We're Farmers!

Well, temporarily...

Feeding the sheep

Our friends Chris and Brandi took off for a few days this week, and entrusted their farm animals to our family.  So we've been waking up really early to go to the farm, and then heading back in the late afternoon as well to feed and water the horses, sheep, llama, chickens, and cats.  We also get to pick the eggs from the henhouse and do other various chores.  The boys are pretty tired from all the early rising, but they have enjoyed it so much. They aren't afraid of the horses or the other animals at all, and caring for them has come so natural to them.

Pete and Nathan giving hay to the horses

Picking eggs in the henhouse

Elmo  the Llama

Two of the four horses; Merle (left) and Magic (right)

Big (Secret) News!

Something big is happening.


After months of planning and keeping the secret, we finally revealed to the boys on Christmas morning that on January 6th we are all getting on a plane and heading off to San Diego, California.  We never thought that it would be possible for us to do this, but with some help for flights and hotels, we are making the boys' dreams come true and heading to Legoland.  We hadn't even had a trip to anywhere as something on our radar of financial priorities, but this was an opportunity that we couldn't pass up.  My parents had decided to help us out with some of it, and they will be coming with us too!

We're planning on spending 3 days in Legoland (staying in a hotel across the street), and then we will move right into San Diego for a few more days of sightseeing, heading to the San Diego Zoo, and walking on the beach.  The best part about having my parents come with us is that they are going to take the boys for an entire day while we're there so that Pete and I can spend the day just the two of us.  Our trip will be 8 days in total, and we are thrilled.  I made the boys a countdown calendar and we gave it to them on Christmas day.  This way they will always know when we're going.

I took a video of us telling the boys about our trip, but it was very anti-climactic because they didn't really get it!  It took them the whole day of asking questions to realize the true magnitude of the trip.  Now they're excited though, and Nathan is already developing his plans for the trip - he has already asked me if he can pack his suitcase.

Old Pictures, New Laughs

This 2009 Christmas picture of the boys is still one of my favorites.  We called it, "Christmas Picture: Epic Fail."  Just in case you needed a reminder of our boys' personalities, this picture says it all.

Merry Christmas to all!

Zack's Christmas Concert

I've posted video of Nathan's class doing their Christmas concert, but I wasn't really able to get any good video of Zack singing at his concert.  Zack's class sang in the evening Christmas musical.  Zack did an awesome job and sang every word, even while there were some girls behind him not singing the right words.  These girls were annoying him so much that he felt the need to turn around and give them many stern looks.  Zack was pretty excited that even Grandma & Grandpa Heinbuch drove up from Rocky Mountain House to come and see his concert!

Nathan's Christmas Song

Nathan's class singing "One Small Child" at their afternoon concert!  Nathan is front and center.

The Candy Cane.

Nathan had a candy cane in his hand, and I overheard Nathan telling a little girl near him, "See look!  A candy cane is shaped like a shepherd's hook because Jesus is our shepherd, and like a J for Jesus, and it's red and white because Jesus' blood washes us white as snow.  And it's shaped like a gun. Pew! Pew!"

So close.

A Month Of...

Every time I go into my computer to check the blogs of family and friends, I feel the urgency to blog myself, but it seems like there just hasn't been a massive amount of newness going on in our lives this past month... It's more like we're getting ready for the new stuff to happen in the next couple of months! Getting ready for Christmas, getting Pete ready for his last session of school (for his FIRST ticket, anyway...), stuff like that. Here's a few highlights from the last few weeks.

Nathan has been rather eager to "tell on" Zack as much as possible, even stating things that could possibly happen. Example: *whiny voice* "Mommy! Zack's looking at me, and it's going to make me fall down!" He honestly said that.

We went to see the new Muppets movie on December 1st. It was fantastic and adorable. We are so thankful that Pete's sister works at the movie theatre here in Spruce Grove and can get us in for free. It's much nicer to just buy the snacks. :)

A couple of Fridays ago, all of us were heading into Edmonton from home at 4:30 in the afternoon and came home at 9:00 in the evening... We spent the entire time on the side of the Yellowhead... We merged onto the highway when out of the corner of his eye, Pete saw the last lugnut of the rear driver's wheel fly off, and he pulled over just as the wheel came off the car. Long story short, Pete RAN back to our house, got his car, drove it back to where we were while I jacked up the car, and laid on the highway fixing the bent bolts and brake assembly in the dark with 90km/h winds. The boys were total superstars; they sat in the car the whole time.

