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!