The kids had a great first full week as 8 year olds. It wasn’t even horribly anticlimactic after all the build up and excitement.

During TV time these days we’re rotating between Wipeout and Jeopardy. Two wildly different shows. Sally is still in the mood to hang out with us whenever we’re gathered downstairs. Steven likes when she walks or sits on him but only with a blanket barrier.

Tuesday was a super busy day for Amaya. All three kids had after school art on Tuesday until 5pm and Amaya also always has swim on Tuesdays at 6:50pm. This week she also had a gymnastics make-up class at 5:25pm. While Sophia picked up the boys at school after art class, I picked up Amaya and too her straight to gymnastics. From there it was right to swim and definitely a “sandwich in the car for dinner” night.

This was my first time watching one of Amaya’s classes. (I haven’t seen the boys yet, either.) Sophia’s videos are awesome but I loved to get to watch her myself. Amaya asked me to watch her from the doorway for the whole class and I loved knowing she wanted me there, too. She’s got great focus and clearly loves being in the gym.

Amaya is in the white and pink leotard and colored leggings.

Off to swim! No issues with energy for this girl.

The kids made dot art at their art class, using q-tips. Boats in the water with a little island. It seems like a wonderful program.

Steven’s art. He said his boat is on fire.

Sammy’s art.

Amaya’s art. It’s hard to see in the photo but she added glitter.

Nana had a weekend trip scheduled so, as an extra precaution, we all did a rapid test on Wednesday night. One of the boy’s friends tested positive on Sunday so I was a little nervous but all clear! Yay!!

This girl needed some daddy cuddle time after bed. She fell right to sleep, just like this. <3

Thursday was gymnastics day for the whole crew. The boys are working on supported hand stands. So much of what they do is focused on balance, coordination and strength. It’s great.

Sammy

Steven

Thursday night Nana arrived, with treats in hand! <3

My girl loves her baby dolls, even asleep. She’s got Chelsea, Rose, Minty and Chip.

Nana came in on Thursday night because the kids had a half day on Friday and would get extra Nana time that way. She was ready when the kids got off the bus and took care of their lunch. Then SSA called a meeting and got busy planning an obstacle course through the house.

While the kids were planning the obstacle course, Sammy said that Amaya is a “big liar” and she couldn’t be trusted. Amaya was outraged at the accusation.

The obstacle course! I was glad to hear it was cleaned up before my work day ended because it was hard to see beyond the wild m-e-s-s. It sounds like they had fun, though.

Bedtime books – Steven reading about anacondas. I don’t think I read much non-fiction at this age. He seems to love reading about predators.

Nighttime hugs for Nana!

Saturday morning, Nana, Steven, Sammy and Amaya took their usual trip to Starbucks for breakfast.

All smiles, even in the very, very cold weather.

It was a nice, quiet afternoon at home. We’re masking when we’re within 6 feet of Nana so you’ll see some masked and some unmasked photos throughout the weekend.

Sally joined us for Blokus. She didn’t even try to knock the pieces to the ground.

Amaya got busy with a bunch of science experiments and, when she needed adult supervision, Nana jumped in to help.

She created a volcano eruption, made CO2 to fill a balloon and made a rainbow “explosion”.

I got to take a nap with sweet Sal.

And Nana and the kids got busy with foosball and air hocky.

We had very limited plans for today but most of those went by the wayside when Sammy got sick in the middle of the night. Poor Bubba. Rapid test says no COVID but he has a fever, too, so it was a lot of naps and very little food/drink for this guy.

I mean, this face…

Cuddles with Daddy and Sally

Birthday presents from Nana and Papa which included gift cards to Dave & Busters and Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum. Can’t wait!!

We had a family date to watch Apollo 13 with the kids. This movie has to be in my top 10 and it still holds up so well. Midway, Sammy needed to rest so he and Jason headed upstairs for a long nap together.

