Congratulations, Jake and Stephanie!
I sure didn’t expect to be starting this
update with the news that Jake and Stephanie got engaged last night before
flying home today; but that did get their Christmas holiday off to an awesome
start!
They’re also going to get married next
summer, and the main reason for that is because they’ve been accepted into
foreign study programs at both of their colleges; and they want to be married
before going to spend their junior year studying in Europe. I’ll keep you posted for when they pick a
date – though by the time you read this in your now; that’ll be history
anyway. That was definitely the top news
story at the Inn tonight, and I’m sure it will be at church and around town
tomorrow, but I only heard about that through Michael after he came over when
he was finished helping out at the Inn tonight to help me with the babysitting. I did see Jake and Stephanie for a while this
afternoon, but then they had plans to spend the evening with her parents while
I needed to get home and start my babysitting duties. I’ll get to that soon enough; but let’s back
up and start from the beginning of the day.
We didn’t have time for Tai Chi because we
needed to be at the school early to pack the bus for the trip to Maple
Valley. Dad cooked up a batch of
pancakes and a pack of breakfast sausages to make sure that we all had something
warm to eat before heading out for the day; though it wasn’t exactly cold out
today. Michael came over to get me while
I was still helping with the clean-up; we collected Rowen along the way; and
were soon busy with packing the bus with music stands and the rest of the
usual, larger band gear – along with our own instruments. I wouldn’t dream of complaining about having
a saxophone to haul around, since there are lots of band instruments that are a
real pain to carry; but Rowen might be the smartest teen in our class for
picking the flute. While I’m thinking
about Rowen and music, I haven’t mentioned it in my journal; but she’s learning
to play the piccolo now too, and while I haven’t done it yet; I might start
expanding my saxophone-playing options.
I think that it’d be cool to be able to play the tenor and soprano
saxophones as well as the alto sax; though I have no idea when I’ll have time
to do that.
This really was a perfect day for a
Christmas parade if you’re anyone in the parade or watching it – except possibly
for Santa. He might have been a bit too
warm – especially compared to when he’s home at the North Pole! Mom and Dad took Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and
Aiden to the parade; though I didn’t get to spend any time with them until
after the parade. We – the band – were on
the road by a bit after eight-thirty; had a fun, bouncy little trip to Maple
Valley; and then set up our flatbed trailer with our gear. The decorations had already been done by the
sponsor and volunteers, and the chairs were provided; so we pretty much just
needed to set up our stands and equipment before being ready to have a warm-up
practice.
We had a little break between the set-up
and that practice so that we could get drinks and a snack if we wanted; and it
was fun doing that and mingling with some of the other teens that were in the
parade too. There wasn’t a lot of time
for that socializing, and then we did our practice before having another short
wait as the parade started and we waited for our turn to move out. I would love to have snow for Christmas, but
I’m going to be honest and tell you that I really loved doing our Christmas
parades this year in warmer weather. We
didn’t need winter coats, gloves, hats, or anything else; and it is a lot more
fun to play wind instruments when the metal and various types of mouthpieces
and reeds are not half-frozen.
I’m sure that everyone watching the parade
had more fun today too; and there was definitely a bigger crowd this year. That made playing our music more fun, and
there was a lot of singing along happening too as we mostly played the usual
Christmas classics that are geared for the kids and families. Mom and Dad didn’t have the only group at the
parade from Witch Falls, and it was great to be able to play for them too; but
my favorite part of the parade was the little cameo moment we had while passing
my family. That doesn’t last long even
at the slow parade speed, so it wasn’t until after the parade that Michael and
I got to play with Mom, Dad, Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden. We had to help pack the bus again first too;
but then we were all set free for an hour or so to enjoy the lunchtime events. Tim had hitched a ride to the parade because
Landry’s was lending some equipment for the floats. Rowen had met up with him by then and decided
to do their own thing, so Michael and I met up with my family; we all grabbed
some food for lunch; and then we wandered around to check out the booths and
little shows that were going on. We didn’t
try to get in line to see Santa, because that was a ridiculously long line –
and we’d already done the visit with Santa at the Mall anyway. Mom and Dad did check to see how busy Santa
was before heading home – after Michael and I were on the bus and heading out
of town; but the line-up had still been very long and they didn’t stay half the
afternoon just to get thirty seconds with Santa.
