Lake Portrait

This is a pretty interesting school picture, isn't it?  It's different, which is why we like it, and why we're buying it.  It goes well with our "Fish Tales" series, as if Madison is down by the lake or something.  I love these backdrops.  Or is it a backdrop?  Maybe they really brought the kids down to the lake!

Or not.  Anyway, our work towards our "Fish Tales" series continues today despite all the other things currently going on as well.  For example:  allergy shots.  Daddy is half-way through these shots now, which is something to cheer about.  Home stretch, right?

Speaking of which, we were in a baseball mood today, so we plugged in the movie "Angels in the Outfield" tonight.  Daddy just happened to be wearing his Angels hat, so we were off and running with a new movie experience for Madison.  She enjoyed it, so you can expect we'll be watching "Angels in the Infield" and "Angels in the Endzone."  I don't remember a football team that has the name of Angels though.  I don't think that sounds quite that aggressive.  But then again, do Cardinals sound aggressive?  Or Packers?  Or Dolphins?  So yeah.

Madison had another good speech therapy today after school.  Things went so well, the teacher there sees a time when she might not need speech therapy so much anymore.  We'll see how that goes, of course.  Things can always get better, right?

We've been packing for our vacation upcoming, which meant that Madison was putting together all the movies that she wants to take with her.  Apparently, there's going to be a "High School Musical" marathon on the way down.

Finally, a word about the weather.  We're so thankful for the rain.  It is slightly threatening, but we've been blessed with safety tonight.  A look at the radar, and it appears as if we're all clear for a wet night with heavy rain, but not much else.  The bigger blessing, honestly, is the fact that this pollen count will go down significantly after this.  It's been amazingly high this week, so the rain is something we've been counting the days for.

So tonight we said our thanks at bedtime, and did some more reading from the second "Mary Poppins" book.  It has some similarities to the first book, at least two chapters that seem to be nearly identical, in fact.  But it's still a fun read for the family, one that Madison looks forward to.  In fact, she requested it, so we're happy to go with it!

Ten Years Later

It's hard to imagine this really happened, and everything that lined up afterwards so remarkably, including our adoption plans.  But it was all laid out - God has plans for us, plans to prosper us and give us hope.  It was that hope that brought us through some of the darkest hours of Mommy's treatments.  And here we are, ten years later, on the other side of things.  Every day is a gift.

Today was the day Mommy had surgery, and this time ten years ago, Daddy was waiting in a hospital, spending the night there, wondering what the future would be like.  And here it is, and we're doing fine.

We had a fantastic church service tonight, and special guests at the church this week from different campuses.  Our church is growing again, with a new branch opening in Buford very soon.  It's all very exciting news, as the idea is to keep on growing, reaching out, and sharing the good news with more and more people.

It's a Wednesday, so as you can imagine it is a busy day with ballet, homework, and church tonight.  We're gearing up for a new series, for a vacation, for all kinds of thrills upcoming.  The fun doesn't slow down, and neither do we.  Ten years later, we're still going, and going really well.

Art Gallery

We were doing a bit of driving to and fro tonight, with the highlight of the day being our annual visit to the Chestatee Art Gallery, that is to say the gym that they have set up with all of the children's framed artwork for sale.  This year, Madison's picture was a self-portrait, as you can see above.  We arrived in time to do a bit of looking around at other children's artwork, including the lions of last year, the frogs of the year before that and a new direction for the kindergarten class:  clowns.  Personally, I'm glad we don't have a picture of a clown hanging in our house right now.  When Madison was in kindergarten, the kids did pictures of hands, holding flowers.  We currently have the three previous pictures hanging up in the hall, and obviously this one will go up as well.

Afterwards, Madison wanted to hear the choir sing, so we sat in the cafeteria to hear a performance about many different events in American history, different songs throughout time, all leading up to the Star Spangled Banner.  Everyone stood for that one, hands over their hearts.

Tonight there wasn't much time to do anything beyond homework and studying for the big habitat test tomorrow.  Daddy, Mommy and Madison are all experts on Georgia's habitats, from wildlife to ecosystems to population and geography.  She should do great on the test tomorrow.

It was Taco Tuesday also, but we managed to squeeze that in before the trip to the art gallery.  Also, there was piano to contend with, where Madison got her final book of the class.  This one should last her well into next year, but still, as things are slowly wrapping up for piano, it's hard to believe.  Just one more year and then what?  She does well, so we'll just have to see where to take that.

Yes, already we're considering upcoming classes - and camps too.  Summer is coming soon, and we've got to get all that lined up now, don't we?

Anyway, it was a busy day.  We read some more from "Mary Poppins," and Mommy and Daddy had date night with "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." as well.  School was good, as was work - and Mommy had a great day too, although the pollen count is still ginormous.  Desperately waiting for that rain!

I suppose the big thing about today though would be the game changing anniversary of ten years ago.  Ten years ago this morning, Mommy had a colonoscopy, and it was the one that let her know what we were dealing with:  a tumor.  It was determined to be cancer, and it was an obstruction that needed to be surgically removed as soon as possible.  That would be the next day - tomorrow is the anniversary of the surgery itself.  We'll write a bit more about that soon.  But before closing out today, here is one thing we posted on social media that got a tremendous response…

On this very day ten years ago, I went in for a procedure that would hopefully reveal what had been giving me trouble with my health for months. The day is burned in our memory, as the doctor came out with the awful news about a tumor, about a blockage, and about the need for immediate surgery.

Ten years ago this morning, a large cancerous tumor was discovered within my body. It was the start of a new season of our lives, with a long path to recovery involving chemotherapy, radiation, and a great struggle to survive.

Some of you may be just starting a similar journey, or it may be that you know someone taking their first steps towards their healing. I've been there, and know exactly how it feels. At times, the situation may seem without hope.

But I am here to tell you that you can make it. God didn't bring me into it - He brought me through it. Ten years later, I am here with my husband and my daughter that I have since adopted. Ten years later, here we are, living our happily ever after.

Fallen Pollen

Above you see something like snowfall.  They're petals in the front yard, falling like snowflakes.  It was pretty to look at, but the other side of spring was the pollen count.  It's crazy high.  The pollen count is at record levels, well over 4,000.  Driving down 400 today was crazy.  Here's my poem about pollen.  It's free verse, because why not?  

The Pollen is Falling

Looking upward, you see it so clearly, 
streams of golden mist floating menacingly overhead, drifting low in the skies, 
reaching their murky tendrils downward towards helpless travelers 
with nowhere to escape to.  

