“There was a time; When it was just the two
of us; The tried and true of us; Me and my Mom…”
I blame Disney, Ethan, and Ehlana for that
song being stuck in my head tonight. We
watched the Sofia the First Mother’s Day episode tonight as part of our dinner
and a movie entertainment, and while I think that the song is cute and catchy;
it was having Ethan and Ehlana teasing me about Sofia’s situation in the show
being the same as mine that has me wandering down memory lane while singing along
to the YouTube clip of the song tonight.
Yes, guys, my family grew by three too,
though not all at once – unless you’re counting from time of conception. I also felt like Dad gave me a ‘princess’
room too, and I think that everything else about our new family and home is
amazing; which is why I never feel like I’m missing anything by sharing Mom
with everyone else we love. In fact, I’m
always glad that it isn’t ‘just me and my Mom’ anymore. That doesn’t mean that we didn’t share a lot
of special moments together during those years before we moved to Witch Falls;
it just means that we’re even happier now than we could have even dreamed
possible back when we were on our own – and in hiding from the Hathornes.
Today was a pretty good example of that; since
we had a lot of fun all day – including at school.
It was cooler this morning after the rain,
but still nice enough to take our Tai Chi outdoors and exercise by the
river. Michael stayed for a quick
breakfast before rushing off to get ready for school and his morning weight
training with the guys. It wasn’t
exactly a play day at school, but between having the younger kids spending
extra time on Mother’s Day crafts; seeing the High School seniors fired up about
their trip next week; and everyone generally in a great mood ahead of the
Mother’s Day weekend, we had a really entertaining day. Tim would tell you that football at lunchtime
and after school, and while I had fun with that too; it wasn’t for the same reasons.
While the ground was drying fast today, it
was still damp enough on the football field that the guys didn’t have any luck
recruiting any of the girls to play football with them during our lunch break;
but they still had enough volunteers for a small scrimmage game. Rowen and I were more entertained by the
off-field action with some of the other girls than we were with watching our
boys play. Tim usually gets guys from
Grade Seven through Ten to play, and with the recent change in social status for
some teens and tweens; the sports action is attracting more than a little drama
and non-football game playing.
The flirting and showing off was mostly
restricted to the younger girls and guys instead of the high school teens; but
those guys – including Lucas Norton – had their fans watching the game while
chatting with their friends too. Add
eighteen glances and three adorably shy smiles to the count from my latest
baseball practice report, and while I’ll leave it at that for now; I’m even
more sure today that Lucas is in imminent danger of a change in social status.
I also seriously doubt that he’ll have a
problem with that!
Our weekend fun started almost immediately
after school once we’d dropped off our gear at our homes; grabbed our bikes,
trailer, and the twins; and headed out for some biking and play time at the
park. Mom was officially off-duty for
the weekend after that; though she still worked on her computer until Aunt
Leanne came over after work before getting around to taking it easy and having
fun with our family and friends. The
bike ride included the usual construction site tour. The most obvious progress was with the new
houses being raised and the medical center building; but at least as much
actual work is going on at the almost-completed apartment building and inside
at the lab. I’ll do a full update on
that after our next future plans meeting, but I can report that the apartments
will be ready ahead of schedule; and while we still have a bit less than four
months to go before the lab will open; a lot of the major work is done now; and
it will be the details and finishing work – along with all of the equipment
installations – going on between now and September.
While seeing our town grow right before our
eyes is really cool, it’s the doing stuff together that I really love; and we
had fun cruising around town; playing or watching football when we first got to
the park; and then running around at the playground. Ethan and Ehlana may have to pretend to be
normal almost-three-year old kids for a lot of things; but there’s no
pretending involved when it comes to playing with their friends – or with their
big sister and her friends. In a way,
you can think of that as some adults might when it comes to wishing they could
play and have fun like little kids do – and in this case; Ethan and Ehlana can
get away with it while most grown-ups won’t or can’t let their inner kids out
to play.
Just in case you’re wondering, I am
definitely not too grown up or cool to play in sandboxes or run around and be
goofy with the younger kids – and hopefully, I never will be!
