Enjoying dinner from the farm

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Bubbe's Birthday

Yesterday we had a great day with family. We got to spend the trip to Bubbe's with Lizzy and then visited with Susan's family and the Lookers. Shara was really funny with the card for Bubbe. The other night we went to Borders to get her present and Shara found a candle she really liked - it had a sticker of a cupcake on top. She got that and then found a card to go with it - a birthday card and it had a cupcake on the front and said something like, "how old are you? well candlelight is very forgiving". They went together prefectly and when it became the family card, she wasn't too happy. I signed it first, then Alan and Shara signed it, "from Shara, the real person who gave the card" - mom, please comment on this post with the actual wording she used. It was so cute, I don't want to forget it!

pre-party lunch from Bella Napoli

Nice picture Shara took of Liz & Sam

Whale Watch

Last Monday we had a very nice time going on a whale watch from Plymouth. We didn't see the whales super close, but boy there were a lot of them. Shara was so excited to go that when the whales started jumping, I think she was  a little disappointed because they were farther away. The boat can't get too close, and they didn't come right up to us. She did take a nap on the way back to the harbor, and has very happy memories of the trip and wants to go on another, so that's really the tell-tale sign of how much she liked it!

Farewell AFY - until next year

We had a nice treat today and got to see what Shara's been doing for the past few weeks at Arts for Youth camp. A lot! She learned 3 dances, 4 songs, 3 "plays", and produced at least 10 pieces of artwork. We got to see all of it today! She also did yoga in the open review.  It was very cute and amazing to me that she loves performing so much with people she hardly knows.

During the opening review we saw some of the play/pretend fighting they had learned. Shara showed us this earlier in the week and we took our turns "punching" and "kicking" each other. She was pretty good at it too. Well, today we find out that she didn't actually learn how to do this but saw them doing it on stage and figured it out. So we were letting a seven year old take swings at us and she wasn't even professionally trained! Tonight she wanted to play fight again and all of a sudden I was nervous! But she is careful, I have to admit.

We left before the 2nd review. Shara was dead tired and it was pretty hot in the art studio we were in just before going down to the review and when we left the studio she said she wanted to leave. I made her go with me and tell someone so they wouldn't be expecting her to be there. It didn't sound like anyone would have been - I guess the whole camp was going to go across the stage like a finale, but no performances. On the way home she really lost it and just started crying. She was so tired! When she finally calmed down and got herself together we all decided we needed ice cream and a swim. And that's what we did.

Shara's dinner vegetables

All but the lettuce from our garden.

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Not so happy fourth

Well shara didn't make the parade and was very disappointed, but she knew it wasn't an option. She has some bug. I'm hoping she has a good night's sleep and won't miss camp tomorrow as well. I think she may be ok but she did say her stomach was still hurting her, but she hadn't gotten sick since mid-morning.

Tonight she said she thought she finally got her dream to be in a parade and now she missed it. But she thought she may put together a parade for the neighborhood kids and they could walk around to the different houses. On another note, saturday we had our first official family meeting and it was very productive. Shara's been having trouble listening and controlling her frustration at home. We discussed this and some solutions she and I had come up with and others I had found online. We haven't actually had a any problems since we had our meeting, and while running errands saturday, shara said to me, "that meeting changed me. now I really want to put away my clothes and do my chores and,..." she was trying to find the words for being a contributing member of the family. I really hope this lasts. I know it's going to be up to us to keep diligent and not get lazy, and continue with the meetings. Shara even brought a reading of a book she thought would tell a lesson that we could discuss and alan and I are learning to be patient and realize that we need to give shara time to have her voice. The meeting was also good to show shara how to discuss and take turns. It surprised me that she didn't fully understand the subtle difference between when people are taking turns talking on the same topic, what is interrupting, and when it is and isn't ok to do so. She doesn't have to raise her hand to add to the discussion, but can learn when it's ok to jump in. Sometimes, often, adults have this trouble too!

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Feverish fourth

Shara had a really great time on her overnight with liz and jesus. The made pizza and dipped strawberries and watched alice in wonderland.

This afternoon shara went swimming here with liz and then basically hung out in my bed and watched tv. When she said her head hurt, I figured something was wrong so out came the thermometer and yup, she had a fever.

To try and make her feel better about missing the fireworks we were planning on seeing tonight, we did dinner and a movie night, gnomeo and juliette. It was much better than I thought it would be and we all enjoyed it very much. Near the end, shara cuddled with me and said, I hope my head feels better when I walk in the parade tomorrow. I had to tell her the bad news that if her head still didn't feel good, we probably couldn't go.

So it's still over 101, and she's finally back to sleep. I don't want to sound pessimistic, but I'm thinking we'll have a quiet day tomorrow. Hopefully I'm wrong and she'll wake up with tons of energy, feeling great! Send some good vibes this way.

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