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.

THE CHAUMARDS

A few weeks ago I took some photos of the Chaumards in their home on a sunny Saturday morning.  It was a lovely morning and I was happy to get some extra time with their sweet little baby boy, Lucas! 

I'm going to share some of the photos from that session here, as a way to say, isn't family the best? Also, Friday! I hope you all get to spend some time with your families this weekend; may these days go by slow..

 

MAKING GINGERBREAD COOKIES

It's tough trying to keep the holiday spirit alive and soaring when the cold and busy of the season threaten to suffocate it. So far, I'd say it's an even 1-1... the winter hasn't totally beaten the cheer out of me, but somedays (especially on the weekdays) it gets close...

At the beginning of this month, I resolved to take initiative about keeping the festivity alive this month, all month, so that Christmas doesn't come and leave on a single day. Especially with a curious and excitable two-year old around, I wanted to take practice and adopt traditions for our little family during this season. We got our Christmas tree earlier than usual, and I made a list of 12 things that I hoped we could do this month.  We got through half of these so far, the most recent of them being making some gingerbread cookies to decorate. 

Here's my list for this year:

• Get a Christmas tree and decorate it

• Sing Christmas carols and hymns together

• Go look at Christmas lights

• Make an ornament to add to the Christmas tree

• Read stories that relay the meaning of Christmas

• Listen and dance around the house to the Nutcracker

• Help my daughter pick out a small gift from her for her dad

• Make a gingerbread house

• Dress up and take a family photo

• Drink hot cocoa and make paper snowflakes to string up

• Pick out a gift with my daughter to donate a child who might not otherwise get a gift this year

• Make gingerbread cookies

I used this gingerbread cookie recipe, and substituted the ground clover for allspice. It was an easy dough to work with and yielded some sturdy gingerbread people that delighted Sloane to the core...cookies shaped like people!

She felt inspired by these teaspoons to start drumming...

I like the addition of some lemon zest in these cookies!

she is SUCH a good helper

dad came down after the cookies were cooled off and helped her decorate the cookies

so happy!

We really liked making these gingerbread people! Next year, I have plans to make ornaments out of these and string some up on our tree. 

SNACKS, THOUGHTS FROM FALL, WHAT I'M READING

I won't mince words; work has been very busy, and a little bit painful. The timing couldn't be worse but there it is. The other day I looked around my desk and noticed I had surrounded myself with snacks, aka, coping mechanisms? These snacks include so many clemintines and  apples, but they also include snacks that allow me to chew to get the angst out without thinking too much about what I'm actually eating, such as rice cakes and twizzlers. You can also often find dried mangoes or cranberries near my desk, and then an occasionally wild card, like last week I had a hankering for some sour cream potato chips that I took the liberty to fulfill. 

These photos are from a few weeks ago when we were visiting DC, and we got to have brunch with my sister. This was back in November, so it was the middle of fall, but it was really cold and I remember thinking, where did fall go? It seemed to have lasted for all for three weeks, if that.  I came across the excerpt below from my journal the other day, and I must have written it in the midst of that short window.

It's Sunday. I am a mom. (I'm a working mom, so this specificity to a Sunday is relevant.) From the moment I wake up throughout the morning and the afternoon, I only have half the usual amount of attention as I tie my hair, put on my clothes, wash my face.  The other half is concerned with where she is, what she is doing, responding to her fragmented sentences - confirming, yes, yes, oh isn't that great, no don't touch that honey. 

She goes down for a nap after a lunch of peas, shrimp and pasta. Dessert is grapes, which she loves and she flashes me the sweetest smiles and grins in between bites. I like it, mom.  She goes down like a little angel, which isn't always the case, and asks me if I'm going to come back when she wakes up. I will, baby, I will be here. 

I go downstairs and make a plate of roasted broccoli and my grill master husband has grilled up steaks for us.  I pour myself a glass of wine, a Malbec from a local winery, and we sit in front of football on TV. I don't watch it, I'm reading, but I like the background noise of football. I can see the glow of orange outside the window and it smells like leaves baking in the sun. It feels like fall and I'm comforted, wedged in the moment and in my memory of all the falls that came before, of orange glows and slow Sunday afternoons. 

Now that it's winter (or almost there. It's crazy that we are still not officially in winter yet), it seems appropriate that I should be reading more, but the sad truth is that I'm reading so much less. The busy work life, the decrease of energy and the busy season are all contributors, but I did finish reading Emily of New Moon, the other week. It's the first of a three part series written by L.M. Montgomery, whom I love very much for her Anne of Green Gables series.  I always thought I had already read the Emily series, but when I was reminded of them and looked through it again, I realized I never had.  Reading this book reminds me of my childhood, in the best of ways.

Here's one of my favorite excerpts from the first book,

"There was a sudden rift in the curdled clouds westward, and a lovely, pale, pink-green lake of sky with a new moon in it...It would hurt her with it's beauty until she wrote it down. "

I started in on the second one, Emily Climbs, but I also started a new book, My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante, which I am very excited about. I have heard great things about this writer (and this is another three part series!) and so far, I'm very intrigued.  I will let you know my thoughts if and when I get through this one!

I'll take us out with a few more photos from brunch. We ate at Highlands and enjoyed the casual atmosphere and their shrimp and grits.

I thank God every night for this mans' warm sleeping body next to mine in bed. Because I love him, but also because I need the extra warmth in the winter. 

My lovely sister. The older that I get, the more I wish my sisters and I lived in the same city. 

She was in an extremely goofy mood and this was the best picture of us I could get. 

My spirited (and very bundled up) girl, who is my ray of sunshine during these cold months. 

SLOANE MEETS HER CHRISTMAS TREE

The other day, after Thanksgiving was over and done with, we went on a search for our Christmas tree.

As far as our marriage life is concerned, I think this year was monumental because this is the earliest we have ever gotten a tree.  Two days after Thanksgiving!

And there was another type of record broken this year, instead of one tree...we got two! A big one for our living room downstairs and a little one for Sloane in her room.  This post is all about that little one. 

We went to Lowe's and started looking at their 6-7 footers.

Which to choose! 

I had said we could maybe get a small tree just for her if we found one, and when Sloane clasped her eyes on this one, it was love at first sight. I said, "hey, let's take a picture in front of all the big trees!" and she said, "no, mama, picture with this one." holding on to her little chosen one.

I was taken aback by HOW excited she was about the prospect of her own little tree in her room. She kept asking if that was really going to happen, all the way home. 

And there it is!

Then we decorated it together... 

Mr. Fox is back! 

We found ornaments that Sloane made last year and they went on her tree! This blew my mind for some reason.

Happy December everyone! 

P.S. later that night, before bed: