El Chupacabra

Here he is, the latest creation from Madison and Daddy.  Our visit to Lowe's this morning was one of the more challenging creations, but it still turned out pretty decent - this is El Chupacabra, from the recent movie "Planes."  The most difficult thing about him just may have been the stickers!  But by morning's end, Madison had helped create a new airplane, and gotten herself yet another badge for her apron.  This summer's total of Lowe's badges is four, and one from Home Depot.

For now, our summer of carpentry and crafts is over with, a nice tally at the end this year.  Madison is very proficient reading instructions, paying attention to details such as which nail length to choose, and what pieces go where and when.  This made up for a few of Daddy's boo-boos too!  Daddy is not exactly the best at putting things together, for some reason.  But he did assemble a book shelf for her this week, so at least I can hang my hat on that.

So Madison went with Daddy to work, where Mommy eventually joined us (complete with another amazing lunch!).  We did a lot of putting things away today, from our Roman costume to some football items to some other night guard wear as well.  Madison and Daddy had quite a few breaks together, including one where she did something else for the first time:

Pool!  Can you believe we've never had the chance to teach her pool?  Today Madison had her first round of pool versus Daddy.  Of course, the rules were supremely stretched as Daddy spent a good deal of time attempting to explain how to hit the cue ball, and what's supposed to happen after that.  Madison was very patient, and actually really enjoyed trying - although her form leaves much to be desired at present.  It could be that she's doing all this to set me up though:  maybe the next time she'll ask me to put a little wager on that next game, and then suddenly Daddy will find himself facing a pool shark!

We did some more work in preparation for the new day, but we also spent some time snapping some more photos of Madison around "the museum."  Here are just a few:

Madison is no dum-dum!  She likes gum-gum!

It's a night at the museum.  All is dark and quiet for now, but it won't be long before everything comes to life!

Yes, I'd like a pizza with pepperoni please.  Send it to the museum.  With extra cheese. 

My, what large teeth you have!  Madison's reptilian dentistry skills at work.

An early possibility for a Halloween costume?

We actually had a lot of fun with the camera, snapping all kinds of shots for a bit.  But Daddy did have to work, as did Mommy.  Besides putting various props up, and cleaning the office area up a bit, we also did some recording for the puppet show video.  Madison and Mommy both leant their voices to different characters, and editing started right away for this and several other videos.

We got home a little later, but there was still time for a bit of piano practice.  Afterwards, we started our trip to Middle Earth.  Daddy surprised Madison with the "Lego Lord of the Rings" game, and already we were dealing with those Onion Ringwraiths again.  So far, they've done a good job with the game.  One peculiar thing about it is how serious the tone is, and yet how ridiculous it is that these are Legos trying to go after this cursed ring.

Madison went to bed after a Bible bedtime story:  we read about Jonah tonight.  It's a story she already knew, but we're reading things in order (sort of), so we did that story again.  After prayers, it was time to sleep, sleep, sleep.  We were pleased that Madison seems to be doing better - her runny nose is nearly gone, and her coughing is gone as well.  Currently, she's sleeping soundly upstairs in her room, nice and comfortable.

Meanwhile, Mommy and Daddy have continued a new phase of repeat television.  Rarely do we watch anything that is new.  The one exception is this new "Agents of Shield" show that is set to begin next month.  We rely on a service called Netflix, and watch old shows from start to finish.  As of last week, we've started a new one that we're already addicted to:  "Monk."  We watch a lot of old comedies as well, sort of behind the times on popular shows.  But quite content for the most part.  For over twelve years, we've been unhooked from cable and satellite, which is ironic because Daddy used to sell satellite dishes and service.  But we just haven't needed it.  This new television show next month will be something different for us:  watching something as it happens.  This requires the antenna, a huge robotic thing upstairs that gives us local channels in HD.  To give you an idea of how frequent we need this, the last time it was used was during the Olympics, or maybe New Year's Day.  We also can use it for parades at Thanksgiving and New Years, but that's about it.  But starting next month, Mommy and Daddy will be checking out the antenna once a week.  Daddy's a big Marvel fan, so we don't miss much with Marvel movies and television.

So here we are, late at night.  It's time for bed again.  Daddy is studying his script for tomorrow, and getting ready for another new day.  It's going to be a big day, with Nana's birthday party afterwards.  It should be lots of fun!