

Heirs of the Magi Archives

Cassie's Journal 2015 – Part One

By Steve Leggett

Published by Steve Leggett - Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2015 – Steve Leggett

Cover Image by Kayla Leggett \- Copyright 2015 - Used by Permission

ISBN: 978-0-9940020-2-0
Books by Steve Leggett

Heirs of the Magi Trilogy

Magi Sanctuary

Magi Master

Magi Ascension – Part One – The Ascension Begins

Magi Ascension – Part Two – Light Your World (Forthcoming)

Heirs of the Magi Archives

 Cassie's Journal 2011

 Cassie's Journal 2012 - Part One

 Cassie's Journal 2012 – Part Two

Cassie's Journal 2013 – Part One

Cassie's Journal 2013 – Part Two

Cassie's Journal 2014 – Part One

Cassie's Journal 2014 – Part Two

Cassie's Journal 2015 – Part One

Cassie's Journal 2015 – Part Two (Forthcoming)

The Catalyst Chronicles

 The Catalyst is Born

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Table of Contents

January 2015

February 2015

March 2015

April 2015

May 2015

June 2015

Notes

January 2015

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy New Year!

My start to 2015 has been great, so let's get right into the highlights; picking up the story where I left off yesterday – or last year!

By the time I got to the Inn yesterday afternoon, the dining room was already closed to the public for the rest of the day and the decorating and set-up for the tickets-only dinner and party had been started. Since Michael was still helping with the post-lunch clean-up, I was put to work in the kitchen too on the prep-line instead of the work in the dining room. Helping out with the mounds of veggies wasn't as exciting as decorating and the rest of the action in the dining room; but hanging out with Michael, Rebecca, Jacob, and Jake was entertaining enough.

I guess this is as good a place to begin adding in the football action part of this update; since the sport is unavoidable in a football town on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Michael's been really good from a boyfriend perspective when it comes to the sport, but he was right there with the rest of the guys to watch the games yesterday and today; and I wouldn't want him to break man-laws and get into trouble from skipping the annual bowl game event – especially when this is the first year of the new playoff format for the national championship. While I don't really care about the games or results; I'll admit that it was fun both yesterday and today when I had the opportunities to add a bit of entertainment to the football mix with my little talent for predicting the play calls and results. That kind of goofing around helped to make the work in the kitchen easier for all of us, but the real fun for Michael, Rebecca, and I didn't kick in until we took our dinner break and temporarily joined the party in the dining room.

Lucas, Jenny, and Lance were there already, and were at the dessert stage of the meal by then; but they still hung out with us while we ate – and they kept us entertained with their New Year's Eve day stories. We didn't take a lot of time for that break because we wanted to help get as much of the work in the kitchen done as early as we could so that we could all be done earlier and enjoy more of the party – at least until the midnight buffet needed to go out shortly after we rang in the New Year. Jenny and Lance didn't stay for very long after that either because they were heading over to his house and a party there for the rest of the night – which was also why Jenny wasn't helping out at the Inn. She hasn't spent much time there at all so far this holiday, but I'm not really surprised by that – she's been spending as much time with Lance as possible while they're both off from school. I'd probably do the same thing if Michael and I were in the same situation they are.

Though we were part of the second wave of staff to take our dinner break, there was still lots of work to do in the kitchen to clean up and get most of the trays ready for the midnight buffet; so it was ten o'clock by the time that Michael and I were done and had taken a bit of time to freshen up before rejoining the party. Okay, we might have been slightly delayed due to finding ourselves temporarily alone; but that few minutes was hardly enough time for a major make-out session – just a few kisses and caresses.

Once we were free for a couple of hours, we did a quick round of visits with our families and friends; caught the end of the last football game of the night that was all but over by then anyway; and then we hung out with Rowen, Tim, Rebecca, Lucas, and some of the other teens until it was nearly midnight. There was time for a bit of dancing too; but it didn't seem like very long before we did the countdown to midnight with Mom, Dad, Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, Aiden, and everyone else hanging out with them. The first kiss of the New Year with Michael was pretty good, but not too hot – our parents were right there, after all; so we took it easy on them! ;^)

We had time to share other hugs and kisses too, but then it was back to work for a while as we helped to set-up the buffet and then clean up after everyone had finished snacking. A little more dancing and partying was an option after that, but parents with younger kids had already left by then; the party was winding down; and we were back at work by shortly after two o'clock to get the kitchen and dining room ready for business on Friday morning. That was entirely so that nobody would need to come and do that work sometime on New Year's Day; though it was also a choice that Miranda and Jacob give their staff most years – and everyone usually picks staying late and getting the work done.

I was okay with that; and going home with Michael and his family was great. So was the sofa sleepover with Michael; and that started out with some bonus entertainment when Miranda jokingly tucked us in and kissed us goodnight – knowing as well as we did that we had no intention of going up to separate rooms after a little cuddle time. Rebecca and Lucas thought that was as funny as everyone else did, but they didn't have a problem with it either – especially since it gave them the chance to possibly have their own little sleepover. I'm not saying that happened for sure; but I'm not saying it didn't either. By this morning, that was a case of we won't ask; and just pretend that we don't know what those smiles mean.

Jacob might have a different perspective on that for Rebecca than he does for Michael; but Miranda doesn't. Lucas is still shyer than Michael, so if Jacob really wants to be worried about things like that for the four of us; I'm probably the one teen he should worry about most.

Not that I'm saying he actually has anything to worry about with me leading his son astray or anything! ;^)

Anyway, other than having a very minor make-out moment or five once we were alone in the living room, that's pretty much all of the New Year's Eve news. Michael and I fell asleep; got to have about three hours of nap time; and then we stayed at his house for Tai Chi for two before having breakfast with his family. I needed to go home as soon as we finished the kitchen clean-up; and Mom and Dad put me to work right away to help them out with the party set-up and lunch prep work. The second half of that was mostly putting food trays together and keeping an eye on the pre-cooked dishes that were being re-heated. There were two crock pots doing the slow-cooking thing too; but we didn't have to do anything with them except move them to the buffet table when it was time to feed the troops.

We had extra help and incoming food donations being arriving at eleven, and while that started a bit of a social hour that meshed with the work time; the party really got started at noon – at the same time we put the lunch buffet out. Football ruled the action in the living room, and the lounge was the primary girl zone for the day – at least for the teens and kids. That usually included the younger boys too; though they mostly played other games in my room or the exercise room and only stopped into the lounge for snacks, drinks, and the occasional chat with their favorite girls.

I had some teen friends to hang out with now and then too; but not for the entire day; since most of the teens at our party also had other places to spend parts of the day too. Rebecca, for example, was at our party first; but then went home with Lucas and his family for the night – and other parties they were attending at two other farms. Rowen and Tim were at his aunt and uncle's house for dinner and the evening football action; and Michael and I were two of the few teens standing at my house by dinnertime. That was mostly because our adult guests mostly had younger kids; which is also why Ethan and Ehlana had lots of kids to play with – and I was kept busy with kid control when I wasn't helping out with meals or clean-ups. That still meant having lots of play time; but not of the teen variety – and not much alone time with Michael either.

Our dinner meal was buffet-style and on-the-go too, and while eating in the dining room was an option; most of the football watching group filled plates and went back to the game in progress in the living room. I did that too so that I could hang out with Michael, or Dads, and the other guys, but I can't say that I found the game all that exciting. The hanging out together was the fun part of that half-hour or so that we spent together before I moved on to more work in the kitchen.

After a very late New Year's Eve, I was actually thinking more about having a nap by then than doing anything else, but I mostly went back to playing with the kids after the work was done; through until the Moms or Grandmothers started taking the youngest kids home to bed. Ethan and Ehlana kept Naomi and Aiden for the night; and my play time ended when I helped out with getting them tucked in for the night at around nine-thirty. Then I was free to either watch movies in the lounge with the girls or hang out in the living room with Michael and the other guys. I chose both – watching the end of a movie in progress; and then going to cuddle with Michael while the last game of the day was on the television.

By then, the guys had watched or kept up with the first four games; and Oregon had pretty much beaten up on Florida State in the second half of their game for a big win to earn the first of the two championship playoff games. Alabama and Ohio State were battling it out for the other spot in that championship game; but I'll be honest and admit that I was just there for the cuddle time with my boyfriend. I wasn't the trend-setter for that; but I was an early-adopter; and it wasn't long before most of the women still there gave up on movie time and joined us in the living room. That got a bit crowded; but we had fun with it.

Well, most of us had fun with it. I had a cat nap or two and missed quite a bit of the sports and entertainment while enjoying the rest and cuddle time with Michael. If he dozed off too, he didn't admit it to any of the guys; but I wouldn't be surprised if he did join me for some of my nap time.

As mentioned already, man-laws might have been broken if every football fanatic guy in the country didn't watch those two playoff games, so it was fairly late by the time Ohio State managed to beat Alabama 42-35 and win their shot at the National title against Oregon. By then, I was ready to call it a night, but it took a while to see our guests out, and after saying goodnight to Michael when he left with his family; I also needed to help out with the final clean-ups in the living room, kitchen, and the lounge. That's why it was after two before I got back up to my room and had a chance to get changed. Mandy didn't wake up when I climbed into bed with my computer because she got tired of the noise and wait; and decided to spend the night with Ehlana and Naomi.

Maybe I should have kept Michael for another sleepover too! ;^)

My nightly computer checks took a while, and I had a couple of family business jobs to take care of too; but I'll be heading off to dreamland as soon as I wrap this report up. From the email reports around the family, it sounds as though my cousins all had fun on New Year's Eve; and I hope that they're all having a wonderful start to the New Year too. We only have a play day planned for tomorrow, but Dad's taking the day off; so Ethan, Ehlana, and I will be hanging out with him – and with Mom. There aren't any plans – we'll just wing it and do whatever we feel like doing – or nothing at all.

I'll let you know how that goes, but that's all of the news I have for today and it's definitely time to get some sleep; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, January 2, 2015

Our family and friends play day has been fun, and I've loved spending the time with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana; I don't actually have much news to report today.

Michael didn't come over for Tai Chi this morning because he helped out with the breakfast shift at the Inn today so that he could take the rest of the day off to hang out with me. They didn't have a very busy day at the Inn anyway; since most people around here were taking a break from all of the holiday action. While Michael was busy, I had some work to do around the house anyway, and after having breakfast and cleaning up; we took care of the chores around the house pretty much until Michael was set free for the day.

It didn't get very warm outside today – just a bit above freezing; but we had some play time outside that included a trip to the park – mostly so that we could get some fresh air and a bit of exercise after a couple of big food days. We did a bit of visiting while we were out too; but were home in time for lunch – and the start of another round of college football bowl games. The big match-ups were pretty much done for the season already, except for the Championship game a week from this coming Monday; which is why the games were on at least one television around the house today; but Dad, Michael, and any visiting guys didn't really pay all that much attention to the sports action on the tube.

Video gaming in the lounge was a big part of the afternoon and early evening, though; and there were usually at least a half-dozen willing gamers in the house for most of that time as we had our fair share of visitors stopping in for either cameo moments or to hang out with us for a couple of hours. Rowen and Tim were in the second group for that; and came over for the afternoon while their parents were busy with work at the computer store and shop. They had other plans for tonight, though I guess it's more accurate to say they had a non-plan for tonight – more like a hope for some alone time together without family and friends around to get in the way of a little one-on-one fun.

That worked out for Michael and me, and the highlight of our day was the clothing-optional make-out time we got to have after Ethan and Ehlana went to bed for the night – and Mom and Dad decided to turn in early too after a couple of very busy, long days and late nights. That was probably our last chance of the holidays for any seriously hot play time for two; so Michael and I are both very happy campers tonight – even without shooting for another sofa sleepover. We should probably take a little break from that anyway to make sure we don't push our lick with the parents too far and mess that up for ourselves in the future.

Michael went home at midnight; and I've been doing my bedtime computing while having a soak in my Jacuzzi. I wouldn't have done that if Mom and Dad had been sleeping already, but they weren't – and we don't need any details about what they've been doing instead since going to bed. There wasn't anything new from around the family in my email inbox, but I did get a couple of friends' updates for New Year's Eve and Day; and it sounds as though most of my friends and classmates had fun over the past couple of days. I had a bit of family business work to deal with too, but that didn't take long; and I pretty much just did a cursory scan of the usual news, sports, and entertainment information I check every day.

All that I have left to do for this update is to add a bit of news for the weekend plans. Rowen doesn't have everything finalized yet, but Tim, Michael, and I are confirmed for a sleepover at her house tomorrow night; and we'll spend the evening there too. If we have dinner together, we'll have to take care of that ourselves instead of adding extra work to her parents' already busy work weekend; but we'll decide that tomorrow too – once we know how many teens and tweens we'll have there for the night. I'm sure that Patrick and Scott will want to be there; but don't know whether they'll have other friends along as well when Rowen's definitely extending other invitations. I'll likely spend some time tomorrow afternoon helping her to get ready for the teen play night; but that's going to be the top fun event of the weekend for sure – especially since Michael and I will be making up for that by working the full shift at the Inn on Sunday.

Oh, I guess there is one more bit of news that I've skipped – which is also why you haven't read anything about Violet and Dillon yet in this report. They're not in Witch Falls anymore; and left for Woodvale this morning so that they could spend the day with Chris, Martin, and Dawn – and then spend the weekend with Violet's family before the kids head back to school on Monday. They'll be back here on Monday so that they can do some extra work at the lab before heading back to school too; but I probably won't get to spend much time with them anyway. At least Ethan and Ehlana will see them at the lab; since Mom will be working there a lot in January while Aunt Grace is still off from work. Josiah and Christina are doing the same weekend away thing with her family; so we aren't going to have much of anything going on with our home-town family this weekend.

I do have that sleepover tomorrow night, though, so I'd better wrap this up; get ready for bed; and get some sleep. It's hard to believe that we're already down to just two days left in our Christmas holiday, and while I don't really want it to end already; I guess that most of us are pretty much partied out at this point anyway. Okay, that's it for tonight; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, January 3, 2015

There was only one college bowl game today, and I was looking forward to the upcoming football off-season; but Tim was happy to remind me that the professional football playoffs started today too – and we just had to watch the games while having our teen hang-out night and sleepover at Rowen's house. I'll get to that part of the update soon, but let's start from the beginning of the day.

Tai Chi was good, but Michael skipped it again so that he could help out at the Inn with the breakfast rush and have a second evening off to join in on the fun at Rowen's. We were having another play day at home, but had chores to do after breakfast first, so we got all of the work done – including a shopping run that Mom did with Ethan and Ehlana while Dad and I stayed home and worked. That didn't actually leave a lot of time in the morning for us to actually do much playing, but we still had fun; and the soup and sandwiches lunch together was good too. The family play day continued after lunch, but I didn't actually get to play all that much before it was time for me to pack an overnight bag and head over to Rowen's house to help out with some work there to get everything ready for a teen dinner and hang-out evening.

I wasn't in the loop for the negotiations with her parents, but the details had been finalized by the time I met up with Rowen. Rebecca and Lucas were the only extra overnight guests along with Michael, Tim, and me; with that decision mostly made so that Patricia and Owen wouldn't have too many teens to deal with for breakfast in the morning. We were on our own for dinner, and while Michael and I pitched in for the cost of the food; Tim took care of picking up frozen pizzas, wings, snacks, and drinks while Rowen and I got her house ready for company. Rowen and Tim were free to invite as many friends to come over for the evening, and only had the end-of-party restriction of a one o'clock time limit. From what Rowen told me while we worked, it was Tim's idea to invite everyone; so she was very glad when we did not end up with every teen and tween in town at her house tonight for dinner or the evening.

There are some advantages to last-minute plans – most of the older teens already had other commitments. We did get about half of our classmates either come for the entire evening or stop in for visits; ditto that for some of the guys on the football team and girls on the cheerleading squad; and Patrick and Scott had a couple of their buddies stop in for a while after dinner too – probably just to have the bragging rights that go along with attending a teen party when you're their age. That isn't exactly a wild and crazy event when you're in our little town; but boys are generally easily amused anyway. ;^)

So Rowen and I cleaned the living room; got guest bedrooms ready; gave the rest of the main floor a once-over; and cheated to do all of that work because nobody else was in the house while we were working. It's funny that Tim, Patrick, and Scott all seemed to arrive just in time – when we'd finished the chores. Yes, Tim did do the shopping; but it wasn't exactly work for him to get to pick out all of the food, snacks, and drinks for the night – and he got a ride over here with the bags of groceries and bakery treats. I didn't include Michael in that because he was working at the Inn until the prep work was finished for the dinner rush. So was Rebecca, and Lucas had been busy on the farm with his father all day; so they didn't join us until the rest of our guests had already started arriving and Rowen and I had started cooking pizzas and wings.

That's when the fun really kicked up a few notches for us – even though Rowen and I still had a lot of work to do while our boyfriends and friends mostly hung out in the living room and the guys watched the first of the two first-round pro football playoff games. We had at least a couple of girls keeping us company most of the time; with Sally and Gretchen spending the most time with us while their boyfriends were busy watching football and playing video games with the guys too. To be completely honest; I'd have picked doing the cooking over watching football anyway; though I did miss out on the cuddle time I didn't get to have with Michael – not that we would have done much of that before, during, or immediately after dinner anyway.

We had twenty-four to feed, and since slightly more than half of them were teen or tween guys; that took a while. Taking care of dinner was part of the agreement with Rowen's parents, and while she didn't negotiate it; they opted to go out to dinner at the Inn instead of joining us for pizza and wings. I'm sure that they're glad that they did that – and then moved on to visit friends instead of coming home and putting up with the noise level that twenty to thirty teens can generate – even in a big house like theirs.

The only news I'm going to add for the dinner part of the night is that Rowen and I told a few little white lies to the boys while we cooked and fed everyone. I'm not apologizing for that or anything – it was the only way we could divert some food to the girls in our group without just having them wait until after the guys were stuffed – which didn't actually happen. Tim, Lucas, and some of the other guys just moved on from pizza and wings to dessert and the snacks without taking a break. In case you're wondering, no, we didn't make a mistake with our grocery order or dinner plan – the guys just kept eating as long as we kept the food coming. It was our choice to stop cooking pizzas after two hours of non-stop oven action – and we could cook them two at a time. We used up the rest of the pizzas for our midnight buffet that was also a cue to our friends that the party was wrapping up and it was time to head home by one.

While Rowen was the official host tonight, I was there for her every step of the way; so we didn't get to have much play time until after the dinner clean-up was out of the way. That wasn't too much work, since we had opted for using the fine Chinette, plastic utensils, and bottled and canned drinks; but it was after eight by the time we joined Michael, Tim, and the rest of our friends in the living room. An extra television was set up and dedicated to the football game; the boys were using the big screen for their gaming; and the girls mostly watched as our boys played and talked about what we'd all been doing over the New Year part of the holiday – and about heading back to school again on Monday. Some cuddle time with our boyfriends was an option now and then too – usually when they weren't taking a turn with a game controller in their hands. The boys, as usual, talked football, and while the NFL games were co-leaders for the entertainment this evening; it was the college bowl games that they talked about most – particularly when it came to the new playoff format for the top four teams.

None of that was particularly interesting to me, but I add it here in my journal because it is something that's important to a lot of my friends; and a part of life here in our little corner of the world. The guys would tell me that their sports enthusiasm is more interesting and important than any girl-chat topics if they were being honest – though most of them know better than to actually admit something like that to a group of girls in public. They're not entirely wrong about that, since we didn't exactly sit around and solve world hunger and poverty while they were playing video games and talking sports; but we were at least talking about our own lives instead of living vicariously through a bunch of strangers on sports teams that have absolutely nothing to do with us personally.

I'm not going to do any rants tonight; so let's move along.

While we didn't get to watch and chick flicks, and didn't even bother putting any music on to just add to the noise level; Rowen and I did have fun for the rest of the evening. We started cooking more pizza for the midnight 'buffet' at eleven-thirty; and worked through until after everyone except our approved overnight group had left and gone home. Lucas, Rebecca, Michael, and Tim pitched in to help with most of that work and clean-up too; but Patrick and Scott were sent up to bed when Patricia and Owen got home and turned in for the night after just a quick update from Rowen and Tim – and a short visit with the rest of the teens. Going to bed after we had the kitchen and living room back to normal again was an option; but all six of us wanted some cuddle and wind down time with our significant other first; so we did that in the living room for nearly an hour while not really watching music videos on the big screen.

The only alone time Michael and I had all evening was when we split up for the goodnight kisses; and we did that in his bedroom while Rebecca and Lucas were in her room for that and Rowen and Tim had the living room to themselves. I was in Rowen's room; changed; in bed; and already well-into doing my nightly computer checks by the time she joined me and then went to take her turn in one of the bathrooms to get ready for bed. That's why I'm writing this while we're just getting started on our girl chat recap of the evening – though she'd rather still be in the living room with Tim; and I wish my goodnight alone time with Michael had been as hot as her minor make-out session with Tim apparently was.

That thought has pretty much diverted all interest I have in computing or this update, so I'm going to wrap this up; continue with the much more interesting chat with my best friend; and then get some sleep that will hopefully include some entertaining dreams that have Michael starring in them in a clothing-optional sort of way.

I am so out of here! Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, January 4, 2015

We're back to very cold temperatures again today, and our last day of Christmas vacation was also white; thanks to the inch or so of snow that fell overnight and early this morning.

The snow added more work to our morning schedule, and Michael and I skipped Tai Chi in favor of a long round of shoveling at Rowen's house – and at our homes too. We had lots of help for that; but it still kept us busy for a while – and we still had all of the usual Sunday morning action that included juggling bathroom time; getting ready for church; cooking, cleaning, and eating breakfast; and then getting over to the church on time for the service. Rowen's parents had help for the last part of that, with my parents, and Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne, helping out with extra seats in their truck and minivans.

While this was a holiday weekend Sunday, the teen praise team wasn't involved in the service; so it was mostly a normal Sunday for the teens and kids – and we also didn't have anything special to get ready for during Sunday school either. We had fun, but I don't really have any news to report from the rest of the morning. Actually, there isn't much news for the rest of my day either. Michael and I went straight to the Inn with the rest of his family after church; I spent the rest of the day helping out there; and then I came home comparatively early – after the last batches of food of the day went out to the buffet tables. I would have stayed later if needed, but the turnout for the last buffet had been comparatively light; and they didn't need the extra hands for the clean-up.

The only non-work news from the kitchen this afternoon would be the homework that Michael and I finished up on our breaks; and the non-surprise that the guys watched the two NFL playoff games while we all worked hard to keep up with the cooking and cleaning. On the home front, it was a homework afternoon for Dad; so Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana spent some or all of their afternoon in the office too. The twins had some snow play time with Naomi and Aiden too; but it was too cold for them to be outdoors for very long – and their friends had family plans to move on to by mid-afternoon.

I mostly came home early tonight because I'm worn out after quite a few late nights over the past week. Normally, I'd be back to my regular school night work and studies too, but instead of doing that; I only did my Magi lesson with Mom; helped with getting Ethan and Ehlana into bed for the night; and then hit my Jacuzzi for some quality tub time before getting ready for bed too. I took care of most of my nightly computing while in the tub, and once I finish this update; I'm going straight into nap mode for a solid eight hours or so.

There might not be long, busy days filled with holiday cheer and fun ahead of us this week, but I am going to be very busy; and I'll be glad to have the extra sleep to be ready for the back-to-school action. If I'm going to get that extra sleep, though, I need to wrap this up and do that; so that's it for now, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, January 5, 2015

The top back to school story for today is probably the simple fact that our teachers had us jump right into our studies – and in particular; they have us getting ready for our first round of high school exams that are coming up in just two weeks. Those abrupt reminders in every class quickly took the shine off of the shiny New Year for some teens, and getting lots of review homework dumped on us wasn't very exciting; but I was still having a pretty good day.

Tai Chi this morning was fun, and since Michael opted to stay for breakfast; that was more entertaining too. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana spent a lot of their day at the lab while I was at school; and Dad was right back into the thick of it at work – especially because he's going to have his trip to the city next week instead of trying to get everything done in four days after the Martin Luther King holiday for his normal third week of the month. Though the work that the rest of my family was doing today was way more important than mine; I really am okay with playing normal teen instead and getting to have a life with my friends that I wouldn't have if I'd sped up my 'real' education the way Mom did after her parents died.

I'm not talking about the classes or studying for that, though the school work is an inevitable part of teen life. It's the extra-curricular action that means the most to me – like the cameo moments between or during classes; lunchtime fun and entertainment; and everything else that goes into making school fun for us. Of course the best part of my day didn't start until after school; and Michael and I had a really good night at his house while spending the evening with his family.

We're running out of holiday time with Jake and Stephanie, and since this was a day off for Jacob and Miranda; they'd spent the entire day together. There'd been some chores to do mixed in with some play time, but the best part of that for Michael, Rebecca, and me was that Jacob and Jake had played in the kitchen too and had an amazing dinner for us that was beyond adequately describing in words so I won't bother trying. Rowen and Tim came home with Michael and me to do our homework; but then they moved on after that while Rebecca, Michael, and I were put to work setting the table and joining in on the pre-dinner entertainment in the kitchen.

I loved getting to spend the evening with Michael and his family, and we had a really good time; but the only news I have is wedding-related – and most of that is just updates that I haven't covered in my journal because I've been out of the loop for those plans. First up is the date – Saturday, August 1, 2015. There were other options, but Jake and Stephanie picked the last open weekend before they planned on leaving for Europe so that they can enjoy a honeymoon before starting their foreign exchange study programs. There was some consideration for holidays and work at the Inn too; but Miranda and Jacob – and Stuart and Samantha – would have worked with whatever their kids wanted.

Michael, Rebecca, and I were all asked to be in Jake and Stephanie's wedding party tonight. We were the last to be asked; and I was a bit surprised to be included – even though I'd expected that Rebecca and Michael would be. Violet and Dillon are Stephanie's and Jake's maid of honor and best man; Lynn Jennings is the third bridesmaid; and Josiah Palmer and Mitch Bassett are going to be Jake's groomsmen with Michael. I feel a bit weird about this – especially when Lucas and Christina aren't in the wedding party too, but it was Jake and Stephanie's choice; and it is going to be awesome to be part of their wedding – and especially since I'll get to do that with Rebecca and Michael. We talked about their plans for an hour or so during and after dinner; but we spent most of our evening just enjoying being together and having a do-nothing kind of night.

I can't say the same for after I got home. Mom had spent part of her evening getting Ethan and Ehlana started on their junior year of college after they'd finished dinner; but she switched to Magi teaching mode once I was back and spent an hour and a half doing a big lesson with me and then giving me a fairly large archive assignment. That's why it was eleven-thirty by the time we had Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night and heading toward midnight before I was in bed and ready to start my usual school night studies, work, and computing.

It's a good thing that I had that extra sleep last night because I'm not going to get more than a nap in tonight. The archive assignment took an hour and a half; and then I got started on my new languages. I'm going to be studying Korean and Tamil for the rest of this school year, and while I didn't get much done tonight; I did at least get started. That still took more than another hour; and then it was time to move on to my family business work. Even kicking it up another notch or two on the Magi power scale; it still took me another hour and a half to get through the work I needed to do tonight – and that was just what absolutely couldn't wait. I'm not really behind on any deadlines or anything after taking most of two weeks and change off; but it is going to take most of this week to get back to where I normally am in my work schedule.

I really don't have time for more than a nap now, so I should wrap this up and get to that. We don't have band practice tomorrow and our teen praise team gets the week off too, but Michael and I are still going to be busy; and I'm sure to have another late night without much down time. Maybe I'll have to reconsider using a time phase more often again – at least for the next few weeks while keeping up with my 'real' studies and work and the added busy that goes along with high school exams. I want to spend extra time with Violet and Dillon before they head back to college too, and while I'm thinking about leaving home; Grandma and Grandpa will be leaving for South America next Monday. I'll need to spend some time with them as well before they're away for most of the winter on that trip and then their usual winter getaway in Florida and elsewhere.

Too bad I can't go along!

Oh well, I wouldn't want to do that without Michael, Rowen, and Tim anyway, so I'll stick with plan 'A' and stay here at home with them. I'll also wrap this up with that thought; and maybe spend my nap time dreaming of the warm and sunny that I won't be enjoying with my grandparents in sunny South America – or anywhere else.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Before I get into the news of the day, I just can't resist taking another swing at meteorologists and news reporters over the silliness of polar vortices and the rest of the weather hype.

Give me a break! It's January in the northern hemisphere; so it gets cold. This hasn't been an abnormal winter so far; and it's ridiculous to essentially get people worked up over non-events. Yes, it has been cold today; but not even remotely worthy of yet another winter weather warning. If the news media keeps freaking out over the slightest little cold front and every time we get more than a dusting of snow; where are they going to go from there if we actually do get a real snowstorm?

Oh right, we saw what happens with that storm in Buffalo. The media everywhere went nuts over it; and the people living there mostly tried to have fun with it – since freaking out was pointless. Reporters in general ought to take a hint from that too. What I remember most from that storm isn't anything I saw, heard, or read on the news networks or papers – it was the social media pictures of people making beer fridges in the snow piled up outside of their front or back doors.

Anyway, that's enough of a rant for today; so let's get on with the update and news of the day.

First up today on the news front is the start of winter weight training for Tim and Michael. They were a group of two for that today; and there apparently wasn't much interest from the rest of the guys on the football team for doing that this year. Tim obviously doesn't have the same pull with the other guys that Kyle had when he was here; though they will have some guys join them soon. Lucas wants to work out with them; but needs to work out the early-morning rides into town. The senior guys don't care, since they won't be playing football next season anyway; the Grade Eleven guys are all two-time champions and don't think they need to do the extra work; and the Grade Ten guys are following the lead of Jason Johnson and a couple of the other guys, so they won't likely be training with Tim and Michael at all. He does expect that some of the guys in our grade will start working out with them soon – or at least the guys that are serious about playing football next season will do it after seeing it work for Michael and Tim last year.

Michael is once again doing that training with Tim because his best friend wants to do it; but they have fun too. Although it won't get in the way of our morning Tai Chi, the extra workout does make Michael's mornings very busy now; so I doubt he'll be having breakfast with us very often for the next few months. It also meant that Rowen and I met up with him at school instead of walking there together; and Tim was as pumped up about that first workout as he was from the exercise. I'm glad that he's already so optimistic about next season, but I'd be okay with taking a football break too – until August. That won't happen, but a girl can dream!

The only news I have from school today is that we worked on exam preparation in every class; and then we were able to go home after school and study because we didn't have a band practice this week. We also didn't have teen praise team practice tonight; so Michael and I were able to spend the evening at my house – and have a nice visit with my grandparents, Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Zack, Violet, and Dillon. Rowen and Tim had come home with us for the homework part of our day; but then they left again once we were finished out assignments – shortly after Grandma and Grandpa got to the house and I was drafted to help out in the kitchen.

The hang out time with my family was great; we had a nice pasta and sides dinner; and the highlight of the night for Michael, Ethan, Ehlana, and me was the newsflash that Mom and Dad were working on a March Break adventure for us – in Florida! We have to keep that news to ourselves for now, but Grandma and Grandpa will be in Florida by then; Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack are coming too; and so are Rowen, Tim, Naomi, and Aiden. They'll find out next week, and we're saving up that surprise because going with us for the trip is also going to be our gift to Naomi for her fourth birthday. Mom's birthday is that week too; so it is definitely going to be a best week ever so far kind of adventure for all of us; and I can hardly wait!

Our guests didn't stay too late tonight, but Michael stayed after everyone else left so that Mom could do a Magi lesson with both of us while Dad worked and Ethan and Ehlana did some college studying. I would have liked to have some alone time with him too, but Michael went home after our lesson so that I could get started on my studies and work. I multi-tasked that with some Jacuzzi time while doing my language studies; moved on to my archive homework after I was in bed with Mandy; and wrapped up with the family business work before doing a last round of computer checks and starting this journal update.

Even with starting a bit earlier than expected, it's still past-three; and I'm ready to go into nap mode for a while. We're back to our weekly after-school work day tomorrow, so I'll be able to do my studies and work early; and maybe I'll be able to catch up on my sleep too instead of doing the morning self-healing thing that I'll be doing for the second time this week in a few hours. I really do need a better time management plan, but I say that way too often; and don't end up changing anything.

Thinking about that now isn't going to get me any more sleep tonight either, though, so I'm going to save that for another time and call it a night. Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Another day, another silly, winter weather wind-chill warning that was totally unnecessary.

Yes, it was cold out today, and I don't mean to harp on weather forecasters or news reporters; but come on, people – this really is just total silliness! It's winter; some days it gets really cold; so deal with it and stop making a big deal out of nothing. Residents in places like Alaska must see these news and weather reports from our area and just laugh their heads off.

I'll move on now; but the rest of this update won't take very long. Other than Tai Chi and meals, I pretty much worked all day and evening. For our classes at school, it was more exam preparation and review; and then it was all about family business, language studies, and my Magi lesson and archive homework from the time I got home until I came up to bed for the night.

There has been some fun to go along with the work, but I don't really have any actual news from my own day. That isn't the case for everyone around me. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana are having fun every day at the lab – especially when Uncle Adam, Dillon, and Violet are playing with them there too. While I was working tonight, Violet and Dillon were having fun with their friends – including Jake, Stephanie, Josiah, and Christina. I expect that all three couples are trying to get as much alone time with their respective fiancée, boyfriend, or girlfriend too before they're back in their college dorms for another four months or so; but let's leave that train of thought right there and move on.

Since I was on my own after school while Michael, Tim, and Rowen were all busy with their own part-time jobs; I was able to wrap up my school homework in minutes; and put in a lot of study and work hours at Magi-speed – including with a dash or three of time-phasing. That's why I'm going to be sleeping before eleven o'clock tonight – and won't need to do a self-healing session in the morning to make up for lack of down time.

Game night at the Inn starts up again tomorrow night, and that'll mean a quick return to late nights for me; so I'm just going to end this update here and get the bonus nap time while I can.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, January 8, 2015

It's really late and I'm tired; so this is going to be a fairly short report.

Our morning started out very frosty, but warmed up to near-freezing by this afternoon; and we got a bit of snow this afternoon for a few hours too. There isn't any news from school today, but we had a fun night at the Inn. Rowen and Tim went there with Michael and me after school and we did our exam study assignments before they moved on and Michael and I got to work helping out on the dinner prep-line. While we didn't get a lot of snow, it might have had something to do with the quiet dinner shift and low turn-out for game night.

That made the work fairly easy; and not only did Michael and I win the junior championship this week, but Mom and Dad won the senior championship. That made Mom ad two-times in a row champ, and though Miranda teased her about it; she didn't really mind having Mom keep the title while she had to return to the game-playing mediocrity that was the norm on Jacob's team. With such a low turnout, the gaming didn't take that long tonight; but I still ended up getting home at the near-normal time after staying to help clean up and then spending a few minutes with Michael at his house while walking home with him and the rest of his family.

Mom was waiting to do my Magi lesson with me after that; we spent an hour or so learning a new Transmutation; and then I took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana into bed before coming up to my room and getting started on my studies and work. There isn't anything all that interesting to report from any of that; so the last bit of news I have for today is about new plans that Michael and I have for tomorrow night.

I'm going to be spending the night there, and so is Lucas. We're going to spend the evening with Jake and Stephanie – and at least some time with Violet, Dillon, Josiah, and Christina too; though they'll be spending time with Dillon's and Josiah's families too before heading back to school on the weekend. The sleepover is really just a bonus; though we'll get to have breakfast with Jake and Stephanie too and help them get ready to leave for the airport. That part of the plan isn't totally confirmed yet, but I expect we'll have breakfast at the Inn and do that with Stephanie's parents and grandparents too.

That is all going to be fun, though, and I want to get what bit of nap time I can now to be ready for it; so that's all I have for tonight, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, January 9, 2015

This micro-update is coming to you on Saturday afternoon because I was having too much fun last night to get around to doing any computer checks or work – including spending about half the night napping with Michael in the living room at his house before we both woke up and decided to go up to bed.

I'll do the full two-day report later because I don't have time right now; so, until then...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, January 10, 2015

It's been a long day with a lot going on, and I'm totally wiped out now; so I'm going to need to keep this update a lot shorter than I'd planned.

On Friday, our school day was all about the ongoing mid-term exam review and studying; so the fun didn't really get started until we were set free for the weekend. I went home; packed my overnight bag; did a short visit with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana; and then met up with Michael at his house. It was play time after that, and we had a blast with Jake, Stephanie, Rebecca, Lucas, and our friends. Jake cooked dinner for us; Violet, Dillon, Josiah, and Christina were with us for that; and then we played all evening. Rowen and Tim stopped in for some of that play time as did some more of Jake's and Stephanie's friends; but we didn't stay up late and try partying all night. Most of their friends needed to be elsewhere to spend time with their own families before heading back to school on the weekend; so it was just the six of us by the time Miranda and Jacob got home from the Inn.

That part of the night was fun too; if not really exciting. We mostly just sat around and talked for a while; and then Michael and I were eventually the only teens left in the living room when everyone else went up to bed for the night – either because they needed to be up early for work or travel. Michael needed to be up early too, and though I didn't; our decision to stay up a bit later was mutual – though we just ended up falling asleep fairly quickly anyway after only a minor make-out session. The middle-of-the-night wake-up and decision to go up to bed instead of just staying where we were was mostly made because of the need for washroom breaks and because Michael had ended up sleeping in an awkward position and was a bit sore when we woke.

He was fine again after a few hours of nap time in his own bed, and then we were up and on the go again. Michael went to the Inn with his parents right away, but Rebecca, Lucas, and I stayed to help Jake and Stephanie with getting their luggage together and eventually loaded into her parents' SUV before we all went over to the Inn for breakfast. Michael joined us for breakfast too, and Jacob and Miranda each spent a little time with us too while we ate; but it didn't seem like very long before Jake and Stephanie needed to get on the road for the airport. Her father was driving them while her mother stayed and ran the furniture store, and while Lucas needed to get back out to the farm; Rebecca, Michael, and I all stayed at the Inn to help out – and give Miranda and Jacob some extra company while they dealt with missing their first-born baby.

I spent most of the day at the Inn except for breaks that included an afternoon study break at my house with Michael, Tim, and Rowen to deal with our weekend exam-prep assignments. It wasn't all that busy at the Inn, but Miranda really appreciated having us there; so it was worth the effort. I went home with Michael and his family after we closed the Inn for the night, and we had a little wind-down visit together; but then he and I were left on our own in the living room again so that we could enjoy a bit of quality cuddle time before I needed to go home for the night.

All of the work has caught up with me though, and while it's only a bit past eleven; I'm in serious need of some down time. I only did the basic nightly computer checks; and the only news I want to add from that is the college travel update. Jake and Stephanie are back in New York and staying in a hotel overnight before heading back to their college dorms tomorrow. Violet and Dillon left this morning too, but they did a loop around to Woodvale; and will head on to college tomorrow after getting one last visit with the Rice clan. Ditto that for Josiah and Christina, except with her family; and their stop was at least on the way back to school. Violet and Dillon add a half-dozen extra travel hours when they do their trips this way – though in this case; they wouldn't have gotten to spend much time with her family if they'd spent part of the work week in Woodvale instead – and they'd have missed out on a couple of bonus work days at the lab.

Anyway, that's it, and I'm ready to crash now; so that's it for tonight. Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Happy 14th Birthday, Gretchen!

That's the top news of the day – at least for Gretchen and her family and friends. If anything else exciting happened around town today; I'm too tired out to remember what.

We had a fairly standard Sunday morning from Tai Chi through until lunchtime. Michael and I helped out at the Inn from them on until after the last buffet rush on the food side of the work; though we took an afternoon study break and to have dinner with Gretchen for about half the time she was there for her birthday party. Michael, Rebecca, and I didn't have to stay at the Inn until close, and I went home with them for a little while; but Michael and I mostly just had a little music practice until his parents got home too; and then I moved on to get back to my house and the studying and work waiting for me there.

Dad's working in the city a week early this month because of the Martin Luther King holiday a week from Monday, so he was working all afternoon and evening; and I didn't miss out on anything at home while I was busy. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana spent some time at the lab this afternoon; and the twins worked on some college studies after dinner – including through until Mom finished my Magi lesson. I helped to get them off to bed on my way up to my room; and I've been working on my usual language and archive studies and family business work since then.

It's now past-three, I'm baked, and ready to crash for the couple of hours I have left until it'll be time to get up and see Dad off on his trip to the city; so that's it, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, January 12, 2015

It's a football day, thanks to the big college football championship match; though I guess it was a big weekend too; since the pro football quarter-final games were on Saturday and Sunday too – I just didn't mention it in my last two updates. Maybe that's because I really don't care which teams won and lost those matches at all; though I did read up on the stats and watch the highlights on the sports report so I'd be able to talk the games with Tim and the other guys today. I wasn't particularly interested in the game tonight either; but my house was sort-of, unofficially game central for most of my classmates.

That's strictly because we were having our first mid-term exam study group adventure after school and this evening; and most of the teens stayed for dinner and the game. I'll get to that shortly; but let's back up and cover the news from the rest of the day first.

Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and I were all up early to see Dad on his way to the city; we did the usual nap and cuddle time together after that; and then started our own normal weekday with Tai Chi and breakfast. Michael was with us for the workout; but went home and then on to school in time for his weight training with Tim, Lucas, and a few other guys. That's not really particularly exciting for me; though having my boyfriend get a bit hotter thanks to those workouts doesn't totally suck either. ;^)

Exam review was in high gear at school; and the only news from our day at school was the fact that we set up the big study group at my house. The dinner option was added after Mom suggested it when I got home and gave her the bad news about the imminent teen invasion; but she also just did a run for the grocery store and bakery to pick up easy-dinner food options to deal with the gang of ravenous teens.

I've covered the scary teen feeding story lots of times before, so let's just skip that. It was the studying that was most important tonight – despite the fact that Tim and some of the other guys would insist it was the football game. We hung out in my room and the lounge, and though that was a bit crowded; it was more comfortable for most of us – and kept us out of Mom's hair most of the night except for while we were being fed. I did a lot of tutoring while we worked, and while being a cheerleader this year and dating Michael might be two things that have changed my relationships with my classmates in bigger ways; Rowen and I are both getting a lot more love from our friends at exam time thanks to our ability to translate the language our teachers use into teen-speak.

Including a bit of dinnertime multi-tasking, we studied for about five hours – though I wouldn't say that everyone was studying all of that time. Some of my friends needed more fun breaks than others; and it wasn't unusual for couples to wander off in pairs now and then to find somewhere quiet for a bit of constructive making out time. Michael and I were not one of those couples; though I sometimes wished that we were. We just didn't have time for that between the studying, tutoring, and help that Mom needed to get through feeding our gang in addition to everything else she had on the go.

That didn't really even change when nearly everyone switched to watching the football game between Ohio State and Oregon. Michael and I took care of clean-ups; keeping snacks and drinks available; we spent some time with Ethan and Ehlana; and continued some tutoring with friends that cared more about their studies than the game. Michael did watch more of the game than I did, and I was badgered a couple of times to demonstrate my skill at play calling; but our fun was definitely muted by comparison to the rest of our friends.

I'm not going to bore the non-football readers, but this first playoff-decided championship match-up was actually pretty good – and so was the game for the most part. Yes, Oregon lost, and I'm sure their fans are devastated while Ohio State and their fans are overjoyed beyond belief; but there were some good sporting moments for both sides – though not so much for Oregon in the fourth quarter when the game got away from them. It's shocking, but either way, life goes on; and it is just a game, folks. Try to remember that and fit your games accordingly into a reasonable life-priority.

I know that I do – and did tonight after seeing Michael on his way home after the game – and after he'd helped me out with the final clean-up of the lounge. Not all of our classmates had stayed until the end of the game. All of the farm kids had been picked up by around half time or early in the third quarter of the game; about half of the town kids left along with boyfriends or girlfriends when school night curfews got in the way of the game night fun; and the last half-dozen stayed to the bitter-or-sweet end. While Michael was up past his own curfew, he'd been given an extension, and while it was tempting to keep him even later for some play time for two; we didn't do that because I still needed to do my own studying and work.

That wasn't very exciting, but needed to be done – and is why I'm just doing this now when it's heading toward four-thirty and I'm again going to be having another night without much down time. I did get all of my work done; had a few chats with Violet, Stephanie, and Dad before they each turned in for the night; and I'm ready for the sports and entertainment gossip and chat that'll be going on at school tomorrow.

I've also had more than enough work and fun for one day; so that's it for now, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

This is a micro report because I've hit the wall.

Take yesterday; drop the football and teen gang dinner; and skip the early morning visit with Dad since he's already in the city and you've pretty much got the picture for today.

I still hosted the after-school study session, and we did another one after dinner that only a half-dozen of our friends, including Rowen and Tim, showed up for; and then I've been doing my 'real' studying and work since Michael, Rowen, and Tim went home at ten-thirty. Mom did a lesson with me too; and I spent a bit of time with Ethan and Ehlana when they went to bed that was mostly so we could talk about their plans for Naomi's birthday tomorrow. We managed to mix in some fun here and there with all of the work; but it's still been a very long, tiring day.

The last bit of non-news that I should include is that we didn't have band or teen praise team practices again this week – and won't have them next week either while we're writing our exams. That'll mean working harder when we do get back to both the week after that; but we'll deal with it and be ready for our next band and teen praise team events that are booked around Valentine's Day.

Okay, that's it for tonight; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Happy 4th Birthday, Naomi!

She's probably having a great day – particularly since one of her gifts from our family – and hers – is the March Break trip to Florida that she'll be joining us for in a couple of months. I wasn't there for the party, and the twins are away for the night; so I'll give you the rest of the birthday update tomorrow.

Since Mom and I are on our own tonight, though, I'm going to keep this short and get some extra sleep while I can. We've still had our usual Wednesday work day today; though there was an after-school study session at school first before Rowen, Tim, Michael, and I moved on to our part-time jobs. The twins were already at Naomi's party by the time I got home, and had spent the afternoon at KidZone with her; so it was just Mom and me for dinner and a family business work night. We kicked the work into high gear after dinner; mixed that with an on-the-fly Magi lesson that added another trick or three to my work-faster options; and then we came up to bed by nine-thirty.

Okay, we came upstairs to spend some quality time with our Jacuzzis and I'm multi-tasking this; but I'll be getting out of the tub and off to sleep as soon as I wrap this up.

Consider that done; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, January 15, 2015

My day was all about exam studies; so there isn't much to report. We worked on review all day at school; the study group was at my house after we were set free for the day; and though I didn't feed all of my friends tonight, there was an optional evening extension on the study group that all of the in-town and a quarter of the farm teens came back for – and not just because we were parent-free while Mom was at the Inn for game night with Ethan and Ehlana.

Mom won the senior championship again this week – with Miranda this week; which says a lot about how exciting the day has been for me to have that as one of the few news items I have to report tonight.

Actually, there is one other bit of news that has been fun. Now that Naomi's been given her birthday gift; the other parents involved in the March Break trip to Florida planning were able to tell their kids about it. That means that Aiden, Rowen, and Tim know that they'll be going along with us for the week-long adventure. I'm excited about that – really! If you're not getting that through these digital words, though; it's because I'm also exhausted despite getting the extra sleep last night.

That is why I'm going to end this update with that and get started on my nap time. We're just hours away from the weekend, and I hope we'll manage to have a bit of fun too; but we'll also be working and studying all weekend too; so there won't be any all-weekend parties going on or anything. Okay, it really is nap time for me; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, January 16, 2015

We're starting the second half of January today, and it's been a beautiful day; so I'm wondering why the weather forecasters haven't declared a wind-warm warning for the area! Excessively warm temperatures in mid-winter are apparently not considered dangerous by the experts, but maybe that's because they're too busy with their computer models to get outside very often. Being able to toss off the winter gear while outdoors this time of year can be very dangerous – it makes us all wish that winter was over already when we know darn well that it isn't!

Then again, I didn't get to spend a lot of time outdoors either. We spent a little time enjoying the warm after school; but we also had a study group gathering tonight too – this time at Rowen's house. Our last exam review day at school was fairly uneventful; though we did go outside to play for a while at lunchtime. We haven't exactly had piles of snow or even much of a chance for tobogganing yet this winter; but losing what snow we had on the ground could mean a less-messy spring when we do get there. The farmers aren't as thrilled with this break in the cold, but at least it's still been dropping below freezing again at night; so they're not too worried about the potential to mess up any crops that might sprout too early.

As I mentioned, we spent a bit of time outside after school so that we could enjoy the warm, but Rowen needed some help at her house too to get ready for our study group; so Tim, Michael, and I helped her with that. Okay, the boys took care of shopping for frozen pizzas, wings, and snacks while Rowen and I did the heavy lifting around the house; but then we were okay with that because it gave us the chance to cheat a bit with nobody else in the house. We also worked a lot to take care of the teen pizza party frenzy in the middle of the study session while also taking turns tutoring our classmates; and we studied until shortly before nine – not-so-coincidentally wrapping up at about the same time that Rowen's parents were closing the store for the night.

Another clean-up followed; Michael and I took a break to go and have a visit with my family at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's house; and then we went back to Rowen's house to hang out with her and Tim until the boys needed to go home for the night. The visit next door was mostly so that I could see Dad; and dinner and a movie night was at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's this week. I'll get the week in the city update sometime tomorrow, but I'm spending the night at Rowen's tonight; and Mom and Dad are both okay with that – particularly since Aunt Leanne decided to keep Ethan and Ehlana for a sleepover too. Unplanned kid-free nights are very popular with most of my favorite parents!

By the time we were able to settle onto the sofas in the living room after Rowen's parents opted to go to bed early instead of hanging out with us; we only had time for one movie. The boys picked it, and while it wasn't terrible; I was just in it for the cuddle time with Michael. I'm not complaining about the choice – sometimes I like watching movies where it's all about blowing stuff up, car chases, shoot-outs, and hand-to-hand fighting sequences. Tonight just wasn't one of those times.

The boys went home at midnight, and while we split up for a few minutes so hat Rowen and I could each say goodnight to them with a bit of privacy; that didn't take long – mostly because Michael and Tim both had orders to be home on time due to work plans for Saturday. Rowen and I will be busy with work days too, and we have another study session booked for the afternoon; so we aren't going to sit up and chat half the night either. It's actually quiet here tonight because Patrick opted to spend the night at Scott's house instead of being here for a teen study session. I guess that's not a huge deal now that they don't really annoy Rowen and I anymore with pranks and jokes; but it has been nice not needing to worry about sharing bathroom time or listening to late-night video gaming for a change.

Rowen and I have been enjoying a bit of girl chat time, but it's also time for us to get some sleep; so I'm going to wrap this up now. We're mostly going to have a work and study weekend, so the fun level isn't going to be too high; and the best I'm hoping for right now is maybe an hour or two of Michael and me time tomorrow night after he's finished helping out at the Inn. It's also a holiday weekend, with Martin Luther King Day on Monday, but this is probably the only holiday of the year that doesn't feel like one to me. We don't really get any inbound visitors; there are no special events; and this year, we'll be following the holiday with four days of exams. Most of my teen friends are just happy to have an extra full day off to study for those exams; and I'll be helping most of them with that work.

Okay, that's it for now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, January 17, 2015

It wasn't quite as warm out today, and we had a dash or three of rain this afternoon; but the temperature still climbed into the mid-fifties; and nobody around here had a problem with that compared to the snow and cold we normally have this time of year. This will make going back to winter suck a bit; but that's inevitable – even if it does looks as though we could have a few more days of warm first.

While Spring weather in mid-January is the top story around town; I'll have to go with the alone time Michael and I got to have tonight for my daily highlight. Some quality make-out time will make the highlight reel for most teens, but the main reason I pick that today is because the rest of my day really wasn't very exciting at all. Breakfast with Rowen and her parents was fun, but quick and easy too because they needed to get to the store and I needed to get home to help out with chores. That took all morning; we had an easy lunch that was highlighted with the week-in-review chat time with Dad; and then I spent the afternoon doing a study session with my friends until Michael needed to get back to the Inn to help out with the dinner rush. I helped Mom with both the cooking and cleaning on each side of our dinner too; spent some time with Ethan and Ehlana after that; and then Michael was over in time to help out with getting them tucked in for the night before we came up to the lounge for that play time for two.

That was fairly hot, and we had fun; but it was time for Michael to head home again way too soon for our liking. After I saw him out and watched him walk home from the front porch, I came back upstairs again; got ready for bed; and have been cuddling with Mandy and doing some extra bedtime computing while waiting to wind down and be ready to get some sleep. There was some family business that I could do, but nothing newsworthy. The email inbox was practically empty tonight too; though I'll probably have a bunch of time coming in tomorrow or Monday with the college updates and Grandma and Grandpa's weekend travel report. They'll be moving from Peru to Chile on Monday; but they're taking the day off tomorrow to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. I hope they have a great day for that!

It's past one now, and I really should at least try to get some rest. We won't be celebrating Grandpa's birthday with him, but I do have another study session booked tomorrow afternoon; and plan on helping out at the Inn for the buffets after that. The Inn isn't all that busy right now, which is normal for January; but the buffets are still the busiest meal sittings of the week; and Jacob and Miranda are a bit short-handed due to teens wanting extra time off for exam studies. Maybe Michael and I should take the extra day off opportunity and shoot for another unplanned sofa sleepover. I might be very, very tired after another long, busy day of work and studies! ;^)

If you flip the digital page, and my next update actually is delayed; I'll report in advance that I won't be sorry if Michael and I do get another cuddle night together. I like them so much that I plan on having them with him on a daily basis in the not-all-that-distant future – after we're married; of course!

That sounds like something fun to dream about, and I am nearly ready to try to do that; so that's all for now, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Happy 71st Birthday, Grandpa!

I'm sure that my grandparents are having a great day, and while we had a little chat with them this morning; that was our only involvement in his big day.

There is something that I was thinking about today that was all about him being a year older today; and that's the fact that my grandparents are still so vibrant and active at their age. That isn't terribly unusual for Magi seniors here in Witch Falls; though I'd say that my grandparents are ahead of the aging curve even among their generally more-powerful peers. We joke about helping Grandpa out when he needs a little Magi Healing from overdoing it sometimes; but he's probably healthier than most 'normal' men twenty or more years younger than he is. I'm not exaggerating that from personal bias – it's just a fact.

My point here is that I'm wondering if we should be studying the Magi effect on our seniors as avidly as we're currently studying babies, kids, and teens. Sure, the development with kids is more pronounced, and the Magi skills development is exciting; but thinking about aging in relation to my grandparents has me wondering what the upper end of the age limit might be for modern Magi. We do know from the archives that there were historically many Magi that lived well-beyond one hundred years. Mom and I have learned from the family stories here that Magi around here live well into their nineties and beyond, but now that we have Healers in town again; that could change significantly – if we can do that without causing major social issues or accidentally reveal ourselves to the world. I guess we wouldn't need to worry about that for decades, but it would get a lot of attention if we suddenly had seniors living into be one-forty or one-fifty.

That would be cool if my grandparents were still around when I was a grandparent too, though. We'd need to rent a football stadium for reunions! ;^)

Speaking of football, two teams won the NFL semi-final match-ups today. Yeah for them; and double-yeah that we're now just one game away from the end of another football season – or two if you must count the pro bowl game. I'm writing about that in the past-tense; but the games aren't over yet as I'm writing this because I'm doing my update between our study session and going to help out with the buffet shift at the Inn.

Yes, there's still a lot of day left to go, but I'm just being proactive in case Michael and I do end up having a sofa sleepover after we're finished at the Inn.

Okay, so having an 'accidental' sofa sleepover is in my plans for the rest of the day. I'll probably get away with it – even if our parents don't believe it wasn't an accident at all. Sometimes it doesn't totally suck to have all of the extra responsibilities that go along with being a Magi Master when your parents cut you some slack for things like this!

Anyway, I do need to wrap this up because I'm multi-tasking while getting ready to go over to the Inn. We had a fairly standard Tai Chi and breakfast morning with the added bonus of the birthday chat with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a fairly normal service at church; and Sunday school was uneventful too. Michael helped out at the Inn during lunch, so I was at home with Mom, Dad, and the twins for that – and I got ready for our study session in the lounge then too. That was optional for all of my classmates, but we still had a fairly good turnout; and more than half of our country teens contingent either stayed and had lunch with their families at the Inn or stayed with other friends to do that before coming over starting at around twelve-thirty. The studying went well-enough; though Michael, Rowen, and I mostly just did tutoring while our friends tried to cram for the exams in the subjects that were toughest for each of them.

I'll add updates if anything interesting happens between now and morning, but we'll be busy at the Inn tonight because Jacob and Miranda know for sure that they're short of staff tonight and we're all going to need to pick up the slack. It's a good thing that we'll have the bonus day off tomorrow – and I'm not just saying that because a sofa sleepover wouldn't be an option on a school night.

Well, maybe it could be an option in the future; but not quite yet. Even junior Magi Masters need to be careful with how much our parents will let us get away with!

I need to get going, though, so that's it for now; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, January 19, 2015

Yes, Michael and I did have a sofa sleepover last night; and no, our mothers were not fooled for a moment that it was unintentional. They do still think it's cute, though; and they let us get away with it anyway.

Waking up cuddled with Michael was a highlight of the day for me, but it was also a first highlight in one of those really good days. Having the temperature climb into the mid-sixties had a lot to do with having a great day too, and even though we needed to study for exams again; doing that outdoors this afternoon was an option – and so was some play time with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden at the park. Tai Chi at my house and breakfast at Michael's was pretty good too; and while we each did some chores at our respective homes after that; we were both at my house and starting our exam studying with our friends by late morning.

Dad was doing some work in the office while we were busy, but he stopped to help Mom with making lunch, and since it was so nice out; he fired up a grill and cooked hot dogs and burgers to feed all of the kids and teens in the house. That included a bit more than half of my classmates, Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden. We ate lunch outdoors too, and after helping with the clean-up; we stayed outside for the rest of the afternoon. We studied; took a break for the play time at the park; and wrapped up the afternoon with a final hour and change of studying before parents started picking up country teens for the rides out to their farms and the town teens headed home for dinner.

The next and final highlight of the day for me was finding out that Mom and Dad had set up a pot-luck dinner with the Stone family. Michael and I helped out with the work at my house, and Miranda, Jacob, and Rebecca came over with their food contributions shortly before we were ready to sit down and eat. It was still above sixty outside then, but we decided to eat in the dining room instead of getting an extra table and chairs out of the storage barn and cleaned up. I really loved getting to spend that time with both of our families, and even getting teased about our sofa sleepover was entertaining. Michael, Rebecca, and I were on the clean-up crew of three after that while our parents, Ethan, and Ehlana moved on to the living room for some quiet chat time; and then that was pretty much it for the fun today.

Since Michael, Rebecca, and I all have exams in the morning, it wasn't long after that before our guests went home for the night. Mom did a short Magi lesson with me while Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana all did some work or studying in the office; and then the twins and I were all sent up to bed for the night. I helped to get them tucked in for the night; followed that up with some Jacuzzi time; and took care of the 'must-do' family business work while I was in the tub. I'm not doing any archive or language studies this week as per Mom's orders; which is why I'll be done this and heading off to dreamland soon even though it's just a bit past ten o'clock. Having a four-day school week means that we'll be writing three exams a day for our twelve subjects, and while I'm not at all worried about that; it will mean that some of my friends will be stressed and need extra support that I plan on being there to help out with. I'm also thinking that a Friday night sleepover and celebration would be fun too once we're finished with our exams.

That's pretty much all of the news I have for today, but before you think that I forgot; yes, I do know it's Martin Luther King Day. I've also previously explained why this isn't a big holiday here in Witch Falls; so there isn't any point in going over that every single year. I'm sure that the holiday was a bigger deal for our college students on their campuses, and maybe I'll write about that sometime in the future, but I haven't gotten any reports from my favorite collegians on that tonight anyway; so maybe we'll do that next year.

For now, though, it's time for me to get some sleep. We're going to have a very busy week; and I'm not going to have any late nights – unless something major comes up for my end of the family business. Have a great day or night, depending on when you're reading this in your 'now'; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Exams might not be tough for me, but even though I'm turning in early; it's been a long day and I'm going to keep this update very short.

My exams for the day were English, Computers, and Geography. I'm not bragging, but did ace them. Our after-school study session was for our exams tomorrow – Science, Health, and Art. Most of my classmates were obsessing about Science, but to be honest; some of them should be more worried about the Health and Art exams that they're paying almost no attention to so far. Sure, the science is harder; but half of my friends are not realizing how much there is to memorize for art history and techniques or everything we've learned in Health class.

I expect they'll get that one way or the other – and pay more attention to those 'easy' subjects when it's time to get ready for our finals in June.

Our study session today was at the school until dinnertime; I hosted an optional bonus study time after dinner at my house; and we wrapped up for the night at nine o'clock. I followed that up with my Magi lesson with Mom; helped with getting Ethan and Ehlana off to bed; and this is my last job on my nightly computing to-do list. I only had one family business job that needed to get done, which is a good thing; since I really have had enough fun for one day. The next two days will likely be a rinse and repeat of today; so don't be surprised if the next couple of updates are as boring as this one sounds to me – and I'm the one writing it! ;^)

The good news is that this is helping me to be ready to drop off to sleep, so I'm just going to wrap this up and get to that now. Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The exams for today, as I mentioned yesterday, were Science, Health, and Art. We followed that up with an afternoon and evening study session to get ready for History, Phys-Ed, and Math; and I'm sure that you can guess that my friends were most-stressed about the History and Math exams. I did what I could to help with that, and so did Michael and Rowen; but we still wrapped up our study time at nine o'clock – even though at least some of our classmates planned on staying up late and cramming until they dropped.

I skipped my Magi lesson; let Mom and Dad take care of getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night; and have been multi-tasking my nightly computing while having a nice soak in the Jacuzzi. This is my last job before wrapping that up; and it's nearly time for me to get out of the tub and off to bed; so I'm going to wrap this up now. There wasn't anything else going on for me except exams and studying anyway; and that isn't going to change tomorrow either. I'd suggest that getting to stay at home with Michael tomorrow night while the parents are at game night could be fun, but we're going to have another gang over for more studying; so that just isn't going to be as much fun as it would have been if we'd been able to have a few hours of alone time with my boyfriend.

Now I'm wondering what I was thinking when I suggested a play night and sleepover for Friday night – I should have requested a sleepover with just one guest! Oh well, that probably would have been a request that Mom and Dad would have needed to turn down anyway – especially if I'd asked to have Michael stay in my room with me.

Maybe I should have gone with a cold shower instead of a soak in the Jacuzzi! ;^)

This update has totally gone off the rails, and I'm just rambling anyway; so that's it for now, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, January 22, 2015

History, Phys-Ed, and Math exams are done; we studied our brains out for Music, Spanish, and Politics; and Michael and I ended our evening with a minor make-out session after our study buddies went home for the night and before my family got home from game night at the Inn.

Take a guess at what my favorite part of the day was! ;^)

I followed all of that up with a bedtime chat with Ethan and Ehlana; did my usual nightly computing with only the must-do family business work; and Mandy and I will be sleeping before eleven again. That's easy for her because she's already sleeping, but I'll need to get to that right away to make the deadline; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, January 23, 2015

I fell asleep at our sleepover. Look for the double update with the next daily report – I don't have time to do that right now! ;^)

Until then...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Okay, I'm tucked in for the night and ready to get started on a double update after another busy, fun day. Let's just go back to Friday morning and start from the beginning.

Happy (Belated) 31st Birthday, Liz!

Other than giving her a joint gift with Ethan and Ehlana, and helping out with entertaining Naomi (and Aiden) while they were here and giving Naomi's parents a kid-free night; I wasn't involved in Liz's happy day. She did have fun – though I did not need the kid-free night details that she shared with Mom and Aunt Leanne this morning when picking up the kids. They had a birthday dinner party with family and friends too that Mom, Dad, and the twins went to; but I was home and having fun with my friends instead.

My day wasn't very exciting until after we finished our Music, Spanish, and Politics exams. Tai Chi and breakfast was fun, and I didn't have any problems with my exams; but everyone was worn out after four days of mid-term testing. Even with the extra sleep I've had this week, the extra studying and tutoring had a lot to do with why I ran out of steam tonight and fell asleep while we were watching movies in the lounge. It was fairly late by then; but my friends were still amused – and stayed awake for an additional movie that I slept right through while cuddled with Michael.

I've already mentioned that Ethan and Ehlana had Naomi and Aiden with them overnight. The main difference for tonight was that we had two bonus couples hanging out with us tonight – Sally and Joshua; and Gretchen and Brock. Jenny and Lance were again invited; but were hanging out with his friends last night instead. I got the feeling that Jenny wasn't all that happy with the choice; but wasn't going to pick our sleepover without him over a night out with Lance. She'll either need to deal with that eventually or accept the trade-off and just spend less time with Rebecca and the rest of her hometown friends. I can guess what she'll decide, but that could take a while still; so let's just not go there and move along.

Since Mom and Dad were going to Liz's birthday dinner, we were on our own for feeding ourselves; though Mom did leave us fully stocked with frozen pizzas and other munchies to cook up and devour. With five teen boys in the house; devour is an appropriate term for what they did with all of the food that Rebecca, Rowen, and I cooked up with some supervisory girl-chat help from Sally and Gretchen. While we were busy with that, the boys were playing video games in the lounge, and with the Super Bowl just over a week away; it's no surprise that the gaming was mostly football-related. It took a while to cook up enough pizza, wings, and a couple of batches of home fries; so the boys had eaten half the food before we – the girls – even got upstairs to the lounge with the last batches of food and sat down to eat too. We did have a slice of pizza here and there while cooking and hauling first batches of food upstairs too; but that actually worked out better for us – and then the boys took care of the post-dinner clean-up.

Okay, three out of five of them weren't thrilled about that, but Michael and Lucas insisted; and Tim, Joshua, and Brock went along with the plan after their respective girlfriends threatened them with revoked cuddle privileges if they didn't lend a hand too.

I skipped over the post-school action; so let's back up for just a minute. The sleepover was fully-booked by this morning; so our country teen guests had brought overnight bags with them when they came to school. The town teens all needed to stop in at their homes on the way over from school to get their gear too; but we were all at my house fairly quickly. We'd had a couple of cooler days on Wednesday and Thursday that I pretty much ignored because we were indoors all day except for the walks to and from school, but it was warmer again today; and some outdoor play time was an option. The guys wanted to go biking for a while, so we did that for an hour and a half or so – after taking fifteen minutes to get enough bikes ready to go and re-inflate most of the tires on those bikes. We toured the new section of town first; did a loop of the rest of the town; and wrapped up our ride with some biking and play time at the park. The biking trails in the woods there were fairly messy, but the guys did some riding in there anyway while the girls stuck to the main trail and let them have fun trying to muscle their way through the half-frozen and half-swampy muck.

By the time we got home again and put the bikes away, Mom, Dad, and the twins were at the Seager's house; so we started cooking the food right away. I've already covered the dinner part of the night; and it was play time for all of us after the boys were done with the clean-up. That meant more gaming for the boys; music and chat time for the girls; and a fair bit of general goofiness as most of us wound down from exam stress. Mom and Dad got home with their four younger kids for the night by a bit after eight-thirty; and the twins, Naomi, and Aiden came up to the lounge to hang out with us until bedtime. We switched over to movie time then; and watched Planes 2 with them while Mom and Dad did their own thing for an hour and a half. We did an intermission after that so Michael and I could help with getting my brother, sister, and their friends tucked in for the night. The boys did a bit more gaming while we were busy; but then we went back to movie night after that – and after Mom and Dad opted for going to bed then too.

Okay, it was after eleven by then, so that isn't particularly early; but it is compared to how late nine out of ten of the teens in the house were awake!

Ten in the lounge isn't too crowded, but it does mean that at least two cuddling couples need to either be on the floor or in the window alcove while the other three share the sectional sofa at the ends and middle. Michael and I opted for being on the floor, and Rowen and Tim switched between the alcove and floor – though I was sleeping before they made that switch. The boys got to pick the movies and went with a trio of SyFy channel flicks that were fairly awful to the point of being more funny that anything else. I was only in it for the cuddling anyway, though, so I didn't really care what was on the television. I lasted through the first movie; fell asleep sometime during the second; and totally missed the third one.

Michael didn't have a problem continuing to cuddle with me while I slept; and our friends all preferred cuddling with their respective boyfriend or girlfriend until around four o'clock too instead of going to bed sooner. I woke up when Michael picked me up with plans to put me on the sofa and tuck me in for the rest of the night once everyone else was ready to head to bed for a couple of hours of nap time; but I only stayed awake long enough to kiss him goodnight, get ready for bed, and crash again in my bed with Rowen and Mandy.

Half of my friends would have liked to sleep in this morning, but that wasn't an option for most of us. Michael and I were up at normal time for Tai Chi with my family, Naomi, and Aiden; Lucas, Joshua, Gretchen, and Sally needed to be up early so that we could feed them and get them out to their farms; and the rest of us either had part-time jobs to get ready for or chores to do at home. Breakfast for sixteen was a blast, but also a lot of work; and Dad and I took care of most of the post-meal clean-up while Mom did the farm teen driving and the rest of my friends got ready to go home or off to work.

My chores took all morning, and wasn't particularly exciting; but we were done our work by one and then Ethan, Ehlana, and I were set free for the rest of the day. The temperature had climbed into the mid-fifties by then, so playing outdoors was an option again; and I took Ethan and Ehlana out for some biking and park playground fun. Michael joined us for some of that time while on his afternoon break from the Inn; but he decided not to come over again after the Inn closed for the night because he was tired out after only having that nap last night. I would have liked some bonus alone time with him instead, but then I got more rest than he did; and can't really complain that he's the one who is tired out tonight.

Ethan, Ehlana, and I followed up our play afternoon with a family dinner that was at our house this time – and that Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Uncle Mark, Aunt Grace, and our cousins joined us for. That was fun, and I really loved getting to have that time with everyone after not getting to do that much for the past few weeks while dealing with studying for and writing my exams. Top news with the dinner conversation was the plans that Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace have made for a trip to Seattle to visit with his family next month – for the week leading into Valentine's Day. That's going to be his family's first chance to meet Caleb; and they mostly waited this long so that they didn't take Caleb flying until Uncle Adam was sure they could do that without having any Magi-related issues that have apparently come up now and then with Magi babies in the past during air travel.

Uncle Mark's parents had considered flying out at Christmas; but they're instead planning a trip here for late June with the entire family instead – not to mention that it would have been a problem for his father to get away from his practice then too. That's something that is really great about having two doctors in our little town now – Uncle Mark and Uncle Adam can now take these vacation trips without it being a problem at their clinic.

Anyway, dinner was awesome thanks to the company and entertainment. The food was good too; but we went with a fairly easy pot-luck meal that didn't require too much work for anyone. My aunts, uncles, and cousins didn't stay late because we were all ready for a quiet, early night; so it was just the five of us again by seven-thirty or so. We wrapped up our day with a movie in the living room; I helped with getting Ethan and Ehlana into bed again; and then Mom, Dad, and I all went to our rooms too. I was in need of some Jacuzzi time before getting ready for bed too; but I was finished with that, had my hair dried, and was tucked in with Mandy before eleven o'clock. I only did the basic nightly computer checks and one quick family business job before starting with this update; and I plan on being asleep about five minutes after I wrap this up.

I almost forgot to wish Lisa and Happy 14th Birthday! Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I had a gift for her that Rowen dropped off for her this morning on her way to the computer store; but we weren't invited to her party this year. She was doing a dinner and movie night in Crystal Springs; and only had her four best friends along with her for that adventure. I hope that she's had an amazing day; though we won't hear the details about her party until we're all at Sunday school tomorrow.

That does definitely wrap up everything that I wanted to cover tonight; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Exams are over, so I'm back to 'normal' school-night work and studying – and that's why I'm exhausted and writing this in the wee hours of Monday morning.

We started the day out with a fairly normal Sunday morning. I also don't have much news to report from between Tai Chi and the end of the church service and Sunday school. It was a fairly quiet morning, and other than having some fun hearing about Lisa's birthday adventure in Crystal Springs when we first went to Sunday school; it was comparatively quiet at the church today.

That might have had something to do with the cooler, dull-weather day we had today – and also why the Inn was especially busy for both the lunch and the two buffet sittings. It's also the last Sunday in January; though I don't think that necessarily had anything to do with it. The busy did mean that I wanted to help out – and Michael, Rebecca, and I were there for the lunch and dinner rushes with just one major afternoon break to go along with a couple of shorter ones that we fit in as best we could around all of the busy. Jenny joined us for the buffet shift too, so Rebecca and I got to hear a lot about her weekend play time with Lance; but the rest of the afternoon and evening was not particularly newsworthy either – and I definitely don't need to report some of the details of Jenny's girl chat here in my journal.

My back to normal started after I got home from the Inn tonight. I didn't stay until close, and Michael and Rebecca were sent home when I left too; so I walked back with them and did the goodnight hugs and kisses with Michael on his front porch. That didn't take long since it was cold out, but we were tired by then; and okay with keeping it short and sweet. I'd missed out on a work and study day at home while I was busy, and Ethan and Ehlana were tired out by then and just waiting up to see me; so I started my evening adventure out with helping them to get ready for bed and having a chat with them before tucking them in for the night.

I followed that up with my Magi lesson with Mom; two hours of language studies; one hour of reading fun for my archive assignment; and a bit more than two hours of family business work that would have been closer to six or eight if not at Magi speed. The more than six hours I have spent on my studies and work, including the Magi lesson, was more than enough for me; and that blast of action added to the hours of hot work in the kitchen at the Inn is why I'm ready to crash and nap right now.

