Always First with the Gear On

We had a funny few moments today in taekwondo.  Keep in mind there are probably over twenty people in that class, but no matter what, when it's time to put the sparring gear on, Madison is always - always - the first one out there on the mat.  By a long shot.  I mean, she's sitting there waiting.  For some odd reason, it's always like that, as the boys there tend to take longer to get their gear on.  You'd think it'd be the other way around, but I suppose Madison is anxious and ready to go.  The teachers called this fact out to everyone, and it didn't seem to affect their speed.  One of the students remarked that Madison forgot to zip up her bag, so she raced back there to do that, and still had plenty of time to be first by at least fifteen seconds.  On her way back there though, she told that one kid that she had her gear on, and how'd he like it if she punched him!  Mr. Edge cracked up at this, heading back to tell Daddy immediately.

She did good tonight, sparring with a new person first, one bigger and more energetic.  Madison matched that energy, and had a few remarkably high kicks that were head level.  That angle of her high kick keeps increasing, and the speed does too.  She really is improving quite a bit!

The rest of the day was good too:  today Madison was doing pottery in art class, something she was pretty excited about.  She's done a lot of creative things in this art class, and she's been pretty happy with her work there.  She did well elsewhere too, taking her Latin America test today, one she feels she did pretty well on!

And right on cue, there was a pretty big uprising in Venezuela today.  Maybe things will be shifting there now, but we'll have to wait and see.  But that was on the national news, all over it.  Lots of things going on in Latin America, ironically.

We were reading today, praying today, and being thankful for a good life here.  Things have gone well, and Madison is doing well too.  Mommy was doing a significant amount of rearranging in the house, cleaning things up - you could say it was spring cleaning.  We're still putting stuff out in the front yard, mulch and so forth.  And we're starting on the side of the house too.  It's all coming together - lots to do, but it'll look nice!

Ordinary Monday

Monday's here again, and things were relatively normal as far as Mondays go.  Madison had a decent day at school - we review this sort of thing as we drive her or there afterwards.  Today, we were driving to piano class, and dropping Mommy off at the grocery store.  The trick is picking up Mommy after piano, and it all times out just right so that we can actually join her in the grocery store to help back groceries and load up the car.  But on the way there, we typically run through the day, from class to class.  We were talking about Latin America, weather patterns, dodgeball tournaments, reviewing fractions, upcoming birthday invitations, novel studies, and more.  The conversation sort of goes on and on, and could continue so if we didn't have to drop her off at piano.  Class went well, and she's moving along at such a rate that she's about to get a new book, next level.  Afterwards, we got Mommy at the grocery store, peeking in there - the place was super busy.

There's a dodgeball tournament coming up later this week, and Madison is once again signed up for it, not afraid of anything.  She and her friends are all geared up and ready to go!  She's been studying and should have her summative on Latin America this week, maybe tomorrow.  No test questions on Venezuela yet, although this seems to be a pretty strong teachable moment.  Talk about an unstable government, or at least that's how things are being presented.  It sounds awful, actually.  We'll see what happens with that, but for the moment, Madison's knowledge of climate and certain facts about Brazil, Mexico, Cuba and other countries has grown.

Daddy and Mommy spent a good deal of time in the front yard, playin' in the dirt.  We were putting mulch out and clearing out a lot of debris and leaves from the winter.  We made massive piles of the stuff, dragging it off deep into our woods.  A small dream started today about what to do with the side of the house.  It'll take a lot of work, but we'll have to make it happen.  Things may look quite a bit different, maybe even by this fall.

Today Mommy and Daddy also went to Texas Roadhouse on a date, followed by a few chores - the bank, and picking up mulch.  We've gotten much mulch!

After piano, Madison didn't have much to do for homework, so we had ourselves a Mario Party.  That was fun - Daddy won again, but it was a nail biter.  The addictive part of the game has taken hold with Daddy and Madison, so much so that we're sort of doing that over other things as well.  Although, tonight, we did have time to watch some of the special features from "Gravity Falls," some of the animated shorts that are all part of the collection.   We saw a few of them, but that one "Lefty" was pretty hilarious for some reason.  We'll probably watch more tomorrow night, finishing them off with some popcorn.  Madison wants popcorn tomorrow - she didn't think of that until later on, and is now pretty excited about getting some more popcorn.  It's one of the main food groups!

We read some more and said our prayers.  We're grateful for what we have, a wonderful family and ordinary days like today.  Daddy did a bit of work for KidPak, but overall, the day was a chance to catch up on things, cleaning up the yard a bit, and even working in the basement.  When Madison got home, it was a time to be together and have a great night.

Back on Stage

You can see Madison back on stage, more a part of an ensemble cast here, sitting at the feet of Jesus as he teaches.  The many who were there didn't have food to eat, and that lead up to the miracle of the feeding of 5,000.  Of course, that final number didn't count women and children, so it was much much more.  To replicate the miracle, we had a table at stage left, a counter that we made hole in.  At the same time, Mommy had a hole in a basket, one that she lined with cloth to obscure things a bit.  Underneath that table - and hidden from site, was Camille, and a whole lot of bread that we purchased yesterday.  The end result was hilarious:  we had bread that was constantly coming out of the basket, much to the shock of Nerdo, a character on stage that just couldn't make this basket stop bringing out bread.  The kids loved it!

Afterwards, we were back to our acting class, and Madison had fun with a "bad acting" assignment:

We told her - and others - to do a line on stage as if they were bad actors.  And then, do the line again the best that they could.  The end results were hilarious!  I notice that there's something within Madison for certain scenes, something very dramatic.  She's good, actually.  She was supposed to be nervous and frightened, and it almost looked like her eyes were watering up a bit, legitimately scared about something.  Of course, it was all an act.

We were talking a lot today about the difference between acting on stage and acting in front of a camera, and the illustration above allowed us to be a bit more free in identifying things that people are doing wrong on stage, and what steps could be taken to improve those.  So it was a bit of education, but it was also a bit of laughter too this afternoon.  Madison had a great time!

