Belated Christmas Post

Here are a few pictures and videos from our Christmas. Hope you enjoy!!

This is at Noah and Luke's Music Lessons. They go every Saturday morning. It took until this mid November before they actually started participating in the class. Now they really enjoy it. Here Cathy is telling them the Gingerbread Man story. Whenever there is walking or running they have to bang on their drums.

The read stick are tapped in time with the music, on the floor over their heads, on their knees, etc.

This is Noah playing the xylophone. Luke you'll see wasn't quite ready to perform yet, as there were parents and grandparents in the classroom watching this day. He did participate later. As shown in the next video.

This is Luke dancing with Cathy, Noah chooses not to participate in the dancing , but the rest of them love it. I think this is what the girls look forward to every week they are so cute. Luke really enjoys it too, he will sometimes even practice it at home during the week.

This was Noah's debut in the Christmas Pagent. He was the cutest sheep there!

Here's Noah enjoying an after show snack with his favorite angel, Julianna.


Here are Noah and Luke on our Christmas morning.
They were thrilled to see Santa had enjoyed their cookies and that he left a few crumbs for them to snack on in the morning!


Noah and Luke got a camera for Christmas. So they were snapping pictures.
Here's one of Grandpa Bill being silly.
(Nath's grandpa)


Here's Noah, Caleb and Luke in their Christmas PJ's

Noah and Luke helping Oma make Waffle batter.

Our camera batteries went dead after this so we didn't get pictures of our other gathering. But we had a great time with everyone. Now I guess we start planning birthdays! I'm turning the big 3-0 this year and Noah's 4th Birthday is just a week later. Then Luke's about 6 weeks after that. Noah has requested an excavator cake. So we'll see how that goes.

Music lessons continue til June, and Noah is going to be starting Skating Lessons with Nath this week, which he is so excited about. We got his little skates and helmet all ready to go. Though I'm not sure how much we want to encourage the hockey thing. That equipment is so expensive. I think soccer or basketball or something that only requires a pair of shoes might be nicer. But I guess that's not up to us.

Wiebe Elves!

Click here to see the Wiebe Elves!

A New Look and a New Post!!

Well I know it's been awhile, but better late than never. Right? I've been meaning to update for awhile but it's been so busy here lately.

I wanted to let you all know about Luke's appointment this morning. We all trekked down to Dr. Shukett's office first thing this morning for another opthalmology check up. The first plus was that the underground parkade, or "park-cave" as Noah calls it, had room so we could park indoors and not have to walk from the William street Parkade.

Secondly, Dr. Shukett was in a pretty good mood which was a pleasant surprise, maybe because his regular secretary was back from mat leave, or the impending Christmas Holidays, I don't know.

And Thirdly, ... he put different sizes of pictures on the screen and asked Luke what they were, this is instead of the regular eye charts that we adults are used to. He said Luke's vision had improved and he is now about 20/80 with both eyes. This is a huge improvement from the 20/200 we were originally told. I asked what the normal acuities are for this age and he said that 20/40 would be average for a 2.5 year old. He is still very quick to call Luke "visually handicapped" but I guess that's better than the "legally blind" we got before. He said that a year from now we'll have a better picture of what his vision will be like as an adult.

So all in all a pretty good appointment. We topped that off with breakfast and cinnamon buns at Stella's on Osborne which is always a treat. So we had a pretty good morning.

My only concern is that I hope we don't lose our OT from CNIB because his vision is better. Angie is coming tomorrow morning and I guess we'll talk about it then. She is such a great resource now and I think she would be especially great for once Luke starts school.

While we are on the topic of Angie, we went to the CNIB Christmas Party this weekend. The boys had a lot of fun making crafts and playing games. They even saw Santa and his guide-dog. They did keep their distance from Santa but did very-briefly pat the dog.

Well I guess that's all for now. Sorry there's no pictures, I'll get some up soon. The boys have their Music Lessons Christmas Open house this Saturday and Noah has his first Church Christmas Program this Sunday. So I'm sure there'll be plenty of pictures to post from those events. Maybe even a video if I get ambitious!

Trick or Treat!

This is the first year that the boys have really known what's going on at Halloween. Noah has been asking for days "Is today Halloween?" When I could finally answer yes he replied with squeals of joy.

