The Kite Flying Story

We had a great time at music class today, where Madison was nailing all the treble clef notes - and the bass ones too. She's doing good with melody, but we have a little work to do on rhythm. School was great today, and we feel like she's really coming along with her speech skills.

Mommy and Daddy were a little worn out still from the weekend I guess, so we popped in "The Jungle Book 2," which concluded our Jungle Book adventure for a bit with Madison. She watched it intently, just proving to me that all those old Disney movies are hitting the nail on the head with her - and she hasn't seen anything yet! We've got this huge library of old Disney movies, and what fun it is to sit together on the couch for movie night.

On the way home from music class, Madison wanted Daddy to tell a made-up story. In my defense, Daddy didn't have any ideas for a story, but Madison really wanted him to tell a story - so here it is. You might find it amusing...

Once upon a time there was a princess named Cinderella, who was looking out her window longingly. It was a spring day and the wind was blowing just right, so she thought it would be delightful to fly a kite. So she made her very own kite herself, and went out to the field behind the castle – and watched her kite fly higher and higher into the sky.

But just then a strong breeze blew. And it blew in such a way that poor Cinderella had released her kite. Fortunately, nearby her were her friends Jaq, Gus, Bruno, Prince Charming, Princess Aurora, Prince Philip, Ariel, Eric, Chip and Dale, Li Shang, Yao, Ling, Chien-Po, Sebastian, Mulan, Pocahontas, Mushu, Captain Jack Sparrow, Angelica, Blackbeard, Count Dooku, Obi Wan Kenobi, Snow White, Sneezy, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Doc, Sleepy, Bashful, Princess Amidala, Dumbo, Bambi, Davy Jones, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jesse, Flounder, Mowgli, Asajj Ventress, Nemo, Dory, Marlin, the Joker, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Sally, PigPen, Franklin, Peppermint Patty, Marcy, Indiana Jones, Marion, Batman, Robin, Kermit the Frog, Uncle Sam, Catwoman, Handy Manny and his tools, MSE-6, Mr. Freeze, Baloo, The Penguin, Bagheera, R2-D2, C3PO, Pocoyo, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Elmo, Pluto, Goofy, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, Clarabelle, Kai-Lan, Dora, Abraham Lincoln, Diego, Hoho, Plo Koon, Ye Ye, Rintoo, Tolee, Larry the Cucumber, Mr. Incredible, Clara, the Nutcracker, the Rat King, Gambit, Ebenezer Scrooge, Anikan Skywalker, Snoopy, Woodstock, Miss Piggy, Hello Kitty, Chun Li, The Three Little Pigs, Bob the Tomato, Chicken Little, Bolt, Storm, Darth Vader, Emperor Zurg, Archimedes the Owl, King Arthur, The Killer Moth, Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, Wendy, Michael, John, Mr. T, Captain Hook, Ronald McDonald, Jean Grey, Bruce the Shark, The Easter Bunny, Barney, Admiral Ackbar, Mr. Smee, Cruella DeVille, Tron, Spongebob Squarepants, Patrick, Nute Gunray, Aladdin, Willy Wonka, Jasmine, Pinocchio, Geenie, Iago, Carpet, Abu, Belle, Beast, Lumiere, Wolverine, Cogsworth, Grimace, Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen, IG-88, Lightning McQueen, Mater, Louis the Alligator, Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Pascal, Cookie Monster, Maximus, Cyclops, Sasquatch, Mike Wazowski, Sully, Pete, Simba, Timon, George Washington, Pumbaa, Rafiki, Robin Hood, The Great Mouse Detective, Stitch, Lilo, Wall-E, The Mad Hatter, Alice, Absolem, Jafar, Captain Barbossa, Jubilee, Bert, Ernie, Short Round, Phineas, Ferb, Candace, Dr. Heinz Doofensmirtz, Lucky the Leprechaun, Barbie, Superman, Perry the Platypus, Elizabeth Swann, Jack Skellington, Sally, Oogie Boogie, The Mayor, Santa Claus, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Dasher, Bugs Bunny, Dancer, Prancer, Comet, Grover, Darth Vader, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Vixen, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Sam the Snowman, Rowlf the Dog, Frosty the Snowman, Big Bird, Princess Leia, Count Chocula, Strawberry Shortcake, The Count, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, June, Leo, Quincy, Annie, Rocket, Daffy Duck, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Moses, Daniel, Yoda, Abraham, Peter, Bob Cratchit, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Esther, Nana, Ba-Ba, Ye-Ye, Hannah, David, Jonathan, Rachel, Abbie, Josh, Halston, Ashley, Jill, the Cabbage Patch Kids, Aunt Shain, Uncle Dave, Mommy, Daddy, and of course Jesus too.

