these awesome flowers on Thursday (from their kids). She was over the moon. It was really special.

On Friday morning we were off to Ortho! I was wondering if they’d consider a splint instead of a cast but he thought her injury needed the plaster immobilization. Amaya was all smiles and a great patient. She picked a hot pink cast to match Charlie who, in some sort of psychic connection, fell and hurt her arm at school on Thursday and is in a hot pink soft cast until her ortho appointment next week. Three days in, her only complaint is the itching.

It’s hard to even see the swelling in this picture but it was pretty obvious when compared to her other arm. She has very dainty wrists.

A pleasant November surprise – lunch outdoors followed by soccer for the boys.

Amaya got such delight out of showing Jason her cast.

First order of business on Saturday morning – names on the cast. And first order of the first order? Writing Charlie’s name.

Steven, Sammy, Jason and I added our names, too. I acted as proxy for Sally cat.

I told Jason that the ball card industry should be very happy that he had kids. SSA are all interested to varying levels but it’s probably no surprise that Steven has an entire ball card organizational system. He was rooting for the Dolphins today because he has the quarterback’s card.

On Saturday morning, in honor of Aunt Ouize’s birthday, we Zoom’d with Grandma Sunshine, Aunt Annette, Aunt Ouize, Uncle Todd, Nancy and Abe. The pandemic totally sucks, but I do like that it’s normalized this type of connection.

Family monopoly! After three wins in a row for Steven, Sammy took the win this time and by a nice margin. Steven came in a very strong second.

Amaya asked me to include this picture. 🙂

This morning was another Sunday school session. Zoom is a rough format but they’re making it work the best they can. Just one more thing that will be better when it’s in person again. We were the first kids to join so Amaya got to give a full report on her cast.

A shot of Steven’s (adorable) name. Sammy wrote below it in yellow so it’s not easy to see but it made them both happy which was the point.

I took on the day with a trip to get the kids snow boots, new sneakers for Amaya and a grocery trip to get our Thanksgiving shopping done. After almost an hour at Dick’s, we were at the register to pay and I realized I left my wallet at home. I am a dedicated online shopper and am almost never in stores. Even this attempt left me finishing my purchases online.

Steven and Amaya are still afraid to use escalators so, before we took the elevator, I let Sammy ride the escalator up and down on his own.

New cast-friendly sneakers arriving by mail this week.

Since we had to come home for my wallet we grabbed lunch before heading out which gave SSA time to read letters from Grandma Sunshine. They love getting mail!

I really dislike grocery shopping but I have a vision for our Thanksgiving dinner and want to fully execute it. I had three great (and patient) helpers for the 90 minute shopping trip. Sammy was excited to pick out the turkey that he’ll stuff later this week.

More snowballs! Since the snow boots are also on the way, we went for rain boots today.

Finally… Amaya may have slowed down her outdoor activities but even a cast can’t stop her crafting. She painted this mug on Saturday and we treated it today. It’s supposed to be dripping pink frosting with sprinkles.

Have a great week!

I can’t believe I’m coming up on 7 years of this blog. Really crazy to think about. When I started, I thought maybe I’d try to keep it up until Steven, Sammy and Amaya turned 5 and that’s well in the rearview mirror now. At their age now, I try to only write things that I’d be willing to read back to them. They’re aware of the blog now, too, and even ask me to take pictures for the blog sometimes. I wonder when their attitude will shift toward wanting more privacy? (Which, of course, they’ll get.) Which actually makes me think I should start reading the blog with them weekly. We’ll start that this week!

Monday and Tuesday were two more, and final, beautiful days. SSA got to a playground, rode bikes, and spent lots of time outside.

Snuggles with Gabby <3

This past week was Spirit Week at school. Monday was pajama day. Tuesday was sports day. Amaya didn’t want to wear sports gear but the boys were excited to put on their baseball uniforms again.

This week, for school, the kids wrote about places they like to go.

Sammy likes to go to the school playground.

Steven wrote, “I like to go to Novi library and pick out a book for me to read and pick out two books for mommy to read to me.”

Tuesday was a BIG day for my girl at swim class. Amaya passed her level 5 test! She is (deservedly) SO proud of herself. She worked so hard.

Wednesday was Wacky Wednesday. The kids were so excited to get wacky and were really creative with their wacky ideas.

Sammy’s got underwear over his pants and on his head + balloons.

Steven is wearing 3 pairs of shorts and adorned his glasses with candles and a paper bridge. Oh, and his shirt’s on backwards.

