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10 Firsts:
First Boyfriend: Nathan
First Best Friend: Shannon Holley....haven't seen her since I was 17
First Kiss: Israel
First Piercing: My ears.
First Car: the first car that I drove? 1978 Pontiac Catalina
the first car that I owned? 1999 Pontiac Sunfire
First love: Josh Howard
First Stuffed Animal: A lamb that belonged to my brother
First tried a cigarette: Nope, never tried one. I think they are gross and stinky
First Failed Class: I don't think I've ever failed a class. I did get a "D" in American Literature.
First MLB Game: Cincinnati Reds.

9 Lasts:
Last Alcoholic Beverage: Nope, don't drink either. Never have, never will.
Last Kiss: Blake, he kissed me goodnight
Last Vacation: Mackinac Island last summer
Last phone call: Niki
Last CD Played: Aaron Shust
Last Bubble Bath: Oh wow! It's been awhile....years???
lastTime You Cried: When ALIAS ended their Series Finale!!!!
Last "I Love You": Eric

8 Have You Ever:
Have you ever dated a best friend: no, I don't think so....might have wanted to, but never did.
Have you ever skinny dipped: Absolutely not!!!!
Have you ever bungee jumped: Nope, but I would
Have you ever been on tv: no, maybe one day
Have you ever kissed somebody and regretted it: of course, hasn't everyone?
Have you ever fallen in love: Yes
Have you ever lost someone you loved: Yes
Have you every been depressed: I don't think so.

7 Places You've Been To:
Gatlinburg- a couple of times
Canada - three times
Mexico - one time
Texas once
Florida - used to live there
Alabama - born there
OHIO - live there now

6 Things You've Done Today:
Mopped the floors
Cleaned the bathroom
do some laundry
Get ready for a crop tomorrow by printing out pictures and journaling
Fix turkey sandwiches
Look at my magazine


5 Favorite Things In Random Order:
My family
Scrapbooking
Coffee
Buffalo Chicken from TOOT's
ALIAS

4 Things You Want To Do Before You Die:
go to Europe
Swim with dolphins
Have Grandchildren
Teach Elementary again

3 Things You'll Do Tomorrow:
Laundry
Go hang out with Mindy at a crop
talk to Eric on the phone

2 Things You Want To Be (That You're Not Now):
A Photographer
A Grandma

1 Thing You Are Now:
a mom

an amazing accomplishment for me

Now some of you might be shocked, and some of you might just think that I'm lazy, but in all of my 28 years, I have never before mowed a lawn. That's right, never done it before. Too me, it's always been a man's job to take care of the outside yard. Now I know that women can mow the lawn and that it's not just a man's job. Some woman might even enjoy mowing the lawn. I mean, my dad always did it, so I just always assumed that's way it was supposed to be. Until Tuesday.....Tuesday I finally mowed the lawn for the first time in my entire life. I climbed up on the riding lawn mower, listened to Eric rattle off some directions, and started the thing and went. I cut the grass. Now to some of you, this might not be that big of a deal, but it was to me. Not sure why, but it was. And you know what else, I actually didn't mind it. I think I might just do it again sometime. (Even Eric said I did a good job!)

Random things about me and my life!

Random THINGS:

Fave hair style you ever had: SENIOR COLLEGE HAIR...so EASY. I would take a shower the night before, put mousse in it, go to bed, and no lie, this is how it looked in the morning!!!!!!!!!!





















Fave song on the radio you just love right now: Psalm 40 by Newsong....."you put a new song in my heart...a...hymn of praise to you......"

Fave tv show: ALIAS, duh! SO sad, now that it's over, but the finale was so AWESOME!!!!

Fave musical artist: I still really like AVALON

Fave thing to eat for supper: LASAGNA

Fave movie: OOOooooo!!! That's a hard one, depending on the type of movie, but I'm gonna have to say......Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves... of course, X-men 3 might just beat it out!

Best date you ever went on: I've been trying to think about this one and only a couple of dates stick out in my mind. one was in high school when me and the guy that I was with ditched the Christmas banquet early and went to Celebration Station. It was just fun.
There's also the dates with Eric when he would never tell me where we were going......oh, and the one when he took me back to his house and had a steak dinner by candlelight for me and then presented me with Beauty and the BEAST tickets. Oh, and then my TGIF on the river date where he asked me to marry him..... oh, and not to mention my last birthday where he surprised me and took me to Jag's restauraunt.

