Things were finally starting to slow down in the Sirens and All Time Low family. Since the twins have come home, our families have sort of mended any hurt feelings and constant caution towards Stella. She still struggled sometimes, but she was doing so much better and the twins were still pretty small, but growing normally. Stella had even started spending more time with Xander, which made her fall completely and totally in love with the little Gaskarth boy. However, with the kids growing at a steady rate and Stella busting her butt with new lyrics, all of our parents got to see the kids more than usual. We'd have band practice pretty often, since we were going to head back to the recording studio soon, so we needed them to babysit while we made the music we loved once more.


The Gaskarth's usually kept Izzy and Xander while my family kept Lacey and Lily, though there were times when Aubree would ask uncle Zack to watch her son, simply because she trusted him the way she trusted her own father. I thought it was sweet, but more than anything, it kept us feeling like the big family that we were.


With the stress of our jobs and our kids, it was nice to have a day like today. Don't get me wrong, I loved my kids more than anything, but sometimes I just needed a break. Music was often that break, but it seemed like we'd spent so long getting lost in our new lives that we'd forgotten how we managed to make the magic happen. We were working super hard to get our old sound back, which was easy, it was just the fact that we had so much to get done in such a short amount of time. We needed all of our new songs perfected before we went to the studio.


So, yes, having a family barbeque might not have seemed like a lot, but it was much needed. For all of us.


"There's my Izzy-Belle!" Tom grinned brightly, stepping in the room to scoop my daughter off of the ground. It wasn't long after Izzy started giggling that the two younger Gaskarth children came flying into the room. Tom and Stella both lit up like fireworks as they rushed to hug their younger siblings. They really didn't get a lot of time with Noelle and Liam, so I was happy to see them bonding. "Liam, you're almost as big as I am!"


I chucked at the smug look on Liam's face and decided to give the four of them a moment. Aubree was standing in the doorway, smiling just as I was, with a happy little boy in her arms. Xander was always such a happy baby and he managed to make the girls giggle just by his laughter. Aubree extended her arms and let me hold the little guy while she took off to the twins, gushing over their cute, matching dresses.


Taking Xander over to play with the twins and Izzy, I hadn't realized how much time had passed as the kids kept all of us laughing. It wasn't long before Zack and Nate showed up. Sometimes it was strange to really sit down and hang with Nate outside of the band. We all had such different lives now, but seeing the way Aubree and Tom instantly connected with him again, it made me happy. A part of me couldn't wait to get on the road again so I could remember what life was like before my girls, though I wouldn't trade it for anything.


Shortly after, my own family showed up, in which case my younger brother and sister tackled me in hugs. Of course, that didn't last very long, because Alex went straight to talking to Noelle while Liam and Oli teamed up. It made me happy to realize how close everyone still was, though it made me sad to think that their lives were still going on without us in them the way we used to be.


Eventually, the Dawson's arrived with their youngest daughter and the Gaskarth's came in after cooking on the grill. We decided to move the family outside so we could enjoy such a nice day, which meant Aubree and Stella had to go on a search for blankets so the babies could continue to play together instead of being in high chairs or bouncy seats.


We made small talk while we ate. Mostly, it was our parents asking the youngest kids about their lives and occasionally asking us about tour. Poor little Nate got picked on for the fact that, these days, he could relate more to our brothers and sisters than us. He didn't seem to mind it though, but that's just how Nate was. He was pretty chill about everything.


When we finally finished eating, Cass, Jules and my mom all gathered up our dishes and took them inside, gossiping about God know what, while Stella and Aubree moved to the ground with our kids. The kids ran off to play around the yard while Nate, Tom and myself stayed to talk with our dads. Alex even offered me a beer, which I gladly accepted.


"Jack, look!"


Hearing Stella's request, I let my eyes scan to the yard where Izzy was chasing after Noelle, all of the kids in a fit of laughter, but a smack on the arm told me I was looking the wrong way. I fixed my eyes on my wife and our twins, where I noticed that little Xander was sitting in the crawl position, a large grin on his face.


"He does that a lot," Tom smiled, proud of his son. "But every time he tries to actually crawl, he just kind of falls over."


"The girls do it," I snickered, taking a sip of my beer. "Well, Lacey more or less tries to beat up the floor."


"You guys are distracting them," Aubree scolded, not taking her eyes off of her son. "Shush and pay attention."


We all did as we were told, now realizing that Xander wasn't just in the crawl position, he was rocking his weight back and forth, getting comfortable with himself. Lily and Lacey were right behind him, sitting up to put their hands on the ground and giggle. Lacey, of course, was smacking the blanket with her hands, but Lily was carefully getting on her little knees.


"I think he's going to do it," Tom whispered, leaning over the table to watch his son. Just like myself, he wanted to be down there with the babies, but we didn't want to risk making them stop. "Come on, Xander."


As if he heard his father speak, Xander let out an adorable giggle and raised one of his hands off of the ground. Aubree had her hand over her mouth, trying not to let out a loud laugh of sorts, while Xander carefully moved his arm forward and rocked his body even more. Lily was right beside him, looking from him, to her arms, trying to figure out how he was moving how he was.


Xander's laughter continued as he wiggled his butt, making his knees slide on the blanket. In the blink of an eye, the Gaskarth boy was moving towards his mother, slowly and happy to have found a way to be mobile.


Lily seemd to pick up on how he was moving around so easily. She slid her knees up to her hands and nearly tumbled over, but managed to catch herself before she did so. Pride was swelling in my gut as she inched her little hands forward and found her way to Stella's lap. We all wanted to cheer our kids on, but there was still one small girl who now seemed more angry at the ground than usual.


We bit our lips as Lily and Xander giggled and moved away from their comfort zone to keep crawling around, though they did trip up quiet often and have to start over. Aside from making sure the two mobile kids stayed close, we were all watching Lacey as she finally bent over to hold herself up.


She tried to move her arm and leg at the same time and ended up falling over, but that didn't stop her. Instead, she kept one knee on the ground and bent her other leg so that her foot was supporting her. It was odd, but cute. She then moved her little arms and used her foot to push her across the blanket, making it to Stella the same way her sister had.


It was then that we all got up from our seats and started to cheer our children on. Even Izzy came over to see what all the fuss was about and gave her sisters a kiss on the head to congratulate them.


This was a moment that I would never forget, and one that I was thankful happened while we were all still here at home. Even more so, the whole family was here to witness it. At that moment, I realized out kids would grow up to be as close as we were when we were younger. They would face all of their problems as a group and they'd still have the same support system as we did growing up.


I couldn't be happier with where I was in love and who I was spending my days with.

Notes

Awhs. <3.