Five-Fold Ministry

We were continuing our discussion in church tonight about the Bible, and the power of scriptures to help us when we need them most.  The tie-in was fun:  Origami Yoda.  Daddy was talking about the book, how everyone sought Origami Yoda for guidance.  Can you see the parallel now?  Anyway, we handed out this sheet of paper above, which I made using some found images on the internet (thank you to whoever did these).  We provided the kids with the green paper you see above, and before you know it, some forty-five or so third graders were making forty-five Origami Yodas.  This above is the simplest form of an Origami Yoda, what is known as the "Five Fold Origami Yoda."  In just five folds, you can have yourself a Yoda!  Of course, there are more complicated ones out there, and Madison has a few of those as well.  But for a season, this one above was found all over the place in our house.  Madison made them time and again!

We got our enrichment schedule now, which is the class that takes place after school on Wednesdays.  It starts in about two weeks, and since we no longer have ballet on Wednesdays, Madison can now fill her time on Wednesdays too.  She wants to take the art class, but the "Kids in the Kitchen" class is a good back-up as well.  It's just something little, but she really enjoyed it last time she signed up.

Daddy got to talk to her for a little bit after school today.  She was doing piano practice, along with some of her homework as well.  She got home early today because it was an early-release day.  We don't know entirely why they choose Wednesday for early release, as opposed to Friday.  But it was appreciated nonetheless by Madison.

We got to see some of her tests, and she's doing well.  Simple little mistakes here or there, but both tests are A's, and that's of course something to be happy about.  Madison kicks herself for the errors, but we've been encouraging her, letting her know how proud we are of her.

So it was a good day, and the last one for the month of August, I might add.  Tomorrow begins an official new season.  No, not fall.  We're talking about Pumpkin Spice Season.  Yes, starting tomorrow, we'll see it everywhere.  Everywhere...!

Fish Tacos

It was Taco Tuesday once more, which is pretty much a given for any Tuesday nowadays.  If it's Tuesday, there must be tacos.  This is something that Madison requires, and so yesterday when we went grocery shopping, we found all the ingredients to do some tacos.  But Mommy did something a little different for Daddy this time around, putting together ingredients for fish tacos.  

So who came up with the idea of a fish taco?  The idea is apparently is older than any of us.  According to one source I just read, "It probably goes back thousands of years to when indigenous North American peoples first wrapped the plentiful offshore catch into stone-ground-corn tortillas."

In the late 50's, it started to be a tourist dish, and in the early 80's, it grew in popularity in the western side of this country.  Now, of course, it's one of those items you order to be different.  Sure, it's healthier, and to Daddy, it probably tastes better.  But fundamentally, there's just something weird about putting fish in a tortilla.  Chicken and beef are okay, but fish?

Regardless, it was enjoyable - and different.  And those probably aren't the last fish tacos to be eaten in this household.  Daddy likes fish.  And tacos.  So there you go.

Today we had piano class again, and things are starting to get intense.  Seriously, the music sheet Daddy was looking at today was very intimidating.  Still, Madison plowed through and did really well with the odd chords and pacing.  She knows the chord names very well, all the bass clef notes and chords and so forth - she knows more than Daddy, clearly.  It's just 'sticking' a little better with her at this point.  And that's just fine!

We did our homework in the homework-mobile on the way to and from piano, and on top of that there was a visit by the church, where we met the new Free Chapel college students, who are people we largely already know.  Mary Shannon and Camille were there, helping Daddy with a script for the upcoming weekend, the next part of the Star Wars series.

Unrelated, but Daddy is still suffering from some tummy trouble.  It's been about three weeks now, and is pretty odd.  Something's going on down there, and there might be a return trip to the doctor.  Hate to be paranoid, but after what happened with Mommy, the best policy is to be ahead of the curve when it comes to health issues.

Tonight, we finished "James and the Giant Peach," which we just loved.  Seriously, we're now addicted to the writings of Roald Dahl.  Mommy found another book by him that we'll be reading soon enough, right after we take a break and revisit the next adventure of the Never Girls.  Tonight after tacos and math homework, we had enough time to play some games.  That's about all the time we had - otherwise, we'd be down at the pool.  Maybe we'll hit the pool this weekend, I don't know.  Did you realize that this weekend is Labor Day already?  Me neither!

Anyway, speaking of fish tacos, we played a bit of "Finding Dory" for Disney Infinity.  It's been fun, with the two of us exploring the aquarium a bit.  We're just getting started on it, but it's been fun.  Afterwards, it was bedtime, reading time, and prayers.  Mommy and Daddy revisited "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." again tonight, going back to the planet Maveth, which is easily the worst ficticious planet in history.  The one thing that could make it better?  Fish tacos.

So that was our day, pretty much.  Busy days, these Tuesdays.  But it's good to see Madison doing so much, and doing it well.  She's happy and healthy, and quite brilliant.  And hilarious too!  

'Awkward'

Spelling tests seem easy this year.  Or, at least they seem easier than last year so far.  Perhaps we're just starting the year out at a simpler level.  The most complicated words this week are "awkward" and "squawk," which got Madison thinking a bit, but she can handle them without any problem now.  The other words like "lawn" and "gown" are pretty easy for her.  As long as she takes her time on the test, this should be a breeze.

We got a new member of the family today:  a new vacuum cleaner.  We saved over $100 with it, a shark.  What a name for threatening name for a vacuum cleaner!  You immediately start doing that "Jaws' theme as you picture it gliding across the floor, looking for prey.  Beware the carpet sharks!  This one looks pretty nice, with all the bells and whistles.  It has headlights, which is a novel concept for me.  Yes, there have been lights on vacuum cleaners for some time now, but this one here seems to be just a few small steps away from becoming a vehicle for us to ride around the house upon.

Madison had her enormous day today with ballet and jazz practice immediately following school.  It was a tremendous and tiring day, no doubt.  She did her homework in the Homework Mobile on the way there, including writing sentences for words like 'awkward' and 'aloud.'  We worked on a bit of that together in the car, making crazy sentences in some cases.  A new weekly tradition is born!

For her reading assignment, Daddy thought it would be okay if she read this new Princess Leia comic book series we got at the library the other day.  Madison reads enough that I don't worry about taking a break to read some comics from time to time.  Add to this the reading from "James and the Giant Peach," along with our devotional... there is a lot of literature in her head all week long.

Daddy's been reading a few John Grisham books lately, along with a few of Garrison Keillor's.  We found a few of the former author's at the local library's store, a place where you donate books that they can turn around and sell.  Daddy got a few that I've been reading lately.  It helps you go to sleep at night!

Speaking of which... g'night!

Mara Jade

So Mara Jade was in action a bit today, although it was ultimately proven to be just a training scene.  We wanted a bit of tension, as you don't know where her allegiance is - or at least the audience didn't.  Today, she was involved in a bit of combat with Camille, who is playing a Senator from Naboo.

It turns out that this is just a training session.  Still, we had some exciting music from Episode I playing, and the lighting, as you can see, set the scene rather nicely.  We're having such a great time with this series, with each of the characters so far.  Mara Jade was somewhat of an unknown character, although some of us super fans knew exactly who she was.  This unknown quality made her more interesting, and given the fact that she is not canon yet, it gave us an opportunity to do something fun with the idea of a character who has reformed to do good, and yet still has retained some of the darker habits of her past.

