Issues

The household saw a good amount of birthdays recently. Firstly, and a bit sadly, it was the important birthday of my beautiful 50th baby. Milmarion truly takes after Clint in terms of appearance. The two get along great as well. That was why Milmarion decided to live with his father for a time while he works on improving his talent in the field of inventing. He says his goal is to build humanoid robots. Honestly, the idea of such things scares me. I wished my son all the best nonetheless.

The birthday to follow was the twins'. Most people get the impression that Analinde is the older twin given her more mature attitude and tendency to take on the role of being a leader. Elvaran is perhaps, out of all of the children I've had so far, the one who acts the most like his or her father. Isaac and Elvaran haven't even spent too much time together, but they're near identical in their attitudes and mannerisms. Elvaran even wants to dress like his father all the time.

Despite their growing differences, Elvaran and Analinde remain as close as can be. They're always holding hands and sitting close to one another. I am a little worried though for the two are not very social- even with their siblings. Hopefully they simply need a bit more time to get comfortable with the idea of being with others and being apart. I will otherwise start to worry more if they continue to stick so closely together.

The last birthday had around that time was Delenmir's. So far he has been an easy-going tot who seems to be impressed by just about everything. This means that learning is incredibly fascinating for him, and I get to have things easy since I get to play with him more instead things of teaching him how to use the potty by himself.

The past few maids have been alright, but we ended up with a rather lazy one once more. She spent more time eating our leftovers and reading books than she did cleaning. When I finally reached the end of my patience I told her she had one more day to do her job properly or else she would be fired from our house. She pleaded with me not to fire her. Apparently, she's had a hard time holding down a job recently and can't afford to lose her work again. My warning prompted her to work harder. While she continues to snack on our food every now and again, I don't mind so much  as long as the cleaning is done.

I had some slight issues with Raradia. It came to light that she was the one who had been doing the pranking that had been happening around the house. I caught her red-handed as she was trying to do something with the family computer. She became frustrated with me when I grounded her. Raradia couldn't possibly see why I was being so uptight. I explained to her that I don't like these pranks. They're not funny at all. It's horribly inconvenient to spend half an hour washing dye out of my hair or changing clothes and mopping the floor when a sink explodes on me.

Raradia was stubborn for some time in regards to her feeling that I was too harsh on her. She did eventually come around and apologize as well as promising to not play any more pranks.

That wasn't the end of the issues I had though. Things only got worse, and much worse at that. Elvaran and Analinde left for their first day of school to discover that they had been placed in separate classes. They both kept trying all day to sneak into the other's classroom. The school called to ask if I would prefer them to be moved together, but I declined. Elvaran and Analinde had to learn sometime that they can't be attached at the hip forever.

My decision did not sit well with them at all. They were very angry with me for the entire evening. It appeared to be their goal to get me as upset as possible. I had to deal with being called things like a horrible mother. I knew Elvaran and Analinde were simply terrified of being separated, but my emotions, which were still a bit raw from what I went through with Noril, made me get a bit more bothered than I normally would have. Unfortunately, I couldn't calm down my twins by bedtime. They went to sleep still furious at me.

The class switching went on all week. The school told me just to let them be together. I ignored them. I knew Elvaran and Analinde were trying to make me as frustrated as possible so I would simply give in. They certainly were testing my limits. I continued my refusal though.

Friday came around, and the twins didn't come home on the bus with Niphredil. She said there was a program after school they wanted to stick around for. I didn't like that they hadn't told me earlier in the week that they were going to stay, but I hoped letting them attend the activity without me making a big deal would put them in a better mood. However, the day grew later and later and Elvaran and Analinde never returned home. I had the sense before I began to panic to call Isaac. Sure enough, the twins had gone to his house.

I went over to pick them up. Elvaran and Analinde were talking away at the table while Isaac made dinner. My twins were not pleased to see me at all.

