The kids had a fabulous first week of vacation at, what I’m calling, “Camp Sophia.” I’ll back up to the beginning…

First of all, look at how sweet my little Sally is. She loves it under my bed and I took this photo of my sleeping girl on Monday morning. <3

On Monday, the kids spent the day at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. They watched a movie called “Ocean to Orbit” about underwater training for space missions. They were able to sit on the Rosa Parks bus (the bus) as well as exhibits on flight, lego, cars and more.

While I finished up work, Daddy and the kids played a game of monopoly. Steven and Sammy finally finished it on Friday and Steven was the winner. (Again.)

Tuesday morning found Steven and Amaya playing Scrabble Jr. I love when I find the kids playing board games on their own.

Tuesday’s adventure was a visit to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum. The kids had so much fun that they went back after a quick stop out for lunch. The kids’ favorite section was where you throw balls at a target and a machine clocks your throwing speed. They were also very excited to tell me about how wet they got playing in a water area.

On Tuesday evening, since he was home, Daddy took amaya to her swim lesson. She was so excited to have him there!

Wednesday’s big adventure was a trip to the Legoland Discovery Center & Aquarium and the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. It’s been ages since the kids have been to the Legoland Discovery Center.

A huge hit was building cars to race on a test track.

“Amaya says ‘hi!’”

“Steven says ‘hi!’, too!”

After lunch was aquarium time. They were able to touch sea anemones & starfish.

Popping up in the middle of the fish!

On Wednesday evening, it was my turn to take the boys to swim. I regularly take Amaya because her lesson is at 6:40pm but the boys’ 5pm class is too early in the day with my work schedule. It was a quiet week so I was able to make it happen – at Sammy’s request. ❤️

I think they spent as much time waving to me as they did swimming.

I’m so proud of how far they’ve both come.

My fishy boys

Steven, cuddling with his mama and two purchases from Legoland and the aquarium – Sealy and Spider-Ham. (We watched Into the Spiderverse for the first time on Saturday and officially met Spider-Ham. 🙂 )

The boys got word that there was a coyote in our neighborhood and immediately went looking for it. Really reminds me of living in the UTC area of San Diego, on a canyon, when it was common to come home at night to a coyote staring at me on the walk to my door.

On Thursday, Sophia took the kids to the Cranbrook Institute of Science. The day started with a planetarium show on Michigan’s night sky. It’s updated every week to stay current with the sky that week. It was the kids’ first time at a planetarium. After that, they spent hours looking at rocks and more rocks and more rocks. I can’t believe how much they love looking at rocks! And taking pictures with rocks! I only share a couple of them here but there were so many.

“This is going to be my favorite picture ever.” (And, at one point, Steven said, “I could be in this museum forever.” Well definitely be back!)

Amaya put all the bones in the mastodon.

Amaya’s high score for spinning this top was 120 seconds.

Sammy was proud of how long he made this spin.

On Friday, Sophia was off and so were Jason and I so we settled into a long family weekend together. We had a lazy morning before going out for “Dunch” at Bonefish grill. With 3:00pm reservations we were home by about 4:30pm and settled in together for the kids’ first watch of The Last Jedi. One more movie to go!

My sweet, sweet girl on Sleep with Parent night – plus Penguie, Minty and Chip.

Saturday was suuuuuuuper lazy. I woke up at 8am and eventually surfaced to find Jason back asleep downstairs and the kids watching Phineas and Ferb. Shortly after, we transitioned into a morning movie – Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse.

It was also a game day! All 5 of us played Clue (Daddy won). The kids and I played Carcassonne (Steven won) and Amaya, Sammy and I started a game of Scrabble Jr which is still in progress a day later.

We’ve been tracking scores for Carcassonne for over a year and Steven has won the most games, by far.

The kids are getting once/week speech services for help with their “R”s and Amaya has been so diligent with her break homework. I’m really proud to see her work so hard.

Today, because we’ve been pretty stagnant for the past two days, the kids and I took advantage of a sunny and not-horribly cold day to check out one of the trails at Kensington Metropark. It’s a 1.75 mile trail around one of the lakes with, reportedly, a fair amount of sun.

Off we go!

As we were walking, we saw people standing quietly with their hands out. When we got closer, we saw that they had bird seed in their hands and birds were flying up to their hands to eat. Incredible! We were able to find some bird seed on benches and tree stumps, and I always go on nature walks with plastic bags because, inevitably, the kids find rocks they want to keep. So we gave it a shot!

