Avaa POV
While Khalil was dropping the kids off, I decided to clean up after breakfast. I cleared the counter and stove, washed the pans I used, and ran the dishwasher. Then I wiped down the counters with cleaning spray and dried off the dishes on the drying rack. Once I was satisfied with my work, I went upstairs to lay back down. Tired doesn't even begin to explain my level of exhaustion from being up all night, but I'm so glad that I'm off work today. I laid in my bed, enjoying the peace and quiet of not having 8 kids and a husband in the house and began drifting back off to sleep.
"Baby!" I heard Khalil call loudly through the house, making me jolt awake, "baby!" he called again and this time I could hear his footsteps coming up the stairs. There goes my lil bit peace and quiet.
"In the bedroom!" I yelled back and his footsteps got closer and closer until the bedroom door swung open.
"Let me tell you what your daughter said to me this morning" he said.
"Who? Ky or Kheris?" I asked while he undressed from his sweatpants, leaving on just his draws and t-shirt before hopping into bed on top of me. Sometimes, him laying on top of me was enjoyable because the weight of him was relaxing, but in those instances, it's only half of his body because he's too damn big to just be falling on top of me, especially not without a warning.
"You are crushing me" I said in a squished voice, trying to push him off me, but he wanted to play dumb.
"Huh ? What'd you day? I can't hear you." Khalil moved himself around, pretending to not hear me all while laughing up a storm.
"I'm so sick of you, get off of me boy" I said, hitting his side and he finally rolled off, still laughing like a kid and I just gave him a side eye. "I hate you...a lot."
"I love you too, baby" he spoke once his laughter died down. "Come here" he requested, now sitting up on the bed next to me.
"No, you play too much," I huffed.
"Are you really mad at me, wife?" Khalil asked, now rolling over to crawl on top of me, this time without the weight as he hovered above me.
"Yes" I replied simply, looking up at him.
"Are you really?" he asked again, leaning down to meet me nose to nose and this time I just nodded in response to his question, "really?" he asked one more time, giving me a kiss after and I grabbed the sides of his faces. Khalil deepened the kiss and I happily obliged. His tongue explored my mouth before he pulled away, flashing that million dollar smile I fell in love with 11 years ago.
"I love you, wife" he said again.
"I love you too, husband" I replied and he kissed my forehead before rolling off of me completely. "Now what did my daughter say to you this morning?" I asked, going back to his statement from a few minutes ago "and which daughter?"
"Kheris and I was getting her and Kee ready, so I did her hair. She told me she wanted puffs and twists, so I did puffs and twists. Then I asked her how I did and her little sassy self says 'good Daddy, but next time let Mama do the swoops' because I had tried to do her little edges" Khalil said and I bussed out laughing.
"That Kheris is one of a kind, man" I shook my head, "one thing my baby gon do is tell you the truth about yo self"
"Yes she is...lil mean ass" he said and he wasn't wrong. She can be kind of mean when she says those things and we're trying to teach her that it's not always what you say, but how you say it- but she only 5, so it's a work in progress.
"How'd things go at drop off?"
"Good, Kee almost pulled my damn finger off tryna get into school, his teacher says hi and Moo was good. One of her lil teachers was tryna flirt with me from the back of the classroom though, I had to give her one of those white people smile and nods and walk away because Unc aint what she want"
"Please, not ya old ass" I chuckled a bit. Even he still looks as young as when we first met, Khalil has taken to calling himself Unc, as in Uncle because he's now almost 20 years older than half the girls that flirt with him.
"Not too much on me now, you only a year behind me."
"And that's a year I'll cherish for the rest of our lives...Unc" I teased.
"Ooh it sounds so sexy when you say it" he joked and I shook my head.
"Oh really now?" I asked, climbing on top of him and straddling his hips. I rubbed his chest up and down under his shirt, then gently took it off.
"Mhm" he replied and I noticed his eyes had gotten a shade darker.
Khalil's hands rested on my hips as I pulled my own top off my body. I could feel his grip tighten on my hips when he saw that I was naked under my shirt. All that was left was our underwear and I had the perfect idea on how to get rid of those. I stood up in front of him and did a little strip tease with my panties until they were completely off and Khalil discarded his draws during my little show.
I sat back down and by now his piece was standing at attention. I positioned him at my entrance before sliding down on him. Khalil bit his lip as he entered me and we both let out a small moan. I let myself get adjusted to him before bouncing up and down on him. I threw my head back as he subtly met me thrust for thrust and leaned up to kiss my neck.
Khalil trailed kisses down my body until he got to my boobs and his took his time giving attention to each one before flipping us over. He hovered above me, whispering some the nastiest things in my ear and it only turned me on more.
"You want it nasty?" he asked huskily in my ear and I moaned in response, "nah say it out loud" he demanded, pulling out halfway.
"I want you to fuck me real nasty" I replied breathlessly and he plunged back into me, making my back arch off the bed.
Khalil fucked me until that feeling began to build up in the pit of my stomach and I knew I was close, "just like that...just like that" I moaned as I neared my orgasm. He picked up his pace not a second later and continued to hit all the right places before I came on his dick and his came in me. Khalil stayed inside me for a second before pulling out and we laid there, trying to catch our breath.
After I caught my breath, I got out of bed to wash off and re-dress and returned with a washrag for Khalil to do the same, but when I walked back in the room he had done covered himself up and knocked out. So I wiped off his dick before taking it back to the bathroom and tossing it in the laundry hamper. Then I went downstairs to clean up some of the balloons in the den.
