A LIST TO DESCRIBE THIS DAY OF MINE

No pictures, no cute stuff, just the cold, hard facts.

1.) Mr. Shelton left the house this morning. Nothing unsual there, except for the fact that he left the house with my Armada, and left me with (for the fourth day in a row) the Bonneville.

2.) Anthony woke up to find that he wet right through his pull-up, onto his sheets AND his quilt. Bed was stripped, Anthony was stripped, Linens were washed, Anthony was thrown in the bath tub.

3.) Friend came over to scope out our unfinished (2 years and running) laundry room/back entry in order to finally finish it. Allelujia!

5.) Began to think about leaving the house in order to pick up Lucas' birthday cake, and get Ava from school.

6.) Thought about it some more, dreading the thought of the ordeal it would be accomplishing said tasks in the Bonneville.

7.) Realized if I did not leave, my Son would be late to his own birthday party, which would be pretty poor on my part.

8.) Began the arduous task of getting three kids, car seats and all squeezed into the back of a sedan, and buckled appropriately.

9.) Roughly 10 minutes later, task accomplished. WHEW.

10.) On to gathering up stroller, box filled with goodie bags, knife to cut cake, candles, camera and other miscelany.

11.) Opened trunk in order to store said items for the drive to the party, and find the trunk stuffed. With what, you ask? Tools, garbage, more tools, tool box, more garbage. Stuffed. Nary a single spot to place a thing o' mine. Blood was beginning to boil. Removed some items out of the trunk in order to get my items into the trunk. After jockying times around, pushing things this way and that, removing a few other things, I was finally successful.

13.) Off to Wal-Mart (two blocks away) to pick up the cake. Unbuckled all the kids, got cake, and as I was on my way to find a candle I heard a distinct "crunch" sound. Turns out Anthony accidentally sat on the cake. He was in the cart, stood up for a moment and fell backwards. Nice. The cake was smooshed on one side. What to do? Nothing, just deal with a smooshed cake I guess. Purchased the cake and the candles, only to find out I lost my keys. YEP. I made the mistake of letting Olivia play with them while I was shopping in order to keep her from crying. Now they were gone. Back through the store we went, up and down isles, retracing my steps, until we finally found the lost keys. Out to the car we went. Buckled up all the kids AGAIN, and managed to find a spot on the floor of the passenger seat to place the cake.

14.) Off to pick Ava up from school. Arrived, unbuckled the kids again, started making my way inside, when Anthony fell in the parking lot and skinned up his knees. Some comforting took place right there in the middle of the parking lot, down on one knee, with Olivia in one arm and Anthony crying and being consoled in the other. This, thankfully passed quickly. We got inside, picked up Ava and headed to the party.

15.) Party was going smoothly until I found Anthony writhing about on the floor crying that his tummy hurt. This behavior was on and off throught the hour of play time, but when we arrived in the room to eat cake he had that look. The I-am-going-to-puke-any-second look. I raced him to the bathroom where he sat by the toliet awaiting what seemed to be inevitable. Happily enough, he turned out to be just fine, no puking.

16.) All kids were picked up by their Mom's, goodie bags and balloons in hand happy as could be. The party was a success.

17.) Now on to the daunting task at hand - getting presents, leftover cake, 6 balloons, stroller, diaper bag, and 4 kids into the lovely Bonneville. I had a hard enough time getting everything in to get to the party, now I was leaving the party with more than I came with - this was turning out to be very interesting.... After much reorganization, squishing, and squeezing, I managed to get it all in the car.

18.) The car ride home was eventful, with Ava's balloon flying out the window, causing her to sob hysterically the whole ride, Anthony crying about how his tummy hurt again, and Livi wimpering out of pure exhaustion from missing her afternoon nap.

19.) We arrived home with one (Ava, my persistent one) still crying over the lost balloon, two sleeping (Anthony and Livi) and I am happy to announce, one smiling, content little boy (Lucas). Better one happy camper than not a one, right?

20.) I spent some time unpacking the car, let the kids play outside with some of the new toys, ordered a pizza, filled everyone's little tummies, placed jammies on their little bodies, and last but not least, made them march those little legs up to bed and off to dreamland.

As I sit here finishing this post, a few things come to mind.

1.) If Mr. Shelton seems to think the Armada is now his "work" car, then he needs to march his derriere down to the car dealership and purchase this Momma a Denali. Or an Escalade - in Pearl White. Alright, I will settle for the Denali. But this needs to happen... yesterday.

2.) I may just need to look into these "happy pills" I have been hearing about. Many Mom's as of late have been taking said pills in order to feel less stressed and more at ease about the daily going on's with children constantly in tow. Sounds like it could be a good thing, no? No, not really, but does cross my mind from time to time....

3.) I need to finish this post, publish it, and pour myself a large glass of wine.