Amaya was only willing to go so far. She’s got a wacky hairstyle, some facepaint, and layers of workout gear.

Reverse order for extra wackiness!

Penni wasn’t at work on Thursday and Gabby wasn’t arriving until later in the morning so I got to experience “working while schooling.” So much credit to Penni for the routine she’s set with Steven, Sammy and Amaya. They’re organized, focused, and know what they need to do. It’s pretty awesome.

Sammy was my table buddy which, incredibly, didn’t elicit any jealousy from Amaya or Steven. I loved watching him work.

“Mommy! Come here quick! The book Mrs. O’Neil is reading has my name in it!”

On Thursday at swim, this child just marched right into her new swim group without a care in the world. She kept up, too, and already met 5 of the beginner skills in level 6. It’s really hard timing because we’re going to have to pause swim for a few weeks due to “meanie coronavirus” and this girl is so sad – but handling really well for a 6 year old.

Steven and Sammy are getting more and more confident. They let the teacher help them go underwater like it’s nothing. This is from kids who didn’t even want to blow bubbles in the water 6 weeks ago. They still have their limits, though, and their instructors are good at letting them go at their own pace.

Friday was Spirt Wear Day. We were all ready to show some Gator pride! (Thursday was “Dress like your favorite book character day” which we definitely skipped.)

Gabby and Penni were both off on Friday so it was a full day of working from home while the kids had school. I was presenting at a meeting at noon and, when I got off the call, found Amaya and Sammy getting supplies to make themselves sandwiches. A-mazing. It really is the dawn of a new day in the Cline house. (In fact, this morning Sammy made himself some microwave pancakes.)

“Go outside. No really, it will be fine. It’s not that cold. Okay, anyone who goes outside for half an hour doesn’t have to put away their own laundry.”

“How to cut in the lunch line” – by Sammy, 1st grade

1. Get in the lunch line

2. Punch the person in front of you

Love how he wraps it up with “yum”. And don’t overlook his accompanying drawings. This one is definitely a keeper.

This weekend we put another splash of color in Amaya’s hair. She asked for alternating hot pink and blue and we both love how it turned out!

Daddy cuddles. <3

I am obsessed with Amaya’s use of sleep masks. She has such a strong sense of what she wants and needs. (I’m also impressed that it doesn’t freak her out. I feel very trapped in a sleep mask.)

Day two hair. The first picture is how I styled it and the 2nd is how she styled it. 🙂

Saturday might have been our last playground meet-up for a while. It was 35 degrees colder than the weekend prior! The kids may be able to play outside in that weather but I’m not sure the parents can handle it. I’ll do my best, though.

Sammy spent a while pushing 4 girls on this big swing.

Playground live.

We had a relaxing rest of our afternoon. We cooked some homemade hot cocoa, griddled up some pancakes and played Blokus. (One of my favorites!)

Someone did her make up…

All of the kids play together but Steven and Amaya have a particularly affectionate relationship. They like hugging and cuddles and it’s really sweet. In fact, they held their post so I could take this picture and print it for their “printed picture books”. I’d worry about Sammy feeling excluded if he showed any interest in physical affection with his siblings but it’s not his style – which they seem to understand and respect.

Amaya sent mail to Charlie. <3 I can’t overstate how much Amaya loves Charlie. Charlie’s name comes up so many times/day. Everything is Charlie. 🙂

Amaya is also, finally, best buds with Sally. She’s even willing to feed Sally treats. So I now get pictures like this of my best girls.

Jason got himself a sweet set-up to work on his fantasy football.

It was a really nice lazy day at home. Cold, windy and rainy so we just hunkered down – played games, watched football, got our magna tiles out. And I stayed in bed until 10am because the kids are old enough for that to happen!

Have a great week!

I’ll just start the blog with this picture because I love it so much. (Thank you, Jason.) All four of my kids enjoying some Mo Willems before bed. This is literally the stuff of my dreams.

It’s a tough world right now and there’s uncertainty about so many things but, every day, my family helps ground me in what matters most.

On Monday morning Amaya was rocking an 80’s vibe hard.

Now that it’s getting colder, or so we thought, I wanted a motivator for the kids to spend as much time as possible outside. My friend Nina and her kids have been tracking their hours outside all year and I always thought that was cool so she sent me her tracking sheet. (She’s at 827 hours as of November 6th!) I’m not quite as ambitious as Nina so we changed it to 500 hours and also have side bets on how long it will take to get to 50. First week in, thanks to the great weather, we’re already at 16.5 hrs. (Below is day 1, after the kids’ first hour.)

