Tea with Mrs. Nesbitt

This Valentine's Day, Be Mayan

2012-02-14T16:41:00.004-05:00

We decided to have a little fun with the Kinect again tonight before bed. We went to Disneyland again, but not before making heart shapes with our sparklers, as you can see above.

What a day it was! Daddy got Mommy Valentine's Day present with an unusual theme: "This Valentine's Day, Be Mayan." That is, rather than "Be Mine." You see, 2012 is claimed by some to be the end of the world because of a Mayan calendar, so Daddy grabbed hold of this apocalyptic theme and went with it:

You can see even the Mayan temple there, along with the similar colored wrapping paper on the boxes below, stacked pyramid-style. Each one has a lot of Ghirardelli chocolate in them (eat like it's the end of the world), and the bottom box contains Perry Stone's "Breaking the Apocalypse Code" box set. Daddy even made a goofy card, which you can see in the front.

Madison got a lot of stuff too! She got about thirty or forty different Valentine's Day cards in the mailbox again, from characters like Princess Tiana, Yoda, Lightning McQueen, and Tinkerbell. She loved that, but these were just part of her special day. Earlier at school, she and her classmates exchanged cards and candy, just like we remember doing when we were children too. She had decorated a paper bag, as did all her classmates. Then, each child put candy and cards in all the bags until each one was filled with all kinds of goodies. Madison came home with a lot of special memories, and some special sweets too!

But before coming home, she stopped by Daddy's work so she could give everyone Valentine's Day cards and cookies. What a full day she was having! She spread the love, and everyone enjoyed having her there very much. She's a sweetheart!

There was no music class today, but even without it, we had ourselves a very full day. In fact, Daddy's a little worn out as he types this: he's nearly ready for bed, and it's still pretty early! But we've got one more thing to do - it's time for Daddy and Mommy to watch another romantic movie. It's "romantic movie" month at the house, and tonight's feature is "Benny and Joon."

Joon: He can really cook, can't he?
Benny: Uh, yeah. Although for grilled cheese, I mighta used a wool setting.

Mickey

2012-02-13T03:00:00.004-05:00

This amazing sculpture using a miniature tea set looks just like Mickey Mouse - and it is entirely created by Madison. She tapped us on the shoulder and said, "Look! Mickey!" It looked so neat that Daddy had to snap a photo of it, and here it is!

Today was another day of rest, although there was a bit of preparation for Valentine's Day. For example, Madison, Mommy and Daddy made delicious heart-shaped sugar cookies! This has been a holiday treat we've been doing for years now - for just about any holiday. Mommy collects different shaped cookie cutters, and she cuts the cookie dough, passing along the shapes for Daddy and Madison to decorate with sprinkles. These cookies are going to be given out tomorrow, assuming we don't eat them all tonight!

Also, Madison filled out plenty of Valentine's Day cards for all of her friends at school - and Daddy's work. This took considerable time, but she was quite insistent on writing everyone's names herself: she wrote all her classmates' names, all of Daddy's friends' names and more. We had to spell each one, of course, but she did the writing herself.

Tonight, we start watching Valentine's Day movies in earnest! February's movie list is made up of romantic movies. That's the theme of the month, right? We visited the theme of Asian-themed movies in January (for Chinese New Year), and now are moving on to the month of love! Tonight's feature was "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which is a still a great flick after all these years. We don't have any set list of movies, but we do have some favorites. Madison doesn't watch these yet, of course, but here's just a few:

1. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"

2. "Sabrina"

3. "Beautician and the Beast"

4. "Return to Me"

5. "While You Were Sleeping"

6. "The Proposal"

7. "No Reservations"

8. "50 First Dates"

9. "Dave"

10. "Hitch"

11. "Sleepless in Seattle"

12: "IQ"

13. "Roxanne"

14. "Roman Holiday"

15. "Benny & Joon"

16. "You've Got Mail"

There are more, but these are generally the types of movies Mommy and Daddy watch in February. Number 4 on the list, "Return to Me," is significant in some ways because it was the movie we saw on our flight to Hawaii, when we were on our honeymoon. We'll be watching that one again this year. Another favorite is "Beautician and the Beast," which I don't understand why it isn't more popular. I think the movie is hysterical, but both Mommy and Daddy think Fran Drescher is extremely funny. Ironically, it was that movie that Daddy saw on a flight to Hawaii a few years earlier.

It's funny putting a list together like that. Note that it does not include musicals or fantasy stories - otherwise it'd be a few more pages long. We do get to those movies as well, but for now, February is a month of the traditional romantic comedies.

And tomorrow is the biggest day of the month! See you then...

"Put on your sunblock because it's rays today, raisins tomorrow."

- Joy Miller

The Sherlock Homeys

2012-02-12T16:10:00.004-05:00

Madison is seen here with Mycroft Holmes, the star of our recent series at KidPak. He wears his hat kind of funny, but he seems to get along well with the kids. This month at Baker Street, we've had lots of laughs and a pretty decent drama series. One character you can see below, the British Royal Guard. He stands perfectly still in the lobby - and on stage during our skits. This all despite some character's best efforts to get him to do otherwise...

After church, it was time to rest. It was needed very much. The good news is that Madison is better - in fact, this was her first trip back to church. The temperature outside was chilling cold - a breezy twenty-two degrees outside. Our guard in the photo above was probably quite grateful for the bearskin hat!

"See the value of imagination. We imagined what might have happened, acted upon the supposition, and find ourselves justified. Let us proceed."

- Sherlock Holmes

100 Piece Puzzle

2012-02-11T20:44:00.005-05:00

Here's Madison's latest hobby. She's advanced to a 100 piece puzzle, and even goes through that pretty quickly! She's been really into puzzles as of late - as recorded earlier, she does the 25-piece puzzles actually face down.

Today was somewhat of an epic work day for Daddy, yet he did get home in time for a nice warm meal with the family. We enjoyed each other's company, playing some games and doing keyboard practice. Things are getting more complex with the keyboard, and Madison is doing a great job keeping up: she's getting better and better. Just today she was using two hands at the same time, which is remarkably difficult for me to even comprehend!

Madison has had three amigos with her at the house. She shares the bed with them, and in the morning brings them down to the living room. One is the groundhog puppet. One is Wonder Woman. And the other is "Fluffy," her blanket she got in China. It's a major rule: got to wake them up in the morning - and we've got to have them in bed with her at night! In fact, look closely at this picture here. Can you see the three friends seated on the couch, watching on?

Madison's speech is improving mightily. Though still a long ways to go, there are noticeable improvements over the past few weeks. We have been fasting and praying over this, and are so delighted in the good results.

Tuesday is Valentine's Day: Daddy has a lot of planning and work to go, but things are going in a positive direction. One thing I have to sneak out to get is a few little gifts for Madison. Yes, o that little "grocery list" will be some puzzles for Madison!

The Mauls

2012-02-10T22:15:00.003-05:00

So tonight we went to see "The Phantom Menace" in 3D. This is Episode I of the Star Wars series, and the first to be released of the six, which will come out one per year the five years. Based on these calculations, Madison will be eight years old when Episode IV comes out - that's the original "Star Wars" for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about. She just might be old enough to watch it, actually! That's about the age Daddy was when he first saw "Star Wars," so that's kind of an interesting moment coming up. IN THREE YEARS. Believe me, I can wait: time has been flying by fast enough as it is!

In the meantime, here are some Darth Maul wannabes. There's a program on the Star Wars website that transforms you into Darth Maul, from Episode I. He's a rather evil looking critter, so I didn't transform Madison. But that didn't stop me from getting a bunch of people around the office to try it out!

It works best when you aren't trying to look evil. I mean, if you sit there and sneer, then so what? Daddy did it three different times, as seen with the middle left images. The girl who played Alice in Wonderland for us has quite a temper - she's right in the middle too. Okay, she doesn't have any temper at all. That's what sort of makes these funny.

Today was a GREAT day for Madison at speech therapy. Mommy said it was as if something just clicked. This is such wonderful news! Also, there was a return to the chiropractor - Madison is healthy as a horse again. Ever since her "straightening out" on Monday, she's been noticeably better. This could also be the timing of the medication finally kicking in after a week and a half, but you never know. I'm just glad she's back to normal, more or less.

Also today: the Wisdom Club luncheon. It was great to have Madison with us for a short time. Madison, Mommy and Daddy had lunch together (after Daddy was through volunteering). It was a nice time to be together, although much too brief.

Madison spent some time with Nana and Ye-Ye tonight, who were happy to watch her as we went off to the movies. It was a fun night for Mommy and Daddy - and a fun night for Madison, who was looking forward to seeing them tonight.

"Why do I get the feeling that we've picked up another pathetic lifeform?"

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

Back to Ballet

2012-02-09T23:12:00.002-05:00

Madison is dancing again - literally. She seems to be over her illness to a much greater degree, much to our delight. Tonight, she was back at ballet, dancing and having fun with her classmate. Evidently, the illnesses are going around: including Madison, there were only two students in class tonight. Daddy watched the two ballerinas dance and twirl and he read from the latest Terry Pratchett book.*

Everyone slept late this morning. For Daddy, it was a significant amount of catching up - we all slept until about ten in the morning!

We did some more work with Valentine's Day cards, and Madison did some more practice with her keyboard. Today was one of those days where she just seemed to have it all together: she hit the keys exactly when she was supposed to, reading the music sheet as she went. Mommy and Daddy were quite impressed!

Mommy made a huge meal for us at lunchtime. It was actually so big that we didn't need to eat for the rest of the day. It was this massive French dip meal, which was delicious. Mommy serves up some creative and tasty meals, and this was no exception.

The weather is supposed to turn cold again, but it may be too late for the snow. In fact, there's no mention of snow at all in the forecast this year. This is a bummer. We didn't get any accumulations whatsoever this year at our house. One day there were flurries, but that's about it. This is depressing - certainly when you consider that we still had to endure some pretty cold days. We may be surprised, but it currently seems unlikely. Maybe next year...

Madison has really been into puzzles this week. She has four currently on the kitchen table. Upside down. I'm serious: she doesn't think they are challenging enough when they are face-up, so she turns them upside down and tries to do them as fast as possible. We'll obviously be getting her some new puzzles soon. Her midi-chlorian count must be very high!

___________

* "Snuff"

Don't Blow It

2012-02-08T22:34:00.004-05:00

Madison went back to school today, healthier and stronger than she's been in a few weeks: she had a great time, actually. Still, there was nap time after school, which is something she still needs. It has taken a while recover, but she's clearly on the road to full recovery.

We've been doing some Valentine's Day cards with Madison, in advance of the day which is now less than a week away. A year or two before we even met Madison, Daddy bought some Valentine's Day card kits that were on clearance after the big day. I've had these in a tub for years now, so it was neat to pull one kit out in particular: the "air blow" cards. These are special pens that blow out ink when you breathe into one side. Just aim your pen, and splat! There's pink. Or orange or purple. Obviously, you need stencils in order to make this concept work.

Daddy cut out the stencils, and Madison blew the ink onto the cards into patterns of hearts, teddy bears and balloons. They turned out pretty good!

Madison will give these out on Tuesday, and tomorrow I hope we'll finish up all Valentine's Day related preparations. It came up so fast on us this year! The funny thing is that it is still on February 14th, just like all the time. We just got so caught up elsewhere that when we looked upon the calendar, there it was, lurking just like always in the middle of the month!

Moose Awareness Day

2012-02-07T20:38:00.006-05:00

Imagine a CD with children's songs that are all about the moose, and you've captured the idea behind this CD by Brent Holmes. It's called "Moose Tunes for Kids," which sort of narrows things down a bit. For those of you not interested so much in the moose, there are also bear tunes and sea tunes (including the famous "Billy the Squid"). But today we're looking more closely into moose tunes. Madison and Daddy were listening to these insanely catchy songs today - this CD is a direct hit with both of us, and moose lovers everywhere. Especially those who love chocolate mousse. After just one listen, you're nearly guaranteed to have the song "A Moose in a Treehouse" stuck in your head on repeat. This CD is pretty fun, and even occasionally educational. I'm thinking of a holiday upcoming: Moose Awareness Day. There isn't one right now. A little internet search came up with "Brake for a Moose Awareness Day" in New Hampshire, which seems like common sense. I mean, you don't speed up to hit a moose, do you? But then we see how New Hampshire people vote every year, so that's that.

The bottom line is that we need a Moose Awareness Day, where we celebrate this really awesome creature. We can also brake for them too.

During this day, I think it's obvious that we should have chocolate mousse, which is reason enough to have this holiday. Celebrants can watch old episodes of "Rocky & Bullwinkle" or "Brother Bear 2," which features Rutt and Tuke, two pretty funny moose.

Here's the point where I have a confession: I have struggled to figure out what the plural for "moose" is. So I just looked it up: it's "moose." Example: "Rutt and Tuke are two moose." I have a temptation to say "Rutt and Tuke are two meese." Or "Rutt and Tuke are two mooses." But these would be wrong, and I would be a terrible moose ambassador if I didn't know what the plural was. But now I do, and so do you.

Here's a flashback story from Daddy's past: it involves moose, so don't worry. Daddy and a friend of his arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park a little late. We were tired, and rather than set up the tent, we just slept in the car seats in a camping spot. Daddy and his friend woke up in the morning and looked out the windshield of the car. Hovering directly over us were - you guessed it - two moose. That's one reason why I love national parks! I really don't know what they saw in our car that was interesting - I'm just glad they didn't decide to crawl on top of it. These things are HUGE!

As it happens, there is a "Moose Day" in Colorado. I just looked that up too. It's in Grand Mesa, Colorado, which is the other side of the state. Evidently, they have a lot of moose too. Anyway, their "Moose Day" is on July 31st, which sounds like as good a time as any to have a "Moose Day." We'll celebrate with them later this year, if I can remember. Until then, I officially declare February 7th "Moose Awareness Day."

Moving on...

Mommy had a great dinner tonight, perhaps in honor of our new series, but more than likely just because we've had this strange craving as of late for fish and chips. She made the fries herself, and got some special malt vinegar, and tonight everyone had a tasty dinner from across the pond.

Everyone was pretty tired today. Despite the fatigue, we still managed to make it to music class - the first time in two weeks (she just missed one class). Madison was playing piano with both hands this afternoon, and also: she got a new booklet to start practicing with.

Valentine's Day is next week, which is insane when you think about it: we've got a lot of work to do in a short time. Part of the reason it "snuck up on us" was the crazy work schedule related to the new series launch this past weekend. We were so preoccupied with "Get a Clue," that everything else seemed to fall by the wayside. Mommy and I are planning something for Madison though: we just don't have all the details yet. But, you can't let that day go by without having some fun. Join us in a week, and we'll share all the details.

You can bet Daddy is looking for some moose-themed Valentine's Day cards now...

"I look like a moose." - Mia Thermopolis

Crayon Sculptures

2012-02-06T20:16:00.005-05:00

Madison is doing much better today, as shown here in this photo. We still kept inside, but with it being so chilly outside today anyway, we thought it would be smart to stay indoors. She was coloring for a bit, but then started making crayon sculptures by using the small plastic dresses from some of her dolls - and putting crayons inside them! This went on for a bit, actually. As you can see, this first attempt did not have any arms. Later models did have arms, green and purple ones. She was quite entertained by this.

This afternoon, Mommy won a contest online with a local radio station: it's been ages since we've won anything, so this gave Mommy a slight thrill! We got a few free tickets to an event coming up, one that I'll have to write about later when we go. Mommy is big on entering contests left and right. This might be because she used to win a lot.

One thing she

won was an epic trip to Washington DC, in order to see the first inauguration of President Ronald Reagan. The trip included visits to the Smithsonian and other monuments - and all of it was paid for. Mommy even got some spending money for the trip, though she said she didn't really need any of it. Yes, eventually we'll take Madison to Washington DC. You could spend over a week there in that city and still not see it all, but anyone who knows Daddy knows we'll give it a good try. Of course, we'll want to wait until Madison is old enough to appreciate and understand what it is all about. It's a neat trip because it's educational, but it also can be fun. Hopefully, they'll have the Washington Monument fixed by then...

Back to contests and awards: Daddy has won, to date, nothing. Okay, I take that back: in high school I won a box of this new gum flavor that was by some no-name company. It tasted dreadful. Each year they have raffles at the Christmas party for the church. I never win.

Personally, I think I am probably the reason for Mommy's dry spell on winning contests. I'm not saying I'm a loser, but when it comes to contests, I just haven't won anything.

We had another funny moment this afternoon with a puzzle Madison was doing. Evidently she's been doing the puzzle so much that she got bored with doing it right-side up. She actually was putting this puzzle together facedown. She's a puzzle prodigy! We just might have to give her some more challenging puzzles...

Tonight was a time of rest for all of us: we'd been working so hard this weekend. We snuggled on the couch for a bit, but soon it was time for more Lego Clone Wars. Madison is really enjoying these Lego games. Mommy and Daddy have been watching this television series each week - we're on Season 4 right now. It might be a little too shoot-em-up for Madison right now, but some episodes might be fun to watch with her. She's into the Star Wars thing, despite not seeing any movies yet (outside of "Star Tours"). In fact, this game is the most extensive Star Wars related thing she's done up until now. As everyone knows Daddy is a big fan, that's bound to grow...

Who is Mycroft Holmes?

2012-02-05T01:45:00.005-05:00

This is a unique video we shot yesterday. It's somewhat raw, but the interesting part of it is the location: it's our subdivision, the Riverstone Plantation. This video showcases the street we live on, as well as the playground we can't wait to take Madison to when she gets a bit healthier. Yes, the video is a bit silly (it's based on a running gag seen first with "The Rutles" quite a few years ago).

Today's service turned out quite splendid! Despite fatigue and exhaustion, everything turned out very nicely. Then Daddy came home and fell asleep for a few hours! Literally, we were up all night in preparation. Next week, Mommy will be around for some decent photos of our set - along with Madison on board. Madison should be feeling much better by then, and Mommy takes such better pictures. But for now, things were great for the kids.

Madison is doing good. She's healthier than she's been in a week, though still rather tired. She was sleeping on the couch again when Daddy got home - which was all the inspiration he needed to take a long nap himself. Mommy's been putting in some late nights as well, which means today - after church - was really a day of rest.

Madison and Daddy got involved in the Clone Wars again afterwards: Lego Clone Wars, that is. This game is a little tougher for her, but there are certain elements she's been enjoying. There's one multi-player "arcade" game where players go against each other, but we've been sort of just hanging out there lately. Madison likes the girl players of course. Daddy likes Plo Koon.

"We are justice." - Plo Koon

It's Elementary!

2012-02-04T22:27:00.005-05:00

Historically, the Saturdays before our new series are very involved. "Involved," roughly translated means working essentially all night. For example, I'm currently finishing up this particular entry around 1:35 am. The expectation is that I'll be here another hour or so with my compatriot, Josh, who has been doing some incredible work with the videos. Here below is his wonderful Sherlock Holmes video for our new series:

Daddy has been working very hard on scripts, keynotes, music, videos, and so forth. Quite a bit. But there's more! The stage is incredible - can't wait to show a photo of it, really. Maybe get Madison on the stage for a photo when she feels better: it has Big Ben, the Tower Bridge, and a red telephone booth.

As you can see, Mommy did a great job again with the display cabinet, and has created some nifty costumes that you'll be seeing photos of soon. Unfortunately, Mommy can't come in tomorrow to snap any photos, as she's got to take care of Madison at home.

Daddy saw Madison briefly today - she was fast asleep. This has been her entire week, really, and the end result of a spell with mono. She's just exhausted all the time. Worrisome is her eating habit: she's not having that much to eat lately.

Today she spent some time with Nana and Ye-Ye, which she enjoys very much. She's so tired lately, but Ye-Ye and Nana know what's going on, and know to take it easy with her. Mono is no fun at all.

Discombobulate

2012-02-03T19:51:00.005-05:00

Madison has been quite ill this week. Each day we've tried to help her battle a fever, and each day we've watched her sit quietly on the couch, exhausted and certainly out of character. Once upon a time, we were amazed at her limitless energy, and felt ourselves on the verge of not being able to keep up. Now, she stays still, staring off into space. She smiles, and talks, and hugs. But her energetic side has been gone nearly a week now - and we miss that dearly. This morning, Madison once again crawled into bed with us crying: her fever was high.