Steven held our hands through the movie

Amaya did math equations during the movie 🙂

And that was mostly it for our lazy weekend. Aside from Sammy’s health, it was lovely.

Finally, here are some pictures of the boys from school this week!

Have a great week!

What a great week for Steven, Sammy and Amaya. It started with a day off school for MLK Jr. day and ended with big birthday celebrations.

On Monday, Sophia came early to spend the day home with SSA. Unlike Winter Break, which was non-stop activity, this was a much-needed quiet day in the house.

It started with Sorry – a game I can remember playing with my own dad as a kid. Sammy was excited here because he was in the lead.

Amaya made delicious brownies with Sophia. In fact, even though I offered to bake them with her on Sunday, she specifically asked to wait to do it with Sophia because she and I “can cook together all the time.”

They were delicious.

Watching MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech

Where there’s Steven, there are Hot Wheels.

Amaya made bathroom stalls for her baby dolls.

My two best girls.

On Tuesday, Sophia made dinner that included crab. Sally approved.

Wednesday night was Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s last sleep as seven year olds. Really crazy. As has become tradition, after they were asleep we put balloons in their room so the celebrating could start as soon as they woke up.

Happy EIGHT to Steven, Sammy and Amaya!! They were full of birthday energy all morning long. To make the early hours extra fun, I drove them to school so they could skip the bus and have more time at home. It was special for me, too. Everything about their birthday feels special to me. <3

Eight! I feels so right but I also feel like I was just pregnant.

A picture rom the boy’s teacher. The kids told me their classes sang happy birthday and Amaya got an extra rendition in music class. Mrs. Bates gave the boys birthday coloring sheets and pencils and Sammy got some beautiful tissue roses from Cici, a girl in his class.

I picked the kids up early, at 2:30pm, so we could go out for a family dinner in a Deadwood igloo at 3:30pm. But, first, presents from Grandpa Homey and Auntie & Dod Shuki, plus gift cards from Uncle Austin and Krissy. <3

The Clines, celebrating eight! We had an igloo reservation last year, too, when we weren’t eating in restaurants and it seemed like a fun tradition to continue.

Amaya turned her cookies into an 8.

An early dinner meant we had time to play Super Mario Life after dinner – a gift for Sammy from Auntie and Dod Shuki. Even Sally wanted to celebrate.

Happy Birthday time! The kids got to enjoy a cookie ice cream cake that Sophia made for them.

Inside 8 balloons

On Thursday night, after the kids were asleep I headed to the airport to pick up two special birthday visitors – Aunt Sara and Charlie! Yay!! It’s been two whole years since they visited.

Remarkably, the kids headed off to school on Friday morning even knowing that Charlie was asleep downstairs. Steven said he never looked at the clock so often during the school day.

I was upstairs working when the kids got home from school and the screams were loud enough that everyone in my meeting heard the commotion. Big, BIG energy in the Cline House. <3

Even with the excitement of seeing Charlie, Amaya still took a break to make a plaster volcano from the science kit the Goldberg’s gifted her. This child is incredibly independent. She did the whole thing herself, with typical Amaya focus.

I Hop dinner! Love having these two in the house with us.

About two years ago, when we got bunk beds for Steven and Sammy, we got Amaya a single bed. She was a little jealous until we explained that her bed has a trundle for a mattress for special visitors. After a long covid wait, Friday night was her first chance to use it with her most favorite visitor.

These two…

We had a loud, but calm, morning before heading to Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s birthday party! We wanted something that could be “covid safe” which was particularly prescient thinking with the current omicron concerns. The choice was pottery painting at The Bee’s Knees – a place I’ve shared in the blog a few times before. Kids wore masks and we sent home cupcakes instead of eating them at the party.

Three weeks ago, the kids and I visited to pick out the pieces they and their friends would paint. Steven picked an ATV. Sammy picked a puppy. Amaya picked a penguin. I picked the fourth, a fairy.

