Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - May 5, 2023

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 12^th Birthday, Sophia Bassett!

Happy 28^th Birthday, Stephanie Stone!

This update is early and short because we’re transitioning between school and Sophia’s party.  She’s having a co-ed party and girls-only sleepover; the weather is perfect with a current temperature around seventy-seven; so we’ll be outdoors for a lot of the party fun.

We can write about all of that tomorrow night, and we’re also going to help out at Sophia’s house and really need to get going; so let’s just wrap this up and go for a double-update tomorrow night.  Stay tuned for that; and we’ll get back to the real world right now.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - May 4, 2023

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Congratulations to Doug and Alicia Warren and the Warren and Jennings clans – it’s a boy!  Welcome to our little corner of the world, Liam Jessie Warren!

Congratulations also go out to Christie and Ray Reynolds and the Reynolds and Carter families – it’s a girl!  Ditto for the welcome for Katie Reynolds; and both sets of babies and Moms are healthy and doing well!

Two separate deliveries in a day are rare in our little town, and these stories are going to be news for years to come, since Liam and Katie were born ten minutes apart – at two-forty-seven for Liam and two-fifty-seven for Katie – and that’s early-morning; not afternoon!  That made for a busy night and day for Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Aunt Deborah, and all of the parents and grandparents involved.  We can add that both babies are home with their families tonight; and we’ll leave the rest of the details for those stories to the Magi involved in the births and the rest of the medical adventures today.

For our day, we don’t really have much news beyond improving weather with a high in the mid-seventies.  We’re getting some rain tonight, but that didn’t start until after we got home from game night at the Inn; so that didn’t get in the way of our outdoor activities.  We’ve had another non-news school day; we ended up being drafted for kid control after school – in-part because our family doctors and nurse had been working for so many hours by then; and we took our younger cousins and some of their friends to the park for some biking and play time until it was time to gather for a group dinner at the Carrington and Everett homes.

Our dinner break was fairly-short, since by then we didn’t have a lot of time before we needed to be at the Inn for game night.  We had fun with both the meal and gaming – though we can also mention that some of our aunts and uncles opted for naps instead of the gaming.  That’s why Ehlana and I helped out with getting Zack and Brianna home and into their beds.  Naomi and Aiden did the same for Leah and Sebastian – though Aiden mostly went along while Hailey pretended to help Naomi with getting Leah tucked in for the night.  Mom and Dad took Caleb and Faith home, but they delivered them to Aunt Grace and only stayed for a quick chat before coming home.

By the time we got home, Mom decided that we shouldn’t work tonight; sent us upstairs for bath or Jacuzzi time; and now we’re winding down toward nap time with our computer checks and twin chat.  Our last weekend before Cassie and Michael’s graduation is sure to be busy, so that’s all we have for this report; and now we’re going to call it a night and get some sleep.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - May 3, 2023

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Our Wednesday has been another busy blast of academic adventures, work at the house and apartment for our favorite collegians; and some babysitting during the co-ed ball practice for some of our youngest cousins and their little friends!  We’re also exhausted, so this is going to be a micro report.

It was freezing this morning, so we opted for indoor Tai Chi, and then our breakfast was standard school day fare.  We had a good day at school without any news to report; and then we juggled clean-up work, as already mentioned, at Cassie and Michael’s house and Rowen and Tim’s apartment.  Naomi and Aiden helped us out for some of that time; they joined in on the group dinner that Mom and Dad hosted; and then we took care of toddlers and babies at the park while their parents played baseball with their friends.  We had fun with that; and then we came home once we’d returned those kids to their parents.

Since getting here, bath or Jacuzzi time was first on our to-do list; we did a short bedtime chat with Mom and Dad in the office; and have been busy with some computing and twin chat fun.  Now we’re past-ready to crash and nap; so we will! ;^)

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - May 2, 2023

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 10^th Birthday, Leah Ayres!

Another day, another family birthday; and we’ve been busy all day too.

Tai Chi by the river was chilly this morning, but we loved getting to share that with Naomi and Aiden; and the bonus special breakfast worked for us too!  The weather continues to warm, and while we only reached the mid-sixties; that worked well-enough for our academic adventures that were fun and not at all newsworthy today.  The busy kicked up a few notches after school because we started out with some work at Rowen and Tim’s apartment – cleaning up from the work that was done during the rest of the day to that point; and then we needed to get over to the park in time for Leah and Hailey’s ball practice at five-thirty.  Zack and Eli were at the school for their practice at the same time, so Aiden and I biked there for a quick visit too, but our ‘job’ at the park was to help out with Leah’s birthday party-dinner; taking care of the younger kids; and the work that went along with getting the food ready for the picnic dinner.  Pizzeria pizza was the main food, but there were sides and snacks, drinks, and more that needed to be set up in time for the end of that round of ball practices.

