The End of the Roman Empire

We ended our series today, and it went out with yet another great skit, which you can see above.  There's Daniel as our fallen Emperor, of course not really dead.  We had plenty of times to quote Shakespeare throughout this series, and that was part of the fun, although the kids were laughing all the way through at much of the other stuff in there, including Madison's part.  She and Skylar had speaking roles today, wanting to share something important that they felt they heard, and yet they were ignored in the script.  Today's message had everything to do with peer pressure, and it was a lot of fun for the actors, and the kids in the audience too!

We got home, and we were packing for a bit.  Daddy was struggling to breathe again, taking medicine and wheezing quite a bit, trying to stay indoors as much as he can.  I don't think it really matters!  We did take the car out to get it washed.  There's something about going through a car wash, loud music playing in the car as the foam and bubbles wash over the windshield.  Madison was in the front seat and Daddy behind the wheel as we went through.  Despite the chilly weather outside, the two of us attacked the car afterwards with vacuum cleaners and wipes.  The car is sparkling clean right now!

Madison did some piano today, and after that we were watching "The Lone Ranger" tonight.  Madison hadn't seen that yet, and wanted to watch that one.  So we did, and she enjoyed it - with a bit of popcorn, of course.

We all went to bed reasonably early, after packing movies, music, books and so on.  We're ready, pretty much, to head out the door once again.  Same destination, but with some new fun!

Dumbo

We went to see "Dumbo" today, and things got pushed back on our schedule a bit because of work at home, so we went to the 3:10 showing instead of an earlier one.  It turned out to be a great move, because they were having a raffle today during that showing, and all you had to do was buy a ticket to be part of the drawing.  There were a lot of prizes, and believe it or not, Mommy and Daddy both won prizes - our names were called out!  Daddy ushered Madison down the aisle to help him pick a prize, and she selected the puzzle you see above.  Okay, it's not a puzzle you see above, but picture that image there, the movie poster, and picture it as a puzzle.  That's what we won.  We're bringing it with us to Florida.  And Mommy won something too:  she got a "Dumbo" pin, which is actually really cool.  It's a feather that says the word "Dumbo" on it.

As for the movie itself, it was really good.  It was one that Daddy was really looking forward to, just based on the fact that Tim Burton had directed it.  It has a lot the actors from Tim Burton movies in it, or at least three of them.  Plus Danny Elfman did the soundtrack and Colleen Atwood did the costume designs.  So a whole lot of that Tim Burton feel was injected into the movie, plus a huge amount of Easter egg references to the original movie.  It was good, a sweet movie with great imagery all throughout.  Dreamland was an amazing place, and the fact that this was a circus movie also adds a bit to the enjoyment.  They went so far out of their way at times to make things politically correct, and what's with the dead moms and keys?  That seems to be the new theme of the year for Disney, as if some producer somewhere says, "Mr. Director, make this movie, but insert a key necklace in here somewhere as a sweet reminder of mother that has passed away."  That's definitely the connecting theme this year.  Dead mothers alone, we have "Mary Poppins Returns," "The Nutcracker," and now "Dumbo."  You'd think we wouldn't need a dead mom, because you know that Dumbo's mother is going to be okay.  But nope!  There's a dad and his two kids, and sure enough, they're trying to move on just after  mom lost her battle with influenza.  Who knows what it was with the other two moms.  But one thing is certain:  it's tough to be a mom in the Disney universe!

Anyway, we did work today, packing and preparing for the new series, and some piano playing too.  We read from comics - Daddy was reading the start of the "Fatal Attractions" series, with X-Factor and X-Force, and later reading from the latest Starcatcher book with Mommy and Madison.  It was day to pack and a day to do a lot of frantic work for KidPak.  But it will be a great day tomorrow, and a great week after that.  And the movie was nice, very nice.  Dumbo has such a big history with our family, and it was nice to go out and see the movie together on the big screen.

Dolphin Puzzle

Madison created this puzzle above, or at least the painting on top of the puzzle.  It was an old, small puzzle, and what her art club did was paint over a previous existing design, putting something altogether new on top of that one.  Madison chose this dolphin idea - she told us she made a lot of it up, not copying it off of anything else.  This was almost said like an apology, as if just making something up is a bad thing in art.  No, of course it's not.  And she did a decent job with the puzzle.  We'll have to try it out sometime!

She did her Canada test today, something she felt ready to take now.  Now she probably knows more about Canada than we do, which is honestly not much.  I mean, we've both been to Canada a few times.  Daddy was up along the route from Buffalo to Montreal, marveling at the use of French and the metric system.  We saw Toronto, and a beautiful church in Montreal, and the Thousand Island area up there.  Recently we were up at Niagara Falls, but that was before Madison.

We asked her what she knows, and the funny thing was the first thing she thought of, which is, "They're fighting acid rain."  That and, "Quebec was wanting independence from Canada."  These two could be related.  She quickly backtracked from there, saying she knew that the Hudson Bay was in Canada, and there were the Great Lakes too.  Which, of course, are mostly in the United States, but I think she knows that.  So ultimately, what have we learned about Canada, by way of our school system?  What nuggets are there to share?  They have acid rain.  Oh, and the French lost to the English a long time ago in some wars about trading.

