March Review ✽ Hello April

Highlights:

-We watched "Mary Poppins" and Abbi became a one man band (also, she told Mama that if the bankers had sung their song to her, when she "heard all that nonsence stuff, she would have just run and given the money to the birds!")

-We took a fun spring trip to the zoo...

-Followed by a snow day soon after, haha! That's SC...

-Our cousin, baby James, arrived on the 15th :)! Mama drove up to see him that day, and while she was gone, to celebrate, I helped the little ones make cookies and gave them super crispy chicken nuggets and chips for supper... like, I've never had chicken nuggets like that before and it was not supposed to turn out like that, haha. But the cookies were good, so it wasn't a complete fail ;). Also, it had been a while since I'd made chocolate chip cookies, and I was shocked at how far a double batch doesn't seem to go anymore, haha. The girls helped me make some one Friday, and we didn't have enough for everybody by the time we got milk again, so I had to make more because I had promised them cookies with milk. Josiah was so ecstatic to get two at once, though, heehee :). It was cute.

Another bit of excitement was very unappreciated, so it was not a highlight, but a very big part of our month... Mama was reading our nightly story ("Heidi", for the curious -so that we could read the sequels, written by one of the translators, which we just recently found... I hope they're good, because I've always loved Heidi!), and had just started another chapter, when Noah was toddling around the room, and got all tripped up and fell straight into the edge of the bed rails and split his little forehead :(. He was so calm about it, he cried at the initial pain, but within a few minutes he was perfectly quiet, didn't even complain about Daddy cleaning it up a bit to see how bad it really was. Mama and Daddy took him to urgent care, and we're very thankful that they were able to glue it rather than needing stitches, but they didn't get home until 3 a.m. the next morning! He's been so good about it, but it's so sad to see his poor little head, and he's stressing us out because he won't stop walking. Naturally, right? Haha.

The next evening we were getting ready to do our story time, and Peter mentioned we were reading the same chapter we were reading when Noah got hurt, and everybody started talking about it... and Josiah asked, "You took him to the hospital last month?"
"Last night."
"Peter?"
"No, Noah. Remember, he had to get his cut taken care of?"
And then we realized, no, he didn't remember. He usually goes to sleep before Mama's done reading, and he'd slept through the whole thing, and had no clue how the cut got there or that it was bad enough to need help. So we had to tell him the whole thing, and he got up and gave Noah hugs and kisses. It was so strange. Also, Josiah is also the only one of the little boys who does NOT now have a scar over his eye, so, yeah, it seems that that is a very common deal with little guys.

-St. Patrick's day :). We celebrated with our customary cinnamon rolls with colored icing (store bought, because we all forgot what the next day was until like 9:00 at night... Mama remembered just in time!) and dressing in orange (the color for the protestant Irish, it's just a fun quirk Mama decided to change/add to make the day a reminder more about God's grace then anything else :).)

-We met little James last Sunday <3! He is a doll, so precious! Josiah was, I think, in shock at how little he was, although he kept asking when we could go see Aunt Amber's baby :).

-Noah turned *one*!!!

-We saw "Rogue One", and it was better than I was expecting... I actually really liked it :).

-And Joey turned 3!

Laughing at:

Mama and I walking through Food Lion with 4 cartons of ice cream, 2 bags of M&m's, a box of brownies, some fruit pops, and italian ice... "If anyone asks if we're having a party, please just say yes."

-Dreaming that a friend adopted three cats, and named them "Pantry", "Bullfrog"... and "Lou-it-be". Where did my brain get those names?!?!?!?!?

Me, checking Abbi's math:
*sees 11*
*mind reads it as a roman numeral*
*reaches for eraser, almost asks "Why would you put two?!"*
Oh. Oops.

-Daddy and I ran into the store after the respite I volunteered at this month, and it was very quiet. One of the cashiers was talking to the other, having no work to do, and was talking all about how she loves children, wants twins, etc, and Daddy said, "You don't need twins; you could just have one at a time and have 9, like I did."
She kind of nods, keeps talking about kids; *does a double take and looks at me* "You have nine kids?!?!?!?"
Daddy: "No, that's my oldest."
Cashier: "Oh. You look like you could have nine!"
Daddy: "She just said you looked forty."
Her face, hahahaha! Also, her friends face as she looked at her as much as to say, I dare you to get out of this one smoothly.... haha!

-Josiah, over e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.... "What EVEN is this!?!?!?" "What EVEN are you doing?!?!?!"

