Before we get to Passover in NY, just a few highlights from the week proper.

The warmer weather is amazing. In the early part of the week we even had a day or two with a high of 70. I am definitely a warm weather person. It’s so good for my soul.

Amaya makes beds for her stuffed animals out of cardboard boxes and, here, she was celebrating Beary and Raccoony’s brithdays.

We wrapped up Reading Month this week and, on Monday, the kids’ teacher – Mrs. O’Neil – was Thornton Creek’s guest reader for Zoom Bedtime Stories. SSA were completely enthralled while she read. You could hear a pin drop.

They discovered a planet song in one of their programs and it’s become a favorite to listen to over and over again. Sometimes there’s dancing.

My turn! This was my view during a 5pm vendor-sponsored wine tasting. To be honest, I’m not all that interested in the nuances of wine but this is a great vendor and I love to drink wine so it was a nice way to wrap up a work day. Sally approved.

Daddy and Steven cuddles

Amaya really likes my colleague Sean and, Thursday evening, she had a chance to catch up with him. It was really sweet. Sean is so thoughtful and kind in how he engages with the president of his fan club.

On Friday, after lunch, the Cline 5 hit the road for our journey to New York. Sammy set the mood with shorts on his head.

Amaya, playing Super Mario Party – little arms flying all over the place.

It was relatively uneventful except for a car sickness episode for poor Steven. He rebounded quickly, though. We’ve driven back and forth to NY 2 other times and Steven got sick on one leg of each of those trips so it’s time to take some action. For the drive home, we’re going to try Sea Bands and see if they help. They’ve worked for me on cruises and helped May May when she was pregnant so it’s worth a shot.

The Cline 5 have officially outgrown a single hotel room for all of us. The kids are too big to comfortably fit with us in two queen beds so two rooms it is. For this trip, on our overnight stop in Lamar, PA, Amaya and Steven bunked with me and Sammy and Jason had a room together.

Very excited to have his own bed in a hotel room with his daddy.

Amaya and Steven had some cuddle time in the morning before we hit the road.

As we did on our two previous trips, we stopped at a scenic overlook in NJ. I’m a big fan of tradition so I loved sharing this with Jason.

Showing Steven the trash that litterers have tossed over the wall.

We’re here!!! It was a beautiful, beautiful day in so many ways.

We had a relaxing afternoon with family – lots of cousin time – before heading to Nana and Papa’s house for the first Passover Seder. It was so special to be able to have the Seder at their house after this past year of distancing.

Legos, legos and more legos.

Nana and Papa’s house! I was so happy to be there.

Steven was my Seder buddy.

Amaya and Charlie with their “wine”.

Sammy and his Savta. <3

Charlie did an amazing job reading the four questions. She brought her nana to tears.

Bitter herbs. Sammy, in particular, loves parsley in salt water.

Nana and her grandkids. Love, love, love this!!

Sammy and Papa, deep in discussion about Matzah Balls soup.

Auntie came for dessert and it was extra special because Saturday was Auntie’s birthday!

Celebrating Auntie

Sisters!!

We had a very, nice lazy morning at the AirBnb. The Cline 5 relaxed until about 10:30am when Nana, Aunt Sara, Chase and Charlie came over.

Another practice for The Four Questions.

Big lunch at Nana’s before Jason left for the airport. <3

A pre-birthday celebration for me. 🙂

I took Jason to the airport and the kids all went back to the AirBnB to relax and also play around in the jet tub. Then we went back to Nana and Papa’s for night two of Passover.

Before we got going, we ask Savta a burning question that was on our minds during our drive to MI – “What were telephones like when she was a kid.” Everyone listened, but Sammy was truly enraptured by the explanation of how phones worked in the 30’s.

These girls partnered today for The Four Questions. Charlie took the Hebrew, Amaya took the English, and Nana kvelled.

We’re going to the Bronx Zoo on Tuesday and Amaya told Savta that, if she couldn’t walk around the zoo all day, Amaya would push her in a wheelchair. Such a sweet girl.

And that’s it for this week! We’re ready for a new one in New York!

*Blog title by Steven, because we’re mostly in NY for this blog but not all of it is.

Sometimes it’s challenging for the kids to all sit in the same space and work, especially when they have small group break-outs and are having different conversations with friends. On Monday, Steven took to the library to do some work and caught me peeking in on him. <2

Here’s Sammy, later in the week, getting into the conversation during one of his breakout sessions with a classmate.

Sammy is loving Ryan’s World videos on YouTube Kids so, in the morning or during evening device time, it’s not unusual to find him in odd spots around the house watching videos.

