Heirs of the Magi News Flash!

***Heirs of the Magi News Flash!*** Winter has, for the most part, been mild so far - or awesome for the month that Cassie and Michael spent in summertime-Australia! They are home now and will be working from home for most of the time until Easter. The hometown work will include getting ready for their next trip, but there will be a lot of fun to get in on and share with their favorite people - including their March Break trip to Florida adventure. All of your favorite Magi Masters will continue to work and play while their future plans unfold; so... ...Visit Witch Falls often to keep up with all of their latest stories; and Happy Reading!

Friday, May 31, 2013

Cassie's Journal - May 31, 2013



This was actually a fairly uneventful day – at least for me.

Rowen and I got a last-minute invitation this morning for Allen’s 13th birthday party on Saturday, but since that was probably Mom-ordered because we’d been helping him get ready for our exams; we couldn’t really get all that excited about it.  At least we did already have a gift for him, like we do for all of our classmates; so at least we won’t need to do any last minute shopping tomorrow morning.

It’s been another off-and-on-again rain day, and that, combined with the looming final exams made for a fairly subdued day at school.  Everyone in our study group was taking the night off, and I was looking forward to a tweeird-free night.  Rowen and I got approval for a sleepover at my house by the time we got home – after stopping in for a visit to the computer store first.  While we were still taking the night off, Michael, Rebecca, Jake, and Stephanie were all working at the Inn after having most of the week off so they could put in that extra study time.  Part of the reason for that was because Mom and Dad were doing a dinner and night out with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Uncle Nick, Aunt Deborah, and a bunch of their friends; and dinner was at the Inn.

They didn’t set up babysitting for us – we had Grandma and Grandpa coming over to have a dinner and a movie night with us while Mom and Dad were out.  Leah was spending the evening with her Grandma Ayres, and though Rowen’s parents weren’t going to join the little party until after they closed the store at nine; Patrick was shipped off for a sleepover at Scott’s house.

While Mom and Dad were out having fun, we had a quiet, uneventful night at home.  We always have fun with Grandma and Grandpa, but after having a few late nights in a row; I wasn’t all that motivated to do much of anything tonight.  After having a stir fry dinner, we watched one movie with Ethan and Ehlana; played with them for a while until putting them to bed for the night; and then Rowen and I watched one more movie with Grandma and Grandpa before coming upstairs for the rest of the night.  Rowen took my Jacuzzi for a whirl first, and we both got ready for bed before moving into the lounge to watch some music videos and surf the web for a while on our computers.

I guess it’s appropriate that the last day of May is ending with a lot of rain – we started out the month with a rainy day; and there was a lot of wet in between.  This much of it will probably mean that our first ball game will be cancelled even if the rain stops sometime in the morning, but I really hope that starting the first few hours of June out with even more rain won’t mean that we’re in for yet more of the same for another month.

Rowen’s still wide-awake and keeping me entertained, but I’m going to put my computer away; relax; and possibly fall asleep before we actually get to midnight and start the new month.  Whether baseball ends up being on or off tomorrow, we have at least a short study session booked for the afternoon, and Allen’s party after that; so we’re likely going to be in for another interesting day.  I’ll go out on a limb and forecast an afternoon of work clouds followed by an evening of funshine; with a seventy percent chance of tweeird.

Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Cassie's Journal - May 30, 2013



I spent some quality time in the tweeird zone tonight, but had a lot of fun anyway.

Before I get to that part of the day, we started the morning out with another indoor Tai Chi workout, and followed that up with a fruit and bagels breakfast before Dad and I needed to get ready for work and school.  Our second-to-last exam prep day was mostly serious, if for no other reason than because most of the high school teens were serious about getting ready for their finals.  That doesn’t mean there wasn’t any goofing around – that might be impossible when you have any group of tween guys in the same room; but even Tim managed to tone it down a half dozen notches for the occasion.

My entry into the tweeird zone coincided approximately with getting home from school with everyone in our study group.  Ethan and Ehlana helped me out with that by immediately welcoming Michael with hugs and kisses – even before they did that with Rowen and me.  There is no way that wasn’t intentional, but while watching that may have annoyed Vanessa; even she and Nora would have to admit that it was adorable.  I wanted to have a quick chat with Mom and the twins before getting to the studying, so Rowen led everyone else upstairs to the lounge while I did that.  Mom knew that my ball practice had been cancelled by then, and she suggested a frozen pizza and wings night for dinner; and offered to feed my study group so we could stay and work late now that Rowen and I didn’t have baseball.

