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Ginger pushed the chair up to the counter, smiling. She'd seen the acrobats on television and had her mind made up; she was going to be one! She climbed up onto the chair and pulled herself up onto the kitchen counter. She looked down at the floor, which seemed so far away. She then looked at the island that sat in the middle of the kitchen, a determined look spreading across her face. She was going to jump to it, just like an acrobat! She scrunched up her legs, waited for a second, then lept with everything she had.

Stasia jumped up from the couch as she heard the loud 'thud' and a cry. Literally hopping over the couch, she ran to the kitchen, where the little girl sat crying, holding her head. "Baby doll, what happened?" she asked, her voice a bit panicked as she scooped the little girl up in her arms, holding her close as she looked at the goose egg forming on her little baby's forehead.

"I....I bad ac-bat!" Ginger wailed. She hadn't made it to the table, and she hurted her head! It hurt so much! "I jump, but I didn't...didn't..." She began balling again, burying her head into her mother's shoulder.

"What...?" Stasia said, pulling back slightly to look at the little girl. Ac-bat? Then it hit her; acrobat. She sighed, sitting down in one of the chairs as she tried to calm the child down. "Honey, you don't go jumping off things. It isn't safe." she explained softly, her hands smoothing the little one's hair down.

"But I want be ac-bat...." Ginger said, looking up at her mother with wide, brown eyes. "And ac-bats jump! So I jump, too." That logic made perfect sense to her. "How be ac-bat if I no jump?"

The 'teen' sighed; childish logic was working against what she wanted. "Ginger, the acrobats on television have had years of practice. They didn't just start-" she started, but was cut off.

"So I practice now and become ac-bat soon!" Ginger said, grinning, the pain in her head forgotten. "Thanks, Mommy!" She squirmed out of her mother's lap, running out of the kitchen before Stasia could stop her.

"Oh dear..." the halfling said, pinching the bridge of her nose. This definately couldn't end well. She headed out of the kitchen quickly, hoping she could stop her little girl from getting herself hurt...again. She stepped out of the kitchen in time to see Ginger fling herself off of the back of the couch, landing safely on the cushions.

Ginger grinned, laughing out loud. That had been fun! Sure, Zemel was shooting her a look for disrupting him during "30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray", but it was worth it. It was so much fun.

"Ginger, what did I just say?" Stasia said, her voice calm. She scooped the girl up before she could run off again, holding her securely. "Don't jump off of things."

"But Mommy, no hurt!" Ginger said, not understanding why she couldn't jump off the couch. She hadn't gotten hurt this time, so what could possibly go wrong?

"Shhh!" Zemel said, pressing a finger to his lips before turning back to the television. Why did they have to be so noisy?

Stasia sighed. "Look, just do it for me, okay?" she said, looking at the little girl. "I'm worried you might bonk your head again. So, no jumping off of things unless I tell you it's okay, alright?"

Ginger murmered a small "okay", which definately meant she'd keep jumping. Great.

It was dinner time in the household. Generally, all the kids (which used to be just Nataya and Azubahiel) would sit at the table and talk while Stasia cooked the meal. Things were a slight bit different now that Ginger and Zemel were a part of the family. Nataya would do her best to keep Ginger from jumping off the table while 'Zuba would encourage the little girl to do just that.

Zemel, on the other hand, was no where near the chaos known as the dinner table. He toddled over to his mother, tugging gently on the leg of her pants. "Mama, I help." he said, looking up at her with eyes so round and innocent that she couldn't say no.

"Okay, Zemmy." Stasia said, smiling as she lifted the little boy up and onto the counter. "Now, you'll put in just what I tell you to put in, right?" She asked before handing him anything. After all, she didn't want the entire meal tasting funny due to added ingriedients.

Zemel nodded his head, smiling. The chef's on the big box thingy emphasized the importance of putting in the right things at the right time, so he understood. He helped Mommy put in the cheeses for the home-made mac and cheese.

