Choco Taco Tuesday

We weren't settling with just tacos today - no sir!  Daddy happened upon some Chaco Tacos, and we had ourselves tacos for dessert as well.  This was a well deserved taco break from the day.  We had a lot of skit writing going on with Daddy, while Madison was hard at work doing piano practice - and some drawing as well.  Earlier today, we had a dentist visit for Madison.  This went very well, and very quickly too.  I think we're at a place now where things are fairly routine for her.  That is, just as long as she remembers to floss!

Mommy is feeling better today, which is great.  Finally, we can put this chapter behind us.  This ugly virus has gotten us all messed up since the middle of April or something like that.  It's been ridiculous!

Tonight, to get into our 'heroes' frame of mind, we watched another hero movie:  "Megamind."  We like this one a lot.  Josh has been spending the night lately - it's a tradition around Summer Xtreme time.  He has such a drive up to the north part of Habersham County, so during these really busy work seasons, he spends the night with us.  He sat down to watch "Megamind" with us tonight, and then it was off to bed for pretty much everyone.  This season, you've got to have a good night's rest, and find it wherever you can!

Third Grade - A Picture a Day

Here above is a video we made, a tradition of ours where we put together the pictures we've been taking all year long.  Each morning before school, we snap a photo of Madison in front of the fireplace.  And above, you can see her throughout the year - it's been a good school year.

Today was Memorial Day.  Mommy has been under the weather still, which like Daddy, might take some time to recover from.  She seems to be doing better, although her energy level is really low.  That's exactly what Daddy felt like too, so we're not alarmed at the moment.  The good news is that she doesn't have pneumonia or anything like that.

Madison and Daddy built a birdhouse this morning.  This was the Angry Birds birdhouse that we picked up a few weeks ago.  Finally, we sat down to put the thing together, and it turned out well.  We stayed at home today, despite the fact that it was Memorial Day.  We just wanted Mommy to recover, so hopefully she'll be all better by the week's end.  We'll see how that goes.

Until then, we ate at home, played games, and did some writing too.  It was a nice day, a little warm outside, and no doubt crazy on the lake.  But it was peaceful here, and we're quite glad of that.

SX Parent Meeting

After another Spy Games morning at KidPak, we had our annual Parent Meeting for Summer Xtreme, somewhat of an informational deal to help with drop-off, and the daily things going on.  We had quite a few parents there, so turnout was good.  It was also pretty brief.  At the conclusion as always, the parents got a bag with some info in it, as well as t-shirts for the kids.  Madison was pretty excited to see her new Summer Xtreme t-shirt.  Soon, there'll be tons of kids in those seats with Summer Xtreme t-shirts on.  Not long now!

Service went well - we had an "Inspector Gadget" theme to the day, with clips from the movie and some points related to Inspector Gadget.  Of course, we had the music there too.  Go, Gadget, go!

This afternoon, we were working a little, and Madison was reading a little too, getting started on her Summer Reading Program for the library.  She's chosen 40 books this year, as some of the books she's reading are much longer than usual.  We'll throw in shorter ones, and graphic novels too.  There's a series with a girl named Isabel Soto, where she investigates historical events and places, and you don't feel bad at all about Madison reading those graphic novels.

Madison got a new character today for Disney Infinity 3.0:  Obi-Wan Kenobi!  We don't have many to go after this.  Already, the prices are rising on some of the remaining ones, now that the game has been cancelled.  Daddy will pick up all he can before the prices get too outrageous.  Both he and Madison want to collect them all!

We watched a movie from the library, "Strange Magic," which was actually not bad.  It got terrible reviews, but we saw it anyway because George Lucas had some involvement in it.  And sure enough, it wasn't that bad at all.  Our friend Josh liked it too, and recommended it earlier.  It may not be Pixar quality, but it's not that bad of a movie at all.

The big event tonight was the completion of "BFG," which we've been reading for a while now.  This was a great book that the three of us have been really enjoying.  We can't wait for the movie now.  Roald Dahl has been a great author to read, somewhat of a surprise for Daddy and Mommy.  We didn't realize his works were so much fun to read.  But we're loving them just as much as Madison is.  So naturally, you can expect us to be finding something else soon enough, like "James and the Giant Peach" or Mathilda."

So another full day has come and gone.  One more week until Summer Xtreme, so we're really busy around here with preparations.  Lots of writing and more left to do, but it seems possible we'll finish it all just in time.  It's going to be a great week!