See explosions of yellow as branches sway and drop their pollen, 
just as a tree branch drops a heavy load of snow.  
Instead of falling downward, the sickly cloud floats in the air,
joining the oppressive haze all around.  
More rain, please!

We had ballet tonight, which meant a bit of reading time for Daddy, who is still working on this interesting Marty Sklar book.  Madison was dancing inside, working on her spring recital with the other girls.  She's excited about ballet.

But she's also excited about taquitos.  For some reason, she had it in her mind to return to Race Trac, where we could get more taquitos.  It was built up as some sort of restaurant visit, like a Daddy-Daughter Date Night or something.  The two of us found our seats there inside Race Trac, and there we had dinner:  a few taquitos and some Arizona ice tea.  Yes, the ambience and atmosphere there is perfect for date night - perhaps this would be a great place to take Mommy for our anniversary!

Madison was working on homework today, studying habitats and doing some basic math problems.  Her fluency reading assignment is not about some flaming liberal this week, so there's a plus!

We read from Mary Poppins some more tonight, a genuinely creepy chapter that seemed more like an episode of "The Twilight Zone" than anything.  It was fun, actually, with Jane the daughter getting stuck inside a painting on an old plate.

Mommy and Daddy watched "Ant-Man" tonight, that Easter basket gift from yesterday.  Daddy couldn't wait to watch it again - it's a pretty fun movie.  Now there's a theme, right?  We should check out "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" again, and maybe "The Incredible Shrinking Woman," that old movie with Lily Tomlin.  I barely remember that one from a long time ago.  It featured a product called "Galaxy Glue," with a theme song my sister and I sang over and over again.

ANYWAY, it's time to head to bed.  Rain is scheduled for the end of the week.  I hope we can make it until then!

Easter 2016

Madison set up the Empire this weekend, the land of bunnies and carrots and Easter eggs.  This village above stretches to other furniture as well, each piece meticulously set up by Madison to make a nice display.

With all the setting up yesterday, we were all ready for Easter Sunday!  This morning, we started as we do each Sunday:  at church.  KidPak was just wonderful this morning, as we closed out our "Roughin' It" series in fine fashion.  The closing skit wrapped up things in a hilarious way, and tied it to our message afterwards, which was powerful.  It is Easter Sunday, so we allotted more time to spend talking about the story of the crucifixion and resurrection.  From worship to the fun to the message, it was a really strong service.  Madison loved it.

But soon after, it was time to get home.  And that's where the baskets were!  You can see the Kylo Ren theme here above - Aunt Shain made Madison a Kylo Ren themed basket, which was hilarious.  There's a felt covering that is shaped like the helmet (this worn by a stuffed bunny), and then there's the basket, candy lightsabers, and of course a Disney Infinity figure in there of... Kylo Ren.

Speaking of Disney Infinity, the cousins each got a figure.  But that wasn't the end of the Disney Infinity fun for the guys.  Daddy spent a lot of time working on a 'virtual' Easter egg hunt, creating a world where the boys could be Ultron and Hulkbuster Iron Man to go around finding twenty eggs.  While battling a lot of bad guys.  This they happily did, while the girls went out and hunted for literal Easter eggs.

But before we go there, a few more baskets.  This tasteful basket above was all a ruse!  It was a nice looking egg and presentation for Nana and Ye-Ye.  But sure enough, when opened, that nice golden egg had inside it... our creepy clown!  This is that same gift that keeps going from family to family here, seen at Christmas and other holidays.  We all forget about it, until a gift is opened or that clown is stuck in a basket or something.  It's been going around here a few years now, and always a big laugh.

Mommy got a basket from Daddy too.  Since it is a day that you look for eggs, why not look for an egg-spaceship?    Mommy got a "Mork & Mindy" series, and you can see the rainbow suspenders Daddy put on the basket as well.  And yes, there's that plastic egg spaceship too.

Hannah and Aunt Shain got baskets with Thor and Cinderella - and Mommy and Daddy got a fun basket too:  look at what Aunt Shain did again.  It's an ant hill, with ants made out of black Easter eggs.  Inside the basket are lots of chocolate Easter candies, but also a copy of ... "Ant-Man."  Well played!

The day was organized well.  We actually ate before the baskets, a Honey Baked Ham along with all sorts of other foods that Mommy has been preparing this weekend.  In between the meal and dessert, we did the baskets, and then looked for eggs.  The boys were checking out their new figures, and looking for eggs on Disney Infinity.  But in the meantime, Madison was out with Hannah outside looking for a whole lot of eggs.  I mean, a whole lot of eggs.  Aunt Shain, Jonathan, David and Daddy were hiding eggs all over the front and back yard, and it took a good long time to find them all.  As it was drizzling a little bit earlier, Madison and Hannah put on rain boots before going out - Madison looks great in her Easter dress with rain boots on!

Here they are with Ye-Ye in the back yard, looking around for the eggs, and filling up their bags and baskets.  Inside the plastic eggs, of course, were jelly beans and candies.  So you know that we have all kinds of sugar in the house now!  But the fun isn't the candy so much as it is the hunt for the eggs, which is always lots of fun.

Everyone had dessert afterwards, which was very nice.  We sat and talked for a while, a great, restful Easter afternoon.  Eventually, it was time to go home for the family though, where things probably got even more restful!

We were pretty tired, so we looked into the basket that Mommy and Daddy got for Madison.  This basket has a dinosaur theme to it, with dinosaur eggs, dinosaur marshmallow candies, and a copy of "The Good Dinosaur," along with Spot, a character for Disney Infinity from the movie.  We popped in that movie tonight, sitting down in the living room to watch.  Visually, this movie is simply amazing to look at.  We've never seen better animation on landscapes and realism.  Plus, the movie is fun too, especially the T-Rex posse.

Anyway, it was a great, great Easter.  And as you might suspect, we went to bed just on time.  We read from "Mary Poppins," where we met - and said goodbye to - Euphemia Andrew, a fun chapter in book number two of the Mary Poppins books.  This character plays a much more significant role in the Mary Poppins play, and it was neat to read the source material for this character.  Brimstone and treacle indeed!

Tonight, we're going to bed early.  Easter is fun for the kids after church, but it's a lot of work setting up.  Everyone is pretty tired, as you might suspect.  In fact, Daddy is nearly falling asleep typing this!  So, Happy Easter one and all, and good night!

