Let's Go Fly A Kite!

It may have been a cold and rainy day outside, but inside, our elf decided it was time to go fly a kite!  

You can tell that perhaps Mary Poppins had a bit to do with this, and you can see the new ornament for our tree there, one given to us by the grandparents.  

So yes, it was cold and wet today, but there were bright spots today, one of which being an A on Madison's summative test in math.  This class was a back-and-forth struggle this semester, and she studied hard and in fact was pretty unsure of herself after taking the test.  She was surprised she did so well, but we knew she worked hard, and surely it was more than just luck that got her the grade.

She had a good day today, her last day of classes in 2018.  There was a Christmas party today with a white elephant gift exchange - Madison wrapped up a slime factory to bring in.  Once that test was over, it was a much more relaxed day for her, although she is still slightly under the weather.  And so are Mommy and Daddy, still fighting off a fever.  It's a good thing we all sleep in tomorrow!

No matter what, Madison was going to go to taekwondo tonight, and it's there that she tried some jumping kicks, a first for her.  She was nervous about some moves, and in fact did a jumping double kick at one point by accident, which was a pretty funny moment for the instructor and the class.  You can't do a jumping kick, but a jumping double kick is okay?  This sort of paved the way to possibilities, and of course once she started practicing it, she started to improve.  There is plenty to learn here, and she seems eager to not miss a class.  In fact, we were talking about going to Florida in a little bit, and Madison was actually somewhat disappointed she'd be missing class!  Still, there are certain things that make her nervous, and she hides somewhat.  Daddy watched her from the observation area, and knew she had to at least try one flip, or roll in the air.  There was padding to land on, and there were other kids that were clearly not experts at it either.  But all were trying it, except Madison.  Only at the end, did the instructor patiently take her through a basic summersault.  A flip in the air might take a whole lot of time!

We got home to Mommy, and we watched a new Christmas movie that none of us had seen before.  The other day at Big Lots, Daddy saw "A Christmas Star" for about two dollars, and added it to our Christmas movie collection.  It wasn't bad, actually.  I'm not saying we're going to watch it every year, but the story was unique, and there were some warm moments.  I believe this was a made-for-tv Christmas movie, but it was still enjoyable, especially with some popcorn.

Mommy probably had the worse end of the sickness that's been in the house today.  Daddy had the worse end yesterday and Madison of course was suffering this weekend.  She's still sniffling, which lets us know we'll probably be slightly dealing with it this weekend.  But in all things it could be worse.  We're at least mobile - it just probably means we aren't going too far tomorrow, that's all!

Tonight, we read from a Stan Lee Christmas story, in honor of Stan the Man.  There was another passing celebrity this past week, Penny Marshal.  This came as a surprise to us, but no doubt Mommy and Daddy will be watching her movie, "The Preacher's Wife" soon in her honor.  As for the book we read tonight, we've had it in our collection for some time.  Daddy read it with all the enthusiasm he could muster!

Following that, we continued in our reading with the book of Luke.  We're still one day behind on that, but we should wrap up Luke by Christmas Day.  This chapter we read today is one where you can find a verse that Daddy put on a brick in Centennial Park about twenty years ago.  Madison knows these stories and more, but it's been good reading them straight from one chapter to the next.  I think we'll continue the habit in January - but with a easier version to understand, perhaps, for Madison.  Some times, even the New International Version goes over your head if you're not carefully reading it.

We said our prayers, and that was pretty much it for all of us tonight.  We were pretty tired, all of us, and not entirely well.  But we do get to sleep in tomorrow and that's a nice feeling as we go to bed tonight.  Winter Break starts now for Madison.  Let the fun begin!