Your most fave friend: Now this one might get me in trouble! I have lots of friend that read this, so I'm gonna just type in my oldest friend.....NIKI!!!! Then I"m gonna type my other friends too....Richi, Terani, Mindy, Stephanie, etc......

The best Christmas present you ever recvd to date: NOTTING HILL VHS......such a long story, but it was back when Eric and I were dating. I love the movie, but it wasn't sold on VHS yet, but Eric went on Ebay and found it for a whopping $40, and then bid on it and another one incase he didn't win it. (He ended up winning both!) But that's what true love does!

Nothing exciting, but starting to suffer from lack of sleep!

Too bad, nothing is really going on this week. I'm filling in doing the Enquirer this week for Kent who's out of town with his family, so I'm going on little sleep. People might be wondering why I'm not sleeping right now.....and I figure that if I actually do go to sleep right now.....then I won't wake up to leave when I need to leave which is in just a few minutes. (I have to be there at 1:00 am)

We're pretty much done with school. We need to do a little bit more reading and maybe some more handwriting. And, of course, we could always use some review days still, but we are done. Friday will be our last day for sure. So then Blake will be in 1st grade, and Luke will be in Kindergarten!! How crazy is that? I wish we could have a little ceremony for them or something. I'll have to figure something out.

Tomorrow night our church is having the Ladies' card ministry meeting where we get together and do cards for visitors, birthdays, anniversary, etc....It should be fun.

Okay, well since I'm falling asleep as I type this, I better go.

***Kaleb's fetish***

Kaleb's fetish. He loves to get into my purse. He loves to simply unzip my purse, take my wallet out, and proceed to take everything out of my wallet leaving it scattered all over the floor, table, or sometimes even the grocery cart. ARGH!!!! (now you might be wondering how I could overlook him opening my wallet while he's in the grocery cart, but, you see...sometimes you overlook what is right in front of your nose......especially when there are three other critter beyond your nose!!!) Anyway, the other day, I was looking for some alphabet stamps in my scrapbook room, and realized that there was only about 10 of the 26 letter stamps in the container. Well, I just figured they fell out until I saw Klepto-boy Jakeb having some other stamps in his hand. Well, I didn't really pursue it because I still figured that they just fell out in the drawer. Plus I was on the phone when I couldn't find them, and didn't want to go crazy trying to find them while trying to talk on the phone. (You might be wondering how this tie into the whole purse thing, but just hold on to your hat!!) A little later, Luke told me that Kaleb was playing with my purse, so I went to go get it and then I put it on my desk for the time being. So, as I was getting ready to leave for work that night.....I grabbed my purse which just happened to be opened, and there they were...the missing alphabet stamps along with some other toys that Kaleb had put in there!!!! It so made me laugh!

NOTE: Notice my wallet is not in the purse???? He already had gotten ahold of that and took it apart.

Jakeb is cracking me up!!!!!!!!

Okay, so yesterday, we were on our way home from the park, and he was starting to fall asleep. Well, if he falls asleep in the van, then I'm screwed. He won't take a nap at home when we get there. So I was trying to keep him awake while I'm driving on the interstate.

He got all fussy, and decided to look straight up, so that he wouldn't have to look at me anymore, and guess what!!!!! He fell asleep, just like this!!!! It was so funny. I took out my phone, and while I was driving on the interstate, took his pictures and sent it to Eric. Then I took my camera and kept taking pictures (while I was at a traffic light stop).

Pics from the park

We went to the park today with Grandma. It's our favorite park. Luckily she lives so close. This was the first time that Kaleb got to walk around this park. It was a good time.

Favorite foods

2PEAS challenge: Favorite foods

Fave coffee: Millstone
Fave tea: Sweetened Ice Cold tea
Fave jam: homemade strawbelly preserves
Fave Peanut Butter: Jif
Fave sandwich: Salami
Fave fast food item: Penn Station Subs
Fave appetizer: Buffalo Chicken
Fave summertime drink: Tea
Fave fruit: Strawberries
Fave vegetable: Green Beans
Fave indulgence: chips

Pet peeves

That's two peas' challenge today. What are you pet peeves.

#1 Pet peeve!!!1 Christmas lights up from February to October. Seriously, why put Christmas lights up if you're gonna be too lazy to take them down by February. I understand that some people are busy and forget, but when there are Icicle lights hanging from the front of your house in July.....seriously...just give me a ladder and I'll take them down for you!