Instead of dragging this out, I'm just going to go and do that; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, January 26, 2015

We've had a lovely weather day for our return to normal school now that our mid-term exams are done with for another year.

While I'm on that thought train; I should mention that our school curriculum and schedule are different than most schools in our area – and pretty much any school when compared to the standard, two-semester system. Having six classes and a two-day rotation that makes room for up to twelve subjects in high school is different too. We do, however, exceed State academic minimums by quite a bit; so that isn't a problem. The reason I mention it is because Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I talked with some students from the school that Rebecca and the girls' basketball team played against today while we were watching the game; and they thought that our set-up here was weird. Maybe it is compared to only having four classes per semester and being done with those subjects after only five months; but I like what we do better. We also probably have less need for past-year review compared to students that go seven months between levels of each subject – especially for subjects like math and science.

I know, that little side-trip might be totally useless information, but that might not be the case further into the future; so I'm including it with a thought toward the more distant future. The fact that we have a broader, more thorough education for our kids is a good thing; and could have a lot to do with why we have a very high percentage of college graduates here compared to the national average.

Moving along, the main news from school today was the start of new modules in every class; and we had new projects assigned along with the regular homework. That was mostly fun; and then catching Rebecca's game after school was good too. Our team won the game, and they're having a fairly good season; but they won't be a championship contender despite having Carolyn on the team – and she is pretty good. Catching another game was great, but it was also one more thing on my too-busy schedule that meant trading that play time for a later study session and I've needed to stay up even later tonight to get all of my work and studies finished.

By the time the game was over, it was time for Michael, Rebecca, and I to get to their house for dinner; we had fun doing that with Miranda and Jacob; cleaned up; and then did our homework after that. Mom and Dad were hosting a family business and future plans meeting tonight too; so I needed to get home once Michael and I had finished our assignments. We had the usual gang there for that; though Grandma and Grandpa were too busy having fun in Argentina to join us for it – even by video chat or phone call. We wouldn't actually do that for these meetings anyway without extra system security to do that with certain privacy; but we mostly didn't talk with them today because they were busy with a travel day.

The major highlights from our meeting included updates on the clinic; Solar-Wind Farm project; plans for the apartment buildings and new housing; and other side-projects including plans for the Inn and KidZone. The interior work at the clinic is ahead of schedule thanks to the mild weather and total lack of snowstorms so far to slow down work or materials transportation. Ditto that for the apartment building that is under construction right now; and the winter house-building projects are ahead of schedule too. The Solar-Wind farm work is moving along well thanks to the warmer weather days as well; though we're still looking at a late-summer launch for having the power production hit the grid.

Mom and Aunt Leanne expect that Miranda and Jacob will have a deal done with Uncle Nick's father to buy the Haberdashery building by late May, and if that works out; they'll start a remodel and expansion of the Inn that will have the Inn basically doubling in size starting in early September. Miranda's working up that plan, and while they're thinking about a future with Jake and Stephanie working there too; it's also being done to gear up for being busier thanks to everything else that's going to be happening around here over the next decade or two. On the KidZone front, Aunt Leanne expects to have a deal done fairly soon for them to take over the old clinic once the new med center opens up at the end of June. The clinic will need a major remodel first; but Aunt Leanne expects the daycare to be in there and ready to operate in time for the next school year in September. The kids won't know about that for a while, but the owners and staff are apparently very excited about it – and because they'll have the space to take on more kids than they can right now.

There was a lot more that we covered, including more plans for college-bound teens and career opportunities for the upcoming graduating class. We'll need to keep doing that for years and maybe decades to come; but I'm not going into any details tonight – I'm just too tired to write up a major future plans report tonight.

My future, in the very near term, is going to feature a couple of hours of down time.

I'm going to need it too, since we'll be back to band and praise team practices tomorrow; and then I'll be trying to get all of my work done after another day with too much going on for the number of hours available to get everything done. That won't keep me from finding a way to do it all anyway, but it does mean that I've had enough for today and I'm ready to get on with my nap; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

My day started with not enough sleep. That didn't keep me from having fun at school, or with band and praise team practices; but it has added up now that I've also been working late again tonight.

The only news I want to include with this update is to report that our band practices right now are getting us ready for the seniors' Valentine's Day dance we'll be playing at again this year; and the praise team practice is for the Sunday service on the Valentine's Day weekend. Both should be fun; though the teen dance should be great too. There's going to be a party at Sheldon's that weekend too; and I expect to be drafted to help with babysitting that night – though Mom and Dad haven't talked with me about it yet. That's still more than two weeks away, though; so let's save that up for another journal entry or two once we get closer to the big day.

Right now, all I want to do is crash and nap for the three hours or so that I can before getting up and doing this all over again. The good news, believe it or not, is that we'll be back to normal Wednesday work days; so I'm planning on working and studying after school and in the evening – and then getting to bed early for a change.

I'll let you know if that works out for me tomorrow, but that's it for now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

The weather was the only story of the day around here, but for some reason; the weather forecasters didn't feel the need to issue an extreme wind-warm warning for the area even as temperatures climbed into the id-seventies!

We didn't hear a peep from any reporters worried about the economic boon that would result either; which seems suspicious compared to all of the warnings from last year due to the dreaded polar vortex that was supposedly responsible for sucking the heat out of the economic recovery. It is supposed to drop down below freezing again by Friday, though, so there's still hope for those in desperate need of excuses to explain why there are still so many problems around the country.

It's been way too nice a day to go on a little tirade about socio-economic issues, though, so let's not go there today.

I also want to get a decent night of down time too; so we're going to keep this short so that I can get on with the napping.

While we have had an awesome day, it wasn't warm enough outside to have Tai Chi by the river; though I was wishing that was an option while we were out playing after school. It was nice enough to be out and about during our lunch break, though; and the boys even tossed a football around for a while too – not that we were surprised about that when Tim suggested it to Michael and the other guys. We had a good day at school too, but everyone was itching to get set free all afternoon; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I weren't the only teens skipping work for as long as possible so that we could enjoy some time in the great outdoors without the need for jackets, gloves, boots, or the rest of the usual winter gear.

We dropped off our book bags at our homes, grabbed bikes, and met up at my house before taking Ethan and Ehlana along for a ride and play time at the park until Michael needed to be at the Inn to help out with the dinner rush. That was the fun highlight of the day for me; and then I went home again with the twins while Rowen and Tim moved on to some more play time at his house. I helped Mom with making dinner; we had a quick meal that was ready by the time Dad got home from the office; and then I got to work on my studies, family business work; and everything else I needed to get done tonight. That was all done at Magi speed with a good chunk of it happening while in a time phase so that I could make up for the hours I lost while playing with my brother, sister, and friends.

I'm skipping over a lot of little details, and this really has been an awesome, warm break from the expected winter weather; but I'm also seriously worn down and ready for a decent night of rest too. That's why I'm just going to wrap this up and call it a night; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, January 29, 2015

The temperature dropped back toward normal today, and while we were still above average this afternoon; it's below freezing now as I write this – and it is going to stay cooler for at least the next few days.

Since I spent most of my day indoors, that wasn't a big deal for me, and after taking the day off yesterday; Rowen and Tim were both working after school anyway. Michael and I helped out at the Inn after doing our homework too; but I was mostly doing that to lend a hand while Rebecca was at an away basketball game. I stayed for game night too; which is the main reason why I'm just getting around to writing this update now – I got a late start to my nightly studies and work.

I also basically have no major news for today either. While Valentine's Day isn't far off, it also isn't a big story around school quite yet either; and we're mostly just plugging away at our new lesson modules in every class. Rebecca and her team mates lost their game today; but then they hadn't really expected to win against one of the best teams in their league. It was a fairly quiet evening at the Inn for both dinner and game night, and while there wasn't a lot of competition; Michael and I didn't win the junior title this week. That's mostly because we were just having fun with Ethan and Ehlana and not really playing very hard at all.

After eventually getting home for the night, I did my Magi lesson with Mom; helped out with getting the twins tucked in for the night once they were finished some college studying too; and then came up to my room to get ready for bed and started on my studies and family business work. That was nearly four hours ago, and while I have everything I needed to finish taken care of; I'm also wiped out and ready for the down time again. I'll be wishing that I'd turned in earlier sometime this weekend because we're going to be very busy. Dinner and a movie night is at our house tomorrow, and I'll have Michael, Tim, and Rowen here with me for that. Patricia's birthday is on Saturday, and we're planning a shopping trip to Crystal Springs as part of the fun for her day that will also let us do some shopping to get gifts for upcoming birthdays and holidays. A bit of clothes shopping to get ready for our March Break trip might be involved too; but I'll keep you posted on that.

Thinking about all of that is making me feel even more exhausted, and though I'll manage to keep up with all of the fun somehow; it is definitely past-time to wrap this up and switch to nap mode for a couple of hours or so. Tired or not; we're going to have a fun little end to January! That is all I have for now, though; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, January 30, 2015

What a surprise – I fell asleep during moving night in the lounge with Michael, Tim, and Rowen last night. I'm currently getting ready for our trip to the city, and don't have time to do the full update; so flip the digital page in your 'now' and I'll do the double-update sometime tonight whenever I get time to do that.

Until then...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Happy 34th Birthday, Patricia!

It's been a fun day, and I'm sure that trend is continuing for Rowen's Mom while she's enjoying a kid-free night with her husband; but Rowen and I do not require the details about her parents' post-party, overnight entertainment.

That's also why it's relatively easy for our parents to get kid-free nights for these special occasions – we don't want to be in the same house while those adult-rated activities are going on!

We were good with the shopping day in Crystal Springs, though; so let's get this update moving along with those highlights. There wasn't time for Tai Chi this morning because we needed the extra time to get ready and have breakfast before heading out of town and hitting the road for the big city. Owen had to work at the computer store today, but we had a fairly large shopping group that included my family, the rest of Rowen's, Michael and Tim, and a few aunts, uncles, and cousins. The timing of the trip was convenient for some birthday fun, but most of us were there to do some shopping for upcoming gift needs and to pick up some new clothes that we'll need for our March Break trip to Florida.

The trip to the Mall was fairly uneventful, and while Dad and Uncle Adam took a load of boys with them in Uncle Adam's minivan; Mom, Aunt Leanne, and Patricia had Rowen, Ehlana, Naomi, and me with them in Mom's minivan – at least for the trip to the city. Rowen and I paired up with boyfriends for the trip home. I won't bore you with the details of the shopping, since half of the Magi reading this in the future – the male half – will not likely care about that any more than guys do in my 'now'. We had a blast, though; and even Michael, Tim, and the other guys managed to have some fun. No, that wasn't because their favorite girls spent some of the time trying on swimsuits; but that was an added bonus for some of them!

What I do want to mention is that we picked up a couple of months worth of family and friends gifts for upcoming birthdays, Valentine's Day, and other events; and those of us who are going to Florida in March are all set with new clothes for that trip too. That was a bigger deal for the teens and kids because most of us have already outgrown our summer clothes from last year; but the Moms in our group were also happy to pick out a few things – and Aunt Leanne chose some adorable new maternity clothes that she'll grow into between now and then. She'll be five months along by then, and won't be able to do a lot of the rides and other extreme activities; but she's also going to be the hottest-looking pregnant woman in Florida while we're there. Yes, I'm totally biased; but that doesn't mean I'm wrong about that! ;^)

We had lunch at the Mall food court for a break between the morning and afternoon shopping segments of the day; and then we made a fairly short stop at Wal-Mart on the way out of town for the usual supply run. The birthday girl and some of the parents needed to be home early enough to get ready for their birthday dinner and night out. Michael was helping out for the dinner rush at the Inn; and Rowen and I were on babysitting detail once we'd finished helping out with unloading the vehicles and getting everything put away at her house and mine.

My parents were on the guest list for the dinner party and play time at Sheldon's Pub; and Rowen and I were taking care of the twins, Naomi, and Aiden tonight while they were out – including feeding them dinner. That was comparatively easy after helping out with the bigger dinner last night; and it was easy to keep the four kids entertained all evening too – especially after Michael and Tim joined us and kept Ethan and Aiden happy with some pre-bedtime video gaming.

While we were having fun at home, the parents were at the Inn for dinner – going there after most of the stores in town closed for the night; and then they moved on to Sheldon's after that. The only change from other party nights was that most of the adults doing the celebrating with Patricia opted to head home again by midnight – mostly due to the risk of snow and icy roads from the rain that had been falling all day and the snow that was starting to fall by then. The forecast is for a couple of inches of the white fluffy stuff overnight and through the day on Sunday, but since the temperature is hovering around freezing; the travel worry is more for having icy roads than from that bit of snow cover.

I'm okay with my favorite people being careful about that – especially when my parents both helped out with designated driver duties tonight and did some driving around out into the country tonight too. They were both home safely by twelve-thirty – which coincidentally was when Michael and Tim headed home for the night. Since Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden were all up and partying with us until nearly eleven-thirty tonight, that didn't leave Rowen and I much time for cuddling with our respective boyfriends; but we took what we could get for that; and split up for the last ten or fifteen minutes so that the goodbye hugs and kisses were at least a bit hotter than they would have been if we'd waited to do that until after Mom and Dad got home.

Rowen and I had a little chat with Mom and Dad before we all headed for bed; so it was almost one o'clock by the time we were changed and had joined Mandy in my bed. I got started on my nightly computing after that while Rowen's been doing some YouTube surfing and keeping me entertained with both the videos and girl chat time. That's been fun, but we're both getting tired out; so it's time to start wrapping this up. I am supposed to be doing a double update, though; so I guess we'd better make the Friday part of this report one of those condensed micro-updates.

We started out our last day of the work-school week with morning Tai Chi; Michael stayed for a quick breakfast; and then he moved on to home to get ready for school before hurrying there in time for his morning workout with Tim and the rest of their football fanatics. It was a quiet day at school; and Michael, Tim, and Rowen came home with me once we were set free for the weekend. There was time for some after-school play; Rowen and I helped Mom with making dinner for the gang we had over for our dinner and a movie night; and Michael and Tim kept the twins entertained in the lounge while we were busy in the kitchen. Mom and Dad pretty much had the full, usual gang over for the dinner and most of them stayed for the movie too; though they did that in the living room while I had my friends, Ethan, and Ehlana in the lounge for the evening once we'd finished cleaning up after the meal.

There wasn't a sleepover last night, but that was mostly because Rowen wanted to be home to do the birthday breakfast with her Mom this morning – and because Rowen was already booked to be here tonight anyway. Michael, Tim, and Rowen did stay with me later than the rest of our guests did; though that was because they didn't have babies or toddlers to get home and into bed. They didn't stay really late because of the shopping trip, but then I missed out on most of the teen fun after Ethan and Ehlana went to bed because of that whole falling asleep thing that I mentioned in my last update. Cuddling with Michael up until I went into nap mode was fun; and waking up to his kiss when he was ready to head home and get me to go to bed was good too; though I still wish I'd stayed awake for all of that movie and teen chat time. I need to get a grip on that before I start getting teased about that as often and Mom and Dad still get razzed about their previous tendency to have naps together during their months of dating.

Anyway, that nap time was pretty much the last bit of news from Friday. Michael and Rowen wouldn't let me see them out after Michael finished waking me up; and they sent me straight to bed before seeing themselves out for the night by a bit after midnight. I vaguely remember getting changed and then crashing again after cuddling in my bed with Mandy; and then I was out until morning. It never even crossed my mind to try doing any bedtime computing last night.

It is crossing my mind right now that it's time to put this computer away and get to sleep. We could have a busy morning if we need to shovel the driveway before going to church – or taking turns having a shower and getting ready for the day. Whatever snow we do get probably won't last long because it's supposed to warm up at least a bit by Monday; but I guess it is nice to end January and start February with a bit of the white stuff on the ground.

We don't have any plans for Sunday; though I'm expecting to help out at the Inn all day to make up for Michael getting to go with us for the shopping trip today. We'll need to do our weekend homework too, since we didn't do that on Friday night or Saturday; but that won't take long and we can get it done while on our afternoon break tomorrow. I'll do a weather update with the next report too; but don't expect any major issues when at most we're only supposed to get an inch or two of snow. That'll only be an issue if we end up with a bunch of freezing rain instead.

That didn't exactly end up being a micro-update, and Rowen and I really do need to get some sleep; so that's it for now, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!
February 2015

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Today was Super Bowl Sunday; and I'm starting my update with that news because it means that football is finally over for another season!

I know, that won't keep Tim and the other fanatics from living and breathing it between now and August anyway; but at least it won't be an every weekend – or daily – drain of teen resources that can be better spent elsewhere.

Don't give me that look as you read this in our future some day, Tim. Some of us, including Rowen, think that you're nuts to pick major football event watching over other activities – such as making out with your girlfriend. Before you try denying that, let's consider the evidence from today. You spent a big chunk of the afternoon and all evening watching the game and most of the festivities both before and after the match. In your case, that was mostly done at your aunt and uncle's home while your house – and Rowen's – was pretty much parent-free during all of those hours. That seemed like a perfect opportunity for some quality alone time with Rowen; but you picked the football instead.

Don't feel too bad – you're not the only guy making that choice today. I'm just including that little bit of commentary for the future entertainment value – though if you haven't re-prioritized by the time you do read this; you might want to think about it!

I don't want to drag out the football part of my report, and if you're actually interested in the details; you can look them up elsewhere. The only info I'll add is that the Patriots had a come-from-behind win over the Seahawks with a score of twenty-eight to twenty-four; and most of the football fans at the Inn seemed to be happy with the gaming action. To be honest, I didn't really care about the game at all – I just had fun with Michael, Rebecca, and our families and friends while spending most of my time at the Inn helping out with the lunch and buffet rushes.

There wasn't really a Super Bowl party at the Inn this year. Miranda had a big-screen television set up in the dining room so that her customers could watch the game while having their dinner, and most of the late buffet customers stayed to watch the end of the game too; but it wasn't a tickets-only, one meal event this time. That made for a much busier night in the kitchen and dining room, and with so many people staying there late; the clean-up took a lot longer too. Michael and I didn't have zero play time today because of all of the work; but he's happily willing to put in the extra time now to have a bit of extra money available for our March Break trip; and I'm good with lending a hand so that I can hang out with him even if that is while we're cooking and cleaning for hundreds.

My day did start out with some fun – if you consider a bit of light shoveling and some snow play as fun compared to our usual Tai Chi work-outs. There wasn't a lot of snow to clear from the driveway and sidewalks, but it did need to be done; and Rowen and I had fun with that alternate exercise program – especially when Michael, Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden all came out to play for a little while before breakfast too. We've had light snow falling for most of the day too, and that wasn't the only round of shoveling that we needed to do today; but we only got a couple of inches total snow, and it wasn't a problem for getting around or keeping up with the work. It also isn't likely going to be staying around long either; though the cold snap is probably going to last until Tuesday instead of Monday now. It is supposed to warm up enough that the snow won't hang around long; so the kids and teens should enjoy it while it lasts.

Other than the snow play and work, and having our sleepover guests to feed and share bathroom time with this morning; it was a fairly quiet morning at home. The church service and Sunday school seemed a bit subdued too; but maybe that was just the perception I got from being around my own family and friends group. Some of them were tired out from a day of shopping and birthday party fun – though again, I don't need the details about that from any of the particularly tired-out looking adults I'm including in that thought.

I went on to the Inn with Michael and his family after church and helped out with the lunch rush that was actually very busy. At least one group of customers had decided that having lunch at the Inn ahead of Super Bowl watching at home was a good plan; and we had a full dining room from opening until shortly after two o'clock. That was why Michael, Rebecca, and I had shorter afternoon breaks than usual; and Michael and I met up with Rowen and Tim at my house and used up all of that time doing our weekend homework assignments. Tim didn't get his completely done then; but that was because he kept getting distracted by the pre-game action on the television instead of doing his work.

All of that work and studying was the main reason why I wasn't on the snow crew this afternoon or evening; but Mom and Dad managed to take care of that without my help – and the play time with Ethan and Ehlana too.

The dinner buffet rushes at the Inn were a bit crazy. The first wave started a bit early, with most of those guests wanting to eat and then move on to Super Bowl watching parties or gatherings. The second wave that included most of the members of my family and quite a few of the business owners and their families started at the normal time; but dragged out for maybe an hour longer than usual. That's why Michael and I were busy in the kitchen pretty much until the game ended. Rebecca was set free a bit earlier; but that was entirely so that she could hang out with Lucas and his family while they were at the Inn too.

It's also why it was very late by the time I got home after we finished all of the work and had the Inn cleaned up and ready to go for the morning breakfast shift. I didn't even get started on my nightly computer studying and family business work until after midnight; and that's why I opted for some time-phasing to help out with getting my work done tonight instead of staying up all night to keep up with the workload. I won't suggest that was fun, and neither was the studying or work tonight either. It was all just things I needed to do before getting around to a last email check and this journal update.

Even with using the time-phasing for a lot of the work, it's still well-past two o'clock, and after a long day at the Inn too; I'm pretty much out of steam now. We've got a busy week ahead of us; so I'd better wrap this up and get some sleep while I can. We won't really be involved much in Grandma's birthday tomorrow while they're still away and having fun in the sunny south, but that will still make for a fun start to the week; and I'm particularly excited about ending the week with another birthday next Sunday – mine! ;^)

With a little luck, some birthday alone time with Michael will be an option next weekend too, and since that's a very happy thought to head off to sleep with; I'm going to end this little update with that and hopefully take that thought with me into some very happy dreams.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, February 2, 2015

Happy 71st Birthday, Grandma!

That should actually have a 'belated' added to it, since I'm writing this update on Tuesday morning, but you're reading this in the future anyway; so I guess it doesn't matter all that much.

It does matter that I need to get this done because I'm also in the process of getting ready for school this morning; so let's move this into micro-update mode.

My Monday morning was fairly normal except for the added fun of a birthday phone call with Grandma – and Grandpa. They're having fun hopping islands along the east coast of South America and the southern Caribbean this week; and today is a play day for them as they celebrate Grandma's birthday. After getting that snow on the weekend; I wish I was with them! ;^)

It has warmed up again today, though; and the snow is well on the way to full melt-off – even though the temperature was only above freezing for a handful of hours.

I don't actually have a lot of news from here at home. The Super Bowl game was a big news story at school, but it wasn't exactly a very exciting day of classes – possibly because a lot of kids, teens, and teachers were tired out after staying up late last night at various game day parties.

Michael's parents had us at their house for dinner and the evening, and we had fun there; but it was also a fairly quiet night too. Michael and I did our homework with Rowen and Tim; they headed for Tim's house after that; we had dinner with Miranda, Jacob, and Rebecca; and then we had a play evening that included a nice, long music practice for Michael and me. We practiced for band, the teen praise team, and had the first guitar lesson we've had time for in a while. We then wrapped up my time there with a chat in the living room with his parents; and then I needed to get home and on to my usual nightly studies and work.

My Magi lesson, family business work, and language study all went great; though it also took me nearly four and a half hours to get all of that done. My problem with getting everything done came from deciding to try and do my archive homework last. That assignment was apparently more boring than usual; since one minute I was reading it, and the next; I was getting a Tai Chi wake-up call from Ehlana.

That's also why I didn't get the rest of my usual nightly computing wrap-up and this journal update done before going to sleep – and why I need to finish this up, get downstairs, and off to school now. I am going to need to think more seriously about changing up my work and study schedule if I'm going to keep falling asleep like this; but that's something to deal with later – when I'm not about to be late for meeting up with Rowen and getting to school on time.

That's it for this morning; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Have I mentioned that I really need to re-work my schedule? Yes, that was rhetorical, but it's also apparently something I need to do sooner instead of later because I am totally burned out again tonight.

We had more snow melt today, but a freeze is coming back again at least for a couple of days; so it's going to be very chilly around here going into the weekend. I'm up late and writing this tonight because I had band and teen praise team practices to go along with the school homework and all of the rest of my studying and family business work. It was a fun day even with all of the work; but the only reason I didn't fall asleep in the middle of my work tonight is because I did the archive assignments first instead of trying to leave them for last. That was a 'them' too, since I needed to finish the one I didn't get done last night; and that just added more work to my to-do list.

At least I'll be able to do my work and studies early tomorrow night. We won't even have a warm-weather excuse to skip our after-school work night this week; and I'm very okay with getting my work done early and heading off to bed as quickly as possible tomorrow night.

Going into nap mode for a couple of hours sounds great right now too, so that's all for now; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

The only adjustment I needed to make to the school, work, study, and early bedtime plan was one round of snow shoveling between getting home from school and dinner time thanks to some bonus white fluffy stuff that Mother Nature apparently thought that we needed to go along with the temporary deep freeze.

That wasn't a big deal, but did contribute to the ongoing state of being too-tired. I am going to start doing something about that, in part due to Mom's orders; but I'll comment on that with my next update – after I've gotten some sleep and, hopefully, fully re-charged for the first time in a while. Right now, though, I'm under orders to be sleeping before Mom gets up here to check in on me after she's finished getting the twins off to bed; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, February 5, 2015

I'm writing this update before midnight on a Thursday because Mom has ordered me to cut back for a while when needed – at her discretion. For now, that means no archive or language studies and only the must-do family business work anytime she decides that I'm too worn down to keep up with everything I want to get done every day. That's the way it's going to be for the next month or two, and I'd argue the point; but it's fairly obvious that I have a problem with saying no to myself when it comes to doing my work and studies.

I do still need to do all of that stuff, though; so this is just temporary. Sometimes it sucks; but that doesn't change the fact that there are things I need to do to get ready for my personal future that can't be put off indefinitely.

Anyway, so the bottom line for today is that I only had a short Magi lesson with Mom tonight; no homework; and I was only allowed to do a half-hour of family business work that was supervised in the office before I was sent up to bed for the night. That was actually pretty much the only news for today too. It was a quiet day at school that was at least partly due to the extra-cold weather outside; and I was indoors at the Inn from after school through until Mom and Dad took the twins and me home for the night after game night. Michael and I did our homework first; helped out in the kitchen through the dinner rush and clean-up; and then had fun playing the games and hanging out with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden for a couple of hours.

I'm also under orders to have the lights out, and preferably sleeping too, by midnight, so that's all I have for tonight; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, February 6, 2015

Bon voyage, Uncle Mark, Aunt Grace, and Caleb!

They're in the Seattle area now, and for the next week; so I hope they're enjoying the visit with Uncle Mark's family while also getting to introduce Caleb to the Everett side of his family for the first time. I'd say that I wish I was going too, but I'm actually good with hanging out around here this weekend for my birthday – especially when some of us do have a major trip to look forward to in March instead! Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace will be staying home for that so that he can cover the clinic while Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne are with us that week.

Compared to a trip to the west coast, I don't have anything exciting to report from home. We had a fairly nice day as the temperature climbed into the low fifties again and the snow resumed another melt-off; but it was also a quiet day too because Michael, Rowen, and Tim all worked after school today so that they can have tomorrow off to have a birthday weekend play day and sleepover with me. Yes, my birthday is Sunday; but doing a sleepover Sunday night wouldn't be as much fun when we'd need to be in bed early on a school night. The teachers didn't take it easy on us because of my big day this weekend; but then that wasn't a big deal for me and I had those assignments wrapped up quickly with just a bit of work after dinner – getting it done practically in no time; if you know what I mean! ;^)

Since my best friends were busy anyway, I had some after-school play time with Ethan and Ehlana; we had an easy dinner night; and then I spent the evening hanging out in the lounge with the twins too after doing my homework while Mom and Dad worked in the office. They were both doing that so they'll be able to spend more time with us for the rest of the weekend; and we're supposed to have awesome weather for both days with temperatures hitting into the sixties and mostly sunny skies. We only have a hang around home play weekend and the sleepover planned; but that's exactly what I wanted to do for my birthday – without any major party or trip to the city this year.

Hanging out with Michael tonight would have been fun, but I'm good with him having tomorrow off instead; and getting the extra sleep again tonight is probably a good plan too – since we will definitely be up late tomorrow night!

Having that to look forward to is a very good reason to wrap this up and head off to dreamland now – even though it is Friday night and that's not supposed to be normal for teens. Then again, it's not as if that would be any more of a hit to my reputation than falling asleep early would be if I conked out early tomorrow night. I definitely don't want to do that again, so that's it for now; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, February 7, 2015

While this report is for the day before my birthday, I need to start it out with the news that the post-midnight end to my Saturday included a lot of cuddle and movie time; and an amazing minor goodnight-happy-birthday make-out session with Michael that was an awesome way to start my birthday!

The rest of my day was great too; and we had wonderful weather for our take-it-easy play day. It wasn't an all-day play time for Mom and Dad, but they did their chores in the morning; and then took the rest of the day off except for taking care of the lunch and dinner meals – the second one of those minor events for a gang of teens and kids. I got to have a two-day get out of work pass this year for my birthday; so that worked out great for me – though I did still do my usual chores in my room to make sure everything was clean and ready for my overnight guests.

That bit of work didn't get in the way of the all-day fun – mostly because I cheated while fitting that work in between Tai Chi and breakfast while also getting ready for the day. Mom was impressed with me doing that; particularly while I was also having a shower and doing my hair. All of that made for a great start to the morning; though Michael wasn't with us for Tai Chi or breakfast. He instead went over to the Inn to help his parents with the breakfast rush before taking the rest of the day off to hang out with me. He did come over in time to go out to play for most of the morning with me, Ethan, and Ehlana; and we went for a walk and shop for a while, followed that up with a snack break by the falls with Olde Bakery treats to munch on along with drinks from the Emporium, and then we went to play at the park until lunchtime once it was warm enough to do that without being uncomfortable while playing on the playground equipment.

Michael came home with us for lunch; and our friends began arriving to hang out with us for the rest of the day and night by one o'clock – starting with Rowen, Tim, Naomi, and Aiden. Rebecca, Lucas, Sally, Joshua, Gretchen, and Brock rounded out my group of friends; and they were all with us by the time that we had bikes ready for everyone to use – including Mom and Dad. We went for a ride that included a tour of the new section of town and a loop out River Road past the lab and med center. We played at the park after that, and while that might not have been high on most teens' fun list with both parents and younger siblings along; I really loved getting to just goof off with my family and friends for a few hours.

The snow melt was in high gear by mid-afternoon, and while that wasn't a major melt-off like we had in the spring after the big snowstorm my first winter in Witch Falls; we did go back to the falls again to check out the water action while having our afternoon snack. The river wasn't running a lot faster than normal, but it was enough of a difference to normal for the falls to look cool; and the twins, Naomi, and Aiden especially had fun with that while we were there. We did a bit more riding around the rest of the town; stopped in at the school for a bit more playground time for the kids; and then went home to hang out there for the rest of the day. Since it was so nice out; Dad decided to fire up a grill and cook burgers, hot dogs, and steaks; and Mom threw together a few side dishes to go with that – a change-up to the original pizza and wings plan for the meal. Yes, that meant that there was a stack of pizzas left in the freezer; but they still used a few of them up for a midnight snack – and we will probably just use them up next weekend when Mom and Dad will be going out on Saturday night for the Valentine's Day dinner at the Inn and party at Sheldon's.

Having dinner outdoors was an option too, and while I was off-duty; that didn't keep me from happily helping out with getting tables and chairs set up and cleaned so that we could do that instead of eating in the dining room. We needed to do that on the back porch instead of the yard, but that worked out better for us because we had the lights there as it started to get dark by the time we finished eating. The meal was a great way to wrap up our outdoor fun, and when it was time for the clean-up; I was sent up to the lounge with Ethan, Ehlana, and their friends while all of my friends were temporarily drafted to help out with the work that they collectively had wrapped up in about twenty minutes.

Mom and Dad didn't join us to hang out in the lounge after that because they wanted to do more work so that they could take most of Sunday off to spend with me too. The boys wanted to play video games for a while, and they did that for an hour or so while my girlfriends, Ehlana, and Naomi watched on and mostly had some chat time. We switched into movie mode at eight o'clock so that the four kids could watch one movie with us before bedtime. That couple of hours was especially fun because Naomi happily joined the couples' club when we started pairing up to cuddle with our respective boyfriends or girlfriends; and she wasn't even slightly embarrassed to cuddle under a blanket with Ethan even when she got teased about it – mostly by Tim, Joshua, and Rebecca. Aiden and Ehlana ended up under a blanket together too, but while they were probably holding hands; they were only sitting next to each other while Naomi was definitely in cuddle mode with my brother.

Just for the record; Ethan did not have a problem with that – even though he did blush a fair bit while getting teased about it.

Ethan and Naomi also get my vote for most adorable moment of the night too. That's because they had both dozed off by the end of the movie; and it was especially fun to see Mom and Dad deal with them when they came upstairs to collect the four younger kids and take them to get ready for bed. I'm sure that Ethan and Naomi will be getting teased about that in the morning, because I already got teased tonight about falling asleep running in the family; but they didn't wake up when Michael and Dad each took one sleeping kid downstairs – and Mom, Ehlana, and I didn't tease Naomi about it when she did wake up while Mom and I were getting Ehlana and Naomi changed and into bed. Dad and Michael took care of helping Ethan and Aiden; though they said that Ethan only half-woke while getting changed and then went straight back to sleep once he was in his bed.

After that, I'm really glad that I didn't nod off at all while we – the teens – sat up and watched two more movies along with a video game and pizza intermission. Those movie choices could have been mine, but I took pity on the boys and let them pick the flicks; and they went with one martial arts movie and followed that up with a nearly two-hour immersion into an alien invasion adventure. I was mostly in it for the cuddle time with Michael; but having the no-think hours of action entertainment was okay too. Mom and Dad cooked up the pizzas; delivered them; and stayed for part of the snack break; but then they went downstairs again to deal with the minor clean-up before heading off to bed while we continued on with our second movie.

Michael and I got to have the alone time for that minor make-out session I mentioned after the last movie. Our friends left us in the lounge for that, but they also didn't have a problem with splitting up so that we could all have that alone time with our respective favorite boy or girl. They all might have even had a better set-up for that time because each couple was doing that in one of the guest bedrooms. There's a chance that one or more of those teen couples are cuddled together as I write this; but I'm not going to mention any names for that. There are some things that the Magi of the future do not need to know about – though I will tell you that I wouldn't have minded cuddling with Michael all night too.

No offense meant, Rowen and Mandy – you're very nice bed buddies too; but Rowen knows what I mean even if Mandy doesn't.

No, Rowen, I did not mean that you can relate to finding cuddling all night with Michael more fun – and you know it! Thanks for the late night laughs, though! ;^)

It is late, and we need to get some sleep, but before I wrap this up; there is one news item I should have added earlier in this report. I had one invitation for this sleepover turned down. Jenny wasn't exactly happy about that, but Lance didn't want to spend the weekend with us; and she was stuck with the choice of coming by herself or going out with Lance and some of his friends tonight instead. She obviously picked not being a fifth wheel; but she is also getting more than a little annoyed that Lance never wants to spend time with her friends anymore. I wouldn't suggest that Maple Valley is a wild and crazy place compared to here, but from what Jenny has told us about Lance's group of friends; I guess it is fair to say that we're fairly boring and too-nice by comparison. That's also one of the reasons that Jenny is attracted to Lance; but I'm very sure that she isn't going to give up everything she has here for Lance if he's going to always insist that they do whatever he wants to do.

I don't want to get into a big discussion about Jenny and her love life, so let's leave that there; wrap this up; and call it a night. It's going to be crazy around here with ten teens and four kids getting ready for church in the morning – and we wouldn't want to run out of time and need to skip any gift opening that might be involved when we have breakfast!

Wow, I'm suddenly very, very sleepy! I should definitely put my computer off to bed now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Happy 14th Birthday to me!

Okay, that's a bit silly; but then I wasn't exactly running around making a big deal of it today. I did still receive a lot of best wishes from our friends and neighbors anyway; though that wasn't more than normal for anyone else – except maybe for the fact that my big day landed on a Sunday this year; so more people saw me today than on a weekday or Saturday.

I also don't want to make this a major report either; since I don't think that my own birthday should be a top news event. With that in mind; let's keep this short and sweet.

Morning Happy Birthday hugs and kisses with Michael was as great a start to the day as the end-of-night hugs and kisses were a few hours earlier. Tai Chi and breakfast were great too; if a bit crazy. I'm not going to go nuts about listing birthday gifts; but Mom and Dad did get me my first Smartphone. That was mostly because they want me to be connected while we're on our vacation in Florida next month, and while it isn't that big of a deal to me; it will be cool to have most of my portable computing and media on one device instead of using my iPod or notebook computer all of the time. Michael and Rowen must have been in on the gift idea; because they picked up some accessories for me to go along with the phone. As I mentioned already, that was all fun and I loved my gifts; but let's leave that there and move on.

It was crazy-busy getting everyone ready for church and out the door, but it was also nice enough out that walking to church was an option; and we had another beautiful, mid-sixties and sunny weather day. That's why we had lunch outdoors and then had another afternoon outdoor play day. All of my overnight guests stayed with me all day – at least until Rebecca and Michael needed to get to the Inn and help out with the dinner buffets. We had one break in the fun for a homework study session, but that didn't take long; and we managed to get that done while having a snack and drinks out on the back porch.

While some of my friends went home by late afternoon, that was mostly so that they could get cleaned up, changed, and then meet up with me, my family, and some other invitees to my birthday buffet dinner at the Inn. We went to the late buffet so that Michael and Rebecca could still do that with us after helping out with the work in the kitchen until the first wave of food went out for the late buffet. The other reason for going to the late buffet was so that Rowen's parents and other working parents could come too; and we actually had a fairly large block of seats in the dining room. That was fun too, and I loved that one last blast of fun with my friends; but I actually don't have any great stories to write about from our dinner tonight. I actually didn't even get to spend much time with my aunts, uncles, or any of the other adults while I was busy with my friends.

I also didn't get to end my birthday with any wild and crazy goodnight moments with Michael either. He needed to get back to helping out in the kitchen after dinner; and I went home with Mom, Dad, and the twins after doing a quick round of thank-you and goodnight hugs and kisses in the kitchen with Michael, his parents, and Rebecca.

The rest of my night included a Magi lesson; forty-five minutes of supervised family business work; and the Jacuzzi time that I'm enjoying right now while multi-tasking my bedtime computer checks. I won't be doing any language or archive studies again tonight, but after only getting a couple of hours of sleep last night; I'm okay with that particular order. I'm also pretty much ready to get out of the tub now and finish getting ready for bed too; so that's all I have for tonight, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, February 9, 2015

The weather today was quite a bit cooler than it had been on the weekend, and that might have had something to do with it being a quieter day around here too.

Okay, there wasn't any birthday fun going on either; but that really wasn't a big deal for me – and it wasn't an issue at all for most of the kids and teens at school anyway. The big news at school today was anything to do with Valentine's Day or the dance this Friday night. The younger kids are busy with crafts and we all have at least some themed lessons and assignments that added a bit of fun here and there. I guess that doesn't sound as though it fits in with a quieter day; but it still was a basically uneventful day. Michael and I had fun after school and this evening too; though our time together at his house was also fairly subdued too. We did our homework after school while Rebecca was busy with basketball; enjoyed a great dinner with his family; helped with the work both before and after our meal; and then had some music play time before wrapping up our evening with a little chat with his parents before I headed home for the night at nine o'clock.

The rest of my evening was under parental control; which is why I'm writing this while it's still just coming up on eleven-thirty. I was allowed a half-hour of language study to go along with my family business work; but no archive assignment to go along with my Magi lesson. I'd still like to be doing more, and I'm falling a bit behind with all of my studies; but Mom and Dad aren't going to budge on this until they're sure I'm ready to put in the extra hours again; so I'll just keep going with the flow and try to avoid the temptation to cheat and do some extra work and studying anyway.

Mom will be checking in on me soon, though; so it's time to wrap this up.

Oh, before I do that, Grandma and Grandpa are in Brazil today; and will be spending the week there. Valentine's Day in Brazil should be awesome! Maybe Michael and I should find out for ourselves some day; but we'll have to settle for the school dance on Friday and a babysitting night at home on Saturday this year. My friends might find the idea of my grandparents having romance in their lives gross, and I really don't need the details; but I sure hope that romance isn't over in my life by some arbitrary age limit set by kids or teens.

Now that's a scary thought more suited to Halloween than Valentine's Day, but I'll have to wrap this up with that anyway; since I hear Mom and Dad on the stairs now and I'm out of time.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

It's time for a micro-update because I'm tired out and ready to go into nap mode – though that isn't from being up too late. I'm just tired out after a long, busy day.

My morning routine was fairly standard; school was good; we did our last band practice before the seniors' Valentine's Day party on Friday afternoon; and also had our last teen praise team practice before the Sunday service we'll be leading for the Valentine's Day weekend. Michael and I fit in a study session and dinner between the two practices; Mom supervised both my Magi lesson and family business work time; and she sent me up to bed at a bit after eleven because I look as tired as I feel.

That covers the basics for today, and I really am ready to call it a night now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Take yesterday; switch the music practices for my usual mid-week work night; and that pretty much covers my fairly uneventful Wednesday. Michael wasn't with me for dinner either, and I was able to do some archive and language studies tonight too before Mom sent me off to bed; but none of that was particularly exciting. I was glad to get back to some of that work; but I still need to figure out a way to do it all without totally burning out.

Since we do have the Valentine's Day weekend coming up, and tomorrow will be a special themed game night at the Inn; I'm still okay with being handled by Mom and Dad – and I should be at full-power for all of the fun!

With that happy thought in mind, that's it for now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, February 12, 2015

I'm on a short time limit for this update and the rest of my nightly computer checks because we were late getting back from game night at the Inn.

We had a fun day at school; did a fair bit of playing with Valentine-themed lessons; and stayed indoors thanks to the cold weather that has taken over the area – and will be around for most of the next week or so if the forecast is correct. You'd think that Valentine's Day ought to rate another warm-weather weekend; but apparently not!

I was at the Inn after school; Michael and I did our homework with Rowen and Tim there; and then we helped out with the dinner rush while Rebecca did her own homework after getting back from her basketball practice. We kept busy through until the gaming started; had fun playing the special, themed games; and Michael and I actually won the junior championship tonight. Apparently we're getting to know each other pretty well, though in my case; that means that Michael knows my cover story very well. Mom and Dad placed top-five; but Miranda is more excited tonight about getting to have Mom for her partner next week while Dad's in the city.

Since we stayed to help with the clean-up, Mom, Dad, Ethan, Ehlana, and I didn't get home until ten-thirty. Mom did my lesson with me; I was allowed a half hour for family business work while Mom and Dad both took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana into bed; and then I was sent up to my room with orders to be sleeping by midnight.

I'm running out of time to get working on that down time, so that's all for tonight; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, February 13, 2015

This update is coming to you live from Rowen's bedroom. I'm doing a sleepover at her house, and the twins – and Aiden – are all at Naomi's house tonight too. Mom and Dad are getting the kid-free start to their Valentine's Day to make up for the house full of kids they'll have with them tomorrow night.

I hope they're having fun, but the details are not required or wanted; so let's move along. Please try not to think about that too much, and if you do; don't tell me about it whenever you're reading this in my future!

I've had an amazing day. There wasn't really any school work involved, since the morning classes were pretty much filled up with play time and there were parties this afternoon. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I missed a lot of that fun while we first set up for the seniors' party for nearly half of the morning; and then we were at the church fellowship hall with the band. Okay, Tim wasn't there with the band; but he did help out before and after the party with the work; and then hung out with our classmates at the party the rest of the time while we were busy.

Playing the oldies music was great, and we loved helping everyone there to have a fun afternoon; but the highlight for me was the duet that Michael and I did as part of the program – and we were a big hit again this year. By the time the party was over, classes were already out for the day; so we were late getting started on our weekend while hauling our instruments and gear back to the school and put away – though that was partly because only some of us stayed to make sure everything was done. That wasn't entirely the fault of our band-mates, since the country kids needed to rush to catch their bus rides home; but there were some town kids too that just happened to disappear after their first trip to the school. Michael needed to get home right away and get ready for the dance before moving on to help out at the Inn. He and Rebecca were both working there; which is why Lucas and I met them there and had dinner in the back room with them once they'd helped out with the dinner rush. I could have helped too; but went home instead and took the extra time to get ready for the dance – a fact that my boyfriend appreciated a lot even if his parents would have liked the extra hands in the kitchen more.

Don't take that last comment the wrong way – Miranda pretty much gave me that line while teasing us about it after I got there and she saw the effect I had on Michael. She also kept him away from sharp knives for five minutes and continued to tease us for the better part of a half hour before letting us off the hook.

Despite having our meal at the table in the back room of a busy kitchen; the four of us still really enjoyed our meal and dining entertainment; and then we moved on to the school and the dance in the gym. There was a big turnout for it, though the one exception for my friends was that Jenny wasn't there. She was again with Lance; and they were at the dance at his school. I didn't talk to Jenny at all today, and Rebecca didn't go into any details; but there's a very good chance that all is not well with Jenny and Lance – though that could improve this weekend depending on how well Lance handles his first Valentine's Day with Jenny.

As always, there was some teen drama because of Valentine's Day, and while there are one or two couples in my class that are not blissfully happy right now; there wasn't any drama coming from any of my friends tonight. We did witness a few scenes; but I won't document any of that for posterity in my journal. The personal news for the evening was that Michael and I, and our best friends, all had a wonderful evening. We danced a lot; joined in for the rest of the non-dancing fun and entertainment; and basically had an amazing teen night out. The dance didn't end until one, but Rowen and I took Michael and Tim home with us to Rowen's house by shortly after midnight so that we could spend a little quality cuddle time with our boyfriends before they needed to be home for their curfew at one.

We did get to have that cuddle time, but Patrick had Scott staying over; they were playing video games in the living room when we got there; and Michael and Tim ended up playing games too for most of the time they were there. That meant that the goodnight kisses weren't anything to write about either; but I'm hoping that we'll make up for that tomorrow night when the sleepover is at my house – and the boys will be staying the night too.

Rowen and I came up to bed after Michael and Tim left; and we've been having some girl chat time since getting changed and tucking ourselves in for the night. Patrick and Scott are still gaming in the living room; but that just makes things quieter for us with them doing that there instead of gaming in Patrick's room. We've mostly just been winding down while I've done my nightly computer checks and dealt with a little family business job that didn't take long to take care of; and Rowen has been playing YouTube videos from other Valentine's Day school dances or love-themed music videos. Those music videos were mostly covers by teens, and some of them were comically awful; but we have been kept entertained.

We are going to be babysitting tomorrow night, though; so staying up much later is probably a bad plan – especially when Rowen will be helping out at the computer store too. They haven't been crazy-busy there this week; but Rowen's parents expect to have a bit of a rush tomorrow; since they're one of the few stores in town with last-minute gift options that won't just leave guys in the doghouse. I can see that, since toasters from the hardware store or farm equipment from Landry's just won't work for most girls! ;^)

Anyway, that's really all of the news for today; I've had enough fun; and it's time to try and get some sleep; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Happy Valentine's Day!

I can't report that my day started out with any romance, since I was at Rowen's house, and didn't have Michael with me for Tai Chi today; but Rowen and I did have fun hanging out together and having breakfast with her family until they headed for the computer store and I went to pick up Ethan and Ehlana from the Seagers on the way home.

By the way, that's much easier to do without any snow on the ground. I just walked across the back yards between Rowen's house and the Seager's; instead of needing to walk around the block or trudge through snowdrifts.

Maybe Mom and Dad should be scared, because Naomi gave Ethan a Valentine's Day kiss and hug before breakfast – and Ehlana hugged and kissed her Valentine this morning too. Yes, Ehlana, you made it very clear that you kissed Aiden on the cheek; but then we both know that he might still be speechless and blushing if you'd kissed him as enthusiastically as Naomi apparently kissed our brother. The facts still remain that my brother and sister were involved in kisses with their favorite Valentine before I was with mine today; and it is at least a little funny to think that our parents have more to worry about from their three-year old twins than their teenage daughter! ;^)

We did a little Valentine gift exchange after getting home; had a little chat and recap that Mom and Dad had basically no kid-rated details to pass on about their night from about dinnertime through to this morning; and then Dad needed to get to work in the office to get ready for his week in the city while I spent the rest of the morning helping Mom with the chores. Ethan and Ehlana split their time between a bit of playing and some studying for their college courses; so Mom and I could kick the work into high gear while warding the house anyway – and Dad was able to work faster too. That made the cleaning, laundry, and the rest of the work more fun; and we had everything done by the time we stopped to have lunch at one o'clock.

Michael was busy all morning too; helping out with the morning breakfast rush at the Inn; doing chores at home after that; and then going back to the Inn for the lunch rush. All meals at the Inn were busy today because of Valentine's Day, so his only major break in the action was the couple of hours he had off in the afternoon. That's when we did our gift exchange and took care of those all-important first Valentine kisses and hugs of the day. It was actually getting colder outside as the day went on, so we stayed in the lounge while Michael was taking his break; and spent most of that time playing with Ethan and Ehlana. Rowen and Tim came over shortly before Michael left for the Inn again, and we had a bit of time to hang out too; but then our group of kids and tweens began arriving as parents dropped them off early enough that they could get ready for their Valentine's Day dinner and party plans.

Mom was already working on that by then, and Dad wrapped up his work in time to go and get ready too; so Tim, Rowen, and I were kept busy with the kids – and with eventually cooking dinner. We had fourteen kids and tweens with us for the night, and though we – the babysitters – were outnumbered by more than four-to-one until Michael came over after he was finished at the Inn for the night; Jessica, Lindsay, and Geraldine gave us a hand with the youngest kids – and they especially had fun with Zack, Leah, and Sebastian. Ehlana, Naomi, and Sophia stayed with Rowen and me while we were cooking dinner; and Tim ended up entertaining all of the boys with video gaming in the lounge. Patrick and Scott probably helped him more with getting Ryan, Ethan, and Aiden fired up and bouncing off the walls, but they did have fun; and mostly stayed out of our way until the food was ready and they helped out with demolishing more than half of the food we'd cooked up.

For some of us, getting through dinner was a lot of work. Getting all of the four-and-under kids fed kept me busy for an hour or so, and that was a good thing; since feeding the kids wasn't as scary as watching the older boys devour their meals. Yes, I'm including Tim in that, but Rowen and I cut him some slack tonight so that he could keep his rep intact with the younger boys. Patrick and Scott may try to play it cool, but they look up to Tim and Michael as much as Ryan, Ethan, and Aiden do – though Patrick has been overheard more than once wondering what Tim could possibly see in his geeky, brainiac, big sister.

While I'm thinking about that work, I'd like to mention that babysitting is actually work – even for Magi and Magi Masters. It's not as if we can cheat and use our talents to keep the kids under control or do the work faster; so all of the cooking and cleaning takes as long as it does for any other teens; and fourteen kids and tweens running around kept us busy the rest of the time too.

After dinner, I was on the clean-up crew; followed that up with some music play time in my room that most of the girls joined in for; and then we played some games like hide-and-seek for an hour or so until Michael came over from the Inn. That was when we switched into wind-down time with a movie; though that was also when Uncle Nick's parents stopped in to get Sebastian after they'd finished having dinner at the Inn. Leah was staying with us; but they were keeping Sebastian for the night while Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah were enjoying their kid-free night.

That might even be a story I'll be able to hear tomorrow, since from what Mom told me; Aunt Deborah's plans for her night off from kids is to get at least eight uninterrupted hours of sleep. Only parents that have gone through the baby stage can relate to that sentiment – though as an older sibling of twins; I understand better than most teens would.

My thoughts are moving on to wondering why I'm half-joking about that, and implying a lack of romantic plans for my aunt and uncle while I'm currently sitting in my bed; writing this and chatting with Rowen instead of doing anything romantic with my boyfriend. We did get to have a bit of alone time before splitting up and going to our rooms, but that didn't end up happening until after Mom and Dad got home from Sheldon's. Between the time that Michael joined us until then, we watched a kid-rated movie; Michael, Rowen, and I spent more than an hour getting most of the younger kids off to bed while Tim led a video gaming intermission; and then we watched another movie with Patrick, Scott, Ryan, and the older girls.

Some cuddling was involved during the movies, but Michael and I had Zack and Leah with us for the first show; and we definitely didn't get too cozy during the second movie with Jessica, Lindsay, and Geraldine giggling at us for so much as a little peck on the cheek or a hug. For those of you who might be reading this in the future, don't be offended by that comment – I was one of those giggling girls not very long ago. Refer back to my journals from when Mom and Dad were dating for details if you don't believe me!

That second movie ended before Mom and Dad got home, but the boys went back to video gaming after that instead of starting a third show; and Rowen and I went to have some bedtime girl chat time with Jessica, Lindsay, and Geraldine once they'd gone and gotten changed and ready for bed. We did that in the room next to mine that Violet usually uses when she's here; with just one break for me while I went to check in on Zack, Leah, and the other kids. We wrapped up that little bit of fun when my parents got home; Rowen and I did the recap with them; they sent Ryan, Patrick, and Scott off to bed before turning in for the night too; and then Rowen and I split up to have that alone time with our respective boyfriends. For Michael and I, that started out with the dishwashing and clean-up from our snacks. We hauled everything downstairs; did that work; and then used the living room for our mini-make-out session while Rowen and Tim stayed in the lounge.

It was really late by then, so we didn't play for too long; and I was back in my room, cleaned up, and changed before Rowen joined me. Actually, I had most of my nightly computer checks done by then too; so it's fairly obvious to me now that I should have spent more of that time with Michael! ;^)

I probably shouldn't keep letting my thoughts go there, or I'll be tempted to go downstairs and sneak into Michael's room for the rest of the night – not that we weren't very tempted to stay in the living room and have a sofa sleepover. With this many kids in the house, that's really a bad idea; so let's wrap this up and I'll go to sleep instead of thinking really good, if slightly naughty, thoughts.

Rowen got ready for bed after joining me; we've been cuddling with Mandy; and she's been doing the YouTube video thing as usual while we're having our bedtime chat. While we've decided that we need to do better next year for the romantic side of Valentine's Day, we are both still very happy with our boyfriends; and it has been a fun day even with all of the babysitting work. At least we did get to spend some time with our guys. Rebecca only saw Lucas for a little while when he stopped into town with his parents today; since they were both working – and he was home with his brother and sister tonight while his parents were out with Mom, Dad, and the rest of their friends. Rebecca was probably tempted to go out to the farm after work; but wouldn't have asked for a ride there – especially when that would have just cut into the time her own parents would have left to go to Sheldon's after the Inn closed for the night.

Okay, I could come up with more to write about, but it's past-three-thirty now; and we're going to have a lot of work to deal with starting in just a few hours to get everyone fed and ready for church; so I'm going to end this right now and get started on that nap.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Morning Tai Chi with Michael, Naomi, Aiden, and my family made for a fun start to the day; and then it was all crazy-busy as we rushed around getting everyone fed and ready for church. That was particularly crazy for the girls; since we needed to share bathroom time to have time for doing our hair and the rest of the usual dress-up work that goes into making us look our best. My bathroom and bedroom were used for that; though I spent more time in the kitchen helping out with the cooking and cleaning.

It was definitely a lot colder outside this morning; so we had parents stopping in to help out with the transportation to the church; but Mom and Dad still took the minivan and truck too. That was more because Michael and I needed to be at the church early for the teen praise team warm-up; and Rowen and Tim came with us because they were involved in the teen-led service too – doing a skit and reading bible verses. Playing and singing at the service was a lot of fun; and I think that our program went over fairly well with our families, friends, and neighbors. There weren't a lot of the usual compliments after the service, but that had more to do with the cold than anything else. It was just too cold out to hang around for long visits or to wait for those of us who needed to pack up musical instruments or other gear before moving on.

I wouldn't have been able to stay anyway; since I needed to get to the Inn and start helping out with the lunch rush prep work in the kitchen. Miranda and Jacob had expected a full house for lunch and both buffet sittings; and their customers did not disappoint them. Except for short meal breaks and an afternoon break that Michael and I used to do our homework; it was non-stop action all day at the Inn. They even probably had an extra hundred or so diners for the two buffets thanks to starting early and wrapping up late – and turning over more tables than usual.

I missed out on my own family dinner there; though I did take a short break to see Uncle Mark, Aunt Grace, and Caleb. They'd gotten home with enough time to unpack and start loads of laundry before coming to the late buffet, and while I didn't get to hear any travel stories; they did assure me that they had a great trip and visit with Uncle Mark's family. While I did miss getting to do that with everyone, I didn't miss out on anything at home. Dad was working in the office all afternoon and evening; Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana went to play at the lab for a few hours with Uncle Adam; and Mandy had an afternoon nap.

Okay, the nap would have been nice; but I'll survive. ;^)

Anyway, I stayed at the Inn until Michael and Rebecca were sent home about mid-way through the end-of-night clean-up; did a chilly, quick goodnight hug and kiss with Michael in front of his house; and got home by nine-thirty. Mom did my Magi lesson with me; we did the bedtime routine with the twins; and then I was sent up to my room with orders to only do the can't-wait family business work and my usual computer checks before going to bed. Mom did not supervise that tonight because she had other plans for the rest of the night that included Dad; and is definitely nothing I'll need to get details about.

I multi-tasked my family business work with some Jacuzzi time; cheated with a time-phase so that I could enjoy that for longer than I would have been able to do in real time; and then finished getting ready for bed before snuggling in with Mandy and doing my computer checks and this update. We're getting a bit of snow overnight, and I'll probably have to trade Tai Chi for shoveling in the morning; but it was a fairly quiet email and information night. There wasn't even much news from my favorite collegians; though that could be because they were all too busy with Valentine's Day weekend fun and just didn't have any kid-rated news to pass along.

Thanks to using the time-phase, I do have the option of being asleep before midnight, though, and I am tired after a late night and busy work day, so that's all I have for tonight; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, February 16, 2015

We didn't get as much snow as was forecast, but it is cold; and I'm wishing that I was with Grandma and Grandpa this week while they're having fun and doing a bit of work here and there on a few islands in the southern Caribbean. They'll be on islands in that area for the rest of their trip, but if it's this cold when they get back; they'll want to turn around and head south again about an hour after they get here!

Or less.

Starting my morning out with some snow shoveling started earlier than I'd expected; since I hadn't thought about doing that work before Dad headed for the city. He tried to do that on his own before hitting the shower to get ready for work, but I heard him out there; and quickly got up and went out to help. We probably need to work on the quality part of our father-daughter time; but we still had a nice little chat while we cleared the driveway, sidewalks, and brushed the snow off of his truck and Mom's minivan. Mom had gotten up by the time we were back indoors; she had hot drinks ready; and cooked breakfast for Dad while he had his shower and got ready for work and I hauled most of his luggage and cases out to the truck before having that hot drink and getting warmed up.

Ethan and Ehlana got up in time to see Dad off too; and then we had an hour or so of cuddle time with Mom and Mandy in Mom's bed before getting up again. Tai Chi was an option for Mom and the twins, but I went outside again to help Michael with shoveling at his house instead. Then it was time for a shower; I got ready for school; and had breakfast before Rowen stopped in to pick me up for the chilly walk to school.

The Valentine's Day weekend news was at the top of the gossip network chat list, and while we didn't have any major teen drama in my class; everyone wasn't universally happy either. While the stories were the top entertainment for the day, the biggest change at school was moving into the next study modules in most classes that would keep us busy through to March Break. That, by the way, is just four weeks away, and with our trip to Florida coming up so soon; I'm really looking forward to the holiday this year more than ever before.

Having the new work at school kept us busy; and we had new projects and assignments to work on by the end of the day too. Our after-school studying was at Michael's house, so Rowen and Tim went there with us; and we worked pretty much until Michael and I were drafted to help out with the pre-dinner work in the kitchen and Rowen and Tim moved on to their own dinner plans at her house. Rebecca had basketball practice after school, so she didn't get home until dinner was nearly ready. They have a home game coming up on Wednesday that Michael and I will probably go to see instead of working after school, and from what Rebecca told us tonight; there's a chance that our team will actually make the playoffs if they win that game and another team loses their last match of the season. Rebecca isn't very hopeful for our chances in the playoffs if we do make it; but Carolyn is apparently fired up and hopeful.

The rest of my evening was fun, and while dinner was great; it was the music and play time with Michael and his family that I loved the most. Michael and I practiced for band and the teen praise team practices we'll have tomorrow night; though we don't have anything else going on with either group for a while now. Our next praise team services will be at Easter; and the school band doesn't have anything booked until Memorial Day. I wrapped up my play time at the Stone's house by nine; Mom did my Magi lesson with me as soon as I got home; and then we headed for bed after getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night. I didn't have a supervisor for my work; but Mom didn't need to do that tonight – I'm good with heading off to sleep in decent time tonight after the early morning shoveling and everything else that I've been doing since then.

There isn't anything else to cover tonight from the family business work or my nightly computer checks, so I guess that's all I have for now; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

If you've never had an Olde Bakery Paczkis on Shrove Tuesday; then I sure hope that's an option in your 'now' or you're seriously missing out!

Eating one of the Paczkis was the highlight of my day; so I guess that's all I have for today. ;^)

The first half of that statement is close to the truth; though we did manage to have some fun here and there too. We had a dusting more of snow this morning, but not enough to shovel before going to school; and the work was done before we got home from band practice. Number two on my daily highlight list was the pancake dinner that Mom hosted at our house and invited Michael and his family to join us for. Michael and I didn't have a lot of time for that between band, our homework, and then getting to the church in time for our teen praise team practice; but Mom and Jacob co-cooked, and the food was amazing. So was the dinnertime chat; since we spent most of the time talking about the March Break trip to Florida. That included a fair bit of teasing from Miranda about skipping work and going along with us or trading places with one of the other Moms; but that second part just got a bit too weird for the teens and kids in the room when the consequences of doing that were considered. Wife or husband swaps should definitely stay in the realm of Hollywood!

Fitting all of that action into one day does have me worn out, and I followed up the practice at the church with a long Magi lesson with Mom; a supervised work and study session in the office while Mom worked on her own jobs after we tucked Ethan and Ehlana in for the night; and I've finished the rest of my nightly computer checks already too. That just left this journal update for after I climbed into bed with Mandy; and I plan on being asleep in about five minutes now that I really have covered everything I wanted to write about tonight.

Michael and I are a bit overdue for some quality alone time, but that might not be an option for the rest of this week or weekend. We have a lot going on, including a make-up work weekend here; and Michael will be putting in more time at the Inn to help out with his spending money goal for our trip. I can at least shoot for a happy dream or two with Michael in a starring role; and I'm good with getting to get to that now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Michael and I have not gone to enough of Rebecca's basketball games, but we did skip the after-school part of our work night so that we could support her and our team at their home game tonight. I'm not really a fan of basketball anymore than I am of football; but we had fun at the game today. So did the girls on our team. They won the game, and have done what they can now; so it's just waiting to find out what happens with another game to find out if they'll get the last playoff spot that hasn't been decided yet. They'll know by the weekend whether they're in or out; but will still practice as if they'll still be playing next week.

While Michael was allowed to go to the game, he needed to get to the Inn right after the game ended; and I went home to get started on my own work and studies. Mom had put together an easy-dinner in the crock pot, so that was both an easy meal and clean-up that didn't take much time out of the work parts of our evening. She also let me do a time phase that helped all of us get more work and studying done after dinner; though she also cut me off early too after using up the extra power and effort to do that. We did the full bed and bath routine with the twins; tucked them in for the night; and then it was Jacuzzi time – for me; and for Mom too.

I'm doing this while in the tub; and have finished my computer checks already. There really isn't any other news from today, so I'm going to wrap this up; relax; and enjoy the rest of my tub time before heading off to bed. Even with all of the work, it's been a pretty good day, and with game night at the Inn to look forward to tomorrow; that trend should continue.

I'll let you know if that works out for me, but that's it for now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Happy 14th Birthday, Kris!

We had a little birthday party for Kris at lunchtime, but that was my total involvement in his special day; since he was only having his girlfriend and family with him to celebrate tonight.

Michael was actually happy about that, because he really does want to put extra time in at the Inn to make spending money for our trip next month. We had a good day at school, with that birthday fun one of the highlights; and then Michael and I did our homework at the Inn on our own before helping out with the dinner rush. Game night followed the work in the kitchen; and we had a light turnout for that after the fun overload last week. Miranda was happy when she and Mom won the senior championship; and Michael and I had fun playing with Ethan and Ehlana for a couple of hours. We didn't win, though depending on your definition of winning; we actually did.

Mom was worn out by the time we got home; so we skipped the Magi lesson; I did my family business work and a bit of language study while Ethan and Ehlana did some college work and Mom went to spend some time in her Jacuzzi before going to bed. She joined us in Ehlana's room for my bedtime story with the twins; and then they all went to bed while I decided to do a little music practice before getting changed and cuddled in bed with Mandy. There isn't any news to report for my nightly computer checks, and I guess that's pretty much all I have for tonight; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, February 20, 2015

Michael is helping out at the Inn again tonight, and Rowen and Tim didn't need a third teen to keep entertained tonight; so I stayed home and did the dinner and movie night thing with my family while my friends were busy.

That's been fun, and I especially loved getting a chance to hear about Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace's trip to Seattle with Caleb; along with spending the time with my uncles, aunts, and cousins. We did a pot-luck dinner; our movie was toddler-rated and a Disney favorite; and our intermission included welcoming Dad home from the city. He didn't have a fun trip back thanks to the rain and a dash or two of wet snow along the way; but we haven't had much rain here yet; and no snow at all.

There's supposed to be some of both overnight; but that'll depend on the temperature. We'd actually prefer the snow, since there isn't supposed to be a lot of it; and rain or freezing rain could make things even messier by morning.

I haven't actually been home for many dinner and movie nights lately, and one thing that has definitely changed now is that we don't hang out together very late anymore. Parents want to get kids home and off to bed; and sitting up and chatting until late just doesn't work for them right now. That's why I'm still able to write this while it's still well-before midnight; and I'll be sleeping before then too.

I've skipped over the news for the rest of the day, but to be honest; not much happened this morning or at school; and my after-school time was mostly taken up with helping Mom with making dinner and hanging out with her, Ethan, and Ehlana. It's probably just as well that I can get to sleep soon anyway, since in addition to the extra chores we'll be doing around here tomorrow; Dad and I will be doing some work at Grandma and Grandpa's house to get it ready for when they'll be home next week.

That'll keep me busy all day, and Michael will be at the Inn a lot tomorrow too; but I'm hoping that we'll get to have a bit of time together tomorrow night after he's finished at the Inn for the day. Maybe we should even shoot for an accidental sofa sleepover; since we're both bound to be very tired after long work days! :^)

I'll keep you posted on that – or be a day late with the next update if we do go there, but either way; that's it for tonight, so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, February 21, 2015

It's coming up on nine o'clock, and I'm writing this update early because I'm really, really tired; and there's a very good chance that I'll fall asleep sometime not long after Michael and I get around to some alone time in the lounge after he gets here and we finish doing the bedtime story with Ethan and Ehlana and get them tucked in for the night.

I'm not guaranteeing a sofa sleepover or anything; but I'd be okay with that if it happens! ;^)

This report won't take long; so let's get to it. We didn't get the snow part of the forecast overnight because it stayed just above freezing and we only got rain. My day started out great with Tai Chi and a big country breakfast. Michael stayed for that, and Tai Chi is always more fun the first day that Dad's back from his week in the city; so I was a happy camper. After doing the kitchen clean-up with Michael, he headed home to do some chores before going to the Inn in time for the lunch shift; and I got to work around the house and even a handful of chores that needed to be done outdoors. That was fairly chilly work; but it was more hang-out time with Dad; so we managed to have fun.

We had lunch at one; and then we all headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to spend a few hours getting their place spiffed up and ready for their return home. They have teens hired to shovel snow, and Mom, Dad, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Leanne check in on the place regularly to make sure there aren't any problems; so that work wasn't tough – we mostly just dusted and cleaned from top to bottom. We had a fairly entertaining afternoon; went home in time to make dinner for five; and we've had a quiet evening here since then that's been all about work or studying in the office.

Dad needed to do the work; Ethan and Ehlana wanted to do some studying for their college courses; and Mom and I decided to do a bit of family business work instead of playing or watching a movie while everyone else was busy. I wrapped up my work about fifteen minutes ago; came up to my room to change and freshen up before Michael gets here; and I've already mentioned why I'm doing this journal entry now instead of later.

If you're thinking that taking the time to look nicer for Michael and change into something more appropriate to cuddling with my boyfriend than doing chores doesn't mesh with being exhausted and expecting to fall asleep; pretend that you didn't notice that – I'm shooting for both the quality alone time with my boyfriend and the sofa sleepover. Sure, I won't fool Mom and Dad with that; but the too-obvious ruse will probably entertain them enough not to wake us up if we do fall asleep before they go to bed tonight – or if they come to investigate later when – I mean if – they don't hear Michael leave when it's time for him to go home.

Speaking of, that sounds like he's here; so that's it for tonight.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Michael and I got razzed a fair bit for our sofa sleepover last night, but from our perspective; it was totally worth it to both fall asleep together and enjoy the cuddles and wake-up kisses this morning. The make-out time between when we tucked Ethan and Ehlana in for the night and the falling asleep part of the sleepover was fairly awesome – and hot – too; but we won't go into the details of that part of the night.

Mom and Dad did let us get away with having Michael stay here with me; they took pictures; and sent them to Miranda for 'proof' that their son was safe and better than well. Those pictures were sent to my phone too, which is actually more funny because that's one of the few times I've actually used it for phone-to-phone communications since getting it for my birthday. Yes, I have used it for other things a few times; but there really is a reason why junior teens in Witch Falls don't really need cell phones.

Getting back to the update, though; our morning cuddle and kisses time ended when Ethan and Ehlana gave us a bouncy little wake-up call that included pouncing on us; hugs, kisses, and tickles; and a lot of laughter and fun packed into just a couple of minutes. We did our Tai Chi workout after that; I got ready for church while Michael went home to do the same; and then I went over to his house for breakfast and a minor sofa sleepover roasting that Miranda and Rebecca had a lot of fun with. I was okay with that thanks to the awesome food too, and just in case I haven't mentioned it lately; I'm not going to keep Michael just for his Dad's amazing cooking skills, but it is an awesome bonus!

We were off to church after that, and because it was very cold again by morning; we went there in the minivan. The service and Sunday school message theme has begun the annual journey toward Easter, and since parts of those lessons are of a more serious nature for the teen lessons; I wouldn't exactly say that we had a lot of fun. That's especially true for me because of everything I know about Jesus' life through our archives, but even with all of that; it's important to remember the ultimate message of love and joy that Easter is all about.

Going from church directly to the Inn to get started on the prep work for the lunch rush was a bit quieter than usual, and it was a while before everything in the kitchen was back to normal. Since Dad was working all day at home anyway, and Michael would be at the Inn until close except for his afternoon break; I decided to spend the day at the Inn too. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana went to play at the lab for the afternoon; so we were all working – though their work was almost all play and fun. I don't actually have any news to report from my hours at the Inn. We worked hard when needed; had a bit of fun when we could; and it was the being together with Michael and his family that I loved most.

I didn't stay until close tonight, but left for home once the major part of the clean-up work was finished and they were just waiting for the last few dozen diners to finish desserts and after-dinner drinks so that they could finish setting up the dining room for the Monday morning breakfast shift and wrap up the work in the kitchen. The main reason I didn't stay was because Mom wanted to do a Magi lesson with me; and I had some family business work that needed to get done before morning too. Mom let me do all of that until eleven o'clock; and then she sent me to bed at the same time that she took Dad up to bed too. The twins had been tucked in for the night between my Magi lesson and the work; so all is quiet in the house now as I write this – and not just because Mom and Dad have their room warded right now.

No, we really don't need to know what they're doing behind closed wards! ;^)

I'm going to wrap this up and get some sleep soon, but I'm overdue for a college friends and family update; so let's do that and then call it a night. For the most part, now that Valentine's Day is over, my favorite collegians are busy getting ready for mid-term exams now. Those exams are now just a week or two away for them, depending on the college; so they'll be busy from now through until Spring Break. I hadn't really thought about it much, but the one downside to our Florida trip this year is going to be that I won't see Violet, Dillon, Christina, or Josiah while they're home for that break. Since we aren't going to be here, Violet and Dillon aren't even going to be spending much time in Witch Falls anyway; and they'll spend the time off with Chris, Martin, Dawn, and their Woodvale friends instead.

By the way, in case you're wondering, having the Rice clan join us for the Florida trip was discussed; but Uncle Rick and Aunt Melissa are going to be dealing with two collegians starting this August when Chris goes off to school too; and they didn't want to do a trip like this one ahead of that fairly significant expense. Uncle Blaine and Aunt Alison didn't have that problem; but want to wait to do a trip to Florida until their kids are a bit older. Mom and Dad can relate to that with the twins; but if we wait until they're my age; I'll be done college and busy working in the real world by then. ;^)

Anyway, the bottom line on the college news is that they're all busy with studying for exams now; and that'll be it for the news with them for at least the next few weeks. I should be doing more studying of my languages and archive assignments, but I'm still worn out enough right now even without all of that; so my restricted work and study schedule is bound to continue for a while longer. For tonight, I'm okay with that and ready to get started on my nap time, so that's all for now; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, February 23, 2015

The top news of the day for me was the family business meeting tonight, and while that was fun; there really isn't anything new to report that I haven't covered during the last couple of meeting-night journal updates. That'll change with the next meeting, since we'll be heading into spring with a lot going on through until summer; but I'll save what I do know already about that until then.

It was still cold out today, so being indoors was okay with me; and I was really only outside to get between home and school; school and Michael's house; and then home again in time for that meeting. The top story at school today was that the girls' basketball team is in the playoffs; and their first-round match is on Wednesday. That'll be an away game, and they're up against a top team; but they're fired up, and Carolyn is particularly enthusiastic about their chances as heavy underdogs. I may actually be going to that game with Miranda, and we talked about that at dinner; but she won't decide for sure until Wednesday – and it'll depend on whether she can get the server schedule shuffled so that she can miss most or all of the dinner rush. I'll guess that she'll have lots of volunteers to help her out with that; since she rarely asks for that kind of help for herself.