That invitation was eventually accepted by everyone, but I was wading deeper into the tweeird zone when I walked into the lounge and found out that all of my friends were next door in my bedroom.

It’s a good thing I didn’t leave any bras hanging around anywhere!

Just kidding – I never do that.

Rowen was doing the tour for the benefit of our classmates who hadn’t seen my rooms before; even if they had all heard about them.  It was time for some more of the usual teasing about being spoiled, and Michael came to my defense by suggesting that Dad had just spent all of the money in one shot that the rest of their parents had spent on them from birth until they were nine or ten – and had the bonus of no diapers, baby barf, and other baby issues with me.  While our friends thought that was funny, and I appreciated the help; Vanessa and Nora were not quite as amused or happy as the rest of us.  I was ready to move into the lounge and get studying by then, but Denise and Lily wanted to hear me play something on my keyboard for them first.  The fact that I was learning to play the piano was news to most of my classmates, since I really didn’t talk about that much at school, but Denise and Lily were the only two girls showing any real interest.

That changed when Rowen suggested having Michael use my saxophone and playing a duet with me.  She was completely unapologetic when we had a little talk about that after everyone else went home tonight; but I really could have lived without the vibes Vanessa and Nora were sending my way pretty much from that moment on.  Having said that, Rowen knows that I love playing music with Michael; we had fun playing that little demonstration; and that’s why I can’t really get all that upset about the whole set-up.  We also seriously impressed our friends – including the two who didn’t want to admit that even to themselves.

Fortunately, we moved into the lounge right after that.  While everyone else spread out around the room and got ready to study, Rowen helped me with filling drink orders and putting out bowls of snacks.  Though the lounge had been the starting point of Rowen’s tour, the novelty of having a stocked fridge and a bunch of snack options at my disposal earned some more tweeird zone attention.  There were some fun parts to studying in my lounge too.  Lily and Marc thought that it was cool to sit in the window alcove while they worked, and the other couples felt the same way about the sectional sofa – or two out of three of them did.  Michael and Vanessa weren’t having as much fun as Tim and Nora, and Denise and Kris were.  Rowen and I were safely at the table with Gil and Allen; and in no romantic danger from either boy.  The fact that they only noticed us through the brainiac bookworm hole that Rowen in particular had been pegged into since Kindergarten bugged her a bit, but I was a happy camper.

I thought that our studying was more fun tonight, and more relaxed even when drifting in and out of the tweeird zone.  Part of that was because most of us were more comfortable; the pizza and wings dinner break was a blast thanks to Ethan and Ehlana’s entertainment.  The tweeird zone part of that break in the study action came courtesy of having six tween and teen boys in the house.  Five out of six of them couldn’t resist having a few contests to show off for the girls, and though Michael tried to stay out of that goofiness, Ethan was a bit too happy to play along; so Michael didn’t completely escape.  The other boys let Ethan win one of their contests, but only after Dad pointed out that Ethan did eat eight slices of pizza; and they hadn’t specified full slices as opposed to the eight two-toddler-bite slices Mom had custom-sliced for Ethan.  I am so glad that he didn’t win the pop guzzling or burping contests.

The ongoing studying got me out of the post-dinner clean-up, but Mom had gone with the fine Chinette, cans of pop, and we didn’t need utensils for pizza and wings; so there wasn’t much work to do anyway.  After returning to the lounge, we worked until a bit after eight when Vanessa and Nora decided that they’d had enough for the day; and took Tim and Michael with them when they left.  Michael did not look particularly enthusiastic to be going along to Nora’s house for a little wind down time; but he hadn’t been left with a reasonable way out without getting his best friend in trouble with Nora.

Everyone else except Rowen started packing up then too, though it was closer to eight-thirty before we were alone – and could have a little girl chat time before she went home too at nine o’clock.  In addition to having fun teasing me about setting up that little musical interlude and pointing out that Michael and I had made beautiful music together; Rowen spent most of that time advising me that I’d save Michael a lot of grief with Vanessa and Nora if I’d just hurry up; cross over; and jump into the dating game with him.  I had the same answer for that as always, but Rowen seemed to be more impatient than usual to have me join her on the other side of that line.

We’re going to continue to agree to disagree on this particular issue; Rowen will certainly keep working as a matchmaking volunteer for Aunt Leanne; and I won’t cross over until I’m ready to do that.

Moving along, once my guests had all left, Mom had me help her with Ethan and Ehlana’s bedtime routine; she did a Magi Healing lesson with me once they were tucked in; and then I got started on my real studies after getting changed and snuggled in bed with Mandy for the night.  It was already after eleven by the time I got started, but since I don’t expect to get as much work done next week while dealing with our exams; I decided to spend an hour and a half each on languages and my archive assignment.  After getting that done, I started in on my nightly computing and email checks, and needed to deal with a couple of family business issues before getting started on this journal update.