I'm sure our Canadian readers may be slightly miffed at this point about our educational system.  I mean, this is the sum total of what our children are learning about Canada.  I think there was a bit of geography in there, but she doesn't quite know the capital of Canada, Ottawa.  She didn't have to learn that.  I feel bad for Canada now, and am going to have to take it upon myself to teach her a little more about at least the geography, and maybe something else.

Honestly, I was hoping to learn something interesting myself, because sometimes she brings home little thoughts and items learned at school.  But nope.  Not with Canada!

Okay, moving on:  Madison was shooting the hoops today with basketball, although she wasn't doing as well as she normally can do.  She was admitting this much to us afterwards, but she still likes basketball.  March Madness is going on all around us, and of course our family is somewhat oblivious.  No, instead we're excited about baseball season, which is upon us now!  The Atlanta Braves are only a couple games back right now from first place!  Of course, they've only played two games, so there's that.  But still, baseball games are more fun to go to than basketball games.  At least, that's our general opinion.  Madison can't wait to go see the Tortugas next week.

We were cleaning up at the office today, and at home we were starting a space campaign to rid the galaxy of the Empire.  We watched another few episodes of "Gravity Falls," moving right along with season one, all of us getting a kick out of Gruncle Stan.  Or maybe that's just Daddy.  Either way, we're hooked on the show, and will more than likely be binge watching it until the end of season two. Or whenever it ends...

Madison was doing piano today, and we were all doing a bit of work towards this weekend, mixed with some packing and some prepping for Sunday's service.  It was a pretty average day, one with scary amounts of pollen out there.  It's really affecting Daddy in a negative way this year.  Someone posted it best online, about how they are "now in a relationship."  With Sudafed.  Lungs are fragile things!  One moment we're complaining about the amount of rain, and the next we're begging for more, just to wash all this pollen away...!

Back to the Book Fair

The Book Fair is going on at the school, and while this sort of thing used to be a big deal for Mommy and Daddy, who actually went to the school and helped buy various books she wanted, this time it was just a matter of giving her some money, and seeing what she came home with - what interested her.

This is one of the books she came home with, another book that covered the topic of the Holocaust.  It's an interesting thing, this topic drawing her attention.  She got another book, a mystery book with a name I can't remember at the moment, but these were just two books she picked up on her own, just a few she was interested in.  We'll see how good they are.  We love the fact that she's just picking up books to read.

They're spending their time studying for the upcoming tests - the Milestones.  That was a lot of today's focus, learning how to take tests and doing practice runs and reviewing a lot of material.  Madison says it is rather dull.  But art class has been interesting and fun, and she's been learning a few new things there.

Speaking of tests, tonight she had a test to earn the first stripe on her green belt.  She passed it, although just barely so.  She'll need to practice a bit on her form for this one, but that's something she doesn't have a problem with.  There wasn't any sparring today, but there were a lot of places where kids were practicing their positions and forms.  Everyone passed by the night's end, of course.  Madison took a couple tries, but in the end prevailed.  She'll practice some more at home, I'm sure.

We've been reading from "The Sword of Mercy" lately at night, along with the other nighttime rituals.  There's always - always - a game of hide-and-seek before bedtime, and there's always a zerbert, prayers, and the shout out, "Goodnight Smelly Walrus Chunks!"  Or "Goodnight Pooter Pan!"   That sort of thing.

We're getting ready to go on a little trip south soon, so Mommy was packing today.  Daddy was preparing in other ways, attempting to get quite a bit done in a short time.  There is a lot going on this season, and that's good of course.  But it's also kind of stressful as well.  The upcoming vacation will do us all good...!

Yearbooks and Ornithopters

We've been reading this latest Starcatchers book, and probably haven't used the word "ornithopter" so much in our lives.  The story has been good though, a welcome return for so many characters we've been reading about the last six books or so.  The writing style has been fun and engaging, and the girls have enjoyed the adventure.  Fortunately, there are illustrations from time to time, so we have a visual as to what an ornithopter actually is.

Madison's artistic skills have increased quite a bit this past quarter, with some practical applications in her notebook.  We've noticed some of her work there, and she's done a great job with everything.  Even this joke item - although it isn't really a joke so much as a practice exercise. She was assigned to draw a shoe, without looking down at what she was drawing out.  The end result was something that vaguely resembled a shoe, and something she's apologized for!

But its all part of the art portfolio experience, and by this quarter's end, she'll have a great collection of art experience under her belt, one we can't wait to flip through.  Already, there are some great strides she's been making, and fantastic bits of artwork.  She's done an experiment with negative space, and of course the eye drawing, and some other pieces that she's been trying out.

Daddy has been finishing the Romans series up, which has one more service to go.  It's been so good, so much fun.  We've written a great one here, and the ongoing drama has been a lot of unforgettable fun.

