Pre-Pinterest + Instant Pot

Emerson loves these rocks on the side of the church building, and always has to walk in them when she sees them.

On the way to church today, we practiced saying “Happy Birthday, Grammy!” over and over again, so when she finally saw her, she ran up to her and told her, and it was so cute and sweet!

She’s too cool for school in these sunglasses.

She wanted a cheeseburger, so we got her one from BK, and then we went to lunch at Captain D’s. We hadn’t been there in a while, and it wasn’t quite as good as I remembered, but it was decent enough 😉 Plus, my Tater Tot was being super sweet and cuddly and adorable all through lunch.

 

We gook a couple pictures when we got home, just because I love this dress, and her blue eyes look so beautiful in it!

She was being so silly though, and I could only get a few goofy shots of her.

 

While Emmie napped, I worked on some more chores around the house, and came across my old recipe book I made for myself back in college. This was back before Pinterest existed, and so I used to cut and save and jot down recipes to paste in my book, and I made fun recipes for myself and my apartment-mates. I had made my own real-life recipes pin board!

I specifically remember making these shrimp quesadillas, and loving them! Maybe I’ll do it again soon sometime!

Emerson took an extremely long nap, from like 1:50 – 4:40. Just under three full hours! Girlfriend was exhausted! Right before she got up, I got dinner going in the Instant Pot! I’ve had it for almost two full years, and only used it a handful of times. But it went so well tonight! I made this recipe for IP butter beef, and it turned out sooo good. Jeff actually came and helped me get everything going, and it was nice to be cooking in the kitchen together, without a cute little toddler attached to our legs or hips.

Once Emerson finally woke up, she had some juice and watched Octonots, until our special guests showed up, and she was so excited and surprised. Grammy, Papa & Grandmommie came over to have another special birthday dinner for Grammy!

The recipe for the beef said it would take about 60-90 minutes, so I did it for 70, and it was literally perfect. It was falling apart as we took it out of the pot, but Jeff just shredded it with two forks, and it was perfect.

I also made this recipe for roasted ranch carrots, and this was the first time I’ve ever actually made cooked carrots before. But I’m pretty sure it won’t be my last! Her recipe lists all the ingredients for homemade seasonings, but I just used one of the Hidden Valley ranch packets, and it was so easy and convenient. Also, they needed longer to cook than the recipe said, but other than that, they were really good!

And I took the easy route with a package of instant mashed potatoes, but I fancied them up a bit, by adding butter, milk and sour cream.

The meal turned out delicious, and everyone cleaned their plates! And out of the 3+lb chuck roast I made, there was only a little bit leftover, because it was so yummy, it all got eaten!

We also had cupcakes for Grammy’s birthday, and I think you can tell someone really liked it!

After dinner, we had lots of fun playing and singing songs and watching videos. Emmie was doing ring-around-the-rosie, and she made Grammy get up and play, and then they all fell down!

Then she made Papa get up and play too.

This is her favorite “Jesus Loves Me” video, and she sweetly sang along with it so the family could all hear. It was incredibly adorable. Then she just wanted to snuggle up with Grammy and her blankie.

She wanted Grammy to put on her jammies, and read her books, and even say her prayers for her. She gave her sweet hugs and kisses, but then she wanted Mommy to hold her for lullabies and back scratches.

She needed one extra lullaby song, and then three rounds of Mommy singing “Jesus Loves Me,” until she was finally ready to give in and let me leave the room.

I spent some time washing up the dishes (it surprisingly didn’t take very long, thankfully), and now the house is clean again. I’ve been burning yummy pumpkin, and apple, and cinnamon candles all day, and the house just smells amazing. And with everything clean and all the cozy lighting, the house just feels and smells perfect right now, and I love it.