It’s now a bit closer to three than two; I’m baked; and don’t have any other news to report, so...

...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Cassie's Journal - May 29, 2013



What do you do when your couples-only study group plans that are primarily meant to be a matchmaking opportunity do not work out because the target of that matchmaking doesn’t follow the script like he’s supposed to do?  You arrange for two more boys to join the group to make things even.

The fact that those two boys in question have girlfriends in other grades was apparently just a technical detail.  Talking up the benefits of studying with two of the class brainiacs – that would be Rowen and me – was all it took to convince them to at least give it a try for one afternoon, so with the addition of Gil and Allen; we had an even dozen working in the dining room at Tim’s house after school today.

Vanessa and Nora were quite happy with themselves when Rowen and I actually did spend a lot of time helping Gil and Allen, but if they were hoping that would give Vanessa more time to get some one-on-one tutoring with Michael; that part of the plan wasn’t very successful at all.  It’s not that Michael didn’t help Vanessa to study – he just made sure that he helped everyone except Rowen and me equally.  He also made a point of keeping me out of the tweeird zone while we were there by not really doing anything together with me other than asking the occasional question; or discussing some of the topics we were studying tonight.  You can imagine how grateful I was not to have any tweeirdness going on, or even worse – a competing matchmaking attempt directed my way.

We studied until nearly six, and then Rowen and I were first to leave; mostly because I was going to be late for dinner by the time we walked home.  I wasn’t sure until after dinner whether I’d be able to skip Mom and Dad’s baseball practice or not, but Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne offered to take Ethan and Ehlana to the park so that I could stay home and work.  I decided to do that in my room; starting out by sitting in the window alcove and working on the family business for a couple of hours using a little Magi power to speed up my computing.  I wrapped that up when Mom and Dad brought Ethan and Ehlana home from the park, and not only had Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne with them; but Grandma and Grandpa too.

They’d come home too so they could get in on an Olde Bakery bedtime snack; and we all spent nearly an hour out on the back porch having a little visit before it was time to put Ethan and Ehlana to bed; and I came up to my room again to enjoy some Jacuzzi time while starting my bedtime studies.  After my bath, I needed a little keyboard playing wind down time, and then climbed into bed with Mandy to wrap up my day with some language studying before getting to my usual nightly computer checks and writing this journal entry.

I skipped over most of the day, but other than having some rain this morning that kept us indoors for Tai Chi; there wasn’t much to report from home or at school – it was just another school day with our teachers getting us ready for exams.  While the weather was nice enough to cooperate for Mom and Dad’s ball practice tonight, it still isn’t looking good for tomorrow night – or for our game on Saturday for that matter.  We’ll be doing another study group tomorrow night, so the weather won’t matter for that, but it remains to be seen whether I’ll be back in the tweeird zone again or not.  That’s because Rowen was nice enough to suggest that we have our third study session at my house just as we were getting ready to leave Tim’s house; and that offer was enthusiastically accepted by the majority; if not unanimously.

Now that I’m thinking about that, I’m going to wrap this up and give my room and the lounge a quick Magi-powered once-over before getting some sleep.  Mandy and I keep everything neat and tidy, but I suddenly feel the need to shoot for near-spotless.

Okay, that isn’t really fair to do that when even Magi kids my age don’t get to use wards and do things like that, but I do want everything to look good for my classmates who will be coming here for the first time.

I can practically see you giving me the look from where you’re sitting and reading this some day in the future, Rowen, so let’s just agree that I’m not perfect; and let it go at that.

That’s all for now, and I really do want to get that cleaning done so I can get some sleep, so...

...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Cassie's Journal - May 28, 2013



The holiday weekend was definitely over right from the start of our first classes this morning; and everything we did today was all about getting ready for our exams next week.

That was true after school too, and though the decision to invite Rowen and I to the first exam study session of the week wasn’t universally popular; we were studying at Michael’s house, and he insisted.  Vanessa and Nora were the girls who weren’t happy about that – especially after they’d gone to the trouble of putting together a partial ‘couples club’ group; and Michael was once again not getting with the program.  While that had me in the tweeird zone, it also wasn’t long before the other two couples realized that Rowen and I were really able to help them with their studies; and they were happy to have us work with them.  Miranda didn’t help me out with Vanessa and Nora, but she did seem to be having fun every time she checked in on us in the dining room.  I loved the hugs and displays of affection, since I really love Miranda right back; but the timing was definitely more than a little suspicious too.

