Steven, Sammy and Amaya had a great break week with one more to go!

Amaya spent a good portion of the week dressed as Queen of the Ice Cream. When we took this picture, she specifically asked me to label the photo.

Sammy’s Master Chef Junior cookbook arrived so, on my lunch break on Monday, we set out together to shop. He wanted to make pineapple upside down cake but we had to order ramekins so, instead, he picked chocolate cupcakes with raspberry curd and homemade frosting.

It was some process! End to end, Sammy and I were baking for 2.5 hours. We made the cupcakes, the raspberry curd, the frosting and the caramel embellishments. Then Sammy put the curd in the cupcakes, frosted them and added the caramel pieces. They were delicious and, according to Jason, well worth the effort.

The recipe called for passion fruit infused frosting. Our grocery store didn’t have passion fruit or passion fruit puree so we got dragon fruit, hoping it would be a good substitute. It wasn’t, but SSA got a pre-dinner treat out of them.

Watching Sammy melt the sugar…

Adding the curd to holes he made in the cupcakes

Making caramel swirls

The finished product!

On Monday night the kids watched an episode of Phineas & Ferb that featured The Klimpaloon – an old timey bathing suit with a big personality – and got their art on. 🙂

We’d been waiting on some (long overdue) lego sets to arrive for Sammy and Amaya so, when they came, Steven could get one of his gifts from Aunt Sara & Co. – a lego cup! He said it was his 2nd favorite gift – preceded only by his police station lego set.

To get the kids out of the house, Penni and SSA went to the zoo on Tuesday. It sounds like it was just warm enough to make it work. They spent almost three hours there. Sammy’s favorite part was seeing the polar bears and arctic foxes. Steven liked the vultures the best. Amaya bought a stuffed sloth (with her own money) and that was her highlight.

Only one option for lunch at the zoo during the winter during a pandemic.

Polar bear out in the distance

We played so many board games this week. It was quiet at work and Gabby wasn’t working so, after 4pm, it was mommy and the kids.

On Tuesday evening played Catan Junior for the first time. I’ve never played Settlers of Catan so it was a good intro for me, too, and we all like the game.

Blokus is still a go-to. I think I’m undefeated so we always have a “kid winner”, too.

Penni lent Steven a cook book so he could also have a private cooking session with me. After running to her place to get the book, they stopped at a playground for an hour. It’s getting colder but the kids would have recess a school every day as long as the real feel is over 0 degrees so they can definitely still play outside.

Sammy: Take a picture to show how high I am.

Early afternoon I took a break for some book time with SSA. (That’s Slothy being held by Amaya – her purchase from the zoo.)

Ticket to Ride – still loving it. Everyone’s building their own strategies and figuring out what works.

Penni was off on Thursday so I worked and called it quits early to play more games with the kids. We also started watchin Floor is Lava on Netflix. The boys loooove it.

Laughing and laughing at Floor is Lava. This one guy, Chiklet, had them rolling.

On Thursday night, SSA asked if we could stay in bed on Friday morning so they could make us breakfast. Um, yes. Yes, please. I told them they couldn’t get started until 8am, though, it case it was cacophonous. It wasn’t! I heard them head down at 8am and work together for an hour before we were treated to heart shaped waffles with blueberries, honey and chocolate. It was wonderful.

We were even serenaded with a “We Love Mommy and Daddy” song.

Early afternoon, Steven and I made his special dessert. It was supposed to be cheesecake stuffed strawberries but we used raspberries instead. Super yummy and only 6 ingredients.

Saturday morning we had a Carcasonne date with Aunt Ouize. Can you see the phone set up at the far end of the table? I was Aunt Ouize’s proxy and she was our winner!

Sally found a new, warm spot to stay close to us while we played.

After a FaceTime date with Grandpa Homey and Grandma Betsy, where the kids learned all about how Grandma Betsy makes soap, we played Catan.

Dinner helpers, for bacon chicken tacos, were Amaya and Sammy. Amaya chopped the green onions and Sammy made the chicken.

The ramekins arrived so today was pineapple upside down cake day! (PUDCD!) Sammy and make a quick stop at the grocery store for some needed ingredients and got cooking. I think this endeavor took about 90 minutes made longer by our need to toss some batter and start over when I realized I read some directions incorrectly. I’m glad we started again because the end result was fantastic!

