The Whittaker Saga

This week started with all kids being sent home from school sick, or rather three was sent home sick and Alice was just sent home. After getting them home, Abigail sent all of the sick ones to bed to rest up. As Josephine was down for her afternoon nap this gave her the rare occasion to really spend time with Alice, helping her with homework and teaching her to knit. She can sometimes miss the quiet moments she had with Ida before the other three were born. That night, Joseph decided it was time for a serious talk with his son. Yes, the talk. After all, Frank is on the verge of aging up and will be getting married soon. It's important he knows how to treat his new, young wife. In the end, both Joseph and Frank end up wishing they'd never had the conversation at all.  That night, two surprising deaths occurred in Willow Creek. For the Bradshaws tragedy struck when Dereck, the father, unexpectedly dropped dead from a heart attack, but what the neighborhood is b...

  There have been big developments in the family this week. It starts when little Josephine decides to stand up on her own for the very first time while the rest of the family is having breakfast. Coming into the room after she's finished eating, Abigail finds her baby girls standing up on her very own. She is utterly proud! The family is in a generally good mood as they head off for this week's Sunday service, with Abigail and Joseph intent on getting to know the Edwardson-family better in order to learn if this Charles is a suitable young man for Ida. Only Ida has other ideas. While Joseph and Abigail are talking to the Edwardson after service, she runs into the also newly settled Nathaniel Preston, a young adult whose father is passed away and who, together with his mother, owns a string of businesses. Incidentally, he's, like any other single man in possession of a good fortune is in want of a wife and is quite flirty with the young Ida. Ida thinks he's dreamy! ...

  Now that Ida has been formally introduced to society, it is acceptable for suitors to start paying visits. The first to do this, is Loyd Brennan! Yes, the very same who was a prospect for Abigail once. He has since married and been widowed, but without any children. The woman he married was a practical choice. Someone who would do well when it came to running a store, a widowed mother of a teenage girl. She was hard working and a sensible choice. Ida is young and beautiful and Loyd wouldn't mind some beauty in the store. Neither Joseph nor Frank is very pleased by the prospect, and while Ida is polite, she tries to speak as little as she can with the man. He leaves the house very quickly, with no hopes of a young beautiful bride from this household. While Ida is forced to entertain hopeless suitors, Anna finally learns how to ride a bike!  She loves her new freedom! Already the first night she ends up late for dinner because she is out, and the second, she ventures even fu...