Our schedule has become discombobulated. We've skipped ballet again, and school, and pretty much everything else. We've dropped plans for the Chinese New Year, Groundhog Day, and even a Daddy-daughter date night at Chick-Fil-A. Our only plans of late are those that take place inside the house, and even those are more limited. It's just a tough time for Madison, but we're here for her.

Meanwhile, Daddy and Mommy are attempting to prepare for the newest series: this always requires quite a bit of work. Daddy has gotten quite a bit done, but still has plenty more to do. Here below is an entry from the newest devotional, dedicated to the man, Sherlock Holmes:

It seemed like a completely random moment: a desperate man had just told an intense story about a lost document he believed was stolen. Spies could have been racing away with it even at that very moment! Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were on hand to hear all the details from the emotional man with the missing paper. Yet after a few pointed questions, Sherlock Holmes spotted a rose just outside the window. So interested was he in this flower that he seemed to forget everyone else in the room. He walked over to the window and gazed at its beauty.

“Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers,” he said. “All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.”

He stood there, his back against the window shutters, and considered the flowers for a few moments. It was quite awkward for the others in the room – after all, they were just talking about something very valuable that had been stolen!

Yet the great detective stopped a moment to appreciate something amazing given to us by Providence – which is a fancy way of saying something wonderful given to us by God Himself.

Many consider Sherlock Holmes a cold, analytical sort, measuring the marigolds like an inchworm. But oh, how beautiful they are.

The Naval Treaty everyone was after would be found eventually, and there would be a happy ending to the story. But our great detective stopped to smell the roses, quite literally.

As Sherlock Holmes noted, God is good. No matter what is going on in your life, take time to see His goodness, and share it with others. Everything will be okay in the end, but until then, enjoy your life by appreciating what He has given to us. We do have much to hope from the flowers.

It's Groundhog Day. Again.

2012-02-02T20:13:00.013-05:00

Well, Madison saw the groundhog this morning. He actually made a visit to our house! His proclamation: spring is on the way soon!

Actually, spring got here a lot sooner than we expected: this afternoon was incredible outside! Unfortunately, we spent much of it indoors, as Madison's health is still struggling somewhat. We did have the backdoor open, the screen door keeping any bugs and birds outside. It was pleasant having fresh air pour into the house as it did.

This morning's visitation from the groundhog was simple: a few years ago, we bought a groundhog puppet for a skit at church. In fact, here he is in this picture below (we used him Wednesday night at church service in yet another Groundhog Day skit).

So anyway, Madison was on the couch when all of the sudden behind the couch emerged a groundhog! It was a nice little conversation - the end result was that the groundhog did see his shadow, but it was not where a shadow traditionally should be. It seems that this groundhog's shadow was somewhat like the one Peter Pan has: you could see it way up there on the ceiling! We had a bit of a fun story time with that, and did very little else today with Madison outside of a run down to Gwinnett County for costuming related to our upcoming series. We also went to Cracker Barrel (they have these toy violins - we thought one would look great in our Sherlock Holmes display case). While at Cracker Barrel, we all had a nice filling lunch. Madison ate more today than she's eaten in a few days, so that was encouraging.

When we got home, it was time to play some games! Madison and Daddy popped in our latest Lego adventure: "The Clone Wars." This game is a bit more complicated than previous Lego games, but Madison is enjoying it just the same.

After dinner tonight, we watched the two movies we have to watch each year. With Madison, we watched "Jack Frost." This features Pardon-Me-Pete, a groundhog who actually has some serious power. If you look at Old Man Winter, this giant cloud being who rules over all the mighty forces of winter, you'd think that he is rather invincible. Jack Frost and all his co-workers could never stand up to Old Man Winter. Yet, this tiny groundhog can control the powers of the winter season. All he has to do is see no shadow - and winter must go away. This is easily one of the most powerful rodents on the planet.

******____*********____******

A story on ABC news yesterday was talking about how inaccurate the groundhog Punxsutawney Pete was on Groundhog Day. The writer was too lazy to actually show statistics, but instead had a link to a weather-related site run by the U.S. National Climatic Data Center. Perhaps he saw the statistics himself, and agreed that they were indeed rather weak. Here's one of my favorite quotes from that government-run site:

"It really isn't a 'bright' idea to take a measure such as a groundhog's shadow and use it as a predictive meteorological tool for the entire United States."

Ya think? I mean, seriously? To me, it really isn't a "bright" idea to type a dumb sentence like that. For a whole host of reasons.

First of all, you sound like Phil Conners did at the beginning of "Groundhog Day," before he learned to live, and act, like a human being: "This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat. What a hype."

Yeah, I'm looking at you, U.S. National Climatic Data Center.

Incidentally, we note that your website assumes that Punxsutawney Phil's prediction is for the entire country (they have these charts to prove their case). As if Phil is predicting the forecast for places like Oregon, Colorado and Montana.

Yet, I don't know if I've ever heard that Phil's prediction is actually supposed to cover the entire nation. For example, there's a groundhog here in Georgia. The southern groundhog predicts a southern forecast, while Phil up north predicts a forecast for the northern states. This explains why they have contradicting reports from time to time. In fact, this year it happened: Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, while General Beauregard did not.

So, now let's break down the "analysis" by the U.S. National Climatic Data Center a bit: in 2011, Punsxutawney Phil saw his shadow. That means according to lore, spring was "just around the corner." Scientific translation: it was about to get warmer in Pennsylvania.

The U.S. National Climatic Center says that Phil got it wrong last year. YET, from their own website, here's their description of the temperatures last year:

In 2011, much of the U.S. saw normal to above normal temperatures. During the first half of February 2011, a southward-plunging polar jet stream held temperatures as much as 15 degrees F below normal in much of the Central and Southern United States. Warm tropical air advanced northward across these regions during the second half of the month, and average temperatures reversed to nearly 15 degrees F above normal. This flip-flop resulted in near-normal temperatures for February as a whole.

SO, within two weeks of Punxsutawney Phil's prediction, the temperature for the region was above normal by fifteen degrees - and stayed that way the rest of February. Simply put for you meteorologists: spring was just around the corner. Phil got it right last year, U.S. National Climatic Data Center.

Yet you want to make a sensational statement in order to get readers. And in order to get your results, you had to factor in lower temperatures of western states, some as far as 2,500 miles away. Shame on you, U.S. National Climatic Data Center. Shame!

After reading your "data," I think you are nothing but a bunch of jealous, pompous groundhog haters.

Mono y Mono

2012-02-01T21:24:00.002-05:00

Okay, so Madison's fever - though not 104 - is still present. In fact, it's been up to 102 from time to time. Mommy was managing it with ibuprofen, and of course continuing the amoxicillin based on the doctor's prescription.

But this has been going on for days. So what's up with Madison?

That's what we wanted to know. So trudge we did back to the doctor's office. And, as this is a blog about posting firsts, here's another one: mono. Madison has mono, the "kissing disease."

That explains everything! She's been sleeping on that couch constantly. She'll pop in a movie and we'll look over there, and find her sleeping. We think it's just a nap to catch up on some late nights, but no: she's in it for the long haul. We carry her upstairs and put her in bed, sleeping heavily. She's completely wiped out!

It's mono. This puts a damper on quite a bit. We're really feeling sorry for her now - how can you not? She saw the medicine this morning and told us bluntly, "It's not working!"

She came in this morning and crawled into bed with us one more time: her skin was burning with heat, and she was crying. This is seriously the sickest I've ever seen her - it's been a few days in a row of this, and it has been so discouraging.

Fortunately, the pills help to calm the fever down somewhat. But we've had to keep her home from all activities, including sadly our trip to see General Beauregard, the groundhog down near Stone Mountain - the one everyone goes to see on Groundhog Day. Also, there's ballet and a host of other things.

But the blessing is this: it could have happened any other time. Like Christmas. Or when Nana and ba-Ba were here. Or even our Chinese New Year Festival at the house. Recently, I was bemoaning the fact that we hadn't purchased tickets to the Atlanta Families With Children From China Chinese New Year Dinner, this Saturday. The reason was work-related: there's so much to do. Still, I was becoming jaded at the thought that we'd miss out on this. Now, I'm grateful we haven't bought the tickets: we wouldn't be able to go because Madison isn't feeling well. So there's a lot to be grateful for in all this. That's generally a good philosophy: look for the good in all things.

We played games today, but Daddy did have a lot of work to do. Our new series is this Sunday, and things are about to seriously pick up a bit. Hopefully, Daddy will keep away from that mono stuff. Mommy had it once, and said it wasn't fun. Looking at Madison, I tend to agree mightily.

Yad sdrawkcaB

2012-01-31T22:27:00.005-05:00

.yhw erus yleritne ton m'I hguohtla ,yaD sdrawkcaB si yadoT !ereht olleH

"?!erutcip eht teg ot gnitrats uoy erA .trats eht ot enil hsinif eht morf ,sdrawkcab emag draob a yalP .sdrawkcab klat ro ,sdrawkcab klaW !nuf llac I tahw s'taht woN .tressed htiw gnitrats ,laem ruoy taE .tnorf eht ni kcab eht htiw trihs ruoy raeW .sdrawkcab gnidaer ro sdrawkcab gnitirw yrT .sdik dega loohcs htiw ralupop yllaicepse s'tI .nuf fo stol eb nac yaD drawkcaB dna ,noitanigami ruoy esU .sdrawkcab gnihtyreve od ot yad a si yaD drawkcaB" :noitpircsed a dnif did I tuB .gnihton :delaever sah hcraeser luferaC

.gnihtemos ro rorrim a ot pu egassem siht dloh dluoc uoy spahrep - daer ot uoy rof tluciffid ti sekam siht wonk I

.yltnerruc reyalp drocer a evah t'nod I derebmemer neht tub ,sdrawkcab drocer a yalp ot detpmet saw I .yldas ,yadot sdrawkcab gnihtyna fo hcum od t'ndid I .oediv ssorK-ssirK a rO .dnalrednoW ni tcefrep eb dluow taht yad fo tros eht si siht ,YAWYNA

.teews oS .su devol ehs su dlot dna revo dellor nosidaM ,pu ekow ew nehw dna ,gninrom siht su htiw deb otni delwarc dah ehS ".uoy evol I" erew em ot sdrow tsrif yrev reh esuaceb teews yllaicepse saw sihT ".uoy evol I" erew thginot sdrow tsal reH .deb ni reh tup dna ,sriatspu ylluferac reh deirrac eW .keew hguor a dah sah gniht roop ehT .niaga hcuoc eht no peels ot ffo detfird tsuj nosidaM tub ,ecno reh ekow ymmoM .gnipeels llits saw ehs dna emoh tog yddaD .tpels dnA .tpels dnA .tpels ehs neht tuB .llew sa "yhW repuS" gnihctaw dna ,gniward emos did ehS .001 tuoba - hgih llits si revef ehT .emoh ta kcis llits ,ymmoM htiw yad reh tneps nosidaM

.riah ym fo tuo eb yllanif lliw ti tub ,deb erofeb emit erom eno ti foorp tsum I .htiw tnetnoc etiuq m'I gnihtemos si ti dna ,lanoitoved eht dehsinif yllanif evah I tuB .gnitirw ,gnitirw ,gnitirw ,krow ta drah neeb sah yddaD

:sdrawrof dna sdrawkcab ,syaw htob tuo krow lliw taht esarhp a depoleved ev'I kniht I :yaD sdrawkcaB no thguoht erom enO

"smart stressed live bats stab evil desserts trams"

".yaD sdrawkcaB" seod rehtien ,niaga neht tuB .esnes fo tib a ekam t'nseod ti ,esruoc fO

".sdnah ruoy no emit eerf fo tol lufwa na evah tsum uoy ,woW"

civoknaY lA drieW -

___________

(translated for your convenience:)

Hello there! Today is Backwards Day, although I'm not entirely sure why.

Careful research has revealed: nothing. But I did find a description: "Backward Day is a day to do everything backwards. Use your imagination, and Backward Day can be lots of fun. It's especially popular with school aged kids. Try writing backwards or reading backwards. Wear your shirt with the back in the front. Eat your meal, starting with dessert. Now that's what I call fun! Walk backwards, or talk backwards. Play a board game backwards, from the finish line to the start. Are you starting to get the picture!?"

I know this makes it difficult for you to read - perhaps you could hold this message up to a mirror or something.

ANYWAY, this is the sort of day that would be perfect in Wonderland. Or a Kriss-Kross video. I didn't do much of anything backwards today, sadly. I was tempted to play a record backwards, but then remembered I don't have a record player currently.

Madison spent her day with Mommy, still sick at home. The fever is still high - about 100. She did some drawing, and watching "Super Why" as well. But then she slept. And slept. And slept. Daddy got home and she was still sleeping. Mommy woke her once, but Madison just drifted off to sleep on the couch again. The poor thing has had a rough week. We carried her carefully upstairs, and put her in bed. Her last words tonight were "I love you." This was especially sweet because her very first words to me were "I love you." She had crawled into bed with us this morning, and when we woke up, Madison rolled over and told us she loved us. So sweet.

Daddy has been hard at work, writing, writing, writing. But I have finally finished the devotional, and it is something I'm quite content with. I must proof it one more time before bed, but it will finally be out of my hair.

One more thought on Backwards Day: I think I've developed a phrase that will work out both ways, backwards and forwards:

"smart stressed live bats stab evil desserts trams"

Of course, it doesn't make a bit of sense. But then again, neither does "Backwards Day."

"Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands."
- Weird Al Yankovic

Strep Throat

2012-01-30T13:58:00.004-05:00

Last night was pretty rough. And scary for us as well, knowing how much of a fever Madison had. At times we thought the thermometer read 104, and checked it again to see - sure enough, it said 104. But these thermometers all have different methods of reading, and we couldn't be 100% sure. Still, regardless, she was suffering with a high enough fever to worry us through the night. We alternated ibuprofen and acetaminophen, with a higher dosage of prayer mixed in.

It all started after the Chinese New Year party - fortunately she got to enjoy that. We noticed during the party that she was a little under the weather, but things really went downhill after that. Daddy stayed with her on the couch for a while, playing games and keeping her still and under the covers. But it as it got dark, it became clear that this was no ordinary moment of feeling sick.

This morning, Madison went with Mommy to the doctor's, and it was confirmed: Madison has her first strep throat. Or, at least the first that we know of. They picked up the medication from the pharmacy, some liquid that she'll be drinking the next ten days. It's flavored bubble gum, and colored bright pink. This is so she'll always associate bubble gum with being sick!

This morning, we stayed on the couch, under three blankets. Madison chose to watch "Alice in Wonderland," and all the extra features too. But soon, it was time for a nap: Mommy needed one too, after that late night. The two of them are currently upstairs, catching up on some much-needed rest. Daddy, in the meantime, is downstairs, typing up the devotional for our next series: it's deadline is tomorrow, so I'd better get back to it!

CNY 2012

2012-01-29T07:54:00.003-05:00

Today we had a Chinese New Year celebration at our house, where we invited the family over and had an awesome time. Check out the decor Mommy set up in a hurry. Isn't the cupcake dragon brilliant? He's also gone right now: we ate that one up big time. It is the Year of the Dragon, which made this perfect.

Daddy got Chinese takeout from Oriental Garden 2, and Mommy got the rest together. Then the family showed up, and we all had a nice time together. Of course, we did some Kinect bowling and some Fruit Slicer - but the majority of the time was spent at the long table in our dining area. There, we feasted and feasted!

Madison wore her special costume once more - the one from "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." She was looking adorable as always. We had a very nice time together, just hanging out and doing some catching up. This morning Ba-Ba and Nana had left to go home. Madison was very sad to see them go, but they'll be back in about a month, so their absence won't be too long. Unfortunately, they had a terrible drive back home: this morning there was a horrendous series of accidents along the interstate in Florida, which made things so bad that all traffic was still being diverted many hours later. It took Ba-Ba and Nana a really, really long time to get home - but they did arrive safely. And understandably exhausted.

Speaking of which, Madison started to show signs of sickness after the meal tonight. She started running a pretty high fever and pointing to her throat. Oh no, not again. Daddy raced out to the drug store to get some medication for her. Unfortunately, one package was not for her: it was labeled CHILDREN'S MEDICATION, so I picked it up. But the fine print on the back of the box says you have to be six or older to take it. Okay, so what on earth is that about? I'm in a hurry to get medicine to help my little girl, so my natural inclination is to find the CHILDREN'S MEDICATION, as I would tend to classify my daughter as "CHILDREN."

Fortunately, one of the items I did pick up will be useful for her tonight. We have enough to keep watch over her and help keep the fever down. Tomorrow morning, Mommy is taking her to the doctor's office, so we can hopefully have this seen to as soon as possible.

In the meantime, here's something I just scanned: Madison's Chinese name, written in Chinese. We got this last Chinese New Year - it was a nice gift. Happy New Year!

Totally Tubular

2012-01-28T16:50:00.003-05:00

Here's Madison's Velvet Belle, a masterpiece of velvet artwork if I do say so myself. We got this for her at Christmastime, and recently she tried coloring it in. She didn't do too bad of a job, actually. We might hang this one up, perhaps in our gallery room, beside the framed velvet Elvis, and the velvet John Wayne. Okay, so those who know Daddy know that he's kidding about having those hanging up in the house - and yet you probably also know that he'd love to have a Velvet Elvis somewhere. To think that these were all over the place, and easy to find. Now, they are probably as valuable as works other fine works of art! But nothing is as valuable as the work Madison puts together - at least to me. That's one reason why I scan a lot of it: just in case we lose it somewhere down the road. Madison has been prolific with drawing and creating art, and we'll have to come up with some effective storage system soon!

Here's a place to put things: it's a tube! Not the Tube. This one is something that Ye-Ye and Nana got for Madison two years ago at Christmas. It rests on the floor beside her pink castle, and serves as a secret side entrance. Or, in this case it serves as a large vertical column of pink. The neat parts are the little windows she can peek out of. She just sort of scoots along and swallows up things on the floor along the way. I think this would be an ideal costume at Halloween, actually. Just deposit the candy in the top, and maybe put some lining around the waist to keep the candy from dropping to the ground. Then, slowly but surely the candy will pile up around you! Oh yeah, I've got it all planned out for sure!

Little Trooper

2012-01-27T22:13:00.004-05:00

Here's a movie slide show of Madison with our TMBG paper monster hearse from the other day. Daddy didn't get to see her too much today, as it is late at night and I'm still at the office, plugging away. I did get to see Madison this morning - I drove her in to school. It was cold outside, and I carried her close to me as we crossed the parking lot. As we got closer though, she wanted to walk. Here's a photo that sort of captures that idea, a photo of Daddy and his little trooper:

This was taken by Swedish photographer Kristina Alexanderson, who has a whole bunch of Stormtrooper photos similar to this online. Isn't it great?

Anyway, one of the reasons Madison wants down after we cross the parking lot is this: we race. It's a morning ritual, our race to the big button that opens the front doors. It's set there for those who can't open the door on their own. Madison loves to race Daddy to that point every morning - and golly, she wins a whole lot! This morning she pressed the button, and the two of us raced in as well: that's because it was pretty cold!

Madison had a good day at school, and a good day with Nana and Ba-Ba as well. It is during these busy times that I'm grateful to have them here, so that Madison can have some quality time together her grandparents. Unfortunately, this visit is a short one - they'll be leaving on Sunday. HOWEVER, they will be back in about a month. That's the good news for all of us!

For now, Daddy sure does miss his family though. Still here at work, still typing - but obviously taking a small break from it all. I just know when I see Madison next, it'll look like this:

Board Game Day

2012-01-26T21:23:00.002-05:00

Today for some reason became a board game day, which was fine by me. Although I didn't get too much work done on our upcoming series, at least we did get to spend some time together with Ba-Ba, Nana and Madison. One very fun thing we did together was play board games. We played quite a few, actually: we started out with "Trouble," which Madison enjoys because she likes to bump people. "Bump!" she says.

Next, there was "Candy Land," which is one of Madison's favorites. This was a Daddy vs. Madison battle to the finish line. Daddy got the supreme edge when he drew orange as the very first color. This is a big deal in Candy Land, for those of you who don't know the nuances of the game.

Here's another game we played for a bit: the Disneyland Monorail Game! This is a reproduction of a game that came out in 1960. It's a simple concept, in which we race around Disneyland, against each other and also against the train, which has its own playing piece as well. The game is really simplistic, but it is also really retro - so Daddy likes it. Plus, it's a map of Disneyland, so Madison likes it too. We played this for a bit today too.

