Holiday Letter 2009

'Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it'--Ferris Bueller's Day Off

This quote from the 1986 classic movie seems to sum up the year of 2009 pretty well for Bailey and me. Here are some classic highlights from our year.



Now in 2nd grade, Bailey has shown great academic growth over the past 2 1/2 years. Last year she was placed in Van Allen Elementary's Enrichment Program in the spring and has been placed in the program again this year. Although you will often find Bailey with her nose in a book, she also continues to be very active, participating in a number of activities throughout the year. Her athletic skills were developed in Little Dunkers, Soccer Camp, Tennis Camp and Softball. But she definitely developed her artistic skills as well in Pom Pon Clinic and Dance Fever through Mount Pleasant Parks and Rec and Cooking, Going Green and Inventions and Legos Camps through the Iowa State Extension. This fall she decided she would like to get involved with Girl Scouts and has enjoyed that as well. Cookie sales are right around the corner.

Although it may seem that all I do is run Bailey to activities, I have found some time to enjoy myself as well. I've gotten involved with a women's book club at Faith Lutheran Church and developed a new passion and hobby to go along with my scrapbooking...stamping and card making. I got to experience some fun and relaxation at a scrapbook retreat in October with my sister-in-law, Amy. The following weekend I retreated to UNI to get together with friends for UNI's Homecoming. This past August marked the beginning of my 4th year at Iowa Wesleyan College where I continue to serve as the Director of Career Services and also teach a freshman seminar class in the fall. 2009 marked the 4th year I raised money for the March of Dimes fundraiser, March for Babies. You can check out our personal page at http://www.marchforbabies.org/seegers if you would like to donate or walk with us in April 2010.

My family also experienced some changes this year. On June 24th we welcomed Graham Hilton Wood to the family. 2 months later, we said good-bye to my Grandma Matthias whose health had been declining for the past year. And in 2010 we will welcome another addition to the family as Heath and Amy are expecting #4.

You can see what else we have been up to this year by checking out our other posts on Bails 'n Me.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Love, Heidi and Bailey

Fun With Photography

If you step into Bailey's room, it will be no surprise to you that Bailey LOVES stuffed animals. She saves her money for one of her favorite stores, Build-a-Bear. When we were cleaning Grandma's house a couple weeks ago, my cousin Bridget discovered a huge Rubbermaid tote with beanie babies, which she gladly donated to Bailey. These pictures may not end up in a photo gallery someday, but they will be some of my favorites in my scrapbooks.

Halloween 2009

For Halloween, the town of Mount Pleasant provides a couple different opportunities for kids's to wear their Halloween costumes. Trick or Treat on Main is an evening where downtown merchants pass out candy and other treats. Even though the weather was rainy and cold, we could not pass up the opportunity to trick-or-treat around The Square. Not to mention, Bailey could not wait to wear her costume, the 60's girl (or Sharpay from High School Musical as she liked to call herself). The traditionalist in me could not pass up carving pumpkins so we carved our pumpkins the afternoon of Halloween. That evening Bailey and I trick-or-treated with her friend, Lilly and mom, Tiffany. We went to a couple neighborhoods before heading indoors to the E3 Center where Faith Christian Outreach Church has a carnival for kids.

Ready to trick-or-treat on Main

Pumpkin Carving

Decided to be a redhead at the carnival

It's The Great Pumpkin Hike Charlie Brown

Healthy Henry County Communities is a wonderful organization in Mount Pleasant that organizes free family activities. This hike around East Lake Park provided a great opportunity for Bailey and me to get some exercise, learn about Halloween safety, participate in fun activities and snap some great photos.

Learning the grapevine with Snoopy

Lucy's Lemonade Stand

Pumpkin Bean Bag Toss

Family Celebrations

On October 18th, Austin Nicholas Joel Seegers became a child of God through the waters of baptism. It was a wonderful service and a special time for the family to be together. Following church, we went to Heath and Amy's house to celebrate Austin's baptism, as well as big sister Alli's 4th birthday.

UNI Homecoming

This December marks 12 years since I marched through the UNI Dome to receive my Bachelor of Arts from the University of Northern Iowa. Since leaving campus, there are a group of my closest friends from UNI that have made it a point to get together at least once a year. We call it Panther Reunion. On October 16 and 17, a group of us reunited back in Cedar Falls for UNI's Homecoming. We had the opportunity to visit some favorite hot spots while we were students, including a walk through Noehren Hall where many of us met. We also hit the hot spot on The Hill for lunch, Sub City. Although the campus and The Hill have changed a lot since we were there 12 years ago, I hope the tradition of Panther Reunion never changes.

