NY / MI

It’s been a busy week! I think we need to get used to this as we enter sports season and approach summer. I’m not complaining, though. More sunshine and warmer weather are my jam.

We kicked off the week with a calm Monday. Amaya got her fashion game on and made this stylish dress out of a trash bag – and wore it all day long.

I got some lunchtime cuddles with Sammy. <3

It’s almost pool season and the JCC pool isn’t heated so we’re going to try out wetsuits this summer. Sammy’s looking pretty damn stylish in his, if I do say so myself.

Thank you Grandpa Homey for sending SSA their new friend, the talking Sloth. They all love him!

On Tuesday morning, early, Sammy came to me to cuddle. That’s not his usual morning behavior but I love Sammy cuddle so I went with it. A little while later Steven came in and started whispering to him. So I knew something was up. It turns out the kids were downstairs making me breakfast in bed. Such little loves. And it was some breakfast! I had toast with lots of cinnamon sugar and toast with cinnamon sugar and chocolate syrup and toast with honey and chocolate and melted popsicle. A sugary feast fit for a queen.

5pm on Tuesday afternoon was the first baseball practice for the boys. (Which has since moved to Saturday afternoons.) We didn’t have child care past 4pm-ish so I decided to take the kids to the playground at 4pm and take the rest of my meetings from the playground and/or car. It was a little hectic but worked out great, overall. I was really excited for SSA because some of their friends from Kindergarten, who are at school in person, were also at the playground. They were so excited to see their old friends.

Amaya took some pictures of the boys at practice for me. You can see she drew arrows toward Sammy in the first pic and Steven in the second. I think she’s proud to have learnd how to do that. 🙂

Our ball players, ready for a great season. They’re doing coach pitch again and there are three or four other boys from their class on the team. (Owen S, Jack, Quinn, Ruxin and maybe a couple others.)

Wednesday it was Amaya’s last practice before her first game!

Playing catcher.

Steven and Sammy do a great job occupying themselves while Amaya practices. Sammy made this neat stick sculpture.

Steven showed me some love. <3

Daddy cuddles before bed

Steven and I got a little silly on Thursday morning and we checked out what he’d look like with longer curly hair lol. He was totally cracking up.

On Thursday afternoon, Amaya and I headed out for our first girls’ weekend in NY since Dec 2019! COVID, and lots of “all of the kids” strips put a short crimp in my 1:1 trips to NY but Steven and I got it going again in Feb and now it’s Amaya’s turn. I can tell you that this girl was ready to see her cousins.

My best girl.

Charlie hugs are Amaya’s favorite hugs! (I literally just turned to her and asked, “What kind of hugs are your favorite hugs?” and she answered, “Charlie hugs.” Which should surprise no one.)

The Goldstein Girls!

A huge bonus of the kids’ iPods is they can text me when I’m away. Is there any mom who wouldn’t want to wake to messages like this?

We don’t root for teams in the Land of Cheltenham, we “score” for them. And a Yankees/Detroit game presented a dilemma for Steven. 🙂 Seven years old and texting me screen shots. I love it.

Plus, some pre-school FaceTime (with both of my boys) on Friday morning.

The brothers got ready for school together and had some downtime to watch Ryan videos before their first class.

This week Charlie was home for virtual school which worked out perfectly because she and Amaya were able to do school together on Friday while I worked from the Goldberg’s house. They did an amazing job staying focused and rewarded themselves with a “spa day” after school.

Steven really liked seeing Amaya on screen during their class. I love that we’ve taken advantage of these opportunities in this weird virtual year.

Boys loving HUGE pieces of watermelon just like their daddy eats.

On Thursday, Amaya received a package that included a bunny on a leash that she bought with her own money. She couldn’t take it to NY so she left Sammy and Daddy with instructions to walk it at 1pm on weekdays and noon on weekends. On Friday, Sammy stepped up and took care of Amaya’s “pet”.

Friday night dinner out for the Cline men, braving the cooler weather!

In NY, we celebrated Mother’s Day a week early with Nana, Papa, Savta, and Allen and Syvia Goldberg. The kids spent the morning making cards. I love Amaya’s creativity.

It’s not a trip to NY without time on the trampoline.

Back in MI, Sammy asked Jason to preheat the oven to 400 degrees so he could experiment and bake something for the men. Sammy told Jason, “I was afraid it would be dry because I only used one liquid but lots of dry ingredients.” I hear it was delicious!

Just like the trampoline, video games are also a staple of our visits to the Goldberg’s house.

We spent the afternoon at Chase’s soccer game. It was fun to get to watch him play!

Amaya worked out the courage to pet Millie, Allen’s black lab.

Afterward, we hung out at the Goldberg’s. There were card games and beers and Uncle Dave started to teach Amaya to ride without training wheels! She’s so close!! We just need to get back to it at home, and quickly before she forgets what she’s picked up.

Back in MI, it was another dinner out for the Cline men.

Today we had a lazy morning and then headed to another soccer game before leaving for the airport. The goodbyes were hard.

Nana and Amaya walking the track

Off we go, back to the men!

With gifts in tow. 🙂

Just a few more things before I wrap up for the weekend. The kids are still working on their animal books and I took a sneak peek at some of the content.

Here are Steven’s dedication and “about the author” pages.