THESE DAYS

These days...I'm constantly marveling at how smart and funny this little girl is. Ken and I have plenty of moments of stepping back and being amazed that this wonderful person is our daughter.  Lately, she has been doing this thing where when she can tell that I'm upset or annoyed, she will call out, "'Mommy!" and then when I look at her, she is giving me this big exaggerated smile, and she will say, "I'm smiling! And I'm so happy!" Sometimes she will say, "You are happy, too, Mommy!"  And then I can't help but smile back at her...

Sloane had a fun birthday party to go to this past weekend and we decided that she would go as an owl. I got her an owl mask from an Etsy store called Mahalo, and then I thought, why not go all the way? And made these owl wings out of grey and white felt. She saw the progress and was delighted when it was all done and she got to put it on. 

Her 'hoot hoot' and wing flapping made it totally worth it. 

This is one of my favorite breakfast these days, and Sloane's too.. My friend Martha always does these muesli creations, and after she made us some last Thursday, I promptly wanted more and got the items to make this bowl with plain European style yogurt (from TJ), vanilla honey granola with almonds, blueberries, pomegranate seeds and pears...delicious!

On Saturday, I made garlic and butter shrimp in the oven and this is Sloane playing with the sticks of butter.

Ken's family visited us this past weekend do we did christmas early with them this year..it was so comforting to have them here for a couple of days and Sloane loved having them all around. She was on cloud 9 the whole time. 

I will leave you all with a hush...the kind of hush that falls when three little ones find themselves on a couch, each with a book, and they become immediately engrossed. It's a beauitful kind of hush.