Ehlana and Ethan:
Happy 12th Anniversary, Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah!
After Rowen and Tim’s party at Sheldon’s Pub last night, an anniversary celebration kept the fun going today; and we were more-involved this afternoon and at the buffet dinner party at the Inn as we played and had fun with our family and friends. Before we get to those parts of our story; let’s cover the rest of the news from yesterday.
The rain showers that rolled through town off-and-on for a lot of our Saturday kept us close to various homes during the afternoon, but we still had lots of outdoor time to go along with the breaks that needed to be indoors when we need to stay dry. The family-and-friends’ meals were great; ‘our’ team won the co-ed ball game last night; and then our babysitting adventure at Cassie and Michael’s house was a mix of fun and scary thanks to the group of babies and toddlers that we took care of while the adults were at the pub for Rowen and Tim’s party. While we could entertain you for a while with every cameo moment from our time with the kids; let’s only include a few highlights.
For Naomi, her personal babysitting highlight followed a couple of low moments for Ethan because he didn’t bring enough clothes to deal with getting barfed on twice! He borrowed an over-sized outfit from Michael while waiting for a load of wash to be run, but they had some transition fun that kept Naomi smiling for hours; and we don’t need to write about what they might have been doing while Ethan got cleaned up and Aiden and I were busy with the kids until they could help us again. There were advantages to caring for the youngest group of kids last night, since there wasn’t any drama, pranks, or the kind of games that Zack and Eli enjoy, but we traded that off with bottle feedings, diaper issues, and those messy problems that Ethan was the only babysitter to get hit by while the rest of us managed to avoid getting slimed.
Cassie and Michael needed to help out with the pub party to the end – including being two of the designated drivers, but more than half of the kids we were watching were picked up by parents or other adults by one o’clock; and the rest stayed with us for the night. We managed some co-ed nap time, but took turns at that too; since we also took care of all of the late-night feedings through to this morning. We had help with the kids while outdoors for Tai Chi by the river this morning; we helped with the breakfast work and getting the kids ready for church; and then the service and Sunday school time allowed us to have a break that we were definitely ready for by then. The Ayres’ home was party central for lunch and our family-and-friends’ play afternoon, and while we kept busy playing with our cousins and friends; we also took turns with kid-control and some work around lunch and with keeping snacks and drinks supplied to everyone. We went to the late buffet so that nearly-everyone could attend the dinner part of the party; and we were on kid-control duty again while some of our favorite adults helped out with roasting our aunt and uncle. Leah and Sebastian are away from home tonight while their parents get another kid-free night ‘gift’ to wrap up their special day; and no details will be provided for those stories either!
Ethan and I came home with Mom and Dad from the Inn without any overnight guests, and while that feels a bit weird; it is nice to have the quiet time; and we wanted to get some work done on family business and charity projects – along with a Magi lesson with Mom. We haven’t been doing enough of either lately, but that won’t change until after the wedding; and then we’ll try to do better in August while Cassie and Michael are away. Sure, that might sound better if we could actually say that we’ve been spending too much time with them over the past few weeks, but we don’t need to let facts get in the way of a narrative that won’t likely end up happening the way we might like anyway when playing and having fun while on our summer break sounds so much better than hours of work every day.
Dad needed to get a fair bit of work done tonight, so we used some time-phasing while keeping busy for the equivalent of a handful of hours; and we got a lot done too – including the Magi lesson with Mom. Bath or Jacuzzi time followed that work; and now Ethan and I are winding down toward nap time with a lengthy round of bedtime computing and our usual twin chat wrap-up. I really don’t want to get into any world news commentary after such a happy weekend regardless of the serious temptation to offer up another rant; so I won’t go there and Ethan really appreciates my choice to not go there tonight. We have already had a very long day without a lot of sleep last night; so that’s another good reason for us to call it a night soon – and avoid too-much honesty that might go along with a late-night commentary related to political idiocies that continue to mess up our world and cause so much pain and damage to the people most-affected by pointless wars and other human-instigated disasters.
Okay, I really need to stop now before I go where no rant should go tonight – especially when we really want to stay happy as we count down the final days to Rowen and Tim’s wedding. Stay tuned for all of those happy stories and adventures; and we’ll call it a night and get some sleep starting right now!
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