I wanted to leave some for pictures later, so I only popped like 75% of them and shoved the rest in the back hallway so they could get out of the den. Then I called and placed the order for the boxes of pizza and confirmed the cake pick up time for 11:15 because the kids ate lunch around 12.
Rd, 45 minutes until cake pick up I thought to myself. I have enough time for a little relaxation before running some more errands, so I laid back on the couch and relaxed into the cushions.
"Babe, where you at?!" Khalil called, no doubt walking around upstairs to find me, "Avaa" he called out again.
"In the den, Pooh" I responded and he came running downstairs like a herd of horses.
"Oh...why you leave?"
"Khalil, you went to sleep" I chuckled.
"But only for a minute" he rebutted, sitting down and wrapping himself around me. If its one thing about this man is that he is going to be the biggest softie with me and the kids- he always wants to be hugged up on me and shows hella emotions and expression with the kids. Over the years, I've come to learn that one of his love languages is physical touch, so even if its something as mild as hand holding, he just likes to be next to me, which is such a contrast from who he is at work.
"You've been asleep for 20 minutes, baby."
"Really?" he mumbled, kissing my leg before sitting up, "is everything all set for the kids' lunch and shit?"
"Yup, just got off the phone with the cake place and pick up is at 11:15, then we're picking up the pizza and going to the school."
"Oh speaking of kids, did you want to pick up Kee and Moo early? I mentioned that we might be by around nap time to get them, but that I'd talk to you first."
"Uhhh I guess we can because I know Kee would love to go see the kids at school..."I trailed off, "but then again, if we leave all the kids at school until regular time, we can spend the rest of the day together" I proposed.
"I mean we have been wanting to go see that new Viola Davis movie, Woman King"
"Leave them there" we said at the same time after sharing a look.
"I like the way you think, husband," I leaned over for a kiss.
"Right back at you, wife" he replied and kissed me gently, "but we better get outta here if we wanna pick up the food and stuff on time"
"Shit you're right" I said after glancing at my watch. Luckily we had about 30 minutes to get to the cake place and it was only 15 minutes from the house. Khalil had come down from his nap, dressed in the clothes he pulled out this morning and I was in a pair of ripped jeans with an off the shoulder, long sleeve brown shirt and my black UGG slides. He threw on a pair of random black sneakers of his that were in the den already and we went to the car.
Since we had a specific time for pick up, we went to the cake place first and I went inside and paid for the cake and they bought it out to the car. The workers placed it in the trunk so it wouldn't fall off the back seat and we headed for the pizza place. Once we got there, Khalil parked and went inside to pay for it, making sure to get extra plates. Then we made a quick stop at the grocery store for drinks and cups and drove to their school.
We arrived at exactly 12 oclock and I texted the triplets' teacher, Mr. Rheims, to let him know we were here. I'd let him know last week what Khalil and I wanted to do, so he was well prepared. He texted us back to let us know the kids were still at recess and would be going inside in a 10 minutes, so we had a few minutes to get everything from the car and into the classroom. We carried everything into the building and made a quick stop at the front office.
"Hello, who's classroom are you looking for?" the front office lady said as I placed the cake on a table nearby- I had never seen her before, so I'm assuming she must be new because with as many kids in the school as we have, almost all of the staff knows us.
"Hi, I'm Avaa Whitfield and this is my husband, Khalil Whitfield. We're here to do a little birthday celebration for our triplets' class- they're in Mr. Rheims' 5th grade class"
"Ok...it looks like they're still at recess"
"Yes, I know, I just spoke with him and he informed us that his teacher's aide was in the room and could assist us with getting everything together" I said with a smile.
"Perfect, let me just get y'all some visitors passes and y'all can head right down the hall" she replied, moving to get the passes to fill out.
"Hey Mr. Louis" I said, seeing the other officer person come out from the back. He's been here since the triplets were in kindergarten.
"Whitfields, what's up! How's the practice, Avaa?"
"Doing well, we just expanded and moved to another location"
"And the gyms, Khalil?"
"Same here, Jason and I just broke ground on a project in Florida. How are the boys?"
"Nice, nice and they're great. Ibrahim is going to high school next year and Ty will be going into his first year of college" he spoke like a proud dad with the biggest smile on his face talking about his kids.
"Whaatt? That's crazy, I swear they were just going to middle and high school"
"I know, I know" he nodded his head, "makes me feel old"
"Here are your passes" the new office lady interrupted.
"Well I'll let y'all go and tell the triplets happy birthday for me in case I don't see them later" he said, going back to whatever he was doing in the back.
"Will do, see you later" I said and thanked the other girl writing out passes, "oh also, we wanted grab my other kids and my nieces and nephews to sing 'happy birthday' and eat pizza, do we need another pass for that?"
Whenever any of the kids, whether they be mine or one of our sibling's kids, have a birthday and we do something in the class for the kids, we have all the kids join in so long as they're in the same building. Like next year, the triplets will be in 6th grade, which is in another building and instead of all the littles joining in to celebrate, it would just be Olivia and Elijah because they'd all be in the middle school building.
"Oh uh...what classrooms are they in?"
"Ok there's a few of them- Koda-Amari Whitfield, K'Von Rollins, Cannon Tucker, and Essex Williams are in Ms. Lyons' third grade class. Jrue Richards in Ms. Evers' first grade class, his sister Jaiyah Richards, my daughter, Kheris Whitfield and nieces and nephew, Autumn Russell, True Williams and Hasani Davis in Ms. Engels kindergarten class" I finished and she typed away on her computer.