Speaking of writing, one thing that Daddy has been surprised by is Madison's increasing skill level with writing.  I was taking a peek at some of her writing for school, and it is actually something that I wasn't expecting, because it was so much better than what I thought.  And I'm not saying that I was expecting something horrendous from her.  It's just that I feel she writes better than most people her age, with a creative and imaginative spark fueling a lot of the writing.  With a little more exercise and practice writing, she has a lot of capability to actually write a book some day.  Did this come from the frequent reading she does, or hearing books read to her each night?  Does it come from the scripts we write each week?  Or is it a natural gift?  Whatever it is, keep an eye on her writing.  With practice, she could do something amazing.  She's already amazing, of course.  But she can take things to the next level.

The pollen has been atrocious this week, which is right on schedule.  This year has been so bad that I picture Doc Holliday and all those other famous western characters that moved to the west simply to escape to a climate that made it easier to breathe.  This ain't it.  Hopefully this will go away soon, but presently, the pollen has been at DEFCOM 10.  We're breaking records this season.  How does that happen when we're supposedly cutting down more trees and so on?  I'm not advocating cutting all the trees down, of course.  But part of "getting older" evidently means struggling more with allergies.  Madison takes allergy medicine too.  All our eyes are watery.  But Daddy's lungs this year have struggled more mightily then ever before.

One more thing before going:  Daddy is working on the Chestatee Elementary School yearbook for this year.  I know what you're saying:  Madison doesn't go there anymore.  True.  But the teacher in charge of that was in a desperate situation, and was crying out for help.  So I've done the backdrops for a few pages...

These are just the first two.  I didn't put the pictures there, but I made the license plates and the interstate sign.  Each grade has a different Georgia license plate, with two of them actually having a picture of an eagle on them (the Chestatee mascot is an eagle).  I found a road map with the Chestatee area marked on it, and used that for a backdrop, and anyway, it turned out pretty well I think.

I've got a few more pages to do, I think.  But it's funny how I'm working on a yearbook that I'll never actually see!  But it should be helpful.

Completely unrelated, and unexpected, and all of it... Madison is applying for the yearbook team at Little Mill Middle School.  She's listing her experience working on the previous yearbook, and if they actually call up the teachers there at Chestatee, they'll certainly confirm that - and how much Madison's Daddy has worked on these the last two years.

But we won't mention that, and let Madison get in on her own merits.  She did write a nice description of her previous experience, and her desire to help out - like I said, she's really improving with her writing abilities.  But hopefully she'll be approved, and hopefully be a part of the team there.  We saw a neat field trip for the yearbook staff, as well as some other things that would be fun to be a part of, increasing her writing skills and her photojournalism skills.

We'll see how all this turns out.  You've got that benefit now if you're looking back and reading this...!

Marvel's "The Dodgeball Initiative"

Madison was doing these high kicks tonight at taekwondo, and they were getting much higher than they have before.  She's been doing stretches and reaching farther, and the results are showing.  Before, her feet could only kick out at a lower angle, but now she's reaching upwards and can aim for someone's head.  Pretty impressive stuff!

Today she was doing Milestones practice, and while she was battling with that, we all were battling... pollen.  It's called "The Pollening," an insane amount of yellow floating in the air, infiltrating lungs and making it very difficult to breathe.  We've all be doing varying sorts of medicines, just to keep the lungs working.  But our only hope is blessed rain.  These frequent rainstorms are quite welcome here, giving us a temporary respite from the onslaught of the yellow.

One thing that Daddy has been working on is below, and it is something Madison will be seeing when she does her Easter egg hunt.  Daddy made a scavenger hunt out of it, of sorts.  Each secret location will have an egg - and a dodgeball.

On that dodgeball is a code, which when scanned will lead her to an online picture (below).  That picture has two things:
1.  A photo of where the next dodge ball (and egg) are located.
2.  The next Marvel hero to join the Dodgeball team.  Along the way, she meets up with the members of the Dodgeball Initiative.  These are basically all those Marvel Heroes that Agent Coulson chooses to be on the dodgeball team.

So, who wins the match?  Madison will have to wait and see until the end, when she finds her basket, which has the answer inside it.

At the end, she gets to the basket, and she'll find a code that leads her to the right answer - and inside that basket is a "Pop! Marvel Goose the Cat figure, amongst other things.  Goose has quite a bit of surprises and is indeed a very powerful secret weapon.

But who is the one that has possession of Goose the Cat?  That would be our winner of the Dodgeball Initiative:

Middle Earth Day

Today is Middle Earth Day.  Coincidentally, Madison was wanting to visit LEGO Middle Earth tonight, so yeah, we were playing this game for a bit, listening to Shire music, and ... well, that was about it.  Because today was really like any other day today - there were basketball games at school that Madison has suddenly been into.  She's won a shooting contest, and just like that we've got a WNBA star or something.  Not really though - she likes it, and apparently she's pretty decent at it.  And she enjoys it.  And if that's something she wants to do in the future, then so be it.  But not at the moment.

Anyway, we had a good day today at school, and meanwhile the parents were taking a peppermint bubble bath, and eating Wensleydale cheese with cranberries.  Yes, it was a rather luxuriant sort of day.  We had Asian veggie burgers, which were actually pretty good, and of course doing a bit of work around the house.  Daddy was typing up the new series scripts - the "Romans" series has been unexpectedly one of the greatest things we've ever done here.

