Mermaid Cove

The girls woke up way too early today, before it was even 6am. I’m not sure what caused that, but once they’re awake, they’re ready to get up and immediately get a snack…We had an early morning grocery pickup too actually, so we all got up and moving pretty early. Then it was time to get dressed, and packed up, and load up in the car. These babies were very cute in their matching t-shirts.

After taking these matching pictures, Emerson was like, “Hey, your post today should be called ‘Mermaid Cove,'” and I loved that she thought of that all of her own. So cute, and obviously that’s what today’s post title had to be!

Addison loaded up in Daddy’s car to hear out towards Grammy’s house, but apparently she didn’t make it far before she fell asleep in the car.

And Emerson loaded up in my car and went with me. We made one stop first at the Kerry Forest farmer’s market, because I was really craving some fresh, “home grown” tomatoes for the summer. It was our first time going up there, but it was great! We want to go back and check it out again sometime soon.

Emerson loved looking at these cool, crazy mushrooms, even though she doesn’t even like eating mushrooms. I’m actually the only one in our house that does like them, so I didn’t purchase any.

I did find some gorgeous tomatoes (there were two more, but we already ate them), and also splurged on this fancy delicious bread as well.

We had some quick sandwiches for lunch, Jeff and Papa worked out in the yard, and then Grandmommie got Addison to take a nap. We then spent some time doing a bit of set-up and decorating for Emerson’s 7th birthday party! We had a little bit of time to sit down and rest after we finished, before the rest of the friends and family started showing up. It was a pool party of course, and Emerson picked a mermaid theme this year. Hence the name, “Mermaid Cove,” as she requested!

We ordered the birthday cake from Tasty Pastry this year, and it was so cute, and super soft and delicious.

We had a great time swimming, and Emmie loved having a few of friends from school, summer camp and church there to hang out and swim and eat cake. The family stayed longer after the swim party portion ended, and we had a sandwich and salad bar for dinner, with some watermelon, and French onion dip I made this morning.

Then it was time to open presents! We did another “fiver” party for the friends, just requesting homemade cards as keepsakes, and a simple $5, so we can use that to practice tithing, spending & saving with real money. But with the fam, they all still give her gifts of course, and she got some really great stuff tonight. Everyone did a great job choosing things that were perfect for her and the things she’s interested in and things she’s been wanting.

Last year, I asked my co-worker if she could make her a stuffed, crocheted strawberry. Emerson has loved that thing so much, and slept with it in her bed every night. I asked my friend again this year what else she could make, and she learned how to do this super cute donut for the first time, just for Emmie! And obviously she loved it so much!

Emerson has had a really hard time these past five months, after our sweet little Pretzel died back in February. So for a few months, I’ve been scouring the internet to find a tiny little stuffie that looked like him. And literally like one week ago, I finally found the perfect one. When she unwrapped it, she immediately realized it looked like Pretzel, and loved it so much. We do plan on getting another dog at some point relatively soon, we just want to wait until we find the perfect one. But this special little tribute to Pretzel made her both emotional and happy.

Addie had to walk outside with her little treat to see the triplets head off at the end of the night.

By the time we made it home around 8:20ish, the girls were both so tired and ready to settle down. Emerson of course dug out some of her new birthday gifts, to get herself ready for bed. Nana gave her the sleep mask, Grammy gave her the breakfast jammies (this girl loves breakfast!), and it all matched perfectly with the soft pink donut. She is so sweet and precious!

My girl was totally exhausted after swimming and jumping and playing for two hours in the pool with her friends and cousins. And then after dinner the five cousins ran around playing in the backyard for another 20 or so minutes. So once again, she was completely asleep in a few quick minutes. I’m exhausted too after our busy day, and ready to just veg out on the couch for a little bit before bedtime.