"We're so sorry, I know it's a lot of us. We come from two big families." Khalil said from behind me.
"No it's ok, that's what it sounds like when you're sounding off my family too. So, I got Koda, K'Von, Cannon, and Essex in third grade. Jrue in first grade, Jaiyah, Kheris, Autumn, True, and Hasani in kindergarten. Did I get everybody?" she asked, double checking.
"Yes ma'am, thank you so much" I confirmed.
"Your third graders are coming from recess with the fifth graders and your first and kinders are just starting lunch and no you do not need an additional pass" she replied.
"Perfect, thank you again" I repeated and we made our way down to the triplets' classroom, "Khalil, do you wanna go get the kids from their classrooms and I'll set up?" I suggested when we got to the room and he just nodded his head and put the pizza down.
The set up was rather simple, all I wanted to do was tie some balloons on the back of their chairs and find a table to put everything on. The teachers aide, Ms. Rachel was nice enough to clear one of the "teacher tables", as they call them, for me to place everything on. I tied the balloons on the kids' assigned seats and set out the plates for the kids. I made sure to set a box aside for the teachers, just as Mr. Rheims stopped at the door with his class. The kids were lined up along the wall and couldn't see into the classroom to know that there was pizza and cake in here for everyone.
"Ok class, we're doing things a little differently today. We're going to have lunch in our classroom" he started and the kids groaned.
"We in trouble or something, Mista Rheims?" one of the kids said from the line.
"Did you do something to be in trouble Zhymir?" he asked
"No" he replied simply.
"Then you're not in trouble. I actually have a surprise...because today is Kylei, Khalil, and Kingsley's birthday, their parents were nice enough to bring in pizza and cake for everybody, so we're going to go straight to the bathroom and wash our hands and go find our seats" he finished and I could hear the excitement buzzing from each kid outside the room.
The kids walked to the bathroom outside the room, washed their hands, and filed into the class one by one and took their seats.
"TT Avaa!" I heard and Cannon came rushing toward me, followed by the rest of my nieces and nephews.
"Hey y'all, ready for some pizza?"
The kids enjoyed the pizza and we got rid of every box, which was great because I did not feel like taking anything home. Now it was time to sing happy birthday. Usually each triplet gets their own cake with their own design choice and they will at their party, but for class we just did one big cupcake cake for them to share. We got a 35 count to cover all 25 kids in the class, plus the littles. And since we did one large cake, Khalil thought to get 3 sets of the '1' and '0' candles for each of them to blow out. Khalil lit the candles and the kids sang happy birthday to the triplets and they blew out their candles, then handed out a cupcake to each kid in the room.
"Mama" Ky came up to me and whispered, "Ben can't have one" she said and I looked up to see a kid quietly sitting at his desk.
"Is he the one with an egg allergy?" I asked and she nodded her head, "ok good, I made sure to get one made special for him...Khalil" I called.
"Yeah babe?" "Yes, mama?" the both of them responded and I laughed. I forgot Bear is just Khalil in the classroom.
"I meant Daddy, Be-"
"Mama" he groaned, interrupting me before I slipped up.
"Oh sorry son, I mean Khalil" I corrected myself and he smiled at me and turned back to his friends. "Can you hand me that individual cupcake there?" I redirected my attention to my husband, Khalil and he handed it to me, "give him this and tell him there are no eggs in it" I said to Ky and she bounced her way across the room.
That girl is like a ball of light, she's so caring and thoughtful of others- not that all my kids aren't, but Kylei especially has knack for making sure everyone feels included and is treated fairly. "Here ya go, my mom got it made special for you...no eggs" I heard her say to Ben and he lit up. He looked across the room at me and smiled hard, "thank you!" he said and dug into his cupcake.
Thankfully, all of the cupcakes went too and there were even two extra for Mr. Rheims and Ms. Rachel because there just so happen to be two absent kids today.
"Friends, lunch is winding down, what to we say to Mr. and Mrs. Whitfield?" Mr. Rheims asked the class.
"Thank youuu" they said in a sing-song tone before cleaning up.
"Thanks Ms. A and Mr. Khalil" two of Jr. and Kingsley's friends said coming up to us, "can we come over later to play ball?"
"Sorry boys, those two are on punishment until the end of the week" Khalil replied and Ishmael and Faheem shot the boys looks.
"How y'all get in trouble this time?" Ish asked.
"Yeah, what'd you do?" Fah cosigned.
"We broke the TV" Kingsley admitted lowly.
"Dammnn" they said in unison and I cleared my throat, giving them a knowing look, "I mean daaanggg son" they said and started clowning on the boys for being in trouble.
"Cuss again you two and ya mothers are gonna be my first call" I said and the two of them straightened up.
"Sorry Ms. A" they said in unison again.
Ishmael and Faheem were like K'Von to us, except they lived down the street. They spent a good part of their free time with the boys and even do homework together as a way to chill with each other for longer and they just rotate houses. So as much as Ish and Fah are at my house, King and Jr. are at their houses and we've become quite good friends with their parents.
The boys went back to their conversation and I looked down at my watch to see it was time to get the littles back to their classrooms. So we said bye to the triplets and I double checked to make sure they had their track uniform and spikes for their meet after school and that King had his inhaler, while Khalil gathered up the littles.
"-6, 7, 8, 9..." Khalil counted to himself to make sure all the younger ones were accounted for, but there were 10 of them and he only counted 9. "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9..." he counted again, with the same result, "who the hell is missing?" he whispered to himself, looking around the room and I heard him start mumbling names to list off all 10 kids. "Kheris" he said aloud in realization.
