Elizabeth Is Sick

Yesterday I got a call from a friend inviting up on a boat ride and fishing trip. It sounded like a lot of fun so we agreed to go. Then later that afternoon I got Elizabeth up from and she had a 102.9 degree fever. We cancelled our boat ride and had a peaceful evening at home with a sick baby. She really acted okay as long as the fever was down. But whenever her fever spiked again she wanted to be held or wanted to sleep. I am hoping this morning she will be okay because Gabriel has a soccer game, Matt is taking the cats to the vet at 7:30 and then from 9:00 - 3:00 will be in class. So I hope I won't be taking a sick child to soccer.

Thursday Thanks Tank

I'm a day behind but here is my list. I thought about it yesterday but never had a free moment to get it typed up.

1. Volunteers: I am currently on the preschool board where Abby is attending. We are working on the Fall Festival, without all the wonderful parent volunteers it would not be a successful event. Having a hands on experience with this has shown me how hard everyone works to make it a huge success.
2. Encouragement: This week Matt andseveral friends have encouraged me in many ways. It has been such a blessing.
3. Renewed Contact with Friends: I got a email from a friend I haven't talked to in a long time. It was nice to catch up a little bit. I need to do better at keeping in contact with our freinds we left behind in Tennessee.
4. Babies: I am thankful for all the friends and families who are having babies. I love hearing about them.
5. Blogging: I really enjoy blogging. I started it to help keep family and friends in touch with what is going on. But it has grown into a journal of sorts. I really am thankful when I receive comments to my posts.

That's my list for the week.

Keeping In Touch

I have really enjoyed blogging. It was been a wonderful ways to keep family and friends updated on what is going on with the CarMatt's. It has also been a great place to keep a journal of sorts, all the funny things the kids say and do, my thoughts on parenting, life and activities, general happenings, vactions, etc. I just wish more of my friends would start blogging so it was easier to keep up with them and their happenings. So start a blog my friends and let me know so I can keep up with what you are doing, like having babies. :)

Gabe Says

Matt gives the kids all the fake credit cards we get in the mail to play with. One day Matt had given Gabe one and that night we went out to dinner. Gabriel looks at me and says holding up his card. "Mom I'll get dinner tonight."

Thanks Tank Thursday

I have really begun to enjoy doing Thanks Tank Thursdays. Here's a list of thanks for this week.

1. Mom's Night Out: Last night we had our first Mom's Night Out for MOPS. I hosted a BUNCO night at my house. Most of the moms were steering members and then a couple of old members and one new member. It was great to have a new member come to such a function barely knowing everyone. I think everyone had a lot of fun. I even had to kick out some dear friends at 1:00 because they were having so much fun socializing. Which made for a hard morning getting out of bed!!
2. Friends you can count on.
3. Matt having a poker night. I am so thankful that Matt is taking the time to do something fun for himself. It's been a long time since he has done something fun and this should prove to be a lot of fun for him.
4. Target with a Starbucks: Matt won't like this one but what could be better than coffee and shopping in the same place. We even had our steering meeting there so we could go shopping afterwards.
5. Prayers being answered.
6. Spending time as a family.
7. Enjoying relaxing evenings with Matt. This week The Dukes of Hazzard movie was on t.v. I can honestly say I did not like the fact that Bo and Luke were portrayed as idiots. And there were several other major changes I did not like. But I did find it very humorous. I laughed and so did Matt. But I would probably never pay money to see it.
8. Having a organized art closet. Now I just need to organize everything else!!

Trouble with Flickr Account

I want to download new pictures to my flickr account but at the moment I can not. We switched from SBC global to comcast and Matt forgot to change my account with flickr so I can't log into my account anymore. Matt said he would work on it for me, so hopefully I can download new pictures soon.

Volunteering

I was asked to be a member of the preschool board at Learning Tree where all three kids have, are or will be attending. This is one volunteer activity that I felt was important where the kids education was concerned, the school is always needing volunteers and I can do that. Today I had a meeting with the Fall Festival committee. I have taken on crafts, which I can do easily, and assigning classrooms with food donations. I will also be setting up the display for pictures. Not too bad if you ask me. Matt on the other hand thinks I do too much, mainly because I get stressed as a deadline comes near. But once it's done I'm happy.

I did it!!!