"Mommy, what's that?" he asked, pointing to the whitish goop in the pan that they were dropping cheese into. It didn't look like cheese sauce...or any other form a cheese he'd ever seen.

"Well, that's a rue, Zemmy. It's made of flour and water, and it makes a good base for lots of different sauces." Stasia explained as she put the last of the cheese into the pot, her hand closing gently around his tiny one as she helped him stir the mixture.

"But doesn't look like sauce. Looks like goop." Zemel said, not understanding. How could that turn into sauce?

Stasia smiled. "Just watch it; it'll start looking more like cheese sauce as we cook it," she explained. Once she was confident he had the stirring down on his own, she stepped to the side to check on the macaroni to make sure it was cooking fine. It seemed to be sticking a bit, so she added a little butter to it and stirred.

Zemel grinned proudly. He was stirring it all by himself, just like a real chef! "Mommy, I stir!" he said, looking over to her. "I help!"

"You're doing great!" Stasia said, smiling at him. She reached over the stove to the spice rack, grabbing some garlic salt and adding a dash of it into the sauce as her son stirring.

Once the sauce was done and the pasta was cooked, Zemel helped her mix both into a large glass dish. He grinned as he was handed a bag of shredded cheese.

"Put as much as you like on there as you want." Stasia said, grinning. She enjoyed seeing the boy so happy at something as little as this.

No need to tell him twice. Zemel began dropping handfulls of cheese onto the pasta, since his motor skills weren't quite up to sprinkling the cheese across just yet. Once the back was empty and Mommy had put him on the floor again, he helped push the glass dish into the oven before going to wait at the table with the other for his macaroni to finish baking.

Ugh, had Mom come in and tucked them in again? Ginger shifted; everything felt so tight. She glanced at the clock; it was only 4 a.m., nowhere near time to be up. Still, she was so uncomfortable that going back to sleep simply wasn't an option. As the grogginess started to slowly wear off, the girl noticed things were a bit...different. Her bed hadn't seemed so small when she went to bed, nor was her nightgown. In fact, everything seemed smaller. She sat up with some difficulty, glancing around their room in the dark. "Zemel..." she whispered, glancing over to her brother's bed. "Zemel, wake up."

The boy had been sleeping soundly, snuggled up in his blanket when his sister's voice cut through his dreams, bringing him back to reality. "What is it, Ginger?" her murmured, rolling over to look at his sibling. Had she had a nightmare again or something? He wasn't quite awake enough yet to notice the lack of space he had on his little bed, or the fact that his sister was a lot bigger now, as was he. He sat up, yawning and stretching. He blinked at the sound of ripping cloth, his shirt torn. "What...?" That's when he started noticing that either their room shrank, or they'd grown.

Ginger got up, springing to her feet to go get mother. She wobbled, grabbing their dresser for support; she wasn't used to being this tall! She made her way to the door. "Mom!" she yelled, forgetting the fact that the others were probably sleeping. "Mom! Get in here! The house shrunk!"

"Ginge, the house didn't shrink." Zemel said softly, still sitting on his bed and rubbing his eyes. "I think we're the ones who grew. You know, like 'Zuba did?"

Stasia jolted as she heard the yell, wincing as she did so. Augh....her stomach... She got out of bed, heading down the hall to the twins' room. "What's all the commotion abou-" She started, stopping as she saw her youngest ones and their growth spurt. "Oh, congratulations, guys! She said, rushing over to give them hugs. Mutters and growls could be heard coming from a certain spawn's room across the hall; someone didn't take kindly to being woken up this early in the morning.

"We'll go shopping first thing in the morning for clothes. Till then, you two can borrow some of my clothes. Can't have you running around without something to wear, now can we?"

Ginger grinned at the thought of shopping. Oooh, there were so many pretty things she could wear now that she was bigger! She couldn't wait!

Zemel didn't share the same enthusiasm as his sister. It was too early in the morning to be that perky. Way too early.