"Mama" King said, calling my attention and all three of them pointed behind Jr.'s seat.
"Kher, bring ya self on girl. They gotta start class now" Khalil said, but she continued to hide.
"Kheris" I said simply, but sternly and she popped up, knowing we weren't playing.
We walked all the kids back to their classrooms, but stopped Kheris before she went into her room.
"Kheris, when Mama or I call you, you have to listen ok? It's not play time all the time, you understand?" Khalil asked, getting down to her level. We've found that getting on her level and talking to her, instead of standing over her and talking at her works a lot better when we need her to understand something.
"Yes Daddy, sorry" she said with her head hung low.
"I accept your apology, but next time we have a birthday in the classroom, if you're gonna play like that, you may not come, got it?" he continued and she nodded her head.
"Pinky promise I'll listen next time" Kheris extended her pinky outwards and Khalil linked his with hers and kissed the other end, "you too Mama," she said, offering her pinky to me and I linked mine with hers and kissed the other end.
"That seals the deal" Kheris said in her tiny voice.
"Rd now get in there and be good for your teacher, I do not want to hear a bad report at the end of the day, ya hear?" I said, now squatting down to her level and she nodded her head aggressively.
"We love you Kher bear" we said and sent her on her way.
We watched her find her seat at circle time from the classroom door and she waved to us before turning her attention back to her teacher reading the book. We didn't stand there too long because as soon as the book was over, it was nap time- their cots and blankets were already out, so after a minute, we left.
"Where to next?" Khalil asked as we exited the school building.
"We can do the movies, but we gotta grab a plan B by the end of the day." I was more than serious about not getting pregnant again and even though I'm on the ring now, I double up with Plan B most of the time because birth control alone has been proven ineffective for us- Koda and Kior were evident of that. I had an IUD in when I got pregnant with Koda and was on the pill when we found out about Kior. Kapri happened after Khalil swore he pulled out in time, when he in fact did not. Kheris was actually my only planned pregnancy, now that I think about it.
"Oh yeah, we can do that now and that way while I'm in the store, you can order the movie tickets" he suggested, opening my car door.
"Fine with me" I agreed and Khalil drove off.
After the movie, Khalil and I went home and just lounged around the house together. We binged a few episodes of our show, The Vampire Diaries. I recently got him hooked on it and I was only like 3 episodes in after restarting the series for the second time. And now, whenever we have some down time together, Khalil goes "turn that Vampire shit on."
Before I knew it, it was time for the kids' pick up. On most days, our drivers/security guards, Nash and Eric rotate days picking up the kids because Khalil and I work until at least 5:30 and the kids get out at the 3:30. But since we had off today and the triplets have a meet, Khalil told Nash that he didn't have to pick them up today. Instead I spoke with the triplet's track coach and he agreed to let Koda, Vonnie, and Kheris sit at their pre-meet practice until we got there.
"Babe, the meet is at 5:00, we gotta go get Kee and Moo" Khalil informed me after the 4th straight episode had ended, "and you know they'll be so mad if we're late."
"Yeahh, Ky gave me a whole run-down last night of how we need to be there on time to get good seats and get the kids settled" I said, shaking my head, "she's a mess" I laughed.
"She's your daughter" Khalil replied and I hit his shoulder, which only made him laugh.
We tossed our shoes back on and went straight to the car, heading straight for the kids' daycare. We arrived and both decided to go in and get the kids- I went to Kapri's classroom and Khalil grabbed Kior from down the hall.
"Hey Avaa, how are you?" Kapri's teacher, Ms. Hallie said greeting me as I beelined it for my baby.
"Hey Ms. Hallie, I'm doing well, and yourself?" I asked, giving her a quick smile of acknowledgment.
I picked Kapri up out of the playpen she laid in and gently put her over my shoulder. She was knocked out and I didn't want to wake her because she's just like her brother, Bear and hates being woken up. I kissed her head softly and gathered the rest of her things, which were thankfully all bagged up and in one place already.
"Same here, same here" Ms. Hallie smiled.
"How was she today?"
"She was good, we did some reading and music time and she just fell asleep again about 15 minutes ago" Hallie replied.
"Sounds like a good day...but we gotta go, the triplets have a track meet today" I said, putting on the jacket Kapri came in with.
"Oh that's great...tell them I say good luck"
"Will do...have a good night" I waved and headed towards the door just as Kior and Khalil walked up.
"Come on Mama, we gotta go" Kior urged, earning a laugh from Ms. Hallie.
"I'm coming, I'm coming...Jesus boy"
I opened the gate on the door and Kior was already pulling Khalil out the door. I said one last goodbye to Ms. Hallie before following them out the door. When we got to the car, I put Kapri in her carseat and strapped her in, while Khalil did the same with Kior before we got in the car ourselves.
"Mama can you pway a song" Kior requested from the back seat, so I pulled out my phone and picked a random song off a random playlist. "No not this one Mama, I wike the one singin "keyshay keyshay keyshay" he said, attempting to sing the lyrics to a song and Khalil stifled a laugh.
"How does it go again baby?" he asked.
"Keyshay keyshay keyshay" Kior sang again.
"Baby, do you mean 'cliché cliché cliché?" I asked and I saw his face light up in the mirror.
"Yeah mama! that one!" he said excitedly and I realized he was trying to sing part of Jay-Z and Beyonce's song, On the Run Part 2. I scrolled through my playlist until I found the song and he started singing it almost word for word.
"Boy what you know about this song?" Khalil asked, once the song ended.
