Can you believe that it is almost May? Is it just me or does time seem to speed up as you get older? I remember being so frustrated because the summer would DRAG by and I couldn't wait to get back to school... Yes, you read that correctly... I was a big loser! Anyway, now I feel like I'm grasping for the time machine gear shift to slow life down. Eli is going to be in school before I know it and I'm absolutely not looking forward to it!
Enough blabbering about pointless crap.... We have a few things to look forward to! Trev's sister Nicole is coming for a short visit and she's bringing 'Sparky' (Eli's nickname for the baby boy she's pregnant with) and one of her friends, Sam with her baby. Eli is constantly asking for Auntie 'Micole' and wondering when Sparky will come out to play... SO sweet! So, not only do we get to have a rare visit with one of Trev's family members here in the Hat, we also get to clean out our garage of anything baby related! YAY! She's going to go through all the clothes that Sam(my Sam, not her friend Sam) has outgrown and she'll take what she wants... We also have a baby swing and a playpen stored in the garage that we can't wait to bid goodbye to! It's nice to be past that stage and to know that we won't need that stuff again.
Also, at the end of May we're hoping to go to my Bartell family reunion. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen my Aunts and Uncles and cousins since I've been married, so I'm really looking forward to reconnecting with them. I think the person I am most looking forward to seeing is my Grandma Bartell. I lived with my Grandma and Grandpa at the end of high school when my 'rents moved to the Hat and I got very close to them. In fact, watching my Grandpa pass away I realized without a doubt in my mind that I needed to turn my life around and dedicate it to God! I try to call Grandma a couple times a month, but yesterday, she called ME! She wanted to be sure that we were going to be there! Isn't that sweet? I just can't wait to be near her... I think about her every day and wish I could see her more. I am also REALLY excited to see my dear cousin Heidi, who is a few months older than me. We grew up together and attended the same school and the same classes for a lot of our lives... with the exception of when she was in Africa, of course. Anyway, Heidi and I have become a lot closer (emotionally, not geographically) in the last few years. I gotta tell you, I think, about once a week, that if we moved to Sundre, where I could have a ready-made friendship with Heidi, many of my problems would be solved. I wouldn't be so lonely and I wouldn't have to crave friendship with another woman who understood my idiosyncrasies. Now I just have to convince my hubby that we should move ;) Not gonna happen!
Hmmm, what else can I tell you??? Oh... our sleeping drama. In the last couple of months, since Sam has been so sick, so often, Trev & I have gotten lazy and started to let the kids crash in our bed with us. Can I just put a picture in your mind? Imagine a man who is 6'6" sleeping in a queen sized bed. His feet hang off the end of the bed and he can't sleep on his back because he snores like a hog. So, while he'd like to lay diagonally across the bed, he has to assume a type of fetal position. Now add to that pathetic picture a wife, (who happens to be a redhead in case you'd lost track of who I was talking about) who loves to sleep in bizarre positions and tends to be a bed hog(Trevor, you may NOT use this blog entry against me in the future)... And now add a 2 year old and a 4 year old to that picture... both of whom sleep horizontally for some reason! You have a very good picture of what our bed looks like EVERY FREAKING NIGHT by about 1:30 a.m.. You can imagine how little sleep we've been getting... maybe 2-3 hours a night. NOT good. So yesterday, we were at our wits end and we wanted to kill each other and the kids. We did what we had to do... we put a stop to it. We are in the midst of re-ferburizing Sam. Last night went quite well, Praise You LORD! Sam woke up at about 1 a.m., as per usual, and instead of letting him come and cuddle with us, we went up and reassured him, gave him a sippy cup and tucked him back in with his special blanket... Worked like a CHARM! He went right back to sleep and even slept in until about 6! Elias, on the hand, knew that he was no longer allowed to sleep in our bed, so he came down and slept on the couch! I don't understand him... He's got the best bed in the house and he refuses to spend an entire night in it! GRRR! Whatever.... at least he wasn't in my bed!
O.K.... a few pics for you and then I've got to go make lunch...
The kids enjoyed painting this morning...
And one of my boys actually getting along!
And another shot of Logan...
Madi wasn't feeling good at all and this is the only shot I got of her bowling... Poor girl!
Sam chuckin' the ball down the lane...
Amaris and Jeff
Sam in the Kid Zone at the bowling alley...
And finally, a picture of Eli riding his big boy bike. Until just yesterday, Eli had no interest in riding his two wheeler with or without training wheels. He thought he looked tough on his tricycle, I think! Anyway, he relented and learned quickly! Our goal is to have him on his bike without training wheels by the end of the summer... We'll see! 
So our house has been in a state of disarray since Thursday! Trev and I (o.k., mostly me) decided to paint the hallway and our bedroom this weekend... The only two areas left for us to paint (unless you count the bathroom, which SHOULD be done, but not by us, or the boys bedroom, which is WAY too big to deal with!) Thought you'd like a look... 
