For the sixth year in a row we took the Heinisch children to Pokagon State Park to go tobogganing. Cal and Brett didn't join us, but this year Kaitlin did. The first two trips were the best as it wasn't crowded yet. The last one took over twenty minutes, so they decided to call it after the third time down. We stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch and were home in the early afternoon. We took Kaitlin home and everyone started on the final round of Christmas Take Down. Meg and Cam tackled the basement with Doug's help. He worked on the outside as well and I finished the ornament sorting and tree. By the time my parents came over to play games we had everything put away and all of the snowmen out for winter. We also swept and rearranged the living room. It felt wonderful to be done.
Cal went to Aubrey's tonight and Meg went to Gabby's for a party. Before they left I gave the four of them the Star Wars pillow slips that I had made complete with new pillows. Everyone seemed to like them and I was proud of myself for making them. Brett and Cam stayed home with us and played games most of the evening. Mom and Dad came up at 7 to join us. Doug made several appetizers and Mom brought black eyed peas and cornbread. It was a wonderful way to finish 2015.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Christmas Take Down
We left this morning for piano and talked Brett into going with us. Our caveat was stopping at Olympia for lunch. He enjoyed catching up with Mrs. Meek and we all liked the new chair that her children got her for Christmas. I used the time to work on organizing the Christmas ornaments. I brought both tubs and finished just as they completed their lesson. We picked out music to work on next week - Cam found four Willie Wonka songs and Meg wanted Lord of the Dance and Beauty and the Beast.
After piano we stopped to pick up the calendars. They looked very good. I am glad that the power came on last night so that I could finish it. Unfortunately, our luck struck out with Olympia again. They were closed and do not plan to reopen until the New Year. Brett and Meg decided that they would eat at Maria's instead and Cam and I picked Penguin Point.
Once I got back from lunch I started taking down the Christmas. Brett was disappointed, but I usually start on the 26th. It is such a long process that I hate prolonging it. I took a break to take Meg to tennis. She hit well and has really improved in the six weeks that she has been taking lessons. Team tennis starts on the 9th. She is looking forward to that.
Doug decided to make a couple of recipes tonight from the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival book that we bought him at Disney World this fall. One was from Germany and the other Morocco. They were both delicious. He brought home Little Caesars for everyone else. Kaitlin came over after tennis to spend the night. Cal and Stephen went to the Notre Dame girls Game with Hannah-Marie's and Aubrey's families. They had a lot of fun. Since our plan was to stay in I worked the rest of the evening on the Christmas. I still have a lot to do, but made a good dent this evening on it all.
After piano we stopped to pick up the calendars. They looked very good. I am glad that the power came on last night so that I could finish it. Unfortunately, our luck struck out with Olympia again. They were closed and do not plan to reopen until the New Year. Brett and Meg decided that they would eat at Maria's instead and Cam and I picked Penguin Point.
Once I got back from lunch I started taking down the Christmas. Brett was disappointed, but I usually start on the 26th. It is such a long process that I hate prolonging it. I took a break to take Meg to tennis. She hit well and has really improved in the six weeks that she has been taking lessons. Team tennis starts on the 9th. She is looking forward to that.
Doug decided to make a couple of recipes tonight from the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival book that we bought him at Disney World this fall. One was from Germany and the other Morocco. They were both delicious. He brought home Little Caesars for everyone else. Kaitlin came over after tennis to spend the night. Cal and Stephen went to the Notre Dame girls Game with Hannah-Marie's and Aubrey's families. They had a lot of fun. Since our plan was to stay in I worked the rest of the evening on the Christmas. I still have a lot to do, but made a good dent this evening on it all.
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Ice Storm + Neighbors Tree = No Power for 24 Hours
Doug left this morning and we were still without power. By the time I went home to get clothes to take a shower, REMC had arrived. Unfortunately, to fix the pole we would have to sacrifice one of our pine trees. I was sad as we had planted those and they provided a great fence to the neighbors yard. Their plan was to work all afternoon and hopefully we would have power by early in the evening.
