Megan and Colby Heideman of Valparaiso, Indiana

Megan (9), Colby (6), Ben (11), and Zachary (3) Heideman are keeping a New Year’s resolution that they made with their mom and dad. The resolution is to watch no television for a whole year, except for one VCR movie a month, which the whole family watches together. If they keep the resolution, at the end of the year each child gets $200—$20 goes to the bishop as tithing, $150 goes into her or his mission fund, and $30 can be spent on anything she or he wants!

If she had a thousand dollars, Megan would spend it to visit her grandparents, but with just thirty, she thinks that she might spend it on books (she especially likes adventure and mystery stories) or on stuffed animals for her collection or on stationery (she writes often to her cousins Taya and Ivy, who live in Michigan).

Colby might spend his money on a new computer game or on some new puzzles or maybe on a case for his ribbons and medals. Last year he won first place in the regional wrestling meet. He was the youngest competitor there, and he even beat some eight-year-olds to win the medal for his weight class!

Colby loves sports. Besides playing ball with Ben and T-ball on a local community team, he fishes when he can. He caught the only fish—a ten-to-twelve-inch bass—when his family went fishing at their grandparents’ home in Texas.

Colby and Megan both swim. Megan was on the Beacon Ridge, Illinois, swim team when she lived there. She plays softball with the Tornados, a Valparaiso community league for nine-to-eleven-year-old girls, and she takes ballet and tap-dancing lessons.

All four children jump on the trampoline, and they have made up games to play on it. One game that they made up is called “Popcorn.” A ball is put on the trampoline; then the children jump to make the ball bounce. If it touches one of them, that person is out of the game. Sometimes they use their shoes instead of a ball.

Both Megan and Colby are creative. Megan is the queen in a class play, “The Queen’s Cream Puffs.” She also draws a lot and writes her own stories. She recently wrote and illustrated “The Half Cocker Spaniel with Black Horseshoe Spots,” a story about a dog that could cook and run errands and do other things.

Colby’s creativity shows up especially during family home evenings. He usually makes up the games for the activity part. In his favorite family-home-evening game, a combination of hide-and-seek and tag, he gets to shout, “No bears are out tonight ’cause Daddy killed them all last night!”

1. Colby proudly displaying his wrestling ribbons and first-place medal

2. An impromptu ballet step in the driveway

3. Playing “Popcorn”

4. Colby and Ben playing keep away from Dad and Zach

5. Computer fun

6. Whizzing through a puzzle

7. At an early preseason softball practice

8. Megan giving a family-home-evening lesson

9. Megan with a favorite from her stuffed-animal collection

10. Ready to go fishing