Racking up time during an unseasonably warm week. In fact, the kids spent most of the week getting to playgrounds. 5 of 7 days, I believe!

Gabby taught SSA how to play hangman. It’s a fun game for them to play to practice their spelling and they really liked trying to get each others’ words.

Did I put this in the blog last week? I could check, but I won’t. In the same spirit of the kids’ “About the Author” assignments, Amaya made an “All About Charlie” sheet. <3

Tuesday’s playground was Thornton Creek. Still cool enough to need jackets. That would change.

Wednesday, they were off to the playground behind Novi high school. And by “off”, I mean running as fast as they could as soon as they got there.

This week the kids worked on a “Friends” writing assignment.

Sammy: “Quinn and me like to sneak into creek at our school.”

Amaya: “Me and Maia like eating ice cream together.”

Steven: “Me and Quinn like to play ‘pizza place’. We call our pizza place ‘Domino’s’ – my favorite pizza place.’ (I love that Steven spelled “favorite” as “frafrit” because that’s exactly how he says it.)

Thursday, November 5th in MI, outside at a playground in shorts and short sleeves. Amazing.

Penni & Bobes

SSA had a science lesson this week that they absolutely loved. They were able to learn about the clouds and make this little flap card that has a “sample” of each kind of cloud and, when you lift the flap, information about it. Every other week we turn in assignments at the school and pick up new materials which allows us to easily do projects like this.

All week Steven, Sammy and Amaya have been looking to the sky to see what kind of clouds we have. And of course they’ve all picked their favorites. (Frafrits.)

SWIM! It’s a really nice part of my week, maybe because it’s the only place I go Monday- Friday lol.

Steven and Sammy are doing so well. Today Steven even asked to take a bath so he could practice putting his face in the water. I’m really proud of them both.

This week Amaya was tested to see if she’s ready for level 6! She’s not quite there yet but I truly can’t believe how far she’s come. When we started I was worried that level 5 was too advanced for her but that’s clearly not the case. What I love most is the way Amaya can articulate what she’s still working on. She’s totally focused on her goal.

Friday was so nice out that the kids at lunch outdoors! Incredible. I was even able to carve out time to join them.

Tank top. On November 6th. In Michigan. Whaaaaaat!?!?

It was so nice out that Gabby took the kids for ice cream. It’s going to cool off quickly around here but we’re not going to squander this.

All 3 kids really love online art tutorials. They can spend ages watching and drawing. Steven decided to move into the role of teacher and taught Jason how to make a surprise monster. He was a great teacher.

When Sammy has his nighttime Caribu visits with Nana, I often find images on my phone. It seems they were finding differences between the pictures. I liked his use of tally marks to keep track.

Now that SSA can tell time, they like to keep track. To help in their room, I got them this clock that projects the time onto the wall. It’s pretty awesome. I could use one in my room, too. (They also have stars on their walls at night.)

Saturday morning we made it back to the Thornton Creek playground for their class meet-up. The weather was incredible. We spent three hours here – staying long after everyone else left.

Checking that that creek that Sammy likes to “sneak” to with Quinn.

Last night we wanted another shot at Northville outdoor dining. So did everyone else in the area lol. We didn’t get a table exactly outside but we did get a booth right up against a floor to ceiling open window so it was even better, in some ways. Tons of fresh air but not quite as cool. We’re not comfortable eating indoors at restaurants yet so this might have been our last hurrah for a while.

Amaya likes to do her own hair. 🙂

Today was another incredible day. 70 degrees and sunny! We met their friend Ruxin at the playground again and this time I packed lunch so we could be sure to stay as long as we wanted. We were outdoors for another 3 hours today. It was amazing.

This picture is from my vantage point while hiding during a game of hide and seek. Steven is in the distance, counting.

We had a relaxing afternoon and then the kids and I made garlic chicken and cheddar biscuit casserole. (Steven kept asking, “but where’s the roll?”)

They’re continuing to build their skills. Everyone is trying things they wouldn’t have previously.

Amaya’s face when I asked her how she feels about raw chicken.

Loving Amaya’s look today. It’s fun to see what she puts together.

And, finally, some photos capturing the love between Sammy and Jason. <3 <3

Have a great week!

School photos are in! We had a transitions lenses fail, but these photos are a true snapshot of Steven, Sammy and Amaya at this moment in time.

I got some nice view of Fall on Cheltenham this week. First is a view from my work desk and the 2nd is a view from our back deck. It sounds like the earliest we’ll get back to a semi-regular schedule in the office is after Memorial Day so I’ll have another few seasons out out this window and, then, likely a continuation of a few days/week from this spot.

On Monday evening, 4/5 of the Clines had an appointment for flu shots. Jason got his a few weeks ago. Oh, boy. I was planning to go on my own but I’m glad Jason and I were both there because we did not have happy or cooperative kids. We had panicked and desperate kids, including one who tried to escape the room (Sammy) in a last ditch effort to escape his fat. But preventative health care prevailed.

Always with her signature style.

Tuesday morning we had a BIG FIRST. Steven lost a tooth! Last to get one, first to lose one. One down, fifty nine to go!

Steven told Amaya by showing her the tooth in a bag and giving her a big smile. She ran over to him and exclaimed, “Steven! You lost a tooth!” He’ll tell you that he gave a long hug. It was really sweet.

Sharing the news with Nana.

Sharing the news with Grandma Sunshine.

The Tooth Fairy came. 🙂

Some random pictures…

Cuddling with daddy and using the label maker.

Steven and Sammy have some coins they really like and had a difficult time keeping track of them so I got them each a coin collecting book. Both Poppy Steven and Saba Bob collected coins. (My dad had a bunch of pennies in cook books that I rolled and took the bank when I was in middle school. 🙁 )

Our Halloween season started on Wednesday afternoon with a class Trunk or Treat. I hate event planning but I wanted to be sure that COVID didn’t totally ruin the holiday season for SSA so planned an after school Trunk or Treat with their virtual class. They had 14 or 15 families of 24 participate, including another 12 or 13 siblings. It was really nice to see the kids with their classmates.

A little time at the playground afterward.

The kids have an “About the Author” all-about-me style assignment for school.

I love that Sammy included “cooking” as a hobby.

We need to work with Steven on his handwriting lol. He’s got a lot to say and he’s used to speaking so quickly that he rushes to get it all out.

Steven says his hobbies are legos, coin collecting and ???. He likes writing about “fun things that happen to me.”

SSA love to record shows on their tablets that they can also watch at any time on their tables via Netflix, Disney, Amazon Prime, etc. A quick check of my FB friends tells me this is normal (but still bizarre) behavior for kids their age.

Steven invented a game called “Go Money” which is the same as Go Fish but you play with his pretend money and make sets with like denominations.

Holiday gift catalogs are arriving and Steven, Sammy and Amaya are totally here for it.

Swimming! I can’t believe how much the kids are improving and how much progress they’ve made in just one month. On Thursday I saw both boys put their heads under water multiple times. I was so proud! And Amaya has developed tremendous control of her strokes. She’s learned to breath on every 5th stroke in crawl and has learned the backstroke.

Check out Amaya’s progress card. For her first few lessons she had 0 stars. Once her card is filled, someone will test her to see if she’s ready for Level 6. She’ll be there a lot faster than I anticipated. (And then we’ll have to figure out what to do about their schedule because right now they all swim at the same time.)

Steven, Sammy and Amaya got to wear their costumes “to” school on Friday. At the end of the day Sammy told me, “We didn’t have to learn anything in our last zoom meeting! We just played Halloween bingo and made a bat!”

Not needing her cat mask, we got to have fun with Amaya’s make up.

By absolute change, both Amaya and I were cats for Halloween at 6 years old. I love this so much. (Also, can you believe how much more mature Amaya looks than I did?)

On Monday the kids turn in their 2nd Small Moment Stories.

Amaya wrote, “My Birthday at Chuck E Cheese!”

“First I played at game. Me, Steven and Sammy are at Chuck E. Cheese. My cousin came, too! I love my cousin. I have two cousins. [4 actually; 2 are adults.] My cousins are older than me. Next it is time to eat our cake after we eat our pizza. I like pizza. Next we got to get our prize. I was happy! And I got a giant lollipop and I i also got cotton candy. The cotton candy tasted good. Yum. I had fun. Next we got to open our presents! I love presents! I got a LOL! The end.”

(This is a story about Amaya’s 6th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.)

Sammy wrote: “I Love the Beach”

“I got to the beach. I buried myself in the sand. It was hot. The sand tickled. I pushed myself into the sand. I fell into a whole that a person dug. It was hot. I felt like I was melting. I finally got up!”

(This is a story about visiting the beach in NY in August 2020.)

