My Blessings

So this post is a little of everything. We had no school Monday for the holiday and no school Tuesday or Wednesday for snow. I am grateful for lots of snow because it means water for us and it is fun to play in now.

I drove down the hill on Tuesday with the girls to take Annika and Ali to the doctor and Ashling to preschool. It was raining and snowing a little. I slipped and slid in one spot enough to scare me for the rest of the drive down the hill. I am grateful for the skills to steer and remembering not to use my brake that caused me to not get in an accident.

We found out why Annika makes so many noises like she is a squeeky toy. She has something called Tracheomalasia. Her trachea is not totally formed and so it makes noises by collapsing a little when she breathes. She will grow out of it eventually and it is not life threatening but concerning when she gets a cold. I am grateful that this is just a minor birth defect and not something more major.

Wednesday was a beautiful sunny day but there was still no school. I took the kids down the hill for the day. First we went to the park while I nursed Annika. Then we drove next door to the Highland City Library. It is a library/ learning center and they had the coolest things. There were fish, birds, reptiles and insects to look at. They had a center all about recycling and things to read about the local flood control dams and other reading things. They had a cool tree that they have story time puppets shows from and also computers for the kids to play on. The best thing was the roof garden with every kind of plant on the roof. The view from the top was amazing and the sun felt so very good. We then went to Costco and had a cheap costco lunch of hot dogs and soda. The costco treats inside were not the greatest but we did sample a little. Finally we went to Chalon's house and played with cousins. The girls tried to catch butterflies which is pretty hard without nets. Chalon fed me yummy salsa and made us home made pizza dough to make pizzas later that night. I am grateful for beautiful sunny days, fun places to go and fun family to hang out with.

Wednesday was major lay-off day at Cameron's work. This is the third set of layoffs they have done. And some people have also left for greener pastures. He survived this third lay off and was told they don't intend to lay off him. (Hopefully sometime the economy improves or their intentions will mean nothing.) I am grateful that he still has his job and we have great medical benefits in case Annika needs anything more to fix her problem or if she ends up in the hospital with a cold.

Friday was also a fun day for us. Ali has ski school in the afternoons. All the parents wait until the appointed time and all the ski school kids get out of school early and head to snow valley. Up at Snow Valley the kids ski and the mom's sit in the lodge and talk. I also went skiing a little bit on my new skis. (Which are new only to me but given to me by a very nice friend who didn't need them anymore.) Thanks to friends who watched my cute little baby up there. I also took Ashling down one run. I love living in Running Springs and having the small town feel and I love having season ski passes at snow valley. Thanks Cameron for hosting! Ali continued skiing with her friends. It is nice for her to have the opportunity to ski with friends. I can't express how much I love living here and can't imagine anywhere else being quite as nice. I am grateful for good friends, good snow and places to go that are inexpensive (at least to us.)

On a down side I came home and Cameron told me that his work is going to a four day work week twice a month! I absolutely hate our awful slow economy. It is going to be difficult to find the things to cut from our budget for this last cut in our income. It is the third time in a year that our salary has been reduced and this time it will really hurt us. In the mist of trying to find a way to earn more I am grateful for a husband who is willing to work hard and take care of us and continues to help make it possible for me to stay home with my three beautiful girls who keep me happy.

Annika also slept through the night for the third night in a row! I am very grateful that she is a very early sleeper. She seems to crave a schedule and routine. She is learning to go to sleep on her own which I am very grateful for. She is happy and alert and learning to do new things every day when she is awake and sleeps cuddled up in a very cute swaddle-me blanket. (She started sleeping through the night the day I got this in the mail from Angie. Thank you so much!)

Overall I guess this week couldn't be better and even though we will have to become very creative with spending money I am grateful that we have some money still to spend. I will pray for a nicer economy for next year.

P.S. I am also grateful that we still have a washer and dryer because my three loads of laundry daily would be really hard to wash all those clothes by hand!