We tried fresh pineapple but the canned pineapple was easier to work with and tasted better (sweeter and jucier) than the pineapple we had in the house.

Sammy made a mixture of butter and brown sugar for the base (ultimately top) of the cakes and then added heavy cream and rum for a sauce.

Teamwork!

Perfection. <3

In an attempt to get some fresh air after three days indoors and earn time on our “hours outside chart” and give Jason some space to finish up organizing the play room, the kids and I headed to a playground for an hour this afternoon. It was cold. Bearable but cold. For adults, at least. I made it through by walking laps around the playground which, to be honest, really warmed me up.

We had a lot of gear.

The kids don’t have to wear masks at empty playgrounds but feel more comfortable having them “just in case”. It’s hard to find Steven in there!

As I walked laps, the kids followed me and threw snowballs at my back. They loved it lol.

Finally – the playroom! For almost 7 years now it was the one room in the house that I wanted full responsibility to organize but it was truly out of control. So much stuff everywhere that everything was losing value. So I called in the big guns and Jason readily got to work. ❤

Here’s the before:

And after!

Have a great week!

There was lots of holiday energy all week long – both because of nights 3- 8 of Hanukkah, the gifts that continued to arrive after Thursday and the build up to winter break.

One of the kids’ gifts this year was individual lego tables. There was a lot of fighting over space on the lego table so the now each have their own and they have wheels which will hopefully make them more useful. And I made them! I put together the tables, with help from Penni and Gabby, and then cut and glued the lego bases. A definite labor of love.

The work in progress…

By the end of our FL trip, the liner of Amaya’s water proof cast was starting to unravel and the fiberglass between her thumb and index finger had split so we got her an ortho appointment for Monday afternoon. After a fourth and final set of x-rays, the verdict was that she’s ready to be cast free! She’s got to take it easy for 2 weeks but her cast is off!

Sammy has this Jacob Ellsbury card with a piece of uniform and we took this picture to show Uncle Dave and Grandpa Homey.

Monday – night five!

One of Sammy’s gifts from Nana and Papa is a floor piano which he uses to make beautifully loud music.

Ugh. The van. After a successful test ride of high back boosters in FL, we officially transitioned at home, too. That meant taking out their seats and dealing with everything underneath. Blargh. The boys did help try to dust bust but it ultimately required a visit to the car wash vacuum station.

This might have been the last time, for a while, that the kids can pop outside in open toed shoes and no jackets.

I love these earmuffs.

On Tuesday – night 6 – the kids opened gifts from Gabby. Among her gifts was a mermaid blanket that Amaya loves.

Sammy got a “slime in the face” game which, as the gift giver, Gabby had to play lol.

One of Sammy’s gifts was a magic kit which he tested out on Wednesday. I love the joy.

Bunny Amaya coming with me to get the mail.

From Penni: “He forgot to add ‘safety plan’ to the sentence ‘My family keeps me safe by fire’ and is super giggly about it.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Steven, Sammy and Amaya got to meet Mrs. O’Niel in person for the first time! She had a materials exchange and made arrangements to be there for a hour in the afternoon when the kids came. She’s a fantastic teacher and I’m really glad the kids got to say an in-person hello. What a weird year.

Amaya in her booster seat. Truly a big change for us. I love those five point harnesses but they’re tall enough, weigh enough and are mature enough to sit properly so here we go!

Steven really wanted time for just the two of us so, Wednesday evening before Gabby left, we had some together time for two games of Sum Swamp. (Each won one!)

Steven asked me to use the picture where our heads are tilted toward each other.

Night seven!

Sammy got a Nintendo Switch for Haunkkah and I got myself a Switch Lite so we are now gaming buddies. We both have Legend of Zelda Link’s Awakening and are helping each other out with what we know. Photo credit for this photo goes to Steven who was also supporting our play and offering helpful tips.

Thursday snow day for the boys! Even a little snow can make for some good sledding on the hill in our backyard. I wish our yard was deeper (pool, anyone?) but the hill is a great perk.

Night eight! A wonderful Hanukkah for the whole family!

The kids do a wonderful job with the Hanukkah blessings. <3

Gifts from Penni!

Every other Friday, when Claudia comes to clean, the kids do school in the basement. They were learning about “needs vs wants”.