This lends itself nicely to a few messages, of course.  Although we have other characters that will be great to do a few things with.  Anyway, it was another simply amazing service.  We have such talented volunteers, and God's grace over this series has been wonderful.  We had a trivia game this morning, and despite the challenge of the questions, the kids got most of them right - which goes to show you that they're all really into this series!

The message about a "sword of light" carried the morning, about God's Word being sharper than a two-edged sword, and a light unto our path and feet.  It was a great day, and of course those kids all had their own lightsabers by morning's end.  They wrote scriptures on one side as they rolled up the lightsabers and whacked each other all the way home!

Or... at least that's what Madison did to Daddy.  It was a good day though, for real.  We got home, and Daddy stayed home, struggling a bit with his tummy.  Mommy took a bit of a nap, while Madison attended to her virtual crops.  Yeah, she's doing Harvest Moon 64 still.  This game is easily one of the most addicting substances known to humanity.  Fortunately, it has an end, where the disgruntled uncle comes and criticizes your noble efforts.  But until that point, you just have to ride it out, farming each day, and interacting with the townspeople.  That's what Madison did a little of today.

She also did her piano, of course.  She finished for the week with her piano homework, which seems to be a bit quicker to start out with this season.  Nevertheless, she's on top of it, and as a reward, she got to pick yet another Vinylmation figure.  She likes these guys and gals a lot.  Just sayin'.

Tonight, we got some popcorn out and watched the movie "Underdogs," which was in itself a bit of an underdog movie.  That is to say, it wasn't well received here.  This may be because of the female voice actress that starred in it, the one that had just licked a doughnut in a doughnut shop - and then put the doughnut back on the shelf.  Way to sabotage your own movie, princess!

But I digress.  The staff that worked on this did a great job.  There were some parts that we laughed out loud at, although it had a slow start.  By movie's end, we were all glad we chose this one.  

Soon after, as you might suspect, it was time for the devotional, "James and the Giant Peach," and night time prayers.  We got to bed early tonight, because as always, Monday is a big day.  It'll be a great one too - just a long, long one!

Womp Rats

It was for an activity on stage tomorrow, one we ultimately postponed for later, but Daddy had Madison draw some womp rats that kids would throw something at, maybe wads of paper or wiffle balls, I don't know.  It would be a target game, or will be - we'll still use the idea eventually.  The point is, Madison drew this womp rat picture free hand, after seeing it online.  She was helpful today at the office as we were working towards getting things set up for tomorrow.  It'll be another great day for the Star Wars series, one with a lightsaber fight and dancing Jawas.

This morning, we said goodbye for now to our grandparents Nana and Ba-Ba, who made a safe journey back home.  They took the alternate route as well, the same one we've tried last time around.  We're sold on it.  It may be physically slightly longer, but it evens out when you consider the rising amount of traffic in the Atlanta area.  Nana and Ba-Ba called early this evening to let us know they arrived safely and without incident, and we were very much relieved.  You can't take anything for granted, of course, and we're grateful for God's grace over us currently.

This morning, Daddy and Madison also went to complete the last of the Lowe's Avengers set.  This included pieces that interlocked together to make a fairly large collection of wooden Avengers.

Our local Lowe's doesn't quite have it all together when it comes to the kids program.  This morning was easily the example of this to date, as we waited about 25 minutes for someone to find the supplies, and get things set up.  But this is all something that's completely free, so we weren't complaining too much.  The end result looks great, and Madison has grown in skills with her hammer and nails.

To think how long ago this project started, back in early June.  This seems like such a long time ago, and here we are at the verge of the end of August.  Crazy!

We read more from "James and the Giant Peach" today, and we all just love Roald Dahl.  It's such an enjoyable book, just like the others have been.  This isn't the last one we'll be reading by him.  Daddy's just wishing that Gaffney Peachoid had seagulls all around it, as if holding it up.  Now that would be something!

Dr. Evazan

The other night, Daddy read the entry in our Star Wars devotional for Dr. Cornelius Evazan, who doesn't like you either.  He's an obscure character in the whole scheme of things, for sure.  But for we fanboys who have seen the Star Wars movies more times than you have, Dr. Evazan's lines are permanently stuck in our brains:  "He doesn't like you.  I don't like you either!" 

Anyway, out of nowhere today, Madison pulled her nose up a bit and told me, "He doesn't like you!  I don't like you either!"

I couldn't have been more proud.  Just to prove to you that I'm not bluffing, here's the entry on Dr. Evazan.


"When you sin, the pay you get is death. But God gives you the gift of eternal life. That’s because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done.” Romans 6:23 NIRV 


     “You just watch yourself.  We’re wanted men.  I have the death sentence on twelve systems.”

      In “A New Hope,” Dr. Cornelius Evazan was doing a bit of bragging at the Mos Eisley cantina.  But it didn’t take long for him to discover that he was bragging to the wrong people!

     He wanted everyone to know how dangerous a person he was, and how much of a bad guy he really was.  Of course it wasn’t something to be proud of at all.

     We should know.  We had the death sentence on just one system!  That’s right, each and every one of us has a death sentence here, and it is all because of sin.  Our Bible tells us, “When you sin, the pay you get is death.” 

     And while that sounds pretty harsh, the very next sentence brings us the good news:  “But God gives you the gift of eternal life.  That’s because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done.”

      Jesus endured a death sentence for more than one or even twelve.  He took the punishment that all of us deserved, every single person that ever lived and breathed on this planet.  Of course, the good news is that he rose again, because something small like a death sentence couldn’t keep him down.  And the good news for us is that we can now live with him forever in heaven. 

     So rejoice!  A death mark’s not an easy thing to live with, but because of what Jesus did for us, we don’t have to!

++++++++

Daddy has been holding on to these lightsaber patterns for a year now, ever since our trip to Star Wars Days at Hollywood Studios.  And suddenly they find a use.  We knew we'd be doing a series like this some day, so we added the logo for "Kidpak:  The Spirit Awakens" to the hilt of the lightsaber, and went to Gainesville Whiteprints here to see if they could make a version for us.  They in fact could, and they cut us a pretty good deal - which is why I'm giving the shout-out here.  All of our kids at KidPak are going to have paper lightsabers soon enough, whacking each other over the head, which will no doubt be a delight for the parents.

Still with tummy trouble here.  Something's up, so a return trip to a doctor might be a good idea in the near future.  Until then, there's plenty to do.  Madison got home with some fantastic test scores, excelling in spelling, smart with art, and compliant with science.  Okay, she's been better than compliant with science, but it was the closest thing I could come to with a rhyme.

We got home, and went to school again.  Not really, but it was a return to Monsters University, the game that we just can't seem to get enough of between Madison and Daddy.  We were back to Fear Tech too, armed with paintball guns and toilet paper guns too.

Tonight, we read from "James and the Giant Peach" again, and regretfully, Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge are no longer with us.  That's two dead aunts.  The other dead ants are in the kitchen:  the theme of the week has been an ongoing battle with ants who have been desperately trying to get in to our house from various angles.  We got these little traps that invite the ants in, and then they take food back to their queen, which is in fact not food but poison.  I think you probably know the concept.  Mommy and Daddy sat there before bed, using our mind powers to force push these ants into those traps.  It was like fishing, hoping to get a catch.  By morning, we'll see if it worked.

