Happy 15th Birthday Cameron!!

I was very glad that we spent a lot of time celebrating Cameron's birthday over the weekend as this was an atypical January 21st for us.  Normally, we would take Cam out to eat, open presents, play games and eat cake.  We definitely wouldn't have had anytime for that as Cam left at 6:40 a.m. this morning and didn't return until 9:40 as his day started with jazz band and ended with snow club.  I was extremely thankful for our iPhones as we could all reach out to him with birthday messages and posts today.  Meg even encouraged her friends from Bethany to give him a birthday hug.  Cameron enjoyed his birthday away from the Heinisch home, maybe not the hugging,  but definitely the skiing with his friends.  He reported as soon as he got home that he only fell once and that was because he tripped at the lodge.  Other than that, he had had a fantastic time.

With Cam busy and Doug in Chicago for a meeting I had a lot of time to think about this past year.  When Cameron was still in middle school I had a hard time thinking of him as a teenager.  Glimpses of the fifth grader that started at Bethany so many years ago would pop into my head.  With all of his siblings out of the home this fall and the start of high school, I realized that I no longer thought of him as that comical young boy.  He has definitely changed over the past few years and not just in looks.  He has adopted his father's personality and I have really enjoyed spending time with him as a young adult.  His passion for IU football was such a huge part of our time together and I know that I watched more of that sport this fall than I had in my entire lifetime (and actually enjoyed it.)  I've never been one to lament over the years gone by, but to enjoy the moment.  This year with Cameron has been one of my favorites and I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Martin Luther King Jr Day

As today was Martin Luther King Jr Day, Cameron did not have school.  We made the most of our three day weekend by sleeping in, going to Moe's for lunch, and playing Euchre with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was a lot of fun and it gave Cameron and I time for some great conversations.  On our drive to Warsaw we talked about everything from IU football, to basketball, to the future.

One topic that we discussed in length was today's holiday.  I told Cam that although I absolutely loved spending the day with him, as a teacher I always thought that this was the one day that students should be in school.  Honoring Dr. King by teaching each and every generation about pacifism, following one's dream, volunteering, and activism would mean so much more than just giving students the day off.  Although many larger communities have Martin Luther King Jr celebrations much as IU did today with guest speaker, Viola Davis, not all have the resources to provide such activities.  Therefore I believe that even showing a movie such as Remember the Titans, Glory or Mississippi Burning would make the youth of today aware of the struggles of the past.  Although we are well beyond "colored only" drinking fountains, racism has not been completely eliminated in the past sixty years.  I truly believe that education is the key to enlightenment.  Today would be perfect for that.  

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education." - Martin Luther King Jr

Happy Early Birthday

We decided to celebrate Cameron's birthday today as he will be at Snow Club on Tuesday night, Doug will be in Chicago and Grandpa Cutes has a town council meeting.  He was ok with the early celebration and picked Mad Anthony's for dinner.  As I had not been out of house for the past forty-eight hours, I was definitely on board for an evening out.  We almost thought that we'd have to cancel because of the predicted lake effect snow.  We kind of expected it as each time in the past month that we had decided on dinner at Cam and Doug's favorite brewery, the weather had changed our plans.  Thankfully, today's precipitation was light and mostly stayed west of us.

Mad Anthony's was delicious as always and as a bonus tonight we had excellent service.  That had not always been the case in the past.  Grandma and Grandpa joined us when we got back.  Cameron decided to open his gifts first.  Uncle Phil had given him an IU blanket and Doug added IU pajamas to his ensemble.  He laughed that he was the only Freshmen to get Laffy Taffy, gum, popcorn and tea as part of his birthday presents.  Then again he admitted that they were perfect for him.   It took him quite awhile to find his birthday money as Grandma had cleverly taped it inside his new Sudoko book.  He appreciated it along with the card from Grandpa Heinisch.

Grandma had made him his new favorite cake for dessert, pumpkin, which he enjoyed after blowing out the candles.  The rest of us opted for Friday's night's cake instead.  Nick arrived shortly after we cut the cake and stayed for dessert.  He had brought Cam the perfect gift, a Purdue football from the "football school."  We all laughed when he opened it.  It will make for great conversations at next fall's tailgate season.  We ended the night by playing Oh Hell!  Nick joined us and even though he was the loser on the night I believe that he still had some fun.    No matter what, it was a wonderful way to celebrate the life of our fifteen year old.