Madison has been doing some writing on her own, writing her own mystery at school.  That was pretty cool.  Daddy was looking at it, and honestly surprised at how good it was.  Suddenly, I'm realizing that I've been perhaps overlooking a not-so-hidden talent.  Of course, we focus on piano, on artistry, on martial arts, and even dance in the past.  But she has a real gift for writing, coming up with things from her imagination.  It's wonderful to see, given the fact that this is what Daddy does at church all the time with skits and so forth.

Speaking of "making stuff up," finally in national news (if you call it that), the long awaited results of the two and a half year hunt for evidence against the President is over with.  And now's the time for everyone to come to the realization that this entire investigation has in fact been a waste of time.  An expensive waste of time.  So what is the fruit of this?  Yeah, it's been stupid.  Our news organizations have been the absolute worst.  All of them are ridiculous.   I can't even properly express my disdain for the news media these past few years.  True journalism is such a rare thing - I'm not sure if we can find it anywhere anymore.  Ridiculous.

Okay, speaking of ridiculous, we started our first episode of "Gravity Falls" today, and it was super strange, which was what Daddy knew, but Madison and Mommy had no idea what they are getting into.  We got the entire series as a gift, and now the binge-watching begins.  The gnomes are hilarious, but I know this is just the beginning of weird, and fun.  Daddy has seen a few of the episodes before, but the family has no idea what's about to happen.  This series is a whole lot of fun!

And that's the day, I think.  Middle Earth Day was a blast, the day the media orcs got clobbered.  Of course, none of them realize how bad they've been, as they're merely there to advance some agenda rather than report things like "news."  I doubt they'll actually back off or confess they've been hideous.  But one can hope.  Until then, we've stopped watching all the national news outlets and reading them online.  We'll just stick with the Gravity Falls Gossiper.

Romans VII

Our series continued this morning, and it was funny again, a lot of fun wrapping up a few story lines with certain characters, while setting up the big finish next week.  It's been a perfect series, actually, given all the things going on around.  It has a built-in energy to it, with easy-to-write-for characters that have really captured the kids' imaginations.  You can see Madison far left there, and she had one line this week.  But next week, I'm going to write more for her and her fellow herald, Sklylar, who you can't quite see in this photo above.

Camille spoke this morning, and Madison always races out after the skit, still in costume, seated in the back so she can hear the message.  That is wonderful to me as a parent, a kid who really wants to hear the Word like that.  She and Skylar always run out to the audience to see the message, no matter who is sharing it.

After that we were racing home to get a bite to eat.  We had Jaycie with us, because afterwards, we went right back to church for another "Acting Up" class.  This one Daddy led, mainly following the route of talking about characterization.  We had one improv skit, "The Characterization Bus," that went really well, as did some other illustrations that Mommy and Daddy came up with yesterday, such as the Nauseous Clone Trooper, and another one where two kids acted out roles of king and messenger, and finally this other activity that had people all saying the same exact line, but as different characters.  It was so much fun that the people there didn't realize the time was up at the end, and they were wanting to do more.  So we did more!

We drove home after that, exhausted from the long day.  We watched "Peter Rabbit" at home, and were laughing immediately at the notion that the male lead in this movie was the same guy that plays the villainous General Hux, from the latest two Star Wars movies.  So it was humorous to us that General Hux would be battling a rabbit.  Perhaps his ultimate reason for helping build the Starkiller base was to eventually blow up the earth, mainly because that was the best way to deal with Peter Rabbit.  Coincidentally, the girl who played the character of Rey in those same Star Wars movies, lent her voice for another rabbit friend of Peter Rabbit.  This gives him even more motivation.  The Starkiller Base is all about destroying planets with rabbits.  The Hosnian Planet System was apparently infested with them!

All that aside, it was a good movie!  The three of us enjoyed it with our usual tub of this new popcorn, which is just impossible to stop munching on until the bowl is empty.  It is so delicious!

Tonight we read from our usual books, and prayed for a good night's rest and some health for everyone.  The pollen is starting to get to some of us, the allergies kicking in.  We're taking medication for it to help things out there, including some things to help us sleep better at night without wheezing so much.

We'll have some rain tomorrow, and that will help combat the pollen.  We'll also get to rest a bit.  it was a big day today, but a fun one!

Frozen Again

Tonight we returned to see the Gainesville Ballet once more, and once more it was to see their production of "Frozen."  The dancers were largely the same, but it's a school of ballet so there were a few notable absences, some having graduated last year.  But again, we find that there are some graduating this year, and we always ask the same question, "How are they going to go one without this dancer or that?"

The answer is right here, actually.  These younger dancers come up, and every year there are some that are so impressive and talented that you are left with the question, "How can we go on without them?"  Yet, next year, there are more that are equally talented, and the cycle continues.  Still, some of these faces are so familiar that it is hard to say goodbye each year.

This year was easier for us, because we weren't a part of the system anymore, as Madison has left the school to be with the taekwondo, a decision she is still quite content to have made.  We ask her from time to time, and let her know it's okay to go back.  But she doesn't miss ballet as much as she misses her friends.  She enjoys ballet, and wanted to support her friends who were dancing.  And she loves dancing on stage with them.  It's just not as enjoyable to her as taekwondo is.  And so here she was, going back stage afterwards to see her friends - it was a reunion that was a bit overwhelming to her.

