Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - May 11, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 2^nd Anniversary, Jimmy and Emma Sheldon!

The weather was too-nice today for indoor work at the lab or anywhere else – at least for the teens and kids that could get away with that choice; so we opted for the biking and outdoor fun after school; we had a barbeque dinner with Mom and Dad; and then our evening adventures highlight was our baseball practices.  We had fun with all of that outdoor play time; and then we did some office work and a Magi lesson with Mom after getting home from the park again at dusk.  Our academic adventures were pretty good today too with some bonus outdoor time, but nothing happened that was particularly-newsworthy.  The work in the office tonight included both family business and charity projects, and since we couldn’t do much of that work in a time phase; we’ve stayed up later than usual too.

We also did a vid-chat with Cassie and Michael while they were driving from Boston to New York City.  They had a busy, interesting, and productive day in Boston that rolled on into the evening; and they are still on the road as we’re writing this update.  We are all going to be a bit cautious while they are in the New York area and so close to the Hathornes; and can only hope that Gwyneth will stay away from them.

We aren’t going to spend too-much time thinking about that tonight.  After the office work, Ethan and I needed bath or Jacuzzi time; and now we’re winding down fast with the usual computer checks and twin chat.  The world news includes reports of a full resumption of the fighting and bombings in the Ukraine war.  There hasn’t been resumption in the attacks in the Middle East yet, but options for doing that are being discussed while peace proposals are being rejected.  This isn’t news to us, since the cycles are just continuing between hope and disappointment; and there are people out there making – or losing – money on every sentiment or news-driven market swing.  The problems aren’t being solved, though, and the damages being done continue to be horrendous on the frontlines and economically-devastating for the rest of the world.

That’s also all we’re going to cover tonight because it is late and we need to get some sleep – starting right now.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - May 10, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy Mother’s Day to all of our favorite mothers!

Happy 2^nd Birthday, Clarissa Norton!

Happy 26^th Birthday, Nora Roberts!

Our day started with Tai Chi by the river; Ethan and I took care of Mom’s special breakfast cooking and cleaning; and then the church service and Sunday school were focused on mothers too – including the help we gave to the kids making crafts for their Moms.  There were flowers for the mothers and some special music too; and that’s also why the service was actually a bit longer than normal including the extra social time that followed the service.  We hurried home to help with the family barbeque lunch – though the stop at home was to pick up our contributions for that meal because Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne were hosting.  We helped with the cooking and set-up; took care of kid control while we ate; and then we were set free to continue keeping the kids entertained while the adult guys took care of the clean-up and the Moms enjoyed the break.

We pretty much played all afternoon with some canoeing, biking, and park play.  There weren’t any specific moments of our afternoon, but we had a lot of fun; and we were happy to have the time with our family and friends.  Ethan and I needed to get cleaned up in time for the late buffet dinner at the Inn; we got back together with Naomi, Aiden, Sophia, and Aaron when we went to the Inn; and ended up having that meal together – and at Clarissa’s birthday dinner because Sophia and Aaron had been invited to that party for her next-gen cousin.

That’s why we also got in on Clarissa’s birthday vid-chat with Cassie and Michael.  They’re in Boston for two days; did more sightseeing than work today; and are really enjoying the east coast culinary adventures along with the rest of the sightseeing.  Clarissa has had a good day, but she also ran out of steam before the end of the dinner and fell asleep after only a few bites of her cake.  Rebecca was at the Inn for the dinner, but went back to the Pizzeria when Lucas took their kids home.  We headed home soon after that too; did some work in the office and a Magi lesson with Mom; and now we’re getting ready for bed with the usual twin chat and computer checks.

There really isn’t any major world news to write about tonight.  Talk of peace in either of the top two wars seem to be in ‘off’ mode tonight; the fighting is sure to resume in Ukraine as the one-sided ceasefire ends; and the positions on both sides of the Iran war are hardening with more talk about surrendering than working out any true end to the war.  The economic fallout continues; and maybe the most-interesting story of the day is the contining efforts to control the markets.  There are so many instances of profiteering from the market swings that it is becoming impossible to ignore that profits are being made with inside information.  Some low-hanging fruit might get into trouble, but we are sure that the ultra-wealthy will get away with those trades.