It seems St. Patrick’s Day is a big deal in first grade. Not only did the kids make art, but SSA also built a leprechaun trap in their room. They left Hershey kisses out so it would have something to eat and placed them strategically to help their trap work better. Sammy wanted to set alarms throughout the night so he would have a better chance of seeing the leprechaun but Steven thought that would be a waste of sleep if it turned out leprechaun’s aren’t real. Sadly, they didn’t catch one but did know it came and escaped because it left behind all of the Hershey kisses wrappers and a note saying that maybe they’d catch him next year.

Steven, in his green shirt and green glasses

Amaya made this hat for Gabby.

There Sammy is again, watching his videos.

We’re re-entering the season where I get to watch the kids playing outside from my “office” window. Definitely a perk of working from home. Maybe you can spot Steven and Gabby across the street.

The kids and I are still happily playing Animal Crossing and they find art tutorials to draw AC characters. Here are Steven and Amaya’s renditions of Flick, the island-visiting bug collector.

On Saturday it was back to the playground for three hours in the sun with friends. I’ve been packing sandwiches so we have the flexibility to stay as long as we’d like. I even got a little red form all the sun – in Michigan in March!

When we got home, Amaya got to work on a new KiwiCo kit that arrived. She was incredibly independent in her work on this kit. She made some kinds of air blasters that can be used to play a game with the set in the background. Amaya did an amazing job working through the instructions on her own.

This morning Steven worked on a KiwiCo kit, too, with Jason. He wired a color changing crystal! When you move the switches, the crystal changes colors. It’s very cool and he was understandably proud of his work.

Sammy and Charlie had a video date planned for this morning. It was short lived because his iPod died but he was excited about it all morning.

It was absolutely gorgeous out today. We headed to a playground around 2pm and it was a real feel of 69 degrees. After about an hour and a half the kids were actually complaining that they were too hot! (And to think I made Sammy change out of shorts.) Kids at the playgrounds always seem to play really well together and today was no exception with a group of kids playing some form of tag together.

We rounded out the weekend with dinner in downtown Northville, preceded by drinks in the streets – wine for Mommy & Daddy and cranberry juice for the kids. I’m so happy the weather is turning. We made it through our COVID winter!

Have a great week!

On Monday, Penni got busy with the kids playing online math games. Right now they all think their math class is too “easy” so maybe these games challenge them a little bit more. They do seem to have strong number sense and, most importantly, really enjoy math.

It was gorgeous out on Monday and, when a meeting ended a few minutes early, I popped outside to say hi to the Gabby and the kids. This is what I can generally expect from Steven when he sees me unexpectedly. Sweet boy, running to his mama.

I promise Sammy wasn’t as disinterested as he seemed lol.

Monday night, Steven was explaining something to Jason. I just love this look on Jason’s face. <3

First watermelon of the season for Sammy and he was a happy happy boy.

The kids are still working on their animal reports and Sammy has been full of facts about polar bears. (Side note: He told me his favorite books to read are ones about animals that live in the arctic and animals that live in the ocean. Amaya’s favorite are comic books.)

It seems he’s been looking at pictures of polar bears because he sent me this array of polar bear pictures via Messenger Kids.

Amaya has been creating Lego inventions and loves explaining them to us. She has some very creative ideas!

I think we’re all excited that it’s getting nicer outside. I get lots of requests to watch the kids’ tricks.

I could sit for hours, just watching Sammy run.

March 12th marked the last day that the kids were in school last year. I honestly can’t believe we hit the year mark. On the 12th, I had the opportunity to join the boys’ class as the mystery reader and I honestly had no idea what was coming. That night, we got the news that the kids would not return to school until after spring break. And here we are. It’s been some year.

Steven, Sammy and Amaya have done an amazing job learning and growing in virtual 1st grade but I truly can’t wait until they day they return to school inside Thornton Creek Elementary.

Amaya, modeling some new Under Armor gear that Jason got her. This child knows who she is.

Snuggles

The kids had another CARES month delivery on Friday. This time they dropped off the care packages and cards from the Thornton Creek first graders. Steven was so excited to meet police offiers.

Checking out a police car.

Steven always, always wants his mama close by.

Big day on Saturday! I got my COVID vaccine! Freedom and normalcy, here I come!!! Honestly, cried through the whole experience. I’m so grateful to have reached this point.

After a 4 month hiatus, yesterday the 1st grade playground meet-ups resumed. There were 5 families and 10 kids who came and the kids all had so much fun. It’s nice to see them playing with peers. The adults even got to watch them problem solve. They were all on a piece of equipment that only works if someone pushes it around in circles. After standing around and discussing, they settled on Rock Paper Scissors to determine who would push first.

Based on what we’ve seen, none of us are too worried about their academic development this year but do worry a bit about what it will be like for them to return to in-school social situations having missed a whole school year of daily socialization. We’re all glad to see them figuring that out together.

