Return to Vernardos Circus

We were back with Bernardo's Circus tonight, and you can see just about the whole gang up there behind us on stage.  Pretty neat opportunity to get a photo with the cast.  Super talented people.  We saw the circus about a year and a half ago, and had a great time.  It's a small circus, and it's like a small business, the type of thing that we love to support.  The great thing is that the people involved are really talented and it's actually a very enjoyable show.  Maddie was laughing all throughout, as were were.  And she had her mouth wide open in awe at a few of the performances that kept going higher and higher and higher.  We got there earlier, and found the premium seating.  We paid for those seats so that we could see better this time, and we sure did.  We had front row there, and from time to time the performers were literally a few feet from us, or at least swinging directly over our heads.  We got cotton candy and popcorn, and Maddie got a drink too.  We talked with some of the performers beforehand, and one of the things I love about this sort of circus is that the guy who was an usher leading me to the seats was the Ringmaster, and the ticket scanning folks were performers too.  It's just a warm circus family, and we were happy to be there.  I took a few pictures with my phone, although the lighting and movement were a little much for that phone.  Still, a few of those pictures came out well enough to share here, including some posed ones.

It was a pretty full day.  Of course, there was KidPak in the morning too, which went really well.  The kids loved the skit we did - I had something simple, and sometimes you just think it's too simple, but in fat, simple is just what was needed and it was perfect.  There was a lot of laughing and screaming.  And of course the bottom line was really well put this morning, a message about guarding your heart.  Maddie took some pictures as always, and we shared many of those on the church site.  The great thing about that is the social media team is starting to use Maddie's pics for other things, and Maddie will catch these online.  It's a fantastic way to confirm that she's taking super good pictures now.

The in between of the day involved us eating a rotisserie, Mardi Gras flavoring, of course.  And I got all the nutcrackers up on the shelving too.  They look good up there, quite a crowd!  I'm not sure if there's room for any more, actually!

Tonight we watched a few more episodes of "Hawkeye," including my favorite episode of all, the one with the Nutcracker Suite car chase with trick arrows, and much more.  And after that, we were certainly ready for bed.  We read some more from "Wyrd Sisters," a bit about traveling back in time, and then we aid our prayers.  It was time for some sleep.  We had a great day!

An Admiral Thrawn Christmas

This afternoon I got the Star Wars tree set up, really getting that Christmas machine going here.  Yesterday was the Nativity Empire, and now the Star Wars tree.  I had to go get new lights with Mom, the two of us heading to Hobby Lobby, which was packed.  Can you believe the holiday shopping already?  Anyway, all those lights from before are pretty much shot, and that's crazy to think about.  So we just bought about fifteen boxes of lights and I used a few of those boxes on the tree, fluffing it up first and then adding the ornaments.  Maddie was helping with the unboxing of the ornaments, and then Mom showed up with some birthday presents - or Christmas presents?  Either way, they were great new gifts, some new ornaments for the tree. 

We now have Admiral Thrawn at center and top of the tree, overlooking the artistic design of the tree.  As you know, he can tell a lot about our culture and strategies by studying our artistic displays.  Which will enable him to defeat us, I think.  So we should be careful.  And there's Cad Bane on the tree, which is basically one of the coolest ornaments ever.  There's a swagger to that ornament that is just too much for even the jedi ornaments.  And finally, this amazing AT-AT ornament, which looks so fantastic up there on the tree.  We top it all off with a Death Star at the top, and the tree skirt that Mom made for the bottom.  Some of the classic ornaments are there, the ones that remind me of this or that.  A Stormtrooper ornament that I won in an ornament exchange game.  A Chewbacca that was first given to me by Ba-Ba and Nana many years ago.  A light-up Darth Vader ornament that I've had since 1997.  The list goes on and on, and they're all on the tree - it looks great!

So today we had Team Edge in the morning, and that was good practice for Maddie, who is a little sore but doing well.  We set up a lot of things for tomorrow's KidPak service today, and there were the other usual chores too.  I give oxygen to those sea monkeys, go for a walk on the treadmill - lately the walks are getting longer.  Today I was watching "Muppets Family Christmas" on glorious VHS while walking the treadmill.  I've resolved to watch a lot of those old Christmas VHS tapes while walking this season - should be fun.  

Speaking of which, tonight we started the "Hawkeye" series again because it's Christmas time, and we just love this one.  There were four good Marvel series, five if you include "What If...?"  This is one of the best, so good we've watched it a few times now.  Anyway, we saw the first two episodes tonight, then got to bed with reading and prayers afterwards.  It's been a pretty good day though.  Tomorrow should be fun too!

Changing Seasons

It's November, which means a few things. For one, it's time to take the October stuff down.  Last night I took some of our older pumpkins, the ones that are in danger of rotting really bad indoors, and I left them outside in the woods.  No one likes rotting pumpkin juice all over their house.  This morning I was looking at them sitting in the woods, and it'll be fun watching them deteriorate over the weeks.  

Some time ago, Maddie and I watched a very large pumpkin set up outside on the way to her piano classes.  It was in town, and it sat there for months in the front yard.  We were like, surely they are going to throw this thing out.  But no, instead, they kept it there until it completely dissolved.  It was a fun landmark to pass by each  time.  We were almost kind of sad the following year when there was no pumpkin put out there.

Anyway, we had rain this morning, which was new.  October was very dry, and in some places in Georgia there was not a drop of rain all month long.  We had a little rain last Sunday, emphasis on the word little.  But the rain this morning was a little more, and in fact the timing of it was such that we were remarking about how grateful we were that it didn't do this sort of rain last night during trick-or-treating.  

Speaking of which, Maddie said everyone was pretty tired at school from the night before.  Some schools wisely had a "virtual day."  I went in today to the office, and there was a scavenger hunt set up for me that led to some cards, some candy, and some presents too.  It was a very nice little birthday present to discover!

I have super thoughtful co-workers!  So we mentioned that the October decor is coming down, and that means the Christmas stuff starts going up.  No joke!  We don't mess around here.  Today I got the Nativity set up first, our expansive Nativity Empire, and it looks great over the fireplace, piano, and elsewhere.  The Wise Men are making their way to the scene, somewhere across the room, as the shepherds are looking on, while Roman guards announce a census and Zechariah walks out of the temple, mouth wide open but not much to say.  I got a few more devotional entries written for our Nativity-themed series, which is coming along well.

There was taekwondo tonight, and there's extra training for a Team Edge experience upcoming.  I'm excited that I get to go now to Edgestravaganza in December to see it.  It's going to be great!  On the way home, Maddie and I actually stopped at McDonald's, which was super busy.  I don't go there that often, but I was hankering a Fish Filet sandwich, and Maddie got some fries and a drink for the ride home.  That fish sandwich may taste good, but it's a challenge to eat that one while driving!

Tonight's feature movie was "Book of Life," because Maddie wanted to watch this actually on Dia de Los Muertos.  Or as spellcheck would prefer to call it, Dia de Los Metros (I think that's a day about city buses).  Anyway, the movie was great as always.  It's one of Maddie's favorites, of course.

We read tonight, and we said our prayers afterwards.  We'll continue decorating tomorrow, but here we are in November, and now it's time to get the Christmas machine going.  It's going to be a fun season!