She was in tears from time to time, just because she was so happy to see everyone that she had missed so much.  So it goes without saying that we're probably going to the spring recital too!

You can see her here with her former ballet instructor, Mrs. Jocelyn.  This is all backstage - you can see the black area behind is the actual stage, and the doorway prop there to the left.  If you want to see more pictures of the production itself from last year, click here.

It was a great night to go out and do something, and it was a sweet experience, although a bit on the late side.  We had an enjoyable time, sitting in our usual seats at the front row of the upper balcony.  But I think that the reunion afterwards in the "Black Box" backstage was the most memorable thing for her, seeing her friends in person backstage after their performance, congratulating them and sharing stories.  We might be sharing more stories soon, as our Spring Breaks are coinciding, and one of the girls may be down in Florida at the same time.  We'll see how that works out as we get closer, but it goes without saying that Madison would love to meet up once again.

So the rest of the day was largely a day for us a day indoors.  There was plenty of work-related material to go over, and Madison was playing her piano some, working on her recital pieces and other items on her practice sheet, along with a few songs from "The Greatest Showman."  Speaking of which, Mrs. Pam's theme this year is the circus, which is something Madison actually guessed.  To that extent, we might be helping with some props, possibly.  We've done that in the past, and had some great things to contribute.  These usually turn out really well!

Today we were reading about Gambit and Rogue's first big date, returning to our comic books.  We had a super sad one to read through, and then there is the hope of Gambit and Rogue, although that goes back and forth for a while.  Ultimately, Daddy's last comic with them has a bit of a reunion - Madison has a soft spot for those two, as did Daddy when I was reading the comic for the first time more than twenty years ago.  We were collectively "shipping" those two a long time ago.  Coincidentally, Madison was surprised to discover who Rogue got her powers from, the hero that we all just went to see in the movies recently, "Captain Marvel."

It was a quiet day off, although we were all a bit busy in the house, typing and playing keys, and cleaning, and even some packing for an upcoming trip.  Lots to do, but there was a balance too - we were playing some games, reading comics, and sleeping in too.  It was a nice day together.

Angus

Angus is back!  This is a recurring character in our races, but he started out here with this race segment we have called "Leaping Lepers."  It's something that Daddy actually animated using an ancient program called "Motion," from long ago.  I remember being so excited to go to the Apple store and sit with a few others and learn how to use this program called "Motion."  We then set out to use it.  Daddy drew this animated landscape that breezed back, while having these characters hop up and down as if they were leaping across the horizon.  The goal was to get to Jesus first, when the "Hallelujah" chorus starts.  Angus was found online, and I doubt I could find him exactly again.  He doesn't really go with the other characters that much, but he has the same general build.  We just thought it was funny how disheveled he looked.  The fact that he was wearing something that looked like a kilt just added to the mythology of the character.  During the race itself, Daddy animated these small swirling flies that sort of randomly spun around him, also appearing to move forward as well.  We loved this character so much that in later races he appears during completely different series.  He drives a school bus during School Days, and rows a boat during our Castaway Cove series.  Daddy hopes to use him again in future events - can you imagine him as the pilot of an X-wing, or a chariot driver?  Yes, you can.

We did quite a bit of work today, and in fact Daddy is done with his "Miracles" devotional, pulling together twenty-eight daily devotional entries about the miracles of Jesus.  Camille wrote an additional one and might write a few more, as will another dad that also happens to go meet with us at taekwondo.  But the amazing thing is how fast this came together, and I think it will work out well.

The logo, however has been a bit of a process.  We thought we had something close to being done, but in fact no.  That's the way it is.  Subjective artwork and communication can get complicated.  But we're fast approaching, and in fact some other ideas have sprung forth about using our kids that show up for the "Acting Up" classes, and having them be a part of our session.  That will be great.

Madison had art club again, although there aren't many of these left.  She was spending some time working on drawing, including drawing eyes.  She's done so well with this latest drawing.  She uses pencils and smears them in such a way across the paper to add a bit of a gradient, and suddenly a whole new world is open to her of shading, darker pencils and lighter ones.  We let her know about the number 2 pencil, the number 3, and so on.  She's increasing with her skills with the pencil though.  This might be the most realistic thing she's drawn to date, and it's just a small part of her portfolio that she's keeping at the school.  We'll have to wait until we see all the finished products together, but we can't wait to see them all.  This year, she seems to be making some very good progress with her artwork.

She's also increasing her skills with the piano, although a bit slower there.  She practiced a good bit today, and once again we were hearing the song "Stitches" again and again.  But she's practicing, and we're so blessed to have a super piano in the house like we do, all tuned.  Even missed notes don't sound so bad, because this piano is being loved and being practiced on frequently.  It sounds great today.

We watched the LEGO Freemakers finale today, which was just hysterical at times.  It's actually a fun show to watch, one all three of us have been enjoying.

This guy steals the show for Daddy.  It's funny how we've gone to a random bad guy in a black robe back in the 80's, not stealing the show from Darth Vader... to a guy with a simple black robe who really does steal the show from Darth Vader.  The end of the second season was just hilarious, particularly what happens to him at the end.  We were laughing out loud at this, the three of us.

