May 19, 2009 - Snow in Edmonton, Warm rain in the Hat!

Had to make mention of the weather in Edmonton because my parents are currently up there... They'll be moving there eventually and my whole family has been pestering Trev & I to move there as well... Can you say, "As if?" Just thought it was funny that Edmonton has a snow fall warning while we are expecting 18 degrees Celsius & thunder storms this afternoon!

Anyway, I have a few pictures to share with you...

Our neighbour was kind enough to lend us this sweet little tricycle for Sam. Kev and Lisa are probably the best neighbours in the world! Our kids love them and their kids are kind enough to play with ours so nicely! In fact, Sunday we had an awesome water fight with these dear neighbours! Love you guys Lisa! Anyway, back to the bike... Sam thinks he's so important and grown up now because he can ride his 'bike' with 'Li Li' - by the way, 'Li Li' is Sam's nickname for Eli... Isn't it adorable? Yes, I know we should have a helmet on Sam, but it's actually pretty hard to find little helmets!

Trev decided yesterday to make cookies for me and he even let the kids help. The cookies turned out great and just check out how much fun the boys had!And now the big news. This morning, I cut the boy's hair. I've really been struggling with whether to keep Sam's gorgeous locks so long. To be honest, I'm really tired of having to wash his hair so often... I'm talking up to 3 times a DAY! Some people have told me that it's time to let Baby Sam go and let him be a big boy. Well, I did it. It's hard for me to look at him at this point. I really feel like I've lost my baby... Stupid, I know. The hair cut DID turn out great for both boys though and I'm glad I did it! I'm not sure what Trev will say... He's been more resistant than anyone to me cutting Sam's hair. I didn't exactly discuss it with him, I just went ahead and did it... What do you think? Still cute???

God's Chisel... A beautiful reminder.

The week in review...

We had a busier than usual week this week!

On Tuesday, Auntie 'Micole' came with her friend Sam for a visit. We had a great visit and she took quite a few baby items with her, which was really great! Nic is 25 weeks pregnant with 'Sparky'!

Wednesday was yet another dreary, rainy day in the Hat, but the boys and I decided to make the best of it. It was sprinkling outside, so I dressed the boys in the rain suits we had handed down to us and we headed out to splash in puddles and walk around the block. We got about 1/2 way around the block and it started to POUR rain... I'm talking buckets of rain! We got soaked, but the boys had fun!

Thursday during the day, our house received a new 'hot water on demand' system (which means no cold showers EVER!) and a new air conditioner to go along with the new furnace installed a few weekends back. Since we had no water all morning, the kids and I head out to Echo Dale Park for some playtime... Unfortunately, by the time we got out there, the wind was whipping and the rain was heading for us. We ended up using Nana & Papa Bartell's house for the morning since it was too nasty to be out! Thanks Mom & Dad for letting us hang out there, even though you weren't home! On Thursday night, Eli began complaining about his ear. Eli has always had trouble with ear infections and more often than not, he doesn't say a word about pain until his ear is so severely infected that the ear drum is in real danger of rupturing. I got Eli settled down for bed by lying him on a hot pad and that worked for about 1/2 an hour. He woke up screaming at about 8:30 and I decided that we needed to take him in the E.R. just in case they could start him on antibiotics in time to save the ear drum. Trev & Eli were at the E.R. until about 10:30 and the docs diagnosis was that it was an outer ear infection and that his ear drum looked o.k.. If you recall, a few months back, Eli's eardrum burst. Well, this infection is in the same ear! The doctor didn't get a great look at his ear drum, because we're pretty convinced that it DID burst the next day! Eli is on an adult dose of antibiotics and ear drops, but I'll be taking him in to Dr. Saujani, our awesome family doc, this week to be sure that he's going to be ok. If we're right about the drum bursting, he will most likely need tubes, which would be o.k.with us... end the drama!

Today is Mother's Day and Eli surprised me by picking out and buying with his OWN money a gift for me! A pair of Hawaiian flip-flops, cuz he knows I like to be barefoot! What a sweetie! Trev got me (from Sam) a coffee mug that fits my life to a tee...I got to sleep in until 9 this morning! A real treat! Trev brought me coffee in my new mug in bed. Our family snuggled and watched t.v. in my bed for a while until we headed outside to set up our new tent! Trev's mom & dad bought us a tent for Christmas, but lost it for a while. They found it and shipped it out with Nic. This tent is HUGE! It's a two room tent that stands 5'10". Trev can lie down in it and not touch any sides. We could fit 2 queen sized mattresses in there! LOVE IT! We're really hoping to do some camping now that we've got somewhere to sleep! YAY! Thanks again Ken & Val!

Some Pics

We tried to get some family pictures yesterday... The key word there is 'TRIED'! We got a few shots, but Sam was very grumpy and uncooperative. Thought I'd share some of the good ones with you. Remember that these are the raw shots, unedited... Unfortunately, Blogger isn't uploading pics right now, so you've got 2 smileboxes to look at ;)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We also headed out to Echo Dale for a walk yesterday evening after supper. We had a great time, although we encountered a couple of very drunk punks cursing like sailors... Schmucks! Anyway, we took a few pics of our fun there too... Enjoy.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Spike The Ultimate Dinosaur!!!

Many of you are aware of Elias's spend-thrift tendencies... o.k., I'll admit, he's a little money-hoarder. Don't ask me where he learned this; it is absolutely not a trait from Trevor nor myself. Anyway, we told him around Christmas that if he was able to save $100, we would kick in the remaining $60 in order to purchase Spike The Ultimate Dinosaur... We were thinking, "He'll NEVER save a hundred bucks, so we're off the hook with buying this insane toy!" We were wrong. Elias did extra chores for money, saved every dime given to him by grandparents, and scrounged the floors and couch cushions for spare change. When he hit $100 2 weeks ago, we realized we'd better start searching for this dino... And we had no luck locally. Bad news, right? WRONG! Trev, on a whim, checked out AirMiles and low and behold, there was Spike. We had more than enough miles to get him, so we ordered him right away. The best part is that we feel like we're really rewarding Eli's saving habits because he gets to hang onto his money now!

So Spike arrived today... Funny story actually... This afternoon, I decided it was time for a shower. I popped a movie in for the monkeys and jumped in for a quick rinse-off. I hadn't even gotten the conditioner in my hair when Eli starts hammering on the door, yelling that the mailman was at the door with Spike. Thinking it was wishful thinking on Eli's part, I told him I would be out when I was finished. I quickly finished up, toweled off and opened the bathroom door. Eli told me that the mailman was waiting for me! I rushed to find my bathrobe and went to the front door. Well, there he sat, on the front steps, waiting for me! I opened the door and explained that I was in the shower. He told me that he'd seen Eli through the window and heard him shouting to wait, so he did. Did I ever feel like a putz, answering the door in my robe, my hair in a turban! Whatever... I'll not likely see him again!

Elias is obviously thrilled beyond belief. I've included a couple of videos and pictures of Spike and of Eli's reaction. Sam, on the other hand, is terrified of Spike. At first he seemed to find Spike funny, but he quickly became very afraid, shaking from head to toe, little heart pounding! My mom, a.k.a. Nana, was here for supper (pizza, which she bought, picked up and brought over... YUM, thanks mom!) and Sam ran for Nana, clinging to her. I think Nana felt sorry for Sam, but also LOVED that he went for her! I've included a picture of Sam's face when Spike was walking and of the two of them reading a book together after I banished Spike upstairs... I have to say, I've never EVER seen Sam afraid of anything... I didn't think he was capable of fear. Man, it's awful to see him life that.