Brrr ...

Anna went back to school last week on Thursday and Friday, but then both girls were off of school this Monday and Tuesday due to the extremely cold weather.  If you asked them, they would tell you that it was "dangerously cold!" since that's what the news reporters kept saying on the forecast.  Monday the high temperature was -12!

Backing up a bit, Kate has been having separation anxiety again in the past few months.  It came to a head in December when she would cry when I dropped her off for preschool.  She'd always perk up and have fun, but it was still hard to separate.  At the time I figured we'd just get through until Christmas break and then deal with it when school started again.  So when Anna was going back to school last week I set up a special playdate with one of Kate's classmates on Thursday and on Friday morning we headed to the Stoughton library to get out and about a bit.  I think if school would have started back again on Monday, she would have eased into things better.  However, two full days of playing inside with her brother and sister was right up her alley so today she's had a hard time leaving home to participate in dance class and preschool.  Sigh.  Then this week she's only going to be at preschool one day.  I have a feeling that Monday might be just as tough for her and I as today has been.  Sigh.

On a brighter note, Kate had a great time with Lincoln during their playdate on Thursday.  We'll have to do something like this again.

On another bright note, the kids and I managed to have a good time this week even though we were confined to our home starting on Sunday after church and the kids and I didn't leave again until today.  Sunday afternoon we watched the Packers play and, even though they lost, we made some great family memories watching the game.  Monday we made some ice sculptures, painted, had "school time", read books, took down Christmas decorations, made cookies, ran around the house, played, played, and played some more.  Here's a few photos of our ice projects.

Tuesday we had our own music class, did more "school time", managed to go outside (without Ethan) for a little while, did laundry, played again, and then had Melissa come over in the afternoon and for dinner to give the kids and I a bit of a break from just looking at each other :)  Those days actually went fairly well.  Now we've got to work on getting back into our school routines.

A few notes about Ethan ... he's pretty much down to one nap, which opens up our mornings a whole lot.  Good timing, little boy!  He's got a handful of words which are getting more and more intelligible (mama, dada, clock, all gone ("ah ga") and up are favorites).  He's also picking up on signs very well.  He seems to get a little confused about how to make his hands move to communicate which ideas, but he's trying very hard to tell us what he wants.  He can walk forwards, backwards, spin, crouch, stand up from a sitting, and do all sorts of goofy things.  He's still happiest when there are people around and/or lots of activity going on around him.  It's been a pleasure to watch his personality emerge :)