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It takes something special to bring the whole family together these days. I can’t remember the last time we were all in the same house at the same time, but this was Mom’s birthday, so all eleven of us met at Suzanne’s house and shared a couple of hours of each other’s company. And we were all on our best behavior, too. Even the adults.
We also celebrated Suzanne’s birthday, which was earlier this week. I suppose they must be used to combining their birthdays, after having them three days apart for all these years. That doesn’t make it fair, but it’s not as if they are still counting candles on cakes. In fact, there are no cakes. We had apple pie instead.
Even after all these months apart, all four kids walked up and gave me a hug when they got there. Dakota did his “Back off!” routine that we do together whenever we see each other. I was happy he remembered. He and D.J. were in demand at their father’s house later tonight, so we had an early dinner to make sure they could be there for the unwrapping of presents.
Aiden took great delight in learning the song from the musical greeting card. It amused D.J. a lot, since it was a little risqué, so Aiden laughed, too. I’m not sure he knew exactly why it was funny, but he definitely understood that it was. He’s only four and half, so he’s still learning what jokes travel well and which ones should stay in the family. He’s out of school until January, so by then he’ll be on to something else anyway.
And Kylie was everywhere, flashing that glorious smile and telling stories and being the life of the party as usual. At the dinner table she announced that she and Aiden like to tackle each other. “Sometimes I get on top of Aiden, and sometimes he gets on top of me,” she explained. David asked her who wins, and she said, with an exaggerated sigh, “It’s not a race, Dad!” |
