Happy Sunday, all! It’s been a great week and I think we’re all excited for another day off tomorrow.

I’m really not sure what these are about but I found them on our coffee table. I think there might have been versions for everyone in the family but these were the ones remaining. From Steven, if you can’t already tell.

More than a year in and a bonus of working from home is quick visits from the kids during my work day. Look at those summer waves on my girl.

The kids have live PE classes in the house and, sometimes, they do them together. I appreciate the effort on behalf of the school but, honestly, on a nice day I’d prefer to just push the kids outdoors.

More baseball and softball this week, starting with Amaya’s softball game. Our new afterschool nanny, Lindsey, has been doing a great job getting the kids to and from activities. She started on the 13th but I feel very unusually superstitious about her so I haven’t mentioned much and probably won’t until the summer ends and she returns to school in Ohio.

Amaya – always focused on her own fashion vision.

I mean, why can’t a tank top be worn upside down with your legs through the arm holes?

On Wednesday I missed the boys’ game so I could stay home and get some work done. I was sorry to miss it but Amaya and I were glad to have the extra time at home and Jason was there to cheer on Steven and Sammy.

Hard at work at math testing. Just three more weeks of school and then we’ll have three kids on their way back to Thornton Creek. Whoo hoo!! This year has been better than I imagined. Steven, Sammy and Amaya really thrived despite the crazy circumstances and they certainly learned, but it will be amazing for them to return to their school after what will be 18 month away.

These shapes came home from school and were part of geometry lessons. (Amaya says, “it was actually just math so say ‘math'”.)

Steven sent me a picture of his.

I took Amaya to her game on Thursday evening on my own. The game was 20 minutes away and it was COLD out. So cold! The coaches even called the game after 5 innings because the players were shivering. Do. Not. Like.

Some private batting practice.

The cold was worth it, though, because Megan came to the game! Amaya absolutely lit up with shock and joy when she saw May May. It was so sweet.

In case you’re curious about what the cheers sound like, all through the game, check out the short video below.

I saw a few of the kids’ assignments this week.

This was Steven’s digital birthday card for his baseball teammate, Quinn. 🙂

I’m not sure what this is related to but I thought it was interesting that all 3 kids had the same assignment and executed it so differently.

Amaya

Sammy

Steven (Steven said it says, “First there was no funny jokes. Then “some funny jokes” and finally, “Really funny jokes.”)

We had a lazy Saturday morning at home. I stayed in bed for a long long time. Jason and the kids spent time doing yard work and Sammy & Amaya took advantage of the power washing to stay nearby and get wet, wet, wet.

I know the weather isn’t great in the northeast this weekend but we are having beautiful weather here in MI. Our Saturday activity was a trip to Comerica Park to see the Yankees play the Tigers. NOT a good end to the game from my perspective but a great time out at the ballpark with Team Cline.

Amaya didn’t pick a team to score for so she wore a Yankees/Tigers hat from the Opening Day game Jason and I went to at Yankee Stadium in 2011.

Sammy was firmly on Team Yankees.

Steven was scoring for the Tigers. He really likes Willie Castro.

Can you spot Sammy and Jason between numbers 5 and 2, checking out the statues?

I tried to convicce the kids to get vegetables but their hearts were set on cotton candy. 😝

Chill Clines, enjoying the sun and the game.

Today was another beautiful day. After a quiet morning, we headed over to Ammerman Elementary and the kids practiced batting for a bit. Then we went to downtown Northville and got some fresh squeezed lemonade. It’s definitely (finally) feeling like summer!

That’s it for us! Have a great week!

Before I dive into the week, here are some of our new family photos. <3 We always did these around the kids’ birthday in January to mark the passing the year but I really wanted to start getting some outdoor shots and, now that the kids don’t change so much over a few months, it seemed like the perfect time to push out photos to spring.

Can’t have family photos without the couch pictures, though!

It wasn’t as warm as I hoped which made barefoot pictures unbearable for the kids. Steven, in particular, wasn’t having it.

Amaya looks so old in so many photos.

My absolute favorite of Sammy

We had time to get a few pictures of the kids playing on their playset.

I’ve been trying to work outside, or at least step outside, during the day now that it’s so nice out. That means impromptu visits with and snuggles from the kids.