-Mama's crazy crochet inspiration she passes onto me... a mailbox cover, stuffed toy body parts to use teaching science... I think she really believes you can do anything with it. I'm threatening to make her learn, haha!

-Noah sticking his food down his shirt whenever he wants to be done, haha!

-Daddy and I are sitting looking at something together, when Mama starts laughing.
"What is going on?"
Mama laughing hysterically; "What smells like wet dog?!"
Daddy, in a "this answer is of course right" sort of way; "Wet dog?"
Mama, thinking he asked in a "Is that what you said" sort of way: "Yes, hahaha..."
Cue a ton of confusion, until I found out she was reading my blog and I had made her laugh uproarious sharing her own comments.

Quotes I liked:

"I love God as my Savior; I fear Him as my judge."

"May [the Lord] give you what your heart desires, and fulfill your whole purpose." (Psalm 20:4)

"I have the witness of my conscience, that you have done me wrong and violence; and yet I pray God, if it be His will, to forgive you." -Dr. Taylor, "The Book of Martyrs"

Reading:

-"Robinson Crusoe". I'd never read it, but Tori said it was good, so I've had it on my to-do list for a while now. I enjoyed it :).

-"The Swiss Family Robinson". This was coupled with "Robinson Crusoe" in the copy my Grandma gave us, so I re-read it. I remember *loving* it when I was little. Reading it this time... What in the world are kangaroos, buffaloes, penguins, and everything else doing on the same island? And how did every plant grow there? And how did the dad know what literally everything was just by looking at it without opening a reference book once? Lol! It's a fun book, but the guy meant it when he said he just wrote it to teach his sons facts about the uses of nature, haha... I just hope he told them where you actually find the stuff, too ;).

-"The Pocket Book of Robert Frost's Poems". I liked the biography in it, but the poems aren't as much like his "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" as I think I expected... haha :).

-Ephesians, Matthew Henry's commentary, "The Valley of Vision", and some of "The Family Daughter" here and there :).

Fails:

-Me: *mops the floor*
Me, two hours later: *goes to make some lunch of cottage cheese and peaches*
Fridge: *hurtles all contents at me*
Peanut butter jar: *throws glass and peanut butter all over the floor*
"Are. you. serious?!"

Also, I'm probably one of the few people capable of bruising their foot making a meal. (I'm not sure if frozen pizza sauce or refried beans fell out of the freezer; I just know it hurt, haha.)

-Blogging... haha. Sorry I left, guys! There will be several more detailed posts about some of the month within the next week... I never put pictures on them, but I'm not leaving them in my drafts for forever, haha :). I actually didn't do much writing at all, and I'm not sure why... I also didn't realize it until I was just trying to sort through my stuff! 

Grateful for:

-The Psalms, and being able to pick up my Bible freely.
-Songs to listen to while I crochet.
-Hope as I look forward to some things coming up.
-God's grace.
-Second chances.
-Pizza.
-Brownies and chocolate milk... not together, haha :). Although I bet that would be good.
-Mama making extra icing while making Noah's cake just so I could eat some... hahaha :).
-Tori playing Scrabble with me! She won, but since we don't often get to play, I was okay with that ;).
-The wonderful month we had, and the new one just beginning :).
-(Also, that none of my family does April Fool's, because a couple of them would be good at it...)
-Teaching Andrew how to play a new game.
-"Paddington Bear"... the book is a current trend in our house, and I'm glad he's cute, or this could be monotonous quickly, haha!

Oh! And, what do y'all think about the new blog look? Plumrose Lane (my former blog design host) seems to be down, and so I couldn't fix it when it went blank :(. So, I just changed up the sizing of what I was left with, and changed some of the contrasting colors since I didn't have the mix from the background. I also changed the font, but that was something I was planning on changing anyway. I LOVED the font... but it drove me batty that you couldn't see commas on it, haha. I feel like it's too plain, and yet it's rather more "timeless" then the old look. I'm very undecided, and yet pretty sure I'll probably end up leaving it long enough that it will grow on me and it'll stay... Tori says she likes it better than the old pretty one (::sniff::), but, anyway. I was sad when I couldn't use it anymore. I actually created my blog around that background a month before I "officially" opened "Forget Not His Benefits" and thought to myself that this one was going to be I'd stick to, after trying a couple on "Home Life"... but, I guess that plan didn't work out :).

Blessings in the Lord,
Bri