Family Pictures

Since Max is not exactly cooperative lately with having his picture taken I didn't even want to risk getting his 4 year pictures taken on top of family pictures. So this year we combined the two and did them in the middle of October. That way they are close enough to his birthday and can still be used for Christmas too. As usual my best friend Christie took the pictures for us. We went to downtown Guthrie and I was really happy with the results. I will definitely have to remember to go there again when Max is a little more cooperative because the possibilities were endless. they were once again great and thankfully I didn't have to be too embarrassed of my sons not so stellar behavior since she loves my boy so much. Thanks again Christie!!!

Swim Lessons

Jeff and I have been wanting to get Max into swim lessons all summer and unfortunately we could never find anywhere that would allow for either Jeff to be in the water, or for special needs students. Finally a space opened up in a special needs swim class at the YMCA. We figured we would try it out and see how it went. Max absolutely fell in love with the water! Since the first set of classes we have already taken another session and start a new one again on Wednesday. We became members because I have been working out there too since they have child care so the classes are really affordable. The instructors are so kind and patient and Max really takes to them. Max loves swimming more than any extra curricular that we have tried. Who knows, maybe I have a little fish on my hands. Just last week he swam across the entire pool by himself (with a floatie of course.) We will see how long this lasts but for now he likes it so much that we will keep signing up. The sessions are only 4 weeks with one class a week so the commitment isn't big and well worth it.

These pictures are from the first class. I had to take them from across the way in the parents section so they are a little hard to see. But trust me there is a smile from ear to ear on his face.

Learning to get into the water safely.

Kicking in the water

Diving for Ducks

Swimming like a big boy!

4th Birthday

I could have sworn that I had already made this post and to my surprise when I was trying to play catch up I realized that apparently I haven't. I appreciate everyone being patient with me and the blog. As I told you before we have been so busy lately and the blog has suffered. Max's birthday party was actually a week and a half after his real birthday. Luckily we had scheduled it that way because Max was really sick on his birthday. All of the unspoken unpleasantness that only mommies and daddies can relate to seem to be occurring all at the same time. We tried to make the day as special as possible but unfortunately daddy also started to come down with it around lunch time and I wasn't feeling exactly spry myself. We had grand plans of a trip to the zoo, an afternoon movie, dinner at Max's favorite place McDonald's with a little time at the play place, and capping the evening off with presents and cake. Clearly none of that happened so we spread his presents out throughout the day and he had a sliver of cake before bed. Thankfully he wont remember this birthday much, if at all. This was also the last day of summer before school started back. Which as we all know Max didn't make it to the first day of school either due to being sick. This virus had him down and out for a few days but thankfully we had our fun loving little boy back after a few days.

Max got to have a birthday boy donut for breakfast. Thankfully he got a little more excited than this but not much.

The only excitement we could think of was to let him open a few presents early. He got to open a new book after breakfast.

But this is how most of the day was spent. The two sickos watching a movie on the couch.

He got to open another gift that afternoon. He was getting restless and I felt sorry for him being sick on his birthday and all.

Finally after a bath and dinner we sang "Happy Birthday," had some cake, opened some presants, and called it a day!





I cant even believe he is already four. It's so cliche but it really has flown by. There are times I miss my sweet baby, but others I am amazed at how much he has grown. Maxwell has made me a more patient and understanding person. I cant believe that I get to be his mom everyday!

Birthday Party

Luckily even though Max was sick on his birthday we had already planned on having his party the weekend after. My brother Jeff and sister-in-law Andrea let us use their house cause they have a really nice pool and a cute multi purpose/pool house. There were threats of rain all week and luckily it held out just long enough for the party. As everyone was leaving the dark clouds rolled in and we barely cleaned up in time. This year we attempted to be more low key so we didn't invite as many people as usual but it still ended up being somewhat of a production. We had the works! All in all it ended up pretty good and went off without a hitch.

Welcome to the party!!! I made a balloon wreath a while back and was so excited to finally use it. I think I have figured out the equation to any fantastic summer birthday party.

We had hotdogs and decorations. √

Party Games √

Swimming √

 Cake (thanks to my girlfriend Ashlee who made a cake with banana filling!!!) √

Singing to the Birthday Boy! √

Don't forget the ice cream. √

And of course presents. √

Back to school for my Westfield Wildcat!

The first day of school is but a distant memory now. We are actually almost 6 weeks into the school year and I am now finally getting around to this post about Max's first day back as a Westfield Wildcat. This year Maxwell is technically in Pre-School even though he went last year too. He has the same teacher and therapists as last year which is good because he really seems to like them. Unfortunately as you already know Max was sick on his birthday and therefore the first day of school too which was the next day. For some reason School starts on a Friday here. They say it is so the kids can get accustomed to the routine without diving head first into the school year. And at risk of sounding incredibly old, they never would have done that in my day! Needless to say Max started school Monday instead. And since my boy is sometimes a summer baby and school started so soon after his birthday we took cookies and party bags for the class. It seems like I have maybe started a trend in his class too. I know it's the norm to take treats to school for birthdays but I of course didn't want to be normal. So on top of cookies we brought Cars party sacks for everyone. Now there have been two other birthdays and class and what did Max get? You guessed it... party bags. Yup, just call me a trendsetter! I realize I didn't invent the concept of giving party sacks but give me these small things to feel good about people. Any way first day of school went well. Max seems to be in a groove again and enjoys going which is nice. Hopefully it stays that way too, but then again this is only pre-k.

We are ready to hit the road!

Mrs Hopkins helped Max put away his bag and he waved goodbye. He is such a big boy and thankfully this year I didn't embarrass my self by tearing up again.