After a pair of fairly busy mornings, it was nice to have a
quiet start to our Sunday; and that pretty much describes most of my day.
Michael came over for Tai Chi, but then he went home to have
breakfast with his parents and Rebecca while I was busy helping Mom and Dad
with the work in our kitchen and getting the twins ready for church. While there was a themed service and Sunday
school lessons today that was all fun for us; I’ll be honest and suggest that
the Valentine’s Day gossip was given more attention by most of the teen girls
than anything we were taught today.
It’s also at least a little bit funny that Rowen and I were
on the outside of those chats because we’d never dated at all let alone at
Valentine’s Day; and now we’re still on the fringe because we don’t have any
good gossip to tell about our weekend fun with the boys. Then again, that’s because we’re not talking
about the best parts at all; or we would definitely be getting some
attention! Yes, I write about some of
that here in my journal, but this will only be read by adults in the future;
and the purpose of including information about my personal life isn’t to pass
on spicy gossip for the entertainment of my friends.
Moving along, there was enough time after church for Michael
and I to do a little socializing before I walked with him to the Inn on my way home.
Mom and I put together a quick lunch; sent Dad off to the office to get
started on the rest of his homework; and then did some cleaning and laundry
before she joined him there and I took Ethan and Ehlana up to my room to hang
out there for the afternoon. Rowen and
Tim came over early and joined in for the fun while we waited for Michael to
join us during his afternoon break, and then once he arrived; we took care of
our homework assignments while the twins watched cartoons.
I almost changed my mind about helping out at the Inn
tonight when it was time for Michael to get back there to help out with the
buffet rush; but managed to stick with my plans for a quiet evening and settled
for a long goodbye hug and kisses before sending him on his way. Rowen and Tim had stayed and played some
video games with Ethan and Ehlana while I was busy with that, and then they
headed over to her house for a Sunday night dinner with both sets of their
parents.
There’s enough of an age difference between Rowen’s parents
and Tim’s that they weren’t friends as kids or teens; but they do have
businesses that are basically across the road from each other; and have become
pretty good friends in the years since Rowen’s parents took over running the
computer store from his mother. I’m sure
that’ll change again now just as it is with my parents and Michael’s; and I
hope that’ll be as much fun for all of them as it has been for all of us.
Once my friends were gone, I helped Mom with making dinner;
Dad took a break for that; and then we all spent some time in the office with
him. Mom and I did some family business
work; and the twins worked on their college homework. This is probably a good time for an update
for that; though you’re welcome to hop over to their education archive if you
want all of the details.
Though they’re just weeks into their college education,
Ethan and Ehlana are blasting through the material. They have a fairly advance set of lab
equipment and supplies that’s mostly for Ehlana; though Ethan’s taking enough
sciences that he’ll be able to help her in the lab when needed once it opens in
September. That’s actually part of their
education plan; since Ehlana will need access to all of that equipment as she
continues her education; and it’d be a bit tough to hide that kind of gear here
at home like we can now with just a couple of cases and in a pair of storage
cupboards that are ironically locked up to protect the toddlers in the house.
Ehlana’s studies are more obvious when she is working
because of the lab equipment she sets up on the table in the office, and she’s
more overtly enthusiastic; but it can be fascinating to watch Ethan work on his
iPad or computer. I’ve mentioned before
that his reading abilities are much better than what Mom, Ehlana, and I can do,
and seeing him in action with that gives us an idea of how our own abilities
would look if we were watched by ‘normal’ people. That talent is why he’s able to take the
science courses with Ehlana in addition to his own work; and he’s also
enhancing his history studies by reading everything he can find in the archives
from each time period in history he’s learning about.
I haven’t directly mentioned that in this journal before,
but that is something he and I both appreciate about our archives – all of the
historical knowledge within them that has been lost to most of humanity. Mom and I still feel blessed to know that
we’re not the last of the Magi of the Light as we had thought we were before
coming to Witch Falls, but even with those connections now; it’s still hard to
imagine those past times when Magi moved freely throughout the world. We’re certainly thankful to all of those Magi
who managed to save as much history and wisdom as they could.
Getting back to the point, Ethan and Ehlana are on-track to
finish the first semester of their freshman year by the end of March; and will
likely write their final exams the week after March Break. That’ll give them almost three months after
that to finish up their first year by the end of June; and then they’ll start
their second year in September – when they’ll be able to use the lab for the
science classes. They still have details
to work out for doing that when there will be non-Magi working at the lab too;
but I’m sure they’ll have everything ready by then.
I did my family business work and most of my studying in the
office tonight – including my Magi lesson with Mom. We put the twins to bed at a bit after ten –
once Dad was finished and ready for his week in the city; and we were all ready
to head to bed. No, Mom and Dad weren’t
going to bed because they were sleepy; but let’s not go there. It didn’t take me long to get ready for bed
and cuddled with Mandy; and then I finished the bit of studying I had left to
get done before moving on to my usual bedtime computer checks.
Grandma and Grandpa had an amazing weekend in Italy; and
they’ll be continuing the fun this week with just a couple of business-related
jobs to do around what’s mostly going to be two vacation weeks before they’ll
be home again on the first Sunday in March.
Jake and Stephanie win the best weekend award for my favorite college
couples; though that’s partly deduced because of how much information wasn’t in
Stephanie’s report. They went out for a
couple of good meals and an off-Broadway show during the two nights they spent
together at a hotel; but there were also a lot of hours in the weekend that she
didn’t even try to account for in her email.
Violet and Christina had similar gaps in their weekend reports, but they
also stayed on their respective campuses; and weren’t doing sleepovers – or at
least they weren’t admitting to it if they did.
I had a pair of text-chats with Michael and Rowen tonight
too, so they brought me up to speed on the latest news from Rowen’s family
dinner and all of the buffet action at the Inn. They’re both sleeping by now, and I’m ready
to go there now too so I’ll be ready for the early wake-up call to see Dad off
on his way to Crystal
Springs. While it will be a bit busier around here
while Dad’s away; we also don’t have all that much on the go for extra work or
play time. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I
have a birthday party to attend on Wednesday for Kris – the last in our grade
to turn thirteen; and the Maple
Valley winter festival is
this weekend. We’ll be going to that
too; though we haven’t really worked out the details yet. The rest of the week is pretty much open; and
Michael and I haven’t even decided whether we’re doing dinner at his house
tomorrow night or hanging out at my house and helping Mom with the twins.
We can decide that tomorrow.
I’m ready to sleep right now, and don’t have anything else to write
about anyway; so...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
