The Stroud Family and I

Epilogue 2- part 2

Epilogue 2- part 2: Much love for a family as crazy as mine

I groaned when I heard a loud crash and clank of what I assumed to have been pots and pans falling onto the ground from inside the kitchen. There was some shuffling, and some slight swearing that followed the crash.

"Cait, how many times do I have to tell you not to touch the cabinet that holds all the pans? You can't reach them, and this is exactly what happens," I heard Colton groan.

I sat up in the bed and rubbed my face. I had only half a second of peacefulness, when I was tackled and slammed back against the bed. I made a sort of 'oomf' sound, and didn't even have to glance down to know it was Andrew. A dark mop of hair peeked over me, his golden eyes gazing downwards at me, and a grin spread out on his face.

"Hi mommy!"

My lips curled upwards, and I cupped his face with one of my hands.

"Hi baby."

I guess I can't say I'm surprised that all of our kids got Colton's trademark smirk, it was bound to happen. All three of the boys can do it, and even their two sisters can now flash the smirk. It's really quite scary how they all know how to do it.

Andrews smaller hand grabbed onto my hand and he attempted to pull me up. I huffed out a breath and stepped out of the bed, walking over to grab my robe from where it was hanging. Andrew gripped back onto my hand once I had pulled my robe on, and he led me out of the room and down the stairs. As we almost made it to the kitchen, I heard what sounded like the blender going off, then Cait screaming, then silence. I sped up our pace and ended up at the kitchen doorway within seconds.

My eyes widened in slight horror when they zoomed in on the state of the kitchen. There was some sort of liquid on the ceiling, dripping down onto the ground, and off to the side, there was what looked to be burnt grilled cheese slices. The blenders lid was on the ground, no where even near the blender, and over in the corner of the kitchen was Cait, who had her face scrunched up in distaste.

"Oops...that did not workout the way I had originally planned," she admitted, crossing her arms over her chest.

I rushed over to the paper towel holder and ripped some off, immediately trying to cover up the floor so no more of the liquid from the ceiling would drip down and make it even more sticky. Colton's hand was suddenly on my back, and I heard him groan in frustration.

"Babe, don't worry. I'll clean it up. It's my fault I allowed her to even touch the blender."

I sighed and nodded my head. He smiled a sweet smile down at me and then leaned down and gave me a small, yet tender kiss. A thousand thundering butterfly's erupted through my stomach, and it still amazes me how much of an effect Colton has on me, even after all these years.

"Ewww!"

We pulled away to see Hunter standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Zoe standing right behind him with her small panda stuffed animal clutched to her chest. Colton began to chuckle and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"If you think that was gross, then you don't even want to know how the heck you two were made," he smirked.

My eyes went wide, and I slapped Colton's chest with my freehand.

"Colton! Great, now they are going to start asking questions, and they are too young to know about what sex is," I frowned.

James came strolling into the kitchen, rolling his eyes when they landed on the mess his twin, Cait, had made in the kitchen. He yanked the refrigerator open and casually said