"KyKy wisten to it" he replied simply and shrugged talking about Kylei and we laughed.
Kior loves hanging with his big brothers and sisters; he will literally wander the house until he finds a free sibling. Sometimes I'll catch him laying on Ky's bed while she does homework or something, other times the boys have him in their rooms, teaching him how to play the game. It's to the point where even their friends will ask where Kior is when they're over and Kior be right with them, ready to do all the big kid stuff and the older kids don't mind because he's usually quiet.
We pulled into the parking lot of the kids' school near the field and got out. It was already 4:45, so we were for sure pushing it. I got Kior from his seat and dusted him off because he'd made a mess of the chips he had in the car and Khalil got Kapri out and strapped to my chest.
"Grab her bag, baby" I reminded him and picked Kior up. He was more than capable of walking, but we were already running late and I didn't want to end up pulling him across the lot because we were rushing. "Lock the door!" I called from ahead of Khalil because I hadn't heard it beep and not a second later it beeped locked. We made it to the field with 10 minutes to spare.
"Thank you Mr. Washington, for letting the kids sit here with their siblings until we got here" I said, walking up to the triplets' track coach, "I hope they weren't too much trouble"
"No trouble at all, Kheris helped me lead warms ups and Koda and K'Von participated, so they had a good time" he smiled as they came rushing toward me and Khalil.
"Y'all have a good time?" Khalil asked.
"Yeah Mr. Lil, Mr. Washington let us run with them!" Vonnie spoke excitedly.
"That's good son, maybe we'll get you in track next year if you want."
"Me too Daddy?" Kheris asked.
"We'll see, you may be too young for this team princess" he said and she sulked a little, "but that's ok though right? Because soon enough you'll be all big and old enough to do whatever you want" he said, cheering her up and her face lit up.
I just shook my head because knowing my daughter, hearing that she'd be able to do whatever she wanted is what changed her mood. Kheris is 5 going on 15 and my baby has such a big personality- she wants to be grown so bad, especially with as many older siblings and cousins that she has. She'll see them hang out with their friends or each other and will either want to emulate them or participate and usually neither works out that well because...well she's 5.
"Now why would you tell her that?" I whispered to Khalil as we found a seat on the bleachers.
"What?" he whispered back.
"That she could do whatever she wants when she's older"
"It's true! When she's older than 19/20, she can do what she wants" he rebutted.
"But the key word you used was "soon", you know she's gon take that and run with it" I laughed.
"Shit you're right. She already thinks she's grown now, wait until we have a 6 year old on our hands" Khalil said, shaking his head. Kheris is for sure his spoiled princess, I don't know how, but I swear he's wrapped around her finger tighter than Ky's and mine and I'm his wife.
We found a seat in the front and second rows of the bleachers because Koda and K'Von wanted to sit on the row in front of us and Kheris sat with them, while Kior sat beside me. He cuddled up to me until he eventually climbed in my lap to watch the race.
The kids would be running in 4 out of the 9 events in this meet. All three of them would be in the 4x100 mixed relay with Ky running as the starter, King running the third leg, and Jr. as the anchor. They'd decided to make it a mixed relay because all the middle school division teams were co-ed. Then Jr. is hurdling along with the 200m dash while Ky and King are doing 2 separate 100m and 200m dashes with their gender group.
Ky was first with her 200m dash and the kids watched attentively as she and the rest of the girls in this heat lined up at the starting line and got down, waiting for the starter to go off. There was little talk from the other parents in the bleachers because half of them also had kids in this heat. The gun went off and Ky took off. Her start was a little slow, but I could tell she was pushing herself.
"YEAH KY!" Koda yelled from the stands in front of us, cheering his big sister on prompting all of the kids to join in.
"PUSH THROUGH BABYGIRL" Khalil yelled, standing up, "YOU GOT THIS!" he said, continuing to encourage her from the sidelines as she built up momentum, overtaking each runner one by one until she and another little girl from her school were neck and neck. The race was close until the very end, but Ky placed first by a head. Khalil had been training with the kids for the last few weeks and he taught them to finish with their heads, especially in close races.
Ky smiled up at us and took a seat on their bench because the boys' 200m dash was up. This time both my boys lined up at the starting line and they repeated the same process. The starting gun went off and Jr. took a strong lead with King right behind him, well more like next to him and the Whitfield clan cheered them on. After a minute it was clear that this was a race between my sons because the other boys had fallen behind. And although Jr.'s start was good, he ended up losing power toward the end and King walked away in first place.
The rest of the meet went well, Jr. kicked ass on the hurdles, coming in first and Ky came in 2nd for her 100m dash, while King came in 1st for his and their team placed 3rd in the 4x100m. As the bleacher cleared out and all the parents found their kid, we did the same. We made our way down to the track to get the kids with Kheris leading us, just as their coach was wrapping up his post-meet speech.
"...Y'all did good and next meet we'll do even better. Practice at 4:00, instead of 5:30 next week and we will end an hour and a half earlier. Now go on home, have a good night" he said, dismissing them and the triplets ran over to us.
"TOP DAWGS!" Khalil's voice boomed as the kids walked toward us.
"Y'all did so good!" I said, excitedly. They hi-fived Khalil and came and hugged me around the baby.
"First and second place, not bad for my godkids" Jay said walking up behind us.
"Uncle Jay!" the kids yelled, running to hug him.
"Aye nigga that's not what we agreed you'd say!" his phone yelled out.
"My godkids, our godkids, so what nigga" he yelled back.
"Hey Uncle Yan" the kids said.
