Snow Day Lunch

It was a blustery, cold winter's day. Khaat wasn't sure why she had decided to take the kids out in such horrid weather--high winds, heavy snow, bitter cold. Except that she had seven toddlers that were getting really punchy being in the house. They wanted to go play in the snow, and she wasn't really amused by the thought of just casting them out into the yard and hoping she'd find them again.

So, Angus and Marcus had volunteered to help her dress the kids up in their warmest winter clothes and take them out to lunch. Babbity's had enough for little ones to do, and was safe enough that they could at least run in someplace different.

At age four, Abbey and Dakota were like old pros at being apparated and ported. They knew how to hang on tightly to their mother's hands.

Marcus had taken Julia and Robert and Michael--all age 3--and found them to all be rather wiry, but when it actually got to porting to Babbity's, the sensation of porting made them a quite a bit more passive and easier to manage.

And that left Angus with the twins--the youngest--Daniel and Benjamin--almost age two. Why was it that two twin boys had more baby gear than the other five toddlers put together? Angus had resorted to a leather messenger bag and a shrinking spell for the baby gear.

They arrived in a wind blown pack of adults and little people, and were shown to a larrge table quickly. The staff at the restaurant didn't seem to have trouble rounding up high chairs and booster seats, but at the moment it hardly mattered. The children were casting their coats and gloves and hats to the floor and were already dashing over to the play area.

"And we're off. Just like herding cats," Angus shook his head, laughing.

"I've got it--I think," Marcus said. As her chief bodyguard, Marcus Belby was accustomed to chaos. He went to supervise the kids as Khaat and Angus decided they'd better think about what sort of food and drinks to order for the kids.

Khaat looked around at the seven coats, seven hats, fourteen mittens all scattered everywhere on the floor. She sighed. She let Angus finish ordering for them, and she flicked her wand at her children's winter gear and gathered it up and hung it up.

Angus looked over to see that the two four year old girls were climbing on a play tree. The boys had found some magical chalk and were drawing on the walls, and the littlest girl, Julia, had found a friend and they were playing with some stuffed bunnies.

Angus walked over towards the young mother of the little girl.

"Looks like they're going to get along just fine," he smiled. "That's Julia. She's three. She's the quiet kid in our bunch. She gets a bit overshadowed by her outgoing sisters and her very busy brothers. Its nice to see her with a friend. I'm Angus, by the way."

"I think playdates sound wonderful," he smiled. "I'd like to see Julia come out of her shell a bit more.  We'll definitely have to do that.

"It's alright," he laughed, when he saw her awkwardness about mistaking the kids for his.  "I normally just say they're mine.  Seems to keep the kids a bit safer, you know?  But sometimes it feels like they're mine anyway. Khaat and Brian work at awkward hours sometimes, and I help take care of them during the day.  I've been working for the Lupins since before any of the kids were around.  I've done more than my share of diapers and the rest of it.

"As far as cooking for them goes, that can be a full time job.  Sort of like a restaurant shift that never ends. I normally am up at 4 am so that I have time to work out and go feed the animals down at the barn, and then I start the coffee and tea and make the breakfast pastries.  By 6 or so, I have breakfast on the table.  Once that's done, I bake all the breads and desserts for the day and make lunch.  When that's done, and while the kids are napping, I start cleaning spells and laundry spells and start to think about dinner.  I don't typically get much of an evening because I need to be in bed by at least by 9 to be up every day at 4.  Its not very exciting.  Not on a typical day anyway. But it is busy.

"At least at a restaurant, you've got a shift and some down time.  The Lupins want everything cooked fresh, no magic used, and I want to give them good quality.  So, when Brian married Khaat, I went to culinary school and got my executive chef certification.

"We've just recently hired some house elves, so hopefully that's going to make my schedule a bit easier.  Should give me a bit of time for fun.  What do you do for fun, when you get the time?"

(ooc) sorry--wrong hat. my khaat hat and not my angus hat. LOL

"The Lupin estate is a huge place. Its loaded with people, and its ridiculously busy all the time," he laughed. "If it does get quiet, it makes me dash back to the playroom to find out what the heck the kids are doing that they're not supposed to be. But I'm sure you know how that goes. Rose would love the playroom. Its huge. And its loaded with enchanted toys and magical fairytale murals on the walls. There's never a want for something to do for them in there."

"Right now, the Minister and his wife are living with us, and we have two additional couples living there who work for them. They work as security guards, nannies, cooks--jack of all trades. Whatever we need them for. And, we have a couple of houseguests--almost always. So--we plan on around 30 people for every family meal. Trust me, the dining room table is massive.

"The kids don't really have a lot of time to get lonely. The minister tries very hard to be home by the time the kids go to bed, because story time is a very, very big deal. The kids love books, and they love their 'papa.' He reads to them nightly, and he and 'gam' ,which is what they call their grandma, do the tucking in.

"Khaat and Brian are busy, that's very true, but they always make time for the kids. Always. They insist on breakfast and dinner together, and lunch on days when they can manage it. Weekends are devoted entirely for the kids, and they plan frequent holidays to spend a lot of family time. The kids are already good little travelers. They're actually very used to porting and apparating.

"Fun time for me, huh? When I get free time, I like running, swimming, and, especially sailing. My family lives in Tuscany now, and we've got some fishing boats and some luxury yachts that we charter for wealthy wizards and muggles. When I get a chance, I like to go home and captain one of the ships for awhile. That's actually what I was doing when I met Brian and went to work for him--before he married Khaat. Then, after he got married, I just stayed on. There's nothing quite like Italy and the smell of the sea air. Its a completely different pace. Very relaxing."