"We have some exciting news for you all!" Lena said excitedly looking at her kids and then glancing back to her wife.
"Are we getting a puppy?' Jesus said slightly interrupting.
"No. Let Mama finish her announcement, please." Stef said putting an arm around Jesus.
"Phil, Karen, and their family are going to be joining us for Thanksgiving! In fact, they are planning to get here Wednesday and stay until Saturday!"
All of the kids cheered. Since their friends had moved to Los Angeles a few years ago they didn't get to see them very often. They had done a few weekend visits but never for so many days.
"I want Lilly to stay in my room! Would that be okay?" Callie asked.
"Of course! We are going to give Brandon's room to Phil and Karen since he has a bed bigger than a twin size. Lilly will stay with the girls, Jace will be staying in the boys' room, and Brandon, Matt, Dylan, and Grant will be staying in the family room. Now, that means we have some cleaning to do. This is Saturday and they are coming Wednesday. So, I want your rooms cleaned today." Lena explained.
The kids were still chatting excitedly to each other and none were moving toward the stairs. "I believe your mama means for you to go start cleaning right now." Stef added in a more authoritative voice.
"Oh, I can't right now." Callie said looking up. "I am going to my friend's house this afternoon, remember? I will just have to do my part tomorrow."
"Hmmm, it is still morning right now. You have a couple of hours until you are due over there. We could always call and put if off until later… Doing what your moms say is a priority above hanging out with my friends. Do you get that, Callie?"
"Yes, ma'am. I am going right now." Callie said standing up and dragging Mariana up the stairs with her. The other kids also got the idea and followed closely after the girls.
Jude started straightening things, but stopped when he saw Jesus playing. "Whatcha doing, Jesus?"
"I am seeing if I can use this rubber band to launch the car over this book and get it to land on the track. It is sort of like a science experiment."
"Oh. I thought we were supposed to clean our room…."
"Brandon needs to clean his because Karen and Phil are staying in there. We just have Jace staying with us and we will just mess it back up. Moms know that. We just have to stay up here until Brandon is done so he doesn't feel bad." Jesus crossed the room and gave Jude part of the track for the car. "Here, you hold this piece and catch the car when I fling it."
XXX
"It is quiet upstairs. Do you want to take the first shift to make sure the cleaning is actually happening or should I?" Lena asked as she handed Stef the shopping list.
Stef looked up from her current task. "You can take the first. I am almost finished with this paperwork and then I will do the follow up."
"Sounds good. What do you think the chances are that all the kids are actually cleaning?"
"I bet Brandon is… He is sort of particular about his room anyway, it is probably almost finished. The others could go either way. Jude is usually a good cleaner. So, I think all of the boys will be okay. It is the girls that I am most concerned about."
"Hmm… I think you scared Callie enough to get her and Mariana to clean for at least a few minutes. I think it will be the little boys who are not working."
"You are willing to bet against Jude? Really? Loser has to go Thanksgiving grocery shopping with whichever kids don't have plans for this afternoon. It will be decided by whoever is done last."
"Deal." Lena gave Stef a little peck on her cheek before going up the stairs.
XXX
Jesus heard footsteps on the stairs and perked his ears in that direction. He quickly put his rubber band and cars down confusing Jude a little. "I was going to get it this time, I promise."
"No, Jude, Mama is coming! Now we have to pretend like we have been working. You pick up the train tracks while I work on the Legos!"
Jude obeyed just in time for Lena to look in the doorway. "I see you two are hard at work. It is looking good, boys. I am going to check on everyone else and then I am going to start lunch. Any requests?"
"Can we go out for pizza?" Jesus asked hopefully.
"Nope."
"Make macaroni and cheese, Mama! The kind you make in the oven that doesn't come out of the blue box."
"I can do that, Jude. If you guys get done I could use some helpers. Make sure you are really working."
Lena smiled to herself already knowing that she had won the bet. She peeked in the girls' room next. "Hi, Mama!" Mariana said painting her toenails.
"Hello… I am not sure that painting nails is actually a part of cleaning your room. Where is your sister?"
Mariana rolled her eyes some. "We are each going to do our own half of the room. Callie just wants to get hers done first so I am staying out of the way to help her. I think she went to the bathroom or something."
"Right… Seriously, Mari, put the nail polish away and clean your room. It isn't that messy and you could be done in the next half hour. You don't need to change the sheets on your beds because we will do that Wednesday morning. Right now you just need to pick up everything on the floor, straighten the closet and vacuum."
Mariana set her nail polish on her night stand with a sigh. "Okay, Mama."
Lena left the girls' room feeling a little less hopeful with her bet with Stef. It might end up with both of them losing. Next she went into Brandon's room. Callie was making his bed while he put away the last of his clothes. They both looked up when Lena came in.