Kylo Ren Easter Egg

By request, Madison wanted a Kylo Ren Easter Egg, so Daddy did his best to create one.  Keep in mind we're just using the old school dipping system here.  We combined red and blue dyes into one cup, and held the egg in very shortly to cover the entire thing in a light grey color.  Then we held it at various angles for longer periods of time to shape the area around his light grey mask.  Then, Daddy added the dark black lines with a marker to create the end result, which we were pretty proud of.  Clearly, this dark side is strong with this egg.  Don't mess with it, as this one will put a hole in your eggs pretty fast.

So tonight was our annual Easter Egg dying party, which went on a long time actually.  This is because we were all so into making different patterns and colors and ideas.  Seriously, we were probably doing this about two hours or so, solely focused on making different designs.  We had all different experiments going on with the coloring, and the three of us had a happy evening getting creative with the eggs.

The rest of the day was work, as you might suspect.  It was work for Mommy, who is hosting our family Easter at our house tomorrow.  She was cooking, preparing, and decorating all day.  By late evening, she was definitely ready for a long rest.

Daddy was at the office, preparing for Easter service tomorrow.  We'll wrap up our "Roughin' It" series  with one final skit that has the campers figuring out about Big Foot.  The message is all about gathering around the fire, or why we go to church - singing songs, hearing stories, feeling the warmth and light of his love.  See the connection?  Anyway, following that, there'll be a pretty extensive look at the Easter story once more.  Daddy assembled a long series of pictures, and once again Pastor Lance will tell the greatest story ever told, from Calvary to the empty tomb.

But for now, it's back to work here.  We have baskets to make, and a virtual egg hunt to create on Disney Infinity.  Tomorrow should be pretty epic...!

Easter dates

All the talk is that today is already Good Friday, and how early the Easter season has come this year.  And it is true, and it isn't that it 'snuck up on us' this year.  It's just that it did come earlier than it usually does, and here's why:  it is put on the schedule the first full moon after the first day of spring.  I think that's how it works, anyway.

Basically, it has to do with the Passover, which of course is when the Bible tells us Jesus was crucified shortly after.  That has to do with the Jewish calendar, which of course is related to the lunar calendar.

The obvious thing to do would be to put Easter each year whenever there is a Passover, right?  Jesus said he came fulfill the law, Matthew 5:17.  Which ties the whole symbolism of Passover and the crucifixion together, of course.  The sacrifice, the blood, the judgment passing over... it's all there, so the obvious thing is, why not just make it Easter whenever there's a Passover?  It's always in the Spring, right?  Plus, those dates are pretty similar to where we'll find Easter nowadays anyway.

But for some reason we don't do that.  So now we have these two 'floating' holy days that fluctuate from year to year with where they'll fall on the calendar.

A little research just told me that Easter won't visit us in March for a few more years.  I think the next time it shows up in March, Madison will be 17 years old - in 2024.  And the next time Easter shows up any earlier than today would be in 2035.  She'll be 28 then.

So there's a quick lesson on why Easter falls on the seemingly random date that it does each year.  I actually learned something there, so it wasn't a complete waste of time!

Today Madison was at school with her Easter bag, the one that says "HAPPY EASTER" on it?  Fortunately, schools haven't banned that word completely yet.  Anyway, the kids were out collecting eggs today.  We donated a few earlier in the week, and donated some money and candy as well.  She had a great time at school today.

Meanwhile, Mommy and Daddy got to go to a church service today.  It is Good Friday, and we had a special service at the church at noon.  It's a yearly tradition now, and it's a good one.  Today we actually saw a lot of people able to get off of work or whatever in order to attend.  The place had lots of people.  It was a good message, following some really good worship.  We were glad to be able to go today.

Madison got home, and we've been preparing for Easter a bit at the house.  The family is coming over on Sunday, which means what to do for food, and for eggs.  The food part is all Mommy, and a bit of Aunt Shain as well - she still has some Honey Baked Ham gift cards from Christmas, so there's our Easter feast.  The egg hunt might be a little challenging though, as it is supposed to rain.  The boys are older, Madison's cousins, so Daddy tries to make it interesting for them as possible.  One year, it was a cell phone code that they had to scan at each egg location, and the year before that there were clues and puzzles to solve to reveal the next location.  With the rain this year, Daddy thought about doing it all on Disney Infinity.  Yes, there are literal Easter eggs within the game that you can collect.  We went out and bought the boys a few new figures (Hulkbuster Iron Man and Ultron), and Daddy is going to make a virtual Easter Egg Hunt.  It'll take a lot of work, but it should be fun.

As for Madison, we may have to do the egg hunt inside.  We may go in the direction of making clues - we don't know yet.  Maybe it won't rain, or at least it will hold off long enough for her to have some fun.  We'll just have to take it as it comes.

Tonight we had movie time, and because Madison has been watching "Ultimate Spider-Man" so much lately, we decided to watch that first "Spider-Man" movie again, the one that Sam Raimi directed.  Madison saw this for the first time tonight, and enjoyed it.  We were nervous about the Goblin a bit, but she is okay with it all.  She likes the Ultimate Spider-Man better, because he's funnier.  And that's the only thing most folks seem to have against this original movie - Tobey Maguire is not as fast-talking as his comic book counterpart.  But in every other way, this movie is far superior to the last two "Spider-Man" movies.

That may be a bit of sentiment coming through also.  That original movie came at a time when superhero movies weren't as well-established.  Nobody knew if they could do a Spider-Man movie right.  And the world needed a hero desperately.  2001 was an awful year, and the following summer, there was Spider-Man, hanging off that American flag on a New York skyscraper.  It was just what we needed.  But even further than that, Peter Parker in that movie is so much what Daddy used to be like, and in many ways, still is.  It was a really relatable movie in that respect.  Obviously, Daddy doesn't have spider-like powers.  Honestly, I'm not sure what I'd make of that, because if there's one thing I'm not fond of, it's spiders.  Snakes I can deal with.  Spiders just creep me out!

Anyway, we did watch the movie tonight, and Daddy did some work afterwards, finishing up our "Roughin' It" skit for Sunday.  It should be really funny, actually.  I was laughing as I typed it up!

We all went to bed at a reasonable hour tonight, and even better, we get to sleep in tomorrow.  It's going to be a great Easter Weekend, no matter how early it came this year!

Poop-poop!

Happily, we welcomed the rain today after a week solid of no rain.  Normally, we'd be okay with a stretch of nothing at all from the skies, but the pollen count has been so outrageous lately that we've been anxious to see a little rain to help with all the allergies.  Unfortunately, the rain we got here wasn't quite enough to get so much of the pollen down.  A walk into the front yard, and we were all assaulted by that smell of the Bradford Pears again.  The pollen was not driven away as much as we hoped, and we all fled to the safety of the Great Indoors!

