Heirs of the Magi News Flash!

***Heirs of the Magi News Flash!*** The first half of fall feels as though it is over as we move on from the annual fall festival, and that feels like a transition as some of our favorite grandparents head south for the winter; and Cassie and Michael head out on their fall work trip. Whether our adventures are at home or elsewhere, we are going to have a lot of fun through Halloween and on to Thanksgiving. We expect a few surprises to go along with everything we already have on our collective schedules, and hope that you will enjoy all of those stories; so... ...Visit Witch Falls often to keep up with all of our latest adventures; and happy reading!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Cassie's Journal - June 5, 2012

Family business and computer store work was mostly suspended today so that Rowen and I could study with some of our classmates after school today; though I did get some work done tonight after coming up to bed.

One thing that I should note, and which I spent some time writing about tonight in our Magi project journal, is my observations over the past two days of the Magi, latent, and non-Magi students – particularly among the teens. This is the first round of final exams and tests I’ve gone through since being able to tell the difference between the three groups, and knowing who all of the Magi kids and teens are; so it’s been way more interesting to watch that than my sixth-grade tests have been.

Without being able to talk with any of the other kids and teens about it, I can’t be sure about whether there are other factors affecting them, but when looked at in groups, there are definite, observable differences with how the students are acting and working this week. I think I’ll ask Mr. Palmer if I can get the test results – or better yet, copies of all of the completed tests – to use for our Magi project. I already know that not all Magi kids are top students in their respective classes, though you’d think that we all should be considering our advantages; and I’d love to find out why. There are so many factors to consider that getting to the bottom of that answer could prove to be a real challenge.

Depending on who is reading this, that may sound very boring, so for your benefit, I’ll direct those who are interested in the subject over to the Magi Project archive; though I should warn you that Uncle Adam has recently been writing about Magi puberty for both boys and girls, so be afraid – very afraid! (Yes, I am and will continue to be part of that study; which is weird, but I’ll keep telling myself that Ehlana – and any future Magi Master girls – will appreciate. That thought keeps me from running and hiding every time Uncle Adam wants to question me, or when he and Mom use me as the guinea pig during our Magi Healing lessons.

That seems like a very good point to stop at and move on.

Our Real Estate Rovers practice was fun tonight, and Rowen and I both think that we’re ready for the game on Saturday. Writing about baseball after commenting on Magi education and physiology seems funny to me; but from an eleven-year old Magi Master’s perspective, the baseball is just as – or more – important. That does give me a good idea for another section in our Magi Project archive – a sports and games section! We should definitely study how well the Magi play with the other kids. None of us can use our full abilities in any games or sports, but there’s still a big difference between, for instance, how Mom and Dad play games compared to Aunt Leanne and me. I know that we can’t do it, but you have to admit that Magi-powered baseball games would be seriously cool to play and watch!

I was fairly dusty after practice, so my bath time came before Ethan and Ehlana’s. We did do story and snack time together with Mom and Dad, and then we all went to bed early. That’s why I’m already doing this, and it’s barely past midnight. The family business work that I needed to get done is out of the way; I’ve done two half-hour chats in two different languages; and read two novels in those same two languages. The email updates were light, and the entertainment and news check didn’t take long either. That’s all the news I have for tonight, and I’m ready to get some rest now, so...

...live from Witch Falls; this is Cassie Proctor, signing off!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Cassie's Journal - June 4, 2012

We’ve had a beautiful, hot, sunny day that’s mostly been wasted while we were at school; and then studying for our next tests. Rowen and I did take our computers over to the park so we could at least be outside. Some of our classmates had the same idea, so we studied together, and had fun doing that; but we’d have all rather been playing, canoeing, biking, or nearly anything else except work or chores.

Mom had a healing lesson for Uncle Adam and me after dinner, and then we had a little impromptu meeting in the office to talk about family business issues; the Magi project; and the latest with our future plans. With Violet coming to spend the summer with us in two weeks, and now that she and Dillon have just one year left before college, one of the next priorities that will mostly be up to Uncle Adam and Mom is to nudge both of them into getting the education they’ll need for the jobs we see them doing. There were some issues to discuss with the timing for the start of the infrastructure projects we’ll need to start later this year to be ready to build the housing we’ll need; and we also made a few decisions on approaching a few people about jobs that are either for one of the construction projects or the family business.

I came up to my room after that wrapped up and we put Ethan and Ehlana to bed, but have been working on my computer since getting changed and snuggling with Mandy. There were some test and exam related email updates waiting for me from Dawn and Violet; a funny note from Mark; and a ‘mind my own business’ request from Grace that I have every intention of ignoring. This is one instance where the kid actually does know best!

My language studying is coming right along, and I still plan on mostly taking the summer off from that. I spent an hour working in the archives, and once I get this journal entry done, I’m going to get some sleep. Nine more school days – eight and a half if you count the nearly half-day off a week from Friday, and seven and a half if you don’t count the play day next Thursday. There are still eleven sleeps until summer holidays, and I’m ready to get one of them started right now, so...

...live from Witch Falls; this is Cassie Proctor, signing off!

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Cassie's Journal - June 3, 2012

Rowen and I do like studying on our own when we can, mostly so we don’t have to play at normal sixth-grader; we had fun this afternoon studying with some of our classmates too.

Gretchen and Sally both stayed with us after church; and we had Lily and Karla come over to my house after lunch. Since Gretchen and Sally lived on farms, Rowen and I didn’t get to hang out with them much outside of school or church, so it was nice to spend the afternoon with them – even if we were studying for our tests. We didn’t hang out much with Lily or Karla because they were usually with the other crossed-over girls and in too-close proximity to the guys they all liked to keep a close watch over; but they were looking for some study help from the best students in our class, and willing to take a few hours off from their usual boy-watching to do that with us.

