Stinky McPootysprinkles

If ever there was a perfect definition of something lurking, it would be Irma.  This hurricane has captured everyone's imagination, only because certain meteorologists have described it as the perfect storm, this super powered beast that could be a category six, even if there are only five categories.  So these sorts of stories get passed around the internet, and then other meteorologists have to urge everyone to calm down, saying, "We don't know what's going to happen yet."  And that's where we are now, not knowing what's going to happen yet.  We know this:  no one wants to see Irma up close. Hopefully she'll migrate northward and out to sea.

Tonight is our big ballet day for Madison.  She was at jazz and ballet class tonight, as Mommy and Daddy were off getting more stuff for the LEGO suit.  Daddy spent hours today, cutting out patterns and materials.  And this was just for the pants.  Yes, this will answer that question, "Honey, where's my pants?"

Madison got a 100 on her math test today, and she probably did it without even thinking.  She is just naturally gifted with math, as it all immediately makes sense to her.  Literature is another matter, although she loves to read.  She has a book she's assigned to read, one called, "The Westing Game."  Daddy has to look that one up.  It won a Newberry Award in 1978, and Daddy and Mommy have never heard of it before.  How is this possible?  Well, regardless, we're going to hear about it now.  It sounds interesting!

That's her required reading.  Not required is the nightly reading we're doing with the "Rise of the Isle of the Lost" and of course her nightly devotional.  We're meeting with Harry Hook in the first book there, and Daddy is reading his lines with an Irish accent.  Or at least a Scottish accent.  Not sure which one it is, really.  Regardless, it's fun reading this book with so many different characters to work with.

Madison had her art class today, something she rather enjoys.  Her art teacher is Teacher of the Year, and just loves Madison, who came home with the enrichment classes schedules.  Enrichment is that after school class students can take on Wednesdays.  Last year, Madison took nothing but art for her enrichment class.  She wants to take art again, so we signed her up for that one right away.  She loves her teacher.

And so ends another good day.  Madison closes her day out with a Rufio-Peter Pan battle of insults to Daddy.  It always starts with a polite, "Goodnight Stinky McPootysprinkles!"  And Daddy says, "Goodnight, Little Mrs. Armpit Breath."  It's all fun!

DC Super Hero Girls

Today was a short day at school, a half day for some reason.  It is probably work-related for the teachers, and the students of course won't complain.  Madison had a few library items to go through, a few of them related to DC Super Hero Girls.  One was a movie Daddy reserved for her, and there'll be another reserved in a bit.  She also has two graphic novels with the characters, so it's somewhat of a theme today.

And here's the other part of the theme:  she put her LEGO creation together, which was something from the DC Super Hero Girls, a Wonder Woman play set.  She put it together all by herself, which is something you'll see in just a little bit.  We've been taking pictures from parents of their kids and LEGO creations this series, and posting them on the screens at KidPak, and on social media as well.  Of course, Madison has her entry now too.  Usually, it is done a lot quicker, but she was waiting on getting something new, which she of course did.

More of Harvey's rain came down upon us today, and despite the threat of fronts racing towards us through Alabama, the rain wasn't violent at all.  Just wet.  And we're good with that, of course.  Harvey is making a tour through the country, traveling north and upwards.  Meanwhile, another hurricane threatens off the coast of Africa.  This one is named Irma, and there is already concern.  Harvey was quite a shock, and everyone is praying Irma veers north into the Atlantic.  We'll see.

We're still working on our LEGO mini figure costume for KidPak.  Clearly, this is going to take a while.  Just cutting out the pattern and the material is going to take a long time.  Today, we were buying all kinds of material to use to make this thing, from foam camping beds to paints and glues.  Tonight's service was a big group service, so no small group, which meant we could spend more time focusing on that costume.  It will be good when we make it, but it will take a bit of time.

Madison spent time with the piano today, and time reading as well.  She's got the graphic novels of the DC Super Hero Girls, which is such a mouthful to say.  But she's also reading other things as well.  Daddy was able to read a little this afternoon, both from the devotional and from the new Descendants book.  Madison is enjoying this one, but Mommy is too.  It's fun reading!

Madison will be Uma a few times coming up - she has the costume, of course.  The first time will actually be just a few weeks from now, on Talk Like a Pirate Day.  We hadn't thought of it, but why not where that pirate costume to Krispy Kreme?  That'll be fun.  Madison likes the character, and of course she's in the book quite a bit.  This book is a prequel to the sequel, which is kind of funny to say.  Basically, it's the "Shadows of the Empire" to "Return of the Jedi."  Which is such a geek thing to say.  In very simple terms, it sets up the sequel.   Okay?

Anyway, we read for a bit, and then Daddy was off to church.  Mommy and Madison had an early night tonight, getting to bed on time, and off to get a good night's rest.  Back to a full day of school tomorrow!

Civil War Test - Nailed It!

Harvey made landfall.  Again.  This is the tropical storm/depression/hurricane that won't go away, although it is in fact going to go away this time, heading northward into the nation's mid-section where it will dissipate and drop much more rain elsewhere.  But the rain it left in Houston and surrounding areas is difficult to fathom.  It's not necessarily the most powerful storm to ever hit.  But it is easily one of the most devastating.

We're feeling a bit of the rain here, although not anywhere as much of course.  The weather has been cooler, and it has been downright pleasant.  Summer is winding down, and the atmosphere is acting accordingly.

Madison nailed her Civil War test today.  We reviewed it in the morning, asking a whole bunch of questions about Sally Thompson, William T. Sherman, and Stonewall Jackson.  Madison knows them all, and all the states, and all the years.  She did really good on her test, and we're pretty proud of her. And before we move on, can we talk about Sherman a moment?

This guy saved the United States - as it is today, at least.  That's because this guy captured Atlanta, and that news helped Lincoln win his second term as President.  And this prevented McClellon from becoming President.  He would have probably acknowledged the Confederacy as an independent nation, according to the Democratic platform at the time.  And Lincoln was determined to hold together the Union.  So when news traveled of Atlanta's fall, Lincoln won the election, and the United States was held together.

So yeah, this guy was a big deal.  And he was pretty hard core.  As in good.  He was used mightily.  We'll be making a trip to Kennesaw Mountain soon enough, taking Madison with us to expand her knowledge of the Civil War.  She'll learn about this guy Sherman too.  By the way, isn't that colorized picture awesome?

