Cassie's Journal - Sept. 24, 2011

Morning exercise is always more fun when we’re all together, and Dad cooked up the full country breakfast for Mom, me, and Rowen while we took care of Ethan and Ehlana; and got ready for a yard work day. (Store work for Rowen) That made for a fun start to the day, but then the next few hours was all work and not really very much fun.

Ethan and Ehlana had offered to help us, but for some reason, Mom and Dad wouldn’t let us use our telekinesis for the yard work. Mom and Alicia had work to get done around the house, but they did spend an hour working on the gardens while the twins watched on from their stroller. I had the lawn cutting to do first, as usual now; and then I swept the porches and walks; washed the front and back doors and windows; and helped Dad with washing the van and truck. That was my last job, and when we were done, I was set free to go have a shower and get ready for our afternoon shopping trip.

Rowen and I found out that we had two shopping buddies to take us to Crystal Springs when Aunt Leanne and Aunt Deborah both picked us up; me at home, and Rowen at the store on our way out of town. Note to self – get Aunt Leanne to borrow Mom’s minivan for shopping trips! The back seat of her coupe isn’t very comfortable after three hours of driving in one day, and watching movies are an option for when the older girls want to talk about boys.

We had a small shopping list to take care of for Mom, but were going to do most of that last; after we were finished at the Mall. Aunt Leanne wanted to play dress-up for a while before we took care of shopping for all of the gift-buying that had been the main reason for the trip. Rowen and I picked up a new outfit and some jewelry for Sally; several anniversary gifts for Mom and Dad; birthday presents for Nick, who is going to be twenty-four this Friday; and a few smaller gifts for other upcoming special days for various people. There was one other gift that I picked up; but I didn’t even tell Rowen about it; hiding the purchase in plain sight with a few games and movies for the lounge.

A fast food dinner at the food court was fit into our busy shopping schedule between the jewelry stores and a half hour of bookstore browsing. When we had pretty much covered the entire Mall, we loaded up the car and headed over to Wal-Mart for another hour or so of shopping fun and excitement. Aunt Leanne needed just one last fast food stop on our way out of town, and Aunt Deborah, Rowen, and I picked up travel snacks to go too so that she wouldn’t be eating alone. Rowen was scaring me a bit when she acted like she was worried about those extra calories, but I had both of us in giggles after quietly promising to heal her if that was ever a real problem. Hey – there ought to be a few advantages to being a Magi Master; and helping your friends should definitely be one of them!

The trip home was fairly unexciting, and Rowen and I were really glad to get out of the back seat of the car by the time we pulled into Rowen’s driveway to drop her off first. We all helped to get her things into the house, and talked with Patricia and Owen for a few minutes before Aunt Leanne and Aunt Deborah drove over to my house next while I raced them on foot so that I didn’t have to climb into the back seat again. We repeated the process there; though I had a bit more to unload than Rowen did – including everything that Mom wanted. There was another short visit, and then Aunt Leanne and Aunt Deborah moved on to plans they had with Uncle Adam and Nick.

I’ve spent the last couple of hours hanging out with Mom, Dad, and the twins. That included putting the supplies away, a long shopping story and telepathic question and answer time; and a bedtime snack. I’m doing this while taking care of a little telekinetic gift wrapping that Mandy is finding very entertaining as she tries to pounce on the floating paper, ribbons, and bows. That does make the job a bit harder for me, but we’re having fun, and I’m almost done. My Jacuzzi and bed are both calling to me, so it’s time to literally wrap this up and get on with some quality soak before sleep time. Hopefully we’ll have a slower day tomorrow – I could really use the break!

Cassie's Journal - Sept. 23, 2011

Today’s highlights were dinner and a movie with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Rowen. Dinner talk included the iPad adventures of Ethan and Ehlana; news and gossip from the clinic; and a bit of planning for the afternoon shopping trip that Aunt Leanne, Rowen, and I are doing tomorrow afternoon. Dad actually made it home in time for the start of our movie; partly thanks to an early escape from the city, and because we were running late by the time we had everything cleaned up from dinner.

Rowen’s staying overnight, and we’ve had fun all day. After school, we got our homework out of the way early; and then did a Magi lesson with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana until Mom needed to start making dinner. The twins wanted to go outside while Mom was doing that, so Rowen and I took them for a walk down to the falls and back. Aunt Leanne had still been at the office, but when we stopped in to see her, she was ready to close up; and she walked home with us once she’d done that.

It’s getting late, so I’m going to keep this short. The post-movie nursing and chat took quite a while; and Ethan and Ehlana wanted to show Dad their new iPad-assisted bedtime story skills in person instead of telepathically. We’ve got a lot of yard work to get done in the morning, and that all has to get done before we can leave on our shopping trip. That’s likely just a parental motivation gimmick, but even though I know that; it’s going to work. Shopping and fast food just has that effect on me!

Cassie's Journal - Sept. 22, 2011

Ehlana and Ethan are three months old today. I didn’t find out about it until after school, but the delivery of two iPads did help the twins have a really great day. They’ve already been playing with them every chance they’ve had since Mom finished getting them set up for them. I’m a bit jealous that they can now do things I could only dream about during my first months and years. Mom and I did manage, though, and it was really cool watching them read books and surf the net by themselves.

It was just another day at school, at least for me. Rebecca would probably disagree, since she appears to be on the way to officially having a first ‘real’ boyfriend. I won’t bore you with the gory details; but at least there are advantages to having the Sight. This guy is so not meant to be ‘the’ guy for Rebecca. Anyway, let’s move on; shall we?

