Christmas Cookie Chaos

My December has been absolutely full with baking.  This year I made 80 dozen decorated sugar cookies along with all kinds of other cookies and goodies.  I almost had a breakdown at the end there, but I got them done!  Although stressful in the amount, the decorating is fun and I get so excited when I finish a new batch of fun cookies.

Family Photos!

We got our pictures back!

To see a whole bunch, I'm hoping this link will work, even if you're not on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151355626831323.522722.699656322&type=1&l=8b17b8e155

Here's a quick preview, just in case you can't get to those ones.

 

And here's the ring that Pete gave me for our anniversary!

Ten Year Trip

On November 16th, Pete and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary.  This year, unlike the previous ones, we actually did stuff!

My parents graciously offered to take the boys over 2 nights this past weekend so that Pete and I could have a little getaway to Banff.  We dropped the boys off at school on Friday morning, headed to the mountains, and got back late Sunday night.  We spent lots of time relaxing and wandering through Banff and Canmore, just enjoying the view and eachother's company.  The highlight was on Saturday afternoon when we took the gondola up to the top of Sulphur Mountain, and then climbed the path to the weather station on Sanson's peak.  The view was fantastic, and the weather was perfect.  We've decided not to wait 10 years to do this again.

The boys had lots of fun with Grandma & Grandpa, too.  They were excited to live at their house for a few days, and their highlight was going to the Star Wars Identities exhibit at the Telus World of Science on Saturday.  This is a world-touring exhibit with the original movie costumes and props, and Edmonton is one of only two stops made in North America, so it's a pretty big deal.  The boys were (and still are) over the moon about it.

We also had professional pictures done for the first time since our wedding (pictures to follow soon!) and during the photo shoot, to capture my reaction, Pete gave me a ring for our anniversary (pictures to follow soon!).  I'm super excited to send out awesome family pictures for Christmas this year!

Back Into It

The boys are almost through their first month of school now, and they are really enjoying being back in the swing of things.  Although I do believe that weekends now seem to have a deeper impact this year for them; the boys are excited to sleep in on Saturdays.  I got Nathan up for school this morning, and he looks at me with tired eyes and says, "Mommy, don't you just WISH it was Saturday?"

Preaching to the choir, kid. You'll be saying that until you retire.

~          ~          ~

Delphinium

I decided to take the job I was offered at the flower shop I used to work at here in Spruce, and I started last Monday.  With a new owner, it's an even better place to work, and my new job is an awesome deal.  I work just two 3-hour shifts per week, filling the cooler with new fresh-cut bouquets and arrangements.  I get to work in the back, I don't have to deal with customers at all, it's just fantastic.  It's relaxing, not too time-consuming, and taking home the week-old flowers is the icing on the cake.  I didn't realize how much I've missed having flowers around here!

Back To School

What grade are you going into?

We headed back to school this morning.  Nathan was thrilled to find out that he has the same teacher from grade one to teach him grade two.  Zack was a little worried to find out that he will have two teachers that job-share this year in a two/three split; and nervous because one of his teachers is a guy that Zack says yells a lot.  Both Pete and I knew that Zack might end up with this teacher, and we attempted to prepare him for it, but he had a very worried face when I left him this morning...  As Zack learns to handle the changes of being in a different class, he will eventually relax.  The first week of school is usually a tough adjustment for him, but by next week, he will be a happy student again.

The Last Bouquet

The last bouquet. August 18, 2012.

It was time to make a change.  I've closed up shop as an independent florist now, finishing my last wedding a couple of weeks ago, and I'm feeling relieved.  A little sad, but mostly relieved.  It was a tough one to let go, but the stress just isn't worth the money (or lack thereof) anymore...  But it was worth it at one point.

The joy of making the perfect bouquet has now been overtaken by the details...  Things like the one hundred stems of [whatever main flower I chose to use] came in moldy (yes, this specific thing has happened to me four times), or didn't come in at all (this happened too), and I now have six hours to find replacements in order to spend an entire sleepless night piecing together bouquets out of whatever I could find at other shops...  Things like having ordered all of the flowers for one price, only to find out that since the order, the price of this one flower has skyrocketed due to a storm/drought/sourcing problem and now I'm making forty bucks on 12 hours of work...  Things like that.


Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE doing wedding flowers.  I love the look on a bride's face when she first sees her bouquet, knowing that it's exactly what she pictured.  I love pinning boutonnieres on nervous grooms that are trying to laugh through their pre-ceremony jitters.  I love making the flowers match the exact style and feel of the wedding.  I love making bouquets the most.  It's like an intricate puzzle of color and shapes, everything going together in just the right order.  If I could pick a top 3 of all of the bouquets I've ever made, I would probably pick these three (left), although I had a really hard time just now going through all of my pictures!  I picked the rainbow bouquet because it was the most fun, the fall bouquet because it was challenging in style and shape, and the lilies and blue orchids bouquet becuase I just loved the process of making that one.

Last week, upon turning in the last buckets from my last order to my old flower shop, I received a job offer from the new owner to come in whenever I would like to just to make arrangements, and I'm debating taking it. But we'll see how it goes.

 

Road Trip

This week the boys and I went on a road trip!  With the end-of-summer boredom that seems to happen near the end of August, it was the perfect time for us to get out of town.  Pete has been working quite a lot lately with construction season being in full swing, so sadly he had to stay home, but we still had a great time without him.


Jennifer, Cate, Eva, & Anna

My friend Jennifer and I have been working on getting together for a while now, but with her family living in Okotoks and our family here in Spruce Grove, it's never seemed to work out.  So this summer we were determined to make it happen.  The boys and I left early Monday morning to meet my friend Jennifer and her three daughters at the Calgary Zoo.  After spending the day there, we headed south and stayed at their house in Okotoks for 2 more days.  With all five kids in tow, we painted the town red.  We got to go sightseeing, we visited a honey factory, we played at 3 different playgrounds AND a spray park, and we spent time at their house too!  We came home Wednesday evening, and the boys spent Thursday and Friday coming down from all of the excitement.


At Big Rock

At the honey factory, watching the bees!






At the Zoo

Throwing rocks in Sheep River

Initialize

The "curse of the mechanic" as I call it, has been upon us again.  I say this lovingly, knowing full well that part of loving cars is owning more of them...
We've had our '93 Corolla (the boys named it "Yoda") for a long time now.  It's been dependable and easy to take care of.  We purchased that Corolla out of necessity, for something that would fit the four of us that wouldn't break down.  That car was good to us, but it was also the "dry white toast" of cars according to Pete.  About a month ago, a guy at the shop offered to buy Yoda.  Well Pete came home jumping up and down, because for the same price he was offered, he found his next car already.  With a knowing sigh I told him to do what he felt was right but this car had to fit the four of us and be RUNNING!  We already have a truck that doesn't run, and we can't run school and work without 2 functioning cars.  I asked Pete what his new car will be, and he says with a grin, "Get this, Christy.  It's an eight-six."


Real-life version of the Initial D AE-86

An eight-six is also known as the Toyota Corolla GTS, or the Toyota AE-86, one of the first affordable drift-racing cars.  It's an FR; front-engine, rear-wheel drive and despite it's age (believe it or not), it is a rare and coveted vehicle.  One of the reasons I already know so much about this car is because of the show Initial D, (get this) an anime show about drift racing in Japan (yes, Pete and I are geeks).  It's about Takumi, a humble kid who delivers tofu in his dad's AE-86 and becomes one of the greatest downhill street racers in Japan (see video below).  This TV show made the eight-six even more famous.  Now, the guys who previously owned Pete's car (also geeks) painted it to look exactly like Takumi's on the show with the exception of the "Fujiwara Tofu Shop" japanese writing on the side (and a few scratches/dents/rust spots).  Pete's plan is to change the paint-job eventually, but for now it looks just like the picture!  The boys love the car, their favorite thing is the pop-up headlights.

I have to say, I have honestly never ever had as much fun behind the wheel of any other car.  It might not look like much, and it might be from 1987, but this thing just flies.  It turns on a dime, and it's built to rev high.  It sounds fantastic.  Sometimes I find excuses just to drive it around.  If you can drive a stick, come by and take it for a spin sometime.

Samson's Secret...

The boys have just come back from their annual week at Grandma & Grandpa Heinbuch's in Rocky Mountain House, and they had a blast as usual.  They're still getting over it - I've been thankful that yesterday and today have been cold and rainy to allow for maximum rest.  Grandpa took Zack and Nathan fishing, and they both caught good sized rainbow trout (that are now in our freezer).  The boys love spending time there, and they love going to VBS each day of their stay.  Pete and I had a good time while the boys were away, and we went on a couple of dates, which was very nice.