Seriously, the pollen count has been bothering at least two of us in the house a little more than usual this year.  Madison and Daddy are both reacting in different ways.  Madison has some medication to help out with the sniffles, and Daddy's sinuses have been irritated, causing fevers and headaches.  That said, you can see how much we look forward to another good, solid, soaking rain.

Do you remember that "Mario Party 4" game we started a few weeks back?  We actually finished it tonight!  Luigi and Peach absolutely crushed Mario and Daisy after 25 rounds of this game.  It took a long time to finish, playing a little each night that we could along the way.

Don't worry:  Madison did a lot of homework and piano tonight.  She did her multiplication tables again, this big sheet of paper with lots of problems on it.  She has to do it in under five minutes, and she's been doing well with that lately.  Her average has been 97 out of 100.

Daddy got his allergy shots today, and Mommy went grocery shopping for Easter.  While she shopped, Daddy wrote quite a bit for "Fish Tales," our upcoming series at KidPak.  After dinner tonight, Madison got what might be her most extensive peek at the Monty Python cast.  At the moment, I can't remember a time where she's seen so many of those comedians all in one movie.  What movie was it, you ask?  It was "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride."

We just read this story, so as it was fresh on our minds, we thought we'd revisit "The Wind in the Willows" once again, to see how close the movie was to the original story.  It turns out it was a bit closer to the original story than the actual Disney cartoon was.  Not to say we didn't like them both, but the point is that we think they did a great job with this movie.  It had about four of the Python actors in it, so there's a plus too.  Terry Jones was great as Mr. Toad, and by evening's end (and even into the next morning) the thing to say around the house (in a very Toad-like voice) was "Poop-poop!"

Before bedtime, we revisited Mary Poppins a bit, as she revisited the Banks Family.  Apparently, everyone was fine with her just flying off and leaving them high and dry last book.  It's been fun to read at bedtime lately, as both Mommy and Madison are focused on what happens next with these stories.  And we love reading the classic stories, although we'll throw in some new ones from time to time.

Anyway, it was a good day today.  We didn't have speech therapy, so as you could imagine, we had a bit more time to play with for reading, watching, playing.  And homework and piano of course.  Madison has started off on her Chopin practice, and it is going well. Slow, but getting more sure of herself as she plods along on those keys.  Give her a week, and she'll be doing much better on this piece - it doesn't take her long with repetition.  And there was a lot of it today. She spent a long time on the keyboard, so we were happy to reward her for that.

And so, our day is drawing to an end.  There is but one more thing I need to add before closing out this blog entry:  "Poop-poop!"

Pollen and Mud

Mary Poppins came back today, this time on the back of a kite in the park.  Madison wanted to hear the next book in the series, so we're off and running with a new bedtime story.  This one seems a bit longer, so it'll probably last a while.  But that's okay, as everyone seems to enjoy it.

No rain today, no way to clear out this pollen lurking in the air.  There's this threat that lingers, to drive us all insane.  Why won't it go away?  It's always there, always hanging low, dangling in our faces, and violating our respiratory system.  Ugh.

We've had all kinds of bad news in the world, particularly in Belgium, where there's been another horrific terrorist attack.  And meanwhile, the electoral cycle here in this country is quite stressful.  We're down to three candidates (from sixteen?) on one side, and two on the other.  All of them are not looking that attractive right now, but that's part of the election business.  I think if anyone could stop the attacks long enough, they might see the merits of appearing as a positive sort of candidate rising above the muck of mudslinging.  There's a great quote attributed to Adlai Stevenson:  "He who slings mud generally loses ground."  Of course, Adlai Stevenson severely lost both his attempts to be President, so there's that too.  It's just that this year there seems to be a General Sherman sort of approach to politics, where anything in everyone's path is fair game, where bridges are burning left and right.

And then there are two local issues for the state of Georgia, and a governor who is tasked with making a couple of big decisions within the next few weeks.  Lots of pressure on him right now.  Can you believe that Hollywood, the NFL and many other corporations are ordering him around now?  Here's his moment that he'll always look back on - out of any other moment.  Everyone's waiting to see what happens here locally.

It was a church night tonight, and it was there that we learned about Namaan.  We had a fun skit, one that had our class screaming quite a bit.  But the lessons were learned, and it was all good.  KidPak is always lots of fun.

Darth Maul vs. Frédéric Chopin

We had a big day today, and we'll start here with piano practice today, where Madison has decided to play a waltz by Frédéric Chopin.  She's a little rusty with this one, as she's just getting started, so Daddy decided to give her a little motivation with some positive reinforcement:  a reward for mastering the piece.  Daddy offered her any Disney Infinity figure, and she decided upon Darth Maul as a good reward for learning Chopin.  Most people would fail to see the connection between Darth Maul and Frédéric Chopin.  But not us - no sir!  Daddy made a poster to sort of motivate her to the task at hand, which you can see above.  Darth Maul sits there taunting her - did you really expect him to encourage her?  Anyway, this should be a fun season of practice for her, and Daddy has always liked Chopin's music, so that's a bonus.

We did some work at the office, Madison doing homework, and Daddy doing some work towards upcoming services, and then we were home for Taco Tuesday.  This is an important day still, something you announce first thing when you wake up:  "It's Taco Tuesday!"  So the three of us ate our Mexican feast as is our weekly tradition.

There was a little time for one last homework assignment, and then it was movie night.  We've been watching movies based on books, and tonight's feature was "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," which is a hilarious version of the book we've been reading lately.  We just finished the story last night, so it's fresh in our minds.  Sure enough, you can hear a lot of the dialogue in the movie that came straight from the book.  It's of course a little different, as the book has only enough information to probably make a half-hour story or so.  But it is faithful to the original, and very well done.  This is Madison's first Wes Anderson movie, and probably the only one for a while - the direction is so much fun in this movie.

We went to bed, and read from the next Mary Poppins story, which is what Madison chose over all the other books on her shelf.  Mary Poppins has come back after that abrupt departure last book, the one that left the entire family in a lurch apparently.  Hopefully the tone of things will change a bit, and based on this first chapter, things do seem to be a little brighter.  Mary Poppins is back, having changed places with a kite the children were flying.  You just never know where that Mary Poppins will show up again!