That’s enough for tonight.  We’ve had an awesome day; Mom is happy and still having fun that we are not going to write about tonight or ever; and now we need to get some sleep to be ready for our coming school week.  Stay tuned for those stories; and we’ll get started on that nap time right now.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - May 9, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 1^st Birthday, Elle Spencer!

Happy 6^th Birthday, Gregory Denninger!

This has been a busy chores day for us, and we didn’t have any birthday-level fun, but we did get a lot done; and followed the work up with a quiet evening.  We aren’t doing any co-ed sleepovers tonight because we all wanted to be home for Mother’s Day breakfasts at our own homes.  The chores were at multiple homes and cottages; Naomi and Aiden worked with us some of the time – including at their homes; and we had lunch with them at our house during our longest break of the day.  We also wrapped up our work this afternoon with a very short hop in the lake to cool off, but the water is still cold; so that was really more about saying we did it than in actually expecting to enjoy the swim time.  Ethan and I eventually moved on to have dinner with Mom and Dad; and then our evening has been quiet and uneventful.

That actually worked for us, since we were up late last night with our friends; and we’re ready to catch up on our sleep tonight.  While today hasn’t been newsworthy; we did have a lot of fun last night.  The biking with friends and cousins was good and we opted for a ride on the southern trail before heading home in time for the barbeque that Mom and Dad hosted.  Our grandparents were unofficial guests of honor, and while Grandpa doesn’t have any actual big fish stories anymore; he did lead the dinner entertainment with stories from their winter in the sunny south.  We helped with some next-gen kids during the meal too; took care of the clean-up because we didn’t help with the cooking; and then we ended up hosting video gaming in the lounge while a movie was watched in the living room with most of the adults and half of the kids.  Most of the guests headed home at around ten-thirty; Naomi and Aiden stayed for the night and we enjoyed another movie, quality co-ed cuddle time, and lots of teen chat entertainment.  We should mention that Sophia and Aaron had been invited too, but they’d had other family plans last night; and couldn’t hang out with us too.  We did eventually get some sleep for a handful of hours; and then we started today with Tai Chi by the river and a hot breakfast before getting started on those chores.

While we’ve had a busy work day, Cassie and Michael were busy in Albany, New York with a mix of charity and political meetings and events.  They really do not like the political attention or interaction, but it is sometimes necessary; and Cassie did not need to introduce any of those politicians to her Ninja Girl secret identity!  They enjoyed the charity work more; and their afternoon adventures included a charity event for special-needs kids and their families.  They told us all about that event while on a vid-chat with us during their drive from Albany to Boston that they are still doing now; and they are very happy; and will be staying in Boston until Monday evening so that they can rest up a bit.

That brings us to the world news update.  President Trump has kept busy with his interviews and social media commentary; and that hasn’t been in any good ways over the past day.  He claimed some credit for the Russian Victory Day ceasefire without any reason to believe he was involved at all; Ukrainian leaders did not agree to the ceasefire; and Russia has already reported more than nine-thousand ceasefire violations by the Ukrainian military.  Russia will wait, but we are sure that when the three-day break ends; they will retaliate as promised.

As for the Middle East, President Trump’s ugliest statement of the past day was declaring that Iran would become a ‘big glow’ if that ceasefire is violated – something that he already did with his supposed ‘love tap’ against Iran just days ago.

The economic stresses continue to build every day, but it isn’t easy to predict exactly where the cracks in supply chains will open up first.  Yes, we can see fractures happening all over the world, but it will be the stresses that build the longest that will lead to the largest explosions.  That can happen in a lot of different ways – not just through physical supplies or commodities.  Humans are volatile; and desperate people can become very dangerous in groups.  That is a risk that most leaders aren’t thinking about seriously – or if they are; they don’t care.

