Two On Two

Pilgrims and Turkeys have decided to settle there differences. Madison, Brock, a Pilgrim and a turkey engaged this afternoon in a little two-on-two basketball:

Madison has potential as a guard, despite her size. Atlanta Hawk's legend Spud Webb would be proud.

But that turkey clearly fowled.

This Little Indian

Here's our Madison, dressed up as a Pink Indian with a lovely pink headdress. She's obviously from one of the more fashionable tribes. Daddy is actually part Cherokee, but I've actually never seen any tribe wear so much pink. Still, nobody was complaining when she came to work today, giving her typical Indian war cry: "Daddy!"

We're getting ready for the Voyage here at children's church -that's a whole month of Pilgrims, Indians, and of course turkeys. It's going to be a really fun series, as Daddy loves this time of year. It'll be fun dressing up as a Pilgrim and chasing turkeys! That's a word Madison is quite familiar with: "turkey!" When she sees one, she makes sure everyone knows what it is. She also knows the word "Indian," although it is harder for her to say. Right now, she says "In-ee-an."

Here it is above, the logo for our new series. I've written the whole thing based on the Pilgrims, following their adventure across the ocean to the terrible winter to the blessing of running into Squanto and other helpful Indians. Obviously, we have a service or two about the big feast too! We can find parallels with Joseph, with Abraham - and we of course hit all sorts of scriptures about being thankful.

The devotional I wrote for this series is one of my favorite things I've written, where I imagine Thanksgiving Town. A little context: In the movie "Nightmare Before Christmas," the main character encounters a circle of trees in the forest, each with a different holiday logo on it. Each door is a entrance that takes you to a different town - and each of those places is responsible for helping create the different holidays. Imagine for a moment, the door to Thanksgiving town...

You’ve probably wondered where holidays come from.

If you haven’t, I’d say that it’s time you begun!

In a circle of trees just outside of town

is a tree with a turkey on it, orange, red and brown.

This is an entrance, and through it you’ll bound

smack into a place called Thanksgiving Town.

There you’ll see everyone working right now

to make this Thanksgiving the best they know how.

There’s Pilgrims and Indians who make candy corn

and a large cornucopia that’s shaped like a horn.

The Indians are grateful for the harvest God’s given.

The Pilgrims are thankful – they think this is heaven!

Indeed, they’re just happy and pleased they can be

where no one’s ungrateful for the things that they see.

Yes everyone there counts their blessings each hour.

For a bit of relaxing, they board the Mayflower

and set sail out to sea, to see what’s around

but they always return back to Thanksgiving Town.

For this year they’re planning a great celebration

(Thanksgiving to them ain’t just any occasion).

If you’re there you can watch them prepare a parade

with ginormous balloons that the citizens made.

But Thanksgiving gatherings are never complete

without the great feast that they can’t wait to eat.

Just a few days to go – table’s still being set

full of stuffing, potatoes and cranberries I bet!

With turkey and gravy and the tastiest dressings,

it’s a bountiful harvest displaying God’s blessings.

Of course they all know that it’s not about food.

If you accuse them of that, you might seem quite rude!

No, wherever you’re from, and at whatever latitude,

Thanksgiving Town’s message to us is of gratitude.

The people who live there, they have it all year.

We ought to do likewise and be thankful here.

Fall Decor

Fall is here in full swing, and the air is getting crisp - if not downright chilly outside. Actually, tonight there is supposed to be frost on the ground and tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 20's in the mountains. So perhaps the fall weather will be pretty brief, as we find ourselves dressing up for the cold snap. Mommy has decorations in the front of the house, including this nice wreath and a piece of decoration that has a scarecrow on it. We've also got mums out there as well.

Also in the front yard is our garden flag, which changes from season to season. This one here is for fall - which we put up immediately after the Halloween one and before the Thanksgiving one. There's a Christmas flag, a Valentine's Day flag, a St. Patrick's Day flag, an Easter flag and a lot more. We've got plenty of them, all of which Daddy and Mommy have been collecting over the past few years. Mommy loves to have the house nicely decorated for each season or holiday, including of course, Chinese New Year. Though we're just moving in and there's boxes everywhere and evidence of a family just starting to settle in, Mommy is good to make sure the holiday decor goes up in time - and the house looks great too!