At first we didn’t have much luck but, eventually, we found out groove. It was so cool. We’d stand quietly in areas with birds and, sure enough, they’d land on our hands to eat. Amaya was first to get a visitor. It took some time for Sammy to get a nibble but, eventually, he made some avian friends, too.

We were out for about 90 minutes, much if the time spent feeding birds, so we were pretty cold by the time we got back to the car but also very excited about our unexpected adventure. We’ll definitely return – and this time we’ll know to bring bird seed of our own.

Even Sally took advantage of the nice weather today. 🙂

And that’s it for us. One more week of school break for Steven, Sammy and Amaya! Have a great week!

There were some serious vacation vibes in the house this week. The kids felt it. I know I felt it, even though I won’t actually be on vacation.

Monday started with Pajama Day at school, which both Steven and Amaya chose to participate in.

All three kids gave gift cards to their bus drive, Mr. Ed, and their teachers – and wrote accompanying cards. Steven and Amaya really let their sentiments be known. I love that, every year so far, the kids think they have “the best teacher ever”.

Steven, to Mr. Ed.

Amaya, to Mr. Ed.

Steven, to Mrs. Bates

Amaya, to Mrs. Boomer.

On Monday night, sweet Sammy had trouble falling asleep so Jason and I let him fall asleep on the couch with us. Out he went, pretty fast. And, unlike his brother and sister, once he’s asleep it’s extremely rare to see him before morning.

The frost is in the air! So much so, that I’m waving to these kids from the front door rather than standing at the bus stop with them. Though that doesn’t stop Steven for watching for me in the front window and waving his love as he boards teh bus.

On Tuesday, we had plans for Sophia to pick Sammy up from school early so I could take him to a 4pm dentist appt. Early in the afternoon, I got an email from their dentist (a classmate’s mom) asking if I wanted to bring in Amaya, too. (Steven was seen in October.) That was an easy “yes” so Sophia brought home a very surprised Amaya early, too. I really appreciate their dentist making that offer.

After some initial nerves over x-rays, both kids were cool cucumbers.

I asked Sophia if Steven was surprised or upset to be the only one coming home on the bus. She said he was so happy and said, “I feel like the only child right now!”

Happy kid when I got home. 🙂

In the evening, I took Amaya to swim. Even this counts as 1:1 time in my book. Sammy asked why I always go to Amaya’s swim lessons but not his and Steven’s. The reason is that Amaya’s class is at 6:40pm and the boys have swim at 5pm, which interferes with my work hours. But this coming week it will be very easy for me to take them at 4:30pm so I blocked my calendar and that’s the plan!

Steven’s loving a shark book that he borrowed from the school library. (He even renewed it this week!)

Wednesday was “wear something that lights up” day at school. Sophia picked up some glow sticks for the kids and they were all set.

Office building art by Steven. “Do you know how I made all of those straight lines? A ruler.” 🙂

The kids had a great gymnastics class on Thursday. We have to register month by month (and it fills up really fast which is very stressful) but we’re all set for January. They’re closed for the next two weeks so this was the last class of the month. And Steven was yelling to the people in his group, “Watch my sister!”

Apparently Amaya and Steven kept yelling to each other to watch what they were doing. “Watch this, Stevie!”

Sammy, talking to a friend in his class.

Amaya is in the middle of the screen on the front-most bar.

The boys can get stickers each class for achieving in these categories.

On Thursday night, it was Steven’s turn to have trouble sleeping. He fell asleep on me and, to be honest, I was in heaven.

After school on Friday, the kids told me, “we didn’t do any learning today!” I remember that energy well. I should also mention that, on Wednesday, the kids got home just in time for the boys to go to swim because their bus driver, Mr. Ed, dressed as Santa and handed out gifts. If you’re interested, there’s a video here on the school district’s Facebook page. About the live video Sammy said, “We’re going national.”

Here are some photos of the boys through the week.

On Friday, we kicked off a great weekend with a visit from Nana. <3 Everyone was so happy!

Nana and Amaya, working on paper airplanes.

Steven reading his shark book to Nana

Amaya and Steven have taken to sleeping in the basement guest room Nana’s first night here. We have a king and a queen bed in there so it’s perfect. (Sammy takes the opportunity to sleep with me.)

On Saturday morning, Nana and the kids had their traditional visit to Starbucks.

Love, love, love.

We had a delightfully lazy day. Nana did Kenken puzzles with the kids. The kids made paper airplanes. We played Clue. We watched the Live show of Annie that aired a few weeks ago. (Nana was nostalgic for when I was in the show.)