Lunch Date

We surprised Madison today at lunch with a pizza!  She knew we'd be coming for lunch, but Mommy came up with the idea to stop by the pizza place nearby and bring a small pepperoni pizza with us.  This was the perfect exciting sort of lunch for a middle schooler.  While everyone else was dealing with a typical lunch, in we walked with a hot cheese and pepperoni pizza.  It was a nice lunch together, just the three of us on stage as is usually the custom for visiting parents and children.  In the picture above, to the left, you can see the beginning of the cafeteria, where all the other students were.

The reason we came today was because there was a Book Fair going on as well.  The Book Fair returned, and was right after lunch for Madison's class, so we decided to make a day of it, staying for the Book Fair as well.  Madison picked another "Dork Diaries" book, and Daddy actually got a book a Star Wars book that we might be reading to Madison in a little bit.  The Book Fair always has these lollipops, so Madison got one of those as well at the end.

After school, we met Madison at the bus once more, and this time we were ready to go off to ballet for the first class after their big "Beauty and the Beast" weekend.  It amazes me that there is even class on the Monday after, as everyone is no doubt really tired.  But they all persisted, and Madison danced with everyone, getting ready for the next big thing:  the recital.

We got home to pasta for dinner, and then a bit of homework - including a reading assignment on Lyndon B. Johnson.  I mean, really?

Anyway, we did some Mario Party 4 after that, and then finished our short book, "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," so that we'll be ready for the movie tomorrow night, probably.  Mr. Dahl is a great storyteller, someone Mommy and Daddy enjoyed reading as well.  Without spoiling anything, we have to admit that yes, that fox is pretty fantastic!

Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl

Poor Woodsy Owl.  No one seems to give a hoot about him!  This was the general reaction Madison and other kids had to seeing Smokey Bear this morning, treating Woodsy like poor Booster from that movie "Jingle All the Way."  Madison gave Woodsy a hug too, and Daddy got pretty excited to see the big owl at KidPak.  Who could forget that catchy little jingle, "Give a hoot, don't pollute.  Never be a dirty bird!"

This morning we continued "Roughin' It" with cream pies and oversized mascots.  Smokey Bear comes out and catches Calvin not properly taking care of a fire in a pit, and for this reason, Calvin got an unexpected pie in the face.

It was a great morning, full of awesome praise and worship, and a perfect message about trees of all things.  It was also Palm Sunday, the morning where the kids all get palms and instructions on how to fold them like a cross.  Mommy and Daddy are pros at this by now, having ordered these crosses for years and years.  Madison was sweet, giving hers away to a volunteer outside.

As for Woodsy and Smokey Bear, they gave away some things too.  It was a big bag full of pencil sharpeners, stickers and even a comic book about Smokey Bear.  Note that we're not calling him Smokey the Bear.  There is no "the" in his name.  I know like I was, you were probably taught all of your life that it is Smokey the Bear.  Well, I am here to set the record straight:  it is not.  We learned that this weekend making arrangements for Smokey to show up with us.  We've been saying his name wrong for years.  And if we were taught that lie growing up, what else were they lying to us about?  Don't you feel so betrayed?

Anyway, as you could see, it was a great morning at KidPak, and a good service for Palm Sunday.  We got home, had some leftover Irish food, and did some serious resting afterwards.  The wind is howling outside like a banshee, but we're warm and quiet indoors.  Madison was playing piano for an hour or so, and then "LEGO Batman 3," I suppose in honor of the new movie that is coming out soon.  I don't know if she actually knows there is a new movie coming out soon, but she's playing the game regardless.

It'll get down to the 30's again tonight, which means another fire in the fireplace - it actually seems cold since we're so accustomed to the warmer weather lately.  This is probably the last one of the season, which is appropriate, as this is also the first day of Spring.  Hard to believe that, actually - it's so chilly out there, and it's the first day of Spring.  Wow.

So "Because of Winn Dixie" was Madison's choice, which of course is because she just read the book in school.  She saw longer portions of the movie in school as well, but she just wanted to watch the whole thing again tonight, especially with a tub of popcorn at her disposal.  This is a great story, something simplistic and yet magical, with a strong message about extending love to everyone.  We hadn't seen this movie in some time, but Mommy and Daddy really enjoyed it again.  As did Madison, who also loves the blooper reel afterwards...!

And the reading continues for "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," which so far has been a great book.  We should finish it tomorrow.  Speaking of which, tomorrow we start the final quarter of school, and see ourselves with just one week until Easter itself.  Time to get serious about all the plans we're making upcoming - lots going on for summer, and spring too - because here we go!

Potato Toss 2016

This evening we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with our traditional trip to Ye-Ye and Nana's house, all decked out in green.  Ye-Ye had a great Irish floral arrangement on the table, and Nana had all sorts of Celtic music playing on their new stereo system.  Meanwhile, there was plenty to eat on the table, from corned beef to Irish soda bread to potatoes and of course cabbage.

Some of the potatoes were used in our annual potato toss - somewhat like the game 'cornhole,' the object is to toss a potato some distance across the yard and into a black cauldron, a 'pot of gold.'  Daddy was the winner clearly this year, getting five shots out of six, apparently feeling the 'luck of the Irish.'  Mommy and Madison scored a few times as well - we took this picture above of all the participants (except Daddy who is taking the photo).  As you can see, everyone was wearing green.  Mommy is more Welsh than anything, and obviously Madison is from half a world away.  But this week, we're all Irish!

Afterwards, there was time for dessert.  Mommy's famous potatoes were on display once more - she makes brownies, wraps them in marzipan and rolls that in cocoa powder to give it a brownish potato look.  Finally, for some of the potato ears, she uses almond slivers here and there.  The effect is great - they look just like potatoes.  Aunt Shain made a gluten-free cake with a bit shamrock on the top, and of course there were the cookies that we had made a few days earlier.

It was nice just sitting down with everyone for a few relaxing hours.  The rest of the day was spent doing a bit of work.  Daddy went down to Athens with a few others to visit someone in the hospital - we drove by a few landmarks here and there, including the spot where Daddy got hit by a bus, not to mention the dormitories and food places.

Madison did some piano, and did some video games as well. The weather outside was cooler, but it was still quite nice today.  The end result was a perfect atmosphere for fun and games tonight.

It seems obviously different without one member of our family there, still somewhat surreal.  But it was great to see everyone laughing and having a good time.  And so tonight, after a full week of blarney, it's time to take off the green and pack it up for another year.  Really, the turnaround has to be quick:  we leave St. Patrick's Day season, and bam!  We're right there in Easter season already.  Can you believe Easter is just a week away?  Blarney!

