It's Groundhog Day. Again.

It's Groundhog Day.  Again.  You can see Madison doing a bit of piano practice with Chuck, our groundhog that's been with us since at least 2003 or so.  Alert eyes will catch "I Got You Babe" on the music sheet there - we were listening to that soundtrack today, but this morning we got to do our groundhog skit on stage for KidPak, and that was amazing.

Here's Nerdo talking to Chuck, trying to get some information out of him.  I love this skit because Nerdo treats the groundhog like Linus does the Great Pumpkin, or like Buddy the Elf respects Santa Claus.  There's this sense of wonder about Groundhog Day, and it's great because it is such an obscure holiday in many respects.

Nerdo early on wasn't getting anyone to come out of the hole, so he tried a few unorthodox attempts, starting with a megaphone, because that's the why his Mee-Maw wakes him up, so it stands to reason that this should be the way the groundhog wakes up too.

It was fun, and the kids were all in on this skit, completely engaged and loving it when the groundhog actually emerged from his spot there.  It got a little crazy at the end, but everyone was laughing, and of course there was a bottom line that was in the skit, one that went with the sermon very well.  Daddy loves that groundhog!

If this were a day to be lived over and over again, I'll take it.  It was nice!  We even had snacks for everyone when we got in this morning...

Daddy and Mommy were working on these this weekend to bring in for everyone, and the doughnuts were easily gone by the end of the service.  As for the actual groundhogs that are out there, we watched some of the ceremonies, and here are the official forecasts:

Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, so spring is on its way.
General Beauregard Lee did see his shadow, so we've got six more weeks of winter.
Yonah the Groundhog did not see his shadow, so spring is on its way.

Yonah is the new kid in town, a groundhog that came out on this mobile Groundhog home.  What you see in this picture is all on wheels, right there in the center of Cleveland (sort of), in front of about two dozen people.  It's a church day, so you can understand there being a smaller number of fans out there.  Plus, it's a new thing for Cleveland.  It's odd, because I think it would probably be better for everyone - including the groundhog - if this ceremony were done at the zoo where Yonah came from. But regardless, the ceremony took place in Cleveland in the park there.  We watched a video of it, and it took a while for Yonah to come out of his hole.  I think he was actually given a decent nudge out the door!

General Beauregard Lee seems to be enjoying his new home down in Jackson, Georgia very nicely.  Anyone in Georgia this morning knows that there's no way you couldn't see your shadow, and sure enough, he did see his shadow.  Six more weeks of winter!  There was a nice little poem read, and a good number of people on hand for the celebration there.  He came out of his front door, walked back and forth on his front porch there, gawking at the people gawking at him.  And despite the colder forecast, everyone cheered, because everyone loves the groundhog.

Which brings us to Punxsutawney Phil.  He says early spring here, as you can see above in this post that was shared on his official site.  We didn't have time to watch this one live this morning, this due to church, but we heard the forecast.  And late tonight, we actually sat and watched the pomp and ceremony of the whole thing on a replay fro Punxsutawney.  It was actually snowing when the groundhog came out there!  It would be nice if we saw spring come soon.  I mean, if it isn't going to snow, it's time to get this cold stuff over with, right?

This afternoon, Madison was on that piano, and she was also taking a bath.  Mommy was working on ancestry, and Daddy was playing a few video games, believe it or not.  When Madison was done with piano later on, it was time for the movie itself:  we watched "Groundhog Day" together, and for Madison, it was the first time.  She loved the movie!  And we love it too, watching it nearly every year.

Madison had some relaxing time today, watching some of the things she does, listening to music and even doing some reading.  Before bed, we read more from our current book, and we said our prayers for a great tomorrow.  Today was a good day though, certainly one you wouldn't mind doing over and over again.