This is a typical scene for how I find the kids on a school day when it’s time to each breakfast. Sammy is always on his table. Steven is almost always doing art. Amaya can be found doing either, but generally with her tablet close at hand. Say what you will about tablets, but they’re a lifesaver in the morning to keep the kids occupied while Jason and I sleep.

On Monday, at long last, the kids celebrated their 100th day of school. Mrs. Shuart sent us some photos of the class celebration.

SSA have been excited about Valentine’s Day. Steven didn’t want Sally left out so he made this for her and asked me to tape it to the door by her food and litter box. <3

Pizza!!

I’m not sure if she had guidance or did this from memory, but I love Amaya’s washer and dryer.

Thornton Creek had a change drive to raise money for wildlife in Australia. They raised enough money that they held a pajama day at school on Tuesday. We took these photos before the morning bus and, after this first photo, each of the kids took turns staging a photo. They had so much fun with it!

Amaya’s

Steven’s

Sammy’s

We’ve reached the stage of kindergarten where there’s prescribed weekly reading for the kids. <3

When your mom loves giraffes so you color one for her…

Winter kindergarten fashion – sweatpants, a swimsuit cover up, a cardigan, and booties.

For Valentine’s Day, Steven and Amaya painted about a dozen rocks to bring to NY as gifts. I couldn’t help but get into the mood, myself, and paint some rocks for my little loves. I traveled with their 8lbs of rocks in my suitcase but gave the kids the ones I made on Thursday morning because there’s only so many rocks one can reasonably bring to NY. 😉

On Thursday afternoon I picked the kids up from school an hour early and we headed to the airport for our next trip to NY!

They really like that DTW is shaped like an airplane.

In exchange for an extra treat and first dibs at which night he slept with me, Sammy agreed to sit next to the friendly stranger on the airplane. She was friendly and they did become friends. Patience of a saint, truly, as Sammy explained the details of his My Little Pony game. She said she doesn’t have grandchildren so it’s nice to get to talk to kids.

First things first on Friday morning was baking Valentine’s cookies with Nana.

And making more Valentines! I was really impressed with Sammy’s focus.

On Friday afternoon, the kids, Nana and Savta picked Charlie up from school while I worked at Sara & Dave’s house. So much love!

Which led to part 2 of cookie time – frosting!

Chase, unwrapping his rock from Amaya. He was so sweet to her.

Dinner and Shabbat. You can always count on Sammy to be right there when we light Shabbat candles with Nana.

Charlie slept over on Friday night and, on Saturday morning, Nana and the kids picked up Chase and the 6 of them went out for a pancake breakfast. It’s such a great tradition they’ve started.

Cousins.

On Saturday afternoon, Steven, Sammy and Amaya went bowling for the first time. They’d roll their ball sloooooooowly down the lane. All 5 kids played and Amaya actually won one of the games and Sammy got two spares in a row in his first game!

A couple of months ago a friend of mine shared photos of her kids at the Museum of Illusions in NYC. I showed the photos to Steven and he was totally enamored with what he saw, so we decided to make the museum a stop on this weekend’s NY visit. In preparation for my upcoming train ride to DC with the kids, we took the LIRR into the city today rather than drive.

It’s truly amazing how much is the exact same since I grew up on LI, and the LIRR is high on that list.

Auntie and Dod Shuki made the trip with us, because we met up with my cousins Mike & Joe and their families, too!

The museum was so much fun. SSA are the perfect age for it because they can participate in the illusions and appreciate them in photos afterward.

Tilted room.

This was my favorite!

The kids specifically remembered the photo of my friend’s son “in the table” so they were thrilled to get to do this one.

After the museum we got lunch at Chelsea Market and then walked the High Line before heading back to Long Island.

The whole gang!

Top row: Dalia, Eli, Naomi, Jake, Sammy, Steven. Middle row: Aunt Anita, Dod Shuki, Mike, Amaya, Joe. Bottom row: Nicole, Rachel, Me, Nana.

We <3 NY!

Tomorrow we head back to MI and two day off from school for Steven, Sammy and Amaya for their mid-winter break.

Have a great week!