With SSA and Charlie, we had 19 kids attend and, fortunately, the place reserved for just our party. I was a little nervous about 20 young kids in a ceramics place but they all did great! No catastrophes. 🙂

The birthday kids, before their friends arrived.

Picking out the paint colors. They each got to pick 2 colors, plus grey and white. Sammy was so cute. He wanted to be sure there was a pink color to use for the inside of the puppy’s ears.

A fun part of a Bee’s Knees birthday party is putting your thumbprint on the wall, which is turned into a bee with your name and age. (SSA all remembered that there was a 90 year old with her thumbprint on the wall.)

I think they’ll love seeing their thumbprints when we go back in the future.

One big table for all the kids, mostly segregated by gender. All of the kids sat next to their closest friends – Amaya with Milan and Charlie, Sammy with Nolan and Steven with Jack.

Amaya and Milan – with their penguins.

Birthday boys

The party was 90 minutes which was more time than the kids needed for the craft so we opened presents – something that the kids loved. I can’t believe how much kids like watching their friends open gifts! But they do and it filled the back part of the party time well. Steven, Sammy and Amaya have very generous friends who’ve left them with toys to build & play with for a long time to come. (Amaya was particularly happy to receive a special multi-color pen from Milan, that Milan knew she wanted, and a little rainbow “BFFs” sign. Steven got a ton of new Lego sets and Sammy got a bunch of Pokemon stuff.)

All of the pre-glazed / pre-fired pieces.

After their party, Charlie subbed in for me and the kids finished Thursday’s game of Super Mario Life. Steven was the winner.

Cousins!

Steven, Amaya and I left the house early this morning to take Aunt Sara and Charlie to the airport and then swung back home to pick up Sammy for Hebrew School. The afternoon plan was a birthday party but it was canceled due to COVID so, instead, the kids spent their afternoon playing with birthday presents.

Sammy and Amaya making a Snow Globe craft that Amaya was gifted. I love when these two work together.

Daddy, getting ready to temporarily step in for Sammy in Super Mario Life.

I’ll wrap up this amazing week with some pictures from the Thornton Creek STEAM class Instagram page. I found our trio in action, designing and sharing their ideal schools.

Steven mentioned that, by chance, he and Sammy were paired together. I guess it’s bound to happen sometimes!

And that’s it for us! The Land of Cheltenham has EIGHT year olds!

Amaya had a Girl Scouts meeting on Monday night and, to be extra safe, it was via zoom instead of in person. Since it was at 7pm, she showed up ready to go in her PJs and Brownie vest. <3

On Tuesday, I took Amaya to her swim class – as I do. I’m going to have to figure out how to take the boys more often because they’re getting jealous but Amaya’s class is at 6:50pm and theirs is at 5:10pm which is really hard to accommodate with work. Once in a while, though, I can make it.

Steven, looking absolutely adorable IMO, in his sleep headphones.

This week the kids started an after school art program run by the Northville Art House. There are two four week sessions, with classes once/week on Tuesday’s after school. The kids were really excited to get to stay at school after the day ended just like the kids in the afterschool Kids’ Club program.

This first week, they did drawings of koi fish with charcoal.

Swim for Steven and Sammy – happy boys jumping in!

On Friday, Amaya did one of the “Jokes of the Day” for the school announcements. I wouldn’t normally get to see it but the school sent out a video of the day’s announcements because they announced the winner or the yearbook cover contest. If Steven hadn’t told me about Amaya’s participation, I would never have known to look out for her.

If you want to see Amaya, forward to 5:50 at this link: https://watch.screencastify.com/v/eJiyyPdojanEKwrKHSQr

Sally has been super affectionate lately. She loves being around the family. I don’t know if it’s her age or the kids’ age or what, but she can’t get enough of us and it makes my heart happy.

Jason and Sweet Sal

Mommy, Steven and Sally

Look how chill Sally is with all of these petting hands on her.