After getting home, Madison was back at the piano again, and there was the matter of a delicious dinner that Mommy had prepared.  We had a few games of Mario Party, a new thing that Madison is enjoying lately and asking to play.  It's fun, and completely random at times.  There is skill involved, but Mario Party is not the sort of game that rewards skill so much as it instead levels the playing field with unbelievable good luck, or bad.  Madison was the winner tonight, but even in losing, she loves the game.

We read tonight, and slept easy tonight - it was a pretty full day.  Daddy preached, hosted the race, and did the skit as well, and then co-hosted the acting class this afternoon.  Quite a full amount of activity today, and as a result, we were all ready for bed rather quickly.

Goodnight!

Soul Stone Theory

So today was the day we saw it, and we were off social media and everything, avoiding as many spoilers as we could.  In fact, I'd say we were more clueless about this movie than any other Marvel movie at all.  We had no idea what was going to happen as we got to the theater.

We thought we'd avoid a big crowd by going to the 10:15 am showing this morning.  We were so wrong on that one - the theater was packed!  And in fact, that was the trend all weekend all over the world, apparently.  This weekend, this movie made an estimated 1.2 billion dollars, which is a staggering amount of money to make for a movie's full run.  But we're talking that much money over a single opening weekend!

Anyway, we sat in the back, in our usual spots there at dead center of a full auditorium, and there was this energy to the place, all fans, all anxious to see the culmination of ten years.  Consider that a moment:  Madison was adopted in June of 2008, just a month after the release of the first Iron Man movie.  This extended universe has spanned her entire life with us, the story of certain characters within these movies lasting all this time - and ending with this one movie here.  It was a pretty epic cinematic moment.  We had the popcorn and the nervous energy going in!

We can't say much here right now, mainly because spoilers are rampant.  We didn't get it spoiled at all, and managed to see the whole thing.  We are somewhat down about a few things, and possibly confused about a few others - that sort of sums up a lot of the world right now, as much of the world has seen this movie.  But on the whole, it was good.  There were some great moments for all the characters, and again, even War Machine, who doesn't exactly have a arcing storyline, other than the fact that the events in "Civil War" were less than kind to him.

It's hard talking about it without getting into specifics, so we'll move on.  Sort of.  It's funny when you get home, and much of your day is already gone because you went to see a three-hour movie with a ton of trailers (some inappropriate, by the way).  But we did get home, and we ate a nice lunch, and the rest of the day was ours to do was we please as well.  We got a few obligatory things out of the way, namely piano practice and French dip.

We went out to get groceries a bit later, stopping by to get a whole lot of bread.  This is for the stage presentation of the miracle tomorrow where Jesus feeds the 5,000.  Actually, again, it's more than 5,000, as for some reason the folks back then didn't think it was important to count the women and children there.  You'd think at least that would be important, as it would certainly increase the number quite a bit.  Anyway, Madison and Daddy went to the Publix and got a few items there, including bread and Orange Vanilla Coke.  The verdict on this new flavor of Coke:  take it or leave it.  It's okay.  Mommy may actually like it better than we do.

Daddy was working on the message today, the one he's speaking tomorrow.  Also, he was working on the "Acting Up" class tomorrow as well, as we can't just go into these things without a plan.  Tonight, we played a game of Mario Party on the Switch, and that was a lot of fun.  Through sheer luck, Daddy won tonight, but everyone playing agreed it was still a lot of fun.

We went to bed early tonight, still thinking about "Endgame," by the way.  It's one of those final movies that gets you in a certain mood, and constantly thinking about things.  I swear no one has ever spent so much time thinking about the Soul Stone before.  Of all the Infinity Stones, that's the one that winds up being the most notorious of all.  Stupid Soul Stone.  We hate you, Soul Stone!

SOUL STONE THEORY: 

I'm posting this a week later, and there are spoilers below.  We'll see if this theory is close to the mark, or just maybe some hopeful fan fiction.  At this point, it seems pretty logical.  But further thinking about the Soul Stone has led me to this alternate theory, which I'm typing out because it's kind of funny to us:

Captain America goes back to just before Black Widow and Hawkeye debate jumping off a cliff, and hands them the Soul Stone that he’s bringing back from the future.  

He says, “Here, use this one.”  He might even explain things a bit.  

Red Skull is kind of ticked, of course.  But the Soul Stone Cap has did cost a soul.  It’s the real deal.  And… that stone will soon be gone when Hawkeye takes off with it to the future.  Black Widow goes with Cap back to the future, just like Gamora.  And they start the cycle again (they use it, giving it to Cap, who afterwards brings it back to Vormir).

Meanwhile the Soul Stone Red Skull is guiding people to is still there, wherever.  Because I don’t remember there being any rule about multiplying Infinity Stones.

Thanos never shows up to Vormir anyway, because instead of going through the events of “Infinity War,” he instead bypasses all that, and time travels to five years into the future, where he gets dusted by Tony Stark.  

That stone waiting for Thanos... it won’t affect the time line at all, wherever it is, so long as it just sits there, unused.  Which you could trust Captain America to make sure of, if he were to hold on to it later.

That’s my theory and I’m sticking with it!  In fact, here's a script that I came up with that sort of explains it:

MUSIC BUILDING.  HAWKEYE has determined that it is he that will sacrifice himself to save half the universe.

HAWKEYE:  (to BLACK WIDOW) “You win.”

HAWKEYE does a leg sweep, knocking BLACK WIDOW to the ground.

HAWKEYE:  “Tell my family I love them.”

HAWKEYE is about to run towards the cliff, to hurl himself off, but BLACK WIDOW knocks HAWKEYE down.

BLACK WIDOW:  (rising) “You tell them yourself.”

BLACK WIDOW stuns HAWKEYE with a blast from her wrists, shocking him.  BLACK WIDOW turns and starts to run towards the cliff.

SUDDENLY, CAPTAIN AMERICA appears in front of her.

BLACK WIDOW: “Wha?"

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “Hold up.  Don’t jump!”

BLACK WIDOW: (stunned) “What are you doing here?”

CAPTAIN AMERICA holds up the Soul Stone so she can see it.

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “I got the Soul Stone already.  You can have it.”

RED SKULL:  “Wait just a minute here!  Where did you come from?”

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  (turning to RED SKULL)  “Oh, hello again.  You look great, by the way. Haven’t aged a day.”

