Hey everybody! Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy New Year! Jackson, 5, started Kindergarten this year. He is growing up and having fun learning how to read and write. His favorite topic in school so far is Science - students in Kindergarten have been studying volcanoes and geology. Jack-Jack recently went to a classmate's birthday party at a gymnastics school. He had fun jumping into the foam pit! Jonathan, 8, is now in second grade. We recently moved the boys to a new school in town: Westview Elementary. He loves his music teacher, Mrs. Crull, who is a U of I Champaign Central HS alumna, and a high school classmate of Sarah's, and a college classmate of Jeff's. Jonathan started Cub Scouts this year. He started work last night on his first Pinewood Derby car. This summer, our theatre company put on a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Jeff was honored to be picked as director. This was a large production, and had a lot of moving parts to keep track of. Jonathan also played a part! J was a member of the children's ensemble. This was his first role on the stage. More to come? Who knows?! Jeff's been staying busy with music teaching at Edison Middle School in Champaign. He will be giving a session at the Illinois Music Education Convention next month. The session will introduce music teachers to web-based music creation software Jeff uses with his students called SoundTrap. Jeff's continued to work with the U of I Music Education faculty, bringing Music Ed undergraduates to Edison Middle School and letting them work with students one-on-one. Jeff's also been asked to serve as director for Parkland College's spring production of Memphis: the Musical. Sarah is serving as attendance secretary for a new school, Kenwood Elementary in Champaign. She loves her new school! The school is on a "Balanced Calendar" - meaning she gets longer breaks during the school year, and a shorter summer. She likes the extra breaks during the school year. We bought a new car for Sarah this year - a Chevy Equinox. SD's continuing to manage the Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company's Seven Corpse Dinner Murder Mystery troupe. This is a fundraiser for our company - businesses contract us for performances, and volunteer actors improvise their roles. This year, the company, under Sarah's management, raised a record amount of money to support local theatre! We're so grateful for all our family and friends! This has been a wonderful year, with growing boys, bike rides, hard work, hobbies, and a little time just for messing around. We are, in many ways, rich beyond measure. Happy and prosperous New Year to you and yours.
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