Party Punch

Emerson wakes up literally every morning saying, “I wanna go find Sheppy now, Mommy!”

And then she settles in to play on her Kindle or watch tv while I get ready, until it’s time for her to get ready for school.

These little pants were some of her recent hand-me-downs, and Nana got her this shirt, and it made a cute outfit! (Also, remember when she fell a few weeks ago and busted her lip first thing in the morning? Well, she hit her tooth too, and it’s turned gray now. She had this happen about a year ago as well, with her other front tooth, and it turned back to “regular” on it’s own after a few months. Hoping that happens with this one too, but I might call the dentist tomorrow, just in case.)

She decided she wanted to wear her mask today (because some of her friends do), plus her jacket and mittens, and the hat in her hands (as to not mess up the hair clip). So much hoopla!

Today’s lunch was delicious egg salad, pickle Pringles, and string cheese. Yum!

For a case I was working on today, I had to bust out the Florida statutes book from 1995, since the oldest statutes available in online resources is 1997, and it just felt so intense and dramatic to have to do it “the old school way.” At first, I was standing by our bookshelves, with my blue-light blocking glasses, reading, and my friend walked by and was like, “What, just standing there trying to look smart?!” Also, I love having this little jar from the baby shower yesterday on my desk still.

Looks like an elf read Emerson’s class a cute little Christmas book out by the Christmas tree in the lobby at school today. And of course she’s sitting right next to “her boys.”

Jeff had a dentist appointment this afternoon, so he picked up Emerson around 4;15. I actually left work early at 4:45 to make up for a late day last week, so I got home just a few minutes after 5pm, which was nice.

When I was little, I was given one of my Mama’s silk nightgowns to calm me down, and then I slept with that for a long time. I was given a silk pillowcase (which I couldn’t pronounce so I called it a pee-pee). Then my Grandmother made me a silk lovey embroidered with cute little things like butterflies and flowers. I slept with it every night for yearrrrrs, until it literally started falling apart. I now keep that in a Ziploc bag in my closet to keep it safe, but she made me multiple ones through the years. She has even made one for Emerson already, which Emmie also sleeps with every night.

Y’all know that Emerson has been having a rough time going to sleep lately. So a few nights ago, I gave her one of my nightgowns in an attempt to calm her down. So now, she sleeps with the silk lovey from Grandmommie, and also sleeps with my camel nightgown. Then this afternoon, she put it on and wore it around the house for a while. So sweet 🙂

Since I was home earlier than normal, on a whim, I decided to try making Instant Pot chicken & rice. I found & read a few recipes online, and then kind of made a few adjustments based on what I had on hand. I mostly used this recipe, but I didn’t have carrots, only had dried parsley, I cut the recipe in half, used 2 boneless skinless frozen breasts (whole, & shredded after cooking), and just threw in about 2 tbsp. of minced garlic instead of using a whole head. Plus plenty more S&P and garlic salt. It was so creamy & flavorful!

While the pressure cooker did all the work, Emmie grabbed a stack of about 12 books, and we read every single one of them on the couch together!

Found a bag of steamable green beans in the freezer, popped them in the microwave, and voila! Dinner was served. The chicken & rice isn’t exactly photogenic, but it sure was yummy! I had a small portion (it was good, but I couldn’t eat much), but Emmie and Jeff both ate a ton of it. I was the only one that like the green beans, so I ate all of mine plus Jeff’s & Emmie’s too. Spritzed with some spray butter plus S&P, and they were surprisingly good!

Oh, we also had the leftover party punch from the baby shower yesterday, and Emmie was obsessed with it. As was I. Seriously, I LOVE party punch, and was SO glad my friend sent it home with me yesterday. Emmie also really liked drinking out of her own tiny mason jar, like Jeff and I were using.

We were done with dinner early, and we needed coffee filters and Jeff’s prescriptions, so they planned to run to CVS together. Emmie specifically wanted to wear some jammies to the store, so she picked out this pair, plus some sandals & her beanie, and she was ready to go! I kept my tired behind at home while they went out, and sat on the couch enjoying the quiet time.

They came back after almost an hour, with gum, cookie dough, a Lunchable, and a pack of mini iced sugar cookies.

She picked three books to read for her bedtime tonight, including this one from 1990 that used to be mine when I was about Emmie’s age.

She needed another snack, even after a big dinner and a sugar cookie, so she had one of the windmill cookies that Grammy sent home with her the other day, while getting crumbs all up in her bed.

We bribed her at bedtime saying if she could be good and go to sleep better tonight, she could have a sugar cookie when she wakes up tomorrow morning. She only called Daddy back into her room one time, and he got out in a few minutes, so all-in-all, she definitely did better tonight. I’m heading off to grab a few of those tiny iced sugar cookies, and watch some tv with hubby, and then fall asleep soon!