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!

Monday, August 29, 2016

Cassie's Journal - August 29, 2016



Congratulations, Aunt Grace, Uncle Mark, and the rest of our collective family – it’s a girl!

Welcome to the family, Faith Anne Everett!

Faith was born at five twenty-two in the morning; weighed in at eight pounds, two ounces; and arrived with a Magi-powered mental blast that was very impressive for such a sweet, adorable little bundle of joy.  I’ll add that part of our perception of that was due to fatigue, and Faith isn’t as strong as other Magi kids like Naomi and Brianna; but she is still a very strong Magi – something quite interesting when you consider that she’s descended from a mother and grandfather that each did not inherit the Magi abilities.  We do know that happens now and then, but this makes twice with one non-Magi mother; so Caleb and Faith will be worth keeping an eye on as they grow up.

She is adorable, and while I didn’t get to spend much time with her; we did have a fun little cuddle.  I didn’t try any mental connection of any kind with her so that she didn’t get overwhelmed by that, but Aunt Leanne helped Caleb with an empathic link with his new sister; and that’s part of the new program Mom has worked up that she is sure will help Magi siblings to have a better relationship with each other.  That, by the way, is something that she thinks that Dad and Aunt Leanne did on their own without knowing it at the time; and she thinks that there is a connection between that kind of bonding or lack of it when looking at other sibling relationships that we know of from around town.

That’s getting this update a bit off-track; so let’s get back to the story.

The last hour or so of Aunt Grace’s labor was tough for her, for Faith, and for those of us helping out with either the physical or mental needs of the delivery.  Faith was stressed out for quite a while after she was with us in the ‘real’ world; so I needed to keep my wards up for more than an hour before she was ready to settle down and get some sleep.  By then, it was time to get kids fed; I needed to go home and get ready for cheerleading practice; and I eventually made it to the school in time for that – after one more quick stop at the clinic to make sure that everything was still okay there.  The parents had some grandparent support by then, so I wasn’t needed for babysitting; but that was a job I helped out with a lot today once I was done with cheerleading at noon.

My cheerleading practice was a bit too easy, and while that makes Jenny a very popular Captain; our work ethic is definitely a bit light this year so far.  I won’t complain about that today, since I was tired and didn’t really feel all that motivated to push hard all day; but practicing like this will affect our cheerleading a bit – if only with how detailed we can make our sideline and half-time routines.  Maybe we need to do that when keeping up with marching band too, but I’ll keep you posted on how that’s going for us; and I hope we’ll still do our part to entertain the spectators at all of the games!

Jenny wrapped up our practice by a quarter-to-twelve; so I had time to get home and help Mom with making lunch for a small gang of parents, grandparents, and kids.  We hosted both the lunch and dinner meals today for the family and some friends; so I did a fair bit of cooking and cleaning to go along with my afternoon and evening babysitting gigs.  I had some help for all of that work; though the doctors and nurse in the family were busy all day at the med center; and the parents were either working too; busy with a new baby; or helping Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace.  I had some grandparent support in the afternoon; Rowen joined us for a couple of hours at the park followed by a swim in the river and ice cream snack break; and Michael was with me from the time he was finished his baseball practice until he went home at ten o’clock so that he could get some sleep and be ready for football again in the morning.

He helped out with kid control while I was busy in the kitchen with Mom and the other dinner-cooking volunteers; we had a gang of kids with us by the river while we all ate that meal; and then we were both on clean-up duty while the parents and grandparents kept up with the kids for a while.  After that, we had another trip to the park for some more playground action; one more, fairly short swim; and then a communal bedtime snack at nine o’clock before parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents took kids home for the night.  The kid exchange included Caleb, Leah, and Sebastian – mostly because their parents were wiped out from a night with no sleep; and Zack went home with Grandma and Grandpa because they’ve missed their grandkids while they’ve been away – and possibly because he was still bouncing off the walls while Aunt Leanne and Brianna were both ready to go home and off to sleep.

I didn’t get to do that, but Michael and I helped with the post-snack clean-up; we took care of getting the twins tucked in for the night; and then we had a front-porch kind of goodnight hug and kisses moment before Michael went home for the night.  I really wanted to keep him for a sofa sleepover, but had work to do too; and didn’t think that I’d get that done if he stayed.  It would be nice to say that we’d be too busy having a make-out session instead, but it’s much more likely that we’d have simply fallen asleep instead.  That would be nice too, but the work needed to be done; so that’s what I did once I was ready for bed and tucked in with Mandy and my computer.

Exhaustion has been a problem since then, but I still used a time phase when I had even more work than expected waiting for me via email.  I won’t bore you with the details, but I did get everything done, and once I’ve finished this report; it’ll be time to crash and nap until morning.

While I didn’t mention it yet, Aunt Grace and Faith are home tonight, and while that’s mostly thanks to Uncle Adam and Mom helping them out a bit; nobody else will know that – or find out just how much Aunt Grace was helped with recovering from a tough delivery.  I’ll keep you posted on how they’re doing, but they are both very healthy; and we’ll have to wait and see whether Faith is one of those good, quiet babies; or she’ll want to party all night with her Mommy and Daddy.  I hope to get to spend some time with her over these next few weeks, but I won’t hold my breath of that; since I am going to be very busy as we head back to school next week.

Before I go, though, I’d better mention that Faith’s birth means that we’ll have the family home for the holiday weekend.  That’s a change in plans for the Rice clan, but this will be their best chance to see her before Thanksgiving, and while Violet and Chris can’t be here too; we’ll have the rest of them here.  Aunt Grace’s family will be coming too, and I expect that Grandma Mercy and Grandpa Duncan will come here early.  I’ll keep you posted on that too; and I expect those plans will be nailed down by sometime tomorrow – especially since Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace will not be allowed to have a house full of guests while dealing with their new baby.  We have room at the other family houses, though, so it won’t be a problem.

Okay, I’ve had enough fun for tonight.  There is sure to be more babysitting for me tomorrow, and with cheerleading, marching band, and teen praise team practices too; I’ll need all of the sleep I can get.  It’s been a fun, sometimes crazy ride today; and I’m sure we’ll have more of the same for at least the rest of this week now.  That might mean I’ll be tired a lot too, but it’ll all be fun; and I’m looking forward to everything – even if my vision is a bit blurred right now.  Getting started on my nap will help with that little problem, though; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!