life

ahhh sweet life. you suck me dry sometimes.

i'm starting to think we're almost over the lice issue! we still have 7 bags of pillows, stuffed animals, and comforters in the garage. but for the past 2 days we have found zero nits on either girl!!! just to update you on what we've done in this entire horrific process...2 pesticide "lice" treatments (nix and rid), one mayonnaise treatment, and hair dye. yes, we dyed an 8 and 10 year old's hair. but we matched it as close as we could. this was after 2 weeks of no luck with anything else...we were at our wits end. not to mention twice daily section by section nit checking. plus every other day of washing, rewashing, and washing some more of bed sheets and blankets. boiling of brushes. boiling of combs. ahhhhh we were so done. i think we may have beaten it. i promise if it comes back i'll just throw up my hands and give up right then and there. this whole process is insane!!! i've done nothing but itch and scratch for the past month!!! thankfully nobody else got lice, though. which is pretty impressive for a household of 7.

sweet ashlee's birthday was yesterday, she turned 11. i couldn't imagine the feeling mark felt...i just can't imagine my BABY being 11. crazy. she got a wii game (just dance 2) and it was absolutely hilarious to watch her and kait rock it! i'll be taking her and 3 of her girlfriends out for dinner and a movie on saturday night...figured for turning 11 she could have her first "girls' night" :) poor girl deserves it with how much she has to deal with 4 younger siblings!! i'll post pics of that...we'll get all dolled up and have a grand ol' time :)

the bathroom issue hasn't been resolved. all 7 of us are sharing one bathroom. bleh. but we're working on it!!! mark has to go to officer school next week...i'm dreading it...that means 4 full days (2 of which have soccer practice...) of kids, homework, refereeing, bathing, and lunch making. not to mention the 6:15am alarm that comes with all that. oh but i love them. so it's ok. :)

sweet mark took all 5 to soccer practice tonight so i could have some time to chill out and breathe. jake isn't playing, but is playing football. so he took him to practice some things. his first game last sunday went so great! we were very proud of him! aidan and oliver are doing well with soccer, too. i'm so thankful for this new life i've found. i'm so happy. :))

jake's 5th birthday

the crew on jake's birthday at grandpa and grandma's house. aidan's face is blurry...we must have taken 15 pictures...but it's nearly impossible to get all 5 to smile, look at the camera, and SIT STILL all at the same time. call us crazy, but we love it. :)

jake wanted a 'transformers' birthday, so that's what he got! along with a kick ass nerf gun.  

oliver and grandpa having fun while mark grilled :)

mark and the stink. love.

big shout out to grandpa and grandma who kept all 5 kids for an entire night so we could have a much needed and wonderful DATE NIGHT!! mark took me to carrabbas where we spent more on wine and jack and cokes than we did on food...exactly as it should be. :)) then we went to see 'the adjustment beauru' at the theatre. we had a fantastic night, then breakfast at cracker barrel. yuuum! i love him. <33

we now have two 5 year old boys who recently discovered wrestling. jake has a good 5 inches and 20 pounds on aidan, so aidan is really going to have to work on his strategy because the one he has now (running as fast as he can, yelling, and barreling into jake) does NOT work. jake pinned aidan over and over, but aidan kept coming at him. jake kept count for awhile then got bored of that so started putting his face right on aidan's and saying "BINGO!". this infuriated aidan. i'll give him credit though, he's persistent. as for now it's just a losing battle.

tonight, it's pizza at grandpa and grandma's, then leaving his kiddos there overnight so we can get up bright and early to make the drive to little rock to send my boys to texas for spring break to be with their dad. it's a boring and flat drive, but mark and i always find a way to have fun :) i chatter endlessly and he tells stories that make me laugh...then there's always a 30 minute johnny cash jam session. love.