A Backstreet Blizzard, Baby!

Chapter 7- Snowed In!

10:43 AM

"Guys, we have to put the eggs in!"

"One more taste, please?"

"Please, one more?"

Ava, James, and Mason crowded around the counter, begging for one last piece of cookie dough before it became inedible. Rochelle and Leigh still gently refused, but decided to let two of them be able to crack the eggs into the stand mixer.

Off in the dining room, Brian, Leighanne, Nick, and A.J. were deep into a round of Scrabble.

"Dude that's not how you spell that!" Brian argued, pointing to the tiles.

"Sure it is!" A.J. insisted. ""Look, right here!" He held out his phone and they all glared at the screen.

"That's not even the word you tried  to spell!" Nick exclaimed.

"Yes it is!"

Leighanne sighed, putting her head in her hand.

In the living room, Lauren watched Odin and Sasha as they played on the floor. Baylee sat near the coffee table doing some sketching and writing, and Howie was on one of the couches with Max sitting next to him and Holden in his lap reading them a picture book.

Kevin, though, had gone upstairs to check on Kristin. It wasn't unusual for her to sleep in late during pregnancy, but everyone knew how caring and concerned he was as a husband and father.

When he came back, Max jumped up from the couch and ran to him. "Dad! Can we watch something, please?"

"Aren't you reading with Holden and Uncle Howie?" Kevin looked at his son, puzzled.

"I finished!"

Sighing, he gave in to the kid and hoisted him up to look on the DVD shelf.

As the cookies were going into the oven, the rest of the children wandered over to the living room. James joined his dad and brother reading on the couch, Ava went with her mom to play with Odin and her little sister, and Mason sat next to Baylee and started his own drawing.

But in a few minutes, as the DVD player started Kung Fu Panda 3, he joined his little brother in front of the television. Soon after, so did Holden and James as well, and the ripple effect slowly continued and roped in Ava halfway into the movie.

Even Rochelle and Lauren brought over Odin and Sasha to watch for a few minutes before their nap.

Eventually Brian and Leighanne came in and found Leigh sitting in the kitchen with Kevin and her husband.

"How'd the game go?" Howie asked.

"Still going on actually," Brian smirked. "Bone's still fighting Nick on some word."

Just then, Nick was heard shouting from the next room. "Okay! You win! I surrender!" Then he burst in, collapsing onto the nearest couch.

"So, you win?" Kevin called over to him.

"Shut up."

After the cookies were out and cooled, the moms passed out paper plates with two each and cups of milk to the kids, and then went in the kitchen to have some for themselves and the guys.

Nick and Lauren were skeptical at first to indulge, giving the healthy lifestyle they upheld, but they remembered they were on vacation and joined in.