standing in line at wal-mart

jenna: mom!!!!! look at that lady, she looks SO WEIRD!!!!!

me: that's because she's michael jackson honey. :)

HAHAHAHAHA! i was laughing so hard and so loud that everyone around was staring.

look who's up and moving around

this little stinker realized about 2 weeks ago that she could get to what she wants by moving around and she is taking full advantage of her new skills.

it took me 4 hours of hard core pushing to get this boys 10 lb body out of me and into this world. it was so hard and even though he came out looking like this, (and i just KNEW his head would never get better) i was totally in love with every inch of his mangled self. from head to toe this boy screamed trauma. the process of getting him here was just as long and difficult for him as it was for me and it showed. it didn't take too long for him to snap out of it and ten years later he is more beautiful than ever.

yesterday he woke up to the traditional benintendi streamers and balloons and presents waiting for him in the middle of the floor.

tristan want just a few simple things and he got all of them. he wanted a good book so we got him the fablehaven book that he didn't have yet. he asked for socks (which is a weird thing for a ten year old to ask for but OK) i got him 5 packs of gum because he is always stealing mine and a pack of white copy paper for the same reason. we ordered a harry potter wand online and were still waiting for that to come.

he also wanted tech dech skateboards...he ALWAYS wants these over the last few years he has probably had around 50. he loves these things!

after he opened his presents he and i went to breakfast together just the 2 of us. it's nice to get that one on one time with him and i know that he likes it to because he asks for it all the time. he chose mcdonalds and since it was his day that's where we went. :)

a little later in the day we went to see "UP"! it was such a sweet movie and totally brought me to tears. i did sleep through about half of it but i saw the important parts. i think the kids really liked it.

after the movie we went to an early dinner at dennys, another of trisants b-day picks. :) it was free for him so that was a pretty good deal.

while we were there we noticed that our baby girl cut a tooth. can't see it in this picture, actually she won't let us see it at all but we can for sure feel it.

after dinner some of our favorite people on the planet came over to sing happy birthday and have cake and ice cream.

some of the kids played a little pin the tail on the donkey...doesn't ben look great in pink?

we sang....

he blew out the candles...this mark the beginning of another wonderful year with an amazing son.

the boys went out after to play mini golf and play some video games. they were out late and seemed to have a great time.

jeff is at urgent care now getting x-rays on his hand, he was being a weirdo last night and hurt it and it's swollen. all you had to do is tell me you didn't want to do yard work jeff! this is kind of an expensive way to get out of work!

HAPPPY BIRTHDAY TRISTAN!!!!

all on a sunday afternoon

at least the underwear say huggable!

tristan thought it would be a great idea to customize an oreo.

sunday at the benintendis is always some kind of adventure.

really????

i had no idea until today that golf clubs had this much bend...NO IDEA!

but look at that swing on my boy, not too shabby huh!

( a little daddy and tristan time in 103 deg.)

tatum is getting married!

(this is jeff)
so the other night when i got home from california, we were eating dinner and tatum says: "mom and dad, when i get married me and my husband are going to have spaghetti... "we'll each have one side and slurp it until we kiss."

I told her she is on restriction until she is 50!

Jeff

the best laid plans

remember if you want a reality blog come here. if you want someone to lie to you about how AMAZING their life is you are in the wrong place!

i had every intention of enjoying my sisters visit to the FULLEST...i really did. i was so excited to have her here while jeff was in florida doing his half ironman. i was going to have the house clean and along with that i had the idea that there would be A LOT of fun and laughter.

for days before shelly arrived i had a headache that would not go away. this meant that the house cleaning was absolutely minimal. i also got little to no sleep the night before for a # of reasons. when she got here she helped me clean out the girls room and throw things away that they just don't need and get us ready for our move. i had a headache at the time but it was easier then doing it on my own so i took complete advantage of here help.

what i will say to make this short is:

i didn't sleep at all while she was here

i had a headache every day, including the 3 1/2 hours of the 4 free hours we had without kids.

i got the biggest, nastiest fever blister i have ever had in my life, and i've had a lot of them. what you probably don't know is that theses things tend to take over my whole life while i have them...it HURTS!

i got a special lady infection.

my baby had a fever for three of the days...pretty grumpy. double ear infection.

shelly took her turn on sunday with a nasty headache.

and after i dropped my sister off at the airport i got a visit from aunt flow and if you know me you know when she comes to visit i'm pretty much stuck at home.

super fun visit shelly. glad we could get together. next time we'll meet in hawaii! :) even with all of the nonsense i enjoyed having my sister around. we don't get to see each other much. i love you shell! thanks for your help.

as if the last 5 days weren't action packed enough, jeff spent a couple of hours with us last night while he tried to stay alert. (he is exhausted from the ironman and no sleep) he couldn't even wake up enough to come sleep in our bed with me. come to think of it, maybe it was all of the stuff above that kept him out of our bed. :) and then before we got up this morning he was out the door again headed to cali for work for 2 days. 7 day without a husband/daddy. i know that people do it for way longer and that other people have worse issues than me but i think it has all just added up.

to add to my adventure addie was up most of the night last night and when we got up in the morning i could see what was keeping her up.
this poor little sweet heart is having an allergic reaction to her antibiotics.

it's all over her face and in her hair and now that it's later in the day it has traveled to her stomach and her limbs.

i was going to give her benadryl but i'm afraid because on the label it says DO NOT GIVE TO CHILDREN UNDER 2! that kind of scares me.
i'm tired and i am TOTALLY feeling sorry for myself. i am DONE being alone and feel like i deserve some assistance. i know that at this stage it is out of jeffs control because he's working but i HATE this garbage sometimes. i really feel like a single mom sometimes and it is exhausting.

do you know of anyone who has a free maid service? :)