We spent a lot of time tonight talking with Nana and Ba-Ba.  Sadly, this time tomorrow, they'll be back home again.  It was a short week, and although things were not necessarily better for Nana, they certainly weren't worse.  No news is good news, and we have faith that she'll recover soon enough.  We'll see them again soon in September, and then beyond that for a return visit to a doctor.

But tonight we shared and talked and sat around with our tea.  How everyone loves their tea.  Even Madison loves her tea, with two sugars and some cream, thank you.  She even tries to get the pinky up in the air when drinking from her cup.

We went to bed tonight happy about our day.  Daddy wrote his script for the weekend, and there's going to be another lightsaber battle on stage at KidPak.  Also, some dancing Jawas.  So it's pretty much going to be an awesome sort of day on Sunday.

So goodnight, and have a safe and happy evening.  That is, unless you're an ant.

Madison is Not Impressed

I loved this picture from vacation, so I had to add the "Madison is not impressed part."  We were having a good day today, but there was this one event that was not to be impressed about.

Thanks to Pic Collage, we had a pretty frank conversation tonight about images that are acceptable, and ones that are not.  Apparently, we need to look even further into parental controls, as the 'school settings' aren't quite enough for what we think they should be.

It was a heart-breaking conversation in many ways.  Madison is so innocent, and she did nothing wrong.  And yet Daddy saw an image pop up that was clearly outside of what was appropriate.  Mind you, it wasn't anything that could scar her for life.  But it was wrong enough that Daddy had to take action.

Madison thought she did something wrong, and she knew something was not right in the way that Mommy and Daddy began to talk with her.  She was crying.  We were telling her she didn't do anything wrong.  She's so naive, so innocent, and in a place all of us long to return to.  We want our innocence back.  And in many ways, how great to have children so that you can revisit that innocence all the time.  But in the world creeps, and here we are already talking about certain issues, and preparing to talk about others as well.  Madison is growing up, whether we want her to or not.

The rest of the day was not as controversial, of course.  We had ballet, as is the usual Thursday routine. This went well, and Daddy got time to read a book in the car as he waited - this is the new routine as well.  Daddy had a coupon for a free ice cream at Race Trac, so on the way home, Madison got a new flavor of strawberry lemonade, and just loved it.

We did all kinds of homework in the car.  We did our spelling tests, and we ran through all the vocabulary about the ecosystem as well.  The homework-mobile is off and running.  I think this new plan of doing homework in the car will work out, and give us hopefully a little more free time at home. We can't have an entire day of work, work, work all the time.

Nana went to the doctor today, and the blood clot hasn't shrunk.  It hasn't grown either.  So we're going back to the status quo of the past three months, with better hopes on the return visit.  There's medication involved, but of course the hope is to get off of that.  We'll see how things turn out next visit, but she's doing fine in the mean time.  Daddy went to the doctor too, and hopefully we'll get some of this tummy trouble settled, so to speak.  It's been going on for a bit, and it's been unsettling in more ways than one!

And that was pretty much our day today.  Of course, there was reading and devotional, and evening prayers.  It's back to the school routine for us, although there's a bit of fun with Nana and Ba-Ba here as well.  We're having a great week here, and tomorrow is TGIF!

Asteroid Maze

Here's a little maze I made up based on the asteroid field in "The Empire Strikes Back."  Don't start from the end, because that's cheating!

We had class tonight, with a message titled "7,320 to 1."  Han's response to someone telling him the odds was, "Never tell me the odds."  And that's the way we need to be from time to time, right?  The odds were against David versus Goliath.  The odds were against Gideon and his small army.  The odds were against the three Hebrew boys.  But we know how all that turned out.  This was not an official message, but a Wednesday night one that sort of followed the theme of the series, which is of course "Star Wars."  It worked out, although the kids in class were pretty wound up getting to the classroom.  We'll have to work on 'taming' them a bit as the beginning of the school year continues.  It's a new batch of third graders, and some are pretty wild.

Daddy called Madison and Mommy before things got crazy at church.  Everyone was doing fine at home:  Madison was getting a bath, doing homework, and a bit of piano practice as well.  It's a more quiet night for her on Wednesday nights, and on top of that Nana and Ba-Ba are here.

It was PE today, but they stayed inside, which was probably better for Madison right now, as her allergies are picking up a bit.  It rained really hard this morning, heavy, really dark clouds outside - the kind you see with extreme weather.  But it wasn't extreme weather - it was just really thick with moisture, and dumping gallons upon gallons on us.  

Daddy is not well again, this time with stomach symptoms that are reminiscent of the pancreatitis episode of four years ago.  We'll probably check it out at the doctor's tomorrow, and that's when Nana will be at the doctor's as well, to check-in and make sure everything is fine.  So it's a big day for doctor visits.  Meanwhile, Madison has the usual ballet class later on tomorrow - that and homework.

Daddy got home tonight, and Madison was in bed already.  They said their prayers, and the Lord's prayer too.  We're starting that together as a family, and it's good to do before bed, and in the morning as well.

Tonight, Mommy and Daddy had just enough energy to watch an old episode of "The Twlight Zone," one of our latest binges.  There are some pretty creative episodes within, and even the ones that fall a little flat are still good at setting up a bit of tension, while being just 25 minutes long so you don't have to invest so much.  After 25 minutes, it all resets and there's a completely new story in the next episode. It would be fun to do a similar themed series at KidPak, although maybe not using the name "The Twilight Zone."  That would be a fun October series.  Daddy would love to be Rod Sterling's character, popping in and setting things up... in the Twilight Zone.

Madison, however, doesn't have the greatest memories of the Twilight Zone.  You may remember her riding that right last year, "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror."  She did not like that at all.  But someday she might.  It took Daddy a few years to get the hang of roller coasters and free-falls.  Meanwhile, it took a few years to start really dreading those spinning rides.  No thank you!  The odds against me going on one of those are... well, let's not talk about odds right now, okay?

The Mexican Train Station has Left the Station!

"The Mexican Train has left the station - Toot!  Toot!"  This is what a rather excited Madison said tonight during a great game of dominoes.  Tonight after homework, we returned to the family tradition of playing Mexican Train with the dominoes, something that Madison loves to do very much.

It was a full day for her, and we've gotten a pattern going with the homework.  She's got her Elsa tray in the car, and on the road she's able to do a lot of homework:  math, spelling, and a bit of science as well.  Our destination today was the second class of piano lessons.  It was a little rough around the edges, but Madison did okay.  One area she excelled at was identifying chords in the bass clef area.  Daddy can hardly name notes down there, and she's got that all figured out, pretty much quicker than any other in the class.  As for playing, the entire class is just getting back into the swing of things, although the assignments have been a little more advanced than we've seen in the past.  Madison is staying with it though, and quite adaptive.  Yeah, 'adaptive' is one of her vocabulary words for the week too.

It was Taco Tuesday today, so we did have ourselves a Mexican feast (to go with the Mexican Train).  Daddy's tummy is doing ominous things, and his chest is featuring pains very similar to the ones he had back when he had pancreatitis.  Stay tuned on that.  Right now, the best option is to eat very little and see how things go.

Anyway, it was a fun day for all of us.  We started a new book tonight, and it was so much fun to return to Roald Dahl.  It was "James and the Giant Peach," which starts out with a boy, two wicked aunts, and a large peachoid.  Yes, there's a theme here lately.

