Puppet show!

Owen pulled the puppet theater up the stairs from the basement by himself this morning.

The show was on!

Four stories were presented. Owen and his mom told "The 3 Little Pigs" and "Cinderella." Owen and his dad presented "Little Bunny Foo Foo." Then Maya, who you will see below enjoying her early spot as an audience member, got into the act with her own version of "Cinderella," with Dad as her assistant.

In case you're interested, due to demand the run has been extended a week.

Tickets are on sale now!

New Camera and New Adventures

It was a very exciting week at the Aalberts house. Dad and the kids enjoyed some extra time together with a MLK holiday extra day off on Monday. Owen then had an extra-extra day off with his Grammie and Grampy on Tuesday while his teachers had an Institute Day.

Then on Thursday Owen began a six-week theater class offered through his pre-school and Maya's current day care. An assistant teacher there is studying theater and education and is coordinating her second Scribbles Theater offering 4-7 year olds a chance to learn and perform a short play.

Owen had a great time, enjoying the mix of rehearsal and acting games. The big show is at the end of February.

Mid week provided another surprise when the camera Joel ordered arrived. Wanting to take a step up from the point-and-shoot camera and cell phone shots he'd been taking, Joel spent his Christmas money on a nice SLR with lots of neat gadgets, hoping to get some better shots of the kids and all their activities. The first night of use provided some excellent pictures right off the bat, a harbinger, hopefully, of things to come.

It didn't hurt that the kids were in high photogenic mode. We turned on some music and had a little dance party.

Maya even broke out her ballet outfit.

Owen's stylings (all of his own devising, I should add) took a much more Modern approach ...

Root Beer Float

There's a slight case of the New Year's Day blahs at the house today, but one great moment of joy as Owen enjoyed his first root beer float. Happy 2011, everyone!

A Christmas Miracle

We started a new holiday tradition this year. The kids got dressed in their PJs. We then loaded them in the car, stopped for some ice cream, then did a tour of Christmas lights. Grampy, Grammie, and Auntie Meg joined in our inaugural parade of lights, and it's safe to say nothing was more impressive than this collection of illuminated Santas, elves, reindeer, and snowmen on Hovey Street in Normal. Granted, Amy and I have seen this collection several times in the past, but in five years here, this was the first time we've been by at night for the full effect.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Soaring then crashing

Flying high on her mom's feet was a pretty good place to be for Maya. The kids are both doing well, despite being ridiculously tired tonight. So tired they'd passed the point of feeling tired. "Something in my body is telling me to stay awake," said Owen after he'd hopped out of bed five minutes after I'd left him there. So I stopped, grabbed at his belly and pretended to remove the thought from him. "Lay still for 15 minutes," I said, and I'll check on you." This always works. He was out in a heartbeat, no need to even check.

And now the photo …

The system still has some kinks.

Mobile blogging

A photo of the kids at bath time is the highlight to my first attempt blogging from my phone. October was crazy with a heavy performance schedule at work, school for the kids, soccer lessons for Owen, a new set of job responsibilities for Amy, welcoming Grammie and Grampy Ives as the newest residents of Normal, Illinois, and being with Nana for another round of cancer treatments.

Oh, and Halloween.

Life took so much time there was none left to write about it.

Anyway, fingers crossed that this new application will work and that bringing the blog with me will be just the thing to keep it up and running.