We had piano today.  I say "we," although Daddy and Mommy don't go in to the classroom anymore.  It's just the kids in class with Mrs. Pam, and everyone seems to be enjoying it.  No more parental supervision.  There isn't much time to go too far away, as the class is a little under an hour.  So Daddy reads, or in one case made a dash over to Checkers because he hasn't eaten a burger from there in years.  Meanwhile, Madison is in the class, and she has a female classmate now, and that's a breath of fresh air for her.

Mommy was doing grocery shopping while this was going on, and she got Daddy dark chocolate, which is the equivalent of getting someone flowers or even jewelry!

There's never enough time when we get home, but we still went ahead and watched a couple episodes of "The Tick," including the one with Dinosaur Neil.  One by one, we're taking care of "The Tick vs. Season 1," which again is the authoritative Tick series to watch.  Not the current live action version.  Just making that clear.

Did you know who Sally Thompson was?  Neither did we.  The other Civil War era people we knew, but this one was someone we were now just learning about.  She had her own private hospital in Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War.  So is she basically a Confederate Clara Barton?  We'll learn more in a bit - we'll have to ask Madison!

Flower Ballet Bags

Flower ballet bags.  You can see how they are now the official "thing" for this ballet company.  Everyone has to have one, and when we found one a few weeks ago, Madison was thrilled.  Now she's got one, just like some of the other girls.  Today at ballet, the bags were all lined up like a flower garden alongside the hallway.

Madison had her first Monday class of the season, and her new teacher is Mrs. Diane, the founder of the ballet company.  All sorts of imagery comes to mind when it comes to having her as a teacher.  We've seen too many ballet movies to not think of some strict teacher with a riding crop to make sure limbs are in correct position.  But this was in fact not the Russian Black Widow program, and Madison had a really good time in class.  Seriously, Mommy and Daddy were asking with a hint of concern in our voices, "So... how was class?"  And Madison was enthusiastic as ever, saying how much fun it was, and how glad she was to be back.  She didn't mind the push-ups either.  Yes, ballerinas do push-ups.  She does more, she says, in ballet than she does in PE class at school.  Ballerinas have to be in shape!

The special class was science today, which was a study of space, somewhat.  Surprisingly, it was not a study of the eclipse or anything like that.  But school was fun for Madison as it always is.  She and Daddy reviewed the Civil War questions once more, and Madison has it all down.  She's going to ace her test tomorrow.

She's been reading her graphic novels:  Daddy picked up two from the library dedicated to the DC Super Hero Girls, which is a mouthful, even when you use the initials DCSHG.  Nevertheless, she's enjoying the comics very much, which is what Daddy has been looking for:  girl comics that Madison could enjoy with super heroes.  There's a DVD that she'll be watching in a few days, but until then, Daddy was in the mood to watch "The Tick."

No, not the new Tick program that just premiered.  Sadly, that is inexplicably not family friendly, and honestly not that funny either.  Daddy is such a fan that he was watching a few episodes last night and tonight, but has come away underwhelmed.  Disappointed, actually.

To clear the palette, Madison and Daddy watched the Fox cartoon from the 90's, which is still hilarious.  It was funny to Madison, and it's still funny to Mommy and Daddy.  Our little X-Box 360 avatar is now dressed up like the Tick, although not to promote the current television show.  "The Tick" is a great cartoon, lots of fun!

Tonight, we continued reading "Rise of the Isle of the Lost," which explains a few things in the sequel, at least so far.  Madison wanted to hear more, but we were going to bed a bit later.  We prayed for Texas again - that poor area of Houston.  Madison has a China sister there, not a biological one, but someone adopted the same day.  Their house is doing okay so far, but a lot more rain is on the way.  Things are urgent and tense.  We prayed for them tonight, and for protection for our country.  We're living in a perilous time.

Walking on Egg Shells

It was another wonderful morning at KidPak, with a great worship set that got the kids really involved, and of course an awesome video and more.  Here below is a screen capture of the one video we did, where we animated Jamie Lynn and Ole.

You may recall that this alien has a history with us.  This alien LEGO went with us to LEGOland Florida, with the idea that Madison could trade the alien with one of the workers there, hopefully for something that she likes.  Like the pin trading, you can trade LEGO mini figures, so we gave her that one to trade off.  Only... despite all the people and mini figures she ran into, she  never wanted to trade this little green alien off.  So by day's end, she still had the alien with her, the two having had a big adventure at LEGOland.  We asked Madison what the alien's name was, and were expecting an alien name like "Quarg" or "Snarfblat."  But instead, Madison told us her name was Jamie Lynn.  This cracked us up, and that's been Jamie Lynn's name ever since.  She's on the cover of our booklets and our banners (alongside Ole and Lily), and we follow these three on an adventure in the devotional too.  Oh, and our regular races throughout the series are done with these three against each other, driving a jeep, an ice cream truck and an RV.  You never know who's going to win!

The skit was great too, really going well with our bottom line about not having fear.  Today's emphasis was on learning Psalm 23, and not being afraid.  One fun thing we did during the message was this:

Someone was standing on eggs.  Seriously, he was standing up on a dozen eggs with each foot.  The thing was a proper division of weight, which when equally divided up, the eggs could withstand the full weight of our guitarist, Ivan.  It's amazing that this actually works.  Imagine stepping on one egg, and the mess it makes.  Imagine stepping on two or three, and yes, surely they'll break.  But here he was, standing on twelve, and they weren't breaking.

Pretty nifty!  Or, as the Tick would say, "Neat!"  The idea is that sometimes it looks like you'll get crushed by something, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will happen.  We have protection.  Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for He is with us.

We went to the library today, where Madison got a whole lot of new stuff, including graphic novels and a movie of the DC Super Hero Girls.  Her friends have been into these heroes lately, and of course this is the year of Wonder Woman.  And speaking of which, Madison had a $15 gift card to Toys R Us, something given to her for her birthday.  We found a Toys R Us at the Dawsonville Outlet Mall, and Madison got herself a Wonder Woman LEGO set, which combines the best of both worlds. We'll put that together, maybe Wednesday - it's a half day for Madison.  She can watch the movies we got from the library while putting that together.