Sammy lol

Lots of baseball and softball this week – games Tues, Wed, Fri and Sat plus a practice on Saturday.

Steven and Sammy play with some of the other brothers at Amaya’s softball games. Somehow a small basketball he brought when home with another kid. Steven was very sad about it so he made this tribute to his ball, Baske (pronounced Baskee). Such a sweet boy.

Steven and Sammy play coach pitch so they don’t formally keep score yet and not all games play outs. This was the first game of the season with outs and Steven was so excited to let me know.

Sammy, on his way to first.

When the watching gets tough, the tough play catch.

I don’t know exactly what this was about, bc I was working, but the kids were playing rock, paper, scissors to make some kind of game decision. It was pretty cute.

Amaya got all styled for the boys’ Friday night game – an extra special one because Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette came to watch! (And spent the night so they could see Amaya play, too.)

Perfect view while I helped out as first base coach.

In art class on Friday, the kids made inventions from recycled materials. Amaya made a purse and Steven made a device that will feed him.

Steven, recording Jason working on our new garbage disposale.

We had a lazy Saturday morning, into the early afternoon. Lots of together time and, while I worked, everyone else played a game of monopoly where Jason came out victorious.

On Saturday afternoon, while the boys and the rest of the crew were at baseball practice, I took Amaya to her friend Claire’s house for a preview to today’s birthday. Consider it a girl’s only pre-party.

It was H-O-T.

A little me time! Between events I got to join a zoom with Jonathan Frakes from Star Trek as part of a fundraising effort for Pancreatic Cancer.

Amaya’s game was at 7:45pm on Saturday night. Ended up under the lights, too! It was a late night for the kids – too late – but the Green Aliens did great winning 25- 11.

Amazing cuddles with my boys during the game.

Today we headed back to Clarie’s house for her “real” birthday party. The kids did crafts, decorated cookies and bounced in a bounce house for hours. It was hot, too. I think these kids are going to sleep very well tonight.

It felt so normal. Most of the kids are in their virtual class and the parents are all vaccinated so we skipped masks for this outdoor party. It was like the before-times!

Steven was explaining to Claire’s grandfather that Dancing Queen, by Abba, is his favorite song and all about how he heard it in the elevator at Legoland.

Two last pics from the week.

Here, Steven and Amaya were co-reading. Amaya was Piggy and Steven was Gerald. I love it!

Finally, sweet sweet Sal.

Have a great week everyone!

We’re late! For the first time in a long time there was no Sunday blog. In fact the whole site was down while my webhost did some sort of “internal audit” of the server. It sounded very CSI / Homeland to me. But we’re back up and running. Let’s see if I can remember what happened last week. 🙂

Amaya, as always, is very specific on her style. On Monday afternoon she told me, “Take a picture. I look like a grown-up from the waist up.”

We had a lot of baseball and softball this week! The boys had games on Monday and Wednesday. Amaya had games on Tuesday and Saturday. The boys had practice on Saturday and Amaya had practice on Sunday. It definitely gets me out of the house. Gone are the days I’m homebound from Sunday night through Saturday morning.

Here are some pictures of the As from Monday night.

Sammy at bat. Steven told me their coach is hoping they can each hit a home run before the end of the season.

Steven, the flash, running to first base.

Sammy had a doctor appt on Tuesday afternoon which meant he and I got some Mommy/Sammy time. Lucky, lucky me! (The luck continued through to Saturday morning when Sammy decided he wanted to hang with me all morning cuddling and talking. From 6:30- 8:30am I had Sammy’s undivided attention and he had mine. <3 )

This picture appeared in Amaya’s school SeeSaw blog. Penni said this is the 2nd take. Amaya made her redo it to get her lips right lol.

Tuesday was crazy. Amaya had softball pictures at 5pm. Then practice before her game, which started at 6pm. The boys had baseball pictures at 6:15pm. I had a call until 5pm. Jason can’t get to the field until ~6:15pm.

To make it all work, Penni took the kids to Amaya’s photos leaving at 4:30pm with sandwiches packed. I drove Penni’s car and met them there at 5:15pm and Penni left from the picture site. I drove Amaya to her practice/game and hung around until 6pm when I left her in the care of the team to take the boys to their photos. Jason arrived at Amaya’s game around 6:20pm. Where there’s a will, there’s (sometimes) a way!

