Mountz Memoirs: GrannyLyn's Memorial

This morning Ellie allowed me to sleep in until 7:00. Of course this occurred on a day where I could have probably used extra time to get ready, but I'll take the sleep. GrannyLyn's funeral was split up into two parts: a private ceremony with the family at the graveside followed by the memorial service at the church. Initially I didn't think we would go to the graveside service since it began at 9:00 in West Chester, but Ellie is still so transportable and so we decided to go. Although we were out the door ten minutes later than I had planned we arrived with several minutes to spare. Ellie was due for some breakfast so I stayed in the car to nurse her. She didn't take very long to eat, just long enough for us to walk down to the grave site when the pastor was finishing up. We made it in for the pictures, so nobody will (hopefully) remember our late arrival a few years down the road.
After spending some time taking pictures and catching up with relatives we headed over to the church. There was an hour from 10:00-11:00 when people could come greet the family and look at pictures and memorabilia. Mimi and Pops came during this time so we said hi to them. The memorial service, which started at 11:00, was right when Ellie needed to eat. Instead of risking her disrupting the service I kept her out and nursed her for the first twenty minutes or so before heading into the sanctuary. Although I missed most of the special music and Doug's Scripture reading I fortunately heard the message and Donna and Aunt Pam's contribution. About five years ago they had given GrannyLynn a book with memories and tidbits about what they enjoyed/appreciated about her for Mother's Day. They took excerpts from this book and shared their answers with us today, which was a wonderful way for me to learn more about who GrannyLyn was and her personality. At the very end of the service the choir sang the benediction that we would sing at the end of Csehy concerts - I really like that one.
Following the service, which lasted about an hour, was a luncheon everyone was invited to. We sat at a table with Jon's siblings and spouses and Ellen Ruggerio. After walking into the fellowship hall I did not hold Ellie again until after people were heading home. It was nice to eat lunch with both of my hands free! She was a good girl and didn't fuss until it was time for her to eat. I fed her, we said goodbye to Grandpop, and we headed home. Apparently I hadn't fed Ellie enough (she fell asleep eating) because she woke up very sad in the car. I had brought a bottle so I fed her a couple ounces and Jon pulled over so I could burp her, since she was still unsettled. Well that did the trick because she fell asleep for the rest of the trip home.
On our way home we decided to ask if we could get dinner for Doug and Donna. When I called to see if they had figured dinner out, Donna told me that they had passed a chicken BBQ in Loag's Corner and asked if we wanted to join THEM for dinner. I decided to offer them all to come here if that would help in any way. After we had that figured out Ellie and I took a nap while Jon mowed and trimmed the lawn. I woke up to Jon's alarm of a duck quacking going off at 4:15. I ignored it for about ten minutes before I couldn't stand it anymore so Ellie and I woke up and cleaned up the house a bit in preparation for our company.
The easiest company to host is company who brings the food. We all pigged out on our chicken BBQ dinners and cookies. Somehow we forgot the cupcakes that came with the dinner and Donna left all of them here. I don't think I'm ever going to lose this baby weight at this rate!
Omar hung around afterwards and played FIFA with Jon before we all watched another episode of....you guessed it, Band of Brothers.

Today definitely felt like fall, but it was a beautiful day. Our neighbor with all of the decrepit trains had an auction today while we were at the memorial service. Jon and I are interested to see if he actually sold any of his heaps.

Ellieisms:

I put Ellie in her crib end to end but when I went in to get her this morning I found her like this: