Chapter 11 - Bigger IS Better

The Engio's (all except the teens, Delilah & Devyn, who had somehow managed to get detention, again) arrived at the new home just as the moving truck was leaving. Alicia was excited, she had managed to be able to afford a moving company who not only picked up the packed items but unpacked them and set the house up the way she had specified, prior to the family moving in! It was incredible, when she stepped in to new home it was as if her family had always lived there. All their clothes were hung in their closets, all the books they owned on shelves, even Shiloh's new dog bed was in the living room!


Alicia had taken quite a bit of money to furnish the house with educational items for the kids, she had sat down and done the math and omitting all televisions from the home she had plenty for musical instruments, a library collection, a chemistry set, and so much more!


However, Alicia wasn't completely unreasonable, she knew that her children were, well, children. She spent some money adding a small playground to the back yard complete with see-saw and swing set!


As the children settled in to the home Alicia took Felix outside to explore the yard and scout out a decent area to replant some of her seeds (she had made sure to bring along 2 to 4 of each type of seed that she had grown in the previous garden). After choosing her area, she took little Felix over to the sandbox to play with his sister, and then headed to the garage to begin lugging the gardening tools & lights to their proper places.


When Alicia finally finished putting everything where it belonged the sun had began to set… she made her way back to the sandbox and scooped Felix up.


As she headed toward the backdoor she told Evelyn & Eric (who had been contently building different… things… in the sand) that they would need to finish up for the evening, come inside, and wash up for dinner! They begrudgingly obliged and quickly smashed their creations in a manic rush to beat one another to the down stairs bathroom.


When Alicia reemerged from taking Felix upstairs to the toddler play area, outside the nursery, she found Dylan sitting at the large dining table, scribbling out his latest homework assignment. As he finished Alicia asked where Delilah had got to...


Dylan answered quickly, "fishing". He got to his feet and made his way to the living room, sitting down at a beautiful keyboard his mom had bought for the family, he ran his fingers gently over the keys.

He called for his mom, asking if he could head to the bookstore before dinner to pick up some beginner sheet music. She agreed, and he was off.

As the week went on the family seemed to settle nicely in to the roomy home. The biggest adjustment came where Alicia had least expected it; the children had always slept in the same room, in bunk beds… while they still slept in bunk beds they were split in to three separate rooms. Alicia often found 1 or more children in the incorrect rooms when she would go in to wake them in the morning.


It seemed the carpenters who built the home didn't really know what they were doing as multiple things broke during their first week in the house! When Alicia was too busy to fix things, as she was often cleaning, cooking, gardening, writing, and caring for Felix, Dylan stepped up and tried to help. He would often be found with a "dummies" book propped open and whatever was broken would be in more pieces than ever. Alicia thought it was sweet, however, and didn't have the heart to tell him not to try.

Felix was relatively quiet, or maybe it's just that Alicia had grown use to twins galore… and with twins it seemed she never was able to sleep more than an hour at a time. With Felix she was able to get 5 or 6 hours in a row of lovely, uninterrupted, sound sleep. They seemed to have an unspoken agreement and would wake up within moments of one another, Alicia would go to the bathroom, and then head for the nursery.



Every morning after breakfast & after the older children headed off to school, Alicia would work with Felix, teaching him to walk and talk.

Evelyn loved the chemistry set so much the few discrepancies that Alicia and her had had prior to moving regarding doing her homework disappeared all together. She knew that the sooner her homework was completed she sooner she was able to race upstairs and blow things up, therefore every day after classes you could find Evelyn at the dining table feverishly working on her homework.


Even Shiloh seemed to enjoy the new home, and showed her appreciation by bringing the morning paper to Alicia as soon as it was dropped off by the paper boy each morning!