Beauty and the Beast

Tonight we saw the tale as old as time once again, back at Pearce Auditorium to see "Beauty and the Beast," this time performed by the Gainesville Ballet Company.  This was pretty loosely based on the story Disney told, as you can see by the costumes in the picture above.

We had our usual seats up there in the front row of the balcony, and enjoyed the performance very much.  Daddy had the soundtrack playing on the way to the show, although there were many other musical pieces used throughout the production.  There wasn't a big "Be Our Guest" number or any song about Gaston, but there were a lot of dancing bakers, librarians, tea cups, and there were some dances with wolves (sans Kevin Costner).

Anyway, everyone enjoyed the show, although we're getting home pretty late tonight.  We had to stop by Wal-Mart to get some more corned beef for tomorrow's festivities, and some bread too.

Earlier in the day, it was all work for Daddy, who was making up the service for Sunday - it should be a fun one, actually.  You'll just have to read about it here though!  Meanwhile, Madison got her report card, and it was just great.  She does so well in school, getting great marks in all areas, and improving with her speech as well.  Her reward?  She wanted more wrestlers, she said.  So Daddy added two more to the collection, and now she has four Vinylmation wrestlers.  These things are turning out to be pretty handy!  Currently, Madison has one for each of her four wooden monster trucks, each one resting on a monster truck like it were a bed.  They're all lined up on her dresser, keeping her company...!

St. Patrick's Day 2016

Here's our fashionable - and green - little girl, ready to tackle the day today without getting pinched.  No worries here, because not only is she wearing green, her shirt actually reads "IRISH" on it.  We've been looking forward to March 17th, sort of building up to it with movies and Irish music the last two weeks or so, and here were are on the day itself.  Madison knew immediately - check out her bathroom again:

Yes, that leprechaun was back in the house.  The mirror has a pot of gold and shamrocks on it, and of course there are the shamrock lights hanging up in there.  This evening, those still hang on the mirror, all lit up as a sort of night light.  And yes, the leprechaun not only got the bathroom sink area.  He also got here as well:

We could hear Madison down the hall as she discovered all this in her bathroom.  It was a lot of fun!  When she got downstairs though, there was more fun to be had.  We got her a few items related to the day, including a box of Lucky Charms for breakfast.  Also, there were pencils and a nice sticker book Mommy ordered some time ago.  Our leprechaun salt and pepper shakers joined us a few weeks ago from the basement, a nice souvenir from a shop in Gatlinburg a few years ago.

Plus, Mommy decorated another area in the kitchen with some more of the decorations we had from downstairs too!

Yes, we were all decked out for St. Patty's Day as if it were Christmas or something.  We had the music playing, the green clothing on, and were ready for a great day at school, and at home.

Although Daddy wasn't at home too much today.  He was helping fix Nana and Ye-Ye's new television so they could have working audio.  Meanwhile, Mommy was preparing an incredible feast for us.  Daddy got his weekly shot, and Mommy got some Irish soda bread prepared - gluten-free!  She also had some corned beef to cook up.

When Madison got home from school today, we went to speech therapy (Madison is still working on the letter 'r').  We actually got home without too much of a hassle from 400, despite the huge problems that existed on this same road just a few miles south.  And when we got home, it was time for a traditional Irish dinner.  Madison sampled some of the corned beef, which she likes now - dipped in a little ketchup.  Yes, that's nearly sacrilegious, but we're taking baby steps here!  Dinner was just marvelous, anyway.  It was really nice.

We watched a few more things tonight during dinner and throughout the evening:  selections from "Riverdance" (where Madison promptly started to show us her high-stepping dance), and the story of St. Patrick from an old Veggie Tales DVD, finishing up with the "Leprechaun's Christmas Gold."  It was during the last of these that we all worked on our cookies!

Shamrock cookies!  We had about three pans full of cookies to decorate, so we added the green sprinkles and other colors too, and had fun making more holiday cookies.  We'll be eating these in just a few days when we go over to Nana and Ye-Ye's house - it's there that we'll be celebrating St. Patrick's Day once again, this time with the whole family.  We have fun with that there.

We did quite a bit here, and it was pretty much time for bed afterwards.  So off to bed, and off to more reading.  It was a fun, full day.  Irish every day could be like this one!

Patty McPunchface

With St. Patrick's Day upon us, it's only fitting that we celebrate a Vinylmation wrestler here who goes by the name of Patty McPunchface.  His slogan is, "When life hands you lemons, punch life in the face."

I can't really add anything to that slogan, but I will say that he is the first of the Vinylmation wrestlers to be a known presence in our household.  He came out of the woodwork here because of the Irish holiday, a tiny little decoration that seems to have fascinated Madison so much that she wanted her own wrestler.  Indeed, the Vinylmation figures to her are all about wrestling presently, and she has no idea that this is just a drop in the ocean of all sorts of figures from Star Wars to Disney to Marvel to pretty much anything else that exists.  We're not sure what the fascination is ourselves, although I will say that there's an interesting story how we got Patty McPunchface in the house.

Let me just say that we got a whole lot of these, and we got them for free.  At first, we were going to take them to Goodwill, but then there was a second look at them and a third look at them.  Daddy thought they might be fun as a gag gift in the future or something like that.  We pulled one out, and Madison became fascinated with it - so much that when she finished her piano homework, Daddy got her a female wrestler named Lisa Leglock.  And now it's on:  Madison really likes these little things.  Which works out, because we literally have dozens of them in a box right now.

She might even put him in her diorama that she has to do this week.  Her assignment was to do a diorama of the Piedmont area, a shoebox that has wildlife and plants featured from the region.  Daddy went over to Michael's, a craft store, and got a black bear and a turkey, while Mommy crafted some cardinals and squirrels using clay - and a real tiny acorn.  The end result is something Madison did, putting all the pieces together, including the tree backdrop that Daddy printed.  She did it all at school, so we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.  But she seems pretty positive about it, and it seemed fun to do as well.

Tonight was ballet for Madison, and church for Daddy.  Ballet is sort of low key, as many of the kids and staff are preparing for the upcoming ballet based on "Beauty and the Beast."  Church tonight was nice, as we talked about walking sticks - or staffs.  You can imagine there was some talk about Moses in the wilderness, and it all seemed to work out really well.

Okay, as for now it's time for bed.  Or, with the big day tomorrow, a bit of leprechaun mischief!