While Rebecca had an extra-long practice after school with her team, I went home with Michael; we did our homework; and then helped out with the pre-dinner work while having a fun little chat time with his parents. Jacob cooked up another experimental entree that was amazing; Michael and I had time for a music practice; and then I needed to get home after that while he planned on watching some television with his parents and sister before going to bed. I've already mentioned that there wasn't anything going on in the meeting that was new information; so it didn't really take that long to cover the updates on all current and in-the-works for the future projects. Once my aunts, uncles, and cousins had left again; Mom did my Magi lesson with me while the twins did some college studying. We followed that up with getting them off to bed for the night; and then I was allowed just under an hour to work on family business jobs before being sent up to my room for the night too.

I've pretty much just gotten ready for bed and done my nightly computer checks since then; and I'm definitely ready for some nap time now. I'll be switching the family business meeting for band and praise team practices tomorrow, but those should both be fairly easy; since we have some time before our next events for both groups. It will still mean fitting the rest of my usual work and studying into less time again, though; so it'll still be a long day – even if I don't get to put in as many hours as I'd like right now. Maybe I'll sneak in a bit of time phasing to help out with that; but we'll see if Mom and Dad will let me do that too.

Anyway, that is all I have for now, so I'm out of here; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Congratulations, Stacey and Pastor John!

They'll know why soon enough; but I couldn't exactly tell Stacey what I sensed when hugging her before our teen praise team practice this evening. Their little surprise won't actually arrive until sometime in early November, but the Burroughs' family and their congregation and friends will be thrilled with the news whenever Stacey does get around to getting Uncle Adam or Uncle Mark to do a certain test and they get the positive results.

That's my one and only newsworthy story for today.

Tai Chi and breakfast was good; we had a few hours of above-freezing temperatures today; and I pretty much was on the run from morning until now with school, band practice, homework, teen praise team practice, and my evening Magi lesson and family business work session in the office. Mom let me do a bit of language and archive studying too while using a time-phase for a while; but she still sent me off to bed before eleven; and Michael and I have totally missed out on any alone time opportunities during his two weekdays off from the Inn.

Speaking of work days, I'll still need to find time for mine despite having a basketball playoff game to attend with Miranda tomorrow; so I should get the extra sleep tonight while I can. Mom might not be happy with the need to do that tomorrow night, but I can only juggle the work schedule so much; and I'll need to make up those lost hours sooner instead of later. She has been fairly insistent about my cut-back on the long days, though; so I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow.

For now, though, that's all I have; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Congratulations Rebecca, Carolyn, and the rest of our girls' basketball team!

Miranda and I had a blast going to the game and cheering for them, and though I seriously doubt that our efforts made a difference; the upset win was certainly an awesome surprise – if not for the favored home team and their fans. Carolyn won the game for us in the closing minutes, and while the game had been close until then, she came through with the high-pressure baskets while her opponents did not.

While the game was the highlight of the trip; I really liked having the drive time with Miranda too; and we also picked up fast food to go for the drive home instead of waiting and eating late. When she dropped me off at home, Miranda stayed for a visit with Mom, Dad, and the twins before going on to the Inn to help with closing up for the night; and that was entertaining too because she helped out with my Magi lesson while she was here.

Compared to that play time, the rest of my day was fairly boring. School was good, and basketball had top billing for the school news network; but nothing particularly exciting happened all day. The temperature outdoors rose into the high fifties; we spent most of our lunch break outside; and had fun, but that break in the cold was tempered by knowing that we're heading back into the freezing temperatures again tonight. We're also getting a bit of snow tonight too, and had a spit or three of rain earlier while Miranda and I were away at the game; but we're not expecting a major snow event overnight or tomorrow.

After Miranda left for the Inn, Mom let me work on the family business with a time phase to let me work a bit longer and get the extra work done; but that's had the side-effect of tiring me out. We all called it a night at ten-thirty; Mom, Dad, and I were all in on the bedtime story with Ethan and Ehlana; we tucked them in for the night; and then I came up to my room to get ready for bed too. I opted for a quick shower because I needed one after all of the cheering at the game in a hot gymnasium; but then I cheated to get my hair dried so that I could get into bed with Mandy and wrap up my night with the usual computer checks and this journal update.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow because Grandma and Grandpa will be home by early evening at the latest unless they have some travel delays. It's going to be great to have them home – even if it's only for a short time before they'll be heading south again – this time to Florida for their usual winter getaway. We'll likely miss game night so that we can have a visit with them, and I'll probably skip helping out at the Inn during the dinner rush too; but I'll let you know about that with the next update.

Having our grandparents home is going to be a highlight for the week, but we're also heading into some busy days through the weekend. Since Grandma and Grandpa will be home, we'll be doing a dinner and something entertaining night with them and the rest of our family on Friday; the Maple Valley Winter Festival is this weekend; and Rebecca and her team will also now have a second-round playoff game on Saturday.

I'm getting tired out just thinking about all of that – though I'm already pretty much in need of some quality down time; so that's all I have for tonight, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Welcome home, Grandma and Grandpa!

They had an amazing travel adventure, though we only got to hear a couple of stories tonight; so I'm glad we'll have more time for that tomorrow night. It was going on seven o'clock by the time they got to town, and by the time we'd helped with unloading the minivan and helping them to get settled in; we only spent another hour or so visiting before it was time for us – all of the kids and grandkids – to head back to our homes so that Grandma and Grandpa could get some sleep after a long travel day.

That time with them was the highlight of my day, and though I missed out on helping out at the Inn and game night this week; that apparently worked out for Michael, because he teamed up with Rebecca for the gaming and they won the junior championship. Maybe he'll want me to skip game night more often! ;^)

We had another quiet day at school, and it was not very much fun for any of us to have temperatures in the mid-fifties yesterday and then get to feel them plunge to a wind-chill that wasn't just sub-freezing – it was sub-zero. I'm not suggesting that we were in need of yet another winter weather advisory or anything – but I am saying that sixty degree swings in about twelve or fifteen hours does suck. I'd feel the same way about that if it went from one hundred to forty that quickly.

Moving along, while I didn't help out at the Inn tonight, Michael and I did still do our homework together – and with Rowen and Tim. The computer store was study central today; and that was a nice little change of venue. We haven't studied there in quite a while; and should get back to doing that more often. I walked Michael to the Inn; headed home; and got there in time to help Mom with making dinner while getting the daily report from her – and Ethan and Ehlana.

I haven't mentioned their work at the lab much in my journal lately; but they are keeping busy there and having a lot of fun together. Mom is still using her cover story for working on the computer systems there; though she has most of that finished now. Ehlana spends a lot of her time there with Uncle Adam; while Mom and Ethan play in the archives. They aren't continually getting new shipments in from the other archives around the world, since they come in bursts as Grandma Eleanor, Grandpa Grant, and the others who are helping them get the books ready to ship and on the way as they clear out and close down the other archive locations around the world.

I'm not in the loop for most of that work except for reading the updates; but that work is continuing on-time; and getting all of the archives moved here should be completed by spring of twenty-eighteen. Our volunteers do not have a problem with three more years of exotic travel for the cause; though Grandma and Grandpa Wingborough are the only volunteers planning to do three or four trips each year.

Mom and I had dinner ready to go by the time that Dad got home from the office; we had lots of time to eat and clean up before going over to Grandma and Grandpa's house; and we had the heat turned up and snacks and hot drinks ready to go by the time they pulled into the driveway. Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack were there by then too; and their contribution to the work effort had been to pick up Olde Bakery treats for that snack time. I've already mentioned the basics of our reunion, and the stories will eventually be in Grandma and Grandpa's archive journals; so I won't try to out-tell the master for those travel tales.

Once we were home again, Mom did my Magi lesson with me while letting Ethan and Ehlana do some college course studying; we took a break after that to get them off to bed; and then I was allowed to work and study in the office for an hour while Mom and Dad both worked on their computers too. I was sent to bed at eleven-thirty while Mom and Dad kept working, and while that seems just a little unfair; I have orders to be at least attempting to sleep by midnight; so I need to wrap this up and get to it. Some teens might be able to get away with faking it for things like that, but the links that Ethan, Ehlana, and I share with Mom makes that impossible.

No, that isn't always fun from a teen perspective; but the bonuses are way better than the downside. I'm sure that Mom feels the same way about that from an adult perspective.

We don't really need to get into that tonight, and I do need to get to the sleeping part of the going to sleep by midnight thing; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, February 27, 2015

I'm actually really tired right now, so this is going to be a micro-report.

My day started out as usual with Tai Chi and breakfast before I got ready for school and headed out to meet up with Rowen for the walk to school. Michael and Rebecca were both at the school early for weight training and basketball practice respectively. Rebecca and her team had a morning practice today instead of having one after school and then having their playoff game on Saturday. We had another quiet day at school, though also got a bit of extra homework for the weekend because we'll be writing tests in pretty much every subject over the next two weeks leading into March Break.

Michael was at the Inn again tonight, so I was on my own; and helped Mom out with getting everything ready for dinner and travel story time with our family. Grandma and Grandpa came over early to hang out with us, but Aunt Leanne stayed late because of month-end work; so Grandpa picked up Zack from KidZone and brought him over so that Aunt Leanne didn't need to do that after work.

Dad and the rest of our uncles, aunts, and cousins eventually joined us; and we sat down to eat shortly after the doctors rounded out our group after closing the clinic for the weekend. The daily recaps came first during dinner before Grandma and Grandpa started telling their amazing travel stories; and they then kept us all entertained until around ten o'clock; when the parents with younger kids decided that it was time to head home and get their little angels – or cranky cousins – home and off to bed. It wasn't long after that before I was helping out with getting Ethan and Ehlana into bed; and then I came up to my room once they'd been tucked in for the night.

I've finished the basic nightly computing and some family business work that needed to get done tonight, and once I'm finished with this update; I'm heading off to sleep too. It's really been a fun night, and we're going to have some more fun tomorrow at the Maple Valley Winter Festival; so I really do want to re-charge tonight so I'll be ready for that little adventure. Michael can't go along with us tomorrow because he's going to stay with his Dad at the Inn while Miranda and Rebecca are at the basketball game, and Rowen and Tim are both going to be working too; but we will have Naomi and Aiden with us so that'll be fun for Mom, Dad, and me.

I don't have anything else to cover tonight, and really am ready to crash for a while; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, February 28, 2015

The first bit of news for tonight is that our girls' basketball team lost their second-round playoff game today and is done for the season. I know that they're disappointed, but did very well this year considering that we really do have one of the smallest teams in the league – and I'm talking about height, not number of students. That disadvantage showed up today, and while they kept the score close; they were never in the lead and lost by six points. There were apparently no last-minute swings in scoring either; and they pretty much just kept pace without making up ground while playing from behind all game.

Rebecca let me know about the game; and that was the first time that having my phone came in handy while I was away from home at the winter festival in Maple Valley. That little adventure was very different than any of our previous visits to that festival; mostly because of the light snow that fell most of the time during the daylight hours today. That made the trip each way longer; and the festival wasn't nearly as busy as usual for the Saturday because of the weather. It's not that we had piles of snow, because we didn't – it just kept a lot of people busy with other responsibilities or had others changing their weekend plans since the weather will likely be less-snowy tomorrow.

The other issue with the festival this year was that the weather has been so wildly varying around here that the maple trees have been very confused. There was some early sap runs in January, and it's been hit and miss since then depending on whether we were in deep freeze or un-seasonably warm spurts. Since that has affected new supply, today was the better day to pick up maple syrup and other treats; but we regularly heard that they expected to run out of local maple syrup to sell before the weekend is out. Yes, there are other nearby sources to draw on; but that just isn't the same for some of us. We're very loyal to our Maple Valley syrup!

We did have a lot of fun today; and I especially loved spending the day with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden. The shows, games, and all of the rest of the entertainment at the festival were great; and maybe a bit more fun getting to do that without the usual over-crowding for some events – like the pancake meals. Getting cold and damp while walking around in the snow between venues wasn't so much fun; but the twins and their friends loved all of that too. I lost several minor snowball fights; but was usually outnumbered four-to-one.

I've skipped the morning recap, but there wasn't that much going on before we headed for Maple Valley. There was a bit of a delay before we left while Dad and I took care of a bit of snow work that included getting the minivan cleaned and warmed up. As I mentioned, the drive time was longer too; so we arrived in Maple Valley nearly an hour later than we'd originally planned. We made up for some of that time by not having to deal with big line-ups; but that mostly just meant that we did more than usual; and we left for home later than planned too. That was again partly due to getting the snow off of the minivan; and it was after four by the time we got home again.

We didn't have extra family with us for this trip because my aunts and uncles didn't want to take my cousins out in the snow; but we picked up treats for them too and will pass them along sometime tomorrow. After getting the minivan unloaded and the kids indoors and busy playing together; Dad and I went outside again to shovel the driveway and sidewalks. There wasn't that much snow, so we shoveled instead of using the lawn tractor and snow blower; and then we had hot chocolate or coffee to warm up after we were done while having a chat with Mom in the kitchen. She was busy cooking dinner by then; so we pretty much went from that break straight to sitting down for our meal.

Mom had gone with an easy dinner, so the clean-up was easy too; and then I was in charge of keeping Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden entertained while Mom and Dad went into the office to get some work done. We hung out in my room and the lounge and played games until Michael joined us once he was done work at the Inn. It was movie time after that, and we watched Big Hero 6 while doing some quality cuddling on the sectional sofa. I'm including the four younger kids in that because Naomi cuddled with Ethan at nearly the same time that Michael and I were getting comfortable together; and Ehlana and Aiden were eventually cuddling under a blanket together too – though it took them a half-hour or so to get there from just sitting next to each other.

Don't make more of that than there is – Aiden is the youngest and most-shy – and cuddling at three or four is quite a bit sooner than it would be for most young couples! ;^)

That was fun, and the kids loved the movie. We followed that up with a bedtime snack in the office with Mom and Dad; Michael and I took care of getting all four kids tucked in for the night; and then we got to have a bit of alone time in the lounge until he went home at midnight. Some moderately hot play time for two was much more interesting for both of us than the movie we didn't actually watch was; and I sure hope that Michael is as happy right now as I am. I know that I point this out way too often; but we do seriously need to find more opportunities for quality alone time. I also know that isn't going to happen as we head into the two weeks leading up to March Break – especially when we have tests and projects to deal with at school and Michael wants to keep putting in extra time at the Inn ahead of our trip.

The good news there is that our trip will so be worth all of that extra effort!

While Michael is going to do that, I've actually decided to take the weekend off from helping out at the Inn this week. I want to get a jump on my family business work; we'll be having a family dinner at the Inn tomorrow with Grandma and Grandpa; and I also still want to be in bed early to get ready for another busy first school week of March. That's also why I'm done with this update and plan on being asleep soon. This really has been one of those good days, but I've had enough fun; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!
March 2015

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Happy first day of March!

Sure, it's no big deal and just another day in the month; but I'm just trying to help out a bit here and there and make some of the non-special days of the year feel better about themselves. ;^)

Then again, I think that March first is special this year because it means that we've started March; and are now just two weeks away from our trip to Florida – two weeks less a day now!

It's also possible that I'm just rambling on and tired out after a busy work day with just a bit of play time here and there. Tai Chi was good; breakfast at Michael's was great; and we had fun at church and Sunday school too before Michael went to spend most of the rest of the day with his family at the Inn and I went home to a work afternoon and evening that was only split up with a study session with Michael during his afternoon break and the buffet dinner at the Inn with most of our family and a few friends. That meal was a highlight of the day for sure, but I also got a lot of work and studying accomplished today too; and that really felt great – even if it has worn me out. Mom let me use a time phase several times while we worked, and that explains why I'm so tired out now – and also why we all got so much work and studying done today too. Ethan and Ehlana were able to do a lot of their college lessons and assignments while I was busy with my family business work and language studies; Mom worked on the family business too; and Dad even had his must-do work finished by the time we went to dinner at the Inn and was able to work ahead after we got home again.

Mom did my Magi lesson with me after dinner too; and then I helped her with the full bath and bedtime routine with Ethan and Ehlana before Dad joined us for the story and we got them tucked in for the night. I was allowed to keep working and studying until eleven; came up to my room when Mom and Dad went to bed too; and got changed and tucked in with Mandy right away. Michael didn't come over tonight because he was staying until close at the Inn and wanted to go straight home after that. Since I really had wanted to get the extra work and studying done anyway, that was okay with me – even though some more alone time with Michael would have been more fun.

Sometimes it sucks to be responsible, but it goes with the territory of being a Magi Master; so I should probably just get used to it – no matter how often Aunt Leanne suggests that I just need to get away from my parents more often to get a better perspective on that.

Anyway, that's pretty much been my day, and I don't have anything newsworthy to report from my bedtime computer and email checks; so I'm going to wrap this up and get some sleep now.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, March 2, 2015

We were back to school again today, but while we had our first test of the next couple of weeks, and will be writing two more a day for the next few days; I'm mostly just fired up about our trip to Florida that's now just nine school days and a weekend away.

It's been a blah sort of weather day too, so being indoors all day was okay too; and we followed up a fairly uneventful school day with a study session at Michael's house that Rowen and Tim joined us for – and Rebecca and Jenny were there studying for their next tests too. Jacob and Miranda fed all of us; we did a bit more studying after taking care of the clean-up; and then Rowen, Tim, and Jenny all went home while Michael and I went up to his room to have a music practice to get ready for our band and teen praise team practices tomorrow.

That was fun, but we didn't have time for much in the way of non-musical fun too; and I was on the way home by nine o'clock so that I could do my Magi lesson with Mom; help out with getting the twins tucked in for the night; and wrap up my day with an hour or so of family business work. Mom let me do that in my room after getting changed and ready for bed; but I still have a midnight deadline for lights – and computer – off; so I'll need to wrap this up soon to do that. The family business work went well-enough that I was able to do a bit of language studying too. My last computer and email check didn't include anything newsworthy enough to report, though I should probably mention again that I try not to waste a lot of digital ink on the global events of the day, since that's information that's easily available elsewhere in the archives now; and I don't really need to write about all of the bad in the world that is always happening.

I'll be able to start doing more about that when I grow up than I can now, but even then; changing the world won't happen overnight – it might take me a week or two. ;^)

Okay, it'll take a lot longer than that, but let's not go there tonight; since I need to be off to sleep soon. I'm not worried about being rested enough for those two tests tomorrow, but it is going to be a long day with the added practices along with studying for two more tests on Wednesday; so that's it for now, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Happy 4th Anniversary, Rowen!

That's right, it's been four years since we found out about each other during that little fall at the falls; and I'm still as grateful for that as I was back then. It's been so much nicer having another Magi my own age to share everything with; and it just keeps getting better every year!

We couldn't exactly celebrate, but we had a bit of extra fun through sharing that little secret; and it was a good day despite having a couple of tests to write and being around some very stressed teens today. Band practice after school was fun too; and then I brought Michael home with me for dinner and some studying before our teen praise team practice at the church. There wasn't much time for that work; so we did a bit more studying after that practice at Tim's house with Tim and Rowen. That's why I didn't get home again until ten-thirty. Since I had some family business work that needed to be done; Mom decided to let me do that and skip the Magi lesson tonight instead of staying up late to do both.

I also missed out on the bedtime story for Ethan and Ehlana; but did have a little visit with them before they went upstairs with Mom and Dad to do that after spending their evening on their college studies. Dad had some work to finish too; but Mom ordered both of us to bed at eleven-thirty. He was happier about that than I was; but let's not think about why he felt that way.

No, I really mean it – don't go there. That's my parents you're using your imagination on; and that's fairly scary for me too – especially if you actually know all of us whenever you're reading this in my future and your 'now'.

Oh, look at the time! I'm nearly out of it for my bedtime deadline and have to go now. That's all I have tonight anyway, though; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

We wrote some tests at school today; studied for a while after classes for our tests tomorrow; and then I worked at home all evening except for a dinner break and my Magi lesson with Mom.

That's it, that's all; and I am way past ready for some quality nap time; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Congratulations, Pastor John and Stacey! (Again)

Yes, it wasn't news for me, but the top story in town today was the announcement that Stacey is pregnant; and she and Pastor John are very happy.

Compared to that, school wasn't all that exciting; but my time at the Inn was great – especially since that top story also made sure that game night was especially fun for everyone. Michael and I had to do some studying too; and helping out in the kitchen for the dinner rush and clean-up was more work than fun tonight; but we had a blast with the gaming once the work was out of the way. Another junior championship wasn't in the cards, darts, or any of the other games for us tonight; but it was the play time with Ethan, Ehlana, and our friends that was special.

I followed all of that up with my Magi lesson with Mom; an hour of family business work; and then I was sent off to bed again. It's a little funny that I'm getting more sleep now yet still seem to be just as worn out by the end of each day as I was when working until two or three; but that isn't actually a true sense of reality on my part. That's just the part of me that wants to get back to doing all of my work and studies talking.

No part of me should be talking – or writing right now. I should be sleeping, and since that's really all I have for tonight anyway; I'm going to get right to that.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, March 6, 2015

I've had a fairly quiet day, and since Michael was at the Inn again tonight; there wasn't much going on to rank very high on the teen fun scale.

The weather is warming up, and that trend is supposed to continue for the next week; so that's a nice change – and Ethan, Ehlana, and I took advantage of that after school too. I don't really have anything newsworthy to report from school today, and with Michael busy; my after school fun was outdoors; at the park; and totally little kid-rated. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana had spent the morning at the lab; they'd moved on to KidZone or shopping this afternoon; and were home again by the time I got there after walking Michael over to the Inn and saying goodbye and goodnight to him there. The twins were happy to go out to the park and play with me until I needed to be home and help Mom with making dinner; and we had lots of other kids and teens to hang out with there since it really has been the nicest day we've had in a couple of weeks.

Dinner was for just five tonight because we'll be doing the family thing for a lot of the day tomorrow to celebrate Uncle Adam's birthday – and the adults will be going out tomorrow night while Rowen, Tim, Michael, and I are babysitting – though that won't start until after Uncle Adam's birthday dinner at the Inn. Our post-dinner and clean-up entertainment was all work and study with just a dash of fun mixed in here and there. Dad wanted to work ahead because of the birthday fun booked for tomorrow. He still needs to be ready for his week in the city by Monday; and had too much to leave for Sunday. Spending my Friday night on family business and some language studying hasn't exactly been best-ever kind of fun; but at least I did get the work done.

While working or studying was an option for all of us, staying up late wasn't; and Mom had Ethan, Ehlana, and I all heading off to bed by eleven. Okay, that might seem late for the twins, but they were working on their college classes; and that isn't exactly the norm for three-year old kids either. I didn't actually have a problem with the order, since some quality Jacuzzi time before heading off to sleep seemed like a very good idea. I've been multi-tasking while in the tub, though, and it's past-time for me to get out and ready for bed; so I'd better wrap this up and do that.

There isn't any news from my email and nightly computer checks, and while this hasn't been a particularly amazing start to the weekend; it is going to get better. Tomorrow is definitely going to be fun, but what I'm really getting excited about now is that we're now just a week away from March Break and our trip to Florida! That is going to be amazing; and I can hardly wait for a week from tomorrow when we'll be heading for the airport and about eight out of nine days of fun and sun. I sure hope that Mother Nature cooperates with us for that; since I really want that trip to be amazing for my family and friends even more than for me.

I really do need to get out of the tub now, so I'll save those ongoing thoughts for my dreams. Hot weather, hotter boyfriend, and a week with nothing to do but play and have fun. Gee, maybe I should wrap up this bath with a quick, cold shower before getting around to that sleeping and dreaming! ;^)

Or not, but that's all for this update; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, March 7, 2015

I'd just like to take a minute to point out to all of those global warming – I mean climate change – nuts that there can't possibly be global warming when there is record snowfall and cold records being set this winter!

Oh wait, it was in the seventies today, a beautiful, sunny spring day – in the first week of March. Sure, that might be on the cool side for this time of year in the Caribbean; but we're not there. That would be nice, but then we are going to be heading south in a week; so I don't need to go there – and you get my actual point here despite the side-trip. I'm just amused that those people who feel the need to put their two cents' worth in on one side of that debate or the other only seem to get really vocal when the weather is in favor of their arguments.

That's enough of a rant for one update; and I don't really want to mess with what's been one of those really great days.

Happy 31st Birthday, Uncle Adam!

I should have started out this report with that; but couldn't resist going with the weather and climate jibe instead. ;^)

I didn't have anything to do with Uncle Adam's birthday fun this morning, since we were busy with chores at home after breakfast, but as the temperature climbed; our interest in a major work day fell radically and we decided to blow of the extra work plans by lunchtime. Instead of doing that, we had a little barbeque lunch with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack; and then played all afternoon. Biking, playing at the park, and an ice cream run to the Emporium were all part of the fun; and Michael joined us for some of that while on his afternoon break. Since quite a few of their friends were working until stores closed or the farming was done for the day, Uncle Adam's dinner party at the Inn didn't start until six-thirty. That gave us lots of warm and sun time to play; and then we split up to get ready for dinner – and for a night out at Sheldon's for the adults that were going there after dinner.

It was really awesome to have the kids going out to dinner this time too; though I was also on kid control while we were at the Inn too – with some help from Rowen and Tim. Michael was helping out in the kitchen; but took his break to eat with us once most of the dinners had been served for our group. Aunt Leanne had booked a bit more than a third of the seating available; so the dining room was pretty much full with our group and the usual Saturday night crowd. While I was busy with the younger kids, Uncle Adam had fun with Aunt Leanne and our family and their friends. The kids and teens were mostly out of the loop for most of the birthday fun and roasting; though we did get in on the birthday song; and Zack was very entertaining when he helped his father out with opening gifts and getting into the cake before the candles were blown out.

Uncle Adam blew his wish by saying it out loud; but then he got the clean-up help he needed after some of Zack's adventures with birthday cake ended up on both of them. He also needed to go home and get changed before going on to the pub, but let's not go into any details about that. I had more information than I needed about that when Mom and Dad told us that he and Aunt Leanne were late getting to the pub and arrived wearing very suspicious smiles to go along with his new shirt, tie, and pants.

I really shouldn't let my thoughts wander in that direction. Michael is in his usual guest bedroom on the second floor; and I might be too tempted to go down there and cuddle with him for the rest of the night. It certainly isn't as if we got to have any major make-out time while babysitting until Mom and Dad got home.

When we came home from the Inn, our group of kids included Ethan and Ehlana, Zack and Leah, Naomi and Eli, and Aiden and Hailey. Sebastian went home with Grandma and Grandpa Ayres, and Caleb was with Pastor John and Stacey for a few hours; mostly because Mom and Dad decided that we had enough younger kids to watch with eight. They were right about that; which is why Rowen, Tim, Michael, and I were worn out by the time Mom and Dad got home at around two. From eight-thirty until ten-thirty the kids had us running around playing games and goofing off. Michael joined us about half-way through that fun once the Inn was closed for the night. A wind-down movie in the lounge followed, but that only put half of our kids off to sleep – and that didn't include Zack and Eli.

Note to me – think twice about taking babysitting jobs on nights when those two boys have overdosed on chocolate cake and other sweets. They're a bit scary when in that condition.

Now you're likely wondering which of the slightly older kids did conk out instead. That'd be Ethan and Naomi – while cuddling together under a blanket and on a shared pillow. Yes, we could have taken them downstairs and off to bed after that, but they were too cute; and it was more fun to let Mom and Dad see them in that condition first before splitting them up and taking them to bed after that. Leah and Hailey were sleeping first, and Rowen and I did put them to bed in Violet's room; but Ehlana and Aiden didn't run out of steam until twelve-thirty; and it was closer to one-thirty before we finally got Zack and Eli sleeping and then in bed after they fought it every step of the way – and nearly won.

Ehlana and Aiden weren't in bed then, but they were sleeping next to each other on the sofa in the lounge; and we had enough time to get everything cleaned up before Mom and Dad got home. We did those last four kid moves shortly after they took pictures; had a little recap chat with them; and then Rowen and I took a bit of time to say goodnight to our respective boyfriends before meeting up in my room at two-thirty. We were tucked into bed with Mandy fifteen minutes after that; and have been chatting and doing our usual computer work or playing since then to give us something to do instead of sneaking downstairs to be with our boys. Rowen would like to go and be with Tim as much as I'd like to be with Michael – and she also pointed out that there's something wrong with the fact that my little brother had more cuddle time with Naomi than any of the four teens in this house had tonight.

If I listen closely, I can hear a 'that's my boy' and a 'that's my girl' coming from Dad and Liz as they read this someday in the future. ;^)

And then there's Aunt Leanne saying something about needing to get me away from my parents more often. I'm sorry, but despite my best intentions; I never seem to do as well as I'd like when it comes to getting the fun side of my priorities balanced with the work and responsibilities. Trust me – it isn't all because of Mom and Dad's influence on me. It's also just part of who I am; and I'll live with it since I pretty much have to do that anyway.

For right now, though, I don't have anything else to add to this update; and laying back and watching dumb YouTube videos with Rowen until we fall asleep sounds like more fun that writing in my journal; so that's it for now; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Happy 16th Birthday, Luke!

I haven't mentioned Luke much in my journal, but he was on the football team with Michael and Tim; is dating Denise; and occasionally hangs out with our gang at school when he and Denise aren't with his usual group of friends. Michael and I were invited to his birthday dinner party at the Inn, but we were too busy helping out in the kitchen to attend. Rowen and Tim were there, and so were most of the other football players; which was probably very scary for Miranda and Jacob at an all-you-can-eat buffet! ;^)

They had fun, but I'm going to keep this update short because I'm exhausted.

We had a very busy, fun morning with four teens and eight kids to feed and get ready for church, but Rowen and I hadn't worried about that pesky little time change when staying up too late; so we were tired after only having a nap once we did get to sleep. We did get all of the work done and were at church on time; but it was all we could do to stay awake during the service and Sunday school. It was easier to do that while helping out at the Inn, and I did that all day except for our breaks; and Michael and I spent most of that time on homework and studying for our last batch of tests coming up over the next few days at school

The dining room at the Inn was packed for lunch and both buffets; and we were kept busy straight through until closing – and I stayed until Michael and Rebecca went home with their parents. Thanks again to the time change, that felt earlier than usual, and since Dad was still working in the office to get ready for his week in the city; Mom did my Magi lesson with me while Ethan and Ehlana kept doing some studying for their college classes. I helped with getting them tucked into bed after that; and then came up to my room to get my must-do family business work finished while cuddling in bed with Mandy.

That's done now, and ditto that for this report; so I'm off to sleep now, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, March 9, 2015

We had a very busy – and early – morning!

The early was just in our minds, since it still felt as though it was an hour earlier than it was when we got up to see Dad off on his trip to the city. Yes, that is always early anyway, but assuming that they still have daylight savings time in your 'now' as you read this; I'm sure you know what I mean.

Mom and I did have a nap with the twins and Mandy after Dad left for Crystal Springs; but it still felt early when it was time to get up for Tai Chi. Michael joined us for that, and after he went home again to eat and get ready for his usual morning weight training at school; I rushed around to get ready in time to stop in at Grandma and Grandpa's house on my way to school to say goodbye to them before they headed out too. They're on the way to Florida now and will be there sometime tomorrow or Wednesday depending on whether they get distracted along the way; and they'll be there for sure by the time we fly into Orlando on Saturday morning.

Yeah! Just five more sleeps until our trip!

Anyway, I did the goodbyes then because I was in classes by the time that Grandma and Grandpa were ready to hit the road heading south; and missed out on the round of goodbye visits they did on their way out of town with their kids and grandkids. Compared to heading off to Florida for a couple of months, school and the one test we had today wasn't all that exciting; but we did have another very nice day and spent as much time as we could outdoors. Michael's house was study central after school as we got ready for our last two tests of the Day Two schedule classes tomorrow. Miranda and Jacob fed all of us – and Rebecca, Jenny, and Lucas too; since they were also there and studying for their own tests.

That was fun – even the studying; but my favorite part of the evening was the music time with Michael after our friends left for the night. The playing music together was a blast; and the minor make-out session after that was even better! ;^)

Taking the time for that meant getting home late, but I was okay with that trade-off; and Mom cut me a little slack and let me work until eleven-thirty after doing my Magi lesson with me. She took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in too; so I had a bit of extra work time from skipping that too. I needed all of that time to get my family business jobs finished, but I also had to promise to keep my bedtime computing short too; so I only did an email check before getting started on this. The only news from the email worth mentioning was about mid-term exams for most of my favorite collegians; though I doubt it's surprising to anyone reading this that they're all quite happy with how their first exams went today – or that they're looking forward to getting them done and moving on to their Spring Break time off.

I'm really looking forward to our time off next week too, but we still have four busy days to get through between now and then; starting with those tests, more studying, and band and praise team practices tomorrow. There's no way that I'll be able to help Mom as much as I should tomorrow, but I'll try to make up for that during the rest of the week – especially since we'll need to pack for our trip along with everything else we need to do between now and when Dad gets home on Friday night.

Just thinking about all of that work is making me sleepy, and dreaming about spending a week in Florida with Michael sounds like fun; so that's all for tonight, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Congratulations to the Malloys!

Marcus Malloy was born early this morning; he is healthy and beautiful; and Angela is doing just fine too. His Daddy looked a bit frazzled and tired out; but an all-nighter combined with dealing with some work issues that couldn't be left while he was off; and keeping up with Valerie while Mommy was busy wore him down a bit.

Angela wasn't feeling sorry for him, since Marcus weighed in at nine pounds, six ounces, and she didn't exactly have a fun night either; but Valerie was happy to give her Dad a break and play with Ethan, Ehlana, and me for the couple of hours we spent with them at the hospital tonight.

That trip to the city definitely messed up my schedule for the evening, and I missed spending that time with Michael; but he stayed home and went to our teen praise team practice instead of going along with us – mostly because he plays guitar for our group for most songs now and didn't want to leave them hanging. Mom would have let me stay, but I wasn't going to miss out on seeing Angela and Terry's new baby – or the chance to spend some mid-week time with Dad and the play time with the twins and Valerie.

We got the news about Marcus' birth before breakfast, and while Dad couldn't take the day off to help his friends out; he had gone in to see them before work this morning and sneak in some food contraband for Angela. That news made for a fun start to our day, but the highlight of the morning was Tai Chi; because we took the exercise show outdoors this morning for the first time this year! We had to bundle up a bit since the temperature was only in the high forties; but Ethan, Ehlana, and I couldn't resist the urge to be out by the river again for our work-out; and Mom and Michael were willing to go along with us to do that. Michael stayed for breakfast; but then he had to hurry home and get ready for school and his morning workout with Tim and the other guys.

We had two tests to write today, but the highlights of the school day for me were lunch outdoors and band practice after school. I had time for part two of that because Mom was busy until then and couldn't hit the road for Crystal Springs right after school anyway. We did leave shortly after I got home from band practice, and the only reason she didn't pick me up from school was because I wanted to get changed and grab my 'good' computer for the trip so that I could study and do my family business work while on the road.

The travel time was actually a lot of fun tonight. I used a little Magi power to do my work, and Mom did my Magi lesson as we went along too; teaching all three of us some more advanced ways to work on our computers and used different talents to speed up our work. That topic actually came up because I couldn't use a time phase to get more done while we were on the road. The why for that might not be totally obvious, so I'll take a moment to explain. You might think that the reason is because we didn't want to pull the minivan into a time phase while moving at highway speed, and that's true; but the weirder part of it would have been if I'd tried to use a time phase at that speed inside the minivan. Basically, if I didn't react fast enough; we'd all splatter against the windshield in a nano-second – or against the back of the hatch if I tried slowing down time instead of speeding it up. Trust me – that would totally suck!

Are there ways around that? Maybe, but nothing that we came up with tonight while talking about it would have worked without causing more problems – such as having the impossible seen by other people. Keep in mind that there hasn't exactly been a lot of Magi research during the century or so that this has even been an issue. Magi didn't exactly have to worry much about travel speed issues with time phasing before the invention of cars and airplanes. Ethan, Ehlana, and I had more fun with Mom's lesson anyway, and I got all of my work done tonight with a bit of extra language studying thrown in on the trip home; so it was a good night from that perspective too.

We went straight to the hospital when we got to the city; met Dad there; and then had some play time with Valerie while waiting for a turn to meet Marcus and see Angela. Both of their families were there along with some other close friends; so we didn't actually get to have very much time with Angela or Marcus; but we hadn't expected that anyway. Angela looked really good by then and more rested than Terry did; though I could tell that she didn't feel as great as she looked. I would have loved to help her out with that, but couldn't; and her recovery issues weren't at all unusual. They'll be home again by sometime tomorrow; and I'm sure that Angela will be just fine.

Mom and Dad spent most of their time at the hospital with Terry and the other adults, and though I didn't spend a lot of time talking with them too; I did get to hear all about the hospital adventure from Valerie's perspective while we played in the activity room that was set up to entertain both patient and visiting kids. We haven't exactly gotten to see Valerie much, so she was a bit shy with us for about five minutes; but then she happily kept us entertained for the rest of our visit – and she especially loved playing with the twins. We couldn't stay too long, since Mom needed to get us home again and Dad had work to do back at the hotel, but after spending two hours there; we went on to have a fast food dinner with Dad first before splitting up and heading for home or hotel.

Maybe Ethan, Ehlana, and I should have let Mom go to the city alone so that she could stay overnight with Dad, but taking the evening off will just leave us with more work to get done over the next few days anyway; and at least Mom and Dad do have a week of vacation in Florida to look forward to – even if that will be with a gang of kids and teens. I am glad that we got to see Marcus, his parents, and sister, though; so I'm glad that Mom didn't mind taking us along.

I finished my family business work on the way home along with the bonus language studies; and Mom and I had Ethan and Ehlana tucked into their beds for the night within a half-hour of getting home. It was off to bed for me after that too, so I got changed and into bed with Mandy before wrapping up my busy day with my usual bedtime email and computer checks. There isn't anything new to report from any of that, and this is all of the news I have for today; so that's a wrap for another amazing day, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Compared to the baby fun yesterday, we haven't exactly had an exciting time of it around here; though spending time getting ready for our trip was fun-work.

We also had another nice weather day with temperatures hovering around seventy by this afternoon. That made lunchtime at school very nice; and most students finished up this round of testing today too. Our last one for Grade Nine was this morning; and we've pretty much either been allowed to work on projects that are due in or start working ahead on our holiday break assignments. Michael, Rowen, Tim, and I are working on those new assignments; and we plan on having most of that work finished before we head for Florida – though that isn't possible for all of them due to the usual current event-type reports we'll be doing.

The only downside to needing to do a lot of work at home tonight was that I couldn't go out to play and enjoy the great weather. No, I'm not suggesting that I'd trade that for a week in Florida, and it was supposed to be a work night anyway; but I do like being outdoors when I can be – especially as we close in on the end of winter! What I did instead, though, was walk Michael over to the Inn on my way home; we did our goodnight hugs and kisses way too early; and then I started working with Mom about a minute after meeting up with her at the house. She'd been at the lab with Ethan and Ehlana for a lot of the day; and that's mostly because Ehlana wants to get something she's working on done before we head south.

One part of the fun tonight was that we did a lot of our work with a little Magi power to get more done – especially since Mom and I also want to get extra family business work done by the weekend too. Mom isn't letting me stay up late to do that, so the time-phasing is a compromise. Taking turns holding those time-phases is why we're both tired out now, but it was worth the effort. I'll be done my family business work by tomorrow night except for keeping up with ongoing issues while we're away; and Mom expects to be ready to go by Friday afternoon or evening. She'd be able to get done sooner, but can't bring herself to disappoint Miranda by taking the night off from gaming at the Inn; so we're doing that instead of spending a second evening working at home.

I'm actually good with that plan because I'll get to spend some time with Michael and his family before we leave on Saturday morning; and I won't be able to visit much with them on Friday while they're busy at the Inn and I'm busy with Mom doing the final packing for our trip. That's going to include getting all of the luggage loaded up and ready to go for ourselves and our friends; though the last part of the work will need to wait until Dad gets home because we'll be using his truck to haul almost all of the luggage while we us the minivans for most of the people.

This update seems to be coming off a bit dull compared to how fired up I'm getting about the trip, but trust me – I am totally fired up now. That's fairly scary for my parents, and though I'm getting run down right now; I'll be back to full-power by morning and even more excited. I need to get off to sleep soon, but before I go there, I should mention that Grandma and Grandpa arrived in Florida late today after taking their time heading there and doing a bit of sightseeing here and there along the way. Their rental is, as usual, in a community that primarily caters to seniors, and while it isn't in Orlando; they're close enough that they'll be able to spend a lot of time with us while we're there. I don't know if they've even decided how many days that'll be yet, since weather could be a factor; but I'll expect to see them on Saturday and Sunday for sure; and probably at least two more days during the week.

By the way, I'm not going to go over the details tonight, but should have mentioned before now that the parents have put a lot of effort into the planning for this trip; and they're going all out for what will definitely be one of the few vacations we'll likely take together – at least while I'm still in school. If that's only going to happen every four or five years, it'll be the only one while I'm in high school. My point here is that they really want to make sure that we have a remember-forever adventure; and I'm sure that we will!

I want to be ready for all of that fun, and really need to get sleep while I can to do that; so that's all for tonight, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, March 12, 2015

With luck, this will be my last full night of sleep for the next nine or ten days; so this is going to be a short update.

Now that the tests are done, it was an easy day at school; though Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I continued to work ahead on our new batch of assignments while most of our classmates finished up projects or goofed off if they didn't have any work left to do. We had another awesome weather day, and if the warm hangs around much longer; we'll begin to think that spring really is here now – or will be disappointed if we head back into winter for another blast of cold before that actually happens. I should add that the farmers are worried about that possibility; but this is still a bit early to declare the end of winter in our area.

I can't say the same about that for Florida, since the forecast for our first weekend in Orlando is looking fairly awesome; but I'll save comments on that for my reports while we're there. That's a good thing, since it would be totally unfair if we get to Florida and end up having nicer weather here. We'd also never hear the end of it from our classmates and friends if that did happen; but let's not go there either – we all know how generally easy it is to amuse most teens.

If you'd been around our school at lunchtime today while we were enjoying the nice weather outdoors; you'd have no doubt about that last comment. The imminent arrival of March Break might have something to do with why the guys were acting so strange; though it's also possible that our parents and teachers just needed to let them out to play more often this winter too. That's actually at least a little bit true because we didn't get very much snow this winter, and since sledding or other snow-play fun wasn't an option; we did spend more time indoors than usual.

This is not going to be a short report at all if I keep getting side-tracked; so let's move along!

We had a good day at school, and I skipped it; but we also went outdoors again for Tai Chi this morning and Michael stayed for an easy-breakfast with us before going on to his last weight training session of the week at school. He and Tim are both taking the day off tomorrow because they need to do other things to finish getting ready for our trip before spending the night at our house tomorrow night. I came home after school while Michael went to help out at the Inn; and I worked with Mom to get everything still on our to-do chores list finished before we went on to the Inn for game night. Mom still has a few things to do tomorrow, including the rest of the family business work she needs to complete; but we are pretty much ready to go for our trip now and have the guest rooms and bathrooms ready for tomorrow night too.

Miranda and Mom won the senior title for the games and get to keep the crown for two weeks; but Michael and I only managed a top-ten finish this week while playing with the twins and our friends. I do like to win as much as Miranda does; but my appreciation for Jacob's game night perspective has come a long way too – and Michael is definitely his father's son when it comes to having fun with our family and friends being more important than winning.

While that break in the work was fun, Mom and I still had a few things to do once we got home that weren't chores, travel, or work-related. We tucked the twins into bed for the night first; did my last Magi lesson until after the holiday; and then hopped into our Jacuzzis for some quality tub time that at least one of us might not have time for while we're away. I wasn't really planning to do any multi-tasking while doing that; but ended up studying languages instead of just listening to music. Even that wasn't entirely intentional – I just picked out a YouTube video of a conference that sounded mildly interesting and started practicing the interpretations into several languages.

Yes, that is a warped idea of what fun is – for most teens; but that helped out with getting me to wind down so that I will be able to sleep soon.

Getting to that down time now is a really good idea, and this didn't exactly end up being a micro-report anyway; so that's it for now, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, March 13, 2015

Spring Break is finally here, and we are now down to just hours until we hit the road for the airport and our week in Florida!

I should have added 'a few' to that hours left to go; since we only have time for a nap before we'll be getting up again; but some of us can have a nap during the trip to the airport; and napping on the airplane after that is an option too. That's all news for my next update, though, so let's get started on the news from today.

School was mostly just something to do today until we were set free for our holiday; and we got to spend extra time outdoors thanks to another nice-weather day and teachers that were as interested in being out there as we were. Since we were on a Day Two Friday, we only ended up being in-class for Math and Music; and took the show out into the yard for Phys-Ed, History, Spanish, and Politics. Most of those outdoor classes still involved actually doing some work; but it was also all fun activities or working ahead on our holiday assignments.

Michael, Tim, and Rowen were all busy after school helping out at the Inn, shop, or computer store; and I went home to help Mom with the last-minute work at home. That pretty much included getting luggage downstairs and ready to be packed into Dad's truck when he got home from Crystal Springs; making dinner for four; and doing whatever else she needed me to do. It would have again been more fun to enjoy the nice weather and play outside for a couple of hours instead, but we're officially in play and holiday mode now; and the only work I'll be doing for the next week will be to babysit Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden – which won't really be work at all at five-star hotels and amusement parks.

It wasn't all work around here tonight. We did have some after-dinner fun with family and friends. Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack came over with their luggage so that we could load it into Dad's truck too; the rest of my aunts, uncles, and cousins stopped in for visits; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, Naomi, and Aiden all came over to spend the night here with most of them getting dropped off with their luggage by one or both parents. That wasn't until after stores closed for most of them; though Naomi and Aiden came earlier and their parents stopped in for visits after work. All of the parents stayed for at least short visits with us too; and helped out with packing Dad's truck too if they arrived after he got home.

Those visits didn't drag on too late, and the highlight for the four younger kids was the extra parental support for the bedtime stories and getting them tucked in for the night. That process started at nine-thirty; and the Drapers and Seagers left for their own homes without their first-born kids by ten o'clock. Hailey and Eli aren't impressed about not going with us, but even with four responsible teens; Mom, Dad, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Leanne have enough to keep up with having eight kids and teens in our group. Taking more kids was apparently discussed, but they decided not to add Leah, Hailey, Eli, or any other kids or teens. I'm sure that Rebecca and Lucas would have loved to go too, but going away for March Break wasn't an option for Lucas; and Rebecca would rather do a trip like this with him instead of as a fifth teen wheel.

We should work on that for them; since it just doesn't seem fair that they have to miss out on this trip. The only problem with that plan is that farming generally gets in the way of school holidays, and as far as I know; Lucas has never done a major trip that wasn't school-related. Ditto that 'work-on-it' thing for his parents, brother, and sister too! ;^)

Rowen and I need to get into nap mode soon, so I'd better move this along. Michael's parents were the last to leave after also being the last to stop in; so Michael and I were the only kids or teens still on the main floor when they hugged us goodbye at ten-thirty after having a little chat with us – and with Mom and Dad – in the living room. Miranda wasn't really joking about trading places with Mom for the week, and that was funny; but I'll skip most of that part of the chat since it included the pros and cons of husband swaps that was definitely too much information for Michael and me. We also don't need to know how Jacob is going to help Miranda get over the disappointment from missing out on the best March Break adventure of the year; and I'm hoping that Rebecca thinks about spending a couple of days out on the farm with Lucas while he's doing that.

Going off to sleep with that mental picture does not work for me at all; so let's move along – again. Violet, Dillon, Christina, and Josiah are all homeward bound for their Spring Break; but we won't be seeing them at all. Violet and Dillon will do a visit here sometime next week; but will be spending most of the week in Woodvale so that they can spend time with Chris, Martin, and Dawn during the work week while Uncle Rick and Aunt Melissa are busy. Christina and Josiah are starting their holiday with her family, and will be here next week – and helping out at the bank and Emporium; but they'll be on the way back to school by the time we get back to town on Sunday afternoon. I hope that they all have fun, and I'm going to miss not getting to see them until May; but wouldn't trade that for our plan 'A' holiday!

Once all of our visitors were gone, Mom and Dad went straight to bed while Michael and I joined Rowen and Tim in the lounge for a little cuddle and wind down time before we split up and headed for bed at eleven. We mostly talked about our plans for the weekend after getting to Florida; split up for the goodnight hugs and kisses; and then Rowen and I got ready for bed and snuggled with Mandy and our computers while I did my usual bedtime computing and Rowen provided the YouTube entertainment. Yes, we've done that for too long and really will only have a nap before getting up and going again; but we're both really fired up and even now it isn't going to be easy to sleep.

We do need to try, though; so that's all I have for now, and, until next time – when the report will be coming to you live from Disney World...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, March 14, 2015

We've had an amazing first half-day and change here in Florida! It's really late, and I have a lot to write about; so let's get right to it.

Morning came way too early, but Mom and Dad did not have any trouble getting all of us moving and ready to load up into the minivans and truck for the drive to the airport. Yes, we had to leave really early to catch one of the earliest flights; but that was so worth it to be in Florida in time to enjoy most of what's been an absolutely gorgeous day. Since Mom and Dad both needed to drive, Ethan and Aiden went in the truck with Dad and Michael; I went with Mom, Ehlana, and Naomi in our minivan; and Rowen and Tim went with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack – mostly so that Rowen could give them a hand with Zack if he got fussy during the drive. He hadn't been happy with the early wake-up call, but did go back to sleep again by the time we were on the highway.

The drive to the airport was uneventful, though Mom and I had a nice little chat while Ehlana and Naomi went back to sleep; and I had fun texting with Michael and Rowen too. Messaging each other isn't new to us, but doing it using cell phones is; since we always just used our computers and the town wifi for that. Michael, Tim, and Rowen don't all have phones like mine – their parents just set them up with pre-paid phones for this trip so that we could all stay connected with my parents, aunt, and uncle anytime we're not with them.

That wasn't an issue all morning since we pretty much did everything together from the time we reached the airport parking lot until we checked into our rooms at the Disney hotel. Most of that time together was very exciting, and while I didn't particularly enjoy dealing with thins like security at the airport; we all managed to have fun all morning despite those small travel annoyances. It's been way too great a day to go off on a mini-tirade over government 'security' measures that just seem to do more to either scare people or tick them off than anything else; so let's not go there and move along.

Our flight to Orlando was basically on-time, and while it was uneventful too, Ethan, Ehlana, and I had a lot of fun with our friends – mostly because it was a new adventure for the four younger kids and still mostly a novelty for Michael, Tim, Rowen, and me too. Zack wasn't as impressed and had some pain issues from the altitude change; but I'm fairly sure that Mom found a way to help him out with that during his first mile-high diaper change when she and Aunt Leanne could get him away from the rest of us and do that for him. Mom and Aunt Leanne managed to have a short nap while Zack rested too; but Dad and Uncle Adam stayed awake during the flight – though they looked ready to have naps by the time we were in our rental vans and on our way out of the airport to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa for a late lunch.

While I don't want to rant on all of the hoops travelers need to jump through to get anywhere on airplanes these days; I can't help but be both a bit annoyed and amused by the fact that it took longer to deal with the ground transportation and airport time than it did to actually cover the vast majority of the actual miles between Witch Falls and Disney. The drive time at our end is inconvenient, but we like living in a town that's off the beaten path; so it's worth it for that. The hours at both airports shouldn't need to be that long; but I guess we did have a lot of luggage; and picking up those rental vans took a while too by the time we'd done that after rounding up our checked luggage.

The weather back home has been great lately for this time of year, and I think that worked out really well for us today. Making the jump from around fifty degrees to the mid-eighties was really awesome, but also easier to acclimate to than a bigger temperature shock would have been. We all still really loved the change from spring to something closer to summer weather back home; and I'll be very happy all week if my heavy-spring jacket can stay in my bag the entire time we're here. That definitely wasn't an issue today or tonight; and the entire week is looking pretty good so far for the forecast.

We met up with Grandma and Grandpa at a seafood restaurant that they'd picked out for us. The main reason that we didn't have them meet us at the airport or help out there was because it'd just waste hours of their time without really saving much time for us anyway. The reunion at the restaurant was better too; and it is so awesome to see how happy they are when visiting one of their favorite home-away-from-home destinations. The food was good, and having an hour or so to visit with our grandparents before getting to the play time at the Magic Kingdom was nice; but my hyper-active kicked up a few notches when we moved on to our hotel next and got checked in. Grandma and Grandpa split up with us for a while to find parking while we used valet parking at the hotel; but they came back to the hotel to meet up with us again by the time we were ready to go and spend the rest of the afternoon and evening at the Magic Kingdom.

Disney World has so many different entertainment options that I have no idea how long it would actually take to try and do everything once, but the main theme park is probably on every visitor's must-do list – especially for first visits. We missed the first half of the operation day for the park, but we still had a lot of time left – and some of us got to stay even longer for the 'extra magic hours'. We also had one other nice little perk that I highly recommend – the FastPass bonus that was part of our vacation package. There's a very good chance that we were able to go on as many rides in a half-day as visitors that didn't have the passes could do in a full day.

I'm not going to do a play-by-play of our entire Magic Kingdom adventure. Let's instead just keep the story moving and a bit general. We stayed together for the first few hours; caught two shows and went on a couple of rides that we could all do together. We stopped for a late dinner; and then Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were set free for a couple of hours to go and do some of the thrill rides that the younger kids couldn't while the parents and grandparents did another show and some kiddie rides with the twins, Naomi, Aiden, and Zack.

Coasters are a must for me, and we hit most of them at least once tonight. The bonus visits came during the extended park hours – and after the fireworks; but I'll get to that part of the magic tonight in a minute. Along with the rides, we caught one of the after-dark light shows; and eventually met up with the rest of our gang in time for the fireworks display that marked the end of the play part of the day for all non-teen kids, parents, and grandparents. All of that was amazing, and while the teen time was awesome too; I really loved seeing my brother, sister, cousin, Naomi, and Aiden all having such a special day too – and getting to share that with them. It was a beautiful night for the fireworks, and though the park was crowded; we still managed to get a nice spot to watch the show from while some of us snacked on ice cream or had cold drinks.

We did the goodnight hugs and kisses there – or I should say that Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I did; since I'm sure there were more hugs and kisses when Grandma and Grandpa moved on to the parking lots on the monorail after everyone else got off at our hotel. Being trusted and set free for the rest of the night in a place like Disney is fairly magical without adding in any bonus fun; and we got to have that and so much more as we got back to the thrill rides, fun, and major entertainment. We saved up going to the Haunted Mansion until after midnight, and Space Mountain and the Mine coaster were two of our top picks for repeat rides. Everything we did was a blast; and getting to do that with my boyfriend and our two best friends made for a perfect night.

Mom and Dad didn't give us orders to check in with them or anything, and while Tim thought that was very cool; Michael and Rowen knew that Mom can keep track of me anyway – even if they don't know that's a secret about me that they share. We didn't stay right until the last train back to the hotel; so we were there in time to split up for a bit of boyfriend-girlfriend alone time. Michael and I took care of our goodnight hugs and kisses in the room that Rowen and I are sharing; while Rowen was with Tim in the boys' room. By then, we'd been awake for about a full day, and while it was very tempting to accidentally fall asleep and swap roommates; we resisted the urge and I sent Michael to his room after sending Rowen a head-ups text message to let her know he was on the way.

Once Rowen was back in our room, we took turns getting ready for bed; and we've been talking ourselves toward sleep while I've done my bedtime computer checks. The main park opens at eight again, and we're going to be there for the little opening ceremony, and it's now heading toward three; so I'd better wrap this up and get to the few hours of nap time we'll manage before getting back to the fun and adventure. A little early morning healing for Rowen and Michael might be an option too; but I'll see whether I can get that done or not. We're young and can handle a few days without much sleep; but I don't want to totally wear out my friends in the first two days so I should probably pace them a bit! ;^)

Our second day at the main theme park is going to be amazing, though, and I really do want to get some down time now; so that's all for tonight, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, March 15, 2015

The Ides of March has been another perfect, amazing day for us here at Disney World in sunny Florida!

Our wake-up call seemed to come way too early, but a bit of Magi-powered re-charging had most of us at full-power by the time we met up for breakfast before heading back over to the Magic Kingdom for another day of non-Magi magic and adventure.

Once again, I'm not going to try to cover every detail of our day; but here are some of the highlights:

We all did two meet and greets with Disney characters, and while that was mostly meant for the five younger kids; Rowen and I got in on the pictures too; and I think that Michael and Tim might both have a thing for Ariel – and Minnie Mouse; though they'd deny it if you asked them. Rides of all kinds were a big part of our day too; but we also did some of the other must-do activities – like the Swiss Family Robinson tree house and Tom Sawyer Island. We also caught two shows and watched the afternoon parade. I need to take a side-trip for that because I was totally fired up about that parade.

It's not as if I didn't know that school bands and groups can come to Disney and participate in the parades and other shows, but seeing high school teens actually doing that today has me really fired up about suggesting that we come to Disney with our school band. That takes a lot of time and planning, but I'm only in Grade Nine; and we could pull it off. Michael, Rowen, and Tim all think it's a great idea too; and Rowen was very happy when Tim assured her that he'd sign up for band if we had something like that to look forward to instead of just a few local parades and parties for the seniors. I'll guess that we'd get a lot of new members if we can get approval to do it – even if it did take a couple of years to get together. I'll have more on this after we get back; since talking to some of our teachers about the idea is going to be near the top of my to-do list when we go back to school again.

The shows and parade were up there at the top of the fun with our family list; and the extreme rides with my best friends was way up there too. While we didn't get around to doing nearly everything there is to do at the main park; we definitely had as much fun as we possibly could fit into a day and a half of play time there. We only had until midnight to do that today, but only four of us lasted anywhere near that long; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were the only members of our group that didn't watch the fireworks tonight from the comfort of our hotel before going off to bed. Doing that might have been better for us too, but we still opted for the extra hours of teen-rated entertainment; and I am so grateful for my photographic memory tonight!

While the park closed at midnight without any bonus hours, Michael and I – and Rowen and Tim – managed to find something else to do to keep entertained after getting back to our hotel. Most of that play time happened in our hotel rooms, and while I won't go into details with that either; I will assure you that saying goodnight to Michael tonight was a lot hotter than it was last night! ;^)

Have I mentioned yet how grateful I am for my photographic memory? Yeah, I thought so; but it's worth repeating.

Rowen joined me in our room at a quarter after one; and we've been having a nice girl chat since getting ready for bed and tucking ourselves in. Her goodnight time with Tim had her feeling very happy and not very tired out yet; so we've once again stayed awake too long while I worked; she surfed for funny Disney-related YouTube vids; and we've been trying to wind down from another amazing day. We're moving on to our next Disney park destination in the morning; and will be spending the day in the Animal Kingdom. We still have one more night at this hotel, but then we'll split the day on Tuesday between the Disney Hollywood Studios park and Typhoon Lagoon before moving on to spend the rest of the week at one of the Universal Studios hotels.

I predict more late nights and morning Magi Healing for those of us who can get away with doing that – when we have the opportunity to do it. That's easy enough for Rowen and me first thing in the morning while we're getting ready for the day; but might not always work out for Michael – and can't happen for Tim. Fortunately, Tim is fairly hyper-active to start with; and has already advised us that he can catch up on his sleep again next week – during our classes.

He's not really joking about that; but also doesn't usually have naps in class either unless he's faking it for laughs.

Rowen and I do still want to actually get some sleep tonight even if we don't actually need to worry about being too tired to play with the wild animals tomorrow; but let's cover a couple of notes from back home before I wrap this up and call it a night.

They'd have a very nice weather day there today too; though Rebecca advised me that she missed out on pretty much all of that while helping out at the Inn all day while Michael and I were slacking off and having fun. They're supposed to have another really warm day tomorrow before it cools off a bit; which probably has a lot to do with why Rebecca is planning on spending her days off with Lucas and his family on their farm. They'll still be doing work there too; but I hope they have a good couple of days together – especially since they can't be here with us. That, by the way, is another really good reason for coming back here with the band – Lucas and Rebecca could both come if it was in the winter and during a school week anyway!

I am so going to need to convince our teachers that we really should do that trip! ;^)

That was a bit off-track; so let's get back to the news from home. We missed the church service at home, and that feels strange; but I can't say that I missed the long day helping out at the Inn – especially after Rebecca emailed me and reported that it was over-the-top busy there today with so many home for the holiday or just not interested in wasting hours of a beautiful day with cooking dinner at home. It sounds as though it was mostly a play day for most people around town, and Rebecca said she could see the park full of kids, teens, and adults playing there or having picnics from the Inn – and went there to hang out for a while during her afternoon break.

She also let me know that Jenny is planning on spending a lot of time with Lance at his house in Maple Valley; but that she's not as happy as she's apparently pretending to be with Lance's continuing insistence that they only hang out with his family and friends; and basically never with hers except for the occasional evening at her house. I have a very strong feeling that Lance is going to find out sooner than later that Jenny is too strong-willed to put up with that much longer – no matter how hot she thinks he is or how cool his car and friends are. I'm a bit biased there, since I think her home-town friends are pretty cool too; but then my standards are a bit different than hers – at least for now.

I guess my last notes from email tonight are about my favorite collegians. Violet and Dillon have been having a good weekend in Woodvale; though my reports on that have come from Dawn and Jillian. I haven't heard from Christina yet; but Jake and Stephanie are having a good start to the week they're spending together in New York. They're doing that on the cheap and staying with friends because they're saving for their year in Europe; but it sounds as though they're at a nice home and their friends have a great family. Some other college 'kids' are home in Witch Falls; a few have gone away for the week; and others don't have this week off, but there isn't any major news to report with them.

I did have a bit of must-do family business work to deal with, but that didn't take long; and I won't have any major catch-up to do with that unless something changes between now and next Sunday. My studies are another matter, but I'll save those comments for next week; since I don't plan on trading any of the vacation fun for study time – no matter how important that work is for me.

That's enough for tonight, and I'm nearly ready to nap now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, March 16, 2015

I am not hitting fun overload, but if that was actually possible for me; this might be the place where that could happen!

Our adventures at the Animal Kingdom Park were amazing, and whether we were playing with the animals; digging the Dinos; or going on the extreme rides, it was non-stop action and fun for all of us. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I had a couple of hours of teen time this afternoon to go on some of those extreme rides, and our FastPasses allowed us to actually do that without spending half the day in lines; but we spent most of the day with the rest of our group and especially had fun with the five younger kids.

That has me thinking about just how much exercise we're getting every day while doing everything and even just walking around a lot; and I should mention that Aunt Leanne is getting a bit of extra help with that. She is, after all, five months into her pregnancy, and while she looks amazing and is having a great time with us; Mom is helping her out when needed with the inevitable fatigue and soreness. Uncle Adam is likely helping out at night too; but it's very possible that we don't need the details about how he's doing that. One other little detail before I move on – my prenatal cousin is showing signs that she is going to be quite extraordinary. Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and I are all sensing that, though I don't think that any of the other Magi can; and Mom may try a few new things as she and Aunt Leanne do their prenatal Magi training to allow for that extra potential that we sense in the baby.

Speaking of sensing things, you don't need to be a Magi to see the reactions of people around us to my parents, aunt, uncle, and my brother and sister. Okay, to be fair, I should just include everyone in our group; but that's a little scary. Pregnant or not, Aunt Leanne is beautiful; and turns as many heads as Mom does. Part two of that is a little bit scary too, and only partly because we're talking about my mother. The other side of that is being compared to her – and being speculated about when Ethan and Ehlana are factored into an equation that doesn't necessarily add up for some people. It was just as amusing to see the women around us admiring my father and uncle; though I wasn't nearly as entertained by the girls around our age having the same reaction to Michael and Tim. No, that isn't fair; but then I was just as uncomfortable with having guys staring at Rowen and me.

Ethan and Ehlana always get a positive response from anyone around them, but I think that it's especially adorable that Naomi wants to hold hands with Ethan a lot; and sits with him for most of the shows and rides. Ehlana's usually next to her too, and while she hasn't been holding hands with Aiden as much as Ethan and Naomi have been; he's at her side as often as he's on Ethan's side of their little foursome. I don't really want to get into any deep musings tonight, and what the twins and their two best friends have together is really special; but I am wondering how often that's happened to some extent with other Magi in Witch Falls even with the kids growing up not knowing about each other. Uncle Adam in particular is collecting a lot of data about all of us; so maybe I'll take a look at that sometime and see if there are connections that we don't yet know about – like with Grandma and Grandpa.

They weren't with us today because we've been tiring them out; but they'll spend the day with us tomorrow for Mom's birthday – at least until we head over to Universal and get started on the second-half of our vacation.

That reminds me that we have extra work to do in the morning to get checked out of this hotel and load up the vans before meeting up with them at the Hollywood Studios Park; so I'd better move this report along.

We couldn't possibly do everything at the Animal Kingdom in one day, but we did the best we could through until shortly before the park was closing for the day. That was at seven o'clock; and we moved on from there to spend the evening at Downtown Disney. A late dinner, some play time, and a bit of shopping later; and it was heading toward eleven by the time we got back to the hotel again. Getting their earlier each night since Saturday didn't have anything to do with running out of steam; though I am tired out now – it's just the way our schedule has worked out so far. Michael and I helped out with a bedtime story for all five kids once we'd helped them to get ready for bed. We did that in Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's suite and then Mom and Dad took Ehlana and Naomi back to their suite while Michael and I went to my room to spend some alone time there while Rowen was with Tim in the boys' room.

Our self-imposed curfew for that tonight was twelve-thirty; and this time it was Rowen getting back to our room before Michael left. No, she didn't walk in and see anything she shouldn't, but we are teens; and did have a bit of fun joking about stuff like that – and she hugged and kissed my boyfriend goodnight too when he left.

Funny, now that I think about it, for all I know; she kissed him goodnight the last two nights too when she left their room to come back to ours. Do I want to ask or not?

Stay tuned to find out! ;^)

That's a nice little cliff-hanger to wrap this up with, and Rowen and I really just ended our night with another girl chat while I've been doing my usual nightly computer checks and a bit of family business work; so there isn't any more news from today anyway. I've already mentioned that Mom's birthday is tomorrow – today – and we'll be doing our very best to make her day special and amazing. For the four teens in our group; that means most-of-the-day babysitting services so that the parents can have as much of a responsibility-free day as possible – and a lot of fun. I'm sure we'll have a blast with the kids too, and will still spend a lot of time with the adults too; but this one day of our vacation is definitely going to be for Mom more than for the kids and teens.

I'll let you know how that goes too, but I'm ready to get rested up for all of that fun; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Happy 37th Birthday, Mom!

I hope she's rating this one as high on the best-ever list as I am; since we've had another amazing day while wrapping up our visit to Disney World and then moving on to Universal Studios.

It's also been a bit of a whirlwind of non-stop action. First up this morning was getting packed, checked out, and the vans loaded before heading over to Hollywood Studios for the morning. We didn't have time to do everything there, since we wanted to spend a few hours at Typhoon Lagoon this afternoon, so we decided to see Disney Junior Live on Stage with Doc, Sofia, Jake, and the others for our main show choice; caught some of the outdoor entertainment; visited some of the play areas; and took turns going on as many rides as we could get done before having lunch and then hopping over to Typhoon Lagoon.

The Disney Junior show was mostly for the five younger kids, but I still loved it; and Tim isn't going to make fun of it when we get home – or Rowen's threatened to let everyone know that we went to see the Jedi Training Academy show. He was terribly disappointed that we were too old to sign up to be Jedi trainees; but I won't give him a hard time about that since the kids and tweens were having a lot of fun in the show we saw.

On the ride side of the morning, I'll make the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror my pick for favorite thrill ride; though I liked the rock and roll coaster and Star Tours Adventure rides a lot too. The boys might put that last one at the top of their lists; but only because of the Star Wars connection – they loved the tower as much as Rowen and I did.

Before I move on, that might sound as though we spent more time playing than helping out with the younger kids; but we did a lot of that too – and took turns with the parents and grandparents going on some of those rides while also keeping the kids busy and entertained. Aunt Leanne couldn't do most of those big rides, so she was always helping out with kid control; but there were enough rides to do that she could go on with Zack to keep her happy too.

She is planning on coming back again when she can do the major rides; but may need to wait until her kids can do that too.

I wonder if she might think about being a chaperone for a school band trip? ;^)

Moving along, we had Mom's birthday lunch; and she had a couple of gifts to open then to go along with the gifts she'd been given this morning and more that she didn't get until dinnertime. From there, we moved on to spend the last few hours of the afternoon at Typhoon Lagoon. We again shared kid-watch duties so that nearly everyone could take turns going on the different slides or rides; but the water play time was really all about cooling off and having fun with our family and friends – and getting girls-in-swimsuits time; according to the guys. Okay, Tim was the only guy actually admitting that openly; but he definitely wasn't the only one thinking it.

This is a good spot in the update to mention that Mom does not look thirty-seven; and I seriously doubt that many people would suspect she's a mother of three without seeing her with the evidence – and definitely not a Mom with a teen daughter. I'm not bringing this up to brag or because I'm happy that I can look forward to looking that great when I'm her age; but because I suspect that there is a relationship to aging and Magi talent. I can see it in other Magi – including my grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Grandma and Grandpa look at least ten years younger than they are; and I have to wonder whether we'll have some age issues to deal with now that we have a handful of Magi with the healing gift in town. It might be very hard to explain if we start having Magi living well-beyond the normal life-span. I realize that we can't heal everything; but we do know from the archives that longer life-spans haven't been unusual for Magi of the past – and that could happen again.

If it does, I sure hope that I look a lot younger than my one-fifty or two-hundred years when I get there.

Ditto that for Michael! ;^)

Before I get back on track, I'll also point out again that my Aunt Leanne is beautiful, and if there actually was an award for it; she was the hottest pregnant woman at Typhoon Lagoon today.

We stayed at the water park nearly until it closed for the day; hopped in the vans; and headed for the Royal Pacific hotel at Universal. Grandma and Grandpa came with us and helped with kid control while we got checked in; but they mostly did that because they were helping Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I with getting the five younger kids fed tonight before we were left in charge of them for the rest of the evening. We were all doing that because the parents were getting a kid-free evening to go out for dinner and a few hours of adult-rated fun.

Once we had our luggage in our rooms; Rowen and I got changed quickly; met up with Grandma, Grandpa, Michael, and Tim; collected the five kids; and headed out to find someplace to have dinner while Mom, Dad, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Leanne all took extra time to get dressed up and ready for an upscale dinner and evening out. I know that they had a good time tonight, since we were doing our babysitting gig in Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's suite once we got back to the hotel and they gave us an update; but we had fun wandering around CityWalk too.

Having hot dogs, fries, and drinks for dinner wasn't as amazing as their meals were either; but the boys – including Grandpa – were happy with our dining choice; and they were even okay with the shopping we did while wandering around and keeping our five kids entertained. Having the amusement parks next to us while we did that was exciting, but the Universal Parks close a lot earlier than at Disney; so spending the evening at one of them wasn't really an option; which is why we wandered around CityWalk for a couple of hours before going back to the hotel for the night. Grandma and Grandpa headed home then – to their temporarily home; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I took the kids for a swim before eventually ending our evening with watching a movie in Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's suite.

Zack was asleep fairly quickly, and we put him to bed; but the twins, Naomi, and Aiden stayed awake through to the end of the movie. We put the boys to bed after that; Ehlana and Naomi went to sleep in the 'master' bedroom; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I basically just vegged out until the parents got back from their evening of music and dancing. We kept the chat and recap to the basics; Rowen and I took Ehlana and Naomi with us to our room for the night so that Mom and Dad would be kid-free until morning; and Mom, Dad, Michael, and Tim all went to their rooms then too.

It's late again, and I had a bit of family business work that came up via email to deal with, but Rowen's sleeping now too and we'd kept our bedtime chat quiet so that we didn't wake up Ehlana and Naomi. Rowen has Ehlana for her cuddle buddy tonight because Naomi wanted to bunk with me; but both girls didn't wake up for long while being moved to our room – just long enough for quick washroom breaks and goodnight hugs and kisses.

While the work needed to be done, my favorite email message was from Rebecca. She's still at the farm with Lucas tonight, but will be getting a ride into town in the morning with his Mom when she goes into the office. I hadn't mentioned that, but Claire is running the office with Dad and Aunt Leanne are away – though she isn't working full days so that she can spend some time with the kids while they're off from school too. Rebecca has had a fun couple of days, though the amazing weather on Monday was nicer than the return to more-normal temperatures there today.

That isn't something I want to make a big deal over either, but I am glad that it isn't going to be warmer there than here every day while we're away. I had three messages from home razzing me about that today after some of my friends noticed that it had been just as hot there yesterday as it was here – and even a bit warmer for an hour or two. That won't be an issue today, or for the rest of the week; but it's not as though they're heading back into winter or anything – and we'd have been happy with temperatures in the fifties and sixties even a couple of weeks ago; so going back to that isn't too tough to take.

I'll try to remember that when we're home again on Sunday. ;^)

Somehow I've gotten off-track again. What I wanted to mention from Rebecca's email was that she had fun helping out around the farm and driving some of the equipment – like tractors and the farm truck. She and Lucas got to have some play time too, and while spending time with his brother and sister was part of that play time; they got to hang out on their own for a while here and there too. Without going into details; Rebecca has decided that haylofts can be fun; and having parents that are used to turning in early at night can be an advantage too! I can't say I've ever thought about part two of that, but then I think that Michael's parents go to bed early on their work nights compared to what I'm used to doing with my own work and studies.