It was a great day.  Madison and Mommy watched "The Game Plan" with Dr. Johan Gustavo (of Switzerland), and we did some studying, piano playing, and reading.  We finished "The Starry River of the Sky" tonight, as we went to bed early enough.  It was a good book, one that Madison really liked.  We'll be getting the other longer books by Grace Lin, as this one was superb.

But first, we go back to the Isle of the Lost.  For Daddy, it's a bit of research.  But it's also fun:  Mommy and Madison enjoy hearing those books too.  It's a guilty pleasure for us grown-ups too!

Camera Obscura

Our latest science project was pretty interesting:  Madison made a camera obscura!  We had the kit for a while now, and thought this would be a fun thing to try this afternoon.  We built this, and even took a few pictures through it:

We also put projected some images through it, shining a picture up on the bathroom wall.  That was the darkest room in the house.  There are some pieces of transparent paper in the kit too - we're hoping to do some tracing of images next.  We tried to see some in the house, but weren't so successful inside the house because of the lighting.  Perhaps outside, and maybe when the temperature is a bit cooler.  It was pretty hot outside today, but the temperature is supposed to drop down this next week, and maybe feel a little more like fall.

Speaking of the weather, a devastating hurricane is hitting Texas this weekend, bringing record rain - they're saying about fifty inches in some places.  This is awful.  Texas has been on our minds this weekend.

Meanwhile, dry here.  No rain for a while, which was okay of course on Monday.  It could be there's a lot coming to us because of this hurricane.  We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, we were out for a bit today, shopping for the main church service upstairs tomorrow.  Also, we stopped for Blizzards before coming home, which is always a plus.

We did piano today for a bit, and we also studied for the upcoming Civil War test.  Madison knows all the answers pretty well:  11 states in the South, and 19 in the north.  Virginia and West Virginia split in 1863.  Emancipation Proclamation was January 1, 1863.  William T. Sherman led the March to the Sea.  Ulysses S. Grant's first two initials were also known as "unconditional surrender."  The hardest thing is pronouncing "Appomattox."  Seriously, weren't they thinking before they made these arrangements?  Couldn't they just have signed the agreement at a place that was easier for kids to pronounce?  How about the "Jones" Court House, or the "Smith" Court House?

Anyway, tonight we continued our Miyazaki fest with the movie "Castle in the Sky."  Which was awesome, of course.  Madison hasn't seen it yet, although Mommy and Daddy did a while ago.  It was a nice movie night, with popcorn and all the works.

At bedtime, we're still in China, still reading about the Starry River of Sky, about giant toads swallowing the moon.  It's been a fun read - we'll be reading more of this author's longer books.

We said our prayers tonight, certainly for Texas.

Football Jersey Day

It was football jersey day at the school, and plenty of the kids - including Madison - dressed up in their favorite team's gear.  Madison had a shirt from that trip to the sporting goods store just before the Super Bowl, so we had something fun for her to wear today.

She had a great day!  Mrs. Hubbard, her art teacher, got Teacher of the Year, so she had a great day too.  Mrs. Hubbard was talking this morning to Daddy about how great Madison is, and how much fun she is to be with.  Madison did all her after school classes with Mrs. Hubbard last year, and will probably doing a few more this year.

Why was Daddy in the classroom?  The answer has to do with the yearbook - Daddy's back on the yearbooks staff again.  He was on Yearbook Staff in high school, and here we are again full circle.  Daddy was up and down the fourth and fifth grade hallway, snapping pictures of all the kids in their football jerseys.  Then, it was time to upload them to the yearbook site, which looks like a program from 1995.  It's so dated, but that's part of the charm of the thing - it looks like we've traveled back in time, and we're all back on the yearbook staff again.

Speaking of which, some time ago while on yearbook staff, we flew out to Dallas, Texas to tour the building that made yearbooks.  The flight back was a nightmare, one that Daddy still hasn't gotten over yet.  But the trip itself was great, with Belgium waffles on top of skyscrapers, the Hard Rock Cafe, and lots of rainwater flooding the streets.  Hurricane Harvey is coming to Texas - flooding is a real fear for residents there.  They're in our prayers tonight.

It was a busy day for Daddy, getting things ready for KidPak.  And Mommy was doing a lot today too - she got her passport, so she's ready for a future trip to some place far off in the Caribbean.  Madison did her piano practice, and studied somewhat for her upcoming Civil War test.  She was doing Minecraft when Daddy got home, something she's been back into for a time now. Minecraft is still huge.

We watched "Nancy Drew" tonight, having recently finished that one book in the series.  Remarkably, there were some plot parallels, so you could see how the movie took ideas from this particular book.  It was good though - Madison really liked it, as did all of us.

We went to bed a little later tonight, but that's okay:  we all get to sleep in tomorrow!

Return to Form

Back to ballet tonight, and this is the big night too.  Each Thursday night one of the parents will be here at Brenau with Madison, or possibly dropping her off and then doing a bit of grocery shopping, or whatever shopping.  It's a long period of dance, something like two and half hours, including jazz and ballet practice.  Madison had a new teacher tonight, and she'll have a new teacher on Monday as well.  She was happy to be back, happy to see friends, and the teachers seemed nice as well.  It'll be a great year, and lots of fun, but we're approaching some major time and costuming commitments, where as each year approaches, the demand for more time practicing increases.  How does it all play out?  We'll have to see what Madison wants.  Currently, she's doing piano and ballet, and of course all the rigors of fifth grade.  Really, there hasn't been too much on her yet - at least, not compared to last year.  From what we remember, the real homework and studies come after the assessment testing.  Still, she's had a few tests, and next week she has one on the Civil War, and another later in Language Arts.  We'll attack those one at a time, but Madison is pretty bright.

We had a pizza tonight, as that was pretty quick and easy for her.  She went to media today, and picked up some of her own books, including a few educational books.  One was about the Emancipation Proclamation.  First of all, there is only one "o" in "proclamation."  Just had to set the record straight there.  Secondly, it didn't free all the slaves.  It just freed the slaves in the south.  When we were raised, we were taught that the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, period.  But we were told the whole deal:  slavery was still legal in Delaware, and other states at the time.  The Proclamation was just something put upon the South, and not Kentucky or Delaware.  All this learned from a new kids book from the library at the school.  Madison likes the library there, and the one at Hampton Park too.  We'll be getting books from there soon enough, actually!

