Cousins & Cornbread

Today was a super long, super great, super tiring day. It’s already like 9:15pm and I’m just now starting this post, so I’m going to keep it simple. That’s the plan at least, we’ll see how much I end up blabbing… 😉

After breakfast & coffee, I got started on dinner, by throwing some stuff in the Crock-Pot. Emerson and Daddy picked some fresh rosemary from the front yard. She loves to be a helper these days!

I did a recipe from Erin Napier’s old blog, for a vegetable beef “dump soup.”

Then we spent about an hour doing some yard work out front. There’s a huge line of bushes and trees and vines that lines one side of our property, and things were getting extremely out of control over there.

Another example of Emerson being a super great helper. We would cut branches or pull out dead vines, and she would come over and grab them, and take them to the giant pile. She would come back again and again, each time asking, “Can I grab some more, Mommy?”

And then we went for a visit to see some family! Jeff had to do some IT work on Megan’s computer so she could telework more efficiently in the coming weeks. And we couldn’t very well let him go over to to see them, and us not go with him, right? So we had tacos Bo made for lunch, and then let the little girls play in the water while Jeff worked on the computer.

Ellie & Riley weren’t feeling the water today, but Kensley and Emerson stayed outside for a long time, and had a blast! And then the two of them got to take a bath together as well, which they also loved.

We left as they started snack-time, so Aunt Meggie sent Emerson with a bag of Goldfish for the road.

Emmie went down for her nap (after a couple of over-tired-meltdowns), and she slept for about an hour and a half. Jeff and I did more yard work while she slept – actually he did yard work and I pressure washed the front porch & front porch furniture. Then after she woke up, Jeff pressure washed the back patio & patio furniture, while Emmie and I watched him for a little bit, before getting back to dinner prep.

My next pandemic baking adventure was homemade skillet cornbread, also from Erin Napier, and you guys, it was sooooo good. You start by pre-heating the cast iron in the oven while you mix the batter, so when you pour it into the hot skillet, it immediately fries the edges and bottom and wow, so good and crispy.

It seemed only fitting to melt the butter in my Laurel, MS, mug, since I was making two recipes from Erin Napier. (If you don’t know, her and her husband are the hosts of Home Town on HGTV, in Laurel, Mississippi.)

After getting the cornbread in the oven, I ran to take a quick shower, and Emerson watched Peppa Pig. And then…

GOLDEN, CRISPY PERFECTION.

Both the soup and the bread were very delicious. But I’m partial to carbs and bread, so my fave was definitely the cornbread. But don’t get me wrong, the soup was really good too!

While we were praying before dinner, I said, “thank you for our family,” and she was like, “no thank you for my little babies.” She loves her baby cousins so much!

We had TONS of leftovers from this giant crock-pot of soup. So the two smaller bowls are for Monday’s lunch, and the larger square dish is already in the freezer, and we’ll have that again in a month or so. The cornbread however will be eaten for breakfast lunch and dinner until that is all gone. I’m already looking forward to toasting it for breakfast, and slathering some strawberry jelly on it. YUM.

The whole time we were cooking and eating, Jeff was still outside working. He was working up a storm today! He finished pressure washing, and then decided to mow the front yard too. So then tomorrow he will only have to mow the back yard. So we went out and sat on the newly cleaned front porch to watch for a while.

She had some cereal in a bag and ice water for a bedtime snack while I read bedtime stories, and even though she was a little whiny and over-tired again, I did eventually get her settled down.

I psuedo-cleaned the kitchen and put away all the leftovers (and threw out some old leftovers), but I am WAY too tired to actually wash all the dishes tonight, so those can wait until tomorrow. Jeff and I are both exhausted, obviously, so we need some rest and Netflix and maybe a piece of cornbread for a bedtime snack 😉