Playing with Cousins

Emerson requested Pringles for her morning snack this morning (she still had some left of the small can we got over the weekend), so she ate them in the car on the way to school. She wasn’t quite done with them yet, so she brought two more into school with her…

After taking her pictures above, we started walking inside, but she stopped after a few steps and said, “Mommy, there’s chips in my butt!” And so I went to check it out, and sure enough, she had a piece of a Pringle caught in the edge of her little bloomers, and man I was laughing so hard at that!

Jeff stopped to grab himself a breakfast burger from Whataburger today, and he offered to get me one too, so of course I readily agreed! And it was sooo good.

And then I had breakfast again for lunch today! I made extra scrambled eggs last night for myself when I was making Emerson’s. So then I added Everything But the Bagel seasoning from Trader Joe’s, plus cheese & salsa. I even brought bread to toast & butter to spread. Plus, I had forgotten (somehow?) to drink my coffee this morning, so I heated it up in a mug and had that, and it was perfect and delicious! That now makes breakfast foods for the past five meals in a row, haha.

Growing Room closed early today for Thanksgiving, so I was lucky enough to get to leave work early as well! I left at 2pm, and went to pick up my Tater Tot. I had contemplated running to Walmart to pick up some gifts for two girls my office is sponsoring for the Salvation Army Angel Tree program (I’m spearheading the effort), and even though I figured it might be a madhouse, we decided to brave it and go shopping. One of the girls asked for an L.O.L. doll and the other asked for a kids bike.

Emerson was so thrilled to see the inflatable Christmas decorations, and we found the bikes right next to them.

We also got a helmet to go with the bike, but didn’t find the kind of doll the girl requested. I didn’t even think about if the bike would fit in my car or not, until we got out to the car… I jammed it in, but one handle-bar was sticking out the open window. I tied up the streamers in a bag so they wouldn’t blow away in the wind. But then I realized the middle armrest was down, so I closed it up and re-situated, and then I was able to fit it in the backseat with the window closed!

After that, Emerson went home to unload the car and just hang out a bit – she had a special cookie snack that Uncle Keith & Aunt Suzanne got for her (she was sweet and shared about half of it with me), and we read her Christmas song book again.

We ended up going all the way across town to check out another Walmart for the L.O.L. doll. They still didn’t have one, and I wasn’t feeling too confident we’d find one before the deadline next Monday. So instead, we bought a different kind of cute/cool doll, and an accessory or two to go with her. I was also able to get an extra outfit & jammies for each girl, with all the cash people had donated. And then the sky was gorgeous when we left!

Jeff’s younger brother Brad & his wife Ashlie and their two girls came into town today, so we headed over to the in-laws’ house to have a casual night-before-Thanksgiving dinner with everyone. They live not-too-far-away in Georgia, but we still don’t see them often, so we figured we’d squeeze in an extra meal with them tonight while they’re here. I also wanted Emerson to get to play with her cousins Libby & Andersen, since the last time they were here, Emmie was only 4-months-old, and obviously not quite playing yet. And they had a great time together! It was so sweet watching & listening to the three of them play together!

Emerson & Andersen were both completely obsessed with each other right away. Andie kept saying, “She’s so cuuuute.” And Emerson copied everything she did. They ran about 1,000 laps around the house before dinner, holding hands the whole time.

I thought the salad I made was pretty 🙂

And Nana made everyone’s favorite cheesy chicken & rice casserole.

Libby is the older sister, and trying hard to be a big girl, but she did sweetly play potato family with the little ones for a while. They made up names for all the taters, and then brought in Spiderman, Iron Man, and two horses.

While the girls were “babysitting” each other, Nita, Ashlie and I started doing Thanksgiving prep. We kind of just all pitched in and helped with all the things, and we made two pumpkin pies, two pecan pies, sweet potato casserole, cranberry jello salad, and chopped a bunch of celery & onions for the dressing for tomorrow.

We kept Emmie out way too late, letting her play with her cousins for as long as possible. She definitely did not want to leave when it was time, but we reassured her a thousand times that we’d be back to play again tomorrow, and we finally convinced her it was time to leave without a huge melt down. (But there was of course some minimal whining.)

She chose to wear purple dino jammies to bed, and we did a decently quick bedtime routine. however it was 9:39pm before I left her room, so that’s about 1.5 hours later than usual. Crossing all my fingers and toes that she sleeps in a little bit tomorrow. Even 8am would be great!

It’s now about 10:15pm, so this is later than I usually finish my blog on most nights. Jeff and I will probably just watch a YouTube video or two, and then head off to bed soon. Excited for delicious food tomorrow, and lots of family time with both sides of our families!