Daddy spent most of the day working at the office, and Mommy has been working at home.  We're getting a lot of things done with packing, with cleaning up the house, and with getting this series going at KidPak.  We've got lots of plans for the future too.

Tonight, we read some more from our book, and from our devotional.  Madison is enjoying the ongoing adventure in the devotional, which is good to see.  It was a stressful time writing it out under a hard deadline, but the booklet turned out good in the end.

One fun thing that is developing - almost all by itself - is a cast for an upcoming series for KidPak.  Daddy was reluctant to try something like a "Once Upon a Time" series, just based on the fact that we can't really reproduce all the classics like Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora.  We don't have people that look like those, and it isn't exactly something that gets the fifth grade boys excited to come see a service.  If we went with the children of these characters, however, it is entirely possible.  And that's when the idea of "Descendants" came to mind.  We had at least two people that could resemble the cast members of Descendants enough.  And then a third came up.  And suddenly, one of the more difficult ones to cast appeared out of nowhere, joining us for Free Chapel's college.  We had cast a Mal, a Carlos, an Uma, and now a Jay.  But where to find an Evie?  That's when Mommy remembered someone, and we got with Camille and she contacted this girl who visited with us before... and the end result is that we have four actors and actresses that resemble that Descendants cast enough for it to work.  We're doing "The Descendants" on stage, at least in a limited way.  For sure though, we'll have them taking photos with the kids and greeting.

This is the new thing for Madison.  She enjoys listening to the soundtracks to these movies on the way to school or ballet or piano, and the next book we'll be reading is a Descendants book we're getting from the library, "Rise of the Isle of the Lost."  We mentioned this movie to some of the kids at KidPak, and sure enough, they were all into it:  I think this series is going to be big for us.  We'll make up a lot of other characters that can be offspring of other villains and heroes.  And then we won't have to worry about matching up how people look exactly with their movie counterpart.  That'll be the fun part - we already have a guy requesting to be Jafar's brother, and we were thinking one girl would be a fun daughter of Mad Hatter.

We'll see how that all plays out.  In the mean time, we've got two other series to plan for, starting with Sherlock Holmes.  That one is already written in regards to devotional and sermon booklet.  The scripts will have to be new, which means you may be reading here about us watching more mysteries.  Daddy can't wait to watch "The Great Mouse Detective" again.  For some reason, that's a dark horse favorite amongst the staff, and with Mommy and Daddy.  But we'll be watching some other mysteries too.

"Humbug" is the series for December, which is going to be huge for us.  We have to do a lot of shopping for the Victorian English costuming for the two series (yes, I know Scrooge was pre-Victoria).  We'll be out looking for a lot of stuff at thrift shops.  The messages are done, but one thing that is not done is a devotional.  Daddy is considering doing something interesting:  a sequel to "A Christmas Carol."  Actually, it would be more like an epilogue.  We read about Ebenezer going to church, and him going to celebrate with his nephew, and of course we read about his blessing of the Cratchett family, and Tiny Tim.  The last we hear of Ebenezer Scrooge is:  "Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world."

Wouldn't it be fun to explore this a bit?  Ever wonder what he did next?  I know it won't be as supernatural or fantastic as the events of "A Christmas Carol."  But knowing how Ebenezer liked to sneak up a blessing upon Bob Cratchett's family, perhaps he could be doing similar things with other folks.  Anyway, it should be interesting.

After that, of course, is this "Once Upon a Time" series, which will clearly need a new name.  Madison's suggesting is "Descendants of God," but that might be a bit too similar to the cultural thing we're feeding off of.  Just wait until these messages spill out.  One idea has to do with Snow White, a woman at the well.  Remember the woman at the well?  Jesus visited her there - some day my prince will come.  There are some interesting points we were brainstorming with the story of Snow White.  Of course, there's the scripture about being made pure, as white as snow.  The enemy is after your heart.  Not literally, like the Huntsman.  But figuratively, of course.  And what about that kiss of life? Of course, it's not about the kiss, but rather about us all dead - with a death sentence of sin.  But our prince brings us back to life.  Anyway, there are some interesting parallels to follow, and that's just Snow White.  Hopefully we'll find some more with the other stories.  Cinderella's message was great:  "Have courage and be kind."

Anyway, we've been planning a lot lately.  And Madison has been right there in the mix, helping and brainstorming and having fun with the creativity.  It's going to be great moving forward, and she'll probably want to be a part of some of these series.  She likes it on stage.

Eclipse Art

Madison saw this being made by students in Mrs. Clark's class, so she thought she'd try it too.  It actually turned out pretty good, her vision of the eclipse she saw the other day.  We're still talking about it a few days later.  So many astronomical events sort of fall short of the hype that is generated. The comet Hale-Bopp was astounding, and the annular eclipse we saw in the 80's was incredible.  Seeing the aurora borealis was another thing we saw where our jaws dropped and we were filled with wonder.  This was right up there with those.

Today was Wednesday, which was a long day for Daddy, with KidPak's small groups tonight.  It all went well, another group of kids moving up from the 2nd to 3rd grade.  Of course, all the grades moved up at the same time, which was sad in a way because you say goodbye to one group.  But then you say hello to another, which is fun.  Madison moved up to fifth grade, but she won't see small groups that often, given that she has to get up so early for school.

She's starting to get busy again.  She missed ballet Monday night, but a lot of other kids did too.  She'll join everyone on Thursday though.  That'll be the big new day for a new ballet season.  Everyone's excited!

We've been working on a new series for January, one we're pretty excited about.  Madison will like it a lot.  Hopefully we'll nail down our fifth character, but we have the Descendants almost cast.  We have an idea for Evie, but we'll have to wait and see if she's able to do it.  Things are shaping up pretty well - we've got Sherlock Holmes, and then Ebenezer Scrooge, and then after that, we've got this series sort of based on the Descendants concept.  It'll be lots of fun, but the girls will really love it.

Madison and Mommy have been fighting a bit of a cold this week, but they seem to be winning that fight.  Sniffles and hot water bottles, and lots of medication to help sleep.  It's not enough to keep Madison out of school, or enough to keep Mommy from tackling her day, but it is annoying.  They'll be fine soon, although allergies might persist for a while as always this time of year.

