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, October 31, 2014

Cassie's Journal - October 30, 2014



This weekly football update is being brought to you a day early thanks to the makers of calendars and Halloween lovers everywhere! ;^)

We won our big game against Pinehurst; that gave us the division win with a five-and-oh record; and our team ends the regular season with an eight-and-two season that will give them home field advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs.  That news has a lot of people in town fired up tonight – especially since there weren’t many people expecting much of our team this season.

I’m going to mention here that there aren’t many people expecting our guys to advance very far into the playoffs either, and while I wouldn’t dismiss their chances so easily; and I’m not just saying that because my boyfriend is on the team.  Sure, their defense wasn’t good again tonight, and that usually wins championships; but most of our opponent defenses so far this season haven’t exactly been stellar either so we’ll see what happens when we go up against the top teams in the other divisions.

As for this game, we had better-than-expected weather this evening; and a big turnout that had the bleachers filled to capacity and then some.  While the final score was close at fifty-five to fifty-one, Tim and Caleb helped our team get out to an early lead with a pair of touchdowns on our first two drives while we managed to only give up two field goals on the first two Pinehurst drives.  No, that isn’t much of a lead in a football game; but Pinehurst was playing catch-up all night; and that wears a team down after a while.  While the order wasn’t exact, we essentially traded touchdowns and field goals for the rest of the game, and while Pinehurst still had a chance for the late comeback; Michael ended those hopes with a late interception on one of the hail-Mary passes the Pinehurst quarterback had been tossing a lot in the fourth quarter as he tried to keep up with Jeff, Michael, and Tim.  Michael had two touchdowns for the night; Tim had three; and Caleb and Lucas each had a running touchdown for our side.

Michael, Tim, and all of the other guys really loved having most of their families at the game tonight, and since pretty much everyone was at the game and it was on a Thursday, game night at the Inn was cancelled; and Jacob and Miranda were able to catch the last half of the game instead of being stuck working.  That could have had something to do with why Michael played even better in the second half; though he’d had a pretty good first half too – if not as flashy as Tim’s play was all night.  Quite a few members of my family were there too; but Aunt Grace and Aunt Deborah skipped the game in favor of some bonus nap time – mostly because they didn’t want to sit on the bleachers that long or be a long walk away from the nearest bathroom.

It’s a bit funny that I’m in football and cheerleading mode tonight and they’re both counting down the weeks and days to their due dates.  I’m not suggesting that my priorities are messed up – just that there is a big difference between teen and expecting parent daily life.

On the cheerleading news from tonight, our Halloween-themed half-time routine was a big hit, and while we geared it to be kid-friendly and a little scary too; we mostly just aimed to direct a little bit of Halloween humor at our opponents while entertaining our hometown crowd.  I loved having Michael’s parents there in time to catch that part of the game night fun too; though it’s too bad that the guys never get to watch those half-time shows.  While that was the highlight of the cheerleading side of the night; we had fun during the rest of the match too; and had lots to both cheer and boo about – again with a Halloween-theme for the ‘booing’.

While this is a school night, we didn’t have any homework assigned ahead of Halloween today; so there was a small post-game celebration party at the Palmer’s house that all of the players and cheerleaders attended – though we only had about an hour to do that by the time we’d hit the showers and done the rest of the usual clean-up after the game.  I would have liked to have a little alone time with Michael tonight too, but that didn’t happen; and we did our goodnight hugs and kisses on his front porch before I moved on to my house to go to bed and get started on my usual bedtime computing.

I didn’t do a full study and work session tonight, and Mom skipped the Magi lesson too; so I’ll be sleeping in comparatively decent time despite not getting started on my work until after midnight.  There isn’t anything newsworthy to report from the studies or work that I did do, so I guess the only other info to add for today is from the pre-school action this morning.  We were out at the river for Tai Chi, and while it was fun doing that with Naomi added to the group; we missed having Ethan there with us – especially since the twins are usually either both here or both away when they do their sleepovers with friends.  Ethan and Aiden got dropped off before I went to school, and Aiden and Naomi were having a play morning with my brother and sister that included final work on their costumes; so I got a chance to hear the quick birthday and sleepover report from the boys before heading for school with Michael, Rowen, and Rebecca.

