Gratitude in August

August 1-

     Mer's first day of 4th grade! Curtis took her to school & I got her from the bus stop at the Boys & Girls club after school. I'm grateful M is in school again. 

August 2-

     E didn't have art lessons. We were out of groceries. I did a little grocery shopping & Curtis did the rest for me later in the evening. That was very helpful! I'm eternally grateful for my husband. 

August 3- 

     Fast Sunday. Our ward (R2nd) had a yummy 'Break the Fast' after church. It was good to be able to have some time and get to know other people in our ward family. 

August 4-

     Mers first full week of school. Curtis & I are breaking up the week. He has T & Th. (so far) We had a good FHE. We went out to the corn field in Centerton and picked corn. For a treat, we met Curtis at the Star cafe & had ice cream. :) Yay for family time! 

August 5-

     Can there ever be too much gratitude for Yoga? I'm especially grateful that I found a couple sisters who are willing to trade babysitting with me so I can still go to yoga after E is in school. :) 

August 6- 

     M went swimming with the activity day girls & I got to see Mardee C. Yay! They've been gone all summer & now they are home again. Mardee is so much fun! I'm grateful to call her my friend. 

August 7- 

     Today, I'm grateful that Curtis left the bike so I could ride. It's a great day for it & riding is a mood booster. Not that I'm in a bad mood, but it helps. I got M from the bus stop & took E to the library. :) 

August 8-

     The Dragovich family is packing up & moving. :( Not grateful for that, but I am blessed to know them. I didn't get to help directly & that's ok. Kellie brought Kaylene over so she could help. Clara had so much fun having a friend here to play. :) 

August 9-

     What a great day! Curtis & Jackie surprised me. Curtis talked like we'd take a motorcycle ride out to Tontitown for the Grape festival. Jackie shows up to 'kidnap' me and take me out. :) She bought me a pair of earrings & lunch at Mimi's. It was a fun time. (Pics were posted on FB) Later Jackie & I went for a motorcycle ride. The weather was perfect! 

August 10-

     Wow. I actually slept too much & was too tired today. But, instead of napping after church I asked E if she wanted to play a game. She beats me at most of the games we play. :) After the girls were in bed Curtis took me for a night time ride in the bike. It's so much fun! It's good thinking time for me too. 

August 11- 

     What a great birthday! Curtis took the day off work. I took myself for a motorcycle ride to Greers candy shop on Gateway. (Almost to Eureka) The weather was perfect! Plenty of family & friends sent bday wishes. AND, I got to talk to Julia B! AND my great friend Wendy brought me a yummy little loaf of banana bread! :) I'm so blessed! 

August 12- 

     Another beautiful day & it started with Yoga. :) In the afternoon, I took all 3 girls with me to the Meet & Greet for Clara to go to 'pretty school' @ Miss Esther's. God continues to be SO good to us. Sometimes I feel over flowed with love, especially with His love. :) 

August 13-

     I took Mer, Hannah & Kayla to school this AM. Next week the regular bus service starts. E went swimming with the activity girls in Bella Vista. It's good that my girls have good friends, thus far. 

August 14-

     Amazing! Fabulous! Heavenly! These are words I use to describe the lovely massage that Beth provided for me. :) She gave me a full body wrap, hot stone massage, & body scrub as a bday gift! There is no way I can afford this kind of treatment otherwise. Then, after that Curtis provided us with a truly scrumptious dinner! I told Beth & Curtis that I must've gone to heaven. How did I get to be so blessed?? I love my sister& my husband! 

August 15-

     What a great day! Beth went to hot yoga with me. She later took E & M to the Water Park in Rogers. We went to the 1st 'birthday' party for Sugar Creek Ward at the Fifes. It was good to see friends, have good food & good music. Beth watched took care of all the girls so Curtis & I could go to the Boston concert at the Amp. He won the tickets in a drawing from work. He's lucky that way. The Boston concert was fun. :) I'm thankful for all this!

August 16-

     Hair coloring day!! Miranda, my stylist who works at Solace, put fun colors in my hair. It's a crazy blue, purple & pink. Beth & my girls like it. So do I. :) Curtis doesn't say anything. :} Oh well. It's fun! Hannah Martin got married! Her new last name is 'e-z'. It's Martinez. Beth & I went to her reception in Ft. Smith. It was good to spend some time with her & see friends in FS. 

August 17-

     Church now starts @ 1:30. That's what it was when we started attending this ward. Silly. A few people at church complimented me on my new hair color. :) Truly, I did it for the fun of it & bc I can. Why not? :D 

August 18- 

     First day of school for E. (6th grade!) Mer had an all day evaluation at the Schmieding developmental center. We have an official diagnosis from Dr. Lipinski. Mer has anxiety (like me) and ADHD. We can now officially request a 504 from the school. Side note, I'm VERY grateful Wendy was able to help watch C & N so I could be with M a little bit and with Curtis to learn about the diagnosis. 

