Went to the doctor today....

...and much to Eric's, Blake's, Luke's, and Kaleb's dismay...(Jake is on my side.) oh, and our friend Roy, baby #5 is still a GIRL!!!! The doctor did another quick sonogram today, and verified again that not only is the baby looking healthy, but it's still a girl with absolutely no doubt!!! Yay!!!!

Why...

Why are there some days when your kids seem so out of control or hyper? And why, does it always seem that I'm am not feeling top notch when this happens? Yesterday, I was feeling awful all day. The kids were bored from doing nothing all day. We didn't have school, and I just laid on the couch most of the day. Of course, that caused the house to be completely out of control, and it still is a crazy mess. For instance, Kaleb found a bottle of baby wash and decided that he should open it on the futon downstairs causing me to have a completely ballistic reaction.
Then today, I had made plans with a friend last week to hang out. Still not feeling top notch, I sucked it up and took them over to her house. Now you must realize my friend Mindy has two little girls and a very "girly" play room with lots of girly stuff, and the older boys struggled with that. But after threatening them within an inch of their lives, they gave in and played. Then we went to Chick-fil-a, and you would have thought that Jakeb lived in a barn. I swear the kid has ADD on some days. He was running wild throughout Chick-fil-A knocking little kids over left and right making me receive dirty looks from parents repeatedly. Seriously, it was craziness. But oh well, we made it through.

Jake's "other" 3 yr. old pics

These are his other pictures. I love these. He looks so adorable. My kids normally don't dress metro like this, but when I found this GAP jacket for $1, I knew I had to buy it. Then we put it with his jeans and new white shirt, and presto......my little boy became metro, and he pulls it off quite well. The top picture they changed to sepia, and it looks great hanging on the wall. It's the only one that we bought out of all these adorable poses, but hey...at least we got the cd of all the pictures.

Remember the puzzle....

..that I was telling you guys about. The one that Jakeb loved so much.. Well, I got myself some proof of this new found love of his. While most kids take a blanket or a stuffed animal to bed, not Jakeb. He takes his puzzle to bed with him. See it lying there right next to him on his pillow.

Blake's 6 year old pictures

...and then we have Blake. Ever since he's been four, he's done this new smile for portraits. It's definitely not a real smile. I'm not exactly sure what you would call it, but it's...just Blake. His missing teeth totally add to the whole
look. He still pulls off being a good-looking boy though!

Luke's 5 year old pics

Here's Luke's 5 year old pics. He wasn't smiling like he normally does for pictures. They still turned out cute, but well.....they're just okay. He used to be the most photogenic meaning he liked to get his picture taken, but now he's passed the torched on to his younger brother.

Kaleb's 2 yr. old pictures..uh..picture

No lie...this is the only "good" picture that he took. He would NOT cooperate at all. He would not sit anywhere that the photographer told him too. He would not do anything that I would tell him too. Thankfully, Portrait Innovation photographers know what they are doing, and just kept clicking whenever he would hold still for more than one second. I think he's actually sitting on my lap in this picture. And the bruise...well, that's just lovely, isn't it?

Jakeb's three year old pictures

These are Jake's three year old pictures. I think they came out pretty cute. We only got one of these poses, so it definitely made it hard to choose. He had some other ones that I'll post later. He was the best picture taker of the day. He was the only that would actually smile and say "cheese!"

Blake's Last game

He did soooo good today. He's definitely the team's most improved player. During half time, he made 4 shots. During the game, he didn't make any shots, but he sure did the get the ball a lot, and he sure did try hard. We were so proud of him!!!!

Family Pictures

We got our family pictures taken today. The plan was originally to get them done in December, but the place that I wanted to go to was booked throughout December, and then even into January. Thankfully, someone cancelled their appointment this weekend, so we got in. Everyone had their yearly picture done. I'll post those sometime this week, but here's our family ones. I thought they came out pretty well minus Kaleb's monstrous purplish/yellow bruise. (I've even decided that I like my hair after all.)

Got my bedding

Well, I got my bedding the other day. And while I like it, I don't know if I love it just because....well....it's so hard to tell when it's not on a crib. Know what I mean. THe only thing I really just don't care for is the pale yellow, but it is pretty cute still. Tell me what you think!!

