Monday was midwinter break which, here, is a day and a half off for a long weekend but SSA made the most of it with a wonderfully lazy day.

Steven, who is always racing his Hot Wheels cars to find the ultimate winner, made an olympic podium for the champions.

Amaya’s baby doll, Cotton Candy, got healthy with some green beans for dinner. (Side note: It’s not uncommon for “Uncle Sammy” to babysit her dolls. He’ll sweetly ask about their bedtime routine and Amaya sometimes writes out specific instructions for care. It’s super sweet.)

Sammy had grand plans to make his Master Chef Junior cupcakes with Sophia. Missions accomplished, and they were fantastic.

My Bubba

Before swim, the kids started a monopoly game that stretched well into the week. Amaya was out by Wednesday, I think, but it was still live by the time Steven and I headed to NY on Friday morning.

Amaya’s girl scout troop has a cookie sales booth at a local Kroger on Sunday so she’s doing the worksheet needed to earn her cookie sales badge. Girl’s got focus.

Tuesday was TWOSDAY, 2/22/22 – and 2/3 of our kids were ready to celebrate at school.

Twos and Tutus.

Monopoly continues… it’s really great that they can play independently now, each with their own strategy.

Tuesday night was swim for Amaya. She is quickly progressing through level 8. We’ll have to talk about what comes next for her. She’s said she wants to learn to swim for fun and not compete so hopefully the Aquatots swim club is a good option. A lot of the other programs for kids at her level are focused on competition and swim practice multiple days/week.

“Duck down so it looks like I’m taller than you.”

While we were out, Puppy and Sally had a nice cuddle.

Our girl, positioned like the queen she is.

On Wednesday night, this sweet girl needed a little mommy support to fall asleep. She’s too big for me to carry up to bed these days so we’ve transitioned to “dream walks”. I’m not sure she even remembers them in the morning.

And, Thursday night, it was Daddy’s support she needed. <3

Some pictures from school for the week. Did I mention that our school board, following “optional” guidance from our MI Department of Health and our county, vote to make masks optional in school starting Tuesday, 2/22? Cases are low and SSA are vaccinated so goodbye masks! (With the exception of the bus where it’s still federally mandated.) It sounds like the kids’ teachers did a great job reminding the kids that it’s no one’s business why a classmate decides to wear or not wear a mask – everyone is making the choice that feels right for their family. I’ve got to admit I love seeing these faces in the weekly pictures from Mrs. Bates and the kids are really liking it, too. So happy for them to reach this point.

On Friday morning, Steven and I headed to DTW for a weekend trip to NY. YAY!! We even got to talk the “light tunnel” to the B gates. Simple travel pleasures.

I have so many photos over the years of Steven sitting and watching planes taxi, take off and land.

Mommy and Bobes! 💖💖💖

Here we are!

My Mommy!!!

I worked Friday afternoon from the Goldberg’s house but the timing was great because they were off for a full week mid-winter break. Steven went bowling with Nana, Papa, Aunt Sara, Charlie, Chase and one of Chase’s friends. He loves bowling so it was perfect way to spend the afternoon.

As always, when we visit there was a lot of Super Mario Party time.

Dinner with Savta!

LOVE

Saturday morning Steven spent a while watching Chase play video games with his friends. He does the same on YouTube kids so why not in person with his cousin, right?

Saturday afternoon, while Charlie was a gymnastics, Nana, Papa, Steven and I went to the Cradle of Aviation Museum, just 10 minutes away from the Goldberg’s house. It was really cool. Long Island was tremendously influential in the early days of flight. So while the museum covered all flight from the Wright Bros to Hubble and space flight, there was a lot to learn about how the area we were standing on was instrumental in those early days – and through to Grumman building the Lunar Modules. We spent about 2.5 hours there and couldn’t have spent more if we didn’t want to get back to see everyone.

Steven Universe (Get it?)

Steven’s favorite part of the museum was how many cockpits he got to sit in. There were so many more than I took photos of. He was totally enthralled.

El Al airplane cockpit

Nana and her Bobes

Planetarium show on the Birth of Earth

My sweet boy

I think he’d have moved into this cockpit if I’d let him.

Lunar Module originally built for Apollo 19 (Which never happened. The program was cut after 17).

The draw of seeing Auntie (“I haven’t seen her in so long!”) brought Steven out of the museum and back to Aunt Sara’s house. It was a really nice evening with everyone.

Working on a word puzzle on Nana’s phone

Around 7pm we headed out to the Hampton Inn over by LGA. We had an early morning flight and it makes it so much easier to already be by the airport rather than stay the extra night just to sleep and wake up eaaaaarly. Steven asked for a picture in this exact spot because he has one just like it in printed picture book.

Settled into the Hampton Inn – Steven’s favorite hotel.