Years ago when Matt and I were still dating I went rapelling with Matt and some of his Fraternity buddies. Both of my parents were concerned. Despite being afraid of heights I managed to have a great time and rapelled multiple times. It was really a whole lot of fun and a huge rush. Nothing of note happened during my rapels but as I walked down the trail I fell and sprained my ankle.

Yesterday I took the kids to the local children's museum where they have a climbing wall. Gabriel was just old enough to climb and wanted to try so I let him climb. He did really well for his first climb. He got about halfway up the wall. Then he asked me to climb with him. I had never climbed but decided to do it anyway. I actually was able to climb all the way to the top. It was easier than I thought it would be. It actually took less arm strength than I thought and more leg strength. Btw, the wall is only a 15 foot wall but, I was still impressed with myself. Now I just need to find somewhere that will let Abby climb. (You had to be 5 and 3'8".) Oh, and nothing bad happened on our walk to the car.

Thank Tank

It has been a busy day and an even busier week. Here are some of the things I am thankful for this week.

1. Soccer: Gabriel has started his first year of soccer. His first practice was on Labor Day and his first game was the following Saturday. He is having a great time with it. He really enjoyed his first game and is looking forward to his next game on Saturday. He enjoys the practices but not nearly as much as the games. Go Figure. :)
2. Learning new skills: Both Gabriel and Abby have been learning new skills this week. Gabriel successfully tied his shoes for the first time this morning. He was so proud of himself. And Abby has been taking an interest in writing her name. She successfully writes an "A" and sometimes "b" but has not mastered the "y" yet. She is so proud to be doing such a big girl activity.
3. MOPS: I know I've mentioned MOPS before but this group has been such a blessing to me. We had our first meeting this week and it was wonderful being with other moms who know what you are going through. I have made so many wonderful friends because of this group. There isjust so much to be thankful for.
4. It's just a small hole: Yesterday I picked up a large bolt in my tire. Lucky for me it held air until I was able to take it into the shop this morning. The mechanic looked at it and said that the head was bigger than the threads and that more than likely it would be pluggable. Thankfully he was right. What could have cost lots only cost $19.00.
5. My mother is okay: I got a call from my dad Sunday night telling me he and my mom were at the hospital. My mother had waded into a lake, slipped and fell hitting her head. She was unconscious, or at least dazed, depening on who you talk to, when someone heard my niece yelling. She was pulled out of the water. She had a nasty cut on her head which needed 4 stiches. I am just thankful she is alright.
6. Catching little things before they become big: This week we have had two household repairs that were caught early. If they had been caught later they would have caused damage and cost lots of money to be fixed.
7. Shopping: This past weekend I went shopping with a friend. I haven't taken a weekend to go shopping without the kids and just to relax in a long time. It was even better because I "found" some money in my wallet I didn't know I had. I later found out it was put there by my parents. This was wonderful!!!
8. Matt: He was wonderful to watch the kids while I did something fun just for me. He has such a busy schedule just like I do but was willing to watch the kids on his day off while I did something fun. What more could I ask for.
9. A beautiful yard: We as a family spent part of the day cleaning up the yard. Even though much of the grass is dyin because of drought and no irrigation, at least until it's fixed, it is beautiful.
10. Cooler days: We have been having above average temperatures pretty much all summer. It is now turning cooler and becoming more fall like. We are having the cooler morning and warm afternoons. I love the changes of the seasons!! In a couple of days I will begin putting up my fall decorations.

There are always so many things to be thankful for. It lightens my heart to remember them.

First MOPS Meeting Today!!

Today we had our first MOPS meeting of the year. It was so great to see everyone I have missed during the summer. It's amazing how much everyone's children have grown and the changes the moms have gone through as well. It was a good meeting and we had lots of new moms, which is always beneficial. The mom's were able to decorate bags as their craft and also put beads on their name tags to signify each child in their family, blue for boys and pink for girls. The moms seemed to appreciate both crafts/activities.





Every year we fill out a questionaire for our directory. The typical things are asked like name, address, phone, but we also ask for information to get to know you like, home church, favorite color, hobbies, and a question. I really enjoyed this year's question because it made me think. I would love to hear your answers! "What do you enjoy most about being a mom?" Any dad's out there? I want your answers too.



I had a really hard time coming up with just one thing. There is very little I don't like about being a mom. But the best part about being a mom are the cuddles, hugs, kisses and "I Love Yous" I receive everyday. I know one day they will lessen so I enjoy them even more now knowing that.