Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 38th Birthday, Liz Seager!
We’ve had a fun day that included hanging out with Naomi and her family from after church through when we took custody of Naomi and Aiden after the birthday dinner buffet at the Inn. It didn’t get all that warm out today, so we played indoors this afternoon – after cooking lunch for Naomi’s Mom with some help from her Dad; and our birthday adventures included games and an afternoon movie. Liz enjoyed a birthday breakfast in bed this morning and extra attention while we were at church; so the family-and-friends dinner party at the Inn was the most-recent blast of fun for her; and we won’t write about what she might be doing with her kid-free night gift while her daughter is here and her son is with Zack for the night.
We’re currently taking turns getting ready for bed – including bath or Jacuzzi time; and then we’ll be ending out day with a movie and co-ed cuddle time. We still need to finish the friends’ update we’ve been working on for Cassie’s high school friends, and we will get there eventually, but we’ve also been thinking about in-law families today – if in a future sort of way for us; so let’s do that for Michael’s family instead; since most of the members of that group are also friends.
Jake, Stephanie, and Sierra get mentioned in our journals now and then, but we’ll include them again tonight because Stephanie is heading into the final trimester for her pregnancy, and while that hasn’t seemed to slow her down from what we saw of her at the Inn today; her family is making sure that she is taking care of herself and doing well. Mom hasn’t needed to offer much help for Stephanie with the prenatal Magi training, but then that’s really just getting fun for Stephanie now; and she knows what she’s doing with this baby. Jake and Stephanie are always busy, but manage to find some time to have fun with their family and friends now and then too – even when they get babysitting support and get a few hours or night off from Sierra! ;^)
We really don’t want to go there, so let’s move on to Rebecca and Lucas. Rebecca isn’t due until mid-May – about a month behind Stephanie; so her work at the Pizzeria hasn’t really been affected much since her early issues with morning sickness. We should probably stop in for visits to the Pizzeria more-often; since Cassie and Michael would likely appreciate it if we drop off treats for Rebecca when it is quieter at work right now. That actually works for Rebecca and Jen right now; since they can take extra time off – and do that with their husbands; since winter is quieter on the farm and furniture store too – at least between Christmas and Valentine’s Day. We don’t actually see Lucas all that often except on Sundays, but he’s doing well; and doting on Rebecca as any good expecting father should do!
Next up is Michael’s Bassett cousins. Mitch and Lynn are closer friends with Jake, Stephanie, and the rest of their friends; and they’re members of the young parents club too. Jonathan is coming up on a year old; so their kids are sure to be close too. We don’t see Mitch or Lynn very often either, but then we don’t even go to the grocery store very often when we’re in school; since Mom does that shopping while she’s kid-free whenever that works out for her.
Caleb and Erica are closer to Rebecca and Michael – or have been most of the time since they were kids, but while they got married last summer; they’re not in any hurry to join the parents’ club. Erica wants to spend at least a few years building up her physiotherapy clinic business first; and that isn’t a job that she can arrange for local substitutes whenever she does need to be off work. Caleb continues to like his job at the bank, and while being a loans manager in a very small town bank might seem boring; keep in mind that even modest-sized farms often require operational loans; we have a bunch of new small businesses opening this year; and there are always personal loans going on for things like buying homes and other big and small purchases. Caleb is also helping out with family business work; so he can always be as busy as he wants to be!
Jessica is Michael’s favorite cousin, and while we’re no moving on to the ‘kid’ cousins; Jessica is also a high school senior; so she’s going to join the college kids’ club in August. That’s why we didn’t have a mention for her – or Patrick – during our visit to Cassie and Michael – she was busy with getting ready for her mid-terms; and Patrick was doing his own thing on campus while getting ready for the start of his second semester and resuming his sports training. Yes, Patrick is continuing his volleyball career into college sports, but is also getting into some of the indoor court sports like handball and racquetball. His sports won’t ever get the same attention at home as football, but he could help any of the school teams to do better; since he is very talented. Jessica and Patrick don’t seem to be having any major problems with their separation this year. We know that they do lots of video chats, and they’ve met up as often as they can either here or there or somewhere in the middle; and there definitely aren’t any issues with temptations for either of them. There really isn’t much to add for them yet, but there will be; so stay tuned for future updates over the next couple of years.
Ryan has joined Jessica on the high school side of our school, but unlike his big sister, he isn’t really joining the dating club with his friends and classmates. Instead of that, he’s focused on his studies, music, and sports – though that’s a bit of an in-the-closet thing; since he’s just hitting his growth spurt and starting to catch up to the rest of the kids his age. We know why he isn’t really interested in dating right now, and it has only partly been because of his height, but we won’t go into that here; and hope that he finds a way to mix current reality with future hopes and dreams.
Hint intended! ;^)
We spend time with Sophia pretty much every day, so we don’t really even think about her as Michael’s cousin. She is amazing, though, and we love her a lot. As with the rest of our friends, Sophia isn’t in any imminent danger of crossing over, but she is liked by pretty much every guy within a year or two of our age; so her biggest tween problem might prove to be all of the little hearts she’ll break if and when she does choose her match.
That only covers the top-level and hometown cousins for Michael, but that’s more than enough for this report; and we need to wrap this up now anyway. Ehlana is definitely going to take her turn in the Jacuzzi, but I’ll likely opt for a shower; since cuddling with Naomi will be more fun for me than a long soak in the tub.
I am NOT going to include what Ehlana was just thinking about that comment – even if it might not be all that long before I would find that idea very interesting!
It is definitely time to move on now – and for Ehlana to stop laughing at me; so I’m out of here!
Until next time, this little blast from your near or distant past is written for you with love from Ethan and Ehlana Proctor – twin junior Magi Masters of the Light!