Back in MI, Daddy, Sammy and Amaya had a pizza diner and then watched Revenge of the Sith together.

For the 2nd night in a row, Amaya and Sammy slept in homemade forts.

Steven and I loved the ease of our hotel this morning from the breakfast to the 5 min shuttle ride to our terminal.

By lunchtime we were home!

Good timing, too, because I got to see Amaya and members of her troop knock it out of the park selling girl scout cookies at a local Kroger. They were awesome with the customers. Barely needed us!

That’s it for us! Have a great week!

I was in OH for the majority of the week so Jason and Sophia kept things running smoothly in the Land of Cheltenham.

It started with Monday – Valentine’s Day! The kids could have taken the bus to school but, with their Valentine’s boxes, we decided it would be much easier for a drop off. We had happy Valentine’s kids!

I eagerly awaited a Valentine’s Day delivery I planned for Jason and the kids. Love the Nest cam for these purposes.

Sophia heard me talking to her through the microphone and held up the delivery for me to see. Honestly, it’s pretty amazing that I can talk to people at my door while I’m away on business.

Sophia had surprises for the kids, too! They had a great day.

Tuesday, for Amaya’s swim class, the boys were all hands on Minecraft while Amaya did her thing.

Sally isn’t lonely when I’m gone because she’s got her little siblings. 😻😻😻

The kids had another snow day on Friday – well earned with very icy roads – and Sophia stayed over on Thursday night. Friday morning, while I drove home, they had a nice lazy morning which included some partner yoga. 🙂

Amaya built a new KiwiCo kit.

Amaya and Sophia went through a bunch of clothes from Charlie. Amaya absolutely loves her Charlie hand-me-downs. I hardly ever have to buy this girl clothes! (Thank you Charlie & team!)

Friday afternoon the boys had their first LEVEL 5 swim class and I was home from OH in time to take them. They were at separate times, 30 min apart. Steven volunteered to go first and got right in. I know I’ve said this before but I’m really proud of how far Steven and Sammy have come with their swimming skills. It doesn’t come as naturally for them as it does for Amaya and they’ve worked really hard to get to this point.

Making faces at Steven lol

While we were at swim, Amaya and Sophia made a neopolitan marshmallow recipe from a cookbook Amaya borrowed from school.

Ready to chill overnight

Sleep with Parent Night! It was Amaya Sammy and Sally with Daddy. <3

We had a super lazy Saturday. I think most of us stayed in our PJs all day!

The kids got to taste Amaya’s marshmallow treat. It was a hit!

Sammy and Amaya making up partner yoga poses.

When a Steven guy can’t fall asleep, sometimes I lie next to his bed and hold a sweet hand

Jason spent a good chunk of the day at the office. Amaya, Steven and I started the day watching Encanto and then the kids spent a number of hours in the playroom with legos and hot wheels and magnatiles, playing pretty nicely together the whole time.

Steven and I wrapped up our day with an hour-long hike through Maybury Park. It was warm enough to enjoy and the snow was really pretty. Steven is definitely my nature buddy.

Found a great piece of bark

You can’t get between Steven and a map

We thought the bark on this tree was really interesting

When we left, Steven wanted to take a picture of me here.

Finally, this week’s after school art program artwork. They did batik on paper.

Steven

Sammy

Amaya

Have a great week!

Well hello! This blog is coming to you from Columbus, OH where will be working until Friday. Five nights away – my longest trip away in over two years. In fact, it’s probably my longest trip since Erica and I went to Denmark, Sweden and Norway in July 2019. It will go by quickly but, on this side of it, the time away feels like a doozy. (Though, as I think about it, I’ve been away for four nights which isn’t all that different I suppose.)

To start, I found this picture of Jason and Amaya on the Novi Parks facebook page. Look how engaged they are with one another. I love this candid moment so much.

Oh look! A kid with a puke bucket!

Amaya woke up on Monday and said she felt sick. She promptly lay down on the floor with a bucket and stayed there for about 3 hours. The issue was that we didn’t have bus service last week and Jason had an early meeting so, until Sophia arrived at 11:30am, the boys had to suffer through a morning at home. Trust me, they didn’t mind. But it was still wild to send an email that the boys would be late because I couldn’t get them to school. Mrs. Bates was completely understanding.

Turns out, by about 11:30am, Amaya turned a corner. I don’t know if she was really sick or if feeling off made her worry she would be sick, after seeing what the brothers went through.

She’s still got tired eyes but a little soup cured that quickly.

Amaya ended up having a wonderful day at home by herself – broth (which she loves), paper airplanes, journaling, face paints… if nothing else, it was a nice mental health day for our girl.

So, so sick lol

For dinner, Sopha got dough, sauce and toppings so the kids could make their own pizzas. They absolutely loved it. They’ve done this in the past but it’s been a while and this time they got creative with their dough.

