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!