Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - September 30, 2019

Happy 32^nd Birthday, Uncle Nick!

Ethan:

It’s been a sacrifice, but we skipped the after-school lab and archives play time to help out with kid control while the parents were either working or helping out with the birthday dinner work.  We played at the park; biked; and went for a swim before that dinner party at the Ayres’ home and back yard; Naomi and her family were there for her side of Uncle Nick’s family; and Aiden came too – as Ehlana’s date so that he wouldn’t be left out and they could both help us with the younger cousins and kids.  It was a full-time job keeping the kids under control during dinner – especially with Zack and Eli doing their very best to impress the other kids in all of the wrong ways while the adults had fun roasting the birthday guest-of-honor.

The party rolled on after dinner, but only for an hour and a half or so because it’s a school and work night.  Uncle Nick is getting a kid-free night as one of his gifts, but we didn’t get Leah or Sebastian here with us; and we don’t need to write anything about the rest of that story.  Ehlana and I came home with Mom and Dad; we took Silkie for a walk while seeing Ehlana’s ‘date’ – and Naomi – home from the party; and then wrapped up the walk the long way around the river back to our house.  Mom did a Magi lesson with us while Dad did his homework; we did a bit of studying; and now we’re ready to get some sleep because this last day of September has been busy and tiring.

That’s all I have for now; so I’ll move on and get started on that nap.

Ethan – out!

***

Ehlana:

Ethan included that news about my date with Aiden, but he didn’t tease us about that; and Naomi only teased me a little bit because Aiden and I got razzed and teased a bit too-much by Zack, Eli, and one or three of our favorite aunts.  Hailey was also there for the dinner party so that Leah had her best friend with her; so that really was about making sure that Aiden wasn’t left out of the fun.  As for the party news, the girls in the kid group have a different perspective on Zack and Eli’s food fun; and that control Ethan mentioned was more like barely-controlled chaos.  I am not going to rant about that, but at some point in time; Zack is going to have to stop acting like that; since he’s taking his act too far.

Other than the junior prankster annoyances, we’ve had an awesome day and wrap-up to September, but while we were happy to join in on the birthday celebration; the kids were more-interested in talking about the fall festival and Halloween – two topics that will be at the top of the gossip list at school by tomorrow.  That will be part of the fun we’ll get to have through October; so we’re really looking forward to everything we’ll be doing over the next four and a half weeks.

We also need to rest when we can; so I’m going to wrap this up and get some sleep too.

This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live from what is now my past!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - September 29, 2019

Happy 19^th Birthday, Michael!

Ethan:

This isn’t a first birthday for a brother for Ehlana – or Cassie; but it is a first for me; so we had fun with that even though we could only do a video chat with Cassie and Michael this morning at breakfast.  That was fun, and we’d sent gifts for him to open then too, but we wish that we could have spent time with Michael in person.

That wasn’t an option; so the rest of our day has been quiet – at least in comparison to birthday celebration fun.  We had a good morning at church and Sunday school; Mom, Ehlana, and I went to play at the lab or archives this afternoon while Dad worked; we had dinner at home with Grandma and Grandpa because we’re running out of time before they’ll be heading south for the winter after the fall festival; and then we watched a movie together before they headed home and we went upstairs to get started on our bath and bedtime routines.

We only have one more day left in the month, so the transition to the Halloween ‘season’ will likely start tomorrow – at least at school; so our fun level will start kicking up again too.  At least a few of us will hope that this Halloween won’t be quite as exciting as the last one!  We’ll have all of the news highlights from our upcoming fall adventures, but that’s all I have for tonight; so I’m going to wrap this up and get some sleep.

Ethan – out!

***

Ehlana:

I love my Jacuzzi! ;^)

We have had a good day even without the bonus brother-in-law birthday fun.  Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa was the highlight of the day for the grandkids in the group; and it was our turn tonight because Brianna and Zack get them next weekend.  Yes, we’ll spend time with our grandparents over the next couple of weeks, but doing that in groups isn’t the same as having the small-group quality time.  Next in line after the stories from Grandpa and the movie and cuddle time with them on my top fun of the day was the play time at the lab.  Mom split her time between the lab and archives, so Ethan and I both got to have some time with her while Dad got his weekend homework done; and that was really great for all of us.

I’m going to wander off on a side-track here – and it’s because of the mental thoughts that are going along with the fact that I don’t have church and Sunday school at the top of that list – or really any other Sunday report.  On the surface, that might seem hypocritical and wrong for Magi Masters that claim to have a relationship with God on a higher plane that we claim exists but wouldn’t be able to prove to any normal people.  I don’t think that’s true because everything we do, in some way, is part of our commitment to God and our purpose and roles for what we are meant to be and do with our lives.  There can be and is love, joy, and happiness to share whether that’s doing our lowliest of chores or with the most-extreme adventures.  Church, Sunday school, and everything else that is just part of our everyday life might not get much attention in our journals, but we also don’t need to preach to the choir about things that we all experience together anyway, and that likely won’t change for Magi of the Light in the future, but if it does; there are other records in the archives that document the history of our local church and its relationship to our Magi community over the centuries – just as we have records about our faith and world religions dating back to the first Magi.