HAWKEYE (rising to his feet):  “What the heck is going on?”

RED SKULL:  “Yeah, where’d you get that Soul Stone?  Don’t tell me I’ve been sitting here guiding people to nothing all this time!"

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “No, no, no.  Yours is down there.  Mine is from the future. It’s like this.  (to BLACK WIDOW and HAWKEYE) You know how you two traveled back in time to get here?”

HAWKEYE and BLACK WIDOW nod.

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “That’s what I just did again.  I traveled back in time to get here after our last big battle with Thanos.  I'm here just a little bit later.  (To HAWKEYE)  I can’t believe you let her jump, man."

HAWKEYE:  “She zapped me with those electric thingies.  I was about to knock her down with an exploding arrow.”

BLACK WIDOW:  “What?”

RED SKULL:  “It’s true.  I saw it.”

CAPTAIN AMERICA, BLACK WIDOW and HAWKEYE stare at RED SKULL a moment.

RED SKULL:  “Okay, I don’t make the rules.  I’m not entirely sure why people have to jump, or be thrown off a cliff.  I mean, it all seems sort of dated.  Why not get swallowed up by the stone or something a little more like something you’d see in a comic book?"

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “It doesn’t matter.  Because I have the stone.  And… it’s time to go.”

RED SKULL:  “I am sorry.  The rules are clear:  a soul for a soul.  You can only earn the Soul Stone that way.”

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “Which… she did.  Remember?  Oh yeah, you don’t.  But you will.  I think.  Or you would have.  Or… well, trust me on this one:  you did.  Black Widow jumped off, and died.  A soul for a soul.”

RED SKULL:  “You can’t just grab a soul stone without some significant sacrifice!”

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “Why not?  Thanos just did.  And so did Spider-man, and Captain Marvel, and Iron Man, and now me too.  I have the Soul Stone.”

RED SKULL:  “But… but…”

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “Don’t worry.  You can keep on watching that other Soul Stone down there.  Or guiding people to it, or whatever it is you do around here.”

RED SKULL:  “It’s an important job.”

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “Yes, sure, whatever.  But the price for that stone down there…well, that's a little high.  So we’ll keep it down there, if you don’t mind."

BLACK WIDOW:  “That’s perfect.  Now I don’t have to waste my life.”

HAWKEYE:  “And it’s even better, because that leaves the stone in place, and the time line won’t be changed.  Because eventually Thanos will come by, and he’ll…”

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “Oh, that’s rich.  I just thought something funny."

BLACK WIDOW: “What?"

HAWKEYE:  “He was supposed to come by and get the stone, right?  I think he threw Gamora off this cliff, and got the Soul Stone.  Isn’t that what happened?"

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “Nope.  Not anymore.  He changed that.  Instead of gathering the stones one by one, he skipped all that part.  He knows what you're doing.  He time traveled, and he's about to attack you when you get back with the stones.”

BLACK WIDOW: “Oh, great."

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “Don’t panic.  He fails.  And now he and his army are dust.  The point is, he actually never comes by here to pick up the Soul Stone."

RED SKULL:  “Now wait just a minute…!”

CAPTAIN:  “Here.  Take it!”

CAPTAIN AMERICA hands SOUL STONE to HAWKEYE.

HAWKEYE:  “Thanks, Cap!  That would have been awful to see her jump off a cliff.  Now we’ve got the Soul Stone, and we can meet up with the others!”

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  "Well, there is one thing.  I need to take Black Widow to my timeline, where you'll see her again, only when I return later on.  It's complicated, but it's exactly how Gamora jumped to the future, so I know it will work for her Black Widow too.  Don't worry - you'll see her again, pretty much in a couple of days really."

BLACK WIDOW:  “So that won't mess anything up?"

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “Nope.  In my time line, Hawkeye returns alone.  Just like he's about to do.  (to HAWKEYE) You'll have to lie to everyone about Black Widow dying and stuff.  Everyone will be sad, but you know, there's this big battle to think about and all.  We didn't even have time for a funeral or anything.”

BLACK WIDOW:  (a look of accusation towards HAWKEYE) “Not even a funeral?!?"

HAWKEYE:  “Don't look at me like that!  I have no idea what’s going on.”

CAPTAIN:  “Don’t worry.  We win against Thanos.  And after the battle, I come back in time with all these Infinity Stones to put them right back where they came from, in order to restore the time line.  That’s why I’m here.”

RED SKULL: “I wish you weren’t.  It sort of makes my job pointless."

CAPTAIN AMERICA: “Yep.  (to HAWKEYE) I figured I could just hand this to you, and it’ll be gone in a few moments anyway when you time travel back to your future.  No one will know the difference.”

RED SKULL:  “I will!”

BLACK WIDOW:  “No, don’t you see?  Your Soul Stone is still down there, waiting for someone to hurl themselves off a cliff to get to.”

RED SKULL:  “I am so confused.”

HAWKEYE:  “Let’s just go.  We got the Soul Stone!  Is there anything I can do in the battle, any place where I can be to sort of turn the tide?”

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “Come to think of it, yes!  Definitely.  The gauntlet will work, so relax about that.  Bruce Banner should do the snap thingy.  He’ll survive.  But have him wait to snap when you get back.  Get out of the building as soon as you can, really far.  Then wait.  When you see Thanos and his entire army show up, that’s when it is time to snap.  Have Banner snap them all away, and at the same time snap back all the population that were snapped away five years ago.  Got it?”

HAWKEYE:  “Got it!”

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “It’s real important, because it will save Tony Stark’s life in your timeline."

HAWKEYE: “Oh, that sounds important.  Thanks, Cap!"

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “You'll see me again soon, and tell me this all worked after the snap, so I can return all these stones, and then come back to get Black Widow."

RED SKULL:  "What?  Why does he need to do that?  You're taking her right now."

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  "No, he's telling my earlier version to do be sure to come back and get Black Widow.  Which is what I'm doing now."

HAWKEYE:  "I'm on it, Cap!  I'll remind you to come get Black Widow when I get back to the future."

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  "And then after that, you can visit me as an old man.”

BLACK WIDOW: “What?”

