THE FAM

A day in the life of the Ayers family...

starts off with everyone getting up for church, (and at some point all 4 of us in one bathroom at the same time) but then my sis decides she needs to go in to work and my mom decides she should be here for when my brother and niece come over...

so just dad & I end up at St. Bernard's, and I head straight up the 6 flights of stairs to the choir loft, learn 2 new pieces of music (in about 10 minutes) plus 1 descant to a song I've known for years (during which I started crying because it reminded me of my Mama Denholm) and start singing my heart out...

an hour later church is over and we're headed back home where we're greeted by my adorably chubby 14-month-old niece (who continuously says "hi", "light", "mama", and "elijah" - which sounds low and long, like "elahhhhhhhhja") and when my aunt & uncle bring over the veggie lazagna, we eat on the fancy plates...

cut to the ceremony in Brunswick where my amazing dad is being honored (complete with a presentation of the check, a video montage and a mayoral proclaimation) for this truly breathtaking patriotic mural he's painted on one entire wall of the inside of the city hall; and after about a million pictures, some well-intentioned harmony on the national anthem, and some cookies & punch, we pile into the van for the ride home...

but not before stopping to get some homemade ice cream (chocolate peanut butter, mint chocolate chip & white house) at this little place I haven't been to in a decade or more...

and then we're back at the house and immediately into the "comfy clothes" - we munch on snacks while doing some computer business: checking some e-mail and looking at facebook, enjoying a beautiful online wedding album, fixing a few things on dad's website, and cracking up at an honest and humorous misunderstanding my mother has regarding her password strength...

and finally the games begin: first comes Scattegories where we learn that both my sister and I decided Wanda Sikes was the best answer for something and my parents consistently canceled each other out with their similar reponses, and next comes Taboo (during which one of said "dueling boys" in the post below comes over) which brings out my dad's uber-creative clue-giving like "big breasted entrapment" and "hilarious clavicle"...

which leads to this moment of completely enjoyable exhaustion, when I can take a few minutes to reflect on the lovliness of the day and the next two days to come - which will be even better.