Smiley and Sunshine

59.

(Unpolished)

Tohubohu
(noun)
chaos; disorder; confusion
Example: The thanksgiving holiday in the Powers household was destined to be tohubohu.

Protect yourself from Mayhem, like me.

———

Two-ish.

Weeks.

Later.

Thanksgiving break could not come soon enough.

It was another Thursday night special, one whole week before the actual great day of eating delicious turkey and stuffing, corn, sweet potatoes, and all the other finger-licking good foods like chicken tenders and french fries and cookies and bread.

Just kidding, no french fries are on the menu.

Okay, fully kidding. No chicken tenders needed, either. There was full expectation that Hayes would eat the turkey.

But instead of a pre-thanksgiving turkey trial tonight, Peyton volunteered to make her infamous meatloaf dish. It was her craving of the past few weeks to which she had perfected the recipe this go-around, according to her experimental taste-tester husband. Last month, she was hooked on eggplant lasagna.

Of course the pickiest eater of the family didn't enjoy the lasagna, but from past experience, Austin wasn't so sure it would be only Sunshine on strike tonight.

Meatloaf wasn't a fan favorite amongst some of the siblings, but Peyton's happiness was important as Baker religiously followed 'happy wife, happy life' which meant his brothers appeased her as well.

If it is meatloaf she wants, then meatloaf it be.

But fear not, there was a masterplan in place. As like in the past years when Peyton's food kicks were interesting, to say the least, they waited until Baker finally caved and admitted he couldn't handle eating any more of the scrumptious meal and then it quickly turned into a cereal fest for dinner.

This week, like the past few weeks, the family dinner was being held at Austin's home rather than Baker's house. It was just easier on everyone, as Austin didn't have to rush the kids to take showers after their sports practices before heading right back out the door.

Instead, the siblings used the extra time for last-minute studying and assignment completion that had piled up and was due before their school went on vacation the following Tuesday. Or, they were suppose to be using their time wisely.

Unsurprisingly, that was in reference to Francis and Hayes, the competing procrastination queens of the family.

At least Francis kind of, sort-of, had an excuse for his recent distraction. Yesterday was national signing day for seniors who were committed to a collegiate sports team, and that meant Francis! It was an exciting moment for the young brother, with all his siblings surrounding him as he signed his life away for the next four years. This included Baker who stopped by while on-shift and also Sonny, though he hadn't been able to attend in flesh, he had been facetimed in.

No one was prouder than Austin of his teen brother. All that long hours of hard work paid off. He was officially officially signed to play baseball in college.

It was impossible to tell who was more excited, Francis or Emerson? As now, they would be teammates again. 

So now senioritis was hitting Francis full force, as if it wasn't already. Austin already knew it was going to be even more of a battle next semester with getting the teen to do his homework.