Sprinkles & Sliders

So today we flip-flopped our drop-off girls again, and Jeff took Addie to school by herself, and I took Emerson to her orthodontist check-up appointment. Things went nice and easy, and she will get them taken off in two weeks, on Monday 9/8! She’ll have a spacer/retainer thing to wear after that though, which she will be fitted for that same day.

And sweet Addie Pie was happy and smiling and had a great drop-off all on her own!

After getting Emmie to school on time for their first round of testing already this school year, I made a quick run into Trader Joe’s for a couple of things. I knew I needed some sour cream to help cool off that spicy pork I made last night, so I also grabbed avocado, tomatoes, and a few other goodies, before heading to work.

Like this cute little plant in the adorable mini tomato can!

And these teeny tiny tomatoes nick-named “sprinkles,” that I literally just could not pass up.

Look how beautiful this little cutting board is! I put the tiny tomatoes here for scale, to see how tiny they were in comparison to the avocado and the lime, and all the colors and everything just look so pretty together.

And look how amazing my rice bowl (with the spicy al pastor pork) turned out for my lunch today, with alllll the toppings and veggies, plus TJ’s vegan ranch dressing, which I’ve wanted to try for a long time and really liked.

Jeff went home for a late lunch break today, to pick up Pennie and take her to the vet for a quick check-up and some shots. And it looks like like she enjoyed her car ride!

My little girl was so flushed and hot and sweaty again at pickup today, and needed to sit down in a rocker for a water break before we could load up in the car to go get sissy.

I tried something new for dinner tonight and made little meatball sliders. It was just jarred sauce and frozen Italian meatballs, plus shredded mozzarella cheese, with a homemade garlic & herb butter brushed on top, but these were sooo good! Addison ended up deconstructing hers, and didn’t eat the bread, but kept asking for more and more meatballs. She probably had 6! And Emerson had two sliders (which was 4 meatballs total), plus another one or two on the side.

Emerson was honestly raving about the sliders, telling me she wanted me to make these at least once a month, and saying it was the “best dinner she’s had in ages!” So clearly, this meal was a surprise hit. I knew I would like it, but I didn’t expect such glowing reviews from the whole fam!

Jeff was outside mowing the yard on his riding mower, so we had dinner without him, but saved him a plate with four sliders. I got the girls into the bath tub, got them all washed up and smelling great, and into some fresh, clean jammies. We watched one episode of Bluey, but Emmie wanted to read, and Addie was very tired, so we headed on back to our bed for cuddles. (And yeah, we still haven’t changed the sheets, even though we did wash the ones from the other night…)

And while Addie was waiting on Daddy to cool down from his shower after the yard  work, she got herself some paper and colored pencils, and was coloring this “rainbow” for us.

Then by the time I got to Emmie’s room, I found this big girl (looking way too much like a teenager) sitting on her bed writing in her journal, and I almost fell out! Her and I read some more, then went through the normal bedtime routine, and she fell asleep quickly.

I went back to check on Jeff and Addie, and found this tiny girl sound asleep, but draped all the way across her Daddy. She has a way of making sure she’s all up on him, making it hard for him to sneak out once she falls asleep.

He did finally sneak out so he could come eat his own dinner. We only had a few meatballs leftover earlier, but I already put them away to save for Addie’s lunch for tomorrow, to heat up and put in her little thermos container. Gonna go force myself to wash dishes for a quick 15 minutes, and then sit down to watch more of that tsunami docu-series with Jeff. (I actually had a bad dream about our family being in a house by a river and the river overflowing into the house, after watching that the other night…)

And if you thought I wasn’t gonna say anything about Taylor & Travis getting engaged today!? Yeah right! After that news was announced, I had a hard time focusing at work the rest of the afternoon, because I’ve just never been so happy for someone I don’t actually know, to finally get the magical happy ending she’s been writing songs about for two decades! And this proposal just looks so floral and whimsy and dreamy and romantic and magical!