Zack wrapped a whole bunch of Christmas presents with me today and he was a total superstar. He wraps far above the second grade level, haha.

The boys have their school Christmas concerts coming up, so I'll be sure to post video/pictures as soon as I can!

New Paint

In September, the boys went to full-time school, and I was running out of projects and FAST. So I decided that I had the time to do what I've wanted to do for a while - paint the house! So I painted the kitchen, living room, and front hallway a silvery-gray. I absolutely love the change from the "trailer-colored" walls. I still have a few things that I'd like to add to a few places, but here are a few shots of everything so far!

Dressing Up!

The boys went out for candy on Halloween and got an impossibly large amount of it, as usual. Nathan went as Darth Vader, and Zack really wanted to wear his motocross gear. They looked awesome.

SMH (Shake My Head)

Zack has always been beyond his years, and his knowledge of cars is no exception. He loves to know anything and everything about each make and model, which car companies are part of the same group, which car companies compete with eachother to make the best of a certain type of vehicle, and so on. Having two parents that love cars is particularily helpful considering his extensive questions. Zack and Pete recently bought a new car-racing video game to play together, it's "Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit" (and yes, Zack says the FULL NAME of the game every time he refers to it). Zack loves it because it showcases everything from regular cars and SUVs to high-end supercars. I have never seen/heard someone talk so much while playing a video game. Zack wants to tell anyone within earshot the specs of every car. No wonder he crashes so much while he's racing, haha.

All that to say that Zack has come up with some type of game at recess that he has called, "Need For Speed: Awesomeness" and he plays it with his friends. I think it's mostly Zack talking about cars and making everyone listen... Anyway, one day in the car on the way home from school, Zack was telling me about playing his game with his friend Mikey:

"Mommy, I was playing Need For Speed: Awesomeness with Mikey, and I asked him what his favorite car was. Mommy, he said his favorite car is... A Honda Pilot, Mommy. (Shaking his head and speaking slowly now.) A. Honda. Pilot. (Long sigh.)"

"Well Zack," I responded, "Some kids don't really know all that much about cars. That's probably just the car that his mom or dad drives. Remember that you know a LOT more about cars than many kids your age."

"But Mommy, I think Mikey needs to watch some episodes of Top Gear (a show about cars from the UK) and learn about GOOD cars."

Zack told me a list of his dream cars. He would like to have the following:
A Porsche 911 GT-3 RS
A Nissan 370Z
A Chevrolet Camaro (Painted like Bumblebee from Transformers)
An Audi TT
A BMW M5
A Chevrolet Corvette Z06

Our Playgrounds

We did quite a tour of playgrounds this summer, just for something different. Nathan loves playgrounds, and requests his playground of choice when we go. He has named the parks we play at by color:
The Blue Park = The Parkland Village School Playground
The Red Park = The playground closest to our house, by the pond
The Red and Blue Park = The playground at Woodhaven School in Spruce Grove
The Colors Park = Rotary Playplace in Spruce Grove at the Tri-Leisure Centre
The Brown Park = Jubilee Park by Spruce Village
The Metal Park = The playground closest to Grandma's house; downtown Edmonton

The Black Eye Fiasco

Nathan became a school celebrity a couple of weeks ago by getting his first black eye. He and another boy were running in the playground at recess, and somehow ran headlong into eachother without seeing eachother coming. The other boy's forehead hit Nathan's eye, and Nathan ended up with a full-on swollen shut black eye. As if every child and teacher didn't know him before, for about a week, all people said at school was, "Hey Nathan! Let's see your eye. Eeeeeeew!"

B-Log BackLog

Oh dear. It's been a while. Let's get it started.

Say What?

Sometimes Nathan will say and do the funniest things just to get people's attention... Example time. We were at an engagement party for a friend, and a bunch of the kids there were playing in a bouncy castle. Nathan was very into pretending to fall and hurt himself on this particular occasion, and when his actions caught the attention of another parent, he got up and with a grin proclaimed, "Thumbs up for hurting yourself!"

I Almost Peed My Pants.

A friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) is a single 30-something woman, and she has started a blog about her recent terrible blind dates. It's called "A Waste Of Makeup." Click HERE to take a look (plus I added the link to the blog list at the bottom).

This. Is Great.

This is an ode to my Keurig. It's a fancy new-fangled coffee maker.

I got this thing a while ago, and I have nothing but great things to say about it. The Keurig is a one-cup-at-a-time coffee maker, which is perfect for the only coffee drinker in the house - me! But it's also great for all of our friends that come over who like coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. This way we always have all the hot drinks ready and available. It uses "K-cups" - the little round things in the holder beside the coffee maker - they look like really big creamers. They are cups of coffee grounds, loose tea, or hot chocolate mix (it's not instant - they're really coffee grounds. I checked.) that you put inside the machine. Then you put your mug underneath and press the cup size you want and the coffee comes out! It has a hopper for water, and it takes no time to heat up, so it's always ready to go. I highly recommend it for entertaining - this way everyone can have exactly what they want.

As far as my favorite appliances go I would put this at #2, right behind my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I think I'm going to go have a cup of coffee now...

Spare Time

I'm starting to run out of things to clean... And there have only been 7 days of school so far. I realized that I really have forgotten what it was like to have both kids in school; last year while Nathan went to school with Zack, I was in the office, so this is very different to have no one at home with me for the balance of every day. So I try to give myself a project to do every day; I've washed and detailed the car, cleaned out the shed, made a flower bed for the raspberries we're transplanting, cleaned out the kitchen cupboards, repainted the fridge, and redecorated the kitchen. Next week I'm going to clean out the closets and dressers. It's been nice to get this kind of stuff done. I guess. I did a cool craft project to redecorate part of the kitchen. I started with the wine rack. I never use it. I wanted to make a space that I would actually use that would be my style and wouldn't be so bare.
So I took some hard styrofoam, cut it to size, and glued it.Then, I wrapped it in one of the boys' black pillowcases, folding the fabric over a few times. Then I pushed it into place (it fit perfectly into the hole!).Then I put some stuff in the "pockets" that resulted from the folds in the fabric, and put some push pins in. Now it's a bulletin board!Then, to add to the redecoration of the kitchen, I took the Coke stuff down. *GASP!!* I know. It was just time to take it all down - the Coke was corroding through the cans! Plus, I wanted to make my kitchen uniform in the black/white/silver color palette that I have. I also took the artwork off the fridge (don't worry, I put the photographs back up on the freezer part after I took the final picture - it looks TOO bare without them!) and put bulletin boards in the boys' rooms to display their favorite pieces of art. The final look:

Sandwiches...

I thought they were supposed to be yummy...

For sandwiches at school, Nathan wants:
Miracle Whip on one side, mayo on the other, and lettuce. Yes, just lettuce.

Zack wants:
Honey on one side, butter on the other.

I posted this on facebook, and this seemed to trigger a response from friends of mine with equally "interesting" sandwich recipes from their childhood or their children. I knew a girl in elementary school who had a ketchup and butter sandwich every day.

Back To School!

The boys went back to school this week. They were so excited! Here's some first day photos! So what grade are you going into??It was Nathan's first year in a desk - he looked so little to be in one!
Nathan is in a 1/2 split this year (just like Zack was last year) with the same teacher Zack had in grade one - Mrs. Shurnaik (Shur-Nick). Zack is in a grade 2 class with Mrs. Ryan. They are both excited for this year!

They Really Can!

I've discovered the ultimate recipe blog. It's called Mennonite Girls Can Cook. They have a great selection of all kinds of recipes, including gluten-free stuff and a goldmine of desserts. I made these marshmallow filled chocolate cookies today and they're incredible.

Re-Vamped!

I've redone my website for my wedding flower business to make it easier for brides to look around and see what I offer. I'm so thankful that blogger added a "tabs" tool to make my site look less like a blog and more professional. Take a look around and tell me what you think!
www.flowersbychristy.com

Back-To-School Shopping Time

With school starting just 2 weeks from today, the kids are still loving summer, and I find myself just longing for the routine again... Both boys will be in full-time school this year, and when asked if they're excited about school they just kinda shrug their shoulders and say, "I guess." They have loved their time together these last 2 months, but they need to spend some time apart...