Welcome to Jakku, BB-8

Lake Lanier is crazy.  Boats are everywhere, so much so that I couldn't imagine going out there.  It's like Rush Hour in Palestine or something, with vehicles approaching from any angle at any speed and everyone sort of assuming that the other person will not hit anyone.  No, Memorial Day is not the best day to go boating on the lake.  And forget about water skiing and things like that - it's too risky with so many other boats out there.

We took care of Mommy today, and let's give thanks for the Wolfgang Puck soup selection at Publix here.  It's all gluten free, including a chicken noodle soup mix that's perfect for when you're as sick as Mommy is.  We also got rice crackers and cheese, and made a nice little presentation to bring upstairs to Mommy.

We did some work towards another "Spy Games" service tomorrow, and Daddy took Madison to McDonald's over in Dawsonville, where they are currently engaged in a 5-year plan to enlarge highway 53.  Because of this, there wasn't quite an entrance to the old parking lot, not like there used to be.  Daddy used to work over in that area, and the growth has been amazing.  No more of this "back in the day" talk from me today though.

Madison did quite a few things on her first day of Summer Break.  Daddy wanted her to draw a bit, so she did a great picture of BB-8.  She also did some piano practice as well.  But a good part of the day was spent playing video games, namely "The Lone Ranger."  She likes getting on horseback, and blowing up buildings.  Yep.

Tonight, for "research," Daddy purchased "The Phantom of the Megaplex," an old Disney Channel movie.  We got our popcorn out again, and sat on the couch to watch something we haven't seen before.  It was as you expect, although Daddy did get a few lines from it for future reference in the upcoming skits.  That's what it's all about - we're trying to put together a good skit series for Summer Xtreme.

Mommy is not coughing as much, and that's great to hear.  Or not hear, rather.  And all in all, it was a good day, especially in light of Mommy's improving health.  We've been praying each night that this goes by quickly.  Everyone should be just fine by the time we start Summer Xtreme.  That's the plan, at least!

Last Day of 3rd Grade

Here we are on the last day of school again.  Madison gave us the secret to how to make time slow down:  sometimes it just crawls on and on when you're in class.  So, if you're trying to get time to stop flying by, our suggestion would be to go back to school.  It might not work for college, but perhaps sitting in an elementary school might help!  Regardless, this year has seemed to fly by for us.  And academically, it's been a great one.  Madison did really, really well on her report card, earning quite a few "E"s, which stands for exemplary, excellent, or extremely good.  I'm not too sure.  Also, she got quite a few "4"s, which is outstanding - threes are good, and fours are awesome.

Daddy missed her coming home, but it was a good day for her.  Daddy's been working on Summer Xtreme, of course.  Meanwhile, Mommy has been pretty sick, doing quite a bit of coughing.  The good news is that this seems to be on the tail end of things.  It's a long-lasting sort of virus, and we're not fans of it in the slightest.  Perhaps, though, it's building up our immunity or something?  Right?  Trying to put a positive spin on things...!

Anyway, it was a good day outside.  We got rain, of course, but that's okay.  The passing showers are nice, and they cool things down a bit.  We did the Sodapalooza thing with Madison, and read some more from our "Space Camp" themed devotional, and then the "BFG."  Tomorrow is the first day of Summer Break now, and Madison is excited about that.  She's bittersweet about leaving the classroom, but she's excited about all the things we're going to do this summer.  Truth be told, we're a little excited too!

Library Rabbits

We were at the library this afternoon, and look what we saw!  There were two of these tiny rabbits in the back where you return books, so Madison and Daddy got out to snap a photo.  Don't worry, we didn't get too close.  We didn't want to scare them.  We just wanted to return some books!

Tonight, we were back at speech therapy again after a bit of an absence due to illness with Daddy and Madison.  Daddy got home just in time to take Madison to Alpharetta to speech therapy.  This was after spending a good deal of time at the Atlanta Zoo, sorting things out about where to eat and so forth.  It's amazingly expensive to rent out a tent and eat there, I'll just say that much.  And they don't give discounts to church groups - you have to call it an educational summer camp to get anywhere with them.  But Daddy got the quick tour behind-the-scenes to a few places the public doesn't go, and of course got to see elephants, some unusual owl he'd never seen before, and a bunch of other animals as well.  It was pretty quick - we were all business on this trip.  And then we were racing back again.

