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HelpRe: Darkest Congrats Round Four
in reply to a message by Darkest
Seven years have passed.
- Your oldest child got arrested. What happened?
- One of your children has been suspended from school. Who? What happened?
- Your family moves to a different continent. Where? Why?
- One of your children has just experienced his/her first crush.
- One of your children is expecting!
Posting Name: avalon (8) (x)
Surname: Booth
DH: Rhett Alexander (35) [musician]
DW: Cecily Rae (38) [photographer]
DS: Finlay Michael "Finn" (17)
---DGf: Evelyn Melisande West "Evie" (18)
---DS: ???
DS (twin): Charlie James (15)
---DGf: Adelaide Claire McTavish (15)
DD (twin): Lila Rose (15)
---DBf: Connor Matthew Bayard (16)
DD: Sydney Elizabeth (12)
DD: Violet Sophia (10)
DD: Audrey Claire (9)
DD: Ava Eleanor (8)
DD: Isabelle Kate (7)
So much has happened in the past seven years, I hardly know where to start.
Rhett and I made it past that rough patch in our marriage and are standing on solid ground now. We both agreed long ago that Isabelle would be our eighth and last child; so far so good! Everyone is happy and healthy; we couldn't ask for more.
I think part of our success was our ability to start over. Six years ago, Rhett's father unexpectedly passed away and left his entire estate in England to our family. My father-in-law was reasonably wealthy, so understandably the estate, which was in the countryside just outside of London, was rather large. Rhett and I felt that the opportunity to begin anew was too good to pass up, so we picked up the entire family and made the move across the pond. I think we've settled here quite nicely. Our four youngest girls -- Violet, Audrey, Ava, and Isabelle -- have even picked up slight British accents! It's adorable.
The move was definitely better for Rhett's music career, since a large portion of his fan base before we came here was in Europe. Now, living in England, his band is able to play at a lot more venues without having to travel too much. Plus, they're garnering more and more notice. But I hope Rhett will remember that his family should come first.
I'm still working as a photographer, though when we moved here, gigs were few and far between. To make up for it, I started taking lots of pictures of my kids and compiled them into a portfolio. A friend of mine who runs an art gallery in London saw these photographs one day and told me that he'd like to put them in their own exhibition. Of course I said yes! Now I'm working at a prominent advertising agency in London, but luckily my job still allows me to work mainly from home.
As for our kids...what to say about our kids?
For a time, it seemed that our eldest, Finn, had taken a turn for the worse. After we moved to England, he fell in with the wrong crowd at school and started getting into trouble. He bulked up and gained somewhat of a reputation for being a bully. At thirteen, he was suspended after getting caught drinking with his buddies when they were supposed to have been in class. At fifteen, he was arrested twice -- first for vandalism, then for assault after he got into a drunken fight with another boy. He's been busted with drugs more than once and has been so in and out of rehabilitation facilities that he never finished school. Now at seventeen, he's about to become a father: his girlfriend of only two months, Evie, is expecting their son sometime early next year. He's sworn to clean up his act, but he's yet to find a job or a place of his own, preferring instead to go out and party with his friends. Rhett and I really hope that the arrival of his son will really get Finn to change his ways and finally take responsibility for his actions.
Fortunately, Finn's younger brother Charlie, who's fifteen now, isn't following in his footsteps. Charlie is becoming a very upstanding young man. He's very into sports and still keeps up with his favorite baseball team back in the U.S. But one thing we learned over here in England is that Charlie is a phenomenal soccer player. He'd never even played before, but seeing him out on the field, it's almost as if he'd been born with a soccer ball attached to his foot. He's already garnering the attention of a few professional clubs, but Rhett and I are adamant that he finish his education first. Charlie agrees, but it's his dream to play soccer professionally one day.
It's no exaggeration to say that soccer is Charlie's love, since it was how he met his girlfriend, Adelaide. She's his age and the daughter of his coach. She came to a game one day, and she and Charlie apparently hit it off automatically after the match. The pair don't go to the same school, so it's difficult for them to see each other often during the week, but they're constantly together during the weekend. It's his first girlfriend, and we don't want him following the same path that Finn did, so we're definitely a lot stricter this time around.