Then later on, after ballet, it was time for Barnyard Uno once again. This time, Madison was playing against Ba-Ba and Nana, and absolutely loving it. Was Ba-Ba cheating? No, but Nana was helping Madison out from time to time with some good advice for the win. And oh yes, she did win in the end. "I win!" she cried out. "You lose!"

Ballet was good again. Madison enjoys it so much. Daddy sits in a special spot just outside the room, watching her dance through a window. She and the other students line up, and do their dances together - it is such a small class now, but that's just fine with me: more attention for Madison. It was pouring rain again, and Daddy had to carry her to class and carry her to the car, but all the while she was holding her tiny pink princess umbrella. She really likes umbrellas, and if there is an opportunity to hold one up, she's not going to miss out!

So anyway, here I was sitting and watching her dance. I've got my Sherlock Holmes book, and I'm gazing at her do her spins and twirls, and watching her laugh and smile. She has such a great time in this class.

On the way home, we listened to more children's music: today's selection was "Urban Chipmunk," one of Daddy's favorites growing up. Madison enjoyed it too, especially when Alvin gets in trouble.

Which is pretty much every song.

Night of Heroes

2012-01-25T22:07:00.004-05:00

Wednesdays are a long work day for Daddy, and we started out by taking Madison to school first thing. That is the routine for Daddy and Madison. We try to make the best of that drive time too, and this morning was no different. Daddy, Mommy, Ba-Ba and Nana saw "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" again last night, which featured John Lithgow. This prompted Daddy to remember John Lithgow's CD, "Singin' in the Bathtub," which we listened to this morning on the way to school.

This is a really great and really fun one to listen to. I suspect in some ways, Daddy had more fun with it than Madison! But she was listening too, and will again soon. We've got a lot of great children's CDs that Daddy has been popping in for the ride to school. Of course, over December, it was largely Christmas music. But now that we've got a lull in the holidays, there's an opportunity for all kinds of neat music. For example, Lauri Berkner's music. And the Veggie Tales songs. And don't forget the three They Might Be Giants' children's CDs. And another of Daddy's favorites, the Chipmunks! My all-time favorite from when I was younger was "Urban Chipmunk," which I can still listen to. In fact, it's popped in the car right now, ready to play next after the bathtub songs: there are some great songs on that disc!

Madison was picked up from school by Mommy, Ba-Ba and Nana - and then whisked away for a day of shopping. It seems that has been their one big activity this week. But if they're enjoying it, then more power to 'em!

In the meantime, it was work time for Daddy.

Tonight was a church night that Mommy and Daddy could attend in the main sanctuary, so Mommy arrived at church along with Madison, and guess who was dressed up as a superhero? That's right, it was Madison: tonight was a superhero theme night for the pre-schoolers, so all of them were invited to show up dressed as a hero of some sort. Madison wore a black mask, and a bright pink cape that Mommy put together this afternoon - she was cute! Here she is below with Spiderman, Spiderman's clone, Superman, Green Captain America and a few other heroes dressed as mild-mannered citizens:

Over the course of the evening, Madison even designed her own new cape. It was a white cape material that she decorated with crayons, one that she put on over her other cape. Then she had two capes!

"No capes!" - Edna Mode

TMBG Paper Monster Hearse

2012-01-24T14:38:00.006-05:00

They Might Be Giants recently made available a papercraft of their monster hearse, so Madison and Daddy spent a little time recently putting it together. The TMBG Paper Monster Hearse came out pretty well, actually - you can see the accompanying boom box in the picture below, and if you look carefully, you'll find the small stand-up of Abraham Lincoln. Just in time for his birthday!

This was a pretty big day for Madison, and just like our 4X4 drive above, we shall tread over some of the day's events below:

WHEEL ONE: Madison's keyboard "recital." This was by no means an official recital, but in piano practice today, Madison knew she had to perform one of the songs from her booklet. She chose the song "Hide and Seek," and volunteered to play her piece first. Quickly, she ran over to the keyboard and nailed it. Daddy was so proud of her! She was practicing this week for the big moment, and things turned out great!

WHEEL TWO: Madison had her first Oreo cookie ever. Why had this moment taken so long to arrive at? I have no idea - we just hadn't really thought of it? Anyway, in class today, Mrs. Pam our teacher mentioned Oreo cookies. And since Daddy was so proud of Madison for her little performance, he thought it would be a neat idea to reward her with that special cookie! Madison's reaction: "Yummy!" She didn't like it dipped in milk so much, but she did love it plain. She wanted more than the two I offered, but Daddy didn't want her having a super sugar rush!

WHEEL THREE: All of us had a great time bowling tonight. Again, it was "Kinect Bowling," so we didn't actually leave the house. But Ba-Ba and Nana had a good time bowling with Mommy and Madison. It was fun to watch everyone get the hang of it, and celebrate wildly after each strike.

WHEEL FOUR: Dinner together was fantastic. Today we went to the crock pot, and Mommy had a perfect roast inside. It was absolutely just right for a day like today - where there's a slight chill in the air. Fortunately, the rain stopped and the sun came out. Yet it was still just cool enough for us all to want to stay inside a bit more. The kind of dinner Mommy had for us was a "comfort food" that warms the soul - and the tummy!

"My mind is a wrecking ball and someday my mind's gonna wreck all y'all."

"Dog Walker," They Might Be Giants

The Year of the Dragon

2012-01-23T10:18:00.005-05:00

Today marks the beginning of the Year of the Dragon - it's time to celebrate Chinese New Year! As it fell on our day off, today was actually a rather nice day at home. We couldn't go outdoors much because it was still pouring

quite a lot of rain outside!

We did a lot of the standard things for Chinese New Year, such as eat noodles for lunch. As you can see here, we made sure the noodles were nice and long. This symbolizes long and healthy life. I'm not entirely sure who made that up. It was probably somebody who sold noodles, who made a fortune afterwards. Regardless of how the tradition started, as you can see here, it's also kind of fun to hoist the noodles way up high in the air and let them dangle over your mouth, too! This was just a quick snack at lunchtime - the meal we had later on tonight was a much larger feast. We'll get there soon enough though. First, let's have another game of Go Fish!

Madison loved playing this with Nana, and actually was teaching her how to play again, as it's been quite some time since she last played Go Fish. Madison had such a great time playing with Nana: she's really enjoyed seeing her grandparents here this week.

MADISON'S BOOK CLUB

We did some other things with Madison to recognize the start of the new year: Daddy read several children's books about the subject, including "Chin Chiang and the Dragon's Dance," a sweet book about a boy doing the dragon dance with his grandfather to celebrate the Year of the Dragon.

This is a nice book to read, particularly on Chinese New Year. The neat thing is the timing - once every twelve years it is the start of the Year of the Dragon, which is when this story takes place. And today, of course, was that day. We read it together on the couch along with a few other books. This story is encouraging and a confidence builder. It is also a story about reaching out to help others. Finally, it has plenty of Chinese culture within it, complete with some nice artwork. Madison enjoyed this one, as well as the others.

We also watched Kai-Lan's Chinese New Year episode, where the main characters learn teamwork and each carry the dragon. But soon it was time to head off to eat. Here's a photo of everyone at PF Chang's for dinner: notice how Madison is wearing her pirate queen outfit. She really wanted to wear that to dinner tonight, and we thought: why not!?

We actually bought this costume for her year or two before we met her - it was on the discount rack at the Disney Store after Halloween. We were thinking it might be a fun outfit for Madison someday, even though we hadn't met her yet. Years later, sure enough: she loves this outfit. So much that she wore it to dinner tonight!

We had ourselves a big feast this evening, with dumplings, egg rolls, crab wantons and more. Always there are leftovers. There was just too much food! It was a nice time going out to eat with family, and a chance to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

When we got home, it was time to stuff envelopes: red envelopes, that is. We'll be giving some of those away tomorrow, as it is a tradition to give red envelopes with coins in them. Instead of coins, our flair is to use chocolate coins. Also, we taped chopsticks to the envelopes to make a nice looking presentation. Madison will be handing some of these out tomorrow, and the rest out when she meets up with the rest of the family this weekend.

It was a very foggy night tonight coming home. But it's been that way all month. Dense, thick fog - the kind you usually associate with a mystery from 1800's London. And the rain that came with it was heavy, pouring down all morning long. So far, it's been a very wet year. Ba-Ba and Nana came from Florida where it has been sunny and 80 degrees - and up here, it's been cold and wet all the time. But despite the weather, it's been a warm time together, especially for today. We had a wonderful time making memories together.

Happy Returns

2012-01-22T21:40:00.002-05:00

It was a rather epic day in scale, one that started early with another fantastic service in Wonderland. As you can see above, we had a visit from Mad Hatter once again, along with his friends the March Hare and the Dormouse. Alice was actually crowned Queen Alice today, hence the crown upon her head. It was a very full service, featuring nearly every character from series thus far. Even Absolem the Caterpillar showed up down the hall with the younger children, posing the question once more: "Who are you?"

Once we got home, it was time to get some rest and do a bit of cleaning up - and waiting! Soon enough, the doorbell rang, and Madison squealed: it was Nana and Baba! They had come from Florida this morning through some pretty yucky weather, and made it safe and sound to our door. They were quite cold here, having come from a nice warm temperature - so we set up a fire and turned up the heat a little here for them. Poor Floridians!

It was a nice time for some catching up: we hadn't seen them since this summer. We shared quite a bit, as did they. We even gave them a photo album with highlights of Madison's adventures over the past year - that way they could really see all she's been up to. It turned out to be quite a bit!

Everyone will probably be turning in early tonight. Long drive for some, and early morning full of adventure for others. Madison stayed up late with us because she was so excited to see her grandparents. She kept trying on different costumes to show off, and at one point dragged us all into her playroom so that she could give us a puppet show. She brought out some play cake slices to serve everyone, and had a ball: literally. She was constantly throwing it around to play catch with everyone. She was really keyed up! But when she went to bed, she was zonked and out cold in a hurry. We'll let her sleep in tomorrow for sure, but when she wakes up, I'm sure she'll be just as excited!

Scalene Triangle

2012-01-21T21:10:00.005-05:00

I knew my geometry was a bit rusty, but thanks to the Penguins of Madagascar, I now know I need to study up a little more. We remember isosceles triangles and equilateral ones. But scalene triangles? Now, after today, I know what one is. It's a triangle with three unequal sides. BUT, I hadn't even heard the word in many, many, many years!

So Madison was playing her Penguins of Madagascar game on her Explorer, and we keep hearing this word over and over again: Scalene Triangle!

I've got an illustration here to help you see what a scalene triangle actually is. The Penguins are apparently on hand to help here too. The Explorer is a great tool, isn't it? Madison is having a good time playing games with some of her favorite characters - but at the same time, she's being exposed to terms like this, and learning quite a bit along the way. Wins all around!

The sore throats are starting to go away, although it still hurts for us to swallow. This is a great assisting factor while on any kind of fast. People who go through excruciating pain trying to swallow anything at all tend to not want to eat much. That's the general thought, anyway.

Daddy was at work a pretty long time today, making up for lost time yesterday after the quarantine. It sounds like Madison had a good time today, helping Mommy do some spring cleaning. Okay, so it isn't spring yet. But the weather has sure been acting like it: for example, today we had some tornado watches again. The temperature started out warm - but then got downright chilly again at night.

Fortunately, Mommy stayed indoors with Madison for most of the day. In fact, she finished the insulation project all on her own! We'll have to snap a picture of that to share here for sure!

Tomorrow, Ba-Ba and Nana will be arriving from Florida, just in time really. For one, Mommy and Daddy will no longer be contagious. For another, Chinese New Year is Monday, which means we can all go out together to celebrate. The final reason is simple: it's been a lot longer between visits this time - too long. Madison is so excited that she's counting down the sleeps until their arrival. One more sleep to go!

Go Fish

2012-01-20T21:10:00.004-05:00

We were card sharks tonight at the kitchen table: Mommy, Daddy and Madison sat around, peering over the fanned out cards in our hands, eyeing each other suspiciously - when all of the sudden Mommy said, "Madison. Do you have Princess Mulan Five?"

"GO FISH!"

This was much more than just a fun game - this was a neat way to teach Madison some of the letters she's been having difficulty with as of late: "F" in particular, and then the "sh" sound. It was taught to us by Mrs. Wendy, Madison's speech teacher. Each sound has an accompanying hand gesture to help you remember what sound it is supposed to be. At the beginning of the game, we had to use the hand gestures frequently, but by game's end, she was saying "Go Fish!" all on her own. It'll still take some practice, of course.

But the best part of it was that we were all having such a great time playing!

As for the rest of the day, I'm afraid it was a wash. Daddy is quarantined to the house today, along with Mommy. It's like one of those outbreak movies here in North Georgia, as lots of people are apparently having a battle with the Group A Streptococcus Bacteria.

Daddy went to the doctor's today simply to confirm, and yep, the doctor said it was "classic" strep throat. With such a bold declaration, Daddy was hoping he could be on the cover of "Strep Throat Magazine," but alas, all I got were some pats on the back, and of course a prescription.

We got medication for Daddy and Mommy, and hopefully the two of us will be feeling better soon. I have never had a sore throat this bad in my life - or at least, I can't remember it being that way. It's kept waking me up over and over again all night for the past few nights.

In other completely unrelated news, we had some electricians come in today, and just like that all of our problems are solved. Once the other lights were fixed, we all quoted scripture: "And then there was light, and it was good."

And it was indeed good. We've been in the house a little over a year and still have a ways to go on fixing certain things up, but we're well on our way. The plan was to do a bunch of that this week, but then strep throat got in the way for all of us.

Final comments on this thread: Chinese New Year is upon us! It's this Monday, in fact. That means we have some red envelope stuffing to do! One tradition is to get a hair cut on Chinese New Year. This symbolizes a fresh start, according to some stuff I just read. I always new there were hair cuts in China on Chinese New Year, but I never actually read why. Now we know, and so do you!

Quoth the Raven

2012-01-19T17:51:00.008-05:00

This morning we slept in, and when I say "slept in," I'm not kidding. Part of the reason is because we've been so much under the weather of late - in fact, Daddy has had the sorest throat he's ever had in his entire life. The word "strep" is floating around - there was a message from the school that a child had it. Tomorrow, one of us will probably be heading to the doctor's office to do a quick check and make sure everything's okay.

In the News: Today the Poe Toast tradition was declared over with, as no Poe Toaster showed up for a third year in a row. Some may think a Poe Toaster is a device that makes toast in the shape of Edgar Allan Poe. No, not quite. It is in fact a mysterious stranger who remains unidentified, creeping into a cemetery in the wee hours of darkness on Edgar Allan Poe's birthday (today), in order to lay out some flowers and a bottle of wine at his grave. Sometimes notes were left, and other times not. For sixty years, this mysterious stranger did his quiet annual work, and then three years ago... it stopped. Quoth the Raven: Nevermore.

Perhaps the publicity got to him. Perhaps he's actually now going over to Dr. Seuss' grave in the middle of the night, in order to leave some green eggs and ham, and a piece of a Truffala tree.

Back to our toaster: this is one of those quirky traditions that ended the year Madison came home to be with us. The two are unrelated. Or are they? Is it that I'm just simply too busy being a Daddy to make that trip up to Baltimore anymore?

As you have probably guessed by this point, today was a largely uneventful day. I did not, I must point out, read ANY Edgar Allan Poe stories to Madison. At present, I couldn't think of a single one that wouldn't have potential to induce nightmares. Daddy was a big fan in college, but I grew out of that phase somewhat - I remember having to memorize "Annabelle Lee," and having books with the stories like "The Masque of the Red Death" inside. But I moved on. Still, I have the first few lines of "Annabelle Lee" permanently etched in my brain. Seriously: can't

ever forget it!

And, once a year in October Mommy and Daddy watch Tim Burton's story about Vincent Malloy - he's the boy that wants to be like Vincent Price, reciting the stories and poetry of Edgar Allan Poe. I believe it was Tim Burton's first stop motion animation, a pretty short movie that shows even way back then that this guy was pretty different. Speaking of "different" and "Poe," the Baltimore Ravens are in the AFC Championships this weekend. I'm only talking about football here because it relates to our theme of the day: Poe. Did you know that the Ravens have three mascots? They are, of course, ravens. And do you know what their names are? Answer: "Edgar," "Allan," and "Poe." I have no idea how to tell one from another. Hopefully they're wearing name tags or something.

I happen to like Terry Pratchett's name for a raven, a more creative tribute to Poe: the bird's name is Quoth. Quoth the Raven.

More Poe related stuff: Here's a Poe stamp we have in our stamp collection. Some day, Madison will see this one and others. Not that we're "collect 'em all" sorts of people, but occasionally we see stamps we like and pick up a sheet of them to hold on to. This practice is continued from my grandfather, who passed along some stamp collections from the 70's and 80's - and now we have them all, pretty much, sealed up and protected in a nice tub downstairs. It's nothing of epic proportions, but there are probably some of value down there, and some day it'll be nice to look through them with Madison when she's old enough to appreciate them.

Enough about Poe. And stamps. What did we do today? Well, Madison did a bit of music practice today, and some speech work too. We did not go to ballet tonight though: we decided to give everyone a rest. We need it very much. Daddy has a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning to confirm or deny whatever nasty bug it is that we've got going through the house.

This afternoon, Daddy started writing his devotional for Sherlock Holmes, and Madison spent some time doing math problems on her Explorer. That is a very useful device, and we're thrilled that Madison is having fun and learning with it. With characters like Tinkerbell, and the Penguins from Madagascar, she's learning simple addition, and giving answers fairly quickly. Given her heritage, I suppose one of us should have gotten Madison an abacus. Maybe that's somewhere down the road.

Mommy did a lot of cleaning today - she was the healthiest of us all. She's trying to get the house ready because we're having some special visitors in just two days. Madison is very excited: she's counting down the sleeps, just like you'd count sleeps until Christmas. It'll be very good to see Mommy's parents again: Baba and Nana are coming up for only one week, but we'll try to squeeze in as much fun and together time as we can. Hopefully everyone will be all better so we don't spread any germs around.

"I wish they'd pack their tiny little bags and move away."

- "Germs," by Weird Al Yankovic

Wonderland's Cat

2012-01-18T22:11:00.003-05:00

Tonight we met the Cheshire Cat once more, which has been a great puppet for us, as you can see above. He joined Alice at KidPak, and down the hall for the younger kids too - you should have heard their squeals: "Oh my goodness! A real live cat!"

Today Daddy spent largely at work, but coming home for lunch was a treat: Mommy had French Onion Soup made up, and afterwards Madison and Daddy played a game of Matching with Disney Princess cards. It was a pretty large deck, so it took a while to get all the matches, but it was fun nonetheless.

Daddy got a lot of goodies in the mail: a new driver's license (finally!), and some Mickey headphones (from Disney Movie Rewards - another freebie!), and finally the stuff we ordered for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration. It kind of all came at the same time - funny how that works. When it rains, it pours. Speaking of which, it stopped raining today, finally. Not that we've minded. The rain has been good for the land. The weather outside has been pretty cold though: this morning before driving Madison in to school, the cars outside were frosted over.

On the way to school, Daddy told a story of the trip Indiana Jones and Marion made to see the Groundhog. It involved Indy, Marion, and their attempts to get the groundhog to come out of his hole. Madison loved it, and Daddy had fun making up things as we went along - with her help, of course. Those are the best kinds of stories. You sort of get that feeling a similar thing was going on with Lewis Carroll when he made up "Alice in Wonderland," so long ago one golden afternoon. Of course, our rambling tale wasn't anything classic as that, but it still is a great touch when Madison adds her ideas to the story, pushing it along with silly fun that everyone can enjoy.

Winter Belle

2012-01-17T23:13:00.001-05:00

Here's our daughter - wearing in one of her new Christmas dresses, no doubt inspired by the recent viewing of "Beauty and the Beast." Madison has enjoyed her clothes rack, making sure all of her dresses are properly hung and ready for the next wearing. Today was cold again, and as you can see we put another log on the fireplace to warm things up a bit.

The weather is gloomy and overcast, with lots of rain pouring down. Mommy has been sick, closely following Madison's brief illness - and Daddy is starting to feel those same symptoms again. That's the thing about winter, isn't it?