#2 Cops pulling people over for speeding. Now I know that I could get flamed for this, but tell me a cop who doesn't speed on his own time. For instance, if he was pulled over in his civilian car, all he would have to do is pull out his badge and the officer who pulled him over would simply say, "Have a good day!" Now I'm not talking about wreckless people who are driving fast. I totally agree that they should be pulled over. I'm talking about people who are just driving and going 10 miles over the speed limit without even realizing it. (obviously, that's been me one too many times.)

#3 When I'm out in public alone with the boys and people say...."Are all those kids yours?"......."Wow, you must have your hands full?" I've actually thought about making a shirt that says this on the front and back..."yes, they're all mine, and yes, I do have my hands full." I mean seriously, if they weren't all mine, would I really take them out in public. I don't know many mom's who take other kids out in public on a regular basis. Even if I had a daycare, why, on earth, would I take them all out.

#4 Parents who use medicine to discipline their children....i.e. redalin or other medicines. (I'm not saying some kids don't need it, but the majority of kids are not suffering from ADHD or ADD, but simply not being disciplined!) "nough said about that one.

#5 Mopping my floor only to have milk or pop spill on it 5-10 minutes later! Okay, basically cleaning any part of my house, only to have it look chaotic in less that 10 minutes. (which is why I think it is pointless to clean)

#6 Grumpy people

#7 Girls who wear sweat pants/pants that have words printed across their butts. I mean, seriously, this world is full of sick people, and when these girls have writing on their butts, it just causes attention to areas where attention should not be called too.

#8 People who pull out in front of you when there is absolutely no time to pull out in front of you. If I have to hit the brakes, then, I'm not impressed.

#9 Smokers, it kills you. It stinks. It kills people around you. It stinks. It turns your teeth yellow. It stinks. I really hate it when I see a pregnant woman smoke. That is just soooooooooo wrong!

#10 When the boys or Eric forget to put the toilet seat down, and I get up in the middle of the night or any time, and don't notice it. There is absolutely nothing worse than placing your bare bottom on the cold, dirty toilet rim with the fear that you are going to fall in the toilet, especially when you are half asleep.

#11 When people give me a dirty look because one of my kids accidentaly runs into them. I mean, do they want me to carry all four of them? My kids do say sorry. WHat more can they do? Massage their feet?

I'm sure there are more, but that's all I could come up with for now.

2Peas Blog Challenge

Complete these sentences...
1. I am the happiest when I'm watching my kids being happy.
2. 3 of my most fave things to do are: Hanging out with my family, scrapbooking, watching a good movie
3. I feel sad and alone when I think about my boys not getting to know my Dad.
4. When I do this listen and do God's will, I always feel happier/better.
5. I wish I could fix this. my bad attitude
6. My fave summer past time is grilling out
7. One of my most fave things to wear is capris and a t-shirt
8. If I could give an obscene amt of money to one worthy cause, that cause would be: MORNINGSTAR BAPTIST CHURCH
9. My fave all time movie I have seen is Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves
10. I admire Joy in the hard times in other people.

NIKI

This is my best friend in the whole wide world, Niki! We've been friends since our sophomore year of college. We've gone through everything together. She's been there for me when I got married, through pregnancies, and just any time when I needed her. I wish she would move closer to me, so I could see her more often. I love her dearly, and just wanted everyone to know it!!!

PS Anybody know any good Christian guys that we could fix her up with in North Carolina????? She needs a good man!

Poor LUKE!

He cracked me up today. He came to show me what he put on today, and this was it. A fleece pullover and these shorts that look 10 sizes too small. I told him that shirt was too hot. Those shorts really had me puzzled though. I couldn't figure out why his black shorts didn't fit him. He just wore them last week. I thought that maybe he just pulled them up a little too high.....AND THEN IT HIT ME!!!!!!!!!!! I told him to take those shorts off so I could see what size they were. They were Kaleb's 18 months shorts..........I about peed in my pants. My 61 pound 4 year old wearing 18 month shorts. I was crying I was laughing so hard. He, of course, was embarrassed that I was laughing. I'm such a mean mom. He kept telling me that they were in his drawer. Yeah, they were in his drawer because in their mad rush to clean up their room, they put them in the drawer instead of the dirty clothes!!!!!!! Okay, and then I get to be even meaner. I made him put this back on before he went to bed just so I could get a picture of him!!!!!!!!
That picture makes me laugh everytime I look at it!!!

DENTISTS!!!!! Blech!!!!

