Afternoon Artist

Today was such a great day! We spent the whole day with just us three, and it was so nice. We didn’t have any specific plans, for the first time in a long time, so we got to just do our own thing, and we had such a great time! So since there are tons of photos, I’m going to just write a little bit… (whenever I say that I always write a ton, so we’ll see…)

We started with breakfast at Chick-fil-A. I had 2 free 4-count chicken minis in my app, so Emmie and I both had minis and Daddy had a chicken, egg & cheese bagel, and it was delicious. And it felt so great, which was good, because we had Pretzel and we sat outside.

A huge charter bus parked on the street to let out a ton of kids, and she was like, “I scare of bus, Daddy.” So she had to scoot closer and hang on to his arm.

We made a quick stop at Petco to get Pretzel’s nails trimmed, then we decided to get one of those corner shelves for the shower, so we went over to BB&B, and took Pretzel in the buggy with us.

We played with bubbles at home for a while….

And then Emmie had a small lunch before nap time…

And we hung out for a few minutes (you can see all the extra computers & such Jeff brought from the conference)…

And then Emmie went down for her nap. Jeff grabbed us sandwiches from Jersey Mike’s (apparently it’s our new Saturday tradition), and I flipped through this instant pot cookbook from my Mama, making notes about recipes I want to try. I actually made one tonight (the pulled pork one pictured below), and I think I’m going to make another one tomorrow.

Emerson napped for three full hours, in which we ate, chatted, watched Parks & Rec, and both of us fell asleep for about an hour as well. Then once she woke up, she took her bear in the car, and we went to Publix. (I can’t get my Walmart grocery order until tomorrow, so we just grabbed a few things for tonight, and to make a casserole for breakfast for Sunday school tomorrow.)

After grocery shopping, I got the Boston butt (my first time buying or cooking Boston butt) going in the instant pot…

And this goofball sat in the kitchen floor with a cup of “little” ice.

And then moved to “her stool” on the other side of me…

And I chugged down this iced coffee for an afternoon pick-me-up, since I hadn’t had any coffee all day…

Seared on all sides, and ready for the liquid and the pressure cooking…

All ready to go!

Daddy had some computer work to, so Emmie and I made a little trip to the tiny Target over by our house. We wanted some mac & cheese to go with the pork, and we needed some diapers. Emerson also picked out this little bag of decorative pumpkins, and I found a new scent of Mrs. Meyers (that’s not sold on Grove, I don’t think), so I grabbed hand soap, dish soap & multi-surface spray.

And then we did some (naked) outdoor afternoon art time! This little bird house, foam brush, and purple paint pot was actually a party gift from a friend’s 3rd birthday party last September that we never painted, but today was the perfect day for it! (Thank you, Peters’ for the art project today! haha)

After finishing her bird house, she wanted to keep painting, so I found this extra canvas I had on hand and let her paint that too, with some pink paint mixed in.

Then we just hung out in the back yard while dinner continued cooking…

I got the sweet little package of hand lotions in the mail today, as a thank you gift for co-hosting that wedding shower a couple of months ago. I’ve never gotten a thank-you gift, and I thought it was so special!

And look at this delicious pork! It was literally falling apart when I was taking it out of the pot, and then Jeff said it shredded like butter.

And it made delicious sammiches!

Dinner was followed by bath time…

And then jammies and milk and Cheerio’s.

She was trying to stall a little bit at bedtime, but I held firm and was able to get her down relatively easily with our usual routine.

We had TONS of leftovers from our 2+ pound pork (I figured we would, so I bought extra buns), so we have lunches for a couple of days next week, plus extras.

I washed out the instant pot pot, and the mac & cheese pot, but the rest of it will wait until tomorrow, because I’m just not in the mood for dishes tonight. I just want to end this great day on a relaxing note, so it’s time for a pumpkin candle and a movie with my hubby!