Happy Birthday Olivia!!!!

I suppose I should be approaching this time of my life with a certain sense of trepidation, but I'm rather looking forward to it. Maybe I'm biased, but my daughter is a delightful adolescent. We laugh, talk endlessly, dream, and have a lot of fun together. Yes, we have disagreements, arguments, and the like, too, but as we experience those times, we both are learning to communicate better. So, we are growing together.
Speaking of growth, we measured her today on the growth chart I started when we moved in to our house (eight years ago!!) and Olivia just topped five feet.
Scary!
But in a really good way.

A recipe from my young apprentice:

OLIVIA"S LOVE SALAD

In a large bowl, combine the following:

1 can black olives

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup canned corn

1 cup sliced cucumber

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 cup canned chickpeas

1 cup heart 'o' palm

enough Italian salad dressing to lightly dress above veggies

Have a big 'ol bowl of this and smile. It screams summer!