Steven’s story is: “The Joker” at Legoland

“I waited for someone to talk. I waited and waited. Someone finally said something. I asked my mom for fruit. The fruit was good but now I will tell you the joke. It was, ‘Why did the cookie to go the doctor?” And another and another. And another and another. The joke people left but it was night so me and my mom went to bed. One minute after that my mom fell asleep and twenty minutes after that I fell asleep.”

(This is a story about a kids’ joke contest our first night at Legoland in Feb 2019.)

Plus, a note from Steven:

“Dear Mommy – I love you so much. You are the best mom in the world. I also love you a lot – to Daddy.”

Sammy spent the week planning how to scare Jason with his Spooky Skeleton costume so we plotted and planned and Friday night was the night. The key was charging up his glowing costume and making sure it was dark enough. It took a few different times getting in and out of his costume but he got his chance! He went out the garage and came around to the front door and rang the bell. We turned off the porch light for extra effect. 🙂 Seeing Sammy excited and happy is pure joy.

On Saturday morning I panicked that the signature on my absentee ballot didn’t match my drivers license and my ballot would not be counted so the kids and I made a quick trip to the Clerk’s Office where I was assured that I would have received a call if that was an issue and that seeing my ballot receipt tracked meant that it would count.

It was a good civics lesson for the kids who asked why it mattered if my vote was counted. I asked them to raise their hand if they want us to buy a family rocket ship. All three kids (obviously) raised their hands. Then I told them that Daddy and I voted no. What would happen if Sammy’s vote didn’t count. Instead of winning the vote, it would be a tie. And then we talked about how we can’t buy a rocket ship even if the family votes for it lol. And that our house isn’t a democracy and sometimes mommy and daddy just get to decide. But, they got the point. They can help influence outcomes that they care about if they vote and if their vote is counted.

In the afternoon we went to a Halloween event at Maybury Farm. It was ticketed, with reserved times, and I was needlessly worried about crowds. The farm did an amazing job limiting the number of entries per hour to allow for more than ample distancing. The weather was absolutely perfect.

Jason was watching the Michigan/Michigan State game and we had an extra ticket so we took Amaya’s friend Maia with us. This was a first for us and I was really glad to be able to do it. Maia is very sweet and likes to spend time with Steven and Sammy, too.

The farm had a scavenger hunt, animals in costumes, games and a take-home craft. You can see just how few people were are the farm during our time slot.

Sushi and hot dog sheep!

The last activity was trick or treating where all of the volunteers used candy chutes to deliver the candy to the kids.

A little fall yard work with Daddy between Halloween events. Such a pretty day.

Our neighborhood sucks for trick or treating and we didn’t want to be ringing doorbells right now, so we headed to a neighborhood near downtown Northville where my colleague Lisa lives. She’s always talked about how great it is at Halloween and said that, this year, the neighbors all decided to put out tables so they could hand out candy safely.

Trick or treating hours by us are from 6- 8pm which gave us a bit of daylight to get started. You can’t tell in the pictures because I stopped taking them after a while but this area is absolutely hopping. The houses are all decorated in creative ways. The streets are packed – with most people in masks this year. Lisa said she usually busy 1500 pieces of candy. This year she bought 600 but bagged them in 2s and 3s and ran out in less than an hour. One house was completely done up as a Wizard of Oz theme. Another house had a keg and was handing out beers to adults. Lisa said that, in normal times, they close down the streets because there are so many people.

It got much, much busier.

The Wizard of Oz house.

Steven’s favorite house! You can see how the table is at the end of their steps. That was pretty common. The homeowners stayed on their porch and the candy was on a table at the bottom of the steps.

Doing some eenie-meenie-miney-moe to pick his candy for the night.

We had a lazy Sunday. In fact, I think we need to be sure we have ways to get the kids out of the house on the weekends in the winter during a pandemic. They get restless and don’t have the benefit of leaving the house for school in the morning. (It’s probably good for me, too. I get restless and don’t have the benefit of leaving the house for work in the morning. 😉 In fact, if I didn’t take the kids to swim on Thursdays I could go the entire week without leaving the house. Winter is going to be rough.)

For lunch, Steven and I made some carrot soup via a recipe from his religious school teacher, Ms. Amy. Thumbs up all around.

Amaya took some pictures of us cooking together. 🙂

Then at dinner time, Sammy helped out with the green onions and sauteed all of the chicken for us. He and Steven are both getting so good at the stove. They’re learning really good safety habits while they cook.

That’s it for us! Have a great week!