This picture is so, so Steven. Sleeping cuddled with Morminer, and half his possessions in his bed. I mean, what it he needs to make a call or measure something in the middle of the night? He’s prepared!

Monday was a pretty mild day so Madison and the kids got outside to take advantage of it. We were just asked to send snow pants, hats and gloves to school, too, so it sounds like SSA will be getting outside even in the coming cold, snowy weather. That’s good, because I certainly won’t be taking them outside when it’s cold and snowy. I’m adventurous, but I prefer that my adventures are warm.

Tuesday morning I left early to go vote before an 8am meeting. Steven was having a hard time saying goodbye so I promised I’d wave as I drove away. I forgot. 🙁 🙁 🙁

Jason called me about it just as I was getting to the polling place and, if I knew just how sad he was, I’d probably have turned around right then. Instead, I promised to come home after I voted and go to my meeting late, if necessary. Once I saw this picture of my sad Bobes sitting at the window waiting, I knew he needed me to come in for extra hugs instead of just a drive-by wave. Sweet, sweet boy.

Here’s Madison with the kids after work. I was home later than usual so she had them upstairs & ready for bed so our time together could be with story books instead of the administration of the bedtime routine. It was perfect.

Cool Bobes. I think his favorite sweatshirt is officially too small.

By Thursday, Amaya had Sammy’s cold and wasn’t in shape for dance class. She was more than happy to just color while her brothers sashayed around the dance room.

Air time!

Madison reports that Sammy is a lot more focused in tap when Amaya isn’t there. (This was his second class on his own. The first was when we were in CA.) I was really proud of him for going in by himself while Amaya and Steven were waiting outside. I think it’s a sign of his interest.

Focus.

Both boys, dancing around with ribbons in jazz class.

Strong helpers. Getting more and more helpful by the day, in fact.

On Thursday night, Steven surprised me with his ability to write the alphabet. He made his way through by singing the ABC song and stopping when he got to his next letter. The only tricky part was “lmnop” which tripped him up. He kept thinking the next letter was p, because of the way it all ran together. I didn’t realize he knew how to write his letters so well!

The finished product. Once he got to “X’ he decided that X needed to mark the spot so he detoured a bit and drew a path between the X and a pirate ship. 🙂

Even sick, Amaya has her sass. You can definitely see the cold in her eyes, though. We decided a day at home would serve her well, and made plans for her to stay home on Friday.

Even sick, and even staying home, this girl gets herself dressed.

Sammy loves to help his Daddy shave. He’s so focused and gentle.

Friday was our first snow of the season. Booooooo. I’m not ready! The kids were excited, though, and Madison had prepared for a first day of snow craft. In order, it’s Steven’s, Sammy’s and Amaya’s.

Gratuitous pic of sweet Sally, who doesn’t get enough love in the blog.

Friday night cuddles, near as best I can do with all 3 kids these days.

The Cline family had big plans for Saturday. Sammy really wanted to go out for breakfast with pancakes which led to us planning 1:1 meals with each of the kids. Amaya had a scheduled haircut with plans, afterwards, to take treats to firefighters. I wasn’t sure how the coordination would work out but it all fell into place – starting with Sammy ready to go to breakfast at 6:45am. I think they were out the door shortly after 7!

I remarked that this was the table I sat at last week with Steven, Sammy and Amaya and Jason told me that it’s why Sammy picked this table. <3

Jason was going to meet us at the fire station to get Steven for lunch but Steven didn’t want to leave someone he loves home alone, so they stayed together while Amaya, Sammy and I headed out.

Giant floor puzzle!

Lately, Steven has really been enjoying writing and copying words he sees. Saturday he copied the writing at the top of his puzzle. He even gets the airplane in there.

This was only Amaya’s 2nd haircut and it was at a new-to-us place in Livonia. Steven saw this picture and immediately decided that he wants his next haircut to be in the blue airplane.

The have cool vehicles and shows to watch. Hard to beat! It definitely helped Sammy pass the time.

Amaya’s Elsa braid. It was super cute.

Trader Joes, picking up treats for the fire fighters and police officers. I could spend ALL THE MONEY in Trader Joes.

We got lucky with our delivery! There were two EMTs there when we arrived and, while we were checking out the ambulance, a fire truck returned.

Touring the ambulance! Everyone was so nice to Sammy and Amaya. They were very patient and generous with their time.

Learning to use a stethoscope.

Sitting in the fire truck.

And off to the police station for our last stop. It was a quiet morning but we were able to find an officer to deliver the cookies to.

We were all home by noon and had a quiet afternoon tomorrow. I played a game called “Four of a Kindness” with the kids. It’s a card game played Go Fish style, where you have categories to talk about ways you’re kind. We skipped the formal game rules and mostly focused on answering the kindness questions.

At Trader Joes we picked up cards to send to someone’s special. Amaya made one for Charlie. Steven made one for Chase and Charlie. Sammy made one for Savta (not pictured).

At his request, I tried to make Sammy homemade play doh the way Grandma Betsy does but just ended up with neon green slime instead. Sammy ended up having a (messy) blast with it but I’ll have to try to figure out what I did wrong and keep practicing.

When Mommy naps, kids climb on board.

Also when Mommy naps – Daddy gets the kids to work shoveling. They did a great job clearing the deck!

The 1:1 meals ended with a Mommy/Amaya dinner date at Applebees. We sat at the bar. She had a shirley temple. It was a perfect dinner out.

No more pictures.

At dinner we had this conversation –

A: Your job is a really important job.
Me: My job being your mom or my job at my workplace?
A: Your job at your workplace. 
A: So you can buy your kids toys, Joanna.

This child. When I call her on using my name she generally tells me that she’s Elsa and Amaya is visiting Arendelle. Today, in fact, she told me that she (Elsa) left Amaya in charge of Arendelle while she (Elsa) visited me.

Our adventure today was a trip to the Jewish Book Fair at the JCC for Dino Day! There was a huge event set up with crafts, fossils, live animals, story time and more. The kids even got to eat “dino poop.”

Amaya was ready with her dinosaur tail, tiara, necklace and gloves.

The tail was a huge hit. She got so many comments that I felt a little badly about making the boys leave their tails at home but the boys’ dino tails are 4x the size and totally unwieldy.

Checking out reptiles. There was an awesome, colorful lizard there. I said to the kids, “A lot of people used to think that reptiles are related to dinosaurs but what animal really evolved from dinosaurs?” Amaya: “Birds.”

She’s repeating what she’s heard before, but it’s still cool to know it’s sinking in.

Steven and Sammy, digging for fossils. For most of the time we were there, Amaya didn’t want to go in the sand. They received passports, though, that got stamped at each activity and Amaya wanted to earn every stamp which eventually motivated her into the sand pit.

So independent, off on her own doing this craft.

The favorite activity was dinosaur sand art. All 3 kids were totally focused, even Sammy who often taps out before a long project like this one is complete. Goes to show he has the focus when he’s truly interested.

Steven’s.

Amaya’s.

Sammy’s.

Building giant lego towers. Steven and Sammy were very proud of theirs.

Steven and Sammy, making their scrap art dino footprints.

We finished our day in the sand pit. Lots of children playing carefully while my Sammy army crawled across the sand. A lot of which is now in our house lol. But he had a blast.

The Clineosauruses had so much fun at the event and they are now fast asleep. It’s been a rough week adjusting to the time change but hopefully they’re worn out enough to get back on track to the new clock.

Have a great week!