Amaya and I had a basement sleepover last night and, while she waited for me, she read some of the newest borrowed book in her favorite series – Dork Diaries. In fact, in the morning I found her reading by the light of her iPod. She doesn’t have tremendous stamina yet, but I love to see her choosing to read.

Early morning reading

Saturday morning! Family time!

While we waited for a pre-birthday visit from Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette, Steven had a long phone conversation with Charlie. No video… they were just chatting.

He looks like such a big kid here.

Amaya and I also started the process of dying her hair. We haven’t dyed it since school started and Amaya’s ready for some birthday color.

Hanging out with tinfoil in her hair.

Grandma and Aunt Annette came around 10:30am and SSA were ready to open some birthday presents. They’re turning EIGHT!?! But how???

Suuuuuuuuuper cool hat from Aunt Annette. Steven wears it well.

Classic games from Grandma! Knocked it out of the park with the choices and we all spent a great day digging into the new games.

SSA and Grandma playing Uno

Look who’s hanging out! In fact, she let me pick her up off my lap and deposit her on Jason’s.

Amaya’s new look! Love it.

Playing Mastermind. Remember that game? Steven, Sammy and Amaya are at a great age to start playing and love it, too.

Grandma and Amaya playing Mandala. I’ve never played but I’m excited to learn.

Definitely a gaming family.

And there’s Sally again!

Before Grandma headed out, Amaya displayed her reading skills with some more Dork Diaries.

Cool cat building a lego set

Sally was back with the family for shows (Wipeout!) and story books (How to Eat Fried Worms).

This morning, the sky was a beautiful blue and the frost on the trees was so pretty. Winter in MI sucks, and is often very very grey, but today was lovely – even in the frigid weather.

The boys had a make-up swim lesson today and Daddy took them! A treat for Steven and Sammy and, I think, Jason too.

It was a game afternoon – Uno, Mandala, Mastermind and Carcassonne. One of my favorite kind of days.

My friend Laura dropped off a few peanut butter alternative for us to try – four flavors of granola butter, wow butter and a sesame butter. The kids wanted to do a blind taste test so I put the spreads on crackers and gave them each a sheet to track what they thought each was. Steven won with 4 correct followed by Sammy with 3 and Amaya with 1. Amaya really liked the blueberry granola butter.

We had some cuddle time, football time, and Wipeout time and then it was ready to wrap out weekend.

That’s it for us! We have three kids who are ready to turn EIGHT on Thursday. Have a great week!

*I was going to title this blog “Winding Down Seven” but Steven said it made him sad because “once I turn eight I’ll never be seven again.” Sweet sweet boy.

Its funny how winter break already feels like it was so long ago. The kids had a great week back at school and we were back in our routine easily, after Monday morning. I even went into the office twice this week.

At this time of year, 8am brings very pretty sunrises while we wait for the bus. The picture doesn’t do it justice. Though is is now also the time of year where mornings are too cold for this lady and I watch the kids get on the bus from a front window in our house. Thank goodness for the bus tracker app that lets me know when the bus is approaching so the kids don’t have to stand outside for too long. (Of course they’re also outside in this weather for two recesses/day.)

Into the cold….

Amaya had a make-up swim lesson Tuesday so she had back to back classes. Heaven for our girl.

I just love Steven in his As hat. I think it’s such a good look for him.

Swim for the boys on Wednesday. They’re slowly progressing through level 4. I love videos of them jumping into the water. They’re getting more and more confident. I know Sammy hopes to be able to pass the deep water swim test at the JCC this summer which will probably take progressing into level 5 but he’s got time.

While the boys were at swim, I finished up work the the day and Amaya read some of her Thea Stilton book. The kids love books, being read to, and sometimes reading to us, but aren’t yet very interested in a ton of solo reading time.

Back go gymnastics! The kids seem happy when their classes cross paths.

