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.