August 19-

     Hooray for friends who are willing to trade babysitting! Jill Smallwood took C & N this AM so I could go to yoga. Yay! I love yoga. It's so good for me. 

August 20-

     Bread making day & I mowed the lawn after the girls got home from school. Productive days are good. :) I'm thankful E & M can be helpful in watching their little sisters. I'm grateful E & M are in school again. :) 

August 21-

     We got to have some playtime at Joane's. Clara really misses having friends to play with. It was good for me too. Later Kellie & Jessica came over with their kids. I think C & N both had a good time. Thurs night was book group at Cynthia's. I got to ride my motorcycle there. That's good road yoga time! Book group is fun too! Even if I didn't get to read the book, it's good learning time. What a good day! 

August 22-

     Jessica Furhmin watched C & N for me this AM so I could go to yoga. Her girls enjoyed playing with my girls. Glad that worked out. More good news, I found a preschool for Clara. She'll go Tues & Thurs to Explore & Discover. I feel good about this. It's a good location, right schedule, & a good price. Clara went with me Fri evening after I donated blood. There was a blood drive going on Fri for the Emergency Preparedness Fair on Sat. (Blood drive was 2 days) Overall, another good day. The Lord truly is amazing! 

August 23-

     E had art lessons. Curtis took C & M to the preparedness fair. When he got back, I took E with me. It was SO hot! (But fun!) I'm grateful for all the time & effort that plenty of people are willing to put in to make such a thing possible. M got to go swimming with Hannah @ the Rogers aquatic center. Later, Curtis & I had dinner at Flavors, a newish Indian restaurant. It was pretty good. 

August 24-

     Today, after church, I was able to Skype with my parents. It was fun bc they hadn't seen my new hair color yet. It surprised me that mom said she likes it. :) Wow! It was good to chat with them. Their friends frequently ask about them. I'm grateful for my parents. 

August 25-

     Clara got to have several friends here today. Jessica F brought her girls & Carly P brought her kids. I think they all had a good time together. It was fun! Clara will attend Explore & Discover on Tues & Thurs. Other friends have their kids there. It'll be good. 

August 26-

     Today, I'm grateful for the good chiropractor that Dr. Sands is. I still miss Dr. Rice, but Dr. Sands is good too. 

August 27-

     Dr. Debbie & I had a good appt. I was letting her know the latest update with Mer. Hopefully, we can all learn more ways to help M be less anxious. I'm grateful for Dr. Debbie & others like her in the same profession. Counseling/therapy has been helpful to me through the years. 

August 28-

     C, N & I had a play date at Amanda Hanbergs. The girls had a good time. It was good to visit with Amanda. After Curtis was home from work, he let me go for a motorcycle ride. I got Jackie & we rode all over. It was fun! A little scary at night bc I don't know where I'm going or can't see the road as well. It's ok, that's part of the adventure. I'm grateful that God is watching out for me & keeping me safe. 

August 29-

     Mer was home from school and she was able to watch C & N for me. I love & need yoga! It's SO good for me. Hooray for free tickets! Curtis got tickets from work for a concert. We got to see Foreigner at the AMP. They put on a good show!  

August 30-

     It was our wards turn to clean the chapel. It's good to help clean the church every now & then. We had a fun cookout with the Morales family & the Clark's. Curtis made yummy food & the kids had a good time. The weather was perfect too! 

August 31-

     Happy Sunday! Elizabeth was helpful in getting Clara to wear a shirt under her dress. It's so nice when the older girls help with the littles. :)

365 days of Gratitude: July

July 1- 

     Hooray for Tues AM yoga. Amy is also teaching a class Tues morning. It's a good thing I went bc there's no class on Fri, due to America's bday. :)

July 2- 

     We went to Terra Studios today. What an amazing place! It was really fun to see all the different art works being shown there. I took plenty of pictures. (Again, great weather!) 

July 3- 

     Today I'm grateful for beautiful weather, going for a motorcycle ride, & learning how to make pupusas. (This was a RS activity where we also learned how to do family indexing.) 

July 4- 

     Happy birthday America! I LOVE flag holidays! They make my heart happy. Curtis & I had a day date @ The Egg & I, then went for a bike ride. Our family found a place to watch Fireworks across from Orchards Park. (Near Crystal Bridges) 

July 5- 

     Sat, we attended an 'after the 4th' party at the Crums home. (Curtis co-workers) Our family went. The girls got to swim, we had good food, and were able to enjoy more fireworks. I'm grateful for good family time. 