That’s enough for tonight.  Ethan and I need to get some sleep now; since we definitely want to be ready to celebrate Mother’s Day with Mom – and all of our favorite mothers; and we hope that they will all get to have an amazing day!  Stay tuned; and we’ll have all of that news and more for you with our weekend wrap-up report!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - May 8, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

It is Friday and we’re done school for the week; so it’s time to get out there and started on our weekend adventures!  Mom and Dad are going to host a family-and-friends’ dinner and movie and we’re going to follow that up with a co-ed sleepover with Naomi and Aiden; so this update will be short and early because we’re heading out for some biking on the trails in a few minutes.

We want to mention that Cassie and Michael have been working in Syracuse today and will drive on to Albany tonight.  Their work will be very different in the State Capital; they will be dealing with some politics tomorrow; and we’ll hope that Cassie can manage to play nice while around the political sharks.  There are sure to be jokes about that at the dinner tonight; since Cassie does have a history of claiming that she would not put up with any nonsense and wouldn’t be able to work with politicians the way Serena does in Washington – though she hasn’t ever actually done anything to the politicians she has met with so far since graduating!  We’ll let you know if that changes tomorrow, but we need to move on; so let’s wrap this up.

Our day so far has been good.  Tai Chi was by the river; we had a hot breakfast; and then our academic adventures were good but uneventful.  We had some rain early this afternoon, but that has moved on and the weather is very nice now with some hints of sun and it has warmed up into the low-seventies.  Some of the trails might be a bit too wet to ride on now, but we can always head north or south out of town instead of the more-challenging park trails; and we’ll have fun with our friends and cousins with whatever we end up doing.  We really do need to meet up with our friends now; so that’s all for this update.  We’ll take a break from the world news nonsense, but stay tuned for those updates; since this could be another challenging weekend for both of the top wars – along with the rest of the growing problems of the world.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - May 7, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 15^th Anniversary, Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne!

Happy 1^st Birthday, Pauline Sparks!

Our top news of the day is that anniversary; and we helped with the dinner party that Mom and Dad hosted four our aunt and uncle.  We helped with the younger kids during dinner too while the adults in the room had fun with the anniversary roasting.  The meal included a special contribution from Jacob and Miranda along with the food that we helped Mom and Grandma to cook; and there was a special bakery cake for dessert too.  We spent some time in the dining room when needed for some of the party fun, but spent most of the meal time in the sunroom with the kids and teens.  Many of us went to the Inn for game night; and had fun there too for another couple of hours.

Cassie and Michael couldn’t be with us today, but did a vid-chat with all of us during dinner.  They were still in Buffalo, and still had an early-evening charity event to attend, but they are now in-transit to Syracuse, New York.  Their Buffalo stop was similar to Detroit for content; since proximity to border crossings with Canada make for great locations for transportation hubs and supply chain nodes.

We’ve skipped over our academic adventures, but there isn’t much news to write about for that – or the rest of the usual cameo moments of our day from Tai Chi to getting ready for bed after we got home from the Inn.  That brings us to the last task for this update – the world news report.

The Iran war may have resumed today, and while President Trump called the strikes on Iran a ‘love tap’ instead of an attack; Iran does not agree and will likely retaliate.  Claims from both sides are a challenge to verify, but the fact that they are shooting at each other again strongly suggests that the conflict is heating up and Iran should definitely not trust ‘our’ leaders.  The ceasefire extension was only confirmed days ago; and it seems clear that this latest exchange started from our navy.

As for the Ukraine war, the Russian Victory Day ceasefire has gone into effect tonight; and we’ll wait to see whether Ukraine honors it at all; since they haven’t officially agreed to it.  Russia’s overt warning that Kiev will be a retaliatory target if the ceasefire is breached probably won’t deter Ukraine’s leaders, but they should take the ceasefire break if for no other reason than that they should give their troops a chance to rest and recover even if that is only for a few days.

That’s enough for tonight.  We need to get some sleep and we want to stay happy while doing that; so we are out of here and off to dreamland as soon as we can get there.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!