We needed to eat too because we had our ball practices starting at seven o’clock, so we fit in that little break too.  Ehlana, Naomi, and their team practices are at the school this season, so we needed to split up for that; and Aiden and I were at the same diamond that Leah and Hailey had been practicing at; so we had a bit more interaction as they transitioned to the birthday party and we got started with our practice.  That’s also why we had more spectators watching our baseball workout; and some of our friends had a tough time focusing on the game with so many slices of pizza being munched on in the bleachers!  We missed out on most of the birthday fun for Leah, so it wasn’t until we were finished our practice that we found out what she got for gifts and the gossip that included some annoyances from Zack, Eli, and some of the other guys.

By then, it was time for us to get to work again – this time to help out with packing up the picnic and the rest of the gear and getting it back to several homes.  We weren’t allowed to help out at house or apartment after that because we were too-dirty, but Mom and Dad didn’t do more tonight either because Mom had done enough already; and Dad still had work to get done in the office.  Before we get to that, we really need to mention that Mom is coaching Ehlana’s team and Dad is coaching mine.  Uncle Adam and Uncle Mark are coaching Zack’s team; and we should add that Caleb and Sebastian are on that team this year too – and a possible reason for why they’re getting teased about needing two coaches!  The trade-off for having some of our favorite parents for coaches this year is that they won’t be playing co-ed ball this year; and that’s mostly because they’re all too-busy to keep up with that – especially right now with getting ready for having Cassie and Michael home and extra work happening at Dad’s office, the lab, and med center.

Moving along, after getting home, Mom sent us upstairs for bath or Jacuzzi time; and we won’t comment on what Mom and Dad were doing while we were busy with that; since Dad didn’t get started on his work right away; and they both had damp hair and clean clothes when we met up with them again for a quick bedtime chat and snack.  Mom did a short Magi lesson with us; and then we came upstairs again and got to our twin chat and computing fun.  We don’t really have anything important to report about any of that – or at least we don’t want to cover any of the news of the day from around the world; so that’s pretty much it for tonight.  We’ve had an awesome day; we’re glad that Leah’s had a good birthday that is likely still going on with the sleepover she’s doing with a few friends; and we’re expecting the fun to continue tomorrow.  We want to be ready for the action, so that’s all for now; and we’re out of here and heading for dreamland soon.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - May 1, 2023

 

Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden:

Happy 44^th Birthday, Nathan Draper!

We’re getting a bonus co-ed sofa sleepover tonight so that Aiden’s parents get a kid-free night; and that works for all of us – while we also will not need the details for the parental side of the fun.  This report is out of order for our adventures today, but while we’re thinking about the top birthday of the day for us; we’ll add that we had a birthday dinner at the Drapers’ home, but his family and friends took care of all of the work; we helped out; and the dinner-party wrapped up early – again for reasons we do not need to mention here or even think about! ;^)

Our day began with a chilly Tai Chi workout by the river and a hot breakfast.  The academic adventures seemed quieter today because the Grade Eight class is in Washington this week for that annual trip; and that’s bigger news for Naomi now that she’s just a year away from her turn to visit D.C. with her class.  We still had fun at school, and while it has been getting warmer; the low-sixties high doesn’t feel as great as it did a month ago when we know that we’re below-normal for the start of May.  There was one bonus outdoor class; and we’re not going to write about the biggest academic news of the day for three of us because it is not fair to make comparisons to one of our favorite-so-far teachers.

Moving along, our day go busy after we were set free from school because our first assignment from Mom was to support Brianna and Faith and their friends at their first ball practice of the season – and yes, we weren’t really even thinking about baseball last night or recently at all while busy with everything else we have on the go.  Since that practice started at four, we basically had to go straight to the school ball diamond after dropping our bags off at home and getting those orders from Mom.  Aunt Leanne is coaching Brianna’s team; so they’re sure to have a lot of fun this season, and while we had fun watching some of the practice, we also helped out with some of the younger kids – including taking a small gang to the school playground for a while.  From baseball, we needed to hurry over to Aiden’s house to help out with that birthday dinner; we met up with Mom and Dad there; and that meal and party was a blast for everyone – even for those of us that helped with the cooking and clean-up!

If that seemed like a lot already, we’re not done yet!  Next up was getting overnight bags for Naomi and Aiden; we moved on to check out Cassie and Michael’s house and make some plans for the rest of the week; and then we did the same for Rowen and Tim’s apartment.  Their parents were all there when we stopped in; and the clean-up and painting is already happening.  Rowen is picking out colors; and doesn’t have a problem with all of the help to get their new, temporary home ready – though they’ll still do some of the set-up to their own liking after they get home in two weeks.

It was ten-thirty by the time we got home, so we haven’t done any extra work tonight or even a Magi lesson.  We did take turns grabbing showers or Jacuzzi time; and now we’re winding down fast toward the co-ed sofa sleepover part of our day.  We’re going to be just as busy tomorrow with work at the house and apartment and our first ball practices too; so we’re likely going to have late nights every day.  We’ll let you know how that goes for us, but that’s all we have for this update and we’re pretty much ready to call it a night; so we will!

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