At three different times the kids were all gifted with these little kits where you dig toys out of eggs. (Think archaeology.) Amaya has fairies, Steven has pirate treasure and Sammy has dinosaurs. They’re a lot of fun and very very messy.

Playing dreidel with a box of gelt we had in the pantry.

Baking banana muffins with Penni.

Last zoom of the year! Steven said, “We won’t see Mrs. O’Neil until next year on January 4th!” Their final activity was painting snowmen.

Steven’s (Cucumber eyes)

Sammy’s (Red and white mint eyes)

Amaya’s (Not a man)

Jason got this amazing photo of Sammy and Sally sleeping together. Never did I dream…

As a family gift, Jason got a beautiful wooden monopoly set which we tested out together on Saturday.

Steven showing off a present he bought with a gift card from Uncle Austin.

Some Saturday time for the girls. 🙂

Jason started something new in the house which helps keep the house clean and helps the kids earn money. If he sees something that needs cleaning – outside of normal “you live in this house” responsibilities, he puts up a post-it note with the name of the task and the amount it’s worth. The kids can choose to do that task and, afterward, they bring the post-it to one of us so we can see the work that was done and, in return, they earn the dollar amount on the post-it.

Sammy played his “slime in the face” game with a twist – whipped cream! I love the goggles lol.

We had some good eats today. First up was Lunch by Amaya courtesy of a cookbook that Penni gifted her for Hanukkah. She made a delicious Hawaiian salad – served in pineapples! Everyone loved it.

Along with a renewal of Raddish Kids, Nana and Papa gifted the kids cutting knives. They’re the real deal but great for small hands because the blade is shorter and levers well. Amaya was excited to be the first to use a new knife.

Proud Girl.

Dinner was Cozy Chicken and Dumplings from this month’s Raddish Kids kit. Sammy did his usual good work with the chicken. Amaya chopped vegetables and made the dumplings. Steven cooked the veggies. We ate it all!

And it was a big game day, thanks to Aunt Ouize and Uncle Todd. We played two games of Carcasonne (winners were Steven and Sammy). The kids were also gifted three new games from the Scofields this year – Secret Code 13+4 for Steven, Ticket to Ride for Amaya and Catan Junior for Sammy. Today we tried out Steven and Amaya’s games. (I think Ticket to Ride is going to land on my favorites list.)

That’s a wrap on this week! The kids are off from school for winter break starting tomorrow. Options are limited when with the pandemic but we’ll do our best to have an eventful week! Have a great one and Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates!

What a week. It was so valuable to get away and such a special trip. The balance of school and work and play worked out well for all of us. Better, in fact, than our October trip to NY because my own work schedule was a little less intense this past week.

The house had three bedrooms. One for Penni and two left for the Clines. Each night the kids rotated sleeping with me. On Sunday night, while Sammy was with me, I found Amaya and Steven sleeping like this. Earlier in the night Steven had said to me, “Amaya loves me so much.” She does love her brothers so much.

Monday we got to it! Penni arrived late Sunday and we were all ready to go with our normal routine – but in FL. The kids rotated locations daily – one on the couch and two at the nicely sized kitchen table. I’m truly impressed with their ability to engage and focus on school from anywhere.

Monday was pretty warm and I turned the heat up on the pool to help account for the lack of sun on the pool. Right away, SSA got into the routine of school – swim – school – swim – school swim. Their recess and lunch and specials breaks were long enough to allow for multiple chances to swim throughout the day. Penni was great about working out a plan that gave them the time they needed.

Visiting with Mama while I worked outside.

On Monday the kids managed to swim four times. At one point Steven said, “Wow. It’s a lot warmer in the pool than it is outside. I love it. It’s so nice. I’m just going to relax in the water.”

Steven and Sammy alternated between wearing / not wearing their life jackets. The pool was shallow enough in most places to give them that freedom. I’m so impressed with how far they’ve come with skills and comfort. If you recall, less than 3 months ago – before they started swim class, the boys didn’t even want to put faces in the water. This trip they were going completely under water. I’m so impressed!

We’re lucky the tooth fair is magical because she had to make a special visit to FL when Sammy lost his first tooth!