Trying to get Elvaran and Analinde in an amiable mood towards me for a just a little so I could talk to them properly, I told them they could stay for dinner before they came home. That was not what they wanted. I'll admit that it hurt greatly when they said they didn't want to ever come home. They wanted to live with Isaac. He did what they asked him to do. Isaac had called the school and put them in the same class. I tried to impress on Isaac that he had made the wrong decision, but he didn't care in any way about the situation. 

When I put my foot down and told Elvaran and Analinde that they were going to live at home with me and their siblings, Elvaran and Analinde became more upset. Elvaran was drastically angrier than Analinde though. The words I've dreaded hearing for some time now finally came out of my son's mouth. He told me that he hated me. I was trying to tear him and his sister apart, and Isaac was the only one who cared about them. He didn't want me to be his mother anymore.

My heart was so calm I knew I had to be in shock. The fact that Elvaran didn't look like he regretted his words was worse than the words he said. I knew at that point that there was no hope of solving anything that evening. I conceded and agreed to let Elvaran and Analinde stay with Isaac for the weekend. We would discuss where they would stay after that. I prayed that a couple days of separation between the twins and I would do something to help.

I let Elvaran and Analinde know that I loved them before I peacefully departed.

I couldn't even say anything to Noril, Raradia, or Niphredil when I returned. There wasn't the slightest chance of me being able to repeat what had been said to me. However, my other children could clearly tell something was wrong. I was truly surprised when most of the weekend passed and I never burst into tears like I have a strong tendency of doing. I believe my desire to set everything right was simply that much stronger than my desire to cry. 

I got my opportunity to bring the family together again on Sunday evening. I took Noril, Raradia, Niphredil, and Delenmir to the autumn festival for dinner and to play some fun games. Elvaran and Analinde also happened to be there, and without Isaac for whatever reason. It was pleasantly surprising when they didn't look angrily at me anymore. They were more hesitant than anything. I wondered if they thought I was going to reject them for what they had done. 

I kept that in mind as I greeted them cheerfully. I told Noril, Raradia, and Niphredil to include them in their games even though my other children weren't happy with their siblings. Niphredil, Elvaran, and Analinde participated in a pie-eating contest. Niphredil managed to win even though the older man who joined them cheated by starting early.

When it was time to go home, I invited Elvaran and Analinde to come with the rest of us. They quietly agreed. Everything felt normal as soon as the whole family sat outside together and began to carve jack-o-lanterns. It was as if nothing bad had happened. By the end of the night, we had a family of jack-o-lanterns and our family together.

It was after I placed Delenmir to sleep and when the rest of the children were getting ready for bed that Elvaran and Analinde asked if they could stay. I told them of course they could. This was their home after all. The idea I thought before then turned out to be true. The twins were afraid I wouldn't want them back after they had been so horrible. I simply smiled and told them I would always want them no matter how horrible they acted. They were just going to have to deal with  the truth that they could never get rid of my love for them.

Elvaran and Analinde were pretty teary-eyed at that point. They apologized as they let me crush them with a hug. The two eventually revealed that they didn't like living with Isaac. He barely paid any attention to them, and apparently it was no fun getting their way all the time without the risk of getting in trouble. I rolled my eyes and hugged my loveable, impish twins once again.

They passed that impish quality to Niphredil somehow. They refused to let Noril leave when his birthday came around. It was incredibly humorous to watch them wrestle with him as Noril scrambled desperately for the front door. Raradia and I finally took pity on the poor boy. We began tickling the three children so Noril could make his escape. The rest of his day went smoothly as he moved into his new place.

With Noril's departure, Raradia's impending graduation, and Niphredil's upcoming birthday my period of rest and waiting was over. I heard some new residents had moved into Joseph's old home so I decided to check them out. Mr. Christopher Leyva greeted me at the door. I wonder if there's something about Sunset Valley that makes men so willing because Mr. Leyva led me into the bedroom pretty much right after we said hello......