Zathura

We had another active day today with piano and a bit of driving around.  Piano went well - we're gearing up for that recital, so as you can imagine there is a lot of practice for certain numbers she'll be performing later on.  She did well with her solo, and better with the group number, but she'll need some more practice with the songs.  If only they all decided to sing "Let it Go!"

We got home and ate, and the weather was a bit threatening outside.  On top of that, we were all a bit tired - so we sat down to watch a movie that Madison hasn't seen before:  "Zathura."  We hadn't seen it in some time either, but after watching "Jumanji" last time, I gather she's learning an important lesson from these movies:  board games are very dangerous.

We actually do have this game in the house.  And we've got the double threat:  we also own a copy of the board game, "Jumanji."  We haven't played either yet, but Madison is approaching an age that we could play.  In fact, we just might do another board game or two upcoming.  But we'll need to be careful.  For example, one thing we learned from both of these movies is that you need to take your turns quickly.  Don't just wait for the meteor shower to hit everywhere and then go again:  go to a safe place and take your turns quickly, one after the other.  Maybe the out-of-control robot will get struck by the meteors - you never know, right?  That's the one thing about the movies an impatient person like Daddy notices:  don't just sit there and wait for calamity. Keep taking your turns, and end the game as soon as you can.

We went to bed earlier again tonight, as we noticed Madison was a little tired in piano class.  She wasn't squirmy during the movie though - this may have been one of the scariest movies she's seen ever.  We forgot about the menace of the zorgon aliens, and Daddy was quietly hoping she wasn't going to have nightmares about these slithering alligators in space suits.  She seemed okay with it all, and of course there's a happy ending for everyone.  Except the zorgons, of course.

We read some more of our Bible tonight before bed, reading through the book of Psalms - a kid-friendly version that's easier for Madison to understand. This Princess Bible has been quite good for us, with lots of devotional material to talk about before bed.  Madison was looking at her own life, and the skills she's been given.  We pointed out tennis, piano, and ballet of course. But she's also very smart: we got to see some more of her homework and classwork today, which came home with her.  It was all so fantastic and so routine.  She just aces everything without any problems at all.  Pretty amazing was her paragraph that she wrote about magnets.  It was so good that I want to scan it and share it here - maybe tomorrow.  Another gift we told her about was her sense of humor:  she's very funny.

Each morning, we pray before going to school.  We sit on the couch, all facing one another in a small circle.  Or a triangle, at least.  The point is, Madison and Daddy are always seated first, when Madison calls out for Mommy to come over and sit anywhere.  So... Mommy comes over and sits on Madison's lap, which never fails to crack her up.  We have our little routines in the morning, don't we?  And of course, the other tradition is Madison getting up from her breakfast to go and hide, once she hears Daddy coming down the stairs.  It is usually one of four hiding places, and as Daddy gets closer, Madison always jumps out and roars!

She's an adorable blessing with many gifts.  Tonight we prayed together, thanking God for our blessings and continuing our prayers for others we know.  Daddy read a bit of a Spider-man comic to Madison before bedtime, and soon it was off to dreamland for her.  She was indeed tired - but so were we.  After our latest "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." episode, Mommy and Daddy were off to sleep themselves...