Tuesday was sunny but colder. As (un)luck would have it, we were in FL for a few unseasonably cold days. The pool heater had to work extra hard to keep up and the nighttime chill didn’t help. Amaya and Steven seemed a lot less bothered by the cold than Sammy who decided to skip a few pool excursions in favor of just playing outside. Fortunately, by later in the day the pool was more comfortable.

Amaya and Steven, singing a FL song.

The screened in lanai was a favorite place to eat (and work).

I’ll keep saying it, but I was so impressed with how Steven, Sammy and Amaya jumped in and out of vacation mode.

Sammy, showing off that space where his tooth used to be.

When it got too cold for him, he worked on sorting some of his incredible shells.

Amaya got busy with her shells, too.

This boy was not deterred by the cooler weather.

Tuesday night the kids and I went out for a nice dinner together. Steven called it “fancy”, which was a fair assessment. The restaurant had beautiful outdoor seating and some much needed strategically placed heaters.

This is Amaya’s dreamy look thinking about the server she “loved”.

Dessert for all of the Cline kids to wrap up a delicious meal.

While we ate outside, so did Daddy back in MI!

Filling in the day’s “hours outside” log.

This trip allowed us to hit our first 50 hours out doors since tracking started. It took us 37 days and Sammy had guessed 35 so he’s our winner for the First 50.

Wednesday was even cooler than Tuesday but a pool tech came out and adjusted the heater to run for more hours to help keep the pool heated in the cold weather. They day included swimming (mostly for Steven and Amaya), lunch together outside, shell sorting and, of course, school and work.

I love the way the sunlight shines through the palm trees. Amaya didn’t miss a chance to swim. This trip she perfected her underwater front and back flips.

So many shells.

Wednesday night we decided to head over for Vanderbilt Beach for dinner and the sunset. It did not disappoint. It was cool, but comfortable, and so beautiful. Despite having lived in Naples, it reminded me of my time living in San Diego – watching the sunset over the Pacific. It was truly magical for Steven, Sammy and Amaya who have never seen anything like it.

Running in circles chanting, “Weenawana weenawana – AVOCADO!” Sammy started it and it caught on quickly.

So beautiful. Sammy particularly enjoyed the orange cloud.

Our one and only pre-bed book of the trip. Gearing up for Hanukkah with “Latka the Lucky Dog.”

On Thursday morning it warmed up and so did the pool. I worked on the lanai as much as possible and got to watch SSA continue to sort and organize their shells.

On Thursdays the kids have a longer lunch break due to the timing of their zoom meetings and specials. This week we decided not to worry about art, music or Spanish in favor of more PE in the pool. Knowing that the kids had a longer break on Thursday I was also able to arrange my schedule for a lunch time swim with the kids. When I had to get out, Penni joined in. It was phenomenal.

On Thursday afternoon, in honor of the first night of Hanukkah, Mrs. O’Neil did a Hanukkah lesson with the kids’ class. They were absolutely thrilled.

After school the kids swam in the pool until they couldn’t stand the Hanukkah excitement anymore and were ready to light the menorah and celebrate Hanukkah. (Gifts! They really wanted gifts!)

Hanukkah Time! We traveled down with one menorah and a few candles to get us through the first two nights of the holiday.

For months and months, Sammy has been asking for a Nintendo Switch. Maybe 9 or 10 months, to be honest. Thursday night was the night and this boy was (not surprised but) so excited! He was even dressed for his first adventure with Super Mario Odyssey.

Amaya got ice cream earrings, which was her #1 request, and a new sewing kit.

Steven’s first gifts were a stuffed pterodactyl and a new Vtech digital camera. The pterodactyl is brown with orange eyes so he named it “Brownarooah” because “arooah” is how you say “orange” on Moso.

Happy, busy kids.

Amaya’s ice cream earrings.

Amaya loves sleep masks so her first project was a new sleep mask. It’s adorable and well crafted. 🙂

On Friday, between classes and as part of a half day for all of us, the kids played an intense game of Jenga. I’ve truly never seen a Jenga tower built that tall. We were all on edge.

And it got bigger from here!

The kids and I all took a half day so we could spend our last, gorgeous day back at the beach. It’s this beach – where they warn you about alligators. Yikes.

This beach (at Delnor Wiggens Pass State Park, parking lot 4) is amazing. The sand bar goes out so far that you are at water no deeper than your calf for an incredibly long distance and it was so still. Like a wading pool.