Still, Daddy and Madison did make it out for music practice. Madison has been doing better with notes, and even this morning was playing certain things on her own, reading the sheet music before her. She wants to earn those Mom bucks, but at the same time she's recognizing that she's learning to play a bit. In fact, she's learning to read music about as quickly as she's learning to read words. We're getting there on all fronts, and it is an amazing process to watch. I anticipate lots of learning this year, of course. That's what we're praying for.

On our way out to music class, Daddy had to pick up milk with Madison. We went to the local Food Lion grocery store and picked up a carton of Silk for Madison, and realized the bad news: another grocery store is closing up. They'll be gone by February 15th.

Between speech and music, we did get our "homework" done today, so it was then time for a bit of gaming: back to Disney Universe! Madison and Daddy love this game. In fact, today Daddy bought some more costumes for us to play with, from "The Jungle Book." That's a surprise for Madison later.

We all went to bed early tonight, although Daddy woke up with the beginnings of a remarkably sore throat. Uh-oh. Welcome to Parenthood!

Get a Clue

2012-01-16T22:54:00.008-05:00

Here is an early banner design for our upcoming Sherlock Holmes series, "Get a Clue." It's a very unique series, one that I'm fairly proud of now that I've finished the messages for it. We refer to the powers of observation frequently, and even make reference to a few of his most famous cases, although everything is toned down for a more younger audience. I might even post one message below, actually. The research for this has been quite enjoyable, as I've ravenously read just about every Sherlock Holmes story imaginable. I'm reading them all chronologically, and at present have just finished "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes." In this series, we've met Mycroft Holmes and the dastardly Professor Moriarty. Mommy and Daddy have watched several movies thus far, but keep missing opportunities to see the one in the theater right now. That might have to wait until later, I suppose.

Today Madison was on the couch, with the ottoman pushed out a bit to make passage between the two. I still contend that "ottoman" is a weird word. Anyway, she was acting as a toll booth attendant, asking us to pay imaginary money in order to pass by. So like our current administration, we paid her imaginary money - even counting it out. The price kept going up too. She's learning fast! She told us, "Ten money." We argued, but the price was five just moments ago. "Ten money," she repeated. Oh well, we paid her ten imaginary bills and walked through her enterprise.

It was yet another inside day. I'm getting tired of typing that, but the weather outside, while not as formidable as this past Friday, is still not quite the kind to go out and frolic in.

Still, there's plenty to do inside. For example: ballet practice. Madison has her own little bar she drags downstairs, and here she is doing some warm-ups. This is all on her own: maybe she's getting serious about being a ballerina! We've already looked into some schools for this, perhaps to enroll her in a few classes next fall. She really does love ballet - today we had on the background a Chinese New Year celebration gala that we watch once a year, and during that video some ballerinas were dancing onstage. She stopped what she was doing to watch the dancers pose and move about on point. When Daddy attempted the same moves, it didn't quite turn out right...

We continued our Mulan-athon today, finishing up with "Mulan 2," as Mommy and Madison snuggled on the couch. Both have been feeling a bit under the weather, so it was actually best we stay at home today. Initially, we had plans to go out - but it was probably the smarter idea to stay home. Daddy did go out today, getting some more insulation for the house, for our little storage rooms. As much as I type about it, I'll probably have to take a picture of the area in question: it's been quite chilly there this week.

We did do quite a bit of piano practice, and Madison spent some time coloring on the computer using a painting program. Before bed tonight we had a funny moment where Madison had to change her baby's diaper. She clenched her fingers over her nose and indicated to us that there was a stinky diaper there. We patiently waited for Madison to change the diaper and put the baby's new pajamas on - and then it was time for bed for everyone. That's right: Daddy got into bed, turned his nightstand light on, and started plowing into yet another Sherlock Holmes adventure!

In one most curious case, our great detective discovers a mystery: where is the decent man with a sterling reputation? And just who is this other unusual person that wears a twisted lip, and is found nearby the place where our good gentleman disappeared?

The solution to the puzzle is remarkable: they are both one and the same! This individual was wearing a disguise! At night, the culprit is a faithful husband and family man. But during the day he transforms into something else entirely.

As devious as this rascal may seem, the truth of the matter is this: we all have a temptation to live a double life. Know this: God can see through any disguise. If you think you’re fooling everyone, you need to get a clue! It’s time for us to take off the masks with one another, and show ourselves as we truly are.

We all want to appear as perfect Christians, but the facts sometimes may not match up. That’s why it’s best to be honest with one another. In our Bibles, James said it best when he told us to admit to each other our shortcomings – and pray with one another.

God puts people in our lives for just this purpose. Imagine Sherlock Holmes without his good friend Dr. James Watson. The good doctor is on hand to help, and believe it or not, to even scold his companion from time to time when he is not behaving right. Do you have a good friend, someone you can confide in? Is it someone who will speak honestly with you, and straighten you out when you go off the right path? Look around and pray: God will send you a sidekick!

As the nighttime descends on Victorian London’s underworld, the fog rolls across the cityscape, hiding a great many misdeeds. That’s usually when it is up to our team of heroes to catch those villains in the murky darkness. You can help: Don’t let the sun go down on your sinful nature – and don’t give the devil a chance. Stop sin’s diabolical plans, and you too can be like our hero in his battle against the gloomy shadows.

Mulan-athon

2012-01-15T19:19:00.004-05:00

As is our custom once a year around Chinese New Year, we popped in "Mulan," to be followed by "Mulan 2" tomorrow night. Madison has been sniffly again, so Mommy stayed home with her this morning when it was church time. It was a good service too, featuring a message "Who are You?" As we were with our Wonderland theme, the skit character was Absolem, played by Daddy who was dressed up as a giant caterpillar. It went really well, actually!

But before leaving for church, I told Madison we'd be watching "Mulan" later on. SO, the first outfit she put on was her Mulan dress. Incidentally, it looks nice on a new clothes rack that Mommy put in the play room. She got a smaller clothes rack so that Madison could hang all of her princess dresses on it. It's actually pretty full. Madison told me today though that her Alice dress doesn't fit anymore. We'll check on that - it'd be a pity not to be able to wear it one more time for this series we're doing at church.

Tonight, Madison seems to be doing better. She got lots of rest today, tucking herself in on the couch under some blankets and watching some television. We didn't do much that required movement today, Madison's health was one concern. The other reason was that Daddy was pretty worn out from another big work day yesterday. Madison's prayer this morning, "Help Daddy and the others at work."

She's such a sweetie!

Newspaper Rock

2012-01-14T19:33:00.003-05:00

These appear to have been found on the rock side wall, deep within a canyon that has been only recently discovered. It sort of reminded Daddy of the petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock:

Of course, the drawings at the top were created by Madison. There is a lot unknown about the people who drew the petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock. But, based on this comparison, it is apparent that these drawings were made by Navajo children in pre-k. Newspaper Rock just so happened to be nearby their classroom, and the teacher was letting them draw for a bit to kill some spare time. That's my theory, anyway.

Though we may never know the real reason for Newspaper Rock, we do know what the creation at the top is: this is Madison's first attempt at a Valentine's Day card. You can see "I ♥ U" and all sorts of smiling faces. Also, on the other side of this, Madison wrote her own name. She's getting better and better at doing this, in fact. Here below are some more Valentines that Madison has made (that Daddy loves):

These show pictures of the three of us together, a happy family. And a random My Little Pony. It is such a blessing to see her rush toward us and thrust these at us, pointing out who is who on the drawings. There we are all, smiling together...

Today was a work day for Daddy, and a rather extensive one at that to boot. Madison spent the day with Mommy today, and is apparently a bit under the weather once more. She's getting the whole "sick thing" down though: she wants her cough syrup before bedtime, Mommy rubs a little vapor rub on her chest, and we even set up the vaporizer by her bed. It's this futuristic device that gurgles as it sits and watches over her sleeping, like some sort of watchful droid.

We'll take care of her, and keep her inside out of the cold tomorrow if need be. It's been quite a turn in the weather - yesterday was so bitterly cold. But it may be too little, too late: the precipitation isn't timing out with the cold weather this year, and so far, we've seen very little of the white stuff falling from the skies. This shows just how much of an amazing event it was to have such a White Christmas last year, and how blessed we were. This year, we just have cold and wet. But we're still nonetheless grateful for the rain: Lake Lanier is back to being terribly low.

Some days are like this, somewhat gloomy or sickly. Yet we search for the bright spots in each one, otherwise you sink into the mire yourself. The bright spot for us, of course, is always Madison. And today's bright spot are these wonderful little cards she was making.

Be Our Guest

2012-01-13T21:42:00.002-05:00

Tonight we treated ourselves to the movies. We hadn't been since "The Muppets" in November, and part of that was due to our busy schedule. Another part may have been trying to find something appropriate that Madison can watch. The final part may be the price: going to the movies is a big commitment! For the three of us to go tonight (with one popcorn and a drink to share), it cost us $50. For comparison, we recently bought tickets to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey's Circus for three of us. Yes, we took advantage of a sale, but still: that was actually cheaper.

So we don't go to the movies as much. Which is why this one was pretty special. Mommy and Madison met Daddy outside the church, waiting in the car, and looking like this. They had their animal hats on, and both looked adorable!

We drove over to the theater together and got our spots in the back row. Daddy got a tub of popcorn roughly the size of Madison, and placed it in her lap - where it would stay the rest of the night. We did not finish that popcorn!

The movie was good. Of course, it was! How many times had we seen "Beauty and the Beast" before? Plenty. But it still had a different look about it, so vibrant and clear. It made you notice things you hadn't before, which is a good thing. Madison was completely focused, sitting there with her 3D glasses on with an oversized tub of popcorn in her lap. I wish I had a camera for that image, but I don't think I'll forget it either.

Coincidentally, it was 365 days ago that we saw "Beauty and the Beast," but in an altogether different format: on stage. It was quite an adventure of a night, and quite a memory! It is certainly unusual timing though - perhaps we should call today "Beauty and the Beast Day."

Crazy Windy!

2012-01-12T20:45:00.003-05:00

Good golly, this has got to be the windiest day I've ever experienced in my lifetime. Just listen to it roar out there - I know we've got hurricane winds and the sorts of winds that come in on you when it is getting stormy outside. But those are brief compared to this assault we've endured here. It is so windy outside that there is a breeze coming through our master bathroom upstairs - I kid you not! We haven't finished the insulation in those storage areas yet, and the end result is a cold breeze coming out of a closet, going into that bathroom and now under the door into our master bedroom. We've actually got towels rolled up and wedged under the doors to barricade ourselves from the frigid onslaught. This is quite amazing!

I suppose we have it coming though. I mean, the temperature has been so warm lately that one of these fronts had to come through and punish us. You can see old Snow Miser getting ticked off at his brother for stepping in on his turf here.

It is under this sort of template that Madison and Daddy braved the elements to go out and practice ballet. As I carried her across the parking lot, she threw her arms into my jacket and burrowed her head into my neck and shoulders as best as she could. The funny thing was that it was pretty warm - and rainy - this morning. Now winter is ticked off!

This sort of weather didn't come along until late afternoon/early evening, so we did spend a bit of time on the road today. Stop #1 was Madison's dentist. There are still some areas of concern, but overall, she's doing fine. Madison got an "Ariel" toothbrush, choosing that one over "Belle." This may be significant - we'll keep you posted with further updates here. All kids get "the bag." You know the one: it has floss in it, toothpaste, and some sort of treat picked out of the treasure chest. Madison remembered the treasure chest vividly. This morning before we even got there at the dentist - keep in mind her last visit was several months ago - she was talking about that treasure chest. It's a funny thing how some kids now actually want to go to the dentist. I'm not sure if I ever did. But then again, we were never catered to. I still recall some of the horrors to this day, and it pleases us to no end that Madison doesn't mind getting her teeth looked at so much. Of course, with life in an orphanage for two years, you can expect some catching up to do in that department. This is why we're making sure she gets to the dentist frequently.

We did some Kinect games today, and had a funny moment: Mommy had a visit to the hair salon this morning, and was talking to her hair stylist about the game system. It turns out this other person has one too. Anyway, this person said that she thought all Kinect systems come with this particular game: "Kinect Adventures." Well, on Christmas day, Daddy opened our system and found it came with two games, but didn't look any further for this one. With Madison and Mommy looking on, today I opened the box once more and whoa! There's an entire other video game in there! We never even saw it. I just think that's funny because the thing has been sitting in there since Christmas and we've had no idea.

Moving on: Daddy wrote another message today, totaling six that are related to the upcoming theme: "Get a Clue." Simultaneously, he's been reading TONS of material by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I have nearly all the books of Sherlock Holmes read. During ballet practice, late at night, early in the morning - it's a sort of addiction. It's also "research," so that makes it okay. In the meantime, we've been watching all sorts of related movies as well. Tonight's feature was "Sheerluck Holmes," featuring the characters from Veggie Tales. Madison and Daddy watched it as the wind roared outside.

Certain areas are seeing snow tonight - not sure if that'll be us. I suppose we'll find out tomorrow. One thing's for sure, I'm not going out there tonight. I might get blown away!

Cabbages and Kings

2012-01-11T22:22:00.003-05:00

"The Walrus and the Carpenter." Okay, so this is one strange story. Stranger still is the fact that Daddy used it to make a point with in tonight's children's service. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum returned to tell Alice the unusual tale, which featured a walrus, a carpenter, and about five brave oysters. We had fun with this skit today, actually, and the kids in the audience seemed to really respond to it as well. Actually, this is clearly the best series we've ever done with the kids. I had that feeling the last time we did it, and it's back. I just love Wonderland for some reason.

Madison does too, of course. We were there a few times this morning, via the Kinect system and a Disneyland game. It's been fun going about Disneyland, and of course Wonderland, exploring and meeting new characters. Madison is especially good at spotting Hidden Mickeys. This is something she gets from her Mommy and Daddy. We've been experts at finding them every time we go to the park. We have checklists and books, and Madison is along for the fun. It isn't necessarily and obsession, mind you. It's just something that's a little fun to do while going around the parks and resorts.

Speaking of Disney, today at lunch Daddy came home to find Madison in her Cinderella dress again. If there's one thing to get her at Christmas time, it's a new princess dress. This year we didn't have an opportunity to find her one (although we did get her the Cinderella dress just prior to going to Disney). Still, Daddy sort of wished he got her a new dress. God is good: Madison got a few new princess dresses this year, these from the Irlbecks when we visited. Their girls had grown out of them, and what better place to donate some beautiful dresses than to Madison? It was so nice to see.

Madison looks radiant in her princess dresses. She chooses different ones to wear each week, depending on her frame of mind. She doesn't wear them all day, but does want to wear them frequently during the week, maybe for an hour or two. She'll even wear the shoes - you can hear her clip-clopping on the hard floor around the house!

What a moment as Daddy is about to rush back to work - he turns to see our Cinderella sort of standing there by herself in the great room. And she wants her Daddy. Immediately, the song "Cinderella," by Steven Curtis Chapman comes to mind, doesn't it? It did for me. The point of the song is to cherish every moment with our daughter, which Daddy did: I danced with Cinderella. I got down on my knees so I was roughly her height, and the two of us embraced, and slowly twirled to the music of our imagination.

The Seven Stages of Snoring

2012-01-10T20:17:00.006-05:00

RAIN. We're getting lots of it now. Just think, one year ago to this day we were covered in white snow, the temperature cold enough to keep us all trapped in place for a few days longer. It was quite a storm of white - and if the temperatures were significantly cooler, we'd be seeing it much worse here. As it is though, we've been seeing springlike temperatures as of late. We had one patch of cold, where the temperature dipped into the twenties for a few days - otherwise, it's been just like spring around here. Even now, it's fifty-eight outside, with a lack of sunshine and nothing but rain, rain, rain.

Madison had school once again today, and things seem to be getting back to normal after the holidays - we seem to be finding our rhythm once more. At least, until something else comes along to shift things about. Madison is fairly adaptable in that regard.

The day being as it was, we spent much of it indoors. The playground at our community, however, is calling: we can't wait to go out and play some more. Still, this Kinect system gets us moving a bit - recent studies are showing you burn as many calories with some Kinect games as you would running. This is cool, because let's face it: running is boring. One of the big selling points of the Kinect was that it would keep Madison moving. But the fact that it keeps Mommy and Daddy doing the same can't be all bad either. In fact, between the exercise on the Kinect and the January fast, Daddy's lost five pounds this week. Not bad!

Madison had music class again today, which she attended with Mommy as usual. Things are moving along well in that department, for the most part. It is neat to see Madison advance in learning and ability though. For a short time, both Mommy and Madison were with Daddy at the office today: we had a nice lunch at the office (soup and salad, of course). Mommy got some of the costuming together for tomorrow night's service (Alice is hearing the story of The Walrus and the Carpenter). Meanwhile, Daddy and Madison watched a Phineas and Ferb episode that featured a "Sherlock Holmes" theme. Daddy calls this "research." Madison calls it "fun." She's really into Phineas and Ferb of late - we've got access to about three seasons of the show right now, so there's a lot to go through!

Once again, Madison has the sniffles. She's had them at night especially when she goes to bed. This morning, she actually woke up at 4 am and crawled into bed with us, snoring loudly because she has been so stuffy. Welcome to parenthood! That's the moment where you both sit there wide awake at 4:30 am, with your snoring child's feet resting comfortably on your face. Mommy actually carried her back into her bed, with her still sleeping the whole way.

Madison denies snoring, of course. This is a natural human reaction: everyone denies snoring for a time. I think there's seven stages of snoring, in fact:

THE SEVEN STAGES OF SNORING

1. Shock: What? You're telling me that I snore?

2. Denial: Me? I certainly do not snore! (This is where Madison is right now.)

3. Bargaining: Look, why do I have to snore? Let Daddy snore instead!

4. Guilt: I keep everyone awake. What calamity!

5. Anger: This is not fair! Snoring is stupid! I hate snoring!

6. Depression: Woe is me! I am ruined! I cut logs so loudly!

7. Acceptance: Okay. I snore. Deal with it, people.

As good parents, we'll work Madison through these stages as best we can. The poor thing!

I can't really relate to her though, because I of course do not snore!

Shooting for the Stars

2012-01-09T20:58:00.006-05:00

We were wanting to push our Wonderland t-shirts a bit for work, so Daddy made up this little ad today, using his favorite model. Madison is sporting a new shirt, and wearing Mommy's creation again: the Mad Hat. As you can see behind her, there was in fact a Mad Tea Party today - Daddy and Madison had tea, and pizza, and cake with jelly beans on it. Also in attendance were Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and Mr. Peanut. Madison served up ice cream and sprinkles, leaving everyone in awe at such a marvelous party!

It was a day off, and a rainy one at that. Even now as I type, the rain is pouring down rather heavily, a fact that we are rather grateful for. The facts surrounding this day are thus:

1. We did speech therapy. Madison worked on a few letters with Daddy this morning. Her hard "C" needs a little work, but she's doing pretty good with the letter "t."

2. We had music practice. Madison impressed again with her rendition of "Mr. Snail," a raw and soulful rendition that gets your feet tapping. Madison is actually noticeably improving with her practice, although her one remaining weakness may still be rhythm, as she has a tendency to want to rush things a bit, especially when she knows what notes come next. Still, the fact that she can play notes is nonetheless impressive to Mommy and Daddy, who are learning as well, at a snail's pace.

Or rather, at "Mr. Snail's" pace...

3. We played more Disney Universe. This must be noted, as Madison and Daddy have been steadily conquering the Disney Universe, one world at a time. Today's conquest: Aladdin's World. We were only able to play this game because Madison got enough Mom bucks to purchase some time on our X-box, but it was certainly worth it! We've been having a blast with that game, one world at a time, from "Halloweentown" to "Wonderland" to "The Lion King." It's all been pretty sweet. Or as Madison says, "Suh-wheat!"

4. We watched "Kung Fu Panda 2," as a part of the whole upcoming Chinese New Year theme. Daddy held Madison's hand a little tighter during the parts about adoption. This is a movie with a message behind it for those of us who adopted from China. As is our custom, today we also ordered red envelopes and chocolate coins for Chinese New Year. Madison was with us, helping to order a few other items - we'll hand those out on the big day, but we also set ourselves up for a nice dinner together with the family at the end of the month too. Chinese food, of course. Mommy and Daddy started our fasting a little earlier than the rest of the church, just so we could eat Chinese food a little earlier!

