Top family news story for the holiday weekend is that Aunt
Grace and Mark got engaged today, and will be coming to live and work in Witch Falls.
Congratulations!
I love it when a plan comes together!
I’ll get to that part of today’s story in a bit, but it’s
been a crazy day, and there’s a lot to write about.
We mostly had a play day at school, including a short
Thanksgiving show in the gym that was mostly put on by the younger kids with
some teacher and teen support. By the
time Rowen and I got home after school, Grandma and Grandpa had been in town
for hours, and had come over to help Mom with some of the Thanksgiving dinner
work she was getting out of the way before it would be time to stop and welcome
incoming family. Our house was also
going to be dinner central tonight, so the cooking for that was already on the
go too.
The next few hours were a blur of action and fun. After doing story and snack time with Grandma
and Grandpa, Rowen and I took the twins for a short trip to the park; mostly to
just get out of the way for a while.
There weren’t any teens there this afternoon, and most of them were
probably either busy with jobs or helping out at home. There were quite a few younger kids at the
playground; and most of them were likely sent off to play and stay out of the
way too.
We had Aunt Leanne, Uncle Adam, Aunt Deborah, and Uncle Nick
all join us for dinner, and I got to keep Rowen with me while her parents were
busy at the store. That’s when we got to
hear about all of the action we’d missed while at school today, and Mom won the
prize for the busiest day. Somehow, she
managed to juggle taking care of Ethan and Ehlana; keep up with the work around
the house; do a massive holiday weekend grocery, bakery, and supply run; add
Naomi and Aiden to the mix for a while; and fit in a bit of family business
work when the twins had a little afternoon nap before wrapping up with the
kitchen work that Grandma and Grandpa joined her for.
With all of that to look forward to, exactly why should I be
in a hurry to grow up?
Next up, after our dinner guests headed home, was welcoming
our incoming family. The Rice family
made it home first; leaving Woodvale right after Violet, Dawn, Chris, and
Martin were set free from school. They
still ended up with a four-hour long trip, but it probably would have been more
like five or five and a half if they’d waited until five-thirty or six to get
on the road. This time, Violet drove a
‘girls’ car with her mother, grandmother, and sister; with Uncle Rick’s SUV was
guy central. They’d all stopped at my
Grandparents’ house first to drop off Grandpa Richard and Grandma Carrie; so
that had taken an extra twenty minutes or so before they moved on to our place.
Rowen and I helped Violet and Dawn get settled in, and we
had nearly an hour to hang out together before Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, and
their kids pulled into the driveway and we all joined in to help with another
round of luggage transportation and welcome home hugs and kisses. Grandma Mercy and Grandpa Duncan were staying
with Grandma and Grandpa too, so we had all of our work done for the night and
could relax and have fun. Most of Uncle
Adam’s family was going to be getting to town later, but Aunt Grace and Mark
were home from the airport by ten; and our house was the second stop for them.
The fun factor definitely jumped a few notches with their
engagement and relocation plan announcement; and watching that news totally
floor Uncle Blaine was high on my favorite moments of the night. They needed to go share the news with the
grandparents too, so they couldn’t stay long; but after they’d been sent off
with a lot of hugs, kisses, and congratulations; they were the top chat subject
for the rest of the night – at least for the grown-ups.
Violet was more interested in getting reacquainted with
Dillon once he joined the party after finishing work at the Inn
for the night. Chris and Martin were
soon bored and went up to the lounge to play video games, and after Rowen’s Mom
picked her up on the way home from the store; Dawn and I went up to my room to
hang out. We spent a little time in the
lounge too, but then we closed the doors between the rooms and watched videos
on my computer while catching up on what we’d each been doing over the past few
weeks since Dawn had been here for the Haunted Halloween walk weekend.
Dawn decided on having some Jacuzzi time, so I’m doing this
while she’s in the bathroom. Getting
back to Aunt Grace and Mark’s engagement, we didn’t get any time to talk about
their move here yet, but Aunt Grace told us most of the proposal details; and
I’d say that Mark did a good job with that if the general approval of the girls
in the room was any indication. It’s
probably a good thing that he proposed at the restaurant they stopped at for
dinner. From what Aunt Grace told us, I
think if he’d tried it while she was driving; they’d have crashed the car.
I won’t say that I was worried about this part of our future
plans working out, but it feels awesome to know for sure that it is going to
happen for sure. They haven’t set a date
for the wedding yet, but it will be here in Witch Falls;
and sometime next summer. I can hardly
wait!
This is scary ground, but I should mention that one of the
updates Aunt Melissa, Violet, and Dawn passed on tonight was that Chris and
Martin were both have girlfriends. That
news had me thinking about Rebecca; and wondering how she would be handling
having Jonathan here in town for the first time since summer. Jenny and Martin may have both moved on from
their little vacation romance, but I’m sure that Jonathan is the main reason
why Rebecca hasn’t been interested in any other boys since last summer. If she was holding out hope for a Violet and
Dillon kind of story ending with Jonathan, then this might not end up being a
very happy Thanksgiving weekend for her.
Dawn doesn’t have any boyfriends, but I have a feeling that
she’s closer to crossing over than I am despite being about ten months
younger. It’s definitely going to be
weird next summer if she starts attracting as much attention from the boys
around here as Chris and Martin have been getting from the girls for the past
two years – especially since some of those boys could be my classmates.
Let’s not end the night on that train of thought. Tomorrow is going to be another wild day, and
most of our family action will center around our house and Uncle Adam and Aunt
Leanne’s place. Guy gaming will be at
their place; and my lounge will be where the girls and younger kids will hang
out. We’re supposed to get some rain,
but we’ll mostly be indoors all day anyway.
There isn’t enough room at one house for everyone to have Thanksgiving
dinner together, so we’ll have our family here, and Uncle Adam’s family will be
at his house; with a couple of crossovers like Aunt Grace and Mark, and
possibly some of the kids.
It sounds like Dawn’s getting out of the tub now, so I’d
better wrap this up. We’re going to
cuddle with Mandy and watch a movie next; and probably fall asleep long before
Chris and Martin wrap up their gaming for the night. Hopefully they won’t leave me with an hour
worth of cleaning to do in the morning, but I won’t hold my breath on that; and
I’m sure that re-stocking the drinks and snacks will be required for sure. Maybe when they’re here for Christmas I’ll
start storing extra cases of drinks and chips in my closet instead of hauling
them up from the pantry.
That’s not a particularly exciting way to end a journal
entry for a day that’s been so awesome, but I’m out of time, so...
...say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.
“Goodnight, Cassie.”
