Winter 2015

A lot has been happening around here, much of it giving me a good excuse for slacking in updates. This whole year has been pretty bad about updating, but I don't think I've ever gone two months before. So here's what's been going on. The biggest change is Alan moved into an apartment. It's fairly close and he sees Shara almost daily and has her for an overnight weekly. We try to have a family event each week, though he's only been gone just over 2 weeks. We also see each other at church on Sundays. Shara seems to be doing well and knows her parents love her very much. The biggest change is not having Alan at dinner and him not saying good night in person.

Shara's still doing hip hop at dance and started rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz, which she auditioned for and was thrilled to join the cast. Here's a photo:

Shara's the one with the orange flower, standing in front of the wizard?

Tuesday (2/24) we tried the new Lebanese restaurant that opened very close to us. Shara had what was supposed to be a lamb shawarama salad w/ hummus & tabouleh. There was just some shredded lamb on a nice salad but no hummus or tabouleh. I got the falafel salad plate, and that was very good. So good that Shara ate that instead. Alan got the mixed grill shish kabob.

Sunday, 2/22 we had a special event at church. Don't Forget Us, Pet Us came to show us some of their rescue animals. It was a very nice time and some of the kids commented it was the best church day ever.

Saturday 2/21 a group of us went to Taza Chocolate for a tour and way too much chocolate! The tour was so interesting, especially because I've been playing with the food mill and hearing about the stone ground chocolate process was made me wonder what it would be like to grind chocolate at home.

Here's a selfie of us with our hair nets - very attractive!

The rest of the week was pretty mundane. I spend much time getting ready for the stewardship gathering - cooking & freezing, straightening, etc. Shara spent both Friday & Saturday night with Alan. Auntie Chrissy went over and they made pizza and had a sleepover then on Sunday Shara went to Hannah's birthday party, which was a trip to the mall and build a bear. She had a great time, of course! Then Shara got sick with the same respiratory virus a lot of people seem to be getting. Alan took her to the doctors and she had an inhaler for 3 days and was already better that night. She went to the Oz rehearsal and back to school the next day, which was the Stewardship Gathering. Shara stole the show - an interpretation to a reading of "The Hungry Caterpillar". She was great. I was very impressed with her facial expressions showing the caterpillar eating and the use of construction paper to fashion the caterpillar legs was quite ingenious.
Friday evening Kat came over for dinner and an evening Shara-sitting. Shara made them both burgers and they watched "Once Upon a Time". Kat fell asleep on the couch and in general they had a lovely evening.