ShaylaAliciauary!

The abundant blessing of having a day to stay home and study and catch up was glorious! Shayla reminded me so much of Christi on Friday. She crocheted and started an art project (making a horse by cutting up a box and painting it different colors and gluing it together, adding a yarn tail, etc.) It was really the first time I saw her act like Christi with many different projects on all going on at once.

I also decided she was old enough to work on a latch hook if she was interested. I brought out the last latch hook Christi was working on - a Hello Kitty little rug, 1/4 of the way finished. (In the bag, was a book Christi wrote in while she was in the hospital at CHOP. It always "takes me back" a couple of notches whenever I see something "new".) Regardless, Shayla was very interested in trying to learn how to latch hook and she did great. I kept imagining Christi over Shayla's shoulder saying, "Thanks for finishing that for me, Shayla!"

I also started reading an incredible book to Shayla on our surprise day off Friday, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick. (They do have a copy at the Tiffin Library!) While it's over 500 pages and looks HUGE, it's a fast read! (We finished it today.) This 2007 children's book is nothing like I've read before. There are 284 pages of original drawings so it's sort of like a picture book. It's also like a graphic novel and film. It was one of the first books I've read with Shayla that wasn't around when Christi was alive; that is something "new" for me. It seems like every book I pull out is something we shared together and it's heartbreaking to fight those memories some times. The story takes place in a museum in Paris so it reminded me of days Shayne and I spent touring many museums, including the train station turned art museum, in Paris.

Friday night, we headed up to Michigan to spend the weekend with the Cooks (Christi's Webmaster and his gorgeous wife). Shayla had a wonderful time playing with their beautiful golden retrievers and playing video games with Eric. Because Alicia and Shayla both have Feb. 12th birthdays, we determined it should really be "ShaylaAliciauary"!

I was THRILLED that Shayne finally broke down a bought a great bike. He has some more competitions lined up for this summer (one in Philadelphia) and the fact that his bike was over 20 years old and he bought it used so it never fit him right had been bugging me for years. He gets up three days a week at 4AM so he can be at his spin class at 5AM. I greatly admire his commitment to health and I'm happy he now has a wonderful bike to compete with!

Shayla went skiing with Eric and Shayne on Saturday afternoon while Alicia and I "caught up" in the lodge. Shayla is now off of the "green" hills and on to the "blue" hills. I'm absolutely amazed at her progress. And of course I can't help but wonder if Christi would have been interested in skiing or not, seems like that little witty one is always on my mind. Thanks to Eric & Alicia for a lovely weekend, even if I wasn't much fun sitting around and reading like crazy!
Up!
Down!