Steven reading his shark book to Daddy. He said he was the Hollywood sign on top of Mt. Daddy. 🙂

Early on Friday morning, Sammy and I headed to the airport for a weekend in NY! The last time he and I had a solo trip was June, for Chase’s Bar Mitzvah. Between then and now we’ve had two trips with all of the kids and solo trips for Steven and Amaya so I was really glad for this 1:1 time with Bubba.

I took advantage of a Sky Club pass to bring Sammy in with me – a rarity. Sammy, in particular among the kids, loves the fine life and was so happy. “I can eat as much as I want.” He was also thrilled with our Comfort+ upgrades on our flights.

Sa-tis-fied.

Ready! Between weather and the recent rash of flight cancelations we were worried we’d be delayed but we landed in NY a little early which gave us a full afternoon with family. Well, Sammy. I was working for the afternoon.

It worked out perfectly because the Goldbergs all had a snow day on Friday! Sammy didn’t even have to wait for Charlie or Chase to get out of school.

Making lemon cookies – one of Sammy’s favorites.

Uno and popcorn

Video games – a big theme of the weekend

Coveted Savta time during dinner

This trip, Sammy asked if we could stay at a hotel. For a variety of reasons, I agreed. While I missed out on the extra time with Sara, it was special to get even more 1:1 time with Sammy. On Friday night, we stayed at a hotel (motel?) not too far from Sara’s house.

Getting cozy and picking a sleep story to listen to…

Morning books & snuggles before heading over to the Goldberg’s house.

We got to Sara’s around 9:30am and everyone besides Sa was still asleep! To avoid waking everyone, we went to the basement where Sara, Sammy and played some Super Mario Kart together. That lasted until Chase & Charlie woke up and subbed in for the adults.

Back in the Land of Cheltenham, Jason shared this photo of a morning snack Amaya made. I heart that Steven loved it and asked for more! They’re wheat thin sandwiches of sliced pickles, crushed walnuts and cream cheese.

Late morning was bowling excursion that lasted through lunch. My shoulder is bothering me so I didn’t bowl but I had fun watching this foursome. Sammy (Puppy) took the first game and Charlie (Silly Monkey) took the second.

Sammy’s winning score.

The afternoon included time with Nana, Papa, Savta and Auntie. The kids spent time out in the snow and played more of Sammy’s video games. This time I think it was Super Mario Party.

Warming up by the fire after coming in from the cold. To be safe, we all masked inside when Nana, Papa and Savta were there.

It was very difficult for Sammy to say goodbye to Savta and Nana at the end of the night. This boy loves so hard. ❤️

Steven also loves hard. ❤️

The kids go to sleep to either sleep stories or mediations and it was uncomfortable for Steven to wear regular headphones so he got these adorable sleep headphones. Mr. Fox is comfy and wireless. Upside is comfort and we don’t have to remember to remove it at night like we do the kids’ wired headphones. Downside is it’s one more thing to charge.

Since we were staying at a hotel, Sammy and I picked a Hampton Inn right by LGA for our Saturday night stay. It saved us 30 minutes in the morning and, honestly, we probably could have taken an even later shuttle than we did. He wasn’t happy to be leaving though, which I can totally relate to.

Ready to go!

Amaya’s baby dolls were helping judge Steven’s hot wheels racing contest. Steven loooooves his car and Amaya loooooves her dolls.

Shortly after Sammy and I got home, we were sent upstairs for 2 hours while Steven and Amaya engaged in a bake-off. We couldn’t come down until it was done so we could judge fairly. Steven was the winner but it was close!

The aftermath!

That’s it for us! Have a great week!

It was another amazing break week at Camp Sophia for Steven, Sammy and Amaya. So many adventures each day.

Monday started with a visit to Buddy’s pizza and glow-in-the-dark mini golf. When they wrapped up, they headed over to a bowling alley. Bowling was toward the top of their list for the week.

Mini golf + glow in the dark… a kid’s dream.

