Italian Cream Soda

All of us were awake early around 7am, and then Jeff and the boys were out the door before 8am. They have spent the past two weeks here with us on their winter break, but Jeff has to take them back today. They always meet halfway (which is somewhere in middle Georgia) between here and their home, which is in South Carolina. The girls and I had a slow morning, watching tv and eating eggs for breakfast. We got dressed just enough to pick up our grocery order around mid-morning, but both girls went without shoes, and Addie was actually still in her jammies.

Loved seeing this beautiful little rose, with the morning dew droplets still holding on in the bright morning sun.

By the time we got the groceries, and got things put way, it was lunch time. We had tons of lunch meat leftover from this past week, so I ordered some croissants to make delicious ham & Swiss melts for our lunch today, and they were super good, especially with some of a tiny jar of “pear mustard” on mine, that I found at Dollar Tree, of all places…

After lunch, I got the girls’ down for their nap times, in their own little beds. I made this crazy drink from a post I saw my friend Tamera made, and this was so weirdly delicious. Apparently it’s an “Italian cream soda,” and you can make all sorts of combos & mixes. I also tried it with Dr. Pepper, cream & Grenadine, and that was also super good. We normally don’t even have this many soda options, but I bought a bunch of these 2-liters for the boys last week, and we still have a good amount.

I set up my phone in the windowsill above the sin, popped in my ear buds, and turned on Survivor to watch while I washed up a bunch of dishes and the girls napped. Addison actually woke up and came walking into the kitchen after about an hour, and I couldn’t get her back to sleep, and then she also woke up Emerson. Then we finally got dressed for real, found cute sunnies, and went out and about around town just to have something to do.

We went to Goodwill first, but Addie flipped out about wanting this big giant electric car thing, and started screeching like an actual banshee, so we had to hightail it outta there, with the whole store staring as we ran through… So we got calmed down in the car, had a snack we brought with us, and a drink of water, and then we were ready to go again. We next went to Marshall’s just to wander around some more, let the girls check out all the fun things, and we found this taro-flavored instant boba packet, so this will be fun to try.

We spent some time out in the backyard once we got back home, and both little girls were also taking care of their little babies.

Recently, we found my old iTouch from like 2008, in my old laptop bag, and the girls have loved just carrying around that tiny dead brick, pretending like they’re doing all sorts of business. Today, Emerson was a photograph, and was setting up all sorts of photo shoots for me and Addie.

Nana sent us home with all of the leftover Chinese food last night, so I warmed up a good bit of bit for the girls and I to have for dinner tonight. I put “Encanto” on to watch while we ate dinner in the living room, and the girls were both super interested in it. After they finished eating, they both cuddled up (Emmie on the floor, Addie on the couch with me), and laid still watching it for like, 30 minutes without barely moving.

Then at some point, they just flipped a switch and popped up hyper and started playing and tickling and giggling and being super goofy together.

Jeff finally made it home around 8pm tonight, right as we were starting our Bluey episode, and the girls were sharing a bucket of popcorn for their bedtime snack.

We tried doing their normal bedtime routines, but both girls just missed their Daddy so much today, that they needed more time with him. So their currently all snuggled up asleep together, and we’ll disperse the girls to their own beds here shortly. Our girls day with my solo-parenting went pretty well, but it was a long day, and there were definitely issues and meltdowns, and so I’m exhausted now too. Need to get me some good sleep tonight!