Where's My Cow?

We had a big day today, from church to the new house - Madison came with us to church this morning, as Mommy took photos of our service, which turned out pretty good.

We're in the middle of our series "School Days," which has been great. Not as fun to watch as "Pridelands" or "Hang 10," but still somewhat exciting. For one, Madison has been featured in a video each and every week, with a great response. These have been silly and quick videos somewhere in the middle of service just for fun - but they've had a good response. Madison has done well in them!

We took a pretty good nap this afternoon after service. Madison was asleep on the floor, amongst all the pillows! We turned the lights out and all took a good long nap. Last night, Daddy was up late working on the service, so he was pretty wiped out.

But afterwards, we went over to the new house. Madison says it best: "New House!" I brought over the lawnmower and spent a LONG time cutting the front yard, while Mommy spent time with Madison putting out mulch and trimming some bushes.

We met our next door neighbor today, and were happy to hear that she also goes to Free Chapel. In fact, she's a good friend of Black Bart, one of KidPak's most famous characters. It's a small world!

Mommy discovered on one of the bushes a praying mantis, which has always been somewhat of a good sign for us. It was about twelve years ago that we had gone to a Braves game on an early date - and there in our seat was a praying mantis. Well, it was obviously not going to survive the night there in the middle of the crowd, so Daddy scooped it up and "rescued it," at least for the night. Ever since then, the praying mantis has been somewhat of a thing between Mommy and Daddy. We've had one frequently living in front of our current house, munching on the buffet that is drawn to the front porch light each night.

Back to the yard work: Madison was a good helper today. She was spreading mulch and dragging garbage bags filled with twigs about. She was also helping Daddy get the grass dumped in the backyard. She's a good helper!

Tonight when we got home, it was time for a Tombstone pizza. I sure did miss the smell of a Tombstone pizza. We used to have them more frequently - and it looks like we'll be having them more often now: the local pizza joint we liked is closed. That leaves the other standard pizza delivery places that we're not too crazy about. SO, it's Tombstone for us! Madison loves this pizza, as evidenced by the fact that she practically licked her plate clean tonight. So did Daddy though!

MADISON'S BOOK CLUB

WHERE'S MY COW?

Which brings us to our book reading tonight. Daddy pulled out three books that he hasn't read in a while, and as Mommy took a bath, Daddy and Madison read together. One of the books we read is called "Where's My Cow?" It's an obscure book by Terry Pratchett, who happens to be Daddys' favorite author. It's a children's book, somewhat. The first several pages are certainly fun to read as the main character, Sam Vimes, is trying to find his cow.

There's a sheep that goes "baaaa." Is that his cow? Certainly not! And so on. Mommy got this book for Daddy at Christmas, and it sits proudly with all the other Terry Pratchett books I've been collecting in hardback.

The interesting thing about this book is that it was mentioned as a book within one of Pratchett's other books. In his other novel "Thud!," this book is something that one of the main characters of the series, Sam Vimes, simply must read to his child each night before bedtime. Based on that reference within the novel, there was evidently a decision to create a real book called "Where's My Cow?" It was a good choice - the book is fun.

My goal is to get all of Terry Pratchett's books, but that will certainly take some time. He's a prolific author, and one that I've been reading since high school. It's neat to get to read a little even to Madison now too.

Here's an image of Madison from dressed as an Unseen University football player from Ankh-Morpork. Just in time for the Gridiron, Daddy's been reading Terry Pratchett's "Unseen Academicals." Although Madison certainly be playing the sort of football mentioned in this book...

"The thing about football - the important thing about football - is that it is not just about football"
— Terry Pratchett