The not so annoying little brother.

My brother came over yesterday afternoon.  He comes over most afternoons to "check on us".

While he's "checking on us", he makes sure to ask about my day and then he takes the time to find the kids and see how they are doing.  They have a lot of inside jokes with Uncle Brad so they usually end up laughing when he's around.

Also while he's "checking on us", he's going through my cabinets and refrigerator looking for snacks and leftovers.  I will admit that I  find this mildly annoying and he knows it.  But that doesn't stop him from leaving a long trail of crumbs and wrappers and dirty glasses.

Brad is technically my "little" brother.  I've got him by 11 months but he's got me by about 7 inches and quite a few pounds.  And little brothers, even when they are 47, do what they do best; annoy their big sisters.

But little brothers also love their big sisters - even when they are repeating everything they say in elementary school, or calling them names in middle school, or hitting on their friends in high school and college or teaching their niece and nephew crude jokes in their 30s or going through cabinets in their mid-forties.

When Brad came in yesterday with a gift bag complete with colored napkins peeking out of the top in lieu of tissue paper and a greeting card telling me it was a gift from him to me and Dan, I scoffed and said, "No, really.  Who's it from?"

He faked a pained look and said, "It's from me?  Why can't I do something nice for you?"

Um, because you're my annoying little brother.

He told me to check the card.  I could see that our names were written on the front in his handwriting.  He told me to wait until Dan got home so we could open it together.  I was scurrying around the house getting Sarah out the door for a Girl Scout meeting and trying to finish folding some laundry.  Brad spoke to the kids, scrounged around my cabinets for something to eat, and then he left so I could get Sarah where she needed to be.

Later that evening, Dan came in on two wheels. We were late  to a Freshman parent meeting at school. but when we got home from that, we opened the bag together as instructed and low and behold.....

My brother went to Replacements, Ltd., which just so happens to be in Greensboro, and purchased a ladle that is part of Dan's mom's china!!  He had also included a card thanking us for"opening up our home, kitchen, and cupboards." How sweet is that??

Here is the ladle resting in the gravy boat:

It appears that one of the ends is a pouring spout and the other end is a ladle rest. 

And I guess that means we can all be happy!