Bible Study at Peace

Jim and I are part of a bible study at our church called Home Builders.  It's a small group that meets twice a month, and the kids play while we study the bible.  Right now we are talking about parenting, and it was so great on Tuesday.  The focus is on our children having three strong relationships - 1.  with God  2.  with their Parents  3.  with Others.  Instead of focusing on experiences and doing a lot, the focus is on having three strong relationships.  I loved it.

The kids had a blast too, they hung out with our neighbor Jennah (babysitter) and the older kids created this array of food with play-doh!  Wow are they creative!

Pictured below is Claire, Nathan, Blake, Kira, Kevin, Diane & Emily, and Matthew.  (We had a rather small group on Tuesday).


J

Emily To Go

Emily was at our friends house during the funeral preparation and they said something about the kids being in a bag and carrying them around?  I didn't think much of it, but now every time I get home from shopping Emily crawls into the bag and wants to be carried around.  She is so funny in her bag, when she ducks down to hide sometimes you can hardly tell she is in the bag.  It's such a cute game.  After Jim carried her around for a while, she had to eat her dinner, sitting in the bag!  So here is a picture of my Emily To Go!

Library Storytime

Thursday we braved the January cold (my car said 14 degrees before wind chill) and went to storytime at the library.  We had a great time and Emily loved making the picture the best!  She was so excited to show daddy and he said that he liked her sheep she made, of course she told him "No daddy, they are owls!"  It's a picture of three owls on a branch from a story we read about baby owls missing their mommy.  But in the end the mommy comes back and they said "Mommy always comes back!"  Good ending.  The second picture is Emily playing after storytime with her friend Sofia.

Emily Singing

Emily sings all the time lately, the other night she was running around the house singing.  So I stopped her and asked her to sing for me.  I think she was a little out of breath from all of the running.  Usually one of her favorites is ABC's so I am not sure why she didn't want to sing that song.  Emily's singing is sure to put you in a good mood.  

Playing Doctor at Creative Play

On Monday we went to Creative Play, I am trying to get back into our routine.  It's been nice going to things, but I'm still feeling sad with Bob's passing and all things to take care of.   Emily has been a big joy and helps me "feel better."

Here are a few pictures of Emily playing doctor at Creative Play.

Check out my bandaids!  She was excited that she got to put on bandaids, at home we only allow the use of bandaids to when she is bleeding!  Of course now she tells me she is bleeding when she is not.

Emily is funny, I sometimes put on a video in the car when Emily is falling asleep and I don't want her to nap in the car.  Usually when it's in the evening and past her nap time.  Last night we were driving home from Bible Study and she kept saying she wanted a video, we kept saying no, and then she started saying, "but I'm falling asleep!"  We knew she was wide awake, it was cute how she picked up on when we turn on a video!

Great Funeral

The funeral turned out very well on Saturday.  Many friends and family members came to honor dad Heiss.

The memorial in front included blue (favorite color) flowers on the left that said Grandpa, red roses in the center that said Beloved Father and a nice planter with flowers on the right from his Flint friends (they did lunch one a week).  The picture on the right is from Susan's wedding and his urn was a large clay pot.  This summer we will be doing a burial at Bear Lake.

The day started with a slide show of about 75 pictures of dad and we played some of his favorite classical music.  

Below is a picture of Jim, Emily and I right before the memorial service started.

After the memorial service, we had a huge meal that the members of Peace Lutheran church helped with.  Uncle David (Bob's brother) is on the left and Uncle Marvin (my side of the family) is on the right.

Here is Jim with cousin Matt.

Here is cousin Seth (left), Pete and Aunt Sandy and Uncle Brad (right), who is next to cousin Johnnie & his wife. 

Here is Uncle David, cousin Amy, Susan (Jim's sister) and cousin Marty.

Here is my twin sister Linda with son Josh, Jim and our friend Erik.

The kids had a good time playing together, Tristan (Sue's son), Claire (my cousin's daughter), and Emily.  Looks like Emily is the ring leader?

The day turned out really well and we felt so blessed and loved by many family and friends that came to show their respect to dad.  

Getting ready for church

Emily was so cute getting ready for church this morning that I snapped a few pictures.  This was before we brushed her hair, so  her bangs look a little crazy!  

Emily knows the days of the week now, and she knows that on Sunday we go to church!  I love the fact that she likes to go to church, and really she is very good in church.  If she sits quietly in church then afterward she can have one of the treats at coffee hour.  She has not lost this privilege yet, but the threat has worked for us so far.

Music Together

I was glad that last week during all of the funeral plans Emily and I took time out to go to our first Music Together class of this semester.  It was so refreshing, Emily and I had so much fun learning new songs and dancing around the room.  It's a good workout too, we were rolling around on the floor (5 in the bed, and the little one said "roll over"), jumping like a bunny and dancing around the room with colorful scarfs.  It definitely took my mind off of the funeral plans.

