Happy 16th Birthday, Jenny!
I’ll get to Jenny’s birthday report in a
bit, but let’s start out this double update with the personal news that my
Michael and me sleepover was a complete success; and then back up to Friday
morning and go from there.
It was raining when it was time for Tai Chi
on Friday morning, so Michael came over and met me in the sunroom before we
went upstairs with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana for our workout. He stayed for a quick breakfast; and then he
was off and running to get to the school for his weight training with the guys
while I helped with the cleanup and got ready for school. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana got ready to go for
the day too because the twins were spending the morning at KidZone with their
friends while Mom did her running around; and then they spent the afternoon at
the lab while I was busy at school.
The rain moved on out of the area by late
morning, so while things were a bit damp; going outdoors for lunch was an
option that at least half of the students picked over staying inside for that
break. Our classes weren’t particularly
newsworthy today, but we did have quite a bit of fun – thanks in part to
excitement over the football game and Halloween dance; combined with the talk
about weekend plans that included the Haunted Halloween Walk on Saturday
night. We didn’t have cheerleading or
football practices after school, but didn’t have all that much time off either;
because the players needed to be back at school early for warm-ups and the
usual pre-game work and meeting; and I had to be at school not long after
Michael did so that I could help out with the set-up for the cheerleader side
of the game – along with a bit of bonus help here and there where needed.
Michael and I had time after school to
check in with his parents; have a visit with Mom and the twins while having an
early dinner for two in the sunroom once we had the food ready. I’ll skip the rest of the action between the
end of classes for the day and the start of the game; since there really wasn’t
much newsworthy-enough to write about anyway.
Jenny kept us entertained with some sweet-sixteen musings about what her
weekend was going to be like with Peter; but most of that chat time would just
not be appropriate to include here for the amusement of future, adult Magi
readers! ;^)
So now it’s time for the Friday night
football report. As I mentioned in my
micro-update last night, the weather turned out to be really good for the game;
and we had a great turnout for our last home game of the regular season. It remains to be seen whether we’ll get to
have any home games for the playoffs. We
played Blossom Creek, and let’s start with the good news – we won by a score of
thirty-five to twenty-five.
This was a pretty good team-effort win;
though there were a few stars deserving special mention – beginning with Tim
Landry and Garth Green. Tim scored three
really big touchdowns; and Garth Green threw for three touchdowns on trick
plays that were additions to the play book especially to try and take advantage
of our smallest, but quite talented player.
Tim was on the other end of two of those touchdown throws that also
still required big runs to the end zone; and Michael had the other one. Lucas added a running touchdown; and Ray and
Tim combined for the fifth touchdown – though that one was the second of the
game. The trick plays were a big deal
for us, but our defense – including our offensive defense – was a big part of
our success tonight too. Blossom Creek
scored six field goals on us; but only one touchdown. Michael, Tim, Lucas, and Garth all made big
defensive plays that kept us from giving up any really bad turnovers; and
Blossom Creek proved to be a bit lacking on red-zone offense.
All of that made for a really great game,
but there were sideline and spectator entertainments that just added to the fun
for me. Our cheerleading squad did a
great job; and I think it was one of our best nights of the season. Having quite a big turnout of my own family
was good too – especially when that included Dad after he got back from the
city. Miranda and Jacob took turns
coming to watch parts of the game too; and I’m sure it was just a coincidence
that Michael’s touchdown came while his Mommy was there to see it. Jacob got to see one of Tim’s touchdowns, but
Michael was able to give his father a few things to cheer over too – including
a pretty good sideline pass interception that he also took a pretty good hit
for while earning it; and a twenty-yard, lateral catch and run on that first
offensive play.
I won’t get into the play-by-play, but the
bottom line is that we had a good game; and deserved the win. Captain J.J. took that too far again, and has
his usual group of senior players way too over-confident going into what will
be a tough last game of the season against one of the best teams in the
small-school division. Pinehurst is
going to be ready to play; and Michael, Tim, and I don’t believe that our
seniors and team captain have their heads in that game – at least they aren’t
there right now.
