Don't Stop Believin

30 Things I want to do before I'm 30

(In no particular order)
1. Go to Disney World.
2. Write a children's book... and teach a child to read it.
3. Go on a mission trip overseas.
4. Travel to a few places..(Greece, Italy, Egypt, & Australia...)
5. Get married, or learn to be okay with being single...
6. Get a masters degree.
7. Learn patience.
8. Be accused of being the coolest aunt ever.
9. Get a dog from an animal shelter.
10. Own a four-wheeler... because I was never allowed as a kid... :(
11. Learn to play guitar.
12. Take voice lessons.
13. Sing "Let's Give Em' Somethin to Talk About" on Karaoke... In front of a large crowd!
14. See a lot of concerts.
15. Learn to chop vegetables like a chef.
16. Make a gormet meal.
17. Learn to throw the perfect spiral... farther than 5 yards.
18. Sponser a child in a third world country.
19. Kill a deer...
20. Watch all of American Film's 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time.
21. Smoke a Cigar.. (or at least take a picture holding one)
22. Walk through Times Square
23. Work at a Summer Camp
24. Sit by myself contently all day... preferably outside.
25. Give something up for lent that is actually a struggle... and stick with it.
26. Own a really cool outfit for every decade in the 20th century.
27. Learn to country dance.. without killing some poor boys feet.
28. Give more compliments.
29. Ride a horse really fast... like in an old western.
30 Learn to love more like Jesus loved.

I've Got The World On a String

50 Random Things...

1. My name is Lauren Jo Edwards... I was supposed to be named Lauren Elizabeth Edwards... but after fourteen hours of labor on her elbows and knees, my mother decided to tag me with her name.
2. I was 1 of 3 children, my mom is 1 of 3 and my dad is 1 of 3.. I want to have three children one day.
3. I am a Christian and I don't know where I would be without my faith.
4. Most of my best friends I have know since preschool.
5. Even though Texas State is considered the biggest party school in Texas.. I have grown more in the past three years than in the 18 years I lived in a small mostly southern baptist east Texas town.
6. If I had never met Chelsea Lavoie I would probably be at Texarkana College right now.
7. I am secretly obsessed with really juvenile things like High School Musical, Hannah Montana, and all the classic Disney Movies.
8. I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember, my aunt gave me a real school desk when I was little and I used to play school for hours and hours..
9. I would much rather spend my days with kids than adults.
10. If I am ever having a bad day I go to Target, and if I can't find something ridiculous to buy I grab something off the dollar rack to make myself feel better.
11. When I eat at an Italian food restaurant I gaze at the menu at every dish and contemplate all the great things I could order.... and then 99.9% of the time I order Spaghetti.
12. I love cookies and cream ice cream.
13. I am a nuisance to my neighboors and I'm sitting on their couch typing this as we speak.. I wasn't invited over.. I'm just here.
14. Going to the movies is one of my favorite things.
15. When I start a book I usually finish it in 24 hours.
16. I too think Maddie(Jennifer's oldest daughter) is one of the funniest most amazing children in the world.
17. I like to bake when I'm stressed out, but then I rarely eat whatever it is that I made.
18. I have dreams that I'm pregnant on a regular basis.
19. I am a true believer that there is no place like home...
20. I love theme parks.
21. I love my roomates but beyond that I don't really like girls.. yet strangely enough I'm in a sorority.
22. I rarely get along with my mother but secretly she's like my best friend.(Don't cry when you read this stalker-mom)
23. I like food too much for my own good(hence my mentioning food like 5 times in my random things).
24. When I like something.. I really love it... some call it obsession.. I call it being a passionate person.
25. I have repeatedly asked my room-mates to get me a stripper pole for my 21st birthday so that I can have fun swinging around on it during our random dance parties.
26. I am a flip flop girl... The only time I might think twice about NOT wearing flip flops is if I'm working out .. or if it's snowing... and I live in Texas.
27. I have been investing in "teacher clothes" and "teacher shoes" lately, and teacher shoes aren't flip-flops... so yeah.. blisters..
28. When I was little I distinctly remember Blake and I burying a Ziploc of pennies, making an X and a treasure map... only to hunt it later and never find it... before I die I would like to find that bag of pennies.
29. The kids in my Kindergarten class call me Miss Egworth... which somehow developed into Eggroll... and now I'm taunted by 5 year olds
30. I have known my best friend since I was 2 years old, and in preschool we used to fight over this awful blue dress at play time. Mention "the dress" to this day, and we still scowl at each other.
31. I absolutely love my birthday, and I always want it to be a big deal... I used to wake up at 2am on my birthday morning because I was sooo excited.
32. I've always secretly wanted to be thrown a surprise party...
33. I love to buy things and make things for people, and if I had a lot of money and all the time in the world I would have some VERY spoiled friends. It's the way I show love <3
34. I'm really sarcastic. Sometimes too much, and it gets me in trouble.
35. I love to smile, but I'm also a daydreamer--- in high school people used to ask me why I looked so sad in the hallway... it was just my thinking face.
36. If I could have one super-power it would be to read peoples minds... mainly because I'm nosy.
37. I don't really have a favorite color... I'm very drawn to bright green but it really isn't my favorite... I've actually never really liked the color green until recently..... Sometimes I tell people my favorite color is clear because you can see all the colors of the rainbow through something that is clear. If I am forced to choose a "real" color I usually say red.
38. I really dislike reading the Old Testament in the bible, and I'm pretty sure I will read the New Testament through 10 times before I ever try and tackle it. Even so, every once in a while, I find an Old Testament book that impresses me.
39. I hate school, and I have never studied for more than an hour for a test(those times were final exams, and they usually involved memorization or math)... This is the reason I really pride myself on my super average grades... I like to think that I'm ridiculously smart to have made it through all these years with no effort... pitiful right? But hey, they say the worst students are usually the best teachers!
40. I have an excellent memory, I might bring up something that happened in the blink of an eye 15 years ago at any random moment.
41. I love to watch old home videos, I think this annoys my family.
42. If you ever make me laugh so hard that it hurts... you WILL be my friend forever... there is no avoiding it.
43. I work in the Education Advising office, it is here(where I am now), that my patience has been tested more than anywhere else.. ever... Even so I am lucky to have quite possibly the easiest job of all time.
44. I think my grandmother was quite possibly the most loving and genuine person to ever walk the earth... and I hope that one day I will have the ability to serve people as consistently as she did.
45. I have been in 7 weddings in my life-- and I haven't even reached an age to where a lot of my friends are getting married. To my calculations, by the time I am 30 I will have topped Katherine Heigl's character in 27 dresses.
46. I'm terrified of heights, and of flying insects with big stingers.. wasps, bees, ect... terrified.
47. I think all of the children in my family are the cutest children alive.. and if you start talking about a kid you know and love.. I will try and top your story and prove that my little cousins.. and now nieces and nephews are much better than yours. I don't mean to be rude.. I just feel this way.
48. I have an abnormally large head for a girl...
49. When I wake up in the morning and I look in the mirror with no makeup on.. I sometimes see my Dad starring back at me.. and it freaks me out. I am pretty sure my hair could start turning a nice salt and peppery color any day now.
50. I am really shy. People who know me think I'm ridiculous when I say this... but it's true... I am an introverted extrovert. :)

