Happy 32nd Birthday, Uncle Mark!
Before I get to the news of the day,
including the birthday dinner and party news; let’s do a pregnancy update for
Aunt Grace.
It doesn’t seem as though Aunt Grace should
be coming up on the end of her second trimester already, but she’s there; and
looks amazing! She doesn’t think so most
of the time, but she’s wrong about that; and seriously needs to stop comparing
her pregnancies to being the equivalent of twenty or thirty years of too much
holiday weekend food all rolled up into one over-sized package!
Okay, that’s funny, but her kids might not
find the analogy very amusing when they’re older. ;^)
That train of thought didn’t exactly end up
where I intended it to go. I wanted to
mention that Aunt Grace and the baby are both doing just fine; though we are
getting to see how tough it can be for a no-Magi mother to keep up with a Magi
toddler and a pre-natal Magi baby.
Thankfully, she has a lot of help for that. I’m not getting to be part of that help very
often; but we do have Caleb here overnight as part of our babysitting service;
so Aunt Grace and Uncle Mark get a kid-free night as part of his birthday
fun. Well, they aren’t technically
kid-free, but pre-natal babysitting isn’t an option even for Magi Masters; so
Rowen and I did the best we could – and have been busy enough with the kids we
do have here tonight.
Before I get to the babysitting report; let’s
go back to the start of the day and get to the rest of the news of the day.
It was comparatively chilly outside this
morning, but we dressed warm and went outside for Tai Chi by the river
anyway. Michael wasn’t with us for that
because he was already at the Inn by then; but he likes working the breakfast
shift with his Dad – even though that also makes for a long day on Saturday by
the time he’s finished at night. I was
busy this morning too. After exercising,
we had breakfast; I helped with the clean-up; and then Dad and I got to work on
the outdoor chores. With the holiday
weekend coming up soon, that included some work to get canoes and bikes ready
for incoming guests; and we’re still working on the new gardens around the
patio and sunroom. I won’t say that much
of that work was fun, because it was a bit cool for most of that work this
morning too; but I did still enjoy working with Dad – and with Mom, Ethan, and
Ehlana when we did some of the gardening together later in the morning after
they’d done a run to the garden center to pick up some flats of plants and
flowers.
We worked until nearly one-thirty and then
called it a day for the chores. I grabbed
a shower before lunch; we ate in the sunroom, and then Michael and I took Ethan
and Ehlana out to play while he was on his afternoon break. After he went back to the Inn, I went to
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house with Mom and the twins to help out with the
pre-dinner work there – and a bit of kid control when needed. Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne had lots of help
with getting ready for Uncle Mark’s birthday dinner, so that was mostly fun for
all of us. Dad had stayed at home to put
in some extra work ahead of his week in the city; but he came over in time for
most of the social hour that got the party started for the guest of honor; and
kept everyone busy while waiting for stores to close in town so that the rest
of the party guests could get there in time for dinner.
We were indoors for that, which is why I
was in the kitchen with most of the kids for dinner while the adults were in
the dining room. I missed out on the
birthday roast, but the dining adventure with my brother, sister, cousins, and
a few friends was both fun and time-consuming.
Actually getting to eat too was a bit of a challenge, but I eventually
managed to do that too; and that ended up being easy compared to the
post-dessert clean-up of a bunch of toddlers.
Zack, Caleb, and Sebastian were scariest, but Leah and Brianna managed
to end up fairly messy too; and it might have been easier to hose them all down
or dunk them in the river – two options that have been used before during the
summer! We did strip them down as far as needed and cleaned faces, hair, hands,
and anything else that needed to be washed before getting them dressed again;
and then I took them outside with some grandparent support while the kitchen
was cleaned – and I really mean that the kitchen was cleaned before anyone
could get around to the dishes.
Rowen had dinner plans with Tim’s family,
but she came over not long after that, and we moved the kids over to my house
for our night of babysitting while most of the adults moved on to Sheldon’s Pub
to continue Uncle Mark’s birthday party there.
We brought the kids up to the third floor; and kept them entertained
with everything from hide and seek to music and video gaming. Michael and Tim joined us for a while after
Michael was done at the Inn; and they kept the boys busy with the video gaming
while Rowen and I played with the girls.
In addition to Ethan, Ehlana, and all of our local ‘kid’ cousins, Naomi
and Aiden are here for the night too; but we didn’t get Hailey and Eli this
time – or any other kids. The gang we do
have is enough, though, and Rowen’s already sleeping as I’m writing this
because they pretty much tired us out by the time the last of them finally went
to sleep.
Rowen and I have all of the girls up here
on the third floor with us – including Ehlana and Naomi. They’re all together in one guest room, and
while Leah’s in the same bed with Ehlana and Naomi; Brianna’s in the crib we
put in there earlier today when we set things up for tonight. I’m getting this update a bit jumbled by
jumping around; but that says more about how tired I am than anything else.
The kids didn’t start running out of steam
until nearly eleven o’clock; and it was twelve-thirty by the time Michael and
Tim managed to get Zack off to sleep – even though Ethan and Aiden had already
gone to bed before midnight – when Ehlana and Naomi went to join Leah and
Brianna in their room for the night. A
bit of cuddle time for Michael and me – and Rowen and Tim – followed, but Rowen
started dozing off almost immediately; and Tim and Michael decided to head home
at a bit after one instead of waiting for my parents to get home from the
pub. I walked Michael out to the front
porch and we did our goodnight kisses there while Rowen and Tim stayed in the
lounge to do that, and after watching Michael walk home; I puttered around in the
kitchen until Tim was ready to leave too.
Once he was gone, I came back up here; waited for Rowen to take her turn
in the washroom getting ready for bed; and then did the same.
She was half-asleep by the time I climbed
into bed with her – and with Mandy. She
was asleep before I finished my email check; and I’ve mostly been dealing with
a bit of family business work that came up and I had time to do anyway while
waiting up for Mom and Dad. They’re not
back yet, but they were designated drivers; so I knew they’d be a bit later
than normal.
They should be back soon, but I don’t
really have anything else to add to this update to drag it out while I wait for
them; so let’s just wrap this up and I’ll find something else to do until they’re
home and it’ll be safe for me to go into nap mode for a while. It’s been a fun day even with all of the work
and babysitting, and while there hasn’t been enough teen time in my weekend so
far – or alone time with Michael; I am glad that we had another chance to play
with my cousins today. I might not get
very many chances to do that between now and the end of the school year; so I
really need to appreciate these moments when I get to have them.
I’m really going to appreciate getting some
sleep soon too, and that might come sooner than later now that I’m sensing Mom
getting closer to home now, so that’s it for tonight; and, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
