Turning 8.

All November long we look forward to the very last day of the month.  As a family we love celebrating Max's birthday month and are always anxious for our favorite day of the whole year to arrive... November 30th.

This year Max's birthday fell on a Friday.  Fun!  Max had a lot of ideas on how he wanted to celebrate "8" including big extravagant scavenger hunts, a pool party (indoors of course) and more but he finally settled on having his party with 12 friends at Skateworld in Kettering.  He loooooves roller skating so this seemed like a perfect fit.  For two hours he had fun skating and sweating and grooving to music with his best friends.  The bonus for me was no one got hurt.  Success!  (I don't have pictures to upload here yet... they are on my point and shoot and I haven't taken them off yet!  Shame on me.)

Before his party though Max woke up in the morning and found our hallway filled with 8 balloons just for him, each one with a note from us tied to the string.  He loved that.  He also loved that it was "elf day" at school (part of a fundraiser) so he got to wear red and green and a santa hat to school as part of his celebration.

Chris and I took McDonald's, per his request, to him at lunch and then helped him pass out treats to his classmates.  "8 IS GREAT!  THANKS FOR HELPING ME CELEBRATE!"  That's what the treat bag tag read and inside were two donuts stacked to make an "8".  Yum!

All weekend long he had a swim meet at which he had several personal bests and won tons of ribbons! At the end of the weekend we had a family party at home where he enjoyed cake, ice cream and gifts.

I still can't believe he is 8.  Every year I feel like whatever age he is sounds so old.  He's just a little boy!  I tell people all the time how blessed we are to be Max's parents.  He really is a good boy.  He's SO good.  He's is always happy too.  (how??) You will often find him humming or singing to himself or dancing to music in his head.  He is kind to others and always tries to include everyone when he plays.  With all the mistakes we make as parents we must be getting something right because he really is just a great kid!  He could spill less often but... I'll happily clean up those spills as a trade off to what joy and life he brings to us!  So here we go... celebrating 8!  Happy birthday to our very best thing!

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving 2012 was spent in Houston with family.  Max had been looking forward to it for a looooong time.  He couldn't wait to see Isabelle mostly.  I think it's safe to say they had a really fun time together and for the adults, it was nice just to hang around, catch up, and do a little bit of nothing for once.  

We didn't spend all our time "doing nothing" though.  While we were there we also celebrated Max's 8th birthday a little early (he was thrilled and surprised by the party that was thrown for him at Sweet Tomatoes), went ice skating (which just felt weird because it was 80 degrees outside), ran in a turkey trot, took family photos, played a game Max made cards for called "Would You Rather" (see one of his questions below, it's hilarious), made a "thankful tree" with Tara and of course ate turkey and sweet potatoes.  It was a pretty memorable and eventful few days.  

 (seriously?  like being a woman is just as bad as a dirty water slide?  what the heck?)

It's Been a While...

Did we just miss September and most of October or what?  I'm way behind on blogging and it's mostly because I have so much to blog about that I don't know where to start.

Max started swimming for the Washington Township Sharks this fall.  He made the move from Coffman because he wanted to follow a couple coaches to the Sharks team.  It's been a great move!  He really enjoys it, had made so many new friends and just excels at what he does.  No updates or pictures on that for now, just wanted to get in that short blurb because that's where we spent most of September...

What I really want to document is our weekend trip to Columbus...  with LOTS of pictures.


Last weekend we set out on a mini-vacation (I love to take them!) to Columbus.  Max literally jumped off the bus and into our car on Friday as we set out on our way.  The weekend had been on our calendar for a couple months with two big ideas:  Max's first OSU Buckeyes game and the Columbus Half Marathon.

Saturday morning we woke up early, got showered, and found a cab to take us to campus.  Max's first OSU experience.  He took note that it was "urban" as opposed to Miami's "rural" campus from a few weeks earlier.  (yes, they are learning about that stuff in social studies).  He decided right away he liked Miami better but was excited to see what he could see at OSU.  We spent all morning in the rain walking around campus.  We had breakfast, visited the Ohio Union (did anyone see the video of the flash mob from OSU about a year ago?  It was filmed there), walked up to High and Lane and then headed down Lane to pass all the crazy tailgaters already prepping for the game.  We got to our seats about an hour before kick off which gave us plenty of time for snacks and drinks and bleacher butt.

The game was pretty boring, I won't lie.  Of course we left at the beginning of the 4th quarter so we could beat the crowd to the cabs and that's when we missed all the good stuff.  Luckily we were back at our hotel in time to see the ending!  I think the highlight of the day for Max was all the compliments he got on his new hat!  He was pretty popular in that thing. 