Okay, it's time to wrap this up and get some sleep. We're going to be up early and taking advantage of the early park admission that is one of the bonuses for staying at one of the park hotels – along with an express pass for the rides at both parks and a half-dozen other perks. The early admission is actually to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter parts of the parks; and I'm finding the thought of being a Magi Master hanging out in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade fairly amusing. That would be even more amusing if we could all talk about it, but since we – the kids and teens – aren't allowed to know that we're all Magi; that isn't an option. Neither is actually making magical things happen there tomorrow; though that is so tempting! ;^)

I've gone off-track again, and really do need to just get some nap time now; so that's definitely it for tonight, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Mom and Dad were at full-power and very happy this morning; and I seriously doubt that it was because they went straight back to their room and off to sleep last night. While I'm sure that Aunt Leanne will want the full report from Mom, I do not require any added details; though I am glad that Mom had a happy birthday!

We've all had an amazing day here at Universal Studios. That started out with a quick breakfast before we headed over to Diagon Alley and had fun wandering around the stores there – and going on the awesome ride at Gringott's for those of us who could do that too. People seem to have a love or hate it thing about the Harry Potter books and franchise, but I'd be surprised if most people in both camps don't find seeing Diagon Alley come to life very cool. That probably sounds very funny to some coming from a Magi Master with actual, 'magical' abilities, but I have a fairly active imagination; love reading; and read the Harry Potter books as avidly as anyone.

By the way – so did Ethan and Ehlana after finding out that we'd be coming here. The good news for them is that they didn't have to wait for years until the final book was published like millions of us did! ;^)

The Gringott's ride was the most extreme part of our visit to Diagon Alley, but I have to say that I had a lot of fun with my family and friends getting our wands at Olivander's and visiting the other stores – with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Quality Quidditch coming in at number two and three on the list. If you actually needed to wonder about it; no, Magi Masters are not immune to tourist traps. I was the worst offender today for buying souvenirs, including a bunch for family and friends back at home; but another hotel perk was that I could get most of that stuff sent to my room instead of hauling it around. In fact, the only things that we kept with us were the interactive wands we bought so that we could use them to do magic at the different locations in Diagon Alley where we could learn and do the spells.

Guess which wands we picked! ;^)

Okay, I won't keep you guessing unless you want to pause and do that. First up, I'll mention that the parents all flat-out refused buying the Elder wand for themselves. That might have been funnier yesterday on Mom's birthday; but it was still fairly amusing. I didn't go with that choice either, but not because I was worried about seeming to be an arrogant Magi Master picking the most powerful wand – I just thought that going with the Hawthorn wand was funnier. Not everyone in our group gets the joke for that today; but they likely all will by the time they read this journal entry. I did talk Michael into getting one of the Elder wands, though; and Aunt Leanne bought one of them for Zack too.

Only some of us picked up the interactive wands. Mom and Dad went with the Dumbledore/McGonagall wands; Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne opted for Viktor Krum and Fleur wands respectively; though they took turns trying out Zack's interactive wand while the rest of us took turns with the others. Rowen went with a similar joke to mine and picked the Rowan wand; while Tim was the only one of us to take a walk on the dark side of the wands and choose the Voldemort wand. Finally, on the cute side of things, Ethan and Naomi have the Harry and Ginny wands; and Ehlana and Aiden have the Hermione and Ron wands. One wand from each pair was interactive, and again; they took turns trying them out around Diagon Alley.

It would be scary to write about everything we picked up today; so I won't do that. There were snowy owls, pygmy puffs, Quidditch supplies, jewelry, books, shirts, hats, wheezes, and sweets that were all sent on to our rooms; and we all definitely spent more money on all of that than we should have. Oh yeah – add some collectible money to that list; since we have some galleons, sickles, and Knuts to take home with us too. I did avoid totally emptying my Gringott's vault by deciding not to buy a few Firebolts, though they were cool; and would have been cool for things like Halloween costumes! We also skipped buying robes; though for the kids and teens that was mostly because they wouldn't fit for long anyway unless we'd bought over-size.

If those Firebolts could actually fly; I'd still be tempted to go back and get a set. Oh wait – I actually could make them fly! ;^)

I'm just kidding, Mom.

Having a real, live Quidditch match with my friends would be very cool, though; and just think about how much multi-tasking would need to go into making that happen. Keeping fourteen people flying around on brooms and able to go where they wanted would be tricky; and that's before dealing with the bludgers, quaffle, and golden snitch.

Maybe I'm not kidding about that as much as I thought; since that really does sound like a fun thing to try.

That's gone way off-track; so let's get back to the news of the day. As with our visit to Disney, having express passes for a lot of the rides and shows at Universal is a major bonus; and allowed us to pretty much do everything we wanted to do today plus a couple of bonus rounds of favorite rides. Including our time in Diagon Alley, we – the teens – spent the morning with the rest of our gang until we stopped for lunch at one. We mostly went on kid-rated rides and saw two shows; and then we were set free for the afternoon to go on the major rides. That was several hours of amazing fun, and whether we were battling aliens and mummies, dealing with disasters, or riding coasters; we had an afternoon of non-stop action and adventure.

Even though we were given the afternoon to play on our own, we did end up meeting up with everyone else for the 'Disaster!' ride; and had our visit to E.T.'s home world with everyone before stopping for our dinner break. Make that nearly everyone, since Zack couldn't go and hang out with E.T.; but he and Aunt Leanne opted for ice cream and some play time in Fievel's Playland. We weren't actually gone that long, and met up with them at the playland and had ice cream snacks too; which pretty much just meant that we had dessert before dinner. That might be a problem for some younger kids; but not our little group of them. Zack eats everything; and would try to keep up with Tim right now if that was humanly possible without being part of the 'Honey, I blew up the kids' movie. Since he'd just finished getting a mouse-eye view of the world in Fievel's little corner of the park; maybe Zack was thinking along the same lines – his stomach was bigger than his eyes.

Tim didn't have that problem; and Michael did a pretty good job of keeping up with him during dinner. Where is an all-you-can-eat dinner put on by house elves when you need one? ;^)

Fortunately for us, the family business is doing pretty well; so we won't need to mortgage the house to pay for our meals in the park – even though it might feel that way to a lot of parents getting those bills. I've probably made that sound worse than it was, especially since we were basically doing fast food for dinner; and it didn't even take all that long to eat and be ready to head out to play again. Since we'd waited until later to stop for dinner, that back out to play time for the parents and younger kids was just on the way out of the park and back to our hotel; followed by a swim in the pool before turning in for the night. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were allowed to play at the park until it closed at nine; we followed that up with a wander along CityWalk as we made our way back to the hotel; and then we went for a swim too before splitting up for some couples' alone time. As we've done for the rest of the week so far, Michael was in my room for that while Rowen was with Tim in his; and we put a twelve-thirty curfew on that play time because we have yet another busy play day booked for the morning – though we'll be waiting until game-time to decide what we're doing.

That's because there could be a bit of rain in the forecast for tomorrow. If that looks likely for part of the day, we're going to visit SeaWorld. If the weather looks good; we'll be at the Islands of Adventure park instead – and starting the day with a visit to Hogsmeade. One way or the other, Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I will probably be back at one of the Universal parks for the evening; though Mom's already warned us that we'll be having a 'real' meal for dinner tomorrow first instead of more fast food. We'll see how much time we have to play after that and wing it.

Michael was a happy camper when I sent him back to his own room at twelve-thirty, and in case you were wondering; yes, he has been getting goodnight hugs from Rowen too when she heads back to our room from his. We've followed that up with a fun little girl chat after Rowen got changed and ready for bed. You don't need the details; but I was changed and ready to tuck myself in by then and didn't do that in record time between when Michael left and she got back. ;^)

That thought has me smiling and distracted, but then Rowen thought it was fairly funny too – not that she and Tim didn't have as much fun together as Michael and I did. I do need to wrap this up and get some sleep, though; so let's do that and call it a night. There was only one little family business job waiting for me in my email inbox, so that didn't take long. The email news from home wasn't anything exciting; and they definitely didn't have a summer-weather day either. Instead of hot and sunny, they were stuck with rainy and temperatures in the forties – and then too close to freezing overnight. I'm sure that's especially tough after the great weather up until yesterday; which is why I'm hoping it'll be a bit warmer again by the time we get home on Sunday.

Heading off to sleep on that thought isn't very exciting, so I'll come up with something else to dream about instead. That is all I have for tonight, though, so I'm out of here and off to those hopefully very happy dreams.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, March 19, 2015

A day at SeaWorld it is – or was!

The bit of rain we did get today didn't dampen any of our fun; and we even managed to learn a few things in and around the shows, play time, and extreme or family-friendly rides.

I'll be honest and admit that I have mixed feelings about places like SeaWorld, zoos, and most other businesses that keep wild animals caged. The problem is that I'm part of the problem; since I loved getting to see so many of these amazing creatures up close and in a way that most people would never have a chance to experience any other way. That's exactly how I felt at the Disney Animal Kingdom too, and I guess the only reason I didn't mention it in that journal update was because the captivity is much more obvious when you're looking at a killer whale in a big pool. I'm not even consistent with my own thoughts on this; since I didn't even think about this while watching and learning about the smaller fish and other sea-dwellers in the aquarium tanks. When it comes to animal rights; it seems that size does matter for me – and we probably shouldn't even get started on what some of us had for dinner tonight!

Leaving that little ethics issue aside, I loved the two shows that we went to see – Blue Horizon, which we went to in the morning; and One Ocean in the afternoon. We all wandered around the park together pretty much all day, and this time; we took turns going on the extreme rides. Rain is not a big deal when you're going on water rides that are going to get you wet anyway, and we timed that fairly well; while also being prepared to get changed before going out for dinner anyway. The teen and adult boys in our group didn't have a problem with their favorite girls getting wet while wearing shorts and tees; though Aunt Leanne stayed away from the extreme water rides for obvious reasons. We all had our moments of wet today, though, and almost none of that came from the little rain showers that we mostly dodged or were indoors for anyway.

While we didn't do everything at SeaWorld today, we did get to everything we wanted to see and went on most of the rides; so we were good with heading out of the park at four and going out to dinner at a 'real' restaurant. Surf and Turf was an option at the place Mom and Aunt Leanne picked out for us; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I picked out a few different things and then shared the platters so that we could try a bunch of different foods. The parents did the same thing, and we all shared with the twins, Naomi, Aiden, and Zack; but the five kids also had meals from the kids' menu. Sitting down for a non-fast food meal was really great; and so was getting to still have some more play time at Universal when we got back there after dinner.

Making that couple of hours of fun teen-only had been the original plan, but we had four junior ride enthusiasts wanting to go along; and Michael and I couldn't resist their hopeful looks, hugs, and kisses so we took them with us and left the parents with only Zack to take care of while we were busy. That decision meant that Michael and I had to stick to kid-friendly rides, but that was okay with us; and Rowen and Tim stayed and played with us except for one detour for one extreme ride fix while the rest of us went for another visit to E.T.'s home world.

After getting back to the hotel again, we went for a swim; had a bedtime snack and drinks in Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's room; and then we all headed for bed. Two out of four teens temporarily got mixed up as to which beds we were supposed to be in; but we corrected that little mistake – once Michael and I, and Rowen and Tim, had finished spending some quality couples' alone time together and were ready to actually get some sleep.

Rowen's already there as I write this, and she didn't stay awake long once she was ready for bed and we were both tucked in for the night. We only had a short chat before she dozed off, but I've been keeping busy with a bit of family business work that was waiting for me to deal with in my email inbox. That took a while, and then I took my time doing the rest of my usual nightly computing. There were a few emails from home and New York too; and I'm sure that everyone in our family is having a nice break – or at least those with the time off are. That wasn't thanks to the weather back home, which was cooler and rainy again today; though that wasn't much fun for the kids and teens back home.

The rain did make for one change in plans there. Violet and Dillon apparently switched up their plans and they went to Witch Falls yesterday to spend a couple of days with his parents, and then they're going back to Woodvale on Friday for the weekend until they need to head back to school on Sunday. We would have missed them either way, and it means more driving for them; but they're hoping to have nicer weather on the weekend to spend that time with Chris, Martin, and Dawn.

This is going to be the shortest report of the week so far, but that isn't because we didn't have just as much fun as we have every other day we've been here. Tomorrow we'll be spending the day at the Islands of Adventure side of the Universal Park; starting with a visit to Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. While I'm definitely looking forward to another day of extreme rides, there will be lots for the kids to do too with the kid-rated shows and rides. One added bonus about going there tomorrow is that both parks are open an hour longer on Friday and Saturday nights; so we'll have even more play time to enjoy – for both of our last two days in this amazing place.

I should get to the napping part of the day so I'll be ready for all of that fun and excitement, so I guess that's all for tonight; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, March 20, 2015

I haven't mentioned it in my daily updates yet this week; so I should at least mention that we haven't been doing morning Tai Chi workouts. That's mostly been because it didn't really fit into our busy play schedule; though we've also been getting enough exercise to make up for the missed work-outs.

Today, we were trading that off for another early breakfast and then an immersion into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – this time in Hogsmeade. Yes, we did a bit more shopping, but not as much as we did in Diagon Alley; and I still managed to keep myself from buying any top-of-the-line racing brooms no matter how tempting that still is – and then learning to fly one! ;^)

That isn't a musing I need to go into again; so let's get back to the news from today.

Getting to see the envisioning of Hogsmeade was as interesting for me as Diagon Alley had been, and the shops were all fun and entertaining. We took our interactive wands along today, and could use them in Hogsmeade too; so that added to the fun as well. That wasn't as cool as using our Magi gifts to do 'magic' around there would have been, but since that wasn't really an option; the interactive wand gimmick was still cute.

Once the rest of the park was open, it was time for some extreme rides. The Forbidden Journey and tour of Hogwarts was a favorite for all of us, and eight out of the ten of us that could go on it took turns going on the ride while others kept the five younger kids busy. Grandma and Aunt Leanne were the two exceptions; and Grandpa went on the ride with Mom, Dad, and Uncle Adam when they took their turn. It really is an awesome ride, but then Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I pretty much loved every extreme ride. The coasters were my favorites; but the high-tech, indoor rides can be just as wild – as long as I shut off my extra Magi senses while going on those mini-adventures.

That's something else that I haven't written about in my journal this week; and doing that isn't as simple as it may sound. Some strong Magi empaths would be able to relate to a certain extent, and in addition to Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and I; Michael has needed to protect himself this week with the strong emotions that come with extreme fun, large crowds, and even the heightened stress that many visitors feel while trying to juggle everything that goes along with this kind of family vacation. What I'm talking about with rides that rely on audio-visual stimulus more than physical motion is that my heightened senses can't be fooled by any of those tricks unless I basically shut them down and allow it to happen. Doing that requires overcoming instinct and takes some practice too; but it is possible.

I won't drag that out into a long, boring lesson about mastering control of those Magi senses, but I will write something up for the training archives; since this type of thing isn't exactly something that the Magi of centuries-past had to deal with. Whether it'll be an issue for you, reading this in my future, remains to be seen and for all I know; there won't be any more need for dampening senses in your now than there is for some talents that ancient Magi developed to deal with contemporary issues that are useless to us now.

Getting back to the Islands of Adventure action, the rides were where the extreme fun was found; but we also made time for a few of the shows too; took snack and meal breaks; and spent time in the play areas that were especially good for Zack; since he couldn't go on very many rides compared to what the rest of us could do. Some teens would likely find some of that family time very boring, but I didn't; and Michael, Tim, and Rowen either had fun too or faked it for my benefit. For me, the Dr. Seuss or Jurassic themed activities and junior rides were cool; and I loved doing all of that with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden – and with Zack for everything that he could do with us.

Mentioning the express pass bonus we've been able to enjoy is probably getting boring for anyone reading this in the future, but I'm bringing it up again with this report because it really does make a big difference for how much we get to do in a day compared to waiting in lines that can eat up a lot of the day before getting to the few minutes of extreme action. Sure, there are things to do and see along the way in most of those lines; but it's still very tedious and limiting. Today, having those passes allowed us – the teens – to not only hit all of the rides we wanted to go on; but repeat most of them – and then use our multi-park passes to go back to the other park for the last couple of hours of the evening and hit some of our favorite rides there too before heading back to our hotel.

That's gotten a bit ahead of the story; so let's back up to the afternoon action. It's been another hot, beautiful day, and while we had a dash or two of rain this evening; the afternoon weather was perfect for going on the water rides, getting soaked, and cooling off. Since most of the members of our group had no idea who Dudley Do-Right is, I expect it'll mean nothing to Magi of the future either, but I can tell you that doesn't matter at all for the ride that bears the fictional, animated character. Surviving the bad jokes along the way to the big drop down Ripsaw Falls is another matter; but the parents and grandparents that went along for the ride were amused by all of that too.

While that ride got fairly silly along the way to getting us wet with the big finale, the Jurassic Park ride reached the same conclusion at the end of a combo of cool dino immersion that ranged from the educational to attempts to scare us with escaped Raptors and just escaping being eaten by a T-Rex before escaping down an eighty-five foot drop and drenching. Both rides are great on a hot day; and probably not so much fun when it's cold out.

The fear-factor for that ride has me thinking about Grandpa; though not because he was scared of any of the rides. What he was in need of by the end of the day was a minor Magi Healing session that I helped him out with this time. I hadn't talked about that with Mom or Uncle Adam, but he's apparently needed other healing help that I hadn't heard about until he mentioned it to me; but we're all happy to help out with that in exchange for the extra fun with him. Getting that done for him meant coming up with an excuse for a short bit of alone time with my grandparents; but we managed to do that without looking too suspicious shortly after dinner – and right before they were ready to leave for home.

They missed out on a few more hours of play time, but then they'll be back for the day again tomorrow – the last that we'll be spending together before we head home on Sunday. We're getting a teen night tomorrow night, so Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I stayed with the parents and kids until they wanted to head back to the hotel and let us head back over to the Universal Studios Park for the rest of our evening – though it ended up taking them a while to get back to the hotel too after taking a ride on the Hogwarts Express and then going on another ride or two on the way out of the other park.

I guess there's no point in going into much detail about that part of our evening; and there wasn't much of a change-up for the rest of our night. We went for a swim after getting back to the hotel; Michael and I stopped in to say goodnight to the parents and four out of five of the kids between the park play and swim; and then it was teen couple segregation time after the swim for an hour and a half or so – this time so that we could pretend to watch a late movie. Michael and I definitely didn't end up watching the show we'd picked, and I know for sure that Rowen and Tim didn't either; since she couldn't even remember what movie Tim had picked for them not to watch when I asked her about it back at the beginning of our girl chat time.

She's sleeping now as I write this, but that's mostly because my family business work took longer than I'd have liked and she ran out of chat steam. As I've mentioned, we only have one full day left to play here at Universal, and while we'd talked about other options before even coming here; the majority just wanted to have a best-of play day at the parks instead of trying to do any major day trip. Yes, that means that we didn't get to the ocean or gulf coasts, and we didn't try to do any of a million other things that you can do in Florida; but that just gives us some incentive to come back again and have another sunny winter break!

Or a school band trip! ;^)

Okay, it's a bit early to be looking ahead to the next trip, and it's past-time for me to be sleeping; so let's wrap this up. I don't have any major news from home, but I did check; and they've had a much nicer weather day. That'll be great for the kids and teens; and I'm sure that the farmers will be happy about having better weather again for working outdoors. Maybe we'll get really lucky and spring will be there to stay in Witch Falls when we get back; though it might be a bit early and too much to hope for. Either way, I don't want to think about that until I have to on Sunday, and I also need to stop dragging out this update and get into snooze mode; so that's it for now, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, March 21, 2015

We'll be heading home in just a handful or so of hours from now, and while I'm looking forward to being home again; I don't really want the adventure here to end either.

It's been yet another amazing day! We've had awesome weather for our last full day here, and in addition to doing another round or two of our favorite rides; we also pretty much covered every show or activity that we hadn't yet covered at both parks by the end of the day. We started the day again with the early admission to the park through Diagon Alley; met up with Grandma and Grandpa once they got to the park too; and played together all morning until stopping for lunch in Hogsmeade.

The parents and grandparents were ready for a break after that, so they took Zack with them and went back to the hotel to spend the afternoon hanging out around the pool. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I took the twins, Naomi, and Aiden with us for the afternoon and went on all of their favorite rides. We also caught the parade and had an ice cream snack break at one of the play areas; and eventually went back to the hotel to meet up with everyone else before going out for dinner at CityWalk.

Having another 'real' meal was great, but then there was a bit of sad for us when it was time to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa when they were ready to head home. We won't see them again until they get home to Witch Falls again, and that could be as much as two months from now; since they haven't decided for sure when they'll be back – other than that it'll be before the holiday weekend in May. We did those goodbyes outside of the restaurant, and then Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were set free to go back to the parks and play until they closed at nine and ten o'clock. The parents and kids were planning on staying and wandering around CityWalk for a while before going back to the hotel for the night – and possibly a bedtime swim if the kids weren't ready to sleep by then.

We definitely had more fun than they did; and it was extreme teen play time as we spent that three hours or so blasting through our favorite rides one more time. Basically, we started at one end of the Islands of Adventure Park and worked our way through to the other end of the Universal Studios Park. While the water rides were fun during the day, we stayed away from them this evening; since being wet all evening wasn't something that any of us were interested in; but we were busy enough going on all of the coasters and other extreme rides.

Getting wet was an option when we went for a swim after getting back to the hotel. We checked in with Mom and Dad; said goodnight to Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden since they were still all together in Mom and Dad's room while Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne were packing for the trip home and keeping things quiet so that Zack would sleep for them. The pool time was good, and then the alone time I had with Michael after that was great, but we also needed to pack to be ready to go home too; so an hours-long make-out session wasn't something we could get away with adding to the schedule without staying up all night.

That was tempting, but we resisted the urge; and will save up our first boy-girl hotel sleepover for another occasion. Not having an all-night make-out session with our boyfriends doesn't mean that Rowen and I haven't still be up late. She was back in our room by one; we both got ready for bed; and then got to work on packing up everything for the trip home. It took a while to do that; though it wasn't as tough a job as you might be thinking it would be with all of the souvenirs and gifts we've purchased this week. Having Grandma and Grandpa here in Florida too had one very nice bonus for us – they took a lot of our purchases with them over the past two days and are shipping them to us so that we didn't need to worry about extra luggage for our trip home. We only have a few things with us – like the interactive wands that we were still using today; and a few gifts that we didn't want to wait to catch up with us before giving to certain members of our family or our best friends.

It was going on two by the time we tucked ourselves in for the night and I got started on my bedtime computing. There was some family business work waiting for me to deal with; and Rowen fell asleep before I got that done. We'll need to be up early again to get checked out and load the vans for the trip back to the airport. Hopefully, we'll have time for breakfast too; but we'll grab something at the airport if we don't have time to do that first. We're going to have another long travel day, but since we have a relatively early flight; we should still make it all the way home by late afternoon as long as we don't have any major delays along the way.

This is another too-short report to even come close to covering all of the amazing from today, but I am getting tired now, and only have time for another nap before we'll be up and going again; so that's going to have to be it for this update. Every last little detail would just be boring to most Magi reading this in the future anyway; and the only thing that really matters is that we have had an amazing adventure this week that I really can, thankfully, remember forever!

We'll be getting back to normal life again by Monday, and that might not sound exciting by comparison to a week at Disney and Universal during a weather week that was about as perfect as anyone could hope for; but then 'normal' is going to be very special this spring and summer; so it won't be boring around home for very long.

That's a line of thought I can go into more detail another time, though, and I do need to get some sleep now, so I'm out of here; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Welcome home to us!

I really am glad to be home, and cuddling with Mandy while I'm writing this is great too; but I was both fired up and sad this morning when it was time to get up way too early and start heading for home.

Rowen and I rushed through our showers and getting dressed; finished packing up everything we'd needed this morning; and then went to help the parents with all of the younger kids while the boys mostly took care of getting the luggage out to the vans – with some help from a couple of young men on the hotel staff. Getting all of that done and hitting the road for the airport took a bit too long, so we ended up having fast food for breakfast at the airport instead of stopping to eat at a restaurant. We did at least have time for that. I've heard Tim's stomach growl during morning classes if he hasn't eaten enough before – or after – their morning weight training; and listening to that for the entire flight would not have been fun – and possibly would have scared small children. ;^)

The airport time at each end of the flight took nearly as long as the flight, which I've mentioned before is silly and annoying, but we dealt with it; and didn't have any major check-in, security, or baggage issues. Our flight was uneventful, and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I mostly worked on final holiday break assignments that had required real-time vacation data to complete – the usual creative writing assignment along with math and science questions that required information from our activities this week. I'll guess that we were among the fastest students in our class; along with other milestones that would all be thanks to going on extreme rides.

By the time we landed at our 'home' airport, retrieved our luggage, and got everything and everyone loaded into the minivans and truck; we were all ready to stop somewhere to pick up a late lunch to go and hit the road for home. Stopping at a restaurant had been an option too, but the decision to go with fast food had not been motivated by getting Aunt Leanne one more fix – we just wanted to get the rest of the trip finished and be home again. This time, Michael went with Dad, Ethan, and Aiden in the truck for the drive home; Rowen and Tim were with Mom, Ehlana, and Naomi; and I went with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne so that I could take care of Zack – though he ended up sleeping most of the way once we'd done a little telepathic chat with him.

We had work to do after getting home; starting with getting everything unloaded. Dad then did a loop around town to drop off luggage, kids, and teens at houses and one store – though the Olde Bakery stop was temporary and Hannah left work early to go home with Aiden and Hailey and Dad dropped off Aiden's things after taking Naomi home and doing the luggage transfer at her house too. While Dad was busy with that – and getting Tim's things home too; I helped Michael with carrying his bags to his house, we did the goodbye hugs and kisses there, and then I came home again to help Mom with the piles of work we needed to get started on there – like unpacking and laundry.

Before I get to the rest of the day, though, I need to mention that it's been a very nice day here in Witch Falls – sunny, warm, and very spring-like. I didn't even mention the passing of the first day of spring in the appropriate journal update while we were in Florida; but it just didn't seem important when it felt like summer to us instead of the transition from winter to spring. My point with the weather comment, though, is that we enjoyed coming back to warm and sunny instead of cold or rainy; and it's made our late afternoon and evening here very pleasant – even with all of the work we've been doing.

Working at the Inn with Michael and his family had been an option for me, but I decided to help Mom and Dad instead; and didn't really want to miss out on the family dinner at the Inn either. It was great being on the trip with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne, but I really missed the rest of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We'd booked the late buffet for that to allow for any travel delays, so that gave Mom and I time to get most of the unpacking finished and several loads of laundry started. Dad went to work in the office after he got back from doing the running around, and other than the break for dinner; he worked straight through until we all went to bed at eleven o'clock – on Mom's orders.

That worked out okay because we did a bit of time-phasing to help out with the workload, and while Dad had the most pressing work to get done; the rest of us either worked on the family business after dinner or college studies. Our dinner at the Inn was the local fun highlight of the day. Spending that time with my family was amazing, but so was visiting with friends and neighbors; and I especially loved my reunion with Michael's family and everyone else working at the Inn tonight. I'd brought a few gifts along with me, and while what we'd picked up for Rebecca and Jenny were the most fun to deliver for Michael and me; we did also have a few gag gifts to share with everyone there – most of them from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and a collection of the best-known Potter candies or chocolates. Michael and I still have some gifts that will need to wait until our packages get here from Grandma and Grandpa; but I had room in my bags for a couple of wands and pygmy puffs for Rebecca and Jenny – and a few pieces of jewelry and gifts for Miranda and Jacob.

We don't really need to get into all of that, and I didn't even have much time to spend with everyone in the kitchen anyway. They were too busy; and I had to get to dinner before Tim and his Uncle Lee polished off everything on the buffet tables! I'm only joking about that, but Tim was there with his family too – as was Rowen, and a half-dozen other friends – most of them kids of store owners. Most stores had been open both Sundays for the holiday weekend; so I wasn't surprised that most of those parents weren't interested in cooking after working fourteen days straight for the first time since the Christmas rush and holiday.

I was at the kids' table for dinner, and while I missed out on a lot of the adult conversation and story time; Ethan, Ehlana, and I still got to see Uncle Mark, Aunt Grace, Uncle Nick, and Aunt Deborah a fair bit too as they helped me out with kid control when needed. I didn't get to have Caleb and Sebastian with me while we ate; but did take a turn watching both kids for a while – Caleb while the parents were getting their plates filled and doing the same with the younger kids; and Sebastian while Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah had dessert. Since Dad needed to get back to his work, we didn't drag out our meal – though we were still there for nearly an hour and a half by the time I'd done my pre and post dinner visits to the kitchen.

That second visit was mostly to distribute some goodnight hugs and kisses – including an extended kiss with Michael that he probably got teased about straight through until they went home for the night. Mom and I got drinks for everyone after we got home, but then we all worked in the office in high gear until her eleven o'clock bedtime order. I didn't go straight to bed, since my Jacuzzi really, really missed me and we needed to get re-acquainted; but I multi-tasked my tub time with some language studying in a time-phase so that I wouldn't be up past the additional 'be-asleep-by-midnight' directive. I did most of my bedtime computer checks then too; but saved this update until after I was tucked in with Mandy.

There were quite a few emails waiting for me, but most of them were college-related; and all of my favorite collegians are safely back at school and ready to start classes again in the morning. Ditto part two of that for Dawn, Jillian, Jaimie, and Kaitlyn; and they all had a fun holiday too – if not Disney and Universal Studios kind of amazing.

I'll be able to say the same for our upcoming week; but I'm also going to be very busy too. We have a future plans meeting tomorrow night; all usual school and extra-curricular activities during the week; work and game nights; and what will likely be a catch-up weekend for work around the house and yard after being away for the past two weekends. As I've mentioned, there is going to be a lot happening around here over the next few months, and while that'll be most exciting for certain projects like the new med center; I'll be more involved with things like everything we'll be doing for Jake and Stephanie's wedding. That's going to mean bonus time with Miranda and Rebecca; so I'm good with all of that – and the shopping and other fun will all be nice bonuses to go along with the work.

I do need to get sleep when I can do keep up with all of that, and there isn't anything else that needs to be covered tonight; so I guess that's it for now.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, March 23, 2015

We're back to normal, spring-weather reality today, and that meant a return to warm jackets and sweaters after nine days of tees, shorts, sundresses, and swimsuits. Tai Chi needed to be indoors too, and while I loved getting back to our morning exercise routine; I would have loved it more if we could have been out by the river doing that instead of in our exercise room.

Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were minor celebrities today thanks to our extreme vacation; though the boys got razzed a fair bit about spending the week with Mickey, Minnie, and the Disney princesses – or for having too much fun in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. That was all fun, and while Rowen and I were teased a bit too; we didn't get that as much as Michael and Tim did – and we also got a lot of compliments about how great we looked too after a week in the sunny south. I was happy enough to be back to school, and we had a good day; but the number one highlight for me was a fun little chat I had with Mrs. Robinson about looking into a band trip to Disney to be in the parade there.

Mrs. Robinson loves the idea! She's going to talk to Principal Jacobs and some of the other teachers about it next; and then we'll see where it goes from there. She warned me that it's a very big project, and that there'd need to be enough interest with both the parents and students; but I'm not really worried about that. All of the work is another matter, and raising the money in a small town for something like this will be a challenge too; but I'm just the girl to dig into something like that and make it happen! Don't expect any major news on that front for a while, since there will be lots of hoops to jump through first; but I'll keep you posted as I try and get the project moving from idea to reality over the next year or so.

Speaking of Florida, while we barely warmed up into the sixties today and it's raining now as I write this; it's been a wet, rainy day in Orlando. Maybe Mother Nature really missed us there! ;^)

I am glad that we didn't have any washed-out vacation days while we were there, though; and rain here while we're at school or during the night isn't a big deal to me. We are supposed to get rain off and on for the next couple of days, but I'll be busy both nights after school anyway; so I'm just hoping it'll be nice again by the weekend.

Getting back to the school report, I have skipped one teen drama story; though it's already on the way to being an old story for most of our classmates and friends. Marcie and Marc broke up while on spring break. They'd been on that slow downhill glide toward that end for a while; so it wasn't a surprise. It doesn't seem that either of them is particularly upset about it; though Marcie seems to be getting on with her social life already too. She's apparently been hanging out with Kris a fair bit, though from what I saw today; that's more of in a friends sort of way instead of romantically – at least so far. Marc was just hanging out with the guys today, but he also has the usual teen problem in a small town when it comes to available, appropriately-aged dating options. As of right now, the only single girl in our class is the one he just broke up with.

Gil's been in that singles' boat all year without doing any serious dating, and Kris joined him in that little club back in October when he and Lily broke up; so he's probably very happy to at least have a dating prospect – even if Marcie might not seriously be looking at a rebound relationship anytime soon. The good news for all three boys, though, is that it's spring and there are bound to be other new singles coming onto the market soon!

No, I won't be one of them – Michael's stuck with me!

I went home with him after school and we did our homework and had dinner with his parents and Rebecca. Michael had done some catching up with them while at the Inn last night; but we had a fun chat during dinner – and Miranda liked my storytelling better – even if I'm not the master that she and Aunt Leanne are. Miranda and Rebecca had some stories for us too; though that was as much about the latest news from around town as it was about anything exciting happening for them personally over the past week. Since Mom and Dad were hosting the family business and future plans meeting tonight, I couldn't stay and hang out with Michael for long after we finished the clean-up from dinner. Now that we're getting into spring, as I've mentioned, the action on the future plans front is kicking up several notches; so I really wanted to be at that meeting.

While other projects are way more important, a favorite for Ethan, Ehlana, and I is starting this week. We're getting a new and improved playground with a lot of new equipment; the park is going to be expanded; and a new trail system is being added both in that new section of the park and around town. The trails part of the project is going to take more than a year to complete; but it's going to be very cool when finished! The park and playground expansion is all about growing the fun along with our town, and that's always especially important for the kids and teens in any community.

I'm jumping around a bit here, but also in the extended construction project group is the addition and remodel for the church. The addition construction is getting started now too, and the new outer building of the addition will be ready by sometime this fall so that the indoor work can be done during the winter with a completion date that will hopefully be just before Easter next year. That's going to be exciting for our congregation, and again; we're going to need the extra sanctuary space; the larger fellowship hall; and everything else that is being added. We'll be losing some yard space for the addition, but we do have the school yard right across the road that we can use for outdoor activities when needed.

The most important project right now is still the new medical center. The exterior and landscaping work was started last week thanks to the early nice weather; and it will be ready to open by the end of June. Uncle Mark, Uncle Adam, Aunt Deborah, and everyone else that will be working there will need to start moving in by late May or early June to be ready to go when it does open, but since they'll have mostly all-new equipment; that'll mostly involve moving all of the files and any furniture and anything else they want to keep from the old offices. There are going to be other businesses moving into the new office building over the next five or six years, and while most of those businesses will be medical-related; there will be other business professionals moving in there too – which is why it's officially going to be called the Witch Falls Professional Offices and Medical Center. I'll go out on a limb and suggest that it'll be short-formed by everyone to the Med Center or something equally easy.

On the infrastructure side of things, the Solar-Wind Farm project will be kicking into high gear now too, and while the project is on-time and looking great; the really exciting work will be very visible soon as the wind turbines and solar arrays are completed and the underground power lines are put in from the old Quarry and tied into the town and power grid. Once that's done, we'll essentially be power-independent – and generally be able to sell extra power into the grid too to help pay for it all. More importantly, with the system better-protected from the elements; our days of power outages should be behind us.

In the non-direct future plans news, Aunt Leanne advises us that the Stones and Ayres basically have a deal done for Jacob and Miranda to buy the Haberdashery building so that they can expand the Inn while Uncle Nick's Dad is going to downsize his store and move to another location that's still being worked out. That deal will likely be announced at the end of May or early June; and the Haberdashery will move in September. The Inn expansion and remodel will take a year and a half or so – and will conveniently be done in time for when Jake and Stephanie are finished their four years at college. A deal for the old clinic is basically done now too; and KidZone will have the place all summer to get it remodeled for their daycare and ready to open in time for the back-to-school rush. Okay, it's actually the end of the summer rush for them; but it will be convenient to have the daycare close to the school for the parents and kids.

The work on the new section of town will kick up a few notches now too. More homes and townhomes are on the schedule for this spring and summer; and the second apartment building will be ready to open by late June too. This one is very similar to the first one; so they look a bit like bookends for the new section. Aunt Leanne is sure that those apartments will be just as popular, and the timing is convenient; since there will be fewer apartments in town after Miranda and Jacob take over the Haberdashery building. They'll be converting those apartments into more rooms for the Inn, and while there will still be other empty apartments as people choose the newer, nicer rental options; we'll be working on that problem over the next few years too.

While all of the work around here is going to be exciting, we also discussed some longer term plans – with the most immediate effort needed for the next crop of high school grads. College and program choices are being made; and Uncle Nick is getting some help from other teachers with nudging a few students toward options that take advantage of the new opportunities that are or will be available here. Some of those future careers are needed for the lab or med center; but others are for things we'll need with our growing town and also work that could be available through our charities and family business – though not everyone being offered those jobs would know that.

One example would be our need for agricultural engineers and other specialists for advanced technology farming. I haven't been including details of the research at the lab, but Uncle Adam and Ehlana are ready to begin field testing of their first drought and weather resistant designer wheat this year. The Green family farms will be planting those test crops and the lab will pay them regardless of how the crops turn out; but my point here is that we'll need expertise in the fields around here for the test crops and then full-scale production of these new crops for decades to come. Some of my 'farm kid' classmates are on the short list for future grads to be offered those opportunities, so while that isn't imminent for them; it will be something that will be fun for me in a couple of years.

Finally, getting back to the local news for projects that we're not directly involved in; there are just two more items to report. First up, rumor has it that Quarry Lake is doing a major fun upgrade this year. In addition to new water slides; they're apparently building a big rock climbing wall that will be topped by a major-league zip line. I predict that we'll be spending extra time at Quarry Lake if their new attractions are as cool as they sound. Here in town, we'll have another new business opening in time for the Memorial Day weekend – an antique shop. That won't be as exciting for the kids and teens here, but I'm a big fan of restoring and re-using instead of throwing away; so I'm all for having a store like that here in town – even if I won't need to be buying my own furniture for quite a while yet.

There were other topics covered in the meeting, but I think that's enough detail for one update; and nothing else was really current news. Since we'd had a lot to cover, our meeting didn't end until eleven. After seeing our guests out, it was time for me to get to work – starting with my Magi lesson with Mom while Dad took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana into bed. We spent forty-five minutes doing that, and then I came up to my room to get started on my bedtime computing, studying, and family business work. Mom is letting me go back to working and studying the way I want to do it; while reserving the right to step in if she thinks I'm burning out again.

I guess I'll have to figure out how to hide that from her!

Wait, did I write that out loud? ;^)

I'm just kidding, Mom. It's been a long day, but it also felt great to get back to the language studies that are going to be so important for my personal future. The archive studies weren't very exciting tonight; but that needs to be done too – and it's time for me to start learning to do my Magi lessons and education more on my own instead of relying on Mom to control my curriculum all of the time. The family business work was mostly fun tonight; though that was because I chose to play with summer and back-to-school fashions and other 'fun' projects instead of the boring jobs – like reading through business reports or financials.

Without using a time phase, it has taken more than three hours to get through everything; and I'm pretty much ready to doze off as soon as I'm finished this report.

Okay, I'm done; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

It definitely felt as though we were back to life as normal today after the post-holiday buzz at school yesterday. The rain and cooler temperature wasn't much fun for walking to and from school; but we were indoors for most of the rest of the day and the rain didn't get in the way of our school work or practices.

There really wasn't any news from school today, though band practice was fun because Michael, Rowen, and I spent some time talking about the possibility of a Florida trip with some of our band mates and friends before and after practice. I know, the process hasn't even started with the adults for doing that trip, and I don't expect any real news about it for a while; but having the members of the band excited and on-board with the idea will help to convince the parents that it's worth doing.

Having band and teen praise team practices makes for a very busy day, and Michael and I had to rush through dinner and our homework between the two practices. That was at his house again because my family got to have us all last week; and then we had to hurry on to the church with Rebecca for our second-to-last practice for the Easter weekend services. That's mostly for the sunrise service, and Rebecca came along because we were doing a full practice for the Easter program; so most of the teens were there and involved – including Lucas, Tim, and Rowen. Since this was our first time going through all of the music, skits, and the rest of the program; it took more than two hours to get through. Easter is a week from Sunday, though, so we needed to spend the extra time doing that – and we'll be doing a full dress rehearsal next Tuesday night.

That's why I didn't get started on my studies and work at home until a bit after ten o'clock. Michael and I spent a little time saying goodnight to each other on his front porch in between the practice and me getting home; but that wasn't a major delay – even though we were tempted to stay together for a minor make-out session. We're both missing that end-of-day fun that was an option all last week! Instead of going there; let's keep moving along with the report.

Mom, Dad, and the twins were all working in the office when I got home. Ethan and Ehlana kept working on their college studies while Mom switched modes and did my Magi lesson with me; and then three out of five of us were sent up to bed for the night. I took care of getting my brother and sister tucked in for the night on my way up to my room; and then got to work again as soon as I was changed and snuggled in bed with Mandy and my computer. I went with the family business work first, followed by the archive assignment that Mom gave me for tonight; and made my language studies third on the schedule tonight in case I got too tired and needed to skip it. That didn't end up being a problem, and though I am getting tired now; I'm not exhausted or feeling run down.

I'm going to try and stay away from regular or nightly time-phases, but other Magi-powered work and study aids are an option; so I got a lot of work done in a bit less than three hours. There isn't anything exciting to mention from the work or studying. It does feel really great getting back to my full schedule, and the only important fact with this is that the enforced break won't be a big deal in my overall education plan. That's true for both my Magi training and language studies, and while most reading this would expect that the Magi training is most important; my language studies really are going to be just as important to my future.

That's a topic for another night, and I need to wrap this up sooner instead of later; so let's do that.

There wasn't any news via email tonight, and while I did the full nightly computer checks including for Hathorne Industries before getting to this update; there isn't anything particularly interesting to report there either. Gwyneth may be blasting her way through her 'public', home-schooled education, but she didn't go on any spring break trips with Gawain and Kellie; since they were both working all week. We were glad of that; since our trip to Florida might not have been so much fun if the Hathornes had decided to spend a week at Disney and Universal while we were there too.

If you're suddenly picturing a confrontation between the Magi of the Light and Dark in Diagon Alley; you're not the only one. ;^)

Getting back on topic, I guess it's more-correct to report that there wasn't any major news from the Hathornes when it comes to Mom, me, or our family – or personally with Gwyneth. There's always news from around their company; and that's usually all bad – even for those people working for them that believe they're successful or have it made. We do keep trying to do what we can when possible to counter the bad things they're doing around the world, but there are too many times when we can't help at all; and the victories we do have seem small by comparison to all of the bad the Hathornes are involved in. I'm not saying that they're involved in everything bad that happens in the world – just that they're doing way more than their fair share.

Okay, that's enough for tonight. Tomorrow is an after-school work day, so I should be able to have a comparatively early bedtime; but it will still be a long, busy day. If the rain moves out of the area tomorrow, the big story with the kids and teens around here will likely be the start of the work at the park for the new playground. That would have been big news today if the work hadn't been delayed by the rain. Hopefully that will get going before the weekend; since the new playground is supposed to be in and ready to us by the end of May in time for the holiday weekend. The park addition and trails will take a year and change to complete; but that should be ready for next summer – and some of it will be done and usable this year.

Now I really, really am finished, and I'm out of this digital world before I get side-tracked again; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Having a fairly decent weather day didn't make much of a difference for me today other than we didn't have to deal with rain for any walking we did between school and home; and we were able to be outdoors for our lunch break.

The rest of the time, I was indoors and either at school or working in the office at home. I'm sure that doesn't sound very exciting, but I've still had a pretty good day; and it can't be all fun all the time – even for a junior Magi Master! ;^)

I could say the same for the twins, but they did have some fun today. They played at the lab with Mom and Uncle Adam; checked out the park, where the playground remodel did get started today; and had some play time with Naomi and Aiden until school was out and their friends either went home or over to the bakery. Ethan and Ehlana would tell you that their college studies are play time too; though not very many collegians would agree with them on that. There haven't been many college students with the advantages that my brother and sister are blessed with, so it isn't really fair to make that comparison, but I can't say much about their enthusiasm; since I resembled them quite a lot when I was their age and blasting through my own advanced education path.

Okay, maybe I'm still mostly like that when it comes to my Magi lessons and languages studies; but I also have more of a life outside of the work and studying than I did back then. So do they compared to me back when I was three and four; and I'm really glad that they do.

I don't really want to do a long update tonight. There really wasn't anything particularly exciting going on around here today – other than the playground construction and news being very important to the kids and teens. My work and studying tonight was only broken up a bit with a dinner break; and Mom did my Magi lesson last before we went upstairs and got Ethan and Ehlana into bed on our way to our own rooms. Mandy and I were in our bed and tucked in by a bit before eleven; and all I've been doing since then is my usual bedtime computer checks and the archive assignment that Mom gave me to go along with my lesson. I cheated a bit with a time phase for the archive reading, so that didn't take long; and I'll be sleeping before midnight – and happy to have the extra few hours of downtime compared to the past two nights.

Since I'm going to help out at the Inn tomorrow between school and game night, and all of that will make for a late start to my own work and studies; I'll be glad for the bonus time in dreamland tonight when I'm still up and working into the early hours of Friday morning.

In fact, I'm going to get to that right now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, March 26, 2015

It's been a very long day; so I'm going to keep this update very short.

I've pretty much been on the go straight through from morning Tai Chi until now. We had a good day at school, but not very exciting as we've pretty much returned to normal class work as the post-holiday distractions wind down. Michael and I went over to the Inn after school and did our homework there before helping out with the dinner rush. That kept us busy for a few hours; we followed that up with some game night fun with our families and friends; and then I headed home with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana to get started on my work and studies.

That was about four and a half hours ago. Since then, Mom did a Magi lesson with me that Ethan and Ehlana joined in to help with; we did the full bath and bed routine with them after that; and then I came up to my room to start the rest of my work and study time out with some Jacuzzi multi-tasking while I did my archive assignment and language studies. The family business work was next on my to-do list after I was ready for bed and tucked in with Mandy, and I did my last round of computer checks between getting the work done and this journal update.

Maybe none of that sounds exciting to you, reading this someday in my near or distant future; but I still had a pretty good day and the work and most of the studying was both interesting and rewarding. The long days are also tiring, and I need to get sleep when I can or risk a return to parental work and study control so that's it for tonight; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, March 27, 2015

Happy 4th Birthday, Jayden!

Our cousin had a fun day, at least according to the email report that Jaimie and Kaitlyn sent me tonight. They haven't had as much fun with a small gang of three and four-year old boys around from the time they got home from school and a few of them staying for a sleepover. I feel for them; but at least they won't need to deal with co-ed birthday parties with Jayden anytime soon. Sure, Ethan might not be able to have co-ed birthday parties if he didn't also have a twin sister sharing the big day, and I love all of the bonus fun that comes from them playing with all of their friends; but let's not have those little details get in the way of the ongoing opportunities we'll have to tease Ethan and Ehlana about their special social exemption to the usual boy-girl segregation rule! ;^)

Our day here wasn't birthday party exciting, and it stayed fairly cool today too; but we managed to have a good day even if it has been comparatively quiet. It was an uneventful school day too, and then Michael is helping out at the Inn tonight; so I've been hanging out with my parents, Ethan, and Ehlana since getting home from school while he's been busy. Rowen and Tim are busy tonight too; but they're also having more fun than Michael and I are. Let's not get into the details there; and I'll just be happy for my friends – and be just a little jealous.

Ethan and Ehlana were having a friend-free evening too; though that was mostly because Naomi and Aiden need to spend more time this weekend with their parents and sibs after being with us for the past two weekends. I know that Nathan, Hannah, Philip, and Liz were all happy that their kids could do a big trip with us, and they still had their youngest kids at home to keep them entertained; but they still really missed Naomi and Aiden and need to spend extra time with them when they can.

While I didn't need to work tonight; Ethan, Ehlana, and I only went out for a short walk to the park to check out the playground work in progress. That's mostly been a tear-down of the old equipment this week; so we pretty much only got to see less instead of more. The only equipment that is staying and just getting a face-lift will be the swing sets. Everything else is being taken out, and once that's finished; the ground will be re-worked too before the new equipment is installed. Part two of that process is why the playground isn't scheduled for completion until the week leading into the Memorial Day holiday, but the kids around here can always play at the school instead while the park playground is off-limits.

Once we were home again, we mostly hung out with Mom until dinnertime. We played on our computers in the office while she was doing her own work in there; I helped out with making dinner while Ethan and Ehlana continued to do some college assignments; and then we had dinner shortly after Dad got home from the office. He has a fair bit of work to get done this weekend, so he opted to work in the office tonight so that he won't have to work as hard tomorrow or Sunday; so the twins and I decided to hang out with him – and Mom – and do some studying tonight too for a couple of hours. That was fun, but then we came up to the lounge to watch a movie before bedtime; and the twins are now camping out on the sofa in the lounge after falling asleep in there and being too cute to move. Mandy's in there with them; so I'm on my own tonight – and wishing more than a little bit that I had a cuddle buddy too. Michael's going to be back at the Inn for the breakfast rush, though; so he's not available tonight.

I don't really want to think about that cuddle buddy thing, and I'm not quite ready to sleep yet, but that's all I really have for this update; so I'm going to wrap it up and do something else until I am ready to head off to dreamland. Tomorrow is going to be a full workday for chores in and around the house, and that isn't going to be fun compared to our last two weekends, but it will be nice to get some Dad and daughter time even if we will be doing chores while hanging out together. There will, hopefully, be some Michael and me time tomorrow night after he's finished at the Inn for the day, so I won't stay up too much longer tonight. I really don't want to end up being too tired for that and fall asleep before we get around to the good parts of that alone time opportunity.

Then again, an unplanned sofa sleepover might be nice too! ;^)

Now that's a happier thought to end this report with; so that's it for tonight, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, March 28, 2015

We worked all day from before breakfast until we stopped for a late dinner at seven. I've just finished having a shower, and I'm writing this update while doing my hair and getting ready for the rest of my evening; which is hopefully going to include some quality alone time with Michael.

So why am I doing this now instead of after he goes home? Because I'm also hoping that we'll get away with that sofa sleepover I mentioned in my last report – and have been thinking about a lot all day while doing chores around the house and yard. That was especially true during the hours we spent outdoors when I needed to keep some warm, happy thoughts in mind to offset the chilly, hands-on work.

I'll let you know tomorrow whether my planned, un-planned sofa sleepover works out or not, but I'm off to finish getting ready before moving on to watch a show with Ethan and Ehlana while waiting for Michael to join us; so that's all for this little report, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Make-out time with Michael – check!

Sofa sleepover – double check; and amazing!

Gourmet breakfast at Michael's with his parents and Rebecca – Bonus!

There has been lots of work today to go along with all of that fun, but the responsibilities side of my life is easy enough to handle when there's so much fun to go along with the work. I'll get to that part of the news in a moment; since the fun and entertainment parts of the day pretty much all came before the work today.

Michael came over last night in time to catch the last half of the show I was watching with Ethan and Ehlana. We followed that up with a fun little bedtime story and visit with them in Ehlana's room before tucking both of the twins into their beds for the night and moving on to a fairly major make-out session while we didn't watch a fairly bad action movie that shall remain un-named to protect all people involved in the film that probably regret having their names on the list of credits. The film was really just background noise for the main event in the lounge, and I'll rank our play time as extremely hot – and more than a little amusing.

I don't generally want to get into the details of the intimate side of my relationship with Michael – even in this journal; but there are times when comments are appropriate and this is one of them. Michael and I are, after all, one of the few Magi couples in Witch Falls that have been allowed to know about each other before becoming adults; with most of the other few exceptions finding out about each other by accident – and quite a while ago too. I also have the advantage of being allowed to shield on my own so that we can use our gifts without direct adult supervision. Yes, Mom is linked with me, but even she can't sense what I'm using my power for through my shields anymore and never could tell what Michael or Rowen do when I'm hanging out with either of them.

Getting back to my point here, a pair of Magi teens does have some play options that other teens don't; and the amusing part of the fun comes from experimenting with applying those talents to intimate moments. For example, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that most Magi kids at some time during their childhood experiment with using their telekinesis to fasten or open buttons or other clothing fasteners. Getting to do that with a girlfriend or boyfriend is something else completely; and even when it doesn't quite work out as planned the results can be both entertaining and exciting. Experimenting with this aspect of our relationship is going to be really special, and while I imagine the idea alone scares the parents of Magi teens; I hope the council does consider allowing more teen couples to know about each other in the future. Using our Magi gifts together is creating a very special bond between Michael and me, and while I can't suggest that will happen with every teen couple; it is something worth considering.

The hot factor for the teens involved could just be a really awesome added bonus! ;^)

Our timing for the transition from play time to sofa sleepover must have been great too, since Mom and Dad had still been working in the office when Michael and I got around to falling asleep. They did check in on us and take a picture to send along to Miranda; but left us there instead of waking us and sending Michael home. The wake-up call from Ethan and Ehlana was fun, and so was Tai Chi; but the breakfast at Michael's house was definitely the best part of our morning. The amazing food was definitely worth the price of some serious teasing from Miranda and Rebecca; though Michael's sister mostly just wished that she and Lucas could get away with sofa sleepovers too. That really isn't even an option for them most of the time when he needs to be at the farm to help out with the chores pretty much seven days a week.

I'd gotten ready for church between Tai Chi and breakfast, so I was on the kitchen clean-up crew after we ate; and then we walked to church. Today is Palm Sunday, so the service and Sunday school lessons were all about that part of the Easter story. While the message is the same every year, the delivery is always a bit different; and that's particularly true for the kids and teens during Sunday school. For our class, for instance; we're doing a much more technical study of the bible than in previous years since I've been here. That lesson was also short; since we also worked with the other teens to finish up getting our 'sets' and props ready for the sunrise service next Sunday. We had time for that because the service was a bit more than an hour and a half long; which is also why Michael had to head straight for the Inn as soon as we were set free for the day.

It was chilly and we had a spit or three of rain while we were at church; but the afternoon weather was fairly nice and the temperature climbed into the sixties. I went home from church with Mom, Dad, and the twins; we had lunch with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack at our house; and then we all took the afternoon off to play. Naomi and Aiden came to play with us after lunch too; we went for a bike ride; and played at the school playground for a while before returning home and hanging out in the back yard until I needed to get ready and head over to the Inn to help out with the buffet shift. Michael joined us for the tail end of the bike ride and play time at home; so we went to the Inn together; and that's when the work part of my day kicked into high gear.

The dining room at the Inn was packed for both buffets with a bit of overflow worked into the mix; so we were all very busy from the time Michael and I got there until we went home after closing the Inn. We managed to have some fun while working hard; but I don't really have anything newsworthy to report from those hours of prep work and dishwashing. The Magi lesson with Mom shortly after I got home was fun, and so was getting the twins tucked in for the night; but the family business work and studying after I was in bed and cuddling with Mandy wasn't very exciting – probably because I was getting tired by then and did the work because it needed to be done.

As I mentioned, though, the work is worth the effort when the rest of my life is so amazingly fun – even on the days when I'm tired and it's hard to stay motivated. The work for today is finished, and I don't have anything to add to this update; so I am out of here and off to dreamland for a few hours.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, March 30, 2015

Happy 20th Birthday, Jake!

Okay, he was stuck in classes and only got to see Stephanie for a few hours while they had dinner together and also studied all evening; but I'll guess they made up for that on the weekend since there was a distinct lack of detail to Stephanie's last email report for what they'd been doing from Friday night to Sunday night.

We didn't have a birthday party for him here, but I was at Michael's house for dinner; and the meal was definitely party-worthy! There was also a wedding planning meeting after dinner; which is why Stephanie's parents were invited to dinner – and why we waited until after the stores closed to have that meal. That extra time between the end of classes and dinner allowed Michael and I to get our homework done and have a little outdoor play time too so that we could enjoy the nice weather. We did both of those things with Rowen and Tim; and also did our homework outdoors on the back porch at Michael's house. The play time included some biking. We rode around the new section of town; went to the park and around the trail there.

Tim wanted to bike the trail because the word is now out around town about the full plan for the park and new trails, and while the work on the trails hasn't started; he wanted to take a look at where the new section of park is going to be while talking about how cool the new trails were going to be for biking and hiking. He isn't as enthusiastic about the new playground; but I assured him that he can get away with playing there thanks to Ethan and Ehlana without taking a hit to his reputation. We also rode past the med center and back again; but the outdoor work going on there now wasn't all that exciting for the guys; so we pretty much just rode past and back again. I'd love to take an indoor tour of the place; but that'll have to wait a while longer. I'm sure that we will get to see the place as soon as it's far enough along that Uncle Adam, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Deborah can start setting up their new clinic.

Moving along, Rowen and Tim both left for his house when Michael and I needed to be back for dinner; and that meal was great both for the food and getting to spend time with his family and Stephanie's parents. Thanks to everything I've had on the go up to now since Jake and Stephanie got engaged, I haven't been involved in any of the wedding plans or work; but Rebecca and I are both going to be more involved from now on. A lot of the work and appointments need to wait until Stephanie and Violet are home from school for the summer; but there are other jobs to do – like handle the incoming replies from the wedding invitations that have already been sent out.

The planning meeting tonight was mostly about setting up those appointments we'll need starting in May; planning the accommodations for family and friends that will be here for the wedding; and a whole lot of the little details that go into fairly big weddings. In a small town, when you have kids from two of the best-known families getting married; it's definitely a big deal. While the reception will be limited by the amount of space at the Inn; I'll guess that the sanctuary at the church will be packed for the ceremony. Everyone here loves Jacob, Miranda, Stuart, and Samantha; and will be there to help celebrate Jake and Stephanie's big day with them.

Speaking of the happy couple, they were involved in the meeting for a while too, thanks to a little video link with them; but that was fairly short and sweet and just a summary recap once we were nearly finished just to make sure they were good with the plans. Okay, that was all about Stephanie's approval, since Jake is indifferent to the details. As long as he's the groom and Stephanie's the bride; he's good with whatever else is set up for the rest of the day. There were some happy birthday best wishes for Jake too while we were having that chat, but they were both bogged down with work to get done; so we didn't keep them any longer than needed before letting them get back to their studies.

That was okay with me too, since I had a lot of work to get to at home too. It was still after ten by the time I went home; though that was partly because Michael and I did a quick music practice to run through our band and praise team music for our practices tomorrow afternoon and evening. I'm sure that's why Stuart and Samantha stayed and visited with Jacob and Miranda; and they headed for home when I did – after a long round of goodbye hugs and kisses.

I've completely skipped the morning and school day action, but there wasn't really all that much of anything newsworthy to report anyway. Tai Chi and breakfast were both quiet and normal; and other than getting to spend some bonus time outdoors at lunchtime; there wasn't much going on at school worth writing about. My Magi lesson with Mom was entertaining, since we used Ethan and Ehlana as my test subjects in a fairly advanced telekinesis lesson that was more play than work. That was a fun way for the twins to end their day too – especially when my lesson ended once I had them changed, in bed, and tucked in – all done without physical contact.

Mom and I did do the hugs and kisses without Magi power assistance, though; and then I came up to my room to get started on my studies and family business work.

That was more than three and a half hours ago, and I've been working in high gear most of that time. I'm pretty much back in the groove again for my language studies, and that's going very well again; but the family business work tonight was more challenge than fun. We're all doing very well with our business interests, but being successful is often tough work even for a Magi Master; and that was definitely true with what I was doing tonight. I won't bore you with the details, but I was dealing with interests we have in Eastern Europe; and there are some very tough issues to worth through in many of those countries right now.

I should also remind future readers of this journal that our definition of 'success' isn't counted in currency or assets. The money is important, since it allows us to do our charity work; but the two are often tied together; and that's especially true in the countries facing the most difficult human and social challenges.

Getting back to my work tonight, it's tough to deal with bad situations and do the best we can for the people that either do work for one of our business interests or potentially could in the future – especially when our decisions sometimes need to be made due to issues that are out of their control – and ours. I wish that wasn't the case, but if we ever get to a day when all is well in every country; then there won't be any need for our charities or help anyway.

No, I don't expect that's happened in my lifetime – and probably not in yours either – unless you're reading this in the very distant future from my now. It would be nice, though; and just imagine what we might all be able to accomplish if we weren't wasting so much effort on useless and destructive pursuits.

That's enough of a minor rant for today, and I mostly just want to get started on my nap now instead of discussing the idiocies of the world as we know it today. I haven't really even thought about it being a short work and school week with the Easter weekend ahead of us, but it is; and we have a lot to fit into the three days we have left before the holiday weekend. Somewhere in all of the usual busy, I'll also need to find time to help Mom and Dad with the holiday weekend chores too, and while we aren't going to have company at our house all weekend; we will likely have some cousins doing a sleepover or two; since Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and Jayden will be here for the weekend with their parents; and Aunt Deborah's side of the Johnson family will be here too. Everyone else will be away this year; though we expect that for the members of our family with college students that won't be able to be here either. The Memorial Day weekend will likely be bigger for homecoming visits for at least the next five or ten years than Easter will be; but we'll see how that goes.

That really is all of the news I have for today, though; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

March has definitely gone out like a lamb this year!

It was so nice this morning that Tai Chi by the river was an option – and a great way to start the last day of the month! So was having a barbeque dinner tonight; though that was my only chance to enjoy the great weather after school – unless you count walking between school and home and the round-trip to and from the church as outdoor fun.

Lunchtime at school was pretty good, though, and we had two outdoor classes today too that made our school day much more entertaining. The beautiful weather had me wishing that we'd skipped band practice, but I'm glad that we didn't; since quite a few teens did and made it tougher for the rest of us to have a decent practice. That wasn't the case for our teen praise team practice; since we were doing a full dress rehearsal for the sunrise service. That's also why our praise team practice took more than two hours and led to another late start to my 'real' studies and work after I got home again.

I'm really tired out now, so while there were a lot of fun details that went into the major activities of my day; let's just keep this short. Heading off into nap mode is more interesting for me right now than writing about every beautiful or funny moment from our practice at the church – or for the rest of my school, study, or work action. It's an after-school work day tomorrow, so I'll shoot for catching up on my sleep tomorrow night; though if it's as nice out after school again that might be easier to plan than follow through on.

Oops – I almost forgot! Happy 3rd Birthday, Brandon Green! While I had absolutely no involvement with Brandon's big day, Ethan and Ehlana spent some time with him at KidZone while his parents were busy at the garden center. They're not becoming close friends or anything, since Brandon is going to be a year behind them at school; but Brandon does hang out a bit more often with Aiden at KidZone because they're closest in age compared to the twins and Naomi. Heather and Adam had an afternoon party for Brandon; but Ethan and Ehlana weren't invited to it. They were happy to spend the afternoon at the lab anyway and then going out to play in the back yard after getting home; but that's their story for the day so I'll let you read about that first hand in their own journals.

I really want to get into sleep mode; so I'm heading out of cyber-space and moving on to dreamland.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!
April 2015

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Happy April Fool's Day!

I don't have any pranks to leave here in my journal for future Magi entertainment, but I can report that pranks and jokes were a liberal part of the action at school today – and around town too. There still haven't been any pranks directed my way since the no hugging zone posters that were put up around school back during my first year here, but then the pranks around here aren't usually directed at any one person anyway; and nothing is ever mean-spirited.

The bonus entertainment today was fun, but it was another beautiful weather day that I loved the most. Starting the day and month out with Tai Chi by the river was amazing; and it was so nice outside this afternoon that I didn't start in on my after-school work night until after dinner and instead spent that time playing with Ethan and Ehlana. That was a switch, since Michael, Tim, and Rowen were all good little teens and didn't try to skip out on their part-time jobs; but then they've also likely been sleeping for a while now too while I've stayed up later than usual for a Wednesday night to catch up on that work I missed earlier.

Having the play time with the twins was worth the extra effort tonight. We biked; played in the back yard; and basically just goofed off until it was time for me to give Mom a hand with making dinner. We had that meal outdoors too, and that was really great; but then it was time to clean up and return to the real world where we all have responsibilities that can't be put off indefinitely.

It isn't really late right now, but it is after one; and I've had enough fun for today. The work and studying went pretty well tonight, and even with all of the work; we managed to keep entertained while hanging out together in the office all evening. Mom took turns with the twins and me for our Magi lessons, but we all stayed in the office and worked until eleven o'clock before she ordered Ethan and Ehlana – and Dad and me – off to bed.

She made that order for Dad sound like an April Fool's Day joke, but I'm fairly sure they aren't warding their room so that they can play pranks on each other. ;^)

Yes, anything more than that would be too much information; so let's wrap this up. While I'd finished my family business work by then, I still had some language studying and my archive assignment to do after getting changed and in bed with Mandy. That took an hour and a half or so, and I've been doing my bedtime computer checks since then – and taking care of a bonus family business job that came up during my email check. There won't be a game night at the Inn tomorrow ahead of the holiday weekend, but I will be busy giving Mom a hand with some work she wants to get done ahead of the weekend fun; so it'll still be a long, busy day.

We're going to be very busy all weekend too, so I'd better head off to sleep now while I can get the rest.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Having a three-day weekend just two weeks after March Break feels a bit strange, but I'm not complaining; and it's really nice to be done school for the week a day early.

My day started out with another Tai Chi by the river workout, and then Michael stayed for breakfast before hurrying off to school for the usual morning weight training with Tim. Normally, I'd add 'the other guys', but in this case; they were on their own because the rest of their usual gang skipped the workout today. A lot of the kids and teens seemed to be absent at school today too; though we were pretty much all there – physically. That made it tough for our teachers to keep us focused on lessons; and we really didn't get a lot accomplished – unless you count having fun all day as an accomplishment.

Tim's football buddies might have skipped out on him for weight training, but he didn't have a problem with getting two teams together for a scrimmage at lunchtime; so Rowen and I sat on the bleachers with some of our girlfriends and watched the action. Playing the game too had been an option, but while I don't have a problem with getting dirty; I wasn't dressed for football; and it's a pain to get dirt and grass stains out of pastels – even for a Magi Master! ;^)

Getting a dash or two or rain this morning made that decision easier too; though it was nice enough again by lunchtime. It was nice out after school too, but I couldn't skip out on the work again today because I was helping Mom and Aunt Leanne with getting ready for the weekend. That was okay, since Rowen, Tim, and Michael were all helping their parents too – either at home or the store, shop, or Inn; and we had fun with the work too. That could be because we did a lot of it with a bit of Magi power assistance. Whether we were cleaning bedrooms and getting them ready for guests or pre-cooking a few meals for the weekend; using our Magi gifts to speed up the work was a blast – and Aunt Leanne even let Zack play with us a bit too. He preferred trying to float cookies from the counter to his hands over using his telekinesis to work with veggies; and thought that it was a lot of fun to try and sneak the cookies past Aunt Leanne or Mom. They did let him succeed a couple of times; though that was more to keep him busy while he ate his little prizes than to keep him interested in the little game that also helped to exercise his Magi talents.

We had dinner together too, since a lot of that work happened at Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam's house; so Dad came over after work and used the barbeque to grill some chicken, burgers, and hot dogs, and by then; we had lots of cold salads to go along with the meat options. While Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne have all of their inbound family staying with them this weekend, none of the Johnsons arrived until later this evening; so we were all able to go next door to Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace's house for a visit after Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, and the kids got to town along with Grandpa Duncan and Grandma Mercy. They were able to leave as soon as Jaimie and Kaitlyn were finished school; and managed to make good time getting here too.

That visit was fun, and while I'd love to have the rest of our family here too; it is nice to be able to spend some time with only part of our family when it isn't so busy that there isn't really a chance for more than cameo moments with each person. In addition to visiting, we also went for a little walk around the new section of town so that Uncle Blaine could see the progress there with the construction; though there really wasn't much of a change since Christmas for brand-new projects. He's been an architect for quite a while now, but he still has that little-boy excitement when it comes to seeing his designs come to life; and it's fun to see how much he obviously loves his job. We didn't go over to the med center too; but he could see the river side of the building from our side of the river; and he'll probably go over there sometime tomorrow or Saturday.

While the family fun was great, it was also nice to come home to the comparative quiet when it was time to get Ethan and Ehlana into bed for the night – at the same time that Aunt Alison wanted to get Jayden off to bed too.

I helped out with the bedtime story and getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night; and then came up to bed while Mom and Dad decided to do a bit of work in the office first – mostly because Dad doesn't want to have a pile of work to do on Sunday night. While I was ready to get changed and into bed with Mandy too, I've also been doing some work and studying too; since it wasn't that late yet when I started – at least compared to most of my nights this week.

There isn't anything important to report from any of that, though; and I'm definitely ready to sleep now. We've got the Good Friday service at church in the morning before moving on to a weekend of family and friends adventures. The best part of that is going to be spending a lot of that time with Michael; since the Inn will be closed both tomorrow and Sunday – as will all of the stores in town. I'll save the daily fun details for each journal update – not to be cryptic or anything; but only due to the fact that I've had enough for today and want to get some sleep now.

With that at the top of my to-do list now, I'm out of here; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, April 3, 2015

It seems to be completely wrong to be sitting here tonight and writing this journal update with my first thought being that we had a really good day considering the event we were commemorating this morning; but the truth is that we have had a really good day.

I'm sure that other people have thought the same thing today, but this is something that actually is quite different for Magi Masters because of our connection with God on the higher plane. No, today isn't the exact anniversary, and even if it was; it isn't as though God has the same need for acknowledging the occasion. Our connection goes both ways, though; so the strangeness comes from that – even as I also know He understands. That's a bit heavy for a start to a daily report, but then this is one of the annual holidays that are supposed to be solemn anyway.

Mother Nature seemed to agree with that sentiment; and it always seems appropriate to me when it rains for the Good Friday service at church. Again, I'll be honest and admit that I was also happy to have the rain wrap up in the morning and get to enjoy a nice, mostly-sunny afternoon; though it was also cooler today with the temperature only climbing into the fifties. The rain kept us indoors for Tai Chi; and the rest of our morning before going to church was quiet with just the five of us there after Michael went home again. We went with a snack breakfast; got ready for church; and then drove there so that Mom, Ehlana, and I didn't have to walk very far in the rain. Ethan could have avoided that too; but he opted to keep Dad company instead and they both got a bit damp even with using an umbrella for the walk between where they parked the minivan and the church.

The service was as somber as always and both simple and short. I've thought about that now and then over the years too, and though the weight of significance and effort that we put into Easter Sunday over Good Friday doesn't make sense considering that the crucifixion is the event that saved us; it isn't a surprise that we choose to celebrate the resurrection much more enthusiastically than we acknowledge the horror that we – humans – inflicted on Jesus.

Okay, I'm not going to continue on that train of thought; but I'm also going to keep this short and not shoot for a big happy report either.

After the service, I went home to get changed first, and then went over to Michael's house to have lunch with his family – including the Bassetts. That was a potluck culinary adventure, and Michael and I had a lot of fun with everyone – especially with Jessica, Ryan, and Sophia. Our afternoon play time was split up between my family and Michael's; though we took his three younger cousins along with us for some play time with Ethan, Ehlana, and my cousins when we went over to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's to hang out there for the second half of our afternoon.

While we had some outdoor play time, we ended up spending most of the afternoon indoors. That meant video games and other toy and games action; and Michael and I were semi-officially on kid control duty a lot too. His cousins went home for dinner, but Michael and I stayed for the Proctor-Carrington-Johnson families dinner. That was another potluck meal, and fairly easy too; since most of the dishes had been pre-cooked and only needed to be warmed up. While we got to play for most of the afternoon; teens and older kids were on the clean-up crew after dinner while most of the adults got to take it easy and wind down; and then we had a bit more play time until it was time to split up and head home for the night.

We've got Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and Jayden staying with us tonight, so Michael and I helped out with getting them ready to go and overnight bags packed at Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace's house while Mom, Dad, and the twins went on home ahead of us. Michael then came home with us too; but he only stayed long enough for the bedtime snack and story action because he needs to be up early for the breakfast buffet at the Inn in the morning. Jayden went to bed when Ethan and Ehlana did, and after saying goodnight to Michael out on the front porch; I came up to the lounge to hang out with Jaimie and Kaitlyn and have a nice long girl chat with them while we watched some music videos and wound down from our busy day. They're both sleeping now; and I've been doing my nightly computing since they went off to bed.

It's supposed to be a warmer, sunnier day tomorrow, and we have a lot of fun booked; so I'm just going to wrap this up and head off to sleep. Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

P.S. Happy 35th Birthday, Owen! Michael and I gave him a gift this morning while we were at church, but I won't suggest that he's had an amazing birthday adventure because I know that he wanted everyone to keep it low-key this year because it fell on Good Friday; but I do hope that he's had a good day too.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Happy 2nd Birthday, Hailey!

Aiden's little sister had an amazing start to her birthday today; and I know that for sure because we were there for a lot of the fun. We weren't invited to the party or anything, but Mom and Dad opted for taking us to the breakfast buffet at the Inn today instead of feeding all of us at home; and Hailey and Aiden were there too with some of their family. Their parents were busy at the bakery by then, since the day before Easter is very busy for them; but grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were all willing to help Hailey out with the breakfast buffet fun – and a lot of kids were in town for another Easter weekend event.

That would be the first annual Easter Egg Hunt in the park that the BMR lab sponsored. Before I get to that part of the update, though; let's back up and cover the early morning story first.