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  “Uh... I’ll have to explain that part later.  Just trust me on that one.”

BLACK WIDOW:  “Uh… okay."

HAWKEYE nods, and look ready to get going.

HAWKEYE:  "Cap, I'll see you in as soon as I get back from this crazy world.  And Black Widow,  I'll see you in a few days."

BLACK WIDOW:  “It goes without saying, but..."

BOTH:  "This is nothing like Budapest..."

HAWKEYE:  “See you later!”

HAWKEYE rushes off with Soul Stone.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: (to RED SKULL) “Well, it’s time for me to go too.  Any messages you want me to bring back from the infamous Red Skull?  I’m heading back to the 40’s, you know."

RED SKULL:  “Yes.  Tell them, I wish to be there back on earth again.  I wish it more than anything.  But unfortunately, I had to lose what I love the most.”

BLACK WIDOW:  “Say, isn’t that the very thing you say you have to do in order to actually gain the Soul Stone?”

RED SKULL:  “Ummm… yes?”

BLACK WIDOW:  "So if you gave up the thing you wanted most to get the Soul Stone, how come you don't have the Soul Stone?"

CAPTAIN AMERICA, BLACK WIDOW and RED SKULL stare at each other a moment, RED SKULL clearly trying to work something out in his mind.

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  (abruptly) “See ya!”

CAPTAIN AMERICA and BLACK WIDOW run off.

RED SKULL: “I really hate this job."

Anyway, we read tonight, and we prayed.  And we went to bed early.  We're getting up early tomorrow, as it's a big day, and an exciting one too!

Ice Cream and Golf

You can see here how Ye-Ye is gloating over his spectacular score at mini-golf tonight.  It was ten under par, and just ridiculous!  He got three hole-in-ones in a row!  He should have had two more, his aim was so deadly tonight.  He's not a big fan of the game, but lo!  The anointing apparently fell upon him, and he just had "one of those games."  We all had a great time too, by the way.  It's all about having fun, of course, and not the competing part so much.

These are the memories though, golf and then ice cream afterwards on the deck there.  It overlooks the course, and there's this big line of rocking chairs.  When the full family is there, we take up all the chairs exactly.  We got our ice creams and sat for a while, talking in the pleasant weather.  It was a little windy, but we were shielded from that in the woods, and it wasn't really that cold.  It was just right, actually.  But everyone had a good time.  It's a nice little golf course, and it's right there next to us, pretty much.  No doubt we'll be stopping by there for ice cream frequently now, as that was a tradition last year.

We got home, and of course the three of us were all about the series finale of "Gravity Falls."  It's gone from a "that's interesting and pretty funny" show to a "must see what happens next" sort of thing, as the episodes are less "stand alone" and more "part of this greater story."  And it has been a greater story too.  There have been hilarious moments, and after tonight, some really heartfelt moments as well.  It's a great show, and fortunately we're not completely done with it:  there is a third part of this collection that has some shorts, and we're not talking about the kind you wear.  But as you could probably predict, we'll be right on that pretty soon.

So "Endgame" came out yesterday, officially, and we're off of social media and anything else that could spoil it for us.  We're blissfully clueless about what happens at the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although it's not technically the end for the universe - just the end for certain characters, or so we've been lead to believe.  Anyway, it's been a "series finale" sort of weekend here.  The Marvel one is a big deal though.  We're going to see this final movie in the morning.  There's a showing at 10:15am, and we're hoping it isn't as packed as the other showings will be.  We'll see!

As mentioned above, it was a breezy day, and slightly cooler, but very pleasant nonetheless.  We did some yard work outside, and Daddy wrote the second of the Summer Xtreme skits, so that's halfway done there.  Each one of these is such a burden, and it feels so good to have 50% of that weight off the ol' shoulders right now.

Madison got a few perfect scores on her Latin America assignments, and fortunately there's been no mention of air pollution so far.  For context, you'll have to read earlier, because it seems as if that's one of the main things she's learned about Canada.  Forget geography and history.  Let's talk about those Canadians and their pollution!

Seriously though:  that is one big gripe I have about this social studies class.  And of course it is not the teacher's fault.  It's "IT'S" fault.  Yes, that's a reference to "A Wrinkle in Time," where some master control programmer from a central location dictates what is acceptable and not, and everyone must comply.  Anyway, IT wants Madison and all the other teachers to learn this year about the types of government that Europe has over anything else.  The end result:  Madison thinks Europe is boring. She thinks Canada is polluted.  Australia is nice and Latin America is looking better than the others.  She's an "A" student.  I put on a defense of Europe tonight:  "Didn't they tell you about the history of Europe, of Medieval Times and Victorian London, or glory of Rome, or the French Exposition, where the greatest artists converged, the Eiffel Tower was constructed?"  Her reply was that Germany was interesting, because of its role in World Wars, but that was about it.  She hadn't really thought about the idea that Medieval Times, the thing she loves so much, was actually something that took place in England.  And that is how you failed, IT.  Or maybe you wanted to fail, and maybe you want a bunch of ignorant students.  I have no idea.  But it's more or less our jobs as parents to introduce these basic moments in history to our kids, I suppose.  Like, how can you think Europe is boring?  That's the home of the Renaissance, scientific discovery, and so much history!  The big thing she came away with from that overview of Europe (and believe me, because I helped her study for it) was that there were about three different types of governments.  Months later, she's telling me about autocracies, as if that's a word we use left and right here.  Inside, I'm like, "But... but... castles, and wars, and industrial revolutions!"

Latin America is not as boring to her, and I have no idea why.  She's not even studying all the countries.  They've decided to focus on Mexico, Brazil and Cuba.  Venezuela would be an interesting thing to talk about, of course.  I wonder if that was brought up.  We'll have to ask her about that one.  Daddy showed her how the highest waterfall in the world is in Venezuela.  This Sunday is Cinco de Mayo, so we'll have to have fun with that Latin America theme.

Anyway, there are certain things that you scratch your head about.  Or rub your chin. Or whatever.  Elsewhere, the classes seem to be going well.  The math class at this point is a lot of review.  They've been learning a lot of seventh grade material so far, and next year they'll be learning eighth grade material.  She's doing well overall - really well!