Daddy got home late, and Madison was already asleep.  Mommy was not far behind, and Daddy is too...

Rights and Lefts

Madison only missed one of her Bill of Rights questions on the test.  I think it was #7.  If you were to ask me what #7 was right now, I couldn't tell you either.  So I'm going to look it up.

Okay, it's a right to a jury trial.  That would come after the right to party, which of course the Beastie Boys were huge advocates for in the late 80's.  It used to be a right we had to fight for, but now it's just one that everyone takes for granted.

Madison can tell you all of the other amendments are, which is pretty outstanding.  Seriously!  She does a great job with this, and we're very proud of her.  She absorbs this knowledge very quickly, and is fast to share it with us what she learned.  Soon, we'll be heading into the territory of the Civil War, something that Daddy has been anticipating for a year or so.  Seriously, we've been waiting to take her to some of these local Civil War monuments to coordinate with what she's learning, and all of the sudden there are all kinds of protests around these monuments because they've been made into symbols of hate.  How ironic that she's studying the Civil War and freedom of speech right now, as that seems to be the big topic of the week.

For a short time, we were all looking upwards, forgetting to argue and fight.  We were all looking at the sun, and it was all okay.  Unless you weren't wearing protective glasses.  But that's beside the point.  The point is, people are fighting again on social media and in the regular media.

This weekend, there was a protest at the Gainesville Square nearby us.  Protesters were literally paid to sit there and protest.  We know an officer, and this officer showed us how an ad was placed for folks who wanted some extra money.  All they had to do was show up at this place called Gainesville and protest for five hours minimum, for $20 an hour.  Some of these protesters had no idea where Gainesville even was!

Can you feel the passion of some of these protestors?  The sacrifice?  Yes, that's sarcasm.  They're not giving up of their time to do something noble.  No, they're showing up in downtown Gainesville because they're paid to do it.

Okay, now there's a job for you:  being paid to complain.  Some of us are experts at it!

Today we had music, and Madison has been doing well there.  Mrs. Pam was in the classroom afterwards and told Daddy she was doing good.  Madison is apparently the law enforcement of the classroom, which is pretty much what we've known all along.  Inside our little girl is a Good Cop/Bad Cop.  And that's why it's surprising she didn't know the seventh amendment.

We got home afterwards, and continued our Quest for Pants, with only two or three pairs to go after tonight.  There wasn't much time for games, as we get back from piano pretty late.  Madison had all her homework done, and we were off to bed not long after that.  She likes milk before bedtime, so at least we have that.

But we did lose a bit of childhood today, without going into too much detail.  The power of the eclipse?  Whatever we'll call it, today was a big day for growing up, one we've sort of been dreading, and not something to really talk about much here if you know what I mean.

Anyway, otherwise, it was a pretty ordinary day.  Compared to yesterday, any other day is downright dull, to be frank.  Madison's absence was excused.  A few other kids were out yesterday, a few of them going north to that all important totality zone.  I can't emphasize how important it is for you to get to a area of totality during an eclipse.  If someone tells you you're in an area of 99%, it's not enough!  Drive the extra half hour to an hour, because it is worth it beyond any more words I can use here.

Madison spent her spare time doing piano, doing some voluntary homework (where she could earn Bravo Bucks), and folding paper some more.  She has all sorts of interesting folding designs that she's created.  We have origami all over the house, and other people have pieces of origami as gifts.  Amy got an origami flower yesterday that was very nice.

Mommy and Daddy watched an old Bing Crosby movie tonight, one we hadn't seen before:  "The Emperor's Waltz."  It's been a while since we could sit down together and watch a movie.  Things are settling down a bit now, and we'll have more time for that sort of thing soon enough, with Madison getting to bed earlier as of late.

Speaking of which, maybe we too should go to bed early as well...

The Great American Eclipse

Today was the big day, and I'm not sure if any of us will ever forget it.  We set the alarm, although we were up early, excited about what was going to happen a little later.  A massive move by millions of people took place today, all moving north or south into this one zone of totality, where the sun would be completely eclipsed.  We packed our things, got in the car, and drove north, leaving the house and going up 400.  Already, the end of 400 was backed up for about a mile.  A man in a truck sat alongside all the bumper-to-bumper traffic, selling flimsy eclipse glasses for $20 each.  Earlier, that kind of price got us five plastic ones a month ago. What he was selling was worth a little under two dollars, and here he was, trying to take advantage of those folks who have been desperate for glasses.

The eclipse glasses are important, but hopefully everyone else remembered to wear their cat ears as well.

We actually had two extra pairs of glasses, and one of our friends that we'd be meeting needed just one extra, so we were more than happy to pass them along.  As for the traffic on the way to our destination, that was it.  Daddy knew a lot of back roads pretty well, having seen a lot of White County.  So we avoided the cities of Cleveland and Helen, and made our way up 255, up Cooley Woods Road, Blue Creek Road, past the place that sells those remarkable strawberry milkshakes, and further north up 255 until we reached Josh's house without any problems whatsoever.  No stress at all!

A quiet moment in the shade on the front porch. Not long before we'd all be gazing upwards. The sun was bright and warm, but all that was about to change.

The Miller residence is wonderful, a place set in the mountains away from traffic and noise and congestion.  We looked on the map earlier, and one handy site calculated that this location would see the full total eclipse for two minutes and eleven seconds.  The start of it would be 1:06 pm, and the end was 4:01 pm.  The total eclipse was somewhere between 2:35 pm and 2:37 pm.

If you're going to have an eclipse party in North Georgia, it's pretty obvious you need Moon Pies. Just sayin'.

Soon, other friends were arriving too.  One family brought the Moon Pies, which was a secret wish of Daddy's.  These were mini versions, and Daddy might have had three before the end of the day.  But there was plenty of other food too:  we brought hot dogs, drinks, chips, and others brought sausages, desserts and more.  We went inside to gather the food, and ate it outside for dinner and a show!

Pac Man. About 1:06, the moon began it's trip as we all looked upwards in our eclipse glasses.

Right on schedule, the moon made its appearance, beginning to block out the sun.  Finally, the glasses were put to good use.  We were in the front yard, looking just like this:

Mandatory "looking up" pose. The show in the sky was just getting started at this point.

