School Pictures

Today Madison got her first school picture taken - (11/9/11: Daddy has come back a month later to this entry and posted it above*). Mommy dressed Madison up very nicely this morning, but with school pictures I'm beginning to realize that it is somewhat like a hail mary pass, where we send her off to school as neatly as possible, with the desperate hope that they'll make a perfect catch of Madison on film.

But, at the same, Madison is naturally pretty cute!

* Okay, so with our "hail mary pass," we apparently had a little too much faith in our receivers. You can see above that school photos were after recess, and nobody straightened her hair for the photo. And yes, that's a new smile for her - we've never seen it before. It's sort of like the photographer told her to smile like Burgess Merideth! It isn't that bad - but it ain't the best photo either. Anyway, it's ultimately their loss, as we would have bought a bunch more photos. Still, we purchased a few for posterity. This is, after all, her first official school photo. Don't get us wrong: she's adorable in this photo. It's the best of the three choices we were given, and just one of many that make up memories of her first year at school.

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Today was another one of those epic work days for Daddy, as most Wednesdays tend to be. Mommy and Madison dropped by for lunch, which is always a joy - we sneak off to the recreation room, where Mommy pulls out the picnic she's planned for us. Today's featured selection was by request: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all around! We had snacks on top of that, but this has been a great way to save a little money as of late. Rather than go out to eat all the time, as many others can be prone to do - and as we used to be, it's financially better to pack a lunch. And, if you're looking for atmosphere, why not make it a picnic outside? It was a splendid day for that, actually. The weather has been so nice this fall - so far!

Madison was pretty tired today though. At bedtime, she actually asked to go to bed - now that's pretty tired!

We had a bedtime story that was fun, and it was entirely made up of course. It was based on our recent exploits with Lego Batman. Why not share it here?

It's been a while since we've been making up stories, but that's because Daddy has been reading actual stories from books just before bedtime. Each night, that's just about a requirement actually. But tonight, we made up a story - a very unusual story about ... Bat Girl!

Once upon a time... (that's how all the stories start)... Madison was going to bed after Mommy and Daddy kissed her goodnight. We said our prayers and Madison drank her milk - and soon it was time for Mommy and Daddy to go to sleep themselves.

"Goodnight Madison," they said.

"Goodnight!" she called back.

Then she listened for them to plod down the hall to their bedroom, and then she listened for the door to shut. And that's just about when she saw it: the Bat Signal! That's right, just outside her window shined brightly the Bat Signal, which meant she was desperately needed!

Like a flash, she quietly lept out of bed and snuck down the hall - and then down the stairs. Pressing a secret button that nobody knew about in the wall, she then watched as a hidden door opened up before her: it was the entrance to the Bat Cave!

Moving quickly, she went through the door - remembering to close it behind her. In front of her was a massive slide that she jumped on, and slid all the way down to the Bat Cave! Yes, the Bat Cave was directly below our house!

She had to act fast: she quickly got changed into her Bat Girl costume and went to the computer.

"Bat Girl," Commissioner Gordon called out on a screen at the computer. "We need your help! Several nasty villains have interrupted a party at the Lake Lanier Yacht Club and are holding hostages! Can you help?"

"I'm on it," Madison called out. Er, I meant, Bat Girl.

She flew in a hurry down a corridor, whizzing by Alfred the butler, who just shook his head back and forth with a smile. Bats fluttered all about the cave as Madison leapt in the air and landed inside ...the Bat Boat!

Starting it up, she called out, "I get to drive!"

Because that's what she always calls out when she sees the Bat Boat.

And as the thrusters were pushed forward, the Bat Boat lurched forward and launched down a cavernous, watery path towards a secret door. Would it open in time?

Of course it would!

Out of seemingly nowhere, Madison was now out, riding in the Bat Boat on Lake Lanier! She zoomed in the darkness towards her destination: the Yacht Club. Even though she didn't know how to spell "yacht" yet. Come to think of it, without spell check, who actually does?

When she arrived, she went into stealth mode. She hopped out of her Bat Boat and snuck along the docks, hoping to catch the villains by surprise. Sure enough, she found her way to the club, and there she saw some mean thugs holding hostages. Her first action - grab the Bat-a-rang! It's like a boomarang, but it knocks people on the head! This is always fun.

One of the baddies spotted her.

"It's Bat Girl!" he cried out.

But it was too late. We uber fast reflexes, Madison threw her Bat-a-rang across the docks.

WHAP! It struck one bad guy, two bad guys, three bad guys right on the head! BONK! And with the sound of a whoosh and whiz, the Bat-a-rang flew right back into Madison's hand.

"Ouch!" they cried. "That's not right!"

Right or not, they knew not to tangle with Bat Girl. Which is probably why they left their hostages alone and ran off into the night. Or at least tried to.

You see, Madison wasn't about to let that happen. She threw her Bat Grapple-and-Hook, which had a long rope on it. This tangled up the bad guys, who fell to the ground, trapped!

"The day is saved," Commissioner Gordon called out. Where had he been hiding all this time?

It didn't matter, because the day was saved! And because Bat Girl is a hero of few words, she smiled briefly at Commissioner Gordon, and turned to leave.

"Until next time," Commissioner Gordon told her. "The city is in gratitude!"

Madison smiled. All in a days work. She waved goodbye, and run back to the Bat Boat, and rode it home as quickly as possible: she had to get back before Mommy and Daddy noticed!

Later on that night in bed, Madison smiled. She had changed out of her outfit and snuck quietly back into bed, without waking Mommy or Daddy.

It was time to get some rest, but the day was saved. And it will be saved again the next time there's a call for... Bat Girl!