A/N: After years of putting this off, I will finally post this story. It was written (old school on a piece of paper) the same time as Little Quirks, but never made it to posting phase until now. Hope you enjoy it.

Fair warning: I'm no expert on kids and especially tiny humans. Most of this is what I imagine chaos to look like. Major OOC since they're rocking the sketchers and Phineas and Ferb shirts.

Bath Time

JD-2, Vin-3, Ezra-5, Buck-6, Nathan-6, Chris-7, Josiah-10, Evie-30, Orrin-36

There was never a more exhausting task then bath time. It was always a trying endeavor to get all the boys cleaned up and dressed for bed. The two young parents decided they would have the boys bathe in twos. Josiah and Nathan first since they were the least difficult, Chris and Buck next because they usually liked to take baths together, leaving the three youngest to take the last bath.

After Nathan's bath, Evie decided to give him a haircut. They had set it up in the parent's bathroom after the bath. Nathan would fidget in his seat, not wanting to sit still.

"Hold still dear. We're almost finished," Evie said for the third time.

Josiah, who was dressed in his pajamas, was sitting on the closed toilet watching the progress.

"Can I try?" asked the older boy.

"No, you're too young," his mother answered patiently.

Laughter down the hallway followed by little feet stomping informed her that Buck and Chris should be dressed now. Looking up from her task, she only gave a sigh as she saw only one of her sons actually dressed while the youngest was still in his Batman towel.

"Bucklin Abraham, you need to put on your PJs right now," she called after him.

"Yes, mama!" came his loud reply that was followed by more pounding footsteps down the hall.

"Mommy, hurry up," Nathan fidgeted again.

"Okay dear," she smiled.

Orrin leaned back on his heels with a relieved sigh as he finished cleaning the last three. Ezra, the five-year-old, immediately climbed over the barrier to escape the crowded bath. He had to quickly catch his toddler up before he left the bathroom still wet.

Partially drying him, Orrin told Ezra to find one of his older brothers to help him finish the rest and to get his pajamas on.

One of the things he found simply adorable when watching his three youngest was the way they walked. They walked/ran on their tippy toes, making it look like they were bouncing slightly.

Ezra bounced down the hallway in search of help.

Vin and JD were the ones less willing to leave the water, playing at least ten minutes after.

"You boys can play for five more minutes then it's time for bed," Orrin said, getting to his feet to stepping to the doorway to make sure his other children had followed his instructions. Evie would not let him hear the end of it if he left them unattended.

Vin and JD, three and two-years-old, hardly paid heed to time restraints and only shrilled with laughter as they splashed around in what remained of the almost empty tub.

Orrin didn't want to think about the water that would escape on the floor that he'd have to clean up later, and didn't want them hurting themselves so he drained most of the water out.

He had just gotten a confirmation that Buck and Ezra had their PJs on with Chris's help with Ezra when the doorbell rang.

"I go!" called JD. A loud splash of water indicating he was getting out of the tub.

"No, I wanna!" came Vin's equally loud response.

They slipped past their father, laughing in merriment as they bounced towards the stairs.

"Boys, neither of you are allowed back downstairs! Get back here!" Orrin ordered. It fell on deaf ears.

Buck, who had been in his room and no doubt was playing on his bed with Chris jumped off, landing with a loud thud before taking off after the toddlers.

"I can get JD!" he volunteered.

Chris, probably thinking this was a game of tag, hopped off his bed to join in, "I'll get Vin!"

"No, don't chase them. They'll fall. Don't excite them when they're on the steps," Orrin ordered, walking quickly to catch them.

There was a gate that went across the top part of the stairs to prevent the younger ones from crossing if they weren't allowed, also to prevent them from accidentally falling down the stairs. Apparently, one of the older boys had gone down for possibly a glass of water and didn't close it.

Vin and JD were now making their way down the stairs in their slow careful steps. With short legs and still the occasional fall, they knew not to try and run up or down the steps. Buck used this to his advantage to try and pick up JD who was about halfway. JD protested with a shriek and swinging his arms in displeasure. Chris, knowing a little better, passed Vin, who was almost to the bottom and picked him up from the front.

"He's wet!" Chris said the obvious, pinching his face.

Vin giggled, but also began to squirm in his brother's hold.

