Back to work

OK, another seemingly unforgivable delay in posting to the blog.

I'll start by posting a few pictures from a trip we made to the Discovery Museum last week. It was fun hanging out with Maya and Owen. Owen worked hard on milking the cows and playing in the climbing gym. Maya worked hard being afraid of the cows (she is actually quite fascinated with them, until you get close and they lose their appeal), and enjoying some of the levers she could flip herself.

Anyway, I'm sorry I've been so slow at getting things added to the Blog. The past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy, though. Here's what happened ...

Amy returned to work this week. Her first day was Tuesday and she worked part time through Friday. On Monday she goes back to a 40 hour week.

The timing was just about perfect. Amy was really feeling like she needed this kind of change, and the option of returning to a place where she'd been, with a good salary and a solid sense of the lay of the land have helped us feel like this is a good decision.

Thanks to Nana Aalberts for coming down to watch the kids as we started transitioning our schedules this week.

The other happiness is we all feel good about the day care/pre-school program we found for the kids. The center is very nice, with quiet yet engaging rooms for Maya and a five-day-per-week pre-school program for Owen, which he will love. It's going to be a change, as we've never both worked full-time since Owen was born, but I think it's going to be good in the long run.

We have been enjoying this final weekend. We did some work today prepping snacks and lunches for the kids (and us), but also enjoying some fun around town.

This morning I took Owen and Maya to the Pantagraph's Kids' Expo this morning, and Owen went to part of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band concert tonight at my theater. Both good options on a cold, windy day.

Some videos of our time at the Expo follow. It was fun, with lots of booths, some face painting (you'll be amazed at how fast she works), and, best of all, some bouncy slides.

Very fun! (And we all took great naps!)

Happy birthday, Nana!

Nana and Grandpa drove down Sunday after church for an overnight stay and celebration of Nana's birthday Monday. We opened presents, made Nana wear the silly hat, and everyone enjoyed cake and ice cream.

It was a relaxing visit, and Owen and Maya enjoyed some play and reading time with their grandparents.

We even had a little early Valentine's Day celebration, with new rescue vehicles for Owen ...

And some fun (and surprising?!) books for Maya.

I think Nana also used up her birthday wishes on the beautiful weather! We got out a lot over the weekend with temps in the lower 60s on Saturday, and in the 40s and 50s yesterday and today.

The big outings were a couple of trips to the fire station.

Owen got out his bicycle and pedaled up the hill. Maya rode along today ...

And the family met the newest firefighter, who not knowing, or not caring, Owen is a stationhouse regular, showed off all the trucks to Owen.

It was a great visit ... so good Maya only lasted half the trip home.

Assembly Hall

Go Hawks!

Owen went to his first Iowa game this weekend. Grampie Ives joined Amy and I in a trip to Champaign on Sunday for the Iowa vs. Illinois basketball game.

It was kind of amazing. Amy and I had been to several away Iowa football games, but this was the first time we'd been a college basketball game outside of Iowa City.

Walking into Assembly Hall dressed in black and gold was pretty daunting. Unlike going to a football game where it's pretty easy to see the visitor's section, Assembly hall was literally a sea of Orange. Strangely enough, the only other person we could see dressed in black was Michael Jordan, who was sitting courtside on the other side of the arena.

Jordan's son Jeff plays for the Illini and is arguably the least popular member of the team. I mean, seriously, what could be worse than parents' weekend and making the entire team feel self conscious playing in front of THE BEST BASKETBALL PLAYER WHO EVER LIVED!?

No pressure.

Anyway, Iowa played a pretty good game, but ultimately lost. Still, we had fun and made it home in plenty of time to watch the Super Bowl (at least one team wearing gold and black won on Sunday).

And, continuing with the black and gold theme, Owen tried on the new Bumblebee pajamas his grammie brought him.

While we were at the game, Grammie enjoyed some time with Maya. Maya's biggest hit this weekend was a new book filled with flaps to open ... and a mirror on the last page. When Maya would get to the page, her eyes would widen at the sight of the baby in the book.

Then we'd ask her if she could kiss that baby, and she always did, leaning in to kiss her own reflection.

The other highlight last week was bringing Owen and Maya to a performance of Ailey II at my work. Maya napped in her stroller throughout, but Owen thought the dancing was fun. The music was loud, so he was ready to go just before it finished. Maya, on the other hand, slept soundly while all the music crashed and banged ... but woke up the moment it was over and the hall was quiet.