Surprise!

I can't believe a whole week has acutally gone by since all this started!

Last Sunday night, after spending the weekend building a fence and a flower bed, Pete and I were sitting on the couch and chatting with Amanda and Nathan. My stomach started hurting a LOT... Having had a digestive disease before, I'm used to stomach pain, but this was like nothing I've felt before. I wanted to tear my skin off. Then the pain localized just a little left of my right hip. Pete told me I should go to the Stony hospital to get checked out, but I reeeeally didn't want to go. Then I finally broke (mostly because it hurt so much) and went. I didn't expect that they would keep me overnight with an IV and morphine and tests. On Monday afternoon, I got transferred to the Misercordia in Edmonton for a surgical consult - they were pretty sure I had appendicitis. Late Monday night I went into surgery and they took out my appendix, and they discharged me from the hospital on Tuesday. I don't remember too much of the rest of Tuesday... I was still pretty doped up!

God has a way of working things out, and people came to our rescue as we needed them. On Monday, Zack went to school and Amanda took Nathan with her into her class for the afternoon so that Pete could stay with me for my transfer. Amanda took the boys from school to her house and fed them supper and played with them until Pete came to get them. Then Pete dropped the boys off at our house with my parents, who brought supper for Pete and put the boys to bed while Pete checked on me after surgery on Monday night. Tuesday morning, Pete's parents drove up from Rocky and Pete's mom took the rest of the week off of work so that she could stay here and cook and take care of the house and Zack and Nathan while I recovered. She helped me so much; even helping me set up my PartyLite open house so that I didn't have to cancel. Even Bethany came to my rescue at the hospital by tracking down some breakfast for me because it didn't come.

I'm so thankful to our family and friends who were thinking of us and praying for us and helping out. What a blessing it was to know that even when bad things happen, God prepares all the right people who are willing and able to help out, even in the smallest ways.

Hardcore... And Adorable... And Scary...

As most of you know, the boys both start Motocross lessons (on an actual motorcycle with gears and power and everything - yikes!) on Sunday. They couldn't be more excited to ride, especially with their hero, the magnificent Kyle, as their teacher. We bought all of their gear and they are ready to go - helmet, gloves, riding pants, jersey, chest and shoulder protection, goggles - they've got it all. They're pretty proud of their new look and are SO excited to start riding! Zack and Nathan have both been on our motorcycle (a little one just for them) with Pete on the back, and they know how to work the throttle and the brake with ease - only Zack has the foot strength to shift the gears so far, but I'm sure Nathan will catch up right away.

Zack Is Rockin' It... School Style

A few weeks ago, Zack's class had "when I grow up" day. The kids were instructed to dress as what they wanted to be when they grew up. There were some parents that came in to talk about their jobs, too. I asked Zack what he wanted to be, and he said with conviction, "A rock star!" Okay! So I shredded a pair of Zack's old jeans that already had holes in them, spiked his hair, and put black eyeliner on him. (Side note: It's REALLY hard to put eyeliner on a five-year-old!) We gave him our non-working guitar hero guitar and sent him on his way. Here's Zack rockin' out before school.

In His Head

Zack came to the breakfast table this morning a bit earlier than Nathan, and asked if he could pray and start eating. I said sure and he said, "Okay, I'll pray in my head." During breakfast, once we were all eating together at the table, Zack thoughtfully said, "When we pray in our heads, the words travel down our bodies and to our hearts where Jesus can read them."

Old Pants, Big Pants

I've never really been that conscious about my size... It's never really been that big of a deal for me to be fatter than I was when I got married. It doesn't bother Pete in the least, so in turn I'm not really that bothered by the whole weight issue. Last fall, one of my friends (who is also a bit on the bigger side like me) asked me if I wanted to be her workout partner. Not really with the idea of losing weight in mind so much as just getting a bit healthier and seeing where that took us. In the first few months I really didn't notice any changes and I figured that if I was already doing the exercise thing, maybe I should take it a little more seriously and try to make some type of difference. So I did. Starting just after Christmas I re-started my metabolism; ate breakfast every morning so that my body knew that it could get rid of everything in my stomach overnight. Then I started making sure that, along with my 3 times a week workout with my friend, I got a solid and consistent period of physical activity for about an hour every day. Nothing big, just stuff like walking, biking, running after Nathan as he drives the Power Wheels around the neighborhood. And it worked. Since Christmas I've gone down three dress sizes. Three! I've underestimated the expense of weight loss - it requires a new wardrobe! But at least I'm not paying some diet clinic or taking aerobics classes, so I'm okay with that. :) I'm happy with how it's turned out - I never wanted to do the whole diet thing because I knew I just needed to have consistent eating habits and spend more time on my feet... That and I like food too much (especially now that I don't have celiac!). So now I have a healthier body... And a drawer of pants that are WAY too big.

Zack & Mario... And about 30 other people!

We had a blast this weekend here at our house to celebrate Zack's 6th birthday. We had an awesome time with everyone, and as squishy (and chaotic) as it was, Zack LOVED having everyone there with him.

K, my niece Soleil is just about the cutest thing in the entire universe. I can barely handle the cuteness. :)

For those of you who have never seen a tired Nathan before, here he is cuddling with our friend Mike, and he's absolutely pooped.

Wow Bethany, this game is HARD, isn't it?

More Dorky Cupcakes

I made these for my cousin Dale's birthday, and they turned out so cute.

Still Roaming The Earth

Nathan has always been a big fan of dinosaurs. It's one of the things that he spends a lot of time thinking and talking and reading about. He's not really much for TV, but he sits and stares very intently at the TV when watching the only show he cares about - Dinosaur Train. It's a show on PBS on weekday mornings, and it's about a computer animated family of Pteranodons (ter-AN-oh-dons) that take a train to different places and times to learn more about different species of dinosaurs. Nathan thinks this is amazing, and often asks if all the dinosaurs really died because he's pretty sure some of them MUST still be alive and roaming the earth somewhere. Last month Nathan was SO SURE that a set of three footprints in a cluster in the snow was a T-Rex footprint; he stared at it with awed wonder for a really long time. It was adorable. And last week when we were walking Zack into school in the morning, Nathan saw a piece of wood in the gutter by the parking lot and was absolutely certain that it was a dinosaur bone. I sometimes wonder to myself what it would be like if adults still looked at the world with the same amount of excitement that kids do. I think we would have better imaginations.