Miranda and Jacob are back to work tomorrow, but I don’t think that was the only reason why Tim offered to host our next study group after school tomorrow at his house – it’s not as if his parents will be home either.

Moving along, we studied for two hours, and then Rowen and I were the first to leave.  She needed to get to the computer store, so we split up right away; and I went straight home.  Alicia was still there, but she didn’t stay long once I was drafted to take over and help Mom with the cooking.  Ethan and Ehlana supervised, and we traded daily updates; then repeated the process for Dad after he got home.

It was a work night after we ate and cleaned up.  Mom and I worked on the family business; Dad did his thing; and Ethan and Ehlana must have decided that since I’d started studying for my Grade Seven finals, that they should do the same for their upcoming Grade Eleven exams.  They were determined to be ready to start their senior year of high school in September, and plan to be ready to take the summer off too by the time I start summer vacation.

I worked on my computer for two hours; did a Magi lesson with Mom after that; and helped her to get Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night before coming upstairs and getting ready for bed too.  It’s been a standard school night study and computing session since then; and I’m only wrapping that up a bit early because I’m tired already; and need to crash for the extra hour or so.

The next two days are likely going to be a near-repeat of today, with exam study sessions and evening work at home.  I may even skip going to Mom and Dad’s baseball practice tomorrow night – unless it gets rained out.  The weather forecast as of right now isn’t looking great for our Thursday night practice, but I hope that’ll change; because we have our first game on Saturday afternoon.  That’s going to be different – not having morning games – but the younger divisions get all of the morning time slots.  Most of our games this year will be at noon.

I really do need to get some rest, and don’t have anything else to report for today, so...

...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Cassie's Journal - May 27, 2013



Mother Nature finally cooperated and we’ve had perfect weather for Memorial Day!

I really mean perfect too, because the day started out cloudy and dull; and stayed appropriately somber until after the Memorial Day parade and service at the cemetery.

Before I get to that, though, there was a lot of action going on at home before we left to watch the parade.  Mom, Dad, and I exercised by the river, and today we had Violet keeping Ethan and Ehlana entertained while we worked through our Tai Chi forms.  Mom and Dad went with a buffet-style light breakfast; and everyone took turns having showers, getting ready for the day; helping with the picnic preparations; kid control; and clean-ups.  Uncle Rick and Aunt Melissa had the toughest job – getting Chris, Martin, and Jonathan up and moving.  They looked like Zombies right up until they needed to be cool once we were out in public; so there must have been at least some dramatic acting going into their efforts to stay home and sleep until lunchtime.

The parade was nearly identical again this year, and the only changes are with the participants – and that’s mostly among the kid and teen groups.  Today, we met up with Grandma, Grandpa, and the rest of our families at the corner of Witch Falls Road and Blossom Ave; in front of the farm equipment side of Landry’s properties.  That meant a longer wait before the first elements of the parade passed us, but a much shorter walk for Aunt Leanne and the younger kids.

Pastor Lewis led the service at the cemetery, and this year, I did the story time tour with Doc Johnson and most of their family so I could hear all of the family stories that he told his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Kara had been thrilled to have me along; and she ended up staying with Dawn and me after we walked home again.  That actually worked out pretty well for us because Rowen met up with us at the house; and we were allowed to take Kara, Eddie, Ethan, and Ehlana to the park – mostly to get all of us out from underfoot while everyone else was busy getting Dad’s truck loaded up with the food donations and picnic supplies.

This year, Mom and Dad were both on food crews instead of park clean-up; so the Grandparents were in charge of kid control until after we’d all eaten.  Rowen, Dawn, and I were at the playground with our four little swing and slide enthusiasts for an hour and a half before we were rounded up to have lunch.  Kara, Eddie, Ethan, and Ehlana had plates of food and drinks ready for them, while Rowen, Dawn, and I were sent over to the Pavilion to get in one of the lines so we could choose what we wanted for ourselves.

We were also set free from babysitting services for the rest of the afternoon too, so after sitting down to eat at the not-so-little day camp the Grandparents had set up; we were able to play some of the games and join in for some of the other activities that the younger kids couldn’t do with us.  Kara was a little disappointed about that, but she was diverted easily enough with ice cream and playing some of the games that were set up specifically for the younger kids.

After lunch, but before we started playing games, we made a stop to see Miranda and Jacob, and to see if Rebecca wanted to hang out with us for a couple of hours.  I’d seen Jacob’s parents, sister, and her family a few times before, but today was the first time I was introduced to all of them; and they were all very proud of the newest addition to their family.  Baby Gerry already had a fair bit of black hair and enough of the looks from the Stone family to make sure that he’d be recognized as a member – particularly around Jacob, Jake, or Rebecca.  He slept through our introduction – even while Miranda passed him to me for a couple of minutes while we had our little cameo chat time.