It was cold this morning – barely above freezing; so Tai Chi was indoors again today. As I mentioned with the last report, Michael was working at the Inn this morning; so we were one short for our workout. That time was the quiet before the storm of activity that kept us busy while everyone got up and ready to go out to the Inn and on to the Easter Egg hunt from there. Mom, Ehlana, and I had fun playing dress-up and doing hair with Jaimie and Kaitlyn; though two of the boys were not impressed that we took so long getting ready – especially when we had a short wait at the Inn before we could be seated for the buffet. Fortunately for Ethan and Jayden, we're fairly good friends with the owners of the Inn; and Miranda gave them each a mini cinnamon bun to keep them happy until we were able to fill plates and sit down to eat.

I went into the kitchen to say good morning to all of my favorite people there, and though Michael got teased about our fairly enthusiastic hug and kisses; he seemed happy enough when he got back to work and I left to re-join my family in the dining room. The breakfast buffet isn't the culinary adventure that the dinners always are, but there are always one or two special dishes to go along with the staple breakfast foods; and I enjoyed trying them out along with my usual favorites – and didn't have a problem with joining most of our group for a second trip to the buffet tables.

Yes, there are advantages to having a hyper-metabolism!

Working off the extra food wasn't a problem today anyway; since we wandered around town and did a bit of shopping until it was time to go over to the park for the Easter Egg Hunt. There were lots of Easter sales going on in the stores, and while I didn't need any new outfits; one dress and a pair of shoes refused to let me go home without them – and most of the other women in our family had the same problem. I'm including all of the girls because most of them were out shopping this morning too – even though they didn't join us for the breakfast buffet. We didn't all try to shop together, but Aunt Grace and Aunt Alison did join us; and we bumped into everyone else at least once while making our way around town.

The shopping did mean making a pit stop at home to drop off our purchases on the way to the park; and then it was time to play again. I haven't mentioned the Easter Egg Hunt in my journal, but the Moms in our family came up with the idea of doing a bigger hunt this year that all of the kids in the area could do; and the town council didn't have a problem with the plan once they found out that it was all-expenses paid by BMR. Even with the cool temperatures this morning, we had a great turnout; and Aunt Grace and the other volunteers had put together an amazing couple of hours of fun for everyone. I had a blast too, since I got to run around with Zack, Leah, Hailey, and some of the other younger cousins and friends. I ended up with the small gang of toddlers because the KidZone friends wanted to hunt for eggs together, and Robyn wanted to hang out with Leah. I had lots of help with the kids; including having Jaimie and Kaitlyn hanging out with us while also hunting for eggs too.

There were more than five hundred people at the park, and about a half and half mix of adults and kids. The volunteers had hidden thousands of eggs, so each kid was easily able to find at least a dozen eggs; even with the over-achievers running around and gathering as many as they could find – or until their baskets were full. Every egg had a treat of some sort; and then there were also several hundred 'prize' eggs that the kids took to a booth to trade in for the toy or candy that they won by finding those special eggs. We made sure that all of the kids in our group found at least one of those eggs; and I'm fairly sure that the volunteers helped to make that happen for every kid – even if they basically had to drop one right beside certain kids that weren't having much luck in the hunt. I can report for sure that there were not any unhappy kids by the end of the event; and we definitely had a fired up gang of kids with us when we went home again by shortly before noon.

We had a barbeque lunch at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's for everyone and a play afternoon in the combined Carrington-Everett back yards; but the entertainment highlight of the afternoon for me was the optional trail ride that only a handful of us went on. Rowen, Tim, and Michael all got to go with us for that, which was awesome; and Jaimie was happy to come with us this year – even though Kaitlyn didn't get to do the trail ride despite really wanting to ride too.

Maybe we'll see about getting her into some lessons this summer when they come to visit so she'll be able to ride with us later this year.

Michael had the afternoon off because of helping out in the morning, but he also needed to be back at the Inn again right after our ride so that he could help out with the dinner buffets. I could have helped out at the Inn today too, but didn't; and instead chose to spend the time with my family. Miranda and Jacob had the full staff available thanks to the two holidays; so I wasn't really needed anyway. When we got back from the ranch, it was play time in the back yard; and I played everything at least once, including a game of Frisbee and a short, toddler-sized soccer match. I was also on kid control until dinnertime; and then got to have that meal with the grownups while other adults dealt with getting the younger kids fed and watered.

That was fun, and I got to spend some quality time with Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Grace. We talked about the construction and work at the lab a bit; but mostly I got to hear about life in Granite Park for a while and we discussed plans for the spring and summer. After wrapping up our meal with some ice cream and apple pie, it was time for some of us to get to work; and I was on the clean-up crew with half of the parents while the kids kept the rest of the adults busy and entertained. It was time to start winding down after that, and we all had quiet evenings at home scheduled ahead of what is sure to be a long, very busy Easter Sunday.

Ethan, Ehlana, and I went home with Mom and Dad at seven-thirty, and while Mom and Dad needed to do some work in the office; I helped Ethan and Ehlana to get ready for bed and then we came up to the lounge to watch a movie while waiting for Michael to join us once he was finished at the Inn. He was set free early, and only missed the first twenty minutes of the show – and cuddle time with me. The rest of that time with my brother and sister was fun, and so was getting them tucked in for the night after that; but the alone time with Michael was the highlight of the night for me – and hopefully for him too!

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay together and play for hours because we need to be at the church very early for the sunrise service; but we did have as much fun as we could with the time available. Michael went home at eleven; Mom and Dad wrapped up their work in the office then; and then I helped them out with playing the Easter Bunny before we came up to our rooms for the night. That was another little blast of fun; but I was ready to hop into bed by then and Mandy was already there waiting for me to join her.

I've only done the basic computer checks tonight, and there wasn't any family business work that needed to be done tonight; so I'm actually going to be sleeping before midnight. That's a good thing; since I need to get up by four-ish and be at the church for five to get set up for the service. Yes, I could push that back a bit and use a time phase to help out with getting ready in the morning; but then it would be easier to do a self-healing when I'm tired.

If I just get to the napping, I won't need to do either, though; so that's all for tonight folks, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Happy Easter!

Our day started out very early; Michael, Rowen, Rebecca, and I walked to the church together and were there in time to help with the work and warm-ups; and then we had an amazing hour and a half of Easter immersion while leading the sunrise service.

We had a bit of Easter Bunny fun before I left for the church, but I actually missed out on most of that; since I really needed to hurry to get showered and ready for the day. Mom, Dad, and the twins had more time to play; but only because we all skipped Tai Chi this morning and only had snacks for breakfast since we were having the pancake breakfast at the church between services. My snack was a pair of chocolate bunny ears.

The sunrise service was really amazing, and the highlight for Michael and I was our duet; though everything really was special – and I especially loved watching the parts that my best friends helped out with. Tim has a real gift for skits, and while Rowen is still comparatively shy; she had fun with her parts in the skits – and also helped out a bit here and there with some flute playing for a couple of the songs. I don't mention it often enough; but Rowen really is a very talented flautist. Not very many people in town actually know that, since she isn't interested in the spotlight that goes along with solos, but trust me; she really is quite gifted.

Let's not go into the details of the service, since it was recorded and available to watch if you're interested in watching it; and instead keep the report moving along. While I loved being part of the sunrise service, we – the teens – didn't have time to take a break after the service because we needed to get into work mode for the pancake breakfast. I'm sure nobody will be surprised to know that Michael had a leadership role in the kitchen – or that his job was on the cleanup side of the action there. I helped out with the cooking at first; moved on to being one of the servers; and wrapped up with some dishwashing – doing two rotations of those jobs for the first and second breakfast sittings.

All of that work was a blast even with all of the busy and effort we put into it. Most of the teens ate on the fly, and while I missed out on it; my family was collectively at the second sitting; and some of them used the break time to head home and work on the Easter dinner cooking that was in progress at four homes. The clean-up wasn't finished by the time the regular Sunday service started, but Michael and I couldn't stay in the kitchen to finish up because we were helping out with some of the music for that service – the little encore that the teen praise team did for the benefit of the members of our congregation that couldn't make it to the sunrise service for various reasons.

It was past-noon by the time we were on our way home, but that didn't mean a slowdown in the action. Michael and I split up so that we could get changed, but then he came over to my house in time to help with moving our dinner contributions over to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's house. We didn't have dinner with my family today because both family meals were booked for the same time today, and since I got to spend most of the day with my family yesterday; it only seemed fair that Michael and I have the Easter dinner with his family.

The gourmet food options that Jacob contributed to the meal did not in any way sway our decision on that – honest! ;^)

We did split our time between my family and his this afternoon, though; and we were on kid control and playing with our siblings and cousins pretty much all afternoon. It's been another really nice afternoon; so we spent a lot of that time outdoors; and there were always extra kids or teens out playing with us. The Bassett-Stone family meal was the highlight of my afternoon, and while the food really was awesome; it was getting the time together with Michael's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that I really loved the most.

Nearly everyone I know in town was having mid-afternoon meals so that visiting family and friends could hit the road for home early enough to not be driving late into the night. Michael and I were on the clean-up crew after dinner, so I missed out on the packing work going on with my family, but we were finished in time to get in on the goodbye hugs and kisses – along with just a little more play time with my cousins before they were rounded up and loaded into cars, minivans, or SUV's when it was time to leave. The goodbyes took a while, since we're not going to see most of the visitors this weekend until sometime this summer – either on the Fourth of July holiday or later.

It was going on six o'clock by the time all of our guests had left and Michael and I had done a post-visit recap with my parents, aunts, and uncles. We headed over to his house after that; and I spent the rest of the evening there with his parents and Rebecca. That few hours was all about winding down from a crazy-busy day to that point; though the busy in my day wasn't over yet. After that wonderfully quiet break, it was time for me to get back into work and study mode once I was home. Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana had all done work or studying in the office while I was gone; and Mom switched to Magi teacher mode as soon as I got back and joined them there at nine-thirty.

We worked on Transmutation exercises for an hour; I took care of the bedtime action for Ethan and Ehlana; and then came up to my room to do a nice long soak in my Jacuzzi while multi-tasking my family business work. I did the work first in case I got too tired out to do my archive homework and language studies, but despite the really long day; I was apparently still fired up enough to get everything done tonight – though it's past three-thirty now and I am finally, completely worn out and ready to sleep.

There are a lot of little details that I won't go into tonight – like the fun little gift exchange that Michael and I did before the sunrise service. The only message I want to include for all of those special little moments is that we've had a wonderful Easter, and if filling the day with joy and love is the goal; we definitely did that and then some!

I really need to get into nap mode, but let's take a quick look at the week ahead before doing that. Compared to Easter Bunny fun and excitement, we should be in for a quiet week – or at least some of us can look forward to that. Rowen's parents, for instance, will be in tax mode from now until tax day; and Rowen may help out more at the store if they need her to do that. There are a couple of birthdays coming up this week too, though I won't have much involvement in Patrick's birthday fun, and while Gil is a friend; his birthday is on Sunday and Michael and I will be helping out with the buffets at the Inn next weekend while his birthday dinner will be going on at the Inn. We'll be starting new study modules in most of our classes at school too; and we'll be in work mode in our classes now that we're starting a seven-week long stretch until the next holiday weekend.

Okay, that's enough for now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, April 6, 2015

Easter is history now, but the legacy of chocolate overload continued today – at least at school it did.

That's also pretty much the only news story for school today too – that there were a lot of kids and teens in hyper-active mode thanks to the candy and chocolate infusions. Getting their students interested in their studies was a challenge for some of our teachers today, but the supplies of Easter sweets are already seriously depleted; so it shouldn't be long before nearly everyone is back to normal.

Yes, that does include me; but only because I'm almost always hyper-active anyway. ;^)

While I don't have much news from school, we did have a pretty good day. The weather was nice enough too, though we're getting rain overnight along with thunderstorms rolling through the region here and there. The farmers are glad for the rain, and the rest of us will be happy if we get that rain for them at night and have the nice weather during the day. Having lunch outdoors was great, and for that matter; so was Tai Chi by the river this morning. As usual, Tim wanted to toss a football around at lunchtime, though they didn't get an actual game going today; and it was a co-ed game of catch.

Having some play time after school would have been nice, but we were loaded down with new assignments and projects today; and three out of four of the members of our little study group wanted to get on that work right away. We did that study session at Michael's house tonight; Rowen and Tim stayed until shortly before dinner was ready; and then they moved on to Tim's house for the rest of the evening – mostly because Rowen's parents are doing extended store hours for tax season. I'm sure that the bonus teen time for two was just a great added bonus for them – just as it was for Michael and me.

I'm feeling a bit guilty about that tonight – not because Michael and I got to have some alone time tonight; but because Rebecca and Lucas have not been getting much time together at all. Rebecca liked the idea of a teen night and sleepover at my house this weekend when I suggested it, and I already have parental approval for the plan; so now it's just a matter of inviting everyone and then doing the work to get ready for it so that Mom doesn't have more work on her plate.

On that train of thought, let's take a little side trip. I'll invite Jenny and Lance, but they may not be a couple by then if what Rebecca told Miranda and me tonight is any indication. I knew that Jenny wasn't happy yesterday at church, but she was pretending not to be; and I didn't get a chance to talk to her about anything beyond Easter and the action around the church. Lance apparently refused to do anything with her in Witch Falls this past weekend, and while she did spend some time with him in Maple Valley; she's hit her limit of putting up with the one-sided nature of their relationship. Rebecca's prediction is that Jenny and Lance are done already; and it's just a matter of one of them making it official. Either way, it doesn't sound as though Jenny will be broken up about it at all, and from my perspective; I'd say this will definitely be Lance's loss – not that I think that they're a very good match in the first place.

Moving along, after a big food weekend, we just had a light, easy dinner; and then it was play time after dinner. Michael and I went for a walk with his parents while Rebecca went to hang out with some friends; we followed that up with an hour of music time; tacked on a fun little make-out session after that; and then wrapped up our evening with a nice visit in the living room with Miranda and Jacob before I needed to be home at nine-thirty.

Since getting back here, I did my Magi lesson with Mom; tucked Ethan and Ehlana in for the night; and then spent the last three and a half hours working on my studies and family business jobs while cuddling in bed with Mandy. I don't have any news to add for any of that busy, and I'm seriously ready for some down time now; so that's it for tonight, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Let's make this a short update. It's late, and while I've had a really good day; I'm past-ready for some nap time.

School was good, the weather has been warm but wet, and while we had band practice as normal after school; we were given a week off from teen praise team practice now that we have until the Memorial Day weekend for our next Sunday service. I brought Michael home with me after band practice; we had dinner with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana; and then spent the rest of the evening doing our homework and playing. The play time included a Magi lesson with Mom and some video gaming with the twins before they went to bed. From my perspective, the highlight of the evening was the alone time with Michael in the lounge after we had my brother and sister tucked in for the night; though that's also why I got such a late start to my studies and family business work.

Michael went home at eleven and I got to work after getting changed and snuggled in bed with Mandy. Compared to the make-out time, the work and studying wasn't memorable even if it is more important in the grand scheme of things; so I won't bore you with the details. I'll use that bit of extra time for sleeping, and starting that part of my night right now sounds really good; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

We were able to dodge the rain and be outdoors for Tai Chi this morning thanks to the warm that's been hanging out with the rain so far this week; but I've pretty much been indoors for the rest of the day except for the walks to and from school. It was an indoor day at school too; which put a bit of a damper on the fun there.

My after school adventures were occasionally fun, but the best part of our mid-week work night is that I'm finished all of my studies and family business jobs already and will be sleeping by shortly after eleven o'clock! That might not sound like much fun for most teens, but after a few late nights; I'm ready for the down time. I also don't really have any news to report from any of the studying or work, but before I wrap this up; there is one little teen drama news flash that I should include.

Jenny and Lance have officially broken up. That was, apparently, finalized sometime last night; and Jenny seemed fairly happy today with just a tinge of sad. I really hope that she was joking about the two things she'll miss most about Lance, since one of them was his car; and the other was something I really didn't need to know about her ex-boyfriend. I will give Jenny some points for not bad-mouthing Lance today with the girls – or if she did do that; I didn't hear about it.

There were at least a few guys around school that were very interested in the fact that Jenny is now available. I'll wish them luck with that, but it's also very unlikely that she'll be dating any of the hometown guys. The only boys at our school that she'd be interested in are too much older and already taken. ;^)

Anyway, instead of writing a volume or two on Jenny's preferences in men, I'd rather be sleeping right now; so I'm going to get to that right now. With game night tomorrow, dinner and a movie night on Friday, and our teen sleepover on Saturday; this could be my only chance for a full night of rest until next Wednesday.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Happy 12th Birthday, Patrick!

Michael and I had a birthday present for him, and we saw him at school a couple of times today; but that was pretty much the entire extent of my involvement in his big day. While he was having a birthday party at home that was mostly chaperoned by his grandparents; I spent most of my late afternoon and early evening at the Inn with Michael and his family. Rowen and Tim helped out with Patrick's party too, and I chatted with Rowen on our computers a little while ago, so I know they had fun tonight; but she's also glad that Scott's the only other male tween still at the house now after hours of way too much guy tweird for one day. Yes, Patrick and Scott have been a lot better than they used to be, but even they backslide now and then when part of the gang with the rest of their buddies.

Moving along, the daily rain is getting old fast, but the continuing warm is nice; and we were able to be outdoors for Tai Chi this morning even if it was a bit too wet for much outdoor fun at lunchtime. Weather does bring down the mood around school, so I'm looking forward to that improving sooner instead of later – no matter how much the farmers want the rain after not getting as much snow as they wanted over the winter. That sentiment would likely sound funny to anyone from regions in the country that had record snowfall this year; but then I'm sure the states that have drought issues would have settled for the snow and rain we've had – and dreamed of getting feet of snow to fill near-empty reservoirs.

That's gone a bit off-track, and my point was only meant to be about the emotional effect of weather on kids and teens. We're basically a self-centered group; and prefer our weather sunny, hot, and conducive to outdoor fun that also allows for summer-weather clothing. Sure, winter is okay for playing sometimes too, but even then; we prefer sunny over stormy any day. Since I seem to be rambling, I must be more tired than I feel – which is really tired; so let's try to get back to the actual news from today.

We are definitely back to lessons as usual at school, and I suppose it's' possible that the lower enthusiasm level around the place today is partly caused by the lowering sugar levels in most of the students as the Easter candy supplies run out. Whatever the reason, though, I'm sure that our teachers are glad that we're actually getting some work accomplished – something they'll be pushing us to do pretty much through until the end of the school year with a short pause for the Memorial Day weekend.

Since Rowen and Tim were busy tonight, Michael and I went straight to the Inn and did our homework there. We weren't alone for that because Rebecca and Jenny were there too. Michael heard way more than he wanted to about Jenny's break up with Lance while we studied together; but Jenny just thought that it was funny every time she could get him blushing. I haven't mentioned Jenny at the Inn very often for months now because she's pretty much only helped out there when it was convenient for her dating and social schedule, but she did stay and help out tonight; and plans on doing that more now – and wants one of the summer jobs there too this year. I'm glad that we'll be spending more time together again; while that news seemed to scare Michael just a bit.

It wasn't a very busy dinner rush tonight, so neither Jenny or I really needed to be there to help out, but that did make the work a little bit easier for everyone; and Michael and I were also able to take a longer break for dinner too before helping out with the clean-up while Rebecca and Jenny got to do game night set-up in the dining room. The gaming turnout was light too, which definitely had something to do with why Michael and I won the junior title tonight. Not having the normal crowd allowed us to finish up with the games a bit early too; though we didn't really get home any earlier because we helped with the clean-up and had a little visit with the Stones before Mom, Dad, Ethan, Ehlana, and I walked home with Michael and his family too.

Getting teased about our goodnight hug and kisses was an entertaining little cameo moment that wrapped up the play time part of my night; and then it was time to get to work once we were home – at least for three out of five of us. Dad needed to get right to work, so Mom and I took care of getting the twins into bed for the night; and then she did my Magi lesson with me in the living room so that we wouldn't bother Dad with a combo telekinesis and elements lesson that involved fire, water, and multiple moving objects.

Yes, it was a fairly cool lesson; though it was real work too. While the cool – or hot – was in the what Mom had me doing; the lesson was actually all about developing my ability to juggle multiple Magi talents simultaneously with increasing levels of difficulty. If there were actually any non-Magi reading this someday in the future, trust me; what Mom has me doing is tough. Try juggling a couple of dozen balls; lighting them as you toss them in the air; putting the fire out and cooling each of them down before grabbing them to throw them into the air and repeat the process. Then, while you're at that, if you miss and get burned; administer first aid to yourself while continuing the hot and cold juggling. Add in doing all of that while walking across a bed of hot razor blades; and you're getting close to the kind of multi-tasking that Mom's coming up with for me these days.

Fun, right? ;^)

Okay, maybe that analogy was over the top, and my lessons are usually a lot of fun; but I'm sure you get my point. That Magi play time was also the last of the fun for me because I came up to my room and got to work after that while Mom joined Dad in the office to do some of her own family business work. The text-chat time with Rowen was an entertaining, but I can't really call that a break in the work because I kept up with my language studying while doing that with her. I'm sure she's been sleeping for hours by now since she was heading off to sleep when we ended that chat more than three hours ago. After about seven hours of full-immersion into tween guy land, though; I'm only surprised that she managed to stay awake until I had my computer fired up and was online too. The studying, archive research, and family business work has been fairly normal for a weeknight, but I did work a bit harder tonight because I had things to get done ahead of the weekend that I didn't want to leave until Sunday night or next week sometime.

That's why I used a bit of extra Magi power to get all of that done – and why I'm running on empty now. I don't have anything else to add to this report, though, so getting to the sleeping part of my night is an option now – and one that I'm going to choose starting in about two minutes.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, April 10, 2015

Michael, Rebecca, Rowen, and Tim all worked tonight or had other chores that they decided to do tonight so that we can all hang out together tomorrow night and have our sleepover. That's why I was free for a family night at home, and while I would have loved to share that fun with Michael; I managed to keep entertained while he was busy at the Inn.

Dinner and a movie night was at our house this week, and we had a full aunts, uncles, and cousins turnout. The entertainment started out shortly after Aunt Leanne came over after work and the baby needed a bit of prenatal attention that Mom let me get involved with. Mom's prenatal training program is developing as she gets more experience with my cousins and a few other Magi mothers and babies; but the level of success is quite dependent on the Magi potential of the baby. My newest, unborn cousin is showing a lot of potential; she's very active; and outgoing enough that she happily allowed me in on the empathic link she's already sharing with Aunt Leanne, Uncle Adam, Mom, and the twins. Ethan and Ehlana are fairly new to linking with the baby too, but since they are with Mom a lot; they've also been around for quite a few of the prenatal sessions that she's been doing with Aunt Leanne since the baby became empathically active.

Compared to that fun, cooking dinner wasn't as exciting; though there was some multi-tasking there. Dad, Uncle Nick, Leah, Aunt Grace, and Caleb were all able to join us fairly early; but Aunt Deborah, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Adam were a bit late getting away from the clinic so we started dinner nearly a half-hour later than planned. We've had a mostly-sunny day, but the temperature dropped back to something closer to seasonal; so we were indoors for dinner. I was on kid control during the meal, and missed out on most of the adult conversation while I was busy keeping up with Ethan, Ehlana, Zack, and Leah. That worked out okay for me when I also got to keep the four kids entertained between dinner and the start of the movie instead of cleaning up; and then I had alternating cuddle buddies during the movie too while the adult couples snuggled together – and usually had at least one baby or toddler to cuddle with as they took turns helping out with all of the kids.

None of that sounds all that exciting as I write it down, but we did have a really good night; and I loved the family time that we don't seem to manage to fit into our collective schedules very often lately. Now that all of my aunts and uncles have young kids, movie night doesn't run late; and all of our guests were on the way home by a bit after ten o'clock. I did the bedtime routine with the twins after that; and came up to my room once they were tucked in. Some Jacuzzi time was an option then; and I multi-tasked some family business work and language studying while having my soak in the tub. I didn't actually need to do that tonight, but putting in the extra work was an option; so I did that instead of just goofing off for an hour.

That's pretty much all of the news from the play time tonight, but before I wrap this up; let's do a quick review of the morning and school day news. As I mentioned, it was cooler today despite the sun and no rain. Though it was really too cold to be outdoors for Tai Chi first thing this morning, we bundled up and went out anyway. It's tough to switch back to being indoors once spring arrives, and I am glad that we went out to the river; but it was too cold and the warm clothes and exercise weren't enough to off-set that today.

Maybe that's why Mom opted for a hot breakfast and drinks, but whatever the reason for that; Michael was happy to change his plans and join us for that meal instead of starting his day out with Pop Tarts or a breakfast bar on his way to morning weight training with the guys. After that great little start to our day, it was time for another adventure in high school academics for the teens in our little group while Dad went to work and Mom took Ethan and Ehlana over to the lab to spend the morning there with Uncle Adam while she did some computer work in the archive.

I haven't mentioned the archives progress lately, but that is coming along on schedule. That means that we still have about three years of travel and work to do before all of the archives around the world have been moved here; but that's a job that Grandpa Grant and Grandma Eleanor are happy to lead for us – especially when it comes to the world travel part of the job! Roughly, though, that means that we're closing in on having a quarter of the archives here now; and Mom and Ethan are having a lot of fun with the work they're doing with those books, scrolls, and the rest as they receive and organize everything. That work here will take decades; and we all hope that this will be the final, permanent home for the archives. If you're reading this in my distant future; maybe you'll know whether that's what happens or not. ;^)

Getting back to the daily report, we had a busy enough day at school, and it was at least nice enough to be outdoors for our lunch break – even if it wasn't exactly shorts and tees kind of warm outside. There wasn't any major excitement or teen drama; though Jenny was joking about partying all weekend to celebrate her first boyfriend-free weekend since last September. Rebecca, Lucas, Rowen, Tim, Michael, and I also spent some time talking about our sleepover plans for tomorrow night, and Gil's birthday on Sunday was news for his friends; but all of that was kept fairly low-key. We were given a fair bit of homework for the weekend, but Michael, Rowen, and I got a lot of it done during the day anyway; and Rowen will help Tim to catch up if needed.

The only other action I didn't mention was that Ethan, Ehlana, and I went for a bike ride shortly after I got home from school so that we could check out the progress of the work at the park. We didn't stay there long, and after days of rain and wet; there wasn't much progress anyway. Since my brother and sister are excited about the new playground, I'll predict that I'll be spending lots of time there with them once it is finished; and I'll figure out a way to add that bonus fun into my schedule somehow.

Okay, that's enough for tonight. I have a chores day coming up starting first thing in the morning, and I don't want to be too tired for our sleepover fun either; so I'm out of here and off to dreamland.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, April 11, 2015

You know that it's a nice spring Saturday when Dad is willing to skip some chores in favor of enjoying the weather and having a bit of afternoon play time.

Tai Chi by the river and a big country breakfast made for a great start to our day; though Michael missed both while helping out at the Inn this morning. Since he got to spend the rest of the day with me from lunchtime on, though; I was okay with the work-play plan. I was on outdoor chores duty with Dad today, and while we did work hard; it was mostly fun doing all of that together. As it got warmer and nicer out, we changed our plans; worked a bit harder through until one o'clock; and then called it a day when we stopped to have lunch. We will need to make up for that next weekend; but we'll worry about that then.

As I mentioned, Michael joined us for lunch after being set free from the Inn. Dad grilled hotdogs and burgers; Mom had cold salads to go along with that; and we had lunch out on the back porch. Michael and I were on the clean-up crew; but then we had the rest of the day off to play with our friends and family. Rowen, Tim, and Lucas were all still busy during the afternoon; so they'll be here soon – about an hour before we'll have dinner. That's phrased in the near-future because I'm writing this while grabbing a shower and getting changed. Michael's doing the same at his house because we both wanted to get cleaned up and changed after a busy work and play day to this point. I'm writing my update now because I expect to either have a very late night or a very late night that ends with a sofa sleepover with Michael if I'm really lucky.

Either way, I'll add the rest of the news from our adventures tonight with my Sunday report and take a night off from any computing. Our afternoon play time included a bike ride that Michael and I did on our own so we could go a bit further than we can with Ethan and Ehlana on their bikes – and they've out-grown the trailer. We toured the new section of town; the park; and went for a ride around a couple of country blocks out Quarry Road and then back home along River Road. We followed that up with some back yard play time with Mom, Dad, and the twins; and we had some cameo visits from friends and family while we had our fun – including from Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack. All of that was great, and Mom, Dad, and the twins are still outside doing whatever right now; but I really wanted to get cleaned up before we get to our dinner, movies, and sleepover – and I'm sure that Michael and the rest of my friends will really appreciate me doing that too.

We'll be having a pizza and wings dinner; there will probably be a bit of outdoor play time again after that; and then we'll start our movie marathon with a kid-rated flick so that Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden can join us for that before their bedtime. There was some talk about the twins doing sleepovers at their respective friend's houses instead of here, and though I'm risking teen scorn over the admission; I'd rather have all of them here for sleepovers instead of a teen-only night. Tim might joke about it, but I'm sure that he has as much fun with them as the rest of us do; and I don't get to spend enough time with Ethan and Ehlana so we don't want to miss out on any opportunities like we have today.

I'm nearly finished getting ready for the night, though, so it's time to wrap this up and get downstairs before my friends join us. We are going to have a really great night too, and though Michael and I are going to be busy at the Inn tomorrow afternoon and evening; the rest of the weekend should be fairly amazing too. Since this is all history as you read this in your 'now', you'll be able to flip a digital page to find out what happens, but I still need to live it; so I'm going to get right to that!

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, April 12, 2015

What a difference a day makes!

Last night at this time, I was happily having a sofa sleepover with Michael in the lounge after falling asleep there while Rebecca and Lucas, and Rowen and Tim, were doing their goodnight hugs and kisses elsewhere. Tonight, I've been working on my studies and family business work for the past three and a half hours. Take a guess which was more fun for me.

The pizza and wings dinner; play time outdoors; and mini movie marathon were all fun; and I especially loved getting to spend that time with most of my best friends – and with Mom, Dad, Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden. I'm not going to drag out that part of my report, since there isn't actually much in the way of news to write about; but we did have one of those really good nights and had a lot of fun together. My sofa sleepover with Michael wasn't actually planned, but I didn't fight falling asleep either; and Michael opted to stay with me when Rowen checked in on us and he was still awake and enjoying the cuddle time with me. We got teased about it in the morning, but Rowen and Rebecca also made me promise that they'd get turns with upcoming sleepovers; and I'm sure the boys won't have a problem with that plan whenever we do manage to make that happen for them.

Then again, it'll be warm enough to do some camping nights soon too; so we might have some tent mate swap opportunities there too. ;^)

Our morning was fairly wild and fun with such a big gang to feed and get ready for church, and while we had a quiet morning at church compared to Easter Sunday; we had fun there too before some of us needed to get to work for the rest of the day. For me, that meant helping out at the Inn all afternoon and evening – except for our breaks. Even then, Michael and I used our afternoon break for getting our homework done, and while we did that outdoors so that we could enjoy the nice weather; it wasn't really a rest break at all. While I was busy at the Inn, Dad had work to do at home; and Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana went to play at the lab for a few hours so that Dad could really focus on getting ready for his week in the city without any distractions.

Happy 15th Birthday, Gil!

I'm sticking those best wishes in the middle of this update because Gil's birthday party was at the Inn, and though Michael and I needed to work instead of attending the party; we did take a little break to be there with our friends when it was time for the birthday cake, song, and watching Gil open his gifts. We had to trade that off with not having much time for our own meals, but it was worth it; and all of the busy really just helped to keep the hours speeding along toward when we were able to go home at nine-thirty or so.

My work wasn't done by a long shot then, but I still spent a bit of time with Michael at his house before heading home; and then Mom did my Magi lesson with me after we got Ethan and Ehlana into bed for the night. That's why it was eleven-thirty before I came up to my room, and though Mom and Dad headed for bed then too; they weren't going straight off to sleep so I started my own bedtime routine out with some quality Jacuzzi time that I really needed after a long, crazy-busy day. I multi-tasked some of my studying while in the tub, but only got my archive assignment finished by the time I was ready to get out of the tub and into bed. The language studies and family business work has kept me busy since then; and now I'm pretty much just ready to crash for a few hours.

In fact, I think that I'll just go ahead and do that right now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, April 13, 2015

Happy 2nd Birthday, Gerry Bishop!

Michael's cousin probably had a happy day, but I'm really only mentioning his big day because I should include Michael's family in my updates now and then – even if we don't actually see the Stone side of his relatives very often. This year, as far as I know, his grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins will only be coming here for Jake and Stephanie's wedding. That makes me feel a bit sad, but it's their choice; and we can't do much about that.

Here at home, my day started very early when Mom, Ethan, Ehlana and I got up to see Dad off on his way to the city. Since I'd been up late with my work and studies, that meant only having a pair of naps on each side of that little bit of fun; and then it was time to go outside and meet Michael by the river for Tai Chi. I used a bit of Magi Healing to make up for the lack of sleep this morning too; so I was good to go by the time we needed to get to school.

We had a spit or two of rain today, but mostly had a good weather day; and being outdoors was an option both at lunchtime and after school. It was a fairly quiet day at school; so the fun really kicked up a notch or three once we were set free from our last class and quickly got our homework for the day out of the way. We did that at Michael's house, with the 'we' including Rowen and Tim; and then we went out for a bike ride for an hour or so. That was a nice break that included a bit of play time at the school playground when we crossed paths with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana while they were hanging out there with Liz, Philip, Naomi, and Eli. I was with Michael at his house for dinner and the evening; and the fun there included an experimental, gourmet meal; some wedding work fun; a music practice; and a short make-out session for Michael and me before I needed to head home and get back to my studies and work.

Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana had a quiet evening while I was gone. They'd had an easy-dinner; and then worked in the office – with Mom keeping busy with family business work while the twins studied for their college courses. Mom did a Magi lesson with all three of us after I got home. That was fun, but my actual lesson tonight was learning to teach lessons – something that Mom is doing more often with me now; and she'll continue to do that over the next few years. Maybe I'll even be helping her out with teaching lessons for other Magi; but that won't be a big part of my future.

We did the bath and bedtime routine with Ethan and Ehlana after our lesson before I was sent up to bed too so that I could get started on my studies and work. Despite having an extra-long day already by then, I wanted to get all of my work done tonight; so I've been doing that since climbing into bed with Mandy and my computer more than three hours ago. Most of that busy has been reasonably interesting and kept me entertained, but there isn't anything special to write about; and I'm very ready to wrap this up and head off to dreamland.

I'll help Mom as much as I can over the next few days, though I'll have band and teen praise team practices tomorrow too; and we'll all have game night at the Inn on Thursday. With everything we have going on, keeping busy while Dad's away won't be a problem; so I expect that the long days will continue all week. That's another good reason for me to end this update and get to the sleep part of my night; so that's all for now, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

I have totally run out of energy tonight; so this is going to be a micro-update.

Tai Chi by the river for five and breakfast for four both helped to get our day off to a great start. School was good but uneventful; and we followed that up with a fairly entertaining band practice before Michael and I came home to my house to have dinner with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana. We had time then to get our homework finished too, and after helping out with the clean-up; it was time to head over to the church for our teen praise team practice.

That blast of music fun kept us busy for another hour or so; and then it was back to my house for an evening of entertainment that included a group Magi lesson; some play time with the twins; and getting them tucked in for the night before Michael and I had some quality alone time in the lounge. The key word in that last part was 'quality', since we didn't have a lot of time before Michael needed to get home for the night. We did make the best of the time we had, though; so I was smiling by the time I was in bed with Mandy and ready to get started on my studies, archive assignment, and family business work.

Somehow, I haven't managed to keep this report as short as I'd planned, but the study and work action wasn't particularly exciting or newsworthy; so that's all for tonight and I'm heading off to dreamland now.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

It's tax day, and while that had absolutely no impact on my day; Rowen's parents and a lot of other people around the country were very busy today.

I was busy today too, but that was with school, studying, and family business work. The last two parts of that were done here at home while my friends were all busy with their own part-time jobs; and I also helped Mom with some of the chores around here too while we both worked on the family business after school and this evening.

After a few late nights, I'll be sleeping before midnight for a change; and I am so ready for a decent night of rest. Being able to do that required using a bit of time phasing so that we could all get our work and studying done tonight, but Mom and I took turns doing that tonight; and Ethan and Ehlana were happy to get the extra college work done while I was busy with my work and language studies. Mom did Magi lessons with all three of us too, but she kept them short tonight and we mostly multi-tasked that part of our evening.

Right now, I really just want to get on with the extended nap time, though, so that's all for tonight; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Happy 20th Birthday, Dillon!

I hope he's having a great day; though he and Violet are busy with classes and assignments and won't exactly have a lot of time to celebrate around the work.

While Dillon was experiencing his official exit from his teen years, the biggest news here at home might just be that Mom and Miranda did not win the senior championship at game night this week. I know, that's shocking, since they do win a lot during Dad's weeks in the city; but they only managed third tonight; and Miranda was terribly disappointed. Jacob, Michael, and Rebecca weren't able to soften the blow by winning either; but at least Miranda will have two more chances before the summer break.

Game night was fun even without any championship awards, but then the rest of my day was pretty good too. That started out with Tai Chi by the river; Michael stayed for a quick and easy breakfast that was still better than what he would have eaten at home on the way to his weight training with the guys; and then Rowen and I even had a bit of time to hang out at her house before going on to school. Her parents, by the way, are very happy that tax season is over; and they pretty much get to take a break by comparison until late May.

Okay, they don't really get to do that, since they'll be doing a lot of work at the new med center for the computer systems there; but they're still happy that tax season is done for another year.

With nice weather to enjoy, our school day was pretty good; and outdoor classes in the afternoon were an option that more than a few teachers chose for their students when possible. Having the extra fresh air was nice, and while we did get some work done here and there too; there were moments when it felt more like a play day. There was lunchtime football after we ate, and Rowen and I were two of the girls that joined in for the scrimmage this time. Our team won, but we had at least a couple of advantages over the competition – Michael and Tim; and girlfriends on the other team that were more interested in distracting their boys than playing the game.

Then again, maybe it was those couples that actually won; but I've mentioned before that I'm not into making out with Michael in public, and that hasn't changed. It's probably a good thing that the school football program isn't co-ed because if it was; the games probably wouldn't still be family-rated entertainment! ;^)

Moving along, it was too nice of a day to just go straight to the Inn and get to our studies and work, so Michael and I went biking with Rowen and Tim for an hour first. We did a tour of town; biked the trail at the park; and had an ice cream break at the falls after picking up our treats at the Emporium before it was time for two of us to get to work. The homework didn't take long and then we were kept busy for the next couple of hours while helping out with the dinner rush and clean-up. I've mentioned the lack of gaming success for our family tonight, but the play time with our family and friends was still great; and I really loved spending time with everyone there. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana went home as soon as the games were finished, and not because Miranda kicked them out due to the loss; but I stayed to help with the clean-up and walked home with Michael and his family.

That was entirely so that we could take a bit of time for our goodnight hugs and kisses out on the front porch of his house; so I was smiling and happy when I did eventually get home and it was time to get to work again. Ethan and Ehlana had some studying they wanted to do, so Mom let them stay up while doing my Magi lesson with me; and then we took care of getting them tucked in before going back to the office and working there until one o'clock. Mom was ready for bed by then, and while I was getting tired too; I came up to my room and switched from family business mode to language studies. I did that for an hour or so; followed that up with my archive assignment reading; and then did a last round of computer and email checks before getting to this update. I had one bit of family business work to do mixed in there because of a new, inbound email request; but no major news from around the family or with our friends.

For some reason, Dillon and Violet haven't filed a birthday report with me yet either; but maybe they just haven't finished celebrating yet. ;^)

We're just one school day and some nap time away from the weekend now, and while we don't have any plans for Friday night; the top fun for the next few days is likely to be Jacob's birthday on Saturday. He'll have to work, of course, but the parents are planning a dinner at the Inn and night out at the pub; so Michael and Rebecca are going to help out by giving their parents a teen-free night. Lucas and I are happy to help them out with that little gift; and Rebecca is going to be out at the farm while Michael helps me out with some babysitting and a sleepover. I'll be very okay with that plan if a sofa is involved with part two of that!

I'm not going to be getting much rest now tonight, but maybe I'll try to do better tomorrow night – unless Michael and I have something better to do while having our no-plans night together with Mom, the twins – and with Dad once he gets home from Crystal Springs. That is all of the news for today, though; so I'm going to get started on that bit of down time I have available before my Tai Chi wake-up call will arrive in a couple of hours or so.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, April 17, 2015

We've had an awesome day around here!

The weather has been beautiful; we had fun at school; and it's been a quiet play afternoon and evening at the Proctor house that started with Michael and I having some outdoor fun with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden; and ended with some quality, teen make-out time after Mom, Dad, and the twins all went to bed for the night.

There was also Tai Chi by the river and breakfast for five this morning; lots of play time at school both during some classes and at lunchtime; a barbeque dinner at home as a break in the outdoor play action that continued until Dad got home; and one family movie for all of us in the living room that kept us busy between Dad's homecoming and bedtime. Michael is working the breakfast shift at the Inn in the morning, so he went home at midnight; but we cheated with the make-out time and used a time phase so we could have as much time as we wanted and still get some sleep. A sofa sleepover was tempting, but it is his Dad's birthday; and we decided that Michael really should be with his own family for that instead of with me.

Maybe we should have been hanging out at his house tonight! ;^)

Anyway, there really isn't any major news to report today. Having this much fun was a great way to start the weekend, though; and I really hope that trend continues. It hasn't been that long since Michael left, but I decided to just do the basic computer and email checks tonight, and it's time for me to get some sleep now too; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Happy 48th Birthday, Jacob!

Work-free birthdays when you own an Inn are fairly rare for Jacob and Miranda; and Jacob definitely didn't get to have one today. He was at work early, and other than getting an extended break or two; stayed until the dinner rush was over. He did get to sit down and have dinner with Miranda and their friends once most of the cooking work was done, and they all went out to the pub after that; but that still made for a very long work day.

Compared to getting ready for the breakfast rush at the Inn; my morning started out with a lot more fun – especially since it was warm out and Tai Chi by the river was an option. Mom and Dad followed that up with a big country breakfast, and while Michael couldn't be with us for either; I still had a lot of fun with my family before it was time to get to the work and chores part of our day. The outdoor chores became a bit more challenging when the rain hit by mid-morning, and we had to wait out a bit of lightning and work in the storage barn for a while; but Dad and I managed to have fun with that too – and Ethan and Ehlana came out to play in the rain on purpose for a half hour or so.

Yes, they are Junior Magi Masters too, but that doesn't have to get in the way of the fun that goes along with being little kids when there are puddles to jump in and lots of rain to enjoy.

Sure, it isn't so much fun to work while getting soaked, but the chores needed to be done; and I'd rather it be me out there helping Dad than Mom. We worked until one-thirty; stopped for lunch; and then I was set free to hang out with Ethan and Ehlana for the rest of the afternoon. Michael spent part of that time with us while on his afternoon break, and after hanging out in my room and the lounge with my brother and sister; I went with Michael when he went back to the Inn so that I could help out with the dinner rush.

That was a busy, fun couple of hours or so, and then we stopped for dinner when Jacob and Miranda did while everyone else working at the Inn tonight took care of the tail-end of the dinner rush and closing clean-up while we moved on to the fun parts of our evening. The birthday dinner for Jacob was great; though Michael and I were on kid control with Rebecca and a few other teens while the parents had some fun roasting Jacob. There was also a cake, ice cream, and the birthday song to go along with a few gifts; and then it was time for the adults to move on to their play time at the pub while Michael and I took the group of kids we were babysitting for the night back to my house. All of those kids are staying overnight – and so is Michael; so we've had a really awesome evening together.

I'll guess that Jacob and Miranda are having a good night too. Rebecca's spending the night out at the farm with Lucas and his family; so Miranda has a teen-free environment at home while helping her husband to celebrate his special day. Hopefully, Michael and I will not hear any details about that we don't need to know; but I do hope that they are having fun.

Our fun here at home wasn't of the adult or teen-rated variety, but we did manage to keep entertained; and the kids really loved getting to spend those hours with Michael and me. Ethan and Ehlana had invited Naomi and Aiden for the night; we added Sophia Bassett to the guest list at dinnertime; and we had Zack, Leah, Sebastian, and Caleb to take care of too. Sebastian and Caleb weren't here overnight, but Zack and Leah are still here; so we'll be in for a busy morning getting seven kids fed and ready for church in the morning. As for tonight, Michael and I ran around and played games with the kids for an hour and a half; we followed that up with a movie; put Zack and Leah to bed when they passed out long before the movie was over; and then repeated the process for Ehlana, Sophia, and Aiden when they finally fell asleep near the start of the second movie.

The last two kids standing weren't actually standing or awake by then, but we left Ethan and Naomi on the sofa in the lounge because they were cuddled together; and way too cute to move without taking pictures and leaving them there for Mom and Dad to see when they got home.

They're still in the lounge as I write this, since Mom and Dad decided to leave them there; and I'm a little jealous that it isn't Michael and I in there doing the sofa sleepover instead. It was tempting to do that anyway, but waking up in the morning with Ethan and Naomi at the other end of the sectional sofa would have just been a bit too weird for me – and Michael agreed with me on that one.

Having a house full of kids to take care of also meant no make-out time for us either; though we did enjoy the cuddle time during the movies – when we weren't busy getting kids into beds or dealing with other jobs – like cleaning up from a minor popcorn fight and one spilled drink accident. We did dishes too once all of the kids were sleeping; had a short visit with Mom and Dad after they got home from the pub; and made some time for a fairly enthusiastic goodnight hug and kiss or three; but it was past-two by then and time to call it a night.

That's why I only checked my email before getting to this update once I was changed and tucked into bed with Mandy, and even with taking care of a bit of family business that was waiting for me in my inbox; I'll still be sleeping before three o'clock if I move this along. Other than the crazy-busy morning we're in for starting in a few hours; I'm taking the day off tomorrow except for some homework and we don't have any plans or major events to deal with either. It'll be a busy day at the Inn, and I feel a bit guilty about deciding not to help out there tomorrow; but I know that I need the break more before we'll be into another busy week.

We do still have that busy morning coming up fast first, though, so that's all for tonight, kids; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Maybe I should have picked a different Sunday for a play day and helped out at the Inn instead; since it rained off and on pretty much all day, and Dad spent most of the afternoon and evening working in the office to get ready for his usual post-city visit schedule.

We did go out to the river for Tai Chi this morning, and though the ground was wet from rain; we dodged the wet weather while doing that. Getting everyone fed and ready for church was as much of an adventure as always; and then we needed transportation assistance to get there thanks to an on-again bout of rain. That was all still fun and we kept ourselves entertained; but I was ready for a nap by the time we sat down in the sanctuary with about five minutes to spare before the start of the service.

This is slightly off-track, but I want to mention that Naomi is a very self-assured young lady – and knows what she wants for her future. She played right along with everyone while being teased about her sofa sleepover with Ethan, and while Ethan mostly tried to just keep quiet and out of the spotlight; Naomi happily used the opportunity to not-so-subtly stake her claim on my brother. Everyone thinks that's cute, but there are also a few Junior Magi Masters that are also mildly amused because of how that fits in with what we know about our collective future.

Stay tuned for more on that; since the Ethan and Naomi story is going to take a while to develop. They are, after all, only three and four years old! ;^)

Compared to the crazy-busy of the morning, my afternoon was fairly tame. I spent part of the afternoon playing with Ethan and Ehlana while Mom and Dad were busy; had a study session with Michael, Tim, and Rowen during Michael's afternoon break; and then opted for an early start to my 'real' studies and work both before and after dinner instead of just goofing off and then starting that work at bedtime. Doing that is the only reason why I'll be sleeping before midnight on a Sunday night; and I had everything finished except for my usual nightly computer checks and this update before doing the bedtime routine with Ethan and Ehlana and then coming up to my room for some quality time with my Jacuzzi.

This isn't a very in-depth report, but then this wasn't exactly a day for earth-shaking events here in Witch Falls; so let's take a quick look at the week ahead and then call it a night. Michael's cousin, Jessica, will be turning eleven on Saturday; and Michael and I will be helping out with the party – and likely with some sibling control to keep Ryan and Sophia entertained while Jessica has her friends over. That's the only major family and friends event that's booked for the week, but we'll also have a future plans meeting tomorrow night too; and I'll be busy for the rest of the week with the usual schedule.

I haven't done a college family and friends update in a while, but there wasn't much news to report from last week; and they're all now gearing up for final exams that will be starting in early May. While that means they still have a lot of work to do between now and then; it is nice to know that we're going to have all of them home for the summer soon – even if we'll all be too busy to spend much time together. Rebecca and I will at least get to spend time with Stephanie and Violet while working on the wedding for Jake and Stephanie; so we have that to look forward to – starting pretty much as soon as they get home.

Okay, it's time for some quality napping now, so I'm out of here; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, April 20, 2015

Happy 15th Birthday, Brock; and Happy 1st Birthday, Julian Green!

Other than our little birthday fun at lunchtime for Brock, I had zero involvement in either of those events, but Zack and Leah were invited to Julian's party; and Brock's party tonight was just for family, his girlfriend, Gretchen, and a few best friends this year.

Our day started out with indoor Tai Chi, and while we were tempted to go out to the river for that; but decided to stay warm instead of bundling up for our workout. The rest of my early morning was fairly boring, and then we were off to school, work, or elsewhere; with the 'elsewhere being the running around that Mom did with Ethan and Ehlana before heading over to the lab for the afternoon. I don't have anything exciting to report from school other than Brock's little cake and gifts break; which might be why the best parts of my day didn't start until we were set free from school for the day.

I was at Michael's for dinner tonight, so Rowen, Tim, and I went home with Michael to do our homework there; and then we followed that up with a bike ride before we needed to split up and Rowen and Tim went on to their own homes. The biking was fun, though we stuck to the roads and main path at the park. The dirt trails in the woods were just too muddy from the rain on the weekend, and while Tim was game to ride them anyway; Michael wasn't as enthusiastic, and Rowen and I flat-out refused despite Tim's attempts at razzing us. For me, it isn't the getting dirty that I had a problem with – it was the getting wet when it wasn't all that warm out and then being cold and soggy.

Dinner with Michael and his family was as amazing as always, and after helping out with the clean-up; Michael and I had time for a music practice before I needed to be home for our family business and future plans meeting. Grandma and Grandpa are still having fun in the sunny south, but everyone else was there for the meeting; and Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack had come over for dinner too. I was sorry to miss out on that, but that invitation had been made long after I'd already been booked for dinner with Michael – and if I'd been home instead; I'd have just missed the gourmet, experimental meal just as much instead.

I'm not going to drag out a major report on the meeting tonight, since there really haven't been a lot of changes from the last meeting update. The med center, second apartment building, solar-wind farm, and other construction are all on-schedule and going great. The deal with KidZone for the old clinic building is a done deal, and while our only direct involvement is with getting the old equipment and everything else out of the place ahead of the remodel that will be needed to turn it into a daycare; some of us are very excited about that project. Since it'll be Ethan, Ehlana, and their younger cousins spending time there starting in September; you probably don't need to guess which of us are most excited.

On the infrastructure front, the engineering work for the bridge that is going to be built between River Road and the new section of town will be starting soon. The best part of that for us is that Terry Malloy and his team is going to be handling the engineering; and he's going to be making regular visits here for the next year or so – starting two weeks from today. Angela and the kids are going to do those trips with him – at least while she's off on maternity leave; so we're going to get to have some regular visits with them once a month or so for the next four or five months for sure! While jokes are already flying around town about the bridge being exclusively for Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace so that they can walk from their home to the lab and med center instead of driving all the way around to the bridge on Quarry Road; we are way overdue for a second river crossing anyway – not to mention that the new section of town will be where a lot of the staff for both places are likely to live as they're hired over the next five or six years.

Some of our teachers at school are continuing to work with certain senior students with nudges and help to get them interested in college and new career opportunities. While that always includes the Magi teens; we're also working to help all of the teens where possible. Sometimes, that causes a bit of stress with families that have other plans for their kids, but we're having a lot of success with that part of the plan too. Since this will be a big year for the lab and the test crops they're having some of the farms growing this summer, if that works out as expected; we'll have an even easier time with parents when it comes to the opportunities we have in mind for their kids.

There are no new details for the deal with the Inn and Haberdashery, but that is happening; and Miranda and Jacob are already working on plans for the expansion and remodel. We have one new business opening in time for the Memorial Day weekend, and while we're not in the loop for that store; the Old Mill Antiques shop is being worked on; and will open the Monday before the holiday weekend. Quarry Lake will have the new attractions open for that weekend too; so we'll have lots of entertainment options available for our visiting family and friends. Shopping and trips to Quarry Lake are high on my list of fun options; so I'm good with all of that – even if I probably won't be buying many antiques at least for another decade or so.

Our meeting lasted until ten-thirty; I helped with the clean-up after our guests left; Mom did my Magi lesson with me while Dad worked and Ethan and Ehlana studied; and then we all came up to bed for the night. After getting the twins tucked in; I opted for some Jacuzzi and study multi-tasking; took a break to get ready for bed and do my hair; and then started in on my family business work once I was in bed and snuggling with Mandy. That took a couple of hours; I had my archive assignment to read after that; and now it's past-three and time for me to wrap this up and head off to nap land.

Too much of this update sounds like work without much fun, but I really have had a good day; and even the work and studying tonight was mostly fun as I mixed in some multi-lingual chats with teens from Asia with the work and the family business jobs tonight included looking over teen clothing lines for one of the retailers we own; and dealing with some new tech toys coming up for the second half of the year. I do have another full day tomorrow, though; so I'd better just get to the sleeping part of my night. If you're interested in the family business details, and have access to that part of the archives; feel free to read all about my work through those records and reports.

I wouldn't advise it unless you're seriously bored or need a sleep aid; but that's entirely up to you! ;^)

Sleeping won't be a problem for me tonight, though; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

This is going to be a very short update because I've run out of steam and need every minute of down time I can get before getting up and going again.

It's been a fairly nice day, and while it was still too-cool outside; we exercised by the river this morning. My school day was fairly quiet except for some football action at lunchtime. Band practice after school was fun; Michael and I seemed to rush through dinner and our homework at his house between that practice and our teen praise team practice. That hour or so at the church was entertaining too, since we've still got lots of time to get ready for the Memorial Day weekend service we'll be leading; so we're having fun with working up both the music and the skits that we'll be doing for that service.

I went back to Michael's house for an hour and a half after that; we mostly spent that time with his parents and Rebecca and talked weddings; and then I headed home and needed to get started on my usual school night work and studies. To make that part of the story for today short, all of that was practically a rinse and repeat of the post-meeting fun last night; except that it all started a bit earlier and my Magi lesson was about Healing and the family business work wasn't as entertaining.

It isn't as late as it was when I went to sleep last night either, but I really have hit the wall now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

It was cold again this morning, but sunny; so we still went out to the river for Tai Chi before following that chilly workout with a hot breakfast. We didn't really get much of a warm-up today, but it was still nice out despite the cooler temperature. Since this was our mid-week work day, that wasn't a big deal for me, and the only change at school was that we spent most of our lunch break indoors except for a short walk to get a bit of fresh air before getting back to classes.

I don't really have any news from school or the work and studying that followed through until I came up to bed at ten-thirty. We've all been busy today, and there were lots of fun moments to go along with the work; but this really was just a work day that didn't have a lot of excitement or major news to write about. Since helping out with getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night, I got ready for bed right away too; have done my usual bedtime computer and email checks; and sped all of that up a bit so I can be sleeping by eleven or so.

It's time to catch up on the lack of sleep that I've been using a bit of Magi Healing to help out with in the mornings, so that's all for tonight; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, April 23, 2015

I'm up late again tonight, but the good part of that is having the work and studying done for the week; and I'll be ready to take the weekend off.

We've had a fairly nice day around here, and while the temperature is still a bit cooler compared to the warm we've been spoiled with earlier in the month; it was nice enough to be out and playing most of the day – and we even managed not to do our Tai Chi by the river without totally freezing this morning.

I don't have all that much news to report even with all of the busy; and that's mostly because it was a fairly standard Thursday for me. In fact, the only change in the normal that I can think of right now is that Mom gave in to Miranda and teamed up with her again for game night and left Dad to hang out with Jacob instead. That was entirely because Miranda had really, really wanted her game night Championship for the month; and Mom allowed herself to be bribed.

Dad got bribed too, but that's between him and Mom; and I really don't need to know the details – even though I'm pretending that I don't to make that work. ;^)

As always, if you're using your imagination on that, and know me in your 'now'; don't tell me!

Moving along, I had a good day at school, and while I rarely mention the actual work we're doing in classes; I hope you understand that's just because it isn't news to me. That doesn't sound nice, but that 'public' education part of my life is all an act; so I hope you'll take it as it's meant. I do love being allowed to grow up with friends my own age instead of doing an accelerated education the way that Mom did – especially since that would still be an act for me. I don't have to act at having fun with my friends, and while we did have a good day with that part of my life too; I don't really have anything to write about with that either – unless you'd like yet another report on the usual food and football action from lunchtime. There is a lull in the teen drama right now; and everyone is mostly pretty happy.

I went to the Inn with Michael after school; we did our homework together with Rebecca and Jenny; and then went for a walk down to the falls and back before getting to work in the kitchen for the not-very-busy dinner rush. That was a fairly easy few hours of busy; I've already mentioned the only news from a lightly-attended game night; and then I went home with my family instead of waiting for Michael and his because Dad wanted to get to his homework for the night.

I'm sure his enthusiasm had a lot to do with Mom's bribe; but let's not go there again – some of us need to get some sleep!

Mom did my Magi lesson with me while letting Ethan and Ehlana do some work on their college assignments. Tonight we did a long study about multi-tasking time phases with phase-shift transmutations. Putting that into a nutshell; Mom is teaching me how to do both without hitting the wall literally – if you know what I mean. Basically, it is possible to do a phase shift while in a time phase; but there are a lot of things to juggle at the same time for that to happen. There would be a very noisy, painful splat if you got the mix wrong.

There's a good chance that most Magi that can do a time phase even think about moving through open space while doing that, and we compensate for the pressures that apply subconsciously. Doing that doesn't change the fact that there are pressures – even when it's only moving through air. For those of you reading this that don't have this talent; just think about it the same way you would about what you feel at higher speeds – whether that's biking or in motorized vehicles of various types. The higher the speed; the higher the forces applied on the objects involved. A phase sift would actually mitigate those pressures in the air too; but we don't do that because there are other, easier ways to protect ourselves and deal with that issue.

Doing the same with solid objects isn't an option, and more difficult with liquids; so mixing the two is the best solution. Of course, you might be wondering why you'd want to walk through solid objects more quickly than just using a phase-shift, and that's a valid question; but my answer for right now is that I do it because I can and it's seriously cool! As for practical uses; all I can tell you is that there have apparently been times in the past when walking through walls without being seen doing it has been helpful to certain Magi Masters – or at least they thought that it was important when writing about it for the archives.

That little side-trip has me off-track; but I guess that lesson was one of the highlights of my day – though Mom's journal on my Magi education has a lot more detail; and I like her perspective better than mine most of the time. Getting back to the rest of my night, though, I took care of the bedtime routine with Ethan and Ehlana while Mom and Dad stayed in the office to finish up their work before coming up to bed too – and not going straight off to sleep.

I so need to book more Michael and me alone time!

Did I just write that out loud? ;^)

Anyway, I came up to my room once my brother and sister were tucked in for the night; got ready for bed; and then started working on my computer while Mandy curled up next to me and promptly fell asleep. The family business work was a bit lighter than usual for a Thursday night, so I spent extra time on my language studies and then left my archive assignment for last in case I ran out of steam early. That didn't happen, but I'm worn out now; and ready for a few hours of down time.

I'll be that Mom and Dad are worn out now too.

Cut that out, Proctor!

Since I've now devolved my mental state to the point where I'm writing a half-conversation with myself, I'd say it's past-time to sleep; so I'm going to get right to that.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, April 24, 2015

Congratulations to Natalie and Derrick Taylor – you're pregnant!

That was the big news announcement around town today. Natalie is pregnant with their second child, and I'm starting out my update today with the news because their baby is due in December; and will be a future classmate and possible playmate for Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's baby. Maybe I should be writing about more of the kid connections this year because of my cousin, but then I didn't do that for any of the others; and I'm sure that the friendships they develop will get into my reports now and then as they grow up – just as they have for Ethan and Ehlana.

Let's get to my own report, and while there isn't anything to write about on the level of new baby news; it has been a really good day – thanks mostly to the date night that Michael and Tim surprised Rowen and me with; and the sleepover I'm now doing with Rowen at her house tonight.

Before I get to that, my day started early with Tai Chi by the river, and though we've had a rainy day around here, that was off-and-on this morning; and outdoor exercising was an option at just the right time for us. Michael stayed for breakfast before going on to his workout at the school with Tim and the other guys; so that was a nice bonus time with him too.

The rain was heading into the area by the time that Rowen and I went to school, and while that set a bit of a tone for the day; there were some timely breaks in the wet for us that allowed some outdoor time during lunch and for a while after school. I don't have anything exciting to write about from our classes, and the gossip network continues to be fairly quiet right now; so let's move on to the date night fun that Michael and Tim waited until we were finished school for the week to surprise us with.

Our boyfriends had things to do first to get ready for our date night, so Rowen and I had time to get ready for it – and we decided on having a sleepover too while doing that; so we were at my house first while getting approval for the plan and then packing an overnight bag for me once we'd also picked out my date night outfit and spending some time doing our hair and make-up. We made it to Tim's house on-time, and the boys started us out with an appetizers and drinks 'social hour' before we sat down to an amazing dinner that Jacob had obviously helped the boys out with – at least for the entree.

Rowen and I, by the way, do not have a problem with our guys admitting that they aren't world-class chefs; or that they didn't pretend to be proficient cooks. Michael did cook veggies to go with the main chicken dish, and he and Tim both took care of the last steps for the really great, stuffed and baked potatoes; so the meal was perfect. So was the dinner conversation that didn't once include even a mention of football or video games. Rowen and I are sure that was also a suggestion for Tim from Michael, but Tim gets bonus points for actually pulling that off; since he rarely goes two solid hours without talking football.

Okay, Rowen, I'll give you that point; but I'm never around when you're giving him something else to do that he finds more interesting than football; and I have no intention of personally testing that assertion out with him. ;^)

Moving along, the amazing dinner was followed up with an equally impressive Olde Bakery dessert that we all loved; and then the boys took care of the clean-up while Rowen and I kept them company – and had the bonus entertainment of watching Tim doing one of his very least-favorite chores. Rebecca and Michael are both sure to have other friends work part-time at the Inn over the next few years; but I am sure that Tim will not be one of them. Since we did have the off-and-on rain in the on stage by the time the kitchen was cleaned up, we moved into the living room and got an early start to our movie night.

I hope it didn't permanently damage Tim, but it was girls' choice for our entertainment; and Rowen and I didn't pick a single space, monster, or horror movie tonight. Tim isn't into musicals, but we chose the new version of Annie for our first flick and followed that up with a less-girly, but still girl-power action-romance that I won't name; since it turned out to be a fairly forgettable show. Maybe that'll have changed in your 'now', but even chick flicks are not exempt from the really bad movie group that is so common for other genres – like sci-fi films.

Don't go there, Tim. I know that you love them, but be honest – pretty much every SyFy channel original movie is campy, terrible, or both; and there are probably thousands of other examples to back up my point.

At least for that second movie, Tim was able to join in for the fun when Rowen and I started making fun of the ongoing silliness that was too easy to pick on, and since there were lots of scenes with scantily-clad women; he probably enjoyed the movie more than we did – even with the bad lines and pathetic attempts at fight sequences. I'll try to cut the actresses and actors some slack on that, since maybe it's not fair to mention that when most of their audience probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference; but anyone with even a bit of martial arts training would have been able to tell just how ridiculously fake those fights were. Then again, the camera work wasn't that good either; so I could be wrong about that. I'm fairly sure that you're not supposed to show that a punch or kick missed the mark by a foot or two while filming those scenes.

Anyway, that's enough beating up on the B-movie industry; so let's move along. We didn't have time for a third movie, so we watched some music videos for a while and just relaxed and continued to cuddle in pairs. Tim's parents had been working at the showroom tonight and then went to Sheldon's for wings and wedges once they'd closed up for the night; so we had the house to ourselves until they got home at eleven-thirty. They joined us for the cuddling and chat time until Rowen and I needed to get home to her house, and since it was raining fairly hard by then; Tracey gave us a ride over there – after giving us time to say goodnight to our boyfriends first.

Patrick had Scott over for the night, and while they were still up and playing video games; we don't have any problems with them anymore – even though they do still seem to feel the need to be at the house too whenever Rowen does have me over for a sleepover. We had a short visit with them on our way up to bed; but they're still gaming in the living room as I write this. Rowen and I got changed and took turns in the bathroom; and we've been in bed and chatting while doing our usual sleepover computing.

That's been a bit of work for me, and Rowen's kept me entertained with YouTube videos of worst-ever dates mixed in with music video covers of varying degrees of good and bad. I'd only planned on doing my usual computer and email checks, but some family business work was waiting for me, so since we were chatting anyway; I took care of it instead of leaving it for Sunday night.

It's supposed to rain a lot on Saturday too, so my yard work might get re-scheduled, but I'll still have chores, and Michael and I are booked to help out with Jessica's birthday party in the afternoon; so I'd better start thinking about getting some sleep. Rowen will be at the computer store tomorrow, and though she doesn't have anything specifically booked for tomorrow afternoon or evening; I don't expect to see her much once we split up after breakfast. She is hoping for some alone time with Tim tomorrow night, and if I had to guess; there's a better chance that'll happen for them than for Michael and me. Since Jessica is having a sleepover as part of her party; I'll take a small leap and guess that Ryan and Sophia will be hoping that Michael and I will save them from the gang of tween girls that will be at their house – and we won't be able to resist doing that for them.

Ehlana will be happy to help me out with that for Sophia, so my lack of alone time this weekend with my boyfriend will likely be due to Michael having a gaming night at his house with Ryan. I'll keep you posted on how that goes, but that's all I have for tonight. I'm going to put my computer away now, listen to the music that Rowen's still playing on her computer, and probably fall asleep fairly soon; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Rain put a damper on our day; but that didn't keep us from having fun.

Since I was at Rowen's house, Tai Chi was for one; her parents made pancakes and bacon for breakfast; and then Rowen and I were on clean-up duty while her parents went to the store early and Patrick and Scott moved on to Scot's house for the rest of the day. Rowen joined her parents at the store once we were ready to go too, and after I got home and did the quick update with Mom, Dad, and the twins; it was time to get to work on the chores around the house. Not being able to work on outdoor chores meant that Dad just changed up his schedule and worked in the office instead; planning to work ahead on that and spend time on the chores whenever he can next week – probably in the evenings.

Michael helped out at the Inn with the breakfast and lunch shifts, so I didn't see him until he stopped in to pick me up when it was time to go over to his aunt and uncle's house to help out with Jessica's birthday party.

Happy 11th Birthday, Jessica!

The party wasn't starting until mid-afternoon, but Michael and I helped his Aunt Sylvia out with the set up and a bit of kid and tween control when she needed to do a run for a few extra supplies. We helped out with everything from decorating to making sure that the guest bedrooms were ready for Jessica's friends to use overnight; so that was a couple of very busy hours. While Jessica's best friends, Lindsay and Geraldine, had come over early to hang out with her; the rest of her 'friends' guests started arriving at three-thirty. Not all of them could come then; and as usual for weekend parties; it was mostly the farm kids that didn't get to the house until after chores were done for the day.

From that point on through until dinner, Michael and I were split up while he mostly kept Ryan entertained and I was busy hanging out with the girls. Our afternoon entertainment mostly included a lot of girl chat and music videos; though video gaming was an option that a couple of the girls chose; and I had some Barbie play time with Sophia and a couple of Jessica's friends too when Sophia got bored with the non-action. The talk time included lots of giggles and discussion of boys, and while most of the girls haven't crossed over yet, one or two probably have; and it's only a matter of time for the rest. I was also more than a little entertained by the reaction some of Jessica's friends had anytime Michael was around us, and while he pretended not to notice; it was obvious to me that he was aware of the girls that were crushing on him today.

That had nothing to do with how often I shared hugs and kisses with my boyfriend, but he didn't have a problem with those cameo moments; and Jessica and her friends mostly had fun teasing us about it – even as they all thought it was romantic too.

Jessica's Dad had been working all day, but he left one of his teen employees in charge of the station for a couple of hours and came home to get cleaned up for dinner before we all went over to the Inn for the special meal that he and Sylvia had set up with Jacob and Miranda for Jessica, her friends, and maybe half of their combined family. It's maybe a bit surprising, but I still feel surprised now and then by the close family relationships in our little town, and while I'm used to thinking about Michael's family being the Stones and Bassetts; the other side of Jessica's extended family is the Parkers. There wasn't time for me to hang out with everyone because Michael and I were kept busy with Jessica and her friends, and with Ryan and Sophia; but it still felt weird to have classmates and other members of the Parker family at a party for someone in Michael's family. Joshua was there with his family and Sally, and while we did have a little chat before sitting down for dinner; they sat with other cousins and adults for the meal while Michael and I were busy with kids and tweens at our table.

It was nice to be able to do that with Michael, since he would have been helping out in the kitchen if his parents had needed him; but our party group was about two-thirds of the entire late-dinner crowd; so they hadn't needed him to pitch in. Jacob and Miranda didn't do a buffet for the party, but there was instead a special menu that only had a half-dozen options; including two kid meal choices. That made it easier for Jacob and his crew. That made short work of the ordering process for the servers too; so it wasn't long before pre-chosen appetizers were delivered with drink orders; and the culinary part of our birthday adventure began.

The meal was great; Michael and I had fun with our dinner companions; and Jessica had an amazing birthday meal – with the last point being the most important. Most of the kids and teens were ready for dessert within a half hour or so, and while the adults spent more time enjoying the food; Jessica bridged the time-gap by opening her gifts; and then we wrapped up our time at the Inn with the two-option cakes and four-option ice cream dessert once we'd all joined in for the birthday song.

Michael and I went back to Jessica's house after that; I was again semi-chaperone with the girls; and Michael helped his aunt with more work around the house. He and Ryan played some video games too, but the work came first – and included tough jobs like delivering snacks and drinks to a living room full of tween girls and enduring the giggles and grins that followed him while on the job. The movie marathon started about a half hour after we got back to the house; and Jessica and her friends went with the full-on tween romance and musicals for their marathon theme. While he didn't hang out with us, Michael and I still had a bit of fun with that during one of his delivery visits when we joined in for the duet in-progress at the time in the movie and then wrapped that bit of fun up with a kiss and hug that had the girls giggling, whistling, and grinning at us.

The only thing that was missing from my really good day was any alone time with Michael. As I expected, Ryan had started working on Michael to get rescued from the horror that was a tween girl sleepover; and Michael had agreed to that early – and they'd gotten permission from Sylvia for it too long before we'd even gone out to dinner. Sophia only needed to give me the look and a happy smile to get my invitation, and we knew by dinnertime that not only had Mom approved her sleepover at our house, but Naomi had been added to the guest list; and Ethan had been set up for a sleepover at Aiden's so that he didn't have to be outnumbered four-to-one.

Michael and I stayed at the party until Jessica's Dad got home from the gas station, and then, while Ryan and Sophia got ready to go; we helped out with getting the pizza snack part of the sleepover snacks cooking and the first batch served before heading out with our respective sleepover buddies. Ryan pretended to gag and Sophia giggled at us when I kissed Michael goodnight and we both wished that he was taking me home instead of Ryan; but then it was back to girls-only fun for me for the rest of the night. It was heading toward eleven by then, so when Sophia and I got home; Ehlana and Naomi were already changed and ready for bed – though 'bed' tonight meant the sectional sofa in the lounge.

The three younger girls wanted to get right to that, so they went on ahead without me so that I could have a little chat with Mom and Dad before joining them upstairs; and they already had their movie choice cued up by the time I got to the lounge. I took care of the snack and drinks orders first; got changed; and then Sophia and I cuddled at one end of the sofa while Ehlana and Naomi were stretched out at the other end and middle of the sectional. Sophia had already been tired out by then, and didn't last through the first half of the movie, but I stayed cuddled with her until the end of the show; and then tucked her into that end of the sofa; kissed Ehlana and Naomi goodnight while they started another show that they didn't expect to stay awake for long to watch; and came into my room to snuggle with one of my stuffies because Mandy decided to sleep with the three younger girls instead.

I've only done my email check tonight before getting to this report, and while I could do some work or studying; I've had enough for the day now too; so that's it for tonight, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, April 26, 2015

I've worked too late tonight and hit the wall.

Look for a double update tomorrow while I have a nap for a couple of hours and then need to get back to life again.

Until then...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, April 27, 2015

I am currently soaking in the tub; it's not much past-ten; and Mom ordered me to skip the work and studying tonight to catch up on my sleep. Apparently, my Magi-powered self-healing this morning didn't fool her at all. No, that isn't a surprise; but then I don't think that I would have done much work tonight anyway. I really am still worn out. Since I missed any details from the action on Sunday; let's get this report started with the fun on Sunday morning and go from there.

Dad was totally outnumbered for morning Tai Chi and breakfast, and while Michael helped him out with that while we exercised; he went back home for the better breakfast and to hang out with Ryan. Tai Chi was by the river, and Sophia came out to watch us while Naomi and Ehlana did their own workout and Michael and I went with the long form that Mom and Dad chose for the day. Our breakfast wasn't Jacob Stone spectacular, but it was pancakes and bacon; so I was good with the plan. Ehlana, Naomi, Sophia, and I had fun with getting ready for church between our workout and breakfast; and then I helped out with the clean-up before it was time to go.