On Tuesday Amaya had swim and she’s getting closer and closer to passing level 8. After that we’ll have to decide if we want to enroll her in their swim club or find another place for her to take lessons. I think it will depend on whether she wants to swim for fun or to compete.

Amaya’s progress <3

Steven wanted to spend some of his birthday money on new Hot Wheels cars. (He now has over 100.) He found a set of seven 50th anniversary special edition cars on Amazon and really wanted them. They cost $50 which is a lot of money to spend so we decided to check eBay instead and he hit the jackpot. He patiently waited 6 days for an auction to end and won the cars for $30. Patience paid off! The cars arrived on Tuesday and he was thrilled.

On Wednesday, poor Sophia came down with whatever ran through out house the week before. I was able to rearrange my afternoon to get the kids from school (no bus this week!) and Amaya joined us at the boys’ swim class.

It was awesome that I was there this week because both Steven and Sammy graduated to level 5!! I’m so proud of them. They’ve worked so hard to overcome their fears and work toward becoming proficient swimmers. I know they both hope they can pass the JCC swim test this summer and I think they’re well on their way.

Showing off their Level 5 bracelets

Amaya was very happy for her brothers and wanted to be sure I remembered that she started off in level 5 lol.

Success!

Sophia was still ill on Thursday so Jason came home early to get the kids from school (a surprise!) and take them to gymnastics. Such a treat Steven, Sammy and Amaya. We made things easy with Jersey Mike’s for dinner.

Our pediatrician’s office is backed up and I couldn’t get three 8 year well-check appointments together. In fact, I could only get one now and there are two in May. Steven got the first appointment which meant an early pick-up from school. While he waited for us to leave, he powered through all of his valentine’s for his class. They don’t have to write the recipient’s name but he wanted to. I was really impressed with his focus – especially because he did it on his own while Sophia was out picking up Sammy & Amaya (long car line) and I was working in the basement.

Even at 8, the fish tank at the doctor’s office is a draw. Clean bill of health for this boy, as expected.

And here are some photos of the boys from school this week. (Steven will readily admit he often forgets to take off his jacket.)

On Friday night, the Cline men had a camp out with the boys in our master bedroom while Amaya made a basement fort for a girls’ night.

Saturday was beautifully lazy. (Until 11:15am when I remembered Amaya had an 11:30am birthday party. Yikes! Our girl hustled to get dressed and she wasn’t even the last one to arrive!)

Steven looooooooooves his Hot Wheels

The boys had another Zoom Minecraft afternoon with friends from school

Amaya sewed a phone case for herself. She needed more fabric so I let her cut up some old dress up clothes. Other than help threading the needles and knotting the end of the thread, this was all her.

Sally and I got in some wonderful cuddle time.

Jason had to work this morning so, before my drive to Columbus, the kids and I went to the Early Bird for breakfast. They were delighted.

Plus valentine’s day lollipops!

My favorite 5, caring for each other. <3

I headed off and everyone else stayed busy!

Trading Olympic cards.

Apparently Amaya is scoring for the Bengals. 🙂

It was a week of Valentine’s art!

The kids made their valentine’s card boxes for school. I know some folks go all out but we’re very happy with simple and easy.

They did Valentine’s artwork at their after school art class.

Steven

Sammy

Amaya

That’s it for us! Have a great week!

This week is hard to piece together. Sammy was sick all week long and Steven and Amaya had THREE snow days so the week sort of blended together, and probably not just for me.

Sammy was pretty miserable on Monday. He slept until about 9:30am and then laid on the couch until Steven and Amaya came home. Noise really bothered him and he barely drank anything all day. He didn’t want to be touched. It was a pretty sad sight. 🙁 When Amaya and Steven got home he went upstairs to our bedroom to stay away from the noise.

Sally knew that Sammy needed a little extra love.

Sophia was amazing helping to hold down the fort.

Tuesday this boy didn’t feel much better. He was still randomly getting sick and hadn’t had solid food since Saturday. His fever was also still in the 102s. 🙁

Chronicles of a sad, sick Bubba. 💔

Sleeping with his face in a bowl. Sammy, of all the kids, really hates being sick. I don’t blame him.

On Tuesday Sophia was able to run out to get the kids’ ceramics from their birthday party. They’re so cute! Left to right is Steven, Sammy and Amaya.

The kids wrote thank you notes which Sophia attached to the packages we’ll deliver to their friends.

Amaya and Steven had their after-school art class on Tuesday. They made multi-media collages – Amaya’s wit a painted rose and Steven’s with a painted tree. It’s such a cool class!

