Meow!

For some reason, Madison decided to be a cat for a while. Kids just get that in their minds, and there you go. For an hour or so, we had a new pet cat. She purred, rubbed up against your leg, and let out a few meows here and there. Daddy put out a few empty bowls so she could pretend to have some milk and catfood. It was nice having a pet kitty for a bit, and as a bonus this one didn't have all kinds of stray hairs and strange smells!

We've been enjoying our library books lately, sometimes sitting on the front porch and sometimes just sitting on the couch. Madison gets all excited about reading time, which is great to see. She is even learning a bit of word recognition here and there, as Daddy sometimes points to the words as he reads them. She'll begin pronouncing words one letter at a time, getting the gist of what reading is all about. Another neat thing is that she's more patient with words than she used to be: Daddy can read larger paragraphs, and she'll listen intently to what's going on with the story. We've had so many books too! The library is a great source of new material - and it fits any and every theme we'd need for those educational moments, or just moments to goof off with. She does love to see new books.

This is holy week, but it's not the time for our family to go on vacation, as Daddy's job needs him to stick around. Still, everyone else seems to be on vacation left and right, and we've got that quiet longing to get out of here and go do something fun. We might make a local trip here or there in the upcoming weeks - right now we're amassing a few day trip ideas, including "Peter Pan" at the Puppetry Center, and maybe a trip to the Fernbank Science Center. Daddy has been wanting to fly a kite, and go get a fishing pole for Madison too. Lots of little things can add up to a lot of fun around here. Not exactly a "stay-cation," but still there are plenty of opportunities for fun around here.

Meanwhile, Mommy has been with Madison doing some serious gardening outside, straightening out the lawn and doing some weeding. We've added mulch here or there and have cleared a lot of debris from the lawn. The front of the house is looking much nicer, thanks mainly to Madison and Mommy.

Easter is coming soon, so the other thing we'd better start working on is baskets. There's a story there, a long time coming: each year, we used to have a battle with Aunt Shain over who had the most creative basket. It wasn't necessarily a contest, but just a chance to give each other some ridiculous baskets. We took pictures, so maybe I'll have a chance to share them here sometime. Lately, with the kids, it's been a little harder to go as extravagant with our entries, but we still do something a little different for each other each year. In fact, this year's basket should be good - but you'll have to read about that later. Don't want to give it away yet!

"Climb your way to the top. That's why the drapes are there."

- Quotes about Cats