Free Ice Cream

The Ides of March were something not to be so much afraid of today, at least with free ice cream around.  Dairy Queen decided to keep the "everyone gets a free ice cream day" thing going after the success of last year, and we were happy to take advantage of it on the way back from music class.  As you can see above, Madison was all in favor of this, as was Daddy.  We both ate our ice creams rather quickly!

Music class went well - we were learning a few new pieces, and also learning what our new theme for the spring recital is:  it's about books.  Kids can dress up as any character from a book that they like, and to help illustrate the idea, Mrs. Pam had a picture of the castle library from "Beauty and the Beast." This did not go over so well with the boys, who were not in favor of a girly theme.  So over and over again, it had to be explained that this theme is about books and characters from the books, and not "Beauty and the Beast."  I'm not sure if it ever stuck in, as for some reason the boys were obsessed with it not being "Beauty and the Beast."  Madison could care less either way - odds are that she'll come dressed as a princess of some sort, which should make for some nice pictures.

As for her piece that she is choosing to play, we think it will be something by Chopin, which sounds very sophisticated now, doesn't it?  It's either that or the simpler, "New World Symphony."  But Daddy wanted to challenge her, so she opted for a more difficult piece so that she could hopefully get some more Vinylmation wrestlers.  Don't ask us why she likes these, but there it is!

We got home in time to do some homework - Madison is finally mastering those pesky 6 and 7 times tables.  These were the last holdouts on the hold multiplication chart, so that she can run all the problems on a sheet of paper in less than five minutes.  She's doing well there.

It was Taco Tuesday, so there was that this afternoon.  It's mandatory now, waiting for us when we get home each Tuesday.  Mommy is doing slightly better, although Daddy is starting to pick up a few of the symptoms.  The end result was a more relaxing sort of evening in front of the television.  Daddy bought a movie online, an old one called "Luck of the Irish," a Disney Channel movie that really celebrates St. Patrick's Day, Ireland, and everything in between.  It's a fun movie, one that Madison enjoyed quite a lot.

Afterwards, Madison went to bed early tonight, getting somewhat used to the Daylight's Savings Time schedule.  We read from the devotional, and from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book.  We said our prayers, and not long after that, Madison was fast asleep.  Daddy and Mommy had 'date night' tonight, sneaking into the guest bedroom to watch "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." once more.  Things are amping up in the Marvel Universe for sure there.

Anyway, it was a good Ides of March today, nothing so much to be wary of.  Unless, of course, you consider the primaries that took place in Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and other states.  We're really not sure what to make of it there.  Some folks are worried, and others elated.  I think most are like us, a little in between.

Pi Pie

Look at this delicious pie Mommy made today!  It is Pi Day, 3/14.  If you round up pi to 3.1416, then that matches the date of the day (3/14/16).  But who really rounds up pi anymore?  It's either 3.14 or some really long extended number that I can never seem to remember past 3.14159265 or something like that.

Daddy was getting the car taken care of this morning in Roswell, and thought to go to a Publix in town there, where it was more likely to find a gluten-free pie crust. Sure enough, there it was - and thus the whole family was able to enjoy this amazing pi pie to celebrate the day.  This thing is so incredibly rich!

After ballet, we got home and were able to enjoy this and dinner as well, also tackling the usual gambit of homework and piano that sat before us.  We didn't have much time after that, as ballet is from 4:00 - 5:15 each day, and by the time you get home, there's homework, eating and just enough time to squeeze in a short round of video games or something.  We did do a bit of Disney Infinity 3.0, and after that there was bedtime, with reading and prayers, and dreaming of π.  Or pie.

What is it about pi that gets it a holiday each year?  There's nothing terribly deep here, but pi is that constant in all circles.  It's a hidden number always there, always inside no matter the size of that circle.  You could have a circle with the dimensions of the universe, or a microcosmic circle invisible to the naked eye, and yet both will have pi within.  It's a constant, a dependable sort of thing that fascinates us.  What is it about this magical number?  If there is a circle, it must have within it 3.14.  A circle without pi is quite simply not a circle.

Furthermore, pi is infinite.  Certain people with much more time than I do have memorized as many as 70,000 digits of pi (again, Daddy gets to around 3.14159265 and that's it).  But it goes beyond that, of course.  I think currently, computers have figured out pi up to around 13.3 trillion digits.  But it always goes beyond that, because the number is infinite, with the wise always searching for more, and there always being more to it.

These sorts of characteristics - infinite and always there, always constant, as well as an essential component - these are the things that fascinate us about pi, and at least in my case, remind me of our Creator and his perfect design for this universe.  It's like a little Easter egg God placed in every circle that has ever existed.

My Pretty Irish Girl

Daylight Savings Time is back with a vengeance.  Spring is the one nobody seems to like, present company included.  This is the one where everyone loses an hour of sleep, gets up an hour earlier, and pretends to be all happy about it!  Of course, we're glad to have the extra hour later in the day, but initially, you're generally too tired to enjoy it so much.

Regardless, we did have a great day today.  You can see above Pastor Lance bringing a message for our series, "Roughin' It," which is continuing in a strong way.  The messages have been tied to 'the wilderness' and 'being still' and things like that.  Some messages even have to do with walking sticks, trees, and rivers.  It's all tied really well to the Bible, and Daddy has been happy with how it all has turned out.  Madison and the kids are really enjoying it too.  The skits have incorporated a lot of Daddy's youth in them, old camp skits from Daddy's days with the Y-Club and boy scouts.  The first of these, the Y-Club, was a rich source of hilarity on stage, which led us to today's material, which featured a line-up of actors singing a song that just cracked everyone up.  It's hard to describe here, but it involves an airline stewardess, an ice cream maker, a firefighter, a football player, a camp bus driver and more.

After church, we went home to rest today.  It's the day of rest, so it's okay, right?  We did piano, or at least Madison did!  She's looking forward to each completion of her practice sheets, because upon each completion, she gets a Vinylmation figure, preferably a wrestler.  This is so odd to us, but we'll take it:  we've already got the wrestlers, and she'll work to earn them!

We did a movie that she's not seen all the way through before:  "Darby O'Gill and the Little People."  Yes, this is in preparation for the big holiday this week, St. Patrick's Day.  Yes, we make a big deal of it around here.  But we also make a big deal about most holidays, as you've no doubt probably already discerned from reading any of these blog entries.

