THESE DAYS

Excuse me if this any of this sounds strained - I'm trying to hold it together in this cold weather ("arctic chill" they said! I'm not making it up!) and keep it moving, even though my body, like usual, is trying to put me into hibernation mode. The cold is just the icing on the cake - the rest of the cake being an overwhelming amount of work, house, and kid stuff that is going on. My mind has been overwhelmed and it is taking it out on the body - I've been having strange body things that I may attribute to stress, if I'm stressed. Am I stressed? I don't know. But it would really help if it wasn't so dang cold all the time.

Let me try to get most of the whining out here at the beginning:

It's cold! The wind hurts my face! It takes forever to get everyone bundled and out of the house! Winter clothes are bulky! Everyone is on the brink of getting sick! Runny noses! It's drying out my skin! My body aches!

Ok, that should do it.  Moving on.

Even when it is busy, ESPECIALLY when it is busy, I try to capture little bits and pieces from our daily life. I am of the belief that all these small things are worth exclaiming over:

COMFORT FOOD: AVOCADO TOAST WITH EGG AND ZATAAR. All day, every day.

I haven't been able to capture the facial expressions that Sloane does when she is "performing" a song and dance number, but you guys, it's so good. There's this one that is a eye-widening, look at you out of the corner of her eye, with a knowing smile, just short of a big ol' wink face, and that one is a winner.

Slow mornings are the best because that's when I usually put both girls on our bed and let them roll around and play together for longer than usual.

Our weekend mornings look like this.

A weekday morning might look like this.

And our recent grocery trips look like this. These little shopping carts are brilliant, until they're not because you end up pushing your big cart and also awkwardly trying to help your toddler push her little cart, and then they become brilliant again because she's old and strong enough to expertly push and navigate on her own, and you realize you can actually fit all your groceries in there, so it actually is a huge help.



She's been really proud of all the work Logan brings home. She wants to carry it around and shows anyone that cares, "Logan did it!"



We had a little visitor the other weekend, except little Faye isn't so little anymore, and each time we see her she is doing and saying more. It's a miracle no matter how many times I see it happen.

Sloane's art is taking over her walls! She's been putting her favorite pieces herself, and I'm into it because it gives me more chances to behold the awesome that is her art these days. 

We went to go watch a performance of Annie (by Character Works theatre) and it is so much fun experiencing plays with this little girl! The cherry on top was watching Sloane approach the girl who played Annie afterwards, say "hi" and get a picture with her. Sloane has asked if she could see this picture over and over again, since.

On the left is me and my little girl during intermission. I loved having her whisper her observations and questions to me during the performance. On the right are all the little girls we went with! 

It has been a long time since Ken and I were able to sneak out for a date, but thanks to my mother-in-law who came up for the weekend, we got to eat dinner at Metzger, which was so amazingly delicious. We snapped this photo of each other and then scarfed down our food.



It was also my MIL's birthday a week ago, so we celebrated with her and my sister-in-law who came up for the day. Travinia for lunch was really good and we had Frosting's cupcakes afterwards!

Hi! Happy Valentine's Day! 

I saw this on Busy Toddler's instagram and tried it out; it really is brilliant. Mix 6 tablespoons of bath soap, 6 tablespoons of cornstarch and 3 teaspoons of water, and then divide it up before adding food coloring. I posted another photo here to show Sloane's work; she loved it and it occupied her for 30 minutes. I poured some bubble bath into it afterwards along with her ducks, and that kept her busy for another half an hour. One hour bath! Win for the both of us.



Lastly, did everyone have a good Valentine's Day? The best Valentine's Day present ever from my mother-in-law: all of our laundry folded.