Play-Doh with Grandma Jane

This weekend Jim's mom came to offer some support with Jim's dad.  She stayed with the family at the hospital and then helped make plans on Sunday after dad had passed away.

Emily was excited to see Grandma when she woke up Sunday morning and get some quality time with her.  They played with play-doh, many of Emily's toys and of course danced to some music too!  Thanks Grandma!

Great Friends, Great Support!

We are so blessed with wonderful family and friends.  It makes these tough times so much easier.  The past couple of days our good friends Julie and Erik Cabble have watched Emily and supplied us with several delicious meals.  

Here are a couple of pictures of Emily with Blake and Megan.

In Memory of Bob Heiss

Dad Heiss passed away peacefully at U of M hospital on Sunday morning at 2:35 am.  The family was with him, and we are thankful that he is not suffering after his battle with cancer, heart & kidney failure the last couple of years.  Dad will be greatly missed, and we look forward to sharing many fond memories.  This summer we plan to invite family to join us in a special memorial burial at Bear Lake. 

This Saturday we are having a funeral at Peace Lutheran Church:

2-3 pm  viewing & greeting (with picture montage) 

3-3:30 pm  memorial service 

3:30 - 5pm  meal  

Peace Lutheran Church is located at:

8260 Jackson Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48103-9822
(734) 424-0899

Dad was 65 years old and was an avid gun collector, and loved to hunt, fish and the great outdoors.  He was a sales manager for IBM and worked there for over 25 years.  Every couple of years he moved up the ranks starting as computer repair man and ending as a sales manager on one of their large accounts Dow Chemical in Midland, MI.  Every time Dad was promoted the family moved locations and enjoyed living in many different states (NY, IN, CO, NW, MI, etc) , and I think a total of 12 different houses.  He is survived by his daughter Susan Compton (her two boys Zach & Tristan) and son James (Beth) Heiss (and daughter Emily).  His three brothers - John, David & Brad Heiss. 

Date Night

Amazingly enough Jim and I had not been on a date since we had Emily!  I know that is pretty crazy seeing Emily is over 2.5, I just don't know where the time has gone.  

Last Friday night we went out to dinner at Renaissance Bistro in Dexter, using a gift certificate we had received from our neighbors the Sullivans for taking care of their horses when they were gone.  The restaurant was perfect, the food was amazing, and we sat up front in the window seat where we could look out to main street.  We started with Lobster Spring Rolls as an appetizer, Jim had a Glazed Pear Salad, I had the Butternut Squash Soup, then I had Lamb and Jim had Fillet Mignon.  We had a great time at dinner, and then we went to visit Jim's dad at U of M hospital.  

Emily had a lot of fun with her new babysitter Jennah.  A new family moved in down the road and Jennah is 18 and really sweet.  She is one of five children and her mom home schools, so she can even babysit during the day which I think is a huge plus.  I was so relieved that Emily had a great time with her, she is the first person we have left Emily with outside of family.  I guess I should clarify, we have left her with our friends Julie & Erik who have Blake (Emily's age), but they are our age, so I figure they don't really count as babysitters.

Dancing with Snowman

Another thing Emily is really into is music.  She loves to dance and sing.  Now she no longer wants me to sing, so when I start singing she says "No thank you!" with some authority in her voice!  

Here is a picture of Emily dancing with her snowman in our kitchen.

Here is Emily jumping with her snowman.

Here is Emily sitting on her snowman!

This snowman I received as part of a company Christmas present when I was at the V.  I gave it to Caleb at the time, I think he was about Emily's age.  Now it's been passed back to us, and Emily loves this snowman.  She drags it around everywhere, and it's about as big or bigger than she is!

Drawing & Imagination

Emily has really started to get into drawing, coloring and craft projects lately!  Here she is drawing on her doodle pad.  I am amazed at the things she comes up with and her imagination lately.  On Monday she was at our friends house and he colored a picture for Erik's Birthday, and she told him it was a picture of a kangaroo!  A lot of time the things she likes to draw are different people (mom, dad, herself), and her stuffed animals or dolls.

One day this weekend when Jim and I were busy with stuff going on and I was on the phone, Emily snuck into our den.  The door has been baby proofed with one of those locked handles, but Emily can open those, so we have to keep an eye on her.  I came up stairs to find her starting to open two Christmas presents for friends we haven't had a chance to catch up with yet.  After I saw her black hands I realized she had gotten into my stamps and had been stamping them mostly on the paper and little on her table.  The stamps are black all over from the stamp pad, but I am glad she chose the one that I bought that is washable and for stamping baby's feet.  

Emily is a very busy 2.5 year old, it's never a dull moment around here!

