Seth's Kindergarten Thanksgiving Program

Oh.my.word. I NEVER thought I would see the day when Seth would sing AND do the actions during a program! His class sang 8 songs and did a little play which involved memorizing lines. Seth sang every word of every song and did almost all of the actions, too. After sitting painfully through his previous 4 preschool programs (where he didn't sing at all and did absolutely no actions..."they are ridiculous, mom"...and after bribing him to no avail to encourage the singing), I had come to expect nothing and just be thankful if he was able to stand up there quietly and not disturb others. It really was a small victory just to get him up there-pure torture for him to be in front of people and cause for a lot of anxiety. Anyway, we couldn't believe the change and were praising God! Not because I particularly care if he sings/dances or not, but because of how far the Lord has brought him. Simply amazing.
I will try to post my very favorite song they did later, but this one was shorter and took less time to upload:) On the way home from the program, Josie said, "You did a really great job, Sethy!" I don't think Gabe believed us until he saw all the videos for himself, because he has seen what we go through to try to prepare Seth to even go up on the stage at all, let alone sing! He was quite impressed.

Leavenworth

What a whirlwind trip...lots of fun, though! Our friend, Stephen, was kind enough to take us to the airport and pick us up so we didn't have to pay for parking. This is the first airplane ride for any of our kids, and they were really excited. I wish I had taken a picture of them in the airport. We took five carry-ons so that we wouldn't have to pay to check our bags. Each kid had a backpack on, and was pulling their own luggage. And they were full! Josie, especially, was such a trooper. She pulled her luggage the whole time, through each airport and onto each plane. We were getting a lot of smiles from people, probably because of the sight of three kids looking like pack mules as they followed their Daddy through the airport with me bringing up the rear. They couldn't have been any better in the airports or on the flights. They didn't sleep one bit, but were excellent, praise God. Poor Seth had trouble with his ears on the second flight there. Even after we had been off the plane for an hour, he told me it felt like he had two ear infections. On the way home, after we landed, I said, "Seth, that is so awesome that your ears didn't bother you this time!" He said, "I have to tell you something but I'm embarrassed to say it outloud." Then he whispered in my ear, "I prayed about it, mom." So sweet. We were supposed to get home Sunday evening, but our flight to Denver was delayed and then our flight from Denver to St. Louis was canceled. Thankfully, they thought that might be the case and didn't want us stranded at the airport in Denver with no available hotels due to all the cancellations, so Frontier put us up in a hotel with a swimming pool, gave us 45 dollars to spend for supper, AND $1000 in credit vouchers to fly anywere they fly. Maybe Nile and I will get the honeymoon we never had:) Our first night together was in married student housing at UNI...Nile has always felt really bad about this, but I didn't mind. When you get married in college and don't have any money, it's to be expected. Anyway, the boys got to miss school and loved that! We made it home Monday afternoon and are finally caught up on sleep. It was a great trip, and we are so happy that Anne has found Justin!

We landed in Seattle, got to our car rental place, and headed

out for the 2 1/2 hour drive to Leavenworth. They didn't have
the car we ordered online, so they graciously down-sized us

(sorry, did you detect the sarcasm?) to a very small vehicle.
Nile's head was touching the ceiling and the kids were crammed

into the backseat. This was at 12:30 in the morning, and was the

first time the kids had slept AT ALL! They were so tired, so they

slept like this for the next few hours until we arrived at 3:30 am our

time, which is 1:30 am Washington time.

This is Snowgrass Lodge, where all of the Heefners stayed. Justin's

(Anne's husband now!!) family generously let us all stay in this gorgeous

lodge that they co-manage. It is beautiful!! One night, Nile and I were

able to hot tub with Dan & Liz and Joe & Sarah.

The boys coloring in the main lodge

Anne & Justin's Rehearsal and Wedding

Josie did not want to walk down the aisle with Seth. She wanted

David to walk with her, and was being a grump about it. She is also

very shy and doesn't like her picture taken in front of people, so I was

legitimately concerned about how this would all pan out. On the

wedding day, David and Seth both walked her down, and she did great.

She was wonderful for pictures, too, thankfully.

Very blurry, but the only one we had showing the beautiful bride!
Sorry, Anne...we were a little distracted by the kids!

I had to laugh after seeing these pics...you can see me smiling,
blissfully unaware that my son is thumbwrestling or something
with Zachariah. And holding his leg in the next picture:)

Goofing around before heading to the church

Aunt Liz made some PB & J sandwiches for the kids,

which was a lifesaver!

Sorry the heads are cut off-I think Nile was focusing on the kids.

Listening to instructions with a peanut butter sandwich

in one side of her mouth

Seth being silly

I thought this was so cute of David. He was so sweet with Josie

the whole weekend. He carried things for her, hugged her when

she was sad, put his arm around her sometimes when she
was walking...so precious.

Luke and Gabe hanging out before the ceremony

Josie waiting to walk down the aisle

Anne and Justin-beautiful

Love Zach's face in this one

Josie loved her cousins! Here she is with Luke.

Anne & Justin's Reception

Justin and Annie had their reception in a beautiful location-the mountains behind us were beautiful and the old barn where they had the reception was so cool and decorated in such a pretty way. The kids had a BLAST dancing the night away with their cousins and aunts/uncles (except Seth who sat and watched and blew bubbles because he was too embarrassed to dance). They must have danced for over an hour, and as you can see by the last picture, some of them were sweaty and red-faced by the end...or maybe it was only Gabe who looked that way...now that I think about it, that's my guess. Anne and Justin (and his family) were so thoughtful about all the kids who would be there. They had gift sacks full of food, drinks, snack stuff, little cameras, coloring books, etc. for the kids so they were able to eat right away and not have to wait for the adult food. Then Annie led the kids in a game of musical chairs, which was so fun for them. When they got out, they went over to her and received candy, so no one felt bummed about losing. How sweet!

Friends & the Puzzle Master

It has been crazy here lately. First we had sickness, and I probably got the worst of it! I had forgotten (because I am very rarely sick) how hard it is to get well when you are a mom. Life goes on as usual...meals, cleanup, laundry, homework, etc. and you can't just lay down and get well:) I so wished I had a nanny for about 36 hours last week! But I am back, not quite great, but getting there. We are flying to Seattle for Nile's sister's wedding on Thursday and will be there until Sunday, and I am trying not to freak out about getting everything done/packed. Lots to think about, for sure. Here are a few pics of the boys' friends, though Josie loves them just as much as my boys do. Our house/patio is kind of the hangout place for lots of boys on campus. On this day, they were playing legos and were very intense about it. Josie's dollhouse being in the background was accidental...I hadn't put it back in her room after playing. Five boys and a pink dollhouse:)

I always laugh when we go to a big playground and our children
play this close together...which is many times the case.

And the puzzle master...that little beauty in Seth's hand was almost the end of me, seriously. Gabe brought it home from school, and we all took a shot at it and all failed. The boys and I worked on it together, I tried it for longer than I care to admit after the boys went to bed (I couldn't stand the thought that it would outsmart me!), Nile gave it his best shot a few times, and I was calling it the crappiest little puzzle ever made, accidentally in front of the boys, who were cracking up because they aren't allowed to say that and I never talk like that in front of them. Wow. This morning, Seth woke up and said, "I'd just like to try it myself." A few minutes later, mission accomplished. I tried hard to be happy for the little guy. I'm kidding, I was quite thrilled for him and so was Gabe. I had a feeling if anyone were to figure it out, it would be him. By the way, I'm cutting that mop on his head tomorrow so he looks like a handsome little ring bearer for Annie's wedding.