We've really had a great summer. Huge contributing factors to our fun as just the 3 of us have been the summer passes we have to the Tri-Leisure centre, and our membership to the Telus World of Science that we got last Christmas. We have gone swimming pretty much every second day, which has been really nice! It's great to get out of the house and do something FUN that we've already paid for. At the end of July, the boys stayed with Grandma & Grandpa Heinbuch in Rocky Mountain House for a week of VBS and fun! Pete's mom took the boys to Drumheller for the day as well, and it's something the boys talk about regularly. My parents hosted the boys in their new downtown highrise condo for a few nights last week and the boys had lots of fun living in "Grandma's Hotel" as they call it! We've spent lots of time playing outside in the sunshine riding bikes, playing with the kiddie pool, water guns, water balloons, and the sprinkler (I think the kids like water). I have to say it's sort of disheartening for me when I've spent half an hour filling up water balloons and they're gone in 5 minutes, but it's so much fun so it balances out. :)

Over the past few weeks, it seems that the boys have grown out of so many things. They have gotten so big over the summer that we've had to give away the little playground climber/slide and the Power Wheels. The Power Wheels just strains under their weight and can't even move forward, poor thing! So I put a sign on it in the driveway (and kept the batteries inside the house) and 20 minutes later the doorbell rang and a mom with a little boy named Maddock got a sweet new ride.

The only sad part about all of this is that Pete has worked through the entirety of our summer fun. With one of their mechanics on medical leave with cancer, Pete and the shop foreman Bert have been the only ones fixing the equipment - and with Bert's other responsibilites, Pete is often the only mechanic on the shop floor. Sometimes many days pass before the boys see Daddy - Pete leaves for work before they wake up and comes home after they go to bed. It's actually surprising for Pete to come home somewhere near supper time. The overtime money has been good - with the shop closing for almost a month over Christmas/New Years, we've been able to save some money to pay for life during that time - but we would rather have Pete with us! I have no doubts that he is just exhausted both mentally and physically. He passes out the second his head hits the pillow.

With the back-to-school shopping almost done, I'm looking forward to spending these next two weeks savoring every moment of summer fun with my boys.

My Dorky Side Rides Again!

Pete's boss Bert is crazy for cake. He loves cake SO much, but only when it's made from scratch. Last year for his birthday, Pete asked me to make him a chocolate cake and he loved it. Since then, he is a regular customer of mine and Bert buys cakes from me for every single birthday in his extended family. It was his birthday last week and he ordered a cake from me for his family party. He had a special request though - he REALLY wanted a cake with a habs (Montreal Canadiens) logo on it. Well, I tried super hard, and I think it turned out good enough to photograph!

My Grown-up Little Men

Here's a pic my dad took of the boys as ringbearers in my cousin's wedding. They're so adorable!

Involuntary Reference

For those of you that haven't seen the movie "Up" this will probably pass over your head, but it made us laugh.

The four of us were driving, and Nathan was telling us about something. As he is looking out the car windows, but emphatically telling us his story, mid-sentence, even mid-word, he all-of-a-sudden stopped and said, "Squirrel!" And then he went silent. I forget what he was telling us before that because Pete and I burst out laughing. Just like Dug (and all of the rest of the dogs) in the movie.

It's Like He Knows What I'm Thinking...

I read a very frank, honest, and rather scathing column today about discipline. It really expresses what I feel about discipline, as well as what I feel about my kids (and other kids) and the way that they act. Especially in public. Here's the first paragraph.

"If you're the kind of parent who allows your 5-year-old to run rampant in public placces like restaurants, I have what could be some rather disturbing news for you. I do not love your child. The rest of the country does not love your child either. And the reason why we're staring at you every other bite is not because we're acknowledging some sort of mutual understanding that kids will be kids but rather we want to kill you for letting your brat ruin our dinner."

I never wanted to have "those children." You know the ones. The ones that NOBODY wants to have over. Pete and I have worked hard and been extremely dilligent in our efforts to make sure our boys are respectful to people and their property. Having no boundaries for our children doesn't show them security. It will only make them try harder to get some type of reaction, other than the monotone repetition of empty threats I hear in the grocery store lineup. Like the article says; "I don't believe making a child's wishes top priority is a demonstration of love. Nor do I believe I, or the rest of the world, should act as a surrogate parent for somebody's bad-ass kids." If I tell my children, "If you do that again, we are leaving right now," they believe me. They know that we will drop everything and leave. I wouldn't tell them that if I didn't have the intent to follow through.