The next morning we were up well before the sun for the marathon.  I still have my side ailment that is a mystery so like Chicago, I wasn't sure how this race would go.  It was FREEZING outside (almost literally) but that is my favorite kind of running weather.  I am proud to say I ran a personal best of 1:39!!!  Man when I was making my way to the finish line and saw that time I started sprinting!  My last PR was 1:41 and when I saw that "3" in 39 I wanted to make it!  Chris laughs because he wondered why I didn't run faster to the finish.  Seriously?  I was flat out giving it my all.  HAHA!  I felt like I was in the Olympics at that point.  Anyway, it was a good race.  A few hills (but I'm ok with that) and beautiful scenery.  I'll do that one again next year for sure!  And my side pain didn't stop me like it had in Chicago so that was one extra bonus (thank you for the prayers... you know who you are!).  It was also fun because this was the first race I've done where my name was printed on my bib.  So total strangers cheered for me on the route.  I felt like a celebrity... kind of.   I do wonder if I really trained for a half and then pushed myself to my limit how fast I could go?  I don't know if I'll ever do that because I'm crazy enough about running as it is and that would add more crazy to the mix, certainly.  I'll take my 1:39 and smile!  :)

We didn't leave Columbus without a few trips to Easton either.  Max desperately wanted to do Build A Bear.  I was kinda surprised.  I mean he will be 8 next month!  I said no the first 234234 times but then on Sunday before we packed up I thought to myself "why wouldn't I let him do it?  there will be a day when he won't want to, when he IS too big for it.  I should let him do it now!".  So I did.  He picked out a little dog and named him Buckeye, even bought an OSU football uni for him to wear.  Pretty sure that made Max's weekend.  

Now it's just work, work, work until our next "thing"... which I guess will be Halloween... then a swim meet... then planning a birthday party!!!!  Until then...

End of Summer Sunflowers! It's Tradition.

The Yankee Street Market sunflower field is in full bloom.  The gorgeous flowers only last two weeks so once they are up it's like a mad dash to get to the field before they wither away.

Max indulged me tonight.  He was so tired (so was I actually) but he was such a great sport and gave me some fun shots to work with, despite all the bees that he seemed extremely worried about.  (I tried to reassure him the bees didn't care about him and I'd never put him in a position where he'd be hurt)

I took 202 photos in about a 15 minute time!  Max said "I do believe you have a problem, Mommy."  He's right.

Here is a sampling from our evening together...  Happy End of Summer!

First Day of 2nd Grade! 2012-2013

It's here!  The first day of school!

Before I talk about that let me say that Max got to go meet his teacher yesterday, Mrs. Miller.  He is in class this year with 5 girls from his 1st grade class, all of whom he adores.  He also has his life-long pal, Kenleigh, in class with him this year.  They are seated together (desks are paired in twos) front and center of the classroom.  Good luck with that combo, Mrs. Miller.  ;)  Here he is in front of the school and then entering his new classroom...

Today, Max got up before 7am and got dressed completely before even coming out of his room.  He was ready to go!

The bus routes must have been redone because this year his pick up time is 8:17 (vs. 7:35 last year) so he could get on the bus at our house.  YAY!

Here are some photos I snapped this morning, much to Max's dismay.  You think he'd be used to me taking pictures of him by now.  Geesh.

Once the bus came he ran across the street without even saying "bye" or giving us a hug or anything!  The nerve!  I followed him across the street and tried to snap a pic of him getting on the bus.  Then I made him come back down the steps to give me a kiss.  He was so mad and embarrassed.  Sorry but good grief, you're only 7 and it is the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!  Give me a kiss!

Needless to say he was ready for school to begin.  Here's to a great year in 2nd grade!

Back to School Photo Session | Max and his BFF, Ben

We are still a week away from the start of the 2012-2013 school year here but that didn't stop me from wanting to do a mini-session with Max and his pal, Ben to celebrate the beginning of second grade!

I remember second grade well.  My teacher was Mrs. Kesling.  I learned all about monarch butterflies and got to make a monarch out of a wire clothes hanger, panty hose and paint.  I learned to sew (kind of) when as a class we all got to hand stitch one square of material and create a quilt (wonder what happened to that quilt?).    I won the class spelling bee that year spelling the word "beautiful" correctly. It was a fun year!  I'm pretty sure second grade in 2012 is much more intense than second grade in 1980-whatever though.  Even so, I have no doubt it will be a fun year for Max!

School starts August 23rd.  I will be sure to post all his "first day" photos then.  But for now here are some cute ones from the mini-session with Max and Ben...