5. We read lots of books. Daddy started out reading a few simple books that Madison selected. One was a Curious George book, and then of course there was "Rainbow Fish." Okay, I've read this book before, but for some reason, this time around "Rainbow Fish" kind of bothered Daddy. I know it is a story about giving and sharing and finding joy in generosity, but here's the deal: these fish are asking Rainbow Fish for all his scales. And they're not just asking politely either. They're like: "Give me your scales." And when he doesn't do that initially, they talk about him and soon nobody likes him because he won't rip off parts of his own body to give to everyone else.

So... the morals of the story here are:

A). If you want something that someone else owns, simply harass them to get it. And if that person still refuses, get everyone to ostracize that person?

B). If you want friends in life, you have to give them your stuff?

C). It's okay to give up all of your stuff simply because everyone else wants it.

Speaking of which, these other fish don't exactly need his scales, do they? They just want his scales, so they bug him until he peels off his own scales? What is that about?

Yes, I know the real moral is about sharing and generosity. But, I think it could have been made clearer with this book. I like the artwork - I just never sat and thought about the book before. Which I seem to be doing now a little extensively...

Let's change the subject! Why not do another book! Why not do...

MADISON'S BOOK CLUB

Here it is, the space epic: "Barbie Shoots for the Stars." Okay, so this book isn't exactly screaming for a Caldecott award (in order to do that, you have to have a character inside the book learn to read, and preferably have somebody significant die). No, this is a simple book that is illustrated as you see above: Barbie dolls photographed as if in space. Don't let the picture fool you though, this is a reading book more than a picture book. I think it has about five pictures, and maybe fifty pages or so. Daddy pretty much read every single one to Madison, too. But it wasn't that bad - I added a few adjectives here or there and changed around some of the harder words to something Madison could understand. But the point was there, and easy to make: "Practice, practice, practice." You can't be the best at anything unless you spend some time practicing for it. Which is what Barbie and her friends do. Kira is the telescope repairperson (now there's a job for you). Also on board is Robin, who uses the gigantic mechanical arm (a tool would come in handy in high traffic situations). Dan and David round off the crew, and their mission is simple: to save the universe from the galactic terror known as Parallax!*

Just kidding. They're going to go repair a telescope floating in space. Along the way, we learn patience, we learn about telescopes, we learn about gravity, we learn about space travel, and we learn about practice, practice, practice!

It is what it is. Some may see it as a commercial for Mattel products, but this book had some educational value, and it did in fact capture Madison's imagination. Later this year, we'll be going to Cape Canaveral for a visit, so perhaps this space motif is going to be a theme for 2012. Who knows? Maybe she'll be an astronaut. That was an early dream of Daddy's, but he was never that good with math. Madison seems to be pretty bright, so you never know. Also, she likes the idea of "space." Just the other day, we were doing a few space related games, and she was having a blast, so to speak. Whatever she's into, our goal here at mission control is to guide her as best as possible towards her dreams, and keep her "shooting for the stars!"

Casey Kasem would be proud.

___________

* For those of you who don't know, Parallax is the villain in the Green Lantern movie, which Mommy and I really wanted to like. We didn't. Part of it has to do with the large massive cloud thingy that serves as a main villain. This didn't really work for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," "The Never Ending Story," or even "The Fifth Element." Bottom line: don't use a giant weird cloud thingy as a villain in your movie.

The Queen of Hearts

2012-01-08T19:39:00.003-05:00

The Queen of Hearts has found a heart - this may be due to a nice big hug from Madison today at church. It was a pretty big weekend for us in Wonderland: this past Wednesday, Alice spotted the cards painting the roses red, and today they took Alice to see the Queen. Along here in the story is the Pepper Cook.

Although it is a female in the original book, it is in fact a real character from "Alice in Wonderland," which sort of shows you how extensive our storytelling is for this series. We did not have the cook throwing all sorts of plates and so forth, but instead, putting pepper on everything - just as in the novel. Although it was in our stage presentation today, it was not the focal point. Today, we thought we'd talk more about love, and how the Queen of Hearts should probably change her attitude a bit. Which, of course, she does by the end of this part of the series. No more "Off with their heads!" Of course, that is until she realizes that her tarts are missing...

After work, Daddy arrived just in time to have a pretty hefty salad that Mommy made - and soon after that, it was time to play around with Madison some more. We went back to the Kinect for a bit, but then next we actually went back to church a bit this evening. Daycare was provided (or nightcare in this case), so we went to a couple's class, which was nice to go to. Madison had a good time with the other kids tonight as well - we're glad we went.

Tomorrow's schedule looks to be a bit on the sparse side. This is good, of course. We need the rest, and also we're looking for an opportunity to do a bit of home improvement. More on that tomorrow. But before we end this entry for the day, here's a photo of the "Alice in Wonderland" themed display cabinet that Mommy made at the church. It's just loaded with neat stuff!

Kinect Bowling Night

2012-01-07T21:37:00.003-05:00

It was bowling league night here at the house, and this evening to complete our team, we once again brought our friend Josh over, a bowling legend in his own right. Still, Mommy owned the night - with a score of 192! She was on fire! Seriously, we were out of her league. But this game was still right up our alley, as we had a great time taking turns trying to knock the pins down. As you can see in the video above, Madison was playing as well. She would occasionally launch the bowling ball off into the crowd, but otherwise she was decent. This is a fun game. Mommy used to bowl a while ago, and for Christmas, Daddy got this game - and a bowling ball. It's a pretend one, weighing only a half pound. It doesn't hook up to anything and isn't necessary at all. Yet, it's so great to have when playing this game - it just adds to the feel of really bowling. It was really pretty awesome. Next time we play, we'll put on our bowling shirts and get serious!

Big Bird Back in China

2012-01-06T20:00:00.005-05:00

Big Bird went back to China tonight once more, and this time Madison enjoyed the video more than ever. She laughed quite a bit at the Monkey King when he appeared - she gets a kick out of him. As chronicled elsewhere, so do we! Today was a return to speech therapy, and to be honest, things didn't go too well. Our teacher let us know that it was largely across the board for all of her students: getting back into the rhythm from Christmas break can take just a bit of time. We'll see how things go next week. Still, Madison was a bit more subdued today afterwards, I suppose reading the disappointment in Mommy and Daddy. We weren't necessarily hard on her, but we were a bit down - we so desperately want her speech to be on level with other children her age by September. In fact, that's one major thing we've been praying and fasting for this January. Daddy has seen certain things just fall in place for Madison - like potty training for example. All over the course of one day, she gets it! And I feel like that's where we're going with her speech. Some time this year, it'll all fall into place. Until then, we hope and pray.

Here's a neat drawing Madison made for Daddy when he got home. It was already done earlier in the day, so that when Daddy arrived home from work, she ran up and handed it to me. Madison has been drawing quite a bit lately - stick figures mostly. This image here is of her and Daddy together. There's another picture she's been working on, one of her, Mommy and Daddy together as well. I have this writing board behind my desk for work purposes, but as you can imagine the lower part of it is completely covered with these primitive stick figures, sort of like those petroglyphs you see in the Southwest or Hawaii. Another thing that Mommy and Madison worked on today was the creation of a new puppet. Along with the puppet theater, one item Madison got for Christmas was a puppet making kit: so Madison and Mommy made one today, one that hopefully will help Madison's speech a bit. It's a snake - Sally the Snake. She helps Madison with the letter "S," which she sometimes tends to drop.

It was another full day - much like tomorrow will be as well. There is a lot going on, which tends to be slightly stressful. But I for one would rather be busy than have absolutely nothing to do! We're hoping to get some home projects done as well: for example, more insulation for that room. Also, decorating Madison's bedroom a bit. Finally, decorating a tiny bit for the Chinese New Year. Tonight, Daddy told Madison a story - all made up - about Chinese New Year. Really, it was just a story about a collection of friends of hers (Indiana Jones, Marion, Mulan, Cinderella, Mickey, Minnie and Wonder Woman), who had all gathered for a Chinese New Year celebration. Marion brought the red envelopes with chocolate inside, and Mulan brought the noodles (long ones for good luck). Indiana Jones brought the fireworks, and everyone had a great time. Madison helps out with the stories, always adding a thing or two. For example, the entire event was evidently catered by Wonder Woman. She's good at making Chinese food. Bet you didn't know that.

Back on Schedule

2012-01-05T21:02:00.003-05:00

Today we went back to ballet after our winter break - thus completing the whole "back on schedule" bit: we've been to school this week, along with music class and now ballet as well. This morning, Madison continued earning her "Mom bucks" by doing piano practice for a while. This featured - gasp! - two hands on the keyboard at the same time. You read that right. Madison is starting the two-hand piano thing, which is a concept that completely blows Daddy's mind. This is one of those things, like rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time: I'm not sure how to do it. But one of the neat things about piano practice is inevitably learning how to play a little yourself. In fact, long after Madison was done with her practice, you could hear the melodic song, "Mr. Snail," being played by Mommy.

Speaking of which, you should have seen her with that insulation today. Mommy and Daddy got insulation to line some spare storage rooms in the house. They're small rooms, but they're close to the master bedroom. When the temperature dropped so low the other day, the cold was felt in our room as well. It made it difficult to get out of bed in the morning: our bed is so warm and comfy!

Madison thinks so too! Each morning, she sneaks down the hall and climbs into bed with us for an hour or so before we wake up. This morning, she stayed in bed with Mommy until about 9:00! I wish I could snap a picture of the two dreamers, but I would probably wake them up, which I don't quite want to do.

Madison was extra sweet today. Not that there's a day that she isn't sweet, it's just that today she had a lot of hugs to give away. We did a little more Disney Universe today, after she redeemed her Mom bucks. We finally opened the Stitch costume, which in itself launched an odd theme: Hawaii. We were watching some excerpts from a recent Prairie Home Companion, which took place in Hawaii, which in turn inspired us to listen to Pandora's Hawaiian Radio Channel the rest of the evening. Even now we're listening to the pleasant slack guitar coming from the great room. It might as well be the Great Ceremonial Hall or something. Boy, we want to go back to the Polynesian now... forget that, we want to go back to Hawaii!

We might do a little of that on Sunday. It's Elvis' birthday again, which means Daddy might pop in "Blue Hawaii" for everyone to watch. Aloha!

Welcome to the Referral Process!

2012-01-04T16:17:00.005-05:00

Six years ago today we received the letter below - can you believe it was that long ago? Daddy was writing in a journal at the time, really officially starting with the first official moves towards adoption, getting things ready for the dossier to be sent off. We began in the summer of 2005, and got all the pieces together of what we needed by the end of the year, sending it off around Christmas time. The timing of this was a lot more significant as we thought at the time, in fact hugely so. At the time, we estimated (along with everyone else sending in their dossier at that moment) that our wait time would be six or seven months, as that was the average wait time until recently. Folks who sent in their dossiers a year earlier already had their children. So in our case, we were getting ready for Madison that very year as well. Obviously, that did not happen so quickly. Again, how incredible looking back the timing of this was - when we sent in our dossier:

1. For one, Mommy had cancer at the time - but didn't know it. We sent the dossier off, and within two months we were having emergency surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

As described elsewhere, this is a long process. Anyone who has gone through it knows what it is like. It took years. Keep in mind we thought we would have Madison in months - and suddenly Mommy has to endure something epic.

Our apologies to the other future parents waiting on their children: they were so anxious to receive their new daughter. So were we, of course, but we also knew Mommy was in no condition to go to China, or be a Mommy yet. So we were quite content when we were told the waiting time was increasing. It gradually increased - we saw the graph and charted out the rate of adoptions and saw ourselves on the list. All of us guessed we'd wait a year. Then it slowed down further. And further. Then a year and a few months. Then a year and a half. It was two and a half years later.

This is the remarkable bit. Understand this, because no one else really appreciates it as we do: when they say go to China to get your baby, you go - or you endure the whole process over again. In May of 2008, they told us it was time. And, it was at that time exactly that Mommy had recovered well enough to not only go - but be a Mommy as well. A few months earlier would have been too soon for her.

So, while others complained and grieved about the waiting time (which I do not blame them), we ourselves were actually grateful for it. We needed to wait, for Mommy's health.

2. The waiting game. The other side of the remarkable bit of timing is something I've chronicled here for quite some time: the waiting process is still slowing down. If we had waited just seven months to send our dossier off - if we had received the letter below just seven months later - we would only NOW be going to China for our daughter. That is a six year wait. It's worth repeating: if we waited just seven months later to send the dossier information, we would have to wait six years for our daughter. We do celebrate when we hear of the new families going to China - after such a long wait. But we do feel terribly sorry for their situation, with expiring paperwork, repaying fees again and again, and the longing for a child - not knowing when the wonderful moment will be.

3. The clear thing about it all for us is God's timing. Point one sort of nails that. Point three is something we all share, especially those parents still waiting. There is an invisible red thread, as described below.

"The Red Thread" is a symbolic saying very popular among families adopting from China. The Red Thread is an old Chinese saying that means when babies are born they are already connected to the important people in his/her life by a red thread. This thread can be twisted or stretched, but not broken.

For us and any other adopting parent, there was one child over there waiting. If we had gone over to China one week too soon or too late, we would not have Madison. Pure and simple. She is our daughter, and we are her parents. Though people were used in the process to put us together, we are matched by God Himself. She is perfect for us in every way, and we hope to be as perfect for her as well.

*****

Dear GWCA Family,

Hello and Welcome to the Referral phase of the GWCA adoption process. I am writing to inform you that your Dossier has been sent to China ! This is the first step toward receiving your referral. This email contains helpful information regarding what to expect during this phase; we ask that you please review this information carefully.

Once your dossier is received by the CCAA it is then registered and you are given a DTC or Dossier to China date. Some families also refer to this as their LID or Log-in Date, but to clarify, we refer to LID and DTC dates as one in the same.

Although dossiers are now registered with the CCAA monthly after they are sent to China , we don’t receive the dates from the CCAA immediately. It may take up to eight weeks for the CCAA to send us your DTC Date. We will notify you via email the day we receive confirmation of your DTC date from the CCAA. From that point on, you can chart the movement of your dossier by following your DTC month in our Places Everyone email.

This can be the most challenging period that you will experience, because after all that you have accomplished, you must now simply wait for your referral. But remember, this experience is what you decide to make of it, so think positive! J To help occupy your time, we encourage families to learn about the Chinese culture, language and history. Many families decide to start a journal to document their adoption journey. You can also take this time to plan for your child’s future, and to consider the many decisions that parenthood will present.

As you wait, you will undoubtedly have questions and concerns. It is for this reason that the Referral Education Team was created. This team is designed to support and educate the families who are in the period between receiving their DTC date and receiving their referral. Please be assured that it is our highest priority to keep our families informed with the most recent information available. You will receive periodic updates pertinent to your DTC Month or to your individual case, as well as helpful reading materials and weekly tips!

Every client will be included in a DTC Month email distribution list. Therefore, it is very important that you notify the R.E. Team with any changes regarding your contact information.

Finally, the R.E. Team will contact you with your referral. At that time, we will provide you with specific information and photos of your child. Once you have accepted your referral, you will progress to the Travel Team. The GWCA travel advisors will artfully guide you through the completion of your adoption experience.

This can be an anxious time, but it can also be a joyous one, filled with possibilities. We hope that you will approach the coming months with a positive attitude and a patient heart. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us and we will be happy to assist you.

Congratulations! J

Beth

Frigid Air

2012-01-03T22:37:00.002-05:00

This morning we got up early, packed everything and headed off to school!

Only school doesn't start today. It starts tomorrow. Oops!

Still, Madison and Daddy got to see some snow on the ground in Hall County. There isn't anything here, but it still is downright chilly outside. Daddy and Madison were talking numbers, where he's trying to teach her which numbers are cold (twenty is clearly very, very cold), and which numbers are hot (eighty is a little warm). Seventy is juuuuust right.

We got home, and had a fun day together. Daddy and Madison went back to Disneyland by way of the Kinect - this time we went down the rabbit hole to Wonderland, which was lots of fun. Along these lines, our series at church has been splendid! Tomorrow night, we'll visit with some of the playing cards, who have been painting the roses red. Each service this month, Alice will be with us, along with our narrator and some unusual characters. Mommy is doing such a fine job with these costumes as well. This month, Daddy's character is the caterpillar. I have to practice my "exacatededly!"

January is already a few days old, and we're still cleaning up from Christmas a bit. We don't feel that guilty, as many in our neighborhood still have lights out. We're nearly done packing it up for another year, actually.

So what do we replace it with? This is the season of Chinese New Year for us - and another season I'll talk about shortly. But for Chinese New Year, we've got a few items to decorate with. Also, the movies to watch with Madison: "Kung Fu Panda," "Kung Fu Panda 2," "Mulan," "Mulan 2," "Big Bird goes to China," and a few others with Kai-Lan, as well as documentaries on pandas and places in China, such as the Forbidden City. Like Christmas movies in December, we go to these in January. And then when February comes along, we do the romantic comedies. Our lives, apparently, revolve around themes!

Visiting Old Friends

2012-01-02T19:20:00.005-05:00

Around noon today, we made a trip we wished we made a lot sooner. Before her battle with cancer, Mommy used to work with a family as a nanny, helping out with their six children. We've seen them occasionally afterwards, but the recent gap in time has been the longest: we haven't seen the Irlbecks in over a year. You can imagine our surprise at seeing their children, and how much each have grown. And visa versa: Madison has grown quite a bit too!

It was a day for a lot of catching up: Mommy stayed and talked for hours, as Madison played with the children relentlessly, non-stop for those same hours - without any apparent slow-down in energy! As their house is tremendous, hide-and-seek was a game of epic proportions. Going outside was out of the question though: it has been bitterly cold and quite windy. Slightly stronger winds would blow some of the children - including Madison - away!

She had a wonderful time. So did Mommy, who was surprised at the time when it got so late and found it time to go. All six of their children have birthdays in January (later this month), so we're making a point of returning with some birthday gifts. But no matter what we bring, or how much, it could not match the thoughtfulness of this family: they blessed us indeed, with gift cards, a warm Sherpa blanket, and an overwhelming avalanche of toys for Madison.

Daddy intended to snap a portrait-style photograph of all the kids together, but simply forgot with everything else that was going on. I did, however, manage to get one or two shots of Madison playing a video game (of course), and apparently having a great time with it:

The wind roared outside. You could almost picture that giant cloud with a face on it, his cheeks expanded and full as he blows a harsh cold forceful wind across the land. When nighttime approached, it was time to run a bit faster to get indoors. After our goodbyes, Mommy and Daddy finally followed through on our hankering for fish and chips. This has been an ongoing thing for us since early December. We tried Captain D's through the drive-thru once, but they forgot to give us the vinegar we so desperately needed - and by the time we got the food, it was too late. Drat! Another attempt at another restaurant found us foiled again. Well, by gum, this time we succeeded, thanks to our visit to a place called "The Firkin and Crown." All we wanted was fish and chips, and by George, we got 'em. Enormous fish there, lots of malt vinegar, all served up on newspaper like it should be. Delicious!

Hello, 2012!

2012-01-01T23:01:00.005-05:00

It was a church morning, and the start of a new series for the kids - so we worked into the night last night (our work spanned over two years!). Everything turned out very well, as Alice descended into Wonderland once more - towing the children along for a new adventure. Mommy prepared the costumes, and Daddy got other things together, and the end result was all very nice. Here is a photo of Madison posing with Alice, shortly before their visit to Wonderland. You can see the office Christmas tree still up in the background - we'll put that one up some time later this week, but not on New Year's Day. By the way, Madison is quick to point out that this is a "pretend" Alice, but she still loves her just the same. She ran right up to her and gave her a hug, just as if she was the real Alice, as Madison loves the story of Wonderland quite a bit. She also loves our new set, as does everyone else. Check it out below, as Alice met the Tweedles:

After church, it was time for some rest. All of us were up late last night, between the visit at the Hitchcock's and the preparations for the day. We did have plans for Ye-Ye, Nana, and everyone else to come over for our annual celebration of the new year together, but other plans came up for them - so we spent it alone here, and decided to use that time to catch up on some rest.

Mommy made us a nice dinner, and we did a little cleaning up - but honestly, the biggest part of the day was recreation: Madison and Daddy played "Disney Universe" some more, and Mommy did further research with ancestry. After Madison went to bed, Daddy did further "research" of his own, by reading an entire book: "The Sign of the Four." It was a page-turner, one I was reading late into the night for research for February's series about Sherlock Holmes and mysteries in general.

It was a full day, and although it was a "work day" for us all (minus the usual traditions of New Year's Day), it still had quite a bit of fun and activity. Hello, 2012: the game's afoot!