They got home before I did, but that’s
because Michael and I helped with getting the bus unloaded and everything put
away before going on to the Inn. That was
when I did my little visit with Jake and Stephanie – and Jacob, Miranda, and
Rebecca – before moving on to my babysitting duties. Michael needed to stay and help out at the
Inn because of the dinner that Mom and Dad were going to with all of my
hometown aunts and uncles and most of their friends. That’s why I had Rowen and Tim with me to
help out with the kids until Michael was done, and while they’d done their own
thing while I’d been busy with Michael; they came over to my house in time to
help out with getting dinner ready for our little gang of kids.
In addition to Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and
Aiden; we only had Zack and Leah for the night while Sebastian and Caleb went
along with their Moms to the dinner at the Inn before either getting
grandparent support for the Sheldon’s part of the night or, in Caleb’s case,
going home after dinner with his worn-out parents. I didn’t find out about that until later, and
we would have been happy to take Caleb too, but he is just over a week old; so
I wasn’t surprised that Aunt Grace isn’t ready for that quite yet.
We were busy enough with six kids, and
getting them fed was the first main event of our adventures in babysitting
tonight. Cooking up frozen pizzas and
pub-style chicken wings was easy enough, and not too terribly messy – even for
Zack. Olde Bakery Christmas cookies
worked out pretty well too; and then I took care of the clean-up while Rowen
and Tim took the kids upstairs and kept them entertained. Once I caught up with them, it was time for
the first Christmas show of the night.
Ehlana and Naomi wanted to start out with Sofia the First; we followed
that up with Doc McStuffins; and then Michael joined us in time for Barbie in A
Perfect Christmas.
That wasn’t exactly a trio of choices that
any of the guys would have picked; but they survived and had fun anyway – even if
that was partly through joking around and teasing us about having a Christmas
chick flick night. I don’t know if we’ll
get the chance to do it, but all of that joking has me very tempted to do a
real chick flick night next weekend and inviting Tim and Rowen. If he had a problem with Sofia, Doc, and
Barbie; I’m sure he’d have lots to say about a night of Hallmark Christmas
movies.
Moving along, Zack and Leah were both
sleeping before the end of the Barbie movie and had been moved into my
bed. Mandy curled up with them and
watched over them while Michael and I dealt with getting Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi,
and Aiden ready for bed and tucked in for the night; and Rowen and Tim found
something to do to keep entertained while we were doing that. Details for that are not required; but I’m
sure they had more fun than we did – even though doing the bedtime routine with
my brother and sister is always entertaining too. Rowen and Tim weren’t staying with us for
long after that, so instead of watching another movie when Michael and I got
back to the lounge; we just watched some YouTube Christmas music videos while
having a little chat. They stayed for a
half-hour or so; and then Rowen took Tim home with her for some alone time.
Michael and I didn’t have a problem with
that part of their plans for the night because it meant that we got to have
some alone time too. With six kids in
the house, that wasn’t a scorching-hot make-out session; but we did have fun as
we played and didn’t watch the movie that wasn’t the only thing I turned on in
the lounge tonight. ;^)
That made for a really great end to our
busy day – though our night isn’t quite over as I write this. Michael’s spending the night, so we’re both
getting changed while taking washroom breaks and checking in on the kids. Mom and Dad should be home in a half-hour or
so; though I’m not sure exactly when because Dad is one of the designated
drivers this weekend. I’m writing this
now because I wanted to do my email check while I had a little time to do that
too; and then I’ll be able to go straight off to sleep after doing the
post-party report with Mom and Dad.
Okay, that’s not totally true. I’m seriously considering falling asleep in
the lounge with Michael and hoping that Mom and Dad will just tuck us in and
leave us there for the night. I know, we’re
only thirteen and fourteen, but you can’t blame us for wanting to enjoy a
little extended cuddle time now and then – and going to sleep and waking up in
Michael’s arms is wonderful. I’m sure
that most adults reading this in the future can relate – though hopefully not
with Michael specifically. I’m planning
on keeping that kind of thing exclusively between us forever.
Michael should be back upstairs any minute
now, so I’d better wrap this up and finish getting ready for our sofa sleepover
– I mean for bed. ;^)
This little bit of Christmas fun is my
video pick for tonight because Michael and Tim thought it was funny when we ran
across it during our little YouTube music video time earlier. It’s cute; so I thought it was worth sharing
– even if it doesn’t make it into the list of future Christmas classics in
whenever your now is.
May the Magi Force be with you!