~          ~          ~

A couple of weeks ago, while riding in the car, the boys were asking me about the story of Samson, and so we talked about how a woman used her beauty to get Samson to tell her the secret of his strength.  Then Zack said, "so then the moral of the story is never tell women anything."

 ~          ~          ~

The boys have been playing together well lately; only about 10% of their time ends in someone storming off.  Most of their playtime together involves police.  Either pretending the Hot Wheels cars on the car mat are catching bad guys, or pretending that they are police and/or bad guys themselves.  I caught a moment of this while cooking supper that made me giggle:

Zack (toting a Nerf gun and wearing a paintball mask): Nathan, you are under arrest... For being extremely annoying.

Baby Elli

Elaina "Elli" Grace is a pretty awesome little girl.  I've never really connected with the babies of other people, but having snuggled her each morning while visiting Amanda in the hospital and being able to enjoy cuddles a few times a week, I'm hooked on this little one.  The boys (and Pete) love to hold and fuss over her, too!  We've even babysat her for a couple of hours already while Mommy & Daddy had some much-needed together time.  I'm so excited to get to know the girl she will become!

Nathan reading "Yummy Yucky" to Elli.

Growing Up

After ten years of a thirty-five dollar IKEA fiberboard kitchen table (which was technically a desktop with screw-on legs) with cheap plastic chairs, we finally said goodbye to it and bought our first actual real wood dinette set.  Six chairs and a leaf so we can comfortably seat eight, and it's black-stained cherry wood.  So exciting!

Recent Savories...

I've been busy, and having fun, with lots of baking projects!  Between parties here and orders too, it's been crazy and awesome.   Here's some pics.



Ninjago "Ninjabread Men"

Lego Head Marshmallow Pops

Ninjago Cupcakes

Angry Birds Cake

Balloon Cookies

It's Aliiiiiive!!!

After the initial sadness that not all the plants I transplanted from my Grandma had survived the winter, what a surprise to find that now every single raspberry chute AND my white peonies are growing!  I'll put up pictures when they're more impressive-looking, they're a little tiny and pathetic right now...

The Next Day

Nathan is 7 years old now...  Hard to believe it, but it's true.  He is so excited about his birthday, and the party too!  But I think his favorite day has to be the day after the parties, when there's no one here and he gets to work on unpackaging and building all of his new toys.  Nathan is one of those kids that thoroughly enjoys every toy he gets, big or small, he cherishes it.

May Flowers

So thankful that spring is done sprung-ing and our afternoons are spent outside.  We had two days of solid, perfect rain last week that made everything start growing!  I transplanted some raspberry plants from my grandma's yard and despite the weather this winter, there are leaves on them!  (I also transplanted a peony bush, but I'm thinking that one didn't make it...)  I've planted flowers in our big planter, and the boys' grade one trees are budding little baby branches.

~          ~          ~

A while ago, Pete took me and the boys to see The Avengers in the theatre. After seeing it already (on opening night with Kyle, of course), Pete decided that it wasn't that scary and that the boys would love it. Well, it was fantastic - I have to say that I enjoyed that movie thoroughly. Not only was it clean (no swearing or sex) and not scary, it was super entertaining. There was one really tense "will he make it through the door before it closes and we'll never see him again" scene where the super hero narrowly makes it, and amid a quiet theatre everyone could hear Nathan say, "PHEW!!!" Zack loved it too, and he has been telling everyone who will listen about all the scenes he can remember.

~          ~          ~

Pete has been working quite a bit already this season, and this year they have given him the responsibility of going on the road with a service truck.  This means taking a truck full of tools and parts out to jobsites to fix the equipment, or doing services like oil changes and air filters and all that jazz right on the spot.  Starting today he will be in Edson all week, but driving home each night.  He's not too happy about this transition, but with the nice post-graduation raise that he got, it's a little easier to handle.

Happy 8th Birthday to Zack!

I can't believe that Zack is 8 now!  We spent the weekend celebrating his birthday with friends and family (Mario-style as always).  Happy Birthday to our ever growing boy!

Happy Easter

I went to the boys' Easter Chapel at school on Wednesday - it was a two-hour celebration of Easter with all of the MAP program kids from Kindergarten through grade 9.  Each class did a performance of a different kind; a small skit, a song, read poems that they wrote, sign language to bible verses, and more.  In between performances, all of the kids and parents sang worship songs.  It was such an awesome morning.  Lots of wet eyes on the parents!  There's just something so moving about watching kids proclaim the name of Jesus.  We sang "Glorious Day" and I think we all lost it right there...  All of the kids knew the words.