We have a school Halloween dance report to
get to next, though; so let’s do that and skip the rest of the football drama.
Okay, we can’t entirely do that; since the
football team players were all being talked about at the dance, and treated
like heroes for winning the game; but Michael tried to stay out of that and
just hang out with me – and with the rest of our friends.
The dance was already in full swing by the
time we actually got to it, since we’d needed to pack up after the game and
then hit the showers to get cleaned up; and that also meant that we didn’t have
a lot of time to actually dance by the time we also made the rounds and had
some chat time fun. I’ll add that we
didn’t stay until the end of the dance, so we could have had more dance time;
but it had already been a long day by then and we were both tired. I’ll admit that I was already thinking about
a sofa sleepover long before then, but I didn’t mention it to Michael; and
didn’t have a problem convincing him that we should leave early and use the
rest of our time until curfew to be alone in the lounge instead of playing with
our friends. We were there long enough
to see Peter get to the dance and make Jenny’s day – and presumably get her sixteenth
birthday off to a great start from midnight until whenever he went home again.
You already know that I took time to get
changed into something more comfortable after getting home; so the only
remaining news from last night is that Michael and I had a seriously hot make-out
session while not watching a Halloween movie; and then we fell asleep on the
sofa and stayed there until the twins gave us our Tai Chi wake-up call in the
morning. We had a bit of quiet play time
after Ethan and Ehlana left too; but nothing too serious because we did need to
get ready for our workout by the river.
It was cloudy and cool, but we were able to
exercise by the river; and I was really glad to have Dad back for that. Michael stayed for breakfast in the sunroom;
and then he headed home to get started on the yard chores that were on his
to-do list for the morning before he’d need to go to the Inn to help out with
the lunch rush. Mom, Dad, Ethan, and I
were all on fall clean-up duty at our house for the day, and while it was a lot
of work; the lawn tractor with the vacuum made the leaf clean-up so much easier. The top fun of the day was setting up the
Halloween decorations; and Ethan and Ehlana had a blast helping me out with
that. We took it easy this year on the
display; mostly because Mom, Dad, and I are even busier this year than last;
and we didn’t want to have a major clean-up to deal with after the
holiday. They yard and house still looks
great, though; and my brother and sister are very proud of what we put together.
There was one big change for me over
previous Haunted Halloween Walks, and that was my own involvement in the festivities
this year with the band. Michael was
working the dinner shift, and Rowen was helping out at the computer store until
it closed; so I’d offered to help out with the set-up for our little
mini-concert; and went to the school to meet up with the other volunteers after
having an early dinner on my own while Mom and Dad were finishing up a bit of
work around the house. I took my saxophone
along with me; we hauled chairs and music stands from the school to the little
stage on Witch Falls Road that all of the music acts used for the evening. We had a couple of trucks available to load
and unload, but we still walked back and forth; and did two trips before we had
everything we needed. The Haunted Walk
was still more than an hour away from starting by the time we were ready, and
Rowen and Tim had joined me by then after having dinner with their own families
after the stores closed for the night; so we wandered around and checked out
the booths that lined both sides of the street.
Most were either still being set up; or the volunteers were busy with
cooking food or treats; but we did buy a few things – including a trio of
souvenir cups filled with hot chocolate that Rowen and I thought were a cute
addition to the usual booth offerings.
Michael only caught up with us in time for
the band warm-up, and while Tim stayed with us while we did that; he moved on
to hang out with some other friends when it was time for us to start playing. We were the lead-off music act; and we played
Halloween-themed music for an hour. The
song selection ranged from oldies that the grandparents loved to new Disney
songs that the kids and tweens enjoyed.
Singing along and dancing were possible, since we had an area of the
road the width of the stage available for doing that; though it started to get
more crowded as more people arrived in town and wandered around while waiting
for their turn to go on the walk.
