Catch-Up

Today was a catch-up day in many respects: catch up on sleep, for instance. The daylight savings time weekend, when put together with another tough work weekend, made for exhausted spirits. We accomplished a little today - and Madison certainly got a lot done. It's funny: her piano practice is now getting to a point that challenges Mommy and Daddy too. I've always wanted to learn to play piano, so perhaps this is one of those things where we'll all be learning together.

Another thing that Madison worked on today was her speech therapy. Today's words were "letter" and "lake." Both were difficult, but she was a good trooper and made the effort. Her reward, of course: Mom bucks.

This morning, Daddy had a fun dream about Clint Eastwood. I've always liked the guy, but especially in the 90's. It's funny the way dreams work though: I haven't actually thought about the actor in quite some time, and yet in the dream we were both roommates at some retreat together. Don't worry, he turned out to be pretty cool. Not that he had guns blazing or anything like that, as you would expect in a dream. But we did hit it off a bit, although I was acting a bit more like a normal responsible adult than I usually do. Do you ever wake up from a dream, still a bit in it, and think to yourself how awesome that was? That's the way I woke up. Not that I can explain Clint Eastwood to Madison any time soon.

Today was overcast and drab, and a bit cooler as a result. Still, it was a pleasant day because we - for the most part - relaxed. Daddy wrote a message or two for Summer Xtreme coming up, believe it or not. We did a few more work-related things, and Mommy did some of the things she always does around the house just to keep us in the status quo. It's a perpetual battle with the laundry, and keeping things tidy with Madison.

We did put out the St. Patrick's Day decorations, and inspired by that, Daddy put in some Irish music we have in our collection. Of course, the "Riverdance" soundtrack is in there, along with some music by the Chieftains. But there are a few other gems we like to listen to year-round. For example, there is "Nightnoise," a group of musicians with some very good music. Also, in an attempt to explain St. Patrick's Day somewhat to Madison, we popped in the Veggie Tales movie "Sumo of the Opera." Which in in itself doesn't sound that Irish, but right in the middle of this DVD is a short video about the origin of St. Patrick's Day. Seriously!

Here he is, praying in the evening in Ireland - the story is told in a funny way, one that even we adults get a kick out of. It is loosely based on the story of St. Patrick, and animated in such a way that everyone is entertained. It's less than ten minutes long, but worth a look especially this time of year.

Afterwards, Madison spent some of her Mombucks playing the Kinect with Daddy. We were pretty energetic, actually, doing the Kinect Adventures game, followed by yet another trip to Disneyland. This time, we actually saw a new ride, Splash Mountain, which we hadn't actually seen before. These games are absolutely filled with activity and fun, and take a long, long time to finish if you don't spend that much time on 'em. I seriously doubt we'll be anywhere near done with either of these games any time soon. Even the Star Wars lego game we've been playing - that's taking a long time too. They're just really big games, and we don't spend all that much time playing. I imagine time playing will get even more reduced here soon, as the weather seems to be getting better.

We've spent a few moments each day out on our porch - just what I've always wanted in a house! Swinging on the front porch together as a family, just taking in the ambience of birds singing and smells of blooming flowers. Except the smells of Bradford pears. Those stink!

"Say what?"

- Will Munny