Ethan and Ehlana:
Labor Day has been a mix of fun and work for us. The fun began with a last group Tai Chi workout by the river with Cassie, Michael, and May before they headed back to their townhouse. Breakfast was a busy adventure; and then we headed out to shop for a few hours once the clean-up work was done and we were all ready to go out to play. The shopping was great – especially when we spent time with our favorite collegians; and the Galleria visit was the highlight of those hours.
Sorry, Abby, but the Galleria stores are still new-feeling to us; and Cassie’s girlfriends made those store visits extra-special!
We went to the noon buffet at the Inn; that was the food highlight of our day; and then we really didn’t want to say goodbye to our weekend guests and had no choice but to do that. We were feeling sad as we headed home with Mom and Dad by around three o’clock, but we weren’t bored; since Mom had a long list of chores for us to get started on – and that’s when the real work part of our day got started. We cleaned all of the guest rooms and bathrooms, our own rooms, and helped out with the hours of laundry chores that needed to get done including loads of bedding and towels. Mom went with a snack and leftovers dinner; she did a Magi lesson with us after that – and around the ongoing chores; and we got ready for our first day of school before hitting the tub or Jacuzzi to get cleaned up and ready for bed.
Now we’re pretty much ready to nap now, but before we go there; let’s cover some of the family stories and news that we haven’t mentioned so far this weekend.
First up, while we weren’t as-involved with the young, married couples this weekend, our youngest cousins got a lot of attention from our collective grandparents and parents; and pregnant women continue to be a big part of our family holidays as ‘pandemic parents’ continue to grow their families – literally! Violet is one of our current, favorite mothers-to-be; and she is very happy to be down to somewhere around her last month; since she’s due in early-October. Violet and Dillon wanted to have their kids close together in age; so they like the fact that Ryan will only be about sixteen months older than his baby sister. Violet had a lot of help with Ryan this weekend, but the heat was tough on her; and she was ready for a nap by the time Dillon took her home this afternoon.
Jen Wingborough is being included with our family moms-to-be through Stephanie – though the Pizzeria connection is more-personal to us! She’s wrapping up her second trimester, so her holiday weekend was a bit easier than Violet’s – even with the Pizzeria work, and Jen is mostly having fun with being pregnant – not really a surprise when she tries to have fun with everything else too! While we’re thinking about the Pizzeria, Rebecca has not joined the moms-to-be club again yet, but her little boy was very popular this weekend; and that included Cassie and Michael taking some turns with caring for their nephew and playing with him.
Moving along to the Johnson clan for a while, we’ll pick Christina for our first mom-to-be in their family. Her happy news was still fairly-new for her family, so she had a lot of fun with her visiting sisters and cousins. She’s dealing with some morning sickness issues, but that didn’t get in the way of most of the family fun; and she is really happy. We’re jumping around a bit, but Lynn – and Mitch – Bassett are part of Josiah and Christina’s closest group of friends, and Lynn is also one of our moms-to-be. They’ll have a December baby along with Jen; and we smile every time that we think about their kids growing up as best friends! ;^)
Getting back to the Johnson clan, let’s stick with the McEwans. Michelle is due in January; she’s about half-way through her second pregnancy; and plans on teaching through to the Christmas break before taking time off in the New Year – possibly for the rest of the school year. Jonathan and Savannah didn’t come home for the holiday, but she’s a family mom-to-be too; due in November; and their kids will be close in age to their hometown cousins – and we’ll hope that they actually get to spend some time with their family here as often as possible when they live half a country away. Rounding out the group for the Johnson clan, Nadine and Malcolm will welcome their second child in October; so the next few months are going to be very busy for our families!
We could go on for quite a while with more mention of the rest of our home-town pregnancies, but that’s enough for tonight. This was actually enough to have us thinking about getting official jobs sooner instead of later; since the need for babysitting is going to be much-higher as we head into the fall and winter! Babysitting is sure to be in our future regardless of what we do for part-time jobs; so let’s just move along.
Actually, let’s just wrap this up and call it a night. We’ve had an amazing holiday weekend and summer; we’re about to start our final school year before Cassie and Michael will be coming home to live; and we are really going to have an amazing fall! Okay, one more story from the weekend – Cassie and Michael visited their new home building site – as did most of their college friends at least once over the weekend. The hole in the ground isn’t very impressive yet – except for the size, but the foundation really is coming along well; and it really won’t be long before the floors and walls will be built. We’ll be making regular visits as that happens; so expect regular updates!
That’s definitely enough for tonight, so that’s all for this update; and we’re out of here and off to our beds.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
