Snippet #1532144

I recently got out of the shower and now by a string of lucky events not even I can explain I’m lying on my comfy sofa in my sweat pants with Niko resting on my bare chest because he doesn’t like my t-shirts. Aija is sitting on the floor with her back against the couch near my shoulder and Kalle is sitting on the armchair and Raimonds in lying on the floor with his head on Aija’s lap. I’d put in March of The Penguins for it was Aija’s turn to choose the movie and she loves penguins almost as much as she loves those frozen cookie sandwiches. Kalle isn’t so into it I know because he likes watching the DVD sets of How It’s Made; he’s our future engineer. Niko I know loves it because he loves cute things and playing with my hair like he’s doing right now. Raimonds, he’s our Planet Earth watcher because he loves nature and is going to be the environmentalist. I myself don’t have a preference because anything that states the truth and lets me see things I could normally never see. That’s why I raise them this way because lies are never any good. So they know Santa doesn’t exist nor the Tooth Fairy, Elves, flying reindeer, bigfoot or talking animals. Everything is strictly fact and proven by science which is why we aren’t so much religious as we are spiritual. We don’t pray or necessarily believe in God but we do believe in some spiritual connection between us and everything around us.

So…. My siblings? There’s Kalle, he’s the oldest of the four young ones being eleven and is obsessed with mechanics. He likes to break apart pens and put them back together; unless they’re Viena’s gel pens. I don’t understand that guy’s obsession for them but none of us dare touch them. So, whenever Kalle finds one he instantly puts it down and backs away. He likes to build those thousand piece jigsaw puzzles by himself and figure out how things work and he also has a hobby of building model cars down the engine pieces. I think he has one coming in the mail. Then comes ten year old Aija who I treat like a princess but it doesn’t seem to work because she’s so boyish. She does wear dresses but most come back stained and dirty but she loves penguins and has maybe ten lying around her room. My favourite one is blue where it should be black and green where it should be white and his name is Taffy. She eats ice cream sandwiches like they’ll help her stay healthy and I don’t mind because she eats her veggies. Raimonds…. No one knows what happened to Raimonds because his hair and his eyes don’t match up with my family but it doesn’t really matter. He’s the nature freak and owns three house plants that look like they’ve grown in the rainforest. So green and fresh. Whenever I walk into the room he shares with Niko it smells like grass and fresh earth. Anyway; he wants to protest against people using fossil fuels and I promised to paint his signs. He looks younger than he is; nine years old that one. Niko, well. Niko is more the princess of the family than Aija is even though I don’t treat him like one. He likes to paint pictures and pretend he’s a princess stuck in a boy’s body. The red headband he wears all the time cannot be explained because I don’t know why he wears it. I’m proud of him so if he ends up growing up to be one of those flamboyant gay boys or becomes a girl at least he stayed true to himself. He reminds me a little of myself.

Which reminds me that we’re running out of mini chocolate chip muffins. They all eat like two for breakfast along with whatever fruit of their choosing except bananas because Aija’s allergic. But those muffins are so cute because they’re all tiny and two bite sized. I got this one this one time that was super small… like one bite small. Sometimes I like to put icing on them if they’ve been really good or if it’s a special day. Today it’s pretty cold but it might snow and that would mean cupcakes because the first snow means white frosted chocolate cupcakes. I make the frosting look like snowflakes to commemorate the coming of the new season. Aija likes to eat the first one but Viena always beats her to it which I always lie to her about because I don’t want her to cry. Viena bugs me for it though – bribery almost. He likes to hold it above me that I always fall for his pranks because I can’t hear him sneak up behind me. His rhythm is one of the few that blends into my melody so by this point I’ve obviously become so used to it that I’ve become blind to it. He’s the smooth talker in the house almost as much as he is the prankster and I’m the victim of most of these. Sometimes he likes to push that I have no friends but he chooses to ignore the people I invite over. Although, Magnus kind of ignores him as well. No, rather it’s they don’t even know that the other exists. Which is odd to me because they both see each other all the time.

“Mama? Can we go see penguins for real one day?” Aija asks from on the floor as the credits start to roll.

“Sure. I’ll plan a trip for Christmas break. Should we bring Papa Niko?”

“M’hm. And Uncle Maggie too.”

I smile and start to get up more because I have to start making them their snack more than anything else. “Niko, don’t call Magnus that when he’s around okay? Even though I think it’d be awesome if he let me call him Uncle Maggie.” His smile lights up the whole room and I watch as Raimonds takes his hands and pulls him off to probably go and try to get him to take care of the garden outside. “Kalle, what should I make for snack?”

“Cheese melted on crackers.”

Such a blandly fun little boy that Kalle. Not that he’s bland because he’s not – he isn’t an Oreo cookie without the cream in the middle which is really bland. Niko doesn’t like Oreos.... He likes Chunks Ahoy which are good but not as good as Oreos. So, Kalle. Yes. He is kind of bland in the sense that he is slightly boring in a way but he’s eleven and eleven year olds try and act like adults and adults are boring according to Raimonds who’s so cute I want to hug him to death. Not to death. More like into a state of sleep he won’t wake form and he’ll just look cute forever. That’d be awesome, I wish they would all just stay cute forever except for Aija because she needs to grow up and stop thinking she’s going to marry Kalle. I swear, she thinks it. It’s scary. Like... we’re siblings and stuff. It’s illegal and the law is there for a reason; so that all my little nephews and nieces aren’t born with six fingers and the IQ of a highly functioning watermelon. Not only would that be horrible for them but the expenses would probably drive Aija to suicide because she isn’t a strong willed person. Very weak – the damsel in distress of the family but Māte decided not to take her when they left last year on that extended honeymoon so I’m stuck raising a girl. I hope I do it right because she does need to learn that stuff and I really don’t want to have to teach her. I’ll find her a woman tutor, someone to help her…. Learn about being a woman and such. I’m not good at that. Viena isn’t either but he’s Viena and he’s not good at much but pranking me. That’s rude. Sorry Viena; you’re good at lots of things.

That just sounds dirty now.

I need to concentrate on these crackers and Aija who’s trying to colour in this picture I printed for her off the computer a few days ago. It’s really detailed and she’s doing a very good job so I’m proud that she’s trying to do something pretty. She never does pretty things. And she doesn’t like shopping. I don’t like shopping unless it’s for them but Phaedon likes to tell me otherwise. It’s fun don’t get me wrong and he’s a super awesome friend but I think I prefer Cayman more because he doesn’t force me to go running through a busy mall. Magnus, he’s my best friend yes and I love him to death but he likes to drag me places while he takes photos. Just let me stay home – my family is here. No, that’s mean. They’re trying their best.

Maybe it’s my fault then…?