Catch up

I must say that there are a number of things that have slowed down my blogging lately.  To tell you the truth, after going back to SD for Grandma's funeral, I kind-of lost my blogging momentum.  Without really being able to put a finger on it, I think her death and the trip back to my childhood home kind-of took a bit out of me.  There are things I put down when that happened that I'm still working to pick up again.  Slowly slowly, as the Turkish saying goes.   Another BIG deterant is the fact that blogger is still blocked here in Turkey making posting a bit more of a hassle.  It is doable but if you know me, it doesn't take much to frustrate me in the line of technology.  And of course, life is never dull.  But, since I know it has been a long time since I've posted regularly, I thought I'd throw a bunch of pictures in to catch you up on life here by way of pictures.

The cute little owls slowly began falling off our tree so they perched here on my kitchen window sill waiting for Spring to come to our outside world as well as our bare tree on the wall.  (I plan to get some leaves and flowers on the tree soon with the kids.)

 Malachi is daily flashing us his toothless grin (sorry this has only one tooth missing) and I must say he's the cutest 6 year old little boy I've ever seen.  He's holding up a piece of a project I started and finished.  That may be a different post one of these days.

I have been trying really hard to cook some good food around here.  Aaron always says it is good but lately the kids' dislike for many of my new and old recepies has left me weary.  You win some you lose some and there is lots of potential for working on politeness at our dinner table these days.  This colorful pot is full of dolma (stuffed veggies).  The darker green stuff to the front is stuffed grape leaves, my absolute favorite but very time consuming meal!  It is worth the work and secretly I'm happy that is one the kids don't prefer because it means more for me! :)

Well, we had a good snow a few weeks ago.  It came down for three days.  The kids went outside to build snowmen and have snowball fights.  And I had tons of little snowballs and miniature snowman in my freezer.  I should say I still have them in the freezer.  

Sonora especially couldn't get enough of the snow.  She went out three times in one day, even after it was dark we went out one night knowing it wouldn't be there for long in the morning.

And no one could escape his snowballs.  Aaron still has a good arm and good aim!

This is a taste of Sonora's world.  Little ponies and pet shops and always setting up home with whatever she can find.  We made this little house on the right out of a tea box.  She still uses it and it is holding up pretty well.  You can see her little oven and table made out of cardboard.

And a view outside our window.  I never tire of seeing all the blankets and comforters and rugs hanging from the balconies.  It's a splash of color on these old concrete apartments and a reminder of life and work and families living and working together.  

Well, that's it for now.