With Mommy not feeling well, Daddy took Madison to Chick-Fil-A for dinner tonight, and of course there was the obligatory stop at Race Trac to fill our Sodapalooza cups.  This season, we've been filling these over and over again with Gatorade and ginger ale, all because everyone's been sick.  It's not quite what we envisioned when purchasing the cups, but it has been quite useful.  They've kept us hydrated, and our tummies settled:  we take the ginger ale and let it go flat a bit, and that helps settle the tummy.

It was a frantic sort of day as far as the racing to and fro, but at the end it all worked out.  We took care of Mommy, played some games at the end, and went to bed early one last time.  Only one more day of school left!

End of the School Year Party

Here's Madison playing her Kitty Cat Keyboard for the whole class.  It's a performance of "Twinkle Little Star," all done with cat sounds.  This morning, we were at a End of the Year School Party, one where the kids had a talent show of their own.  This was pretty funny, with kids doing magic acts, comedy routines, hula hoops, and even a student showcasing his animation.  The kids had a lot of fun!

Yes, parents came too of course.  And there were plenty of snacks and food items to eat, along with the usual sentimental slideshow of the entire year at the end.  It was a nice time at the school, one last little party.  It's a bittersweet moment for all of us, indeed.  It's been a wonderful year!

Daddy went straight to work after this.  We mentioned the busy time of year this is, and today was no different.  We were dealing with a typical Wednesday night, plus even a bit of filming at the warehouse tonight.  We actually had the Punisher there, along with Squirrel Girl.  Yep!  That was a lot of fun.  We'll see how that turns out after it is edited for Summer Xtreme.

It was a fun day - only two more days of school left!

The Return of the Tooth Fairy

Okay, this is not the Tooth Fairy.  This is a costume Daddy had to wear this afternoon while shooting our movie for Summer Xtreme.  This is a villainous character who doesn't stand much of a chance against a team of heroes - his name is Shockwave, and he has the powers of vibration.  We filmed his segment behind the Sam's Club in Oakwood.

This morning, the Tooth Fairy did come though!  Madison found a new Vinylmation character, a few dollars in quarters, and even some currency all the way from China.  The Tooth Fairy is a world traveler!

We're wrapping up the school year, and today of course was the last Tuesday of 3rd Grade.  But also, it was the last day of piano classes with Mrs. Pam too.  This is a funny sort of day, one where Mrs. Pam has some last things to teach, and some assignments over the summer.  But the thing the kids look forward to the most are the water games outside afterwards.

Here's Madison, right after crawling through the shaving cream, heading towards a sprinkler and a big pool filled with musical notes.  The kids were involved in a relay race that required them to get the right notes and bring them back to the orange baskets on the table you see behind there.  They absolutely loved this game, of course.  It was messy, and it was wet.  This was perfect, because the weather outside was getting warm, and this was just the right prescription for that sort of thing.

We got home, and yes it was also Taco Tuesday.  We had our tacos, and then we had movie night, watching "Spy Kids" tonight, as part of our theme this month at KidPak.  Madison really likes this movie, and yeah, we'll probably go through the trilogy tomorrow and the next night.

It was a fun day, although Mommy is still under the weather.  This is a lingering sort of virus, which Daddy can attest to.  He's still coughing somewhat, despite the fever begin gone.  And that's what Mommy is doing now, coughing day and night.  Hopefully this will pass sooner.  The blessing is that Mommy hasn't dealt with the fever that Daddy and Madison did.  We both had fevers around 102 and 103 respectively.  Mommy hasn't had that so much - it's just this relentless cough.

Daddy is getting ready for Summer Xtreme a lot at work, with lots of writing of course.  He's gotten two scripts for the stage done, and so far so good.  We'll see how things turn out, but from here until about a week-and-a-half from now, it's going to be pretty busy!

Another tooth!

Na-Na was doing well enough that today, the grandparents returned home to Florida.  We got a call late tonight (they left much later in the morning), and were relieved to hear they had no problems at all getting home.  It's just a longer drive, and of course Na-Na is not quite 100% yet.  She's a bit frustrated by this, but it won't be long until she's back to normal.  After all, she was just at the hospital yesterday.

It was the last Monday of 3rd grade.  Mommy is in sick mode, coughing as much as Daddy and Madison were.  The fever isn't as bad, so that's good.  Daddy, by the way, is still having trouble breathing.  So yeah, there's a return to the doctor coming soon.

