Class Photo

Piano practice is getting tougher, but the good news is that Madison is pretty much a master at her recital piece, "Monkey Sounds."  She seems to have that one all figured out, despite three chords on the left hand.  Still, we'll probably practice that one to death before the big recital in one month.

Today, Madison got her class photo.  This was about two weeks ago, before Spring Break and just about the time that many in the school happened to be sick.  Not the best timing for a photo, but who can predict that right as spring is starting, the weather would drop so uncharacteristically low.  In fact, even tonight the temperature is dipping down into the forties.  It's been clear and crisp today, just like a beautiful fall day - the crisp part can be credited to the rain last night, pushing all the pollen down to the ground for a bit.  The cool is because of the strong front that came through.

Anyway, the end result of the cool weather and large amount of illnesses at the school was a class photo that didn't have the whole class in it.  I think there were three or four girls missing, in fact.  Here's the photo below, Madison's first class photo:

She did well, smiling even!  Sometimes she gets a little camera shy, but not for this shot.  Anyway, there it is - her kindergarten class of 2012-13.  It's nearly over, which is somewhat of a shock to the system.  We're already talking about first grade, and then of course second and so on.  How quickly it goes by, which is the theme of all of this, of course.  And more fuel for being sure to write as much down as possible.

Tonight before bed, Madison wanted to watch - for the first time - "Dolphin Tale."  She'd only seem bits and pieces before the trip to Clearwater, and even while there at the museum, she saw a few scenes of the movie.  Tonight, however, we got out the tub of popcorn - and Madison brought down Winter the dolphin, who was now dressed in a formal tutu around her waist (just below the dorsal fin).  She was really into the movie, laughing at the parts where Winter would make funny noises or splash Sawyer with water.  It's a good movie, made more enjoyable by the fact that Winter is an actual dolphin, and that we just saw her last week.

Madison was at school for most of the day, of course.  And meanwhile, Daddy was doing yet another thing on that checklist of life.  Although I didn't personally get to race one around versus another, I was pretty much part of the filming crew of our own improvised lawnmower race.

Yeah, that happened today.  It was such a beautiful day too - somewhat breezy and perfect for kites!  In fact, that's just what we did in that great big, open field.  Can't wait to fly a kite with Madison again - maybe we'll get to do that this weekend.

Anyway, the race went pretty well.  One of those mowers had a definite edge to it, and I'm not talking about the blades used to cut the grass.  As this was a video for the kids on Sunday, it has somewhat of a comical end to it, and yes, it's all pretty much taken from those classic episodes of "Home Improvement."  But as we're doing an "Under Construction" series, we thought it only fitting to hop in some lawnmowers, find a field, and go at it!