We all enjoyed the movie, and of course are still singing that song within it, the one Sean Connery sings with Janet Munro.  "Oh, she's my dear, my darling one, her eyes are sparkling full of fun..."  Mommy and Daddy have seen this movie a lot.  It is simply amazing that they didn't use any green screen for many of the leprechaun visuals.  You simply take things for granted, but they actually built movie sets that fools the eyes and makes you think there are little people all around.  The story, however, is the big thing.  This is just a fun Irish story, and I'll have to say the ultimate St. Patrick's Day movie if you're going to choose one.

Tonight, we went to bed on time, quite tired.  But that song is still stuck in our heads... "My smiling and beguiling one.... my pretty Irish girl!"

Let's Roll

Another full day today, this one starting out at Lowe's for the next monster truck to be built, one called Blue Thunder.  This is a big deal, this one.  The reason is because Madison was completely self-sufficient in creating it.  For some reason, she just completely got the concept of hammering nails just right, whereas up until now it's been largely Daddy coming in afterwards to sort of drive those nails completely in.  This time around, Madison did it all. She read the instructions, and put the entire truck together entirely by herself.  Bravo!

After creating that rolling vehicle, we went to another place to roll:  Buford's Skate Country.  Today was Kids Day Out, something we got there early for, as you can see by this photo below.

This rink would soon be absolutely packed.  There were squillions of kids here today, and it was almost kind of dangerous to be out there skating around.  One area (to Madison's left there along the wall) became known as "Kenny Loggins' Danger Zone" due to all the horizontal traffic.  No one just veers off or merges in a rink anymore - no, it's darting about at perpendicular angles, without even looking.

Fortunately, Madison never really fell that much.  And the neat thing is this:  she's gotten much better at skating.  Having skated just last week, she sort of got the hang of things and has started moving a whole lot faster now.

Oh, and there were friends there too.  Here's Camille, but there were plenty of other friends there as well.  All the staff was there, and a whole lot of volunteers were there as well - it was a really fun day at the skating rink.  Daddy was taken out by some kids, and even as I type this, I'm amazingly sore.  An Indiana Jones quote pretty much sums it up:  "It's not the years.  It's the mileage."

We got home, and there was plenty of piano homework to do.  We had intentions of going to get a Shamrock Shake today after skating, by the way.  But after visiting three different McDonald's, we realized that they probably aren't making them this year.  This was initially a bummer, but Madison suggested why not just have green mint ice cream tonight?  So that's what we did!  After piano, we had some green mint ice cream, our very own Shamrock Shake, and that suited everyone just fine.

Daylight Savings Time is tomorrow, and it isn't the friendly one.  So we got to bed a little earlier tonight.  Before doing that, we plugged in the Game Cube and did some Mario Party 4.  But not too much - because bedtime was awaiting, where there was more reading from our two books, and an early night's rest.  The activity of the last two days has gotten us all exhausted enough to need to get some rest.  So... that said... goodnight!

Kurios

Today we went back to see Cirque du Soleil and their newest production, "Kurios."  This was a complete surprise to Madison, who had half a day at school today, so we decided to take a drive south on 400, all the while she was clueless as to where we were going exactly.  Only when she saw the yellow and blue striped tent did she realize it was time to see Cirque du Soleil once again.

The show itself was just perfect.  We thought the last one "Amaluna" was okay, but this one here is Daddy's favorite since 1996's "Quidam."  It might be the steampunk influence that they've got going on.  You can see below that Madison has joined the steampunk movement a bit.

There are so many surprises in the show, and of course there are acts that simply amaze, leaving you to wonder how anyone could do any of the things you are watching them do.  But the thing that impresses the most is the overall feel of the production, with costumes and music and fluidity.  The surprises and performances just suck you in, taking you along for a journey unlike any other.  And yet at the same time quite familiar to those who've seen Cirque du Soleil before.

All three of us enjoyed it very much, as you would suspect.  We got there a little early, although not too early. We gave ourselves two hours to get to Atlanta, and made it with about twenty minutes to spare.  Once again, another accident backed things up and we were stuck in the usual traffic jam.  But when we arrived, we were able to get into the tent, and also pick up the things we got with our package deal: souvenir water bottles (the same one that Daddy's had in his collection for the past three Cirques) - a total of three of them (one for each of us).  We also got popcorn and drinks with the deal, and had some great seats, center and back a bit - just perfect for viewing the entire production.

We left quite happy with it all, blown away once more.  We took our usual pictures of Madison with a mask on at their shop, and of course picked up the soundtrack and a souvenir program book.  We weren't the last ones to leave the tent, but it was close - we were in no hurry to get stuck in traffic on the way home.  The strategy worked:  we enjoyed our time in the tent, and didn't have much traffic to contend with on the way home.

It was an earlier show we saw, but we still got home late enough to pretty much go straight to bed.  That we did, after our reading from the books we've been hitting each night this week.  It was a great day with wonderful weather outside.  Traffic was bad as always in Atlanta, but event we went to see there was one of those that left us inspired, and quite thrilled with Cirque du Soleil once again.

Mario Party 4

It's a board game, but also a video game - today we started what looks like it will be a week-long game of Mario Party 4, one of the Gamecube games from some time ago.  Madison just loves this game.  She chose Princess Peach, of course.  Daddy is Luigi.  We chose this game to go on for 25 rounds, and at that time Daddy didn't realize just how long 25 turns would last.  If we played it straight, who knows?  But as we squeeze in time here and there to continue this game, it could go on - this one game - for literally weeks.  So we started today, and it's been somewhat fun.

More fun than getting shots again.  Which is what Daddy did this morning, and which is why he is itching currently.  Today was speech therapy as well, which meant the drive down 400 (not so bad), and the drive back home up 400 during rush hour (self explanatory).

Madison is doing well with speech therapy still, and her new teacher is giving her some good homework assignments.  We'll add those to the rest of the pile of things to do, as it looks like Madison's schedule is getting more and more crammed with stuff to do.  Her homework has been getting more and more extensive - for example, today she had to write a paper about trying something new.  Fortunately, she's been roller skating lately, so she went with that.  At first, she was nervous and not sure how to do it.  And of course, she fell a few times.  But eventually, she got much better at it!  And this is very much true.  She's able to move around the rink quite well by this point, although not as fluid as a professional yet.  Still, she's self-sufficient to the point that (sniff, sniff!), she doesn't need Daddy so much anymore.  No more of this "holding hands as you go around the rink" stuff!

Fortunately, she does still need Daddy for Mario Party 4.  Yes, he's dominating at catching butterflies, finding treasure in mazes, and parasailing.  Just don't ask him to skate for another few weeks.  At least wait until all this swelling goes down...