To complicate matters, Charlie's twin, Lila, has a boyfriend! Connor is a year ahead of her and seems to have a good head on his shoulders, so Rhett and I approve (for now, at least!). Lila is a very gifted student and (taking after her dad, I suppose) an amazing musician. She's plays cello in a youth orchestra that travels all over Europe to perform. Because of her unconventional schedule, we home-school her when she's here and she has a private tutor when she's on the road. The orchestra is how she and Connor met, since he's also a member of it, playing violin. But he's definitely not someone who likes dressing up and playing classical music; Lila tells us that he's much more into rock and rap. I have no idea how those two ended up together. Opposites attract, I guess.
With our oldest three kids dating already (and the eldest about to make us grandparents!), Rhett has decided that the rest of our brood -- all girls, mind you -- will not date until they are seventy-seven. His plan doesn't seem to be working, since Sydney, who's twelve, has just gotten her first crush. His name is Max, and he's her best friend's fourteen-year-old brother. Rhett was so aghast when he heard this that he doesn't want to let Sydney go to her friend's house anymore. But even Sydney laughed and assured him that nothing would ever happen, since Max has a girlfriend.
Sydney is very much a miniature me. She told me that when she grows up and gets married, she wants to have fifteen kids. (And then I told her to see how she feels about that after the first one.) She has a very nurturing character and loves looking after her younger sisters. She's very excited for her nephew to arrive.
Violet is our precocious ten-year-old. She's such a big tomboy! She absolutely refuses to wear anything except Finn's and Charlie's hand-me-downs. She's trying to convince us to let her cut her hair short -- to no avail, of course. We hope she'll grow out of this phase soon.
Audrey is like the polar opposite of Violet. She's just about as girly-girl as you can get. She loves dressing up and putting on my makeup. She looks up to Lila and Sydney so much and wants to be just like them (to the horror of Rhett, who amended his rule and now says that Audrey can't date until she's married.)
Ava and Isabelle might as well have been twins. Those two are inseparable! They're only thirteen months apart, the closest of all of our kids. They do everything together, which is cute, but we're really trying to get them to interact with kids their own age.
Well, that's the past seven years in a nutshell. I don't know how we got through it all, but really, I wouldn't have had it any other way. Looking forward to the next seven!
- Your oldest child got arrested. What happened?
- One of your children has been suspended from school. Who? What happened?
- Your family moves to a different continent. Where? Why?
- One of your children has just experienced his/her first crush.
- One of your children is expecting!
Posting Name: avalon (8) (x)
Surname: Booth
DH: Rhett Alexander (35) [musician]
DW: Cecily Rae (38) [photographer]
DS: Finlay Michael "Finn" (17)
---DGf: Evelyn Melisande West "Evie" (18)
---DS: ???
DS (twin): Charlie James (15)
---DGf: Adelaide Claire McTavish (15)
DD (twin): Lila Rose (15)
---DBf: Connor Matthew Bayard (16)
DD: Sydney Elizabeth (12)
DD: Violet Sophia (10)
DD: Audrey Claire (9)
DD: Ava Eleanor (8)
DD: Isabelle Kate (7)
So much has happened in the past seven years, I hardly know where to start.
Rhett and I made it past that rough patch in our marriage and are standing on solid ground now. We both agreed long ago that Isabelle would be our eighth and last child; so far so good! Everyone is happy and healthy; we couldn't ask for more.
I think part of our success was our ability to start over. Six years ago, Rhett's father unexpectedly passed away and left his entire estate in England to our family. My father-in-law was reasonably wealthy, so understandably the estate, which was in the countryside just outside of London, was rather large. Rhett and I felt that the opportunity to begin anew was too good to pass up, so we picked up the entire family and made the move across the pond. I think we've settled here quite nicely. Our four youngest girls -- Violet, Audrey, Ava, and Isabelle -- have even picked up slight British accents! It's adorable.
The move was definitely better for Rhett's music career, since a large portion of his fan base before we came here was in Europe. Now, living in England, his band is able to play at a lot more venues without having to travel too much. Plus, they're garnering more and more notice. But I hope Rhett will remember that his family should come first.
I'm still working as a photographer, though when we moved here, gigs were few and far between. To make up for it, I started taking lots of pictures of my kids and compiled them into a portfolio. A friend of mine who runs an art gallery in London saw these photographs one day and told me that he'd like to put them in their own exhibition. Of course I said yes! Now I'm working at a prominent advertising agency in London, but luckily my job still allows me to work mainly from home.
