Casserole & Chili

Emerson actually slept a little bit later today, so we all got to sleep in until a few minutes after 7am! One hour later doesn’t seem like much, but it really helps when it’s that early in the morning, and you’re the always-tired-parent of a spunky toddler! So I got up and cuddled my girl, then put the breakfast casserole in the oven, showered myself, and then Jeff bathed Emmie before getting a shower himself.

And look how delicious this Tater Breakfast Casserole looks! I prepped this last night (if you missed yesterday, click here), and just popped it in to bake this morning, and it came out perfect.

Baby girl was dressed up all fancy and adorable and warm for church this morning. I picked out an outfit that her new purse would match with, and she was so precious!

We also took some strawberries and grapes to go with the casserole, to try to counter-act all the tater tots & cheese in the casserole 😉

And you guys, this casserole was sooooo good! I think it’s my best/favorite I’ve ever made for Sunday school breakfast, and will definitely save this recipe to make again. I’m also super excited for the leftovers I get to eat for breakfast for a day or two this week!

The family was all scattered about with different responsibilities today, so it was just our little 3-fam, plus Papa, for lunch at Dairy Queen.

It was of course immediately time for Emerson to go down for her nap as soon as we got home from lunch. I got her down with no problems at all, because she was absolutely exhausted. Jeff and I took care of a few things around the house, then he ran to the store to pick up one thing I forgot, while I got started on a pot of chili. Also, these are the new baskets we bought at Beall’s Outlet yesterday, to update the storage for all of Emerson’s toys, and these are so much cuter & better than what we had before.

I used my friend Hannah’s chili recipe, which has lots of veggies, plus green chili salsa, and different beans than I ususally use. She brought her chili to our Sunday school Christmas dinner, and it was sooo good, so I wanted to make it for a chili cook-off we’re having at work tomorrow. There is also one more secret ingredient not pictured below 😉

Emmie slept for about an hour and a half, and then needed to test out this new cute Tervis my boss Tammy passed down to her. We had changed out of her fancy church dress into comfy jammies for nap time.

So I actually cooked a lot of the chili in my dutch oven, but then moved it over to my Crock-Pot, because it’s bigger, and I could leave it simmering while we left the house…

Because then we left to go have dinner and playtime with Grammy, Papa & Grandmommie! And she chose to wear her jammies out to Grammy’s house still too.

Saying prayers, standing on the counter top, wearing only one shoe.

My mom’s boss hosted a big party for his church last night, then called my mom today & passed on all the leftover Boston butt, homemade mac & cheese, and homemade BBQ sauce. It was so nice, and so good! Mama even made Jeff and I both some leftovers to bring home, to take for lunch this week.

Taking care of and doctoring all of her babies.

Grammy and Emerson kept asking Alexa to do all sorts of things, like sing songs or tell jokes, and Emerson thought it was the funniest thing ever. She was laughing out of control and throwing her head back and her little face was just lit up with laughter. It was so funny and so precious!

After lots of fun and game and giggles, we headed on home to get Emerson in bed. She read the books to us again, but then she needed to jump around a little to get all the wiggles out before bed.

She was super sweet and cuddly for prayers and lullabies, and after one extra song, she was ready to lay down in her crib and go to sleep. I’m putting the entire Crock-Pot in the fridge tonight, and then hoping and crossing my fingers I can transport it safely and mostly-cleanly to work in the morning!