"Hey daddy! That toilet's throwin' up water! Come quick!"

"When did we put the kids to bed?"

"Two hours ago."

"How many times have they been up?"

"Every ten minutes. We're never going to get through this movie. You'd better get up there."

Adam groaned and tried to figure out how to get off the couch without having to make her get up too because she looked too comfortable to move. Finally he stood up and moved the throw pillows and blanket around her, cocooning her so much that it was comical and she giggled.

"I'll be right back."

"Okay, and tell those kids if they bother us one more time we're going to make them clean the toilets with toothbrushes and their bare hands."

"I'll let them know."

She smirked as he went upstairs, then buried her face in the throw pillow with laughter when his made up swear words drifted down from the bathroom. He was done soon and came back down the stairs, shaking his head.

"Avery sent toilet paper down again," he sighed, joining her on the couch and sliding his arms tightly around her. "I think we need to start locking it up."

"No. Then the boys would never use it," she yawned, reaching for the remote. "I forgot to pause it, we missed a bunch of stuff."

"I don't want to start it over again."

"This is worse than the time we tried to watch Inception when Ben had colic."

"Altogether a terrible idea."

"Within a terrible idea."

"Idea-ception."

She snickered and reached up to pat his cheek.

"I really love you."

"I really love you too."

"Mama! I potty!"

Lindsay closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"Is the zoo looking for a new exhibit?" she grumbled, standing up from the couch.

"I don't think the zoo would take them. Their quiet hours start much earlier than our kids would be willing to settle down."

"Maybe they need to be shipped off to military school then."

"The boys could be. Avery has to be potty trained first."

"She's just never going to leave home."

By the time Lindsay made it upstairs, Avery had fallen back to sleep and her diaper was clean. More than likely, it had just been a ploy to get out of bed. Annoyed, she opened the window a little to get some airflow, then tucked her in again and left the room. Ben was standing in his doorway staring at her, his head tipped to the side.

"So mama," he started quietly. "Do you think it would be okay if I came back downstairs with you and daddy?"

"No it wouldn't. It's way, way past your bedtime."

"But here is the thing! See I can't sleep. So if I could come down with you and daddy, that would be what we call quality time! That's good for bonding! And remember that book you readed 'bout the love languages and how to show your kids you love them? Well I was quality time, 'member? So if you love me, I could come downstairs."

"Benjamin, I love you, but I also need you to be happy in the morning and ready for the day, and you're not going to do that well unless you get some sleep."

He frowned and sighed, turning back to his bed and looking at it forlornly.

"I just don't see the appeal," he muttered.

"Well I do, and mama knows best, so get in bed."

"Can't I have a glass of milk?"

"You already had one. Lay down and close your eyes."

"I thought I was a funny kid. I thought that would get me somewhere in life."

She bit her tongue to keep from laughing.

"Even funny kids need sleep. I am not going to tell you again. It's time for bed. Goodnight."

He rolled onto his stomach to avoid the kiss she tried to press to his cheek, so she tucked him in and left the room without it.

"They're half yours," Adam reminded her as she came back into the room wearing a grimace.

"Why did we have them? I mean I love them but sometimes I've got to wonder what we were thinking."

"We had them because you got pregnant."

"And who got me pregnant?"

"We both did."

"Right but who initiated-"

"Okay, the first one was all me, but we're pretty happy with him!"

"I'm happy with all of them, I'm just cranky."

"There's some chocolate ice-cream hidden in the freezer that I got for your birthday but we can have it now if you want."

"You got me ice-cream for my birthday?" she asked, not having realized it was only a few days away now.

"Yeah."

"Well…let's save it. We can have something else."

"Are you sure?"

"You bought it special. Besides, I have donuts hidden in the cupboard."

"You realize we hide our junk food not from our kids, but from Austin right?"

"Her sweet tooth is like a blood hound."

Adam laughed and they went into the kitchen where she made him turn around and close his eyes so he wouldn't see her hiding place.

"You want the chocolate or the powdered kind?"

"Both. Why would you make me decide?"

"Because I didn't think you would want a donut around your middle," she answered, poking his stomach.

"Hey, we've been married almost ten years. I shouldn't have to stay good looking anymore. I should be like an appendage by now."

"Okay well what would you do if I got fat?"

"Buy a bigger bed."

"You'd still want to sleep with me?"

"You'd still be you, just with some more fluff. I like fluff. Now what would you do if I got fat?"

"Nothin'. Here, have two donuts, let me prove my love."

"You're hot."

She smiled and pushed him out of the room so she could put the donuts away, then went back and joined him on the couch.

"Hey look what's on."

"Richard Simmons? Don't you think that's a little on the nose?"

He laughed and pulled her down onto the couch, kissing the top of her head.