There. That's my rant for the day. If you would like to read the article, click HERE. **Please be aware that this is an OPINION. If you don't like what I or this article have to say, it's not my fault. **

Nathan is 6!

It was Lego Birthday Party time in our house again! Nathan turned 6 on June 21st, and on the 26th, we had not one but TWO parties! Nathan had 5 friends come over for a fun time on the jumpy slide and cupcakes in the afternoon, and then family and family friends came for supper and the evening. We had a great time with everyone celebrating Nathan.It took me just over three hours to make this sign. But it stood all on it's own, and I'm unnecessarily proud of my handiwork... It's harder than you think to make all those letters!

Lego colored cupcakes and Lego block sugar cookies!

Nathan's favorite part of the day (of course) - PRESENTS!

We borrowed the "jumpy slide" from my parents, and it was a big hit especially with his afternoon party guests!

And here's Nathan at the end of it all, just so excited to build all of the new Lego sets he got.

The Heinbuch Family Arsenal

We started off with a dry Nerf arsenal, but recently have expanded to wet as well. We decided that, with the amount of water fights we had last year, that we would get some really good water guns this summer. Now that the Nerf brand has purchased Super Soaker, they are turning out some super fun stuff. We got 4 (oh yes, one for each of us) Nerf Thunderstorm water guns. They are really cool because they are fully automatic (no pumping required) and have removable magazines full of water that you can change in and out of the gun, and you can also purchase extra magazines so that you've always got an extra clip of soaking power! :) We have already had a blast with them, and it's only the first week of summer. Here's some action shots I got of the end of a major family water fight we had today. We were all soaked. It was great!

When the boys were babies I wasn't sure about them having gun-like toys as kids, but after reading the book "Wild At Heart" by John Eldredge, I was completely fine with it. The book gave me a look into a boy's heart and the reasons behind why boys seem to always want to play with guns (whether they have them or not).

(By the way, I highly recommend this book to read as a woman - it really gave me good insight into my husband's heart, too!)

What Nathan Does All Day

This is a pretty good example of what Nathan does for a good portion of the day. Building new creations while singing under his breath, and then showing me what he's made.

Zack vs. the 50cc

Here's Zack on the dirt bike! Love it!

He's 7!

Well, it might be a month too late to post it, but Zack DID have his birthday and we DID have a party. I can't believe that Zack is 7 already... So exciting. Here are some random pictures of his party that we had a few Sundays ago; we had his friends over in the afternoon and family over in the evening. A busy day, but so much fun! It was a Mario themed party (surprise, surprise), and I had a great time doing the decorating and baking for it (surprise, surprise)!Above: This is what we had in place of birthday cake - cupcakes and sugar cookies!
Below: Zack's friends over for the afternoon. One of Zack's friends got him a skateboard that he thinks is pretty awesome. He got lots of different kinds of toys and crafts and games to play with, he was very excited!

He Can Do It!!

Pete's been working hard with Zack, and last week it finally paid off. Zack can ride a 2-wheeler. He's known he could ride his bike for so long, but it's taken him until now to work up the confidence. Yay Zack!

Sweet Moment

Yesterday, the boys and I were having breakfast, and I looked up from my cereal and saw that Zack had tears in his eyes. Worriedly I asked him what was wrong. He smiled and said, "Mommy, I'm not crying. It's just the birds outside are making such wonderful noises."

Getting the Prize

So yesterday when I picked up Nathan from Kindergarten, he ran up to me with a Tim Horton's card and said, "Mommy! Look what I got! I got the prize!" Puzzled, I glanced up at Miss Fraser, and she explained the story.

At chapel (the K-4 kids have chapel together every Wednesday morning), the speaker asked the kids what Jesus means. Not what His name means, what HE means. A whole bunch of kids started yelling out other names of Jesus from the bible, and words like love and kindness. After pondering this for a minute, Nathan (in the front row) put up his hand. The speaker quieted the kids down and called on Nathan to give his answer. The room was quiet as Nathan said, "Salvation." The speaker was floored. Then excited. He fished around in his pockets and pulled out a Tim's card, saying to the teachers, "Now THAT deserves a prize," and gave the card to Nathan.

Such an adorable video...