Yesterday we all had a dentist visit. Well at least 4 out of 6 of us. Blake and Luke love the dentist. Blake especially likes the water they squirt in your mouth. The Dental Hygienist lady allowed Blake to hold it himself and drink as much as he wanted too. He thought that was awesome. He commented by saying, "This is really good water!" Who knew that such a small thing would make a kid so happy? (Too bad that excitement will only last until next week when he has to go back and get a cavity filled.)

I, of course, am the opposite. I hate the dentist. In fact, given a choice, I wouldn't go. Then again, I don't want all my teeth to fall out. I had a crown put in last summer/fall, and the bite was too high and I wouldn't go back until yesterday just because I hate them. I mean, seriously, who likes the dentist. They scrape your teeth, make them bleed and hurt all day, and then they inform you that you have to come back and get your teeth drilled on. Who in the world would like them? I mean listen to this....the dentist came in to check on my teeth, and as usual....he said I had a receding gum line (which is obviously like a receding hair line, but with your gums. I've had this forever. SO eventually I'll have bald teeth. Who cares?).

Anyway, he also went on to say how puffy my gums were. He just didn't understand why they were so puffy.....then he looks at me and asks me if I am pregnant! What in the world? He proceeds to tell me that the hormones in pregnancies can cause your gums to be puffy. He told me that I should take a pregnancy test and to let him know. Since when does a dentist diagnose pregnancy? I mean, this guy went on for at least 5 minutes about how puffy my gums were. And the dental Hygienist told me that this wouldn't be the first time he had been right about someone being pregnant. GREAT!!!! Of course, now I'm paranoid causing me to have to go to the bathroom, causing me to be more paranoid, and then in turn...well, I'm sure you get the picture. Now do you see why I don't like the dentist????? (Not to mention that my teeth hurt all day!)

Breathe, Marshan, Breathe!!!

So here's my day in a nutshell........I get a phone call about 2:00 pm from a someone I use to know from my old church. I never talk to this person anymore, so I just didn't answer the phone...(we were eating lunch), so I checked my voice mail. She proceded to tell me that her mother in law who works with my mother called her to call me to find out where my mom is.....did you get that? She went on to tell me that my mother did not show up for work today nor did she call in. (totally unlike my mom) I called my mom immediately and it went straight to the voice mail which usually means she's on the other line. I called my Grandma and she tells me that she didn't come to church yesterday either.

Okay, so by this time, I'm getting worried. Horrible things are going through my head. I call Eric and tell him what I'm doing. He calls my Grandma back to get the phone number of my Mom's next door neighbor, and then he calls him. Jerry, her neighbor, tells Eric that he was helping her in the yard when she had to go in because she had a migraine. So I start to calm down a little. A headache? That's not too bad. THen I find out that this was SATURDAY MORNING !!!

Now, I'm panicking. What if's are shouting through my mind. What if she had a stroke? What if she had a migraine that was actually a brain aneurysm? What if she tried to get help and couldn't and that's why her phone goes straight to her voice mail? What if she fell down the steps???? WHat if....? What if....? So I grab the boys, and we get in the car and drive like a madwoman to get to my mom's house. Of course more what if's are going through my head. Like how would I get ahold of my brother if something was wrong and so many more that I just can bear to relive the thoughts!!! I'm praying to God all the way there. "Please, God, let her be okay!" For crying out loud, I already lost my dad, I'm not emotionally prepared to lose my mom too. I'm in tears thinking all the worst things in my head, and then I get there.

I tell the boys to wait in the car (just in case....I don't want them to see what I fully expected to see.) I unlock her door, step in, hear the silence, and then....I hear footsteps. She's walking around the corner with horrible bead hair, mismatched clothes, and askewed glasses. I just walked over to her and hugged her and, yes......I know you are not expecting this....but, yes.....I cried....like a baby. Of course she doesn't have any idea why I'm a basketcase, but then I ended up telling her.....and all is well. Her phones were actually broken..the batteries were dead. And the email that she kept sending to work to tell them why she wasn't there....well, she kept sending it to the wrong email address, so it kept coming back. I gave her some medicine, bought her some new phones, brought her some food, and stayed for a little bit.

I told her that she had to start calling me everyday. And that I'm gonna look into her joining my cel phone plan because she had me worried sick.........At this very point in writing I just realized, that we have reached the role reversal thing that all kids/parents reach at one time or another. As a child, she always took care of me and worried about me, and now it's time for me to take care of her and worry about her.

PS. Thank You, God, so much for keeping her safe! You see, God DOES answer prayers!! I've never really doubted it, but this reaffirms it!