Joe and I took a little vacation and spent 4 days or so with Grandma and Do in Killeen. The mission of the trip was to clean out my and Joey's old rooms to figure out what we wanted to keep and what needed to be thrown away. I've come to the realization that I was (maybe still am?) a huge pack-rat. I had 6 homecoming mums, all my old cheerleading uniforms, and boxes of notes spanning middle school through high school. Some of those were hilarious! At the same time, I was reminded of old friends and looked them up on Facebook! Ah, the simpler days that I would NEVER go back to if you paid me.
Joe had tons of fun with the Grandparents. He got to show off his new tricks which include winking, waving hi (Paul says he waves like the pope...or Uncle Jimmy), and mimicing kissing sounds. Trying to get video. We'll see how he cooperates. His newest favorite activity is taking a bath in the big boy bathtub! He was in heaven!
Alex's has had a couple of track meets and has a few more coming up before the season is over. She's been doing really well and getting her bearings. She's been running the mile, mile and a half and two mile. I think that first track meet where she had the two mile and then a little while later ran the mile really wiped her out. She has definitely decided that so far she likes cross country better. I think the round, and round, and round the track with the same view over and over again isn't really her style. But she's hanging in and doing great! I haven't been able to make one of her meets yet, but definitely plan to this week. Hope to get some pictures if she'll let me.
She also had her Region choir concert a few weekends ago. This is the choir that is a collection of all the best talent from the local junior high schools. They met all day one Saturday and then had a concert in the evening. They were fantastic. Joe loved it so much he sang out himself, just as everything was quiet. They were video taping the concert to sell. Joe's magical voice is now forever captured for all to enjoy.
Here's a picture of the choir. That's her at the top. Can't you tell which one is her?
The day of that concert was brutal! This was the first (I'm sure of many) experiences where both Alex and Maddie have activities on the same day. We were racing around from Maddie's competition to Alex's concert. It was crazy, but I was so glad we got to be there for both.
I am such a bad blogger that I've not given any updates on Maddie's competitions since the first one. And now, the season is pretty much over! She was a trooper. She danced all season on a bum ankle. She's been going to the doctor and physical therapy, but it's not really getting better. Hopefully, she can heal now that the season is over. But, to her credit, even with the injury, her duet took first place in several of the competitions, and her team dances placed several times as well. This last one, her group won grand champion of the competition for their age group! Let's all hope her ankle heals quickly so she can keep on dancing!
Joe almost seems like a different baby lately. He's got SUCH a personality and is talkative and into everything. He's starting to communicate to us very clearly. Not in words yet, but in motions and sounds. He'll see something he wants or somewhere he wants to go and he'll wave us to come to him and them point at what he wants. He's so smart! He is also quite into food now. He wants to try everything we have. His most recent favorite....Banana Pudding with Whipped Cream (thanks Grandma!)
I'll leave you with a funny Joe story. The other day, Paul was holding him and he was pointing at me, so I came over and we were all standing there in a big hug. All of a sudden, he leaned over like he was going to kiss my forehead. Just as he was giving me a kiss and I was saying what a sweet boy is was, he burped right on my face. It was a good reminder that he may be sweet, but he's definitely a boy.