Sophia smoked them! Amaya was the “kid winner” as we call it around here.

Bowling! I don’t love bowling and I’m not good at it but the kids looooooved it so I may give it another shot. Sammy and Steven each got a strike and, as the boys tell it, Amaya got a lot of splits.

Sammy, jumping in the air after a good roll. (Is that what it’s called? A roll?)

Steven has this smaller rubix cube that he’s been working on. He said, “I got all of the colors on each side! But not at the same time.” lol

Tuesday was a visit to Stemville in Northville. I haven’t been here yet, but it was the kids’ second visit and they had a great time again. Places like this are right up their alley. Hands on STEM fun.

On Tuesday night, the kids had a chance to Facetime with Grandpa Homey. <3

Wednesday was a trip to the zoo! I don’t think I can do the cold in grey, 30-something degree weather but Michigan folk are built of stronger cold-weather stock and Sophia and the kids had a blast. Sophia said they had almost as much fun in snow piles as they did seeing the animals.

Giraffes! I’ve never been to the zoo in the winter so I didn’t know you can see giraffes indoors at the Detroit Zoo. So cool. A giraffe even came over to say “hi” and the kids report that two of them “kissed on the lips.” (Amaya loves it. Steven says he likes romance but never wants to kiss on the lips because it’s gross. Sammy had no comment.)

We ended the day with Crab Fest. For Mommy, Daddy and Sammy only. 🙂

Thursday was a visit to Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum. The kids had a blast playing the games, including some “old timey” ones. Sophia said, “It’s so cute when Sammy is excited and he jumps and runs around and smiles. He’s been doing that a lot here.” I can absolutely picture it.

This girl came home with a lot of lollipops.

On Friday it was my turn for an adventure with the kids. We went to the Michigan Science Center in midtown Detroit. We’ve never been but saw it next to the Detroit Institute of Arts and were excited to check it out. We were there for about 3.5 hours and the kids were non-stop the entire time. I was busier than it looks in pictures but empty enough that the kids didn’t have to wait much for their experiences.

This was set up like a pinball game with a spring loaded trigger. The goal was to arrange the metal tubes in a way to get the ball to return home. Steven and Sammy both spent a while on this.

Amaya spent ages creating the perfect path for her ball.

We made paper airplanes and threw them through targets. (Or tried to. None of mine made it.)

A chemistry tutorial, making slime.

My girl <3

Snowboard racing! Even I got in on it.

Really for New Year’s!

Amaya was a volunteer at the science show. She helped demonstrate how lasers are used to remove cataracts.

We got home in more than enough time for a great New Year’s Eve celebration! This year, the kids were determined to make it to midnight and 2/3 did it.

Such little babies….growing up.

We watched football, played Blokus, and had a great game of Super Mario Kart.

I did not win.

By 10:30pm, this boy was tired.

Just before 11pm, we headed up to the big bed to watch NYE celebrations, while Jason finished the football game. This was at 10:56pm and sweet Sammy was still awake.

By 11:02pm, he was out.

We tried to wake him for the ball drop but he was o-u-t.

I literally held Steven up in my lap to help him make his goal – and we did it! At one point he said, “this is torture!” Someday he’ll learn the joy of being asleep at 10pm on New Year’s Eve. 🙂

Before bed, he turned the clock to midnight.

Yesterday was mellow, mellow, mellow. We were tired and up for a lazy day at home. A game of Set, some tv time…nothing of note – just what we needed.

First real snow of the season for the kids! It’s still amazing to me how kids can play in the cold snow for so long. Five minutes and I’m done for! It wasn’t great sledding snow but that didn’t stop them.

Sammy, the stinker, got a kick out of piling snow up against the back door so we can’t open it. He got a real kick out of cackling at us through the window while he worked. <3

The rest of the day was mellow – sports, science kits, hot wheels, jewelry crafts. I think we’re all (sort of) ready to a return to the regular routine tomorrow.

Have a great week!