My first ‘job’ of the weekend was to
entertain Ethan and Ehlana after school, and I followed that up with helping
out with the dinner part of our dinner and a movie night. The guys and teens were responsible for doing
that while the Moms and Moms-to-be were all officially on their weekend off by
the time they arrived at our house. That
didn’t apply to every Mom in town by any means, since stores still needed to
stay open and not every guy in town put as much effort into pampering their
Moms as my family is doing this weekend; but the idea could catch on around
here the same way the shopping trips to the city have.
Michael, Tim, and Rowen were all invited to
spend the evening with us, and the four of us juggled watching the younger kids
with setting up tables and chairs in the back yard for dinner and helping out
in the kitchen with making side dishes.
That wasn’t really that tough, since the main meal entrées were being
grilled and the guys had contributed Olde Bakery desserts and grocery store
pre-made salads. WE also collectively
kept our favorite women supplied with drinks and appetizers while they relaxed,
chatted, and occasionally played with the younger kids; and basically had a blast
for that few hours of food and fun. All
teens were on the clean-up crew while younger kids and women were freed to go
play at the park until it was time for movies; but that wasn’t all that hard to
deal with either – especially when men have a tendency to opt for disposable
dinnerware at events like this.
I’ve already covered the start of the movie
part of our evening with the Sofia the First show, and while that was great; it
was a bit crowded with everyone in the living room – which is why I led the
kids and teens up to the lounge after that and left the adults to watch
something that didn’t need to be toddler-rated for their feature
presentation. We didn’t end up choosing
a movie at all upstairs because the boys talked us into letting them play video
games instead. Rowen and I kept the
younger girls entertained with some music fun in my room and some games, and
while we joined in for some video gaming too; we mostly left Tim and Michael to
keep the younger boys entertained.
All of that kept boyfriend cuddle time to a
minimum, and Michael and I had zero alone time; including when it was time for
goodnight hugs and kisses at a bit after eleven when the party broke up
downstairs and everyone was ready to head off to their own homes. Maybe we’ll get a chance to make up for that
tomorrow night; but we’ll see whether that works out for us or not.
Though that would have been a nice way to
end the evening; I can’t really complain when we’ve had such a really great
day. Hopefully the rest of the weekend
will be all of that and more – especially for all of my favorite Moms. I’d mention that Dad’s helping Mom out with
making that happen for her right now; but don’t want to go there.
Please don’t use your imagination; and
pretend that I didn’t write that last comment. ;^)
Mom and I did the bedtime routine with
Ethan and Ehlana after our guests left while Dad took care of a bit of cleaning
in the living room and kitchen before joining us for the bedtime story and
getting the twins tucked in for the night.
I moved on to a bit of Jacuzzi time after that; got ready for bed; and
was cuddling with Mandy by twelve-thirty.
I’ve managed to do my nightly computer checks and a bit of family
business work while winding down, singing along with Sofia, and wandering down
memory lane to visit favorite ‘Mom and me’ moments. It’s already coming up on one-thirty now, and
that doesn’t even feel all that late compared to the rest of this week – though
I am ready to catch more than a few hours of down time now.
Dad and I have work to do in the morning,
but Mom’s day off will include some pampering at the salon with my aunts and
some of their friends. We’re planning on
some afternoon play time with the family tomorrow too; but the weather forecast
is a bit mixed with potential rain issues; so we’ll probably end up just
winging that. As of right now, we’re
going to have a quiet evening on our own tomorrow night, which works for me if
we can include some Michael and me time in there after he’s finished for the
day at the Inn. I wish that Miranda
could have the weekend off, but she’d never do that on one of their busiest
weekends – particularly if that meant having the other full-time Moms who work
there putting in more time to make up for her missed hours.
Maybe Jacob will help her celebrate a
belated Mother’s Day on Monday while they’re off work and the kids are at
school. Let’s just not take that thought
any farther here, thank you very much.
I mean it – stop letting your imagination
go there!
That isn’t exactly the note I’d like to
leave this update on, but there isn’t really anything else to add tonight; so,
until next time…
…Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the
Light!