Mother's Day is next up for the big events at church, and the kids and teens started working on that during Sunday school this week. While craft gifts are a big part of that action; some of us will also be participating in the service; so there was some work going on for those skits and scripture readings. The service today was only slightly longer than average, so we were set free and able to get on with our day with lots of time to get home and do a few things before lunchtime. Naomi and Sophia went home with their own families after church; we got Ethan back; and Mom and Dad were planning on spending the afternoon with us.

The family play day plan didn't work out as well as it could have thanks to a few hours of rain in the afternoon; so our play was more along the lines of watching a movie in the living room and hanging out around the house. There was also some study time for Michael and me when he came over for his afternoon break that was delayed a bit thanks to a busy lunch rush; and then I went back to the Inn to help out with the dinner buffets.

That was a few hours of busy fun and work; but I don't have any major news to report from the Inn. We saw a lot of prep-line action; way more dishes than I was motivated to deal with; and I must not have been the only teen in town dragging a bit last night since the wrap-up took longer than usual. My 'few hours' there were more like five; but who's counting when you're having fun?

Staying at the Inn pretty much until close meant getting a late start to my studies and work at home, but being tired made the family business work in particular tougher to get done; which is why I was up so late. Mom did my Magi lesson first once I was there; we did the bedtime routine with Ethan and Ehlana after that; and then I got on with my studies and work once they were tucked in and I was changed and in my own bed with Mandy. Those hours of study and work felt very tedious and unexciting last night, so let's just skip the details; move on; and write about a slightly more interesting Monday!

Okay, now that I think about that, the Tai Chi, week-day breakfast, and our classes at school weren't all that exciting; but the time with Michael and our friends or family was good for all of that too; and we managed to fit in some light teen fun here and there around the lessons and assignment work. Football at lunchtime was on, but Rowen and I were spectators today instead of players.

The best part of my day started after school. Michael and I had Rowen and Tim with us for studying at Michael's house. We got that out of the way quickly enough; and then went for a bike ride. We had nice weather for that; and we did the usual rounds to check out what was going on in the new section of town; over at the med center; and at the park. The kids are mostly interested in the new playground progress, and that's coming along and should be finished in time for the holiday weekend; but we were more interested in the park trail expansion that's in the works too. Progress on that is harder to keep track of because we're not able to go everywhere they're working; but some of the new trails may be open for the holiday weekend too. Since the crew working on those trails are using most of the kid and teen-made trails for the project too, and Michael and Tim contributed to those efforts over the years; they're fired up about what the pros will do with 'their' trails. Rowen and I are just looking forward to riding them and having fun.

The trails – riding the trails. Quit laughing. I only phrased it like that because Tim intentionally took that comment the wrong way this afternoon; and I wanted to include an example of what passes for teen humor in my 'now'. That probably hasn't changed in the future; but you never know and miracles do happen every day! ;^)

Rowen and Tim moved on when it was time for all of us to be home for dinner. I was with Michael and his family for that; Jacob cooked up another magical, experimental meal; and I am so going to keep Michael forever. He doesn't actually have a problem with that – even if a tiny part of my motivation is because I love his father's cooking. After dinner, it was music practice time for Michael and I while Rebecca went out to hang out with Jenny and Jacob and Miranda went for a walk. We did practice – honest! We also had a fun little make-out cameo too, but we are healthy teens; so you can't blame us for being completely normal when it comes to things like that and parent-free opportunities.

We followed up the music and make-out session with an hour of chat time with Michael's parents; and then I went home at nine-thirty so that I could get started on the work and studying that Mom vetoed. I didn't argue, and not only because that would be pointless. By the way, for those of you thinking right now that you had it tough with your parents; imagine having a Magi Master for a Mom. If you've lived here in Witch Falls at the same time we do; be very glad that we've never had a mother-daughter fight. That would be seriously scary!

Anyway, Mom sent me to bed, so I only had a little update chat with her, Dad, and the twins. You'll likely think that it's funny that I was sent to bed before Ethan and Ehlana were; but they'll be in bed too by the time I'm finished in the Jacuzzi and have my hair dried. I did check my email and deal with a quick family business issue that was for something that couldn't move along without my input; but that was it for the computing – other than this report. I didn't want to skip it two days in a row.

That does pretty much bring you up to speed on what's been happening in my life, though, and I have orders to get unplugged for the night; so that's all for now, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Happy 13th Birthday, Emma!

We had a little bedtime chat on our computers tonight, so I know that she had a great day and fun party. I wasn't there for it, but Rebecca went out to the farm after school to help out with the party; and hang out with Lucas once he was finished his chores for the night.

Emma's had a nice day for a party too, and while it's still cooler than it was earlier this spring; it was nice to see a '7' in front of the temperature reading again today – even if it didn't stay there for all that long. It was a bit chilly for Tai Chi by the river too, but we went outdoors anyway before getting on with the rest of a fairly normal weekday morning.

Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I got our school day off to a great start by having a bit of birthday gift fun with Emma before classes started; and Rowen and I had met up with our boys early so that we could do that pretty much as soon as Claire dropped her kids off on her way to work. That was an entertaining way to start our academic adventure; though I can't say that our classes today were even remotely close to being birthday party fun.

We did have a good day, though, and in addition to more lunchtime football; we also had a bit more birthday fun with Emma when Lucas and Rebecca had a birthday cake for her; and even managed to get most of the students around her to sing the birthday song to her. Thanks to the nicer weather, the afternoon classes either sped by or dragged on forever; depending on the perspective of the students; but we all did eventually get set free to move on – whether that was to go out and play; attend a birthday party; or move on to band practice.

Michael, Rowen, and I were, obviously, in group three; and Tim was happy to razz us about being stuck indoors while he could go out and have fun with some of the other guys. I would have liked to have some outdoor play time; but I love playing in the band and being on the teen praise team too. Our band practice went well-enough, and we're generally a pretty happy group; but I guess it doesn't really fit to report that we had fun while practicing songs for the Memorial Day parade; so let's just say that our practice went well today.

Michael and I walked with Rowen to the computer store on our way to my house; we stopped in for a visit with her parents; and then decided to stay and do our homework there when Tim caught up with us before we moved on. That didn't take too long, and then it was time for Michael and I to get home for a quick dinner before moving on to the church for our teen praise team practice. The only news from that meal was that we managed to get through sharing daily updates with my parents, Ethan, and Ehlana; and three out of four of them had more fun today than Michael and I did. If you didn't guess that the lawyer was not one of those three; you obviously live in a future where lawyer jokes no longer exist! ;^)

Yes, you, and every other lawyer in the world, might wish to see that day, Dad; but it probably isn't going to happen.

Michael and I were semi-drafted to sing a Mother's Day duet while at our practice tonight; though Stacey didn't have to twist our arms at all since we know that our Moms and Grandmothers will love having us do that for them – and all of the other Moms. Stacey picked the song for us, but we'll work out how we'll make it a duet; so we'll need to put that together over the next week between now and our next practice.

Michael came home with me for a while after we'd finished up at the church. Mom did a Magi lesson with both of us; we took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana off to bed; and then spent just a little time on that song in my room before using the majority of the time we had left together for a minor make-out session. Michael went home at ten-thirty, and after having a little chat with Mom and Dad in the office; I came up to my room to get started on my full nightly computing, studying, and family business work.

After catching up on my sleep last night, that was a lot easier to do; and I used a bit of time-phasing to get done a bit earlier than usual. That's really only a trade-off of extra rest while using up more energy; but I'll take the extra couple of hours of sleep tonight and be happy.

Tomorrow is an after-school work day, but if we have another nice day; I might need to have some outdoor play time first – especially when the forecast is for a wet weekend. I'll let you know how that goes, but for now; that's all I have for this report.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

We've had a really nice day here; which is why the only news I really have for a normally-uneventful work day is that I had some after school play time with Ethan and Ehlana before getting to my family business jobs. We went for a little bike ride back to the school so that we could play there; stopped for ice cream snacks at the Emporium; picked up an Olde Bakery dessert to go for after dinner; and then got home in time to help Mom with making dinner.

That meant a late start to my Wednesday night work and study schedule, but Mom let me use a time phase while we were all working in the office; so I still managed to get everything done without staying up late. Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana were all able to get more work or studying done too; so that worked out for all of us.

Don't ask what Mom and Dad are doing with their extra 'free' time tonight! ;^)

Getting to sleep early tomorrow isn't an option, since I'll be at the Inn as usual; so I'm going to just wrap this up and get all of the down time I can before getting started on another of those long, busy weekdays.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Tai Chi by the river this morning was good, if a bit cool; Michael stayed for breakfast before hurrying on to his morning weight training with the guys; and Ehlana and I wrapped up our early morning with a bit of hair and dress-up play time until Rowen stopped in to pick me up on her way to school.

The last day of the month hasn't been particularly special, but I have had quite a bit of fun to go along with the studying and work that has filled most of my day. Nice, warm spring weather continued today, and that was nice for the walks between home, school, and the Inn, but other than our outdoor play time at school; I didn't get to enjoy the sun and warm much. We had a fairly busy school day on the class work side of things; mostly because we're wrapping up modules in quite a few of our classes before doing a round of testing next week and then moving on to the last subject modules of the year. That sounds great; though most of my classmates aren't thinking about that in terms of being weeks away from final exams.

While we were kept busy in our classes, Michael and I were busier after school. We did our homework at the Inn with Rebecca and Jenny doing their work then too. The staffing for the night turned out to be a bit light for the dinner rush; so the four of us pitched in early and kept busy straight through until the game night action started – except for short dinner breaks that we did in pairs so that we didn't fall behind with the dishwashing or prep line. Michael and I were able to take our food outside and eat by the river; but that really was just a short break that didn't really give us a chance to wind down at all from the busy.

Game night was a fun few hours of play time with our families and friends. The Stone and Proctor families did not bring home any championships this week; but we managed to have an entertaining evening together despite that small disappointment. Once the Inn was cleaned up and ready for the morning, Michael and I walked home with both of our families; didn't get to have much of a goodnight hug and kiss thanks to having Miranda and Aunt Leanne teasing us about it; and then it was time for me to get home and started on my studies and work.

Mom did my Magi lesson with me first; we put Ethan and Ehlana to bed after that; and I've been doing my language studies, archive assignment, and family business work since climbing into my own bed with Mandy about three and a half hours ago. I won't say that much of that study and work was much fun, but I did get everything done on my to-do list; so I'm a happy camper – if a very tired one.

We don't have any major plans for this weekend – other than Leah's 2nd birthday on Saturday, and I'm good with that; since that should give Michael and I at least one or two opportunities for some quality alone time. There will be some work on Saturday too; but I'm not going to help out at the Inn on Sunday. I'm ready for a weekend off from that; though I'll still miss spending that time with Michael and his family. I'm hoping that Ethan, Ehlana and I can have some fun with Mom and Dad instead; but we'll see how that goes.

Anyway, I'm ready to get started on my nap, so that's all for tonight, folks; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!
May 2015

Friday, May 1, 2015

We've really had a beautiful spring day, and while our teachers didn't let that get in the way of piling more work on us; the weather did help out with making the rest of my day really great.

Tai Chi by the river was awesome; being outdoors for lunch had all of the kids and teens at school in a great mood; and the best parts of my day started once we were set free for the weekend.

We had no plans for the night, so Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I went out for a bike ride until dinnertime. That was mostly because Ethan and Ehlana were already hanging out with Naomi and Aiden; and didn't need us to help out with keeping them entertained. While hanging out with Rowen and Tim was an option for after dinner too; we decided that we were all more interested in some couples' alone time than in having a movie or game night at one of our houses. Since their parents were working at the store anyway, that non-plan worked for Rowen and Tim; and they probably got to the play time for two part of their evening long before Michael and I did.

Dinner was a barbeque with cold salad sides; and we had that meal out on the back porch. Dad had done the grilling; Mom had made the salads up earlier in the day; and the clean-up was easy – even with just a two-teen crew with twin supervisors. That left lots of play time; so we all went out for a walk that included the usual front porch visits and some playground time at the school. After getting home again, Mom and Dad opted for a bit of work in the office to hopefully get ahead on the weekend homework; so Michael and I took Ethan and Ehlana in tow to the lounge and we watched a movie together.

That was fun, but the Michael and me time after we took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night was both fun and quite a bit hotter! We both have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, so we didn't have hours available to us; but we took full advantage of the time we did have before we went downstairs to have a micro visit with Mom and Dad when it was time for Michael to go home. By the time I finished saying goodnight to Michael out on the front porch in a mostly non-verbal sort of way; Mom and Dad were ready to head for bed too; so we all came up to our rooms.

They're not sleeping, but I plan to be soon; and we don't need to ponder what Mom and Dad are doing instead.

I've done my basic nightly computer and email checks, and since we really do have a lot to do starting first thing in the morning; that's all I have for tonight.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Happy 2nd Birthday, Leah!

Can you believe that it's already been two years since our first 'hometown' cousin was born? Okay, Leah isn't technically our cousin, but we did adopt Aunt Deborah shortly after she moved here; so it totally counts.

The birthday party part of our day didn't get started until shortly after lunchtime, and other than our Tai Chi workout, which was indoors thanks to some untimely rain showers; we were busy all morning with yard and house chores except for our short stops for breakfast and lunch. While we had spurts of rain blow through town a few times today; that didn't really get in the way of the chores this weekend. Dad and I did all of the usual yard chores and also made sure that three canoes were cleaned up and ready to use this afternoon in case Leah and her little friends wanted to go for canoe rides. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana took care of most of the indoor chores, and they had more fun than Dad and I did thanks to using a bit of Magi power here and there to get their work done.

After cleaning up from lunch, it was time for some of us to hit the showers and get ready for Leah's party. Her Grandma and Grandpa Ayres were hosting the big event at their house – mostly because they have more space; and they're on the river too. Both features came in handy today, with the extra space being needed during the afternoon rain; and after dinner when we took kids for short canoe rides as part of the evening entertainment.

Leah may only be two now, but she's already collecting quite a group of friends; and they were all at the party today – along with most of their parents and some siblings. Add in other friends and all of the members of Leah's extended family that could make it to her party; and Grandma Ayres had a full house for the afternoon and evening. Grandpa Ayres was working at the store until closing for the weekend; but he was home in time for the birthday cake, gifts, and the post-dinner play time. Grandma and Grandpa Johnson came here for the weekend too; though they were making a quick trip – driving here this morning; and planning to head back tomorrow afternoon.

Mom, Dad, Ethan, Ehlana, and I walked over to the Ayres' house at about one-thirty, and we had time to help out with the final stages of the party set-up before the first guests arrived. Ethan and Ehlana were happy campers because they got to hang out with Naomi and Aiden for the rest of the day; and that was another fun example of how closely-knit our families and friends are here. Naomi was at the party because Leah is her cousin; and Aiden came along with Hailey because his little sister is already Leah's best friend. They'd needed to be dropped off for the afternoon; but their parents did join the party after closing the bakery for the day. Liz had to work at the salon too; so she was another of the 'business owner' guests joining the fun late – and getting to have dessert before dinner.

By the way, I don't know for sure that birthday cakes that are made for the best friends of Hannah's kids are extra-special, as claimed tonight; but the examples I've had so far for Leah, Ethan, Ehlana, and Naomi have been awesome so maybe it's true. I'll continue to investigate and compare over the next few years and let you know the results when I have them! ;^)

I was on kid control for most of the day. That meant helping out with the games; keeping the kids as happy as possible; and not losing any of them. Part three of that was probably harder than it sounds; and it's amazing how many different directions a small gang of one to three-year old kids can go at the same time. We should have called around and borrowed a couple of herd dogs to take care of that for us. Don't get me wrong – I had a blast all day too; but it was also very busy and tiring fun.

It took about an hour and a half to get through the organized games and award all of the prizes. After that, it was 'free' play time. That included some running around in the rain, and for some strange reason; there weren't very many adults interested in doing that with us. They did have fun laughing at the kids from the house or back porch – and at me as I tried to keep up with all of the happy little rain dancers. Holding off on dinner until after all of the stores closed for the day wasn't an option with so many young kids, so we started feeding them by shortly after five; and managed to keep most of them busy through until all of the guests had arrived. The cake and ice cream dessert was served then, accompanied by the birthday song for Leah, and after that messy blast of fun; Leah opened all of her gifts. That took a while, and some of the kids were already getting bored before she was finished; so I joined the small team of paddlers and we started the mini canoe trips. For that we had two teens or adults in each canoe with two little kids. We did loops down toward the falls and back again; and I did six trips with twelve kids and three different paddle partners doing two trips each. The canoeing was one of the best parts of the day for me; and I especially loved getting to spend some time doing that with Hannah and Liz while they were helping me out with trips for their own kids.

There were more games in the back yard and the adults had time for a long visit and chat while the kids played; but the party started breaking up by dusk as kids finally tired out and were taken home to bed. Ethan and Ehlana weren't tired out by then, but we did go home shortly after Michael caught up with me after he was finished helping out at the Inn for the night. We helped out with the post-party clean-up; got our canoes and gear home and put away; and did the full bath and bedtime routine with Ethan and Ehlana while Mom and Dad went into the office to do a bit of work before their own bedtime.

Once we had Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night and happily playing with their iPads while waiting to be ready to sleep; Michael and I came up to the lounge to watch a movie. We actually watched most of it, but also took advantage of the alone time for a minor make-out session. Getting to do that two nights in a row has been great, but while we considered shooting for another 'accidental' sofa sleepover; we decided not to push our luck and save them up for better occasions.

Michael went home at midnight, since we do have church in the morning; and he's going to have a long day after that at the Inn. I don't have any plans for tomorrow, though if the weather cooperates; a cone trip with Mom, Dad, and the twins might be fun. I'm ready for some down time now, though; so let's get this wrapped up so I can do that. After I finished up with the goodnight hugs and kisses on the front porch with Michael; I came up to my room, got ready for bed, and snuggled in with Mandy and my computer. I was only going to do the basic checks tonight, but there was a little job waiting for me in my inbox; so I took care of that too. I had a couple of college student email tonight too, and though I haven't done any college updates in a while; the only news from those email was that they're busy getting ready for final exams this weekend – and they'll be doing that from now through to when those exams begin. That's a week from Monday for most of them; which also means we're only a couple of weeks away from them getting home for the summer!

I can hardly wait to see Violet, Dillon, Stephanie, Jake, and everyone else!

Okay, I guess that's it for the news today, and though I've skipped a lot of the fun little details; I'm sure you'll find all of that and more in the journal Aunt Deborah is doing for Leah until she's old enough to do it herself; so you can always jump over to that archive if you're interested in hearing more about that part of my day from a different perspective. For me, it's really time to crash for a handful of hours; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, May 3, 2015

We've had an awesome day!

The weather was beautiful; and Mom and Dad were all for a play afternoon with Ethan, Ehlana, and me. We had a great morning too, though four out of five members of my family would suggest that my morning was a bit better than theirs because I got to have breakfast with Michael and his family; and what they were having this morning was way better than the meal at our house. Church and Sunday school was fun, and while getting to spend some time with our friends was part of that; it was the final work we did to get ready for the Mother's Day service next weekend that kept us entertained during most of our Sunday school time.

I didn't feel guilty when it came time to part ways with Michael at the Inn on my way home; though I would have loved it if he could have come out to play with us this afternoon instead of staying at the Inn. Once we were home, we got changed; made up lunch for eight; and had that ready by the time that Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack came over to join us out on the back porch. Canoeing wasn't an option for Aunt Leanne, but Uncle Adam and Zack were happy to sign up for the trip; and Aunt Leanne decided to do a bit of visiting and have a nap while we were gone. Lunch was quick and easy, and so was the clean-up. Mom and I took care of that while Dad and Uncle Adam got the canoes and gear out; and it wasn't long before we were saying goodbye to Aunt Leanne and heading upriver.

Although I'd expected to be paddling with Uncle Adam, we ended up having boys and girls canoes; with Mom, Ehlana, and I leading the way while the guys followed – and occasionally paddled next to us when they could. There was a bit of traffic on the river, since we weren't the only family to decide that some time out of the river would be a fun way to spend the day. Paddling all the way to the whirlpool would have been great, but we had Zack with us; and the adults in our group weren't all that interested in doing that on our first longer trip of the year. We did paddle upriver for nearly an hour and a half before turning back; and the round-trip took nearly exactly two and a half hours.

By then, one of us was ready to cool off, and though the water was quite cold; that just helped me to cool off very fast. I can't say that was my first swim of the year, since we did get to have some pool time while we were in Florida; but it was definitely my shortest swim of the year so far! Ethan and Ehlana thought about joining me right up until they each tested the water first; and then came to their senses. Mom, Dad, and Uncle Adam flat-out refused; though the two men did tell us about a couple of their early season swim attempts from when they were kids and teens. They mentioned how nice it was not to have to deal with peer pressure for things like that anymore, and though I didn't mention it; I did think about the fact that I wasn't under any peer pressure to go for that swim today – and I actually liked the cold-shock; even if staying in the water for long wouldn't have been fun.

Michael couldn't go for the canoe ride with us, but he did delay his afternoon break, and we met up for an hour after I got changed into dry clothes and called to let him know that we were back. I took Ethan and Ehlana with me; we picked up ice cream treats and drinks at the Emporium; and then went to hang out at the falls and give Michael a chance to relax after a busy lunch rush. The twins ran around between the upper and lower platforms while Michael and I mostly sat and talked; though they sat with us while having their ice cream so that they could help out with the canoe trip recap. For some reason, Michael seemed most disappointed to have missed out on seeing me in wet shorts and shirt after my micro-swim; but he didn't seem at all interested in going for a swim too.

When he needed to get back to the Inn, we walked there with Michael; sent him back into battle with hugs and kisses; and then Ethan, Ehlana, and I went home. The parents were hanging out in the back yard; Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace had joined the party; and Zack and Caleb were both having naps under the shade of the sunroom. We had a little visit first, but then Ethan and Ehlana wanted to play some games; so we grabbed some toys out of the storage barn and played soccer, Frisbee, and t-ball. There were some adult players coming 'off the bench' now and then; and I tossed a ball around with Mom, Dad, Uncle Adam, and Uncle Mark for a while when the twins were ready for another snack break. Playing catch was suggested after the t-ball game reminded the parents that baseball practices are starting this week.

We're all looking forward to that, but that's also one more activity on my schedule; and this first full week of May is going to be very, very busy. That's going to start tomorrow when the Malloys get here for their work-visit; so I should really move this along so that I can get started on my nap time soon.

Dinner was another easy-meal barbeque, and while I helped with the clean-up; my pre-dinner job was kid control. Zack and Caleb were both awake by then, and though Caleb isn't exactly ready to run around and play with his cousins; he did have fun running around with me and playing on a blanket that I set up under a tree so we'd have some shade for him. Everything else about our play afternoon was amazing too, but spending that time with my cousins was special for me; and something that I just don't get to do enough. Yes, I say that about too many things; but life seems to be non-stop lately and there aren't enough hours to do everything I want to do.

Mom and Dad had work to do after dinner, so my aunts, uncles, and cousins went home shortly after we'd finished the clean-up so that they could get to that. The twins and I were tempted to stay outdoors and play longer, but we decided to instead get an early start on my studies and work while they spent that time working on their college classes and assignments. That wasn't as much fun, but we used a time phase; and finished up all of our work by ten-thirty. It was bath time for all of us after that, and while Mom and Dad took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana cleaned up and off to bed; I came up to my room for some quality time with my Jacuzzi.

We won't discuss bath time for the parents after the kids were in bed, and if you're imagining that while reading this, cut it out – that's my Mom and Dad you're picturing in that scene!

Moving along, I had my bath; did my hair; got ready for bed; and was snuggled with Mandy and my computer by eleven-thirty. Since I'd done all of my studying and work for tonight; that just left the usual nightly computer checks and this journal update to do. There was nothing newsworthy to report from the Hathornes; I'm not going to get into global politics or news tonight; and there weren't any email to deal with since my last check while working on the family business.

That politics comment does remind me that I didn't even mention in my journal that the Grade Eight trip to Washington was last week; but that's mostly because it had absolutely no impact on my week at all – other than that it was slightly quieter around the school and playground while we were missing a class full of kids and a couple of teachers. The Senior class trip will have the Grade Twelve students heading for New York a week from Monday, but that won't be a big deal for me either. This is getting off-track, but thinking about that dies lead me to musing about my hoped-for band trip to Disney; and maybe even possibilities for other school trips too. I won't bore you with that right now, though; and it really is time for me to crash for the night anyway; so let's just wrap this up so that I can do that.

For the week ahead, as I already mentioned; first up is the Malloys' visit. They'll be here until Wednesday while Terry starts his work on the new bridge. That'll mostly be surveying and taking ground samples and whatever else he'll be doing to get what he needs to design the bridge. We'll also have three baseball practices on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday to go along with all of our regular activities; and Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's 4th anniversary is on Thursday. Stephanie and Sophia have their 20th and 4th birthdays on Tuesday, Nora has her 15th on Sunday; and just in case all of that isn't enough extra fun; don't forget that Mother's Day is next Sunday too!

I should've gone to bed hours ago to rest up for all of that!

Going there right now is an option, though; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, May 4, 2015

I fell asleep last night before getting around to my journal update. Tai Chi starts in five, though; and I'm too busy to do it now – especially while we have company here; so I'll go with the double-update tonight.

Until then...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Okay, here comes the double update, as promised, but it's been another long day; so I'm still going to keep this on the short side.

Monday morning started out with Tai Chi by the river; followed by the normal week day breakfast; and then I had a bit of extra work to do while getting ready for the day to make sure my room and the lounge were presentable for company. I did a bit of Magi-powered cheating to make all of that happen; though don't take that to mean that my rooms were a mess – that doesn't happen because it'd drive me nuts.

I missed out on the action at home while at school, but Mom was busy doing some running around before the Malloys arrived; and then she was busy having fun with Angela, the twins, Valerie, and Marcus while Terry pretty much got straight to work once they were in town. Most people probably wouldn't think that it was fun, but Terry looked happy enough after starting his work day out with meetings; and then going to work on surveying and taking soil samples and readings of the ground. I hadn't mentioned it in my journal before, but he brought a couple of his guys along to help with that. They're staying at the Inn; so I doubt he'll have a problem recruiting for the rest of his visits here!

Terry had decent weather for his outdoor work, and dodged some rain that was in the forecast for the morning; but we did get thunderstorms rolling through here by around six o'clock; so Michael's first baseball practice of the season was cancelled. That worked out great for us because we were able to have dinner with my family and the Malloys; and then spend the evening with them too. I really loved getting to have a long chat with Terry and Angela; along with some cuddle time with Marcus. Valerie mostly played with Ethan and Ehlana; but I did the bedtime stories with them before tucking her – and Ehlana – in for the night.

Having to do the early bedtime because we have company wasn't all that thrilling for the twins; but they just played on their iPads once the rest of us had gone downstairs until they were ready to sleep. Knowing them, 'playing' meant reading their college textbooks or doing something else study-related, but that's what I was doing after going to bed too; so I can't say much about that. Michael stayed until ten; he dashed home during a little break in the rain – after our front porch goodnight hugs and kisses; and then I came up to my room to get started on my work while leaving the parents to continue their visit, since they were waiting for Marcus to wake for his next feeding before heading to bed too.

You already know that I fell asleep before getting around to my journal update, and that was at least partly because I had a very boring archive assignment that put me right off to sleep sometime around three o'clock. Mom can't do lessons with us until Wednesday night; so she gave me some extra reading instead. I did my archive assignment first tonight to avoid a second un-scheduled nap time in a row; but it wasn't easy to stay awake through it either. I know that Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and I are so amazing that you might not believe this; but Magi Masters of millennia-past had a tendency to be very boring when it came to their writings.

Anyway, that pretty much covers the news from Monday; so let's get to the action from today.

Happy 20th Birthday, Stephanie; and Happy 4th Birthday, Sophia!

Michael, Lucas, Rebecca, and I did a joint gift for Stephanie, and sent it along with the gifts that Miranda and Jacob had sent to her; and we did a breakfast video chat with her. That worked out great for me, since I got to have a bonus Jacob Stone breakfast this week; but I did miss out on that time with the Malloys instead. Since we were busy with that instead, Michael skipped his morning weight training; and we enjoyed the extra time with his family before needing to head for school with Rebecca and Rowen.

I don't have any news from school; though I was busy all day straight through until after band practice. That kicked into high gear after that, because we had to hurry over to the Bassett's house to be there in time for Sophia's birthday dinner. She had an afternoon party that was ending with the dinner; so Ethan and Ehlana had been there most of the afternoon – and had Valerie with them for most of that time so that she could have fun playing the games too. Valerie is a year to a year and a half younger than most of Sophia's friends, but there were a couple of younger kids there with their parents and older sibs for her to play with. Mom and Angela were there for a while too; but were home by the time that Michael and I got there.

Rebecca had been helping out with the party since getting finished school for the day, and though dinner was nearly ready by the time that Michael and I got there; we jumped in to help out with kid control; and then did as much of the clean-up as we could before needing to move on to our teen praise team practice. The dinner fun with the kids was definitely on the hyper side after they'd been running around all afternoon and had already consumed lots of treats by then; and we loved every minute of it.

That made switching to praise team mode – especially when we're getting ready for the Memorial Day weekend service – a bit tougher; but that practice went well too. Michael and I stayed a bit later after the rest of the teens went home so that we could do a couple of run-throughs of the Mother's Day song Stacey picked for us; and she was thrilled with what we're doing with it; so we're happy campers too.

Michael came home with me after practice, and though we didn't have much time for another visit; we did spend what time we could with the Malloys since they'll be on the way home again before we're finished school tomorrow. We ended up spending more time with Valerie than with Angela, Terry, and Marcus; but we still had a short visit with them once we had Valerie tucked in and off to sleep for the night.

This time, Michael stayed until ten-thirty before going home; and that's why I got another late start to my work and studying. It was after eleven before I was in bed with Mandy and my computer, and since I didn't get everything done last night; I made up for that tonight. It's past three-thirty now and I am definitely ready for the down time, so I'll spare you the boring details of my work, language studies, and archive reading; and just get straight to the sleeping part of my day.

While Terry will be doing a bit more work in the morning, things should quiet down around here a bit for the next few days. If we get the rain that's in the forecast too, we might not even have any extra baseball action either, though I'd be okay with that – especially if it means I can have a normal work night Wednesday and get to sleep early tomorrow night!

It seems obvious to me that I have moved sleeping up to number one on my to-do list now, so I'm out of here; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

The Malloys headed home today sometime after lunch, and despite the rain in the forecast; it ended up being a pretty nice day for Terry's work – and then the co-ed baseball practice was on for tonight too.

I have lots of news for today; but let's start from the beginning.

Tai Chi by the river was fun; and Terry came out to watch us with Marcus when the baby wanted to play after his early-morning feeding anyway. That was entertaining; and so was breakfast. Michael stayed for that, and again skipped his morning weight training so that he could spend the extra time with me – and with the Malloys too. We were out of the loop for the school time part of our day; but I had a surprise waiting for me when I got home from school.

Two surprises!

Grandma and Grandpa came home from their winter trip early so that they could be with us for Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's anniversary tomorrow; and for Mother's Day on Sunday. They were at our house when I got home, since Aunt Leanne was at the office with Dad; and they sprung the surprise on her when she stopped in for some reason that was totally a set-up for that surprise.

We ended up having dinner together; and then I was put in charge of kid control while the parents went to the park for their first ball practice of the year. The playground isn't finished yet; so we took some toys and games along with us to play. Grandma and Grandpa came to the park with us for a while; but went home with Aunt Leanne so that they could help with Zack when she ran out of steam. I was kept busy, since I had Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden; but we had fun too. Hannah's subbing on our team for Aunt Leanne this summer; so I'll likely have the same four kids to watch every Wednesday. Eli and Hailey had other sitters for the practice; but we'll see if I get them now and then too.

All of that bonus action today has meant that my early bedtime plan for tonight has gone out the window; and that's why I'm keeping this update shorter than I normally would – though I probably shouldn't skip all of the fun little details that went into our happy little family reunion and the dinner entertainment that was Grandpa's story time for his grandkids. Even though it was getting late by the time we got home from the park, Mom still did Magi lessons with Ethan, Ehlana, and me after taking two days off. That's why it was heading toward midnight by the time I climbed into bed with Mandy and my computer and finally got started on my family business work and language studies.

That all went well-enough, but took hours to get caught up on everything; so I decided to skip the archive studies for tonight. I'll have to catch up on that too; but I would have fallen asleep if I'd tried to do it tonight. There isn't anything important to report from my email and computer checks tonight; so let's wrap this up so that I can have my nap before getting up to do it all again.

Oh – I almost forgot! There was one other news story from around town and school today – Amy and Jared found out that she's pregnant with their second baby!

Yeah for them – and the White and Spencer families!

Okay, we've got that anniversary celebration tomorrow, and Rowen and I will have our baseball practice too – if it isn't rained out; so I really need to get started on that nap now. Hopefully we'll have as amazing a day as we've had today, but that's all I have for now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Happy 4th Anniversary, Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne!

They've had a happy day too; though that probably got even better for them once they got started on their kid-free night!

No details required by the nieces or nephews, thanks; but we do wish you all the best! ;^)

It seems strange as I sit here in bed and write that; since I didn't really get to spend much time with my aunt and uncle today. Between school, homework, and baseball practice; I was only able to be at the dinner party for about an hour, and since they waited for the stores to close so that all of the guests could be there for dinner; I didn't even get to be there for all of that.

For some reason, Mother Nature picked today to mess with the weather forecasters, and while we were supposed to get rain and thunderstorms off and on all day; that didn't happen. The first sounds of Thunder didn't even roll through until after I was home from my ball practice; and the imminent threat of a thunderstorm had our guests heading home shortly after that – with Grandma and Grandpa taking Zack with them for the night.

There was work to do after that around the house, so I pitched in to help Mom with that while Dad got started on his homework and Ethan and Ehlana did a bit of studying for their college courses. It was Magi lesson time after that; and Mom taught me a new Transmutation. After that, we did the full bath and bedtime routine with the twins, since they'd done a fair bit of outdoor play today and were going to be spending the morning at KidZone; so it was after eleven before I got around to hopping into my Jacuzzi to get rid of the bits of baseball diamond and grass that I brought home with me from my practice. I did my language studies then; and started in on the family business work after getting into bed with Mandy. Leaving my archive studying to last was the lesser of two bad options; but I managed to stay awake through an hour and a half of high-speed reading that covered about fifteen hundred pages of fairly tedious and technical Transmutation research.

We're just a day away from the weekend, now, and while Mother's Day is on Sunday; we don't actually have a lot of plans beyond celebrating that with our favorite moms. The weather forecast looks fairly awful too, with lots of rain for the next three days; and that won't be fun on Saturday if Dad and I need to deal with that on what he wants to be a big yard work day. That won't be fun for Mother's Day either; though we'll manage to make sure that Mom has fun anyway even if we get rain all day.

For now, though, it's really late; and I just need to crash for a couple or three hours before it'll be time to get at it again. I've skipped the news for the rest of my day; but it was busy and uneventful by comparison to my evening. We did miss game night because of the party and my practice; but I'm expecting to miss that most Thursdays between now and the summer break.

Okay, that really is it; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, May 8, 2015

Two words: sofa sleepover!

Flip the digital page in your 'now' for the double update. I have to get downstairs for breakfast with my family, Michael, Naomi, and Aiden; and then we have a busy day of chores to get to after that.

We did have an awesome Friday night; and I thought that our wake-up call this morning was rather amazing too!

Details to follow tonight, but that's it for now; so, until then...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Okay, I need to do a double update while also keeping it short so that I can get some sleep and be ready for a very busy Mother's Day tomorrow.

Let's actually try to do that!

My Friday was amazing!

Too short? Yeah, so let's hit the highlights.

Tai Chi in the morning and breakfast that Michael stayed for before rushing off to his weight training was really good. My school day was busy, and we did a lot of work; but we had fun all day too. Once we were set free, thanks to the rain that never arrived in our little town; Michael and I were free to have some after-school play time. Rowen and Tim joined us for that; and we took Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden with us so that Mom could get a break – at least from the kids. Getting ready to host our dinner and a play night was another issue; but then she had lots of help for that from my grandparents and some of the other adults.

The park playground is still under construction; so we went for a bike ride; played at the school; and went for ice cream at the Emporium on our way to the falls. Rowen and Tim had other plans for dinner and the rest of the night; so they moved on after helping Michael and me with getting the four younger kids home. He and I were on kid control with grandpa from then until dinnertime; and it was while we were hanging out in the back yard that the sleepover suggestion was made and approved by the parents for Michael, Naomi, and Aiden. We had to have a late dinner so that everyone could get to our house after work; and we sent some dinner care packages to the parents that couldn't join us for the meal.

We – the kids – got to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa; and that meant that our entertainment was a handful of travel stories that Grandpa told us while we munched on barbeque chicken, ribs, or steaks with cold salad sides and raw veggies. Michael and I were drafted for the clean-up crew after dinner, and then we moved on to some outdoor play time that included a small-group canoe ride downriver and back; and some games in the back yard. The party broke up by dusk as parents wanted to take tired kids home to bed – and Aunt Leanne was ready for some nap time by then too; so Michael and I moved on to the lounge with four junior movie enthusiasts so that we could watch a movie before they went to bed for the night.

The movie was okay; we had fun getting my brother, sister, and their friends tucked in for the night; and then Michael and I had a fairly hot make-out session in the lounge while not watching a second movie before we happily snuggled close and then fell asleep on the sofa. That actually wasn't planned, but we didn't have a problem with it; and our wake-up hugs and kisses were great too – though that had to wait until after Ehlana and Naomi woke us up for Tai Chi.

We dodged some rain to be out by the river for our workout; and then the rush was on to get ready for the day; have breakfast; and then get to work. For Michael, that meant going home to do some chores there while I was teamed up with Dad for the yard work side of our weekend to-do list. Rain was in the forecast for today again, but we ended up more on the miss side of the hit and miss rain; and it really didn't get in the way of our work at all. I'll skip the boring details for all of that; and just carry on from when we wrapped up our work day at four-thirty so that we could hit the showers and get cleaned up.

Naomi and Aiden had gone home long before then, so I spent some time playing with Ethan and Ehlana before dinner; we had a little pot-luck family barbeque for anyone that wanted to come over instead of doing their own meals; and then I was again on the clean-up crew before being set free for the evening. I needed to get some homework done this weekend, and since my friends were busy too; I did that after dinner. Ethan, Ehlana, and I followed that up with another movie in the lounge; and then Michael came over after he was done at the Inn so that we could go over our song for the Mother's Day service one more time. He also stayed long enough to do the bedtime routine with Ethan and Ehlana, and we had a very minor make-out session back in the lounge before he needed to get home and I needed to get ready for bed and started on my nightly computer checks.

Mandy and I had ourselves tucked in by a bit after eleven, and there hasn't been much on the work front for me to deal with tonight; so the computer and email checks, along with one family business issue; didn't take long to wrap up. As I mentioned, we do have a full day booked for tomorrow, so I'm glad that I don't need to stay up late with my work. Mom has the day off tomorrow, and while I'm going to help out at the Inn a bit too; Dad and I will be doing all of the work at home too. We'll have some fun too; but I expect to be tired out before even getting to my usual school night studies and work tomorrow night.

With that in mind, that's going to be it for now; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Happy Mother's Day to all of my favorite Moms!

Mom's big day started out with an early-morning wake-up call from her kids; and Ethan, Ehlana, and I had her open her cards and gifts while still in bed. She had the option to skip Tai Chi, but chose to do that with us anyway; and Michael met us out by the river for that too before needing to get home and help out with the work for his own mother's special breakfast. Dad and I did that for Mom too; though we didn't come up with anything quite as spectacular as Jacob did for Miranda.

I'd suggest that we should do these Mother's Day breakfasts together from now on; but every Mom in the area would want to get in on that deal if Jacob was cooking! ;^)

While I helped out with the work before and after breakfast, and we had fun with Mom; I also needed to rush around to do all of that, get ready for church, and head over to Michael's house early enough so that he and I could give his Mother the bonus joint gift we'd picked out for her. That cameo moment didn't last long; and then we walked to church with both of our families – including Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack.

Okay, Zack got a ride in his stroller; but you know what I mean.

We were there with time to spare, but Michael and I needed to hurry off so that we could warm up for our musical contributions in the service; and that kept us busy right up until we needed to be in the sanctuary.

Before I get to that, as I write this, I'm wondering why it is that the Mother's Day service is a bit longer than usual while the fathers get Pastor Martha's annual 'gift' of a short service. When you think about that, it's a rather stark contrast between men and women; because the Moms and Dads both seem to really love how their special days are celebrated at our church.

Our Moms definitely loved the service today. Starting with the flowers that they were each given as they arrived, the fun continued with the music from the teens and kids; the skits were all themed and mostly both fun and funny. While Michael and I weren't in a competition with the other kids and teens; I'll humbly admit and report that our duet was one of the very best highlights of the service. Miranda assured us that we did it just right; based on the simple fact that we had nearly every mother in the sanctuary crying by the time we'd finished the first chorus.

Here's the song that Stacey picked for us. Michael took the first verse, I had the second, and we took turns with the melody and harmonies after that. I'll include a version of the song that we found online and used as a rough base for coming up with our version; though our harmonies were different because of our respective vocal ranges – and we had a guitar-keyboard arrangement for the song too. Singing and playing that with Michael was awesome, but the best part of the morning was the thank-you hugs from our Moms and Grandmothers – and lots of other Moms for me after Michael needed to head over to the Inn with his father and sister.

One Heartbeat At A Time

Steven Curtis Chapman

You're up all night with a screaming baby  
You run all day at the speed of life  
And every day you feel a little bit less  
Like the beautiful woman you are

So you fall into bed when you run out of hours  
And you wonder if anything worth doing got done  
Oh, maybe you just don't know  
Or maybe you've forgotten

You, you are changing the world  
One little heartbeat at a time  
Making history with every touch and every smile  
Oh, you, you may not see it now  
But I believe that time will tell  
How you, you are changing the world  
One little heartbeat at a time

With every "I know you can do it"  
Every tear that you kiss away  
So many little things that seem to go unnoticed  
They're just like the drops of rain over time  
They become a river

And you, you are changing the world  
One little heartbeat at a time  
Making history with every touch and every smile  
Oh, you, you may not see it now  
But I believe that time will tell  
How you, you are changing the world  
One little heartbeat at a time

You're beautiful  
You're beautiful  
How you're changing the world  
You're changing the world

You, you are changing the world  
One little heartbeat at a time  
Making history with every touch and every smile  
Oh, you, you may not see it now  
But I believe that time will tell  
How you, you are changing the world  
Oh, I believe that you  
You are changing the world  
One little heartbeat  
At a time

And you're changing the world

One Heartbeat at a Time – Steven Curtis Chapman Cover

The social time after church began wrapping up rather abruptly when it began to look as though we were running out of nice-weather time and the forecast thunderstorms were imminent. As I mentioned, Michael went to the Inn to help out with the always-packed Mother's Day lunch rush; but I went home with my family because we were having a family lunch at our house that our grandparents, the Everetts, and Carringtons were joining us for while the Ayres' component of our family was busy with Uncle Nick's family instead.

Our original plan was for a picnic at the park, but the thunderstorms nixed that; and we instead had our meal in the dining room; followed by an indoor play afternoon that included movies and some naps. Michael came over for his afternoon break even though he got drenched doing that; and then I went back to the Inn with him to help out with the first buffet – and through until my family came to the Inn for the late buffet. To be blunt, it was crazy-busy for everyone working at the Inn; and we were all constantly on the go to keep up with all of the work.

I felt a little guilty about taking the long break to have dinner; but then I might not have stayed until close after that if I hadn't done that too. Spending that hour or so with my family and some of our friends was really special, though, so I'm glad that I did that, and stayed late – even though I've also had to stay up really late to get my studying and work done once I did get home.

There were a few bonuses to staying at the Inn, and while spending that time with Michael and his family was a big part of that; we also got to walk home without having to deal with getting rained on, and the goodnight hugs and kisses with Michael were really great too.

Mom didn't take the night off from doing some of her family business work or my Magi lesson. She was doing the first when I got home, and since it was going on eleven by then; she stopped her work and did my lesson right then before sending me up to bed while she and Dad both kept working in the office until nearly midnight. I stopped in for short chats with Ethan and Ehlana on my way up to my room. They'd both still been awake and doing some reading on their iPads, but had done the bath and bedtime routine shortly after getting home from dinner so that Mom would then be free to get to her work.

I needed some Jacuzzi time after the hot hours of kitchen work, so I hopped in the tub first and multi-tasked my language studies. After getting out of the tub and ready for bed, I continued my studying with the archive assignment that Mom had given me; and then moved on to two hours of family business work that would have been more like six if I hadn't kicked it up into high gear to get all of that done. While I'm happy with getting all of that done, none of it was particularly interesting to write about here; so let's move on to the next item on my update list.

Happy 15th Birthday, Nora!

Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I had almost nothing to do with her big day other than giving her a joint gift when we were at church this morning. Nora wasn't having a party because of Mother's Day, though I'm sure her family celebrated her big day too, and they were at one of the buffets. I can report that Elliott apparently did well-enough with the birthday gifts from the boyfriend; since they were both all smiles at church. Since it came up at church today, I should also mention that Nora is not a Mother's Day baby, and while she didn't say anything; I could also tell that she doesn't like getting teased about that at all.

I actually think that would be very cool; though probably not for the Mother's Day baby Moms. Spending hours in labor wouldn't exactly be a joyful way to spend the day – even if the gift at the end of the ordeal would be amazing!

Okay, I need to wrap this up; so let's take a quick look at the week ahead.

First up, the senior high school students are already on their way to the airport for their senior trip to New York City. They'll definitely have more fun than most of our favorite college students; since they'll be writing final exams this week before coming home over the weekend. Here at home, our top events for the work week will be Jacob and Miranda's anniversary on Tuesday and Uncle Mark's birthday on Thursday. The Memorial Day weekend is less than two weeks away, so while our weekend highlights will be the incoming college student reunions; it'll be the holiday weekend prep work that will keep us busiest – and Dad will be getting ready for his trip to the city too.

All of that in addition to our regular schedules will add up to a lot of late nights, so I'm going to need to get sleep when I can – like right now.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, May 11, 2015

It's late and time for a micro-update.

Our senior class got to New York safely.

We had a cooler, but nice weather day without rain.

Tai Chi by the river was chilly; good morning hugs and kisses with Michael warmed us up! :^)

Quiet day at school with a quarter of the high school students away for the week.

Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I did our homework at Michael's house after dinner; Jacob and Miranda fed all of us; and then Rowen and I took Ethan and Ehlana with us to watch Michael and Tim at their first ball practice of the year. Tim's father is coaching them again; and their practices are at the school. The twins spent some of that time at the school playground; but we also tossed a ball around for a while too – a fairly entertaining activity considering that my brother and sister have to play normal for their age despite the fact that they could easily keep up with Michael, Tim, and their team mates if allowed to do that.

I went home with Michael for a while after practice – and after dropping Ethan and Ehlana off at home. Miranda had a mini wedding meeting with Rebecca and me; though that was mostly a schedule update for what we'll be doing after Stephanie gets home on the weekend. Michael and I had a short bit of alone time for our goodnight hugs and kisses before I went home; and then it was time for me to really get to work.

I've been doing that for the past five and a half hours; including my Magi lesson and helping out with getting the twins tucked in for the night. Some of that was fun; most of it was just intense studying and work. Getting some sleep now is way higher on my priority list than boring you with the work and study details, though, so I'm out of here; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Happy 25th Anniversary, Jacob and Miranda!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Beth-Ann White!

Beth-Ann's birthday is getting mentioned because she's one of Zack and Leah's future classmates and friends, and I'm sure that Leah went to her party with the other girls their age; but my immediate family didn't have any involvement in her happy day.

We were much more involved in Jacob and Miranda's anniversary; and Michael and I skipped our band and praise team practices so that we could help out too – as well as enjoy the celebration when we got to those parts of the day. That work actually started early, because Michael and I went over to his house after Tai Chi so that we could make breakfast for his parents. Rebecca didn't help us out with the cooking, because she got ready for school first; and then helped us with the clean-up after we'd had our meal and given Jacob and Miranda their gifts.

That was an amazingly fun way to start the day, and though we – the teens – had to get to school after that; I'll take a wild guess that Jacob and Miranda had much more fun than we did while continuing to celebrate, and getting to do that on a day off from the Inn. As usual, no details are required by the kids, though that isn't actually a guess; since Rebecca and I did overhear enough of the girl chat tonight to know that her parents weren't doing chores all day.

The dinner and party was at Bill and Sylvia Bassett's house; so Michael and I headed there after school and his aunt put us right to work. Rebecca joined us there too, but ended up doing kid control first – a job that we all took turns doing over the next four or five hours. It wasn't warm enough to have the party outdoors, which had been plan 'A'; so we needed both the dining room and kitchen to have room for everyone. Using the Inn would have been an option, but Miranda's family had decided not to do that; knowing that the couple of honor would not be able to keep from doing some work and supervising if they were there.

Our dinner was a pot-luck event, and my mother had been one of the volunteers cooking quite a variety of entrees; so she only came over with Ethan and Ehlana once that was cooked and ready to go. Michael and I did everything from chopping veggies to setting tables and putting up decorations before dinner. We were with Rebecca and the kids for most of the social hour when the guests began arriving right up until most of the businesses in town closed up for the day; and then dinner was served at six-thirty.

For us, the dining experience was a bit disjointed. Fun and entertaining too; but a bit hectic as we switched between helping out with the work; having our meal in the kitchen with the kids; and spending some time with Jacob, Miranda, and the other adults for cameo moments that included the cake presentation and gift opening. While the gifts were all silver-themed, they ranged from the beautiful and thoughtful to the slightly silly – like the nineteen-ninety silver dollar that one comedian in the Bassett family gave them.

The dinner was the main entertainment event, but since it's also a work night; the social time after dinner was not an all-night party. Michael, Rebecca, and I were on the clean-up crew; we followed that up with some play time with the kids; and then caught the tail-end of the chat time in the living room as Bill and Sylvia's guests started heading home. Michael, Rebecca, and I were in the last group to leave – with our parents; and we only went home with Jacob and Miranda long enough for Michael and Rebecca to grab overnight bags so that they could spend the night with me.

Don't take that last line the way I'm sure that Tim and some of the other guys will tomorrow morning! ;^)

Giving them a kid-free night was our last gift for Jacob and Miranda; and let's not take that train of thought any farther. It was going on eleven by the time we got to my house, and we still had homework to do. Before getting to that, we took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana off to bed; with Rebecca taking a turn with the bedtime story before the girls and guys split up for a bit of chat time. We followed that up with a short visit with Mom and Dad; and then decided to do our homework at the table in the lounge instead of bothering my parents while they were trying to get some late-night work done too.

The school work was finished by a bit after midnight; we wound down for a while on the sofa while watching television; and then Rebecca went to bed so that Michael and I could have a bit of alone time before we split up and went to bed too. Another sofa sleepover was tempting; but I had lots of work and studying to get to still; so we settled for a minor make-out session and then Michael went to his room to get some sleep while I got ready for bed and then started my usual school night studying and family business job.

It's closing in on four-thirty now thanks to that late start; so I'll end up using a bit of self-healing in the morning to make up for the lack of sleep. The late night and all of the work today was worth it for two of my very favorite adults, though; and I'm still in a great mood – even after dealing with a dreadfully boring archive assignment. My language studying was more entertaining, since I spent part of that time doing an internet chat with a couple of teens in Asia; and the family business jobs were more fun tonight too as I worked on some projects for back-to-school and fall retail operations.

I feel as though there should be more to this report, since it is such a milestone for Michael's parents; but then I did mention a couple of times that I don't need the details for what were likely the very best parts of their day anyway! If I don't wrap this up soon, I'll still be awake when they're getting ready to head for the Inn, and they've probably managed to get more sleep than I will; so let's just wrap this up and call it a night.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Having Michael and Rebecca here for breakfast this morning was a great way to start the day – along with Tai Chi by the river; but those were the highlights of the day for me.

Rain set in and stayed with us off and on all day. The Co-ed baseball practice was cancelled. Michael was working at the Inn tonight; and it was family business work night for me; so that's pretty much all I did from the time I got home from school until bedtime. There was a break for dinner, and I did have the rest of my family in the office with me for a lot of that time; but it was still all work with just a side of entertainment here and there. A little time-phasing made it possible for all of us to get our work done in decent time, and even after tucking Ethan and Ehlana in for the night; I still made it up to my room by a bit after nine.

I still had my archive assignment to do from my lesson with Mom and my language studies; but I kicked those into high gear too so that I could get a decent night of rest after a few too many late nights in a row. It's time to get to that extended nap now, and there isn't any major news to report for today anyway; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Happy 31st Birthday, Uncle Mark!

I'd say that his big day was fairly happy too. Aunt Grace started out his day by giving him a fairly large gift – a new, shiny black crossover with room for six that will not only come in handy for their family; but work pretty well for handling small-town emergency calls for one of our doctors too.

That's quite a bit nicer than the gift that Michael and I picked out for him; but then we were thinking along the lines of decorations for his new office at the time – and new trucks, minivans, or whatever you actually consider a crossover to be wasn't in our birthday budget this year.

My only involvement in Uncle Mark's birthday was a bit of pre-dinner work and then I was there for maybe the first half of the meal before I needed to meet up with Rowen and get to our baseball practice. I'm glad that didn't get rained out because that also meant that Uncle Mark's dinner and mini-party could be outdoors; but missing some of the best parts of the evening fun was tough. Our ball practice went fairly well, and we did have fun too; but not birthday roasts and Olde Bakery birthday cakes kind of fun.

Okay, Mom and Dad brought cake home for me after the party, so I got in on that anyway; but you know what I mean.

I've skipped past the morning and school parts of my day, but Tai Chi was indoors thanks to some early-morning rain, but that cleared out by the time we got started on an uneventful day of classes. Our lunch break was entertaining enough with some co-ed football and a side of girl chat time when Rowen and I weren't playing with our boys; but that's about all of the news from our time at school. The same can be said for my evening and late night action – except for the short chat I had with Mom, Dad, and the twins once we were all home again either from the party or practice and my Magi lesson with Mom.

The rest of my night has been filled with the usual work and studying from the time I helped with tucking Ethan and Ehlana in for the night until now. That's covering more than five hours of nearly non-stop computing, and some of that was even fun too; but now I'm totally cooked and ready for some downtime. We've got one day left to the weekend, and I'm looking forward to the impending arrival of my favorite collegians over the next few days, but we also have lots of work to do too; and I'll be doing what I can to help Mom and Dad out with getting ready for the holiday weekend – especially since Dad needs to get ready for his week in the city too.

Now I really want to get started on what nap time I have left before it'll be time to gut up and going again; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, May 15, 2015

This update is coming to you from one of two tents in the back yard. We're taking a bit of a risk that we might get rained on before we have the tents packed up in the morning, but it's a nice night; and we were ready for our first camping adventure of the year.

'We' is Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I; and we have four junior campers with us. That means that there are no tent-mate swaps going on tonight; but that could be an option now and then this summer – if some of us are lucky! ;^)

I'll get to that part of our day soon; but let's back up and cover the rest of the news from earlier today.

Morning Tai Chi was by the river; and was a great start to the day. Things were quiet at school, with the only major news being the updates that some of the younger siblings were passing along from the teens on the senior class trip in New York City. They're all home now as I write this; but spent most of the day traveling home after just one, last sightseeing stop while on the way to the airport. I'm sure that they've had a great trip, and I'm glad that they have; but New York City wouldn't be a top ten pick of places to go on a trip – and I'm not just saying that because it's home turf for the Hathornes. I did live there for a while – even though I was pretty young back then; and there are lots of places that I like a lot better.

Moving along, our lunchtime at school was indoors thanks to a well-timed thunderstorm, but then it cleared up; and we've had a nice day since then. There weren't any plans for a family dinner and a movie night this week, since everyone is busy with work, kids, and getting ready for the holiday weekend. Mom and Dad let me have Michael, Tim, and Rowen over for dinner and the evening; and the camping was added once we'd checked and decided that the rain risk was lower than expected. Ethan and Ehlana soon had Naomi and Aiden added to the camper list; and they'd already been at our house for part of the afternoon so that they could all play together after being at KidZone together earlier while Mom had been busy with errands and other work.

Those plans came together fairly quickly after we got home from school; and then we did some biking for a while first before Michael, Tim, and Rowen went to pack overnight bags and I started getting tents and gear out by the river so that we could set everything up as soon as we were back together again. We had our camp set up by the time Mom and Dad had dinner ready; and then we enjoyed having that meal outdoors. My parents weren't scared by the depths of Tim's appetite; but Dad did joke about it a bit – including offering to switch Naomi with Ethan when they hit their teen years; though he did specify that the swap would only be at meals.

We didn't have to help with making dinner, but we were on the clean-up crew; and Mom and Dad both went to work in the office while we did that; and stayed there when their little group of campers headed out to play for a while. The work at the park was nearly finished – or at least what was scheduled to be finished in time for the holiday weekend. Some of the playground equipment was open and could be used; while the rest of it would be ready by Monday or Tuesday night. The new main trail out into the new section of the park that goes down to the north side of the river was finished too; and that's a nice walk or ride down into that part of the valley. The rest of the trails will be added over the next few years, and that's going to be great too; but I love what we're doing there a lot; so I'm glad that we're involved in making that happen.

Once we got back home again, we got the go-ahead for a small campfire. Michael and Tim got that going for us while Rowen and I took care of rounding up chairs, blankets, snacks, and drinks for all of us. I went and got my guitar too so that we could have some music; and then we settled in to have some fun. The four younger kids sat on blankets and toasted snacks for us; Michael took care of most of the guitar playing; and we all sang some favorite songs. That included Michael and I doing a few duets that Ehlana and Naomi requested, and once we'd had enough of that; it was time for some scary stories.

Our orders were to wrap up the campfire by around eleven, so there was another blast of work then as the boys took care of cleaning up from that while Rowen and I dealt with getting four kids ready for bed. There was another pair of stories to help get the kids settled down once they were in their sleeping bags. Once that was done, Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I met outside the tents again and went to sit by the river so that we could talk for a while before turning in too.

That ended up being more like an hour and a half, but we were having fun and Rowen and I were quite comfortable as we cuddled with our respective boyfriend. Despite the fact that we'd already stayed up too late by then, after splitting up to do our goodnight hugs and kisses with our guys; Rowen and I have been chatting for quite a while since getting ready for bed too and into our sleeping bags. I've also been doing some work on my computer; but only the usual bedtime computer checks and one small family business job.

We do all need to be up early, and have a busy day ahead that includes a lot of yard work for me; so I'd better finish this up and get some sleep. The only other news I have is from my favorite collegians. I haven't seen any of them yet, but there are quite a few of them home by now. That doesn't include my six favorite college kids. Violet and Dillon headed for Woodvale first; and won't be here until Sunday afternoon – in time for one of the dinner buffets at the Inn. Christina and Josiah are with her family this weekend; and will be home again on Monday. Finally, Jake and Stephanie don't leave New York until tomorrow; so we won't see them until sometime in the afternoon – or ater for me; depending on how long I'll be doing chores.

Okay, that'll do for this update, and I really do need to get on with the napping; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, May 16, 2015

We managed to successfully complete our first camping by the river adventure without getting rained on; and had a great start to our day with that; Tai Chi; and an outdoor breakfast before it was time to pack up our tents and gear, and get to work for the day.

That meant yard work for me; and Dad and I were busy with that pretty much through until we stopped for a late dinner with about half of our home-town family. I won't bore you with those details, since it really was all work with just a bit of fun mixed in here and there; but there were some cameo moments and a bit of entertainment too.

Ethan and Ehlana spent part of the day with Grandma and Grandpa at their house, and while they helped out with the gardening there; Grandma wouldn't let them help as much as they would have if she'd let them make her gardens 'self-weeding' as they'd suggested. Grandpa loved the idea; but couldn't come up with a viable answer for how he'd explain the fact that their gardens never needed to be weeded anymore.

When you think about that, the funny part should be that they didn't think that the offer was impossible; but I digress.

I didn't get to spend much time with Jake and Stephanie when they got home late this afternoon; but I did take a break when they were dropping Jake's luggage off at home so that I could welcome them back. I had to skip the hugs and kisses, since I was a mess; but I'll make up for that tomorrow. They'd needed to get over to the Inn so that Jacob and Miranda could see them; and then they spent the rest of the day with the Wingboroughs. I'll get to have breakfast with them tomorrow; so that'll give us a chance to hear about some of their recent college stories – and probably talk weddings too.

Since I'm thinking about weddings, there was some news on the family grapevine today. Michelle McEwan and Neil Ryan got engaged. They've just earned their Bachelor Degrees; and we're hearing that the wedding will be next summer – after they earn their Masters Degrees.

I won't be involved in that; but there's yet another wedding for the Johnson clan to look forward to; and I'm glad that Michelle and Neil are planning a life together.

This update is just flowing right along, and speaking of not being involved; there was a birthday celebration today that I wasn't part of and wish the best for the birthday girl.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Rebekkah!

Pastor John and Stacey had a party for her, and Leah and Zack were among the kids invited to attend, but as I mentioned; I was out of the loop for that. Rebekkah will be friends with my cousins, though; and that's quite important for them.

We got to hear about some of the party highlights from Aunt Leanne at dinner. She and Aunt Deborah had helped out for part of the afternoon while Uncle Adam and Uncle Nick were busy with yard work and getting ready for the holiday weekend too; so they were our source for that part of the dinner entertainment. Since we'd all been working, that meal was barbeque pot-luck at our house; and it was time to start winding down by then after a very strenuous work day.

For me, that started out with a hot shower and clean clothes; we had dinner out in the back yard around a few tables that were close enough together that we could all talk together; and then I was on kid control with the grandparents while the Dads took care of the easy clean-up. Dad had to get to work in the office after that, but Mom hosted a social hour or so that included trying to tire out the younger kids so that they'd be ready for bed when they got home. I helped out with that; though there's a good chance that they tired me out more than the other way around.

How do I know that? Because Michael came over for a while after he was done at the Inn; we tucked Ethan and Ehlana in for the night; and then I promptly fell asleep within minutes of snuggling with him on the sofa in the lounge.

Yeah, not exactly the kind of fun we'd wanted to have after finally getting some alone time; but I ran out of steam and that was it for me.

Michael stayed and cuddled with me for a couple of hours until I woke up; but then he went home by midnight because he expected that Jake, and possibly Stephanie too, would be at his house by then. We had a quick chat with Mom and Dad because they were still up and in the office; I took care of the goodnight hugs and kisses with him on the front porch; and then I came up to my room again and got ready for bed.

The only computing I did before starting this update was an email check. That didn't take long; and I'll be heading back to sleep as soon as I have this done.

Make that an 'I'm done' and I'll be in dreamland about a minute after I put my computer to bed for the night.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

This has been a really good day, but also very busy; and I've done a lot of work. Dad will be leaving for the city in a couple of hours, and I want to be awake to see him off; so this is going to be a very short update.

Tai Chi by the river; breakfast with the Michael and his family; and church were all helped with making my day so amazing. I especially loved getting to spend time with Jake and Stephanie; and we're all really glad that they're home for the summer – or at least until the wedding before they'll be off on their honeymoon and European college adventures for the next year.

Dad's needed to work most of the day to get ready for his week in the city; so I helped out at the Inn most of the day too. I went there with Michael and Rebecca after church; we were kept busy during the lunch rush; and then Michael and I had homework to do during our afternoon break. We did that while sitting by the river behind the Inn, and enjoyed the nice weather while we could; but then it was back to the kitchen and another crazy-busy buffet shift. For that, I worked through until the start of the late buffet; and then I went to have dinner with my family – and with Violet and Dillon.

They'd gotten in from Woodvale in time to drop off their luggage at two houses and have short visits with both families; and then they all came to the Inn so that they could have that time together without the cooking and cleaning. I got to spend a bit of time with Violet and Dillon, but didn't sit at the same table with them; since they were with the 'parents' for that. Mom and Dad were surrogate parents for Violet; while Dillon's parents, Isabelle, and Andrew rounded out the group at their table.

While going home after that had been an option, Violet and Dillon were going to be spending the night at his house anyway; so I stayed and helped out with the cleanup at the Inn and then walked home with Michael and his family. I needed to go on to my own home instead of staying to hang out for a while; so Michael and I kept the goodnight hugs and kisses short so that I could get on with the rest of my usual Sunday night studies and work.

All of that, including the Magi lesson; bedtime fun with Ethan and Ehlana, and my language studies, archive reading, and family business work kept me busy for more than four hours; which is why I'm not going to drag this out with the boring details and get started on my nap time instead. We have a lot going on over the next week as we head into the holiday, but I'll save that look ahead for tomorrow too, so that's it for now; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, May 18, 2015

This has been a very busy day!

Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and I were all up early to see Dad off on his trip to Crystal Springs. We had a group nap after that while he was busy; and then we were up and going again in time for Tai Chi by the river. Breakfast for four was quick and easy; and then it was time for us to get ready for our work or school day.

We still have a few weeks to go before final exams start, but we started wrapping up the final study modules for our classes this week. Projects and major assignments will be due over the next couple of weeks; and we'll be in full-review mode after the holiday weekend. Those facts are waking some of our fellow students up to the reality that is the end of school year work crunch; though it'll likely be another week or two before the least-prepared among us start to panic.

Michael, Rowen, and I are not having any of those problems; and Tim assures us that his only problem is that we're no fun and want to make him start studying for exams with us instead of having fun and goofing off like we're supposed to until the weekend before exams. He's just joking about that, since he really has been happy with the fact that his parents are impressed with his marks pretty much since he started dating Rowen; but the entertainment is fun for all of us.

While classwork and early exam studying was a big part of my day; I'd really rather write about the more interesting things going on around here – even though my involvement in any of it was minimal at best.

First up, the park playground is pretty much finished now. The bits of work left to do are mostly clean-up and finishing touches; and Ethan and Ehlana have given it their twin seal of approval! It will definitely be a hit for the holiday weekend with all of the visiting kids. The new park trail is great too; though that'll be amazing once the entire trail project is finished over the next few years. Also on the fun front, Quarry Lake is ready for the holiday weekend with the major fun additions of the rock wall and zip line. There are new water slides and other minor additions; but it'll definitely be the rock wall and zip line that'll have the campground filled this summer. We've heard that they expect to have most of the campground sites sold out except for the section that they keep for overnight or weekend campers.

Back here in town, our newest store opened today. Old Mill Antiques will fit right in with the Art Gallery and Museum; and will showcase local restoration talent along with pieces that are unique to the region. They'll carry a wider variety than that; though that will, obviously, depend on the antiques that they can acquire too. As I've mentioned before, that won't be a store I'll be buying much from anytime soon; but I guess there could be some little gift opportunities there for my favorite adults and antique lovers. I'll keep you posted on that.

With Dad in the city, I want to be around to help Mom as much as I can even with everything else I have on the go this week; so we did our after-school studying at my house; and Rowen and I took care of dinner for seven; after Mom invited Michael, Tim, and Rowen to join us. That wasn't anything major – just burgers, hotdogs, and a couple of salads; but she was happy to have us do the work before and after dinner so that she didn't have that to deal with on top of the rest of her work.

Michael and Tim needed to eat and run to get to their baseball practice, so Rowen and I cleaned up; and then we took Ethan and Ehlana to the school to catch the rest of their practice and have some play time at the school playground. Rowen and Tim went on to his house from there for the rest of the evening; Michael and I took Ethan and Ehlana home; and then we went over to his house to spend some time with his family – and catch part of the wedding plans meeting that the Stones and Wingboroughs were having with Jake and Stephanie.

I won't get into all of that now, but there is one, imminent wedding-related activity happening tomorrow that is going to change up my usual schedule. The dress fittings are tomorrow in Crystal Springs; and while Miranda, Samantha, Stephanie, Violet, and Lynn Jennings are heading for the city earlier in the day; Rebecca and I will be joining them at the dress shop whenever we can get there after school. My mother is taking us there; we'll bring Ethan and Ehlana along; and they're still working out the dinner plans that will include Dad and the Malloys; but might not have all of us together.

My visit at Michael's house didn't wrap up until nearly eleven; and I've had a lot to get done since then. Mom and I got Ethan and Ehlana to bed shortly after I got home; since they'd stayed up and worked on their college classes; and then we did my Magi lesson in my room. Mom went to enjoy some Jacuzzi time after that; and I got to work on my studies and family business job. That was more than three hours ago, and I really need to get some sleep now; so I won't spend a lot of time writing about all of that action. I am getting close to wrapping up my language studies for the summer, so that's good; and my family business operations are really doing great this year so far. That's saying a lot considering the challenges we're dealing with this year; but I won't go on about that since Mom and Aunt Leanne are doing even better than I am as we close in on the half-way point in the year.

If you're interested in all of that, there are other archive resources available with the boring details if you have the clearance, but I've had enough fun for today and need to be ready for an even more exciting day tomorrow; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

I need to make this a fairly quick update and then get to my nap time; since this has been a very long, busy day!

It's been chilly today compared to the hot weather we've had lately; and we're getting a lot of rain right now as I'm writing this update. The rain didn't even start until we were heading home from Crystal Springs tonight; and it was just a dusting here and there until after we were safely home and had our things in the house.

Tai Chi by the river was chilly too; but the rest of my school day was fairly uneventful. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I are, as always, way ahead on the final projects and assignments in every class; so we have lots of time in the classes when our teachers allow us to work on them. We spent part of our lunch break outdoors, but ate in the cafeteria; and it felt strange to need jackets or sweaters to be outside without feeling cold.

Rebecca and I needed to hurry home as soon as we were set free for the day, and while Michael and Rowen went to our last band practice before the holiday weekend; I had a few minutes to freshen up and then we loaded up into the minivan; collected Rebecca once she was ready too; and hit the road for the city. While we had some chat time with Mom and the twins too, Rebecca and I worked on our homework on the trip to Crystal Springs. She sat up front with Mom and I was on the back bench because that was easier than switching one or both of the car seats.

By the way, just as an aside, Rebecca was using her phone a fair bit while we traveled; and that reminded me that I rarely do use mine for much more than occasionally checking something on the internet if I have it with me and a computer isn't conveniently nearby. Sure, she has more friends that use their phones all of the time too; but I'd rather spend time with my friends instead of texting them. I definitely can't relate to the urge to send selfies or most of the other latest teen Smartphone trends.

Getting back to the story, though, we went straight to the dress shop first, and after checking in with Miranda, Mom left Rebecca and me there and went on to Wal-Mart to do a supply shopping run while she was in the city anyway. The Moms and older girls had already picked out all of the bridal party gowns by then, and most were already fitted for them too; so all Rebecca and I needed to do was get fitted for ours. Since the wedding is still just over two months away, Miranda had the women helping us all a bit of room to grow – though that was more for me than for Rebecca; since I'm still growing a couple of inches a year right now. We'll have another fitting when the gowns are ready; and make any alterations then if needed.

I guess the only news that's important for the dress fitting part of my day is that Stephanie's wedding dress is stunning, and thanks to the gowns that were picked out for us; Lucas and Michael are going to be floored when they take us to the wedding in August!

The timing at the dress shop worked out for everyone, so when we finished there; we headed for the restaurant that Angela helped to pick out for us; and we met up with Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, Dad, and the Malloys to have dinner together – though we were also a several tables too. Rebecca stayed with the other girls and Moms; and Ethan, Ehlana, and I got to spend the time with Mom, Dad, and the Malloys. We ended up being there for nearly two hours, and then it was time to head for home. Rebecca was with us again for that; and we ended up being home first because Miranda had to do a few drop-offs while Violet and Stephanie met up with their boys at Dillon's house.

Michael came over to spend a bit of time with me, so Mom did a Magi lesson with both of us; we took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana off to bed; and then we had a micro make-out session in the lounge before he needed to head home and I needed to get started on my work. That's what I've been doing since then; and the study and work details aren't important – at least compared to my need to get some sleep. With all of the rain coming down, I should be out for the count in minutes; so I'm going to get right to that now.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The overnight rain ended by the time I went to school this morning; but it did wash out our Tai Chi so that we did that indoors today.

I've been fairly busy since then, but let's keep this update to the basics so that I can get to sleep. It isn't that late yet, but I'm not getting my usual early work night bedtime either; and need to catch up on as much sleep as I can before the holiday weekend.

For here at home, the most important news is that Violet is home! Yes, she's been in town since Sunday night; but she's staying here with us again tonight. Maybe she wants to make her room here look lived in before her parents get here on Friday; but it could also be that it's just a bit more crowded at Dillon's house and she was ready to have the extra space after a semester of dorm life.

Which, by the way, they won't have next year. I'll cover that story once they've worked out where they will be living; but it is certain that they'll be getting a place together for the last three years of their college adventure.

Since the rain ended early today, Mom's baseball practice was on tonight; so we had to juggle that into the usual Wednesday night schedule. I helped out around the house after school as well as getting my homework finished and my family business work started. That did mean using a bit of Magi power to keep all of that going on at the same time; but Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and I had fun doing that – and got a fair bit done by the time we stopped for an easy dinner. Mom cooked because she was doing other holiday weekend prep work in the kitchen anyway; but I cleaned up with supervisory help from the twins while she got ready for her ball practice.