Despite it all, Mommy made us dinner.  We had corn on the cob, and lo!

While eating, Madison lost another tooth.  It's been quite some time since that has happened, so there was quite a bit of ceremony here.  We found a pouch to put the tooth in, and just before bed, we placed it under Madison's pillow.  We'll see what the tooth fairy has in store tomorrow!

Before bedtime, we read the last from the "Alice in Wonderland" devotional that Daddy wrote some time ago.  We've been reading that in preparation for the upcoming movie, and reading through the pages rather quickly.  Madison has been enjoying this one.  She's also enjoying "BFG," which Daddy has been reading to Mommy and Madison each night.  We're doing a couple chapters per night on that, moving along rather quickly.  Or, as the giants do, galloping along.

Today, Daddy did a lot of work towards completing the booklets for Summer Xtreme.  Here's the cover design, which is rather simple:

It's all starting to come together.  We're working all the time in this direction, moving forward with all kinds of last-minute things that need to be done.  Hopefully it'll all come together.  Daddy is most worried about the scripts presently.  Those are his big deal, and he's had a bit of a creative block lately.  Speaking of which, it's time to get back to writing again - hopefully something will start to work out here...

Out of the Hospital

Madison went to the hospital with us after church today, where we visited with Na-Na, who is doing much better.  She was grateful to see us all - we spent a good deal of time with her this afternoon simply talking.  Pastor Lance came with us, and afterwards, he and Daddy went to visit a few other friends at the hospital.  Busy time there!

Na-Na is doing so well, in fact, that she was allowed to go home this afternoon.  It'll take a bit of time to heal, and remove the clots, but her thinking is that she can heal up at home.  That being said, if all is well tomorrow, they'll make their trip home back to Florida.

We had Napoli's pizza tonight, although Mommy did not.  The sickness has finally reached her now, and sadly, she was off to bed early tonight.  We'll see how she does this week, but we may be making a return trip to the doctor's to check on her so she doesn't wind up following the path that Daddy took.  While at the grocery store today, Daddy was picking up prescriptions for Na-Na, and also some soups for Mommy.  He got some of that Wolfgang Puck butternut squash soup, got home, and heated it up for her as a special surprise.  It's gluten free, and it was good to take care of Mommy.  We were doing that tonight, tucking her in and doing our best to take care of her.

This morning at KidPak, we wrapped up the storyline with Spy Games, and all was well in the spy community!  This was a fun series, actually.  We've been watching spy movies here and there - this week, Madison wants to watch the "Spy Kids" movies again.  Another one we have to watch before the end of the week is "Inspector Gadget."  Next week's final message of the series involves a bit of Inspector Gadget.  Who is awesome, by the way.

We did a bit of Disney Infinity 3.0 today, and despite the fact that they shut down the whole thing so amazingly abruptly, we're still going to be picking up those last remaining figures.  That being said, one of Madison's rewards for a successful recital with that Chopin Waltz was a Darth Maul figure.  That she got, and today we had a bit of a Sith-fest, as Darth Maul and Kylo Ren spent an hour this afternoon battling waves of enemies in the Jedi Temple.

So all is well.  Except for the fact that Summer Xtreme starts soon.  Very stressful, that all is.  To find peace, we think of beyond those days in June, somewhere past that where waves hit a beach and we find ourselves resting in the sea breeze.  Ahhh... I can almost feel that now...

Manga Leia

Madison drew this earlier in the morning.  She's been drawing a few different characters like Mike Wazowski and Eve from Wall-E.  But this one here was cute, copied off a book she got for Christmas that did all kinds of Star Wars characters.  It was a page dedicated to Manga style drawings of Star Wars characters, so of course she gravitated towards Princess Leia.  I think she did a great job with this one!

Today was supposed to be the day that Na-Na and Ba-Ba were going home to Florida, but all that changed yesterday with the visit to the hospital.  Na-Na will be okay, but today was a day to catch up on rest and a day to do extensive tests to see what comes next.  Two blood clots, one for each lung, and we're grateful that it all happened when it did.  Imagine it all happening today, somewhere on I-75 below Macon, or wherever.  No, there is a lot to be grateful for.

Aunt Shain and her family moved today, getting their new house finalized and ready to live in.  They seem to be happy with it - we haven't had a chance to visit yet, as we've been sick or really busy.  Usually both.

