Thankful Thursday

I guess if it has to be winter, and has to be below freezing temperatures, at least it can be pretty. It's ironic how winter is the one time of year that many times the sky has the exact same shade of white or gray as the ground. Other than the temperatures, it was actually a pretty day. The sky was a pretty blue, the sun was out, the roads were clear, and the ground is still covered by all that snow we've gotten, but it hasn't had the chance to turn that nasty slush brown yet. It would make a nice post card snapshot. Great. Now let's move on to Spring. ;)

I was looking for ideas on changing the look of my blog, so I looked up aviation blogs. One of them I stumbled on had a video on the front page of the start up of a Mustang. I listened to that sound, then went to my own site and watched the last videos I took, such as this one, causing me a distinct and predictable reaction. *sigh*

Speaking of reactions, in case you ever wonder, this is How To Handle Emergencies. How many people's voices would have gained an octave or two in their radio communications during a double engine failure with a plane load of passengers and nowhere to go? It reminds me of the story Matt Jackson (Reno Air Racer) told about a rather exciting engine-out one year. I couldn't do it justice, but it had everyone laughing until their ribs hurt, literally. Part of it was his squeaky high voice until he got on the radio to make a call, at which point he dropped it down to "cool professional pilot" in order to make the call, only to find out later he'd had the push to talk switch pressed the entire time so everybody heard him talking to himself the whole way down. I can SO see something like that happening to just about anyone in this group. lol

I have to send out a congratulations to my friend Angie, who just announced in a very sneaky way (as she is good at doing) that she is expecting and due in July. Did I mention that she is expecting Child #9? Two little ones in heaven and 8 on earth with one more on the way this summer. And yes they are all hers, yes she knows how "this" happens, no they are not all barefoot and disheveled, yes they are all well-educated and very well-behaved, and no she is not crazy. Well, mostly. ;) They are great kids and the world is lucky to have one more on the way. Congratulations Angie!!

Kaylee came home from school pretty excited because today during her math flash card stand-offs at school, she actually beat three of the kids who usually beat her, including the fastest boy in the class at math. Her teacher told her that she could tell Kaylee had been practicing, and Kaylee was doing the Happy "Oh Yeah" dance. I warned her that now that they know she's faster than she used to be, they would speed it up too so she'd have to keep practicing. Now they know she's more of a threat than she used to be. ;)

She told me a sad story from school today too. The kids made valentines in school today. One girl in the class, the one that Kaylee has trouble with often in fact, made a valentine for a little boy named "C" in her class. Hand cut-out heart, glue and crayons and stickers and a good amount of hard work. They weren't making them for everyone in the class, just making a couple special ones. C took her valentine, wrote "Yadda yadda" on it, and crumpled it up and threw it away in front of her. Kaylee told me he did that because he doesn't like the girl, and she didn't make any more valentines after that. I sat there for a good 30 seconds before I said "Kaylee, that is SO sad, that was awful to do to somebody." I've had my own issues with this girl being mean to my daughter, but that really upsets me. Those are the kinds of things you remember, the kinds of things that leave a mark. I think I'm going to have Kaylee make her a valentine, if she's willing. I realize that with their relationship she runs the risk of having this girl crumple it in front of her because it was done to her, because she knows it would hurt, because she doesn't much like Kaylee. But I already kind of prepped Kaylee for it. Her doing the right thing means she did the right thing, and if this other girl does the wrong thing after that, it is on her head, not Kaylee's, but that Kaylee will have done her best, shown a kindness to someone who was hurt. It just seems the right thing to do.

Today I am thankful for a warm house, enough food, our healthy family, blue skies, a warmer weekend, my daughter laughing and cuddling with me this afternoon, an A+ on another spelling test, and the whole stack of really weird questions she always asks me that make me think. :)