For SSA, the highlight of this visit was Crabby – a sand crab that Steven found. For probably a good 90 minutes the kids following crabby around, building it a home and saving it from nearby seagulls.

Crabby’s home

After an amazing day at the beach we headed back to the house for a final swim. We all got in and had so much fun. Sammy even learned how to jump into the deep end of the pool!

Wrapping up as the sun went down.

Our final activity was night 2 of Hanukkah where the kids got gifts from Aunt Sara and Uncle Dave. A Scruffaluv family for Amaya. A unicorn stone garden for Steven. Super Mario Party for Sammy.

Last morning. 🙁 Honestly, as I type this, it’s hard to believe I took this picture yesterday. It already feels so long ago! But we had a wonderful trip and made so many memories that will carry us into winter.

On the way to the airport we stopped by the condo I owned when I lived in Naples. I left 14 years ago and never could have imagined the life I’d build in MI when I headed to Ann Arbor to work for Borders. <3

Off we went! Steven was my luggage helper. Our flight was on time and easy with my expert fliers.

DADDY!!! <3

We had a relaxing late afternoon & evening at home with night 3 of Hanukkah and family time. Steven got his big gift – a huge Lego police station.

Amaya worked on a heart stepping stone from Auntie and Dod Shuki.

Today was busy! We had Hebrew School online, zoom Hanukkah with our Goldstein cousins, zoom Hanukkah with Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette, a zoom date with Nana, Papa the Goldbergs, Austin and Krissy and then a school friend stopped by (outside only) to carol with her mom and sister and drop off some cookies.

In our Tyner Religious School To-Go box we had a dreidel making activity where the kids literally made a dreidel out of clay.

Goldsteins! (Before Spencer and Co joined.)

Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette!

Aunt Annette – keeping up the tradition of giving the kids fun winter hats!

Somehow, in all this, Sammy and I found time to make dinner. He’s our raw chicken guy.

Caroling. 🙂 Claire and her sister sang Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman. They asked if we had a Hanukkah song we’d like to sing and Amaya sang “I Have a Little Dreidel.” Cookies were gifted and, in turn, each girl got a shell from Florida. It was really sweet. I’m sorry it’s so difficult for SSA to socialize. Hopefully they’ll be a few mild days where we can do playground meet ups.

Finally, night four!

Have a great week and Happy Hanukkah to everyone who celebrates!

This is definitely one of those weeks where Monday feels like a lifetime ago. Look at the boys in the snow, and now we’re coming to you from beautiful, sunny, WARM Florida.

Amaya is not interested in playing in the snow while she has her cast but Steven and Sammy made the most of the winter weather this week.

Jason got them these snow brick-builders like he and Aunt Ouize has as kids.

Later in the week we replaced these ridiculous knit gloves with proper winter mittens. “They work so great! My hands never get cold!”

Mid-morning break with my girl. ❤️

Mrs. O’Neil let Steven show his class the castle he built. “Three people said it was cool! Claire really liked it.”

Hot chocolate time! A must-have on snowy days.

In the before-times, I told the kids that they could get their own carry-on roller suit cases for our next flight. I thought it would come a lot sooner than the 9.5 months it’s been but here we are, and here are their suitcases. They set up a maze in the hall to practice pulling them through the lined and around people.

It’s full Hanukkah mode for the kids. There are a ton of wrapped gifts in the house and they are READY. We decorated the house the day after thanksgiving and the kids made some other Hanukkah crafts during the week. Sammy thought of making big dreidels out of pieces of construction paper.

Some Penni love.

Reading together. (We had parent/teacher conferences this week. Everyone is doing so well in such an unusual year. I’m really proud of the kids’ effort.)

A few more pictures from the week before we get to the main event…

Of course Steven takes pleasure in noticing his whole meal is yellow.

I got this message from Amaya in Messenger Kids. She’s always telling me that she loves me more than I love her. I tell her not to make it a competition and she turned it around on me very nicely.

Snuggly Bobes

It might not look like improvement here but the foot of Amaya’s bed was so messy and she spent at least an hour cleaning it. I was really proud of the work she did and so was she.

Sammy sorting words by vowel sounds that he hears.

Steven made slime. This is how he thinks it smells lol.

