Evan's First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Evan's first day of Kindergarten. I am so thankful that it's only half-day because I miss him so much! Drew and I were sitting on the porch 15 minutes before his bus was scheduled to arrive and then the bus was 20 minutes late! Drew and I are just lost without our entertainer; he is the kid who comes up with the ideas for everyone else to play.

When he came home Evan told me he made another friend and this boy (Evan can't remember his name -- haha!) said that he only had three friends so Evan would be his fourth friend. Isn't that cute?

I just hate seeing my little birdies leave the nest. When Joel went to Kindergarten it was easier to send him off because all of this "school stuff" was new and exciting, plus I had two little ones at home that kept me very busy. But now that Evan's is half-way gone (he's only gone for three hours!) it's just so quiet. I will be an absolute basket-case when Evan is gone all day next year and then the following year when Drew leaves. Oh my...I'll probably have to get a dog! ha! (No way!)

Here is Evan's teacher, Mrs. Klagg.

How To Make Applesauce

Evan and Drew wanted to make applesauce today but I sure didn't want to do it so I told them it is something you do in the Fall (and I was secretly hoping they would forget about it by then). So then they asked if we could get the "cooking books" out. I pulled out the kids' cookbooks (thank you Grandmas) and they started looking through them for ideas on what to make today, but they never got away from the idea stuck in their heads to make applesauce. So after much prodding and whining (it was ME doing the whining!), they finally convinced me to try it. So I got online and found a recipe and believe it or not, I had everything I needed.

So, we started peeling...

Drew said that peeling the apples was too hard which prompted Evan to say, "The little guy's right, Mom."

And cutting...

And boiling...

And mashing...

Note: I don't have a real masher so I used a bacon press! haha!! Who in the world has a bacon press but not a masher?

And tasting...

And reviewing...

Yeah for me! I was so proud of myself!

Breaking the Ice on New Friendships

In my last blog entry I mentioned being sad that Joel didn't have any friends in his class this year. But, I'm happy to report that he came home today talking about a new friend!

At school the kids had indoor recess today because of rain and Joel came home telling me about playing a game called "Break the Ice" with Devon. I acted shocked and said, "What?! Is he a new friend?!" Joel grinned from ear-to-ear as he said, "Yes -- and Devon said he wants to play the game again on Monday."

Of course this is when I pulled out the "I told you" phrase (because I told Joel on Wednesday that he would have a new friend within a week), and I was happy to do it.

Now I'm praying for rain and another indoor recess so that Joel can literally "break the ice" with his new friend. :-) Yeah!!

3rd Grade!

Joel and his over-loaded backpack full of new school supplies!

Joel's first day of 3rd grade was yesterday and I'm in HEAVEN with just Evan and Drew home all day. Evan starts school on Monday and I'm dreading it because he and Drew play SO WELL together. I played with them a little bit today, but only because I wanted to -- not just to keep the peace. :-) They play and play and play. But without Evan, Drew is just lost. I am so thankful that kindergarten is still only half-day; Drew and I will have our noses glued to the front door waiting for that big yellow bus to drop off Evan at 11:30.

So far Joel likes his teacher, Mrs. Nicholson, but he says none of his friends are in his class; this makes me a little sad for him. I told him to give it one week and he'll have a new friend.

I think 3rd grade is going to be hard on Joel AND me -- on the very first day of school they started learning cursive! Wow! I've always heard that the "odd" years are the hardest (1st, 3rd and 5th); with learning cursive and multiplication, it probably will be tough this year. Math is easy for Joel, but handwriting...well, that's a whole different story! I guess he takes after his parents -- neither Ben nor I have nice handwriting but it sure didn't hold Ben back. Maybe with Joel's bad penmanship he too is destined to be a doctor. haha

Joel and Mrs. Nicholson

It's a LONG Way Down

Two of our boys learned to jump off the high-dive at the pool this summer! BUT before they could jump, the life guards require them to take a swimming test and BOTH boys passed. I didn't think Evan could do it, but he was so determined to jump off the diving boards that he swam like a fish (it wasn't a "pretty" stroke -- he still doesn't know how to breathe correctly while doing the freestyle so he just brings his head up in front to breathe).

After passing the swim test, both boys started jumping off the low dive. I told them that if either of them got the idea to jump off the high-dive to come and get me first so I could watch. But did they listen? Noooo! I was lounging in my chair catching some rays...oops, I mean I was busy playing with Drew and teaching him how to swim...(cough, cough) when Evan came running over to me. He was breathless with excitment telling me how he had done it. Joel was very excited for Evan, but Joel admitted that he had climbed up the ladder and then back down. :-) Evan, quite the saleman, was finally able to convince Joel that it was fun and Joel finally took the plunge too. Now they are expert jumpers and are trying "cannon balls" and "can openers."

