July Notes

 Some random pictures and stories from the past month(ish), in no very good chronological order... haha!

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All these huge boxes in the house, and he wants to play in the tiny one that we had before we moved ;). Haha! Our Gramma lent us some air mattresses when we had our friends over in May. Oh, these were hilarious to use... haha. We literally had a "bed"room, with two of them in the library, there was no additional floor space! To get anywhere- to the piano, a bookshelf, your spot on the bed- you had to walk across them, and anybody who was sitting on it would end up flying in the air... it was entertaining! The day this picture was taken, though, Daddy was making sure they were packaged neatly before we sent them back with my Gramma for my aunt and her family to use when they visited her. The morning she picked it up:
Daddy: *takes a bite of bacon*
*phone rings*
Tori: "I bet that's Gramma. She always calls when you eat bacon."
Me: "I think she smells it somehow. It's weird how often it does happen."
Daddy: "Hello..... What am I doing? Listening to your grandchildren laugh at you because they say you always call when we have bacon...."
Gramma a couple hours later: *walks into the house* "Where's my bacon?!" Lol :).

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We went to my Gramma's on the third to celebrate the 4th of July. My Aunt and her family were there, which was fun. We were very excited to meet our new cousins, and they got to meet Noah :)! We also celebrated the next day with our customary ice cream, sparklers and pop-its. And enjoyed the fireworks that the people across the street were putting off. They had a beautiful display, and the finale was AWESOME. And we got to enjoy it free. Hahaha...

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"Oh, that's pretty! Where was it taken?!"
"....Ummmm.... our back yard..."
"So many new surprises when you move..."

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"We have a neighbor I can't wait for you to meet," I told a friend.
"Oh really? A close neighbor?"
"Oh yeah. Super close. His name is Buckingham Roosevelt."
"What?!!!!! Is this an animal?!!!!"
"Only a four foot long black snake."
"EWWWW!"
"We also have bunnies."
"....That... that actually surprises me... with the snake..."
"EWWWW!!!!"
Haha :). Name credit of Buckingham goes to Tori... much to Mama's chagrin. "Once you name it, you start getting attached to it- noooooo, it's not a pet!!!!", haha!

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Tori posted this picture on her facebook the other day with the caption, "You have to guess which is which." After I correctly guessed (it was a hard decision for a couple seconds, but they are my brothers after all ;) ), she confided in me, "I tried to pick the hardest ones I could find. I found one where Peter has Noah's worried face, and one where Noah is smiling like Peter usually is". Do you know how weird it is to have what looks like the same person at two different ages living in the house at the same time?!

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We got to go blueberry picking a couple of weeks ago. It was so much fun! Tori and I always race each other while picking, and it's getting harder and harder to beat her. I'm winning by less and less of a percentage of my pail... haha! Josiah did really good at first- he knew ripe from green, and was a steady worker... until Daddy let him eat a berry. Goodbye help. Haha! Southern Blues blueberries ARE the best berries I've ever tasted. They even beat the ones we picked in VA, so I don't know what the difference is! Mama thinks they are grown with love, haha :). 

Peter was hilarious. Abbi took off her headband and he threw it... it landed in a tree somewhere, and we never did find it. A little while later he calls out, "Mommy? Where is my pail?"
"You lost that too?!!!!!"
"....Oh. It's in my hand..."
He thought that was the most hilarious thing ever!

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He just turned 4 months, and he's adorable. I mean, look at that hair. Who couldn't love that?!!?!?! Case closed.
He's over 12 lbs now, and he's starting to get that sturdy, solid feel that makes babies so very squishable :). He is really starting to build up his motor skills. He reaches for everything -he loves the printer buttons :).

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This is how Josiah looks at him all the time. I love it. Like, I love Noah. And I love Josiah. But watching Josiah love Noah.... LOVE. Josiah got hurt the other day and gracefully sank onto the floor crying (believe it or not, he is NOT the most dramatic member of the family). I came with Noah to make sure he was okay, and he told me what had happened, then asked, "Can I hold Noah?" Cue instant smiles. I had to tell Tori that he'd ever been crying when she walked by fifteen seconds later.

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Tori: "Earlier I heard Peter singing, "Life is great.... but everyday is diffy-cult..."

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A sour cream beard. What could be better? (And for those of you who may wonder how anybody could get that messy eating; this was totally on purpose. Lol!)

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This has been a running thing for Tori and Josiah since we moved. "Where's your scary face?!" *eyes get wider and wider and wider and wider until she acknowledges it's scary*

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Recreating a picture from a couple years ago. Aren't they cool?

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 Absolutely nothing says comfort to me as much as making and eating robust homemade food. Baking is like writing for me. If it's something I have no choice but to do, it can stress me out (hello late promised blog posts), but it's the first thing I want to do when I want to do something just "for fun". And all little people like to make banana bread...

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We celebrated my Grandparents' birthday a little early a couple weeks ago at my Aunt's house. Seriously, y'all, being close to family is an awesome blessing! Tori and I ran into Dollar General before we got there... and then ran into a grocery store afterwards.  While I can't tell you all that happened at Dollar Tree (oh my, it was too much!), I will say that to explain how it went, I was trying so hard to act natural admitting that I didn't know where the lighters were, that I couldn't find the lighters I was standing in front of for three minutes. Yeah.
So we go into the grocery store for a snack for the little ones, a snack for the older ones, and coffee drinks. Mind you, this was AFTER our experience that afternoon. I wasn't feeling optimistic.
The door wouldn't open.
So I checked the time. And they were still open.
Tori pointed to a guy leaving, and she said, "If people are coming out, there has to be a way in."
"Well then, we're using that door," I answered, heading further down. This one opened, and I hoped that was the only mishap.
I was wise this time. Instead of looking for one item on my list at a time, I just decided to start at one end and just pick stuff up if I found it. Lol. This worked for the snacks. Not so much for the coffee. I looked in every drink fridge, front and back. Some several times. Tori pointed to a sign.
"Bri, they have a Starbucks here. Why would they sell bottled coffee?" Well. Good point. I called Mama to ask her what she wanted me to do, and she told me to check the cold section rather than the front. There were none there, but while trying to tell her that, I saw some cartons, and we decided to get those. I headed back to the front telling Mama how things were going, and she asked if we could get water. I headed back to the back, got the water, and hung up. And then Tori says, "There's the coffee."
Grrrrrrrr. Well, it was warm, so we wouldn't have wanted it anyway. But Tori's comment to that was, "With as long as we've been in this store, we could have put them in the freezer while we shopped and they would have been fine."
"Very funny. Why can't I ever need to 'run into" a store I know where stuff is?", I moaned. Then I thought a moment and added, "Ya' know... like.... Hobby Lobby. I just realized that's the only store I really know well enough for that." Lol!