Tennis Princess

This above is just one of Madison's self-portraits, one she actually did in her art classes at school.  She's also done another very unusual self-portrait - that's pretty cool!

She cut out individual pieces:  arms, legs, the torso and head.  She taped those together after coloring and designing each one.  The end result was a large version of Madison that spreads out across the table, something she decided to do on her own.  We didn't ask her to do it, nor did her teacher:  she just got in her mind to cut out these pieces and assemble it on her own.

Note the picture at the top - she's got a tennis racket in her hand.  And of course, there's a tiara on her head.  She's a tennis princess.  That just might be a cat in the background, probably covered with a brown camouflage so it can sneak up on people!

Today was a great day, and another busy one of course.  Madison had piano class, which is in the wind-down as there are only two classes left and we just had our recital.  Evidence of this was Mrs. Pam's singing dog, which she brought in to class today.  She played piano and did a few scales, and so did the dog!  The kids were howling with laughter at the singing dog - it was a big hit.

Afterwards was ballet, which is the opposite of winding down.  It's gearing up, as all the kids are getting ready for a recital at the end of the month.  Mommy got to see a bit of that today, although Daddy had some work to do at home.

When everyone was home, there was the smell of the crock pot.  This is one of life's simple pleasures, isn't it?  Mommy had some chicken in there, with peas, potatoes and a bit of soup.  It was so good over a bed of noodles.  Tuesdays are ideal for the crock pot, aren't they?  It's so busy, so Mommy leaves everything to cook throughout the day, and it all works out great.

We went back to Kinect Disneyland afterwards, which is such a big game for Madison.  We love the Kinect because it makes you move around whereas other videos games are a bit more lethargic.  Not that those aren't useful when you're worn out.  But the Kinect stuff is great for exercise.

There have been a bunch of scandals in government this week - at least three big ones.  For example, troubling evidence of the IRS harassing Tea Party members.  How exactly is this related to the blog, you ask?  The tie-in:  remember last year when we went through a hassle to get our refund?  Our blog here is called "Tea with Mrs. Nebitt."

Perhaps there was some confusion about the nature of the site.  Okay, probably not!  Call us naive, but I always thought the IRS was a non-political agency - kind of like the Post Office.  Only... the IRS doesn't deliver stuff:  they take it away.  But it's always been one of those things where you roll your eyes and pay your dues.  Everyone hates it, but it's our duty to pay taxes, and submit to authority, using the concept of democracy to change things that aren't working out.  Yet this recent news - along with the other events - makes this seemingly non-political agency seem a bit more sinister.  Can you imagine if this news broke before taxes were due?  People will have a year to maybe forget about this story, but a lot of us from this point on have had our eyes opened.  In short, this week's news is not our cup of tea.