Speaking of which, Mommy is now starting to have symptoms similar to what Daddy and Madison had  - it starts with the fever.  Hopefully this won't be that big of a deal for Mommy, but we'll see.  We definitely don't want her to go through anything close to what Daddy did.  That's for sure.

Daddy stopped at the library today, and picked up a few books, including the one we started reading tonight, "BFG."  That's being made into a movie this summer, and as we've been reading a few Dahl books lately, we thought this one would be fun to read.  So far, it's been interesting.  Mommy and Madison are certainly into it.  Daddy has been having fun reading the giant's voice.

We spent a good deal of time preparing for Sunday today, for another round of spies at KidPak.  It should be a good service.  We're also working towards Summer Xtreme, although that's been a bit slower.  Not long left, and there's a lot of stress as we try to get it all done in time.  Tick, tick, tick...

Piano Recital 2016

Tonight was Madison's piano recital, and she did wonderful once again.  It was a waltz by Chopin, and she did it perfectly.  And, as you can see, she wore her new Cinderella dress.  Daddy recorded her performance, and a few of the other group ensembles as well.

Na-Na had some trouble today, and although the plan was to be at the recital, it turns out that she went somewhere else instead:  the hospital.  Providence had things lined up:  she was fine this week, having no problem at all as she went to her medical check-up.  But they discovered something the next day, and it was that very next day that she started to feel symptoms.  At first, the thought was pneumonia, which of course was ironic given Daddy's condition recently.  But no, it was in fact something worse:  blood clots.  Two of them, one for each lung.

As this was going on, Mommy and Daddy went to the recital, and then sort of raced out of there to check on Na-Na.  She'll be fine, and she's really in the best place she can be.  We recorded the recital, and we'll show that to her when she's doing better.

But as you can imagine, all this as a backdrop was slightly distracting.  Still, Madison did well.  Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Pam.

Mrs. Pam has been such a blessing.  This class has been great, a fun way to learn all sorts of new musical concepts, and of course learn to play a bit on the keyboards as well.  Madison just loves going each week, and she loved coming tonight.  She felt regal in her new dress, complete with glass slippers.  Each of the kids was dressed up as a different character from a book, as the theme was "Sing Me a Story."  The entire room was decorated with different items and looks, some things borrowed from Mommy and Daddy (including our Mad Hatter hat!).  

All of the children did really well, and there was a bittersweet sort of feeling here, as yet another recital has come and gone.  Only one more class on Tuesday, and then there's summer break.  On one hand, yeah, summer break.  But Madison does really enjoy school, and these classes too.

We got home tonight, and as you can imagine it was bedtime pretty much.  Ba-Ba came to the house, and Na-Na is spending the night at the hospital, hopefully getting some much-needed rest.  It's going to be okay though.  We'll go visit soon enough, but for now, it's okay and she's okay.  It's been a full day, and we'll tackle tomorrow as it comes.

Texas Teasing

When Madison got home, we decided it was high time to go out to a restaurant and grab a bite to eat.  With so much sickness around lately, it's been a while since we grabbed a bite to eat anywhere.  Plus, with Nana and Ba-Ba in town, it was just a nice idea to head to Texas Roadhouse.

These two above are always going at each other in the restaurant.  They're hitting each other and teasing each other - it's just a good idea to get some food on the table as soon as possible!  Fortunately, that happened, although it was all fun until the food arrived.  We had a great time heading out.  Madison played a few songs on the jukebox, all completely random.  And then there were the peanuts and rolls - it's always a good meal there.

We got home, and continued our game of dominoes, which seems to be a new tradition we've been starting lately.  Everyone won a round or two, and we pretty much did just this until it was Madison's bedtime.  She was just fine with this, and so was everyone else.

Pastor Lance came over earlier - Daddy and he were spending a great deal of time writing material for videos for Summer Xtreme. We'll do some filming shortly, but it was good to get that out of the way.  He spent a good deal of time talking with the grandparents, and of course Madison was excited to see him when she got home as well.

It was a productive day, although Daddy's energy is nowhere near what it needs to be.  Hopefully it will be tomorrow.  The weather outside was overcast, dreary.  Hopefully tomorrow we'll see some sun, and some energy, and new life coming back.  This period of sickness has definitely gone on for a bit too long.  Can't wait for a new day!