We've had a great season here, and everyone's been healthy and all is well.  We've got a quick vacation coming up, and KidPak has been going really well.  School is going super as well.  Life is beautiful!

Combat Sticks

Daddy doesn't take his camera with him to Madison's taekwondo, but from time to time I'll turn this computer around and use its Photo Booth feature to snap a quick shot of Madison.  It's pretty low quality, but this gives you the idea of the view from the waiting area.  Daddy sits and types up things, like tonight he was working on the new devotional for this next series, which is just getting its wings at the moment.  But the momentum is really going forward.

Meanwhile, Madison is working on her form, as you can see above.  She says she remembers it simply by practicing it on the mat there, not really needing to practice so much at home.  She looks great out there, so precise and in great form.  She's like a mantis!

The other thing she did for the first time was a combat stick fight.  They don't use their actual bahng mahng ee sticks, because those can hurt a bit when they strike someone.  So they have these tempered combat weapons with cushions and so forth.  Madison ultimately lost the match by one point, but she told me she did a lot better than she expected.  For one thing, she had never done it before.  She was surprisingly evasive, and did well with her strikes, and perhaps the point values of where the strikes were and how they were delivered ultimately helped her opponent win the match.  But she had a great time with it, and can't wait to try it again.  She's fearless that way.

Tonight, she finished up some homework, and afterwards we were watching a few more episodes of the Freemakers.  Tomorrow night we should have those all done.  They're great episodes - the three of us get on the couch with the new popcorn, which is delicious, by the way.  We watched a couple episodes before heading off to bed, where we read some more from the latest Neverland adventure.  Tomorrow is an early morning with art club, so we couldn't stay up too late.

It was a cooler day today, despite the technical fact that it is spring.  The sun went down and it got even more chilly, the large bright full moon sneaking up over the horizon.  We see it through one of those higher windows in the great room.  It's a big window, and that moon just fills it up, this bright thing that we all look up at in wonder.  Someone walks by, and inevitably, there's this, "Hey, look at the moon tonight!"  Tonight was one of those nights where we could say that.  It was very impressive.

There's so much going on though, with lots more to write, Summer Xtreme included.  Daddy started the first message today, also the skit for this Sunday's "Romans," and worked on the devotional for "Miracles," helping with the upcoming Easter Festival, while doing graphics for "Romans" and ... well, you get the drift.  We're all over the map.

But there's a Spring Break coming soon, and I have three books I want to read all of the sudden - these books have nothing to do with work, so that should be nice.  It's always good to disappear into a book.  Or, perhaps Mustafar.  Sometimes Madison and I go there and blast Stormtroopers and try to hide from Anakin.  He's lurking out there, and it's best to keep your distance - especially with that glowing combat stick he has.

Romans Road

We had this small group tonight, and I made a hand-out that demonstrated Romans Road, something that spells it out above.  Is uses some road signs, and also our Gladiator character with an uncharacteristic smile on his face.  It was a good night tonight - our small groups are just as described in their name: small.  It's a more intimate setting, and sometimes the conversations veer in completely different directions, and it's great to get the kids involved, talking about daily life or issues at school.  

Madison had another issue at school, one where she approached the guidance counselor with two friends.  The three formed a coalition to complain about another student who had some bullying tendencies.  We don't know the entire story, but it appears as if she had a more minor roll in this, outside of her testimony.  Evidently this other bully used some language along the way.  

Ah, these are the things kids learn at school that you'd rather them not learn.  You can't entirely blame the school system any more than you can blame the movie theater for the parents that bring a screaming baby into a PG-13 movie.  You just can't micromanage everything, as much as you want to wrap your student in a bubble wrap and ship them off to school with warnings not to interact with anyone.  Obviously, we don't do that.  But we do pray a lot, and God's grace has been wonderful for us.

Today was Free Ice Cream Day at Dairy Queen, so obviously we had to make the trip there for free ice cream.  This is a day you can't miss, if there's a Dairy Queen around you!  

I was at home before service tonight, reading to Madison and Mommy, and here we are generations later with this story from Neverland, or at least London.  And we're finally meeting Wendy Darling in this story, and seeing that she too has a taste of adventure similar to her mother Molly, or Mary if you know her in the more formal social circles.  Everyone is enjoying latest entry, this despite the fact that I am a bit wheezy lately with all the pollen and allergies.  Still, that does help with the Captain Hook voice:  "Quiet, you idjits!"

Another School Photo

Another school photo came home, and oh my!  These pictures just seem to show a girl much older than she really is.  Or maybe it's true that she's really growing up on us.  This is a nice picture - they did a great job with this one.  Of course, much of this is due to the fact that Madison has been very photogenic and a natural beauty.

This picture seems to suggest something brighter on the way, and indeed today is the last day of winter.  Despite this, the temperatures are lower than average this whole week, another reminder that winter was acting like a real jerk this year.

Daddy has been working on a new devotional, while Madison is getting into her new quarter, the fourth quarter and its new classes.  No more health class (yay!), now Madison has art class officially. She's been in art club on Fridays, but is officially in art class and already getting to work on drawing in her pad.  She's doing a fantastic job.  I can't wait to share some of her new material she's doing.  This teacher is really getting her to increase her talent with the pencil.