Meg and I showered at Mom's and then drove to South Bend. She had gift cards to spend and it was the perfect day to do so. We had lunch at Noodles & Company before shopping at Kohl's. While she spent her gift cards we also looked for a dress for semi-formal. She picked out a navy blue one that looked wonderful on her. After Kohl's we headed to the mall. Meg spent all of her money at Hollister and American Eagle, but decided to save her Journey's money until Spring. We stopped at Shoe Carnival on the way home, but did not have any luck finding navy blue shoes.
Dad and Cal spent the day in South Bend as well. They had afternoon tickets for the ND vs. Liberty men's basketball game. The game time was changed, however, so they had an extra couple of hours to kill while waiting. They went to dinner, toured campus and checked out the bookstore. They both had a great time and ND won easily.
Once Meg and I got home we were pleased to find out that we had power!! We picked up our clothes and such from Mom's and everyone headed home. Brett and Cam spent the day there. Brett made headway on his job searches and Cam played the Wii. We talked Doug into going to dinner and stopped at Target on the way. Meg found her blue shoes and the boys found video games and accessories. Dinner was long tonight as it took quite awhile to be seated and to get our food. We had fun, however. Cal was home when we got here and much to our surprise the internet was even working. What a great evening it was!
Meg and I showered at Mom's and then drove to South Bend. She had gift cards to spend and it was the perfect day to do so. We had lunch at Noodles & Company before shopping at Kohl's. While she spent her gift cards we also looked for a dress for semi-formal. She picked out a navy blue one that looked wonderful on her. After Kohl's we headed to the mall. Meg spent all of her money at Hollister and American Eagle, but decided to save her Journey's money until Spring. We stopped at Shoe Carnival on the way home, but did not have any luck finding navy blue shoes.
Dad and Cal spent the day in South Bend as well. They had afternoon tickets for the ND vs. Liberty men's basketball game. The game time was changed, however, so they had an extra couple of hours to kill while waiting. They went to dinner, toured campus and checked out the bookstore. They both had a great time and ND won easily.
Once Meg and I got home we were pleased to find out that we had power!! We picked up our clothes and such from Mom's and everyone headed home. Brett and Cam spent the day there. Brett made headway on his job searches and Cam played the Wii. We talked Doug into going to dinner and stopped at Target on the way. Meg found her blue shoes and the boys found video games and accessories. Dinner was long tonight as it took quite awhile to be seated and to get our food. We had fun, however. Cal was home when we got here and much to our surprise the internet was even working. What a great evening it was!
Monday, December 28, 2015
Ice Storm, Downed Tree & No Power
This morning we woke up to an ice storm. Doug said that it really started after he got into work, so he had no problem getting there. Cal left Cameron's around 9 a.m. which was also before the roads became icy. It took me awhile to get to the Brower's as North Webster was worse than Syracuse by the time I left. We grabbed Meg on the way home as well and I decided to cancel piano. Everyone was disappointed as they really wanted to go to that and Olympia for lunch, but they understood as it was not nice outside at the time.
Around 12:30 I sat down to work on my photo calendar and realized that the internet was out. I was disappointed as I had set aside time to do so today, but that didn't compare to the next outage that we encountered. Around 1:30 Cal, Meg and Cam heard a loud crash and realized that the tree in the yard diagonally from us had come down in the ice storm. We were floored that it fell as it was one large tree. Unfortunately when it did it also took out the power lines with it. The weight of it all broke the utility pole in our backyard in half as well. Thus, our power outage began.
I called Kosciusko REMC right away, but I knew that this was going to be a bigger project than just a downed wire. Our neighbors hoped that since it was a live wire that we would move up on the priority list, but as the afternoon wore on I became more skeptical. Cal and Brett stayed here while I went to North Webster for Meg's haircut. We thought about cancelling, but the roads weren't too bad. Cam headed over to my Mom's and by 4:30 Brett, Meg and I had joined him. I took all of our portable chargers and the laptop also in case we were going to be out of power for awhile.
