A Successful Day for Cameron

Today was a wonderful day for our eighth grader.  First he was recognized as an Indiana Academic All-Star at the Kiwanis Noon meeting in Goshen complete with a luncheon at Maple Crest.  There were five students from Bethany that earned this honor.  In addition to the certificate that they received, Cam and Bailey were also asked to give a speech about their experiences in middle school.  They were the last group to go to the podium and I was completely impressed with what they had to say.  They definitely gave a perfect depiction of life in lower school.  There were well over a hundred people in attendance and I was proud of how well they kept their composure standing in front of the large group.  I was happy to have videotaped it all for Doug to see since he was still in Arizona.

Tonight my parents and I met at Bethany for Cameron's final middle school choir concert.  The eighth graders were last as always and put on a wonderful show.  The boys complained loudly about singing "This is Me" from the Greatest Showman beforehand, but they did a wonderful job with it on stage.  Afterward I took Cam to Culver's to hangout with his friends.  The Bethany tradition had always been to go to Dairy Queen after a performance, but this year more and more families met at Culver's instead.  A lot of the parents went in to be a part of the celebration, but I decided to go through the drive thru and hang out in the church parking lot.  I had work that I wanted to catch up on and it gave me a chance to watch more of Game of Thrones, my new favorite series.

And There He Goes

Doug left this afternoon for Arizona to attend his quarterly board meeting.  It was a great day to go as the weather here was rainy and cold.  He instead arrived to sun and warm temperatures.  Although we hated to see him leave, we have gotten used to it.  Last Friday was his one year anniversary at Champion and his fifth trip since that date.  Preparing for the board meetings has gotten a lot easier in these past twelve months, although the weeks leading up to them have been no less busy.

With Doug gone my parents and I had to split up in order to attend both Cam and Meg's events this evening.  Mom and I watched Meg take on a tough Jimtown opponent tonight.  She ended her regular season with a 2-6, 3-6 loss, but was happy with how she played.  Meg had hoped to meet this same girl again in sectionals, but Bethany drew Goshen in the first round Thursday night.  Therefore, unless both teams make it to the finals this will be their last meeting during Meg's tenure on the Bruins tennis team.  This season hasn't quite been what Meg had wanted with all of the cancellations and unfinished matches.  Overall, however, it has been an extremely positive experience for Meg.

While we were watching Meg's match Grandpa Cutes was walking along with Cameron.  He played extremely well tonight even chipping it in for birdie on the third hole.  He told me later that he putted and hit his irons well.  All last night he let us know that he expected to shoot a 38.  He was very close to that finishing the round with a 40.  We were all impressed.

Mother's Day

From all of the Mother's Day posts today on Facebook and Twitter I realize that our traditions on this holiday are quite different than most.  Although I saw a lot of nice pictures of families taking their mothers and grandmothers to brunch, it did not make me want to change our plans.  Years ago we would have been one of those posts, but over time we stopped our family brunch tradition, not because Doug and the Heinisch children refused to take me out, but more because what I really want most on this day was to stay home.  For me Mother's Day has become the perfect day to plant all of the flowers, mulch and get the yard ready for summer.  This is the perfect gift for me and I appreciate Doug's willingness to make my wishes come true.  By 4:00 p.m. this afternoon our flowers, mulch, yard and potted plants all looked fantastic and we had the rest of the evening to enjoy a wonderful Mother's Day dinner. 

Doug grilled steaks, chicken and fish for all of us.  He also made his cucumber/avocado salad that my Mom really likes.  She and Dad joined us and at 6:30 we all sat down to a delicious meal.  After we ate, Grandma and I opened our gifts. She liked the visor and earrings that we picked out for her and I loved my new shoes and butterfly ring.  Meg also gave me a ring tree.  I had never had one before and thought it was a wonderful idea.  The rest of the evening was spent playing pool and cards.  Meg and Nick watched movies while Cal left early to catch the new episode of the Game of Thrones.  Even though the weather was dreary today, it was still the perfect Mother's Day to me.

A Chilly Morning for Tennis

Cam, Doug and I were up early for tennis this morning.  That was a tall order as we went to bed later than normal last night because of Confirmation.  Although it wasn't my favorite weather day with 50s and wind, the chill did help wake all of us up.  Cam played three matches this morning and although he lost each one of them, he was very proud of his effort today.  He started slow, but rebounded well. We were impressed with his ability to get to the net and enjoyed watching his shot selection.  Overall, we were pleased that he was happy on his way home.  Middle school tennis has been an awesome  learning experience for Cameron.  It has been a lot of fun watching him play these past four years.