"You doing alright sweetie?"

"Yeah. I'm good. Can we watch something else? His hair really takes away my appetite."

"Maybe that was his racket all along," Adam laughed, changing the channel while she stole a bite of his donut. "What do you want to watch?"

"Whatever."

"Quit eating my donut."

"But I want the chocolate kind."

"Then why didn't you get the chocolate kind?"

"Because I didn't know I wanted it until just now."

"Babe, what am I going to do with you?" he sighed, letting her eat the rest of his donut.

"Love me, love me, say that you love me."

"Don't push it, lady."

She smiled and cuddled up next to him while he flipped through the channels, not minding that there wasn't much on that was worth watching. It wasn't really about that right now anyway. They'd both felt that one on one time between them had been lacking a lot lately and had decided that staying up a little late to be together would have to do.

"Hey sweetie, we need to talk about me going to D.C."

"I don't want to talk about that. You're going to be gone for four weeks."

"I know. I talked to Mac today though, and he said because it can be classified as educational purposes, my leave can be for up to six weeks, which means we can take a vacation when I get back."

"Really?"

"Yeah. At first I thought we would drop in on all the in-laws and get it out of the way, but now I think it would be nice to stay closer and do a weekend for just the five of us."

"That would be nice."

"It's going to have to be cheap because we have to pay for our anniversary trip later, but I'm sure we can come up with something good."

"That means you already found something," she said with a grin, glad he was such a planner.

"Yurts."

"Yurts?" she laughed, imaging the five of them crammed into one of the small huts for three days.

"It's a few hours away, in East Meredith I guess. They're pretty big places, they have king sized beds inside and full kitchen and plumbing. But it's still like camping. And I know it's kind of expensive per night, but we'll be saving on entertainment because we'll be out in the woods so we won't need any. Plus, there's stables nearby so we can take the kids riding one day. They would love it and I know you would be really happy to see your kids roughing it like that."

"It sounds really good."

"And after the kids go to bed at night, you and I can sit out on the porch and listen to the wild animals and crickets and watch the campfire die down. I know you want that."

"I do, let's go now."

"I don't have objections to that, but I think it will be nice to look forward to while I'm gone."

"Yes it will."

"You going to be alright without me for four weeks?"

"No, but I'll live. I just wish you could come back on the weekends."

"Me too."

"We've never been apart this long. What's our record, a week?"

"I think so."

"And that was hard enough."

"Linds… if you want me to stay home I will."

"I don't want you to stay home. I think you need to do this. I'm not going to be selfish about it or stand in your way. It's just going to be hard that's all. Not impossible. Besides I am sure the kids will keep me busy enough that I won't have time to blubber like an idiot because I miss you."

"Well here's to hoping."

"I'm not going to even get to kiss you for a month."

"I know. You'd better send me off well."

"I will. I think the kids will go to bed early the night before."

"That will be nice. And then when I come home…"

"I'll make it worth your while."

"Oh yeah?"

"I'll have a month to plan won't I?"

He chuckled and twirled a strand of her hair through his fingers.

"There's the bright side."

She sat up suddenly, turning to him and taking his face in her hands before kissing him deeply.

"Thank you for being the wonderful person that you are and making me miss you so much."

"I didn't come like this, babe. You made me better."

"You made me better too."

"Well we're just all around pretty awesome aren't we?"

"And exceedingly humble to boot."

"Whee! Whee! Oh fun!" Avery hollered from downstairs. Lindsay cringed and wondered what could possibly be making her that happy, but decided that since she was occupied, there was no reason to disturb the peace. Besides, there was too much laundry to be put away and other housework to be done for her to be worried about what the kids were doing downstairs. Colton was down there with his nose buried in a book, but he could usually be counted on to make sure Ben and Avery didn't injure themselves with whatever scheme they were concocting.

"Hey honey can you go get that last load out of the dryer? I want to be done with laundry as soon as possible."

"Yes ma'am," Adam agreed, finishing shining his dress shoes. "Are you going to need more hangers from the laundry room?"

"Yeah, thanks."

He went downstairs whistling and she finished putting their clothes away, tossing all the socks into a basket to be sorted by the next kid that needed a punishment.

"Uh babe, you'd better come down here."

"Why, what happened?"

"Well, Ben and Avery are very, very clean. That's the good news."

Groaning and wondering what could have happened, she made her way downstairs where Colton was sitting on the couch smirking and Adam was standing in the doorway to the laundry room, his hands on his hips.

Water and soap covered the floor, having overflowed from the washer. Ben was standing there looking frightened while Avery did spastic pirouettes in her diaper, giggling every time she fell into the soapy mess.

"What on earth happened in here?"