Playing our first gig of the school year with
the band was great, and I especially loved doing that with Michael; since he
hadn’t been to any practices yet because of football. That wasn’t a problem because he is such a
talented musician; and because we do practice together and on our own when we
can. We had to clear the stage quickly,
and Michael and I helped out with getting everything back to the school because
there weren’t many volunteers for that; and then we met up with my family to go
on the walk together. That included Mom,
Dad, and the twins; their best friends and some or all of their families; and
the Carringtons. We did not draw Miranda
this year for our guide, but still had a blast; and it is nice to get the
slightly-different narrator delivery of the stories – even though Miranda is
still the very best at the job!
We had a wonderful time going on the walk;
and the stories haven’t even slightly lost their spooky charm for me. There’s also always something new to see;
particularly because the little skits vary with nearly every showing by just a
bit – and from year-to-year too. That’s
partly due to a bit of improv that’s allowed to earn a bit more audience
participation here and there; and partially because the actor mix changes –
even if the core group of actors play their roles for years; if not
decades. After we finished with that, we
had some play time at the few game booths; picked up some more treats and
souvenirs; and then Michael and I needed to head for Jenny’s house and the
sweet sixteen birthday party that her parents were hosting for her.
Rowen, Tim, Rebecca, and Lucas were all
going to the party too, and we kept an eye out for them; but didn’t meet up
with them along the way; and we were the first to get to the Warren’s
house. I mean that to include ahead of
all of the teen invitees; and Jenny’s mother happily drafted us to help out
with the bits of last-minute work she was doing to get ready for the
mini-party. With a busy Saturday for the
stores in town and the Haunted Halloween Walk, doing a major party for Jenny
hadn’t really been an option, but since it was her sixteenth; Emily and Jessie
did the best they could to make it special for Jenny. I was glad that Michael and I could help with
that – even if it was just a little bit.
When Jenny eventually arrived and had Peter
with her; I didn’t need to ask to know that he’d done way more than a little
bit to make her day special; so he earned major bonus points with me for
that. I had already learned from Emily
that Peter had come to town shortly after lunch and had been spending the day
with Jenny – including taking her to the Inn for dinner while her parents were
busy with the store and volunteering to help with the walk set-up. Once we had a chance at some girl chat time,
Jenny was happy to tell Rebecca, Rowen, and me about a few other happy birthday
details, and in addition to the dinner and time spent with her; Peter also gave
her a really nice jewelry gift that I’d rate as fairly high for such a new
romance. I liked that too, but to be
honest; Peter’s major bonus points tonight came because he made a real effort
to get to know Jenny’s friends. I won’t
write ill about any specific ex-boyfriends; but I’m sure that some of my
previous journal reports have mentioned that hasn’t always happened in the past
for Jenny.
Emily and Jessie had invited both family
and friends to stop by to celebrate with Jenny; so there was a steady stream of
well-wishers. Most of the adults and
kids only stopped by after they were finished with the Halloween walk – or waiting
for later time slots; while most of the football players and all of the
cheerleaders stayed for at least an hour or two. Michael and I stayed until midnight; but then
we headed home because we were both tired out by then.
‘Home’ meant our respective houses, and
while Michael walked me home, we shared a fairly short goodnight hug and
kisses; and then he went home while I came inside and went up to bed. After spending no time on my computer last
night, I had some work and email to deal with; so I’ve been doing that for a
couple of hours now while winding down from all of the fun and work today. I’m going to have a busy and long day
tomorrow too because I’m booked to help out at the Inn for both the lunch and
buffet shifts; and have a lot of work to do on my computer tomorrow night; so
it’s time to wrap this up and head off to sleep. It’s been another really great day, and I
always feel blessed to be able to have so much fun with my family and
friends. That work tomorrow won’t be as
much fun, but I’ll be doing that with some of the people I love most; and that’s
a blessing too.
I can say the same thing about sleep right
now too, and I’m seriously ready for that down time right now; so, until next
time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