We read from our book tonight, which seems to be picking up a bit, but it's really different to the girls.  They were expecting more Peter Pan and Neverland, which hasn't happened quite yet.  But it'll get there.  Until then, we're getting a bit of a book that more resembles a "Kingdom Keepers" book, which might be something Madison will hear eventually.

We also read from our devotional, which is about to wrap up, and then got to bed.  Tomorrow, we're actually setting the alarm and not sleeping in so much so that we can see a Marvel movie.  It's not that we're running out the door to see it, but we want time to bathe and eat breakfast and all that.  It seems crazy to go see a movie in the morning, but it's a worldwide event, both onscreen and off.

That being said... goodnight!

The Perfect Date

We always get to this date and say it is the perfect date, simply because it was a funny bad answer from the movie "Miss Congeniality."  Inevitably, this pops up on social media sites because today is in fact the perfect date.  And it really was too!  I mean, it literally was not too hot and not too cold.  All you need is a light jacket, and you're good to go!  We saw overcast skies today, and there was the threat of rain, but it never really materialized.  That being said, we got more mulch down in the front yard, and we're actually looking forward to moving to the next phase of mulching soon enough.  We're almost there on the front yard.  Meanwhile, the back yard garden is overgrown with mint.  I mean, it's nearly a mint farm back there.  Mommy got some of that, and we've been using it to put in some water overnight, and taking some infused water with us to the office.

Madison did well in school today - she was actually outside at one point too, enjoying the perfect date.  It wasn't too hot and not too cold either.  She was outside having fun with her friends.  She had gotten a few perfect scores on some tests on Latin America, and enjoyed her other classes too.  She's doing a novel study in ELA, reading the book, "The Running Dream."

She's really enjoying this one, reading farther ahead than necessary, talking about it from time to time at home.  Isn't it great to get into a new book?  We love that she reads so much, and loves it.  The story sounds inspirational as well.  We might get into that one at home, once we've left Neverland for a bit!

She's studying the weather as well, such as cold fronts and warm fronts.  She's keeping busy.  And then there's taekwondo after that.  No mishaps with the gear or bags, but there was a whole lot of practice, and she's got some more to do, she says.  We may have to put out mats at home for that, but for tonight, she earned her second stripe on her green belt.  Time just goes by quickly for these belts.

We got home and Madison was at the piano, practicing a bit before we all sat down with popcorn to watch the next few episodes of "Gravity Falls."  Things are building to a big finish, and we were left with quite a cliffhanger!  It's been a great show, one that Madison is super excited to get home and pick up on.  She's already imagining what character she's most like and so on.  The main characters are about to have their thirteenth birthday party, and sure enough, Madison is right there with them, about to do the same.  Anyway, without giving away too much, we're really addicted to this show!

Afterwards, it was time for bed upstairs, time for prayers and time for reading from the devotional and "The Bridge to Neverland."  The characters are leaving England, and we'll see what happens next.  Everyone's happy to have Ombra back in the picture at least, even if he's just a bunch of ravens lurking about.

Daddy got done the first script for day one of Summer Xtreme today, and solidified this weekend's script, as well as several other things - like going to that middle school to entertain the kids there.  We had a big day today, but it was very nice.  In fact, you could say today's date was the perfect date.

Checking Out

In all our years at KidPak, Daddy never officially did the same check-out process as the other kids.  We're talking seven years of picking her up at KidPak.  Until tonight!  It was crazy to think that only now, nearly at the end, have we done it the way everyone else does.  I mean, there's a process and all. But Daddy is staff, and we sort of work in a different way, and anyway, here above is Madison and her little sticker, and Daddy with his matching ones.  You can see that Madison is thrilled in this picture.  She's just being goofy.

We had a good night tonight.  She was at KidPak enjoying service, and Mommy and Daddy were up at the main service upstairs, enjoying that.  We were like normal church goers tonight, checking the kids in, enjoying our service upstairs while Madison enjoyed hers downstairs.  That's pretty rare!  But it was a good night.  We sat with friends upstairs and for the second time in a week, were there together for church.  Very blessed!

Today the weather was so nice.  It was warm tonight, just perfectly pleasant to go for a walk in.  Mommy was doing yard work today, and the front yard is looking great.  Daddy was starting his writing for Summer Xtreme's dramas, and that's doing okay too.  Madison was playing Dodgeball, but not the Marvel kind.  She had a good day at school today, although there was this one bad grade in an Academic Math Enrichment class, the class that doesn't have that much to do with math.  Or something like that.  Anyway, the teacher said that nobody did better than a 70 on this grade, and that was that.  To which we were thinking, well obviously there was a failure in the communication, huh? Fortunately, her overall grade average is solid enough to take the hit.

We read tonight, continuing our book, and we prayed and read from the devotional too.  It was a good day, a nice day outside, and a fairly productive day too.  It's time to get some rest though - we've got forty-eight days to go until Summer Xtreme, and we're feeling a bit of the pressure there...!

Layers of Atmosphere

Madison has been learning about the different layers of the atmosphere, which you can see above.  But I think you can also see from above the threat to the entire world this large alien thing represents. I hate to just immediately judge it as hostile, like we all did in the 50's when any aliens would land.  But we do need to be super careful when a planet-sized "thing" shows up gesturing at the earth like this.  I'm still struggling to come up with what exactly this is.  Best I can tell, it's a pair of binoculars in a space helmet, and there are these two wavy arms in a space suit.  But what's the deal with everything below that?  What's in that green mass there?  Is it part of the space suit, and beneath that are some sort of blobby jellyfish tentacles?  It might look friendly now, but what happens when it gets upset?

You can see here how seriously we should be taking this.  Already we're down to just one satellite.  Perhaps it's beginning its assault by consuming all our satellites!  Maybe this is the very thing that can unite the world, a common threat against all five layers of our atmosphere, the exosphere, the thermosphere, the mesosphere, the stratosphere, and the troposphere.  Whatever this thing is that menacingly hovers in space like this, it must be stopped.