Tonight we had taekwondo, which is fun as always.  Daddy is getting a little more comfortable watching Madison do some of that sparring, which is something they're doing more of lately.  They're also using the bahng mahg ee sticks, swiping at the large cushions with various lunging blows.  That's my kind of weapon, a stick.  Younger kids practice with lightsabers, and there's why you can see the reason everyone loves this weapon.  You can just imagine people practicing with these and making lightsaber noises.  Or, at least that's what I would do.

So we've been working towards Easter at the office, and working on the new series with the new devotional - with lots of writing there.  The weather is cold outside, but it is technically still winter.  One last day it is.  This was the last day of winter, so tomorrow everything is automatically going to clear up and get warmer, right?  Not so fast.  No, the only guarantee is pollen and allergies.  I'm beginning to see why fall is the best of the seasons for some folks.  You get the similar weather, but it's not so brutal on the pollen.

Ba-Ba got us some baseball tickets for when we're down in Florida.  We're actually going to see the Daytona Tortugas again, and possibly their opening game.  Madison really wants to go back and see a baseball game, and she wants to see the Gwinnett Stripers again as well.  We were all having conversations today about how much fun seeing a minor league ball game is.

We watched a few episodes of the Freemakers tonight, but things are moving along there and we'll soon have to watch something else.  We're wrapping up this story line for season two, and it's been fun to watch.  The three of us take our places and get watching, if only for a little bit.  It's not the longest time we have each weeknight, due to early mornings.  But we do get to snuggle under the blankets while it's cooler and watch some of these new episodes.

Afterwards there was much rejoicing as we continued bedtime stories with Peter Pan and his friends. Also, the book of Romans.  We're reading from that, now that our devotional has run its course.  It only makes sense to read from Romans this series, which has just about everything in it you need, which is one reason we thought it would be fun to do a series about.

I can tell you the day I thought up this series, "Romans."  It was way over ten years ago - we were at the bookstore in Valdosta, exit five along I-75.  It had all kinds of books with Bible lessons and so forth, and I saw one for 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians (we picked those books up, actually).  There wasn't a book on Romans, but the idea was to do an entire series where we just stuck with one book of the Bible exclusively, which was a little more challenging when you worked with devotional material and eight or nine messages.  Of course, the gospels you can do that with.  Also the book of Genesis.  But we liked the idea of doing that for "Romans," because we thought we could have fun with the Roman look with gladiators and togas and so on.  So we put it all together, and Daddy spent a good deal of time with research on that one, just like usual with these series.  The end result has been so good, we've returned to do this series three times, I think.  This one has been the best, mainly because Madison is involved of course.  But there's a huge, talented cast, and it's been so easy and fun.  Best of all, the Biblical lessons have been very strong this series - it's an exclusive study of the book of Romans, but all for kids.

After reading for a bit, there were prayers and zerberts.  It's been a nice day, although a cooler one.  Hopefully things will warm up soon.  Until then, we're getting under those covers, which are still hard to get out from under each morning.  But the sun will be up tomorrow.  Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun!

Come on, Spring!

Spring is on its way, but you wouldn't know this based on the temperature outside.  It's getting chilly again, and Winter keeps coming back to the room as if in the middle of an argument, walking in saying, "And another thing...!"

The marriage of hot-to-cold-to-hot-to-cold temperatures with all these new allergies has been bad.  Allergies haven't traditionally bothered Daddy much, but now these last two years, both he and Madison have had to combat the effects of allergies with various medications.  Also, nice warm lunches are good for the soul:  we were enjoying variations of the corned beef from yesterday, which has become almost as treasured a tradition as Thanksgiving leftovers!

Despite the chill, we were relaxed today, starting out quarter four of sixth grade, the last part of the year getting started with a new art class, and of course the continued other classes that Madison has been taking.  She's been looking forward to this art class all year now, mainly because she's been in art club since the beginning of the school year.

Tonight we were watching more of the adventures of the Freemakers, looking for those crystals that do such wonderful things in the Star Wars universe, like make lightsabers and Death Stars.  All three of us enjoy these episodes - there are a lot of fun references and humor in these.  Emperor Palpatine is easily the most fun character here, getting laughs with great quotes that may show up again in a future Summer Xtreme skit, perhaps.  We're writing some of these down...!

We continued with our Neverland story tonight, learning more about this mysterious Sword of Mercy, one with the power to access a large trunk of star stuff.  Will the Others get access to it?  As we read, we're finding out more and more who is after it, and who wants to save the world from those who are after it.

It's been good reading these, the girls demanding that we read one after another.  Sadly, there is just one left after this book, and we're done.  Although we may read the authors' other collaboration, a book Daddy has been anxious to re-read, one called "Science Fair."

We said our prayers tonight, and snuggled under our blankets, going to bed at a reasonable time tonight.  We were still somewhat tired from the huge weekend, and it was good to catch some rest.  It was a good day though, and a good start to the fourth quarter.  The days are about to speed up as we get into the busy season of Easter, testings, and preparing for Summer Xtreme.  Here we go - hold on tight!

