This was a pretty quiet week. Tuesday kicked off “March is Reading Month” at school which is both a lot of fun for the kids and a bit of added stress with the extra activities and responsibilities. If it’s taught me anything in our first week, though, it’s that the kids are interested in reading independently if the time is set aside. I think I’ve mentioned before that they’re all very good readers, it’s just not an activity they choose with all of the other options around them. So that will be something to think about when the month ends.

I’m not quite sure why Amaya made this but it’s super sweet. “D: I love you sooooooo much, Daddy.” “M: Thank you for signing me up for girl scouts.” (Maybe more independent reading will help with spelling. 🙂 )

Amaya had a rough day on Monday. In the end, she decided it would be better to stay home from swim and take it easy and, like that, her day turned. Instead of swim, she took her chromebook and did math exercises online. This child loves math.

Deep discussions for Steven, Daddy and Sally

Something I love about March Reading Month at Thornton Creek are the zoom bedtime stories with teachers. I think they started this last year when so many kids were virtual but kept it up this year, as well. Each night, a different teacher joins the zoom to read two story books. The kids absolutely love it. They’re also really independent getting it set up. They know where to go in Schoology and how to access the zoom.

Steven left his jacket on the school playground on Wednesday. Since it was a warmer day, Sophia took the kids to play after dinner so they could get it. Lots of energy to burn off and a nice sign of warmer weather to come.

It wasn’t until the kids were getting on the bus in the morning that I noticed Sammy was in shorts. I made him put pants in his backpack “just in case” but he wore these shorts all day – with his snow boots. ❤

Stills from slowmo videos of the kids jumping over puddles. Eight truly is great.

Amaya was scared at bedtime on Wednesday so she slept in our master. Sally was right there to say hello and keep her company. It’s still amazing to think about her family-loving transformation.

Friday was another awesome weather day so, after school, Sophia took the kids to one of their favorite playgrounds over by Maybury Farm. These pictures make me so, so happy.

Here are some pictures of the boys at school this week.

Sally, curled up on Jason on Friday evening. Best cat.

She had an annual vet appointment on Friday. We need to sedate her ahead of time but it’s made a huge difference getting her into her carrier and allowing the vet to do their exam, take blood, etc. She’s a feisty girl. She seems fine neurologically and doesn’t seem to be in any pain, which was a concern because her balance isn’t what it used to be, but it sounds like that’s likely just a symptom of aging. She’s dropped from 7lb 11oz to 6lb 1oz and has a heart murmur so they’re sending out some blood work to see if she has a thyroid issue – which is treatable with medicine. (Though good luck getting medicine in this cat.) I should have the results next week. If it’s not her thyroid, they might want her to come back in to be sure it’s not anything else.

On Saturday, Amaya had a 2.5 hour girl scout event at Northville High School put on by the NHS Robotics club.

This is how it was promoted: “Girl Scout STEM Workshop: Calling all Daisy and Brownie Girl Scouts for the 2022 Girl Scout STEM Workshop hosted by the Northville High School robotics team, Robostangs Team 548.  Girl Scouts will work through the 3 robotics badges along with different crafts and activities. They will be learning how to build, program, and showcase a robot.”

Most of Amaya’s troop signed up for the event.

Before I headed out, I got a pic of the girl scouts and Robostangs. It was pretty cool to see all of these high school students ready to spend their day with K- 3 age kids. They were really engaged.

When I arrived to pick her up, Amaya was glued to the side of her “mentor” for the day. Girl had a crush and she let it be known. She’s still talking about him, 24 hours later.

Some of Amaya’s troop, after the event.

“My robot holds and gives you the stuff you need for gymnastics.”

If you ask Amaya her name, she’ll often say, “Amaya in cursive with a heart”. 🙂

Badges for designing, programming and showcasing a robot. (She’s also waiting on her badge for the snowshoe trail event and for her cookie sales.)

Showing off her new badges. She did a big reveal for Steven.

The boys had fun of their own yesterday. Steven made a mochi farm. Mochis are, it seems, the big trend in the boys’ class right now. They’re little squishy toys, not the Japanese food.

It was gorgeous outside so we sent the boys out around 1:30pm. They grumbled until they realized how nice it was and then pretty much stayed outside until we went for dinner at 5pm. Amaya joined them as soon as she got home at 4pm. (Steven was bummed we aren’t tracking outdoor time this year, after wracking up that many hours.)

Sally and Daddy held down the fort inside. That’s one comfortable cat.

Jason didn’t feel great but Sammy really wanted breakfast for dinner so the kids and I hit up a diner that delivered.

Amaya, talking about her crush.

Steven ordered fried shrimp and asked me to take pictures of these conjoined shrimp that looked like octopus.

We didn’t get in our reading on Friday and the kids wanted to try to double up last night so they read in bed for a while before going to sleep. I loved it, loved it, loved it. They need flashlights so they can read in the morning if they want to, before their siblings are awake.

At Hebrew School today, the kids got canvases with their Hebrew names and were able to paint them. Amaya’s is spelled wrong which is my fault going back to an email to Jason in July of 2014. I’m going to wait a while to tell Amaya. 🙂 The boys haven’t finished painting yet so they don’t want me to share theirs with anyone yet.

The boys had a make-up swim lesson today. Amaya joined us because Jason was at the office.

A fun part of Level 5 are piggy back rides on the instructor’s back at the end of the lesson.

Occupied by Minecraft.

The kids and I played a game of Sorry this afternoon. It takes me right back to playing with Poppy Steven when I was a kid.

Steven and I made some R2-D2 treats from a school cookbook. Four ingredient simple – white chocolate chips, kit kat bars, crushed peanuts and bananas.

Steven got his reading time in this afternoon.

Jason went out to watch the Sparty game so, while dinner was cooking, Steven, Sammy and Amaya played a “who can stay in the library the longest” game. It ended in a tie but Amaya and Sammy got their reading in and Steven did some work on a lego set.

Sally filled Jason’s vacant seat. 🙂

Finally – look who’s back! Season two of Star Trek: Picard premiered this week. I’m a happy lady.

That’s all for us! Have a great week!