Having Aiden join the club of three-year olds with his best friends isn’t really a big deal, but what is great to see is that they’re able to do more and more activities together in public now that they’re heading into that three-to-five age range.  While I’m not inviting an early start to winter, I think that Ethan, Ehlana, and their friends are going to be a lot of fun to play with this winter.  Hopefully that won’t be one more thing that I only wish that I had more time to do with them; but let’s not go there tonight.  It’s been a really great day; and I’m just going to head to bed in a few minutes and be happy about that.

Getting some extra sleep ahead of our big Halloween adventures is a bonus too, so I’m out of here; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Cassie's Journal - October 29, 2014



Happy 3rd Birthday, Aiden!

Other than sending a gift for him with Ethan and Ehlana, I didn’t have any involvement in Aiden’s special day; but my brother and sister went to his party, and Ethan is staying for a sleepover while Naomi came home to spend the night with Ehlana.

I spent a little time with them after they got home while we were all getting ready for bed; but the rest of my late afternoon and evening was all about my studies and working on the family business.  I’m sure that Ehlana and Ethan will both have Aiden’s party covered in their journals, so I won’t pass on second-hand news for that here; but I’m glad that they all had fun while I was busy working.

The weather was back to fall-normal today, and we stayed indoors for Tai Chi this morning instead of bundling up to go outside.  It’s a safe bet that our exercise-by-the-river opportunities are going to be more limited from now until we’re indoors for the winter; and I’m going to miss being able to do that – though I was okay with staying warmer this morning.  We had a fairly standard school day, and while the boys still went outside to toss a football around at lunchtime; Rowen and I stayed indoors – as did most of the girls in our usual group.  Cheerleading practice was outdoors, and while it was warmer by then; Dani mostly had us practice out there to get ready for the colder night we’re likely going to have at the game tomorrow night – not to mention that we could get cold with a dash or three of rain.

The guys might actually be wishing for that, since they have a better record with rainy games than they have for nice weather matches; but I definitely prefer warm and dry for our cheerleading.  Being indoors and working in the office was good too; but I’m mostly looking forward to getting a full night of nap time before getting into the next few days of busy.  I’ll probably be sleeping before Ehlana and Naomi get around to the unconscious time part of their sleepover; but they’re also likely chatting with Ethan and Aiden on Ehlana’s iPad too.

That’s great for them, but instead of dragging this update out, I’m just going to wrap this up, put my computer away, and get started on my good night of sleep plan; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Cassie's Journal - October 28, 2014



The only news story around town today was Aunt Leanne’s pregnancy announcement.  Congratulations again, Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam!

Surprising the father-to-be isn’t exactly an option when he’s the doctor, but then Mom was able to surprise him with the ‘unofficial’ news; and it would just be weird in Uncle Mark was Aunt Leanne’s doctor instead.

Yes, it isn’t much different for Mom in that context; except that Dad isn’t a doctor too – and it isn’t as though we need to visit the clinic for more than the check-ups that we do for appearances.

For me, the direct involvement for the pregnancy celebration only included having dinner with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack at our house; and we did a call with Grandma and Grandpa during the meal that was fairly entertaining.  Grandpa is getting a lot of mileage out of the jokes he’s using when it comes to big events happening while he and Grandma are away; but I’m sure that they also prefer this kind of big news instead of the Dark Magi fights kinds of stories.

Compared to the ‘Happy Belated Birthday – you’re pregnant’ news; my day has been fairly normal.  We had some fun in our classes; I was busy the rest of the time with cheerleading practice at noon; band practice after school; and the teen praise team practice after dinner.  Michael was with me for that celebration dinner at home, but he also had another extended practice; and only got there in time to sit down and eat.  That was tough on him, but they’ll have their usual light practice tomorrow; and helping him out with a little Magi-powered healing was an option after we got back from our praise team practice.