Ready for the night!

Jason got some pics of Amaya on the field.

Amaya got her first hit at Tuesday’s game! We’re so proud of her, and even more proud for how hard she’s working on her batting. She had a minor injury from the way the ball hit the bat and sat out the rest of the game but was right back at it on Saturday.

On Thursday afternoon, Penni took Steven to pick-up his sports goggles. Now our guy can play ball and see!

Amaya was thrilled to find a dead snake in the yard. They placed it near the woods behind the house and it appears it’s since been eating. Yum yum.

Penni was off on Friday so the kids and I worked together to manage my work day and their school today together.

Amaya and I started with a little meta photo action – taking photos of us taking photos of each other.

I really love this picture. (Amaya did her own hair. 🙂 )

Between meetings/classes cuddles.

Sammy got busy with some feather artwork.

The finished product.

And, in the evening, I was happy to see the kids pounce on daddy!!

Amaya and Steven, on “sleep with parent night” Friday.

We had a very relaxing weekend. I had a lot of work to do which I was mostly able to do at our kitchen table. While I worked, the Pile Of Clines watched some animal documentaries together.

The kids spent a while outside with stores that they set up. There were a lot of puts and takes in the Mommy Bank as they sold to one another.

We also had time for board games. We didn’t finish this game of Carcassonne before the boys had baseball practice so we left it for Sunday.

Jason took the boys to 4pm baseball practice and Amaya and I got ready for a 5:30pm softball game – with dinner in tow for The Brothers.

There’s Amaya! The Green Aliens lost this game 8- 10 but put up a good fight!

Daddy Man and The Bobes

Sunday was another quiet day with the wrap up of Carcassonne (Steven won) and a game of Catan Jr. (Sammy won).

While I did more work, Jason took the kids to the mall where they got treats and a visit to Claire’s. Jason reports back that Amaya was in absolute heaven in that store.

Steven’s baseball teammate Nora also plays Animal Crossing so her mom and I connected them and she and Steven were able to have a Switch/FaceTime play date. “If you have a wasp nest and three clumps of weeds I can make you some medicine, Nora.”

We wrapped up the weekend with an impromptu softball practice for Amaya. She spent an hour and a half kicking butt at batting practice.

And that was our week! Have a good one!

Sammy and Steven love watching Ryan’s World videos. In the morning, before school, that’s where you can find them. Monday was an unusual day in that Sammy was watching in the hall, not in the crawl space under their bunk beds.

On Monday night, Steven and Sammy had their first game as As! Both boys got hits and did a nice job fielding, too. Sammy is number 10 and Steven is number 2.

On Tuesday, Jason celebrated his 52nd birthday. One of his first acknowledgements of the day was this text from Steven. <3

The kids had the day off for teacher professional development (and a local voting day) so Penni took Steven to get fitted for sports goggles. (Like these, but ones that fit his face.) These should allow Steven to wear his glasses while batting and more easily in the field.

Making cheesecake for Daddy

Steven used the day off to design his own hardware store – Steven’s Duster. It’s open from 6am to 8pm.

Steven also made this wonderful birthday book for his Daddy, “Love for Daddy”. (That note says, “Some of the letters are stapled.”)

Amaya made a birthday card for her daddy with a special May the Fourth theme.

After work celebrations!

Jason, capturing his gift from Sammy which was taped and wrapped like it’s own special puzzle.

Our girl, fashionable even at bedtime.

Our neighbors are repaving their driveway so, on Wednesday between classes, the kids got outside to take a look at the construction.

On Wednesday night both the A’s and the Green Aliens had games scheduled so Jason went to the boys’ game and I took Amaya to her first softball game, where I was dugout coach. (I like coaching, to be honest. It’s a great way for me to spend the time. I’d have been a regular assistant coach on Amaya’s team this year but I was worried there would be many conflicts and I’d miss too many of the boys’ games.)

The use a catapult machine to pitch the ball which comes in around 30 miles/hour. They get five pitches to try to hit and outs and runs are counted. If a team gets 5 runs in an inning, that half of the inning is over. In game one, the Green Aliens won 10 to 8!