Just wanted to share this from a work meeting. Sally is so well known, 9 months into this pandemic. 😻

Friday morning, Amaya and I went back to ortho to check on her arm and to get a new, waterproof cast. Her doctor showed us how her bones are healing and thinks, at our next appt on the 18th, she’ll be done with the cast for good. She may transition to a removable split but that’s no big deal.

I was a little worried that Amaya would freak out having her cast removed but the person who did it was great and Amaya didn’t bat an eye.

New cast, ready for the water!!

AND OFF WE GO!

I’ve never been so happy to fly. Being at the airport with the kids felt so normal.

It was quieter than usual. Some real was closed. Everyone was in masks, of course. But it was still normal.

Our flight was delayed almost 2 hrs but these kids are champion travelers. Truly. Someone in the row in front of Sammy and Amaya said she’s be happy to have them fly behind her any time.

We had our activities and our Happy Meals and we were all so energized to travel.

Messenger kids to pass the time…

Off we go!!

The kids all watched Painting with Bob Ross on the plane. They listen to him via some of their sleep stories on the Calm app.

Photo credit and text credit: Amaya

We got to the house around 10:30. Sammy has been asleep in the car for at least 20 minutes and transferred right to bed. Amaya and Steven wanted to see the house, and the pool, first. Couldn’t blame them!

Steven, Sammy and Amaya loved exploring the house in the morning. It’s a small one-story house about a mile from the beach. Three bedrooms and two bathrooms which is perfect for us. We’ll have to get creative with space for three kids in school and one mom working but there are a variety of options to play with.

Since everyone was up and raring to go by 8am, we started our day with a game of Life. First time for the kids! It took us through the evening to finish, with all we had going on, and Sammy was our winner.

Shortly after 9am we tested out the pool and got a good hour+ swim in. The pool is clean and warm and not terribly deep – in other words, perfect.

Sammy took this picture. Amaya was excited to get one where she was under the water. I wasn’t thrilled about an early morning swim but Steven was so excited to swim with me that I couldn’t possibly say no.

When I got out of the shower, I found SSA sitting at the kitchen table shooting the breeze and eating yogurt. It was a nice show of independence.

I thought it was going to rain on Saturday so, back in MI, I’d mentioned to the kids that there was a children’s museum in Naples. Even though it was sunny, Steven really wanted to check it out and Sammy and Amaya were on board. It was a really nice museum and wasn’t crowded at all.

Art projects

In this room they practiced with sewing machines, hand sewing, and tying knots. Kids could also learn to weave on a loom.

Outdoor chess with Amaya while the boys got wet at a water station.

Photo booth!!

We went to Old Naples for a late lunch/early dinner and then went for a walk on the dock. It was such a nice day.

Sammy and I treated ourselves to some king crab.

Catching up with Daddy via FaceTime.

Steven took a picture of us wrapping up our game of Life.

Steven, Sammy and Amaya love palm trees. (Like most of the rest of humanity, I suppose.) We have this one in front of our house and they’re really excited that they can reach the leaves.

Today was an amazing day. We went to Delnor-Wiggens Pass State Park which is a gorgeous beach about 8 min from our house. The shelling was incredible, the water was warm and the weather was perfect. We spent five hours at the beach collecting shells, playing frisbee and hanging out in the water. Honestly, the day was everything I was hoping for when we booked this trip.

Amaya wore this thick blue plastic contraption on her arm to keep the sand out of her cast. It was not pleasant and she was a total trooper. I’m really proud of how she adapted (with the bribe of a few oreos, to be totally honest). But who wouldn’t want some oreos after 5 hours in a plastic glove?

The water was so calm and, in some parts, just ankle deep and still.

The kids even got me in the gulf. And they saw a dolphin! I missed it but a number of people on the beach saw it and a local verified that there are two dolphins known to swim in this area.

This is the quality of shell on the beach. Truly incredible. Steven named this shell Beauty Wonder.

We wrapped up the beach with treats. As you do.

And we wrapped up the day with an hour and a half in the pool. The boys are getting so confident!

Now we’re watching tv, eating sushi and waiting for Penni to arrive. Penni will be here this week to help with school while I work. Hopefully, though, the kids are able to swim during the day and after school and I’m hoping to take some of my meetings outside.

Have a great week!