As soon as the match was over we drove Cam straight to Goshen to meet Brett.  Brett had delayed his trip back to Bloomington with the hope that Cam would be done in time to watch Detective Pikachu with him.  They made it just in time and really enjoyed watching it together.  I met them in Milford afterward so that I could pick up Cam and Brett could continue his journey home.  It was great having him here for Cam's confirmation.  He has a lot going on right now, so we really appreciated him making the time to celebrate his youngest brother.

The rest of the afternoon was busy but quiet here in the Heinisch home.  Cam rested, wrote his speech for Tuesday and played pool with Cal.  Meg went to Rachel's birthday party and then had Mariah over for the evening.  Cal was here most of the afternoon before eating dinner at Grandma Jane's and then hanging out with his friends for the evening.  Doug and I decided to go ahead and start on the planting even though the weather was pretty chilly for May.  We bought our flowers at Clayton's, mulch at Menards and got a lot done before dinner.  The timing was perfect as the rain started just as we finished.

What a Glorious Day!

This morning Brett and I went to Bethany Christian to hear Meg's faith statement.  We were extremely impressed with her.  She was calm and confident as she spoke about her personal experience of growing up Catholic in a small town of Bible beaters.  She also talked about her ideas of God, suffering and God's will.  She mentioned a quote from Brett that answered so many of her theological questions.  I was very glad that we were able to attend this special speech.  Transferring to Bethany has been a wonderful experience for her and it really showed today.

Tonight we all gathered at Sacred Heart to witness Cameron's confirmation.  It was a nice ceremony with Bishop Rhodes officiating.  Cameron chose Thomas Aquinas as his Saint name which was the perfect choice.  He was the first to embrace science and religion together and was even called the doctor of the church.  Meg was Cameron's sponsor and after her speech today it was also the perfect choice.  After the ceremony we celebrated at Buffalo Wild Wings and then traveled home to open gifts and eat dessert.  It was a wonderful way to honor Cameron's commitment to the Catholic Church.  We were extremely proud of him, and he was happy to hear that eighth graders were excused from religious education on Sunday morning.

 

Senior Night

After several delays and changed dates, Meg was finally honored at her senior night at tennis this evening.  The weather was dreary all day long and rain was predicted for the afternoon, but it held off long enough to start Bethany's match with Westview.  Meg's coach, Tara, let us know that no matter what senior night would follow this evening's contest.  For the first hour or so it actually looked as though the girls would finish the match.  Meg had lost on her court, but she was't disappointed about the loss as she played a very tough opponent.  The other two singles courts faired a little better winning in straight sets.  By 6 p.m. it looked as though Bethany would pull out the win. Both doubles teams won their first set and were up in the second when the clouds opened up and the rain poured down.  The coaches waited, but decided in the end to cancel the match.  The girls were disappointed, but there just wasn't much that could have been done about it.

Senior night was held in the cafeteria following the cancelation.  Unfortunately, Doug couldn't attend as he had county council this evening.  My parents and Cameron were there with me, however.  Tara spoke about Meg first and had wonderful things to say about her as a tennis player and person.  It was very nice to hear.  Rachel and Phillip were honored after Meg and then several girls from the tennis team spoke as well.  It was a special ceremony followed by the lasagna that Doug made and cake for dessert.  The team was still going strong as we cleaned up, celebrating, laughing and having a great time.  It was so much fun to listen to them chattering away.  Meg made it home after I did.  She was still happy with how her evening ended.  It was a fantastic senior night.

Shopping Excursion

Cal and I left this morning for our shopping excursion in South Bend.  We first had to stop at Bethany to drop off cookies for teacher appreciation week.  We made it in and out of Goshen without any issues and were at the University Park Mall by 11 a.m.  Cal wanted to stop at Barnes & Noble first so that he could buy the fourth Game of Thrones book.  He was happy to see that they had it in stock and with all of our discounts, he spent very little on it.

Cal and I talked about going to Kohl's to look for clothes for his internship that starts on the 20th.  We decided instead that since we were already at the mall that we would stop at JC Penney.  We struck gold there finding three shirts and a pair of pants in relatively no time.  The cashier was one of the friendliest women that had ever checked me out.  She not only made lively conversation, but also gave us a 20% discount on top of the sale prices.  We headed next to Hot Topic, Box Lunch and Yankee Candle.  We each found a couple of items that we wanted and then finished our shopping trip at Target.  Cal talked me into buying some spiked water which he said that a lot of friends in Bloomington like.  I thought it'd be fun to try.  With all of our shopping done, we decided on Portillo's for lunch.  Cal ordered the Italian Beef and I got my favorite - a chili, cheese hot dog.  The best part of the day wasn't the shopping or the food; it was actually spending time with Cal.  With all of the craziness in the Heinisch home these past few weeks, I haven't gotten to do as much with him.  Therefore, today was even more special.