We read from our devotional, and said our prayers, and soon everyone was off to their rooms for a good night's rest.  Nana and Ba-Ba enjoyed their time playing with Madison, who was quite animated during the game.  She was very excited, and very talkative throughout!

The weather is cooling down outside, which is so nice at night time.  It is so cool outside that in the morning you don't need an air conditioner anymore.  Ahhh... fall is on the way.  That means cooler weather, and harvest season!  Time to pick apples... and yes, peaches too.  We'll let you know if we see any more ginormous peachoids.

Tangible Jazz

Jazz class starts today, followed by ballet.  So yeah, it was a 'Yuge' day today.  On the way to dancing class, we wound up using one of our new "Frozen" trays to do a lot of homework on, both on the way to Brenau and on the way back:  there was science, there was math, and there were sentences to be written using words like - and I'm not making this up - "tangible."  What 4th grader uses the word "tangible" in a sentence?  When was the last time that you used the word "tangible" in a sentence?  Don't lie!  Obviously, that's our joke word of the day.

Madison really enjoyed jazz class.  Although she said the music was pretty loud.  She does have slightly sensitive ears, we've noticed.  For example, she never ever walks into the garage, or out of the car inside the garage, while the garage door is opening.  This is a cardinal rule in our house.

But beyond the volume issue, the class was enjoyable.  And so was ballet, and so here we are starting another season of dancing.  It will be fun.  Madison thinks the schedule is okay at the moment, despite being quite full.  We got home later, but doing homework in the car helped out a lot, giving her free time when she got home.  Dinner, by the way, was pretty much when she got home from school.  Getting home from dancing, she had a late snack, a bit of pasta before playing some games on the X-box.  For some reason, Madison was really wanting to go back to the Toy Story Mania game, shooting a lot of targets.  That was fun, despite the frequent pies flying towards us.

Nana and Ba-Ba were here today, so that was nice.  Although Madison didn't get to see them until a bit later.  Earlier in the day, Mommy and Daddy did a bit of early Christmas shopping (with a deal over at the Disney Store today!).  We found a few items that Madison will really like, so we'll add those to the mix, along with whatever else Santa gets for her.

We finished the polar bear story tonight, where Elsa and Anna figured out a way to lure the polar bears out of the Arendelle.   They used tranquilizer darts.  Just kidding.  Olaf turned his carrot nose into a musical instrument and created a hypnotic melody that drew the polar bears out of their hiding spots, and off to a floating sheet of ice that the bears got onto in order to float out and northward to the Arctic.  You may be thinking that you cannot make a musical instrument out of a carrot.  Ah, but there you're wrong!  There's a guy in Australia that can do it in five minutes or less.  The big question is this:  will it enchant polar bears in such a way that they will do your bidding?  Let's just play it safe, shall we?  Use the tranquilizer darts if you need to.

We read the devotional afterwards, another bit Daddy wrote about C-3PO, who was always quick to tell you the odds of things not going well.  For example, he would probably tell you the odds of successfully enchanting a polar bear by making music with a carrot that you also use for your nose are 3720 to 1.  To which Anna of course replies, "Never tell me the odds!"

The point of the devotional was not to worry.  Don't worry about polar bears, don't worry about musical carrots, and don't worry about anything.  You may feel frightened about something, but God will show up in a tangible way to save the day.  See what I did there?

Anyway, it was a good day, although a long one.  Now, it's off to bed to continue our binging of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." again in order to get ready for season four.  Tonight's episode has us going back to that planet Maveth, which seems like a nice place to visit…

… no, it's not.

Jawas

Another great morning at KidPak - Madison was a Jawa on stage, which involved a bit of method acting.  This week, she was out scavenging for parts in the wastelands of Hall County, looking for mechanical bits amongst piles of wreckage.  Okay, not really.  Her real practice was spending the day Saturday yelling out at random intervals, "Utini!"

Episode II of our ongoing Star Wars themed drama went well, with the audience loving our story with Stacey, Mara Jade, and more characters.  While on Tatooine, Stacey just had to take a selfie:

She's that sort of character.  But today we introduced another character, one a bit more menacing.  He's a bounty hunter, and he's out for his 35,000 credits.  Which, yes, is the same amount Chewbacca was worth in "Return of the Jedi."

Today's bottom line is all about "the Force of God."  In the book of Joshua and the book of Judges, there is a guy named Othniel, and his name literally means "The Force of God."  He battled against giants, this force of God.  Obviously, we had to preach about Yoda today, how 'size matters not,' and how 'greater is He that is in you.'

The whole service once again had a Star Wars theme, including the game we had at the beginning, where teams were looking through a trash bag each, each filled with wads of paper and five little pictures of Yoda.  It was a frantic search to be the first team to find five pictures, and yes, it was a mess on the stage.  The game was called, "The Great Trash Compactor Dive," something Daddy made a logo for using imagery from that scene in the first Star Wars movie.

Here's a screen shot of one of the videos we filmed, called "Chattin' on the Death Star."  It's a talk show that takes place in a studio on the Death Star, because why not?  And speaking of why not…

It turns out when Han and Lando said, "It's not my fault," that they were telling the truth!  It turns out someone unplugged the Millennium Falcon in order to plug in… her curling iron...

ANYWAY, it was a great morning from start to finish.  We worked hard on the theme to make it just right, and it turned out just right.  Next weekend, we'll be talking about lightsabers - which should be fun...!

We got home, and after eating lunch, Madison was over to the piano to finish off her practice for the week.  This took a bit of time, and afterwards, she was rewarded with a Vinylmation figure.  She reached her hand into a pillow case to grab one random figure, and she pulled out one modeled after Buford, from "Phineas and Ferb."  She still loved it!

We did a lot of Disney Infinity this afternoon, using Yoda of course.  Nana and Ba-Ba arrived early evening, and they had a great drive up.  It seemed a little longer to them, as they tried the Athens route.  But there was no traffic at all.  Which is why Daddy likes that route a whole lot better!

So there was a lot of catching up tonight, sitting around the table and sharing stories, pictures, and even a few videos.  It'll be nice to have everyone here this week.  Tonight the Olympics in Rio conclude, and as we hoped, it all worked out just fine.  For the USA, it was better than fine.  Sure, there were a few disappointments here or there, but there were an equal or greater amount of surprises for us, and a few legends were born as well.  It's been great watching the events along the way, and I'm sure we'll be watching more even after tonight has passed.  NBC's coverage has been astoundingly awful, but we'll get around to seeing everything eventually.  That used to be a good station, too.

Anyway, it's off to sleep tonight.  We read from the devotional, and read some more from the latest Elsa and Anna book, which features a polar bear problem.  We'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what they plan to do about that, although I have a pretty good guess...

Northeast Georgia History Center (NEGAHC)

Today we had some preparation to do for KidPak, but there was fun to be had in town as well.  We noted on the calendar that there was a "Family Day" at the Quinlan Arts Center, as well as the Northeast Georgia History Center, so we decided to go and check out the fun.