Perfect Weekend for a Puzzle

We thought that the boys from Cam's party would be snowed in at our house today, but last night's snowstorm was well short of the 5-8 inches that was predicted.  I had made sure that we had food for lunch, but in the end we didn't need it as everyone was on their way home by 11 a.m.  The snow did make ghost in the graveyard more fun yesterday and Cam said that he had an awesome time.  We were glad that we were able to host the event.  The forecast did make think of the time in 2013 when we received nine inches of snow in one night and Cal, Sam, Jayce and Alex actually were snowed in here for the weekend.  Cal and Jayce burying Alex's car in snow and then trying to convince him that the snowplow and/or wind had done it was one of the funniest things that I had ever seen.

Doug made it out of the house several times today, but I never did.  I used the day at home to work on my Blog and wash all of the extra bedding that we had used these past few weeks.  Late in the day my parents came up to play Oh Hell and watch IU defeat Nebraska.  Doug and I had started his Michigan Beer puzzle last night and had made pretty good headway.  The puzzle was a lot easier than the last three that we had completed.  With the crummy weather and the game on television tonight, it was the perfect evening to finish it.  Next on Doug's to-do list was to visit each of the breweries featured in the puzzle.  He was already able to check off five of them from previous trips to Michigan.

One Fun Birthday Party

Several weeks ago Cam and Avery decided to have a joint birthday party as they both turned 15 this week.  I thought it was a great idea and quickly offered our house as the venue for the activities.  At first they talked about inviting all of the Freshmen class: then they thought about asking just the boys.  In the end they scaled it down to six boys total.  Both Joey and Conner were busy, so in the end it was a party of four - Samuel, Avery, Cameron and Richard.  I thought that was perfect as the four of them were close and enjoyed hanging out together.

Avery's family brought the three boys over around 6:30.  Cam had used the time after school to rest as he didn't sleep very well last night.  Once the guys got here the festivities began with games in the basement.  We then ordered pizza for everyone and later in the evening sang Happy Birthday to Cam and Avery and ate cake.  The boys enjoyed Ghost in the Graveyard outside in the snow for quite some time and then had a Nerf gun fight in the basement.  They ended the evening by playing video games on the XBOX.  I could still hear everyone at 1:00 a.m. when I went to bed.  I was glad that they were all having fun.  They have been great friends to Cameron and I was happy that they were all able to celebrate Cam and Avery's 15th birthday together.  

A Good Night for Oh Hell!!

My parents and I spent the afternoon shopping in Goshen for Cameron's birthday.  We first stopped at Wendy's for lunch.  I never eat fast food, so I forgot how much I liked their chili.  Mom and I then ran into Aldi's.  I needed supplies for Cam's birthday party tomorrow night.  I then stopped to buy DayQuil at Target, but my parents didn't need anything there.  They spent their time looking for jeans at Kohls.  I joined them to see if I could find any gifts for Cam.  I was pleased with what I found.  His big gift this year will be tickets to the IU vs. Maryland game next Sunday.  He knew about that, so I tried to get him a few smaller items presents that he wasn't expecting.  We picked Cam up on the way home.  He said that his day went pretty well all things considered.  He had changed his hairdo and was happy with how it was received.  

Doug and I went to dinner tonight.  We called my parents on the way back to see if they wanted to play Oh Hell!  They were ready for a match and much to our surprise Cam joined us.  He doesn't always play during the week, but there weren't any Big Ten basketball games on television and he had finished all of his homework.  It was a close game all around.  Doug was the big winner on the evening and Dad took the bird home as the last place finisher.  I thought for awhile that it would be me, but I skated on thin ice and stayed out of the basement.  It was a good night to play cards and I was glad that everyone had a fun time.  

A Tough Day

Today was probably not one of Cameron's favorites.  First, he and his girlfriend, Bailee, broke up and then IU lost to Rutgers.  He handled both well.  The break-up more so because he expected it to happen, and the IU loss was at least to his second favorite Big Ten basketball team.  Life can be tough for a teenager, but it does give you experience.  I told Meg several times in high school that whatever she just went through only prepared her for a bigger disappointment later.  I thought of that tonight as we watched the game with Cam and secretly hoped that these sad situations would be it for awhile or at least for his freshmen year.