"Well mama, it's a long story," Ben said with a sigh. "And I'd like to tell you about it. But I got laundry to do."

"Benjamin."

"Why do I always get called that when I am on thin ice?"

"So you'll know you're on thin ice," Colton offered.

"Oh."

"Ben, what did you do?"

"Well I needed to learn how to do my own laundry," he started. "I'm growin' up after all, mama! And you will not always be around to wash my underpants."

"Where do you think I'm going?"
"Maybe China since you love their food so much," he answered with a shrug. "I am thinkin' that maybe I went overboard on the soap though. Maybe a big jug was too much?"

"Oh Ben," Lindsay sighed while Adam just kept staring at the mess. "What are we going to do?"

"Well… you won't gotta mop this floor for a long time!"

"I think we just have to start bailing it, hon," Adam suggested. "Ben, what did you put in the washer? We didn't have any dirty laundry left."

"Sissy's clothes. They were messy!"

"What were they messy with?"

"They're sissy's clothes, they're always messy! Right sissy?"

"Uh-huh!" she agreed, sitting down on the floor and spinning herself in a circle. "Whee!"

"I think we need to get her cleaned up first. She's going to get a rash from all this soap if she stays in it too long. Avery, go with mama and get cleaned up."

"I swim! Mermaid!"

"Come on Ariel, this water is contaminated."

She grabbed her slippery child and took her upstairs while Adam grabbed the mop bucket from the cupboard and started to bail the water into the utility sink.

"Daddy are you very angry?"

"No, I'm not angry at you Ben. You were trying to do something good, you were just a little misguided."

"I just want to learn this."

"Tell you what. If you help me clean this up and promise to always ask for help when you want to learn something, then I will teach you how to do laundry later. Okay?"

"You really will daddy?"

"I will. Let me get this water off the floor and then you can help me clean the rest up."

"It is good I thinked fast and putted the doggy bed over there so the water wouldn't get on the rest of our floors huh?"

"Yeah, I'm very glad you did that. It was a good idea."

Ben nodded proudly and rocked back and forth on his heels while Adam continued to clean up the mess. It didn't take as long as he thought it would to get all the water off the floor and pretty soon they were rinsing it with clean water and drying it with towels.

"Wow, these floor sure do sparkle! Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea!"

"Don't you dare do it again Ben."

"I'll make a note of it," he agreed. "My socks is so wet they feel like walkin' on a whale's tongue. I will go change them."

"Give them to me and I can throw them right in the wash."

"Okay here you go! I'm gonna go tell mama that we're done."

He thundered up the stairs and skidded to a halt in the bathroom, breathing fast.

"Mama. We're done cleanin' the room down there. Are you done cleanin' sissy?"

"Yes I'm done."

"Good! Now we could eat dinner outside like you promised! Come on sissy!"

"No, wait sissy," Lindsay chuckled, making sure Avery was all the way in her pajamas and her hair was at least mostly dry. "Okay now go."

The kids giggled and took off down the stairs while Lindsay cleaned up the bathroom and wondered if other mothers in the world had figured out how to sit down and do nothing while their kids were still awake.

"Babe, we're takin' the food out. You comin'?"

"Yeah."

She joined them downstairs and got the plates of food ready while Adam and Colton started a fire in their fire pit. Ben and Avery sat cuddled up in one of the camp chairs, eagerly awaiting their food and excited about doing something out of the norm.

"Oh that fire!" Avery said, pointing at the scant orange flames. "Lovely!"

"Yeah, they are a sight to behold, aren't they?"

"Yes. Are."

"Wow mama, this chicken is sure good," Colton said, getting sauce all over his face. "Thanks for makin' it for us."

"You're welcome buddy."

"I think it's good too!" Ben said, waving the drumstick in the air. "Also I like the rest of this food! I like it even more than sissy does!"

Avery's food sat ignored while she started at the fire, nearly in a trance. Her eyes were huge as she watched the flames grow, then she held her hands out and giggled as they got warm.

"This so fun," she decided with a whisper, looking up at Lindsay and smiling. "Like this mama."

"Me too. Why don't you eat your dinner honey?"

Avery sighed and ate her food, staring at the fire the entire time. They were all quiet sitting there, enjoying the fresh air and simplicity. Lindsay was starting to think even more that Adam's idea of getting away for a weekend was a very good one.

"I sit your lap," Avery said after a while, her dinner mostly eaten. She slid out of her chair and climbed into Lindsay's lap, settling in to more than likely fall asleep. Normally in the evenings she wanted Adam or the boys to hold her and preferred Lindsay to just tuck her in, but occasionally only her mama would do.

"Can we cook something over this fire?" Colton asked, picking a stick up from the ground. "This would be a good one for marshmallows."

"We don't have any marshmallows this time, but maybe next time."