Teacherrriffic!

This semester, I'm in my elementary "block," which is basically Texas State slang for pre-student teaching. Twice a week, I spend half a day at lecture, and the other half of the day I work as an intern in a Kindergarten class. Needless to say, I am absolutely in LOVE with kindergarten.

My favorite thing in Kindergarten is watching the reading process unfold... in just the two months I've spent in Ms. Black's class the kids have grown SO much. It's amazing!
















Last week I had an opportunity to read a book to the class as part of a Read-Aloud Lesson... I was observed the whole time, and I was REALLY nervous... but the second I got the kids attention I lost all the butterflies. The kids were awesome... I read the book- Something from Nothing by Phoebe Gilman, if you have kids & you don't have that book--- you are missing out! The lesson was all about making predictions and the repetitions that forshadowed them... the book is just plain fun to read! Before I could turn each page the kids were raising their hands like there was a grand prize involved saying, "Oooo Oooo Miss Edwards I know I knowwww!!!!!!!" BUT I only called on quiet friends with "bubbles" in their mouths! They figured this out and it was contagious... there were kids all over the colored carpet up on the tops of their knees(they couldn't bare sitting on their bottoms, and of course the extra boost their knees gave them made them much more visible) with BIG bubbles in their mouths shaking their hands WILDLY at me. I looked at them and I remembered being in their shoes, wishing SO badly that the teacher would call on me because I absolutely positively KNEW the answer. These days, the biggest reward is sitting in the special chair on the other side of the carpet. :)

I'll end with this....

The Top Three Things most interesting Kindergarten stories of the week.

1. I was giving a reading evaluation... the little girl was on FIRE with the capital letters.... then we get to lower case.. and she says to me "haha silly goose... whoever wrote this "p" made it upside backwards.... it was a "q"

2. A little boy slashed his finger with some scissors... pretty badly. As his finger was gushing blood I couldn't get the paper towel off and get the band aide on fast enough. As he was blubbering in pain... he looks up at me... and through the tears screams into my face... "WhyYYyy?" A memorable "first" for me.

3. Ms. Black is doing a lesson about germs... ... she let one kid stick his hand in a pan of flour, shake hands with someone and so on -&- so forth. The kids are giving pretty good responses about getting rid of germs... "You should wash your hands more..." "Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze..." then comes the shocker.... "If you build up lots of white blood cells you can fight the infection and you won't be sick anymore!" .....

Did I mention I love Kindergarten?

Becoming Auntastic :)

I am absolutely obsessed with being an aunt! I'm pretty obnoxious about it as well. For instance, every time someone even takes slight interest in the most recent additions to my family... I whip out photos. I've joked that I'm going to get one of those long clear plastic photo flaps for my wallet and string it out a mile long with baby pictures... It could happen.


The one downfall to all these babies being born at once is the fact that-as a college student, my pockets are very shallow, yet somehow I manage to purchase something every single time I pass any store with baby clothes. I was at the Polo outlet yesterday buying my dad a birthday present, and I noticed the children's section... so of course I went over. Who knew a baby polo shirt could brighten my whole day?? I know I'm not the only one who feels this way because I talked to my roommate about it later... I showed her the little shirt... (Yes I bought it!) and she flipped... she oooed and ahhed and awwwed... I started to think about how ridiculous people act around babies with all the high pitched voices and the fat squishing talk. People even say cannibalistic things to babies, like "I could eat you up with a spoon!" I thought about how less than two minutes ago I showed her the exact same shirt in a men's medium, and her reaction was a straight faced.. "Yeah... that's really nice... I like the color..." BUT... the second I pulled out the EXACT same shirt.. in an infant 6-9 months.... she jumps up.. grabs it... and turns into a raging lunatic...

I guess it's true what they say.....

...The best things in life come in small packages!