Big Birthday Party

We had a big birthday party here yesterday.  Mary, Joey, Rhoda (who flew in from Texas), Mark, Molly, all of their children, and Mary Lee were all here to celebrate Mom's milestone birthday.  We didn't get many pictures, but Rhoda has just emailed these to me from her phone.  We had a big brunch-type meal, with shrimp and grits, roast beef and chicken salad small sandwiches, broccoli casserole, green salad, fruit, deviled eggs.  For dessert we had chocolate cake, and Rhoda made strawberry and pecan pies.  I will not tell the story of the making of those pies.  She can if she wants to--as well as the story of her not-so-fun flight here. :-)

John Michael has a birthday this week as well, so we celebrated him as well.  He turns 17.  Hard to believe he is that old - and very tall also.

And I think here all are watching John Michael open his present from Grandma.  She picked out a bow tie for him.  When five teenagers and twenty-somethings all say "ooohh," you know she must have done a good job.  That's high praise.

Before the meal we were able to skype with Andrew.  Couldn't talk long as it was already midnight his time.  Today I discovered that someone took a screen shot of the Skype conversation, so will include it as well.

Mom opening her gifts.

It was a nice day to celebrate Mom's and John Michael's birthdays.

Happy Anniversary

This morning Mary made the observation that 57 years ago in 1957 Mom and Dad got married.

That means that 7 years ago many of our family were in Alabama celebrating their 50th anniversary.

I realize I'm biased but I don't any other couple that loves God, each other, and their family more.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Week-end in Kansas

Perry and I just returned from a few days in Kansas with Brandon and Maria and their children.  We enjoyed a fun and relaxing get-a-way.  We left Thursday at 6 pm from Galesburg on the Amtrak and returned to Galesburg about 12:30 pm. today.  Jesse (5) looks quite grown up in his new glasses and we celebrated Alice's 4th birthday.  The new baby is due in late May when Milan turns 2.   --- Carol

Heiniger Update

Hello from the Heinigers! We stay pretty busy around here with home schooling, choir, swimming lessons, and co-op. Ethne is in 4th grade, Catie is in 1st, and Riley and Gavin are anxiously counting the days until they can start Kindergarten.

Ethne loves to read and write. Almost every day she works on a story, and has 50+ "books" finished. I love seeing this trait in her. We plan to focus a lot on creative writing next school year.

Catie has discovered she can read. At the beginning of the year, she was convinced it was too hard and was below grade level. Then we found the Mercy Watson series. Almost overnight she caught up, and in another month she was advanced. I'd now say she's reading at least a year above. It's fun hearing her read out loud; she constantly interrupts herself with commentary.

Riley is a force to be reckoned with. She rules her preschool class, her Sunday school class, her co-op class, and her siblings. Look for great things from her. She especially loves to sing and can really belt out power ballads and Sunday school songs.

Gavin is a high energy boy. He loves to climb, run, and jump. He's great at taking things apart and getting into trouble. He's also the first one to get all his chores done every day. He loves being a helper.

I'm training for my sixth marathon on April 26 in Champaign. This will be my third in six months, after which I plan to take a nice, long break from longer distances. I've set a personal best in my last two races and expect to do so again with this one. My running has improved a lot since I changed my diet. Who new my fuel source was holding me back so much?

Brett keeps busy at Caterpillar. His singing group Amazing Love will be headlining the Midwest Gospel Sing this year, an event I believe Uncle Cleve is helping organize. I may be biased, but every time they sing there I think they're the best act of the night. They are all talented individuals and have a talented leader getting the best from them.

Well, that's about all from us. Hopefully we'll have some fun updates later this year from our family trip to the Creation Museum and Brett's and my trip to Thailand to visit his brother and sister-in-law.

Steffen Update

I read Aunt Ada's appeal for new posts.  I always enjoy hearing everyone else's updates, so here's mine...

I celebrated my 40th birthday back in January and Sam gave me the perfect gifts.  An iPad and a vintage 1920s Royal Typewriter.  He laughed that I spent more time playing with the typewriter than I did the iPad at first.  Aside from Facebook, Pinterest, and my email, the only 2 games I have downloaded on the iPad are Popwords and Crossword Puzzles.  This is to ensure that it stays my device and doesn't get overtaken with the kids' stuff.

I baked a couple of rhubarb pies for the Mennonite Relief Sale this week.  I bought some rhubarb at the store in the morning but when I was ready to make the pies in the afternoon, it was no where to be found.  I didn't want to load everyone up and drive back into Bloomington to the grocery store, so I put out a plea for rhubarb on Facebook.  Sure enough, a neighbor had some in her freezer that I went over and picked it up quick.  I also got an offer of frozen rhubarb from Texas (*cough*Rhoda*cough*), and the recipe for Great Grandma's rhubarb pies from Aunt Ada.  In this case, technology was a very helpful thing!  The pies turned out great, by the way, and this will be my standard recipe from now on.

Otherwise, it's business as usual around here -- laundry, kids activities, and homework.  I'll leave you with the latest book report from Thad.  He's in 5th grade this year and has had to do a variety of different things for reading.  This assignment was to pick a partner and both read the same book.  They could do an oral report, interview each other, or make a movie.  Of course, he chose the movie.  their book was called Wild Man Island.  His friend came over after school one day and they put this together in about 30 minutes.  Enjoy!

Rainy Day at Elementary School

It's pouring down rain today, and does not feel like my first day of spring break.  Due to state testing, field trip, and teacher work day all this week for Mary Lee, this was the only day that would work for me to ride over to her student teaching school (35 miles from here but just 10 miles from where she's living this school year), have lunch with her, and meet her class and teacher.

I was only there for about half an hour, but it was fun to see her "in action" and being teacher-ish.  She got up, walked down the table row with her hand up, and the kids immediately got quiet for the part of the lunch period when they are not allowed to talk, just eat.  She is at a large, new elementary school with 700 students!  She is working for a good teacher, and the other 4th grade teachers that I also met were complimentary of her good work.  It was worth the ride in the rain.

Enjoying a Day with Cousins

Julia and Heidi came to stay with us for a couple days so Ellie came over and we enjoyed the great outdoors---finally!  The girls played and played and had a great time. ----Grandma Carol

QUILTS AND HOT TUBS . . .

I wish all

of you would post something more often. PLEASE?? It doesn't have to be anything "important" - I just like to see new posts. Yesterday I worked on the quilt most of the day. My back got very stressed, so Jerry and I spent some time in the hot tub. The jets feel so good on my back. This small tub has been in our basement for about 15 years and it is still running well. Of course, we only use it from late October until we head to Florida. Then we refill it when we get home and empty it again around the end of March. Today, I plan to put the border around the quilt. We have beautiful snow on the ground this morning - but we are getting very tired of snow!! Hope you all have a wonderful day.

BUSY DAY

Just thought I'd post a couple pictures to add a little variety to the blog. Perhaps someone else will add more within a few days also. I spent most of the day making rice crispy / peanut butter bars to take to lunch at church tomorrow. Our good friends, Dale and Vicki Schlipf, are serving lunch and I volunteered to make these for her. Then I made Mona's ravioli for dinner - very easy as I just have to boil the ravs and nuke the sauce - stir it together and eat!! My kind of meal!

Reunion Photos

During the snowstorm two weeks ago, Mary Lee cleaned out all our old boxes of photos--a huge job--and we found these of that old K. reunion in the late '90s in Decatur.  I know there are more, but these are the ones we found this time.  Good times.