"Well okay."

"Oh no I feeled a raindrop!" Ben shrieked, jumping up from his chair and looking at the sky. "Those are angry clouds! It's gonna make a storm!"

"Ben, not so loud," Adam started to say, but was overpowered by a clap of thunder, which caused all three kids to scream in delight.

"A storm!" Colton shouted happily, standing up and doing a little dance. "Maybe it will be a flood!"

"Yeah! Maybe we could get in the car and drive in it!"

"Yeah, we could follow it! Could we daddy? Like storm chasers?"

"I don't know if it's going to be a big enough storm to follow boys."

"How 'bout if the power goes out, then could we?"

"Okay, if the power goes out, we'll go chase the storm. For now let's get cleaned up."

The boys were quick about stacking up plates and taking them inside while Adam folded the chairs up and leaned them against the house.

"Think we should put out that fire?"

"Yeah, it might not rain enough to take care of it," Lindsay said, maneuvering down to grab the container of sand while still holding Avery on her hip. "Ready to go inside sweetie?"

"No fire?"

"We'll have another one later."

"Bye fire," she said, waving at the smoking pit. "See later."

They went inside where the boys were rinsing the dishes and putting them in the sink, chattering about the storm and if the power would go out or not.

"What can we do while we wait for the power to go out?" Ben asked, certain that it would happen just because he wanted it to. "Could we play somethin' fun?"

"It's time to start settling down. Why don't you boys go get in your pajamas-"

"Aw man!"

"And we'll read a couple chapters."

They grumbled but went upstairs to change while Adam took the cushions off the couch and reached down to grab the pull out bed.

"More comfortable than cramming on the couch," he explained when Lindsay gave him a questioning look.

"Mama, no go night-night."

"Not yet sweetie. Daddy's going to read to us. Is that okay?"

"It okay. Blankie."

"We're ready!" Ben announced, his hair sticking up from changing his shirt. "Cole broughted the book."

They all clambered up onto the bed together and settled into the pillows while the storm gained power outside. They managed to get through a chapter before the rain and thunder were so loud that they couldn't hear each other. Adam stood up and turned the lights off so they could all watch the rain out the window.

"I like the look of that rain," Ben announced after a moment. "It makes me think about all the roads bein' rivers. And that maybe there would be fish in them. And that we could go fishin', like when mama was a kid."

"Hey Ben, in school I learned that faraway in Italy, there's a town that has rivers for roads. And people use boats to get around."

"Do they have to look both ways before they cross the road?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"What if Dunner lived on the other side of the road? And I wanted to go there but I can't swim and I can't drive a boat?"

"Well I think there is some bridges."

"Oh whew. That would be a close call if I lived in Italy."

"Hey Ben if you could live anywhere in the whole world, where would it be?"

"I would live here, in our house. What about you?"

"I think I would live here too. Except we would have a pool in the backyard. And a tree house. And a second house for the Messers."

"Yeah, that would be fun. How 'bout you sissy?"

"With mama."

"You would live wherever mama lived?"

"Yes. And daddy."

"Well mama and daddy will always live together. Won't you?"

"Don't worry Ben. Mama promised me long ago that her and daddy will always love each other and live together. For all the days."

"Good, I am glad. Daddy, you don't mind livin' with mama even though she's a girl?"

"What does being a girl have to do with it?"

"Well girls smell like flowers and boys don't like flowers."

"Yeah, but I like your mama more than anything in the world. I'd rather live with her and smell flowers all the time than not live with her at all."

"Wow, love is really strong, huh?"

"It's like how sometimes you don't want to play the game that Junior is playing but you'll play it just because you want to play with him."

"Oh I get it! Mama, do you love daddy enough do to stuff with him what you don't like?"

"Yeah, like when he wants me to rub his feet."

"Ew!" both boys hollered, laughing.

"Or like when you still kiss each other even when you're mad?"

"Yeah, just like that."

"I don't know that I got enough patience for love," Ben concluded with a sigh. "But I got a lot of years before I need to fall in love anyway."

"Yeah, me too," Colton agreed. "That's why we got mama and daddy, to show us how love goes."

"I like this. Could we sleep here together tonight? Just our family?"

"I don't know," Adam sighed, glancing over at Lindsay to see if she already had plans for the night.

"I guess we could just this one time," Lindsay decided, watching as Ben's eyes lit up. "But you have to actually go to sleep. No horsing around just because you're not in your own bed."

"Okay mama I promise!" he said, taking his glasses off and handing them to her before settling into the blankets.

Adam and Lindsay grinned at each other over the tops of the kids heads, planning on sneaking upstairs after all three had drifted off.

"This day was real good," Ben yawned. "Despite the problem with the laundry. All days is good in our home. All days."