Let’s start with the football report from
last night and get that over with; since it was also the top news story for the
guys at school today. Alabama won the
championship over Clemson, and with a total of forty points scored in the
fourth quarter; the excitement level stayed high through to the end as Alabama
first took the lead and then kept ahead of Clemson through to the end of the
game. There were just as many fans
around here that were disappointed for Clemson; but there was also general
agreement that Alabama earned the National title this year after winning their
games against both the number one and number three teams – even if they aren’t
the only team with just one loss this season.
It would be nice if this was the end of football until August, but the
NFL playoffs continue this weekend; so we still have about another month or so
of fun for the football fans around here before the rest of us can have a break
for a few months.
Yes, I am Michael’s number one fan when it
comes to his high school football, but that’s to support him; and I’d be doing
that for any sport he picked – and that would be more fun if he and Tim were
into sports that I like more than football.
Okay, we don’t have a school swim or diving team, or one for
snowboarding, mountain climbing, or any extreme sport; but it would be awesome
if we did!
Thinking about things like that does make
my day seem very boring by comparison; and I can include our post-game bedtime
action that did not include a sofa sleepover for Michael and me. Mandy thinks that Rowen is a great sleepover
cuddle buddy, and I’m sure that Tim would agree with my adorable cat, but while
Rowen and I always have fun; I’ll admit that I like my sleepovers with Michael
more – and Rowen would say the same thing for herself and Tim. Ehlana and Naomi ended up doing a sofa
sleepover in the lounge, and while Naomi had fallen asleep cuddled with Ethan
while the game had still been on; Mom and Dad did not let them stay cuddled
together after getting home from their own little game-watching party. Ethan and Aiden were moved downstairs to
Ethan’s room while Ehlana and Naomi were tucked in at opposite ends of the
sectional sofa. I didn’t mention and
cuddling and nap time for Ehlana with Aiden because that didn’t happen. They did sit next to each other, but when
Ehlana fell asleep; she ended up snuggled with me instead of next to Aiden. Naomi, as usual, snuggled with Ethan as
easily as I cuddle with Michael; and my brother is usually quite happy to
follow her lead.
I’d better move this along; since I do have
a lot to cover – even if my day wasn’t extreme sport kind of fun.
When Mom and Dad got home last night, the
post-game wrap-up was still going on; but they’d been ready to call it a night –
as were most of their friends on a work night.
We had a minor chat and evening recap time while getting Ethan and Aiden
into bed and tucking Ehlana and Naomi into their spots of the sofa; but then
Mom and Dad went straight to bed and left Michael and I – and Rowen and Tim –
in charge of getting ourselves to bed – and dealing with the clean-up in the
lounge. Michael and I dealt with the
dishes and kitchen end of the clean-up while Rowen and Tim dealt with the
lounge; and they actually did that work because they couldn’t exactly have a
make-out session instead with two sleeping girls in the room with them. They did spend some time saying goodnight to
each other after that, though – just as Michael and I took care of that while
we were in the kitchen. Rowen was ready
to crash by then, so we kept our own bedtime routines short; I didn’t even get
my computer out again for one last check or a bit of work; and we went straight
off to sleep with just a very minor bit of girl chat time before Rowen was out
for the count and I was off to dreamland soon after she fell asleep.
With five extra teens and kids in the house
this morning; we were all busy taking turns getting ready for the day – whether
that was sharing bathroom time or dealing with breakfast and the clean-up. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I also had Naomi
with us for the walk to school; and all of that two hours and change of near
non-stop action helped to make for a great start to our day. Spending most of our school time getting
ready for exams wasn’t quite as exciting, and the guys spent way too much time
talking about the football game; but there was one news highlight today that
was really awesome – though we won’t officially get any of the details about it
until we have our music class tomorrow.
The postings to sign up for the new
marching band went up today, and Mrs. Robinson began talking about it with her
classes today too – which is why we won’t have that talk with her until
tomorrow. She’s done that today because
we won’t be having our first band practice of the New Year until the week after
exams; but we’ll also need to get started on the next phase of the planning
that week too – and need both volunteers and information to get working on
that. The buzz about the marching band
didn’t really get going today because of the post-championship football
stories; but it will be a bigger story by tomorrow – especially as word gets
around that the invitation to join the new marching band has been extended to
the Maple Valley school music students.
I do know those details already, since I’ve
been in the loop for all of the early plans and the hoops that needed to be
jumped through just to get all of the proper approvals to get us to this point;
but let’s cover all of that in upcoming journal reports as needed. All I want to add for today is that Michael,
Tim, Rowen, and I all signed up for the marching band. Tim isn’t in the school band, and isn’t one
of the best trumpet players in the school, but he can play; and has no
intention on missing out on the trip to Florida next year while Rowen went
along without him. He’s much less-sure
about how any of the football guys will handle marching band practices and
everything else we’ll be doing during football season next fall; but they’ll
figure it out – just as Michael and the other guys on the team and in the band
now have always managed to do both.
While that’s really exciting for me, the
rest of my day has been all about exam studying – and helping my friends to get
ready for our exams. Our after-school and
evening studying was again at my house, but Michael was the only teen staying
for dinner – and his parents joined us for that meal while also contributing to
the menu with a really delicious seafood casserole. Rebecca didn’t join us for that because she
was busy studying tonight with Lucas, Jenny, and some of their friends; but
that was also a really short break for Michael and me between our own study
sessions.
As with last night, all of our friends
stayed in town for dinner, and while Rowen and Tim weren’t with us; Tim’s
parents did host three extra teen couples for dinner at their house – including
Sally, Joshua, Gretchen, and Marc. Since
Rowen advised me that the guys talked football the entire time they were there;
I’m glad that I missed out on that teen fun and got to talk about everything
except football with Michael, the twins, and our parents.
The studying right now is still fairly
general for all subjects; but the usual core subjects do get top billing while
also being the scariest for about half of my classmates. That group isn’t the same for every subject,
and while I’m doing my best to help them out; the confidence level has a lot of
upside to go between now and next week.
It is easier this year now that everyone is on-board with our study
program; and I’m sure that the results will be even better this time simply
because Michael, Rowen, and I don’t have any issues with doubters of our
methods. We studied until ten-thirty
tonight before the country kids’ rides began arriving to pick them up for the
night; and I was the last teen standing in the house by a bit after
eleven. Mom did a short Magi lesson with
me after I’d seen Michael on his way home; Dad had the twins in bed by then;
and then I came up to my room to get ready for bed and started on my family
business work and studying.
That was more than three and a half hours
ago; it’s way too late; and I should have been sleeping a couple of hours
ago. I decided against a time phase
tonight because I don’t want to burn out when we still have a week and a half
to go between now and the end of our exams; but I might change my mind about
doing that if I start burning out from lack of sleep instead of over-use of my
Magi power.
Getting started on that nap is now my top
priority, though, and there isn’t anything else to add to this update anyway;
so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