Puzzles

I remember when Luke went through this "puzzle" stage. He asked everyone who came over to get him a puzzle down from his closet. Now it's Jake's turn to go through this phase. He has one favorite puzzle that he does over and over and over and over....I think you get the picture. (Unfortunately, I took this picture when he was branching out beyond his normal puzzle.) Anyways, the other day he woke up at about 12 midnight crying because his legs hurt. Well, I held him for awhile, and then Eric took him back to bed....or so I thought. When I went to bed about 15 minutes later. I found them both on our bed doing....well, I know you can guess what...his puzzle. What was funny about it was that Jakeb wasn't saying a word. Eric and him were taking turns putting puzzle pieces in, and everytime it was Eric's turn, Jakeb would simply point to the place where it would go and then smile. This went on for quite some time. I'm assuming Jakeb was scared if he said a word this "dream" that he was having about doing a puzzle when he should be in bed would be over, and he would have to go back to bed!!!! It was pretty funny.

Thanks, Lisa!!!

I mean, seriously, how cute are these little clothes???? The pink and brown one is completely me. I love these outfits. They were given to me by my "twin separated at birth," or at least that what we're saying. We just met a couple of months ago and it's a little uncanny how much we have in common and how many similarities. I know, I know.... what you're all thinking is....."How can there be someone else who is as cool as Marshan?" But believe it or not, there is!!!! Thanks Lisa for the great clothes and the soaps!!!

Whoops!!!

Eric called me yesterday morning. He was rear-ended on the interstate less than 5 minutes from where he works. His boss could actually see him from the window of Fisher Design. Some lady bumped into him from behind, and caused him to bump into the person in front of him. Thankfully, no one was hurt. (Well the lady that was in front of Eric went to the hospital, but she wasn't hurt any more than Eric.) I'm thinking that they are all feeling the pain today from whiplash. And believe it or not, our car had no damage either. God definitely took care of him. These are picture that Eric's boss took from the window of where he works. How crazy is that?

Little Dippers

Why they do this is beyond me. I personally find it disgusting. The boys dip everything. Kaleb has this new thing where he dips all his food in his drink only to leave one nasty looking drink to drink later. Today, I caught Jakeb dipping raisins into his Ranch. Talk about being sick! And none of this in abnormal. You should see the things that Luke dips and eats. Boys are just weird!!

Here's where we are now!

How many times do I...???

...have to tell this kid that orange and red DO NOT MATCH!!!!!!!! I'm just glad these are his pajamas and not his real clothes although he has tried that before. It took quite some convincing to get him to change out of his orange pants and red shirt that day when he was wearing them. I think that now he does it on purpose to annoy me. I know that most of you are thinking, "No, not Luke." But look at that face. Come on, it's got to be on purpose!!!

Valentine's Day

So, I'm a week late in posting this. I've been meaning to post this for awhile, but I kept forgetting to take a picture of it. Aren't they pretty? No they're not from Eric. They're from my in-laws for Valentine's Day. I guess they must like me a little, huh? Isn't that sweet? I actually thought it was from Eric because he ended up taking the whole day off....(long story), but instead it was from Rex and Marilyn . It's beautiful! Thanks ya'll!!! I'm truly blessed to have such sweet and nice in-laws. Not everyone is that fortunate!

Bumps and bruises

Why is it when we're getting ready to take family pictures, do my children have to go out and knock themselves in the head and get the biggest bumps and bruises of their lives? I guess I should be used to it by now because we have a million pictures some taken in studios of bruised foreheads, but still....grrr... most of their bruises are from inheriting their mother's clumsy genes. However, Jakeb's is from his brother hitting him in the head with a plastic golf club.

My children are known for their bumps and bruises at church. One of the girls at church suggested we buy our baby girl a pink helmet to protect her from her brothers. Now that would useful!!!

Happy Birthday, NIKI!

Niki, my best friend, had her birthday yesterday. I was so happy to get her package to her on time. I don't think she was expecting, and I was hoping it would get there to make her smile on this tragic....I mean...wonderful day in her life. (NOTE: I'm not stating how old she is because well, I wouldn't want her to get me back on my birthday.) Anyways, I made her an album of our trip to Gatlinburg. I made myself one too. I made them at the same time. Mainly because I thought the album was cute, and I wanted one too. Here's the album:

the album and the box it comes in

the title page

shopping and hanging out with college friends

our limo ride to the helicopter

our helicopter ride

Eating out at a "no name" restaraunt

Shopping in Gatlinburgthe beautiful scenerywhite water rafting and almost dying by falling out of the rafthanging out with friendsBut that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is to wish Niki a happy birthday. Thanks for being a great friend, and I wish you all the happiness in the world this year!!!!!!

New Haircuts

Before
Jakeb and I got our hair cuts today. We've both been needing one for awhile, and so off we went today. He screamed at first for some reason. Still can't figure that out, but then he calmed right down, and let her cut his hair. My hair ended up being cut a little shorter than I wanted, but it doesn't look too bad....at least I hope it doesn't. It's still wet in the picture, so we'll see.

After, but still not "finished"

Done, but still no make-up