Dr. Dinosaur

Madison went to church tonight, and got a real treat!  Not only was there a message - but there was also a puppet show!

Meet "Dr. Dinosaur," who went to four years of dinosaur school to get as smart as he is.  You can see he's got a smart raptor friend with him as well.  I'd be careful with that little guy - they tend to grow up and be bigger, more hungry guys.  Madison didn't seem to mind though - here she is first noticing that Mommy is with her in the room - smile for the camera!

Meanwhile, the age of the dinosaurs roamed on.  Lee Bryan is a great puppeteer, one we've seen at previous Summer Xtremes - last year (and the year before!), Madison saw him do a different puppet show with sea creatures.  Tonight's creatures were a bit more scaly!

 

There's just something about puppet shows and kids.  Okay, adults enjoy them too.  Tonight was a lot of fun for everyone, including Madison.  As evidence of that fact, take a look at this picture of Madison cracking up at two dinosaurs butting heads:

It was a great night for all the kids.  Later on, Lee Bryan will be at the library nearby us, and we just might go see him again there.  We'll see as the schedule allows - Mommy is looking into a few summer camps upcoming, and we might be doing a ballet camp soon.  Also, we might be doing that art camp, and yes, Summer Xtreme.

Funny timing today:  first of all, we got our tax refund.  Next thing you know, we lost it.  Explanation:  the home owner's association finally found us, despite our best attempts to find them early on.  Seriously, we called and wrote, and could never get them to reply.  Now out of the blue there is a letter about back fees and so forth - nearly THREE YEARS LATER.  It's not like we were that hard to find, right?  A homeowner's association has a tough time finding someone's address in the very neighborhood?  Yeah, we're stuck with a real winner there.

Anyway, at least we might finally get some of those pool cards we keep asking for.  We'll see about that though, as the folks that run that organization don't seem terribly intelligent.

At least we got our refund more quickly.  As noted elsewhere, we were part of the ninety percent of adoptive families that had an audit or experienced the "further review" letter.  We had to wait until late fall to get our refund, no doubt just like many other adoptive families.  This past month, the IRS is getting spanked over this and the other things too, sort of going through their own version of an "audit."  Many folks are enjoying the public whooping the organization is getting.

New topic:  today was a big work day for Daddy - we've got just a few days left until Summer Xtreme.  We spent time filming and writing, and of course preparing for the service tonight.  It was a busy day, but at least we got to see Madison tonight.  And despite any bad news that rolls in, it's always good to focus on the positive:  we've got a church, a home, a family, our health, and much, much more.  We're blessed and highly favored, and some day when we're all in heaven, we won't have to deal with home owners associations, because they aren't in the Bible.  And neither is the IRS.