Homemade Lasagna

Today was our first real day of Emerson’s Christmas break, being our first day just us two, not the weekend. Both girls actually slept in a little this morning, so we were surprised when we didn’t wake up ourselves until 7:45, without our normal work-day alarms. And it was so nice! It was “Christmas hat or headband day” for Addison, so we popped on this red headband, and she looked adorable.

Emmie went with me to drop off Addie at school and then I made breakfast once we got home for her and I and Jeff. I wanted to try something I had seen online lately, but can’t remember where, of eating fried eggs on rice for breakfast with spam & tomatoes. (I think there are multiple Latin & Asia cultures that do this? But of course we know Hawaii is all about spam & eggs.) Anyways, this was really good, and Emerson loved eating rice for breakfast. (She had scrambled eggs like Jeff, because I’m the only one that likes a runny egg; but she had already grabbed her plate before I took this first photo.)

I forgot the jelly for her toast, so she grabbed her own stool, found the jelly & got a little girl knife, then came back and took care of it all on her own.

After a late-ish breakfast, we set up my new puzzle table, and started working on my new Christmas cookie puzzle, while we finished up watching “The Polar Express.” (This is gonna be a difficult puzzle, because it’s one of those kinds with the wacko-shaped pieces.)

Then we both got dressed and I made us some sandwiches, and Emerson picked out some chips for both of us, to pack a picnic lunch. We met Britteny and Elly at one of favorite city parks, Winthrop, for lunch and playtime together on this beautiful day.

After the girls played for about an hour, we went across the street to the tiny Goodwill bookstore at Betton, and did a little book shopping together.

Meanwhile, Addie Pie had a good day at school, and seemed to actually keep her headband on for most of the morning, which I was surprised to see!

When we got back home after the park, Emerson wanted to take herself a nice long luxurious nap. So I found her a bath bomb, made the water hotter than usual, and set up her Kindle on a stool playing a Christmas movie. And girlfriend stayed in there for like 45 minutes! I washed up what felt like 1000 dirty dishes, and still couldn’t even finish them all, because I ran out of room to stack the clean stuff. (Before in the first photo, and “after” in the second photo; and I’ll work on more tomorrow.)

So while Emmie enjoyed the last 10-15 minutes of her bath, I got some time to sit and enjoy a nice hot cup of afternoon coffee by the Christmas tree.

We had just a little time to work on the puzzle more before I needed to go pick up Addison. But before I left, Emerson was twirling around in her particularly twirly dress, got dizzy, and fell into the coffee table. She got a cut on the bridge of her nose, and an instant black eye, and was so upset. She laid on an ice pack for a while, while I drove to get Addie, and she was stilling laying on the couch when I got home…

Praying it doesn’t get too much worse overnight…

But then we went over to Jeff’s parents’ house for a big family dinner, with some family members who were here from out of town. Jeff’s aunt & uncle came from West Virginia, and brought their two granddaughters from Jacksonville, to visit for a few days. Aunt Becky & the girls made these two gigantic homemade lasagnas for dinner, and it was honestly some of the very best lasagna I’ve ever had.

Both of the big girls loved both our little girls so much, and took such good care of them tonight, playing and having fun. And both of my little girls loved those big girls so much, and Emerson didn’t want to leave them, even after we stayed much later than we normally would have.

Both girls were exhausted with our late night, but they were so cute and cuddly in the recliner for a few minutes, while we got things set up and ready for their bedtimes.

Both girls went to sleep really easily, but it was at least an hour past their usual bedtime, so of course they were super tired. Emmie and I had a great first day of Christmas break together!