Beverly and Anansa may agree that birthdays are important, but when it comes to Beverly’s birthday that may be all they can agree on. As Anansa began to pull together some ideas for her mom’s celebration, Beverly hit her daughter with a distraction of a 3-month old party for Ava. Although I know Bev loves Ava…it was clearly a move to keep Anansa in check with any plans she may be hatching.

Like most family moments with an infant in the house, they all gathered in Anansa’s room to stare at little Ava. Robert entered the room and suddenly everyone was on guard. They could smell the smoke on his clothes and the lectures began. They came down on him and insisted he wasn’t to hold Ava until he kicked the nasty habit. In his search to stop, he decided to get hypnotized. Now, some people may think it is crazy but I personally know people who have stopped after decades of smoking in this way…and no they don’t quack on command or run around the backyard acting crazy. A simple little session (and maybe a follow-up one if needed) and that’s it! It’s great that Robert looked for ways to stop, but of course Bev wasn’t thrilled. She was more concerned about how it was going to impact his day-to-day work. She may have lots of love but that girl is always working.

With the room lined with balloons and streamers, a couple of close friends joined in the moment. The family even took a little time to tease Beverly about her Feng Shui home. Personally, I say if it workds for you, go with it!

As the women fussed over adorable Ava and gathered around the cake, Robert started conspiring for Bev’s birthday party. Soon after the party ended, Anansa and Robert headed to the grocery store to get the ingredients but the trip ended with Anansa chasing him around the parking lot as he lit up a hidden cigarette. Full grown men hiding cigs…too funny yet sad at the same time. Addictions stink!  However, this was only the beginning of the craziness surrounding the birthdays.

Once they finally made it home, Beverly walked in on them and the ingredients all over the counters and expressed her anger. She had made it clear that she only wanted to play golf…that was it! The cake was put on hold. But luckily this whole thing went down right before their session with their life coach who always seems to bring the mother-daughter duo back together.

So to make mom happy, Anansa and the family headed out to play golf with Bev in the scorching heat. As they all headed home, Robert headed off to the hypnotherapist. While Robert dealt with a panic attack, David was suffering from de-hydration. After coming together, the family realized that maybe it wasn’t the hypnotherapy that caused the feelings he was having…maybe it was heat stroke. Hopefully he will give it another shot!

The night of her mother’s birthday dinner, Anansa, Robert and David got back to work on making a cake. The conversation did turn a little crazy for a moment.

Although the surprise was almost blown when Beverly came home, the trio found a way to pull it off. The cake was served by Robert as Anansa trailed with Ava in hand. It was intimate and lovely….exactly what Beverly wanted. The more I see of this family, the more I love them…dysfunction and all!