My Maddie (and some from the other two)

Man - she's beautiful!! Last week I had the chance to go to the Dallas Arboretum with Maddie's class as a chaperone. (Thanks to Brianne for watching beast #2 and to my friend Stephanie watching the first beast so I could go!!) Maddie was so excited that I was going - she talked about it constantly the day before. How sweet! I also got to ride the bus with her (and all the other EXTREMELY LOUD children!) I think I have permanent hearing damage because of it, but Maddie was happy I was able to sit with her and that makes me happy. My hearing loss was worth being able to spend some special time with just her. For those of you who haven't been to the Arboretum it's just a gigantic park with lots of old people wandering around. It was fun and very pretty but 1st graders don't really care a whole lot about the beauty of nature. They were mostly just there for the chance to see a snake or lizard. Seriously, that's all they talked about! Luckily we avoided any and all snakes, although the kids were very disappointed. We did see a very large lizard at the end of the day, which was the highlight of the day for many kids. The kids did have fun but they were pretty much ready to go back to school and do something else by lunchtime. The old people wandering around pretty much didn't like all the youngin's running around and disrupting their peaceful garden walks. We got lots of dirty looks and one old guy even yelled at them! Puh-lease! There were probably 5 other school districts there that day so I'm sure the guy was on elementary school overload, but still! Seriously, how do I make seven 7-year-olds NOT run around outside?

Maddie kept stopping and posing by everything for me to take a picture. I didn't even ask her to! How funny. Guess I've brainwashed her enough - she does it automatically now! I can't believe how big she's getting. She's so smart too, I can't believe some of the things she knows already! Just last night at the dinner table she was having a discussion about nouns, verbs, and adjectives with Josh. She even started testing him with different sentences. She picks things up so quickly. This weekend is our (my mom & me) annual piano recital and it will be Maddie's first! She's been practicing two primary songs and is doing great. I just hope she goes through with it - she's notoriously shy and timid when it comes to doing things in front of other people. She has gotten a lot better though and I think she'll do o.k. She has her third dance recital in about a month too. She has improves by leaps and bounds with her bike riding. She is seriously AMAZING! She can start all by herself and is riding on the grass and the sidewalk and the street - EVERYWHERE! It just took that one evening of help from me and Josh and she was off!

Speaking of bike riding. . . looky here:




He's seriously been BEGGING for Josh to take off his training wheels ever since Maddie got hers off last week. He wasn't quite a steady as Maddie and I thought for sure he'd pick it up quicker than she did! He'll get it though. He was tough. He kept falling and got hurt quite a few times but he was determined to keep trying. He managed to ride by himself quite a few times but then when he realized it, he'd look back and fall. He doesn't quite have the steering thing down either. He kept going in circles last night and heading for the curb. It was pretty funny actually!

Josh went out on a bike ride last night too - after the kids were in bed. He found a good bike on Craig's List and went out for a test run and to start getting his bootie in shape for the High Adventure. He looked at several bike shops over the weekend for a new bike to take on the 500 mile bike ride High Adventure coming up. (I personally don't think they will even come close to riding the whole 500 miles, especially since no one's even been on a bike all year and they don't have an preparation rides planned before then! But then again, I'm a pessimist. We'll just see...) Anyway, everything he found was at least $600 - $1500! Um. No. He'll have the bike destroyed the first day out on their trip. I don't know why, but that's what happens to everything Josh uses. His last bike is proof of that. I'm so glad he found this one on Craig's List!

I know I promised something from everyone in the fam but I don't think Blogger's going to let me upload Cash's video today. It's being tempermental. Plus it's a long one and I don't have 3 hours to wait. I'll try again another day. Just be thankful I posted anything today! (Caitlin - that's for you!!)