Trip up north

We got back from our visit to Augusta yesterday afternoon.  Here's a few highlights (good and bad):

*My dad taught Anna how to play sudoku.  She's pretty good for a five year old.
 

*Kate preferred to play with Ethan's bobcat more than her special bear; go figure.

*The girls helped collect and cook some maple sap on Saturday and Sunday.

*We learned that Ethan sleeps pretty badly away from home right now.

*We had lots and lots of tasty food.

*The girls went sledding down the hill a lot on Saturday, but we managed to pop one of the tubes during one of the first trips down on Monday.

*Ethan enjoyed a little bit of outside time, but no Kubota rides yet :)

*Matt dug the girls a few caves and tunnels in the big snow piles.

*Everyone made some great memories.

 Here's a couple of videos that Matt took, too.

Now we're looking at "slightly" warmer weather for the rest of spring break ... hooray!

Picture stories

I was able to take some fun pictures this last week that require stories to explain them so that's how this entry will go.

First, although the calendar says that it's spring, the season of spring has definitely NOT arrived here in Wisconsin.  Today we had one of our first days where the temperatures were above 30 degrees.  There's still plenty of snow on the ground and more snow in the forecast.  So we make do with the outside snow activities when we can.  Since it's lighter later now, Matt has taken the girls outside after dinner sometimes to slide them down the ice path in the ditch.  They are full of giggles during these evenings :)

They also had a good old fashioned snowball fight.

Before our most recent batch of snow, we got out the bikes.  Anna wanted to try hers without training wheels; this is going to be the summer of learning to ride a bike for her!

We also still have lots of indoor fun.  Here's a good shot of "pile on top of Daddy".

On Monday, Kate, Ethan, and I had a playdate cancelled due to a friend's illness so we decided to make it a special day and visit Anna for lunch at school.  Kate even got to have hot lunch with Anna at school!  Kate sat on the rug with Anna and her classmates before lunch dismissal, lined up with Anna, went through the lunch line, ate lunch at the kindergarten table, and played with Anna and her friends at recess.  It was a fun event :)

On Thursday, the Valpo basketball team played in the NCAA tournament (and lost to Michigan State :(, but Ethan and I were sporting our VU gear, at least until both my sweatshirt and his onsie were coated with his spit-up.

On Friday after school, I dropped Ethan off at GE with Matt and drove the girls to meet up with my mom so she could drive them the rest of the way to their place.  Matt, Ethan, and I will join everyone sometime on Sunday afternoon.  Today Matt and I have enjoyed having some time just with Ethan, and a chance to do things together with one another (cleaning, laundry, pruning fruit trees, running errands, and even watching a movie!).  We're looking forward to having a mini-vacation up north with the rest of the family, too.

Updates

Once upon a time I was much better about updating this blog once a week.  I usually had a nice spot in my weekly routine when I could sit still for a few minutes and jot down some ideas.  Life as a family of five has changed that a bit :)  So here are a few updates about the people in our family.

Anna - I don't know if I mentioned this or not yet on this blog, but sometime during the past couple of months, Anna has really hit some kind of plateau.  Her whole mind and body has just settled a bit.  She seems to have finally adjusted to the all day everyday kindergarten routine and is simply a really cool kid right now.  She's not as tired or overwhelmed at the end of the day and is usually a very kind, pleasant, responsible and funny kid.  All of the work we've done with her during the past few years has finally seemed to pay off!

We had her parent-teacher conference last week and everything sounds good from that end, too.  According to her teacher, Anna is a kind, responsible kid who works hard to do her best.  She can be very particular about some things, but is a great kid who is learning a lot in kindergarten :)

Kate - Kate is definitely the middle child right now.  I've been being conscious about making sure she has a few playdates each week with kids her age because I'm certainly not the best playmate for her these days.  If we're at home, I'm usually trying to get something done ... food prep, dishes, laundry, picking up, etc.  She's actually been very upset when I come to pick her up from a playdate because she says "but who will I play with at home?"  Granted, we have our special time together, too, but I know she likes kid playmates more than momma as a playmate right now.

