Busy Once Again

Cam had to have a sports physical before he could participate in summer workouts at Bethany.   As he couldn't attend Bethany's physical night in April because of a conflicting golf match, we had to get him in this morning to be eligible.  It looked like for awhile that Meg would have to take his slot as she needed her immunization record updated for IU before she could attend New Student Orientation on June 10th.  As Dr. Freeze was going to be on vacation starting tomorrow, I was a little stressed trying to figure out how we were going to pull off both necessities.  Thankfully, the nurses were extremely helpful and they got Meg's forms filled out with out a doctor visit.  Thus, Cam spent his morning getting his physical completed.  By the time we walked out of the door at 12:15 with a copy of his forms in hand, I finally felt relieved.

The afternoon was spent getting ready for Cam's golf match.  Bethany was supposed to play Goshen and Bremen at Maplecrest, but due to the extensive rain showers these past few days, the match had to be moved to Black Squirrel.  My parents and I were all able to follow Cam.  He was happy with the 43 that he shot especially since he had not played as much as he wanted to recently due to the weather.  My parents drove him home so that I could attend the high school spring sports awards at Bethany.  I'm not much of an awards person, but was glad to be able to support Meg as she earned the senior sports academic certificate.  Doug missed the golf match as he had a church meeting, but was able to be at Meg's event.  Afterward we relaxed with dinner at the Frog.  With the summer crowd and a change of servers, we weren't sure that we would continue our weekly date night at this restaurant.  It seemed to be a better fit several months ago.  Either way it was nice to spend time with him reflecting on our busy month of May.

A Quiet Memorial Day

As we were up late last night, both Doug and I slept in this morning.  My Mom came up this morning to help us clean up from yesterday's open house.  We had put all of the food away before we went to bed, but that was about it.  It had been a wonderful celebration, but exhausting as well.  We appreciated my Mom helping last night and this morning.  All the three of us could talk about was how awesome it was to see the amount of support that Meg had received.  We were also impressed with all of the food that was eaten.  Doug thought that we had way too many chicken wings when we first started, but there weren't many left in the end.  All of the meatballs were gone as was the queso dip. The biggest surprise was how much cake was eaten.  We had ordered two and figured we'd have at least one left, but there were really only a few pieces to set out for lunch  today.  We were happy to hear that Meg's friends gave her positive reviews about the food as well.  

Meg opened her gifts and cards today.  She had received a lot of towels and laundry items which she was thankful to have.  We loved the ones that Mrs. Horsmon gave her as she had embroidered Meg's name on them.  She also received a blanket and school supplies which will be much appreciated this fall.  Meg did receive a lot of financial support as well, which she will use to purchase a computer and other items for her dorm.  Once she opened her gifts and cards and ate lunch, she headed over to Nick's.  They had two more open houses to go to today.  They made it to Grace's, but unfortunately, had to miss the last one due to tornado warnings.  

Cam played golf this afternoon.  Brett and Cal left after lunch.  It was a quiet day for Doug and I, but after all of the work it took to get ready for yesterday, we were more than alright with that.  The only real excitement was when we had to hide out in the basement until the storms passed this evening.  Thankfully, we had Cam and ping pong to keep us entertained.  

High School Graduate #3

Today was a wonderful celebration of Meg's school years.  With all of the rain predicted over the past two days we were thrilled when the skies cleared in time for her graduation at 3 p.m.  Bethany did a nice job honoring the seniors and incorporating faith in the hour long ceremony.  Meg appreciated the words of one of her favorite teachers, Dale, as he was chosen by the seniors to give the commencement speech.  We were all impressed with Brody's hymn selection and his direction of the choir as well as those in attendance.  The decorations were beautiful and we were pleased to learn that Meg was one of only seven in her class to graduate Summa Cum Laude.  

As soon as the seniors were released the five of us met Meg in the courtyard for pictures.  My parents, Carl, Marina, Dan, Phil and Jeannette all joined us.  Meg looked beautiful in blue and we were all extremely proud of her.  She stayed behind to take pictures with her friends while the rest of us headed back to our house to put the finishing touches on her open house.  With the threat of rain we had set up the tables in the garage.  Thankfully, Doug was able to quickly move them into our backyard while Cam set up corn hole and lasso golf.  Brett worked on the slideshow as I put the last minute touches on the decorations and got the cakes ready.  Cal went with Grandma and Grandpa to help them with the fruit and vegetables trays.  It took some work, but we were all ready when the guests started arriving at 5:30.