From that perspective of Millennia of knowledge, dinner-and-a-movie night with our grandparents and parents seems insignificant too, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was one of the best parts of our day; and recording those best moments in our journals is why we do this – though if we ever invent a way to just record all of our memories for posterity instead; then maybe we’ll stop doing written reports. ;^)

Yes, I know that we’ve created photos and other things from memories, so that could technically be done, but doing that for all of our memories isn’t actually an option yet both because of how much time it would take to do that; and because of the technological limitations of our archives computer systems.  It hasn’t even been that long since the digital archives were created; and that was only for creating copies of books, scrolls, and images of artifacts that either were documented by Magi of the past or are treasures we still possess either here or elsewhere in the world.  That’s more than I planned for this little side-trip; so let’s move on.

We don’t have much news from Cassie and Michael tonight, but they did tell us this morning that they were going out for lunch after church; they were studying with their friends this afternoon; and then doing a dinner-for-four tonight and a night in that likely includes information that we won’t need to hear about or know.  The entertainment and adventures they had yesterday were the main birthday fun for Michael – or at least that’s true for the kid-rated fun; and I have no doubt that Cassie will make sure that the fun we won’t talk about with them will help Michael to have a best-ever kind of birthday.

I guess that’s all for now.  We have a busy week ahead; so I’ll get some sleep now; and be ready for what I’m sure will be an awesome last day of September.

This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live from what is now my past!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - September 28, 2019

Happy 7^th Birthday, Valerie!

Ethan:

Mom and Dad had a change of plans surprise for us today.  We worked on chores this morning; got cleaned up; and then hit the road for Crystal Springs and the birthday party that the Malloys were having for Valerie – an afternoon visit to SportsFusion; fast food dinner; and then we went to see ‘Abominable’ at the theater.  Valerie’s having a sleepover with some of her friends, but we headed home after the movie; it’s been a long day; and I’m ready to crash and nap now – so I will.

Ethan – out!

***

Ehlana:

We loved getting to play with the Malloys today while helping to celebrate Valerie’s birthday.  SportsFusion is more-fun as we get old enough to do everything; though Ethan helped out with Marcus a lot; so he didn’t get to do as much as the rest of us.  Fast food dinners are never worth writing about; other than the guilty admission that we like going to those chain restaurants despite knowing that basically nothing on the menu is good for us.

Fortunately, Magi Masters of the Light can heal ourselves; and avoid permanent damage from those foods! ;^)

Moving along, I thought that Abominable was adorable; I’m glad that we got to see it on a big screen instead of at home; and that was an awesome way to wrap up our visit to the city.  Valerie was a bit disappointed that we couldn’t stay for the sleepover, but we have church in the morning and Dad has homework to get done tomorrow after taking today off; so staying the night wasn’t really an option for us anyway.  I should add that Valerie and her friends might have been more-interested in having Ethan stay than me, but let’s not make a big deal of that; or Naomi might not let him go to visit Valerie again – or at least not do that without her going along with us.

The drive home was uneventful; so all that’s left to write about is news from Cassie and Michael.  We have one more family birthday this weekend – Michael will be nineteen tomorrow.  Part of his birthday celebration was today; and included tickets to the college football game.  Being at the game is sure to have Tim thinking about playing for their school team again, but he’s a bit busy with his engineering and mechanic’s classes again this year; so that won’t happen – even if the football coaches might be very interested in mid-season replacements if they knew just how good Michael and Tim really are.  They were going out to dinner tonight too, but we don’t have any details yet; and don’t expect to get any before tomorrow morning because Cassie’s plans for the rest of the night are not kid-rated; and won’t be reported here.

Okay, I’m ready to sleep now too; that’s all I have; and it’s time to cuddle with Silkie and call it a day.

This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live from what is now my past!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - September 27, 2019

Happy 14^th Birthday, Jaimie!

Ethan:

Our involvement in Jaimie’s big day was limited to a breakfast vid-call and the gifts we sent her, but it’s the weekend; so she’s having a party with her friends that has likely been more fun that we’ve had tonight with our dinner and football or movie entertainment.  We have had a good day, though, including our time at school; the biking and park play with our friends after that; and the family and friends evening meal.  The football game was pretty good, and our team won, but it just isn’t the same without Michael and Tim; and I mean that for the excitement level of the game as much as for the personal connections.

I do not have any sleepover guests tonight, but Ehlana has Brianna and Faith with her; and it sounds as though they’ve had fun tonight while choosing the movie over the football game for their evening entertainment.  Ehlana might have more to offer on that, but I don’t have anything to add, and we have a chores day ahead of us; so I’m going to wrap this up and get some sleep.

Ethan – out!

***

Ehlana:

Brianna and Faith are asleep; they’ve tired me out; and I don’t really have anything newsworthy to add for this report – so I’ll call it a night and get some rest too.

This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live from what is now my past!