Working to remember to keep that embow up! No hits yet, but some really great swings at the ball for our girl.

It was cold so she had her jacket on under her jersey.

I hear the boys also played well batting and fielding at their game. I can’t wait to see them play on Monday.

Thursday night snuggles with Daddy. I love this picture.

Amaya took this selfie. 🙂

Saturday we had our annual family photos. I moved them out from January this year because I wanted the opportunity to take pictures outside. When the kids were younger that year over year snapshot mattered more than now when they don’t change quite as much over a few months. Of course it was chilly and not quite the weather I hoped for but we made it work. I can’t wait to see this years’ photos. Maybe I’ll even update the blog header.

Amaya had a very strong point of view about her hair for the photos.

Sneak peek of an indoor photo! It’s the one time/year you’ll find our boys in jeans.

While Jason took Steven and Sammy to their baseball practice, Amaya and I stayed home and made dinner for the crew. (Jason took the boys to get cleats today and said that, when Steven hit the field he took of yelling, “IT FEELS SO GOOD TO RUN!”, which everyone got a kick out of.)

I had a wonderful, relaxing Mother’s Day. The kids brought me a sugary feast for breakfast in bed, I went back to sleep afterward until 10am and then had quality snuggles with Steven, Sammy and Amaya to round out the morning.

I got lovely cards from the kids.

Sammy says my super hero name is “super mom”. I’m super because “my mom can make soup”. lolol I love my mom because “I have no idea”.

From Steven…

My super hero name is “Bestie”. I am super because “she is the best”. My mom’s favorite thing to do is “be with me, Sammy and Amaya.” (True! And their daddy.) I love my mom because “she is the best.”

From Amaya. That’s me, flying.

My super hero name is “Loving.” I’m super because “she takes care of me.” My favorite thing to do: “Play board games with me.” And I love my mom because “she is my mom and I don’t know what I would do if she was not my mom.”

The kids and Jason also made me this awesome bouquet of flowers, sure to last forever!

Checking out my cards. <3

The trifecta! Wishing a Happy Mother’s Day to Nana, Auntie and Savta.

Jason had plans to take the kids to a Tigers game and give me home-alone time so it figures that it was cold and rainy today. But they decided to give it a shot in the hopes the game wouldn’t be rained out. They got to the game and got pretzels in time for it to be called. But the troops rallied and took a shopping trip to Target for a new toy each and supplies for dinner and banana splits.

For these Amazon shoppers, at trip to the toy aisle is pretty special.

Setting up Steven’s new Hot Wheels rocket ship track.

We wrapped up the day with a Raddish Kids kit. Cooking with SSA is truly one of my favorite things to do.

And finally, banana splits! It was a big night because Steven officially likes ice cream!

Bonus pic – showtime snuggles for Amaya and Steven.

This week was Teacher Appreciation Week so the kids all made digital cards for Mrs. O’Neil.

Here is Steven’s.

Part 2 of Steven’s card.

Amaya’s card.

You can’t tell from this but Sammy’s is an animation that ends with a big heart on the screen.

That’s it from here! Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in our life!

It’s been a busy week! I think we need to get used to this as we enter sports season and approach summer. I’m not complaining, though. More sunshine and warmer weather are my jam.

We kicked off the week with a calm Monday. Amaya got her fashion game on and made this stylish dress out of a trash bag – and wore it all day long.

I got some lunchtime cuddles with Sammy. <3

It’s almost pool season and the JCC pool isn’t heated so we’re going to try out wetsuits this summer. Sammy’s looking pretty damn stylish in his, if I do say so myself.

Thank you Grandpa Homey for sending SSA their new friend, the talking Sloth. They all love him!

On Tuesday morning, early, Sammy came to me to cuddle. That’s not his usual morning behavior but I love Sammy cuddle so I went with it. A little while later Steven came in and started whispering to him. So I knew something was up. It turns out the kids were downstairs making me breakfast in bed. Such little loves. And it was some breakfast! I had toast with lots of cinnamon sugar and toast with cinnamon sugar and chocolate syrup and toast with honey and chocolate and melted popsicle. A sugary feast fit for a queen.