"Oh, I wasn't expecting to see both of you in here. What's going on?"
"We made a deal so we could both get done. Callie helped me and then I am going to help her. Is that okay?" Brandon asked.
"I see no problem with that arrangement as long as you both agree."
"We do, Mama." Callie assured her. "Mari wasn't really helping anyway…"
"I am aware of that and I already told her to put the nail polish away. Just don't do all the work, guys. Make your sister do her part."
"But I really want to go this afternoon!" Callie whined.
"I know. Mom and I will take in account all of your work. If you guys get done with your part soon, I will be making lunch downstairs. I could use one or both of you to help."
Both kids smiled at her and answered they would love to help. Lena wandered back downstairs to Stef. "Well, I was right that Brandon and Callie are working. They made some sort of deal to work together. The other three, not so much."
"That deal will never work out. Did you instill fear in their little hearts or just warn them?"
"A little of both." Lena knew she had not actually warned the boys very strongly, but then also was looking forward to her afternoon alone.
XXXX
"Hey, do you remember that time we built a town out of Legos around our train track? Let's do that again!" Jesus said bringing the box of Legos over to Jude.
"I am not so sure. Mama said to clean up."
"No, she said we were doing a great job. She said exactly what I said earlier. It is really only Brandon who needs to clean. We are just up here so that it is fair."
"Oh. You are so smart."
"Thanks!"
The two boys worked almost half an hour before Jesus heard more footsteps on the stairs. "That would be Mom this time. Moms always switch of who comes next, so it isn't a big deal that we have something new built. Mom will check on the girls first. So we have a little more time. You go pick up the cars while I pick up the clean clothes and put them away."
By the time Stef came in, she saw Jesus stuffing the last of the socks into the drawers and closing them. Jude had picked up most of the cars. "Brandon and Callie are almost done guys. You might want to pick up the speed some so that you can be finished also."
"We want to leave out our trains and Legos for Jace. Is that okay, Mom?" Jesus asked trying, but failing to put on an innocent smile.
"Hmmm, sure, but put it in the corner. Pick up everything else, though. Right now."
"Okay, Mommy." Jude said sincerely.
As soon as she was gone Jesus headed over to the shelf where their toys were kept. He quickly picked up the box of plastic animals and dumped them on the floor. "Let's make a zoo!"
"Are you sure, Jesus?" Jude asked hesitantly.
"Absolutely. Mom thought we were working. When Mama comes up here, she won't remember that we didn't have these out, but she will see the cars are cleaned up. Then we will go have lunch and our room will be forgotten. Trust me on this one. I am your big brother."
Sometime later, they heard yelling coming from the girls' room. "That's not fair, Brandon! I picked up your shoes, made you bed, and vacuumed your room! Now you have to help with mine!"
"No, I don't. I am done and I am going down stairs!"
"That's still not fair! You were never going to help me, were you?"
"I was so going to help, but then I found my Percy Jackson book in your room after you told me that you gave it back. You lied to me and our deal is off." Brandon said starting to leave the girls' room.
"I am telling!" Callie yelled.
"You would. You have always been a tattle-tale. It doesn't matter, though. My room is clean. Get Mari to help you."
The moms also heard the yelling. "I know you checked on the kids last, Stef, but will you go again since I am making lunch? It sounds like Brandon and Callie's deal fell through as predicted."
"I am heading that direction right now. Brandon has to follow through, right?"
"Absolutely. It is probably also time to do something about the other two boys are Mariana as well. Whatever threated them with is fine by me as long as it is doable."
"So I cannot threaten to cut their toes off?" Stef asked with a grin.
"No, it worked that one time, but we really don't need to them telling other people again that their mother threatened them with bodily disfigurement. It put me in an odd position at school and all."
"Okay, I will not threaten their lives again either." Stef went up the stairs quietly and ignored the two still yelling at each other to do a sneak attack on the other two boys. She opened their door without knocking to find them working a puzzle on the floor. "What do you two think you are doing?"
Both boys jumped and looked very guilty. "We were just making sure the puzzle had all of its pieces." Jesus said when he regained composure first. "It is part of our sorting process."
"I am giving you both half an hour to get every toy in here including the train and the Legos picked up." Stef said setting her phone timer and placing the phone on their dresser. "When the timer goes off, I am going to gather up everything still out and it will go in my closet. Got it?"
Both boys nodded as she left the room. Jude went back to the puzzle. "No, Jude! You heard Mom, we don't have much time to get all of this cleaned up! We don't have time to finish the puzzle now!"
Jude looked at Jesus funny. "I thought you said we really didn't need to clean up, though…"
"We didn't need to before, but now we do. Mom was serious. Remember our Duplos?"
