McGonagall & Monopoly

OK so we’re going to start today’s post with last night’s snack. We were playing games together after getting Emmie to bed, and I wanted to try out one of my new gifts! Jeff got me this silicone popcorn popper bowl thingy – all you do is put in plain kernels, and microwave it for a couple of minutes. The directions said 1/4 to 1/2 cup, so we went with 1/2 cup, so there would be enough for all four of us. But it was clearly too much! But it was really easy and really good, and we can’t wait to use it more!

My baby Tater Tot woke up early again today, a little before 7am. Her and I snuggled on the couch for a while, watching Mr. Grinch (her request, even though she thinks he’s kind of scary, she really likes him), and then she had two small bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast. Around 8:30, I went to go wake up Jeff, because I couldn’t even keep my eyes open anymore. So Jeff and Emmie played for a while, while I went back to sleep for a bit.

When I woke up, there were toys everywhere, but she was being very “helpful,” using her new vacuum. We played with her giant chick for a while, and then got out another new Christmas present she got – an “e-reader!” When you press the color-coded buttons, the e-reader reads the books aloud for you to follow along with. It was really cute!

I made sandwiches for everyone for an early lunch, and then Jeff & the boys went to go meet PopPop to see Star Wars, and I put Emmie down for her nap. She was pretty upset when they left, but Mommy was able to calm her down and get her to sleep eventually.

While she slept, I washed the dishes, cleaned up a little bit (I just have to be OK with the fact that things are always messier while the boys are here), and then wrote the first half of this blog post. Then I settled down to chill for about 20 minutes myself, before Emmie woke up from her nap. We did some more cleaning and putting away of Christmas presents, and we displayed two new Pop Harry Potter characters, and hung the new Belle ornament on the tree.

The new ones are Professor Trelawney and Professor McGonagall. We already had the Dumbledore & the plush Harry… I used to have all the characters on one shelf, but with the new additions, I expanded down onto a new shelf.

We took out some trash & recycling together, and then made a quick trip to Publix for just a few things. But it was so deserted there (we’re used to it being “Club Pub,” ya know, the one on Ocala that’s usually overrun with FSU students), that we just slowly wandered around and took our time shopping.

These new sunglasses were in her stocking, and wow they’re adorable! Look at her working them in that fourth photo below! I almost died!

After we got home from the grocery store, Jeff and the boys had made it home from the movie. So we all loaded back up in the car, and went to spend about an hour at the park letting Emmie play on the playground, and us walking around the little lake. The weather was really nice, and it wasn’t too crowded, and we had a great time!

(They all got new Star Wars t-shirts for Christmas, and of course they all wore them together to the movie today.)

When we got back home, Jeff and the boys cleaned up some stuff, put away some Christmas bags & wrapping, and kind of made a slightly organized pile of chaos on one side of the room, so we could actually eat at the table, since most of this stuff had been on or under our dining table.

I put together our chicken & rice casserole and got it in the oven for dinner, and put on a Christmas record. I figure as long as the tree is still up, we can still listen to Christmas music. Right? Right.

And Nana came over for some playtime and to eat dinner with her!

After dinner, she got back in her Elsa nightgown, and was all sprawled out on the chair, munching on some M&M’s from her stocking. She just looked like she was so chill & comfy, and I thought she was hilarious.

Ryan wanted one of her M&M’s, and Nana suggested he trade her something for it, so she got the better end of the deal when he traded her a Hershey’s kiss for an M&M!

She also had a 1/4 cup of “chocolate coffee,” and unfortunately for us she was bouncing off the walls before she had even finished it.

Emmie was a little difficult to get down for bed tonight, but that’s probably my own fault, since I’m the one that let her have a mug of hot chocolate/sugar water right before bedtime! It took a while to calm her down and a while to get her to decide if she wanted Mommy or Daddy. Once all that was decided, and we did a few rounds of lullabies and back scratches and lullabies and back scratches, she was finally quiet when I left the room.

While I was getting her to sleep, Jeff was setting up my new Christmas present, for a family game of Stranger Things Monopoly! It’s probably been years since I’ve even played Monopoly, but this will be fun!