Merry Christmas to All

A Holiday Reading

This pretty much speaks for itself ... as soon as you know the book she's reading is "The Night Before Christmas."

It took us the better part of 23 minutes to get to this point. Up to then was a lot of organization, keeping us quiet, and introducing her "New book, Santa, to the class."

Long story short, you can tell Maya has been paying attention to the teacher's operations during story time at preschool.

Enjoy!

ORANGE BELT!

Owen earned his Orange belt in Tae Kwon Do tonight. His grandparents (Grammie and Grampy Ives and Grandpa Aalberts) were there with us to cheer him on.

We were very surprised it was testing time already, but he has been working very hard and really knew his stuff ... so I guess it's no surprise.

The night started off with him doing his "routine" of moves. He did a great job remembering the 18

steps and was very committed in the way that he moved, determined to get it right.

He then sparred against another student. Nothing too physical, just showing he knows what moves to do to defend himself and attack. Our favorite of the latter moves is a really (for lack of a better word) jaunty little hitch kick that he delivers with style. It reminds me a little of some of the dance steps I did in high school musicals ... but maybe that's just a reminder of the dangers of Broadway.

Like when he got his Yellow belt, the highlight of the evening was him breaking a board. Master Kim gave him the choice of how he would break it, either a roundhouse kick or with his fist.

Owen chose fist. Unlike when he broke his first board with his foot, this didn't come on the first hit. And you could tell it hurt a little bit, both on his knuckles and pride. But he didn't give up and it popped in two on the second hit. Grandpa Aalberts has a great video of the test I'll add to the site when I get it from him.

It was very impressive, Owen! We're all very proud of you!

Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was awesome (as Halloween should be). Maya somehow ended up with three costumes to choose from. She started with a bumblebee costume, which she decided she didn't like and was then returned. Then came the "princess" outfit, a Rapunzel dress from the movie "Tangled," which she wore out of the store and played in the rest of the afternoon ... but was tired of by bedtime.

"Mom, I don't want to be Rapunzel!" she cried. (It would have been nice to know that before we cut out the tags from inside the collar.)

Next was a ballet dancer outfit, which never really seemed like a viable option.

Which left us last year's monkey outfit. Comfortable? Check. Warm? Check. Cute as all get out?! Check. Maya was a great chimp!

And for the third year running, Owen was from outer space. Two years ago he was a Transformer, last year a NASA Astronaut, this year a Clone Trooper from Star Wars.

 It gives me no small sense of satisfaction that I undoubtedly contemplated my own Star Wars costume when I was just a little older than he is ...

It was a beautiful night for Tick or Treating. Maya got to see her good friend Chris across the street. Grammie and Grampy's dog Winnie got into the act.

And everyone was exhausted by the end of the night. Maya (below) could barely lift her pumpkin full of candy.

... but the Hawkeye Jack 'O Lantern burned brightly ...

And Owen was a great helper passing out candy.

"These are not the Gummi Bears you are looking for!"

Cover. Discover!

Fire Truck Parade and Rolling Pumpkins

It was a busy Columbus Day weekend for for the Aalberts kids. We picked out Halloween costumes, got Owen a haircut, cleaned our patch of the Constitution Trail, and made a last minute (thanks for the head's up Grammie) to the Fire Truck Parade in Bloomington.

It didn't last very long, but it was wonderful while it lasted. The oldest truck there was from 1917, the first motorized fire truck in Mt Pulaski, IL. There were fire boats, ladder trucks, special trucks with a Ferris wheel of spinning lights up front.

The only thing that wasn't there was a fire pole to slide down, so Owen invented one of his own.

It's been unseasonably warm in the 90s the past week, but fall is definitely here. Bloomington's Franklin Park has the best colors in the area. Indeed, when I came to Bloomington for my job interview six years ago around this time, I remember driving past the park and thinking it far surpassed anything we had in New Hampshire or Vermont, the leaf-peeking paradise we called home. 

Along with the beautiful colors comes some wonderful music. Maya entertained us with a fun Halloween song tonight. It's a favorite!

New endeavors

The week started out with a bang for the Aalberts kids. It was the first night for two new endeavors for both Owen and Maya.

Owen began Cub Scouts. In addition to being disarmingly handsome in his Scout uniform, he had a great time at the first Pack meeting.

Amy and I took him to an informational meeting for Scouts a week before. Owen was very excited about joining and a few of his good friends were there. I left feeling surprised at how quickly I remembered the Scout Code and Creed, to the point I could chant them along with the boys. And it was perhaps the fond memories I had of Owen and Nana's Grandpa leading my Scout den that inspired me to become a Den Leader for O's group.

And then, of course, I had to miss the first meeting to attend a City Council meeting for work ...

So we're all looking forward to next week and our first Den meeting. We'll keep you posted.

Monday was also the night of Maya's first ballet class. A flier came home from school last week from a local dance company. Maya's interest in "becoming a ballet dancer" informed the whole weekend. The countdown began the moment we told her we'd take her.

On Friday: "It's only three more days until I become a ballet dancer!"
On Saturday: "I become a ballet dancer in two days, Daddy!"

and so on ...

The class was wonderful! She clung to me when we arrived at the studio and got our orientation to the space, but as soon as the teacher called the other dancers into the class, Maya was off like a shot!

