Introducing Sawyer

This is my youngest boy, Sawyer Nathan Cheesman.
He asked to join the Boy Scouts and we let him.

He enjoys playing in (and sleeping in) Sierra's old tree house.

He likes eating breakfast with Skylar even though she is due to turn teen soon.

The other day he asked Sage if she could take him to the summer festival, and, well, how could she refuse?

 

So she took him, even though by the time they got there, it started pouring rain.  No matter, they're Andy's kids, they don't mind getting soaked to the bone, as long as they enjoy being outside.

 

Sawyer's even proving he's got a way with animals as he walked right up to a horse he had never seen before and handed it a treat.  

The Complicated Nature of First Love

Sierra is in the throes of her first teen crush.
That it happens to be on a girl has surprised me - but only a little.  Nothing Sierra does surprises me anymore.

I met Lily Jade Richards, the object of Sierra's affection, at the library in Hidden Springs yesterday. She was there studying with a male friend. Have to say, she's an interesting character. Her father is Chinese and Irish, and her mother came straight from Shang Simla, so she's three-fourths Chinese.  Her traits are brave, eccentric, genius and athletic. I kind of see why she appealed to my daughter as Sierra has three of those same traits. 

As far as I'm aware, Lily is the one who pursued Sierra, at the prom. 

The new relationship, if you call it that, partly explains Sierra's sudden interest in science and inventing.  She locks herself in her room for hours at a time, working on her experiments.  Apparently it stems from Lily's eccentric trait, she's into that kind of thing.  I know that Sierra built a bomb at Fort Starch, in fact she posted pictures of it online, and that "bucket list" she wrote has a lot of potions and robotics and stuff she wants to try out on it.   

At any rate, Sierra is positively smitten with this girl.  She's writing notes to her all the time and texting her on her smartphone. 

Quite a pair, these two are. I don't really know what to make of them. 

 

I keep searching for ways to talk to this girl and I keep failing, miserably.  

I cannot talk to Sierra, not only because she IS me, only more extreme, but when it comes to her a lot of the time, my verbal faculties disappear.  

She defies belief.

As for my older daughter, Sage... 

Sage has started to date Kyle Heilman, a fellow student she met in her fine arts classes.  He's the first guy she really seems to be serious about.  And apparently, he's also crazy about her.  So much so that they've moved in together.  

 

They're living in this environmentalist cottage in the woods in Hidden Springs.  Sage took her horse, Eager Traveller, and her dog, Bitsy, with her.  They're a couple of bohemians who found each other.  I swear, I think they were both born in the wrong decade. 

They talk about hunger strikes and energy conservation.  They grow veggies in the garden and fish out of Hidden Springs' many ponds.  I've heard Kyle plans on buying a horse to go along with Sage's.

Kyle works as a volunteer fireman for Hidden Springs' fire department.  I haven't heard what Sage plans on doing with that shiny new degree she's got.  

 

I have told her that I think she is moving too quickly.  She's just started dating him and already they're in their own place together.  

I fear it is headed for disaster.  But I can't tell Sage that.  She's in the throes of puppy love, just like her kid sister.   

  

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about my oldest son, Andrew Jr.  

I hate to say it as I love my son to death, but he is a walking disaster in the romantic department.

 

At issue, of course, is his on-again, off-again, stormy romance with Samantha Grey, a girl he met at college.   She's a fine arts major and took a lot of classes with Kyle and Sage.  I think she was studying to be a fashion designer or something.

Anyway, he and Samantha had a bad breakup because she cheated...

 

.

..and he briefly rebounded with Kayleigh Andre, who just happens to be Sage's best friend and who just happened to have had a crush on him since she was a teenager...

 

So please explain to me why, after he got his shiny new tech degree....

 ...did he and Samantha reconcile and move in together?

And the poor guy's apparently got a stalker too.  He and Sage went to the gym to workout.  

 

This girl just kept staring at him.  

 She whipped out her camera and started taking pictures.  Lots and lots of pictures.  I wouldn't be surprised if she has a shrine of him somewhere in her bedroom.  It's a bit creepy.

Sometimes I wish I weren't a Plumb, so that my kids wouldn't have to deal with this.  They have to deal with this because of who I am and because of who my parents and brother are.  

Sage says she's used to it.  

She would say that, she's like her father, nothing bothers her.  

 

I have tried to hold my tongue, because I have a strong belief in allowing my children to form their identities and live their lives, but I cannot hold it any longer.   I think they're all making horrible decisions in the romantic department.  It's hard for me, being such a control freak, to take hands off, but I feel like I'm watching a train wreck and I can't look away.  

When their relationships crash and burn, I'm going to be the one to pick up the pieces.  

I'm mom.  That's my job.