We started out with the familiar, the Quinlan Arts Center.  There were plenty of things to do for us here.  As you can see above, there was a potter's wheel demonstration that absolutely fascinated Madison.  We did our own pottery at a separate table, making 'pinch pots' out of a small amount of clay, adding Indian symbols afterwards.  Madison had one of those as we walked over to the weaving section, where she dropped everything to work on a weaving of her own.  After that, we were watching a painting demonstration, and then upstairs on a few scavenger hunts in the art galleries.  Madison walked away with some prizes.  This was pretty cool.  She was given something to be creative with later on, which we'll be using soon, no doubt.

After this, we went some place new, and some place pretty close by.  We were surprised that there was a museum of this caliber so close to us.  This is something we literally pass by each day, on the way to ballet, and yet we've never really knew it was there so much.  This is the Northeast Georgia History Center, or NEGAHC for short.  Yes, I know that NEGAHC isn't short.

But this place was not short on learning and fun.  See what I did there?  Anyway, it isn't a huge place, but there is quite a bit crammed into it about - oddly enough - Northeast Georgia.  You can see above Madison inside an old home, with plenty of antique furniture from the 1800's, some of it replicas and others authentic.

There was a blacksmith shop beside the place, along with a few guys out front dressed in period clothing that gave a demonstration about the job surveyors used to do a few hundred years ago.  Also outside:  an old-fashioned ice cream maker.  Yep, we had some free ice cream too!

Inside, there was a tornado.  This was fascinating to the kids, while parents read all about the terrible tornado that came through here in 1936.  It was a horrifying weekend, probably the worst thing to happen to the South since Sherman came through.  Daddy just toured the courthouse built in 1937, the 'old' one.  The one prior to that was destroyed, along with many, many other buildings in Gainesville.

What was neat about the place were the old appliances and furniture pieces.  Mommy is here explaining a telephone switchboard to Madison, something our ancestors used to do for a living (both Nana Green and Daddy's grandmother did this for a living).  You can see the old typewriters there - who has one of those anymore?  Also, there was an old washing machine as well, which was amusing to look at.  The exhibits about Indians were fascinating, especially given the fact that Madison will be learning more about the Indians this year.  There were old cars, pictures of the old schools.  There were a few old North Georgia College yearbooks, and Daddy was surprised to see one with his picture inside it!  Wait a minute!  I'm not old enough to be called history now!

Anyway, there were plenty of exhibits.  There was a great room dedicated to Mark Trail and Ed Dodd, and a map of the dam that created Lake Lanier.  All kinds of interesting things for the three of us to see.  If we had a bit more time, I could imagine spending longer there.  The old country store inside was interesting, reminding me of JB Hunt's gas station that was just down the road from us.  Or what Betty's Country Store in Helen used to be.

It was good fun, but there was still work to be done over at the church.  So we headed over there, after dropping by for some Chick-Fil-A.  We stayed a bit later, but the job is done, and we're all ready for tomorrow.  It's going to be a great morning at KidPak, and we're looking forward to another thrilling chapter to unfold in "The Spirit Awakens."

See you tomorrow...

Pete's Dragon

Tonight we saw a later showing of the new "Pete's Dragon" movie, which was quiet a change-up from recent movies that have been playing of late.  The reason is all in its pacing, which is to say it was a rather slow-moving movie - but by design.  Movies like "My Neighbor Totoro" come to mind when thinking of this one, a movie with quite a bit of imagination.  This movie is nothing like the "Pete's Dragon" we saw in the 70's.  Daddy actually saw that movie at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, complete with an opening number by the Rockettes.

We enjoyed the movie, although Mommy and Daddy still like the original a bit better.  Not to say this one is anything worse.  We just like Jim Dale, Red Buttons, Shelley Winters and of course Mickey Rooney.  And those songs - lots of fun.  We actually have a record of the soundtrack at home, one we'll no doubt be listening to soon.

School is going in earnest now, the second Friday I think.  Madison had another art class today, a spelling test, and math facts to learn.  She was reading in the library with a few of her friends, and a boy called them "the book club," which is in fact a compliment.  Just like Belle, Madison's head is always in a book.  And Daddy's head was in the computer - or at least looking at one.  We've got "Episode II" of our Star Wars series written, so Sunday's script should be fun to do, along with the bottom line.  Oh, and there was this too:

It's a talk show that takes place on the Death Star.  We were filming this today - if you're paying attention to canon, this takes place shortly before the Death Star explodes.  And, after you watch this, you realize that it wasn't Luke Skywalker's lucky shot that blew up the Death Star.  It was a little accident on the talk show…

Another Season of Ballet

So our car is becoming the Homeworkmobile.  Yes, this is primarily because we're getting most of our homework done in it.  There is a bit of travel time involved during the week, with going to music and going to ballet.  Madison has a little table set up in the back seat of the car so that she can use her time well, riding to and from home while doing math and spelling and science as well.  She's been studying ecosystems (pronounced EEEECKO-SYSTEMS) and things like producers, consumers and fancy terms like that.  We were talking about mimicking and adaptation, and things that creatures do to live, thrive and survive.  All of this, for the most part, done in the back seat of a car on the way to and from places.

Tonight was our first ballet class of the season, a good start to things.  Mommy was doing grocery shopping while Madison was dancing, so Madison wasn't the only one multi-tasking today.  Ballet went well, and she was happy to see all her friends returning for another year of dancing.  Classes were later though, so we got home and didn't have much time to play!

We did have fun though, playing as 4-Lom the bounty hunter, with is partner Wicket on death-defying various missions.  And then off to bed - a lot of stuff squeezed into one tiny afternoon after school.

Daddy and Mommy were doing a bit of cleaning up today, getting ready for visitors coming up soon.  Nana and Ba-Ba are returning from Florida, hopefully for some good medical news.  Certainly things seem to suggest that Nana will have recovered completely.  She's anxious to return to playing tennis.  We got to bed a little later tonight, so no reading before bed:  just our prayers, and quickly turning in to go to sleep for the night.

School pictures are tomorrow, so we want to get our beauty sleep!

Frenchy Fry Land and Jurassic Park

Tonight we had a message about Lando Calrissian.  How many other children's churches can say that? It's just funny the extent that we've taken the Star Wars thing.  But the kids are so much into these Star Wars services. Some kids know far more than we do about characters and movies, reading into the books far more than even Daddy does.  Which is pretty unnerving!

It was a great service tonight, a really good one.  We had the Professor's invention telling us what Star Wars character we might be most like, and then a conversation (with pictures) about animals with lightsabers.  Thank you, internet.  The message was called, "I have a bad feeling about this," which featured a video clip showing all the characters that say that very phrase in the movies.  But the message itself compared the traitor turned hero Lando, and from the Bible, the traitor turned hero Peter. It went pretty well.

Today is Madison's free day.  She has ballet and piano the other days of the week, so this is a good day to get caught up on piano practice sheets and homework.

We've been caught up in unraveling the mystery of a local artist, who has put signs up along some of our roads here.  They've been periodically appearing on telephone poles and other posts around this immediate area.  Searching the internet for the phrase "Frenchy Fry Land," Daddy was able to find the website of a guy who has some great material - he's the one who has been putting these signs up, and he apparently lives nearby.  It's what you think of when you hear "folk art," but the artist himself considers it more like "street folk art."  Regardless of whatever category you put it in, we like his works.  He has some fantastic murals and other works as well.  Anyway, it's neat to see as we pass by the pieces on the way to and from the church.  There are at least two that we know of between here and the church.  And there is one on the way to and from the school.  Sadly, Frenchy Fry Land may be a place only found in our imagination.

