I would say we are an exceptional family.
If you use the dictionary definition of the word which means "unusual".
Here is a prime example:
Matt and I have been in the basement for the last three days working on transforming it into a living space instead of a creepy cobweb dungeon on a zero dollar budget.
(It's been interesting.)
A post will be coming soon complete with pictures.
During this process I was hanging antique, German (I think) sheet music on the wall and I enlisted the help of the girls because it was really a two person job.
We all started having such a bang up time what with the girls speaking in different accents and telling silly jokes and being generally weird that I decided to make London leave his computer game to come join us.
He did so reluctantly but was in on the fun in no time.
I think this is part of the "exceptional family" thing because I'm pretty sure most families spend time together playing board games or horseback riding or something and our family does it while remodeling the house or cleaning the yard.
I call it multitasking, they call it slave labor.
By this time it's nearly 10:30 but we've just had a foot of snow fall so it's not as if we have anywhere to go in the morning so we've hunkered down to get the job finished.
There's a slight lull in the activity and we all hear what sounds like footsteps upstairs so, of course, everyone stops moving and Matt says, "Someone is upstairs".
I say, "Who would be walking around in our living room at 10:30?"
And we all start back to working and talking.
A few minutes later we hear it again and Matt says, "Someone is up there."
He walks to the stairwell and yells up, "Who's up there?"
No response.
The kids have scooted closer and closer to me and are all staring at their father to see what he's going to do.
I'm still hanging papers.
Matt starts up the stairs and as he's walking he says, "Whoever's up here better have a bigger stick than I do!"
He hits the top step and we can hear him walking out of the hallway and into the living room.
The kids are all staring at the ceiling with their ears on alert and their mouths open.
I'm still hanging papers.
We then hear a body fall to the floor.
The girls gasp and start squealing.
I'm still hanging papers.
But alone now.
London has moved away from the stairway and the girls are pleading with me to go check on their dad.
I refuse.
They tell me I'm going to feel bad if he's laying up there dead.
Several minutes go by and then we hear the back door being opened and then slammed.
The kids are still sort of huddled together complaining about what a horrible wife I am and telling me I should call 911.
I just kept hanging my papers.
Thirty seconds later the footsteps are headed back towards the stairs and then one by one come stomping slowly down.
The girls are screaming the whole time, "Dad! Stop it!" and run into the corner.
London (who is looking especially scrawny in a pair of mismatched pajamas that are really too small for him) grabs a hot poker from the wood stove and stands en garde to the side of the stairs waiting for the intruder to round the corner.
I'm still hanging papers.
Matt leaps from around the corner of the stairs and the kids scream and then breathe a sigh of relief.
Matt laughs and they all tell them they hate him.
I tell him he's just trying to get out of work and is slowing down production.
He's offended that I didn't come to check on his well being.
I told him that if he was really knocked out by an intruder that we would've heard the second person's footsteps after he fell.
He said, "Well aren't you just a little detective."
And I said, "Yes. Yes, I am. Watching all those episodes of Monk and House and reading the entire set of Sherlock Holmes has really paid off after all."
And then we all got back to work.
And London slept on the girls' bedroom floor instead of in his own bed that night.
B
PS--We later realized that the noise we heard was my hand hitting the wall as I was hanging my papers. My bad!
You can see the rest of the images from this wedding here under "Ramsey/Kimbrough Wedding".
2 comments:
The walls turned out really great, and made for another exceptional family story which is just a bonus:)
As usual exceptional story telling and exceptional pictures
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