ECON ... It's over!

I got an A in econ ... I can hardly believe it. I am so glad that is officially over.

I am heading to the funeral home for a dear old neighbor that passed away last weekend and then crossing the street to take the boys to see Veggie Tales!!!! $3 Alex theatre ... can't beat it. Saturday Aiden has his first baseball camp. He is so excited. Sunday is church and bible study.

Monday is the day that Marcus is taking Tara to the vet to have her put to sleep. She had a really rough night last night and is struggling today. He has had Tara for 14 years. I know it's going to be really hard for him but we know it's best that she doesn't suffer any longer.

Have a wonderful weekend and hug your family ... and pets!
Love,
Carrie

Check out my Guestbook!

Winter boot wearin' weather even for scrappin'

We had a wonderful weekend this weekend. Friday the boys went to the basketball game with my parents so that I could sort all four bags of my scrapbookin' stuff. Saturday the boys spent the entire day with daddy and Grandpa Erskine. Half of that day was playing in the snow and having snowball fights and building a UPS Snowman. I was in Warsaw spending the day with Steph and Missy scrappin'. Sunday was a great day at church and bible study. I am blessed to be a part of an awesome group of persons in bible study.

I hear that another snow storm is heading our way. I've heard anywhere from 1-3 inches up to 7! We'll probably end up with less than 1/2 inch! I am hoping it won't snow that much as I have the day off tomorrow and am supposed to head to Lafayette to meet Bart and Jami for dinner and to celebrate Jami's birthday! I am really looking forward to it, so I hope we can make it. If not ... we will have to reschedule!

Have a wonderful Monday!

Love,

Carrie

The Joys of Potty Training

Well ... we've started to potty train Logan. Valerie (our sitter) felt up to the challenge. The first day wasn't great. He made three messes and asked for candy ... I mean, he did potty! Isn't that candy worthy? After lunch he finally did his business in the toilet and said, "Candy ... now!?!" That evening I told him to try to potty before bed and he quickly said, "No - at Valerie's." So, apparently he thought he only had to do that at Valerie's. AHHH! Yesterday he did well. Four times in the potty and only one accident, ok - two accidents.

This weekend is a busy one. Tonight I think we are heading to the Alex bball game (first one I've gone to in years!), tomorrow I am heading to Warsaw to scrap all day with Steph and Missy ... so fun! Sunday is church, a meeting after church and then bible study. I hope I get a nap in there somewhere.

Oh ... and I changed my background again. I loved the three crosses, but something about writing about potty training with the crosses in the background was taking away from the meaning ... or something like that! So - tie dye it is!

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your families!
Love,
Carrie

Nails on a chalkboard ... or Aiden?

Hello!

What a weekend! Marcus and I went on a date on Friday night! An actual date! We ate @ Johnny Carino's and then went to see "Fool's Gold" (the new Matthew McCoanaghy movie ...). We had a nice time and enjoyed the movie. FYI ... if you are expecting a mushy love story ... think more along the lines of Indiana Jones meets (insert love story title here). Marcus an I both enjoyed it.

Saturday was spent in Indy @ the Boat, Sport and Travel show. We took Aiden. Well, last year he was nearly perfect ... this year ... not so much. He was whiny about everything and was ready to quit walking one isle into it! Long story short, the day was a long one and on our way home he drove me nuts! He just wasn't listening and he was being, well, a brat for the lack of a better term. We got home and he apologized to me for not listening and I told him that I wanted him to start behaving like the 4 year old I knew he could be. Well, that lasted all of 2 minutes. By this time he was driving daddy nuts too. We put him to bed and prayed that Sunday would be better. Fast forward to Sunday ... I guess he was ok prior to mommy getting out of bed. I was running behind and was franctically trying to put on my make up when Aiden and Logan came into the bathroom. I 'lovingly' told them that I needed them out so that I could get ready. That's when I heard Aiden say, "Logan, I don't think that mommy wants us anymore." O-U-C-H!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At first I laughed, then I cried. I didn't mean for my son to think I didn't want him anymore. He had just gotten on my last nerve and I broke. Of course I know that it was mostly because it had been a long week, but he doesn't understand that. Why did I let it get to that point anyway!?!?! I felt like a horrible mother.

Well, all of that rambling was just to say that I have talked to several other mothers that claim to have had a day or two like the one above. Now, none of them have had a son say out loud that mommy didn't want them anymore, but you get the point.

I am so thankful to have all of you other mommy's to vent to and to lean on. To hear you say that it's ok to have days like that means a lot to me. I hope that I do not have any more of those days for quite some time however.