Speaking of which, here's a photo of the Jurassic Park vehicle we spotted at the Quinlan Arts Center.  It wasn't at Frenchy Fry Land.  No, it was on its way to Jurassic World.

So we asked if we could come along for the journey.  The driver said yes, why not!  So the three of us hopped in the vehicle, and soon were off to the land of dinosaurs and no worries at all, of course.  I mean, how likely was it that any of these creatures could escape?

Well, it turns out that there was a problem there.  We were pulling up to this swampy area, and Madison had asked what dinosaur was next.  Up until that point, we'd seen the Pterodactyl Aviary, the scary raptor pens, and the vast stomping grounds for the sauropods (that was Daddy's favorite).

Anyway, you'd think they'd have this figured out by now.  As we were pulling up to a large fence, there was a sign that said, "SPINOSAURUS."

And there it was, right out of its holding area.  Our driver screamed in terror, and a few of the other drivers nearby slammed on their brakes, skidding to a stop.  We were right there to see it all.  Forgive me for not grabbing a cell phone to take a picture of it, but at the time we were sort of in a panic.  Madison was like, "Go, go, go, go!"  And the driver didn't need to be told twice - he turned the vehicle around as fast as he could.  We and a few of those other touring jeeps were bolting out of that area as fast as we could.  But the large, plodding footsteps were right behind us, and a few jeeps got kicked aside and turned over by the creature's tremendous limbs.

We didn't escape either.  With a tremendous jolt, the Spinosaurus turned ours jeep over, and sent it rolling.  I was grateful we all had our seatbelts on.  But that was that for the jeep.  I knew that dinosaur was still out there, so I told Madison to stay in the jeep, as quiet as possible.  She looked at me and her expression seemed to say, "Duh?"  Fortunately, there were other jeeps out there still distracting the huge creature, so he lumbered off in pursuit of those as well.  We breathed a sigh of relief.  He was gone.

Those of us who were now stranded, we climbed out of our jeeps a little worse for wear.  The drivers knew the park the best, and decided the best strategy was to move through the park back towards the entrance in between some of the vegetarian dinosaurs.  By this point, the Asset Containment Unit had been notified, and I guess they were on their way to deal with the loose Spinosaurus before any more damage could be done.

We found ourselves wandering through vast open spaces of green pasture, although I would have preferred to stay closer to the wooded areas, hidden there.  But there were plenty of dinosaurs we got to see up close now, including an ankylosaurus and some stegosaurus.  I told Madison not to get too close, because both of them had tails you didn't want to mess with.  She already knew this though, and as always was diligent to tell people to be careful.

And that's when we heard the noise.  It sounded like distant thunder, but Madison and I knew exactly what it was when we heard it.  The ginormous Spinosaurus had doubled back, and was actually not far behind us.  We turned to see it's head clearing the trees, and it saw us as well, all of us.  It towered over the trees.

"Run!" one of the drivers screamed, and rather pointlessly I might add.

Madison had a brilliant idea here, and I wish I thought of it.  She actually grabbed my hand, and led me to the ankylosaurus, and we climbed on before the thing started to run.  Others saw what we were doing, and did the same thing.  I'm not sure how many were able to escape that way, but here we were, clinging on for all it's worth.  There are these armored plates on the back of an ankylosaurus, and all kinds of little horns.  So there were plenty of places to hold on to.  The thing was faster than it looked, a little tank on four legs.

Still, the thundering Spinosaurus was hot on our tail.  Literally, you see.  Because an ankylosaurus has a tail.  And there's something pretty awesome about that tail, as we were about to find out.  We reached the edge of the pasture, and there was no more room for the dinosaur to go to, as this area was actually fenced in to protect the tourists.  It was a large fence, tall and solid.  There was no way for us to go through it or over it - at least not quickly.  We scrambled off the top of our dinosaur, and made our way to the fence, but we were trapped.  Madison was worried about the ankylosaurus, and so was I.  We turned to see the Spinosaurus slow his approach.  We were all cornered, and I was pretty frightened, I have to admit.  The ankylosaurus faced the giant dinosaur.  Things were about to get ugly.  There was nowhere for us to go.

With a mighty lunge, the Spinosaurus lurched downward to attack the smaller ankylosaurus, but then something amazing happened.  The ankylosaurus pivoted, and swung that tail of his around.  What I haven't mentioned yet is at the end of the tail of an ankylosaurus is something like an oversized cannonball, a weighty piece of bone that he swings just like a wrecking ball.  And all that armored plating on top of his back was making it impossible for the Spinosaurus to take a bite.  There was a bit of a face-off here.  The Spinosaurus was eyeing us, his tasty prize.  But as he did so, one solid strike came, where the ankylosaurus' tail made a solid impact on the Spinosaurus' leg.  And that was it for the Spinosaurus. He toppled backwards and down, and then staggered to his feet with a tremendous roar.  He was hurting, and as the ankylosaurus took a threatening step forward, he realized this was a battle that probably wasn't worth it.

And again, he couldn't get to us, because that amazing ankylosaurus was in the way.  So he backed up, and let out a deafening roar of frustration.  And then he marched off somewhere else, presumably to terrify even more tourists.

The ankylosaurus turned to face us once more, and it was as if we communicated something.  Madison called out, "Thank you!" and the rest of us, as silly as it sounded, all started calling out the same thing to this incredibly dinosaur.  It had saved our lives!  We couldn't help ourselves.

And now that we weren't in such a panic, we were able to find a door in the fencing, not too far off from where we were cornered.  We were safe for now, and the drivers of the vehicles that were with us had been making calls to the park officials.  Apparently the ACU was now in the same pasture we had been in, and they were confronting the Spinosaurus with plenty of tranquilizing darts.  They were going to put it to sleep, and drag it back to the swampy area where it came from.

We heard its roar again, this time much more distant.  But it still gave us all the creeps.  It was time to leave, and we were extremely happy to see a few more of those Jurassic Park jeeps show up, this time to pick us up, and give us a ride to the exit.

About Jurassic Park, all I can say is this.  They say to bring sunscreen and water, and some extra cash for souvenirs.  But you should also add this:  get in shape, and do some exercise before going.  You should always be prepared to run for your life!

Yes, this was a story told before school one morning, while waiting in the car to get dropped off.  Yes, it takes that long in the drop-off line.  But the story was fun, and here it is just for posterity!  I imagine the next story might be even more adventurous... about the time all of us went to a place of mystery and thrills, a place called... Frenchy Fry Land!

Start of the Piano Graduation Class

Piano classes started once again today, and this class had a really sentimental feel to it.  Here we were in our graduation class, the fifth year of piano for these kids.  These seven kids have been here since the beginning, with Madison being the only girl left in this particular class.  She still enjoys it, nonetheless.  Afterwards, she was surprised at how fast the time went by!  We did a few exercises, and played some Schubert as well, and let our fingers get used to marching up and down the keyboard once again.  It was a long summer, and some of us were a little rusty!