                               

                             
                               

We were absolutely impressed with the amount of support that Meg received at her party.  Friends and family showed up early and stayed late.  There was a receiving line that never stopped.  Doug, Meg and I did our best to spend time with all of her guests, showing them pictures, listening to stories of her childhood, and offering food.  The Bethany community was extremely supportive, coming in large groups to wish Meg well.  The Montavons and Eagans were both able to attend, which we truly appreciated as we hadn't seen either family in quite some time.  Several of our friends and family members were the first to arrive and the last to leave.  Although the party was still going strong late in the evening, Meg and Nick did finally excuse themselves to go to Rachel's.  Her open house ended at nine with a seniors bonfire to follow.  No one seemed to mind and we had plenty of company to visit with well into the night.  As Doug and I reflected on the day hours later, we were just so happy that it had all gone so incredibly well.  It had been everything that we had hoped it would be.  Transferring to Bethany was a tough decision for Meg, but today was just one more reminder of why it was the best decision for her.  

                         

Open House Galore

Last night Meg and Nick went to their first open house of the graduation season.  As it was the only one on their agenda, they decided afterward to go to see the movie Aladdin.  They both enjoyed it, especially Will Smith as the genie.  Today was completely different as Meg devoted the entire day to visiting her friends' parties as well as being a central figure at Nick's open house.   By the end of the day, they had been to eleven different open houses.  Thankfully the last one was Aaron's so she and Nick were close to home and could join us for dinner afterward.

Our day was different than Meg's as we spent the majority of it decorating, making food and getting ready for her open house tomorrow.  By the time we left for Nick's I felt really good about it all.  The house looked great, food that could be prepared ahead of time was done and the decorations were all hung.  We enjoyed the Chief ice cream at Nick's and looking at his pictures over the years.  When we got back home, Dan and Phil were waiting on us.  Cal had come home earlier, but was at HM's when they arrived.  It was fun to have them here and was a nice distraction from the stress of getting ready for graduation.  Brett, my parents, and Carl and Marina all arrived a little later and the rest of the early evening was spent playing corn hole, catching up, and eating a wonderful dinner that Doug prepared.  My Mom brought up her famous butterscotch dessert to share during the final game of the Raptors v. Bucks series.  Dan entertained those of us not interested in the ball game.  We couldn't have had a better night here in the Heinisch home.

It's a Wrap!

And just like that the Heinisch family is done with middle school and high school for all but one.  Cam was probably more sad than Meg to see the school year end.  Eighth grade was everything he wanted it to be and the thought of moving on wasn't as exciting for him as it was for Meg.  She loved her time at Bethany, but was ready for a new adventure.  The only part that was bittersweet for her was the thought of graduating without Shawn.  She talked about him many times over the past few weeks.  He had been extremely excited last year during this time period, taking pictures and giving his thoughts on the upcoming 2019 ceremony.  When Meg sent me the picture that Eric took of them during ceramics class earlier in the year, I did tear up.  As sad as Meg was about graduating without him, I knew his family had to be absolutely deviated with the thought of it all.  In thinking about that I completely loved the senior quote that Meg picked out.  It wasn't a reflection of her time in high school, but her thoughts on leaving those memories behind without her first friend at Bethany by her side.  Just one of the many reasons that today of all days I was so glad that she transferred.  If she hadn't had, she never would have know that great big smile that greeted her every morning.  His enthusiasm for life could only be matched by hers and without it the last three months of high school just weren't the same.  Cheers to her on her last day of high school!

8th Grade Recognition

It's been a busy last week of middle school for Cameron.  Monday night he had his last tennis match of the season. Bethany played Bremen.  It wasn't too challenging for Cam, but he was happy to end with a win. On Tuesday night he traveled with the golf team to Heron Creek for a practice match.  The course was challenging, but he really enjoyed it and was happy to announce that his threesome won.

As much fun as those evening events were, tonight's was his favorite as the 8th grade were recognized for their individual talents at their year end celebration.  Cam's band teacher, Aaron, talked about him highlighting Cam's academic success, leadership and love of anything IU, including his pinstripe suit.  Avery and Mara also spoke about each of the eighth graders with Cam being recognized for his intelligence and sense of humor (or lack thereof.). Mara even got him on his favorite joke - "Nevermind."  The evening concluded with the students receiving an eighth grade diploma, cake in the cafeteria and hundreds of pictures in the courtyard.  It was a lot of fun to watch Cam enjoying himself.  He said several times on the way home that he was nervous for high school, mostly because eighth grade was a blast and he wasn't sure that his freshmen year would live up to his expectations.  I understand how he feels, but I know he will have just as much fun in high school.  He's got an awesome group of friends, tennis, golf and challenging classes to look forward to with great teachers and coaches at the helm.

Eleven Hours of Cleaning

I started cleaning this morning as soon as I got back from dropping Cam and Meg off at school.   I only took a break when I had to pick Cam up and take him to New Paris for golf practice.  Thankfully, Dad was available to bring him home for me so I could keep ahead of my to-do list.  I was still going strong when Doug got home at 6 p.m.  He said he was glad to help and I excepted his offer immediately.  We finished close to 8 p.m. with both of us more than ready for a break.  It wasn't just the eleven hours of cleaning from today that did me in, but the days, weeks and months of preparing the house for Meg's graduation this coming weekend.  Although I was completely exhausted tonight, I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.