By Jove!

Today is Sherlock Holmes Day, which meant a little fun this morning while we were at the tax office getting our taxes done. Good news: we get a pretty decent refund! Of course, that's all because of the adoption. We invested so much into that, and now we're starting to see it come back a bit - at least financially. Obviously, from Day One it's been worth it and so much, much more.

While things were being prepared for us, Madison watched "Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler," a VeggieTales production that features Larry the Cucumber with a deerstalker cap and magnifying glass. It's a mystery, but also a nice lesson on treating others the way you yourself want to be treated. Yes, we've got the Sherlock Holmes thing down today. In fact, tonight's bedtime story was a mystery, and an intriguing one at that:

This was a story that Daddy told, and a mystery set up from the get-go. Would Madison figure it out on her own as the story was being told? She's a smart one, as you well know: she figured it out about two-thirds into the yarn.

Once upon a time, it was tea-time with Princess Madison. She had her friends with her: Winnie the Pooh, Alice, Kai-Lan, Mr. Peanut, Minnie Mouse and Papi the Chihuahua. But today was no ordinary day: in fact, today was the day that there was... a mystery!

The tea was delicious, and it was time for cookies - but suddenly Alice exclaimed, "The cookies are gone!"

Indeed they were! Someone had taken the cookies! But who could it have been? Princess Madison looked around the table at the possible suspects. She put on her special hat and got out a magnifying glass: it was time to look for clues. First, she interviewed the suspects.

"Alice," she said. "Did you take the cookies?"

"NO," Alice said. "I wanted to share the cookies with everyone, but found them to be missing."

Princess Madison saw Papi the Chihuahua, who was looking a little nervous. But anyone who knows chihuahaus, knows they tend to always look like that.

Then she asked Mr. Peanut, "Who would take the cookies?"

Mr. Peanut replied, "Perhaps we should look to the cookie jar for clues."

Kai-Lan, Mr. Peanut and Princess Madison looked closely at the cookie jar. It was open, and didn't have any cookies in it.

From the table, Minnie Mouse asked, "Do you see anything?"

That's when Princess Madison spied something with her magnifying glass: tiny drops of honey! And Alice noticed something too: a trail of cookie crumbs, although very small. The entire party there decided to go on the hunt: the game was afoot!

Madison was in front, following the tiny trail of crumbs with her magnifying glass, as Alice, Minnie Mouse, Mr. Peanut, Kai-Lan and Pappi the Chihuahuah followed close behind. Down a small path they went on their merry chase. Who took the cookies?

That's when they saw Mr. Owl overhead. He said, "Welcome to 100 Acre Wood, friends!"

They had followed the cookie trail all the way to 100 Acre Wood! And that's when they realized the one person who was at the party at the beginning wasn't there anymore: it was Winnie the Pooh!

"A-ha!" Princess Madison called out. "It all makes sense now! We found honey at the scene of the crime. Winnie the Pooh is no longer at the party with us, and we followed a trail of cookie crumbs to 100 Acre Wood!"

"Winnie the Pooh took the cookies!" the others shouted, and quite hurriedly they raced to Winnie the Pooh's house. They were just about to knock on his door, when suddenly the door opened!

"Hello friends," Winnie the Pooh said warmly!

"Did you take the cookies?" Papi asked.

"Why yes," Pooh answered. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I can be quite forgetful, I'm afraid."

"But why did you take the cookies?" Minnie Mouse asked.

Pooh replied: "I took them so I could coat them in honey. I was about to bring them back so you can try some honey-covered cookies. But, I see you've all come here!"

Everyone was delighted, because that did sound rather tasty.

"Well," Princess Madison said. "I guess that means our mystery is solved!"

And indeed it was. Everyone came into Winnie the Pooh's house just after that, and finished their tea party there. It was quite nice, and of course the cookies were delicious.

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"Never theorize before you have data. Invariably, you end up twisting facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. " - Sherlock Holmes