The doorbell rang again and Orrin tried to avoid his sons on the steps as he tried to reach it.

Behind him, he heard more shrieks and little boys laughing. Little pounding feet informed him that at least one of the toddlers escaped.

Evie frowned, hearing the noise outside the master bathroom and bedroom.

"I think someone's ringing the doorbell," Josiah said, still watching the progress.

Evie set down the razor and patted Nathan on the shoulders, "Wait right here, I need to go see who's at the door and what is going on out there."

Josiah, after waiting for his mother to leave the bathroom, shot up from his seat on the toilet and picked up the razor. Nathan, still under the big shirt used to the cut the boys' hair, frowned at him warily.

"Stop!" Nathan shouted.

"I just want to do a little part," Josiah tried to reason with his younger brother.

"No! Mommy! 'siah got the razor and he's trying to cut me!"

Josiah glared at his tattling brother and set down the razor with a humph. Evie walked quickly back into the bathroom.

"Josiah, why don't you go wait in your room for lights out."

It wasn't a suggestion.

Josiah gave a big display of unwillingness and stubbornly stood there a moment longer before obeying and leaving the room.

Downstairs both Vin and JD were crying with their older brothers holding them.

Orrin sighed as he watched the sad scene of two crying naked toddlers being carried, Buck would be considered to be more like dragging, to him. Chris and Buck would have to change into dry pajamas since they were now damp from carrying the older two.

"Did I interrupt something?" asked Bryce, trying not to laugh at the hectic scene before him.

"Just the usual bath time before bed," Orrin gave a tired sigh, "Boys, can you take Vin and JD up to your mom and they can tell her they've been bad."

"No!" Vin cried, creating a huge fuss, "I'm hurt!"

"You did it to yourself," Chris pointed out, "You fell when running. No one pushed you."

Vin kicked his older brother in the shin in anger. Chris, not ever to be outdone or to take anything from anyone, especially if they were younger, smacked Vin in the arm.

The three-year-old was wailing now louder than ever.

"Christopher, we don't hit," Orrin reprimanded.

"He kicked me!" the seven-year-old protested.

Orrin groaned and asked to be excused while he dealt with his children.

They were all ushered back upstairs, most of them crying. JD's crying was mostly to gain attention since everyone else was doing it.

After leaving them all with Evie upstairs, he closed the gate to the stairs and then went back down.

"Sorry about that."

"It's no problem. You've got seven little ones, right?" asked Bryce.

"Yep, it can be a handful at times, but they're all great when they aren't fighting with one another or screaming," Orrin chuckled. He could hear Vin and JD crying upstairs and even Chris for a few seconds. "How about we talk up in the front of the house?" he suggested.

Evie placed JD and Vin in their cribs, both still not finished with their episodes. She was trying to figure out what to do with Ezra who had been trying to sleep with all the commotion. Gathering the sleepy child, she carried him and his little-worn blankie that he called his Whoopi out of the nursery. Vin and JD were known to cry for at least another hour when they got started.

She took him to the bedroom furthest from the nursery, Buck and Chris's room. Since Ezra was a light sleeper when he first fell asleep, she thought it best to put him in here.

Buck was still sitting up talking to Chris who was propping himself up with one arm. When she entered, Buck scrambled under the covers.

"Chris, is it okay if Ezra sleeps in your bed tonight?"

"He isn't gonna drool all over me and my pillow again, is he?" asked Chris with a pinched face, though he made room for the little boy to be set down beside him and curl into his favorite position to sleep.

"Drool isn't going to hurt you, but I'll bring in his pillow so you won't have to share yours," Evie reassured.

"He's still just gonna sleep on mine," he pouted.

Ezra blinked tiredly between his mommy and his big brother. Two fingers were stuck in his mouth with his blankie rubbing his cheek.

"That just means he likes sleeping with you. Please, Chris. If not he can always just sleep with daddy and me."

Chris gave a little sigh and nodded, allowing his mother to tuck them in before kissing their heads and turning out the lights, leaving on just the night light. She only returned once to bring a pillow and slip it underneath Ezra's head.

Nathan and Josiah had already been asleep, heavy sleepers who never had any trouble with sleeping in the room next to the nursery. Josiah called it his 'sleeping noise' (white noise).

She smiled and gave them a kiss on their heads before leaving to go find her husband and their visitor downstairs.