"Hey, sorry I couldn't make the meet, Threes Company, I had to shoot the Sixer's team photos," Yiannis apologized. Over the past few years, Yiannis' photography business has taken off and now he has satellite offices all over the country with other up and coming photographers. His most recent accomplishment is his venture into sports photography. He is now contracted to a few professional sports teams, plus the team USA Olympic team to handle any and all things photography and videography for the team.
"It's ok Unc-" Ky started.
"Did you say Sixers, Uncle Yan?" King interrupted.
"As in the Philadelphia Seventy-sixers?" Jr. asked.
"Thems the one" he confirmed.
"We can let this one go for the low low price of a signed jersey from Tyrese Maxey" King bargained, making me raise my eyebrow.
"Each!" Jr. added and Khalil plucked the both of them in their heads. "Ouch" they said in unison.
"Does a signed jersey from him plus 2 basketballs signed by all the players plus a pass to travel with them to the game against Warriors later this year make up for it?" Yan replied nonchalantly.
"Forreal Uncle Yan?!" they said in unison again.
"Yep, happy birthday y'all. And don't think I forgot about you, KyKy because you're going to that Warriors game with them and I talked to some of the cheer staff, they'll be expecting you to cheer with them in the team's home season opener." he finished and Ky let out a scream to rival the ones in horror movies.
"Omg omg omg, thanks Uncle Yan! You're the best!"
"Anything for my OG three man wrecking crew"
"Nigga you tryna show me up as a goddad?" Jay asked, turning the phone to face him so Yiannis could see his face.
"You?" Khalil scoffed, "he's showing ME up and I'm their damn daddy."
"Man what?!" "Nigga please" Jay and Yan spoke at the same time, "you always give out better gifts than us..." Jay continued.
"Yeah nigga, I think my kids like you more than me" Yan confirmed.
"What are y'all talking about?" Khalil asked.
"K, you got Doni and Aden cars for their birthdays last year" Jay said.
"And? What's wrong with that?" Khalil replied.
"Dawg they turned 13 last year!" Yan yelled through the phone making the kids laugh.
"They'll be driving in 3 years...that's soon...ish" Khalil shrugged.
They're right, he does always have the best gift. I even find myself competing with him for the best gift sometimes, especially when Koda and the triplets were younger. But since we had Kheris, we decided on giving joint gifts to save money and give better overall gifts when buying special day gifts for the kids. But, all my brothers and his are always trying to out do him, its gotten to the point where they will ask me what Khalil is buying so they can do better and I don't even be knowing most of the time.
"You just lucky you just put the money in an account with the dealership instead of the car actually sitting in my driveway because I would not hear the end of that shit from that boy" Yan said, referring to his son, Adonis.
"Ok ok y'all got that one" he finally conceded, "but who wants to get ice cream to celebrate?"
"ME" the kids yelled excitedly with Jay being the loudest one. Not much has changed with him over the years.
"Now Uncle Jay" Ky said with a straight face.
"What? Too much?" he asked.
"Too much" the kids confirmed and started walking to the car. They walked ahead, while me, Khalil, and Jay took up back.
"Is Yiannis still on the phone?" I asked and Jay nodded his head, "you three are ridiculous" I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
"What now?" Jay whined.
"Y'all are spoiling the shit outta those kids...cars, basketball teams, what's next?"
"Well I was actually planning on getting them these dirt bikes I saw in a catalog" Jay answered.
"That was rhetorical big dawg" Khalil mumbled to him.
"The hell you doing with a catalog?" Yan laughed out loud.
"It was Abriell's...and one day, I got bored and thumbed through it. You should go through one one day, they be having some good shit in there."
"Swear jar Uncle Jay" Jr. called from ahead of us and Jay pulled out his wallet to get cash.
"I only got a 50$" Jay said.
"That'll do" the triplets said in unison after sharing a look and Kingsley took his money. We are trying to cuss less around all the kids, especially because of Kheris, so we've implemented a swear jar and every time you curse, you have to put money in. And once the jar is full, we're going to use that money for family vacation.
"Not the point" I interrupted.
"But baby, how you talking? Them kids and all our nieces and nephews stay with the most expensive shit off the rack because of you and our sisters" Khalil argued.
"Swear jar Daddy" Koda called out this time and Khalil slapped his money into Koda's outstretched hand.
"Exactly and didn't you buy Jrue a brand new PS5 set because him and Jaiyah was fighting over the one in the living room" Jay joined in.
"Yeah and last Christmas, if I recall correctly, Olivia got a custom made jewelry box set with her name on it and Adonis got the 1,500$ jacket he wanted" Yan said, putting the icing on the cake.
"Oh hell no" I started, but the kids interrupted me.
"Swear jar!" they said, this time in unison, making me glare at them while handing my money over. At this rate, we'll be on vacation half way around the world.
"I'm so sick of these kids" Jay muttered.
"I heard that!" Ky said, turning around.
"Lil girl, you think I care?" he shot back and stuck his tongue out at her, which she returned with an eye roll.
We finally made it to the car and loaded all the kids up. Koda and K'Von wanted to ride with Jay, so they followed him to his car.
"You better make sure my kids are buckled in!" I yelled behind him.
"You do know I have four kids of my own?" he replied back without turning around.