Madison was able to see it for herself, and thought it was pretty cool.  But it was just getting started, of course.  Soon the atmosphere around us would be changing, although it would take a while.  It would be about an hour and a half before the full eclipse came, and there was plenty of time to socialize, seated in our lawn chairs, looking upwards.  Here's a shot of Madison relaxing, doing just that:

Chillin'

Another way of observing the eclipse is by way of the cereal boxes Madison made.  Josh is looking through a hole on one side, one that also has a pinhole popped in it.  The light going through the pinhole makes an eclipse show up on the opposite side of the cereal box.

Josh testing out Madison's decorated Eclipse Viewing Box. Note the Frozen stickers. More importantly, it actually works, as Josh is seen here watching the eclipse via a box of Sugar Smacks.

Madison had three of these made on Friday, and they were decorated with all kinds of stickers.  They actually came in handy!  We brought all kinds of games, and Daddy even brought his laptop so we could play the song of the day, Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart."  It was a festive atmosphere!

Here we are, all ready for the big eclipse!

Everyone was anxious.  The weather was perfect though!  We had these beautiful blue skies, although a bit of cloud coverage was threatening.  In fact, just fifteen minutes before the complete eclipse, this cloud appeared here.  If you look closely, you can see the fingernail eclipse shape in the middle portion of this cloud.

Wings of the Eclipse

The cloud almost played the spoiler.  We were all tense and worried it wouldn't move out of the way.  Yet Madison was looking through her glasses, and spotted when the sun emerged again, just in time.  And with five minutes to go until the eclipse, we realized that the cloud had completely vanished without a trace.  Seriously, the other clouds were off on the horizon, but this one had disappeared.  Nothing could stop us from seeing the eclipse now.

All around, the air grew still.  A darker tint filled the air.  Sunlight still shone down, but things were dark.  It was remarkably cooler now, and silence was eerie.  We stood together, all eyes upward, watching this amazing thing happening.  It was so incredibly surreal.

Taken pointing a camera through the eclipse glasses, moments before totality.

Through our glasses, we saw the sliver of light get thinner and thinner.  The expectation is that the sun will just disappear.  And sure enough, that sliver of light was gone, and we were thinking, "Okay, that's it.  The totality!"  But that wasn't it.  This was it:

This was taken without a filter, for we were looking at it with our naked eyes.  Gasps and exclamations of wonder filled the front lawn.  It was a ring of fire, white with tints of blue.  The night sky was above us, stars now visible.  Right there above the horizon stood this flaming sphere, astonishing us all.  These pictures can't compare to the experience of seeing something like this firsthand.  It was something we all were so very anxious to see, with such a high level of expectation. And yet even so, it was beyond anything we could imagine.  We just sat there, staring, astonished at what was happening in the skies.  Simply awestruck.

For two minutes and eleven seconds, we watched the total eclipse burn over heads.  And all too soon, the sun began to make it's appearance once more, creating that diamond ring effect:

The diamond on the ring. Easily one the most amazing things you can ever see in your lifetime. 
Note the stars in the sky.

Just like that, it was over.  Of course, there was another hour and a half to go before the moon would move back out of the way again, but soon everyone had their glasses on again, looking upwards as the moon made it's path away from totality.

We were laughing at all these pictures on social media of people looking up into the skies with those reflective glasses on. Here's a group shot, as everyone is getting ready for the greatest show in the skies.

It was something everyone must see once.  We were on social media, checking on other people's photos, and many made the trip to the mountains to see this.  Others were satisfied with 99% blockage, which is what we would have seen if we stayed home.  But we would not have seen what we did.  I cannot emphasize this enough:  if you're able to see totality, you simply must.  Even if you have to drive a few hours.  It was unforgettable.

Madison was just as blown away as the rest of us were.

Catching some eclipse rays.

We were so glad we took her out of school for this.  Back at the school, it would have been 99% blockage, and that would have been interesting to see.  But for two minutes and eleven seconds, we all saw something that we'll never forget.  No wonder certain people "chase eclipses" when they come to certain regions of the world.  Today was an excused absence from school, something you don't get everyday.  Why were you absent?  Oh, there was an eclipse.

For the next hour and a half, we were playing games.  Madison was playing corn hole, while several of us were playing this new game (at least to us) called "mölkky."  There was also a game with a bolo toss, one that she was enjoying very much.  One thing that Madison can always say she did was this:  go swimming during an eclipse.  There was a pool at the house, an above ground one.  Madison and the other kids were having a great time swimming around as the moon made its farewell across the sky.

Periodically, we'd look up through our glasses, checking on the progress.  It was something magnificent to see.  The sun came back out again, and things got brighter, heating up.  Shadows stopped dancing and crickets stopped chirping.  Finishing our last round of mölkky, we went inside, ready to feel a bit of air conditioning.  During the eclipse, the weather was much cooler.

We sat around talking about the wondrous experience we shared, something truly unforgettable.  At 4:01, it was all over with.  The next one won't hit our country for another seven or eight years, and it will be quite a few hours away.  This was just perfect.  It was about an hour north of us, and the weather was ideal.  The traffic wasn't too much of a problem on the way up, and the location was perfect, with great friends on a great stretch of land in the mountains.

The trip home was huge.  Never before - ever - have we seen so much traffic on these back roads.  And supposedly, the traffic went on late into the night, the major interstates jammed with cars returning home from the eclipse.  On an interesting note, we were forced to try an alternate backroad, and wound up seeing some zebras.  There's a zoo nearby, one we'll have to check out soon.  Madison cried out from the back seat, "Zebras!"  Yeah, that's not something you see everyday.

It took us a really long time to get to the house, but the entire time we were telling ourselves, it was all worth it.  All the other drivers were probably thinking the same thing.  It was unforgettable, not just living up to the hype, but surpassing it.  It was the Great American Eclipse.

SX Heroes Viewing Party

Here's a picture of Madison with the Super Seven!  These are the actors - and Josh too - who make up the superhero team that KidPak watches each Summer Xtreme.  Today, we finally found common ground on the schedule to host a viewing of the Heroes videos, inviting not only the Super Seven, but anyone else involved in the production of our movie.

Here you can see more of the gathering, all getting ready to take advantage of some tacos and other snacks.  It was an event right after church, and it was great to see everyone join us for a nice, relaxing time together.  As you'd suspect, there was quite a bit of socializing, and of course quite a bit of eating too.  And then it was time for the movies:  we watched 2016's and 2017's movies back to back.

