This Messy Business of Growing Up

Anyone that's ever inhabited the same house as a teenager knows just how crazy those hormonally charged years can be. Evaline and Nikolai's dreams of friendly bonding with Arabella and Emmett were thrown out the window five seconds after their patience ran out the door.

Emmett's disappearing acts drove his parents crazy with worry - Where was he and what exactly was he doing? Nightmares of a grandbaby before their own babies had even grown up tortured those brief moments of sleep that they caught.

But where rules had failed, only one thing would prevail. 

Bribery.

Come on, now don't judge them like that. It's not their fault that it works so well.

$1,200 and a grumbling Nikolai later, Evaline was confident that Emmett's whereabouts would no longer be in question.

Some call it mother's intuition, others call it economy of choice, Evaline didn't give one hoot because it worked darn well. The fact that she could lord it over Nikolai was just an added bonus.

The only thing she didn't forsee was the direct correlation between Emmett's increasingly impressive physique and the rise in teenage girls calling the house phone to flirt with him.

Oh well, you can't win them all.

As for Arabella, you never had to worry about her disappearing on you unless it was as an unfortunate by-product of one of her experiments going awry.

Which they did. A lot.

When she blew a hole in the barn roof, Nikolai had to put his foot down and dole out some serious consequences - three months cleaning the horses stalls.

He tried to pull the stern father routine, but after ten minutes watching his germ-o-phobic daughter cringe amidst the horsies doo-doo, he had to escape before gave himself a hernia  from  his desperately restrained laughter!

Aside from potentially setting the house or barn on fire, Evaline and Nikolai had only one worry when it came to Arabella - her tendency to play with her Imaginary Friend, Cuddles.

Which wouldn't have been a problem, had she not been, well, Imaginary. It was remarkably disconcerting to watch your daughter spar with thin air. It down right freaked Evaline out.

Fortunately there were enough kids running about the house to keep Evaline's mind elsewhere most days. Although were exactly it went was another question, especially considering her somewhat questionable decision to take Maximilian on a driving lesson with Emmett.

Luckily enough, Nikolai had noticed her - er, silly headed-ness - and gave the horses a little more freedom so that he could spend some quality time with his pretty wife, sweet little boy and the burgeoning bump.

If there was one thing he loved it was his family, and the feel of another little heart ready to join it made him the happiest man on Earth.

Eager to catch up to his siblings, Maximilian grew bigger and bulkier by the day until toddlerhood was but a second away. His proud Mum and Dad watched on, proud as their little baby boy grew into the next phase of kiddy-hood.


Mmm, the cross-eyed look is a little funny but he's still a genuine cutie!

With so many family members, it's no suprise that barely a day passed before they were celebrating another birthday - or two!

First up was Arabella, her teenaged eagerness to enter the adult world was almost sweet, providing you weren't Evaline, whose contractions chose that exact moment to make themselves known.

Arabella was less than impressed at the new little Masterton's timing, but it gave her a good excuse to get back to her mysterious potion making while her parents rushed off to the hospital. Thank God the administrator had a weakness for  Evaline's chocolate chip cookies.

Soon enough Evaline and Nikolai returned home with the newest Masterton baby - Niamh!

Baby Number Five - Niamh

With the new baby all snuggled up in her cot, Emmett finally felt ready to join his twin in the treacherous depths of adulthood.

Obviously his Imaginary Friend Kisses was more than impressed by the back view. The front view required a little work though, so after a quick trip to the salon for a cut and the mall for some clothes, Emmett was finally presentable.

Mmm ... Now that's a shade of green that I like *wink wink*

The next few days in the Masterton household were insane as the twins prepared for Graduation, while Niamh gave the walls a good shaking with her determined set of lungs.

Never the less, time rolled on and the gowns were donned and smiles of excitement (and relief!) were worn all around.

And mere hours later, they emerged as fully fledged graduates of the Community School for the Gifted, diploma's in hand!

Their diploma's were not the only awards they walked away with. According to their classmates, Arabella won the Most Likely to Take Over The World award, while Emmett won the Most Likely to Get Married award.

Hmm, curiouser and curiouser. Maybe that's why he's been so hard to keep a track of.

And from the height of Evaline's eyebrows, I'd say we'll be meeting the lucky *cough cough* lady soon.

Now this is one interrogation that I'm looking forward to!