Thursday after school is definitely turning out to be one of my family business work days while Rowen is busy at the computer store and Mom has Alicia to help her. Alicia thought it was funny that Ethan and Ehlana were given matching iPads. I wonder what she'd say if we told her that they’re for a lot more than movies, music, and audio storybook entertainment. We had a snack and drinks in the kitchen when we first got home, and then I went to the office to do my homework before playing with my companies until dinnertime. We just went with a Mac and Cheese and hot dogs meal; and then it was time to head over to the Inn for game night.

With Dad out of town, Miranda drafted Mom to be on her team; and they went on to win the game night championship. I think that Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam were playing to lose, or at least come in second; but in a way, they did win too. Grandma and Grandpa were there for game night too, and they all came home with us to help out with Ethan and Ehlana. The nursing, chat, and bedtime story was fun, and we linked up with Dad so he could be with us, at least telepathically, for an hour or so. The twins showed off their fledgling computing skills, and even took turns reading us the bedtime story from one they’d picked out online.

Mom and I were sent to bed after that, and Ethan and Ehlana were going to stay up and entertain our grandparents, aunt, and uncle while we’re getting some sleep. One thing that watching them has done is give me a real appreciation for Mom; specifically how well she handled doing all of this by herself with me. I’m also learning to appreciate having more than three hours of continuous sleep; and it’s definitely time to work on that until Mom and I need to be up at three. We’ll need the rest – tomorrow is dinner and a movie night; and Dad will be home from the city.

No wonder I love Fridays!

Cassie's Journal - Sept. 21, 2011

Mom has had lots of help from her friends during the day all week, and almost always had a visitor over to help with morning, noon, and afternoon feedings. She and I both had help from our friends tonight. Rowen’s doing a sleepover with me, and we’ll be doing the three o’clock feeding so that Mom can sleep through until morning, and Patricia spent most of the evening with us, and is staying until after she helps Mom with the midnight feeding.

We had a fairly quiet day at school, and then Rowen and I mostly took care of Ethan and Ehlana after school to give Mom time to get some work done. That included a long telepathic chat time in the lounge while Rowen and I did our homework, and a walk to the park. There might have been some sharing of contraband Emporium frozen treats while we were on that walk, but we’re quite sure that all of the evidence from our ‘spoil your dinner’ crime was cleaned up; even if there was some unvoiced parental suspicion about our little ice cream caper.

Mom nursed the twins before we ate, and Rowen helped her with that while I set the table, took care of the rest of the work on the side dishes, and kept an eye on the casserole until it finished cooking in the oven. We all pitched in to clean up, and then had time for a short Magi lesson before Rowen’s Mom came over. Ethan and Ehlana weren’t all that excited about having to play normal babies for a few hours, but they were very convincing. Their public progress was carefully worked out to be just a bit on the advanced end of the development range, and considering the special abilities that we shared; Rowen and I thought it was very funny when Patricia compared the twins to what Rowen had been like as a baby.

Speaking of needing to pretend, one of my least-favorite parts of needing to do that happens every fall – dealing with the hype over all of the new television shows. I love movies, and even a few of the more intelligent network shows; but sitting through watching some of the kid-favorite shows is more than a little annoying. Thankfully, Rowen feels the same way, and this year, we have the ability to get around that problem by doing just a few minutes of Magi-powered surfing to get the various episode synopses and some kid twitter and blog commentary to give us what we need to avoid being declared television outcasts at school without having to waste a couple of hours of every afternoon and evening. Tonight, Rowen and I didn’t watch the premiers of X-Factor, H8R, or the ongoing quest that is America’s Next Top Model; among others.

We did watch Up All Night with the Moms and twins, and since they can’t talk with us about the show while Patricia is here, I’m sure that Rowen and I will be answering a lot of questions from Ethan and Ehlana when we do their bottle feedings at three. If there are actually parents out there like that couple, all I can say is – please seek professional help immediately!

After our little adventure into television weirdness, Rowen took advantage of the Jacuzzi opportunity. Patricia’s helping Mom with nursing the twins, and Mandy and I got ready for bed and I’ve been playing on my computer while waiting for Rowen. We have a few more things to do before getting some sleep, and there’ll definitely be a little telepathic girl and cat chat; but I’ve pretty much covered the major news for the day, so it’s time to wrap this up and move on.

Three days down; two more to the weekend!

Cassie's Journal - Sept. 20, 2011

Ethan and Ehlana were ready to party this morning; and the hour and a half that Mom and I spent with them until four-thirty or so pretty much offset the extra continuous sleep we’d been able to start the night with. We did have fun, but sometimes it’d be nice to have a little less fun, and a bit more sleep!

After that post-feeding nap, we were up and going again with the usual morning nursing, Tai Chi, and breakfast routine. I was running ahead of schedule and met up with Rowen at her house before we walked over to the school to get started on another fun day of playing normal students. I have to admit that spending the whole day learning about things that I was taught when I was a baby can be a bit frustrating, but at least I can spend some of that time thinking about my work on the family business and the Magi project that Uncle Adam and I are doing.

Rowen was working at the store after school, so I took care of my homework after school, and then worked in the office until dinnertime while Mom and Alicia took care of the twins. Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne were our support help for the evening. Mom did our healing lesson, and then Uncle Adam and I worked on our project for an hour or so before we wrapped up the day with a near-repeat of the nursing, telepathic bedtime story, and snack time. Mom and I were sent to bed again after that too, and as soon as I’m finished this; I’m going to take advantage of the extra down time!

P.S. I nearly forgot! Aunt Leanne and I are going to Crystal Springs this Saturday afternoon to take care of a little shopping. I get to invite Rowen too, so hopefully she’ll be able to come with us. I know this isn’t exactly information that you might think important to be saved and read about by Magi a millennium or three from now; but when you think about it, there is some value in knowing about the things that ten-year old Magi girls of our time love doing just as much as any ‘normal’ kid. You can include Magi women and teens for this, since they all love shopping at least as much as Rowen and I do.