2016 Yearbook

One of the most exciting things in the school year is the day that Madison gets her yearbook.  She LOVES her yearbooks.  She frequently pulls out the old ones and scans through all the pictures, and today was no different.  She got her new yearbook, and of course was pouring through that one.  But she had the other ones out as well, a stack of books from kindergarten through now third grade, and was looking through each one.  As you can see above, Madison was dead center in one of the picture collage pages.  She's also at the bottom left and elsewhere in the book.  She can't wait to have it signed by everyone.  Earlier in the year, before the school year even began in fact, we paid for this book in order to get a deeper discount.  Why not?  This book goes up with the other yearbooks in our great room, set up there for easy access, because all year round, Madison periodically gets the yearbooks down to look through them.  It's just something she really likes to do.

Today was Wednesday, so it was a big work day for Daddy.  We're moving forward with all kinds of Summer Xtreme-related writing and filming.  Lots and lots going on!  We're filming a big, epic sort of movie with superheroes, one that Daddy has a cameo in.  Our skits will hopefully be written soon, as Daddy is desperately trying to figure out how to put it all together.  At present the idea is to not have superheroes so much as characters as a comic book convention.  That seems easier.

Na-Na had a few doctor's appointments scheduled today, some regular check-ups.  These were the reason they came up from Florida.  But in the meantime back at home, they're closing on... well, a new home.  Daytona Shores it is, or at least it will be.  We may have been making our last trip to Summerfield and the Villages area.  Now, our trips to Florida will always involve the beach.  This is something that Madison is not upset about in the least.  She loves the beach now.  The one weakness of Daytona Shores presently is that we don't think there's a Friendly's there.  We have to find an ice cream shop there as soon as possible!  But there is a mini-golf place that you can walk to from their new condo, and also a boardwalk not far away.  There's a Bubba Gump restaurant just up the road, and hey, maybe we can come down some time to see the Daytona 500!

Anyway, all that is coming soon, and of course it is exciting.  We just have to survive the end-of-May/Summer Xtreme craziness that comes each year.  Add to that this lingering sickness that Daddy has been dealing with.  Lung capacity is lower, and now Mommy feels like she might be feeling a bit of fever as well.  This is one sickness that just doesn't want to go away.  Still, we must press on!  We'll take care of ourselves and get some rest.  We might need to take some more medication though...

Mexican Train

We had our piano recital rehearsal today, and Madison has been pretty spot-on.  Her recital piece is nowhere near as complicated as last year, and this worked out well, mainly because our family has been dealing with a persistent illness, pretty much through the entire month of May.  The recital itself is coming up soon on Friday, and Madison is excited to dress up as Cinderella to perform.  It'll be really nice, actually.

So today is Taco Tuesday, which of course is mandatory each Tuesday.  With the grandparents in from Florida though, we added some more flair to the day:  we played Mexican Train.  This is that dominoes game that we used to play a lot.  Recently, down at Satellite Beach, we pulled out the dominoes and played quite a bit there.  Madison really likes the game, as it is pretty simple and easy to get the hang of.  It can go on a while though!

Why is it called "Mexican Train," I wonder.  Reading up a little, we realize now that what we call the 'junk train' is actually the 'Mexican Train,' where all players can get rid of extra dominoes.  How that bonus train became Mexican is a mystery though.  All we have to go on is this information here:

The original version of Mexican Train was copyrighted by Roy & Katie Parsons of Newport Coast, California, and by Puremco. Mexican Train has become a popular party game, and has spawned something of it's own sub-culture within the domino family.

Apparently Roy & Katie Parsons liked the title, and that's that.  I suppose if Roy and Katie Parsons lived in Eastern Europe, it could have been called "Yugoslavian Train" or "Czechoslovakian Train."  In other words, it's just a name picked out of a hat.  Or, a sombrero.

We had thunder today, and pouring rain in the morning.  The grass is looking really good now, as is our neighborhood.  We actually hired a neighborhood kid to cut our grass for us - he lives two houses down.  He does a great job, and we have a good feeling about helping out a neighbor.  And of course, he's helping out us.

Daddy was working on Summer Xtreme a lot today, which is the theme for the rest of this month and into June.  Looking back on this blog, that's the way it always is, with lots of end-of-the-school-year stuff thrown in for good measure.  We'll try to squeeze it all in, although it's tough to keep up with the blog during this season.  Having Nana and Ba-ba here is a blessing, of course.  They love seeing Madison, and she loves seeing them.

