"Ooh yeah. When we were little, she would always ram into him really hard which made him fall over the fence and into the pig pen." Everyone laughed. My mom walked into the kitchen with a tray full of empty glasses.
"Hey kids," she said. We all waved and said hello. We watched as she set the tray into the sink and she sighed at the look of all the dirty dishes to wash that night. "Well, oh, Nicole? Have you heard anything from Tim yet?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Oh good! Did he say when he was coming home?"
"No, I meant I heard ABOUT him but I didn't hear anything FROM him," I said. "Mom, why didn't you tell me he was engaged to Alexis?"
"Um," my mom was surprised I knew. I heard some chuckles from the guys but I shot them a dirty look. They instantly shut up. "Well, honey. Tim wanted it to be a surprise...," she said. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.
"Uh-huh, sure."
"....and Alexis was afraid you'd get mad at her," she finished. I started snickering.
"Why would she think I can stop them from getting married? Sheesh, she needs to get her brain checked if she thinks I can do all that."
My mom sighed in relief. "Well, I'm glad you took everything so well. The adults are going to watch some more movies and talk a bit so I'll send the other kids out here so you guys can watch over them, ok? Have fun!" Before anyone could object, she ran into the family room and shooed Aaron, Angel, Leslie, Kaitlyn, Sarah, and Maggie out. You could tell they were all tired, they had dark bags under their eyes and their backs were slumped.
"Ok, guys," said Nick. "How bout you guys get some shut-eye?" Sarah and Maggie nodded and collapsed into my lap while the other four shook their heads.
"No!" argued Aaron. "I'm not tired!"
"Yes you are!" Nick snapped back.
"Can't we stay up a bit longer?" begged Angel. "It's only....," she turned around and looked at the kitchen clock which read 9:45. "....9:45! I still have 45 minutes before my real bedtime," she whined.
Katie kneeled down so her eyes were at Angel's eye level. "But Angel, you've been watching Titanic for 3 hours, that's GOT to make you tired." Angel's eyes had a stern look in them, but finally she relaxed and seemed to give up.
"Oh, alright."
"Ok how are we going to do this?" I wondered.
"Do what?" asked Howie.
"Sleeping arrangements....I know! Maggie and Sarah will sleep in their room...and so will Kaitlyn."
Kaitlyn's eyes got wide. "No way!"
"Then Angel and Leslie can sleep in Kaitlyn and my room," I continued, ignoring the whining Kaitlyn who was now jumping up and down. "And Aaron, you can sleep in the guestroom."
"Ok," Aaron yawned. Katie, Nick, and I herded the group of kids upstairs and tucked them into bed with much difficulty. Kaitlyn kept trying to sneak out of the bed she and Sarah were sharing and into her own room where Leslie and Angel were, but I always caught her. Aaron kept lassoing Nick with his sheets whenever he tried to walk out the door. But finally, the three of us managed to reach the downstairs hall.
"Well," I panted as everyone came from the kitchen. "That wasn't too hard."
"Howie?" Noelle asked.
"Yeah?"
"Can me and Colleen go back to the hotel we're staying at? I'm beat."
"Oh, are you sure?" Noelle nodded and yawned.
"Hey, so am I!" said Kali.
"You guys are staying at hotels?" I asked.
"Yeah," replied Colleen. "Noelle and I live in Georgia and so does Vonnie, right?" Vonnie nodded. "Kali lives in New York and Katie lives in Maryland."
"Why don't you go back home?"
"SHH!" joked Kevin. "Don't give them any ideas!" I smiled.
"Aww, you're staying just because of your boyfriends? How sweet."
"Ugh! Me and Kali aren't! I don't get why we're still here....," said Vonnie. I saw Kali jab Vonnie in the ribs with her elbow.
"Because we WANT to, right Vonnie?" Kali said through clenched teeth.
"Oh yeah! That's right, heh heh. My bad."
Brian rolled his eyes. "You guys make me sick."
"Why thank you," said Kali with a grin.