We wrapped up the day with a drive through the Wayne County Light Fest – our third annual visit, this time with Nana!

This morning, the kids, Jason, Nana and I played an epic Foosball / Air hockey tournament.

Amaya was ready to win

Amaya was the foosball winner

Steven and Sammy won the toilet trophies. They were each winners in the battle of the losers games. (Do you see the little toilet handles on the trophies?)

Nana took home the championship trophy!

This afternoon was even lazier than yesterday, I think. There was football, legos, KiwiCo kits.

Amaya worked for a long time, independently, to make this crane that picks items up and then lifts the crane. Patience, determination and focus – she’s got them in spades.

Late afternoon, we made a delicious Raddish Kids dessert – marshmallow whipped cream filled chocolate crepes. They were really good and I’m pretty happy to know how to make crepes.

Always posing <3

Pre-dinner games with Nana!

Bedtime shows. This boy is very sad his Nana is leaving tomorrow. 🙁

That’s it for us this week! The kids are excited for the week off and all of the adventures they have planned with Sophia.

The week started with a holiday gathering at my workplace. It allowed for distancing and it was awesome to see so many people who have been working at home all this time. I submitted our Gingerbread House for the exec team contest and was, sadly, outshined by our COO who – with his teenage daughter – made a TV worthy gingerbread house featuring one of our brands. When the kids asked if we won, I showed them a video of the winning submission and Sammy said, “Oh, we did not win. But we probably came in second.”

Winning gingerbread house

Another view of ours. <3

On Tuesday, before a work dinner, I had the weekly fun of taking Amaya to her swim class. This girl is so confident and ready to swim.

Sophia held down the fort at home with the boys.

Since I wasn’t putting the kids to bed, Steven made sure to let me know how loved I am. Of course that love is returned tenfold. (“Beste” is “Bestie”.) Texts from the kids are treasures.

Amaya and I also got time on Wednesday afternoon while the boys were at swim. They have class at 5pm and I can’t stop work that early, but I can finish the day with Amaya at home so she doesn’t have to take the trip.

I wish I could remember what inspired this pout! (She was working on art for a school bus holiday picture contest.)

Sammy wanted to learn to write cursive, and Amaya is already obsessed with writing her first name in cursive, so I got the kids these cursive workbooks. Amaya loves it.

The boys having fun at swim. They’re doing so well. 14 months ago, they didn’t even want to put their face in the water.

Post-swim family snuggles

All 3 kids are seeing the school’s SLP for help pronouncing their Rs. This week, some homework came home with them. To be honest, I never realized how difficult “R” is until I tried to help someone with it. My friend Erin is an SLP out in Oregon and made a great video on starting Rs that was really helpful.

This sheet only made sense to me once I heard Erin’s explanation.

A pretty (and cold) morning.

I’m continually impressed with how well the kids read. I happened without any help from me, that’s for sure! Listening to them is so much fun. Every week, they they seem to get better and better.

Alone time for the grown-ups! Steven was hysterical this week calling us Little Lady and The Big Man.

A few pictures of the boys’ at school this week.

Amaya had a Brownie meeting on Friday afternoon and came home in her vest and with everything she needs to sell cookies. She’s pretty excited about it. In fact, she said she wishes her meetings were once/week instead of once/month.

If you’re interested in cookies, you can watch her “ad” and buy cookies at this site: Amaya’s Cookie World. You can have cookies shipped, now, if you’re not local.

She came up with this messaging all by herself. 🙂

On Saturday, Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette came to spend the day and celebrate a belated Hanukkah. Amaya started off the day getting her first sales in.

Cool Lego name signs from Aunt Annette.

Playing a dots game

We always have time for board games in our house. It was an Othello and Battleship day on Saturday.

I made a pillow for Grandma Sunshine from one of her shirts that the kids loved when they were younger. <3 <3

Flying Amaya! Look at those pointed toes. She and Sammy think it’s funny that I can’t fully straighten my legs.

The kids enjoyed their first tapas experience on Saturday night, at a restaurant in downtown Northville. They tried all kind of new foods like sautéed leeks and beet salad. It was a really great dinner out for the Cline 5.

Today was a super special day because the kid saw Penni for the first time in three months! I can’t believe it’s been that long, but it’s been so busy this fall especially on weekends. Penni came at 11:30am and took the kids out for sushi and then they played some board games. Jason and I used the time to have a great day date brunch at a restaurant he likes in Birmingham. We definitely can’t let another 3 months go by. Tonight Steven said, “I loved that we got to see Penni today.” Nanny relationships are so special.