5pm on Tuesday afternoon was the first baseball practice for the boys. (Which has since moved to Saturday afternoons.) We didn’t have child care past 4pm-ish so I decided to take the kids to the playground at 4pm and take the rest of my meetings from the playground and/or car. It was a little hectic but worked out great, overall. I was really excited for SSA because some of their friends from Kindergarten, who are at school in person, were also at the playground. They were so excited to see their old friends.

Amaya took some pictures of the boys at practice for me. You can see she drew arrows toward Sammy in the first pic and Steven in the second. I think she’s proud to have learnd how to do that. 🙂

Our ball players, ready for a great season. They’re doing coach pitch again and there are three or four other boys from their class on the team. (Owen S, Jack, Quinn, Ruxin and maybe a couple others.)

Wednesday it was Amaya’s last practice before her first game!

Playing catcher.

Steven and Sammy do a great job occupying themselves while Amaya practices. Sammy made this neat stick sculpture.

Steven showed me some love. <3

Daddy cuddles before bed

Steven and I got a little silly on Thursday morning and we checked out what he’d look like with longer curly hair lol. He was totally cracking up.

On Thursday afternoon, Amaya and I headed out for our first girls’ weekend in NY since Dec 2019! COVID, and lots of “all of the kids” strips put a short crimp in my 1:1 trips to NY but Steven and I got it going again in Feb and now it’s Amaya’s turn. I can tell you that this girl was ready to see her cousins.

My best girl.

Charlie hugs are Amaya’s favorite hugs! (I literally just turned to her and asked, “What kind of hugs are your favorite hugs?” and she answered, “Charlie hugs.” Which should surprise no one.)

The Goldstein Girls!

A huge bonus of the kids’ iPods is they can text me when I’m away. Is there any mom who wouldn’t want to wake to messages like this?

We don’t root for teams in the Land of Cheltenham, we “score” for them. And a Yankees/Detroit game presented a dilemma for Steven. 🙂 Seven years old and texting me screen shots. I love it.

Plus, some pre-school FaceTime (with both of my boys) on Friday morning.

The brothers got ready for school together and had some downtime to watch Ryan videos before their first class.

This week Charlie was home for virtual school which worked out perfectly because she and Amaya were able to do school together on Friday while I worked from the Goldberg’s house. They did an amazing job staying focused and rewarded themselves with a “spa day” after school.

Steven really liked seeing Amaya on screen during their class. I love that we’ve taken advantage of these opportunities in this weird virtual year.

Boys loving HUGE pieces of watermelon just like their daddy eats.

On Thursday, Amaya received a package that included a bunny on a leash that she bought with her own money. She couldn’t take it to NY so she left Sammy and Daddy with instructions to walk it at 1pm on weekdays and noon on weekends. On Friday, Sammy stepped up and took care of Amaya’s “pet”.

Friday night dinner out for the Cline men, braving the cooler weather!

In NY, we celebrated Mother’s Day a week early with Nana, Papa, Savta, and Allen and Syvia Goldberg. The kids spent the morning making cards. I love Amaya’s creativity.

It’s not a trip to NY without time on the trampoline.

Back in MI, Sammy asked Jason to preheat the oven to 400 degrees so he could experiment and bake something for the men. Sammy told Jason, “I was afraid it would be dry because I only used one liquid but lots of dry ingredients.” I hear it was delicious!

Just like the trampoline, video games are also a staple of our visits to the Goldberg’s house.

We spent the afternoon at Chase’s soccer game. It was fun to get to watch him play!

Amaya worked out the courage to pet Millie, Allen’s black lab.

Afterward, we hung out at the Goldberg’s. There were card games and beers and Uncle Dave started to teach Amaya to ride without training wheels! She’s so close!! We just need to get back to it at home, and quickly before she forgets what she’s picked up.

Back in MI, it was another dinner out for the Cline men.

Today we had a lazy morning and then headed to another soccer game before leaving for the airport. The goodbyes were hard.

Nana and Amaya walking the track

Off we go, back to the men!

With gifts in tow. 🙂

Just a few more things before I wrap up for the weekend. The kids are still working on their animal books and I took a sneak peek at some of the content.

Here are Steven’s dedication and “about the author” pages.

Amaya’s dedication and “about the author” pages.

And a page from Sammy’s book about the appearance of polar bears.

That’s it for this week! Have a great one!