After supper we asked the boys if they were ready to going trick or treating and Noah said we had to wait til "Halloween night" . We told him it was, but he said "No it has to be dark outside." Luckily we didn't have to wait too long before it got dark outside. So we headed out. We went to the neighbors that we know, and thought that would probablly be it, but I guess the boys caught on to benefits of going to more houses because they said, "just one more house." So we went to a few more, I was surprised at Noah, he actually yelled "trick or treat" at the door. Luke had a little more perserverance than Noah so I took him all the way around the bay, but didn't stop at every house.

Here is our little duck heading out the door.
Yes it might look like a chicken, but Noah said he was a duck.

Here's the duck's brother, the monkey.

Duck and Monkey sitting on the new porch.

Mommy with her Monkey

So we have a bit of candy now, they did have a some yesterday, lollipops are their favorites, and I still need to find a spot to put away the rest. But it wasn't a crazy amount. It was fun going to the houses and everyone got a kick out of their cute costumes, especially because it's mostly seniors on our bay. So I think our first trick or treating outing was a success and the boys had a lot of fun.

The Front Porch and the Sleepy Boys

We did a little project this weekend. A new front porch.
I've been wanting one for years, so we finally did it.
My parents came in on Saturday and Dad and Nath worked away at it.
Nath finished up the railing on Monday. Now we are ready for all the trick or treaters tomorrow!

"BEFORE"

"AFTER!!"

And here are our sleepy boys. Noah who fell asleep on the couch one afternoon, and a little video of Luke at the supper table one night last week. Felt so sorry for the little guy but it was so funny too.

Leaves and Corn and Pumpkins

We had some fun this weekend being outside. I love Fall! I love the colors, the temperature, the crispness in the air. It makes me wish we could have Fall all year long, but I guess it wouldn't be so special if we had it all year long.

The birch tree in our front yard is always the first to change. It turns a brillant yellow and looks as if it's illuminated from within. But it is also the first to loose it's leaves and quickly. It only took one windy day and all the leaves were on the ground. Now it looks naked surronded by all the green trees on our yard. When it started to turn yellow Noah was a little sad. I was trying to convince him that it's so pretty when all the trees turn different colors but all he said was " I like it when the trees are green, I don't want them to be other colors." But I think he's starting to change his mind because he wants to be outside constantly raking the leaves.

On a side note, we had Luke's yearly cardiology check up last Wednesday, and everything looks great. They did an EKG, and echocardiogram and checked his BP too. Everything looked good. I love watching the echo, it's an ultrasound of his heart. It's so amazing to see his heart beating and watching the valves open and close, knowing what his little heart has been through. It was especially cool watching it in the same room, and on the same screen, that we were in while I was pregnant with him, when the cardiologist confirmed his heart condition, 2 1/2 years ago. I'm still amazed at how far he's come.

Nath and the boys in the leaves

Noah: "Just let me at those leaves!"

These next picture are Noah's
He wanted to take some on his own.
I think he has some talent. Maybe he'll take over for Opa!

This is Noah's picture of our sick tree.
He's very interested in this tree and likes to look inspect it often.
It has some fungal disease, but we've had it checked out and apparently it's ok.

Noah's pic of Daddy.
(I did some cropping)

Noah's pic of us

Luke didn't want Noah to take his picture

We went to the corn maze on Sunday with nath's family.
Noah and Luke got their own pumpkins there.

Luke and the pumpkins.

Luke and Oma on top of the bale pyramid.

Oma, Rach with Luke, Noah and Nath

Noah in the petting Zoo at the Corn maze. He LOVES Bunnies. They were his favorite over horses, a calf, goats, and everything else. They are also his favorite in the pet store.

The corn maze was pretty good but the bales, petting zoo and pumpkins were a lot more exciting for the boys. Thankfully they were included in the price of admission! We did try the corn maze for a bit but got tired of walking in circles. And all the corn looks the same to the boys, (and the adults) so we took a few illegal shortcuts and left early.