Rebecca and Michael both came with us when we moved along; mostly because their best friends were each spending the afternoon with their respective girlfriend and boyfriend.  In Michael’s case, I suspect he was also trying to dodge yet another attempt to get him together with Vanessa.  I think we were all happy to spend a couple of tweeird-free hours together; and the best part of the afternoon was the time we got to spend playing games with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana.  The twins wanted to go for a canoe ride too, so Michael and I took Ethan while Dawn and Rowen had Ehlana; and Rebecca helped Mom and Dad do an ice cream run while we went for our short little charity-supporting paddle.

It was time to pack up by four o’clock, and Rebecca, Michael, and Rowen all needed to go and help their own families with doing that while Dawn and I were put to work watching Ethan, Ehlana, Kara, and Eddie again while the adults and teens were busy with the camp clean-up; and getting everything back home again.  We played in the back yard while cars, minivans, and SUV’s were loaded and all of our guests got ready to hit the road.  Regardless of where everyone had been staying all weekend, our house was departure central – at least for the rolling rounds of goodbye hugs and kisses.  The Johnsons and McEwans were first to leave by five o’clock; and the Rice family vehicles pulled out of the driveway at five-thirty.

The scene in our driveway and front yard was being mirrored at the Stones and Emersons houses; and once our guests had gone, I was sent over to both places to invite Jacob, Miranda, Owen, Patricia, and all of their kids to come for a leftovers and bring whatever you have barbeque dinner.  Dad needed to get started on the work waiting for him in the office, but Grandpa, Uncle Adam, Uncle Nick, and Jacob were happy to share grilling duties while the Moms and Grandmothers put together the assorted side dishes.

Rowen, Rebecca, Michael, and I played with Ethan and Ehlana until everything was ready, and then we sat by the river to eat while the adults and teens sat around a few tables near the back porch.  We were given get-out-of-cleanup cards too, and Michael, Rowen, and I took Ethan and Ehlana for a bike ride after we ate; while Rebecca was just ready to go home and relax for the rest of the night by then.  Our ride included a construction site tour; a loop of the main park trail; and some more playground action now that the place wasn’t packed with kids and teens.  Mom and Dad were on their own by the time we got home, and we all did a little ice cream break with him in the office so that he could keep working while we gave him the bike ride recap.

Mom took Ethan and Ehlana upstairs to give them baths after that, and Rowen, Michael, and I sat out on the back porch and talked for a little while before they both headed home for the night.  I helped Mom with the tail end of the bedtime routine for the twins, and after getting them tucked in; she did a short Transmutation lesson with me before going to work in the office with Dad while I came up to my room for a little Jacuzzi action and to get started on my usual school-night archive and language studies.

And that’s all there is to report for today.  It’s been fun, but final exams and end-of-year testing starts next Monday; and that’s going to make for a couple of serious weeks at school.  I wasn’t really thinking about it until now, but these exams are going to be an especially big deal for the high school seniors; though I’m not worried about Violet, Dillon, Jake, or Stephanie messing up their college plans with any last minute bad-grade bombs.

Since Rowen mentioned doing study groups this week to help us get ready for our own exams, I should probably wrap this up and get to sleep.  We’ve been having fun studying with Michael and Tim, but that does mean that we actually have to study too – even though I finished my first round of Grade Seven exams before I was two; and don’t need to study at all.

Oh well – maybe we’ll be able to help Tim do better on his exams – it’s not like Rowen, Michael, or I can improve on our straight-A+’s.

Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Cassie's Journal - May 26, 2013



Holiday weekend day two has mostly been a wash-out too! :^(

It wasn’t raining first thing this morning.  Mom, Dad, and I even exercised by the river before the usual holiday weekend Sunday morning rush started.  Most of us walked to church too, though we had some drivers bring trucks, minivans, SUV’s, and cars along in case we needed them to get home again.  That turned out to be a good decision; since it was raining by the time Pastors Lewis and Martha set us free at a little after eleven.

The rain was on more than it was off after that; and it was another indoor play day.  Kara and Eddie in particular were not finding that much fun; and it wasn’t as easy to keep them entertained today.  Dawn didn’t really get a break from that, because Kara stuck to her like glue while they were at the Inn for the Sunday night buffet that all of the visiting family members were at tonight while I had a break with just Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Leanne here for an easy-dinner.  A problem I haven’t seen before since moving here is how much extra food we have when the back yard lunches and dinners get cancelled; and we don’t get any of the drop-in visitors.  We’ll all be eating leftovers for the next week or more.