I think the pictures below convey how she threw herself into this 110%, as well as how beautiful she felt.

 

Yep. Monday's are going to be busy from now on. I'm really looking forward to it!

Ca-RACK!!!

Owen earned his yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do tonight! He's been practicing hard and did very, very well.

The test began with him performing an 18-step routine. He then did some blocks and some sparring and then completed the final test ... breaking a board!

Owen didn't know board breaking was on the agenda, but after a few pointers from Master Kim he nailed it on the first try. SNAP!!!

Amy cried. Owen beamed. It was pretty awesome!

Happy birthday, Mom!

Look who's old enough to run for president ... it's Mom!!!

We had a very happy birthday celebration over the weekend. There was cake and presents, including some special things the kids picked out for mom all by themselves ... some Almond Joy's from Owen (who knows what his mom likes), and some glittery purple nail polish from Maya (who knows what Mom and Maya like).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We love you!

Praying Mantis

In the end it was determined the Mantis was praying to be set free.

Owen and his buddy Philip found a beautiful Praying Mantis in the yard over the weekend and built a home for it out of an empty jar of unsalted mixed nuts. They left him with some grass to play in, some ants to eat, and a cicada shell for his amusement.

We were all ready to part company after a couple of days, though. The kids forgot to look in on him and, in his desperation, the Mantis changed his religion several times.

As he left he said, "Thanks Odin! I mean Owen."

Park weekend

It was a very park-oriented weekend. Dad spent most of his weekend managing a two day concert beer-tasting-for-charity festival at the theater (including an amazing concert with Swedish-by-way-of-New-Orleans bluesman Anders Osborne, above), but was way ready to go for two hours of play at the park on Sunday morning.

Amy stayed home to get some reading done (her Master's of Social Work program begins on Wednesday), but the three of us enjoyed the late-August weather and a nice, quiet morning together.

We went to two different playgrounds. The first was pretty typical stuff, some swinging, sliding, climbing, and jumping.

Then we went to the other playground, which is shaped like a ship. We got the ship operational (and launched a few missiles ... a must for the six year old). Then we turned our attention to catching all of the fish (sticks of all sizes) we could find. We gathered them, brought them to the top of the slide and sent them down to make (ironically) "fish sticks."

Another family came by while we were playing and we incorporated them in the game. But I think they thought we were crazy because they hustled away after about 15 minutes.

After Owen did his best Captain Ahab, I had them both pose with the biggest fish (stick) of the day so you would believe them when they told you how big the catch was.

Losing His First Tooth

It's been wiggly for weeks, and tonight it finally came out.

Owen lost his first tooth. A frozen chocolate-covered banana may have been the straw that broke the camel's back (or in this case the deciduous tooth's roots).

He wiggled it and woggled it. Then, stepping out of the shower, he grabbed a Kleenex and gave it the final tug.

The adult tooth is already partway in, but you'll be able to see the gap in the bottom row.

We're waiting, Tooth Fairy!

First Grade!

Owen had his first day of school today. First grade looks like it will be pretty awesome! Many of favorite friends from his kindergarten class are in his new room and his teacher is very nice.

We all went with him to school this morning. We walked in together and got him into the line that would bring him to his room.

He seemed a little bit nervous, although he might have felt more relief than anything, as Maya did all she could to disrupt things at home this morning and turn the attention back to her.

Hopefully everything will equalize a bit at home once this transition is over.

We were all very proud of our Owen, though. Below is a picture of his mom waving good-bye to him as we left.

And here are some photos from the Meet the Teacher event we had on Wednesday night, where we got to put his supplies into his desk ...

and locker ...

and say our first hello to Mrs. Steers.

Have a great year, Owen! We love you!

St Louis Road Trip, Day 1

School starts this Thursday, so it seemed no time was better than the present to get Owen out of town for a little adventure.

I gave him his options last week and Owen made his choice. Interestingly enough, everything he wanted to do involved a return visit. Turns out Owen has been doing lots of thinking about our Spring Break trip to St. Louis last March, thinking about all he did (and didn't do) and mustering up his courage should he ever get the chance again.

Day one of our trip took us back to the City Museum. It's a very big place. A crazy place. And I can see why he wanted to come back. There are so many things to explore and courage is needed for almost everything.

Making my second visit, I'm still as impressed as ever with the architecture and artsy-ness of everything inside and out. It's a wonderland! What you'd get if Gaudi were designing ball pits and slides.

Speaking of the ball pit ... Owen has no problem getting into this thing and pelting complete strangers. It's hilarious! And he gets as good as he gives. We made three stops there during the day.

We also did a lot of climbing. This wrecked out plane was a favorite place of Owen's the last time we were there.

I also made my first trip to the City Museum's third floor, home of the world's largest pencil (see eraser below). Up there we also got Owen on a rideable model train, explored the skate-park-quality slides and took in a very fun mini circus.

Later on in the day, we found ourselves back on Delmar Avenue for a gluten free pizza at Pi. But we were also smart enough to save room for some frozen custard at Ted Drewes, a St. Louis institution.

It's a tremendous dessert, this visit made even better by a souvenir MLB batting helmet cup.

What a great day!