#1,732 Baby Q.

Well, first things first. The absolutely glorious cold front we’ve been waiting for finally came in. The high never got out of the 70s today. It was overcast. It was the very thing we needed to boost the morale around here and get us out of our sweaty depression. It was the very thing that prompted bringing Lucky bug out of summer retirement.

There was all kinds of neighborhood outdoor laziness occuring. We found Jim asleep in his back porch swing listening to Elvis gospel and smoking brisket for the Baby Q tonight.
To be fair, he woke up to start up the smoker at 4 am and never went back to bed—maintaining the 200 degree sweet spot, apparently. Chevy, Baker and Sugar weren’t much livelier.
The sycamores on 4th Avenue are TURNING!
Anyway, Ben and I took a 3 mile walk around the neighborhood (including a stop at the mall for fall smell goods at Bath and Body Works), then I went home and got busy making my pies and macaroni and cheese for the party:
And before we knew it, it was 6:00 and folks were arriving at Jim and Mal’s for the party.

 Jonathan tried his hand at making ribs for the first time:

We bought an adorable apple pie from Julie at The Bake Shop, and I made a strawberry pie and 2 caramel pecan pies. Josh and Em are hardcore fall people who prefer pie to cake—and so pie was the dessert of the night.

As mentioned a few weeks ago—we decided to throw a BBQ baby shower that guys could come to, because why open gifts alone when you’re a married person celebrating a baby that belongs to you both, right? For host gifts to me & Ben, Mallorie & Jim, Dawn & Michael, and Hope & Jonathan, Emily & Josh gave us each a basket of fresh Pennsylvania apples, syrup, and cider mix. She knows us so well!
Carrie, Emily’s good friend from college, a blog reader from New Orleans with a precious baby girl, ate on the porch with me, Ben and Emily’s mama, Mrs. Suzy. We met at their wedding, but I’m so glad we got to hang out a little tonight:
Soon, it was gift opening time:

And of course, Mrs. Suzy’s gifts stole the show. Tears were shed. Children’s books were given to every member of the family for when Samuel arrives (one of which was for Josh and Em’s dogs, Jolene and Baxter, called ‘The Puppy Who Wanted A Boy’which made Josh weepy):

 And two incredible handmade quilts that she made just for Samuel:

Is Mrs. Suzy not AMAZING? She even made one for Ben and I as a ‘thank you’ gift when Josh and Em got married. They have such a big, loving, excited family waiting for this baby boy. I can’t believe our group is about to gain one more person in November!