Shopping & Singing & Supper

We all woke up pretty early this morning, so we headed out to treat ourselves to breakfast cooked by someone else. We’d never eaten breakfast at Steak ‘n Shake before, but it was yummy, and so inexpensive!

All of this food & coffee was only $16. Plus a tip, and we ate a nice meal for less than $20!

Had to measure this crazy-haired girl on the way out. Looks like she’s growing so big & tall! (Except not, she’s still the teeniest peanut.)

So as I was putting on my boots at church for the Singing Christmas Tree last night, the zipper broke on my 11-year-old Payless boots. So I went on stage & sang my song with only one boot zipped, and hoped I wouldn’t step out of it or trip over it. So today, we found myself a new pair. I tried on a couple options at Ross, and then at Beall’s Outlet, and ended up getting these black ones, that are actually very comfy, for only $19!

We went inside Walmart to check their bootie options too, but the Beall’s ones were still the best. I also had a sweater I needed to exchange for a different size, so we did that as well.

On the way out to the car, we saw the most giant acorns all over the place! There were tons of them, and they were some of the biggest ones I’ve seen in real life!

We had a Walmart grocery order to pick up after that, and while we were waiting, Emerson had her first driving lesson. She kept turning on the windshield wipers and the blinker, and loved messing with everything.

 

Emerson told us she wanted to go for a walk, so we all put our shoes back on & headed outside. But then she decided she actually wanted to ride in the stroller. So I pushed her & Jeff got Pretzel on the leash. We walked to the end of the street, and then she decided she did want to walk after all, so I pushed the empty stroller the rest of the way.

But we also took some time to stop & smell these beautiful flowers! I think it’s a camellia bush, and it’s huge, and it’s so pretty!

After our walk, I made a turkey & cheddar sammich for Tater Tot, and she decided she wanted to move her little seat to one of the regular chairs, so she could sit up at the table, rather than use her chair. And I liked it like this a lot too. We got to put the taller bar-stool chair back at the counter again, and she liked sitting up like a big girl at the table!

We did the advent calendar really quickly, and then headed off to get Emerson down for her nap. She was definitely tired, and was on the verge of throwing a temper tantrum, but luckily I talked her down off the edge, and was able to get her down for her nap really easily.

I took a quick shower, and then Jeff and I had sandwiches for our lunch as well. My mom brought me a bag of almonds yesterday, and told me they’re from a grove out in California, that’s owned by the State of Florida and helping to fund retirement, or something like that. And they’re so good! (Also, I put the chunky yarn on this tiny tree the other night, and I love it so much too now!)

Since we were having hot tea in the middle of the day, I got to have a mug of this delicious pina colada tea, with all it’s caffeinated goodness. I drank my tea and wrote the first half of this blog post, and then the baby girl woke up from her nap.

Once Emerson woke up from her nap, we had just a tiny bit of free time, and Emerson had a quick bath, and then we had to get ready to head out to the church again, for another performance of the Singing Christmas Tree!

Jeff’s parents, Dave & Nita, plus Dave’s sister Becky & her husband Grant, as well as Grandmommie, Aunt Suzanne (and her mom), were all there to watch us tonight. And once again, we had a great performance! (You can see the livestream video on our church Facebook account or website here.)

And then we had our annual Sunday School class Christmas dinner. In years past, we’ve done it at one of our house, but it was a little chaotic this year, and we ended up doing it in the new admin building at church, and it was so convenient! We had five different pots of delicious chili, plus fixin’s and desserts, and it was so nice! We had a great time just chatting and fellowship-ing with each other.

Since there were multiple kinds of chili, I just had to have two bows of two different kinds. And both of them were sooo good. I’ll be getting both of the recipes from my friends, because I definitely want to make that white chicken chili on the right! And I just want to know what all was in the one on the left, because there was something in there I couldn’t figure out, but I loved it.

And clearly, Emmie enjoyed her sugar cookie with extra icing 😉

What a great group! We were missing two husbands, two more couples, and about six kids (and we missed all of them), but it was such a great night together!

Emmie was all hopped up on sugar and sweet tea after the party, but luckily we had a nice long walk from the admin building back to our car on the other side of the campus. We purposefully let her walk (rather than sending Jeff to get it & pick us up), so that she could burn off a little energy.

At home, we were on the brink of another meltdown, but we skirted around it, and got her calmed down. Then she picked out her own jammies, and even though these little pants are high-waters now, she still looks adorable.

Once we got her all settled down, we had a very quick night-time routine, and everything went smoothly. Luckily, there are no real dishes to wash (just some mugs from coffee & hot tea, and those can wait), so we can just sit back and relax for a bit. We are already drinking our hot tea, and it’s time to pick out tonight’s Christmas movie! So far this year, we’ve watched: Miracle on 34th Street, 12 Dates of Christmas, Noelle, The Santa Clause, and Christmas with the Kranks. I just love watching Christmas movies!