Sammy was proud Monday morning when he earned his next prize for staying in bed. “This Little Golden Book Belongs to Sammy.”

Amaya was next on Tuesday with her Princess Sofia high heel shoes.

They went perfectly with her crown and gloves from previous prizes.

I love this multimedia art that the kids did at camp this week.

The cousin is Charlie. No surprise there.

On Tuesday afternoon Ashley came to visit! It’s so cool that she’s still a part of their lives almost a year after her summer with us. <3

Sammy had a rough week getting off to camp. He really, really didn’t want to go. I don’t know if it was the summer cold he has or something else but it was a struggle to get him out the door – enough so that I moved up “wake” time by 10 minutes. Not only was it hard to get him out, but one morning Jason was stuck there for about 25 minutes. I’m hoping this week is better and, if not, that the two week break between camp and pre-k (!!!!) will be a reset.

On Wednesday, just before the start of his cold, Sammy was tired enough that he fell asleep on the way home from camp. He’s most likely to fall asleep in the car but a drive-home nap hasn’t happened for a while.

My mom brought this V-tech laptop with her a few months ago and it’s a huge hit. The kids are getting more and more proficient with it. It’s so interesting to think about how comfortable Steven, Sammy and Amaya are with technology that was barely a dream, if that, when I was born.

On Thursday it was Amaya’s turn for a sleepover at Grandma’s house! She was ready! She also wanted to be absolutely certain that Grandma knew she could sleep in nothing but a pull-up.

At home, the boys had some pj bike rides. For some reason Sammy has decided he’s scared of his big bike and just wants to ride his balance bike. We’ll have to try to figure out what that’s about.

Dinner with Grandma Sunshine!

Here’s some art that came back for me. Lovely buildings!

The kids – Steven and Amaya in particular – are really into all sorts of pre-literacy activities. One of the big ones right now includes writing down our dinner orders (and then making it for us). They both take meticulous (unintelligible) notes. Amaya tends to serve me pretend food while Steven spends time in their play kitchen preparing my meal.

The matchbox car race track was a big focus this week.

Saturday morning we were back at order taking!

My delicious meal, compliments of Steven.

The front of the packet of construction paper has a picture of these hats and Amaya wanted one, which soon meant everyone wanted one.

Amaya said, “put your arm around me, Sammy.” Sammy tried to put his front arm around Amaya and she said, “No, just the back one. Like this.” 🙂

Daddy’s turn!

This week signed the kids up for soccer! It’s through the city of Novi with practice once a week at 6pm on Tuesdays (late for us) and Saturday morning games. The whole season runs just 6 weeks which is a nice taste for the kids. To prep, we headed to Dick’s to stock up on cleats, shin guards and socks.

But first, picking flowers.

I’d called ahead to be sure they had cleats in the kids’ sizes. Sammy and Amaya picked neon yellow/green and Steven picked pink.

Ready to play!

There’s a track around the shoe department which provided a great opportunity to test out their new cleats.

After Dick’s we had lunch at the mall where everyone wanted a turn on the “rides”. Steven was insistent that his rides not move, so much so that he made me put my hand over the coin slot while he was in one of the vehicles. Amaya and Sammy wanted them to go, go, go.

This weekend it was Amaya’s turn to come with me while I got my hair cut. Amaya planned to color the whole time but my hairdresser, Ashley, had other plans.

Look at Ashley’s helper! Ashley was awesome, letting Amaya get in on the action.

Her fee: Ice Cream. (I really, really dislike mint flavored foods. Turns out I have two kids who love mint chocolate chip ice cream.)

Trying on our gear!! SSA chose their shoes, socks and soccer balls!

This morning started with soccer practice with Daddy.

Back to the images on the front of the construction paper packet, Steven saw some paper folded accordion style and asked me to make those for him. Once I was done he asked me how to write, “This blue zig zag,” and very carefully wrote it out himself. I only had to help him with the U, S, and the first G. (Recently Steven has been making his “S” on it’s side and he’s trying to practice doing it correctly.)

I’m so impressed with his letter knowledge. I didn’t realize he was this proficient. He also wrote “This black zig zag” and knows his C and K, too. “C is for ‘Cline’, mommy!”

Oh! Another accomplishment for Steven… he started writing the U incorrectly. That’s something that would normally set him off but, instead, he deiced to just draw that circle/heart around it and draw a new U inside. I was very proud.

This morning there was a big Robot Party in Kellogg Park in Plymouth. Lightening Robotics, in partnership with local school robotics club, puts in a big annual event. It was awesome! Tons of science activities for the kids plus real robots!

Making “lava lamps” with water, oil, food coloring and salt.

Tinfoil penny boats. Sammy was the Cline Family winner for the most pennies.

Making rockets with straws, card stock and clay

3-2-1 Blast Off!! We got in line to shoot our rockets over and over and over again. It was a huge hit.

Circuit insects! These guys helped us build complete circuits that light up the eyes. The insects’ bodies were clothes pins with pipe cleaner legs and exoskeletons.

And then the real robots!! Steven was enthralled. There were robots of all different sizes and he couldn’t get enough.

Our turn to “drive” the robots. Sammy was eager to go first. The could make the robot “car” move around and also launch a ball. So cool.

We wrapped up our morning with lunch out. I love eating outside. I love summer.

When you decide you don’t want pepperoni after all…

So proud! Amaya pet a dog!! Earlier in the day, Steven and Sammy both pet another dog but Amaya was too scared. This dog was outside the fence by our table while we ate and I think she was able to see that it was a calm pup. It’s owner was awesome and made sure to keep control the whole time and keep the dog’s head toward her. That helped a lot. One step at a time.

We wrapped up our day with a little swimming, where Amaya and Steven decided they needed their puddle jumpers and Sammy was happy to have the science equipment all to himself.

I’ll wrap up this week with a video Jason took of Steven’s barbershop.

Have a great week!