Ballerina Fun May 2016

Madison finished her magazine today, which was a lot of work for her.  Daddy too!  But we loved doing it, and her teacher is definitely pretty impressed with how it turned out.  This was a neat project, one we were joking about - "Okay, Madison.  That's the first issue.  You've got to get the June issue ready now."

Below are all the pages in order, starting with the cover.  As school is wrapping up, there's just one big project left, and that's a presentation Madison is doing on Ronald Reagan.  Just kidding!  Of course it's Cesar Chavez.

With the inlaws here, we've been playing cards, and of course tomorrow is the big day for Goodwill shopping.  Daddy is frantically working on Summer Xtreme stuff at the moment, and has hit a bit of a creative block, but we'll still do our best.  One thing I know:  we've got a video with the Punisher and Squirrel Girl in it.  That should be fun to film.

Speaking of superhero movies, Mommy and Daddy got to go see "Civl War" today as a 'date night.'  We had got some rewards from our local theater's rewards program, so we had one free ticket, free popcorn and a free drink tonight.  So it was a real cheap night out!

The movie was fun, although not our favorite of the Marvel movies.  We loved Ant-Man, Black Panther and of course Spider-Man.  Okay, Hawkeye was cool too.  And Vision.  Oh, all right.  They were all pretty awesome.  We just don't like them fighting each other so much.  But that seems to be the theme of this year's superhero movies:  fighting each other.  We have "Civil War," but then we also have "Batman versus Superman."  And a little later, we have the X-Men Apocalypse movie, where four characters are chosen to be Apocalypse's 'four horsemen.'  And yes, they have to fight the bad guys.    So yeah:  superheroes fighting each other.  Somewhere along the line, one studio executive thought this would be perfect, and then the other ones were like, "Yeah, we have to do that too!"  

We're not doing that so much with our Summer Xtreme heroes series, so no worries there.  And no fighting the rest of this entry here either.  

In fact, here's something much more pleasant.  It's Madison's magazine, "Ballerina Fun."

2016 Ballet Recital

It was a full day today, one that started out at KidPak of course.  Part three of our spy series continued, this time with a king that was bugged, along with a prophet who had God-vision and a license to chill.  Our skit featured a lot of "Get Smart" gags in it, and the service overall was really fun with spy action from Perry the Platypus to "Spy Kids" to "Cats and Dogs" to the guinea pigs from "G-Force."  

We got home after that, and it was time to rest for just a bit.  Because tonight was the ballet recital, and everyone wanted to be rested and ready to go.  Of course, getting ready to go is a longer process with make-up and hair and so forth.  Mommy did really well in that regard, just as she's done all along.  We left at about 4:00, and went over to Brenau, one hour early as we were supposed to.  And soon it was time to watch the production!

They request that you not take pictures during the recital, and of course that's a good idea.  It's best to take the photos during the rehearsal, where you can sit wherever you want and take as much as you want under the same lighting conditions.  Even further, we purchased the Blu-Ray recording of the event, so we'll get to watch the ballet recital again and again later on.  This was a time to just soak it in. And it was wonderful!

These two pictures are of Madison after the recital.  Mommy got her a beanie baby - a tradition that goes back a few recitals now.  She has a beanie from each recital.  And of course, she also has flowers. Na-na bought her flowers, but then so did a few other unexpected guests:

Pastor Lance and his wife Kate came by to enjoy the production, and they had a good time too.  They sat with us during the dance, watching for Madison, and watching for a few of the other girls that were from KidPak.

Here they are, some of Madison's friends from church and ballet.  They were all so good tonight, so focused on doing the best they could, and simply wonderful.  They had a great time!

And of course, so did we.  Afterwards, we complimented our little ballerina as much as we could.  Daddy wrote on the card on her flowers:

"What a wonderful performance!  Full of grace and beauty.  You are a lovely ballerina.  We love you!  Mommy, Daddy, Na-Na and Ba-Ba."

Afterwards, we posed for some pictures outside, and these just came out so well.  It's astounding that the ballet season is now over once again.  No classes on Monday, or for a few weeks now.  We're waiting to see how she did with her auditions for "The Nutcracker," as that may determine our summer plans somewhat - there's a camp she'll have to go to then.  But otherwise she's going next season once again, and yes, this time for longer amounts of time.  She really enjoys it and really wants to go back, as she's told us again and again.  This makes Daddy glad, because he knows Mommy is living through her in some ways.  But Daddy enjoys it too - it's hard to describe the joy of seeing your daughter dance in a ballet.  I guess it's best described by looking at the parents' faces, in near tears of joy, as they proudly watch their daughter gracefully move across the stage.