Violet and Dillon came over to the park too, and Dillon was drafted to take Dad's place on the team for the evening while Violet mostly played with Ethan, Ehlana, and me. I could have skipped the practice, but Ethan and Ehlana really wanted to test out the new playground equipment; and Violet and I had fun helping them out with doing that. We had Naomi and Aiden with us most of the time too; along with lots of other kids and teens that were also all there to have fun in the new playground; and I'm glad that I did that instead of staying home and working in the office – even if that did mean losing out on a couple of hours of sleep.

After we got home, it was definitely time to get to work again, and Mom not only did my Magi lesson with me; but also got back to working with Violet while Ethan and Ehlana spent a couple of hours working on their college assignments. Mom and Violet did some work to get ready for Violet's unofficial summer job too; and I did all of my family business work while they were doing that just to have the extra hang-out time with them. Violet and I took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana off to bed after that while Mom wrapped up everything she had on the go before heading for her room and some quality Jacuzzi them; and then we had some girl chat time in my room before Violet borrowed my Jacuzzi for some tub time too before heading for bed.

I did my language studying while she was in the tub; followed that up with my archive homework once she'd gone on to her own room; and just finished one last email and computer check before starting in on this update. It's a bit after one, so that's an early night compared to the rest of the week so far; but I'm also running out of steam again and need to recharge. Tomorrow is going to be a long day too, and I'll be working late again before taking the weekend off; so that's all I have for now. The down time really is my top priority; and I'm going to get right to that right now!

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Happy 2nd Birthday, Kendra!

We seem to be having a lot of birthdays lately for my younger cousins' little friends, and though I'm not involved in those celebrations; I'll keep mentioning them in my reports because I expect to see at least some of those kids fairly regularly once Zack, Leah, Sebastian, and Caleb all get older and want to have their friends around – just as Ethan and Ehlana do now.

My day hasn't been party-level exciting; but I have had a pretty good day. We kept busy at school, and while that wasn't non-stop fun and games; I did enjoy doing that work with my friends. After school, Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I did our studying at the computer store; I came home after that; and then helped Mom in the kitchen until we stopped for dinner while having a nice chat with her – and with Ethan and Ehlana. Violet and Dillon had dinner with us; and they stayed to hang out with Mom while I went to my ball practice with Rowen. We had a pretty good practice, and I like our chances this season. The first matches of the season begin the weekend after the holiday; and I'm looking forward to getting out there and playing some games!

Mom had to go to game night tonight because Miranda was counting on her to help with winning another game night championship. Violet and Dillon went along to hang out with Jake and Stephanie; and Ethan and Ehlana had to go along for the adventure. I could have gone there after my practice, but Michael came over to the school after he was finished at the Inn; and we opted to come back to my house instead. I'm sure that you're all totally shocked to discover that we picked having the house to ourselves and some quality make-out time over hanging out at the Inn when we'd be too late to join in on the gaming in progress anyway; but try to get over that. Even Magi teens are fairly normal when it comes to that kind of thing – even if we can do things that other teens can't thanks to our special abilities.

That play time with Michael was definitely the highlight of my day – and helped to keep me smiling and happy while doing all of the work and studying that followed after he went home. Michael didn't leave until after we'd had a visit with our gamers once they got home, but we only talked for a half-hour or so before he left and Mom got started on my Magi lesson. Violet and Dillon hung out with Ethan and Ehlana while we did that; and they took care of getting them off to bed after that while I was sent up to my room then too.

My work and studies weren't so exciting that I want to spend more time writing all about that part of my day; so let's not and move along.

Dillon's still here and obviously spending the night; so we'll have at least one extra for breakfast. They may not have completely decided how they're going to handle sleeping arrangements this summer; but I'm sure that this sleepover has everything to do with the fact that they likely won't be doing any co-ed sleepover this weekend while Violet's family is here with us.

I'll keep you posted on how that works out, but let's wrap up this report with a look ahead to the weekend.

As I've already just mentioned, the Rice family will be here this weekend, and they'll stay with us. The McEwans are going to be here too; and they'll be with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack. Uncle Mark, Aunt Grace, and Caleb will be away and spending the weekend with the other side of Aunt Grace's family; and the rest of the Johnson family is doing the away family weekend thing too. Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah won't be away for the weekend too; but that's mostly because they needed to choose between going to visit her family and spending the weekend here with his – and the members of her family that will be – or are- here instead.

We have a lot of fun planned for the weekend, but we'll see how that works out because the weather forecast is not great for the entire weekend – including tomorrow. I'll keep you posted on that too, but while we'll find ways to have fun regardless of the weather; I really hope that we won't' have to cancel any of the fun plans – like the trip to Quarry Lake to check out the rock wall, zip line, and all of the rest of the sun and fun activities there.

I'll want to help out at the Inn a bit too; but will probably only do that for the Sunday buffets; but I want to spend lots of time with Dawn this weekend too. Michael's going to be busy at the Inn anyway; so I should be able to hang out with Dawn a lot anytime he's busy. Though I missed our practices this week, I'm ready for the church service on Sunday and the songs the band will be playing in the parade on Monday. Mom had some more work to do tomorrow to finish up with getting ready for the weekend – and the Memorial Day picnic; but she doesn't expect to need any help with that from me tomorrow night.

It's been another late night, but I'm done for the weekend, and after getting to have that alone time with Michael; I'm totally okay with just having a nap before getting up again and started on our last day of the work and school week. I do need to get to that soon, though, or just stay up all night, so I'm going to do that; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, May 22, 2015

We have a full house here tonight, or at least it feels that way with the Rice family all here with us tonight – and I love having everyone here!

The rain in the forecast for today didn't show up anytime that mattered during the day; so it was pretty much a normal Friday before the Memorial Day weekend – including the annual afternoon work sessions around town for all of the students at our school. For that, our class was at the park again this year; and we did our very best to get it cleaned up and looking great for the weekend.

By the way, in case that changes in the future; the Memorial Day weekend is the only holiday that the students help out with for that work. We may not have a lot of veterans here in Witch Falls, but we do think that they deserve the extra effort.

Getting back to the news of the day, mine started out with Tai Chi by the river; breakfast for seven that Michael stayed for; and then we were all off and running to get ready for school or whatever else we had booked for the morning. My school day was easy, since the morning was pretty much left open to work on projects or assignments; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I didn't really have anything to do. We spent that time doing some more exam studying – though Tim managed to find a half-dozen excuses to wander off and basically socialize for most of the morning. We took it easy at lunchtime so that we'd be ready to work after that; and then we walked over to the park and kept busy until we were set free in time for the farm kids to get back to the school and catch their bus rides home.

It's an all-hands-on-deck weekend at the Inn, so Michael had to go there after school; and Rowen and Tim were helping their parents too. Mom didn't need my help around the house, but she did appreciate my offer to take Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden to the park to play while she took care of making dinner and a last bit of pre-cooking she was doing for the weekend. That kept me busy until we went home again; and Naomi and Aiden stayed for dinner before getting picked up shortly after we'd finished eating.

Violet's family all left Woodvale at the same time as soon as Chris, Martin, and Dawn were finished school for the day; and the boys drove their car while Dawn came in the SUV with her parents and grandparents. Since they couldn't leave early, they stopped in Crystal Springs; met up with Dad; and then had dinner there before getting on the highway again and heading here. With the traffic snarl at rush hour; they probably would have gotten here at the same time anyway; so it worked out for all of them – and gave Dad some company for the drive home because he ended up with Grandpa Richard, Uncle Rick, and Dawn in the truck with him while Grandma Carrie and Aunt Melissa drove the SUV. They were all here by shortly after nine; and had a fairly large welcoming committee – including my grandparents, Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack.

The rest of my evening has been a bit of a blur of non-stop action. We unloaded vehicles after the first round of welcome home hugs and kisses; followed that up with a social hour in the living room; and then it was time for Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne to take Zack home to bed and get ready for the incoming McEwan clan. Grandma and Grandpa stayed longer and took care of Ethan and Ehlana's bedtime story and getting them tucked in for the night; but then they didn't stay much later either before heading home.

I'd better back up for a minute; since I'm thinking about Christina and Josiah after mentioning her incoming family. I haven't mentioned it in my journal yet, but she isn't staying with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne right now – she's at the Palmer's with Josiah. She may help Aunt Leanne and spend some nights there after the baby is born; but she didn't want to add more work to Aunt Leanne's already crazy-busy life right now as she's getting ready to take time off with the baby – and staying with Josiah was a nice added bonus! ;^)

I guess there isn't really much else to add from today even though it feels as though I've been busy enough that there should be a lot more to add. Dawn and I stayed up late talking with our parents, her grandparents, brothers, Violet, and Dillon. We came up to my room at a bit after midnight; have had a fun, lengthy girl chat since then; and Dawn and Mandy fell asleep about a half hour ago. I've done my usual nightly computer checks since then; took care of a minor family business job; and will be joining them in nap mode once I've finished this report.

The weather is still looking bad for the weekend; but how much outdoor fun we get to have is going to depend on the timing for the rain. There's a chance that we won't get much during the day tomorrow – and I'm still hoping that the forecasters will just be wrong again – even if that isn't very likely this time. Whatever happens; you'll be able to flip a digital page in your 'now' while I'll have to wait and live it. I won't be able to do that very well without some sleep, though, so I'm going to get to that right now.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, May 23, 2015

We didn't escape the rain that was forecasted for us, and it's coming down fairly steadily right now as I write this; but the weather didn't start putting a cramp in our holiday weekend fun until around dinnertime. That meant moving that meal indoors, and our evening entertainment did not include a campfire this year; but the rest of the day was really great!

Tai Chi by the river was extra-special because we not only had Dad back again; but there were extra spectators watching the action too. That was one of my favorite moments of the day; partly because Michael was there – and we didn't get to spend a lot of time together today. He stayed for breakfast, but then had to get going after that – splitting his time between some chores at home and working at the Inn. We helped out with the cooking before sitting down to eat with Ethan, Ehlana, and my teen cousins while the parents and Grandparents had some quieter time in the dining room – and they had Violet and Dillon with them.

Dawn and I were already well on the way to catching up after our girl chat time last night, so we mostly talked about what Chris and Martin had been doing – and would be doing for the summer. Since Chris is graduating from high school in June, he's particularly interested in earning money for college; so we probably won't see him much this summer. Martin still has two more years to go, but he is sixteen now and has more automotive mobility; so he's fairly busy too.

After we ate, I saw Michael on his way, and then was set free so that I could take my turn to get ready for the day. Chris and Martin had already taken off by the time I was downstairs again, so Dawn and I took Ethan and Ehlana with us and went for a bike ride. Our little tour included a ride around the new section of town, and eventually ended at the park so that Dawn could see the new playground and paths – and the twins could get some quality playground time with the other kids that had swarmed the place by then.

The playtime had been entertaining, and lunch was quick, easy, and minimal work at each end of the process; which allowed us to be ready to go out to Quarry Lake with most of the afternoon still available for our extreme fun there. I'm sure that you can guess that the rock wall and zip line were the highlights of the day for most of us; though the line-ups were long too; and that meant only doing that once or twice each. It was too cold for swimming, but the new slides looked amazing; and we'll definitely be trying them out soon – once it's a bit warmer in the lake. Even without the swimming, we managed to keep busy through until it was time to head home again.

I was on the dinner cooking and set=up crew, and while the plan had been for outdoor dining again; Mom made the call to set-up in the kitchen and dining room instead so there wasn't any need for a last-minute dash for cover. That was a good decision, since it was raining by shortly before we were ready to sit down and eat – and the guys got a bit damp wrapping up the grilling on the barbeques. We – the kids and teens – were again in the kitchen for the meal. The dining room cut-off tonight was college students and older; along with the toddlers so that we weren't too crowded in the kitchen.

Our dinner conversation was mostly about Quarry Lake, and by then; Chris and Martin were both wishing at least a bit that they weren't going to be busy all summer so that they could come here for vacation with Dawn. That wasn't going to be a problem for Dawn; and she's decided that we should make sure that Jillian can come with her for the entire holiday. Daily trips to Quarry Lake won't actually be an option; but I think we can manage to make at least a couple of extra trips out there this year compared to normal. I know that Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I will be making extra trips out there all summer if we can swing it – or bike there.

Since our play evening outdoors wasn't going to work out, the lounge was deemed gaming central; while movies were the entertainment option in the living room. Not everyone stayed for that – or at least not for more than one movie; but Jonathan stayed to play video games with Chris and Martin; and I don't expect him to head back to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's tonight. The three boys are still gaming as I'm writing this; so Jonathan will likely just crash here whenever they do decide to call it a night and get some sleep.

Dawn and I split our evening between the lounge and living room; and she's now doing a 'sleepover' with Violet instead of in my room with me – or her own room. That might have something to do with the noise level in the lounge; but the sister time is important too. Having Dawn in with Violet has allowed me to get started on my nightly computer checks earlier than I'd expected; so I'll manage to use that extra time for sleeping – if I get too that soon.

While I didn't spend much time with Michael, he did come over for a while after the Inn was closed for the night; and didn't care about getting razzed by my cousins for cuddling with me while playing video games too, and that was good for him; since I wouldn't have been happy if he'd ignored me for that bit of time we had together before he needed to get home for the night.

I'd have thought about keeping him for a sofa sleepover, but I don't think that would have been as much fun as usual with Chris, Martin, and Jonathan all in there too until whatever time they get around to going to bed.

There isn't much else to add to this report, and I don't plan on staying up until they do call it a night; so let's just wrap this up now. Tomorrow is going to be another busy day, though for me; that's going to be because of the church service that the teen praise team will be leading the music for; and helping out at the Inn for the holiday weekend buffets. I'm getting tired out just thinking about part two of that, so that's it for now; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, May 24, 2015

I'm totally wiped out, so this is going to be a micro-update.

Tai Chi, breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all rained out, though since dinner was at the Inn; that wasn't a big deal except for the need for my family to drive there and back.

I had a busy morning between helping out at home between Tai Chi and going to church; followed that up with a busy, teen-led service; and then I was at the Inn for most of the rest of the day so that I could help out with the holiday weekend buffets. Jacob and Miranda were running four of them today, and I worked three of them; took one off to have dinner with my family; and then stayed to help with the clean-up until close.

While I was busy, my family spent the afternoon having an indoor, but still grilled, lunch; the girls did some holiday weekend shopping during the afternoon rain break; and then came to the Inn for dinner. I was back at home for the tail-end of the quiet evening of movies or gaming; though the parents and grandparents were pretty much ready to turn in for the night by then.

Dad also got a head start on his weekend homework today too instead of leaving it until tomorrow night after our guests head home; but that was entirely because he could do that while the rain pretty much kept things too wet for any outdoor play time with the kids.

Dawn and I had a visit with the adults after I got back; followed that up with some girl-chat time with Violet when we all came up to the third floor; and then we sat up in my bed and talked some more while watching videos on my computer until Dawn fell asleep a little while ago and I got to work on my usual nightly computing.

That hasn't taken long, and we have yet another fun, busy day ahead of us; so that's it for tonight; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, May 25, 2015

There are not any Magi currently serving in any of the armed forces, or living Magi veterans either, but since it is possible that future Magi reading this might also be vets or members of the military; I'll begin this Memorial Day report with a big "Thank-you!" for your sacrifices – and those of all of our nation's past, present, and future military members.

Somehow, our weather here today seemed to perfectly fit in with the solemnity of the day. We had rain around breakfast time that fit the occasion; and then it cleared up in time for the parade, ceremony at the cemetery, and most of the picnic in the park.

That rain didn't start until shortly after we finished our Tai Chi workout by the river; and that was the last bit of calm that I had through until the start of the parade. I helped out with breakfast; enjoyed the meal with my family; and then had to rush around to get ready for the day and get down to the falls where the parade was being staged – or at least the part of it that the school band was in. They're using part of Ridge Road to stage the parade now too; since it's grown a bit since my first year here. Michael and Rowen met up with me for that walk; and we were busy with that for nearly an hour before parade time; since we needed to set up the trailer with the chairs, music stands, and the rest of our gear before tuning up and doing a short warm-up.

Everything about Memorial Day still amazes me here in our little town. The sentiment is real and personal when nearly everyone has a relative, friend, or neighbor that was a vet or serves in the military. Mom and I are among the few exceptions to that, but then we've been adopted; and the family histories are ours too now. Being in the band feels special, and while the music was obviously appropriate for Memorial Day; we played our very best and did a great job. It's moving to go along the short parade route and see basically everyone in the area out and supporting our military; and having all of the flags along the main street at half-mast had my heart swelling with pride for our town.

I've mentioned it before, but we really do commemorate Memorial Day the way it should be done.

The service at the cemetery was moving too, and Pastor John led the service with help from his parents and a few dignitaries. While that ceremony means a lot to everyone, I'll be honest and admit that my favorite part of the morning is the family walk and story-telling that follows the ceremony. This year, Michael and I went around with the Bassett family. Their history is as deep as it is for the Proctors and Johnsons; and I loved hearing all of the stories from Michael's Bassett grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

While we'd been busy, or at least immersed in Memorial Day activities to that point; Michael and I were back to hyper-busy for a while once we left the cemetery. We helped out with packing up the gear from the band trailer; headed home; and then helped out with getting our family contributions for the picnic over to the park. I don't know if the new playground and paths had anything to do with it; but the park seemed even more packed than ever before for a Memorial Day picnic. The grandparents even had a tough time finding an area big enough for all of us to set up our day camp – and we didn't even have as big a group as we sometimes do for holiday weekends.

Once we had everything at the park, Michael and I were assigned kid control duty along with Dawn, Violet, and Dillon. Chris, Martin, and Jonathan took off before they could be drafted too; and went to hang out with some of their local friends.

Speaking of local friends, I should have mentioned it yesterday, but Jenny has hooked up with Joel Alden again this weekend! He's here for the weekend to see his father; and they've apparently spent more time together than he's spent with his Dad. He's also apparently landed a job here for the summer on one of the construction crews; so I sense that there is a strong possibility that Jenny's already found her next summer romance.

Okay, she also pretty much told Rebecca and I that at the Inn yesterday too, but I could have guessed that since Joel's got an older teen version of the bad boy thing still going on; is really good-looking; and now drives a Mustang. Add in the fact that he's an out-of-towner; and Jenny just can't help falling for him – again! ;^)

Getting back to the picnic, we played for nearly an hour; enjoyed the picnic food way too much; and then Michael and I were set free to go out and play with our friends and family. Dawn came with us; we met up with Rowen, Tim, Rebecca, Lucas, Jenny, and Joel; and then we joined in to play some of the games going on around the park. Michael and I managed to fit in some cameo family time too – both with my family and his; so we still managed to keep really busy even while we were just goofing off and having fun too. There was a break in that action for the National Moment of Silence, and then one more while most of us took what cover we could find while we had our little afternoon rain shower; but it was all fun and games for the rest of the afternoon right up until the time we needed to get back to work and help out with getting our picnic and empty food container gear back home again.

For the traveling members of our family, the bad news about having so much fun was that we didn't leave the park as early as we should have; which meant that they all got a late start for their respective trips home once everyone had packed and the vehicles were all loaded up. Michael and I split our time while doing that – and split up for a while too when Violet and I were busy with Dawn as she packed and had to say goodbye to her very favorite big sister. I stopped in to do some goodbye hugs and kisses at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's house too; did the final goodbyes at my house; and then Michael and I had some more free time after the Rice clan had left until dinnertime.

Oh wait – I should say that we did our weekend homework then and not mention that we cheated and I used a time-phase to get that done in minutes of 'real' time so that we could enjoy a minor make-out session in the lounge during the rest of that alone time. ;^)

Michael stayed for a snack dinner, and since we had beautiful weather for the evening; we took Ethan and Ehlana for a canoe ride upriver for an hour or so while Mom and Dad were busy in the office and running some loads of laundry. Violet was at Dillon's house for dinner and a sleepover, so after getting back and dropping the twins off with Mom and Dad; Michael and I went over to his house to visit with his parents, Jake, Stephanie, and Rebecca. We did that outside too; and enjoyed the quiet wind-down from our amazing weekend.

That wasn't totally a wind down for me, since I had to get home and started on my usual school night studies and work after that; but I was relaxed when I joined my parents, brother, and sister in the office at a bit before ten o'clock and got started on my Magi lesson with Mom. Ethan and Ehlana had been working on their college classes by then; and they kept doing that until Mom sent the three of us up to bed at eleven o'clock. I took care of getting them tucked in for the night; Ehlana and I had a little sister-time chat; and then I opted for multi-tasking a Jacuzzi session with my language studies. That started more than three hours ago, and while I could do more work; I've had enough fun for today and need to get some sleep.

It's been a really great weekend even with Sunday being a bit of a wash-out; but we'll be back to life as usual starting tomorrow – with the added workload of getting serious about our upcoming final exams. There will be some fun along the way to the end of the school year too, and it isn't as though I have to worry about doing well on my exams; but I expect to be even busier than we were for mid-terms this year when it comes to tutoring my friends. I seriously doubt that any of my classmates will opt-out of our group study sessions this time; and I'm going to try to have as much fun with that as possible.

Anyway, that is it for now, and I'm seriously ready for the nap time; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

We've mostly had nice weather today except for a bit of rain this morning that didn't get in the way of anything we were doing.

A birthday party that Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I are going to tomorrow did change up my plans for today, though; and this was my work night for the school week instead of skipping it – or doing that extra work later at night tomorrow. That worked out okay anyway, since Mom and Dad were playing catch-up on their work tonight too; and we all did that a lot faster thanks to a little bit of time phasing.

I've skipped the rest of the day, but as I think about that; there really isn't much to report. Sure, there was lots of news floating around on the school grapevine today, including Jenny's weekend adventures with Joel; but there wasn't anything particularly newsworthy to report here in my journal. We're continuing to wrap up the school year in our classes and exam review is beginning too; but that's about all that was going on at school today. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I studied together after school; and we did that outdoors thanks to the nice weather. That was fun, though it didn't take long; and then Michael, Tim, and Rowen left to help their parents out either at stores or home when it was time for me to get started on my part-time job.

I was on my own in the office until stopping for dinner; and then had Mom, Dad, and the twins all working in there with me after we'd finished eating and cleaned up. The time phasing made it possible to get our work done and call it a night early; so I was in my room and ready for bed by a bit after ten – even with doing a bedtime story with Ethan and Ehlana before tucking them in for the night. With my family business work done, all I had left for my bedtime computing was the language studies and a fairly short archive assignment. A bit more time phasing helped with getting that done faster too; and I'm going to be sleeping before eleven o'clock.

It's been a while since that last happened on a Tuesday night!

That's also pretty much all of the news for today. We have that birthday party tomorrow, so I'll miss helping out during the co-ed baseball practice, and then Rowen and I will have our practice on Thursday; but that's pretty much all we have booked for the rest of the week – except for the usual Saturday chores. We won't be having a dinner and movie night on Friday, and as far as I know; there are no fun plans for the weekend either. After the holiday weekend; a break is probably a good idea.

Getting to sleep right now is an even better idea, at least for me; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Happy 14th Birthday, Reid!

No, that isn't a typo – Reid's a year younger and in Grade Eight. He does hang out with us at school, though, since he's dating Lily; and he's also a regular member of Tim's weight training workouts and the lunchtime football scrimmages. That's why Tim and Michael – and Rowen and I – were invited to his birthday party today. They're becoming friends too; but Reid definitely looks up to the two older boys – and wants to make the football team next season as much as Tim wanted to be on the team last year.

We've had an awesome weather day for Reid's birthday, and that was especially timely; since his party was on his family farm and wouldn't have been nearly as much fun if we'd been stuck indoors for it. I'll get to that part of the report in a minute; but let's back up and cover the news from the rest of the day first.

Tai Chi by the river is always more fun when we get to welcome the day with a beautiful sunrise; and Michael stayed for breakfast before going on to the school for his morning workout. I had more time to get ready for school before meeting up with Rowen for the walk there; and then we were into exam review mode for most of the day. Since Reid isn't in our class, his birthday was only part of the daily fun for us during lunchtime while we were at school; and Lily had a minor birthday celebration set up for him that included all of his closest friends from both Grade Eight and Grade Nine. That bonus action didn't keep Tim from having a football scrimmage too; but then Reid was very okay with that too.

Before I get to the party report; I should include a little update from around the rest of the family – and should have included that yesterday.

After taking last week off, Violet and Dillon started their summer jobs at the lab yesterday. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana have been there both days too; and will likely be there a lot more all summer. Violet's official job is interning with Aunt Grace; but she also has the family business job too that she's continued to do part-time while in school. Dillon's working in the lab with Uncle Adam and Ehlana; and they're going to have lots of fun playing there this year.

While they're busy at the lab, Christina is going to split her work time this summer between the Emporium and helping out with the set-up work at the med center. She'll mostly help Aunt Deborah with that, and then work with her part-time for the rest of the summer after it opens getting everything organized – and possibly transferring patient records to the new computer system Mom's developed for them that meshes with other programs at the lab and in the archives. If you're interested in those digital details, there are other places in the archives where you can read all about that; so I won't bore everyone else with the details. Josiah's summer job is at the bank again this summer; so that isn't really news.

Since I've mentioned the medical center, though, that work is kicking into high gear now. We're down to just weeks until it opens, and while I haven't done a tour lately; all major new equipment is installed now and it's going to be the move from the old offices that is going to keep Uncle Adam, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Deborah busy – along with all of the people helping them with all of that work. That's going to leave Uncle Adam with less time for the lab; but Ehlana will happily make up for that if she can find enough excuses to be there.

I feel a bit out of the loop for all of that, but can't exactly add more to my own schedule; and the lab, archives, and med center are never going to be a big part of my life anyway. That doesn't change the fact that I'm missing out on things that are very exciting and important for other members of my family, though; and I sometimes wish that I could be part of that too.

Too bad that time-phasing can't be used to travel back and forth through time. If we could do that; then I could do both – or even live multiple, different lives!

By the way, just in case you've been reading or watching too much time-travel science fiction; jumping backward – or forward – in time really isn't possible. Tim is a man-made measurement construct anyway, but what matters is that all of creation moves 'forward'; and you can't jump from your 'now' either into history or the future. Time phasing only changes the speed of your present moments. Concepts like time paradoxes are meaningless; since you really can't go back and change the past anyway – even if it is fun to imagine it.

In my case, I'm especially glad that isn't possible for Magi Masters. If it could be done, I'd expect that Mom would have done it to go back in time and save her parents from that plane crash; and then there's a very good chance that I'd have never been born at all. She'd have never met Gawain Hathorne; we'd have never ended up here in Witch Falls; and, well, you get the picture. Let's just be glad that things have happened the way they have – even though that means taking the bad parts of life with the good.

That got way off-topic; so let's move on and get to the birthday party news.

Reid didn't invite everyone from our class, but he did have about half of our group and more than half of his own classmates. The Spencer clan is fairly large; and most of them were at the farm for the dinner part of the party – some of them as volunteers and the rest as guests. Amy, Jared, and Drew were there with the rest of Reid's extended family, so I got to spend a bit of time with them too; though Amy was pretty worn out after her day at school and dealing with the usual first trimester pregnancy issues.

Tim's Mom drove us out to the farm after school; once Rowen and I had taken the time to go home, change, and freshen up first. Michael and Tim got changed too; but that was more about dressing for comfort and play than appearances – even if they did also look great too. Sure, Rowen and I are biased about that; but that doesn't mean we're not right. ;^)

We were closer to the first arrivals than the last when we got there; though it was also mostly the other farm kids there by then – and most of them had just taken their usual bus route and gone home with Reid. Once we were there, it wasn't long before the boys were hanging out together and talking football, and while we – the girls – stayed with them for some of that pre-dinner hang-out time; Rowen and I did some socializing with other teens, adults, and younger kids. As usual for us, that included hanging out with Reid's younger sisters, Carrie and Julia; and they appreciated our efforts a lot since they advised us that they were usually ignored by the teens when Reid had his friends over.

Michael, Tim, and Rowen are different, but Ethan and Ehlana likely feel the same way sometimes when we have other friends over at my house – as we will start doing a lot over the next few weeks until exams are over. Too bad they can't just join in and help with the tutoring! I'm sure that my classmates would appreciate them a lot more if they could do that – even if they'd be freaked out too.

Okay, so the start of Reid's party was mostly a social hour or so while everyone got there from school, work, or elsewhere; and then we had dinner in an extended wave that started with the kids and teens mostly being fed first while the adults waited for the last batches of food to come off of the grills before sitting down to eat. That took a while, and after we ate, the kids and teens had time to play for a while until everyone was finished dinner. Reid's parents rounded everyone up again after that for dessert and the rest of the usual birthday cake, song, and gifts thing; we had fun with that; and then it was time to play again through until the party ended at around nine o'clock.

That's when the football scrimmage started; other games were available around the yard ranging from baseball to flying fairies and micro-helicopters. Swimming in the pond was an option too for anyone interested in cooling off; and Rowen and I were among the swimmers – though we only swam for about twenty minutes after running around with some of the younger kids for a while. The early wrap-up for the party was entirely because it was a school night, and I was okay with that; since all of my usual work was waiting for me when I got home – along with the homework that needed to be done for school.

Michael, Tim, and Rowen came home with me to do that bit of studying that was mostly exam review assignments; and Mom was our driver for the trip home. We did that studying in the lounge; spent a bit more than an hour together; and then Rowen and Tim left a bit ahead of Michael so that he and I could have a bit of alone time before he went home for the night too. I followed that up with getting Ethan and Ehlana off to bed; Mom did my Magi lesson with me in the office while Dad worked at his computer; and then I came up to my room again to get started on my nightly studies and family business work.

It's a good thing that I got to bed early last night, because it's going on four o'clock now; and I only stopped the family business work because I need to get at least some sleep tonight. In this case, the extra work was partly my own fault. Getting the extra work done yesterday brought more work my way today; and I'll likely be dealing with extra work tomorrow night too. That was mostly fun for me tonight, since I was dealing with some of my favorite businesses; but it is also tiring. On the languages front, I'm nearly finished with learning my current language; and should be able to wrap that up a bit early this year so that I won't have that to do in addition to the exam studying I'll be doing over the next couple of weeks. I really could just wrap it up now; but I'll finish the entire program I originally set up – just as I do for all of my new languages. Sometimes that sucks; but it's just the way I am.

Oh, I almost forgot one tiny little teen drama news flash from the party tonight. Allen and Karla have been having dating issues lately, and they apparently did not have a good holiday weekend; but they basically didn't hang out together at all at Reid's party. There hasn't been an official break-up yet; but I'd say that's just a formality at this point. I'll stay out of the he-said-she-said thing; and just report that they're both unhappy, angry, and broken-hearted.

When things like that are going on with our friends, it sometimes doesn't seem fair that Michael and I are so happy, but I can't bring myself to feel even a little bit guilty about that; and I'm really glad that I don't have those teen dating issues.

Michael's probably happy about that too, since having a Magi Master mad at him might just be a bit scary for him! ;^)

Anyway, that's it for tonight, and I really do need to get started on that nap time now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

This has been a really busy day filled with a mix of work and play that was all mostly fun; but I'm also wiped out and will be keeping this update very short.

We had rain off and on all day; and will have more of the same through until tomorrow night or Saturday if the forecast is even remotely close to accurate.

Tai Chi was indoors, but it was nice enough to be outside for lunch today. We were inside for most of the rest of the day, including while in classes and then at my house for a study session after school that was mostly exam prep work. The field was a bit damp, but baseball was on for us tonight; and then Michael and I had a chance for some quality alone time after that while Mom, Dad, and the twins were at the Inn for game night.

That make-out time with Michael was the best part of my day, but the group Magi lesson after the rest of my family got home was fun too; and then it was time for Michael to go home and for me to get to work. I've been alternately studying and working on the family business since then, and though it's later than I'd hoped; I am finished that work for the weekend – except for the usual bits of family business action I have to deal with most days.

Okay, that's short and sweet; and now I'm going to crash for not quite a few hours until it'll be time to get up and going again.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, May 29, 2015

It rained off and on all day, and this time; it did pretty much wash out any outdoor fun.

In fact, I don't really have much news from today at all except for a bit of schedule changing that Michael, Tim, and Rowen did so that we could all have a lot of tomorrow off to study for exams and either have a camping or sleepover adventure. The last part of that will depend on the weather; but the main reason we couldn't just do that tonight instead is because Lucas has to work on the farm tomorrow and couldn't do that with us tonight. The weather issue is going to keep our guest list smaller than we might have liked too; but I can't do much about that when we do have a limited number of guest rooms here.

Rebecca and Lucas, Sally and Joshua, and Gretchen and Brock are confirmed for the night; and we'll have others around here for the study afternoon we have planned. Lucas and Rebecca might both miss the studying; but then they'd just be getting ready for their own exams anyway instead of working with us.

I can write about all of that with my next update, though, so let's get back to the news from today and then I'm going to call it a night early and get some sleep.

As I mentioned, everything I did today was indoors except for the walks to and from school. It was a quiet day of classes, and we were given a lot of time to either finish up end-of-term projects or study for our exams. The rain kept us indoors at lunchtime, which was when we got serious about setting up a teen night at my house; so that did at least keep us entertained until we were back in our classes for the afternoon.

The parental approvals and work switches all happened fairly quickly after school; so it wasn't long before I was temporarily friendless with nothing to do for the rest of the day except hang out at home with my family. We did that, had some fun before, during, and after dinner; and then I actually came up to bed before Ethan and Ehlana did – though I did have the ulterior motive of spending some quality time with my Jacuzzi before turning in for the night.

I felt a lot better after having that nice, long soak in the tub; and wasn't motivated to do more than the basic email and computer checks before getting to this update.

None of that sounds particularly exciting or interesting; but I'm good with getting a full night of rest for a change; and I'm just going to wrap this up now and get right to that extended nap time.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Camping is on for tonight, though it's going to be a chilly night. Ethan and Ehlana are doing sleepovers with Aiden and Naomi respectively; so it's just teens in the back yard; and the parents are currently away having some fun with their friends too as I'm writing this.

With a gang of teens here, I'll need to skip my usual nightly computing, so this is mostly just a quick note; and I'll do a double update tomorrow with the details of our camping adventure.

Our day so far has been mostly work and studying. I did chores with Dad this morning, and that was a bit messy since everything around here was fairly wet. We did the must-do chores; skipped the rest; and called it a day when we stopped for lunch. Michael, Rowen, Tim, and a few other classmates came over after lunch and we studied for most of the afternoon. Our farm-kid friends didn't join us until later in the afternoon once they were finished with chores on their farms, and not all of them were able to study for exams with us at all; but they were all here in time to help with the camp set-up by the river before dinner.

That was a game-time call, and I can assure you that the drop in temperature forecast for tonight was a plus for that decision for at least some of us. Take a guess why; and then flip the digital page in your 'now' to find out if you were right! ;^)

Anyway, I'm just doing this quickly while taking a washroom break and grabbing my guitar before heading out again for the campfire that is just getting started. We've been having a lot of fun pretty much since we started setting up our camp, and that's going to just keep getting better, but I really do have to get back to that now; so look for the details in the next report.

Until then...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, May 31, 2015

As promised, it's double-update time; but I'm also going to keep this short because I'm tired and it's getting late.

I had a blast with Michael and the rest of our friends last night – and especially with Michael! As I mentioned last night, the fun really got started when we wrapped up our study time and then got to work on setting up our tents by the river. The fact that there were five tents and five couples didn't go un-noticed by my parents, but they let us stick with the fiction that the majority of the teens in our little group weren't thinking about tent mate swaps while choosing the number of tents to set up.

Dad grilled chicken and ribs on the grill to go with Mom's salads, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob; so dinner was a hit with my friends. The Olde Bakery dessert was a bonus too; and made it fairly easy to even convince the guys that the meal was worth the teen-drafted clean-up that followed. Mom and Dad got ready to go out while we did that, and while they were going to hang out with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne at their house, along with some other friends; they went to the pub for a while later too. While they were busy doing that, we had our campfire; and I loved getting to hang out with my friends; cuddle with Michael; and share some music and stories to go along with the chatting and random acts of fun.

We didn't overtly discuss the tent mate swap, but there were jokes about doing that during the campfire, and as I mentioned already; most of us were thinking about it pretty much from the time we opted for camping instead of an indoor sleepover. That might have gotten awkward when we did get around to the going to bed part of the night at a bit after midnight; but I took care of that potential problem for all of us. After putting out the fire, and once we'd moved over to the tents; I grabbed my bag and gear out of the tent I was supposed to share with Rowen and Rebecca; put it in Michael's tent; and summarily evicted Tim by tossing his things out for him and Rowen to take turns catching. The other couples took the hint almost immediately once they'd finished teasing me about it; and we were all very happy campers by the time those moves were done and we were all ready for some quality cuddle time with our respective boyfriends or girlfriends.

I can take an educated guess that getting ready for bed after that was different for each couple, since most of us went into the house for washroom breaks and some of us took overnight bags along; but Michael and I had fun with the getting changed part of our night together. If there are any Magi parents getting freaked out by reading that; get a grip – it's not as if clothing-optional play time for two is unusual for teens our age and Michael and I do always stick to our self-imposed rules. It's been a while since I've mentioned that in my journal, so I'll remind you that if you can trust your Magi teens to control our talents; a little physical self-control is easy enough – even if making that choice isn't always easy.

Moving along, Michael and I had a fairly hot start to the sleeping part of our night that didn't involve getting any sleep for quite a while. We did eventually snuggle close in the sleeping bags we'd zipped together and get a few hours of nap time; but then we were up again – awake – before dawn. We had a bit more play time then too; and then we got ready for Tai Chi by the river with Mom and Dad. They were amused when they met up with us; but then they'd obviously had a fairly happy night too. None of our friends came out of the other tents until after we'd finished exercising and my parents went indoors again, though if they thought that the co-ed camping wouldn't be noticed by anyone; they apparently didn't notice the observers from inside several houses along the river – including mine.

While the start to my morning had been wonderful, we all soon needed to get very busy as we took turns getting ready for church; had breakfast; and did all of the work that went with cooking, cleaning, and packing up our little campground before it was time to go to church. That was all a lot of fun too; but I was pretty much ready for a nap by the time we sat down in the sanctuary for the start of the service.

I don't have any major news from church or Sunday school today; though we enjoyed that time with our family, friends, and neighbors too. Michael had to get to the Inn after we were set free from Sunday school, so I walked with him there on my way home; but took the day off from helping out there so that I could spend the time with my family instead – and have more time for another afternoon study session that Michael joined us for during his break.

Lunch was at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's house; and Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mark, Aunt Grace, and Caleb were there with us too. That was a bring what you have pot luck, so Mom's contribution was corn on the cob and cold salads; while Dad brought burgers and hot dogs to grill. The meal was great, but after helping with the clean-up; I met up with Rowen and Tim to get started on our study session at my house while Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana stayed for a bit of afternoon play time.

We didn't have as many of our classmates join us to study today, but Sally and Joshua were dropped off for a couple of hours; and we had three other 'town kids' join us too. I had fun with all of that work, and so did my friends – even though all of the guys, including Michael, kept telling us how awful it was to spend yet another afternoon studying instead of playing. The studying isn't fun by comparison; but I'll take a leap and suggest that they will have fun when they do better on their exams thanks to the extra work – and impress their parents.

Michael had to head back to the Inn in time to help with the dinner buffet rush, but the rest of us studied until Sally and Joshua were picked up before calling it a day. Mom, Dad, and the twins were home by then and had been working in the office; so I joined them there for a while until Mom was ready to get started on making dinner for five. I helped with that; we had an easy-meal; and then I took care of the clean-up before moving on to spend the rest of the evening with Ethan and Ehlana while Mom and Dad both worked in the office.

We biked to the park; had some playground time that included hanging out with some other kids and teens; and then came home again with enough time to watch a movie together in the lounge before bedtime. That time with the twins was the best part of my day – not including the wake-up time with Michael this morning, and Ehlana and I ended her night with some sister-chat time after we'd finished tucking Ethan in and doing the bedtime story in his room. I followed that up with a short visit with Mom and Dad in the office; Mom did my Magi lesson; and then ordered me up to bed too.

That was more than three and a half hours ago; and I've been very busy pretty much that entire time between my archive assignment; language studies; and family business work. This hasn't exactly ended up being a short update, though, and none of that work is particularly noteworthy; so I'm going to just move on and wrap this up.

I haven't mentioned Violet and Dillon this weekend; mostly because she's been at his house or they've been busy with their own friends all weekend. They'll be back here tomorrow again; and there may be a pattern forming there. It is easier for his parents to have them here during the week when they're busy with work; though Violet is going to be here for the next few days because we'll also have the Malloys here again too.

That'll be fun; though I won't have much time to spend with them while getting ready for my exams. Terry will be here this time as much for meetings with construction companies and town officials as for more work around and in the river; but I'm sure that Angela and the kids will have fun with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana for the next few days. I wish that I could have more time to get in on that fun, and I actually could do that without a problem for my own exams; but I'll be there to help my friends and couldn't do that without blowing my 'normal teen' cover anyway.

The good news is that we're now less than three weeks away from summer vacation; the school work will be done in two weeks; and that last week of school is all fun and games anyway. It's officially June now, and that also means that we'll have our first baseball weekend starting on Friday. We'll have two games this weekend for my family – the coed game on Friday night and Michael's game on Saturday afternoon. Rowen and I have our first match a week from Saturday – after exams are finished. That'll work out better for us; but I doubt that impending exams will affect Michael, Tim, or the other guys on either team for their match. They have a good team this season, and while I think that Rowen and I have a better team for the girls' 12-14 division; we should all be in for a pretty good season this summer.

I'll keep you posted on that as the season goes along, but that's definitely more than enough news for tonight; I'm out of here; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!
June 2015

Monday, June 1, 2015

Happy 15th Birthday, Allen!

There has been so much going on today, but even though Allen's birthday isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things; let's start with that anyway.

First up with his big day is the teen drama that won't be big news for a little while yet; but will be on the teen gossip network before too long. I'm in the loop for that because I just happened to be in the vicinity when Marcie rather emphatically explained to Allen why his birthday wish should be to get her for a girlfriend. Part of her little chat with him was non-verbal, but from the expression I saw on his face later; I'd say that he got the message loud and clear! ;^)

Yes, he and Karla did just break up, but with fewer appropriately-aged choices for boyfriends and girlfriends; I'm not surprised that Marcie didn't wait longer to make her move – especially since she really does like him a lot. They may or may not wait a little while longer before officially doing any dating; but I'll guess that they will be a couple before the next holiday weekend.

While that bit of teen drama might end up being the best part of Allen's birthday, I'll guess that getting his driver's license was up there too. He didn't have a birthday party because we're all getting ready for exams now; but he did go home for a birthday dinner with his family and best friends between the after school and evening study sessions at my house. We also did a birthday lunch for him at school that was fun too – even if it was fairly short due to the football scrimmage that Tim talked most of the guys into having for the second half of that break.

Our classes today were all about exam preparation; and that'll be the case all week. I wouldn't say any of the work was particularly exciting; but most of us still managed to have fun. The study sessions at my house were good too – at least from my perspective. I won't say that everyone was having a blast; since that's impossible when the main study subjects are math, science, history, and the other core classes. For some reason, some of my friends don't find all of that memorizing and playing with formulas fun at all. They do appreciate the tutoring that's primarily from Michael, Rowen, and me, though; so they'll keep coming back for more.

Having a gang of teens over made things a bit crazy at our house tonight. Mom, Dad, and the twins were busy with the Malloys too; and Violet and Dillon were in the mix for dinner and the evening too – once they'd finished work at the lab for the day. I missed out on most of that except for dinner, but even then Michael and I were also entertaining Rowen, Tim, and most of our 'farm kid' study buddies because they stayed for dinner too instead of heading out to their farms and turning around and coming back in again. Mom was prepared for the extra mouths to feed, and went with grilling burgers and jumbo hot dogs plus a half-dozen cold salad and veggie sides. That worked for us because we had more time to study – and because Michael, Tim, and some of the other guys had to get to their baseball practices right after dinner too. That made the tutoring part of our night easier for Rowen and me because we worked with some of the girls while the boys were gone; and then mostly just had the guys to help after they got back from the park or school.

I won't bore you with those details, but there has been a lot more going on around here today; so let's get to the bigger news stories now.

At the top of my personal list for that is the official announcement that Jacob and Miranda have closed the deal with Uncle Nick's father and they've bought the Haberdashery building. Grandpa Ayres will spend the summer getting ready to move to his new store location down the street, and once he's in the new place in September; Jacob and Miranda will start working on the major renovations of both buildings that they plan on having finished by the time that Jake and Stephanie graduate in just less than two years. That sounds like a long time, but it isn't; and it'll take that long to do all of that work – especially when they'll be sharing construction crews with all of the other projects going on around town.

While I'm on the construction line of thought, let's do a quick update of some of those other projects. I haven't mentioned the church addition in a while; and the work there is coming right along. The foundation is in, and that project is on-time to have the outer shell finished and closed in by Thanksgiving. As with most of the other big projects here; that'll allow the crews to do the indoor work through the winter – and eventually knock out some walls to make it one big, happy church!

There isn't anything new since my last update for the med center; though it is pretty much a done deal that the official opening will be during the last full week of June. That'll be nice timing, since school will be out, and even more importantly; Aunt Leanne will be due anytime after that – even though her due date is in July. I've already mentioned before that Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne are getting teased about that being the main reason for the timing on opening the med center; but I expect an uptick in those jokes as Aunt Leanne gets into the last weeks of her pregnancy.

The new apartment building will be open for early move-ins that week too; and Aunt Leanne and Claire have all of those new rentals pretty much dealt with already. As with the first apartment building opening, that'll leave a glut of older apartment rentals available; but that'll work out for upgrades and remodels anyway – like the one that'll be turning the apartments above the Haberdashery into suites for the Inn.

Finally, I'll also mention that the Solar-Wind farm project is getting closer to completion too; and it should go online in August. That may be one of the least-exciting projects on the go around here for everyone except those directly involved; but it will be one of the most important long-term infrastructure developments we'll ever do here.

Having the new bridge that Terry's doing the engineering for is definitely a bigger deal here, and while I'm not in the loop for that project either; I did get to hear a bit about how it's going so far while talking with Terry and Angela tonight. The start of construction may still be a few months away, but there's a lot that goes into building even a comparatively small bridge; and this one is definitely being designed and built to last. Terry isn't getting to have as much fun while he's here as Angela and the kids are having; but Mom and Dad are doing their best to help him enjoy the visit even with all of the work he's doing.

Speaking of work, I've been doing lots of that since coming up to bed tonight – and I didn't get around to doing that until nearly midnight. It's late, and that part of my night was fairly standard studying and family business work; so let's just skip that part of the update and call it a night. Tomorrow is going to be more of the same except with slightly different dinner plans and no baseball practices; so I'd better get whatever sleep I can – which in this case will be a bit more than two hours.

I foresee some self-healing before Tai Chi to make up for the lack of down time; but I'll probably be dealing with that little downside of being too busy for most of the next two weeks. Instead of thinking about that too much, though, I'm going to put my computer away and get to that nap right now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

It's been another very long day, so I'm going to keep this as brief as possible; and then get on the couple of hours of nap time I'll manage before getting started again on another big day of work and studying.

Most of my day has been spent studying, including at school; and at home both before and after dinner. The main breaks in all of that were during Tai Chi and three meal breaks; and then a little visit with the parents, Violet, and Dillon before bedtime. My language studies and family business work hasn't been a break – just a change in study subjects that were also quite a bit more challenging.

The fun highlight of my day was definitely dinner; and that's because Mom and Dad had invited Michael's family – mostly so that they could all spend that time with Michael on their day off; and also with Violet, Dillon, and the rest of our family. That made for a fairly diverse dinner conversation that ranged from weddings and the Inn expansion project to bridges and engineering. For some reason, there wasn't much talk about law; but Dad and Angela are used to that anyway – and she was happy to talk about babies and kids instead anyway.

Speaking of weddings, the work and planning continues for Jake and Stephanie's wedding; though Rebecca and I are not involved in any of that again until after our exams are finished. We do feel a bit left out, but can't do everything; and Miranda hasn't given us any choice anyway. We'll still have nearly two months available to help out starting the weekend after next, though; and we will be getting more involved.

There has been a lot going on today that I've been out of the loop on, and while I'm not going to get too much into the details; let's cover the basics. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana have been busy entertaining Angela and the kids, but they spent some time at the lab today too; and then spent the rest of the day playing – including some 'fun' shopping, lunch at the Inn with the Dads, and an afternoon visit to the park. All of that was probably more fun than Dad's work in the office or Terry's meetings and mucking around at the river, and while their work was more important; I'll spare you the boring details. On the bridge project side of that, the only important news is that the town officials are happy with Terry's work so far; and the prep work is on-schedule. Dad's work news would just put most people to sleep, but while I don't mention it often enough; he does take care of all of those little legal details for everything we're doing around here through the family business – and making sure that we don't get bogged down with legal or government red tape.

Okay, I really do want to keep this short, and there isn't anything else particularly important to add tonight, so that's all for now; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

The Malloys headed home again early this afternoon once Terry was finished with this round of meetings and field work for the bridge; and life is returning to normal here at home – though normal is going to still include having lots of teens around after school and in the evenings between now and the end of exams.

That work is keeping me busy, and I'm missing out on pretty much everything else that's going on with my family; but my friends need me to help with getting ready for exams more so I'm okay with skipping things like the coed baseball practice tonight.

I don't really have anything major to report from school or the studying; since it really has been more of the same for a third day with the only changes being the dinner guests and the lack of parents here while they were busy playing with their friends. The study subjects are only changing a bit; but we'll get more focused starting this weekend as we switch to focusing on exams in the order we'll be writing them instead of working on the tougher subjects as we mostly are doing now.

There's no point in boring you with the study details; Mom and Dad only had Michael, Sally, and Joshua for dinner extras while everyone else either ate at home or went to the Inn before returning for the evening study session. We worked until ten o'clock, and once everyone had left; it was time to get back to my Magi lessons with Mom. Ethan and Ehlana were already in bed then because they were playing 'normal' kids with a house full of teens; so I spent a bit of time with them too; which is why it was after eleven-thirty by the time I got up to my room and started on my real studying and family business work.

That's kept me busy since then since I had all of my usual Wednesday night work to do even though I couldn't do that after school or in the evening; and I'm going to miss those extra hours of sleep tonight too.

I can still have a couple of hours or so of down time if I hurry, though; so let's just wrap this up and call it a night.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, June 4, 2015

I'm officially feeling run down; so this is going to be a very short update.

We had a normal weekday morning at home; stayed indoors all day at school thanks to the timing of the rain that rolled through town; and had a bit more rain after school that got us a bit damp during the walk over to my house for part one of our study session tonight. Our study sessions tonight were a bit strange because Rowen and I were away for part of the evening while at our baseball practice, as were some of the other girls; and Mom, Dad, and the twins were gone too while at the Inn for game night. Michael and Tim led the study group while we were out; though it was Michael doing the tutoring then while Tim mostly took care of the fun – and distracting everyone else from what they were supposed to be doing.

Since we're not having a study session tomorrow night, we worked a bit later tonight; and that's why all of the rest of my studying and work got pushed back even later than I'd planned. My Magi lesson with Mom didn't happen until nearly eleven-thirty; it was twelve-thirty by the time I came up to my room; and I've been working on my computer since then.

Okay, I multi-tasked some Jacuzzi time in there too; but only because I really needed it after a long, busy day that had included a baseball practice on a damp field. The only way that I'll be getting any sleep tonight is because I've cheated a fair bit with more Magi-powered work and studying than usual. There is a trade-off for that, though; so I won't actually be physically more rested for doing that – and will need to do some self-healing in the morning to make up for that.

I do want to get all of the down time that I can, though, so that's all for now, folks; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, June 5, 2015

Baseball season has officially started tonight, and while we still managed to have fun at Mom and Dad's game tonight; their season did not begin on a winning note. The Legal Eagles didn't have a really bad game or anything, but the Hardware Hawks were better tonight; and won twelve-to-eight.

That reminds me that I haven't actually written about the team names and sponsors in my journal yet. The Legal Eagle sponsor is an easy one; and it's only a bit different this year to skip the store or business name for the co-ed teams. I won't go down the entire list, but Rowen and I are members of Palmer's Piranha this year; and Michael and Tim are on the Ayres' Arrows team. All three divisions only have three teams again this year; so we'll play the other two teams three times each.

Rain was in the forecast for today, and we did get some rain while I was having my nap in the wee hours of the morning; but it's been nice here since then; and I've especially enjoyed getting to take the time off tonight to enjoy that – and spend time with my family and friends. Most of us were ready to take a night off from studying anyway; though Michael worked at the Inn tonight so that he could take the time off tomorrow to study – and hopefully have a bit of alone time with me tomorrow night after we're done studying for the day.

Rowen is spending the night with me, though; she was at the park with us for the game; and we were on babysitting duty tonight after the game while Mom and Dad went out with their friends. We had Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, Aiden, Zack, Eli, and Caleb with us; and Naomi and Aiden are spending the night too. Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah went out too, but they had grandparent support for Leah and Sebastian.

Rowen's already sleeping as I write this, so I'm going to shorten the rest of this update; and get to sleep soon too.

Tai Chi this morning was a bit damp on the feet, but we were by the river for that; and Michael stayed to have breakfast with us too. School was mostly filled with self-study time for exams with our teachers only available for tutoring if needed while we did our own studying. Lunchtime included some football action that Rowen and I joined in for with some of the other girls, and while those co-ed matches might not make for great football; we do have fun! Since Michael went over to the Inn after school, I spent the rest of my afternoon playing with Ethan and Ehlana until dinnertime. We biked over to the park; played at the playground; and had a snack picnic there while Mom did some work around the house while we were away.

Dinner was quick and easy; we were back at the park for the game; and then I alternated my time there between watching all of the younger kids at the playground and cheering our team on. Rowen helped out with both, and we had Violet and some of the other girls with us for the cheerleading squad; so all of that was fun – and we even managed to tire most of the kids out by the time we headed home again.

Tired out did not translate into instant bedtime, but Rowen and I had help getting the younger kids ready for bed before moving all of them up to the lounge for some movie wind-down time. Once that was done, the parents all soon moved on to their little outing to the pub; Violet and Dillon went to his house for the night; and Rowen and I were kept hopping with seven kids to entertain until they fell asleep. That didn't take long for Caleb; Zack and Eli lasted for nearly an hour; and Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden stayed awake through one full movie and then one favorite episode of Sofia the First.

There was some cuddle time in there for Naomi and Ethan, but no sofa sleepovers this week. Rowen and I had all of the kids in bed with more than an hour to spare before Mom and Dad got home. Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Grace were all there with them, but they only stayed long enough to collect Zack, Eli, and Caleb; and Uncle Mark was taking care of dropping Eli off on the way home. Rowen and I had a short chat with all of the parents; and then came upstairs again and got ready for bed.

We needed a bit of wind down chat time, and Rowen did some video surfing on YouTube; but she was tired out by then and it wasn't that long before she dozed off with Mandy cuddled next to her. I've done my usual nightly computing, and it took a while to deal with some family business work that came up via email; so that's why I'm not sleeping already too.

We have another busy day ahead tomorrow that includes yard work, Michael and Tim's first ball game, and a study session; and I definitely don't want to be too tired if Michael and I do manage to get some alone time after all of that so it's definitely time to wrap this up and get some rest.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, June 6, 2015

This update is coming to you in time-phase mode on Sunday morning because I fell asleep last night; and Michael and I ended up having another sofa sleepover in the lounge.

My Saturday started out great with Tai Chi by the river and breakfast with our sleepover guests. Rowen, Naomi, and Aiden had fun too; but they also all went home or on to the computer store fairly early while I was put to work on the yard chores for the rest of the morning. That kept Dad and I busy until we stopped for lunch; and then I was set free to clean up; we had lunch with Mom and the twins; and then my afternoon study buddies began arriving. We didn't have all of my friends there for the afternoon, since some of them were working all day; but Michael, Tim, and Rowen all had the rest of the day off for studying. Michael, Tim, and some of the other guys also had their afternoon baseball game, but instead of sending them off to do that; we just took our studying on the road with us so that we could keep working and watch the game too. Getting to cheer for our boyfriends was just an added bonus – even though it was also tough to do that and tutor several different subjects at the same time.

Ayres' Arrows were playing Connor's Catapults; and Michael and Tim's team fared better than Mom and Dad's team did last night. They were the home team, and while the Catapults did get a lead in the top of the first inning, and managed to keep the game close for the first few innings; the Arrows eventually got a lead that they kept through until they earned the twelve-to-seven victory without needing to bat in the bottom of the final inning. Our cheering might have helped; though the Catapults' players had their fair share of cheerleaders too – and that didn't help them.

I'm not suggesting that our squad was better – just that cheerleaders are as likely to distract a group of teen boys as motivate them. ;^)

The game started at three, so it was time to head home for dinner after that; and Mom and Dad pretty much had the full gang of study teens for that meal – including the farm teens that had all come into town by then and met up with us at the park for the outdoor study and baseball time. Going for a swim in the river was an option that quite a few of us took while waiting for the food to be ready, but the river was fairly cool today; so we didn't stay in for long. Our meal was all easy food; Mom had lots of donations dropped off with the teens; and Dad and Uncle Adam took care of grilling all of the burgers and hotdogs that twenty-plus teens can demolish in a single sitting. We ate outdoors too, and pretty much just sat wherever we wanted – down by the river; around the yard on lawn chairs; or at one of the few tables that we set up mostly for the parents and grandparents. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were with the group by the river; mostly so that we could keep an eye on Ethan, Ehlana, Zack, and Leah while they ate and played there.

Cleaning up was easy too, since most of the dishes and cutlery were of the recyclable variety; and then it was time to get back to the studying for a few hours. We did that in my room and the lounge, and while we were a bit crowded; it was also a lot of fun. Okay, the majority of my friends might disagree with that fun assessment; so I'll qualify that and suggest that Michael, Rowen, and I had a lot of fun; and we did our best to make the work as entertaining as possible for the rest of our friends – including Tim.

Most of my friends either had eleven o'clock time limits for the studying or alternate plans after that until whenever they needed to be home for weekend curfews. Michael and I thought that worked out great for us, since Ethan and Ehlana were in bed by then; Mom and Dad went to bed once we were the last two teens standing; and he didn't need to be home until twelve-thirty or one.

The fact that he didn't make it home was a good thing from our perspective, but we were even happier to have the alone time in the lounge. Yes, I did fall asleep, and so did he sometime after I did; but that didn't happen until after we enjoyed some very overdue play time for two that was fairly hot and clothing-optional.

Yes, that was the best part of my day; though everything I was doing added up to one of those really good days – even without any major fun adventures.

My Sunday has started out great too. Michael and I shared a fairly spectacular wake-up make-out session, and Tai Chi by the river was a blast that included some bonus teasing for us from our parents, Ethan, and Ehlana. Yes, that was both sets of parents; because Jacob and Miranda came over with Michael and set up a joint breakfast at their house after he'd run home to get changed before meeting us outside. Those last-minute breakfast plans are part of the reason why I'm doing this while in a time-phase – and also getting my hair done and ready for church after grabbing a shower. I need to get downstairs to help out with our breakfast contributions; and then we need to head over to Michael's house.

That's going to keep the fun going today, and then we have a lot on the go for the rest of the day; but that's mostly going to be studying for exams after church and for most of the rest of the day. Michael has the day off from the Inn – and pretty much the entire week while we're busy with exams. I'll still have my family business work to keep up with every day; but I'll skip my language and archive studies so that I won't be burning out with another week of not much sleep.

We'll see how well that works out for me, but I do need to get going, so that's all I have for this morning; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, June 7, 2015

The highlight of the day since I wrapped up my sofa sleepover-delayed update from yesterday was definitely the double family breakfast at Michael's house. While we loved all of the food; it was the time together that was amazing – and kept me smiling all day even when the studying and tutor services had me getting tired out by earlier this evening.

We've had a bit of rain here and there today too, including more that's hitting us overnight; but that didn't get in the way of church, the walks there and back, or anything else we did outdoors. We did need to have lunch indoors, but Mom and Dad just cooked up a bunch of pizzas for that and my friends and I multi-tasked and studied in the dining room while we ate. Not all of my friends were there for that, but most of the country kids were; and the rest of our classmates joined us for the rest of the day by one o'clock. I don't really have much else to report from all of the studying. We worked in the lounge; spent some time outdoors starting in mid-afternoon; had a couple of swim break in the river because it was really hot out today; and took an hour or so off for another barbeque dinner in the back yard. We followed that up with the evening study session that went until a bit after nine o'clock; and then I had to really get to work once my friends had gone home.

My Magi lesson was fun, but the family business work hasn't been – mostly because I've been too tired to enjoy that work tonight. It's just another chore I needed to get done – and that kept me from getting the extra sleep that I really need tonight.

That's also why this report is going to end with that minimal bit of news. I'm going to shoot for being asleep by the time my computer is; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, June 8, 2015

Happy 31st Birthday, Aunt Grace!

Thanks to our first day of exams and study sessions for our exams tomorrow, I was pretty much out of the loop for Aunt Grace's birthday fun; but I did stop in to wish her the best after school on my way home. Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne hosted a birthday dinner for her, and Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace are having a kid-free night tonight too; but didn't have an all-night party or anything. That was mostly because our town doctors, nurse, and others are all very busy right now with getting the new med center ready to open; with the target date now officially set at two weeks from today – which just happens to also be Ethan and Ehlana's birthday.

Our Grade Nine exams today were English, Computers, and Art, and while that probably sounds fairly easy; even our Art exam was fairly thorough and included a lot of questions that ranged from art history to techniques and artist biographies. None of that was a problem for me, and Michael and Rowen were very happy with how their exams went too; but the best part of the exam news for my class was that most of my classmates were having a good day as well – whether that was being happy with doing well-enough to pass or expecting to have better grades than normal thanks to all of the extra studying.

I'm sure that's why everyone showed up for our studying at my house; and we had our after-school session in the back yard – mostly so we could also go for a swim if we wanted to do that; and have more room to spread out while we worked. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana were there for a while until moving on to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's house for the birthday dinner. Mom had dinner ready for us before she left too; but Rowen and I were in charge of getting the food set out when it was time to eat – and deal with the clean-up once we were finished. Since the meal was cold salads, snacks, and Olde Bakery sub buns and fixings for sandwiches; the work and clean-up wasn't difficult, though we did end up doing most of that work without much help.

There were a few different reasons for why Rowen and I did most of the pre and post-dinner work; with a bunch of the boys disappearing for baseball practices after we ate being one of the issues. Studying continued through meal time too, and Rowen and I were tutoring a bit here and there even while doing other work – and while we were sitting down to eat with Michael and Tim. Math was the biggest worry for most of my friends for the exams tomorrow, though as usual; I don't think that some of my friends paid enough attention to getting ready for our Music and Spanish exams. Yes, math is always one of the toughest subjects in high school, and is important for a lot of future college plans or careers; but I think that some of my friends forget that math and science counts exactly the same as Spanish or music for overall grade point average – and that can be a bigger deal in the end. The good news this year is that at least all of my classmates have generally spent more time getting ready for all of our exams that they have in past years; and maybe all of the earlier studying will make a difference in the subjects they aren't spending as much time on each night this week.

Let's not make a big deal of that; and keep the update going so that I can wrap this up and get some sleep.

While Michael, Tim, and the other guys were busy with baseball practices, and once Rowen and I had the kitchen and yard cleaned up; we got back to serious studying and tutoring – and kept busy with that through until we wrapped up for the night at ten-thirty. We wrapped up then because most of our country teens had already been picked up by then; and Rowen, Michael, and I convinced the rest of the crammers that staying up half the night wouldn't help nearly as much as getting a decent night of rest would for being ready for our exams tomorrow. Michael stayed long enough to help me with Ethan and Ehlana's bedtime story after that; we got the birthday dinner report from them – and then a bit more of that story from Mom and Dad before Michael went home and Mom did my Magi lesson with me before sending me up to my room for the night.

The family business work has kept me busy for more than an hour after I was changed and in bed with Mandy, and the computer checks and email took a while to get done too; which is why it's heading toward two o'clock already despite not doing any language or archive studying. I'm actually feeling okay right now despite the long hours and busy day; but we'll see if that trend continues for the rest of the week.

I don't have any other news for tonight, and exams and studying will be the only action going on for me until we're finished with them on Friday afternoon, so that's all for now; and I'm going to spend some quality time in dreamland until it'll be time to get up and going again in about four and a half hours.

That doesn't sound like it'll be long enough, but every minute of down time does count; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

We've had a very hot day here; and that had nothing to do with tough exams or pressure at work.

The temperature climbed well into the nineties; and the humidex flirted with triple-digits for a few hours this afternoon.

That didn't have any effect on my Math, Music, or Spanish exams today; but our outdoor study time did include regular swim breaks to cool off – and we moved the show indoors not long after dinner to stay cool.

Mom and Dad did not have the full gang again tonight for that meal; but we did have a total of nine teens with us plus Violet and Dillon. We still went with an easy meal plan, and I helped out a bit here and there; but Mom, Dad, Violet, and Dillon took care of the clean-up before heading over to the med center to help out there for the evening while I was busy with studying. Dad doesn't have a lot of time to help out with that since he's busy with his own work too; but he will be giving Uncle Adam and Uncle Mark a hand when he can – and I'll probably be donating some time to the cause too once we're finished with exams this week.

I was busy enough tonight helping with the tutoring for geography and science. Michael and Rowen helped out too, and even though we only have the two exams tomorrow; it was one of the more stressful study nights for a few of our classmates. In Geography, it's mostly the memorization that's freaking them out while in Science; it's remembering how to use the formulas and memorizing all of the fun little details – like periodic tables and everything else that goes along with general science classes.

Bottom line for tonight was that three of us nearly exclusively tutored from after school through until we called it a night at ten-thirty; and that came with a fair bit of teen psychology that was needed to keep some of our friends from freaking out while trying to get through the half-way day of our exam week. I hope we succeeded with that; but I'll let you know with the next update whether everyone survived the day without cracking under the pressure.

I was on my own by the time that Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana got home again from the med center. We took care of getting the twins into bed first; Mom did my Magi lesson with me; and then I came up to my room and multi-tasked some Jacuzzi time with my family business work. By then I was getting fairly worn out, so I used a bit of time-phasing to speed all of that up; and that's the only reason I'll be sleeping before one o'clock tonight.

Violet and Dillon will be here overnight, and while I didn't mention it, they were here last night too; but they aren't back yet because they've been hanging out with Jake and Stephanie tonight while their friends are wrapping up their two days off. I really missed getting to spend time with Michael's family this week; but I'll get to have more time with them this summer – especially if I help out a lot at the Inn while we're off from school.

There isn't anything else that needs to be covered tonight, though, and I really do want to get all of the sleep I can tonight; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

It's been another really, really hot day; and the only down side to that is the fact that we're stuck writing exams and then getting ready for the next ones tomorrow instead of enjoying the great weather!

Okay, you can just ignore the fact that it's Wednesday; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I would have had a work day instead anyway. Go with the sentiment behind the comment and forget about applying logic! ;^)

The good news for my classmates and I is that we're pretty much done with the toughest exams now. I'm not the only teen getting run down from all of the work; which is probably why the easiest part of our exam schedule is at the end of it. The same friends that were worried about the exams today still are; but I think they'll find out that they did better than expected for both Geography and Science. I can't tell any of them why I know that; but I will mention here that extreme stress emotions do make it nearly impossible for me not to pick up a lot from others with my empathy and telepathy without any need to overtly use those talents.

That has occasionally made exam week a bit strange and uncomfortable; but then again it isn't nearly as weird as being around teens when they're in full drama mode over something like a break-up. Let's not even discuss the weird that goes along with the extreme emotions that go along with intense physical attractions – and having to deal with that is not restricted to teens.

Maybe I'll ask Mom if that's a problem for her when she's out with the other couples at places like Sheldon's – or not. That might be something I don't need to know the details for until I'm old-enough to have to deal with those situations.

Moving along, my exams were a breeze, and while my classmates don't universally share my view on it; I don't think that our History and Politics exams tomorrow will be a problem for any of us. Sure, there was still a lot of memorizing needed for both subjects, but based on the level of tutoring that Michael, Rowen, and I did tonight; I'd say that tomorrow is going to be a good day for my friends.

Speaking of tutoring, I've wondered about how the fact that Michael, Rowen, and I do virtually all of that work with our friends will be perceived in the distant future for Magi reading my journal. Who knows what life in Witch Falls – or the world – will be like a century or ten from now? Whatever it's like in your 'now', though, I hope my writings about things like this won't be taken to be some kind of ego trip or anything like that. In this case, we do the tutoring because we are the top three students in our year; and there's nothing more to it than that. Trust me – there are times when life would be easier for us if we pretended to be even more normal than what we're already doing. Other Magi have done that, do it now, and will likely go that route in the future too; but that doesn't work for the three of us. We have looked at that, and the majority of Magi do their education the way we do – or go with a modestly accelerated education so that they can finish college a year or two sooner than normal.

Anyway, that's gotten way off-track; so let's get back to it so that I can also get to my nap time soon.

While I was busy studying again tonight, Mom and Dad had their baseball practice; and Violet and Dillon helped them out with kid control at the park while they were busy. Dinner here was again open for my friends and another easy-meal menu. The country kids, Michael, Tim, and Rowen stayed; everyone else did their own thing; and we took care of the clean-up while my parents headed for the park and their practice. We had most of our study time outdoors; swim breaks were happening with at least a couple of us pretty much all of the time; and we worked close to the river so that we could still ask and answer questions even while in the water. I had fun with all of that, but I was also tired out by the time everyone went home. Michael was in the last group of departing teens at shortly before eleven, but since we weren't alone; the goodnight kisses and hugs were not particularly hot or exciting.

We are going to need to find a way to make up for the near-total lack of that kind of action sometime soon!

Once I was alone with my family again, Mom did a Magi lesson with me that she included Violet and Dillon for. They aren't doing a lot of training with her anymore; but it is fun to work with them now and then when I can – even when we end up playing with our talents a bit too long and it delays the start of my bedtime work. Tonight we worked on a lesson about group telepathy and empathy. None of that was actually new for me – it was the what we were doing that was different and challenging. Basically, Mom was having me practice focusing my telepathy and empathy on the group in the house or individuals; getting me to switch the focus as quickly as possible and also 'scan' for certain things that she had everyone else take turns either thinking about or emoting.

That lesson was one of the highlights of the day, but it also tired me out even more; and I still had my family business and nightly computing work to do once Mom sent me up to bed at a bit before twelve-thirty. I've been doing that work since climbing into bed with Mandy and my computer, and since I was too tired to shoot for another time-phase too; it's taken me a while to get everything done – even with the bits of Magi-powered assistance I did use to fit a half-dozen hours of work into just two hours.

I really don't have anything earth-shaking to report from that work, though; so let's just wrap this up and I'll get on with my nap time. The last bit of news I have from today is about weekend plans that we were discussing while studying tonight. A celebration camping adventure might happen here at my house, but that might not be an option if the weather forecast for a rainy weekend holds. Doing that would be fun, and I hope that we can; but I expect that if we have a rainy weekend that I'll be either helping out at the med center or with kid control while the parents are busy there. Michael and Rebecca will need to be back to helping out at the Inn this weekend too; and I'll probably join them for that on Sunday since they aren't the only teens with most of the week off from work this week.

Other than the camping that may or may not happen at all, that sounds a lot like I'm going to be in for a very busy work weekend instead of a break after exams. Now I really want to be sleeping instead of thinking about that, so that's all for tonight; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Okay, it's definitely time for a micro-update; and then I'm off to dreamland for the rest of the night.

Word of the day – HOT!

We had a bit of rain this afternoon that didn't cool things down at all; and a minor thunderstorm rolled though a little while ago that was too late to get in the way of any of the evening studying or fun.

I missed out on game night again this week; Rowen and I did have baseball practice; and the studying for our Health and Phys Ed exams tomorrow was fairly easy compared to the rest of the week to date. My exams today went fine too; and it was probably a best day so far for them for nearly everyone else in my class too – even if History and Politics aren't favorite subjects for many of my friends.

Our study time included regular swim breaks again and even some play time while we quizzed each other and got ready for our last two exams. Teens in swimsuits isn't necessarily the best way to keep focused on the work at hand; but we managed to muddle through – and have a bit of fun here and there too.

The studying broke up early tonight; and Michael and I even managed to have a little bit of alone time before Mom and Dad got home from the Inn with Ethan and Ehlana. We also took care of getting the twins tucked in for the night; and then had a little bedtime chat with Mom and Dad before Michael went home for the night. Mom skipped my Magi lesson; I've only done the family business work that had to get finished; and now I'm ready to actually get a half-decent amount of sleep tonight for the first time in what feels like weeks.

One more day of 'real' school; we'll be into the weekend after that; and then our last week of classes will mostly be play time as we wrap up the school year!

Come on, summer vacation – we are so ready for you!

For now, though, I'll settle for the bonus rest; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, June 12, 2015

Exams are done for another year!

We didn't really get to celebrate that milestone today; mostly because the weather didn't want to cooperate with a camping night or party – and I ended up doing some work and hanging out with my family instead.

We didn't get the rain during the day, and that was nice; though we were indoors for the exams and studied for the afternoon exam during the lunch break. Michael ended up working at the Inn tonight to help out there, and Rowen and Tim were okay with doing their own thing tonight; so I ended up helping out at the new med center tonight – both after school and tonight.

Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana spent most of the day either at the lab or med center; and we even ended up having an easy-meal dinner there – at the med center – too. Uncle Adam and Uncle Mark are taking turns handling the appointments at the old clinic; and they're spending most of the rest of their time at the new med center. Getting to help out with that work was fun; though I still feel as though I' missing out on a lot of the most important things going on with my family – and I don't just mean the med center or the lab. Aunt Leanne is down to just weeks now to her due date; and I've mostly been out of the loop for everything she's dealing with now too. Getting to hear the stories isn't the same as being part of the action; and that's just one more thing that I wish I could be more involved with while knowing that I can't be – at least not for another week or so.