He is risen!  Have a blessed weekend.

So Sweet

Nathan and I were in the checkout line at Superstore and out of the blue, he looks up at me and says, "Mommy, I wish I had a photographic memory."

I said (trying to hide my surprise that he knew what it meant), "Really?  Why?"

"So that I could always remember what you look like right now.  I love you."

We'd better watch out for this kid when he's dating...

So Proud!!

Pete's 4 years of school are finally done!  Gooooo Pete!!!

Now we just have to wait a month for his exam results...

Gluten: The World's Biggest Party-Pooper

Having been a "post-Celiac" (as I've put it) for more than three years now, the miracle of temporary healing has now reached it's end (click here to read the healing story).  The relief from Celiac has been even longer than I've hoped, and I've been thankful for the time I've had to enjoy all of the flavours and freedoms that come with a life without allergies.  Starting in January, my blood & iron levels have dropped down to dangerous levels, and this week will be a farewell to gluten.

Honestly it's not that bad - I still make so many gluten-free meals because that's how I've done it for years.  A majority of the everyday sauces and ingredients I use are gluten-free anyway.  Over the past few years there have been so many developments and so much more information about gluten-free food, and I'm thankful that it won't be as hard to make the switch back.

So long, gluten.  It was really nice to have you in my life for the last three years. Our affair was fabulous.

February? Where did you go?

I know, I know.  It's been a month already since my last entry.  I'm a bad blogger.


February held a few exciting adventures for our family for sure. Not only were we able to get last-minute free tickets to Monster Jam (from Kyle's brother - Thanks Tyler!) for February 11th, but we also got to enjoy our Christmas present from my Grandma Zapf & Auntie Marge. They gave us tickets to see the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's Disney in Concert at the Winspear, and they came too!  This was the first time the boys got to see an orchestra (although we had been to a Cosmo concert at the Winspear before), and there were singers and special lighting and video presentations to go with the music.  It was fantastic, and the place was packed with excited kids wearing suits and princess dresses and Mickey Mouse ears.

We also had a great time with Valentine's Day, and I'm surprised at how huge the focus on this particular holiday is at school!  It's a pretty big deal.  The boys came home with candy, chocolates, pencils, cookies, cupcakes, and all kinds of other treats... Oh, and Valentine cards as well, haha.  Since we in the Heinbuch house love anything celebratory, we made cards (completed with candy as well!) for all of the boys' classmates and teachers.  They also made special ones for 2 friends that don't go to their school anymore that we hand-delivered after school that day.

The weather has been completely amazing this year, and with a fresh (and HUGE) dump of snow last week combined with the mild barely-freezing temperatures, the boys have been playing outside non-stop.  It's been fantastic.  The boys and I took every available container in the house and froze blocks of ice with food coloring, so we have random ice rainbows in the backyard.  So much FUN!

Dance Party

Nathan and I are in the hallway after school today, waiting for Zack to pack up his stuff, and Nathan is jumping and flailing and dancing around.  I turned to him and asked him what was going on.  He said, "Mommy!  My molecules are having a dance party!!"

Wait.  What?

"Get it?  Because I'm made of molecules!"

Wow.

A Venture Of The Heart. And Stomach.

In late fall I began the official journey of a new business venture.  A tasty, tasty venture.

It was kind of an impromptu thing...  I love to bake stuff for people and they love to eat it.  This summer there was a guy from our church that tasted my lemon-drop cookies and said, "Hey, do you sell these?"  I said that I didn't, I just love to bake.  He asked if I baked anything else tasty, and I rattled off a few of the family favorites that I usually make.  A few weeks later, he asked me if I would consider making some samples of some of my best recipes for his coworkers, and I hesitantly agreed.  I've only ever sold my baking to Pete's boss (he orders cakes from me quite a lot), and I wasn't sure if getting into the cookie business was really going to benefit me.  I mean, sometimes when someone is paying you to do something, whether you love to do it or not, there's a certain amount of added pressure.  And there's the worry of whether or not I'll actually make money doing this.  I decided to test it out for the time being, and go from there.  Well, the second I dropped off those cookies, I got a facebook message from this guy asking for a price list of goodies.  Figuring out the prices and sending the list over facebook, he made up the company name "Christy's Savories" for me, typed up a fancy looking menu, and posted it at the office.  The response was overwhelming.  Christy's Savories was a success!  I got pretty darn busy - especially over Christmas.