We also did a Magi lesson with Mom; took care of the bedtime routine with Ethan and Ehlana; and had an hour of alone time in the lounge before he needed to get home and I climbed into bed with Mandy and started in on my nightly studies and family business work.  Yet again, that was more than three hours ago; and I’m pretty much worn out now.  The timing for my after-school work day is going to be good this week; and I plan on an even earlier-than-usual Wednesday night bedtime if I can swing that before getting into football and Halloween mode for Thursday and Friday.  Since extra sleep isn’t an option tonight, though, I’d better get started on what little nap time I will be able to have right now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Cassie's Journal - October 27, 2014



We’ve had yet another beautiful, warm day; though a bit cloudier and not so much sunshine.  According to the forecast, we’ll be returning to fall-like weather by tomorrow, though it’ll still be sunny – just not with temperatures in the eighties.  It’s also supposed to be quite a bit cooler by Halloween; so we’re keeping an eye on that while making our plans for Halloween night here at my house.

My Monday has been really great, but not particularly newsworthy, and I’ve had another really late night; so I’ll keep this short.

Tai Chi by the river was awesome, and it was even warmer than we expected for first thing in the morning.  I sped up the getting ready part of my day and then met up with Michael at his house for breakfast before going on to school with Rebecca and Rowen.  Halloween rules at school today; though football was a close second with the big game coming up on Thursday against Pinehurst.  Yes, we’d have a spot in the playoffs now win or lose, but a win would give us home field advantage for at least the first round; so the guys really want the win.  The Pinehurst players want the win just as badly, though; so we’ll see what happens on Thursday!

Cheerleading practice was after school, and Rowen and I had time to do a bit of homework after that while sitting on the bleachers and waiting for the guys to finish their football practice.  With only three days to get ready for the game, they worked harder and longer tonight; so it was after six by the time I went home with Michael and Rowen took Tim home with her – though they stopped in at the computer store on the way there to help with closing the store.

We were late for dinner, but Jacob just kept the food warm and slowed down the process a bit after getting the news from Rebecca that we’d likely be running behind.  That put us behind on everything after that – including the clean-up; doing our homework; and the music practice that Michael and I did after that.  Unfortunately for us, that meant not having much time for making out; but we still had fun with everything else before I needed to get home and started on the rest of my studies and work.

That included a long elements lesson with Mom; tucking Ethan and Ehlana in for the night; and three and a half hours of language studies, archive research, and family business work.  If I hurry, I might make it to sleep by three, and that is pretty much all of the news for today; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Monday, October 27, 2014

Cassie's Journal - October 26, 2014



The temperature is not supposed to be in the eighties for the last Sunday of October here, but I’ll take it; and we definitely enjoyed the great weather again today!

We also enjoyed starting the day with Tai Chi by the river; with the bonus entertainment of knowing that Jenny hadn’t made it back to her room when we went outside to do that but was miraculously there by the time we got inside again and Mom, Dad, and Michael started working on breakfast.

She was probably just in the bathroom and we missed seeing her. ;^)

Having breakfast, getting ready for church, and cleaning up after we ate was a crazy-busy rush of fun; though Mom and Dad were probably ready for a nap by the time they finished dealing with all of that – and hanging out with eight teens.  I’m sure nobody reading this will be shocked to know that I was the most fired up member of our little group.  The least enthusiastic person was Lance; and it was fairly obvious that he is not a morning person – though maybe he does better when he gets more sleep than he probably did last night.  On the other hand, Jenny seemed to be very happy; and I doubt she got any more rest than he did.

