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!

Monday, September 29, 2014

Cassie's Journal - September 28, 2014



Happy 2nd Birthday, Valerie!

Weekend party day two began without Tai Chi for the second day in a row; though that was mostly because we – the kids and teens – needed the extra time to get ready for the day and packed.  Kaitlyn, Ehlana, and I took the most time; but I thought we did pretty well for getting through three showers; playing with our hair; and getting appropriately beautiful for a Sunday morning breakfast at a nice hotel restaurant.

The meal was a nice little break; and then we were on the go again – taking Kaitlyn and Jayden home and having a little visit with Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, Jaimie, and her friends before getting on the road for Crystal Springs.  We made it to the Malloy’s house by eleven o’clock; and had time for a little visit with them before the rest of their party guests began arriving shortly after noon.  Once again, Michael and I were on kid control, but this time; it was a bit more work to keep up with Valerie and a handful of other toddlers – especially since several of them were full-on into the terrible-twos.

I am so glad that my little brother and sister are Magi Masters and didn’t go through that stage – or if they did, it was prenatally; and would have lasted for a couple of days before they developed past that stage.  I’m just kidding, guys – I know you didn’t go through that; though it would be a funny story if you had.

Speaking of pre-natal; Angela is into her second trimester now; and glad to be mostly finished with the morning sickness and other early-pregnancy annoyances.  Dealing with that, a toddler, and her job has apparently been interesting; but she assured us that she didn’t throw up on anyone in her court room or let her raging hormones get in the way of her verdicts – no matter how tempted she was a few times to do just that.  She is pretty sure that one guy in a divorce case might have caved in on a proposed support arrangement specifically because he was afraid of getting a worse deal from Angela after finding out that she was pregnant from his attorneys.

Oh, and yes, Mom and baby are doing just fine – Mom and I both checked.

This birthday party was definitely toddler-rated for fun, and I’m so glad that Angela and Terry have a pool too – we needed it just to help with keeping clean.  Whether the mess was due to the games or food didn’t really matter; since all of the dirt I picked up was due to toddler-transfer.  I’ll admit that Ethan and Ehlana had a tougher time today because they’d needed to play their own age, and since they aren’t much older than Valerie; that meant intentionally getting messier than they normally would.  Then they had to wait around for Mom, Dad, Michael, or me to clean them up; since doing that on their own would have been noticed by all of the parents and other adults too.

That was one thing that was exactly the same as yesterday – the guests.  The only difference was that instead of having architects and socialites; we were surrounded by lawyers, judges, engineers, and construction workers – along with just a few socialites.  Dad knew a lot of Angela’s co-workers and friends, but while Mom had fun too; the shop talk wasn’t nearly as interesting for her.

There was a social hour before lunch; Terry and Angela had help with everything from the grilling to getting the side dishes ready and tables set up in the back yard by the pool; and Michael and I kept the kids entertained.  Getting them fed was a little scary – particularly the cake and ice cream dessert part of the meal.  Not all of the toddlers could swim yet, but they were all stripped, wiped down, put into swimsuits, and dunked in the pool.  I’m still glad that I dressed up this morning; but I also needed to use a little Magi-powered stain removal on my shirt after getting home tonight to get the chocolate and whatever else out of it before putting it in to the laundry with the rest of my weekend clothes.

After that pool time break; there were toddler games to play in the yard.  Prizes were available; and every kid won at least two or three times – though some of the excuses for those wins needed to be fairly creative.  The party started to wrap up at about the same time that Valerie decided to pass out for a late-afternoon nap.  We needed to hit the road by then, so we packed up; left a goodbye video message for Valerie that Angela recorded for us on her phone; and then we hit the road again.

We got home in time to unload the minivan; put everything away; freshen up; and then head over to the Inn for the late buffet.  We met up with Grandma, Grandpa, and our aunts and uncles – including Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace – and Michael stayed with us for that too.  He had the night off because Monday is a normal day off for the family anyway; so this was his get-out-of-work day instead.  I loved getting to end the weekend with that family and great food time; though the cuddle time with Michael after we went home again was nice too.

Mom and Dad both had work to do after dinner, so Michael and I watched a movie in the lounge with Ethan and Ehlana; did the bedtime routine with them after that; and then Michael needed to leave – though a birthday sleepover was tempting.  It’s a good thing that he did go home, though, because I still had a lot of work to get done.  Mom wrapped up her night with a Magi lesson for me while Dad finished his work in the office.  They went to bed after that; and I came up to my room to multi-task some Jacuzzi time with my language and archives studies.  Once I was tucked into bed with Mandy; it was time for the family business work; and the only reason it isn’t five o’clock as I write this is because I used a little time-phasing both while I was in the tub and here in bed.

The physical drain is about the same, though, and I really want to be at full power for Michael’s birthday; so I’m going to wrap this up and get some sleep.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!