They got the kite for her, and everyone had a great time flying kites.

The End

Catch-Up

Today was a catch-up day in many respects: catch up on sleep, for instance. The daylight savings time weekend, when put together with another tough work weekend, made for exhausted spirits. We accomplished a little today - and Madison certainly got a lot done. It's funny: her piano practice is now getting to a point that challenges Mommy and Daddy too. I've always wanted to learn to play piano, so perhaps this is one of those things where we'll all be learning together.

Another thing that Madison worked on today was her speech therapy. Today's words were "letter" and "lake." Both were difficult, but she was a good trooper and made the effort. Her reward, of course: Mom bucks.

This morning, Daddy had a fun dream about Clint Eastwood. I've always liked the guy, but especially in the 90's. It's funny the way dreams work though: I haven't actually thought about the actor in quite some time, and yet in the dream we were both roommates at some retreat together. Don't worry, he turned out to be pretty cool. Not that he had guns blazing or anything like that, as you would expect in a dream. But we did hit it off a bit, although I was acting a bit more like a normal responsible adult than I usually do. Do you ever wake up from a dream, still a bit in it, and think to yourself how awesome that was? That's the way I woke up. Not that I can explain Clint Eastwood to Madison any time soon.

Today was overcast and drab, and a bit cooler as a result. Still, it was a pleasant day because we - for the most part - relaxed. Daddy wrote a message or two for Summer Xtreme coming up, believe it or not. We did a few more work-related things, and Mommy did some of the things she always does around the house just to keep us in the status quo. It's a perpetual battle with the laundry, and keeping things tidy with Madison.

We did put out the St. Patrick's Day decorations, and inspired by that, Daddy put in some Irish music we have in our collection. Of course, the "Riverdance" soundtrack is in there, along with some music by the Chieftains. But there are a few other gems we like to listen to year-round. For example, there is "Nightnoise," a group of musicians with some very good music. Also, in an attempt to explain St. Patrick's Day somewhat to Madison, we popped in the Veggie Tales movie "Sumo of the Opera." Which in in itself doesn't sound that Irish, but right in the middle of this DVD is a short video about the origin of St. Patrick's Day. Seriously!

Here he is, praying in the evening in Ireland - the story is told in a funny way, one that even we adults get a kick out of. It is loosely based on the story of St. Patrick, and animated in such a way that everyone is entertained. It's less than ten minutes long, but worth a look especially this time of year.

Afterwards, Madison spent some of her Mombucks playing the Kinect with Daddy. We were pretty energetic, actually, doing the Kinect Adventures game, followed by yet another trip to Disneyland. This time, we actually saw a new ride, Splash Mountain, which we hadn't actually seen before. These games are absolutely filled with activity and fun, and take a long, long time to finish if you don't spend that much time on 'em. I seriously doubt we'll be anywhere near done with either of these games any time soon. Even the Star Wars lego game we've been playing - that's taking a long time too. They're just really big games, and we don't spend all that much time playing. I imagine time playing will get even more reduced here soon, as the weather seems to be getting better.