Goodbye, 2011

2011-12-31T23:20:00.003-05:00

The last day of the year ended in a whimper, and not quite the bang and clatter seen typical on New Year's Eve. On precisely midnight this year, Madison was tucked in bed, snoozing - and Mommy was on the phone with Daddy, who was at the office still hammering away at details for tomorrow's opening of the new series. A few of the guys were there with Daddy, all of us counting down with Mommy over the phone - and there it was: the beginning of 2012. Much has been made of this year, and here's hoping we'll be looking back upon it some day, tongue firmly in cheek about Mayans and so forth.

It wasn't all work today. There was a glimmer of fun in the evening when we headed over to our friends, the Hitchcocks. Here's our now annual photo of Madison with her friends Abbie and Rachel, having fun at a New Year's Eve party.

They have a new house now, a work-in-progress with some amazing and unique features inside. It's a most unusual house: quite creative, actually. It was nice to head over to their place to spend a few hours. We exchanged gifts, talked, and ate a bit. All the while, Madison was playing to the extreme with her friends. You could hear her laughing, screaming, giggling and stomping around upstairs with the others - they were ending the year with style!

Tree Skirt

2011-12-30T22:26:00.004-05:00

The tree is finally down, although much earlier than usual this year. We've still got some other decorations to pack up for another year, including this nice tree skirt that Madison is proudly displaying for us. She first wore it as you see, calling herself an angel - and then she had it on as a literal skirt. This could be the start of the next big Christmas trend: literal tree skirts. Maybe for that little extra something, we could put little bits of pine needles on them, or have presents glued to the sides. Or, we could make them into tree ponchos, as Madison is showing off here in this photo. It was kind of chilly today, so this actually looks somewhat cozy!

Today we went to work for a considerable time, setting things up for Wonderland. That, of course, is a repeat series that we did in February of 2010. The "research" phase of that one is pretty much over with - so we've actually been focusing on February, a series based on Sherlock Holmes. It'll be called "Get a Clue," which is a reference to an incredible game Daddy used to play a few years ago at Georgia Tech. I was blessed enough to be invited to be a part of it - but you'll hear about that later. This paragraph is more about the "research" aspect. We were watching a behind-the-scenes feature on "Kung Fu Panda 2," and saw the staff going to China to study pandas for inspiration. That's what we do as well: we go get inspired by the subject matter. With Sherlock, we've been reading his books (Daddy just finished his third one), and watching movies. Last night with Madison, we watched "The Great Mouse Detective" again - she was enthralled! She couldn't take her eyes off it, when the plot was moving along. Another flick we saw after Madison was in bed was "Shanghai Knights," which was funny, and had some neat ideas to it as well. Tonight we didn't have much time: we spent a long time at work.

But soon we'll be going to the theater to watch the sequel to "Sherlock Holmes,"called "A Game of Shadows." Research is pretty fun! Maybe we can go stay at the old Grosvenor Hotel!

Sparkling Angel

2011-12-29T20:43:00.002-05:00

As you can see above, we were having fun with the Kinect again today. Madison posed for a picture, and we used this feature called "Sparkler," which allows you to trace lines as if you used a sparkler and left the shutter open on a lens. Here's a photo of Madison last May with the real thing. With this program, you take a picture and then trace lines using your hands and fingers. Pretty amazing, actually. Look how the halo goes around her head - it's using 3D space to make the lines.

We did do a little work today, but not too much. Mommy wasn't feeling well, so we stayed at home largely. Madison has been taking care of her babies this week, quite extensively. She has Mickey and Minnie, and then Baby Madison, and then Alice, and then a few others. She puts them to bed each night before she goes to sleep - we have some nursery beds we got as a gift from the Pottery Barn. It looks like a nursery in her room, all these beds lined up with occupants getting ready for a long winter's nap. In the mornings, she wakes them all up and takes them downstairs with her. She has a stroller that some can fit in, and beyond that the others go a plastic shopping cart.

The word "shopping cart" just reminded me that we heard the K-Mart in Buford is going to close now. That's pretty much the last one in our area, which is a real shame. We grew up with K-Mart, and it seems that Wal-Mart won that battle. Madison will grow up not knowing what a "blue light special" is or anything like that. It's probably what our parents were thinking about certain stores we missed out on. This economy is tough, and now that January is upon us again, it will be hard for many businesses that didn't get enough of a boost from Christmas. Sadly, K-Mart is on that list. We ourselves haven't been in ages, but in our defense, it is a longer drive to Buford. Yet we'll probably be making that trip soon now, if only to have Madison pose for a picture in front of a piece of Americana, a piece of history soon to be made history.

Fun and Games

2011-12-28T22:23:00.002-05:00

Madison and Daddy have been having an awesome time together with this new game, "Disney Universe." It reminds you of the Lego games a bit, and a tiny bit of "Kingdom Hearts," but for younger types like myself. It's nearly perfect for kids Madison's age, and even better when you get to have fun together with your Daddy. These characters are playing this game that goes through several different worlds - tonight we were in Wonderland. The end of our efforts got us a new costume: Alice. Madison has been laughing very hard at this game, and loves playing it with Daddy. Or anyone else, really. When it comes time to choose a game to play this week, the choice has been difficult for her. Do we go with the Kinect or with Disney Universe? Tonight, it was Disney Universe, and we had a blast with it. There are many, many costumes - some are very big and popular, like Jack Sparrow. Others seem a little bit more obscure, like a costume for Absalom (the caterpillar from "Alice in Wonderland"). More costumes are available for purchase online, and it has been said that they'll be hearing from the general public if anyone wants to suggest a costume for the game. That said, here are Madison and Daddy's choices for future costumes:

1. Herbie the Love Bug

2. Clarabelle Cow

3. Pete

4. Maximilian (from "The Black Hole")

5. Davy Jones

6. Rowlf the Dog

7. Perry the Platypus

8. Mulan

9. George Sanderson

10. Basil of Baker Street

Today was a day of minor accomplishments: trips to the bank, a visit to the church, and the start of the Desantafication Process. That in itself takes quite sometime, and is generally depressing. But games and toys are still cheering us up, as is our look towards the new year. January 23rd is Chinese New Year, and beyond that there is Groundhog Day and Valentine's Day. We were just looking at circus tickets for Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey, and on top of that the new Cirque show "Totem" is going to be here this year. Daddy's a little disappointed in the whole evolutionary theme - I mean, really? But still, the overall performance should be outstanding as always. Hopefully we won't get any scientific lectures based on folks' opinions made up before collecting data.

“Never theorize before you have data. Invariably, you end up twisting facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” - Sherlock Holmes

What a world we live in. Just today we were talking about how different it is from when we grew up - and that wasn't so long ago. All we can do is continue to pray, and teach our daughter all she can, hoping that she has a firm foundation set up at an early age.

Speaking of which, Madison did more than just games today. Although, I have no problem with "just games" this week. It's a winter break, and as such, we're all supposed to be mentally "on vacation." However, her Leapster Explorer had her full attention in the car: math problems with the Penguins from Madagascar. I was so proud of Madison: she was solving the problems before the narrator could even finish saying the problem. Higher numbers are still challenging, and require a little help from Mommy or Daddy. But still, the Explorer is a great tool for helping kids learn. It combines fun with learning, and you can't go wrong there.

Another learning tool is the Tag system, which uses a "pen" that when pointed at pictures or words, will actually speak to you. It says, "Hey, put me down!"

Just kidding. This one will read you stories, or tell you interesting facts about animals. It all depends on what you're pointing the pen at. Even Daddy learned a few things from the animal flash card set we were playing with this afternoon. But next it was time to read "Cinderella," so Madison began turning the pages, and running her pen over the story, one word after another. We've come a long way since the small records that would play stories and tell you to turn the page at the sound of the chime!

Passport Photo

2011-12-27T22:04:00.003-05:00

Here's Madison's passport photo, taken today at Sears. This year, Madison is going to be increasing her "countries visited" count by one more, as we hop on a Disney cruise ship, and visit the Bahamas. So, that's three countries down: China, United States and Bahamas. At this rate, she'll have visited all the countries of the world in ... 193 years. We haven't gone through the passport process, but we should be doing that later on this week. Daddy wanted to get that out of the way because it takes a little time to go through all that, as those familiar with the process are well aware.

Today was another day to chill. But probably a little more literally than we anticipated. You wanted cold weather? Here it comes! It wasn't freezing cold outside, but the wind made it feel so. This was the kind of wind you could officially term as an "Arctic Blast." The manger was a goner - it was the first to get blown over. it survived the whole season, but now it's time to put the characters away. For the time being, they're resting comfortably on the porch, out of the rain and sort of looking out over the front lawn.

We did a lot of playing around today, and even got some other things done too: we went to Home Depot and got some more insulation for the house - there's a definite chill in our master bathroom, and we think we've got what we need now to take care of that. After our trip to Home Depot, we used one of our Christmas gifts: a gift card to Cracker Barrel. This is perfect weather for Cracker Barrel, isn't it? Mom got the roast beef and Daddy got the meat loaf. Madison got grilled cheese and french fries, which don't exactly go with our whole sentiment, but she ate 'em, and that's just fine with us. We were all eating that warm "comfort food" tonight, and even did a little shopping afterwards in their store. It's such a nice place to wander around. EVERY SINGLE TIME we go to ANY Cracker Barrel, Madison knows where to go: the toy section. She inevitably starts pulling out the smaller toys to play with, and eventually gets Daddy to play a game of checkers with her. Daddy can't resist that, of course. She's getting better with the rules of checkers - maybe this time next year she'll be a real pro!

We got some gifts for NEXT Christmas, and got a new calendar as well - lots on sale there. Also, Daddy got some neat old cowboy music too. We did a bit more shopping than we usually do there, but we had a gift card, so that helped out.

When we got home, it was time for bed pretty quick. At least for Madison. Mommy and Daddy stayed up and watched a movie in bed: "Sherlock Holmes." It was research for later - we'll have more on that in just a few weeks...

Play Day

2011-12-26T22:50:00.003-05:00

Today was "Play Day." The one big thing that helps combat the depression that inevitably sets in after Christmas is this: toys! December 26th should not be "Boxing Day," but rather "Play Day," a day set aside to play with all the toys you got on Christmas. We can watch movies, play video games and play with all those toys we got the day before.

Here's Daddy and Madison playing with one of the toys we got yesterday:

It's a Kinect, a game system that has no controller. Or, to be more precise, we are the controllers. One completely fun feature is that the game takes photos of you as you play, and you can retrieve them later on from their website if you like. Most of the time, the photos are pretty funny. What you're seeing above: Madison and Daddy had arms flailing about as we flew through Neverland. We also were battling pirates, using cricket bats to knock back explosives that were hurled at us by pirates. We had an incredible time! Madison was in hysterics, laughing so hard as we flew over London. Inevitably, we'd bump into chimneys or towers, and that just made things even funnier. But what a wonderful moment. Seriously, this is the sort of moment you imagine as a kid - what if you could fly over London like Peter Pan, just like in the ride at Disney World? Right now, you fly about on a guided, pre-determined path - but imagine the future: where you can explore and fly wherever you want. Essentially, this game does have a lot of that, but not in London or Neverland. It has it at Disneyland. That's the name of the game, by the way: Disneyland. It's a perfect name, because that's what the game is. You're at Disneyland in California, and you're walking around the parks and meeting characters and getting autographs, and taking pictures, and looking for hidden Mickeys, and going on side quests, and enjoying the rides, and visiting fantastic places like Neverland, or Wonderland, or any of the other magical destinations.

Madison is getting the hang of it quickly. At first, using your hands for a controller is a novel idea, but she's got it figured out fairly quickly. In no time, she was walking down Main Street and snapping photos left and right. What an amazing technology!

Today's list of activities was small: play games. We did stop to eat occasionally. And Daddy changed a lightbulb. Mommy worked on genealogy on the computer a bit - that's been her latest hobby. But we went nowhere. But others did come to see us.

It was fun when Ye-Ye, Nana, Aunt Shain and the rest of the family came over. Immediately, we had them in Disneyland - and they were loving it. All of them were flying over Neverland or London and having such a good time that I think everyone will be coming over here for New Year's Day this Sunday!

What a fun day with Madison. We giggled, laughed and played together all day. She's our best friend, and we had a great day together: a Play Day.

Wonderful Christmastime

2011-12-25T23:12:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas! It's been a long season leading up to this one big moment, and for Madison, it was magical. Once again, we had to wake her up - last night was such a late night, following a long day. But when the realization hit her exactly what day today was, she was rip-roarin' and ready to go! She marched out of her bedroom and immediately met Indiana Jones - not the real one, of course. But there was a large 2D cutout, life-sized, and he was wearing a Santa hat and was holding a present. Other presents were under her pink tree, right there next to her bedroom. This was just the warm-up, because right downstairs was a big pile of presents just waiting for Madison to open!

We had time to open all of our presents at the house this morning - before returning to Nana and Ye-Ye's house. Above you can see Mommy and Madison wearing some gifts from Daddy: a few of those animal hats that seem so fashionable the last year or so. Madison has a panda, of course. And Mommy's hat was picked by both Madison and Daddy - it'll be fun to see them wear this on a cold wintery day.

We could go on and on about what was opened - the highlight is the Kinect, which we'll be playing tomorrow. Madison got a game "Disneyland" for the Kinect, which was, as she put it, "Just what I wanted!" Several occasions, she'd open a gift and exclaim, "Oh my!"

But soon it was time to head over to Nana and Ye-Ye's house! It's tradition to have Christmas morning there together as a family, so we put on our new Christmas socks and drove over to find the family waiting there, ready to hand out presents - and in some cases, more ready to actually open them. Here's a photo of the cousins, just before the madness of unwrapping. David and Hannah played "Santa's elves" this year, distributing the presents to everyone, making small piles of gift boxes for each family member to unwrap. All we were waiting for was the word "Go!"

Of course, Madison couldn't sit by idly. She had to help out too, running gifts to everyone. Despite everyone's promise to "cut back a bit," as usual we had a lot of things under the tree, especially for the kids. One by one they all were opened up. Daddy got several things he wanted, as did Mommy and everyone else. And soon, and the gifts were opened. Except one!

What is it? Madison was peeking at this huge, covered item in the kitchen. What could it possibly be? It says it is from Santa, and the thing is positively big. Madison wanders around the back of it to see what it could be, and that's when it dawns on her:

It's a puppet theater! For the last few weeks, Ye-Ye has been working very hard on creating a puppet theater for Madison, and this thing is simply a masterpiece. Here's an image of Madison already playing with it, using some of the puppets she got earlier in the morning:

Ye-Ye made this from scratch. He bought the wood and the moulding, and bought the paint. And following some instructions online, he put this together himself. It looks fantastic! Madison enjoyed this for quite some time in the morning, and will be enjoying this for many years to come. So will the rest of us too! Already, she was putting on some puppet shows for us, reenacting the story of Christmas, using sock puppets for angels.

Great Grandma - or "G-Gma" joined us for Christmas - Aunt Shain and Nana went to get her from White County, while the rest of us stayed at the house to prepare dinner, play with our toys, and watch Disney's Christmas Parade. It was a neat parade - it looks like it is a combination of everything we've ever seen there: bits of the Animal Kingdom parade, the Hollywood Studios parade, the Boo-to-You Parade and of course the Merry Christmas Party parade. It looked pretty epic. And... it looked pretty crowded. Much better watching it on television! But somewhere on there was a commercial for their cruise line, and that got us excited about 2012. Seems like not long ago we were watching the new cruise ship get christened, and this year hopefully we'll be on it!

Dinner was absolutely delicious. David and Jonathan were helping to cook, so there was this fun, frantic atmosphere in the kitchen. But it all pulled together, and we all stood around in a circle like the Who's in Whoville, holding hands - and Ye-Ye led us in a prayer as always, reminding us what Christmas is all about. Madison doesn't need much in that direction: when you ask her what today is, she'll always respond, "It's Baby Jesus' Birthday!"

We stayed over at the house until around 6 pm, at which point all the grown-ups were pretty much wiped out! We said our goodbyes, and promised to see each other again soon. Which is probably tomorrow, as Ye-Ye is going to deliver the puppet theater over here. Maybe we'll go see some lights again too, but that all depends on our energy levels.

Mommy and Daddy still had presents to exchange tonight, so we went back to the great room by the tree, and opened even more gifts for each other - and Daddy and Madison popped in one of her Christmas presents: "Disney Universe." It's a new video game that Daddy likes too, of course. We played that until much later than we probably should have - but it's okay. Tomorrow we can all sleep in. It was a very full day, filled with love and joy. Tonight, we will all sleep in heavenly peace.

One More Sleep 'Til Christmas

2011-12-24T23:16:00.003-05:00

Well, here we finally are - on Christmas Eve. On one hand, it seems like forever ago that we first started plugging in Christmas music and going to see the Pink Pig. On the other hand, it seems like time has flown by. Speaking of flying, guess who's in town?

You'd better not pout, you'd better not cry! Madison did nothing of this sort today, staying on the "nice" list all day long. But it was hard to keep her contained: she was so excited! Today we had two Christmas Eve services at the church, where the kids did their annual Nativity story, and every single one was bouncing-off-the-walls excited, including Madison. Here's a photo of a few of the kids, and Madison too - along with the director:

Hopefully we'll post pictures soon enough of the entire stable. Daddy was backstage for the most part, and Mommy was making sure costumes were ready to go for the entire cast. Madison went out with the other livestock and did very well, just like always. She's pretty used to this now, isn't she? I believe this is her third time as an animal in the Nativity Scene. Someday, she'll get promoted to shepherd or even further down the line: Mary. That's the goal for all the girls, of course. You stick with it and someday you can be Mary, kid!

After services, we went to Nana and Ye-Ye's house for the annual Christmas Eve get together. It was great as always. They have all this food there, and we even open one present a piece. It was fixed tonight: everyone got a pair of socks! But these were special socks - they were Christmas socks, so it's all right. We'll each be sure to wear our Christmas socks tomorrow morning. We sat and talked, and watched television, and ate, and frankly got a little sleepy. In fact, we all turned in a little early: tomorrow is a big day!

We got home and Madison made sure we left cookies out for Santa, and plenty of carrots for the reindeer. Seriously, she put out two carrots per reindeer. She was quite insistent about this: for those of you like me a little slow on math, that's 18 baby carrots on this plate (for eight standard reindeer and one with a glowing nose). Daddy forgot to put milk out, but Madison was pretty quick to remind me. Another new element to Christmas Eve is going out in the front yard and spreading some reindeer trail mix. She made this at school and has been keeping it in her plastic bag for just such an occasion! The other thing she made: the plate that we put the cookies and carrots on. Here it is below, before we put the buffet on top of it:

The chain has only one link on it: one sleep until Christmas. The advent calendar has only one more day to go. We're finally here at Christmas. Everyone is tucked in bed, with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads. I've got my nightcap on - in fact, I think I hear sleigh bells now. I'd better sneak upstairs! We'll wake up tomorrow and see what's under the tree!

Christmas Eve Eve

2011-12-24T00:18:00.002-05:00

Lots of wrapping today, and continued shopping. Daddy and Mommy were a bit worn out when all is said and done, with still plenty left to do tomorrow. Amazing how much we all do for Christmas - it makes you sometimes envy the Kranks in "Christmas with the Kranks." Of course, we probably would never skip Christmas. So much of it seems to be mandatory for us each year!

Today we had a church-wide office party, a nice occasion for all of us to get together for. Madison and Mommy came, and for a few hours this afternoon, everyone got together and enjoyed each other's company. Mommy made this splendid dessert, which after votes were cast, actually won a prize - a gift card to a local restaurant. We'll probably be using that some time this week, actually!

Daddy left work a little early to compete with the other shoppers, and there were quite a few of them out there. It is really crazy out there, but that's a good thing for the economy at least. Daddy did not get everything he set out to get, so it looks like once again I'll be a last-minute Christmas Eve shopper!

Tonight we played some games and watched "Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas." Also on the schedule: drawing pictures! Madison has been quite prolific with her marker set - she got one under the tree yesterday, and has been making all kinds of illustrations ever since. We shared the angel yesterday, and today there was a fun picture of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Also: a snowglobe. Madison likes those. We'll have to share some day about Mommy's snowglobe collection - she has quite a few, collected from different places all over.

Tonight we wrapped. And wrapped. And wrapped. We were wrapping presents for just about everyone we could, and nearly got them all done. Daddy still has to wrap Mommy's presents, so I guess that'll be tomorrow.