So now that Christy's Savories has lasted through the season (and actually made a profit, yay!), I'll continue the test and see where it takes me.

www.christyssavories.com

Emotions

At the supper table tonight, Nathan took a break from eating for a moment and asked me, "Mommy, do you know how 'emotional bank accounts' work?"

"Do YOU know how emotional bank accounts work?" I asked.

"Yes, I do!"  And then he told me all about how if someone makes you happy or says something nice, it's like they are depositing emotional money into your bank account, and if someone says something mean or makes you sad, it's like they are taking it away.  And if you have lots of emotional money, you can give as much away as you have.  Needless to say, I was floored at how casual Nathan was with his presentation of the topic...

*        *        *

At breakfast last week, I had some worship music playing while we were eating, and the song Christ Is Risen by Matt Maher started playing.  Zack said to me, "Mommy, this song makes me feel funny."  I asked him why and he said, "Well, it makes me happy that Jesus came back to life and we can go to heaven..."  And then he looked up at me and his eyes were brimming with tears.  "But it still hurts so much that He had to die."

Beginning Of The End

Today is Pete's first day of his last 8 week installment at NAIT for his auto mechanics apprenticeship.  On March 23rd, he will be a Journeyman mechanic.  Yay Pete!

Doesn't Matter, Need Sleep.

When Nathan is tired, he will just fall asleep. Sitting, laying down, loud or quiet place. Doesn't matter.

Nathan's latest sleepy moment - Pete got Oilers tickets from work for him and the boys, and Nathan couldn't even last through the second period.

Home

Well, it happened.

We came and we went.  We took a trip that we will never go on again and had an incredible time.  We had even more fun than we set out to have, and everything was even better than we could have imagined it.

We started here, headed to the Edmonton airport in our hoodies (it wasn't that cold, hovering right around the freezing point), and took a plane to Denver, Colorado and then one more to San Diego.  We picked up the massive SUV that Dad rented for the six of us and the luggage and headed for bedtime at the Sheraton Carlsbad, which has a private entrance to Legoland for it's clientele.  Saturday morning we woke up, had breakfast, went to Legoland until it closed, had supper, went to bed, and did the exact same thing on Sunday and Monday as well.

Lego Star Wars miniland with scenes from each movie!

Legoland was nothing short of magical.  I mean, this place has everything.  The park is divided into sections that have a theme from kings and knights to dinosaurs to pirates.  Each section has it's own music, decor, rides, and restaurant.  It would take us FOREVER to explain to you all of the things we did there, all of the rides we went on, etc, but here are pictures of some of our favorite things.

The Sky Cruiser - It's a roller coaster that you PEDAL around the track!

Pete and the boys on the biggest coaster in Legoland, Zack's favorite of all the rides.

Even the bathroom signs are cute.

The Volvo driving school - a little city with traffic lights and signs and lots of kids driving around in little Lego cars!

Zack rode on every ride - even the scary ones that turn upside-down!

After our last sleep at Legoland, we checked out of our hotel and headed to our next one in La Jolla (pronounced la hoya).  We spent Tuesday at a couple of different beach areas, where the boys saw the ocean for the first time.  They loved every second of being in the water, on the sand, finding shells and hermit crabs, everything.

Captivated.

Wednesday was another exciting day as we went to the San Diego Zoo for the day.  Another spectacular place to go.  It was so great that we went back for the day again on Friday!  Our favorite animals there were the polar bears, the pandas, and the orangutans.  The great thing about this particular zoo is that the animal exhibits are designed to put as little space between the animals and the humans as possible.  The giraffes could bend over an lick us because we were that close.  It was amazing to see these animals within a few feet of our vision as opposed to far off in the distance.

In between our days at the zoo, on Thursday we went to the San Diego harbour and took a harbour cruise.  There is a US Navy base in the harbour, so we got to see not one but TWO aircraft carriers as well as many other ships.  This was a huge highlight for Zack, he was lit up and fully engaged for the entire 2 hours.  We also did some more wandering around San Diego and enjoyed the sunshine.  It was great to be able to eat outside at least once each day.

On Saturday morning, we packed up and said goodbye to the ocean one last time, and took three plane rides home.

The boys made special trip journals for the experience where they each wrote a page and drew a picture for each day of our trip.  Hopefully some of you will get to see them and get to hear about everything first hand!