Our Little Angel

Here it is, just in time for Spring Training. This is Madison's baseball card - she's a little angel, so it seemed obvious what team she should be on. As for what position, she also seemed to have a natural height for playing shortstop!

We had a productive day over at the old house, doing quite a bit of painting. The garage is looking quite good, in fact a whole lot nicer than it did when we ever lived there! Madison hung out with us for the entire day, riding around on her bicycle, bouncing on her ball - and blowing chocolate bubbles. Yes, you read that right. Mommy bought her some bubbles to blow, and these had a chocolate smell to them. Very strange!

We got home, and once again Mommy cooked up a marvelous dinner. Afterwards, it was pretty much time for bed for Madison. We made her some milk and put her in front of a DVD of Veggie Tales she hadn't watched yet: "Lyle the Kindly Viking."

She had to have a Viking hat on for that one! She happily wore her horned hat while sitting on the couch, looking quite comfortable actually!

Bedtime stories have become an every evening affair, immediately following prayers. Madison is quite insistent about this, which occasionally poses a problem when the old creative juices don't seem to be flowing so well. Fortunately, she helps occasionally by throwing in an idea or two. Always as of late, Alice is with her in the story - just as Alice is there in bed with her each night. Here is tonight's tale, which begins with Princess Madison and Alice, walking through the forest.

Once upon a time, Princess Madison and her friend Alice were exploring a beautiful forest with trees that seemed to reach up to the clouds. The trees were big, tall and red - and very majestic.

Unfortunately, they were so focused on looking upward that they did not see the large bear that seemed to arrive from out of nowhere. He was big as well, and certainly scary!

Alice was quite afraid, as was Madison. Wild bears are typically not to be toyed with. However, this one relaxed the two girls rather quickly by telling them, "Please do not be frightened. I'm not going to eat anyone. I'm only hoping that someone could teach me how to dance. I especially wish I could learn to do a proper arabesque."

"Dance?" Madison repeated.

"Arabesque?" Alice asked.

"Yes," the bear told them. "I'm finding it quite difficult to do an arabesque."

Fortunately, this was the sort of thing Princess Madison was quite good at. So right there in the middle of the forest, she began to instruct the bear on the proper way to dance ballet, including doing an arabesque.

The bear became quite good at it, and soon, Alice, Madison and the bear were doing marvelous pirouettes, Chaînés Turns, and of course perfect arabesques.

They were so into their dancing in the forest, however, that they failed to see the clouds form overhead. Indeed, a terrible storm was coming!

"It is too far to go back to our castle," Princess Madison cried.

"We must find shelter," Alice said. "Perhaps there is a hole we can fall down into!"

But the bear calmed their fears once more. Said he: "Do not worry! Because you have treated me with kindness, I shall treat you kindly. Come with me to my den, and together we can escape the storm."

And so Alice and Madison followed the bear quickly to his den, which was actually quite cozy. There was a huge television inside, and a massive refrigerator, which the bear reached into.

"Would you like some strawberries?" he asked.

Both Alice and Madison told him, "Oh yes!"

So the three sat there watching television and eating strawberries, all the while a storm brewed overhead. While it raged outside, the three never worried a bit - and in fact had a splendid time watching television and even playing a few games like Candyland.

It was a wonderful time, and if there is a lesson to learn here, it is quite simply this: if a bear ever asks you for assistance with doing an arabesque, the most polite thing would be to help him.

The End.