Fall on the Farm

We went to Fall on the Farm at the Steinbach Mennonite Museum again this fall. The boys had a lot of fun again. (Most photos are from my brother, Thanks Joel)

My Mom and Dad

Nath throwing Noah into the air

Luke burrowing into the straw

Luke talking with the goat
He just kept saying "hi goat"
Then it licked him and we moved on

Noah loved feeding the animals grass

Here we are on the horse-drawn wagon

Our family portrait
courtesy of Joel

Mommy gets a haircut

Before

And After

Now I know from previous experiences that Nath is not an incredibly observant guy but I thought that he would notice if I cut 6 inches off my hair. Well apparently not! After 45 minutes of waiting for him to notice I finally said "I got my hair cut today!!" He looked at me and said " Huh. Ya I guess it is shorter."

I sometimes wonder how much I could get away with.


Oh well.....

Noah and Luke go to the Dentist

Noah and Luke had their first visits to the Dentist! And they did really well. Noah had a full cleaning and was very cooperative for the Hygenist and Dentist. Luke wasn't as cooperative but still did pretty well, the Dentist just looked at his teeth.

I would highly recommend the Children's Dental Centre on Ness. The hygienist was so awesome there, explaining everything to Noah. They had a miniature train that ran on a track through the waiting room and the exam rooms and everything was kid friendly. The boys had a lot of fun and loved the Cars Stickers and cute toothbrushes they go to take home. I was definitely relieved that everything went well and that the boys had a good time. Here's a couple of pics of Noah that Nath took with his phone, but we forgot to get luke's pic.

Noah sitting in the elevator chair with his special sunglasses- mouth ready for the special toothbrush.
He chose orange toothpaste.

Here he is finishing up with the flouride treatment
He chose orange flavor again

What we've done this August

Here's a few pictures of what we've done this month. We've been swimming, to the cabin, working outside, to the Zoo and more.
Uncle Eric playing with Luke and Noah at the Cabin

Luke's New Best Friend Diego
(We visit him at Toys R Us)

Oma's was surprised by Noah with the Camera at the cabin

Nath is digging a 40 foot long, 2 feet deep trench with his new pic axe
It will bring electricity to the shed

The finished trench

L at the wading pool

The Ladies of Nath's side of the family
at the wading pool
(L-R) Me with Noah, Luke, Rach, Oma with Caleb and Jess

The Zoo has a nice, new playground.
Here are the boys on the slide but they did not want there picture taken.

Cousins: Noah, Jack and Luke
with their new motorcycles from Gramma

Noah in the slide

Luke Gets Stitches

Well we got a tour of the new Children's ER last night thanks to Luke. Around 8 last night, Luke and Noah were playing in the hallway just before bed when there was a crash and Luke was crying. Then we saw the blood running down his face. We're not sure what happened but we think that he must have caught the edge of the air return vent at the bottom of the wall. So we got into the car, and went to the Vic first but they said they only had one doctor in and that it would be a long wait. So we went to Children's. It had mostly stopped bleeding by the time we got there so they just put a band aid over it and the boys played in the waiting room. Which is quite nice.

Eventually we got in to see a student nurse, then a nurse, then a resident, then a doctor. Who decided that yes, he did need stitches. Then they put on some ointment to numb the area, which had to stay on for 30 minutes. Then the resident, Penny, came back 45 minutes later with a student doctor, Murdoch, to do the stitches. I'm not sure how many times Murdoch had actually done stitches. Not too often I don't think, because he needed a lot of coaching. I was a litttle nervous when Penny was looking over his shoulder while he was putting on the sterile gloves, and telling him he did a good job. But he did alright. He needed a little help with the first one but I think he did alright for the rest.

Luke was such a trooper. He didn't cry once. He didn't want to lie down on the table so they wrapped him up, kind of like swaddling a baby so that he couldn't squirm too much. I stayed with him and made sure that he could see me while they had a drape over him face. His chin quivered a bit while they put in the anesthetic, but he didn't cry. The nurse and doctors were all very impressed with how well-behaved he was.

As soon as they were all done , and he was unwrapped he stood up with a smile on his face and gave me a hug, and said he wanted to go play some more.

All in all it wasn't a bad evening. We were there for just over 3 hours and the boys were happy the entire time. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they asked to go back to "Lukie's hospital" to play again. Noah calls it Lukie's hospital because we've told him Luke was born there, and he considers Victoria to be "his hospital" because he was born there.

The stitches are supposed to taken out in a week. But we're going to his pediatrician for that.

Luke with his three stitches

Luke showing off his new bracelet
It has a panda bear on it