We've spent a few moments each day out on our porch - just what I've always wanted in a house! Swinging on the front porch together as a family, just taking in the ambience of birds singing and smells of blooming flowers. Except the smells of Bradford pears. Those stink!

"Say what?"

- Will Munny

Remains of the Day

Nana and Ba-Ba left this morning to head home, and to our great joy arrived much sooner and easier than their last trip. In fact, they called early in the evening to announce their arrival, which was good to hear.

We'll post more in a bit on this non-eventful day. Madison's tournament video was a huge success in children's church, and has a good number of views already online - she is so cute in that video. Today's services - particularly the second one - were really good, as we told the story of Esther, although a bit indirectly. Still, it got quite a response. The whole day actually did, in fact.

Getting home though, it was rest-time. Daylight Savings Time hit like a hammer, like a five pound sledge, like a ton of lead , and so on. Everyone was yawning today, and at least two volunteers I know of were late because of this great idea of setting clocks forward an hour. It'll be like jet lag here for a few days, for all of us. But we'll adjust and enjoy the extended daylight in the evening. That'll be nice to have some time to sit out on the front porch together.

Full Metal Jousting

Madison had so much fun with this video. She had to get up early with Daddy, and the two of us went over behind a shopping center nearby. One of the other guys went with me and we snuck a few shopping carts to the back, and that's when we started "winging it." Honestly, we didn't really have a game plan, other than the obvious fact that nobody was actually going to hit one another. Even Madison was saying, "It's just pretend."

But she had a great time. As I mentioned earlier, she remembered the jousting from the Renaissance Fair last summer, so she sort of knew what this was going to be like. Minus the horses. And the violent impacts.

Still, it was so much fun. You can see how much she was enjoying it with that first run, when Ashley first starts pushing the cart. Madison was grinning all the way, and rather than hold her "joust" straight, she uses it to whack opponents.

She's seen this completed video a few times since it's completion, and enjoys watching it. In fact, we all do - it's a load of fun! Our friend Josh did an excellent job of editing it together, and we really appreciate him.

It was a fun day jousting!

Spring Forward

This weekend we spring forward again, which in essence means we lose an hour's sleep. But we've lost so much sleep of late, what's another hour, eh?

Tomorrow morning still should be exciting though. It is starting to feel like spring outside, and the weather promises to be clear in the morning - clear enough for a joust! That's right, a joust my friends!

Madison says she remembers last year's jousting at the Renaissance Festival, and perhaps she's seen it a bit with the Veggie Tales adventure "Duke and the Great Pie War." Our new series is Medieval, and yet with the popularity of "Full Metal Jousting," we've sort of made our own version of modern jousting up, where participants dress up in weird armor, get in shopping carts, and go at it.

Our first round was extremely popular, so round two will be shown on Sunday - and filmed tomorrow morning. One of the participants in the joust: Madison!

Return to Form

Tonight we returned to ballet practice, and this time were surprised to see more kids in the ballet class than last session - I think there are at least ten in the class now, and Madison is already making new friends. She had a great time, even before class and waiting. She met a new friend, and the two were perched atop these tall chairs, looking through the windows nearby at people swimming laps. They giggled a whole lot each time a swimmer reached the end of the pool and did a little flip to turn and face the other direction.

We just registered today, after a bit of thought about budgeting and the upcoming season. We opted to not go on any elaborate vacation this season, in an effort to save money. We did register for ballet class, of course. We had plans on seeing a movie, even tonight, but then thought about the prices of movies lately - remember how it cost $50 to see "Beauty and the Beast?" Well, that's nearly half the cost of registration for an entire session of ballet. Why not just wait until the movie comes out on Blu Ray, and save some money? The only thing you'd be missing out on is that movie theater popcorn. Goodness, that stuff is delicious!

We'll still go see movies from time to time as an excuse to "get out of the house," but as of late we're considering the prices.

Three of us going to see a movie: $50.