July 6- 

     Today I'm grateful that E & M are willing to be a part of ward choir. It's one thing to sing with a group, it's another when singing in a foreign language. (Spanish) 

July 7-

     Grocery shopping complete! E & M were reminding me that we were out of food. Now, our fridge is restocked. I'm grateful Curtis has a good job to support our family. 

July 8- 

      Tues AM yoga with Amy Weir and a good busy day. I took the girls to the library & did a taste test survey at 2. Got to Skype with mom & dad. :) We were dog sitting Furby for the Kosters while they were on vacation. Princess & Furby had a great time together. (Furby went home today & now Princess seems depressed. Aw.) I'm grateful that we could help the Kosters. 

July 9- 

     Wibbit Wed at the pool. After getting stuff done around the house, I took the girls to the pool at 7. There is an inflatable obstacle course called a Wibbit. E said it was hard but she did it a few times. They had a good time. N liked playing in the kiddie pool. Afterwards, we stopped at Jayme's Paradise Ice & had snow cones. Yummy!  

July 10-

       It rained today, but that didn't ruin any plans. I took the girls to a 2pm magic show at the library. It was too loud for N & C. E & M enjoyed it. Later there was a Sugar Creek RS activity at Sis. Deursch's home. It was SO nice to talk to sisters! (In English)

July 11-

     After a great hot morning yoga, I was able to mow the backyard. Chik-fil-A was having cow appreciation day. We all dressed up like cows & had free food for dinner. E made the spots & signs for us. I think we had a good time. Hooray for free food & family time. When we got home, I got Jackie and we went for a bike ride to Eureka. It was so fun!! I truly enjoy motorcycle riding. It's rather therapeutic and helps me be happy. :) 

July 12-

     Good day. Good weather too. I took E to art lessons & M to the library. I was able to do some more de-cluttering as well. After the girls went to bed Curtis & I went to a movie. We saw 'Blended'. It was a super cute movie with Drew Barrymore & Adam Sandler.  

July 13-

     Church, choir, farewell 'open house' for the Dragovich's, and Curtis took E & M to visit g'ma and g'pa Chandler in Muldrow. I am NOT grateful the Dragovich family is moving. However, I am grateful he was able to find a job to support his family. I am also grateful for the chance Roxanne and I had to serve together and be friends. Curtis is my hero! He left after 7 to take the Sr. Duo to Muldrow. He didn't get home til WAY late. (he said it was after 2am) Bless his heart!

July 14-

     Wow! What a difference E & M being gone makes. So much less contention. And I'm able to have more energy to get stuff done. I LOVE all my girls, all the time. However, I do not love the contention. For FHE that evening, we took a little family walk around the block, after Curtis got some work done on the fence. (He's working on replacing part of the fence that broke)

July 15-

     Tabitha Koster came here and had a good time playing with Clara. It was helpful b/c I was able to get dinner (and a cheesecake) ready for the missionaries. It was Elder Arroyo's b'day and he was going home on Thursday. Wendy also lent me her springform pan for the cheesecake. She's a lifesaver! I'm grateful we could have the missionaries here for dinner.

July 16- 

     Wendy was so kind to let Clara stay and play with Tabs while I went to Muldrow to get E & M. N slept for part of the way and I listened to an audio book. I'm grateful for good friends and audio books! I'm also grateful that my drive to and from Muldrow (Where G'ma and G'pa live) was safe. All that driving does wear me out. E & M said they had a good visit with G'ma and G'pa Chandler. What a blessing for the girls. :)

July 17-

     It was "Take your kids to work day" at P&G. Curtis took E and M to work with him. :) It was almost like an 'extra' vacation day for me. (sneaky grin) Curtis said that the girls had a good time. I was able to take some time and read some library books to Clara. I LOVE being with Clara and Nancy. I'm grateful for how uplifting they can be.

July 18 -

     My body and mind need yoga like I need air to live! I missed yoga Tues morning and so going Friday seemed better than ususal. Hopefully, I can work out kid swapping with someone so I can attend yoga when kids go back to school. After yoga I mowed the lawn! (Hooray for lawn mowing!) So thankful that my body is such that I'm able to help Curtis by mowing the lawn. Plus, I enjoy doing it anyway. Memorial pool had Floats n'flicks starting after 8. I took all the girls to that. It was much too cool to be in the water but they (the girls) seemed to enjoy it anyway. Especially E and M.

July 19 -

     After I took E to art lessons, I did a little grocery shopping. N went with me. I'm grateful E has the chance to take art lessons. She seems to enjoy it. Later, I had a little nap (love a nap!) and went for a bike ride. (to be read as, motorcycle ride) This has not been typical July weather, but I'm not complaining. It was a good evening for a ride. :)

July 20-

    Despite it's difficulty, I am thankful for my callings in R2nd, where we are currently attending. It's continued proof that we need to always trust God. We don't always know why, but that's not the point. If we follow the guidance of the spirit, we might have the chance to learn the answer of why we serve where we do. (maybe not always, but I am grateful for the bits of insight and wisdom that I glean from callings and opportunities to serve.)