As for our kids...what to say about our kids?
For a time, it seemed that our eldest, Finn, had taken a turn for the worse. After we moved to England, he fell in with the wrong crowd at school and started getting into trouble. He bulked up and gained somewhat of a reputation for being a bully. At thirteen, he was suspended after getting caught drinking with his buddies when they were supposed to have been in class. At fifteen, he was arrested twice -- first for vandalism, then for assault after he got into a drunken fight with another boy. He's been busted with drugs more than once and has been so in and out of rehabilitation facilities that he never finished school. Now at seventeen, he's about to become a father: his girlfriend of only two months, Evie, is expecting their son sometime early next year. He's sworn to clean up his act, but he's yet to find a job or a place of his own, preferring instead to go out and party with his friends. Rhett and I really hope that the arrival of his son will really get Finn to change his ways and finally take responsibility for his actions.
Fortunately, Finn's younger brother Charlie, who's fifteen now, isn't following in his footsteps. Charlie is becoming a very upstanding young man. He's very into sports and still keeps up with his favorite baseball team back in the U.S. But one thing we learned over here in England is that Charlie is a phenomenal soccer player. He'd never even played before, but seeing him out on the field, it's almost as if he'd been born with a soccer ball attached to his foot. He's already garnering the attention of a few professional clubs, but Rhett and I are adamant that he finish his education first. Charlie agrees, but it's his dream to play soccer professionally one day.
It's no exaggeration to say that soccer is Charlie's love, since it was how he met his girlfriend, Adelaide. She's his age and the daughter of his coach. She came to a game one day, and she and Charlie apparently hit it off automatically after the match. The pair don't go to the same school, so it's difficult for them to see each other often during the week, but they're constantly together during the weekend. It's his first girlfriend, and we don't want him following the same path that Finn did, so we're definitely a lot stricter this time around.
To complicate matters, Charlie's twin, Lila, has a boyfriend! Connor is a year ahead of her and seems to have a good head on his shoulders, so Rhett and I approve (for now, at least!). Lila is a very gifted student and (taking after her dad, I suppose) an amazing musician. She's plays cello in a youth orchestra that travels all over Europe to perform. Because of her unconventional schedule, we home-school her when she's here and she has a private tutor when she's on the road. The orchestra is how she and Connor met, since he's also a member of it, playing violin. But he's definitely not someone who likes dressing up and playing classical music; Lila tells us that he's much more into rock and rap. I have no idea how those two ended up together. Opposites attract, I guess.
With our oldest three kids dating already (and the eldest about to make us grandparents!), Rhett has decided that the rest of our brood -- all girls, mind you -- will not date until they are seventy-seven. His plan doesn't seem to be working, since Sydney, who's twelve, has just gotten her first crush. His name is Max, and he's her best friend's fourteen-year-old brother. Rhett was so aghast when he heard this that he doesn't want to let Sydney go to her friend's house anymore. But even Sydney laughed and assured him that nothing would ever happen, since Max has a girlfriend.
Sydney is very much a miniature me. She told me that when she grows up and gets married, she wants to have fifteen kids. (And then I told her to see how she feels about that after the first one.) She has a very nurturing character and loves looking after her younger sisters. She's very excited for her nephew to arrive.
Violet is our precocious ten-year-old. She's such a big tomboy! She absolutely refuses to wear anything except Finn's and Charlie's hand-me-downs. She's trying to convince us to let her cut her hair short -- to no avail, of course. We hope she'll grow out of this phase soon.
Audrey is like the polar opposite of Violet. She's just about as girly-girl as you can get. She loves dressing up and putting on my makeup. She looks up to Lila and Sydney so much and wants to be just like them (to the horror of Rhett, who amended his rule and now says that Audrey can't date until she's married.)
Ava and Isabelle might as well have been twins. Those two are inseparable! They're only thirteen months apart, the closest of all of our kids. They do everything together, which is cute, but we're really trying to get them to interact with kids their own age.
Well, that's the past seven years in a nutshell. I don't know how we got through it all, but really, I wouldn't have had it any other way. Looking forward to the next seven!
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