It was Taco Tuesday again, so we had a Mexican Feast upon arriving home - although Daddy wasn't terribly hungry from the huge lunch he had at church.  It was a staff meeting with all kinds of games, and one version of Pictionary where Daddy was the drawer, and his team got the answer in less than five seconds.  No joke.  Here's a pic of the meeting today, as Pastor Franklin addresses us about the upcoming year - new campuses and all kinds of events to look forward to:

Madison's homework went faster today - we've got spelling words and math so far.  The words feature prefixes like 'dis' and 'non.'  The words 'dismay' and  'disable' were among the several vocabulary words of the week.  And lo, a few of them showed up in our nighttime reading tonight, which was fun.  Madison was listening to the latest Anna and Elsa story, and called them out as she heard them.

During the space between homework and bedtime, we had a few different options, but Madison wanted to do the LEGO Star Wars game.  So it was there that we went, right to Tatooine (where we were on stage Sunday).  Each day, it seems we're doing something Star Wars.  You'd think we'd be sick of it in a few weeks… but we probably won't be!

Nika at Saul's

After school, we had to head out to get Madison some jazz shoes.  These will go nicely with her jazz hands.  Anyway, we went to the only place that we knew might have this item, a store on the Gainesville Square called Saul's.  And that's where we met Nika, above.  This was your average clothing/shoe store (or, at least to a guy like Daddy it was average!).  But what made it above average was this dog, this wonderfully happy dog that wasn't ashamed to jump on you and lick you to death.  Did we know anyone there at Saul's?  No.  Did they know us?  No again.  It was just one of those spontaneous things that left a great impression on us.  I'm not sure if that's something other customers would be thrilled about, but we certainly didn't mind.  Nika was friendlier than many customer service representatives we've experienced in the past!

She couldn't get the jazz shoes on though.  We left that to her owner.

Anyway, we did get said shoes.  And we stopped by to visit with Nana Cypher for a bit, post surgery.  She's doing well, and should recover in roughly two weeks, just in time to go out and do some fun stuff.  Until then, it's time to hang out at the house and rest and recover.  Which is what she's doing right now.  We were looking at all her coins, Madison and Daddy hunched over with Nana, each peering down at all the different quarters from various states and parks.  She kept that collection going, and is still collecting, including a few Presidential dollar coins.  Hard to believe, but there is a coin with James K. Polk on it, our eleventh President, Young Hickory, Napoleon of the Stump!

Madison had so much homework tonight that it took her nearly until 7:30.  We let her stay up and play some Disney Infinity after that - we did some of the Star Wars levels as part of our theme that just started.  Yes, it's all about Star Wars here.  Even her new devotional is Star Wars themed.  Daddy's new devotional looks great, and it reads well too.  Madison is learning Biblican lessons from Yoda, Han Solo, Jar Jar Binks, Lobot, and even Willrow Hood.  It's fun.  And after that, we just started reading from an "Anna and Elsa" book, which Madison is anxious to hear.  We started those some time ago, and it's great to see they have another couple of books out.  Two more, in fact.  The next one involves a secret admirer, which got Madison all wondering.  We may have to get that one next from the library.  But soon after that, it'll be back to Roald Dahl:  Mommy wants to hear "James and the Giant Peach."  And after seeing the Peachoid recently, I kind of do too!

Other events of the day:  Madison and Daddy saw the most ginormous colorful sunrise imaginable this morning.  It was so huge, filling the sky with explosions of colorful clouds.  It just reminded you of the scale of things, how small we all are here.  This was on the way to school.  By the way, the drop-off process is getting better.  They've made some adjustments at the school, and things seem to be working out better.

We had some rain here or there, and there is a renewed battle with ants, who have found a new entrance through a crack in the window pane.  We'll be battling them this week, and we will win this fight!  To quote Churchill, "We shall defend our kitchen, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the windows, we shall fight on the counters, we shall fight in the sink and on the stovetop, we shall fight in the kitchen cabinets; we shall never surrender."

I think that's what he said anyway.  So tonight, we've continued our reading, Mommy and Daddy.  It's a creepy little book to be sure, one we think might be too much for Madison right now.  We'll go see that one by ourselves when the movie comes out next month.  We watched some Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. too - that new season four is coming out soon, along with a new Ghost Rider.  That should be interesting.  But starting at 10:00 pm?  Yikes.  Only complaining because we have to get up pretty early!  Speaking of which, it's time for bed for Mommy and Daddy.  Sweet dreams to all, and none filled with wights and hollowgasts.

The Spirit Awakens

So today was the big day, the start of our new Star Wars themed series that has a new actor, one you see above.  She wasn't quite Rey, but she was certainly dressed as Rey.  She and a a few others were sort of background people, making the set we had look like a part of a space port on Tatooine.

Here's the cast so far.  Mommy did such an incredible job with some of these costumes.  Obviously, some were ordered online, but others were not.  Mommy put together costumes for a character themed like Finn, and there's a Mara Jade character as well.  We have another Senator from Naboo, so we went with a more regal look with that character.  One of our favorite characters is Mary Shannon in the middle, who is Stacey, a legendary pilot character from a few online fan movies that go back over ten years now.  We thought we'd throw her into the mix to add some humor, along with a Stormtrooper character that gets kicked out, but not because he's morally above it all.  He got kicked out because he's not that good at anything.

Here's Madison with Mrs. Christine, a local karate instructor who has been so great for us at KidPak lately. This morning, she and her husband did a lightsaber routine that kicked the whole service off.  Set to the music of "Duel of Fates," it was just perfect.

Here they are right now.  We had countdown videos and all kinds of Star Wars stuff going on the screens in between, plus the incredible set that Jason and a few others worked so hard on.  Here's just a sampling of it, a part of the set modeled after Watto's shop a tiny bit.  Madison and a Jawa are there, doing a bit of business.  I think Madison wants to buy that astromech.

One of the favorite costumes that Daddy and Mommy ordered was this pricy wookie costume.  We have been sparse with our costuming budget all year leading up to this one, so we felt we could go for it with this guy here below:

It looks way better than the standard wookie costume, which is essentially a big foot costume from the late 60's, complete with that weird rubber mask.  This one really is a walking carpet!  We named the wookie Jikkata, which means "young scoundrel" or something like that in the wookie language.  Because it's Robbie inside.

Here's one of Daddy's favorite costumes - a Jawa.  This one looks so great with the glowing eyes.  And you can see in the background there a remnant of the previous Star Wars series now over ten years ago:  Ye-Ye built that R2-D2 with sytrofoam, a cooler, and a colander on top.  A lot of legitimate electrical junk from the warehouse is sitting all about - it works for the overall look of the workshop.

On Stage Right is a GX-8 water vaporator, which you can see all over the planet Tatooine.  We're just pretty proud of the set right now - it's like walking into a set for the movie, or at an amusement park at least.

We have a lot of photos from the day, including this one here of the girls.  Mara Jade is over there on the right, and next to her is Stacey, and of course Madison there.  Camille is dressed as a Senator from Naboo, although not Amidala, of course.  Mommy put that costume together entirely from Goodwill this past week, and it turned out fantastic.  And of course, there's Christine there at the left in a Jedi robe, which we literally got in the mail yesterday.

Here's another shot of the junk shop with all kinds of parts inside.  Madison seems to be driving a hard bargain with that Jawa.  She remembers the Jawas at Hollywood Studios, how they'd try to scavenge silverware off your table at lunch.  They were lots of fun.

