There were two things that ended the campfire last night, and Rowen and I were still awake to witness them. First, Mom and Dad came home with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Miranda, and Jacob at about twenty after two. They quickly put an end to the campfire, but not quickly enough for the teens when it started raining before they could finish cleaning up and head to wherever they were spending the night. We heard a couple of jokes about parents having mother nature on their side, but it didn’t look like any of the teens minded getting rained on a little in exchange for a really great night.
That wasn’t the case when we saw some of them at church later, but before I get to that, it felt like we put in a day worth of busy before even leaving the house this morning. I didn’t get any more sleep than Mom and Dad, but was still up at my regular time. It was still raining, so I practiced my Tai Chi indoors, and then went into Ehlana’s room to start a round of diaper changes that Alicia and Mom joined in to help me with before we took Ethan, Ehlana, and their sleepover buddies downstairs to get drinks for them; and start working on breakfast.
Alicia went back upstairs then to wake up her fellow babysitters; and start getting all of the kids moving. Mom and Dad did most of the cooking, though they had some kid and teen help with setting the table and easier jobs like making toast and juice. It didn’t feel like I stopped once, even while eating breakfast; since Rowen and I were also helping to get Ehlana, Naomi, and Sophia fed. We also had to help Jessica and Lindsay get ready for church; help with the kitchen cleanup; and find time to grab quick showers and get dressed up for church too. The kid transportation began arriving at nine o’clock. It was still raining off and on, and by the time we left for church, Mom and Dad only had Ethan, Ehlana, Rowen, and me to take with them in Mom’s minivan.
It was hot enough this morning – mostly because of the humidity – but not really any worse than other Sundays this summer. I’ll guess that Pastor Martha took pity on the sleep-deprived members of her congregation, and that’s why the service wrapped up in just under an hour. We had Violet with us instead of Rowen when we went home again, and though we all would have liked to have a nap; that didn’t happen for most of us. Violet and I started cleaning and getting dirty towels and laundry downstairs while Mom and Dad took care of the twins and made lunch. We all stopped for lunch, and then I went back to work on the third floor while Ethan and Ehlana went for a nap. Dad had to work in the office, and while Mom and Violet took care of the lunch cleanup and more laundry; they also were planning on a long Magi lesson. Now that they were down to about a week before Violet goes home for her last year of high school; Mom’s feeling a little pressure to get Violet a bit farther in her training before they’d be back to having long breaks between lessons.
When I was finished getting the third floor back to normal, Rowen came over, and we ended up watching a movie in the lounge while having the telepathic chat that Rowen would have liked to have with me last night. I was able to help Rowen feel better, though we couldn’t do anything about the combination of problems that included more developed and advanced classmates; guys that find those developments very interesting; or how an ultra-shy girl should handle bouncing around on the border of crossing over when the boy she likes is being chased by more aggressive girls.
That chat kept us busy nearly until dinnertime, and then Rowen needed to go over to the store, and I helped Mom with making dinner. It’s been a quiet evening since then; and I’ve already had some Jacuzzi time; did a bit of studying in the archives; caught up with email and a bit of family business work; and am ready to wrap this up and get some sleep. Mark is on his way here right now. Aunt Grace will be picking him up at the airport; though they won’t make the drive here until tomorrow morning sometime.
This is going to be a really fun week, and I really do need to catch up on some rest to be ready for it, so...
...live from Witch Falls; this is Cassie Proctor, signing off!