Mom and Dad non-optionally invited Chris and Martin to move their gaming back to our house tonight so that Aunt Leanne in particular could get a break; so they – and a bunch of their friends – took over the lounge to do that.  Dawn and I still needed to entertain Kara, Eddie, and the twins for a couple of hours after our guests returned from the Inn, and we mostly did that in my room until Scott and Melanie collected their kids and took them back to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house while Mom and Aunt Melissa took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana off to bed.

Dawn and I did a little visit to the lounge once we were free, but only needed about ten minutes to decide that we really didn’t want to be there.  Chris and Martin weren’t making out with any of the girls or anything; but there were a couple of girls who were very interested in them; and they were enjoying the attention.  We closed the doors between my room and the lounge; took turns in the Jacuzzi; and Dawn was sleeping again by the time I was finished in the bathroom – though I have no idea how she fell asleep with all of the noise bombarding us from the lounge.

For the second night in a row, I’ve been sitting in my window alcove doing my nightly computing a lot earlier than I expected; and I don’t really have any news to report.  Other than Jonathan, I’ve barely talked to any of the McEwans, and Violet’s either been spending her time with Dillon, or with Chrissy and Michelle.  Tory and Kyle are popular because of their engagement, but they’ve also spent most of their time with the adults.  I should mention that they’ve earned their Bachelor Degrees, and will be going on to earn their Masters Degrees in Marketing this year.  That – and planning for their wedding next summer – should keep them busy!

I’m not ready to try and sleep yet, but there really isn’t anything else to write about; so I’ll wrap this up and move on to some random surfing.  Hopefully the noise level will drop once most of Chris and Martin’s friends head home; though I’m sure they’ll be up late again; and Jonathan is staying here again tonight.  The rain is hopefully going to end overnight, so maybe we’ll actually get one nice day to enjoy, and I guess if we can only have one; it ought to be the day of the parade and picnic.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Cassie's Journal - May 25, 2013



This has not been a particularly exciting holiday weekend Saturday.  We’ve had rain off and on all day; and that meant cancelling pretty much all outdoor activities.

Food was still cooked on the barbeques, but Dad and the other chefs got rained on a fair bit doing that too; we had to heat our meals indoors; and that meant that we couldn’t get all of our collective families together to do that at one house for lunch or dinner.  Dawn and I spent most of the day trying to keep Kara, Eddie, Ethan, and Ehlana entertained.  We were able to go outside a couple of times, but the playground equipment and lawns were soaked; and it wasn’t much fun for any of us.

We watched a couple of kids movies in the lounge after dinner while Chris, Martin, and Jonathan moved their gaming over to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s for the night; and had some of their Witch Falls friends join them for that.  Chris and Martin are staying there overnight too; and probably aren’t going to get much sleep.

Dawn and I were probably the most disappointed that the trail ride, back yard picnics, and the campfire were all off today, but we’re also tired out after spending so much of our time playing with Kara, Eddie, and the twins.  It’s only a bit after eleven, and Dawn’s already asleep.  That does mean that I’ve been able to sit in the window alcove and get my nightly computing done earlier than I’d expected while watching and listening to the rain; but I’d still rather be sitting around a campfire listening to scary stories and singing campfire songs.

Maybe the weather will cooperate a bit tomorrow, but for now, I guess it’s just time to call it a night and get some sleep, so...

...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Cassie's Journal - May 24, 2013



The holiday weekend is finally here!

We have a house full of guests as I write this, and Dawn’s currently cuddled with Mandy next to me in bed – both of them sound asleep.  Chris, Martin, and Jonathan are awake and playing video games in the lounge; and Violet is still out somewhere with Dillon, Jake, and Stephanie.  The parents and grandparents went to bed about half an hour ago; and I’m going to call it a night as soon as I finish with this journal update.

I loved getting to spend almost the entire school day outdoors.  Not all of the tweens and teens were as thrilled with the work as I was; but Rowen and I both had fun with the Grade One girls we were assigned to work with.  We spent most of our time at the cemetery; splitting our time between planting flowers and flags, and helping with the annual clean-up.

While we had fun, I can’t say the same for Michael.  Vanessa hadn’t been overtly chasing after him since Nora’s party, but she apparently decided to give it another try today when she and Nora were paired up with Michael and Tim.  They had some younger kids with their group too, and Michael was not amused every time Vanessa tried to get up close and personal with him while he was trying to work with – and entertain – the seven and eight-year old kids.  Vanessa wasn’t happy either, which meant that Nora was annoyed; and Tim tried his very best to pretend that he wasn’t spending the day in the tweeird zone.