With popcorn too!  We all piled into the KidPak Auditorium, and watched the movie together.  It was a lot of fun!  There was a lot of cheering, laughter, and a standing ovation at the end.  Everyone did a great job!

This morning, we had KidPak as always, and the Master Builders series continued.  Nerdo's invention, his Naggles, were on full display.  Naggles stands for Nerdo's Awesomely Great Glasses of Lego for Eclipses.  Or Naggle for short.

We'll have real glasses tomorrow, don't worry.  It was a great service, one where we even brought back the old school LEGO people:

This is just Javier in disguise:  he's wanting to steal the KidPak Master Builders' idea and win the competition for himself, along with Clint, his sidekick.

It was a fun morning, full of all kinds of good news with visiting parents, new volunteers, and plenty of kids having all Ten Commandments memorized.  Madison is almost there with the memorization.  We'll quiz her throughout the week!

We got home, and yes, we were tired.  We played some games, looking for more pants for "The LEGO Movie" game, but we're still after those exploding pants.  A pair of pants that explodes is something you simply must have!

Before bed, we packed a little for tomorrow, and read from our devotional and from "The Starry River of Sky."  We'll be seeing that for ourselves tomorrow, won't we?

LEGO Eclipse Glasses

Tonight we watched the Disney Dream sail away from Nassau's harbor, as we ate our dinner.  Madison was eating her spaghetti as always, but this time we added a new ingredient for her:  Italian sausages.  It turns out she likes them, so let it be known that today was the first day for this sort of thing!  Some time soon we'll be onboard that very boat.  Daddy did a screen capture of the boat with the Nassau Lighthouse in the foreground.  It'll be nice to see that in person.

Check out this unusual project we were working on today:

They're LEGO eclipse glasses!  Yes, we know these won't really work.  It's just four pairs of sunglasses taped together with LEGO bricks sprinkled on top!  Tomorrow, one of our cast members will be presenting these as one of his ideas for the LEGO Master Builders Competition.  We'll see what happens tomorrow, but knowing Nerdo, it will probably be silly.

We spent time at the office today, and then watched another eclipse themed movie, "The Wild Thornberrys."  We did this while steaming costumes, and doing all kinds of prep for tomorrow.  To begin with, we had ambitions to do more today - but we've got big plans the next few days, so it's okay.

We continued reading our story, which coincidentally features a missing moon.  And we said our prayers too - the world is in such a crazy state right now, with so much conflict.  It'll be good when everyone starts looking upwards to the sun, all unified in at least something.

Movies with an Eclipse

We were going through a few ideas for eclipse-themed movies, and came up with a few.  Of course, you have to go with one of the versions of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court."  We opted to put that one in tonight, and Madison enjoyed it.  It was the 1949 version with Bing Crosby in it, so it was light-hearted fun.  The eclipse itself happens at this crucial moment, and they did a good job with it, considering it was 1949.   For an older movie, Madison liked it a lot.  The popcorn bowl helped a lot though!

Tomorrow night's eclipse feature is "The Wild Thornberrys," which apparently features an eclipse as well.  Amusingly enough, there's an eclipse on Mustafar in the movie "Revenge of the Sith," which Madison hasn't seen yet.  And one more eclipse is seen in another variation of the Mark Twain story, "A Knight in Camelot."  We might see that one later on.

Anyway, this morning, Daddy had an endoscopy to figure out what's up at least with the esophagus.  Apparently, it swells up due to silent acid.  Which would be a great rock band name:  Silent Acid.  Anyway, we'll get some pills and get the esophagus healed up.  But our insurance doesn't cover the prescribed pills, so get this:  fourteen pills cost a whopping $200.59.  And that, my friends, pretty much covers what is wrong with the medical world today.  Because here's the thing:  we got another set of pills - generic ones - with the same properties even.  And these were $10.  Crazy, right?

Madison had a good day today.  It was school picture day, so she wanted to wear her "go-to" dress, one she likes very much.  She got home and was excited to go swimming or do tennis... but Daddy was still tired from the anesthesia.  So we went with the eclipse movie instead.

Anyway, anesthesia makes one sleepy.  Which is by design, of course.  So that's what we'll do here.  We read from our devotional, and continued hearing about Rendi and the moon that has disappeared. We'll be seeing the moon soon enough, I'm sure...

Eclipse Training

Eclipse fever has set in pretty solid now, and as you can see above, the kids of Chestatee Elementary School are ready to go.  They had an "Eclipse Drill" this morning, where all the students went outside into their various positions, had a seat, and then didn't look up at the sun.  I do think that everyone is getting glasses on Monday - except Madison, of course.  She has her own glasses already, and she won't even be at school.  Certain schools are not having class that day, which probably makes sense for the ones in the path of the eclipse.  Others are keeping the kids later, and adding insult to injury, keeping them inside.  Madison's school is being a bit more gracious, by keeping kids outside and letting them look up through special glasses.  

We're still working towards Master Builders this weekend, so Daddy was there at the office today for a bit.  And Mommy was at home for a while, fighting the never-ending battle against laundry and ...ants?  Okay, the ant thing is new.  We had a pretty epic all-summer battle last year, and thought we'd won the war when this summer was relatively peaceful on the ant front.  But lo!  Madison left a few significant crumbs beneath her seat at the kitchen table, and the line of ants found their conquest.  It was a swift and sudden conflict, tracing the ant line back to the door and once again engaging in terrible combat to maintain our position in this house.  We'll fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and the streets, we shall fight in the hills;  we shall never surrender! 

Next week, we start ballet.  That's when things start to get busy, busy, busy.  Madison is doing a tiny bit of homework now, and a bit of piano homework as well.  This week, she had a test on the Bill of Rights.

Coincidentally, she'll be hearing about the Civil War soon.  We were waiting to take her to some Civil War monuments until this year, when WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY?  The Civil War - of all things - wants to have a comeback, apparently.  Talk about a left field move this week.  A few amazingly unintelligent moves by one city government, and now everyone is wanting to refight the Civil War again.  Ugh.  

Splitting the country right in half this week is the path of the eclipse.  Kind of symbolic isn't it?