Manchester Bakery for Grandma's Birthday

For my grandma's 89th Birthday Emily and I took her out to lunch.  She choose her favorite place which is the Manchester bakery, and family owned by my cousin Melanie Weidmayer.  

Amazingly I didn't get a picture of Grandma, usually I always get a picture of Emily and her Great Grandma?  I am really bummed about that.  

We got to eat lunch with Melanie and her daughter Alena, so of course most of the pictures are of Alena!  

Here is Emily and I with Alena, this is the best we could do because Emily was not happy that I was holding Alena!  It will be interesting with the baby comes, Emily is a little spoiled!

Here is Melanie, Alena and Emily goofing around.  The kids are always the entertainment!

Happy 89th Birthday Grandma Weidmayer!

Mickey & Minnie

After Christmas we got together with our neighbors next door and Emily got her own Mickey and Minnie!  She loved them, in fact one of her favorite shows right now is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so the gift is perfect!  Here is a picture of Emily showing us her new present, thanks Sullivans!

Signs for loved ones

We've had a few loved ones sick lately so Emily and I made some signs and then I took pictures of her holding them up.  Then I posted the pictures on the signs and delivered  the posters to the hospital and to the homes of the sick loved ones.  These are only a few of the pictures, if I was sick a cute picture of Emily would cheer me up and brighten up my room!

Emily doctoring Lucy

Lucy hurt her paw a few days ago, so we have been checking on it and Emily has been really into trying to help Lucy feel better.  Lucy has only been walking on 3 legs and holding up her one paw.  I called the vet and they said to give it a few days and give her aspirin, so that is what we have been doing.  Today I think we'll have to call the vet and take Lucy in, which will be a lot of fun with a 2.5 year old and being pregnant.  I'm not even sure if Lucy can get into the car on her own, I don't know if I can lift 80+ pounds - ugh!

Emily got out her doctor bag to "help Lucy feel better" last night, here she is getting ready to give her a shot.

Emily is putting on the blood pressure cuff.

Checking Lucy's blood pressure (boy is Lucy a good patient).

Listening to Lucy's head, I mean heart!  :)

Snow Day!

Hi mom!  I am in here under all of the snow gear.  Note the sun glasses which she has to wear every time we leave the house!

Going down the slide, boy was it fast with the snow on it!

Emily cleaning her house off because there was snow on her cook top!

Peek a boo!

Last week when we got that great snow fall on Thursday, so Emily and bundled up and played outside.  It was so could out we really we not out there for very long before Emily took her gloves off and then fell into the snow and got her hands wet, "Cold mommy!"  The snow was deeper than Emily is used to and she had a tough time walking around, we got close to 4 inches by the time it stopped snowing.  We still have some snow on the ground and tomorrow it will be one week, but I know the temperatures are going to warm up so it might melt soon.

Garden Pictures

This morning I downloaded the pictures off of Jim's phone, and found a few pictures of our first garden which was last summer. 

The above fence keeps the critters out and the weed pullers in.  :)

A close up picture of our summer squash, we had way too many!  This year we will plant less summer squash, more peas, more broccoli, and more corn to name a few.

We had almost any veggie you could want, and I sure miss the fresh vegtables, but I am still using the frozen veggies out of our freezer.  Yeah for the food saver, they taste great!

The sprinkler in the center was key, Jim had it on a timer and it keep our garden moist!

This year we have already worked on an expansion from last year's garden, I can't wait to harvest the veggies!  Unfortunately I don't think I will be doing much planting seeing baby #2 will be arriving around that time, and with a planned c-section, the bending over is probably out of the question.

Having Fun with Friends

On Sunday a friend of mine from my old job and her family came over.  Emily and Luke are two months apart, and have a lot of fun together, it's so cute to watch them interact.

Here is a picture of Emily taking a picture of Luke.  

Who is having more fun with the kids or the dads?  Notice how Brian has one of the remotes to the cars and Luke does not have one?

This ball popper is so much fun!

Wow, you should have heard Emily and Luke screaming with the ball popper, poor Ava woke up to their screams!

Here is a picture of Ava and Emily in their pj's before the Goodman's had to leave.  I can't believe how huge Emily looks compared to Ava, and she is 3 months old.  When we have baby #2 she is going to seem like such a big girl!

I thought Ava was so precious sleeping with her arms up, I forgot how babies sleep like that when they are little.  Ava is cuddled up to her mom Carrie.

Emily had to play in the bouncy seat after Ava left, and she has played in it every day since.  I think when the baby comes she is going to want to play with all of the baby stuff.

It's always nice to get together with old friends, especially when our kids are close in age and they have fun playing together.  We had a wonderful dinner and relaxing time catching up.  Plus we had a talk with Emily about sharing before Luke came over and she did really well; I was proud of her!