On Monday morning, Steven, Sammy, Amaya and I had a morning together celebrating Rosh Hashanah. As part of the festivities, the kids requested apples and honey for breakfast, for a sweet new year.
Amaya was grumpy here because she didn’t want her brothers to be in a picture with her.
Much better.
We decided to go to services with a local reform synagogue, Shir Shalom. Most of the synagogues are all clustered together and 20- 25 min away so it was a matter of trying to find a congregation we might like to join for religious school. The family services were held at West Bloomfield high school and, despite how it looks in this picture I took with Amaya, it filled up pretty quickly. I’d estimate ~300 people in attendance.
We need some dressier clothing for these boys. 🙂 For Yom Kippur we’ll at least go with cargo pants.
During the service we were encouraged to talk about a way we can spread kindness in the world. We discussed it and landed on “Share with friend” which the boys wrote on their papers. (Steven blue and Sammy yellow.)
They’re working on their lowercase letters so I wrote it for them to copy. Even with my model of a lowercase “r” Sammy preferred upper case but, truly, his writing skills have grown by leaps and bounds in just the first month of school. His concentration has increased, too. Where he erased his writing, it was after noticing that he forgot a space between the “e” and “w”. Also a new skill!
I took the kids to school after lunch, in time for them to still get some recess time. They loved leading me through the cafeteria to the outside doors and then off they went with just a “love you, mama!” from Steven. It made my heart very happy to see. I was also pleased that their principal noticed the boys’ haircuts. I like that he is aware of them enough to notice.
The whole gang after school. Another day when I got to to surprise them at the bus stop after school. Amaya’s face looks sour because she’s sucking a jolly rancher she won in French class.
Sweet Sal.
When Jason got home from work, he borrowed a book (The Quiet Book) from Steven’s library. He made a sign that included Jason’s name, the name of the book and a rendition of Jason’s phone number. If the book wasn’t returned by the Wednesday after Tuesday Jason would owe $59 in fines.
Steven has had trouble staying in bed in the morning so we went back to a star system and prizes. On Tuesday morning, everyone earned their newest set of prizes and Amaya got to work decorating her hair brush with some kind of colored glue and lots of bedazzling. She was very proud of her creation.
Tuesday was Walk & Bike to School Day. Gabby was originally going to walk with the kids but had lab at school so Jason saved the day and walked the mile+ to school with SSA. <3
Steven is a wack-a-doodle.
Steven chose to wear a headband to school on Friday. I asked him what he’d say if anyone said, “Headbands are for girls” and he said, “Boys can wear whatever they want” so off the went! (And then proceeded to leave his headband on the bus lol.)
Since Nana can’t travel to us right now, on Thursday evening we all headed to NY for a long weekend. We’re still having issues with moving walks so we solved it with Amaya on our suitcase.
Wearing our Nana shirts for the trip!
Two out of three kids stayed dry! (The wet child’s name rimes with Beeven.”
Another first! No one needed to hold my hand on the airport train.
Aaaaaaand, another first! No one needed me to lift them over the “crack” when we boarded the plane.
Other than a nasty flight between Steven and Amaya over an arm rest, the flight was uneventful. The flight attendant also comped my drink! It seems to be they see me with the 3 kids and decide they don’t want my money.
As he does, Sammy fell asleep literally 3 minutes before we landed. I couldn’t bear to wake him so I carried him off the plane.
Check this out! I took this just after the above photo but using the low light exposure on my new iPhone. Pretty cool!
Made it!!
While I fell back to sleep in the morning, Nana and the kids made some delicious banana muffins. They got to customize with chocolate chips, coconut and walnuts. So yummy!
Papa and Sammy games
We had a lazy morning at home that included a fun visit from Savta, Auntie and Dod Shuki.
As a special treat, we were able to meet up with Uncle Arnie and Aunt Dale for lunch! Ahead of time, I made a rudimentary stick figure family tree so SSA could see how they’re related to Poppy Steven.
Everyone was thick as thieves right from the start, even though it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. <3 Such a wonderful lunch.
We were able to pick up Chase and Charlie from school and then play on their playground for a bit afterwards, while Chase went off with his friends. (Big kid!)
Charlie spent a long time teaching Amaya how to swing on the monkey bars. She’s a phenomenal big cousin.
We went back to Aunt Sara and Uncle Dave’s house where the kids were able to work on craft projects that were gifts from Uncle Arnie and Aunt Dale.
Charlie is so cute. She asked the kids their favorite animals and colors and then came down with surprise gifts for them which she gave them in a “circle of presents”.
Tattoo Triplets!!
On Saturday morning, Nana took Steven, Sammy, Amaya and Charlie out to Panera for breakfast.
And one picture with the whole grandkid gang.
We totally lucked out because there was a fair at the church right behind Sara & Dave’s house! It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.
Steven, Sammy and Amaya all pushed themselves out of their comfort zones. Steven tried the kiddie roller coaster and a kid’s version of a free fall ride. Amaya tried one of those big potato slides. In the past she’s climbed up to the top only to climb back down but this time she spent a good half hour+ going on again and again and again.
Sammy was his usual daredevil self. Along with Charlie, he pushed me to go on a huge ride that we loved so much we rode it 4 times. And Charlie – WOW! There’s no ride too scary for that girl!
Charlie and I tried it out before I let Sammy ride. I wanted to get a sense for how scary it was. It was right up his alley!
The trio!
This was one of the “kids win every time” games and the operator was fabulous with the kids. She was so patient explaining how to throw the darts and giving Sammy turn after turn until he got one.
After two full days, we were back on a 9:30am flight to Detroit today. A whirlwind for sure but totally worth every minute of travel.
In true Steven fashion, he made friends while looking at planes. He started talking to two couples and they had a long conversation that, eventually, Amaya joined. Sammy was shy until it was time to board the plane and then he was glad he went over because they raved about his backpack. It was really sweet and I could tell they were engaged in the conversation (vs. being annoyed by a kid who kept talking to them – also a possible outcome when an outgoing 5 year old walks over.)
Homebound!
It’s interesting. I still get a fair amount of attention traveling with the kids by myself. While still not easy, it’s immeasurably easier these days than 2 years ago and we travel frequently enough that we have a very specific routine down at each of the main airports we travel and in and out of.
Steven walked by the cockpit and yelled in, “Hi pilots!” which got them a visit inside and some captain wings. 🙂
I decided how long it took us to get to the car once we were off the plane: 49 minutes. Both my mom and Jason commented that that’s almost as long as the flight itself! We had to use the bathroom, take the airport train, walk sloooooowly, get our luggage and then navigate to the car with all of our gear. It’s easier but still quite the production.
And here we are at home!
Hard at fun on a Sunday afternoon.
Each of the kids picks out a bedtime book and I decided to start to add some chapter books into the mix. We’re starting with Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle for a couple of reasons: 1) I loved these books as a kid and 2) Each chapter is as self-contained story which I think is good for SSA at this point. We started tonight as Amaya’s choice and it was a hit! I can’t wait to get to “The Radish Cure” or the “Never-Want-To-Go-To-Bedders”.
Have a great week!