July 21-

     Kirsten Johnston is running for school board position and had a meeting about that. It was a nice day and afterwards, she invited our kids to swim. I'm thankful for the opportunity to know Kirsten. She's such a good example in so many ways.

July 22-

     Amy Weir was out of town and so Brittany filled in for her. Its interesting to experience the different ways that yoga teachers teach a class. Each yogi brings a different mood or style to it. :) Curtis had a safe flight to Cincinati after work. (He's there for another interview) I took E and M to activity days for R2nd ward. They had a good time. I'm SO grateful God is aware of each of us and our needs.  

July 23-

     Ah. A good day indeed! We went to see the Museum of Native American History. In all the time we've lived here, we'd never seen it until today. The girls seemed to enjoy it more than I thought they would. :) Later I had much needed chiro appt with Dr. Sands. I'm grateful we have a new medical debit card! I also had an appt with Dr. Debbie. It was great b/c I took the bike! Motorcycle riding makes me so happy. It's also therapeutic. I appreciate Dr. Debbie and others in her profession. She has been very helpful!

July 24-

     Hey! Another good day! I took C & N to the splash park in the AM, and in the afternoon, we all went to the Rogers Historic museum in downtown Rogers. The girls really seemed to enjoy that as well. (Perhaps b/c it's small and we were almost the only ones there?) Hooray! Curtis made it home later than expected, but that's ok.

July 25-

     A VERY productive day. In addition to fabulous morning yoga, and mowing the lawn, Mer and I worked together to make homemade lemonade for her lemonade stand. She sold cups of lemonade and snickerdoodle cookies for 25 cents each. It was rather warm out, but I think it went well. We had some kind friends and neighbors come and buy treats from Mer. Despite all the work, it was worth doing. :) I'm grateful for these times and experiences to make memories with my children.  

July 26- 

     We went on family vacation to St.Louis after E's art lesson. I'm grateful that we could travel safely & that Blue (Durango) is working properly. 

July 27-

     As evidenced by my husbands photos that were posted on FB, we had a good Sunday. We attended church in the O'Fallon ward, where Aubrie Ellis Carpenter attends with her family. It was really good to see her and visit with her family. E and M especially enjoyed it b/c they got to play with Zoe. (Aubrie's daughter) We had dinner with her family and afterwards we visited the Temple grounds. Even though we didn't go in, it was very peaceful just to be there. I'm grateful for Temples. :)

July 28-

     We went to the zoo today. E and M liked it. C wanted to ride in the stroller mostly and N wanted to run around. The zoo (an other animal exhibits) gives me the chance to appreciate all the different animals God created. Whether they were meant to be in zoos or not is another matter. We can view Gods creativity in various ways. I also think that watching animals in their 'element' helps me appreciate my own body and how it functions. (Ex: we don't have long noses like elephants or crazy long necks like giraffes or ostriches, etc.) After the zoo and a little down time at the hotel, we had dinner at Cracker Barrel with Michelle and Abby. :) It was so good to see them both!

July 29- 

     Today we saw the magnificent Gateway to the West, aka The St. Louis Arch. It's been a while since I've seen the arch and it seems that with time, I appreciate it more. Or maybe gain new perspective about it. I'm grateful for the vision of those who created it and their ability to fulfill it.

    We also visited the ever popular (and memorable) Magic House. It was so much fun taking the girls to a place that I enjoyed when I was their age. (Well, probably 8 or 9) Curtis and I divided and conquered. E & M were with me and Curtis took C and N. Good times! Good memories! I learned that the Magic House is 35 yrs old. wow! (very close to my age)   

July 30-

     Today, before heading home, we visited another memorable place from my childhood. We went to Grant's Farm. There were quite a few things about it that I didn't remember. (parking, tram ride, standing in line just to get in) But, there were plenty of other things there that were worth seeing. We saw an elephant show and an animal excursion show. E and M liked the animal shows. Not so sure C and N were interested. Considering differences in age, I'll take the 50% of my kids that enjoyed it as a plus. :) Mer especially liked the clydesdale horses. They really are impressive.

   Curtis' sister Loretta invited us for dinner. We stopped at their place on our way home. It's so good to have time to visit with family and friends.

July 31-.

   Home again home again. We got in late last night. We had safe travels. I'm grateful my husband is so great! He did all the driving. And was up even later after we got home. He's such an excellent care taker and provider for our family. How did I get to be so blessed to be married to him? Another reason he's so great (reason # 256) is that he insisted on taking this little vacation, despite the shortage of funds. We can make more money, but we can't buy memories with our children and family. :)