Scarecrow

There were plans to go places today, but with Daddy and Madison both under the weather a bit, we felt it best to stay at home and get some rest. Still, it was a rather productive day - as Daddy noted afterwards, and is noting here:

1. We got some piano practice in. One of Madison's favorite homework assignments is being a conductor of an orchestra, where Daddy and Mommy are musicians (we play different instruments each time: the triangle, tambourine, wood block, etc.). The song is "Old Mr. Knickerbocker's Band," and after each time we play, we trade places. Sometimes Mommy is the conductor or Daddy is. No matter who the conductor is, that's the serious part. You have this little baton that you have to tap before the big performance - and then... it's time to play!

Now, as far as keyboard practice goes, Madison can play "Sugar Cookies" now, which features three of the notes, with different lengths and rests thrown in there. Also, another song to play is the "Hokey Pokey," a somewhat simplified version. Practice is going along very well, certainly with the reward of Mom Bucks as incentive!

2. We got some speech homework done. Daddy read the story of the "Silly Snoring Snake," which features a whole lotta' different "s" sounds. This is a fun story about a snake who snores too loud. The other animals are initially frustrated about this until they build a wall of snow around his home. For future reference, this is a great idea if you have loud neighbors or constantly barking dogs at all hours of the night. By the way, we do not have that here.

3. We watched "The Hungry Caterpillar" again. She enjoyed this story, and enjoys watching it on the big screen again. This went with her book reading at school last week - we've been very much into partnering with the teachers in bringing lessons home with her.

4. We made a movie. After watching "Wallace & Gromit," Daddy and Madison decided to make our own stop motion movie. Basically, Daddy was wanting to show Madison how the movies are created, and after Mommy found a few figures of Wallace and Gromit, we set up the camera on a tripod and stood the figures up. And then, it was lights... camera... action!

We didn't spend too much time on it, as evidenced by the length of the video itself. BUT, it was an educational moment that was somewhat fun to try out. The big thing was "keep the camera still, Madison." She had a hard time with that concept. But it was neat to try out! Maybe we have a future master director in our midst!

5. We made a scarecrow. This was the highlight of the day, actually. Mommy got the materials together, and sewed a head, which Madison and she decorated nicely. Take a look at that pretty smile - and hair just like Madison's!

After that, it was time for the stuffin'! Daddy and Madison got a whole lot of newspaper and wadded it up - and then put it in the sleeves and legs of the scarecrow until she looked plump enough to stand on her own...

And that's when it was time to put it all together. Mommy pinned the head to our scarecrow, and also put some flowers in her hand to make her look nice. Madison loves our new scarecrow - we know this because she'd occasionally turn to the scarecrow and say, "I love you," and give her a big hug!

Finally, it was time to put the scarecrow outside. She'll be under the porch by the front door all season long, but as Mommy said earlier, this is probably the start of a new tradition for us. Madison really had a good time making the scarecrow, but so did Mommy and Daddy. It was a lot of fun!

One final note. We didn't plan it this way, but look what we did exactly two years ago this very date.

5. We played "Batman Lego." Okay, so Madison earned a lot of Mom Bucks with her practice and homework, so Daddy was forced to play video games with her. Oh, the humanity. We're nearly finished with this game already. You'd be amazed watching Madison play - she's very bright at figuring things out, and yes, sometimes before Daddy. There are a lot of puzzle elements to these games, so it's neat working together to figure out how to get here or there. Madison also enjoys freezing Daddy all the time with Mr. Freeze. Daddy's favorite Batman character today: Scarecrow.

Mommy found some potentially big leads with her ancestry search - on her dad's side, and Daddy got some work done proofing booklets and whatnot for church, so you can see, it was a fairly big day despite the fact that we didn't go anywhere. It was a nice day, and while we're still coughing and taking medicine to keep the fevers down, it was still a great time.

"Well, some people without brains do an awful lot of talking don't they?"

- Scarecrow, "Wizard of Oz"

"Is your mind playing tricks on you... or am I?"

- Scarecrow, "Batman"