Spring school pictures are in, taken on Monday, 3/18. I always say I won’t buy two sets of photos per year but, every year, they get me.

Steven and Morminer. <3

Usually he’ll say that he’s her daddy, though her age varies. The other day, Steven told me something was “Sheep-a-rific!” “That’s what I say when something makes me happy!” (Later he told me that Saturday would be “Family-rific” because he’d get to spend the day with his family.) And, yes, she’s a monkey except that Steven designated her a “sheep” ages and ages ago so that’s just how it is.

Bubbalish and his Puppy.

Amaya chose to bring Ariel this spring. She looks so old to me in these photos. Maybe it’s the pink highlights.

The whole gang.

These photos take us back to last week but I can’t pass up the opportunity to share them. Nana and SSA at Chuck E Cheese, while she was holding down the fort for Team Cline! I love these!

We had a glimpse of spring this week. There’s snow on the ground right now but I see the light.

This child loves to pose. She’s also in love with this doughnut (donut?) nightgown from Charlie.

Go Fish with Madison. SSA still love games and they’re managing emotions better when they lose. Amaya still has the hardest time when she doesn’t win but she’s getting better.

Don’t Break the Ice. This is one of Steven’s staying-in-bed prizes so he tries to make up his own rules like “Skip-a-turn” doesn’t apply to him.

Five years in, the kids still play with these bears that they got from Aunt Dale and Uncle Arnie as being-born gifts. I need to pull up some photos of them with the bears as itty bitties as a comparison.

Sal. <3 <3 <3

Thursday was Dress Like Your Favorite Character day at school. Here they are with Ms. Jena. We’ve been dressing up all month and I was kind of done with it so we went with their character themed sweatshirts – Twilight Sparkle, Ryder and Marshall.

With Ms. Bri.

Amaya was not herself after school on Thursday. Maybe the ear infection caught up with her or she slept poorly the night prior but this girl needed a NAP on Thursday afternoon. I can’t remember the last time she napped. It did the trick, though, because she said she felt fine and was ready for dance later in the day.

Jazz dance in their costumes! It’s a lot of work for Madison to help all of the kids quickly get dressed while the rest of the parents just have one child to focus on. One of the other kids asked her what was taking so long lol.

Some of the big kids watched them dance and then they watched the big kids. Sammy said it was amazing. “It was amazing! One of the girls dance with a piece of paper in her hands the whole time even when she was in the air or upside down.” Steven said, “The music was sad but the dance was really good.” I happen to know that this class is dancing to the theme music from Schindler’s List.

On Thursday night we had two kids who were afraid to go to sleep because of a book they read.

Amaya explained to me that there was a teacher who went away and a mean teacher came back in her place but it was just the nice teacher pretending to be a mean teacher. Steven told Jason that it had “Miss” and “Swamp” in the title and there was a good person that dressed up like a bad person in black with green and white pants.

Miss Nelson is Missing!

I can see where Miss Viola Swamp would be a little upsetting. Even more so when I found out that one of the school teachers dressed up as Viola Swamp for Favorite Character Day.

The kids didn’t have school on Friday because it was parent/teacher conference day. New this year, school is off twice a year to give the educators a full day to focus on conferences with the parents. It does work out better. With three kids in the class I had a full hour with Ms. Bri and Ms. Jena and, to my surprise, we used it all.

Everyone’s right on track with their letters and numbers. They’ve got most lower case (and all upper case) letters down and are starting to read numbers in the 100s. All three kids are doing well with their rhyming words and know that they live on Cheltenham Drive, though we’ve got to work on the 5 digit street number. They had to complete shape patterns and then make their own. Amaya and Steven made their own A/B pattern and Sammy stepped up with AAB. Thanks Team Umizoomi! SSA are also where they should be with classroom skills and self-help skills – possibly some of the most important skills to have as they get ready for kindergarten.

Some specifics:

Steven is the engineer in the classroom. He builds cities with blocks all over the classroom and is first to head toward the building materials. He’s great with independent play but sometimes his energy can create distractions in large group play. Steven gravitates toward the more outgoing kids in the room and his teachers said he’s one of the kids most likely to follow his own path rather than be swayed by peer pressure. He’s been working on managing his temper and there have been a few times in recent weeks where his teachers saw him get angry but he was able to collect himself and reign it in before exploding. I’m so proud to hear that! Steven’s teachers also know all about his sheep friend, Morminer, and artwork of her has been a regular theme in the classroom this year.