Once the work was done, we were ‘unofficially’ set free to find something to do for the last forty-five minutes or so of school.  I think Rowen and I may have won the team leaders of the day award when we decided that a side trip to the Emporium for ice cream on the walk back to school from the cemetery was a good idea.  There were quite a few Grade One kids thinking that the girls with us had lucked out when we joined most of the kids at the school playground after getting back to the school.

Rowen and I got to play after school too.  Mom put us in charge of keeping Ethan and Ehlana entertained while she was busy doing a few final jobs to get ready for the weekend.  We grabbed our bikes and the trailer, and started our play time with a construction zone tour before going to the park to play.  The twins needed some Emporium ice cream after hearing about our earlier visit there, so we did that with them next; and took treats to the office for Dad, Aunt Leanne, and Claire.  Aunt Leanne had to eat two of them because Claire had been set free to get an early start on her holiday weekend after Lucas, Emma, and Benjamin were out of school.

Okay, according to Aunt Leanne, one ice cream was for her and the other was for the baby.  That was cute, but not quite as funny as when Mom tried to convince everyone that the twins really wanted her to eat pickles and ice cream.  Just so you know, I did ask them about that once after they were born.  They were good with the cookies and cream ice cream; but didn’t particularly appreciate the pickles.

After leaving the office, we still had a little more time to play, but we decided to hang out in the back yard instead of going anywhere else.  Mom and Dad were hosting dinner, though we were just going with burgers, hot dogs, and a few cold side dishes so that it wasn’t much work for anyone.  Grandma and Grandpa came over first, and Grandpa had a grill fired up and ready to go by the time Dad and Aunt Leanne got home from work.  Uncle Nick, Aunt Deborah, and Leah were next; and Uncle Adam didn’t join us until shortly after we’d all started filling plates due to a last, last, last minute minor medical emergency.  Fortunately, the boy who fell off of the playground fort roof was patched up with two butterfly bandages and an Emporium ice cream cone coupon.

There was a lull in the action around our house between dinnertime and when the Rice family rolled in at a bit before nine o’clock; and the rest of the night has been the usual welcome home craziness.  Grandma and Grandpa had stayed with us because they didn’t have to wait at home for any guests this weekend, but Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Uncle Nick, Aunt Deborah, and Leah all went home after dinner to wait for their own incoming family.

The McEwans are staying with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne, and though I haven’t been over there since they got here; Jonathan advised us that the big story with their family this weekend is Tory and Kyle’s engagement.  There’s going to be yet another family wedding next summer!  The half of the Johnson family cousins who are home too are split up between Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah’s, Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s, and Andrew and Christine’s homes.  Since Aunt Deborah’s parents and brothers were here for the weekend after Leah was born; they’re spending this weekend with the other side of their collective families.

While I’m thinking about babies, there’s a house full of guests at Michael’s house this weekend too.  His grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins don’t normally come to Witch Falls for this weekend; but he told us earlier in the week that they’re here this weekend so that his grandma and grandpa can show off their first great-grandchild to their home town friends.  With all of the extra work they always have on a long weekend; I’ll guess that they’re in for a rather interesting weekend.

With a lot of rain in the forecast for the weekend again, that may be the case for everyone in town, but maybe we’ll get lucky and have the rain at night like we did last weekend.  Either way, Dawn and I will likely be recruited to help entertain Kara this weekend, but she is six now; so that should be fairly easy for us even if we’re stuck indoors a lot.  Just in case we do get to have our usual holiday fun – like the Saturday night campfire – I should wrap this up and try to get some sleep.  Dawn’s managed to crash despite the gaming noise from the lounge; but then she’s probably used to it after years of dealing with her brothers and their buddies.  At least they didn’t arrange to get together with any of their Witch Falls friends tonight too.

I guess that is all that I have for tonight, though, so...

...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Cassie's Journal - May 23, 2013



It’s a good thing that I’m going to sleep early tonight – I’ve had a long, busy day!

Since everyone at school will be spending most of the day doing work around town for the holiday weekend tomorrow; our teachers had us studying a bit harder than usual today.  For our grade and above, that was mostly because we’re now down to four usable school days left to get ready for final exams.  They start a week from this coming Monday; though stressing about them won’t start until after the holiday weekend.