This is where it gets interesting. We new a lot of snow was coming – expected on Wednesday and Thursday. To ensure she could get to work and we had childcare, Sophia made plans to sleep over on Tuesday night. Since she was staying the night, she took Amaya to swim on Tuesday and I stayed home with Sammy.

Sure enough, Wednesday was a snow day! We were glad that they called in on Tuesday evening so the kids could go to bed knowing they were off the hook. Sammy still felt terrible, and had a fever, but Steven and Amaya were full of snow day energy.

Here, Steven was listening to me on a work call in the basement. “I can hear mommy but I don’t know anything they’re talking about.”

The Snow Day Gang

Making Valentine’s Card boxes for school

Gotta get out in the snow! The kids still love the sleds that Grandma Sunshine got for them 3 or 4 years ago. The hill in our backyard is perfect.

Post sledding joy

Sammy still had a fever on Wednesday but, for the first time, he felt well enough to watch TV. Until this point, he just lay around in the quiet feeling miserable. It was great to see.

He even had some toast and watched some of Star Wars (Revenge of the Sith) from upstairs.

The Star Wars girls downstairs

Thursday! Still home. Not a surprise and definitely a happy day for these two.

On Thursday, the light really started to return to Sammy’s eyes. Not 100% yet but so much better.

He even came downstairs to watch A New Hope with Steven and Amaya

On Thursday evening, Sophia braded Amaya’s hair in many braids so it would be crimped and curly for a big Friday night event.

Thurdsay night, Sammy felt well enough to talk to Nana on the phone!

Amaya had a hard time falling asleep on Thursday night. She rested on Jason for a while before settling in on the floor next to my bed. It was a happy compromise for my girl.

Look at this guy on Friday! He started eating more and spent the day happily watching TV.

Meanwhile, Steven and Amaya continued running through Star Wars movies.

Amaya lost a tooth on Friday afternoon. Now both of her front teeth are gone!

The big Friday night event was a daddy/daughter dance! Amaya has been looking forward to it for weeks. She picked out a dress which just happened to be the same dress she wore 2 years ago in a larger size. Her style is consistent.

In preparation for the evening out with her daddy, she asked that they make each other cards to give one another at the dance. <3

Amaya and Daddy

The boys and I couldn’t go out bc Sammy wasn’t quite well enough but we did order in cheesecake and watch an Octonauts movie together.

Unfortunately, in the middle of the night, Steven got sick. It seems we weren’t quite in the clear from what Sammy had. Sadness. 🙁

He was a trooper, though. Like Sammy before him, he spent all day in bed but he was feeling well enough for TV before and after a long nap.

Meanwhile, while Steven rested and Sammy watched marathon Phineas and Ferb, Amaya headed out for a snowshoe treasure hunt with her girl scout troop! It was a great adventure for her and it’s amazing to be at a phase where I can send her off with her friends.

My friend shared these photos of Amaya. Apparently her favorite part of the outing was when she had to play dead. She did it with flair! And look at those snow shoes!

I spent about 6 hours of the day cuddling with Steven. When he’s sick, he wants to be in physical contact with his mama and I’m happy to oblige.

Big bags under those eyes 🙁

It’s hard to tell, but Steven is lying across me with my thigh as his pillow.

Daddy got some rest time, too, with Sally standing guard.

Today, despite spending some of the morning on the floor, Steven was feeling measurably better than yesterday. He ate a good amount of dry cheerios and drank a reasonable amount of water. He still has a low fever, though, and is pretty low energy overall so tomorrow will be a sick day for this boy.

Jason had to go into the office this morning and, with Steven sick, I couldn’t take Sammy and Amaya to hebrew school. They’re currently offering a virtual option for K- 3 and 4- 6 for families uncomfortable with in-person attendance so we took advantage of that. They weren’t thrilled about online hebrew school (which I understand) but it was actually a really well run and engaging class. Better than they thought!

Showing fruits in their house. Sammy and Amaya were pretty pleased to have a mango and pineapple to share. (I have no idea of the context. I was upstairs with Steven when this all started.)

Sweet boy, unsure if he felt bad bc he was hungry or because he started eating again. The bucket is bigger than he is!

Amaya and Sammy got a jump start on their valentine’s cards for their classmates. Amaya has LOL and Sammy has Pokemon. Steven picked out Hot Wheels and they’re not here yet.

The afternoon was dedicated to minecraft, via zoom, with the boys’ friends. I think there were 6 or 7 of them that joined. Steven even rallied to play for a while. They haven’t done this in a while and are much better at playing together than in the fall of 2020. No surprise.

Steven stayed on for about 90 min while Sammy clocked in at over 3 hours.

I’ll wrap up with what the triplet moms are calling the Encanto Challenge. For two days, my entire facebook feed was full of photos of triplet moms recreating this image from the movie. Here’s mine.<3

Have a great week!