It's a pretty late night as it is - currently it is after midnight, and we're both pretty exhausted. Next week, Christmas will be over with, and everyone will go into one collective coma. All will be calm, and all will be bright. Love the holiday season, but it's almost like you need a vacation afterwards! In fact, there is a vacation for us next week from work. Daddy has the whole week off, along with all the other employees. It'll be a great chance to shut down for a bit and get some rest. But first, let's get through tomorrow and dash away, dash away, dash away all...

"Do not be afraid!"

2011-12-22T22:41:00.002-05:00

Madison made this drawing today, and at a first glance - like most children's drawings - you don't have much to go on as to what it is. Fortunately, Madison explained it to us.

"Do not be afraid," she said. "The shepherds were afraid, and the angel told them not to be afraid. A baby is born!"

I'm paraphrasing here, obviously. Madison went on to tell us the rest of the story, about the angel telling the shepherds about a baby born in a manger. Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy were thrilled and touched at hearing this, and listening to Madison tell us part of the most important story ever told.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy. It is for all the people."

-Luke 2:10 NIrV

Tonight, Madison went to Christmas play practice, graduating from sheep to the role of cow. As this is a deeply spiritual story, feel free to call her a holy cow. Practice was rather simple, but it is always so wonderful to see kids dressed up and telling the Nativity story. Madison was so incredibly cute, the shortest one out there, dressed in a costume Mommy put together - and doing her part: "Moooo!"

Earlier today, Madison went with Daddy to do some last minute Christmas shopping. We hit Kohl's and the Mall of Georgia, which - to quote Charlton Heston from "The Planet of the Apes," was "A madhouse! A madhouse!" There were billions of people there - but we found parking favor. If we were Catholic, we'd be thanking the patron saint of empty parking spots for the remarkable place we found so close to the mall entrance. Daddy and Madison did a lot of walking and shopping, but didn't buy too much this time around. Daddy is trying to demonstrate that fruit of the spirit known as "self-control!" Still, we got some neat stuff. We're not done shopping yet though - we've got a few more days to go. The chain links on the wall tell us we've got three more sleeps 'til Christmas, so we're down to the wire!

This morning, we were filling out paperwork and doing last-minute wrapping (more of that tomorrow), and watching "The Santa Clause 3" with Madison. She seemed to like it, but hadn't actually seen the first two, so I'm sure there was some moments of confusion at the end.

Finally, we have to talk about the weather today. I know I mention that here or there in this blog, but Thomas Jefferson wrote about the weather every single day with his journal, so by gum, I've got a patriotic right to do it now and then here. Anyway, today was the first day of winter, according to the calendar. Yet, I'm driving home after dark and the temperature is sixty-six degrees outside! It is too freakish to call "unseasonably warm," and just plain weird, to be honest. On one hand, you want to say how awesome the weather is outside and how great it feels. But at the same time, it is so not like December or Christmas, that you sort of want to complain. Hopefully, we'll see a drop in temperatures - Madison wants to build another snowman this year.

Serenely Beaming

2011-12-21T22:55:00.005-05:00

Madison is holding some new ornaments for our tree - ornaments sent by a very special friend! These came from Leah Mei, a friend of Madison's from a long time ago. Also adopted from China at the same time, Leah has some great parents who live a bit more south of here (we'll actually be seeing them in just a few months, actually). This year, Leah's parents thought it would be a neat idea to do an ornament exchange for Christmas. We thought so too! We got our ornaments recently, and as you can see, Madison likes them very much. She has the Christmas tree ornament hung low, but the other one - a beautiful ornament of a Chinese girl - is a little more out of reach, on the "highest bough."

Today we had another little office party for Christmas - this one held a surprise for all our co-workers. Talk about random: Mommy, Madison and Daddy gave everyone a Furby! 'Tis better to give than receive! The whole office was talking, and it wasn't the workers there - it was those furbies! These things don't shut up. It was a pretty funny idea - we've been collecting all these furbies over the years for just such a time as this! Merry Christmas, gang!

Five Golden Rings!

2011-12-20T21:05:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas! Here's a photo of our house during the holidays, this top one at night time, and the one below during the day.

There's actually one more wreath hanging over to the right, above the garage - Mommy hung all of these up, and did a great job. They look festive, don't they? Every year, we put out the Nativity set in the front yard. The pieces belonged to Mommy, who painted each one over again. Ye-Ye actually made the stable for us, using parts of a pallet. Add a little hay to the mix, and the whole thing looks quite cozy. This year, we got a new flood light to illuminate the scene, so it makes our yard fit in with the rest of the neighbors. We've got so many decorated houses in our neighborhood, it's almost like we should charge people to drive through! It's nothing like the Osborne Spectacle of Lights or anything, but it really is quite nice. Our side of the community especially is well lit, and all quite tasteful with white lights, reindeer and and an occasional Nativity scene. Nothing like the "Christmas Vacation" movie in our neighborhood yet, but there are a few houses that appear to be on the verge of taking that plunge!

Madison has expanded her Christmas carol repertoire this year somewhat. We've documented "Frosty the Snowman," and "Jingle Bells" - her favorite part of that song is the "HEY!" One new song that excites Madison this year is "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Her favorite part of that song has become "five golden rings," because she just loves singing that really loud!

Hang a Shining Star

2011-12-19T22:35:00.003-05:00

Here's a photo of Ye-Ye and Madison decorating their tree. This is Ye-Ye and Nana's tree, fresh and waiting for ornaments to go up on. Tonight we visited with them for a short while - Madison helped decorate the Christmas tree, hanging up quite a few ornaments where she could. You could see some of it was quite a stretch. The rest of the night she spent watching a Christmas movie, eating snacks and playing dolls with Nana. It was a nice night together - just think: Madison will be looking under this tree for presents in just a few short days! The chain on the wall says six more days. Just six more sleeps 'til Christmas!

Earlier in the day, Mommy once again set us up for some fun: Christmas cookies! Mommy rolled out and cut up plenty of shapes, as you can see from the photo. Those aren't the only shapes we did - Mommy had other trays set up with even more cookies, and even more different shapes! Mommy has a thing for cookie cutters: She has plenty of different shapes for different holidays. Daddy and Madison have a thing for cookies: we like to decorate and eat them! In our defense, we only ate one this time around. We spent most of the time decorating each shape with different color sprinkles. Madison is getting much better at the concept of using an appropriate amount of sprinkles on cookies. Gone are the days of dumping the entire bottle on a cookie shape! Although, from this picture here, you wouldn't think that. One of my favorite shapes on the tray there is a camel, by the way. You see the camel? That's a Christmas shape: it's from the Nativity. We can make Nativity cookies here if we wanted too. We found, however, that star shapes and Christmas trees were easier to decorate. Plus, they seem to say "Christmas" a whole lot more than a camel.

We had Christmas music playing all day, and had time to plug in "White Christmas" while we were doing a bit of decorations. Madison actually watched a bit of that with interest - she likes the dancing and singing routines. We do too.

After cookies, it was time to do a little Christmas shopping. There's always one item that is "out," and this year we've found it again. It's the perfect white elephant gift, and by gum, Daddy is now determined to find it. We saw it for sale somewhere - I'll let you know what it is in a couple days, just in case any readers are going to be present for the gift exchange. You see, on Christmas, we'll be each bringing in essentially a gag gift, and we'll all do that exchanging game where everyone steals each other's gifts. If I can find this one we were looking for tonight, I guarantee everyone will be wanting to steal it. I myself will want to steal it, in fact!

We did find other things while shopping, so there was some mixed results. Still, with only six days left, we're feeling a little bit of the pinch to find what we need as soon as possible. We'll be okay, no matter what. It was great to get out of that hectic atmosphere of shopping tonight, and head over to Nana and Ye-Ye's house. It's a great place to just relax and chill out. And, decorate a tree too!

Return of the Sugar Plum Fairies

2011-12-18T20:09:00.005-05:00

Tonight was a special night, as we once again returned to see "The Nutcracker," this time a different performance by a local ballet school in Forsyth County. This was a very, very good performance, with talented dancers and great choreography. As you can see, the mice and toy soldiers were neat costumes, but so were the other dancers too - in fact, there were a lot of dancers and a lot of different costumes. The young lady we came to see tonight in the show actually had two separate parts - a mouse and a golden angel.

They did a great job with the different ethnic dances, especially the Chinese one. They actually extended that one, with a dragon dance and lots of twirling flags - to the delight of Madison. She enjoyed the whole thing from start to finish, and every so often we'd look over at her and see her imitating some of the moves she was watching on the stage.

Here she is posing in front of a Nutcracker out in the lobby at the intermission. Every year, Clara has this dream, and every year it's a neat thing to see: we've seen about four or five different versions here from different schools and organizations, and are becoming experts on Tchaikovsky. The music gets stuck in your head pretty easily, which is neat to hear from Madison, of course.

Tonight at bedtime, we had a fun moment: Madison wanted to tell Daddy a bedtime story. SO, she started it off. There were ten characters in it, ranging from Belle to Indiana Jones. All were ice skating, and all were falling on the ice a lot. This got a lot of giggles from Madison, who had her imagination going into overdrive telling Daddy this expansive story of snow and Christmas and characters having fun. When finished, she turned to Daddy and proudly announced, "THE END." Daddy applauded - it was actually pretty good!

Finally, today we wrapped up our series "Humbug!" It was a very special three weeks, where we told Ebenezer Scrooge's story in quite a unique way. All the actors did a fantastic job, and the audience was really into it. Mommy did a nice job with everyone's costumes, as you can see above. These sorts of series Daddy really gets into, as far as writing goes. Everything from messages to skits, all of it has a cultural and education value, all on top of the spiritual value. The teacher inside is filled with glee at seeing the kids so into an ongoing story like this. Next month, we return to Wonderland, and many of our cast members are returning for that. It should be very, very good.

Tomorrow should be a much calmer sort of day. It should be. But it might not be! We've got some catching up to do on presents, shopping, wrapping and movie watching. Hopefully we'll get some headway there. No matter what, our vow is to enjoy it, and enjoy these last few weeks of the season.

Attention Christmas Choppers!

2011-12-17T21:58:00.004-05:00

Above is a Veggie Tales Nativity set, along with our advent calendar book and Madison's chocolate surprise advent calendar, one that has a bit of free chocolate in it each day. It's a daily routine for us each morning, as Madison learns a bit about the Nativity story, and then gets a piece of chocolate too. But also there is a small gift each morning: she finds something small hidden beneath the tree each morning, wrapped up and waiting for her as it gets one day closer to Christmas. How many days do we have left? According to the chain on the wall we've made, we have eight more sleeps. Madison keeps pulling off links from the "Advent Chain," each day telling us how many days are left. Not long to go!

Madison and Mommy were at the office today, helping prepare for the big finale of our series, "Humbug!" As a general promotion of the series (and our children's ministry in general), we had everyone wearing their official t-shirts. Here you can see Mommy and Madison proudly wearing theirs - my two girls look really good! We did a lot of work today, but were able to get out early - at least by 6:00 pm. That meant we could do some stories and watch some more Christmas specials. We've been watching something Christmassy every single night just about, and still have so many other movies leftover! Tonight we finally saw the new "Prep and Landing" special, and then watched a few more specials on top of that.

Our neighborhood is so great: we've had Christmas carolers the last few nights, singing songs and spreading good cheer. Some were giving away candy canes, which Madison and Mommy gobbled up immediately. Just last night in fact, we had Biker Santa riding through the community, spreading cheer on his Christmas Chopper:

He was putting the hammer down, just rippin' it up to bring a little Christmas cheer to the boys and girls around the neighborhood. As you can see above, Santa was sparking the pavement with his sled, getting everyone revved up for the Holidays!

School Christmas Party

2011-12-16T20:57:00.006-05:00

Today was Madison's last day of school this year. Of course, there are only two weeks left to go, but still, that was occasion enough to have a Christmas party! Mommy came and visited, and all the kids took turns making Christmas crafts: ornaments and even some reindeer food for the Santa's team. It was very nice! As you can see here, Santa came to the school as well: this photo above was actually posted on the school's site, so we grabbed it!

Here's a photo of Madison with one of her friends - as you can see, everyone dressed up for the occasion, with reindeer antlers on their heads, santa hats, and elf suits too. It was a nice way to close out the year - Mommy stayed with Madison for the rest of the day, even when it was time to go out to the playground. There, Madison found another one of her friends from another class. She called out her name and ran to her - and the two embraced. Then it was time for fun: the two enjoyed each other's company outside on the see-saw, and of course the slide:

Soon afterwards they came to visit Daddy at work. It was such a nice day that we decided to go get a bite to eat at the Olive Garden here. Madison and Daddy played dots for the first time - you know the game where the object is to make squares in a field of dots? Yeah, that game. Anyway, we had a nice big meal, but then Daddy had to get back to work.

Tonight we read stories and watched more Christmas movies, and then hit the sack a little early. Not much time to go until Christmas - tomorrow will be lots of work catching up with the finale of our "Humbug!" series, but after that, it's the homestretch on finding Christmas presents, wrapping, and making sure everyone gets a card. Lots to do, plus we've got a few events still to see. Christmastime is upon us! Here's a scan of one of Madison's ornaments from today, sort of a Santa mug shot on a snowflake!

Ho, ho, yo!

G-Men

2011-12-15T21:27:00.003-05:00

Today was yet another marvelous day on the calendar. Firstly, let's talk about the weather the last few days: it's almost been like spring! It's been sunny and mild outside, the kind of weather you don't really expect until late March or early April. One year ago this day, we were already seeing ice on the roads.

Madison had a bittersweet ballet practice today - it was not only the last one of the year, but it was also the last one with her teacher, Miss Jenny. Madison has enjoyed this ballet class so much this year, and a very big reason for this would be her teacher. Classes are smooth and filled with creative activities, and Madison has such a good time. We'll have a new teacher soon - in January - but it will be hard to top Miss Jenny. Madison got some parting gifts, and a sweet card. But she also gave a card and present (a ballerina ornament) to her teacher. What was a Christmas gift became also a going away gift, which made it even sweeter.

Speaking of sweeter, when we got home, Madison and Daddy had quite a surprise!

Mommy had rolled out gingerbread and cut out the shapes of gingerbread men! Madison, Mommy and Daddy had a great time decorating the G-Men - you can see above some of our creations. Once again, it was easy to get carried away with the icing, but we were having such a good time.

Here's Mommy and Madison at the assembly, creating our own army of gingerbread men. Note the chocolate chips on Madison's - she's decided to make this one super sweet. We'll pack these up and give a lot of these away at upcoming Christmas parties. Speaking of which, there's a school party tomorrow morning. That's why it was early to bed again for Madison, and for Daddy and Mommy too!

Nativity Jr

2011-12-14T22:34:00.002-05:00

Madison was out of school today - she was running a slight fever and we thought it best that she stay at home and get some rest. In honor of the season, and because we hadn't remembered to bring it out until today, we dug out the Fisher Price Nativity set that we've had packed away.

Madison spent a very large part of the morning playing with her Nativity set. This is obviously thrilling to us as parents, because of the educational value - and also it kept her pretty occupied. She loves playing with the Mary doll, having her ride the donkey to the stable, where baby Jesus is. The Angel swoops in and gives messages to Joseph, the Wise Men, and various shepherds. You can see below, there's a large landscape to play round with too.

Of course, there are a lot of adventures that Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus have that aren't exactly in the Bible.

For example, here you can see Madison has changed the story somewhat so that the family did find room in the inn, although it was up on the roof. That's okay though, as each one seems to be quite content with a view of the starry skies above. This was Madison's day, pretty much: playing with this Nativity set. Yes, there were breaks, and crafts and piano practice. But she kept coming back to the Christmas story. Which, of course, is something that brings a big smile to Mommy and Daddy - almost as big a smile as you see on these Fisher Price characters!

Frosty the Snowman

2011-12-13T16:52:00.006-05:00

So rides to and from anywhere have gotten a lot of fun in December. Madison and Daddy listen to a Disney Christmas music CD on the way to school, but when not listening to that, we do our own Christmas Carols. For some reason, "Frosty the Snowman" has captivated her this year. She's watched that special quite a few times this season - she can't wait to make another snowman. Hopefully that chance will come soon, although the temperatures have been warmer as of late. Back to "Frosty:" we were singing that song on the way to school, but Daddy didn't remember the words exactly. Which led to this new verse:

Frosty the Snowman

was a big guy made of snow,

with a battle axe,

and a tenor sax:

You should hear that Frosty blow!

As you could imagine, this led to at least seventeen new additional verses that we sort of made up as we went along.

Frosty the Snowman

was a pirate, yessiree!

He would sail real far

as he yelled out "arrr!"

and he sailed out on the sea.

On and on it went. Madison would shout out "NO! That's not right!" But Daddy continued trying to get the words right.

Frosty the Snowman

had a big pet dinosaur.

If he said, "Oh please

can I have some cheese?"

Frosty always got him more!

Yes, I'm sure there are lyricists wanting to contact us right now about this.

In astronomy news, scientists were astounded to discover, after making a very close examination of the planet Mars, that there is actually the appearance of Madison's face! That's right, the shadows created by sunlight cast over mountains and crevices on the surface work together to create a face, as seen to your left here. For those of you familiar with the "other Mars face," this is no doubt exciting news, as now there are in fact two faces that can be seen on the planet's landscape. Is this proof of life on Mars, either existing now, or perhaps some ancient civilization? We may never know, of course. The very topic is most intriguing!

Okay, so it isn't a planet's surface in this picture. Madison put her face up against a screen and pressed up against it, so Daddy snapped a photo. I thought it was funny at first, and then I thought, "Hey, that looks sort of like that 'face on Mars' bit!" So then I added a few craters and made it look grainier. It was sort of a fun visit for Madison and Mommy at work today. It wasn't as fun as say, a trip to Mars. But it was still a great day overall. In fact, it makes me want to sing a little song:

Frosty the Snowman

surfed some gnarly waves, my friend!

He'd zoom all about

and sometimes wipe out.

But he'd shred, and yell, "Hang 10!"

Lakeshore Mall

2011-12-12T20:16:00.002-05:00

Daddy had a doctor's visit right smack dab in the middle of the day, but when he got back, we decided it was high time to go visit Santa. Where does Santa hang out, you ask? At Lakeshore Mall, of course. Why there? I don't really know. I think it is a huge secret, otherwise a billion people would be in Hall County waiting on line. As it is, today we were able to march right up to him without worrying about elf security or trampling reindeer. We did, however, have to contend with dinner break: Santa wasn't there when we arrived. Apparently, he was off eating cookies and drinking milk. Not sure exactly what else Santa eats. I seriously hope it isn't venison.

ANYWAY, what to do while waiting for Santa...

Mommy and Madison rode the carousel while we were there - this is still the best value in town. Can you believe you can get a lengthy ride on this thing for a dollar? That's a dollar for both Madison and Mommy. As you can see, Madison is all dressed up for Santa - she wants to make a good impression! She had a little help from Mommy, who dressed her up so beautifully that we had many compliments throughout the evening.

We actually did a little shopping at the mall - but soon it was time for our visit with the big man!

There she is, all decked out with a very nice Santa. I regret not being able to get photos of them when they first met this time around: Madison jumped right up there and was giggling and hugging him. It was very sweet! When it came time for the official portraits, she sort of poses with a pleasant smile, but it's hard to match the energy and enthusiasm when they first meet. Still, I snapped this one with my camera that I brought along. The "official" portrait came out great too - we've already got it framed and put up on the wall!

Anyway, Madison was quite thrilled with the visit, and let Santa know a few of the things she wanted for Christmas. She's been a good girl this year: I think she's in for a wonderful Christmas!

Now, as mentioned earlier, Mommy went shopping a bit at the mall. Daddy had his camera along because of the Santa pictures, so while Mommy was checking out some new sweaters, we had fun with this spot inside a store that had two large mirrors at 90 degree angles from each other. The end result was that you could see three reflections of yourself. Madison instantly made three friends!

It was a funny moment, and made for some neat pictures. Here I was in a clothing store, snapping about twenty photos of Madison fooling around with the mirrors. But I couldn't resist: she was having such a good time, and the photos came out pretty cool!

We later went shopping elsewhere in other stores, but soon retreated home: tomorrow is a school day and we all have to get up rather early. Still, Mommy and Daddy will pop in another Christmas movie tonight before it's all said and done. This morning, we were filling out a bunch of Christmas cards. I'm waiting to post those pictures until after pretty much everyone has received them in the mail - don't want to give it away yet.