The time change seems to have been good for Kate.  She was finally able to sleep in for a few mornings and got over some of the crankiness that was creeping up last week.  Though she can dig her heels in sometimes about certain things, Kate still has a pretty laid back personality and just likes to have fun.

She's officially signed up for preschool for next year, the same preK class that Anna did, but with a different teacher.  We opted out of 4K for several reasons, 5 days a week and large classes being a couple of them.

Ethan - Ethan falls into the "third child" category pretty accurately.  He gets dragged around a lot of places and has just had to learn how to be flexible.  He loves places that provide him with lots of stimulation and seems to prefer being around others.  If he's left in a room by himself for more than a minute or two, he lets us know :)  I can't wait to get this boy outside.  I think he's just going to love all of the different sights, sounds, and smells that the out of doors has to offer.

Ethan has been trying to suck on his hands or fingers or thumb pretty consciously the last week or so, but hasn't had much success.  At this point we'd rather have a pacifier kid than another thumb sucker, but whatever will be will be.

Ethan has also discovered this week that he can reach for and grab things with his hands.  It's funny to watch the concentration on his face when he's really trying to touch something.

He's also started laughing :)  I love baby giggles.  We can usually get some good laughs out of him a few times a day; Matt and Anna finally got to hear some good ones last night.  The best way to get him to laugh right now is to sing songs or say rhymes that involve his hands and arms and then be really over-the-top with his movements.

Like our other children, Ethan is also very strong.  He can handle 10-15 minutes at a time in the excersaucer these days and also enjoys the upright position of the Bumbo.  However, both of these activities usually produce lots of nasty spit-ups so we don't do them right after he's eaten.

Matt - He got to ride his bike to work once last week and once this week ... hooray!  Maybe we can get a good routine going where he gets to do it twice a week again.  Work is okay these days for him - some good and some not so good.  We're just very thankful for his job.


Me - I'm ready for some more normal sleep and some warmer weather.  I think those two things may go hand in hand.  Some days I feel a bit overwhelmed with the daily tasks while other days Kate and I have too much time on our hands.  Overall, I'm doing my best to enjoy little moments each day :)

Stories to remember

I've been keeping a running list the last few weeks of things Matt and I want to remember about this stage of our life.  Here it goes ...

Anna and Kate think everything tastes better with butter and brown sugar.  The other day Anna suggested those additions to some popcorn we made as a snack and it was delicious :)

One morning while Kate was sitting on the toilet, she said her feet were going to sleep.  She looked down and said "See, their eyes are closed."  Sure enough, her footie pajamas had bunnies on the feet and their eyes were closed.

A Saturday morning activity a few weeks back was to decorate Ethan with stickers.

I've given up on the long-sleeve battle with Kate.  No matter the temperature outside, she insists on short sleeves.  She claims that if she wears long sleeves it will make her fall asleep (huh?).

A few weeks ago Ethan gave me the sweetest coos and smiles right before I'd put him down for a nap or in the morning when he was supposed to be eating.  It seems like he already knows that these are the special "Ethan-Mommy" times and so he wants to make sure he makes the most of them :)

Who needs toys when you have a big box to play in?

Our girls have an uncanny ability to know when a book is being read out loud anywhere in our house.  As soon as Matt or I start reading to Ethan or one of the girls, their "book sense" starts tingling, they stop what they are doing, and flock to wherever we are to listen to the rest of the story.

Ethan LOVES his mobile right now.  If I need 5-10 minutes to get ready to leave the house or to stall him before a nap, it almost never fails to lay him in his crib and turn the mobile on.  As with Kate when she was an infant, we call the animals on the mobile his "friends".

Last week Anna confided to me that her container of strawberries spilled right at the beginning of her lunch period.  She said her friend, Lauren, went to get a teacher right away and they all worked together to clean it up.  I asked Anna if she was upset about this and her reply was "Mom, I'm in Kindergarten now.  I can handle it when those kinds of things happen!"

And since I failed to note it last week, Ethan is three months old and officially out of the fourth trimester!  Hooray!  I had a rough time getting a clear picture of him smiling so here are a couple that might show how he's growing and changing.  And yes, he has the big Mischnick baby cheeks and multiple chins.