Jay followed us to Cold Stone and all of the kids got what they wanted. The triplets always get the exact same thing and have ever since they were younger- all three of them get cake batter ice cream with rainbow sprinkles and cookie dough bites. K'Von has a relatively stable order as well- cheesecake ice cream with brownie bites, gummy bears, and Reese's pieces is his usual go to. And Kior usually sticks with vanilla with sprinkles and Reese's bites. But Koda and Kheris are my adventurous children, like their daddy- they are down to try just about anything at least once, and every time we come to Cold Stone, their order changes. This time Koda wanted to do cinnamon bun butter ice cream with gummy bears, Oreos, and KitKat pieces and Kheris decided on peanut butter cookie dough ice cream with cake pieces, sprinkles, and graham crackers.
"Everybody got what they wanted?" Khalil asked and all the kids were happily eating their ice cream, so he ordered his own and paid and we left for the car.
"Rd kiddos, I gotta get Siah and LayLay from school, see y'all later" Jay said, referring to his and Bri's youngest two, Lay'na and Legacy, whose middle name is JaSiah, so we call him Siah. He kissed each of the kids on the head and then headed to his car.
Everybody got into the car and found their seats and we headed home. Although the kid's were having their birthday party this weekend, today was their birthday, so they had a choice of what they wanted for dinner. I listened to them suggest options and narrow it down to 3 places- Olive Garden because they loved pasta dishes, Cheesecake Factory because Ky loves the vanilla bean cheesecake and the boys' favorite was the Oreo one, and lastly Benihan a's because all the kids loved seeing them food cook right in front of us. The debate continued all the way home. Khalil parked the truck in its usual spot and all the kids piled out, while I grabbed Kapri's car seat and Khalil unbuckled Kior. He hopped down from the car and ran after his big siblings and the triplets continued their conversation in the kitchen.
"I wanna do Olive Garden...that seafood alfredo is calling my name" Jr. stated.
"...yeah but if we go to Benihana everybody will benefit, you know Doo and Kee like when they throw the shrimp. Plus Vonnie has never been with us" Ky said, listing reasons why Benihana was a better option.
"Right and we always go to Olive Garden, I wanna switch it up" King said, agreeing wit Ky.
"So 2 for Benihana, 1 for Olive Garden...I guess Benihana is a good birthday dinner" Jr. said, finally agreeing with Kylei and King.
"Good" Ky clapped excitedly, "Mama, Daddy, we've decided on Benihana's. What you think?"
"It's y'alls birthday, so Benihana is fine with me" I said, "we just have to have homework done before we leave the house, got it?"
I was more than willing to have a late dinner to ensure that all of the kid's homework was done because waiting until after dinner would be a nightmare. Starting with doing homework late and them complaining that they're tired and ending with someone crying because they're too tired and homework not getting done.
"Yes ma'am" they replied in unison.
They took off in different directions to get their homework done. I usually have Kheris, K'Von, and Koda sit at the dinner table to do their homework to keep them focused and so they can easily get help if they need it because Khalil is not usually home until after homework is done, while the triplets just pick a spot in the house. They don't have big issues with focusing on their homework before playing so I don't have a problem with wherever they choose to do their homework. Ky like to take up our office and King will sit at his desk in his room most days, but Jr. switches almost every day and today he decided to sit at the table with the kids.
As soon as they sat down at the table, they all pulled out their homework. Since Kheris is in kindergarten, her homework mainly revolved around letter tracing and full name tracing this week. Then my 3rd graders, Koda and K'Von were on simple fractions in math, the plant life cycle in science, and had 20 vocab words for the week, which they're tested on at the end of each week. So I quiz them on their words on top of their regular English homework to help them study. Meanwhile, Jr.'s homework was to read a chapter book of his choice for at least 20 minutes a night, which is covered when we read together each night. He and his class are also on multiplying three digit numbers in math and geography in social studies.
I set Kheris up with the stuff she needed to complete her tracing and usually she's really good about getting her work done by herself, so I left her to do just that. Then I made sure the boys didn't need any initial help and they all said no, so I checked on my other two. I went to Ky first since she was in our office on the first floor and she was in the middle of her social studies homework, labelling the map on the United States.
"You need any help, Ky?" I asked, peaking my head in the room. Kylei was seated at the desk and had all her homework strewn across it. She looked up briefly from her homework to shake her head no before diving right back into her work, so I moved on to my last kid.
*knock knock*
"Come in" I heard Kingsley call on the other side of the door.
"Just checking in, you all good in here?"
"Yes ma'am" he replied quickly and went back to his work as well.
On most days, after I check in with each kid, I change my youngest two out of their school clothes and then start on dinner. But, no one had cooking duty tonight because we were eating out, so I skipped that part and went to find Khalil. He'd taken Kapri and Kior upstairs when we got in the house and I eventually found the three of them playing on the floor in the baby's nursery.
Khalil had let Kior roll him up in the carpet and they were laughing up a storm, while Kapri had crawled on top of him. I stood in the doorway watching them for a minute before they noticed me.
"Look Mama! I make Daddy a buwitto!" Kior said, pointing to Khalil who was still wrapped in the carpet, laughing just like Kior was.
"A burrito? Is this burrito tasty?" I asked, playing along with him and he giggled.
"No Mama" he laughed, shaking his head at me, "he's not a real buwito"
"Oh you coulda fooled me" I sat down on the floor with them and Kapri crawled into my lap.
"I bet your burrito tastes good" Khalil said low enough for only me to hear as he rolled out of the carpet, "can I taste it" he continued, only this time he whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
"If you don't get on now...we have a 3 year old and 6 month old in the room" I pushed him away, trying to hide my blush.
"They don't know what the fuck I'm talking about" he replied, reaching in my shirt and giving my boob a squeeze.