Incidentally, Daddy is doing fine. He and Madison have had some congestion that we're trying to get cleared out once and for all. It hasn't been enough to take either of us down completely for a day, but that sort of thing is somewhat annoying. Yet, it's just one of those things you expect this time of year. Still, we're grateful that it isn't taking place on a holiday or vacation. There's always something to be grateful for!

Speaking of which, here's one big thing Mommy and Daddy are thankful for:

Pajama Party

2011-12-11T23:28:00.002-05:00

Here's Madison's Christmas tree at night - surrounded by her seasonal stuffed animals. I like the Bubba Gump Shrimp with a Santa hat on. He's by the chief elf. But Stitch is there too, next to the Abominable Snowman and Jack Skellington. It's a full cast of characters beneath the tree - and just a few weeks to go until Christmas.

Today Scrooge had a visit from Christmas present, which went remarkably well in both of our services. Everyone enjoyed the day, the halfway point of Ebenezer's redemption story.

Getting home, it was time for a pajama party. Basically, we were in our pajamas the rest of the day. We did a bit of piano practice, and a tiny bit of housework - but most of the day was spent resting. We watched Christmas movies, and Madison and Daddy played some more "Indiana Jones 2."

After church, it was a pretty relaxing day...

The Ghost of Christmas Present

2011-12-10T23:33:00.003-05:00

Here she is the Ghost of Christmas Present - come in, and know her better, man! Mommy wrapped up a big box tonight and made this costume for our "Christmas Present." Hopefully, I don't have to explain the joke to you. Mommy thought it up about three weeks ago, although shortly after that we saw the Jetson's Christmas Carol and were laughing because their Ghost of Christmas Present was also literally a present. Yes, that's an obscure version. Initially, we were going to go with the whole look of Father Christmas, but this large gift-wrapped box is much more amusing.

We've kept our pace filling out Christmas cards, marking the time by doing our advent calendar and the Christmas chain: the big day is drawing closer and closer! A highlight of our day has been our evenings together by the tree, watching some Christmas movie.

Today when Daddy got home, he was shown a whole bunch of illustrations that Madison did. She took a lot of post-it notes and drew a story on them - her first illustrated novel, I suppose. The stars of this book? Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood, of course. What's funny is that there are a couple post-its that illustrate both of these characters running for their lives, chased by a giant ball. Madison explained all of this in great detail when Daddy got home.

Christmastime is Here

2011-12-09T10:59:00.001-05:00

Here's a photo of my two favorite girls, who came to the office today for a visit. It was after school, and a happy visit: Mommy sent a note earlier that said, "I feel like Red Lobster." And so we treated ourselves to a very nice lunch. It was pretty big - in fact, it was so big that Daddy was eating leftover clams, scallops and fish at dinner time! Seriously, it was nice to take some time away from the office, and spend some time with family.

Later on in the evening, it was time for our annual tradition: the return to the Living Christmas Tree at the 1st Baptist Church. I think I counted 100 singers, including the conductor himself. Also included is a full orchestra and unique lighting - it was a very special evening. The music is always very nice, the voices and harmonies quite beautiful.

We had a nice time together, and even afterwards when we did some Christmas shopping. It was quite a pleasant day actually. We drove down Green Street and saw the decorations on each house, and headed home for a long winter's nap.

It's a Wonderful Life

2011-12-08T10:19:00.004-05:00

I love our great room. We're so blessed - with a beautiful tree, a fireplace, stockings hung by the chimney with care, and all sorts of coziness that's just right for a December night. The weather is quite chilly outside, which is what it's supposed to be! I'll have to post a photo of our house now - Mommy has hung up wreaths on each of the windows, and lights all around, plus the Nativity set. It's a picture perfect sort of house right now, and we're quite pleased.

Madison spent the day at our house with Mommy and Daddy. This morning, Mommy had a hair appointment, so it was Daddy and Madison fooling around in the house again. We first played with all the Mr. Potato Head parts - we've since added the new pieces from our recent Disney World plunderings, and now have a real Mr. Potato Head empire! A word about the new Mr. Potato Head mold though: the smaller ones don't cut it. They have these smaller Mr. Potato Heads for Warner Brothers characters and Elvis. We got the Elvis one because hey, it's Elvis. But we don't want to get any more of those smaller Mr. Potato Head parts. I'm talking to you, Hasbro. Make the Mr. Potato Heads all the same size!

Okay, enough of that. Currently, there's a regular-sized Mr. Potato Head in our great room, wearing a Mickey Christmas hat and carrying a Christmas tree. He's quite festive!

Madison continued piano lessons today, and actually played "Jingle Bells." The neat thing about piano practice is that we all sort of learn how to play as well. Mommy is getting to be quite good at some of these simple tunes!

Daddy was filling out Christmas cards today - lots of cards to send out this year. We got a bunch filled out, but have a bunch to go. What a long and arduous process! Still, it's a nice gesture. Not as many people are sending out cards as they used to. Nowadays, Christmas images and messages are sent a more convenient, faster, and cheaper way: by email, or some social network. We're not doing it that way: we're sending it by "snail mail," because it's the thought that counts, by gum!

Tonight, we returned to Bedford Falls to see "It's a Wonderful Life," returning to the Cumming Playhouse. Last summer, we saw "Big River," which was actually pretty well done. This production wasn't as polished, but it was still fun to see, and certainly nostalgic. While we were seeing George Bailey's life unfold, Madison was with Ye-Ye and Nana having a wonderful life herself: she was watching movies and playing games and just having a great time. Fortunately for all of us, the play was rather quick - which means we'll all get a good night's rest. Tomorrow is a work day for all of us, and tomorrow night is another special Christmas tradition: the Living Christmas Tree at Gainesville's 1st Baptist Church. I don't know where the 2nd Baptist church is. It's probably nearby Oriental Garden #1.

"You'll see a lot of strange things from now on."

- Clarence

Cold Front

2011-12-07T21:35:00.006-05:00

Today we saw a rainbow - it might have been the first one I've ever seen in December. It was an unusual day with dark, heavy clouds hanging low in the sky, racing across the horizon as the temperature plunged downward. In our neighborhood, all the trash cans left out for the garbage truck - now without their ballast - all blew over like dominoes down the street. Our poor Nativity set was ravaged by winds - who knew such hurricane force winds would sweep down on poor Bethlehem?

Today Madison and Mommy visited once more. Mommy helped Daddy assemble a large amount of costumes for tonight's KidPak service, where we had a lot of kids dressed up as various characters from the Nativity scene. Madison in the meantime was busy on the computers - she goes straight to "Angry Birds" and the Apple's photo booth program. She loves that one, and uses it to take lots of movies and pictures of herself. Here's one below with Daddy, where she has this blurry filter on:

Don't ask me why we're in this pose. Perhaps we were completely shocked by the change in weather outside. Currently, it's around 36 degrees, which I know is nothing compared to the folks up in the Northeast. And what temperatures they're going through are nothing compared to the temps in Nome, Alaska. Or even Attu Island! But for us, with this sharp wind slicing through the air, it is a bitter, unfriendly cold that drives you inside.

The bright side of it is that it is starting to at least feel like Christmas, temperature-wise.

Madison had a good day at school today. She spent some time drawing this afternoon - Mommy told a story about Madison and a drawing she did. It was of herself, a self portrait.

As you can see above, lines were drawn down a face, coming from the eyes: they were tears, Madison told Mommy.

"Why are you crying in the drawing?" Mommy asked.

"I'm in China," Madison replied. "I was waiting for you."

After hearing that, we're all crying now. Tears of happiness, of course. And no matter the temperature outside, we're all warm inside.

Sweet Dreams!

2011-12-06T16:02:00.004-05:00

Tonight, we gingerbread architects went to work, assembling our annual masterpiece! This year, we we got our ginger construction hats on and got busy making a sweet memory.

Boy did we overdo it. This is a dentist's nightmare, an epic splattering of sugar, candy canes, sugar plums, sweet tarts, M&Ms, snowman peeps, christmas peeps, peppermint pieces, and at least fifteen gallons of icing. We had so much icing on this thing, there wasn't a square millimeter of gingerbread visible: everything was covered in white. Lots of white. Lots and lots and lots of dripping white, everywhere.

We all had a really fun time putting this one together, despite the fact that nobody would ever attempt to eat this house. We covered it with icing, and then let Madison smother it with candy canes and other childhood delights. In the end, it sort of came out looking like a piece of uber-sweet folk art - but we're proud of it. Quite different than our usual effort, but still pretty fun!

Sweet dreams!

Mt. St. Leaf

2011-12-05T19:23:00.004-05:00

After a tough weekend, we got back to the business of taking care of the house, which included the three metric tons of leaves in the front yard. I don't remember that many leaves actually on our trees in the front yard, and yet there they were, spread all across the yard like some sort of vaguely interesting carpet. Daddy approached the mass of brown and orange with his blower, holding the stance of a Ghostbuster ready for action. And yes, there was action! As Mommy was blowing, Madison dashed out to battle the leaf monster, rolling and throwing herself at the swirling vortex of fallen leaves. I wish we could have gotten photos of it - the stack of leaves was bigger than most pieces of furniture! It was that perfect pile of leaves to take a flying leap into, and Mommy was not going to stop Madison, who was sorely tempted to do just that.

Daddy finally finished painting the deck a bit today - the weather was actually pretty nice outside for working. Too bad we had an appointment in Forsyth at 2:00, or we'd be getting a whole lot more done today.

Our appointment was at Doc Williams' place for an adjustment. Madison had a great time as always, squealing loudly and giggling as the chiropractor did his work. Mommy and Daddy didn't exactly squeal. We more or less just got tired. That sort of relaxes you, and then you're ready for a snooze.

Only we didn't snooze. We made a quick trip to Goodwill to drop some items off - a few bags, actually. We also shopped a bit: Mommy got a new shirt, and Daddy picked up some books for Madison. Also, a record from a musical about Sherlock Holmes. I'll have to look that one up - I had no idea!

Madison had a good, long bath tonight, as the rolling in leaves sort of left her a little dirty. Tonight we'll probably all go to bed early, as each one of us is somewhat exhausted from the long weekend. Tomorrow, I imagine we'll start to catch up on sleep, work and Christmas season activities. It's amazing how much we do each Christmas: there are photos to pick up, cards to send, gifts to buy, wreaths to hang up, and a Nativity set to put in the front yard. It's a good thing we already got our tree up and decorated, or else I fear we'd be somewhat overwhelmed!

MADISON'S BOOK CLUB

We read this book tonight - and if you didn't notice already, we're fans of William Joyce in books and movies. Rolie Olie is a series of books that Madison likes reading, and it is also a series she likes to watch on television. There's a Christmas special, and a Christmas book as well called "Snowie Rolie." The artwork in this book is friendly and familiar, and quite colorful too. Rolie and Zowie have to take their snowman to Chillsville before he melts, and when they're there they meet a legend: Klanky Klaus! He's a robotic version of Santa, who welcomes everyone to Chillsville with open arms - along with his snowman army. This was a fun seasonal read - we're doing different Christmas stories each night this month, and each one after we take a link off of the advent chain. Right now it says just nineteen days to go!

A Christmas Carol

2011-12-04T18:20:00.003-05:00

Here's the cast for week one of "Humbug!" We spent a very late night getting it all ready - Madison in tow. But everything turned out fantastic! There's a cast of over twenty currently, and Mommy has them looking very nice. It was a lot of work for everyone, and when it was done we all breathed a sigh of relief: it was perfect. It was great to throw in a little culture, and of course teach some valuable lessons along the way. Madison may make a cameo on stage in the future - we'll keep this blog updated.

When we got home, we had barely enough energy to get lunch together, and then there was a serious crash: we hit the bed, all three of us. Under the covers, and out like a light. Two and a half hours later, we began to stir a bit - can you believe we slept that long? I can, because we were up pretty late the last few nights. This series was a bigger endeavor than others have been traditionally, and we were pretty zapped.

We made the long and arduous journey down the stairs... and to the couch. That's when Daddy came up with the brilliant plan to have a "Miser Marathon."

Madison, Mommy and Daddy settled down on the couch, wrapped up in blankets, and watched "A Year Without a Santa Claus," and then the modern sequel, "A Miser Brother's Christmas." Madison enjoyed them both, and the end result was everyone singing that addictive song...

"I'm Mr. Heat Miser, I'm Mr. Sun..."

We Can Make a Snowman

2011-12-03T19:15:00.006-05:00

Today was a gargantuan effort to get our new series off the ground. In fact, we're all here still at the office, plugging away at costumes and props and set pieces and videos and music and... well, you get the general idea.

Still, we found time to do something fun with Madison amidst it all. This morning, Daddy sped away to Home Depot to get Madison a snowman napkin holder kit!

Madison actually used a Felipe (a Philip's Head Screwdriver), and a bit of glue to stick in the right places. Then, once it was fixed together, she painted the body white - and the top hat black. After letting the paint dry, next it was time to put on some snowman stickers!

Madison is proud of her snowman napkin holder - a great craft we all worked on together, but mostly she herself. Good job, princess!

Ye-Ye is meanwhile doing a bit of carpentry himself: I can write about it here because Madison won't see it until Christmas. BUT, he's creating a puppet theater for her - and we know that is going to be something special for her. Sure, the electronics are great at Christmas time: games, movies, and so forth. But this project is going to be a wonderful surprise. Daddy's nearly as excited now as Madison will be in just a few weeks!

One project we did today was a video we made about the Twelve Days of Christmas. A host steps in and tells everyone just how much each of those items costs - and in the background you hear carolers singing the tune. See if you can recognize any of the happy singers below:

That's Madison in the front row, joining her first Christmas caroling expedition! This was a cute little video we did, all pretty much based on a fantastic website Daddy has been following for the past several years: The PNC Christmas Price Index. This is an awesome site that measures the cost of each item mentioned in the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Not only does it list each item and price, it also keeps track of what it cost in years past, dating back to 1984. This year's price tag for every item mentioned in the song: $24,263.18. You can blame it on those seven swans a swimming. Can you believe these swans will cost you $6,300!? That's more than the five golden rings! And more than the ten lords-a-leapin' too! Those guys $4,766!

Okay, stop for a moment. You're telling me it will cost me $4,766 to have ten guys come over and jump around? Are they NBA players? I suppose that would make sense, as the NBA folks aren't doing much these days. No, they aren't NBA players. They're lords. And they leap. But how high to they leap? Or how far? Or for how long? For $4,766, they'd better do a lot of leaping, is all I'm saying.

Anyway, the price index is pretty fascinating. In 1984, all of the items added together cost $12,673.56. That's quite a jump in 28 years. But don't blame the lords-a-leaping. Blame the swans.

Madison loves this song, by the way. She was singing along with the Muppets on the way to Nana and Ye-Ye's house tonight. We heard them singing, and Madison couldn't help but sing along - especially when Miss Piggy belts out "Five Golden Rings!"

Here's a few more photos of Madison about to sing along:

Mullet

2011-12-02T09:46:00.006-05:00

Well, it's going to be a busy day today. This morning, Madison continued the advent calendar - we opened the door and saw a donkey. And the other door had more chocolate. Madison also got a present from under the tree - one just magically appeared there this morning!

She got a Minnie Mouse brush/mirror. It's a neat little toy that Madison was looking at when we were in Disney World just a few weeks ago. She was holding it in the souvenir store, and we could tell she just really wanted that. What an amazing coincidence that she found it under the tree this morning!

We've got a lot of work to do towards our new series, so after dropping Madison off at school again, it was time to return to the office. First things first though: it was time to check on the Gävle Goat!

Looks like it didn't make it:

The Goat was set on fire

The Gavle Goat was set on fire, a few hours ago. At 02.54 PM someone could not let him stay alive. He was happy to celibrate his birthday yesterday, but of course very sad that he did'nt survive Christmas this year.

We will not replace him with a new goat, but wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Bye for now...

I'll have more to post in a bit. I just wanted to update you on the annual Christmas battle in Sweden, and that poor festive goat.

As mentioned earlier, we were pretty busy today getting things together for our new series, "Humbug!" Madison was here for quite some time, long enough to try out a new hairstyle:

YES! It's a mullet! I don't know why we didn't think of this earlier. In fact, we never thought of it at all. Madison just found the tub of wigs, and pulled out a mullet. She was drawn to it, much like the rednecks of the 90's, who were irresistibly pulled towards this magnificent hairstyle in all it's splendor. Madison proudly wore her mullet around for all to see, getting lots of laughs of course. It's not every day you see a small Asian child with a mullet.

"Call me Mullet. Business in the front, party in the back."

- Mullet Head

Get Your Advent Calendars Going!

2011-12-01T09:41:00.005-05:00

Today is the day to get your advent calendars going! Madison has two this year - one tells the Christmas story, and another is a gift from Nana that has chocolate inside!

Madison had a good day today, one that included a return to ballet class. It's a small class, but a fun one: today's class featured ice skating in an imaginary rink, balancing snowflakes on her head, dancing to "Frosty the Snowman," and singing "Jingle Bells." Madison had a great time.

After class, we rode down Green Street here in Gainesville to see the beautiful houses and their seasonal decorations. As usual, it was a nice little detour. Madison was in awe at how so many houses were decorated - and as a surprise, the subdivision we're in is decorated now as well: the entrance has some nice lights on it, and garland too.

Before bed, Madison trimmed one link off the "Advent Chain," so now she knows there are twenty-three sleeps 'til Christmas. Before bed, we tried the new "Ice Age Christmas Special," which Daddy found on DVD for a pretty cheap price. Our verdict: eh. It was all right. Good to see the characters back together again, but the plot was so-so. Still, it was new and harmlesss, so we had a good time watching it together by the tree.

Madison helped Daddy put out the nutcrackers today - on the way to ballet we even listened to the soundtrack to the "Nutcracker." As we were putting them up, Daddy was using one to bite Madison's nose - but she turned to me and said, "Don't! Don't bite your friends!"

Office Christmas Tree

2011-11-30T13:39:00.005-05:00

Above is Madison's Christmas first tree drawing - isn't it great? She did this all by herself this afternoon as she visited the office. Mommy and Madison came by for lunch, and Daddy wanted to get a picture of another tree: the office Christmas tree.

Some of the gals got together for a group shot, all the while we were hearing Christmas tunes like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and more. It's been quite a festive atmosphere around here, despite the fact that we're working really hard towards this weekend's new series. Still, it was a great break to have Madison drop by. She was drawing Christmas trees for everyone, and giving free hugs too. She's a natural when it comes to this time of year - she knows how to make spirits bright!

When at home, Mommy and she did something fun: they made links. The two made one red link, one green, one red, one green - and so on. They made a chain that was twenty-four links long, and numbered each one. THEN they attached the end of the links (that's link #1) to a star. Here's the explanation: like an advent calendar, each link represents a day in December. Each morning, Madison will take a link off the chain, and the number that remains tells us how many sleeps 'til Christmas. In case you don't recognize the phrase "sleeps 'til Christmas," it dates back a ways - but we know it best from the "Muppet Christmas Carol." There's a song in the movie with that phrase in it, and we've found that it is an easy way to measure time around here. Rather than say, it's "three weeks away," it's more fun to say, "Christmas is twenty-four sleeps away." Madison is learning a little math in all this too: she's pretty good at one through twelve, but past that, it becomes a little fuzzy math. What better way to learn to count higher than by measuring how many sleeps 'til Christmas? She looks at us and uses her hands to gesture ten, and then she does it again, and then she holds up a hand one more time with four fingers up. That's 10 + 10 + 4. Basic addition there: 10 + 10 + 4 = 24 days until Christmas.

Another way to measure the sleeps 'til Christmas: new this year is our advent gift idea. Last year, we did well with the advent calendar book. Like any other advent calendar, it has small doors to open for each day, and behind each door is a character or object from the Nativity story.

Nana actually got Madison an advent calendar too this year - behind each door is also a piece of candy!

But that's not all. Mommy has been quietly assembling an army of tiny gifts to open each day. These are small items, including quite a few that actually came from Disney World a few weeks ago. As each day goes by, we'll have a new gift magically under the tree!

Of course, all this leads up to the big day itself: Christmas. There'll be quite a bit under the tree this year, I suspect. Daddy and Mommy have been talking with Santa, because Madison has been very good this year.

Every day in December is going to be magical!