The lounge was study central, and we worked for nearly four hours; with Rowen and I splitting our time and subject with our friends to cover more ground. Talking about summer vacation was fun – except for when Lily and Karla wanted to talk about that in relation to boys and potential boyfriends. Rowen usually just stays quiet during those boy-chats, and I should probably follow her lead on that, since the peer pressure has definitely turned against those of us who haven’t gotten with this part of the growing up program; and my opinions on pre-teen boys does not help my popularity with girls like Lily and Karla.

Anyway, we did have a good afternoon, and after wrapping up our study session and going with Dad to take Gretchen and Sally home, Rowen and I had a bit of time to play until dinnertime, and we took Ethan and Ehlana with us up to the lounge, since we’d been getting rain off and on all day and it was too wet to play at the park. They were happy to just have the two of us there so they didn’t have to play normal baby like they’d mostly been doing since going to church this morning. We listened to music; they played on their iPads; and we had a nice, long, telepathic chat until Rowen needed to head home.

It’s been a quiet night since then, and other than helping out with the dinner cleanup, I’ve mostly just been playing with Mom and the twins. We did a Magi lesson together; Ethan and Ehlana did the full bath and bedtime routine; and after putting them to bed, Mom and I spent some time in our Jacuzzis too. I’ve been on the computer since climbing into bed with Mandy, but it’s time to pack up and call it a night. There are likely lots of teens in town still up studying for their first exams in the morning, but I’m actually skipping some work so I can get a solid eight hours or so tonight, so...

...live from Witch Falls; this is Cassie Proctor, signing off!

Cassie's Journal - June 2, 2012

For a yard work day, we managed to have quite a bit of fun.

Tai Chi by the river always makes for a good start, and pancakes and bacon for breakfast was a nice bonus. While I waited for the grass to dry enough for cutting this morning, I worked on the porches, sidewalks, driveway, and paths; sweeping, raking, and cleaning as needed. I had the grass cut by lunchtime, and then Dad and I spent a couple of hours after lunch washing the van and truck; doing a bit of work on the dock; and minor repairs to one canoe and three bikes. Rowen and I had some play time at the park after that, and we ended up having dinner at her house before going back to the park again for our babysitting and cheerleading jobs.

We had Ethan, Ehlana, and Naomi with us for Ayres’ Arrows first game of the season, and while we did have the cute baby and toddler market wrapped up; Carolyn Landry had brought her own cheerleading squad along to support her parents, aunt, uncle, and the entire Landry’s Lasers team. That gave Landry’s the cooler team name; a group of thirteen and fourteen year-old cheerleaders; more fans that included a not-so-surprising contingent of twelve to fifteen-year old boys; and they had some pretty good players too.

Rowen and I were a bit disappointed when Rebecca and Jenny joined Carolyn’s cheerleaders after getting done at the Inn, but they were all on the same ball team again this year too, and spent more time with the older girls than they did with us anyway. Michael had come to the park with them, and ended up hanging out with Tim Landry and the other guys on that side of the diamond. I won’t comment on whether they were there to support Tim’s parents or to watch the girls; but they were both at Allen’s party, and may have crossed over since the last time we saw them at school yesterday.

Though we did our best to cheer our team on, Landry’s Lasers kept a lead from the second inning on; and won the game fourteen to nine without needing to play the bottom of the seventh inning. Mom and Dad were going out to Sheldon’s Pub after the game, and Ethan, Ehlana, and I had Alicia babysitting us while they were out. She met up with us while we were still at the park, and after getting home; she and I took care of Ethan and Ehlana’s bath time while Mom and Dad were getting changed and ready to go out. The twins were ready for bedtime snacks and stories by the time Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam stopped by to collect Mom and Dad, so there was a lengthy round of goodnight hugs and kisses before Alicia and I did that with Ethan and Ehlana. We put them to bed after that, and then watched a movie in the living room before I came up to my room and got ready for bed too.

It’s after midnight, and Alicia will likely be back up here to check in on me soon; so I’ve kept the computing work to a minimum. Rowen and I are doing a study afternoon with some of the other kids in class, and I should get some sleep anyway, so...

...live from Witch Falls; this is Cassie Proctor, signing off!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Cassie's Journal - June 1, 2012

Tonight’s journal entry is partly to welcome in the first day of June (though it’s currently now the second as of an hour or so ago); and partly to report another first for our Grade Six class.

The first is a guy-girl birthday party being thrown for one of the guys. Rowen and I were again happy to be excluded from the guest list, but we are quickly running out of classmates that haven’t crossed over now; or are at least pretending that they have. Despite the mounting odds against us, though, we are still determined to stay where we are on the sane side of that line!

There isn’t much else going on around town. June hasn’t exactly started out summer-like, but warmer weather is supposed to be back again by tomorrow – just in time for a yard work day. While the majority of our classmates were at Allen’s party, Rowen and I did a bit of after-school studying for our tests next week, then mostly played for the rest of the night – except for a dinner break at my house – until we split up and went home at around nine.

I was home in time for Ethan and Ehlana’s bedtime snack and story time, and followed that up with some Jacuzzi action before cuddling in bed with Mandy and getting some work done on my computer. As I mentioned, we do have a yard work day coming up, and it’s closer to one-thirty than one now, so...

...live from Witch Falls; this is Cassie Proctor, signing off and getting some sleep!