OWNING that same exact movie: $25

We have a fairly large television now with an amazing LED picture, and by gum, we can have a whole lotta' popcorn at home for a lot cheaper. Why not have "movie night" at the house more often. In fact, that's what we did tonight with a short movie that I'll talk about later...

Occasionally, we'll go on date night to see a movie, and so forth. But seriously, consider this statistic: it is cheaper for us to go see Disney on Ice (in a few weeks) than go see a movie in the theater. We even have fourth row seats. Or something like that. It is stunning to me that the three of us can go to see a huge cast of people skating in a variety of costumes, set to music, renting out a large arena because they tour everywhere - and that is still cheaper than going down the street to see a movie. What's up with that?

CHANGING THE SUBJECT: The weather was so nice outside, we had one of those moments before class where we sat out on the porch swing together just sitting together and talking. The tree in front of our porch is in bloom and looks beautiful, and the temperature was just right.

Last night marked the beginning of Purim, so tonight before bed we watched the VeggieTales movie about Esther together, which Madison enjoyed. But part of the enjoyment is watching a movie together with Mommy and Daddy. See? "Movie Night" is fun! This weekend, Daddy has a message written about Esther - and about princesses - which was all planned ahead of time. Hopefully we'll have a lot of little girls dressed up in their princess dresses. We'll post pictures. In the meantime, last night we already had kids dressing up as knights, a few princesses, and even a dragon. They really do get into these services!

Nana had a difficult medical procedure early this morning. It's fairly routine, something we all have to go through. We're not going to get specific on this blog - suffice to say everything came out in the end. There was some surgical work done, so recovery time was a little slower than normal, so Nana was understandably sleepy and needing time to recover. We tip-toed around the house for a while, and were pleased to see Nana make a few appearances for dinner - all smiles, of course. Grace under pressure.

Tonight we had the pleasant opportunity to go to sleep with the windows slightly cracked. A cool breeze flowed through the room, and the sound of rain pitter-pattering on the fresh leaves was so refreshing. We all got to sleep early tonight, not long after Madison. Daddy was reading a book in bed, and one room over, so was Ba-Ba. Mommy was doing a bit of surfing on the web, and Madison was sleeping peacefully in her room.

All is well.

"Why is there a piano on my cake?"

- Mr. Nezzer

Standing Broom Only

In honor of one of the latest memes, we proudly present to you the following: a broom standing up by itself.

I think this is called "brooming" or something like that. I have no idea why it is important that half of our computerized society has to stand a broom up as such, but this is the power of socialized networks online. One day, we're all just doing our own thing, and the next, we're suddenly compelled to stand up brooms. It's the new "planking," yet another craze that sort of "sweeps" across the web - pardon the bad pun. Don't take any of this above as complaining - I think it is fun and zany. Yeah, pointless too. But people who think they are too smart or too good for any of this tend to do a lot of pointless things too. Bam!

Today was mostly a work day, although we did have our typical story in the morning on the way to school. Madison is committed to having Daddy make up a story each trip to town, and it is getting to the point where I've got to start being more prepared. Sometimes it isn't so easy to come up with a story on the spot. However, fortunately Madison is there to help out with some interjections. Lately, she's been obsessed with Easter eggs. Look carefully in the photos for today, and you'll see some of those eggs. I keep telling her one holiday at a time. What has been funny of late is that the story technically never ends. It's like a serial that continues from day to day. Madison always starts things out by saying, "You didn't finish the story!" And then Daddy has to work fast...

I now know how Homer wrote "The Odyssey." It all started out as this cute story he was telling his kids while taking them on the chariot to school one day. Next thing you know, his youngest one is saying the next day: "You didn't finish the story!"

So weeks later, he's got this epic tale. Right now, I've got a big jumbled mess of a story, but hey: at least we're having fun telling it. It is sort of like the broom craze: pointless, but fun!

You could say it was a "sweeping story."

"No longer will I sweep today for I am not your broom."

- They Might Be Giants