I have 5 kids and the oldest is 9, im 17.

chapter 10.

HMMM i thought as i looked at the kitchen, For as long as i have know it, its always been the same, nothing has changed, well know i know my project for the summer, its now the second week of my summer holidays and i have an empty house except for me and Gabby and often Matt. I went into the sitting room and found matt sprawled out on the sofa playing with 10 month old Gabby, she was having a full blown conversation with Matt, and he was agreeing and disagreeing with her. I watched them, he let Gabby on the ground and she rolled over she then pulled he knees up one by one and began to crawl along the carpet, i ran upstairs and grabbed the camera, I took pictures of her first crawl to keep as a keepsake. I smiled laughed and clapped with Matt and her toothy grin smiled at me! She was such a beautiful baby and she was mine! I then said to Matt if he would come to the kitchen with me, he came in and asked what was worng i asked him to move the loose furniture with me and out to the yard, I asked him to help me clear the kitchen and we worked well together. I then went to the shed and found a tools to take the tiles off the wall, we got to work and by 11 we had all the tiles off the walls, we then replastered the walls with the help of the joe our farmhand on duty today, he had done his chores and saw us struggling so he decided to help, by half one the walls were dry and ready to paint.  I found a range of colours used in the house years ago and picked a dark cream colour, we then painted the walls beneath the presses and above and there was also an empty wall which we painted aswel. I then found a dark brown colour and we painted the cabinets and presses that colour. Joe told me that his brother had marble countertops at home that he was finished with and he was back by four with a gorgeous shiny marble we removed the old wooden worktops and the men then with the help of joes brother fixed the marble around the kitchen once it was done it looked marvellous, the men then set to work scrubbing and resealing the floors so that we had our original black marble tiles back. I looked at the clock and realised that Betty would soon be dropping back the children from hers, after all it was nearly half 8 and they had school tommorow. As Matt finished sanding the table and revarnishing, it was back to its original oak colour, it was a heavy table and the men lifted it back in, and then they moved in the chairs one by one all 12 of them. the kitchen looked twice its size but there was something wrong with the curtains I took them down and placed them in a bag. I said to the men that i might get a cream blind for the windows instead, as i said that the kids came bursting though the front door, I called them into the kitchen and they looked at our hard work. They were in awe at the transformed kitchen and after admiring it they trumped up the stairs, as Benny began to climb the stairs i handed him his wellies and asked him would he mind heping Joe with the milking tonight. As i spoke Matt got a phone call telling him to come home for dinner, After all the decorating i had totally forgotten about dinner, and when i looked out into the hall in her high chair lay a sleeping Gabby whoops i totally forgot. Matt kissed me goodbye and said he will be around tommorow. I looked in the fridge and saw their was nothing to eat, so i pulled out the chippies number and rang in chips and a battered cod for Joe and his brother Martin and a bag of chips and chicken for me. I then sat down with a now awake hungry Gabby as i fed her a bottle i spoke to Betty. We talked a little about Dad and the kids and my cousins, she told me she would send Jason up to help tomorrow and she would take the kids after activities aswel, she then asked me was i not working and i told her that starting last Sunday i took off two weeks holiday to recover form my exams. After enjoying the take away the men left and i went to bed with my baby.

The next morning i shipped the children off to school and headed home to decorate once again. today i decided the room off the kitchen that was used for storage could be cleared out as Gabby ate her breakfast, inside was old furniture, torphys, awards, and lots of antiques i carefully chose what was for keeps and what i could bin, i had everything in the utility room and the room was soon empty with no furniture at all, i saw that it had panelling halfway up the wall and wooden floor boards. I Looked at the clock it was half nine, Matt would be here around 10. I ran upstairs and changed Gabby, i then took her bounce along toy and let her spin sround the kitchen. I made my self a cup of tea and made a mental to do list, today i needed to have dinner ready, top priority so i began to prepare the veggies and potatoes and i then stewed the steak with it, I decided to leave it simmer for a couple of hours on a low heat. 

As i was cleaning the mess i made, matt walked in, he had just shorts on and i could see his abs.. wow.. they were all mine. I realised he was laughing at me so i hit him playfully, right where are we today he asked, I pulled him into the room and landed a big kiss on his lips, i moved my hands around his abs when i heard a "ahemm," at the door and turned aorund to see an awkward looking Jason stood there twidling his thumbs. I laughed embaressed and told the lads that today i would be sanding and revarnishing the oak floorboards and the oak panel on the wall. They stood to attention and started at the work, I decided that I would paint the upper wall the same colour as the kitchen and the roof was already wooden panelled like the floor, i dusted down the windows and the roof and the chandelier, i made sure it was working aswell. This room was large and streched to the front of the house. It had a bay window overlooking the front gardens and large wine drapes on the curtain pole. i took down these curtains and washed them by hand before hanging out to dry on the line.I smiled at little Gabby as she whizzed around recklessly. I looked at the clock it was half 11 and the men should be finished by 12 i estimated. I then decided to leave them to paint the walls! i decided to scrub this rooms fireplace and clean the grate, i then set the fire and left it set for next year. The men took the large mirror of the wall above it and i scrubbed and polished its gold exterior. I then left it in the back room with all the other things. At half twelve the men had painted the full wall opposite the fireplace wall. i realised it may need a second coat and they said they would do it later, by half two the room was completely painted and the men lifted the large table and chairs into the room, i then asked them to hang the large gold mirror above the fire once again. I then retrieved a large photo of my father and placed it on an empty wall overlooking the table. i placed another Photo of our large family in black and white before father had died when Gabby ws just born and we placed it on the same side just down a small bit, I then found a picture of Scarlett and pasted her in . It was a grogeous photo. i then took out a small wooden clock from a box of ornaments and placed it on the mantel piece. At half three it was completely decorated bar the larger drapes, i checked them and they were dry so we hung them over the bay window. The room looked spectacular and the kitchen even bigger. I smiled at our hard work and asked Jason to call Joe in for his dinner, I served all three men a big plate each and set loaf of bread on the table. I then put a smaller plate for myself on the table and left an even smaller one on gabbys high chair table and lifted her in. we all sat around the table laughing and smiling at our new room! we were all laughing at Gabby, when her face grew stern and she frowned which caused us to laugh more, she looked at Matt and reached out to her, he tickled he and she eruptured in giggles. She suddenly stopped and shouted Dada.. glaring at Matt. I could see the tears in Matts eyes and the rest of us stopped laughing, then she looked at him again with a questioning look and shouted Dada, then she looked at me and said mama.I burst into tears and so did she, Ths was the first time since my Dad died and now the only daddy my baby knows is my boyfriend. I was crying happy and said tears.