I had a blood donation scheduled on Saturday afternoon and, while I was out, the kids set up all sorts of art & writing stations around the house. This was Sammy’s…

Home from my donation and pooped, I got some cuddles before I napped.

Today was a BIG day! Now that Grandma Sunshine is fully vaccinated, Jason and the kids went to her house for the first time in over a year! Whoo hoo!! (It’s also, I believe, the first time in two years that I’ve been alone in the house for a full day.)

As Jason said, “The kids are bigger now than the last time they went to Grandma’s!”

Steven is still happy as a clam.

Sammy helping Grandma prepare lunch.

Grandma’s boys showing how to do stuff on her device.

That’s a wrap! Have a great week!

Happy Sunday!

In a book on crystals, Amaya found instruction on making geodes and this girl was off to the races. First she mixed 2 parts hot water with 1 part salt. Then she stirred in food coloring and poured into egg shells. After that, we waited for the water to evaporate so crystals could form.

Pretty!

The kids are working on book reports about animals and had to look through dozens of options.

Sammy: Steven, come to page one hundred twenty four. It’s really cool!

Steven: Sammy, come to page one hundred thirty six! There’s a red robin.

Sammy chose a polar bear. Steven picked an octopus. Amaya picked a dolphin.

My first best girl and I.

Muscles. Grrrr.

February was CARES month at school. I think I shared the cards that the kids made for the Novi Police Department. This month, the school is visiting the various recipients to deliver the cards and care packages and all kids are welcome for all drop-offs. This week Steven, Sammy and Amaya went to Providence Park Hospital to thank the health care workers.

March is also reading month. Every night, Monday- Thursday, different teachers are reading bedtime stories on Zoom. SSA have really enjoyed it, so far, and there seems to be great participation from kids at school.

Friday was Harry Potter day at school. The kids have awareness of Harry Potter but not details. (Though I can’t wait to read the books with them in a few years.) Steven and Amaya did want to dress up, though, and pulled out their wizard and witch costumes.

Penni got into the spirit, wearing Amaya’s witch hat.

“Charlie is the only person who can do a handstand not on a wall. Everyone else has to do them on walls.”

On Friday night, Steven fell asleep right on top of me. It’s been a weekend of “I love you, mama” and “Mama is the best.” He’s definitely got the gift of expressing his love for his family. <3

We played a lot of Animal Crossing this weekend. Lots of swimming, fishing, chopping, building, selling and visiting. Also a lot helping each other out.

SSA were playing out back yesterday when Sammy came in kind of sheepishly. I asked what he needed and he asked if he could give me a hug. Kind of unusual for Sammy to come in for hugs but I’m always game for Sammy hugs. While we’re hugging he said, “hold on a second, I need to give Amaya a signal” and ran back outside to give Amaya a thunbs up. I still don’t know what that was about!

Up to something…

Amaya and I played a game of Go Fish and I asked for the same card every time. She lost it when she finally drew the card she knew I’d ask for.

Discovery Channel shows with Daddy.

Amaya worked hard throughout the day to make a fort that she, Steven and Sammy could sleep in together on Saturday night. She made Sammy his own “room” – his preference. She and Steven were together under the big blanket and she needed something to hold it up over their faces but she also wanted to be able to see Steven. Her solution was to open up a cardboard box so she and Steven could look through it but it could still support the blanket.

Amaya is so creative and focused. We saw her working on a project that turned out to be a brick oven pizza with pineapples and olives – her favorite. I love watch the kids execute their wide variety of ideas.

It was a beautiful, cool, clear day so the we planned some playground time today. The kids couldn’t agree on where to go and there are a ton of playgrounds near to each other so I agreed to do one hour at their school playground for Sammy and Amaya and another playground at a “fort” playground of my choice for Steven.

Only kids at the school playground.

Amaya’s trick.

Steven’s trick.

The 2nd playground was packed. It’s really interesting to me that masks are so normalized in our area. All of the kids over toddler age and almost all of the adults were wearing them.

A whole group of kids spent ages in this contraption that has 2 levels and spins around. When it was time to leave Steven was super bummed and told me, “Every time we make friends on a playground we never see them again.” He was also excited to tell me that he, Sammy and Amaya “made an entire group of people become friends.”

When we got home, Jason, Steven and Sammy went to the basement to organize the exercise room. I asked Amaya to go downstairs and report back on what the men were up to. She came back upstairs with a report. I’m dying over this lol.

We wrapped up the weekend with a new Raddish Kids kit. We made meatloap and coffee cake. Amaya and Sammy were really excited to mix it all up.

Have a great week!

*Title by Steven