"Syre" I said warningly and he backed off, but kept that seductive look in his eye making me smirk at his expression.
"C'mon Daddy," Kior called Khalil, interrupting our quiet back and forth.
"What we doing son?" he asked and I got off the floor to go bac downstairs with the other kids.
I left them alone and went back down to the dining room where Jr., Koda, Vonnie, and Kher were doing their homework. They all seemed to be managing just fine, so I made my way to the den. I wanted to be available if they needed my help, but I didn't want to interrupt their groove. I got comfortable sprawled out across the couch and scrolled through my Instagram feed.
Homework time went by quickly; Vonnie finished first, it only took him about half an hour to finish up his work and Koda was probably 10 minutes behind him. And after that, it was like a domino effect. One kid after the other came into the den for me to check their homework. I check their work every night to make sure its done correctly and it's completed with their best work. I especially have to check Jr.'s work because he likes to try and cheat his way out of his work by either half completing it, not answering thoroughly, or giving responses that he and I know are below his grade level. But tonight, everyone's work was done perfectly; Vonnie and Koda didn't miss a word when I quizzed them on their vocab words, Kheris went above and beyond on her assignment tonight without any prompting, and the triplets did all their work and read a chapter of a book of their choice to record in their reading log.
I signed the last reading log for King and sent everybody off to get themselves together for dinner. Since none of the kids had changed out of their outfits of the day, we didn't have to worry about getting redressed or finding a new outfit. So all they had to do was put their homework and agendas in their bookbags, make sure their lunchboxes were clean and set out for tomorrow's lunch, and pull out their pajamas. Whenever we go somewhere after homework, I try to make our nighttime routine as smooth as possible, meaning the kids will set their pajamas and hair wraps out on their beds before we even leave the house.
"Koda, call Daddy on the intercom for me" I asked as I made sure everything was shut off before we went to dinner.
"Daddy, mama said let's go" Koda's voice rang through the house and not even 2 minutes later, I heard Khalil barreling down the steps like a herd of horses, just like the kids do. He was carrying Kapri in one arm while Kior hung on his back. I shook my head and laughed to myself before doing a quick check over everybody before heading out.
"Homework done?" Khalil asked the kids. It's bound that at least one of the kids forgets to do something on our nighttime routine list, so we usually do a quick double check to run through everything they're supposed to do, especially on days like tonight when we're eating out.
"Yup" they replied in unison.
"Lunch boxes out of bookbags and cleaned out for tomorrow?" he continued and Koda took off for his room. See?
"Night stuff out?"
"When you say night stuff..." Jr. trailed off and Khalil simply pointed in the direction of his room and Jr. went.
"Am I missing anything, baby?" he asked, turning to me and I quickly wracked my brain and came up with nothing, so I shook my head just as Koda and Jr. came racing back to the garage entrance in the kitchen. They were laughing hard and out of breath, so I figured they were racing each other and my suspicions were confirmed when they started claiming who was the winner.
"I won" Koda stated in between breaths.
"No I did, I was standing here waiting on you" Jr.'s dramatic self said.
"Liar" Koda laughed, "who won y'all?" he asked his siblings and each of them gave mixed responses. Ky Vonnie claimed that Koda won, while King and Kheris said that Jr. was the winner which erupted in a debate between all of them with Ky demanding they look at the security cameras and Vonnie cosigning.
This conversation continued out of the house and into the car. The kids piled into their usual spots and I strapped Kior into his seat, while Khalil did the same for Kapri and Kheris. And once everyone was settled, Khalil opened my door and shook his head laughing at our kids' shenanigans before heading to his side and driving off.
"Nah nah, let's get another opinion" King announced and I could see him waving his hands telling them to stop talking.
"That's the first right thing you've said in the past 20 minutes" Ky sassily agreed.
"Mama" they all spoke at the same time, turning to me and quieting all the noise in the process.
"Both of y'all are winners to me" I replied which earned a collective eye roll.
"She supposed to say that, she's our mama" Jr. complained, "Daddy, who won? Me or Doo?"
"Tell the truth, shame the devil Daddy" Kheris added making me look back at her and shake my head. My baby has got to stop hanging around mine and Khalil's mom, she' starting to sound just like them.
"Sorry Doo, but I think Jr. had you by just a smidge." Khalil answered and half of the kids sucked their teeth.
"Ain't nobody even ask him" Ky mumbled while the other half hi-fived each other making us buss out laughing.
"How you gon get mad at me? Bear did ask me" Khalil laughed out and Ky, Koda, and Vonnie just ignored him.
"Hatersss" King and Jr. teased a bit before sitting back with an identical satisfied smile on their faces. Even after 10 years, sometime it still amazes me how in sync they can be.
We drove the rest of the way jumping between conversations. Ky, Vonnie, and Koda's mood didn't last long and they hopped right back into whatever conversation was being held among them, of course Ky jumped in to correct one of them on some fact I wasn't paying attention to. She's definitely my brainiac of all my kid's- not that all the kid's aren't' smart and advanced for their ages, but Ky is like a cache of random information sometimes. I love watching her eyes light up when she gets excited about new topics.
"Rd rug-rats, we're here" Khalil said, pulling into a spot right in front of the restaurant.
"Daddy, what's a rug-rat?" Kheris asked Khalil and his eyes grew big in surprised before he sighed to himself.
"I've failed as a parent" I could tell he was internally face palming himself at the fact that Kheris had in fact, never seen The Rugrats. I laughed to myself at his disappointment as everybody repeated the same unloading procedure and one by one the kids made their way into the restaurant.