Fall Decor Up!

Mommy does such a nice job each season with some decorations for the living room and beyond.  Outside, our scarecrow rests - her name is "Madison B."  This is named after one of Madison's friends from pre-school last year.  Madison named the scarecrow, and even this year remembered what that name was.  So that's how the name sticks!

Pumpkins and fall leaves line the shelves up top, and orange candles sit atop the mantle next to an Anne Geddes hedgehog baby.  Mommy and Daddy have a few of Anne Geddes photo books, which are all very fun to look through.  She was much bigger in popular culture about ten years ago, taking photos of babies in various costumes and situations.  There were even dolls for a time, each one a representation of a famous picture she'd taken.  As Mommy has a thing for hedgehogs (she thinks they're cute), Daddy picked up the doll some time ago, and it has remained in our collection to this day.

Mommy's sickness to a turn for the worse this morning, as she couldn't talk at all.  Her throat was very sore, and so Daddy left she and Madison at home when he went to church.  It was a spectacular service this morning, although initially pretty stressful.  Always a battle before a great victory, that's the saying. And the victory was pretty huge - we did basically the Easter story, despite some larger setbacks, and pulled it well, thanks be to God.  There were kids that hadn't heard the story before, at least from the perspective of Barabbas.  That was the angle we told it from, with a little bit of creative license.  It was a direct hit, as many of the children were profoundly touched.  Actually, many of the adults were too - it was a great morning.

Daddy got home a little later, and Mommy was doing much better.  Madison was too, dragging out toys all over the place and having all kinds of fun playing.  She's been doing a lot of drawing and coloring lately too.  Yes, we squeezed in some piano practice as well - she did great with the G-scale, which officially perplexes me a little.  What's up with the ti flat?  Who designed the piano like that?  Of course, I know very little at this time, and that's the point.  We're all learning together - and it's great to see Madison catching on so quickly.  A little more quickly than us, in fact!

October is nearly here, which means more October movies.  Daddy and Mommy watched the first Scooby Doo live action movie tonight, which we both love - tomorrow we'll probably watch the sequel after Madison goes to sleep.  She's not quite old enough for some of the creepy imagery in these movies yet, but Daddy was inspired:  he's been looking to buy seasons one and two of the original Scooby Doo series, and saw the package on sale tonight.  Translation:  Madison will get her first real taste of Scooby Doo soon enough, just in time for October!

Speaking of which, it's time for some October-themed games!  This year's new gem is a one dollar downloadable game for the X-Box called "I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1NIT!!!1"  It's tremendous fun reminiscent of an 80's video game we used to play for extended periods of time.  The bonus to this game is a hilarious theme song that plays all throughout - it's one you can't get out of your head.  Generally, we're not big fans of the zombie genre - but this is a nice aerial view, and a fun, chaotic game - "they come shambling in from the side, you better shoot them..."