Let's not even go there; since I do know that the end of school will just mean other things will be going on instead – like helping out more at the Inn and with Jake and Stephanie's wedding.

We stayed at the med center until after eleven; so it was past-midnight by the time I came up to my room after getting the twins tucked in for the night. Violet is spending the weekend with Dillon at his house; so all is quiet up here on the third floor – not that they're partying all night up here when they do stay here. I've had some family business work to catch up on tonight, so I've been doing that for a while; and then added in a bit of language study too. I don't really need to do that language work, since I have pretty much mastered it; but I'll finish up the bits of the program I have left to do anyway before taking the summer off from all of that.

That's all I have for tonight, and there isn't really anything to write about for the weekend ahead because we're pretty much going to just wing it and work around the weather. With a bit of luck, Michael and I will get to have some alone time this weekend too; but we'll see how that goes – and it might depend on how busy we each are with chores and work. If we don't get rained out, Rowen and I will have our first baseball game of the season tomorrow too; but I'm not counting on that going ahead. If we get as much rain as they're calling for, even if it isn't raining at game time, the ball diamonds will be too wet to use.

Finding out the answer for that is just a digital page flip for you, reading this sometime in my future, but hours away for me; and I can use some of those hours for some quality sleep time.

I'm totally ready to get to that right now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, June 13, 2015

I'm really tired out right now, so I'm going to shoot for a short report despite the fact that there was a lot going on around here today – which is why I'm worn out!

Tai Chi this morning by the river made for a fun start to our day; Michael stayed for breakfast before moving on to his own chores and work at home and the Inn; and it was time for me to get to work too once he'd left. Dad and I worked outside all morning, and while we did get some rain showers off and on for a couple of hours; that didn't get in the way of our chores even though it did mean getting a bit wet. I worked until noon; went to have a shower and got ready for my ballgame; and then had a quick lunch before Rowen met up with me and we headed for the school ball diamond.

Our Piranhas were up against the Solar Sharks today, and though they had the added incentive of playing their first game for a new business sponsor; it was the little fish in the baseball pond that had the advantage today. Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana came out for the game, and there were lots of other parents there too; but not many other spectators – mostly because we had a dash or two of rain hit just before game time that kept the crowds away – and some others watching the match from their parked cars until the rain ended early into the first inning. I won't drag out the game report, but we were the home team today; ended the first inning with a one-run lead; and kept a lead straight through until the end when we wrapped up the eight-to-five win after giving up just one run in the top half of the last inning.

While the rain didn't cancel our game, it did mean getting even dirtier than usual; so most of my team mates and I skipped the Emporium visit and opted to go jump in the river at my house while Mom and Dad just stopped in to the grocery store and picked up a couple of ice cream options and a large box of cones so that they could still feed us when we were finished cooling off in the river. That was a fun break in the busy – especially since Michael was on his break for the tail-end of the game and the swim time. He wasn't completely outnumbered by the girls, since Tim, Ethan, and Aiden were there then too; but he is a normal teen guy; and wouldn't have had a problem going for a swim with a group of girls in swimsuits.

That water fun was a fairly short break, since most of us had other things to do after the game, and in my case; that was heading over to the med center again to help out with the work that had been going on there all day. Mom came over for a while too, but Dad stayed home to do some of his own work in the office. He kept Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden with him; though Naomi and Aiden were only there for another hour or so before getting picked up by one or more of their parents. I helped out with some unpacking work at the med center; took a turn with babysitting; and then I brought Zack and Leah home with me so that I could be home to help Dad when he switched into grillmaster mode and got started on cooking the main course dinner for the gang of family and friends we hosted for dinner.

Pretty much everyone helping out at the med center or the old clinic were invited to come over for that – along with the members of our family that had instead been busy at their usual jobs or helping out with the younger kids while their parents were busy. It took a couple of hours to get everyone fed, and I mostly helped out with more babysitting and getting my younger cousins fed; but I helped out with the clean-up too while about half of our dinner guests headed back to the med center to put in another couple of hours of work there.

By the way, I haven't mentioned it specifically, but Violet and Dillon are making a bit of extra money right now by helping out with the move to the med center. I should probably talk to my agent; since I forgot to actually get hired on so that I could draw a paycheck too!

Oh wait – I'm too young for them to legally hire me for a job like that anyway. I guess I'll just have to settle for what I make with my current part-time job. ;^)

Moving along, I was still doing some babysitting when Michael came over after he was set free from the Inn. He joined us for the movie that was in-progress already in the lounge, and by the time it was over; Zack, Leah, and Caleb were getting picked up by their parents – or parent in Zack's case; since Aunt Leanne had already been sent home to bed by then after running out of steam while still trying to help out at the med center. Once we were down to just having Ethan and Ehlana at home; Michael and I did the bedtime thing with them and then came back up to the lounge for a bit of overdue alone time. That was moderately hot and a highlight of my day, but we were also both also tired by then; and another sofa sleepover so soon after the last one wasn't a good idea – even if it would have been fun!

We had a little chat with Mom and Dad before Michael went home shortly before midnight; and I've only done the must-do work and nightly computing since getting ready for bed and tucked in with Mandy. Tomorrow is going to be another work day – after church – and I'll be splitting my time between the med center and the Inn; since I'm definitely going to help out with the buffet shift. With all of that still ahead this weekend, I'm really glad that I'll have that last school week of the year to rest up before we get to summer vacation!

Right now, getting some rest is all I'm interested in doing for the remainder of the night, so that's it for this update; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, June 14, 2015

It's been a hot, humid day with a bit of rain here and there that wasn't nearly as much as originally forecast; but I wasn't outdoors much anyway – and the bit of rain we did get during the day didn't get in the way of the fun or work for anyone.

This has mostly been another work day for me except for while we were at church; but there were lots of fun moments that were liberally mixed in to keep everything entertaining. Tai Chi by the river was as awesome as always; breakfast was amazing because I did that with Michael and his family; and the church service and Sunday school kept the fun going. Once we got home from church, it was time for me to get to work. First up was helping with the pot-luck lunch we hosted at our house for most of our family. I helped with the cooking and set-up; took care of Zack and Leah while we ate; and then helped with the clean-up before most of us moved on to the med center for the afternoon.

While we were there, I split my time between helping out with the work and babysitting duties. I get the feeling that my younger cousins are getting tired of all of the extra work their parents are doing right now, and while we still managed to mostly have fun when I was playing with them; I have to say that the work in the med center was easier than regular intervention with cranky kids. I stayed and helped out until shortly before four o'clock, and then headed for the Inn with Michael once his afternoon break was over. He'd spent most of that time with me – and with the twins and my cousins; and we were pretty much ready to take it easy for a while by the time we reached the kitchen at the Inn.

I'd make a joke about the buffet shift being easier than keeping up with my cousins, but while the work was less-stressful; it wasn't easier – and it was also really, really hot in the kitchen. We all took food breaks when we could fit them in; it was a tough handful of hours; and most of us were fairly wiped out by the time we went home after closing up for the night.

I stopped in at Michael's on the way home for a cold drink and wind down chat with his parents and Rebecca. Jake had gone home with Stephanie; and they were spending the night there. While hanging out with Michael for a few hours of quality cuddle time would have been nice, I had work and studying to get home to; and was home by a quarter to eleven. Mom and Dad were packing up their work for the night by then, so Mom did a very short Magi lesson with me; I stopped in to say goodnight to Ethan and Ehlana on my way up to my room; and then it was time for a soak in my Jacuzzi along with some family business work multi-tasking. The work was done by the time I was out of the tub and ready for bed; so all I've had left to do since snuggling with Mandy and my computer was my archive assignment and just a bit of language studying that I did at the same time as the reading since it was audio-based work.

I finished that up about twenty minutes ago; did my last email and nightly computer checks after that; and I'll be ready to drop by the time I wrap this up and get to the sleeping part of my night. Fortunately, we won't' be doing any real work at school – just helping with the clean-up and doing the usual fun stuff like our play day, movies, and random fun and games. I'll also have the usual practices and work; more to do to help my family with whatever they need while getting the med center ready to open in a week; and hopefully a bit of extra-curricular fun with my friends too if we can fit that into our busy schedules.

Stayed tuned for those details, but that's it for tonight; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, June 15, 2015

I was up early this morning – at least for a few minutes – to see Dad off on his trip to the city; but then I went back to bed until we needed to get up again and started on our busy day.

Since any news about Dad's work week in the city didn't make any of my weekend journal updates, you might be able to guess that I wasn't really even thinking about him being away this week at all until this morning; and I have to wonder if I really do have too much on the go to basically not even be around for most of the prep work he was doing to get ready for his trip over the past week and more. Yes, I did know he was doing the work; but it didn't really affect my life at all while I was busy with exams and everything else.

We missed him for Tai Chi and breakfast; but the rest of my day has been non-stop action and I wouldn't have spent much time with Dad anyway if he had been here. Our school adventures today were all about getting started on the clean-up of everything from classrooms to lockers; and I brought my first load of gear and returned assignments and projects home with me after we were set free for the day. When we weren't doing stuff like that, we filled the hours with some outdoor play time and a movie; our lunch break included a football scrimmage; and we took it easy the rest of the time.

Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I had some after school play time that included some biking at the park and an ice cream break at the Emporium; but I had to be home early to help Mom out with an early dinner ahead of an evening of babysitting while she was busy helping out at the med center. While Michael came home with me for dinner, I had bonus babysitting help from hem when the rain rolled in and his ball practice was cancelled. We've gotten a lot of rain tonight and a thunderstorm with it for good measure; but we were indoors for all of that and had fun playing with Ethan, Ehlana, Zack, and Caleb. Grandma and Grandpa Ayres took Leah and Sebastian so that I didn't have too many really little kids; though Michael and I could have handled the extras if that hadn't already been set up before the baseball rain-out.

We played music; had some video gaming after that; and then wrapped up our evening with a movie that Zack and Caleb missed when they each fell asleep within minutes of cuddling with Michael and me. That worked out fairly well when Aunt Leanne and Aunt Grace came to get them not long after that; and then Michael and I had some cuddle time with Ethan and Ehlana through to the end of the show before getting them off to bed for the night. Mom got home in time for the goodnight hugs and kisses with the twins; Michael and I had a little chat with her; and then he headed home so that Mom could do my Magi lesson with me – a lesson that he couldn't do with us even if it hadn't been a school night and time for him to get home by then anyway.

That lesson took nearly an hour; I stayed in the office with Mom while we both did some family business work; and then it was bedtime for both of us by a bit after one o'clock. I'm skipping the studying and archive work tonight, but did do the full email and computer checks that included a fairly thorough perusal of the Hathorne Industries systems. I won't get into the details now, since Mom has an archive for the Hathornes with very thorough reporting of their operations, but I will mention that they've been busy this year doing some fairly nasty things in different parts of the world; and they are happy to use any war or crisis as an opportunity to take advantage of the misfortune of others. Then again, they cause a lot of that misfortune; instigate some conflicts; and have even been behind some fairly serious crises.

One of these days we are going to deal with them, and I wish it would be sooner instead of later, but I did at least find a few things tonight that we can do something about; and we'll hopefully find a way to help at least some of the people they've been hurting by their actions. I didn't have time to get on that tonight, but I will get to that starting tomorrow night – and get some help from Mom too; if she has the time to fit a bit more into her already crowded schedule.

That wasn't the most uplifting way to end my night, but the visit into the bowels of the Hathorne Industries computer systems was the last thing I did before getting to this report. I've got band and teen praise team practices tomorrow, so it's going to be another very long day; and I need to get some sleep so that I'll be ready for that. I'll miss out on the med center work or babysitting because of those practices, and I'm probably going to have dinner at Michael's house tomorrow night; but I can't skip those practices because we'll be getting ready for the Fourth of July holiday weekend at both practices. This is the last one we'll have for band; and we'll probably only have two more for the teen praise team between now and then.

Okay, that's it and I'm ready to crash now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

It's been cloudy all day; we had a spit or two of rain that didn't really even get the ground damp; and basically had nice weather – other than that it was a bit dull thanks to the overcast skies.

I wouldn't say that my day has been dull, since it has been another very long, busy day; but I wouldn't rate it as an extreme-fun day either. Our morning got off to a great start with Tai Chi; Violet and Dillon provided most of the breakfast entertainment as they talked about work, weddings, and plans for the rest of the week that included what they're doing for Violet's birthday and the Father's day weekend. They're staying here this week, but if you're wondering why I didn't mention them in my update yesterday; that's because I basically didn't see them all day while they were busy with work; helping out at the med center; and spending time with Jake, Stephanie, and a few other friends.

All of that was on their schedule for today too, which is why I didn't see them at all from the time that I left for school and when they got home tonight and checked in with me on the way to bed a little while ago. In those intervening hours, I had another play day at school; we had our last band practice until September; Michael and I had dinner at his house; we moved on to our teen praise team practice after that; and I've been working and studying here at home since then. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana have had a busy day too. They've been at the lab and the med center; Ethan and Ehlana wrote two of the final exams for their sophomore year; and they had dinner at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's house. Their dinner location was really just chosen for convenience for Aunt Leanne; and it was Mom, Grandma, and Grandpa that did most of the work for the meal and clean-up – and Grandma and Grandpa took a turn at babysitting tonight while I was busy.

I guess that's actually pretty much all of the news I have for tonight. There wasn't anything newsworthy from my Magi lesson, family business work, or language and archive studies. I did get that start on trying to counter one of the business operations that the Hathornes are involved with in eastern Europe, but that really was just a start; and I'll try to do more if I can tomorrow night – if I get to do my after-school work night tomorrow at all. Mom may need me to help with babysitting again instead.

For now, though, it's really late and I really just need to get started on my nap; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

We didn't get any rain today, and it was very hot; but we might not be as lucky tomorrow for our play day because the forecast is for rain and possible thunderstorms. Let's hope that won't happen at least until we're finished school for the day!

The top news for today is that we – Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I – spent a lot of our school time helping out with getting ready for the play day tomorrow. We had lots of help with that; but it was only a handful of us from each high school grade while the rest of our friends had fun with movies and other play time entertainment. I was good with volunteering for the work crew, though, and we had at least as much fun as we would have if we'd been watching movies or playing sports outside.

I can't say the same for the rest of my day, since I was able to do my work night at home; and I got started on that right after school. Mom had her ball practice tonight, but I stayed home – and so did Ethan and Ehlana. They wrote two college exams each while I worked; and we all did that in a time phase so that we could get more done while we had the house to ourselves. I only stopped for dinner; wrapped up after Mom got home; and did my Magi lesson with her before we all headed for bed. Some Jacuzzi time was next up on my to-do list; and I'm actually writing this while doing that. Getting to sleep early is an option tonight; and I'm going to be glad to have the extra down time by the time we're finished with our play day at school tomorrow.

There isn't really any major news from the lab, med center, or even the co-ed baseball action from tonight; so I guess that's all I have for this update.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Happy 20th Birthday, Violet!

Her official exit from the teen club was fairly low-key, since she and Dillon were both working today; but we did have a special birthday breakfast for her; there was a video chat on Mom's computer with Uncle Rick, Aunt Melissa, Dawn, and the boys while we had breakfast; and we did a birthday dinner here too with most of our family, Dillon's, and any friends that could join us for that couple of hours of fun.

Since the weather forecast happily proved to be wrong again today, and our play day was a go at school; fun was the name of the game all day – at least for the kids and teens at our school. I won't suggest that was universal around here, since adults did need to work, and it wasn't all fun and games for every non-school kid either. I'm thinking about Ethan and Ehlana for that; and only because they finished up their last, third-year college exams today while I was busy playing with my friends and pretty much goofing off all day.

They actually did that while Mom was at the school taking a morning and lunch shift volunteering for one of the food booths; and Grandma and Grandpa stayed and watched the twins while they wrote the exams – and Grandma made up a batch of potato salad for the birthday dinner. It wasn't all work and no play for the twins. They did get to play at the lab in the afternoon for a while with Dillon; and we went to the park to play after I was finished school – mostly to be out of Mom's way while she was leading the dinner work crew. I wasn't drafted for the pre or post-dinner work crews because I was put in charge of kid control instead – which is why I really did pretty much get to play straight through until after my baseball practice.

I'm getting a bit ahead of the story; so let's back up to the play day part of my adventures. The games for play day were changed up a bit this year, but the competition is basically the same; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I did very well for our class 'team' – and for ourselves when it came to individual or paired contests. Sure, every kid and teen ends up with at least a couple of ribbons or prizes by the end of the day, and it is all just for fun, but I do like to win; and Michael, Tim, and Rowen are fairly competitive too. Let's not go into the details of every event, and I'll instead just simply report that we were the top four student gamers today – and we had a blast all day.

While having the great weather was perfect for our play day at school, and I was happy to be able to play outside with Ethan, Ehlana, and my cousins; I would have been okay with a rained-out baseball practice. Yes, we needed the workout to get ready for our next game; but I also would have liked to get to be at home for all of Violet's birthday dinner party instead of having to leave before most of the guests had even been served their cake and ice cream desserts. Rowen and I still had fun playing ball with our team mates and friends too, and no rain meant that the dinner party could be outdoors; but sometimes I wish that I could multi-task to the point where I actually can be in two places at once.

Unfortunately, I'm fairly sure that people would notice if I put the entire ball field into a time phase to get through our practice in minutes instead of normal time – or did the same for Violet's party or some other event.

That's really too bad; since it would be very cool! ;^)

Anyway, the party was over long before I got home from my practice; mostly because there was still work going on at the med center tonight; and half of our guests were helping out there – including Violet and Dillon. They're heading up to Woodvale after work tomorrow; so they wanted to put in the extra time today since they won't be able to help out this weekend. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana were home, and hadn't helped out tonight, but since Rowen came home with me so that we could go for a cool-off swim; I didn't get started right away on my work and studying. We took Ethan and Ehlana with us for the swim; had a snack break with Mom after that; and then Rowen stayed to do a Magi lesson with me before heading home.

That was fun, since we haven't gotten to do that much in quite a while; but it was time for me to seriously get to work after she went home for the night.

Ethan and Ehlana were finished their college classes, and Mom and I got them off to bed first; but then she and I both worked in the office on the family business until it was past-midnight. She was off to spend some time with her Jacuzzi after that, but I got ready for bed; snuggled with Mandy and my computer; and got busy with one last round of language studies that included finishing up every last bit of work for my study plan. Now I can take the summer off without having those bits of unfinished work bothering me – even though that's a bit ridiculous when you consider the fact that my self-imposed curriculum is actually way more than it needs to be to become proficient in any given language. It's just the way I seem to be wired, though; so I'll just go with it and move along.

Mom had given me an archive assignment tonight too, and I read through all of that between the language studying and a final computer and email check. It's taken longer than I would have liked to get everything done, and it's heading toward four o'clock now; but I'll also be able to take the weekend off – except for any can't-wait work that comes up for the family business between now and Monday. The good news is that we won't be doing anything at school tomorrow anyway; and we'll be set free early too. We haven't made any firm plans for our first night of summer holidays, but if the weather cooperates; there might be a minor camping adventure here. I'd thought about suggesting a bigger camping adventure for Saturday night, but since it's Father's Day on Sunday; I'm sure that all of my friends want to be at home with their fathers for breakfast as much as Ethan, Ehlana, and I do.

Maybe we'll work on that for next weekend!

I guess the only thing that I've skipped mentioning for tonight was the short bit of girl chat time that I had with Violet after she and Dillon got home tonight. She was tired out by then, and didn't stop to visit for long; but wanted to check in with me in case we don't get a chance to talk before she and Dillon head for Woodvale tomorrow. There are a couple of details from that conversation that don't need to be included in this report, but what was most important was that Violet had a happy birthday even with all of the work; she's excited to be going to spend the weekend away with Dillon and her family; and from what she told me about her plans for the next three days, she's going to need a vacation when she gets back to rest up from all of the fun.

There isn't going to be much rest in my near future; so I should get started on the nap time that I do have available before it'll be time to get up again. I've had one of those really good days, and hope that our summer will be amazing too, but that's all I have for this update; I'm past-ready to get some sleep; so I'm out of here and off to dreamland.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, June 19, 2015

School's out for the summer!

We've had a hot, beautiful, sunny day to start off our holidays; and getting set free early was just an added bonus. It isn't as if we did anything except play while we were at school anyway, but it's tradition; and the graduating seniors need that time for the usual rounds of visits with all of their past and present teachers. I can also report that I aced my Grade Nine; though that shouldn't surprise any Magi reading this in the future; and isn't' even a big deal compared to my almost-four-year-old brother and sister graduating their Junior year of college today too. ;^)

While we still hadn't made any specific plans for tonight by the time we were set free from school, the nice weather is perfect for a camping night; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I decided to do that tonight – even though we couldn't do that with a big group of friends. As I've already mentioned, though, we couldn't do camping tomorrow night anyway because of Father's Day on Sunday; and Mom was okay with us setting up some tents tonight. Ethan and Ehlana were good with the idea too; and Rowen and I have Ehlana and Naomi with us tonight while Michael and Tim have Ethan and Aiden with them.

Our campground has four tents, and the additional four campers were added two at a time. Rebecca and Lucas were hanging out together after school until his Mom was finished work for the day; and she gave him permission to stay overnight as long as he could get home early in the morning to help out on the farm. They still did their own thing for dinner; and then came over after that to spend the rest of the night with us. Joel got into town tonight, and after checking with him while he was still on the way here; Jenny accepted the invitation that Rebecca extended to her sometime between when Michael and I had talked to her about camping with us and when she and Lucas came over with their overnight bags and some food and snack donations.

I've skipped a lot of the action from earlier today, but my morning and school time was fairly normal last day of school stuff – including the play time and party that started at lunchtime and continued until we came home. Michael, Tim, and Rowen came home with me; we did a snack break with Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden; and then we went out to play and ride bikes for a while after getting permission for the camping. We didn't set up the tents then because we'd wanted to at least ask Rebecca and Lucas if they'd be able to do that with us; but we'd wanted to do some riding at the park anyway – and the twins and their friends had wanted to play at the park with us.

We set up three of the tents before dinner; Michael and Tim took care of grilling the burgers and hot dogs for nine while Rowen and I helped Mom with the cold salads and veggies side dishes; and we had dinner in the back yard once everything was ready. We just sat in lawn chairs for that instead of setting up a couple of tables, and since we used disposable plates and cutlery; the clean-up was easy too. Mom went to hang out with Aunt Leanne and Aunt Grace after dinner; and the rest of us played in the back yard; went swimming; and pretty much just goofed off for a couple of hours. Rebecca and Lucas joined us for the last half of that fun; we all spent some time with Dad when he got home; and then we set up our campfire so that it'd be ready to go by dusk. Mom had come home for a while too, but once Dad had everything hauled into the house and had finished hanging out with us; they both went back to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's house to have a mini planning meeting that was mostly about what they were all doing with the med center over the weekend – and to have a visit after being apart for the work week.

By the way, I didn't see Violet and Dillon before they left for Woodvale, but they had dinner in Crystal Springs with Dad on the way up there – and while he was waiting for the rush hour traffic to clear before heading home. That worked out for all three of them; and Dad was especially glad to see Violet and wish her a belated happy birthday. Violet and Dillon are safely in Woodvale now; but I don't have any details beyond that for what they've been doing since getting there. I'll pass on any news as I get it – though I might not get that update until sometime after Violet gets home again.

Yes, Woodvale is technically her home; but we've adopted her and this will be her home for real after she and Dillon graduate.

Getting back to the camping action, we lit the campfire once it was getting dark; and spent the next few hours playing music, telling scary stories, and munching on snacks that ranged from marshmallows and hotdogs to chips and cookies. Jenny and Joel joined us by about ten-thirty, and they were delayed because he'd needed to at least spend a bit of time with his father before taking off for the night. His father wasn't thrilled with that change in plans, but accepted the reality that his son preferred spending his first night in town with Jenny. He's a guy, and not that old; so maybe he can still remember what that was like when he was a teen.

We went for one more swim not long after our last two campers arrived, and then went back to the campfire and some quality cuddling as we dried off and warmed up again. Mom and Dad checked in with us when they got home and let the kids feed them some toasted marshmallows; but then they went inside and presumably up to bed. No details from the rest of their night are required; but I' sure that you can guess that they're usually very happy to be back together again after Dad's weeks in the city – especially when Mom can't get to the city at all to see him. Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden were done in by midnight, so Michael and I took a break from the campfire music to get them ready for bed and tucked into their sleeping bags. Once they were settled in, we went back to the fire for a while longer; but most of us were getting tired by then too; and we put out the fire at one o'clock.

My brother, sister, and their friends had played a joke on us while we were wrapping up our fun at the campfire; and Naomi was in Ethan's tent with him while Ehlana and Aiden were in the tent that the girls were supposed to be sharing with Rowen and me. Ehlana and Aiden were awake but pretending to be sleeping; while Ethan and Naomi were actually asleep by then – and cuddled together in his sleeping bag. Yes, I'd sensed their change in locations from that distance, and the twins knew that; but it was still fun for Michael, Tim, Rowen, Naomi, and Aiden – and the boys thought that we should just follow their lead and switch to co-ed tents for the night.

We didn't do that, but I can't say the same for Rebecca, Lucas, Jenny, and Joel. They were still up and hanging out by the river when Rowen and I turned in for the night; and I will not be surprised to find out that Jenny talked the other three teens into the tent swap – even though they hadn't technically ever agreed to girls and boys tents. Then there's the fact that we'd only originally set up the one tent for Rebecca and Lucas anyway; but that's a moot point now anyway. What is relevant is that Naomi was moved back to our tent with Ehlana; Aiden went back to the boys' tent under his own power; and we were all in our sleeping bags by one-thirty.

Rowen and I have been talking since then while I've done my computer checks and she's listened to some YouTube music on Ehlana's iPad. Ehlana and Naomi talked with us for a while too; but it wasn't long before they were both out for the count. I had a bit of family business work to deal with; took care of that; and then kept the rest of the computer and email checks to a minimum.

We've got a busy work day ahead that includes two baseball games; and while the yard work will keep me busy most of the day; I'll likely also do some babysitting both in the afternoon and evening so that Mom and Dad can help out a bit at the med center while also juggling the chores at home and their own baseball game tomorrow night. It's supposed to be another hot, beautiful day, but while I might wish for a play weekend to launch our summer holidays, Michael still has to work anyway; and now we can always have our play days on Monday and Tuesday instead when his parents are off from the Inn anyway.

Okay, we have a wedding to plan, a holiday weekend coming up; and a lot more on the go all summer; but you know what I mean – and we are going to need to find time to have fun here and there along with all of the busy.

That's all I have for tonight, and it really has been a great start to our holidays. I hope that trend will be with us for the next couple of months, but all I'm really thinking about right now is getting some sleep; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Michael and I were awake early enough to find out for sure whether there were co-ed sleepovers going on in two out of four of the tents last night. Our four youngest campers knew about it too, but didn't say anything; and had gone into the house for washroom breaks before Tai Chi when Rebecca and Lucas came to life and exited their tent. Going back to sleep was an option for Rebecca; but Lucas needed to get ready to head for home and the farm work waiting for him there.

That's why he went inside to get cleaned up and ready to go while we were busy with our Tai Chi workout; and then Dad ran Lucas out to the farm while Mom, Rowen, and I took care of making breakfast for the rest of us. We had that ready by the time that Dad got back again, and while they weren't as enthusiastic about the early wake-up call; Jenny and Joel joined us in the dining room for that meal. With the girls doing the cooking, the boys would normally do the clean-up, but Michael, Tim, and Joel were instead set free and put in charge of breaking down the camp while the teen girls took care of the breakfast clean-up and the kids went outside to gather up their own camping gear and supervise the rest of the work. Mom and Dad took their turns at getting ready for the day then; and then it was time for my friends to head out and for me to get started on my chores.

Dad and I got a lot of work done today, but I won't bore you with the details; since I doubt that yard work has changed all that much between my now and whenever you're reading this in the future. Okay, sure, you might have robots doing all of the work for you using equipment that runs on alternate, clean energy; but I sure hope that the grass is still green and grows – and that there are still trees, flowers, and everything else that makes the great outdoors great! Maybe the concept of manual labor for chores will be a strange concept for you; but don't forget that we could do things differently right now too – if it wasn't for the fact that we have to hide our Magi abilities.

Sorry, Grandpa – you still can't let Ethan and Ehlana make your gardens self-weeding! ;^)

We worked on our chores until one-thirty, and then stopped for a late lunch that also marked the end of my chores for the day. We had that meal out on the back porch; and then I needed to grab a shower and get ready to go and watch Michael's ball game. Mom and Dad were going to help out at the med center for the rest of the afternoon; so I also took Ethan, Ehlana, Zack, and Caleb with me – and Rowen helped me out with the babysitting service while my parents, aunts, and uncles were busy. We didn't have all of my cousins because the Ayres' kids were with Grandma Ayres instead.

Michael, Tim, and the Arrows were playing against the Carter Construction Cannons today; they were the 'away' team; and started the game at bat. That wasn't a good thing for the Cannons, because the Arrows jumped out to a quick, five-run lead; and never looked back as the Cannons tried to play catch-up for the rest of the game. They didn't get closer than three runs behind; and the Arrows won the match sixteen-to-nine. It was three-digit kind of hot today, and though Michael needed to get to the Inn to help with the dinner rush; he still came home with the rest of us to go for a quick swim and get cleaned up before doing that. The rest of us enjoyed a long swim; and then Rowen and Tim moved on to their own dinner plans while dinner for most of my family was at our house.

That was a crazy rush because the parents were pushing the time limits between the afternoon work and the evening ball game. I was left on kid control duty through all of that; and had more help again from Rowen and Tim by the time we needed to be at the park for the game. We had all of my local cousins to take care of during the game; along with Naomi, Aiden, Eli, and Hailey. Keeping up with them wasn't too tough; but it was still hot out and we split our time between the ball diamond bleachers; the playground; and swimming in the river to cool off.

Our second ballgame of the day had our Legal Eagles up against the Pub Parrots. After losing the first game of the season, our Eagles were motivated to play better tonight; and they did not disappoint their fans. The Eagles were the home team, and they were behind by the time it was their turn to bat in the bottom of the first; but only by a run – and they took the lead right back by the end of the inning. It wasn't a really high-scoring game, and the heat after a long, busy day probably had something to do with that; but it was still also a really good game with some great plays on both sides. Dad had a particularly good game tonight, including one home run and a handful of good defensive plays; and he definitely led our team to the nine-to-five victory.

We had a lot of company back at our house after the game, and quite a few of the parents joined us – the kids and teens – for a swim. There was a post-game party at the pub, so that swim didn't last long; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were continuing the babysitting. While Michael hadn't been able to catch up with us until we'd been home again after he was set free from the Inn; I was glad to get to spend some more time with him – even if that was while we were busy watching a gang of kids. His parents went out to the Inn too; but Rebecca opted to stay home on her own instead of hanging out with us – or with Jenny and Joel.

While the parents were out playing with their friends, we kept the kids entertained with music and video gaming. Rowen and I mostly took care of the youngest kids while Michael and Tim kept the boys entertained. All of the kids were sleeping by the time their parents came to get them; and we weren't keeping any of them overnight because of Father's Day. That's also why having a sofa sleepover with Michael wasn't an option tonight; though I really would have liked to keep him for the night – or go home with him. We didn't even really get to have much of a goodnight hug and kiss because he left at the same time that Rowen, Tim, and the last group of parents and kids did. It was after one by then; one-thirty by the time I finished straightening up the lounge and my room; and a bit after two now as I'm writing this.

There wasn't any major family business work to do tonight; I kept the rest of the computer and email checks to a minimum; and I'll be off to sleep about a minute after I shut down my computer. Ethan and Ehlana will be up early for Dad's Father's Day wake-up call; so I need to get all of the sleep I can to be ready for that. I'll also be helping out at the Inn for the buffets tomorrow too; there's more work going on at the med center despite it being Father's Day; and there could be more babysitting to do while that's going on. I have no idea when Dad's going to fit in his own lawyer work; but I'm sure he'll be busy with that too.

I'll keep you posted on all of that, but this update is now complete; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Happy Father's Day, Dad! Ditto that for all of my favorite fathers!

It was a hot, humid morning, so Tai Chi by the river was followed by a cool-down swim for the kids and teens in our exercise group. Michael needed to head home to his own Father's Day breakfast; and Ethan, Ehlana, and I helped Mom out with making breakfast for five while Dad had the morning off from all chore-type work. We couldn't do anything about the job or volunteer work he had booked for today; so we did the best we could to help him have fun despite the non-optional activities. Breakfast consisted of Dad's favorite foods; we had him open his gifts while we ate; and then Mom and I had to rush around a bit to get the clean-up done while also getting ourselves and the twins ready for church.

We met up with Michael and his family for the walk to church; Jacob and Dad opened the smaller, bonus gifts that Michael and I had jointly gotten for them along the way; and then we all enjoyed Pastor Martha's short Sunday service gift to the fathers in the congregation that was so short that she didn't even bother to send the kids and teens off to Sunday school. That gave us lots of time to head home again, get changed, and gather our food donations together before heading over to Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace's house for the family barbeque lunch that the women and teens in the family were putting on for our favorite fathers.

I was on the work crew for both the pre and post-meal action while the fathers and grandfathers were in charge of the younger kids, and that kept me very busy; but we had fun too. In case you're wondering, Aunt Leanne was not put to work, but she did supervise; and she's pretty much at the stage now when she's ready to self-impose her reduced work schedule. She isn't quite finished with working in the office yet; but will be done soon – at least for the summer. I'm glad that she was hanging out with us while we worked; since her pregnancy stories are always entertaining – if occasionally a bit too intimately detailed.

The one little glitch in the Father's Day plans today wasn't a huge deal; but it did mean an early end to our barbeque lunch. The threat of imminent thunderstorms had us running to clear the back yard before maybe half of us had finished eating our meals. We managed to do that without getting too wet; though that meant having a bit more work to straighten out the mess; finish having lunch and dessert in the dining room and kitchen; and then moving on to our afternoon plans.

For me, that included doing some babysitting while the parents were busy at the med center. The thunderstorm didn't last all that long, but it had poured; so hanging out at the park playground wasn't exactly an option. That's why our afternoon play time was at our home; and my room and the lounge were hang-out central. Michael helped me out for some of that action while on his afternoon break, and while we had fun with the twins and my cousins; we were both ready for a break by the time Mom and Dad relieved us of duty and I went on to the Inn with Michael to help out with the buffet shift.

The dining room was sold out more than twice over for the two buffets, but while Miranda had been tempted to add a third buffet; she hadn't wanted to give Jacob and the other fathers even more work to do than normal; so we just kept turning over the tables as best as we could to satisfy as many customers as possible. That was the royal 'we', since I had zero involvement with that; but I did do my very best to keep the prep line and dishwashing moving along. Jacob had me switch back and forth between those two jobs as needed, and while we all worked really hard; I loved getting to spend that time with Michael, his family, and our friends on the staff there – including Jenny.

She had a lot to talk about with Rebecca and me; and it was pretty much all about Joel, his car, and her expectations for a best-summer-ever with him. Trust me, you do not want me to write about all of the details, so I won't; and we'll just move this update right along.

I worked in the kitchen until the first wave of food went out for the late buffet sitting; and then I joined my family to have dinner with them. They were all there, along with quite a few of our friends; so I was also again on kid control – and at a kid table that Rowen, Tim, and Patrick joined me at so that I could get some support while making sure than some of my cousins actually ate something more than desserts or sweets. That meant not having much time with the adults in the group; though I did also get to talk with Violet and Dillon for nearly ten minutes while they gave all of us a micro-report on their weekend in Woodvale. While I could have taken the rest of the night off, I didn't do that; and only stayed long enough to eat and make sure that the kids at my table had eaten enough of the right foods to earn dessert before heading back to the kitchen and the literal piles of work left to do there that was almost entirely on the clean-up end of the job.

I stayed until Jake and Stephanie closed the Inn for the night; and then walked home with them, Michael, and Rebecca. Jacob and Miranda had been sent on ahead once the cooking was done for the night; and they'd already gone off to bed by the time we got home. We had drinks and a short chat out on the back porch after getting there, but Jake, Stephanie, and Rebecca were all ready for bed by then too; so it wasn't long before Michael and I were on our own. We decided to sit out by the river so that we could talk and finish our drinks without bothering anyone, and although it was tempting to go for a sofa sleepover; I wanted to be home for the start of Ethan and Ehlana's birthday in the morning; so I went home at eleven o'clock instead. Michael and I did share a mildly hot, moonlit goodnight hug and kisses by the river, though, and now that we're on summer vacation; we are definitely going to figure out a way to have more Michael and me alone time!

That won't be happening tomorrow, because in addition to it being Ethan and Ehlana's fourth birthday; the med center is opening; and it's going to be non-stop action all day and night. I'll need to get some sleep to be ready for all of that, but I still have a few more details to cover with this update before going off to dreamland. Mom and Dad were still awake and working in the office – and they had Violet and Dillon hanging out with them. Though she'd offered to give me a night off from my lessons, we ended up doing a short Magi lesson that she had Violet and Dillon help out with. That was fun, but we got in the way of Dad's work a bit; so Violet, Dillon, and I all headed up to the third floor once we were done so that he could work in peace – and Mom could help him out with a time-phase so that he wouldn't need to stay awake for hours more while trying to get ready for a very busy work week. Hopefully that'll work out for him, since he will be involved in the birthday fun and the med center grand opening tomorrow too; but I'll be sleeping before finding out whether less work will mean more play for Mom and Dad tonight – and I don't really need to know one way or the other anyway.

Violet and I had a nice little girl chat in my room while Dillon grabbed a shower and got ready for bed; and then she left me to grab a shower too. I'd been tempted for a long soak in the Jacuzzi, but didn't want to do either a time phase or spend an actual hour or more in the tub; so the shower option worked better tonight. I'm sure Mandy appreciated that a lot after I'd been working in a hot, humid kitchen for hours; and I was definitely in need of the clean-up. I did use a time phase to speed up getting my hair done; and kept my bedtime computing to a minimum tonight. There was one bit of family business work to deal with, but that didn't take long; and there was basically no non-work email to deal with – except for one email from Dawn and Jillian that gave me their perspective of Violet's visit home.

Okay, that's it for tonight. I need to be up early, so let's skip the look at the week ahead and just call it a night. There's going to be a lot going on all week; and I don't want to spend the time reviewing all of it now. You're reading this in my future anyway; so you can just keep flipping the digital pages anyway if you really can't wait to discover what adventures are ahead for me over the next week – or longer, for that matter. Since I need to actually live it, and time phases can't be used to jump ahead in time; I'm good with getting some sleep now so that I'll be ready for all of the fun and excitement. With that simple goal in mind, I'm out of here; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, June 22, 2015

Happy 4th Birthday, Ethan and Ehlana!

I helped them out with their wake-up call; Mom, Dad, and Michael joined us for Tai Chi by the river; and then we had the birthday breakfast out on the back porch. Violet and Dillon joined us for that; and Ethan and Ehlana opened a few gifts then too. Michael and I were on the clean-up crew of two teens while everyone else got ready for the day; and then we took our turns at hitting the showers and getting ready too – with Michael doing that at his house. Dad, Violet, and Dillon needed to get to work, and Mom headed over to the med center to help out with the grand opening; so I was in charge of Ethan and Ehlana for the morning until we were to be at the med center too for the ceremony, tour, and barbeque luncheon.

While everyone else was busy, we grabbed our bikes; picked Michael up on our way over to the park; and then we went for a ride on the trails before following that up with some quality playground action. With school out, there were lots of kids at the park; so we had a lot of playmates – including some of Ethan's and Ehlana's friends.

We went home so that we could go for a swim; got a bit more dressed up for the grand opening; and then we biked over to the med center. The official grand opening ceremony was at eleven o'clock; though Uncle Mark and Uncle Adam began taking patients before then – and the Dental office was open for business too.

I'll take a wild guess that Uncle Adam's first appointments with his pregnant wife and son were more fun than the first dental appointments – especially if fixing cavities or doing root canals were involved!

The usual local dignitaries were there for the grand opening ceremony, and I'll be blunt and just admit that the speeches and ceremony were boring for all of the kids and teens in attendance. The tour of the med center – and the rest of the Professional Office Building – was a lot of fun, and from what I heard during the barbeque luncheon; everyone was impressed with the top-of-the-line, modern equipment that is now available to our doctors, nurses, and dentists.

While the ceremony was a snooze-fest; I can report that the barbeque was a hit with everyone; and I'll guess that the Inn didn't have many customers since it looked as though nearly everyone in town showed up for the food – and the open house that went on for most of the afternoon. Michael, Ethan, Ehlana, and I stayed at the med center until nearly one o'clock; and then we headed home again – and we had Rowen, Tim, Naomi, Aiden, and Sophia come home with us – though some of us got a ride home with Dad or Mom so that none of us had to walk. The guys rode the bikes home, and though Tim was a bit too tall for my bike; Aiden didn't mind using Ehlana's bike since it was the same as Ethan's anyway.

Ethan and Ehlana's party wasn't booked to start until three o'clock, but the rest of their friends were dropped off early – with most of the parents doing that after they were finished with their visits to the med center. The twins had decided on inviting three friends each, so in addition to Naomi, Aiden, and Sophia; Miles Sheldon, Aaron White, and Paige Spencer were dropped off at our house; and they joined right in for the backyard fun and games that we'd been keeping ourselves entertained with since getting home. Mom had lots of help booked for dealing with the barbeque dinner; so I was in charge of the party games and entertainment. Michael, Tim, and Rowen were drafted to help me with that, and while we took turns playing with the kids; we also set up the party games.

We also went swimming with the kids; took care of making sure that they were kept fed and hydrated; and even managed to keep up with the little kid care details like suntan lotion; hats; sunglasses; and anything else that each kid needed. Most of the games were perfect for hot, sunny days; and the prizes were a big hit with the twins and their friends. Aunts, Uncles, and cousins began arriving once parents were finished at work; so I had more kids to entertain – and join in on the games. There was some extra support for that; and Violet, Dillon, Josiah, and Christina all helped out when they came over after work too. That was particularly helpful for the swimming; since we didn't have many junior swimmers that didn't need constant, one-on-one help while playing in the river.

We were all okay with doing that, since it was so hot out by then; but keeping up with one or two kids while in the water was fairly tiring too. I was certainly ready to sit down and take a break when we were called for dinner at a bit after six o'clock. Ethan and Ehlana had their friends with them for dinner, and there was parental support; so Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I had I had that time off to enjoy our meal and get ready for the rest of the evening fun. Michael and Tim had their ball practice to go to at seven; but they went off to do that and then came straight back to the party.

The original party plan included a camping adventure by the river, but Mom and Dad changed that to an indoor sleepover instead when the weather forecast showed a high probability of thunderstorms overnight. That change of plans made it a bit easier for the teens on the birthday party crew because we didn't need to set up tents; but we took a chance and went ahead with the campfire when the rain and storms appeared to be running late and the skies were still clear as we headed toward dusk.

Before we got to that point in the fun, though, there were still more games to play after Ethan and Ehlana had opened their gifts and we'd done the cake and ice cream dessert. That kept Rowen and I busy until Michael and Tim returned; they helped us get through the last games; and then we all went for a swim before moving on to the campfire part of the night.

All of our aunts, uncles, and cousins had gone home by then, so it was just the eight kids; four teens, Violet, Dillon, Christina, and Josiah at the campfire. Mom and Dad went inside and got started on their work in the office instead of joining us. Jake and Stephanie were the last additions; and they came over shortly after seeing us gathering around the fire from Jake's house. That worked out great for Michael and me, since Jake took a turn playing guitar for the campfire songs; and all three of the older boys helped out with the campfire stories. While Mother Nature had cooperated with the rest of the birthday fun plans for Ethan and Ehlana, our weather luck ran out before the kids were ready to head indoors; and we were forced to wrap up the campfire early and head inside before the rain hit. We managed to put out the fire; get everything into the storage barn or house; and have everyone inside before the rain hit with a minor downpour; and we moved on to our back-up entertainment plan for movies and gaming in the lounge.

The three older couples didn't join us for that; though they did hang out in the living room until that first rain storm passed instead of heading out and getting soaked. Rowen and I made up bowls of popcorn and other snack options while Michael and Tim led the video gaming for a while, but since we did have a limited amount of time available; we started the one movie we expected the kids to be able to stay awake for at a bit before eleven o'clock. I was ready for the cuddle time with Michael by then, and Rowen felt the same way about doing that with Tim; but some of Ethan's and Ehlana's friends were not prepared to watch Naomi cuddle with Ethan as the eight kids all sat or lay on the floor with pillows and blankets.

Naomi joked about special occasion birthday cuddles, but the other guys didn't buy that; and Miles led a minor razzing for Ethan that Tim couldn't resist joining in on with a few zingers of his own. Naomi might be a bit braver for initiating the cuddle time with Ethan, but he didn't try to get out of it even after all of the razzing and jokes. The kids did eventually settle in and watched the movie; we followed that up with bedtime hugs and kisses with Mom and Dad; and then we got the eight kids settled in for the night in four bedrooms on the second floor – including Ethan's and Ehlana's rooms.

Michael, Tim, and Rowen were staying overnight too, since they'd been booked for camping chaperones anyway; but we went to hang out in the lounge for a while before heading to bed too. That was mostly a wind down and cuddle time; and then Michael and Tim took the two bedrooms across the hall from my room; and Rowen camped out with me. I guess that I didn't specifically mention it, but Violet and Dillon are at his house tonight; and they headed home between rain storms at the same time that Jake, Stephanie, Christina, and Josiah headed out. It was going on one-thirty by the time that Rowen and I climbed into bed with Mandy; so I only did my email check before getting to this report; and Rowen's already pretty much asleep now because my email included a bit of family business work to get done before morning.

Ethan and Ehlana have had a really great day, and it's been fun helping them with that, but I'm also beat now and don't have anything else to add to this report; so that's it for tonight, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

We've had such an awesome day; I guess the only place to start is at the beginning.

Wake-up calls for Tai Chi are more fun when they involve hugs and kisses with Michael! ;^)

That didn't happen in my room, since my wake-up call came from Ehlana and Naomi; and they didn't come with me when I went to Michael's room. We had fun with that; but still managed to make it downstairs to the kitchen by the time Mom and Dad were there – and had put their first pot of coffee on to brew. It was warm outside this morning, but the humidity had broken overnight; so it almost felt cool by comparison to the extreme heat yesterday. Tai Chi by the river was fun, thanks mostly to having Naomi and Aiden with us today too; and then there was the added bonus that we got to catch part of Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne's workout as we were finishing up and they were just getting started by the river at their house. We don't actually time our workouts very well most days; so it was wonderful to see Aunt Leanne. She's as beautiful as I thought that Mom was when she was still working out every morning right up until the day the twins were born.

Speaking of Aunt Leanne, she's probably worked her last day for the rest of the summer today; though I won't be surprised if she goes into the office for regular visits now and then. I didn't mention it yesterday, but in addition to the new med center opening; the second new apartment building was opened for early move-ins too. Dealing with those rentals has been a big part of the work that Aunt Leanne and Claire have been doing for the past couple of months; and it's also why Aunt Leanne can wrap up her work ahead of month end – the majority of moves are happening early; and the apartments and rental houses that are being vacated will take months or even years to rent out again.

Moving along, Mom and Dad had eight kids and four teens to feed this morning; and it ended up being Mom, Rowen, and me on the cooking crew while Dad, Michael, and Tim juggled getting ready for the day with helping out with kid control. I think that the girls got the easier of those two jobs – and the added bonus of getting out of the clean-up work too! Breakfast was in the dining room because we cooked pancakes and bacon; but Rowen and I didn't actually spend much time in there; since we just kept on cooking food until the most-ravenous boys were filled up.

Yes, Tim and Michael were included in that group of boys; but Miles was also particularly impressive with his ability to devour pancakes while trying to keep up with Tim. He didn't succeed, but if he had; I'd have guessed that it'd be less than an hour before he'd have been going for a visit to the med center to deal with the exploded stomach. While that is an exaggeration; Tim really can eat a lot when he's hungry – and it's no wonder that the Landry boys have a reputation for their ability to eat food.

Dad had to get to work; four out of six of the kid guests were picked up by parents; and Mom was going to be spending the morning at home with the twins, Naomi, and Aiden. Once the clean-up work was finished and Rowen and I had gotten ready for the day too; we were advised that we were free to do whatever we wanted to do for the rest of the day – at least until Michael and I needed to be at his house for dinner and a wedding meeting. It took us about ten seconds to decide on a bike trip to Quarry Lake, and a half hour to get ready to go; and then we were on our bikes and heading out of town.

The ride out there was great – not too hot for riding; and fairly quick because we were in the mood to push ourselves to see just how fast we could do the ride this year now that we're all a bit taller and stronger. Quarry Lake was fairly busy for a non-holiday week; and I'm sure that had everything to do with the new attractions there. The rock wall and zip line certainly had a lot to do with why we wanted to go there today – and it was one of the first things we did there after locking our bikes up and going for a walk around the place on our way over to the rock wall.

While the rock wall and zip line staff told us that they already needed to book times for their customers, we lucked out with an open slot that was a cancellation for our first climb; and then we booked a second climb and ride for the afternoon. Rowen and I won that first climb up the one hundred and ten foot wall, and while we were very happy about that; Tim advised us that he and Michael let us win because they were having too much fun watching us climb in shorts and tees.

I detected the danger of a long-running joke being born with that today; and Tim reinforced that this afternoon when Rowen and I won that climb too. True, he's only half-joking about that, but I also know that he likes to win as much as I do; and he was not slacking off while we were climbing. We weren't even officially racing anyway, but I'll also mention that we're not even talking about winning by much; since Michael and Tim are both really good climbers too – especially when you consider that we don't have much experience at all.

The zip line is a blast too – three hundred yards of adrenaline-pumping thrills that start out high above the campground with a great view and ends with a quick deceleration into a narrowing channel that terminates on a large wooden deck. I have no idea whether the big, red splatter poster on the tower wall at the end of the line is common for zip lines, but from what we've seen and heard so far; the teens and kids think it's funny – especially since the 'blood spatters' are overlaid on a chalk outline of a sprawled body.

After the climb and zip line ride, we were ready for a swim; and spent the rest of the morning playing in the lake and on the slides. Tim advised us that the girlfriends in swimsuits time was his favorite part of the day, and while he and Michael were suitably impressed with our swimsuit choices today; we were having fun with everything we did while at Quarry Lake. We'd wanted to travel as lightly as we could for the bike rides, so we bought our lunch, drinks, and snacks today instead of hauling all of that with us; and that also meant that we didn't need to spend a lot of time doing any work or clean-ups. Our afternoon climb and zip line ride was just as much fun as the first one; and we had more water play time too before it was time to head home again.

Our return ride was a bit slower, but only because we didn't want to push it again – and didn't need to do that. We took more back roads back home too; mostly so that we could ride in pairs and talk more easily than we can while riding on Quarry Road in single file. There's some construction on Quarry Road too, so we avoided most of that too by taking the back roads.

That work, by the way, is partly for the Solar-Wind farm, since they're running underground lines into town; but they're also resurfacing the road since that work was going on anyway. The road will be a bit wider, and while that isn't specifically for cyclists; that was one of the considerations when the plans were drawn up. There isn't going to be a fully-paved shoulder; but there will be a wide strip of paving that will be perfect for biking while keeping the cyclists and vehicles separated.

Michael and I were having dinner with his family – and with Stephanie and her parents; so that meant waiting until after the furniture store closed for the day. We were back in time to help out with the work, and while that wasn't Quarry Lake kind of fun; we managed to keep entertained. Dinner was great too, but short for the two of us that needed to get to the church for our teen praise team practice. It's the last one that we're having before the holiday; and ended up being a short practice because half of the teens didn't come to it because they were either working, away, or busy doing something else.

That practice meant missing out on part of the wedding meeting; but Michael and I were given a micro-update on what we missed when we got back; and we were there for most of the work that had been booked for the evening. We had the parents and full wedding party there for the meeting and work; so I especially loved getting to spend some time with Josiah, Christina, Mitch Bassett, and Lynn Jennings. Christina isn't in the wedding party, but Josiah is; so we get the bonus help – just as we also get Lucas helping out when he can; though he couldn't get away from the farm tonight.

We worked until the parents were ready to call it a night at eleven; Michael and I went for a bedtime swim; and then I headed home by midnight – after we'd spent a bit of quality time saying goodnight to each other. Violet and Dillon were home by then; but everyone else in the house was already in bed – and I only talked with them in passing on my way to my room; since they were getting ready for bed by then too.

I'd write something about it sucking to have to go to bed early because of summer jobs; but tomorrow is going to be a work day for me too – just as it will be for Michael, Tim, and Rowen. Violet and Dillon won't need to work as hard now that the med center is open; so I hope that they get to have a bit more play time – even though there will also be more work for the wedding starting the week after the holiday.

Since getting into bed with Mandy, I've been doing my nightly computing and a bit of family business work, but since I'll be working tomorrow too; there wasn't much that I had to do that couldn't wait until morning. There weren't any non-work emails to deal with; and the rest of my computer checks didn't take long. I'll still keep up with the latest news of all types, but there isn't really any pressure to make sure that I'm in the loop for the latest in sports, entertainment, or current events news like I try to do at school.

Just in case you're old and have forgotten; it can be a lot of work to successfully survive being a teen – even for a Magi Master! ;^)

That does pretty much bring us to the end of this update. My work day tomorrow won't likely be very exciting by comparison to the past five or six days; but a break in the non-stop fun for a day or two will be good for me. Rowen and I should definitely rest up so that we'll be ready for the start of summer shopping trip to the city we'll be doing on Friday. I haven't even written about that yet, but Mom has been working on it; and we're going to have a fairly large group of girls going with us again this year.

I can write more about that as the trip details are finalized over the next two days, and I'm ready to get some sleep now anyway; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

It's been another really hot day here, and while I've spent a lot of the day working; there was some outdoor sun and fun mixed in here and there too.

That fun started with Tai Chi by the river; breakfast was out on the back porch; and then I pretty much got to work in the office after helping with the clean-up while Dad went to work and Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana went over to the lab to hang out there for the morning.

Having the house to myself gave me the opportunity to work in a time phase; and I got a lot of work done by the time Mom brought the twins home for lunch at one o'clock. That included doing all of the laundry and some Magi-powered cleaning that miraculously happened while I was in the office. I'll modestly report that I'm getting quite good at Magi multi-tasking! ;^)

I stopped for lunch then; helping with the work at both ends of the light meal; and then Michael came over for his afternoon break and we took Ethan and Ehlana out to play for a couple of hours. We went to the park to play there; had one swim there and another one back here at home; and then Michael needed to get back to the Inn for the dinner rush while I got back to work in the office until stopping for the day to help Mom with making our dinner. We had that ready by the time Dad got home from work; stayed inside to eat because it was really, really hot out by then; and eventually headed for the park and the co-ed baseball practice.

The heat kept most spectators away, including Aunt Leanne, Zack, and most of my younger cousins, so while I was on kid control duty; I didn't have too many kids to keep up with. It was still hot, though; and the kids that I did have with me managed to completely tire me out. There were also too many to take swimming by myself, so cooling off had to wait until after the practice was over. We went home for that swim; and quite a few members of the team joined us in the river – and for an ice cream cone bedtime snack after we'd had enough water play time.

It was past-ten by the time we were down to just five in the house; and Dad headed into the office to get started on his homework. Mom did a Magi lesson with Ethan, Ehlana, and me; the twins had baths before getting tucked in for the night that I helped Mom out with; and then we had a short visit with Dad, Violet, and Dillon in the office once that was done. Violet and Dillon had been over at his house for dinner and the evening; and got back while Mom and I were busy with twin tub time.

I didn't hang out in the office for long because I'm ready to get a decent night of rest – which is also why I only checked my email tonight before getting started on this report. While I don't have work tomorrow; Michael is going to work the breakfast and dinner shifts. He will be able to spend most of the day between the work with me, though; so we should have a good day. Game nights are finished for the summer, and I have ball practice tomorrow night too; but I'm still hoping that Michael and I will manage to have some alone time tomorrow after he's done work for the night – especially since I'll be away on Friday for the shopping trip.

The weather might not cooperate with us for a play day tomorrow, and we could get rain on Friday too, but since the weather forecasts have been a bit spotty; we'll just wait and see how it goes. For right now, though, I'm really only interested in some quality down time; and I can wait to find out how amazing our adventures will be over the next couple of days. Have a great night, day, or whatever applies for the future time when you're reading this; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, June 25, 2015

It's been the hottest day of the year so far today; so playing in the river a lot was definitely part of the fun for us – including after Tai Chi; and after Rowen and I were finished our baseball practice tonight.

We have our big shopping trip in the morning; so I'm going to keep this update very short.

Michael was helping out at the Inn for breakfast, so he wasn't with us for Tai Chi. I was okay with that, since the trade-off was that he got to hang out with me for most of the day until he needed to be back at the Inn to help with the dinner rush. My post-exercise swim was with Ethan and Ehlana; we had breakfast with Mom and Dad; and then I helped Mom out around the house until Michael was set free – and Rowen and Tim met up with us at my house too. We went biking on the trails at the park for a while; had some playground time with Ethan and Ehlana; and went for two long swims before lunchtime. It was seriously hot by then, so our afternoon included some general goofing off while doing as little as possible; and a lot more swimming and floating around in the river until Michael needed to get cleaned up and head back to the Inn.

Rowen and Tim headed off to do their own thing until Rowen and I had our ball practice; and I helped Mom around the house again until dinnertime – including helping her with the cooking. We had everything ready for when Dad got home from the office; so I had time to eat and help with the clean-up before meeting up with Rowen and going to play baseball. That was a too-hot workout, but it was cooling down a bit by then; so it wasn't as bad at the late afternoon practices were for the younger kids. The swim was still welcome; and Michael, Tim, Ethan, and Ehlana joined us for that before Rowen and Tim again went off to do their own thing for the rest of the evening.

Michael stayed; we did a Magi lesson with Mom; took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana to bed after watching a show with them in the lounge; and then Michael and I had a bit of alone time to spend together that was fairly hot and a great way to end one of those really good days. Michael needed to head home by midnight, since he's working the breakfast shift again for the buffet they're putting on for the shoppers, and the only downside for him that came along with staying late to play with me was that we were getting hit with fairly strong thunderstorms by then. He got soaked while running home; but I'm fairly sure that he still thought our play time for two was worth getting a bit wet over. ;^)

I should mention that Mom finalized the shopping trip groups and details tonight. We'll have seventy-seven girls going to Crystal Springs; and just two boys – Ethan and Aiden. They're still a bit young to have to worry about their reputations with the other guys their age, but Ethan did pick coming with us over staying and spending the day with Grandpa; and Aiden agreed to come along this year to keep him company. I'll do the rest of the shopping report tomorrow, and don't really have anything else major to add to this update; so let's just wrap it up and call it a night. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day; and I'll need the extra rest to have any chance of keeping up with most of my favorite shopping buddies.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, June 26, 2015

I love our major shopping adventures to the city, but I'm also tired; so this is going to be a micro update.

We didn't have time for Tai Chi this morning; the breakfast buffet at the Inn was great; and we managed to dodge the bits of rain that we did get here and in Crystal Springs anytime we were either outdoors or in-transit. The drive to the city – and back again – was fun for Rowen and I because we got to go with Violet and Christina in Dad's truck while Mom had Miranda, Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden with her in the minivan. Violet and Christina spent their shopping time with Stephanie and Lynn, and they took care of some wedding-related shopping too; Rebecca and I weren't needed to help them out with that.

Rowen and I spent some time shopping with some of our girlfriends; but were with Mom, Miranda, and their group for most of the day. While I could fill up digital pages with the shopping play-by-play, let's just go with reporting that we had another great play day at the Mall; our collective summer wardrobes are pretty much taken care of now; and Rowen and I are also set for every birthday, anniversary, and other special event gifts for the rest of the summer too. The Moms also managed to get their bulk supply shopping done too; and we took care of a couple of fast food fixes while we were in the city before heading home.

Since we were with Violet and Christina, stopping to catch the tail-end of the sale at Palmer's and Taylor Shoes; though we didn't have time to get to all of the stores in town before they all closed for the night. Mom didn't go shopping at home, but dropping off fast food for Aunt Leanne was just an excuse; since she and Miranda had both had enough fun for the day by then. I felt a bit bad about not being home in time to unload the minivan; but we did still have to unload Dad's truck; and then Violet and Christina both did a few deliveries of bigger purchases that had been stored in our truck instead of trying to fit them into cars or vans.

By the time we were finished putting everything away, Michael was done at the Inn and came over to see me for a while. We did a snack with Mom and Dad; took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana off to bed once Naomi and Aiden had been picked up and taken home; and then spent a bit of quiet time for two in the lounge. I was fairly worn out by then, so it really was just cuddling and a few kisses going on, and since Michael had worked a lot all day while I was busy playing with the rest of the girls; we were both ready to call it a night early. Mom didn't even last that long, since she'd finished a soak in the tub and had fallen asleep by the time that I walked Michael downstairs to see him out; but Dad was still finishing up some work in the office. He'd taken advantage of being on his own for half of the evening; and has most of his weekend homework finished already.

That's good, since we have a lot of work to get done this weekend to get ready for the holiday weekend. I'll be busy with those chores; Rowen and I have a ball game; and I'm hoping to get to spend some quality time with Michael tomorrow night if we're not both too worn out by then. With that in mind, I'm going to wrap this up and head off to sleep so that I'll hopefully be ready for all of that work and fun. The work part of our weekend probably doesn't sound like much fun, but since that effort will all go toward what will hopefully be another amazing Fourth of July holiday; it'll be worth the effort.

That's something I'll be able to put more effort into with a good night of rest, so that's it for tonight, folks; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, June 27, 2015

It's been another beautiful weather day – this time nice and warm with lots of sunshine; but not too hot for the chores. I could add that it has also been a perfect weather day for playing; so I'm sure that everyone around here getting to do that had a great day – especially all of the campers out at Quarry Lake and the other area campgrounds.

I'm wishing just a little bit that I'd gotten to be one of those people getting to play all day; but the work needed to get done if we want to have fun next weekend with our family and friends.

The yard work was hardly exciting, so I won't bore you with all of the details; but mowing the grass, wedding gardens, and getting canoes and bikes ready for the holiday weekend were all on my to-do list – with help from Dad where needed. We got started on that early; worked until a bit after twelve; I hit the shower and got ready for my ball game; and then took a sandwich and drink to go when Rowen picked me up on her way to the park so we'd be there in time for team warm-ups.

It was a perfect day for our game, and this week; we were up against the Fix-it Shop Stingrays. We were the home team, and while that designation really didn't matter that much in our little town; it did help to make for a shorter game today when we didn't need to play the bottom of the final inning. There wasn't a big turnout of spectators for the match; and even my usually robust cheering section only had Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana because Dad stayed home to keep working and my aunts, uncles, and cousins were all busy too.

Since I've already mentioned that we didn't need to use our last at-bat, you know that our Piranha team won the game; and we did that fairly convincingly by a score of eleven-to-five. The highlights for Rowen and I were two double plays on defense; and one triple, two doubles, three base hits, and six RBI's between us. Michael came over to catch the end of the game while on his afternoon break, but Tim was busy all afternoon and couldn't come to watch us play too. While Michael's break timing had been so that he could spend time with me instead of just watching me playing baseball with my friends.

I was okay with that plan, but for the record; our boys don't seem to have that same issue when it comes to having Rowen and me watching their football games.

Michael's break time plan for spending time with me didn't really end up being all that much of a break for him. Rowen and I skipped the post-game ice cream run to the Emporium; we all went back to my house for a swim and snack break there; and then I needed to get back to work on my chores while Rowen moved on to check in at the computer store with her parents before eventually meeting up with Tim to spend the rest of the day with him. My work was a bit more fun while Michael stayed and helped out, but he eventually needed to get back to the Inn; and Dad and I kept working until nearly seven o'clock.

Mom had worked inside most of the day; and pre-cooking for the holiday weekend was a big part of her jobs for the day. One advantage of her efforts was that she made a bit extra of several dishes and combined them for our dinner. We had that meal out on the back porch; I took care of the clean-up with support from Ethan and Ehlana; and then I hit the shower again to get cleaned up before taking the rest of the night off. Since Dad had most of his work done already, he and Mom took the night off too. We watched a movie in the living room that Michael caught the last half of after getting here from the Inn; he and I did the bedtime routine with the twins; and then we came up to the lounge to hang out – I mean make out – for a couple of hours.

There was a movie on the television that we didn't watch, and while I still could give you the details of that show thanks to my photographic memory; I can also assure you that the memories that Michael and I made together were way more interesting – and hot! ;^)

Since that was definitely the highlight of my day, I'll end this update there – and hopefully take those happy memories into dreamland with me.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Happy 15th Birthday, Joshua!

I'll take a wild guess that Joshua and Sally had a lot more fun today than Michael and I did; since we spent most of the afternoon and evening in the kitchen at the Inn while they were having a play day and birthday party. That fun included the early dinner buffet at the Inn too, so we did get to see them then for a few minutes; but Michael and I didn't go to the party or dinner. Rowen and Tim did; so there day was more fun than mine too.

That isn't a back-handed complaint, since I was happy to spend the day with Michael and his family; but that doesn't change the fact that our fun level today was fairly low by comparison.

Working in a hot kitchen for both the lunch and buffet shifts was also exhausting; which is why this is going to be a very short report.

Tai Chi by the river was great; breakfast with Michael at his house was even better; and our time at church was interesting and entertaining while also being the calmest part of my day. The service went long, so Michael and I had to hurry over to the Inn and we pitched right in to get everything ready for the lunch rush. It was a rush too, and though the fourth of July is next weekend; there were a lot of campers coming into town to shop and have lunch so we had a full dining room for about two and a half hours. That extended lunch left us with less time for afternoon breaks and set-up for the buffets; so Michael and I didn't exactly get to go out and play for a couple of hours during our break. We had a late lunch; went for a walk to the falls and back while having ice cream cones; and then got back to the busy in the kitchen again.

The buffet sittings were even crazier than the lunch rush; which was the main reason why Michael and I couldn't do more than take a couple of minutes to wish Joshua a happy birthday while he was at the Inn with his family and some of our friends. We worked until close except for a couple of short breaks; I walked home with Michael and his family; did the goodnight hugs and kisses with all of them in front of their house; and then came home. Mom decided that I looked too wiped out for a Magi lesson, so after doing a short recap with them; I was sent up to my room for the night. Ethan and Ehlana were in bed by then, so I stopped in for goodnight visits with them too on my way upstairs; and then some Jacuzzi time was next on my to-do list. Multi-tasking was an option, but I just wanted the down time while I soaked in the tub and didn't try doing any computing too.

I haven't done much computing since getting into bed with Mandy either – just the basic computer and email checks before getting started on this journal update. It's been a long day; I'm beat; and I can always do some family business work tomorrow. A look at the week ahead can wait a day too; though it's the holiday weekend that we're all looking forward to right now so we don't exactly have any major plans between now and then anyway. Whatever we end up doing in the days between now and then, I'll need to get some quality sleep time before being ready for it; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, June 29, 2015

The countdown to the holiday weekend is on, and depending on when your holiday weekend begins; we're down to either four or five sleeps to the long weekend!

Michael and I know this for sure because we ended up having a chores morning today before getting around to some play time. For him, that meant the usual chores for his days off on Monday and Tuesday with a bit of extra work to get ready for the weekend. I was kept busy helping Mom with everything from chores around the house to pre-cooking for the weekend. Mom and I had fun with the work; but there isn't anything newsworthy to report from our work time. Mom set me free after lunch; and the real fun of the day got started then.

I went over to Michael's house after finishing the lunch clean-up; we had a little visit with his parents; and then headed out to meet up with Rowen and Tim. We went biking on the park trails for a while; had some play time with Ethan and Ehlana at the playground when we met up with them – and Mom – there; and took over watching them while she went home to keep an eye on cooking that she had on the go. An Emporium visit for ice cream followed that; we went for a swim at my house; and then it was time for Rowen and Tim to move on and for Michael and I to go over to his house for dinner.

Jacob was already working on dinner by then, and while we didn't help out with that; Michael and I did take care of our usual pre-dinner chores. We also got to have a nice chat with Jake and Stephanie after they got home from their afternoon play time; and with Rebecca once she got back from spending the afternoon with Jenny while both of their boyfriends were busy working. Our dinner meal was a highlight of my day, with the experimental entree being the main reason for that; and the family time and dinner conversation a major bonus. The clean-up wasn't as much fun, though that wasn't a problem for Michael; since he got to escape that while at his ball practice. Rebecca and I managed to get the work done without him; and then we moved on to another wedding meeting after that.

Stephanie's parents and all of the members of the wedding party were at the meeting; we collectively were updated on the latest news – including the shopping that was completed on Friday while we were in the city. Our schedule will get busier after the holiday; but there won't be much going on between now and next week while most of us are busy with work and holiday weekend family and friends fun. Michael got home again in time for about the last half of the meeting; and then we headed up to his room once that was done so that we could play music for a while – one more fun thing that we don't seem to find enough time to do.

Okay, there was some minor make-out time too; but we really wanted to play music too – and needed to have a little practice for our band music so that we'll be ready for the parade on the Fourth of July.

There wasn't enough time for either activity because I wanted to head home by eleven; and we weren't exactly in a position to 'make' the extra time with a house full of people. I wasn't the only person heading home then, so the goodnight hugs and kisses took a while; but I still managed to get home by a quarter-past eleven.

Mom did a Magi lesson with me after doing the recap with me; I stopped by to at least give my brother and sister goodnight kisses while they slept on the way up to my room; and then I hopped into the Jacuzzi for some quality tub time.

I'm writing this while still in the tub, and did my nightly computer checks and archive assignment already too; but it's time for me to get out of the tub soon and finish getting ready for bed. Michael and I are getting to have a play day tomorrow with no major work plans; and I want to be rested up for that – especially since we're hoping to wrap up that play day with some alone time tomorrow night! ;^)

Oh, look at the time! I'd better get on with the rest of my bedtime routine right away; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Happy 3rd Anniversary, Grandpa Grant and Grandma Eleanor!

I'll admit that it seems strange to think of their third anniversary being in the same year that Mom and Dad will be celebrating their fifth – or within a couple of months of Jake and Stephanie's impending marriage. They are blissfully happy, though; and I can only hope to be that lucky when I'm in my eighties! Michael and I didn't have anything to do with their happy day, and didn't even see them around town; but Stephanie assured us that they have been having fun with their family and friends while celebrating their special occasion.

Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I all had the day off to play with no major work to do at all. We played with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden for a couple of hours this morning after breakfast; and then dropped them off with Mom before grabbing our bikes and some supplies and then heading out for a biking adventure. We decided to bike our River Road along the Ridge River to Rock Trout Lake. The ride was a blast; we stopped to have lunch at a park on the lakeshore; played there and had a long swim; and then biked home again.

We were home in time to help out with dinner; Michael, Tim, and Rowen stayed with me for that; and then we spent the evening having a movie night in the lounge that Ethan and Ehlana joined us for. Michael and I didn't get to have any alone time, and we both wish that had been possible too; but the trade-off with getting to hang out with our best friends and the twins was really great too. There was time for two movies; swims before and after the first movie; and then Michael, Rowen, and Tim headed for home just ahead of the incoming rain at eleven-thirty. My goodnight hugs and kisses with Michael were fairly mild because that departure had been on fairly short notice as the wet weather moved into town quickly; so we'll need to find some time before the holiday weekend crazy starts to make up for that.

Mom and Dad worked in the office tonight while we were having fun, and Mom did a bit more work in the kitchen today too; but we're pretty much ready for the holiday weekend except for some early yard chores that I'll be taking care of ahead of the weekend – like mowing the lawn and weeding the gardens. Fitting that work into my schedule will likely have more to do with the weather than anything else I have on the go; so I'll just keep you posted on that.

We've already started a new month as I'm writing this, and beginning July with rainy weather might not be a great sign; but I'm hoping that we'll be able to continue the fun and adventure that kept us entertained for the last couple of weeks of June! The Fourth of July holiday weekend should be a great launching point for that, and Jake and Stephanie's wedding will hopefully be both a great end to July and start for August; so stayed tuned and I'll let you know how that works out too.

For right now, I really just want to get some sleep. After having a bedtime chat with Mom and Dad; we all joined in to get Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night; and I've been working on my computer since climbing into bed with Mandy at a bit after midnight. There was some family business work that needed to be done and I did some archive studying too before wrapping up with my usual bedtime computer and email checks and this update. I don't have anything particularly interesting to report from that work and study time, though since I haven't mentioned it in quite a while, if you're actually interested in my Magi education progression and timeline; you're welcome to read Mom's archive on that. It's perfect bedtime reading – sure to put you off to sleep in minutes! ;^)

Maybe I should try that once I wrap this up; though getting to sleep won't be a problem for me tonight after our long bike ride and everything else we did today. I'm pretty much just rambling now, and it's obviously time to head into nap mode now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!
***Notes***

Thank-you for visiting the Heirs of the Magi world, and spending time with us in Witch Falls!

Cassie's Journals are originally posted on the Heirs of the Magi Blog, and will cover the time between the end of Magi Master and the start of Magi Ascension; which continues the Heirs of the Magi story from Cassie's high school graduation in June, 2018. Cassie's 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 Journals are also available for free at my  Smashwords Author Page.