Ballet Recital Rehearsal

Here's our beautiful girl, just before the rehearsal for the ballet recital.  This morning, we went over to Brenau to run through the recital dances a few times.  It gave parents a chance to snap some nice photos of our girls dancing!

Madison did very well this year, and seems to be maturing on stage, taking the lead with confidence in her choreography, each step having been rehearsed time and again.

What impresses Daddy quite a bit is her poise and grace.  She carries herself well across the stage, her arms swaying elegantly about as if she were a princess in a musical number on the big screen.

Of course, we're her parents and we'll think that.  But we've seen remarkable growth in her abilities, and we're certainly glad we've kept her in this ballet school.  She's learned more than choreography, more than simply watching others to repeat what they do.

She's learned the art of ballet.  We've always taken the approach of 'if she likes it, we'll stick with it.'  And with ballet, she genuinely enjoys it.  Her friends call out to her, and there's such a camaraderie with their group.  She loves to be with them, and she loves doing what she does.

So today we registered for next year's ballet school, which is more ballet than this year because it includes a jazz class as well.  Madison is wanting to try that out too, so here we go with a more time-consuming schedule for fourth grade.  She knows she'll have to balance homework and piano and ballet, but she wants to do this.  The good news is that the one class is no longer on Wednesday, which was a hassle for us this year.  It's now on Thursday, which works out better for us with transportation issues.

Ah, here's the traditional photo in front of the fountain at Brenau.  The girls were ready for various poses, this one completely their idea.  As you can see, the weather outside was just wonderful, almost crisp like a fall day.  It's been cooler outside lately, down in the forties at night time in fact.  This will be cold for Nana and Ba-Ba when they arrive from Florida, quite a shock.

Daddy took this photo from the balcony as the girls were rehearsing.  It showcases how nice this stage is.  It's smaller, but visually it's a wonderful experience.

The girls had a great time this season, and Madison has made a lot of friends, both in her immediate class and outside.  I imagine this will only grow, and that brings us joy.  She's doing so well.

And again, so full of grace on stage!  She's growing up before our eyes, and in many ways that's quite alarming, because you just want to hit the 'snooze' button and tell time to completely stop for a bit so we can soak in the moment.  Already this weekend we were - the three of us - looking back on all the ballet performances of the past, from the pre-ballet days at the Gainesville Aquatic Center to the ballet classes across town and now here for the past three years or so.  Madison enjoyed seeing her tiny self in all the various costumes, while Mommy and Daddy were sniffling a bit inside, remembering how small and sweet she was once upon a time.  Of course, she's sweet now!  We just miss that little girl sometime too!

So the rehearsal seemed to go well, and we have no doubt that Madison will be filled with confidence tomorrow evening when it is time to perform.

After the rehearsal this morning, we dropped by Lakeshore Mall for one specific reason:

Yeah, there was this guy who reproduced a Jurassic Park jeep there.  It even had a Barbasol can inside with DNA samples from various dinosaurs, along with night vision goggles and a hard hat.  Madison was still in her tutu, so she posed only as she could in front of the Jurassic vehicle.  It just so happened that right nearby was a gymnastics class where we met some of our friends for an exhibition.  So why not sit back and watch?  That we did, tucking away a few ideas for our upcoming Olympic series in a few months.

This afternoon, Daddy did have to go to work, but it wasn't for that long.  Nana and Ba-Ba arrived safely from Florida, although Na-Na was a little under the weather from a recent experience with vertigo.  No fun there.  She and Daddy were still recovering tonight, still medicated and woozy a bit.  Daddy has a few more days to go, in fact, until complete recovery.  This pneumonia thing is a pain.

But we sat and talked together for some time, catching up on stories from Florida and stories from here. Of course, the two of them are getting ready for a move from the usual location in Florida to a beach front property.  It's an exciting time for the family, and we'll no doubt be taking a look at this property first-hand in a few months or so.  Back to the beach we go.

But for now, it's time for an early night's rest.  We have a huge day tomorrow, and we all need to get a good night's rest.  G'night!