And don't get me wrong ... I love BOTH of my little ones and DO want them! Now ... how to prove that to them ....

Love,
Carrie

Marcus sent me tulips yesterday for Valentine's day. Orange ... my favorite color. It's like he knows me! :0)

We are going out tonight for Valentine's day. Heading to Johnny Carino's ... another fav! Tomorrow we are going to the Boat, Sport and Travel show in Indy with Alvin, Steph and Brody. We are taking Aiden, but Logan is going to get some quality time with my folks.

Oh ... and for those that know how much I was stressed over my Econ final ... it's done - FINALLY! Of course, now I get to wait on the grade. I'd like to demand and A but I think that the quantity of those supplied will not be that high. I know that sleep was my opportunity cost! See ... my brain is fried!

Have a wonderful weekend with your families!
Love,
Carrie

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well ... today has started off a bit weird. I received tulips from Marcus this morning (so sweet). When I called him on his cell to thank him I learned that his dog that he has had since he was 15 has cancer. So weird! I knew she was getting older and not doing so well. Last month we had talked about if the vet said she needed to be put to sleep that we would go ahead with it. The vet did not recommend that, so all was well ... or we thought. This week her leg swelled up and the vet got her in this am to learn about the cancer. CANCER???? Also weird because just last night my mom and I were talking about all the persons I know and love that are fighting cancer and how everyone knows at least one person close to them that is fighting. And now I know a dog with it? Of course Tara will not be going through radiation and chemo, but to know that she is in pain and has this disease is just ... well ... weird to me. I didn't think it would hit me this way, but it really has. Just weird (have I said that yet?)

So, looks like in the very near future Tara will be in doggy heaven. I asked my bible study girls if they believe in such a thing and I received this from one of them:
"My personal feeling is that God created the animals of the earth...and it
was good...and I believe he cares for animals in a special way. I have
always told our kids that "Annie" (the little poodle rescued that died)
would be in heaven with Jesus. Heaven is going to be a place of
praise, right? A place of all the things in life that we love...better
than anything we can imagine. I don't see why there might not be some
friendly dogs running around up there. But, I think maybe spiders
didn't make the list! Ha!"

Amanda ... I agree ... there should be friendly dogs running up there with us! Spiders ... well, someone has to love them ... right!?!?!

Again, Happy Valentine's Day! And thanks for letting me rant about doggy cancer.
Love,
Carrie
PS ... those are supposed to be hearts on the top ... but they look more like blobs!

Great Wolf Lodge

Another Aiden-ism!

Got this email from Aiden's babysitter that takes and picks him up from school:

"Today when I picked up Aiden and Grace,
Aiden said that he got a maggot from school today. I was like a real one?? He said yeah-
it's here in my folder. Trying not to get grossed out, I look at Sharon (the preschool leader) and asked her if they were studying bugs at pre-school. She said no and asked why, and I told her that Aiden said he had a maggot in his folder. She was yuck- So I asked Aiden to show me the
maggot-against my stomach rolling- he shows me Yep a magazine- Whew that was a good thing. We all had a good chuckle and I explained that it was call a mag-a-zine not a maggot!"

He also attempted to pack his bags for our trip to Great Wolf Lodge this weekend. It had his swim trunks and 7 pairs of underwear ... that's it. Guess I should count my blessings at the fact he actually packed underwear!

Have a happy Thursday!

Carrie

First Communion

Every first Sunday of the month our church takes communion. Normally the children are in children's church at that point. This month the kids were still in the service with us. Aiden started to ask questions about what was going on. I knew that he has learned about Jesus dying on the cross at AWANA and I felt like I could help him understand the meaning of communion. I explained what the bread and the juice represented. As the bread came our way he looked up at me and said that this was Jesus' body. I agreed and asked him why Jesus died for us. He said, "He died on the cross for our sins." I was so proud. We then prayed for mommy, daddy, Aiden and Logan and all of our sins. We did the same when the juice came around. He said that the juice was the blood because, "There was a lot of blood on the cross when Jesus died for our sins." WOW ... just read that line again ... how right was he!?!?! All of the blood was for our sins and there was a lot of it. I never really thought of it that way until today. Amazing what a 4 year old can teach us. My dad said that a 4 year old seems to understand it more than some 40 year olds. I couldn't agree more.

Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for me and my family and all of our sins. Thank you for the blood that you shed for us. And thank you for teaching moments with my precious boys. They teach me something each and everyday.

~Carrie