Perfect At-Home Summer Kickoff Day

We had the most perfect at-home, summer day today. We were busy little bees, and I’m exhausted (I’m the only one still awake, Jeff has been asleep since about 8:30 already), so let’s jump into it… Egg-in-the-hole for Jeff and me for breakfast, Addie had  scrambled egg & buttered bread, but Emmie just wanted cereal.

Emerson can write her first and last name all by herself now, and I just have to spell her middle name for her, and she can do that too.

Jeff and Addie did our grocery pick-up today, while I washed dishes, and Emmie picked up all her stuff from the living room. Then Emerson helped me put all the groceries away, and pack the plastic bags away to re-use.

Emerson also helped me with laundry.

And she helped me bake a strawberry jello poke cake – which Uncle Bo requested for our family get-together tomorrow night.

Then she helped Daddy blow up our little family pool, and walked it around to the backyard.

We started filling the pool up with water, then Jeff got back into some more yardwork, while I heated up leftover pot roast for the girls’ lunch, and made myself some crab salad that I ate as lettuce wraps. This was so fresh & light & summery, and I loved it so much.

After lunch, I put both girls to sleep for their afternoon naps, and finished cleaning up the living room & kitchen, and vacuumed the carpet. Then I finally sat down to take a little 30-minute-ish rest to watch tv with some iced coffee.

And Jeff got the yard looking so great!! Our grass is literal HAY, so it grows super fast during the summer, and it’ll be like a foot high, if he skips a week cutting it during the summer.

After my little rest, I started a second load of laundry for the day, and cleaned the toilets. Then once Emerson woke up, we made the delicious cream cheese icing for our cake, and went crazy with our patriotic sprinkles.

Then finally, once Addison woke up from her 3-hour nap, and we all went out for our “swim” in the backyard! We set up our little pop-up canopy over half of it, so we could have shade on half and sunshine on half, and it worked out perfectly.

We stayed in the pool for about an hour, until the girls were chattering and cold again. After getting dried off and dressed and warm again, Jeff and the girls cuddled up on the couch, and I made these amazing sandwiches for dinner that I had seen on this TikTok video. It’s basically just a warm sandwich with lots of meats (whatever you want), but you make a “grinder salad” with iceberg lettuce and mayo-based sauce, and it was amazing. (Jeff asked me to put chips on his, and he ate two whole sandwiches.)

When we had all finished dinner (Emerson had a plain ham & cheese sandwich, and Addison had a little-girl-charcuterie plate with diced meat & cheese), I got Addie in her jammies, and Jeff fed her a bottle of milk, and she completely passed out instantly.

Emerson helped me with more laundry, and we cleaned up the living room again after they had gotten stuff out to play with earlier. Then it was time to start our bedtime routine…

For Christmas, my mom pre-ordered my sister and me each a copy of @erinapier ‘s new book (because she knows how much I love all things Home Town & The Napier’s), and it came out this past week. I read it to myself this morning, and teared up over how sweet it was. Then I read it to my oldest daughter tonight before bedtime, and she was captivated with the beautiful illustrations and the sweet story and all the stages of a house. This book is now a treasured book in our already-overflowing collection. (And it’s a signed copy too!) And of course I had to light my favorite Laurel candle too.

Jeff and Addie had both fallen asleep in the recliner, but then they both woke back up and needed more snuggles together. Then Emmie got jealous and needed more Daddy cuddles too, but everyone fell asleep very quickly. We seriously just had the most perfect at-home kickoff to summer day today, and I loved all of it! We worked hard, got a lot done, but had great time spent together. Looking forward to two more days with family, this long weekend!