Madison had a fun day today.  I think the first thing she mentioned when she got home (was not the five layers of the atmosphere), but dodge ball.  Apparently, she was the last one standing on her team.  And they never could get her.  She was doing all sorts of moves you'd see in "The Matrix," and lasted against an onslaught of opponents roughly two minutes without ever being tagged.  I think she's ready for the Dodgeball Initiative Program.

this might have something to do with her taekwondo.  She was back at that tonight, and showing such good form.

Yes, if Captain Hook were here, he'd agree.  Good form, good form!  But seriously, she's looking great out there.  Even if some goober accidentally took her bag (his own mother called him a goober).  Said goober took the bag on the way out, confusing hers for his, and the end result was that she didn't have gear to spar with.  The mommy came back to get his gear, but never actually apologized or anything.  Bad form!  Bad form!

Not that I'm bitter or anything.  Perhaps I should try harder to let things go, eh?  Her instructors made the best of it, and she didn't need the gear for an extended amount of time anyway.  Most of the class was spent stretching, kicking pads, and learning how to break out of certain holds.  She loves class.  We offered her a chance to see a movie this Thursday, "Endgame," on opening night - but she'd have to miss taekwondo.  She said she didn't want to miss class.  So that's a big deal!  Because she's really, really looking forward to seeing this movie!

We spent a lot of time writing today, getting ready for the weekend and so forth.  Plus the Summer Xtreme booklets are now officially written, so that's a big deal.  Now to focus on writing the scripts, for which we have several ideas.  I think things are coming along well there, although the weight of Summer Xtreme is so immense that you still feel the responsibility and worry.

Still, when the day was done, Daddy didn't really feel obliged to do any writing at home tonight.  We sat and watched a few more episodes of "Gravity Falls," which is heading towards the big finish.  It's been an addictive show for Madison.  She had other options, but she chose to watch a few more episodes tonight, which started to reveal a few more of the answers to some of the mysteries behind from the Mystery Shack.  It's been a really good show.  Daddy has been writing down jokes along the way too, so some of the humor of the show might show up in the Summer Xtreme skits.

Anyway, we said our prayers (good form!), and read a bit from our Neverland book.  For the first time in about 100 pages or so of this book, Madison wanted to hear the next chapter right away.  Lord Ombra showed up and made things interesting.  So after a slow start, perhaps this book will pick up speed a bit more.  Daddy's read it before, some time ago, but the girls are hearing it for the first time.

We said our prayers, and got to bed on time tonight.  It's been a good day - a beautiful day.  We put out the mulch, and the front yard is just starting to look better.  We need quite a few more bags to tackle the left side and beneath the three trees in the front.  Then we'll hit the right side, which will also be a lot of work.  But it'll be nice.  Oh, and then there's the garden in there back.  That needs some serious work.  But we've got a few moments to do that here and there.  We're good!

Earth Day 2019

A lot of talk about wonderful creatures today, but the earth is full of vial, disgusting organic lifeforms too!  Can we speak for a moment about the horrifically evil monster plant known as a saw brier?  It goes by other names too, like greenbrier, or cat saw brier, catbrier, or sarsaparilla vine.  I call it some bad names too, because this thing has tuber roots that are almost a foot beneath the surface, and they have this network of stems that shoot out from there, upwards and usually beneath some other unsuspecting useful plant.  So you have to dig to get to that point and just work it all out following each stem, but under no circumstances do you approach this vile organism without thick gloves on.  It has a huge amount of thorns on it, some able to actually puncture through weaker gloves.

They say this plant is useful to animals.  Which is fine if it is in a forest, I suppose.  But it keeps popping up in our front yard in certain areas, and so each Earth Day I go out and do battle.  Yes, while most folks were celebrating life on Earth Day, today I was out there killing it!  I found some huge roots last year and the year before, after a lengthy battle underground.  But this year's root system was immense.  The rhizome was actually bigger than my hand was, and here I was with spade and that little gardener's trident, going to war against the thorny beast.  Earth Day indeed!  Die you vegetation scum!

Mommy and Daddy were working hard on the front yard today, because the weather was so beautiful.  We'll be finishing up throughout the week, but we got more mulch (and while at Wal-Mart, we picked up more Easter egg dye for next year, along with some allergy medicine).  We moved a LOT of leaves from the side areas, and did a lot of cleaning up.  We'll add the mulch tomorrow, and then start working on the other side of the front lawn too.  It's already looking nice.

Tonight we had piano with Madison, which went well as usual.  She's getting closer to playing her recital, with that song she's been relentlessly practicing.  We stopped by Target on the way home to pick up a game for the Nintendo Switch - she's been saving up her cards she gets for filling out answers at KidPak, and she used it to get a copy of Mario Party.  One interesting thing to note is that she almost decided to get the game that had Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune on it.  She's been really into those shows when down in Florida.  But tonight she got Mario Party, and we'll be playing that soon enough.  But tonight, her desire was so strong to continue watching "Gravity Falls" and find out what happens next.  The series went from one level to another, from individual fun stories to this ongoing series of episodes that all drop huge parts of the larger story.  And we're all quite addicted to it!

Her school day didn't sound terribly interesting when pressed for more details.  She spoke of Latin America, of doing a new project in math with her friend, and of using water colors in art.  Her "math enrichment" class is somewhat of a running joke for us all, as we don't know what that's about.  It doesn't always have to do with math.  And currently, she has no idea what she's doing in there.  Which is a slight exaggeration, but it's not as far from the truth as you'd think!

Tonight we read from our book, which hasn't captivated us the way the others have.  We're sort of plodding through it, although there are some good moments here and there.  The devotional has been good though.  We prayed and there were the zerberts and the usual hide-and-seek.  Also the new thing is throwing large stuffed animals at each other.  It's quite an elaborate ritual before bedtime!

It's been good though - we're very blessed.

Resurrection Sunday

We had a powerful service today with a drama above that hit the kids in such a strong way that I don't think they'll forget it.  It really summed up the message of Easter, every part of this drama working  perfectly together.  You can see the epic scene above where I announce Pascal's Pardon, where the crowd chooses one person to go free - Jesus or Barabbas.  Ultimately of course, Jesus is chosen to die.  For many kids, they didn't know this part of the story.  They met Barabbas and heard how wicked of a man he was, and then discovered he could go free if someone else was chosen to die.  When Jesus was pushed out by the Roman guard, the audience gasped.  What had Jesus done?  Daniel, who played the part of Barabbas, did so great as he was shocked.  Jesus was innocent, and yet he died for me?