Doug took Meg to tennis tonight and exercised there. I folded laundry in the dark, which wasn't too bad until I had to match socks. Cal and Hannah Marie went bowling as it was one of the few places open. I had a library board meeting this evening. We had to transfer money before the 1st of January and our director was going to be unavailable the next three days. We were nervous for awhile that we would not have a quorum, but thankfully Randy drove in from Fort Wayne especially to be at it.
Once the evening became dark we realized that we were not getting power tonight. The Heinisch children all ate at Mom's, and Doug and I went to Huntington's along with everyone else who was without power. We played cards at Mom's until ten and then Doug returned to stay at our house. He had showered at the racket club and we left the fireplace on, so staying here wasn't too bad. The rest of us spent the night at Mom's. We were thankful that they had electricity and did not mind the company.
Around 12:30 I sat down to work on my photo calendar and realized that the internet was out. I was disappointed as I had set aside time to do so today, but that didn't compare to the next outage that we encountered. Around 1:30 Cal, Meg and Cam heard a loud crash and realized that the tree in the yard diagonally from us had come down in the ice storm. We were floored that it fell as it was one large tree. Unfortunately when it did it also took out the power lines with it. The weight of it all broke the utility pole in our backyard in half as well. Thus, our power outage began.
I called Kosciusko REMC right away, but I knew that this was going to be a bigger project than just a downed wire. Our neighbors hoped that since it was a live wire that we would move up on the priority list, but as the afternoon wore on I became more skeptical. Cal and Brett stayed here while I went to North Webster for Meg's haircut. We thought about cancelling, but the roads weren't too bad. Cam headed over to my Mom's and by 4:30 Brett, Meg and I had joined him. I took all of our portable chargers and the laptop also in case we were going to be out of power for awhile.
Doug took Meg to tennis tonight and exercised there. I folded laundry in the dark, which wasn't too bad until I had to match socks. Cal and Hannah Marie went bowling as it was one of the few places open. I had a library board meeting this evening. We had to transfer money before the 1st of January and our director was going to be unavailable the next three days. We were nervous for awhile that we would not have a quorum, but thankfully Randy drove in from Fort Wayne especially to be at it.
Once the evening became dark we realized that we were not getting power tonight. The Heinisch children all ate at Mom's, and Doug and I went to Huntington's along with everyone else who was without power. We played cards at Mom's until ten and then Doug returned to stay at our house. He had showered at the racket club and we left the fireplace on, so staying here wasn't too bad. The rest of us spent the night at Mom's. We were thankful that they had electricity and did not mind the company.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
A Quiet Day
Yesterday was exhausting, but it was nice to have a quiet day at home. I spent it working on a sewing project and starting on the laundry. The one positive about teaching FACS is that I have learned how to sew. I haven't tried anything elaborate yet, but maybe next year.
Meg went to Preston's for the day and then to Kaitlin's to spend the night. Cam was invited to spend the night at Evan's tomorrow night, but Mary asked if they could change to this evening. Cal dropped him off on his way to spend the night at Cameron Adams. Brett spent the day playing his new PS4. Therefore with everyone occupied we decided to head to Fort Wayne in the late afternoon. We found the candles I was looking for and calendars for everyone. Chop's is closed on Sundays so we tried Biggi's for dinner. It was packed, but we found a table and enjoyed a nice meal. I was very thankful tonight that we were able to visit DeKalb and still enjoy a nice quiet end to the wonderful four day weekend we have had.
Meg went to Preston's for the day and then to Kaitlin's to spend the night. Cam was invited to spend the night at Evan's tomorrow night, but Mary asked if they could change to this evening. Cal dropped him off on his way to spend the night at Cameron Adams. Brett spent the day playing his new PS4. Therefore with everyone occupied we decided to head to Fort Wayne in the late afternoon. We found the candles I was looking for and calendars for everyone. Chop's is closed on Sundays so we tried Biggi's for dinner. It was packed, but we found a table and enjoyed a nice meal. I was very thankful tonight that we were able to visit DeKalb and still enjoy a nice quiet end to the wonderful four day weekend we have had.