Return to the Pink Pig

After a few chores were complete, we found ourselves making plans to return to the Pink Pig. In fact, you can see here how Mommy dressed Madison up in pink so she'd fit right in. Madison remembered the Pink Pig, repeating that from time to time as we drove from place to place in the afternoon. It was the usual sort of drudgery: bills to send off at the post office, a check to pick up, a visit to the bank, more visits to the old house to pick up things, etc. But once we went to the Pink Pig, all that changed - because Madison got excited. It's a Christmas tradition now, one that she's done for the past three years (just as long as Mommy and Daddy have been doing it). Last year was incredibly crowded because it was opening day. And though the festivities and atmosphere were exciting, we tend to prefer avoiding crowds. That's why this year's visit was pretty nice for us. Take a look:

There was hardly anyone there this afternoon when we arrived. We actually had one train ride all to ourselves! Madison was delighted! The employees there were very kind, and let her wander around the front of the train to pose for a few photos, although it was hard to get her to stop and pose because she was so happy to be there. Here's Mommy and Madison on the Pink Pig, all to themselves:

Madison had a great time, and when we were finished, we walked through Lenox Mall and had dinner at California Pizza. The decorations weren't up at the mall yet - or rather, there were very few decorations up at all if that's what they're doing this year. But the Pink Pig makes up for pretty much any lack of decorations. It's hard to explain unless you've ridden it, and even then there's a lot you don't quite understand. But seeing Madison smiling at the pig and all the pink Christmas trees makes it a fun trip to make once a year.

These Can Be Yours!

Some furniture simply didn't make the cut at our new house. These two items won't be making the trip over, but not to worry: they found a home elsewhere! Madison is seen here posing for a picture we sent to a coworker, advertising for some free furniture if she wants to come get it. The picture was so cute, we decided to post it here!

You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown

Despite a flat tire, Daddy went off to vote this morning, hoping that this election's results would be his cup of tea. Just because it was election day, we plugged in a copy of "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown" on the television this morning for Madison to watch. She likes Snoopy the best, but seriously: who doesn't?

It was a blissful morning at our new house. The new routine is that Madison will call out to us, and then come into the bed with us to snuggle for a bit. The guest bedroom's bed is so comfy, we rest there for a while before Daddy gets up to get Mommy some tea. It's Daddy's one big chance to serve her in some way - after all, she usually does everything else for Daddy.

The house is quiet in the morning - it's a quiet neighborhood. Daddy puts on some light music as a backdrop, and we enjoy each other's company for a bit until Daddy has to go to work.

Tonight, we had play practice for a while, but came home and set up a fire in the fireplace - and watched another Christmas movie: "A Mom for Christmas." How nice to snuggle down together and watch a Christmas movie. We've started our Christmas movies officially - beginning yesterday with "Mickey Saves Santa," basically an episode of the Mickey Mouse Club that Madison wanted to watch.

After bedtime, we watched the computer for election returns - it looks like we have the real Deal for Georgia Governor: Nathan Deal is our new governor. The neat thing about this year's Georgia election is that both our Governor and Lt. Governor are from Hall County, which is the first time in history these two elected positions have been from the same county. And it happens to be our home county, which is pretty cool!

This was the fifth time we voted this year, and fortunately, it appears as if there are no run-offs. Voter fatigue was definitely setting in. Next time we vote though, we'll be voting at a different polling place in a new county. Hopefully, Madison will still get the stickers...!

Tony Starch

It was All Saints Day, so we spent the night watching a movie about St. Tony Stark, the patron saint of iron. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, Tony Stark is Iron Man - which is one of the movies that Daddy got for his birthday: "Iron Man 2." Madison was in bed by this time, but she did recently get a "Tony Starch."

Yes, that's Mr. Potato Head - wearing his Iron Potato armor. The movie was decent, though not as good as the first one. But, it was on our new television set - which was almost as good as seeing it at the movies. Heck, it was better than seeing it at the movies and here's why: Daddy could snuggle with Mommy on a comfortable couch with a fire cracking in the fireplace on a cool November night. It was very, very nice.

Today, we spent most of the day unpacking - we even made a trip to the old house to get some more kitchen stuff. It was a lot of walking up and down stairs: I think by day's end, Daddy did more climbing up stairs here than he did when climbing the Great Wall of China!

After a busy, hectic and fun weekend, this was a good day to stay at the house and do some cleaning up. Mommy has things decorated for fall, with colorful leaves and orange pumpkins out on display. Also, she put out the Cabbage Patch Indian dolls, which prompted Madison to say, "Indians!"

Smart girl! As we unpacked and put things in place, we played "Pocahontas" for her, and she was really focused on that movie for quite some time. Mommy and Daddy were too! The television set is something so new it sort of sucks us all in...

Speaking of Pocahontas, Madison got her next Princess magazine today, which gave her a huge smile. She gleefully turns the pages, looking at all the pretty pictures. It's so cute to see Madison read her magazine as Mommy reads next to her.

Today, Madison found the box we packed that has hats in it. Every half-hour, she'd have a new hat on - from a safari hat to an old fishing hat. It was funny to see her snuggle up next to us with a pith helmet on, as if we're all about to go on an adventure.

So, all in all, it was a quiet and yet full day - but a great one. It even started really good: Mommy had the best breakfast for us this morning - steak and eggs! We had a hearty breakfast together, even with some tasty potatoes.

Apologies in advance to Mr. Potato Head!