You can see Mary here at the tomb three days later.  Of course, this is all over the course of one skit.  But she was surprised when she heard a voice ask, "Why are you crying?"  She thought it was the gardener, but when she saw it was Jesus, there was much rejoicing.

All the apostles that had been mourning rushed forward, as Jesus was there, telling everyone that he had risen, just as he said.  It was a powerful skit, and following that a powerful message from Camille, who used this authentic prop, a crown of thorns.

This one is the real deal.  This crown is so sharp that it punctures holes in the box that it came in.  And yet Jesus wore one just like it the day he was crucified.  The message was simple:   on his head was the crown, and on his mind was us.  His hands that were nailed to the cross reached out to us in love.  And his feet that were also nailed there showed us the way, the truth and the life.  It was such a good morning at KidPak.  

Yes, we did have our obligatory visit by the Easter bunny.  

But he was promptly escorted off the stage!  That's been the running joke with the poor Easter bunny at KidPak.  Usually he's pelted with things, but today we were a little more kind!

After church we went over to Nana and Ye-Ye's for a bit of ice cream.  It was an ice cream social kind of visit, just stopping by on Easter Sunday to spend a few hours talking, and in Madison's case, playing some badminton with Nana.  We were pretty tired from the weekend though.  Yesterday was pretty exhausting! 

We got home and cleaned up, and watched the rest of "The Ten Commandments," which was so good, wasn't it?  We had enough time to watch an episode of Gravity Falls after that, the one with the hot air balloon... hilarious!  We were slouching on the couch, munching on Easter goodies and pretty much relaxing the rest of the night.  It was a great Sunday though, and a wonderful service this morning.  It was quite a memorable Easter weekend!

Easter Festival

Once again, Daddy was the subject of more pictures than anyone else today.  Once again, Daddy was the Easter Bunny.  I sat on my throne for four hours straight without a break, with kid after kid coming up to interact and pose for a picture on a cell phone or camera.  You had all kinds of parents... as I'm waving goodbye to another kid, I turn just in time with my supremely limited vision to see a parent thrusting a newborn baby in my hands, time after time!  One set of parents wanted me to hold three infants at once.  And I can't even see what I'm holding, keep in mind. 

The one thing that made the long period of time endurable is the remarkably chilly weather today.  The high was around 51, and there were winds, and occasional drizzles.  It was not ideal weather.  At all.  The much ballyhooed helicopter drop was canceled due to the weather and rain, too.  But even so, a lot of people came, and we had so many more eggs than we needed this time - everyone walked way with a hefty surplus!

There were rides, pony rides, inflatable race courses, face paint, food trucks, music, and of course the Easter Bunny posing for pictures with the kids.  It was terrific fun for the kids.

Despite the weather, Madison came and did all of it.  She got a bag and collected eggs, and even got her face painted, as you can see above.  She rode rides, and did the obstacle courses a few times.  She was there the entire time, in and out, and having a great time with her friends.

Afterwards, we went home, got cleaned up, and that's when Madison went on the next Easter egg hunt, the official one that Daddy set up, the Marvel Dodge Ball Initiative.  She really enjoyed it, using her handheld device to scan the codes on each dodge ball.  And those codes showed you a page on this blog with Marvel heroes on the dodge ball court, each with descriptions of their abilities and strengths.  Also on each page after the scan were clues to where the next egg (and dodge ball) was hidden.  I think there was only one that gave her trouble.  But in the end, she got through all 21 eggs hidden inside (and outside) the house, finally making it to the end where she found her Easter basket awaiting her.  It was a Marvel one, of course, with two Pop figures of Captain Marvel and Goose, the cat/flurken from the same movie.  That latter character was the reason Nick Fury won the dodge ball contest, by the way.  Also in the basket were lots of jelly beans, chocolate eggs, and a copy of "Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse."  Along the way, she got that new Star Wars book, which she was so happy to see on the shelf.  She saw the egg on the shelf there, but didn't realize the book it was resting on.  Daddy told her to read the spine of the book, and then she flipped out.  It was right in front of her there and she was happy to get it.

Anyway, the yearly Easter egg hunt went well, and now I can go back and fix up the earlier pages on this blog that were used to help her along.  I love that each scan of her scanner took her to a photo on this blog, one that she didn't know was there from a few weeks ago.  It was fun!

After that, the fun continued with our yearly Easter egg decorating!

Here's our yearly group shot, a mix of some of Daddy and Madison's finished products.  They turned out well this year!  And, most importantly, it was fun making them.  Lately, be it cookies or eggs, Madison, Mommy and Daddy have been sitting about spending well over an hour, maybe two, creating our little artistic masterpieces.  We talk and create and just have a great time making art.  These turned out well.

Here's a sea turtle one.  We used the deep blue color, then some glue and green sparkling glitter to put on the glue to make seaweeds.  Finally, a darker marker for the silhouette of the turtle.

Speaking of silhouettes, this cross is created over an egg we dyed red, orange, and yellow.  It turned out well, a nice reminder of the reason for Easter Sunday.  Here's a few of the other eggs too:

You can see the porg in there, along with a globe that Daddy was working on using the glue and the green glitter.  We had that white crayon as well, the one that you use to mark things you with to remain white while the dye is going on there.  You can see that effect with the cloud below:

This design was half blue and half green, so we did a little Nebraska landscape on it.  Or Kansas.  Or Oklahoma.  Or maybe Clermont.  Oh, and here's Bill Cipher, just because:

We had a great time making a lot of eggs tonight!  And yes, speaking of Bill Cipher, we watched a few more episodes of Gravity Falls, but it was time to go to bed early for all of us.  Daddy needed a good night's sleep after the chilly day today.  It was fun though, with lots of good memories for all of us.  The weather might not have been ideal, but it was a really fun day!

Creative Team Meeting

It was Good Friday today, so we were at the noon service today, Mommy and Madison.  Of course, Madison has school.  But there are a lot of people that show up at the Good Friday service, and it is a nice one - and an important one.  We were gathered together, many folks taking extended lunch breaks just to join the church body for a one-hour service with communion.