Ah, and one more picture of Bart and Christine dueling - this time in the light.  This is just them posing for a photo for publicity sake, as their actual performance was done in really low lighting, glowing sabers, and lots of intense music.  They're both black belts and beyond, so as you would expect, this combat section was really well choreographed!

One last picture of Madison.  This is out in the lobby of the church, on that new carpet we just had put in.  Apparently, that new carpet that we've had for about a month now… is no good.  Something isn't right with it, so we're replacing it soon.  So take your last look at it!

Madison is smiling because she had a good day here.  But so did the other kids too - they were very much excited about this series.  That's why there was so much pressure to do it right.  Daddy had devotionals and sermon booklets to hand out, and we had Parenting Matters, and characters in the lobby to pose with, and a great set, great music, and a message straight from the planet Naboo.  Oh, and a video we made using fruit dressed up as Star Wars characters!

Daddy is the peach.  The messages will change from week to week, covering the seven movies so far.  And both television series.  And the Ewok specials, and maybe even the Christmas special about Life Day too!

We got home pretty exhausted, of course.  But we were happy with the day, which is important.  It was a lot of work, a new hope, so to speak.

We watched, "The Phantom Menace" after Madison's bath this afternoon, and we had some game time before all that with Disney Infinity (with a Star Wars level, of course, shooting womp rats).  So it was a Star Wars day through and through.  Lots of fun for Madison, all leading up to yes, the Star Wars devotional.  This will be a fun, fun series at KidPak!

Do You Feel It?

"There has been an awakening?  Can you feel it?"

We spent the entire day prepping for this new series, from set design to print-outs to costuming and scripting and music.  We're using all the John Williams music, and we've got a few great costumes - including this wookie one that you'll get to see tomorrow.  The script is done, and we're all rather tired now, ready for rest, hoping and praying all goes well tomorrow.

Madison was helping left and right today, putting books in chairs and moving chairs in classrooms as well.  She was helping with costumes, and helping with the display case - oh, the display case!

Mommy made a decent one with sand at the bottom, with a big image of Jakku in the background.  Yes, those are Tatooine toys in the sand as well, the bantha, the sandpeople, and the landspeeder.  We were looking for something roughly that size to go in the foreground, and Daddy didn't have anything in the house from Jakku right now.  Only nitpick folks like me would notice anyway!

The figures at the top are new, and work well with that star field in the background.  It sort of reminds you of the initial display that the Star Wars figures had when they first started coming out in the 70's.  Yes, Daddy has that old Kenner display that was used to show off the first twelve plastic action figures.    We also have the original twelve figures too, and probably a few different copies of each.

It was a loooooong day.  We're setting up for a new series tomorrow, and we want it to be the best it can be.  Hopefully it will be just that.

Parenting Matters

So each and every week, Daddy creates a two-sided sheet of paper to hand out to parents at KidPak, this amongst the other things:  devotionals, sermon booklets, skits, keynotes, videos, and more.  This Parenting Matters kicks off the new series, and here's a sneak peek above.  It's pretty fun with the Star Wars theme.

This is what the family has been working on, this new series.  Daddy picked up Madison and Mommy, and the three of us went shopping for costumes and props.  It went well, although there is still plenty more to do tomorrow.  A lot more.  And lately, that's all we're about here - it's almost like a Summer Xtreme atmosphere here, where there is a lot of work being done towards a series we hope is something incredible for the children.  This last series related to the Olympics has been great, but the materials were already there, written and videos and animations.  But with this new series, we're starting from scratch.  Lots of work still left to do!

Nana Cypher had a surgery yesterday, but we did have time to visit.  She'll have a neck brace on for a few weeks, but she'll be good to go for our upcoming vacation in several weeks.  Everyone is looking forward to that.  To use on that upcoming vacation - and our series this weekend, Mommy had a special gift for Madison:  a Rey costume.  Madison just loved it.  She wanted to put it on right away, but she'll be wearing it for certain on Sunday.  And looking sharp!

Curriculum Night

Here's Madison with the terrarium that she helped put together.  She collected some twigs and leaves from home, and those joined others, and together they combined to make a little terrarium.  Not sure what else will be going on in this terrarium yet, but here's Madison quite proud of the accomplishment, among others.  She's got a lot of things she's been doing already at school, getting busy a lot more quickly than in previous years.  We'll still have some assessment test upcoming, but right now they're doing plenty of math assignments and science projects and learning in music, art, and reading as well.

Tonight we met her teacher once again, and had what is called "Curriculum Night," where parents go to the classroom to see the teachers, and have plans and procedures explained for the upcoming year.  As a small incentive, a small hot dog dinner is provided in the cafeteria, one where Madison can feel free to add as much ketchup as possible.  We ate in the cafeteria, and then were off to the classroom briefly as well.

We're starting the next Nevergirls book before bedtime, which Madison got into very quickly.  They're fast reads now, but she loves them nonetheless.  There's another book after this in the series, followed by a Christmas-themed one as well.  We'll get to those in due time.  It's nice to have a smaller book for the time being, one that we can finish rather quickly.

We had speech therapy again today in Alpharetta, perhaps the last one with this particular instructor.  As ballet and piano classes begin soon, we have to figure a place to put speech therapy.  This may be a challenge.  There will be speech therapy in school, fortunately.  We'll take this as it comes, and see what we can do, the best we can do.

Daddy has been reading a book to Mommy lately, "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children."  Mommy's family comes from Wales, where this fictitious story takes place.  Actually, Nana Green was in Wales at the time this story takes place, September 3rd, 1940.  Perhaps she was one of these ... peculiar children.  Hmmm.....

Post-it Quilt

This is the project that Madison was working on in class this week, a thing that was rather simple for each kid.  The idea is to get a post-it, a small square of colored paper, and decorate it with some random pattern, or a design.  Madison chose to put a heart on her square, and you can see hers in the above quilt.  This was just part of the quilt, comprised of squares from all the kids in fourth grade.  Neat idea!

Tonight we had our Back-to-School Bash, which went well - except for the fact that Madison can't go to it.  She just has to get up too early each morning.  Really, we have to be out the door by 7:00 am each morning, which means getting up a bit earlier for dressing up, teeth brushing, breakfast, and the four p's:  pictures, prayer, packing, and using the bathroom.  Also part of the daily routine:  hiding from Daddy.  Seriously, every morning she hides still, just as she's done for the past two or more years.  Daddy comes down the stairs, and announces to the room, "Where's Madison?"  And she's hiding somewhere in the main floor of the house... but where?  The search continues until Madison jumps out and says, "Boo!"

We're working on our new series upcoming today, still trying to get that devotional and sermon booklet nailed down so we can have some printed books this weekend.  That was a big part of the morning.  Meanwhile, Madison was putting together her terrarium, something she had to collect twigs and leaves for.  There's science in the classroom now, and we'll get to see the results soon enough when we go to the classroom ourselves for Curriculum night.

There was math homework to do tonight, which Madison went through easily.  Get this, according to the Milestones testing last year, Madison is supposedly ahead of 99 percent of other kids in her grade grouping.  She's also similarly ahead with her grade for social studies, while being well above average with language arts and science.  She's doing well, although our focus will be more about reading and comprehension.

Anyway, it was a full, fun day.  And the Bash went well tonight, something that Daddy had a lot of work to do with.  It was a late night, but a successful one, and that was that - time to go home and get back to work towards the new series.  Getting closer...