That’s it for us! Have a great week!

It has been a wonderful Hannukah week here in the Land of Cheltenham! A very busy week even without Hanukkah, made busier and even more fun thanks to the holiday.

Monday – Day 2! Lots of Hanukkah energy and gifts all around.

Steven, with his “new and improved” talking cash register.

Sammy was having trouble sleeping and, after it worked the night before with Daddy, asked me for some math problems to help him sleep. It did the trick! <3

We woke on Tuesday to snow. (Or maybe had it on Monday, as well. I honestly can’t remember anymore.) It’s kind of hard to see here, but the deer in our yard were so pretty in the snow. The photos don’t do it justice. I moved so slowly to take this photo so not to spook them. One stared right at me, looking ready to bolt at the first sign of danger.

Tuesday was a wildly busy day. This was a “no bus” week so Sophia came early each day to get the kids to school and then picked them up in the afternoon. After school on Tuesday, Sophia dropped the boys at home and then took Amaya to gymnastics. I picked her up an hour later and we got home in time to light candles, open presents and eat dinner. From there, it was off to swim for Amaya at 6:40pm. Jason got home just in time to stay with the boys while I took Amaya to swim.

Steven, making a box fort while Amaya was at gymnastics.

I arrived as gymnastics was ending so, sadly, only got to see Amaya wrapping up but – wow – she loves gymnastics! She said, “thanks for finally letting me take gymnastics, mommy.”

Night three!

There are not enough words for the way I love these three people.

Amaya’s first day in her level 8 class. I am so impressed with our girl’s determination and focus. She’s a wonderful swimmer.

Daddy and Steven, chilling while Amaya swims.

On Wednesday, while Sophia took the boys to swim, Amaya stayed home with me. I finished up work and, at Amaya’s request, engaged in a baking challenge with the boys’ as judges. I really can’t get past this girl’s focus.

Back from swim and ready for night 4! Right before jetting off for parent/teacher conferences with Amaya’s teacher, Mrs. Boomer.

Steven got this great Hot Wheels travel case and 15 new cars from Grandpa Homey

Sammy got this awesome Minecraft pickaxe / sword from Auntie & Dod Shuki.

An American Girl doll for Amaya. She came with the name Willa but Amaya’ changed it to Chelsea.

Chelsea, with Minty and Chip 🙂

Mrs. Boomer had wonderful things to say about Amaya. How kind she is. How smart she is. How quickly she picks up on the curriculum. We aren’t surprised but it’s wonderful to hear.

Mrs. Boomer gave us this writing / drawing Amaya did about her Thanksgiving break. It says:

“I went to NY with Steven, Sammy and Mommy. Sammy made a turkey. Steven hit his tooth my cousin’s head and it came out on the trampoline on Thanksgiving. Fun Fact: Charlie’s head hurt.”

I love the picture so much. It’s exactly what happened. Chase’s label is “older cousin”.

Amaya, comforted to sleep by her Daddy.

Thursday morning, Steven started my day with an extra does of love when he made me a special cheerios breakfast.

Night 5! The kids had a half day on Thursday so we lit candles early to give them extra time with their gifts for the day.

Before conferences for Steven & Sammy with Mrs. Bates, I volunteered at the book fair at the kids’ school. It was my first time back volunteering since pre-COVID and it felt so good. I can’t wait until we can really get back to normal at school.

Mrs. Bates had wonderful things to say about Steven & Sammy, too. She called them “sweet boys” over and over again and let us know how we’ll they’re doing academically. It’s truly been a great return to school for all 3 kids.

While we were at conferences, the busy week continued. Amaya’s gymnastics lessons moved to Thursdays in December so she had class twice this week and the boys started a Boys Extreme class a the same time. We were looking for ninja classes for the boys and this is close to the same idea so, for now at least, it’s a great way for them to get out energy and build strength and body awareness.

At school this week, the kids brought in little bags with gelt and a dreidel for all of the kids in their class. They also brought dreidels to play with their friends during class and an electric menorah so they could explain the holiday to their classmates. Both teachers mentioned how much the class enjoyed playing dreidel and how well the kids explained the holiday to their friends.

Here are pictures from Mrs. Bates’ of the boys handing out the goodies and playing dreidel.

Because of the events this week at Oxford High School, most schools in our area were closed on Friday including Thornton Creek so, instead of a half day, the kids had a full day off on Friday.