Now I just need to get Evan off his bicycle training wheels...oh yeah, and teach him how to tie his shoes. But isn't jumping off the high-dive much cooler? :-)

My Shadow

It's been a strange weekend for me -- Ben and Evan went on a church father and son camping/canoe weekend, and Joel is at my mom's house (he did NOT want to go with Ben because he's afraid of the canoe?!) so it's just been Drew and me at home. And Drew is now my little shadow. Every where I go, there he is. I took a shower, he's turning the bathroom lights off and on; I'm in the kitchen making oatmeal, he's helping; I even mowed the yard and he actually walked behind me!! (OK, he didn't walk behind me for long, but I could not believe he even did it for a minute.) He seems so lost without his brothers, but at the same time he loves the attention I'm giving him.

This weekend we played Old Maid and Cariboo; read numerous books; went on a bike ride, got ice cream; went to a family movie night at a local church (he stayed up until 11 p.m. -- I'm guessing this will be the first thing he tells his brothers because they all usually go to bed between 7 and 8 p.m.); and he even got to sleep with me.

I've...rediscovered...no...refreshed...my love for my littlest 4-year-old boy; it's so nice to have this "alone" time with him.

It's been a nice, calm weekend with just one child. I forgot what it's like not to yell at someone for an entire weekend! But, there's always tomorrow when everyone will be home. :-)

How To Play Checkers

Since Evan and Drew were going to Grandma’s together for an overnighter, Evan wanted to teach Drew how to play checkers so they could play with Grandma.

Evan: “When you play checkers you have soldiers and they go over to the bad guy’s side and when the soldiers get there, the bad guys make you a king. Got it, Drew?”

Drew: "Are the red ones the bad guys?"

Evan: "No."

Drew: "Are the black ones the bad guys?"

Evan: "No...(pause)...the OTHER ones are the bad guys."

Drew: “You need to write that down so I can remember. Is that all?”

(Write it down? Even IF Evan could write, Drew can't read!)

Evan: “You move the soldiers and they can jump over the other guys but when they get to your side and you make them a king, then they can move anywhere.”

So there it is -- checkers instructions from a 5-year-old. Pretty good, eh?

In Loving Memory of My Dad

Recently I have been avoiding blogging because I wanted to write something in memory of my dad and I just haven't had the ability to do it yet. I want to honor his life with a written eulogy here on my blog.

On Saturday morning June 27, 2009 a piece of my heart was torn out when my mom called to tell me that my dad had died suddenly of a heart attack while undergoing treatment for multiple myeloma (cancer). I cannot tell you how great of a loss his death is to our family. He was an amazing, godly man who lived the fruit of the spirit every single day of his life -- he was the epitome of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I know that we will join him in heaven some day, but today I miss him terribly.

Now, a little about my dad:

Not only was my Dad’s college degree in teaching but teaching was his passion. Unfortunately, after I was born he realized he couldn't afford to raise a family on a teacher's salary so he had to find another career. But the love of teaching never left him.

As children he made us do things we didn’t really want to do, all in the name of "educating" us:

We had to go to the Cincinnati art museum and the conservatory. We had to see a movie about Amadeus Mozart that none of the three of us kids wanted to see. We even had to learn to ride a city bus downtown just in case we ever needed that later in life.

Even with his grandchildren, he was always teaching. Each grandchild caught their first fish with Grandpa; they learned how to drive his John Deere lawn mower and how to shoot a B.B. gun (my boys thought it was so much fun to shoot Grandma’s flowers in the backyard).He taught them things they didn’t really need to know…like he was the first person to introduce them to video games! And Grandpa actually got pretty good at the Scooby-Doo game!

He even taught them how to Monopoly. My dad and mom spent two days playing one game of Monopoly with my boys. Oh the patience he had! (The picture below is of my dad wearing a Native American headband Joel made for Thanksgiving one year -- Joel named Grandpa "Patience Chief" because of his great patience.)Another passion of my dad’s was missions. When we were children Dad’s mission field was right at home – his three children were his mission. His mission was to teach us to love and serve Jesus.

When we were grown, his mission field became the world – traveling to many countries using his talents to help others and to teach them about Jesus.

His mission started at home, then went out into the world, and finally when his children grew up and had children, his mission field became his grandchildren. His mission was to show through love and by example what Christ’s love is like.

He left a legacy as a Christian father and Grandpa by teaching us and, more importantly, by demonstrating to us what it meant to be a man of God. I want you to know what a great man my dad was, but he would want you to know what a great God our God is. He lived the scripture: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul.”

Now, about those grandchildren...

This past December my dad was diagnosed with cancer and although that's not what took his life, he did struggle with the effects of the disease. He was tired most of the time and seemed to keep to himself much more than normal. But, as my mom has told me many times, the thing that made him smile most were stories about the grandchildren. Anything they said or did made him smile -- the more ornery the child, the bigger my dad's smile.

Here are a few more pictures of Grandpa.

Teaching Joel how to bake

(here they are baking cookies,

but cracked wheat bread was his specialty).Teaching Joel about paleontology

(digging for dinosaur bones).Teaching Drew how to hit a baseball.Class: Tools 101 Instructor: GrandpaTeaching Drew how to make ice cream.

If Grandpa wasn't busy teaching the boys something, he was busy just watching them -- his grandchildren were his favorite subjects.

My Dad and Joel, Evan and Drew's Grandpa

LeRoy Robert Heibel, Jr.

December 12, 1940 - June 27, 2009

Dearly, dearly missed, but he ran the race and won!