St. Patrick's Day Mystery

This morning's skit was, according to Madison, "The funniest one of the series, and probably the year."  Indeed, Daddy had been looking forward to the last few pages of this skit for some time, the resolution to one ongoing plot line involving and upcoming unwanted marriage.

It was a great morning, and an important one too - we were talking about Romans Road this morning with the kids, which seems only appropriate during this series.  It was a pretty solid morning from start to finish, followed by a volunteer meeting afterwards.

You can see Daddy amongst the crowd there, all dressed up and ready for St. Patrick's Day, because, lo!  Today was St. Patrick's Day!

We actually managed to tie that to the concept of "Romans," by the way.  Check this writing out that Daddy contributed to our latest issue of Parenting Matters:

     Some time ago, a Roman soldier named Calpurnius lived in Britain, and probably had no clue at all that his son would go on to become one of the most famous names in history.  This was especially true the day pirates landed in south Wales and kidnapped his boy, along with many others.  These wicked men sold him into slavery in Ireland, where he was imprisoned for six long years.  But it was there that his son had an encounter with God.  And soon after that, he was able to escape!

    The last place you’d expect him to go is right back to Ireland.  But Calpurnius’ son now had a mission.  It was one that Jesus told us many years before:  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  That included Ireland.  

    Romans 8:28 tells us that “All things work together for the good of those that love the Lord.”  Sometimes those very things are difficult for us to fully understand.  In this case, that included kidnapping and even slavery.  Like Joseph from the Bible, Calpurnius’ son had to endure a sentence that he didn’t deserve, a sentence that lasted for years.
     But also like Joseph, if he didn’t go through it, he wouldn’t have seen where God wanted him to go.  Yes, while enslaved there, this boy saw the Irish people, and knew they needed to hear about the love of Jesus.  As Romans 12:1 asks us, he took his everyday life, and gave it to God as an offering. 
     And because of that, to this very day, his amazing stories and accomplishments in Ireland are celebrated.  They’re celebrated especially on a day we’ll forever associate with this man’s name.
     Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

     We wore our green this morning, and afterwards, we were finally ready for our big St. Patrick's Day mystery!  It was a great, great time with the family, and everyone came dressed up in character:

Yesterday, we had found that green dress for Madison, and it was just perfect for her elegant heiress look of her character.  And Mommy looked amazing!

We actually found that rocker shirt yesterday with "IRISH" written on it, a lightning bold replacing the middle "I."  She ordered the wig, the glasses and even green glasses, and wore those Chun Li bracelets along with a lot of safety pins.  She was an Irish punk rocker if we ever saw one!

As you can see, we were seated here, eating our traditional Irish fare:  Mommy prepared a few items, and the grandparents got a whole lot of corn beef and cabbage and potatoes and Irish soda bread.  It was all really delicious, and some of us probably ate too much.  But there were plenty of leftovers for this week.

David actually brought some Irish cheese samples too, including Irish Whiskey Cheese and some Irish Cheddar.  His character was a Dairy King, so that was part of his deal.

But soon the mystery began to unfold.  Each person had cards, each card explaining motives and accusations and so forth, and everyone really got into character.  You can see Jonathan above, cracking everyone up as he does his best "boxer" voice.

Nana and Ye-Ye were having a great time too, watching all this unfold, and as characters themselves, attempting to figure out whodunnit.

Madison was hysterical!  She was in character, all elegant and refined, and simply appalled at all these lower class people making such frivolous accusations!  She threw in quite a bit of her own improv, adding to her story in a creative way that had us all laughing.  Ultimately, the clues were there, thrown down on the table as the game progressed, and you can see everyone working together to try and eliminate suspects, counting down to who the culprit really was.

In the end, it was Aunt Shain whodunnit!  One person in our group accurately guessed that, while the remaining people guessed it was Nana, or even Madison.  In fact, Madison herself thought that she did it, given such a strong motivation.  There was one bit of evidence that was overlooked that cleared her name.

Still, everyone seemed to have a great time today.  We had dessert afterwards, including a gluten-free chocolate cake with a big shamrock on top, plus Mommy's incredible marzipan potatoes, which look just like real potatoes!

It's become a day that's almost as big as Christmas, a chance in mid-March for all the family to get together, wear green, eat traditional foods, listen to Irish music, and laugh a lot.  We've done murder mysteries before on St. Patrick's Day, but Daddy always wanted to try one that had an Irish theme to it.  So... I wrote one myself.

Part of the reason it worked was everyone dressing up so well for it, and getting into character so much.  It wasn't perfect, but in retrospect, it wasn't that far off from one of these games that you'd buy in a box.  Usually the clues are vague enough that it is fairly difficult to predict whodunnit.  In this case, only one person did - Jonathan.  But everyone else had narrowed it down considerably, and they were close.  I learned a few things watching people's minds working on the clues, and of course there was some trickery involved too - Aunt Shain led a few people astray, accurately thinking that perhaps she was the culprit herself.  But all in all, hopefully everyone had a great time.   I know that Madison certainly did - she was talking about it all the way home.  And Mommy and I had a great time as well, as we always do each St. Patrick's Day.