"No…" Jude answered. "What are Duplos?"
"Exactly! They are big Legos and of course you wouldn't remember them. Mom put them in her closet years ago and forgot about them. She donated them last year when we cleaned out our toys. That's what will happen to all of this!"
"I don't want all my toys to be given away!" Jude wailed.
"Then clean!" Jesus said quickly throwing a bunch of toys into a random bin haphazardly shoving it on the shelf.
The situation in the girls' room was also quickly resolved. Much to Brandon's annoyance he was told that he had to do everything in Callie's room that she did in his even if his book was in her room. Mariana was also pressed into service when Stef told her that if she didn't help she would clean the kids' bathroom alone. Then, Stef opened both bedroom doors and positioned herself in the hallway. The girls' room was ready to be vacuumed within fifteen minutes. Jude and Jesus were doing a sloppy job, but were working quickly. By the time the timer went off, they were also done, but certainly later than the others even with extra encouragement from Stef. She had already realized that she was going to lose the bet.
Brandon and Mariana made plans with friends for the afternoon. So, Stef loaded up all five children, dropped off three and took the other two to get Thanksgiving food. Lena waved from the door before heading up the stairs to have a nice bubble bath all to herself.
"What's that, Mommy?" Jude asked poking at the frozen turkeys.
"It is a turkey. We are looking for a fairly big one since we are serving it to fourteen people. Mama said to get one between thirteen and fifteen pounds so that is what we are looking for."
Jude all the sudden went pale. "I don't want to eat a turkey."
"Most people don't really like to eat turkey that is why we will also serve ham. However, I am sure that Mama will make it taste good."
"I like turkey, Mom! I think it is really good with gravy, potatoes, and ketchup." Jesus said excitedly.
"We can't EAT turkey, Mommy!" Jude repeated a little louder. "Mama promised that we wouldn't!"
"This is what we eat for Thanksgiving. It is tradition. You don't have to eat it, though. I will tell Mama that you don't have to." Stef looked at Jude and saw the tears streaming down his face. "What is the big deal anyway, Jude?"
"When my class went to the pumpkin patch they had a cage of turkeys. We got to help feed them. I could never eat one… I don't want anyone else to either. Mama promised."
Stef sighed and pulled out her phone. "I will text Mama and find out what we should do."
Lena had completely forgotten the turkey incident. She had gone on the field trip to the pumpkin patch with Jude just as she had all of her other kids went they were in first grade. No one had been expecting the turkeys to be there. Many of the first graders had enjoyed the birds, but Jude loved them. She had not exactly promised there would be no turkey for Thanksgiving, but had also hoped he would forget about it in general. She texted Stef back. "You can go back for the turkey later without Jude. I will take some time to explain to him before Thursday."
"Okay, Jude, Mama says we will not buy a turkey today. Let's go get our ham."
"Do you know where ham comes from?" Jesus asked snidely.
"No…" Jude said looking wide eyed at his brother.
"And we are not discussing it right now. Ham is food. Food that you like. It doesn't matter what it comes from."
"Or who it comes from." Jesus whispered quietly.
"I don't think I want ham anymore either, Mommy. Do potatoes also come from someone?"
"No, they grow in the ground." Stef said annoyed and eying Jesus.
"Oh, we cannot eat things that have been on the ground. Maybe I will just have eggs for Thanksgiving. Would Mama make me some eggs?"
"Eggs are baby chickens. The mom chicken poops them out." Jesus said clearly enjoying his new game of teasing his brother.
"Is that true, Mommy?" Jude said clearly tearing up again.
"Not entirely. The eggs we eat could never be baby chickens and the eggs are certainly not pooped out. Eggs do come from chickens just as ham comes from pigs and turkey comes from well turkeys. Potatoes do grow in the ground, but we clean them well. You have eaten all of those things before and you like them. We can hold off on the turkey, but we are buying the rest of this list. You can take up what you will and won't eat with your mama when we get home. Are we clear?"
"Yes." Jude looked at Jesus. "Is cereal safe to eat? I can make that myself and I will just eat that from now on."
Jesus got a little grin, but after receiving a look and a small pat on his back from Stef he cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah, cereal is nothing like that. Fruit mostly grows on trees like the ones we saw with oranges on them. So, that is also good." Stef gave him another withering glance. "All that other stuff is also okay. I was just playing with you earlier."
Jude looked unsure but didn't object to anything else put in the cart. Stef went ahead and purchased an extra box of cereal on Jude's request. She was glad that Jesus kept the fact there were eggs in cereal to himself. Jude had not gone through a picky stage as of yet. Both moms hoped to somehow skip it with him. Now thanks to the pumpkin patch and some big brother advice it seemed that it would be unavoidable.