After a mostly-all-work school day, my first job once I got home was to cut the grass so that wouldn’t need to be done on the weekend.  That actually took most of the time I had available between the end of school and the start of baseball practice; but I was able to get a couple of little family business issues dealt with while having a sandwich and mac salad dinner.  Rowen stopped in to get me on her way to the park, and we biked to the baseball diamond.  This was only our second practice, but I already think we have a great team this year.  We definitely had a better practice tonight than Mom and Dad did last night – though we don’t have nearly as many non-baseball distractions as the Fix-it Uppers do.

While I’m on that particular subject, though, there is one thing about moving up a division that’s been weird so far – girls on the team with boyfriends hanging around.  That wasn’t much of an issue during the last three years; but it might be a problem this season if those boys become too distracting during our games.  Even Carolyn Landry isn’t totally immune, and not only is she the most dedicated player on the team, her Mom’s with us too; and every boy in town is acutely aware of the fact that Lee Landry is her father.

Moving along, Rowen helped to make sure that my game night at the Inn was more interesting than I’d expected it to be when she couldn’t go tonight.  She had orders to go straight home from our practice and help out with getting the house ready for holiday weekend guests.  That’s likely all you needed to read to know that Michael and I were paired up for the night, while Rebecca conveniently felt the need to play with her cousin, Jessica, instead.

No, we didn’t win the junior championship, but we did have fun hanging out together – even with all of the nudges and hints directed our way from Aunt Leanne and the rest of her little matchmaking team.  Rowen will likely be as disappointed as Aunt Leanne seemed to be when her efforts didn’t get any results at all.  I even managed to escape before she could orchestrate another group walk home with Michael and his family; and I didn’t even hug Michael goodnight because he and Jake were in the kitchen when I left for home.

Mom did a Magi lesson with me after we put Ethan and Ehlana to bed for the night, and I opted for a quick shower instead of taking the extra time for a bath before climbing into bed with Mandy.  Getting to sleep ‘early’ is relative to my normal school night studies, since it is after eleven; but I’ll still get about three hours more sleep than usual.  I’m definitely ready to do that now, so...

...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Cassie's Journal - May 22, 2013



We’ve had another nice day here, and now that we’re really closing in on the holiday weekend; it’s the top story for most kids and teens at school.

My report includes the time I spent getting ready for the weekend, but the time that Rowen and I spent with Liz while getting our hair done was all fun and no work – at least for us.  Our Moms had booked those appointments for right after school, so we’d gone to the salon from there; and then we split up after that so we could each get to our part-time jobs.

I haven’t written anything in my journal this week about the Tornados in Oklahoma, and that’s mostly because Mom was able to deal with anything our charities needed for their first response to the worst-hit areas.  There were a couple of things I could do to help tonight, though; and I really loved getting involved – especially since my efforts were directed at helping the kids and their families.

Ethan and Ehlana were working in the office too while I was busy with my end of the family business.  They’re busy getting ready for their Grade Eleven final exams, but they started talking tornados after seeing what I’d been working on.  I’m sure that every Magi has wondered about what it would take to prevent something like that, and though Ethan and Ehlana have already learned why we shouldn’t try and the potential for even more serious unintended consequences; that didn’t stop them from calculating the likely energy output of that two-mile wide tornado; different ways to dissipate that energy; and how doing that would affect local and regional weather.

I’m pretty good at science, but they’re amazing, and Ehlana in particular is off-the-charts brilliant in that particular subject.  Considering one of her main roles in our future plans, that’s convenient; and it’s a bonus that she loves science too.

Mom and Dad let us work until dinner was ready, and then we were all busy for the next few hours while we ate; cleaned up; and Mom and Dad played baseball with their friends at the park.  Rowen came over after dinner, and she and I took Ethan and Ehlana to the park too; though we spent most of our time at the playground while Mom and Dad were busy.  Emma Norton hung out with us too after she got there with her parents; and we added Naomi to the gang when Philip dropped her off with us before going on to the Fix-it Uppers’ practice.  He teased us that Liz hadn’t come along too because she’d needed to have a nap after trying to keep up with Rowen and me while she was doing our hair.

From that point on it was a fairly standard parents’ baseball practice night.  We were at the park until it started getting dark; went home; did Magi lessons; and put Ethan and Ehlana to bed after dunking them in the tub to wash off the parts of the playground they’d brought home with them.  I spent some time with my Jacuzzi after that for the same reason; and have been doing my last bedtime study night of the week since then.

That’s all added up to another long day and I’ve stayed up later than I should have, but everything that I wanted to get done is finished; and I can hopefully catch up on my sleep tomorrow night.  I’ve had enough entertainment for today, and don’t have anything else to report, so...

...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!