Madison was at school, of course, and having a good day.  One of her friends from school is coming to the Easter Festival tomorrow, and there's been a lot of fun there lately.  She's still maintaining high A's for an average, and she's got a pretty amazing scale drawing she brought home.  We'll try and figure a way to get that on the blog, but the teacher was pretty impressed with "whoever drew that," which turned out to be Madison, of course.

Tonight we did something we haven't done in about a decade:  we had a creative team meeting at Atlanta Bread Company.  Waaaaay back in 2004 or so we used to have meetings here all the time with the volunteers and some staff of KidPak, coming up with ideas for the skits and dramas.  It was really the beginning of the KidPak dramas, and because of that, Daddy felt quite nostalgic, and wanted to drag everyone there again.  KidPak paid for the meals, because after all, everyone there was going to be coming up with ideas for Summer Xtreme's skits.  And yes, that's exactly what happened.  There were some great ideas, and we probably came up with a storyboard for the entire week, along with some really funny jokes and gags.  As you can see, Madison was there, also a part of the evening, just hanging out with everyone and having a good time.  And it was a good time!  We got a lot done, but I have a feeling we would have stayed a lot longer if the restaurant didn't close.  It was great!

We got home, and we watched a few more episodes of Gravity Falls, and read some more from "The Bridge to Neverland."  I have to say this one is not our favorite of the series, but we're plowing through it nevertheless.  I have a feeling I know what book we'll be reading next - it's a book that Madison saw at the Book Fair, but didn't have enough money to get.  Fortunately, we found it later online, and yes, we found it cheaper.  Which goes without saying.  But we found it, and that'll be one of the gifts she'll see this weekend.  She'll love that, because she wanted the book.  It's a Star Wars title called, "The Cobalt Squadron."  We're not sure how it is yet, but I do know that Madison was wanting it, so she should be happy to see it this weekend.

Here is Daddy's Easter basket for Mommy.  He gave this to her tonight, a basket with a "spoon" theme.  Mommy was listening to "The Lovin' Spoonful" recently, so that was something I thought would bring a smile.  The other spoon moment came earlier this week when Mommy noted that the ice cream spoon we currently have is approaching retirement age.  So the basket has the CD and the other spoon in it.  The other stuff is just silly:  I hot-glued a bunch of spoons there, and have a stuffed bunny on the back, a rabbit that evidently wants to sit on the Game of Spoons!

We read tonight, this after a few episodes of Gravity Falls.  Easily my favorite episodes so far are early in season 2, some really rich material in there.  We said our prayers, and soon after it was time for all of us to get some shut-eye.  Easter is coming soon, and we're pretty zonked!

Leading up to Easter

One of the things I got to write today was a devotional for the many campuses to share this upcoming Saturday, should the weather chances improve.  This is basically what Daddy does while watching Madison spar at the studio:

     Welcome to Free Chapel’s Easter Festival!  It’s a weekend that we celebrate not only the most important day of the year, but really the most important day in the history of the world!  It can be the most important day of your life too.     This week, we were stunned at the images of the tragic fire of Notre Dame, the most famous and beautiful church in Paris. The world watched together, deeply saddened, as the fire raged for twelve hours.  
     But despite the attack of the blazing flames, something remained that stirred our hearts:  a large, golden cross, rising above the smoldering ruins. Pictures of this cross were shared all over the world, inspiring us all.
     You see, despite it all, the cross remains, beauty from the ashes, a message of hope, and a reminder to all that God’s love will always be with us.
     That is the message of the cross.  And despite everything that comes against it, and everything we ourselves have done, and everything that has ever happened in the history of this world, the message of the cross remains.
     It will always remain, because our Bibles tell us that Jesus will be with us until the very end.  Our Bibles tell us that nothing – nothing – can separate us from His love.  For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son.
     Today we’re going to have such a great time, searching for eggs, some hidden and some not so hidden.  But today there is something God has for all of us to find. Our Bibles tell us when we search for it, we will find it.  
     You just have to look in the right direction. Looking around elsewhere, you might see nothing but darkness, ashes and ruin.  But if you just see that, you’re looking in the wrong direction.  Fix your eyes on the cross.  That’s where you’ll find hope, love, and the light of the world. 

Tucker peeked out from leading the kids with their drills, and gave a little input - the whole "fix your eyes on the cross" part came from him as he came off the mat to throw that one out.  And it fit perfectly, because I was pretty much typing something along those lines at the same exact time.  We were on the same page.  He'll be speaking this on Saturday, hopefully, so Daddy wanted to make sure he had a chance to see what we were thinking before typing something out for him to speak.

As for taekwondo, Madison was practicing all kinds of things today, from form to combat sticks to sparring and lots of running and exercise.  It was a busy time for the kids on the mat there!

Today Daddy made his first appearance as the Easter bunny in 2019, visiting a school nearby, and getting a lot of kids to smile and laugh.  The funny thing was an interaction with a taxi driver outside in the parking lot, which had to be a completely random moment for him!

Madison got a 100 on her recent paper and research about Toys r Us, and had a good day at school.  Some of the other areas are having Milestones testing, so apparently the students in this area have to stay quiet or at least contained for a few hours.  So some classes sounded more fun than productive - but that's okay from time to time.  It seems as if everyone just writes off Milestones testing time, and when that's over with, there's a mad dash to the finish line at the end of the year.

It was a pretty day today, but there are dangerous storms coming tonight.  A lot of trees went down overnight tonight, these in the northern part of Hall County.  There were tornado drills to wake people up in the morning, but we slept through all of it without any incidents beyond the deluge of water pouring out.  But for this afternoon, the temperature was perfect, a beautiful day.  Tomorrow will be a pretty day too, although the day after - the day of the Easter Festival - looks questionable.  We'll see how that goes as we get closer...

Tonight we read and watched an episode of "Gravity Falls," and then got to our devotional for the night, another entry entirely about Jesus and his miracles, of course.  We prayed for protection, and prayed for our government.  So much nonsense right now.  You hate to see something terrible uniting us all again, but perhaps maybe we could all start with what we agree on and move from there, instead of the other way around.  Ugh.