The hallway in Noehren Hall where I lived my sophomore year

Jennie Gaffney (Williams) and me

Hidden Treasures

The weekend of October 3rd, the Matthias family gathered to go through Grandma Matthias' possessions. This old farmhouse has many memories of family gatherings, so it was bittersweet to be there for the 1st time since Grandma's passing in August. Along with the sentimental memories, I also received some physical items that will always remind me of Grandma. Fortunately my cousin Lucas lives in the house and we plan to continue celebrating the Christmas holiday together. We know that our angels, Grandma and Carrie, will be celebrating with us.

Bailey, Olivia and Sydney entertain themselves while the adults work

Old Threshers

Since moving to Mount Pleasant in July 2006, we have attended the Midwest Old Thresher's Reunion. This event brings 20,000 people to the Mount Pleasant community over the course of 5 days, concluding on Labor Day. This year I volunteered at the Faith Lutheran Church food stand. Their special is old-fashioned Beef 'n Noodles which has brought repeat customers for over 40 years and is an extremely good fundraiser for our church. It was a pleasure to visit with patrons and be surrounded by the people of Faith. Mom and Dad made the trip once again and Heath, Amy and the kids finally got to experience Old Thresher's. We did get pony rides, tractor rides and a train ride in during our time on the grounds. Along with a lot of exercise (aka walking). And Bailey and I made our annual stop at the lady with the felt dolls.

Bailey rides a pony

Lauren rides a pony

Alli needs a drink after all the walking around

Our future farmer?

Emotional Week

This has definitely been a week of ups and downs. Last week my Grandma Matthias' health began to decline rather quickly, leading to her passing on Friday. Her funeral early in the week was bittersweet as I have many fond memories being with her and my cousins. Monday evening I saw family and friends of the family I had not seen in years. It was moving to see so many special people come to offer condolences. I am also at peace knowing that she no longer has to suffer from some of the illnesses she had developed over the past 3 years.

On Wednesday, Bailey began 2nd grade. She was so excited to start school and loves her new teacher. Yesterday she said Mrs. Alvine's class is the best ever. Considering she also said this about her kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms, I would say we are off to a good start. I was a little surprised when she said they would start learning how to write in cursive this year as I distinctly remember learning this when I was in 3rd grade. Times, they are a-changing.

Blue Ribbon Work At The Henry County Fair

Although Bailey is not involved with 4-H, The Owl's Nest Daycare kids create projects during the summer to be judged in the Open Class event at the Henry County Fair. Here is some of Bailey's Blue Ribbon work these past 2 summers.2009: Self Portrait

2008: Pig made from recyclable products

2009: Bailey on the Beach

Mount Pleasant Welcomes RAGBRAI Riders

This past Friday over 15,000 bike riders came to Mount Pleasant, doubling the town's population for less than 24 hours. I had the pleasure of greeting RAGBRAI riders as they entered town. Iowa Wesleyan College provided free, COLD water to riders just before passing through the archway to downtown MP. Saturday morning I also had the pleasure to wishing the riders well and providing breakfast refreshments as they passed our house on their ride to Burlington to dip their tires in the Mighty Mississip. With connections to James Van Allen and Peggy Whitson, Mount Pleasant came up with the theme, 'Have a Blast in Mount Pleasant'. It was definitely a blast!

These rockets blasted off (with real fire) about every 5-7 minutes. The Heatilator company designed them. It was cool. And speaking of cool, water misted on the riders as they passed below the blue arches on the road to the downtown square. The riders commented on this being one of the best entrances. Way to go MP!

Bailey by the rocket

We were also fortunate to have a front row seat to the riders leaving town as they passed our house.

This hill out of town was nothing compared to the hills the riders endured on their ride into Mount Pleasant against a bad headwind. Many commented that it was the hardest ride of the week.

Former S-F student and recent Upper Iowa grad Storm Schmitt stopped by for a quick picture and breakfast snack before catching up with Team Peacock in New London.

Fun With Family

The past 2 weekends have been filled with family, the most important thing in the world to me. Last weekend we celebrated my nephew Austin's (aka Boomer for a birthday on the 4th of July) 2nd birthday and celebrated our nation's Independence Day with sparklers. This past weekend I finally got to meet the newest addition to my family, Graham, and celebrate my 34th birthday in Des Moines. Hope you enjoy some of our summer highlights. With only 5 weeks left of my summer, I'm still going to squeeze in some more family fun in the weekends to come.

Holding Graham for the 2nd time (didn't have my camera the 1st time)

All the presents are open

Fun with Austin's new bubble blower
(I don't think I could get Alli's head in a bubble again if I tried).

Hi Grandpa

Bailey loves being the big cousin

Lauren loves sparklers

Alli was pretending she was a Fairy Godmother saying Bibbity Bobbity Boo

The Seegers Cousins (minus one)