The four boys had it tougher getting ready this morning because they had to share one bathroom while the girls got to use my bathroom and the third-floor guest bathroom.  No, that isn’t fair, but we’re girls; and they might as well just get used to the real world while they’re still young.  There was just one little blip in an otherwise really good morning, and that came when Lance opted to go home instead of to church with Jenny.  She wasn’t happy about that; but faked being okay with it until about a minute after he left for home in his car – without even giving her a ride to church on the way out of town.  Yes, he might have just assumed that she wanted to walk there with the rest of us; but not offering didn’t go over well with Jenny – and I’m sure she’d wanted to spend more time with him; since they won’t be able to get together until after Halloween.

Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I had fun at church, but then it was back to the real world for Michael and he headed for the Inn straight from church; and Rowen and Tim only came home with me to pick up their overnight bags before moving on to their own plans for the rest of the day.  Mom and Dad had custody of Ethan and Ehlana again, so we had lunch for five; and then I went biking with the twins for the afternoon while Mom and Dad did some work in the office – along with whatever else they kept themselves entertained with while we were out that had them smiling too much by the time we got home again.  Our bike ride included play time at the park and an Emporium snack run.  Michael played with us too while on his afternoon break, and then we returned Ethan and Ehlana to Mom and Dad when it was time to go to the Inn to help out with the buffet rush; and I went along to join the kitchen crew.

This time, we didn’t stay late, but that was four hours or so of busy and fun.  Michael was set free when I was ready to leave, and he came home with me to do a little homework that we didn’t get done earlier in the weekend due to everything else we had on the go.  With a little Magi power to help out with that, it took about ten minutes; and then we cuddled on the sofa in the lounge and watched the new ‘Good Witch’ movie.  There was some minor make-out time mixed in with that, but not until after Ethan and Ehlana went to bed for the night; and it wasn’t long after that before Michael needed to go home too.

The rest of my night was fairly standard for a school night.  Mom did my Magi lesson with me after Michael left; and I’ve been studying and working on my computer since then – first while in the Jacuzzi; and then in bed while cuddling with Mandy.  I’m going to skip the college family and friends report this week because there just isn’t much news from their updates this weekend – though that could be because I get the redacted version of those reports.  They are all doing well, though; and the Halloween fun around their respective campuses is not getting in the way of keeping up with the work.  I’m sure that sounds more boring than it is for them; but I don’t really need to know the details of some of their fun any more than I want to know why my parents were smiling the way they were before going to bed – pretty much the same way they’d been smiling this afternoon when Michael and I dropped the twins off on our way to the Inn.

Let’s not go there; and all of the usual rules I’ve mentioned before about telling me about it in my future if you do use your imagination for that still apply!

Finally, let’s do a quick look at the week ahead.  Our last regular season football game is on Thursday, and between that and Halloween on Friday; those are the two big events – but there is more going on.  The baby news for Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne will hit the grapevine on Tuesday because she’s going to have the pregnancy test at the clinic tomorrow.  For Ethan and Ehlana, Aiden’s third birthday on Wednesday is a big deal, and while Michael and I won’t be at the party; one of his football team mates, Paul, is having his fifteenth birthday on Saturday.  That’ll be his first since starting to date Vanessa, but I’m sure that doesn’t have anything to do with why we weren’t invited – he’s just having a small party; and inviting everyone on the team plus girlfriends just isn’t an option.  Rebecca and Lucas will be at the party, since they’re classmates of Paul’s; but I don’t think that Jenny and Lance are going too.  We’ll have the usual weekend yard work and chores, and Mom and I are going to go through our closets and dressers to weed out our wardrobes while getting donations ready for the new second-hand charity store since they’ll be ready to start receiving donations next week; but I think that’s it for the schedule – not including cheerleading, band, and praise team practices; or any of the other regular daily activities – like my ‘real’ studies and family business work.

If I wasn’t already tired from the studying and work, thinking about all of that would have me feeling exhausted.  Since it is after three, though, I really need to wrap this up and head off into nap mode for a few hours.  Monday might actually be the quietest day of the week for me, but around here; you can never be sure of that.  I’ll let you know how that works out with the next update, but for now; until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!