The Quest for Pants

Madison and Daddy have been on a Quest for Pants lately. Inspired by our LEGO series, we decided to play "The LEGO Movie Game" some more, and to our dismay, we realized we never got around to collecting all the different pants that are seen in this game.  Notably absent from our collection are the exploding pants, which may be something our imagination makes better than what they in fact actually are.  Just the name alone sounds awesome.  Madison was looking for pants today, although we still have yet to get the ones that explode.  These are the important ones.

Today is Wednesday, and tonight was Wednesday night, obviously.  We had our small groups tonight, and our series is about learning some of the fundamental building blocks of the Bible.  That said, I was hoping to show our kids how to look up scriptures in the Bible, specifically the ones we call "Romans Road."  It was a bit of that, and a bit of showing kids how to look things up, which are both somewhat different, but both obviously important.  Looking up things in the Bible shouldn't be a lost art!

Anyway, inspired by the LEGO Lord of the Rings game, Daddy made this worksheet here.

It turned out well!  Plus, all the scriptures are in Romans, so for beginners, this is rather easy.  Anyway, it turned out well.  Glad we did it!  Madison will have this for homework soon enough...!

We had some meetings today, long ones.  Our new college students are coming in, and that takes up a lot of time.  Fortunately, Daddy has a nice office, thanks to Mommy.  It's a peaceful place with Chinese lanterns, and a wall of books that Daddy is slowly building up, each one a notebook filled with images, notes and of course sermons related to one of 63 different series so far.  We've done 63, and each of these books is going to be a wonderful look back on what we did, while providing something useful for the future.

The other news of the day is rather unfortunate.  There was an accident with a lawn mower, and it could be that David Austen, Madison's cousin, has lost part of his toe.  We're waiting to find out the news, and at least he's okay.  But the hits keep coming for her family.  We were praying for them tonight, certainly.

Let Your Light Shine

Madison did this, mainly because it was the thing she was supposed to be doing for art class.  She didn't get to do her artwork because of a fire drill, which came at the worst possible time:  she loves art.  Still, she created this at home, and we think it came out well.  It was inspired by the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, and as an added touch, she put "Let Your Light Shine" on the bottom.

How blessed we are.  And how lovely are her thoughts, full of peace and hope.  The world is not that place now, unfortunately.  At least that's what is being presented currently on social media and televisions.  Once again there is racial tension, and once again there is a lot of ugliness.  How nice to look away from that, and look towards something sweet like this.  And there's a point to it too, as the world is indeed a dark place.  Yet here is Madison, letting her light shine.

Tonight we returned to piano class, although it was just Madison and her classmates in class now.  Currently, only kids are in there with Mrs. Pam, and Madison said she did well with the new musical selections she's been practicing.  She's actually been doing something more than what she was supposed to, so Madison might be a little ahead of things.  Meanwhile, Mommy went grocery shopping, and Daddy simply stayed in the parking lot of the piano class.

While a helicopter overhead circled.  We're not too far from the town square, and apparently someone showed up on a motorcycle with a gun and possibly ammunition.  Police went to ask this person what they were doing, and that person fled.  Hence the chasing, the helicopter, and several state patrol cars and local city cruisers flying by.  The person was not apprehended.  The thought was that the statue in the middle of town of a confederate soldier was in danger of vandalism, given the state of things today.

Anyway, it was a bit of a nervous situation with a helicopter circling overhead, but with hindsight, we weren't really in danger.  But all of these confederate statues are suddenly targets by people who feel justified by a higher law than the one that exists in our country.

And that higher law apparently allows people to inflict pain and vandalism to justify their cause.  Not that the other side of the argument is clean either.  Having moved from the north to Dixie Land, Daddy was basically a Yankee amongst a sea of folks that people could easily stereotype as rednecks.  But outside of those scary marches on the town square by people wearing those ridiculous sheets, Daddy didn't witness much in the way of racism.  Maybe it was just the friends I found myself amongst.  I remember specifically a KKK march in Madison, Georgia, and our school group there for a talent contest the same day.  I remember acting all manly with a few of the other guys, "protecting" our friend Sabrina.  We were just kids, but I remember being ready for a fight that we're glad never really happened.  We were ready to do battle, I guess just like many others were this past weekend.  Back then, other than coming to gawk at the ridiculous sheets, the other plan of action was simple:  ignore them.  This weekend, a new strategy came out:  destroy them.  Somewhere in between is the real answer, of course.  But people are not humble enough to admit they are wrong, not humble enough to say they are sorry, and just as importantly, not humble enough to say I forgive you.

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

We're not humble enough.  And the scary thing is that God has a way of making us humble enough in a real hurry.  That time is coming, we fear.  Until then, we'll let Madison's timely message sink in:  "Let your light shine."

Nana's Birthday

Tonight we started a new book, one called "Starry River of Sky."  This was given to Madison last year by teachers as a reward for good grades and behavior, and we simply haven't gotten around to starting it, largely because of all the other books on the waiting list.  But tonight we decided to pick it up and give it a try, and it seems like this was a good choice.  Madison and Mommy were enjoying the first few chapters read before bedtime, as well as the illustrations.  It's shaping up to be an interesting story, with a bit of Chinese mythology thrown in for good measure.

It was Nana's birthday today - Daddy's mom.  We celebrated with a long time spent at Texas Roadhouse, which of course comes complete with a bunch of chanting waiters and waitresses hollering "Yee-haw!"  It was really nice time though - we stayed there about two hours.  It wasn't that the food took so long, it was because everyone was doing quite a bit of catching up.  Aunt Shain and her family were there, as were Nana and Ye-Ye, and then the three of us.  The food was good as always, and it wasn't that crowded either.  So there wasn't much pressure on us to move on.  Madison picked her usual slew of jukebox songs, and we were once again escorted to Willie's Corner.

Speaking of blue eyes crying in the rain, we have had storm skies the last few days, including this one.  The rain poured down again, and the skies looked like a water color painting, particularly at night, with beams of sunlight streaming through the towering thunderclouds.

We got home in time to do some homework, including some optional math homework:  these tiny slips of paper with five homework assignments on them.  Madison does them each night, even though she doesn't have to.  The rewards are Bravo bucks, which are basically the equivalent of redemption tickets at an arcade.  They aren't worth as much, even when you put zillions together!  Actually, we'll see what Madison comes home with.  If it's another nice book, then I take it back!