Sammy is a sweet child in the classroom. He is more likely to play independently or side-by-side with another quite child than to get into the middle of louder kids. There’s a small red couch in the reading area and the teachers often find Sammy there first thing in the morning either playing quietly, lounging or “reading” a book. They said that he seems to value that quiet transition time unlike some others who just want to run in and play. While I tend to see Sammy lose interest in projects at home, his teachers said that he is often the last to get up from a project at school. Looking at his art and handwriting, it’s obvious how far he’s come in the past 6 months. At the beginning of the year his drawings were scribbles and he struggled to write his name but both skills have really evolved. He still has some challenges holding his pencil correctly so we’re going to use thicker pencils and try a pencil grip. Sammy also has a tendency to move slowly so Ms. Jena was proud to tell me about the day, last week, when Sammy was the first to get dressed after swim. Just like at home, Sammy loves water and is generally last to the table because he spends so much time washing his hands. Ms. Bri joked that they want to use Sammy as the example of hand washing practices when licensing comes to visit the school.

Amaya is so dominant at home but she’s not an alpha girl at school, which is interesting. But the teachers have shared that there are some very strong personalities in their classroom. Amaya plays with all of the other girls in the class and is extremely independent, just like at home. While Amaya can be quick to cry when upset at home, she’s less inclined to cry at school but she will sulk and give her teachers the silent treatment (with a glare) if she isn’t happy with what’s going on. Amaya is the the first one to the table when there’s any art to do and she has phenomenal fine motor control.

While I was at conferences, Madison took the kids to Tiny Town along with her cousins Landon, Jaxon and Own. It’s amazing to think back to the kids’ first visiting Tiny Town before they turned 3 and now seeing them as some of the bigger kids in the space.

Apparently Steven and Landon (7) were thicks as thieves, playing together.

Running to the bubbles.

Bubbles!

Everyone came back to the house for playtime, lunch and Wreck It Ralph.

Three wiped kids, watching their movie.

After work, everyone was ready for the weekend!

The kids have been into their abacuses lately. They’re starting to get the idea that each row is 10 and each color change is 5. It’s pretty cool to see.

Thanks, Aunt Annette, for 45 minutes on FaceTime with Steven!

Side note: earlier this week, Steven was texting with Jason and Jason got a text that said, “STOPDADDY”. Jason texted back, “OK Stevie.” Steven called Jason and said, “Did you text ‘OK Stevie” because you saw my text that said ‘Stop Daddy” and knew I wanted to go to bed?” He’s legitimately communicating via text!

Saturday morning was all about a new Lego set I bought last weekend. It’s one of their expert Creator sets and I got Jo’s Garage because I knew SSA would love to play with it once it’s complete. (And it’s Jo’s Garage! Perfect coincidence!)

Everyone contributed but Amaya was particularly interested in helping this time. (Not surprisingly, Steven was most interested in playing with the end result.)

Part 1. The garage and gas station. We’re about 1/3 done and will work on more next week.

While some parts were still lying around, Steven made this geometric design. He has fantastic spacial relations skills. He’s great an envisioning both 2D and 3D designs.

Playing Sum Swamp with Daddy.

Deep in conversation.

Practicing our writing. (You can see where the pencil grip will be helpful for Sammy.)

We had a perfectly lazy morning at home.

Sammy loves “Go, Dog. Go.” He likes the story itself, but he especially likes that he’s able to “read” along with a good portion of the book.

Learning with Daddy about volcanoes and tornadoes and tsunamis and the movement of tectonic plates.

Our adventure today was a playdate for Amaya with my friend Nina and her daughter, Sarah. (Sarah just turned 5 last week and was one of the triplets who had the Chuck E Cheese birthday party.) It’s a big step to start 1:1 play dates so I was relieved to see the boys roll with it. We went to a ceramics place in downtown Northville and painted pottery together. So much fun!

Amaya really got the hang of it – three coats per color, lighter colors first, wipe the brush dry between colors. She picked a fairy to paint.

The finished product! She asked me to add the pink lip gloss lips and blue eyes. Now the store will fire it and, when we pick it up next week, the colors will be brighter and the piece will be glazed. Can’t wait!

The whole gang! Nina painted a beer stein for her husband for their anniversary and I painted pieces for Steven and Sammy.

I painted a Captain America themed dish for Steven an ice cream cone shaped dish (chocolate/strawberry swirl!) for Sammy.

Some fun artwork from the past week:

If the Dinosaurs came back…

Steven would “play tigers with them.” (You can see the kids working on their lowercase letters.)

Sammy would “run away.”

Amaya would “take care of them”.

The creation of silly Dr. Seuss characters.

Names, with lowercase letters.

One last picture – Ms. Bri sent this to me after our conferences to show me an example of one of Steven’s block creations. I can’t get enough. <3

Finally, we all want to congratulate Megan, Mike and Taco on the birth of Eden Hadlee, known in our home a Rainbow Heart. <3

Have a great week!