6 Going On 60

My Zack has always been old for his age; he doesn't like change, he thinks so differently from children his age. He seems to pull his thoughts and ideas from places in his mind that I didn't think kids posessed. Here are some examples from the past few weeks.

In the car. "Mommy, I've noticed that I'm so tired in the morning on the days I have school. I think I need to start going to bed earlier on those nights." So logical.

After I got my nose pierced (not a ring or anything - just a tiny little jewel stud). "Mommy, I hate to have to tell you this, but the earring in your nose just looks weird." He didn't want to hurt my feelings, but he just didn't like the change.

He also uses phrases like, "I'm sorry to say that..." and "Unfortunately, the problem was..." He ties in the emotion first, and then directly points out the issue.

Pete and the boys had "Man Supper" one night and Pete went and got them a grocery store pizza to bake at home. Zack didn't like it. Not because the pizza tasted bad or was overcooked or had too much crust, etc. It was because of the shape - the pizza was square. He couldn't stand the idea of eating a pizza that was not round. It was like he would be betraying all he held dear.

Go Team!

Nathan is extremely aware of our family's likes and dislikes. He loves to know when there is someone else in the family who likes/has the same thing as him, and his excitement about it increases when he is at the table for a meal. Every time someone has the same thing as him; everything from ketchup or the same color of bowl, he fist bumps the person across the table and says, "Go team!" If Pete and Nathan both have the same cereal in the morning, Nathan puts his fist across the table toward Pete and says, "Go team same cereal!" If Zack and I and Nathan all have black plates and Pete has a white one, Nathan fist bumps the two of us and says, "Go team black plates!" He loves to both encourage people and feel included, and it's an adorable way to do both.

The Prettiest Picture

In January, I finally had the chance to have lunch with my Auntie Marg. While we were eating in her kitchen, I noticed a beautiful photo of a rose she had framed. Marg explained that it was a photo of a rose from her mother's garden. I told her that the picture reminded me of a gorgeous canvas print of white roses that I had seen at Florists Supply (the place I get all my wire and oasis and other florist-type stuff), but everytime I went I just didn't have the extra cash to get it. Well, the afternoon went on with more great conversation and we said our goodbyes. Then a few days later, we had my cousin Dale over (he usually stops by on Sunday evenings) and he had a card for me from Auntie Marg. It said how much fun our time together was, and a little note with some money to get the roses picture I had told her about. Excitedly I went to Florists Supply on Monday morning and was able to get the LAST one they had. I put it up as soon as I got home.

So quiet...

I now have the opportunity to work part-time in the office at Lafrentz working on a new database that they are compiling. So as of the beginning of February, on Mondays and Wednesdays, I drop the boys off at school in the morning and head to the office with my laptop and a lunchbox. Then I sit at a desk at my computer to type for 6 hours, and then I go pick up the boys from school and come home. Even though I've been working for Lafrentz for 4 years already, I was a "mobile employee" mostly working from home, so it didn't really feel like a "real" job. It feels strange to be in the office though - the silence, the dressing up, the other adults... Not what I'm used to. But I kinda like feeling like a grown-up for a while.

Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Whaaaaa?

The boys have always ALWAYS said the typical "Eenie, meenie, miney, mo" rhyme in the same way, and I have no idea how on earth both of them started saying it like this, but ever since they could talk they've said:
Eenie, meenie, miney, mo.
Watch your step and bite your toe.
[They then continue on pointing at whatever they are choosing a few more times while rhythmically chanting something to the effect of "you are the one I pick."]

So watch your step and bite your toe.

Goodbye Harold

Last month we bid our truck, Harold, a fond farewell. Pete's been having a hard time staying motivated to fix it over the last while, and the older it gets, the worse it's going to get. So we bought Pete a little Toyota Corolla (also from my grandparents - Harold's original owners) and put our truck up for sale. Zack cried hard when we told the boys we were selling the truck, but he was okay with it eventually. Pete already misses having a truck, but not the repairs that were always lingering around the corner. Now we start a new era with another vehicle, as Harold has now been driven off to continue his life with a new family.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!

SO.

It's been a while, hasn't it?

I have lots of stuff in my mind that I told myself I just HAD to post about, and every day has gotten away on me with less and less free time...

So back on the blog-train I intend to hop, and shall do more postings! Weeeeeee!