Good. Morning. Evee.

Evee and I have been waking up in the same room every morning since I arrived in Princeton. I hear her little sighs and whispers as she makes conversation with herself and her stuffed "Nemo," waiting patiently for someone to wake up. Facing the wall so she can't see my face, I try to get just a few more snoozes in before I turn over to face her bed. Not even two feet from my face I'm greeted with a smile as she peeks through the wooden bars that form the side of the crib-turned-toddler-bed.

"Good Morning Evee."

"Good morning Grandma."

When I hear her stirring, I always wonder what time it is. It's a relief if it's after 7:30. It could be as early as 6:15. This morning it was just before 8:00. Way to go Evee!

"Evee, should we take a walk to Starbucks this morning and have hot chocolate? Let's be real quiet so your mom can sleep in, okay?"

We quietly got dressed for a care-free Saturday, whispering to each other so we didn't wake up mom. We snuck out of the apartment, being careful to close the door quietly. Evee chose to ride in her stroller and as I pushed her along on the sidewalk of a tree-lined street, rain from the night before rolled off leaves, dripping on our heads. "The trees are peeing on us, Grandma!" she said through giggles.

We rolled into Starbucks located in a small mall not more than a ten minute walk from the apartment and ordered our breakfast. Cinnamon Dolce Latte with a warmed up apple fritter for me and a kids hot chocolate for Evee. We were going to share the apple fritter, but when we looked in the pastry case we couldn't believe what we saw - mini donuts with pink icing and white sprinkles! Evee's a girly girl in every sense of the word. Pink is her favorite color, twirling dresses are the only thing she wants to wear, and princesses who find their prince charming are a part of her imaginary world. The pink donut was just the thing for Princess Evee :).

A small round table with two chairs in the corner was the perfect spot for our morning outing. I looked across the table at my three-year-old grand daughter sipping her hot chocolate, munching on her donut, and had to hold back tears. Does it get any better than this? The music coming out of the speakers right above us wasn't helping my teary moment.

"Evee, this is so special. I'm so glad we did this. I enjoy being with you."

"I enjoy being with you, Grandma! I'm still hungry," as she finished the last bite of her donut.

"Would you like another little donut?"

Of course.

I got up to purchase another donut and gave her a kiss on her forehead as I made my way around the table. "Evee, Grandma loves you so much!" "And, I love you so much!" Talk about melting your heart right then and there.

I should have bought the special - three mini donuts for two-something - right off the bat. I went back to the counter two more times to buy a single mini donut.

We chatted, took pictures to show mommy, and talked about how nice it was that mommy was getting to sleep in.

By the time we finished, the mall stores had opened. We were content to window shop until we turned into a GapKids store. Straight to the sales rack, we found several dresses and headed to the dressing room. With every try-on there was a twirl in front of the mirror, followed by, "I could take this one home!" Two went home with us. Not surprisingly a pink dress and a bright multi-colored skirt that will match her pink flip-flops just fine.

Before our walk back home, we sat under the "big tree" in the children's department at Barnes & Nobles reading books about Dora and Lightening McQueen and Sesame Street characters.

I had a good morning with Evee and mommy got to sleep in. It doesn't get much better than that!