Ethan and Ehlana:
We’re getting ready to head over to Cassie and Michael’s house for the rest of the day – and help them out with a kid night with a small gang of younger cousins and friends; so we need to make this quick and get back to the fun again.
Starting from yesterday, Ehlana and I had fun with the brunch at home that Cassie and Michael joined us – and Mom and Dad – for; and that we kept light so that we’d all be ready for major dinners by mid-afternoon. We all split up after that – though we helped with taking loads of food to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s along the way to Naomi’s house for me and Aiden’s place for Ehlana. We still spent some time together because Naomi and I took her cousins to the park to play at around noon; Aiden and Ehlana did the same – though in their case; the cousins were all local; and half of them were older. Cassie and Michael were there too, but we only had cameo moments with them; since they were busy with next-gen kids and some of their parents.
Naomi and I were kept busy with her cousins for the Thanksgiving dinner after we got home; had a blast; and the food was awesome too! I won’t pretend that the clean-up wasn’t a lot of work, but we had fun too; and then it was back to entertaining the kids in the house – and some of the adults too; since Naomi and I were drafted for some musical entertainment. Naomi’s family stayed together until late in the evening; we eventually tired out the kids in the house; and then I ended up staying for the night because we actually fell asleep on a sofa in the family room without doing that on purpose for a change! ;^)
Ehlana’s Thanksgiving was a bit different, but that was mostly because Aiden’s parents needed to have an early night ahead of the Black Friday shopping day at the bakery. Their dinner was bigger with both the Draper and Reynolds clans in the house, but they had more help for the clean-up too; and then their evening was quieter because their guests headed out by early-evening. Ehlana still stayed for the night; and they definitely didn’t have an accidental sofa sleepover!
Since Aiden’s parents were at work early this morning, Ehlana didn’t have any trouble talking him – and Hailey – into going to the breakfast buffet at the Inn ahead of the shopping adventure. Naomi’s parents did the same with everyone in their house too before my future mother-in-law needed to get to the salon; and that was a popular choice for the hometown Proctors and most of the Johnson clan – though they didn’t all get to the Inn at the same time. I should mention that Naomi and I met up with Ehlana and Aiden for Tai Chi by the river that was sub-freezing and frosty; so we really enjoyed the hot food options for breakfast.
The shopping took all morning, and while the girls had a lot more fun; even the guys have more fun now that we have the Galleria and added food options for snack breaks. We ended up with a small gang of cousins and friends while making our way around town, and while we split up now and then when the girls didn’t need us along for some of the stops; some highlights included all of the Galleria stores; we found out that our Christmas album sales are number one today for local artists at Spinners and the studio; and we even managed a bit of Christmas-gift shopping along with the personal purchases that were mostly to take advantage of the sales and discounts.
The parents didn’t try to keep everyone together for lunch. Naomi’s Dad decided to go with Pizzeria pizza for the gang he needed to feed at home; and that’s entirely why he had added kid and tween guests that included Ehlana, Aiden, and Zack. We won’t scare you with that story; so just be glad that you weren’t there – if that could have been an option for anyone reading this journal in the future! Aiden and I helped with the pizza pick-up and delivery; all tweens were on-duty for kid control during the meal; and we only failed in that we had a bigger clean-up to deal with after Zack and Eli were finished with their food games. After that blast of work and mess, it was time to go out and play for a couple of hours. It didn’t warm up much today – and basically stayed near-freezing for the wind-chill, but that didn’t keep us from bundling up and heading to the park again for some fresh air. Some of the gang wanted to bike and we helped to make that happen, but we stayed on-foot today; mostly hung out at the playground or at the football field; and the one difference from previous years is that Aiden and I were among the football players for one of the scrimmages. No, we were not up against Lee and Kyle Landry – they played in a different game with adults and teens, but I did get teased about how far I’ve come since back when Michael, Tim, and Kyle would carry me around for ‘special plays’ when I was a toddler! There was a bit of that with a couple of the next-gen kids today, but I wasn’t in on any of that; and will only add that the team that Aiden and I were put on won our scrimmage.
That pretty much brings us up to now. We’ve split up to pack and get ready for our night at Cassie and Michael’s house; and now we need to get over there to help with making dinner for the gang that might include some teens that won’t also be staying the night – depending on how many of the youngest kids want to stay instead of going back to their parents for the night. We’ll have all of those stories for you with the next report, and we really do need to go now; so we’re out of here!
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
