Totoro

Madison made the honor roll again!  Daddy got home, and there was the blue ribbon on the counter, along with her report card.  She's doing really well right now, and we expressed how proud we were of her.  Daddy even got her a new Tsum-Tsum to celebrate the occasion.  Earlier today, he got a "Dumbo" tsum-tsum from the Disney Store, one to go along with the circus theme at church.  It was as good a time as any to give it to her.

Today she also got a recorder.  No doubt, we'll post pictures of that soon enough here.  Already, she's been playing "Hot Cross Buns" on it, something she was practicing with an older recorder earlier in the week.  She likes the recorder a lot, and brings it with her in the car too.  Yes, the joys of parenthood, hearing that melodious squeaking from the backseat, followed by giggling!

She did some piano today, but that's just going to be a regular thing this semester - she has piano five days a week, and is good to get that practice going each time.  Meanwhile, Daddy and Mommy have been working on KidPak's "Big Top" series a bit.  Mommy is putting together costumes, while Daddy is writing, and creating the imagery necessary for the service Sunday morning.

The weather is warming up significantly outside, and it feels like spring.  Do not be deceived!  Winter is far from over, but at the same time you can't help but smile and take a deep breath when you're outside.

Inside, Mommy has been cooking up some wonderful fast-friendly dishes for us.  With Chinese New Year approaching, we had something stir-fry with rice, mushrooms and onions.  Oh, and squash.  And lots of gluten-free soy sauce.  Yes, even soy sauce usually has gluten in it.  But there are many more things that Mommy has been trying out, especially with soups and flavored waters.  It's been really good!

Another Chinese New Year thing we did was this:

Yes, it's a Japanese movie.  But still, it's that region, and the Lunar New Year is celebrated all around.  So we put in a Miyazaki movie to see if Madison likes it - currently we have all the Miyazaki movies in a box set, so we started out with "My Neighbor Totoro."  Madison really liked it, especially the scene pictured above.  Okay, it's pretty much the best scene in the movie for everyone.  But she liked the movie so much that we'll be surely watching more Miyazaki movies in the coming weeks.

Tomorrow we might not have time for that though.  We've got "Big Top" to finish preparing for, and the series is going to be very special!