Sophia was coming late morning and I had meetings but Steven, Sammy and Amaya were great about getting their own breakfast and entertaining themselves. I came downstairs around 9:30am and found the kids holed up in the library with a ton of supplies. They set up a contest to see who could stay in the library the longest. The first photo was from 9:30am and the second shortly after 11am. They finally called it a tie when it was time to go out for lunch with Sophia.

Applebees

Night six!

Before we lit candles, the kids opened up a special present – towels made with artwork they did at school.

Amaya’s

Sammy’s – at the top, under the red punching sun, is a pooping fly.

Steven’s “Rainbow Jay”

Night 6 candles!

Amaya got a slumber party doll from Grandpa Homey. I asked if she could babysit Minty and Chip but it seems this doll, Hannah, is only four so she can not.

New games for Sammy and Amaya

Steven got a STEM building kit for ages 8- 16. He needs some help with it but did a great job building a door. (Honestly, he could have done it independently if the instructions were a little more straight forward.)

Friday night sleepover with my Bobes!

On Saturday morning, three brave Cline kids got their 2nd COVID vaccination. Whoo hoo!!!!

For work, I’m participating in a gingerbread house decorating contest and I enlisted the help of three 7 year olds. It was a first for all of us and was a) messy b) more difficult than I expected and b) lots and lots of fun.

Sammy teaching Amaya how to make a certain type of paper airplane. This is a favorite past time in our house these days.

Saturday afternoon was latke making time. I’m not sure I’ve ever made them before but it was easier than I thought (because of helpers?) and they were so, so good. Steven likes his with sour cream. Amaya likes hers with apple sauce. Sammy likes his latkes “with latkes”. (That’s his joke!)

Night seven! A bittersweet night as Hanukkah starts to wind down.

Facetime with Nana, Auntie and Savta who joined us virtually to light the candles.

Amaya got help with her Jo Jo bow making kit.

Three kids, hard a play.

Jason and the kids wrapped up the afternoon with a little touch football. Still not too cold! (For them. It’s too cold for me.)

Today started with a Tyner Together religious school family event. It was focused on Hanukkah around the world. We learned about how Hanukkah is celebrated in Morocco, Mexico and Israel. Each country had activities. For Morocco we had mint tea outside by bonfires. For Mexico, we played Toma Todo and hit a dreidel shaped piñata. For Israel, we learned about Festigal, why the Israeli dreidel has a Peh instead of a Shin and the kids got to put their own jelly in jelly donuts. Steven and Amaya said the liked Israel the best. Sammy said he liked Morocco the best.

Lunch at Red Robin afterward.

This morning I was showing the kids photos from when they were babies and Steven loved this photo of what Megan and I always called his “Oh my” face. I printed a copy for him and later in the day he wanted to recreate it. Still just as cute. 🙂

A picture with our completed Gingerbread House!

And the eight night of Hanukkah! I can’t believe it’s 12/5 and we’re already on the other side, but we have a Hanukkah celebration with Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette next weekend and then Nana comes the week after.

The kids got great games from Aunt Ouize & Uncle Todd. Right away Steven wanted to play Othello with Jason and, shortly after, Sammy challenged Jason to a game of Battleship.

Sammy with his new bow & arrows set.

I’ll wrap up with some writing the boys did in their class as part of a lesson on Hanukkah.

Steven first!

What is a dreidel? “A four sided toy that you spin to play the game”

Explain how the menorah is used during the holiday. “You light it every night. You add another candle each night with a shamash candle is used to light all eight.”

What is Hanukkah? “A Jewish holiday that you get presents on. You play dreidel and light a Hanukkah.”

What happens on each night of Hanukkah? “You light candles. You open presents.”

“I know. You play dreidel. You open presents. You light the menorah. It is a Jewish holiday. It is in December.” I love his drawing of the kids and I at our kitchen island lighting the candles. <3

Sammy!

What is a dreidel? “A dreidel is a four-sided spinning toy that children play with.”

Explain how the menorah is used during the holiday. “The shamash candle is used to light all the other eight candles. The menorah is a symbol of Chanukkah.”

What is Hanukkah? “Hanukkah is a holiday that ‘Joos’ celebrate.”

What happens each night of Hanukkah? “On each night of Hanukkah a candle is lit.”

I spy three menorahs on our kitchen island. <3

“I learned a bunch of stuff I already knew like there are 9 candles on a menorah. Bye.”

Have a great week!