A fourth full of family fun

We spent most of America's birthday by being lazy and stuffing our faces (in true American form)

Strawberry and blackberry water

America's birthday cake (and my favorite cake in America)

Aside from the massive assortment of every meat known to man, we also had grilled fruit with our lunch.

Sprinkled with some homemade herb sugar by my dear aunt who is so very Martha.

Ellie and I attempted to burn off 1/99th of those calories by riding our bikes to Turner's pond for the firework show.

Minden loves America.

Hope y'all had a fantastic fourth as well! 

Happy {Belated} Sibling Day!

Ellie and I probably have the coolest brother on planet Earth.

I had no idea of this little holiday, but in the true spirit of not leaving a single holiday behind, be sure to let your siblings know you love them and that you wish them a happy {belated} sibling day!

The three of us have grown to love this little Avett Brothers lyric from their song "Murder in the City" which is oh so appropriate for anyone sharing a last name.

We are incredibly blessed to have been raised by two Christian parents who set the greatest example of love.

The quote truly says it more perfectly that I could ever say it.

Mikey really got us good with this surprise Christmas gift (from Etsy!)

I only shed one tear, I promise.

Last fall, we three Rats (plus Josh) got to enjoy hearing the Avett Brothers sing "Murder In The City" live for the first time all together. 

I was so tempted to overload this post with 39842903849038 pics of us three, but I'll just settle for one of my favorite pictures of us.

Mikey is so good with the whole weird thing.

Happy Sibling Day Mikey and Ellie, I love y'all to the moon and back!

Silly Mikey

I just wanna take a second to brag on my little brother's creativity.

He is in the same fraternity as Josh was in college (Sigma Nu) and I can't get over some of his latest outfits for their parties.

The theme for their exchange with Sigma Kappa was "Disney movies" so he appropriately dressed up as a member from Team Pup-n-Suds from the hit Disney Original movie "Brink"

(We were obsessed! Anyone remember? Motocrossed? Smart House? Zenon? Johnny Tsunami?)

Anywaysss, twas brilliant!

For Halloween, he was Blake from Workaholics.

See the resemblance?

He once told me, "With long hair, the possibilities are endless."

. . . and then they had a "Letter S" exchange, so naturally, he wore a snuggie.

A really ugly snuggie. 

Sometimes he can be normal . . . 

. . . but it's not very often.

I couldn't do this post without including my all time fav Mikey pic:

On another note . . .
I'm being featured on one of my all time favorite blogs Mr. Taylor and His Lady today!
Little miss Tanya is the sweetest thing, and you WILL go check it out if you know whats best for you!

Our first Saints game (and my first PB&J!)

Last fall, my family won field passes to a Saints game, so we ended up making a little weekend trip down south for the game.

We started the weekend off by enjoying an LSU game on a Saturday, then pulling ourselves together to make the trip to New Orleans that next morning for the Saints game that Sunday night.

We even got to visit with our long lost friends Liz and Mrs. Sallie. 

We stayed at Le Pavillion on Poydras, which was in the perfect location right between the Superdome and the French Quarter.

. . . and they offered free midnight snacks, but more on that later.

The quarter was getting quite festive for Christmas . . . 

We've actually lived in Louisiana our whole lives, and somehow this was everyones first Saints game.

(In our defense, they just became worth watching after Katrina)

How cute is this little fella?

Sweet little Sean Payton made sure to high five each and every player while they were stretching.

I think thats the key to success, if I do say so myself.

Since I know so much about success in the NFL.

. . . oh yea and there's the Seahawks with 'ol Pete. 

Whatever.

Our seats were pretty, um, elevated . . . but we couldn't complain, they were free!

After the game we took a stroll down Bourbon . . .

As many times as we had each been to New Orleans, we had never tried The Gumbo Shop, and it quickly became one of our favorite stops!

Pawpaw Stanto over there . . . 

It wouldn't be a complete trip to New Orleans without some beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde.

I was so proud of my camera's nighttime pics!

Every night at 10:00 on the dot, our hotel provides free pb&js with milk to all of their guests.

You can make them yourself with whatever jelly and bread you want.

Shockingly enough, I had never eaten a peanut butter and jelly until this very night . . . 

and I hated it.

Sorry Pb&J, we gave it our best shot, and looks like we just weren't meant to be friends.

See ya.