Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden:
We have a lot of news to cover tonight; so let’s begin with the rest of the story from yesterday and get at it.
The weather wasn’t great for Aiden’s birthday, but while it wasn’t raining after school; it was cool-enough that we decided to stay indoors. Aiden had a co-ed party, and while that wasn’t new or news; we successfully managed to change things up by avoiding a major video gaming session that excluded the girls. Naomi, Ehlana, and the rest of the girls appreciated that; and that helped to off-set our lack of progress when it came to dinnertime and the food games that Miles and Joshua led and that most of the girls didn’t find amusing at all. There was some video gaming last night, but that was an entertainment option on the sidelines while most of us watched movies and enjoyed the mini-concert from Naomi and the Phantoms that included some couples’ dancing for the two ballads that we played along with the faster dance tunes. Those co-ed pairings happened with mixed results; so I’ll only mention that some of the guys in our group of friends need to seriously consider basic dance lessons between now and when ‘real’ dating will begin to happen for them over the next few years! ;^)
Moving along, we should insert the news that Jayden joined us at the party once he got to town with Jaimie and Kaitlyn; so he was also paired up with Jennifer for those slow dances – a fact that annoyed one or two of our friends. We’ll also mention that Jaimie and Kaitlyn were with Micah and Jeremy for the home football game and school dance while Uncle Blaine pretended – or not – to be worried about family history repeating for his girls just as it was a ‘problem’ for Violet. We don’t see how that could be a problem at all when Violet and Dillon are so happy, and while he didn’t grow up here; Uncle Blaine is a lot like his hometown cousins; Aunt Alison likes that part of him quite a lot; and it shouldn’t surprise them that their daughters would want to date guys like Micah and Jeremy.
While Aiden’s Dad needed to head to bed early as usual, the party rolled on until eleven o’clock with parental supervision from his Mom. That gave us lots of time for the band fun and two movies – though some of our friends were picked up by parents before the end of that second show. We got razzed about the four of us being together for the rest of the night, but we didn’t care; and Aiden was happy to wrap up his birthday with the cuddle time with Ehlana and the co-ed sofa sleepover. Jayden and Jennifer might have liked to stay too, but they didn’t; and Jayden didn’t really seem to mind leaving and spending the night with the Everetts. He got teased too, but that was actually directed at Jaimie and Kaitlyn; since Uncle Blaine couldn’t approve a co-ed sleepover for his son while denying the same to his teen daughters.
We wrapped up our night with one more Halloween show to go along with the party recap chat and cuddle time; and then we crashed into nap mode by one o’clock. That didn’t leave us much time to sleep, but we didn’t have anyone in the house by breakfast time; so a bit of Magi-powered healing was an option for our friends – along with our self-healing for Ehlana and me. Yes, we haven’t mentioned it in our own journals yet, but Mom is allowing us limited use of our own wards now without parental supervision. That works for us; and will come in handy now and then when we need to do something and don’t have Mom or Dad available to help us.
Tai Chi for four was by the river this morning, but very chilly; we added in some hot food to go along with the bakery treats for breakfast; and then we spent the morning doing chores at three homes. The fall clean-up work is pretty much done, but that doesn’t mean no outdoor chores at all; and it took a few hours to get everything done. Mom and Dad had the four of us with them for lunch; we were set free to play for the rest of the day; and filled up our afternoon hours with some biking at the park and a final band practice. Naomi and Aiden were with us – and most of our hometown and visiting family – for dinner; and then it was time for us to head over to Witch Falls Road for the Haunted Halloween Walk and the rest of the Halloween-themed entertainment. Naomi and the Phantoms were one of the first acts to hit the stage tonight because the organizers wanted little-kid-friendly music until nine o’clock. Our set was an hour long; we were a hit again this year; and then we had another hour or so to play games and have fun until it was our turn for the haunted walk. We didn’t have Miranda as our guide this year, but the walk is still awesome regardless of who is leading each group; and we loved the show as much as always.
We came home after the walk – along with most of our cousins and some friends. Kaitlyn and Jeremy were with us and booked to be the early babysitters while Jaimie and Micah stayed out until eleven-thirty and came here in time to help with getting the younger kids into their beds. The parents were all at Sheldon’s Pub for the Halloween party there from ten o’clock until they closed for the night; so our four teen babysitters weren’t bored as they tried to keep us out of trouble for a few hours. Zack and Eli were in fine form and fired up; so that wasn’t an easy task for them. We helped out as much as we could; and the bedtime pizzeria pizza snack that Jaimie and Micah brought home with them was a bribe that worked to get the younger kids to head for their beds with minimal delays. The Halloween movies and cuddle time worked for us too, and while we won’t be having another co-ed sofa sleepover; we’ll survive that disappointment – and don’t really have much time left to sleep now anyway.
Mom and Dad will be home soon; so this update is being written while we’re winding down toward nap time – and pretty much everyone else is sleeping except for the teens in the living room. We don’t really have anything to add from our own news, but before we wrap up; we should mention that Michael, Tim, and their team earned a road win today; and they’re having fun at a Halloween party that their host college football team invited them to attend. Rowen flew there for the weekend too; so she and Cassie are both there too; and we’re sure that they are all enjoying the time away from home – even though they have a lot of work to do along with the travel, football, and play time.
We’ll have more on their weekend news if we hear about anything interesting when we talk with them tomorrow, but that’s all we have for tonight, and we really should get some sleep soon while we still can; so, until next time...
...this is Ethan Proctor and gang; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!
***RESTRICTED NEWS UPDATE ADDITION***
Our break from trouble with Gwyneth Hathorne just came to an end – and she attempted a dual attack against us and against Cassie, Michael, Rowen, and Tim! We still don’t have all of the details from Cassie and Michael, but they were attacked by a gang of Gwyneth’s goons outside of their hotel rooms; a fire was set as a distraction; and they are still dealing with the aftermath after stopping the goons; putting out the fire; and joining the evacuation of the hotel guests and staff.
We got the warming of the danger here shortly before Mom and Dad got home, so we had time to get ready – and warn them. If Gwyneth thought that catching them at the end of a party was a good idea; she probably should have at least found out that they were designated drivers for that party first, but then that wouldn’t have mattered if they weren’t; since our parents would never drink to the point of losing control of their Magi talents. The goons that were sent here tried to use fire on our house too, but couldn’t get it to started; so the rest of their plan fell apart at that point as we used some of our favorite Magi ‘tricks’ to deal with them – including time phasing that allowed us to stop them in moments and before they could do any real damage or hurt anyone. Mom needed to intervene to modify some memories – including for Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and their boyfriends; and then Dad got some help from some of the Magi guys to ‘take out the trash’ by using the goons’ own vehicles to drive them out to the highway and leave them in a nearby empty field. Dad just got back from doing that a little while ago; he and Mom only had the four of us in the office for the post-attacks phone call with Cassie and chat; and now we’re all going to try for a nap before we’ll need to be up and going again in a couple of hours.
We don’t want to minimize the seriousness of these failed attacks, but can’t help but find the entire plan ridiculous. There might be some method to Gwyneth’s madness that we don’t know about yet, but if she actually thought that her plans could succeed when her own direct attacks have failed; then she is more than a bit delusional. On the other side of the attempt, Gwyneth has once again shown her complete lack of humanity by being willing to kill a house full of kids or a hotel full of innocent people, but while we can be appalled by that, she is a Dark Magi Master; and that shouldn’t surprise us at all.
For now, we’ll be grateful that we’ve won another skirmish against Gwyneth’s goons – two fights; and now it’s time to shut down and get started on that nap – so we will.
***END OF RESTRICTED UPDATE***
