Sarah and Emily have grown so very much over the summer--none of Sarah's clothes fit her a couple of weeks ago, so there was an "emergency" trip to Target and Old Navy to see if we could get her some new things. I made her a pair of capris with a matching top. I don't like the way the top came out, so it's back in my sewing bag waiting for some "improvements." But the pants came out very cute. When my hands are better, I'll make another pair for her, and a better top. 

She's maturing so much, but I think she's also in that stage of 'tweens where she thinks she's older and wiser than all the other kids and even her parents, and she still stumbles a bit. But she's learning, and has been so very helpful to me with my hands being all bandaged.  She's beautiful (others have said so--so it's not just the boastful mom talking, I think).

She has gone to camp with the Girl Scouts this week, and was packed 3 days early.  She's also been really understanding, way beyond her years with the financial situation. Every time I do something for her, buy something for her or take her somewhere that she really likes to eat (a very rare occasion these days), she always asks: "but isn't it too expensive?" "Can you really spend that much money on me?"  I feel so bad for her having to do without so much this summer--but then I never went to gymnastics camp, summer day camp, or any "camp" for that matter, so it can't be too bad. She's basically spent the summer reading and playing video games (bad mommy--baad mommy! But with Scott home, and him being the King of Video Games, it's tough to get any of them out of the house

Emily is a crackup--a laugh a minute. You can't look at her and not smile. I don't know what it is, but she just looks at you, smiles and you have to smile, too! Her eyes are so blue--and with her sun-kissed skin she just looks adorable. She hasn't gone to any camps, but our neighbor runs a day care facility down the street, and has graciously allowed Emily (and offered for Sarah, too) to attend in the afternoons without any cost. We have only paid for the special field trips. So both Em and Sarah got to go ice skating one day last week.

Back to Emily--she hasn't gone to gymnastics or swim lessons or any other camp either. She hasn't noticed.  She has Joyce and Kellie who live right next to us, and even though they are older, they play together really well. Every other day I'm being asked if they can have a sleep over. They've all traded homes for sleepovers, and it's so cute to see her carrying her stuffed animals, sleeping bag and pillow all over the neighborhood! Kellie and Joyce are really sweet girls. They love Scott (he plays all those video games with them and lets them get out the water slide, and even has taken them to dinner a few times. We can see them playing outside all the time; usually it's in our front yard, but running to each other's house as if they all live in all three houses.  It's been a fun summer where they are concerned and I've loved watching them. She'll be in first grade in September!! Yikes!

So, while it's been a stressful year, it's also been a lot of fun this summer.  I talked with Scott yesterday, and mentioned that we've been very fortunate so far since he's been home while I recuperated from surgery, he's had a chance to be Mr. Mom (not all that successfully, either, evil grin), he's taken the girls all over the place and did I mention the video games, which has provided time for them to bond with each other. We all got to go to the beach for an all-day-until-the beach-closed Monday. That was a lot of fun and sun and water! 

We were very fortunate that he got such a great severance package. It was lucky that he had signed a contract with them until the middle of August--we were at nearly full pay all year until now (the severance is all but gone). We had hoped he'd get re-employed sooner so that we could make some seriously needed repairs on the house (story for another time). But I guess that wasn't meant to be.

So, that's my gratitude journal for this week. I'm thankful to Disney of all companies, for giving us this great summer together. I'm thankful for my daughters, who seem to really love me unconditionally. My gratitude knows no bounds for our ability to stretch a paycheck and having the ability to know where to cut expenses when we need to do that. I am NOT grateful for our electric company, Southern California Edison, which seems to be intent to break most southern Californians with their high electric charges—our last bill, I realized, would have only been about $47 without all their (insert expletive) fees and charges. I am even grateful to the Bank of America, for helping us with a couple of credit card balances. (Uncle, I tried to get them paid before Scott was laid off, but there were some mandatory house fixes that couldn't wait until the cash was available.)

Until next time.