Saturday, December 26, 2015
Illinois
Brett, Meg, Cam, Doug and I left at 8:45 a.m. for the Art Institute in Chicago. We visited there a year ago and I was happy that they picked to go back this year. Cam once again grabbed the program which gave him twelve different pieces of art to find on his journey through the museum. He had a lot of fun looking for all of them. It stated that they could be found in an hour, but we took a little longer than that. My favorite section as always is The Impressionists. Everyone else seemed to like it as well. Brett's main focus was the religious section. We definitely found the paintings there fascinating. After a trip to the "gift museum" to buy Cam a book, and several Impressionists items, we left for Naperville.
We met Carl and a friend of his at Maggiano's. We had a nice visit and a delicious lunch. Cam gave him the gift basket of chocolates with a description of his adventures at The South Bend Chocolate Company. Carl appreciated the photo album that we made complete with pictures of Jeanette and the Heinisch children.
Our last stop of the night was the Montavon home. All of the Montavon and Heinisch children had a great night together playing Just Dance and going laser tagging. We hung out with Kevin and Alexia while they were gone and finished the evening with dinner for everyone from Portillo's. We left South Elgin at 8:30 Illinois time and had a quiet ride home filled with Christmas movies. It was a long day, but everyone was happy to have spent it together in Illinois.
We met Carl and a friend of his at Maggiano's. We had a nice visit and a delicious lunch. Cam gave him the gift basket of chocolates with a description of his adventures at The South Bend Chocolate Company. Carl appreciated the photo album that we made complete with pictures of Jeanette and the Heinisch children.
Our last stop of the night was the Montavon home. All of the Montavon and Heinisch children had a great night together playing Just Dance and going laser tagging. We hung out with Kevin and Alexia while they were gone and finished the evening with dinner for everyone from Portillo's. We left South Elgin at 8:30 Illinois time and had a quiet ride home filled with Christmas movies. It was a long day, but everyone was happy to have spent it together in Illinois.
Friday, December 25, 2015
Christmas
We had a wonderful day celebrating Christmas with the Heinisch children. We talked Cameron into letting everyone sleep in until 9 a.m. which was much appreciated. Cam did not let anyone make it to 9:01 as he woke everyone up and came flying down the stairs. There were a lot of gifts to open highlighted by a PS4 for Brett, NBA Pass/Shaq jersey for Cal, Gift Cards for a day of Shopping to Meg, and a Wii U for Cam. I loved my new sewing basket, sweaters and Renoir puzzle. Doug did not ask for anything this year, so we had to had to come up with our own ideas - I believe he was happy with his Goldeneye DVD, fitbit, Race for Your Life Charlie Brown, Penn State shirt and Ice Breaker book.
After a morning of unwrapping and setting up new gifts, my parents came over for a second Christmas celebration. Each of the Heinisch children received games, pajamas and money. They had gifts for my parents as well with the main prize of two tickets to see Johnny Mathis in May. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing games and eating a delicious ham dinner. I definitely was exhausted by the time they left in the early evening. It has taken a lot this year to get ready for Christmas, but it was a lovely day. We topped it off by watching Meet Me in St. Louis and enjoying a quiet evening..
After a morning of unwrapping and setting up new gifts, my parents came over for a second Christmas celebration. Each of the Heinisch children received games, pajamas and money. They had gifts for my parents as well with the main prize of two tickets to see Johnny Mathis in May. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing games and eating a delicious ham dinner. I definitely was exhausted by the time they left in the early evening. It has taken a lot this year to get ready for Christmas, but it was a lovely day. We topped it off by watching Meet Me in St. Louis and enjoying a quiet evening..
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