I'm Raising a Ladies Man!

Max likes girls. I mean, yes, we all know he prefers to play with them but I always thought that was because nearly all my friends have girls so they are who he got stuck with playing with most of time... but no, I mean, he really likes them. He's a 5 year old ladies man, no lie.

Every single day he gets off the bus with something new that a girl gave him. Most days it's a painting or some art work that the girl should probably be taking home to her parents! Max will hand it to me to look at and I can tell when it's not his work so I'll say "where'd you get this?"... "Oh Mommy, Samantha gave it to me!". Every. Single. Day. Literally. Earlier this week after bringing home the umpteenth "gift" from a random girl I put the art work in the trash. I mean what am I supposed to do with 249238234 drawings by other peoples kids? Max found it in the trash and yelled, "MOMMY! That was very special to me!" and took it out and hid it in his room. (I still can't find it).

Yesterday he got off the bus with a fruit snack and a penny from Sarah. The day before he came home with this "letter" from Samantha or Anna or someone. When does it end?

So today I'm working at the school with Anna's mom. I had no idea her daughter was on Max's bus, but this mother "knew" Max. She said "oh, I think your son is on my daughter's bus... she says he gets on the bus and says 'Hi pretty girls'. WHAT!?!?! What is going on here? Chris claims he is just like him. Is this bragging? I don't know. But I find it hilarious and a tad disturbing at the same time and now look forward to what "gift" he'll come home with each day. I can't blame the little girls though; who could resist this face?

It's Autumn! Must be time to visit Windmill Farm!

This weekend Windmill Farm opened. We took Max. He loves checking out the (nasty smelling) live animals, petting the goats, climbing through the witch tunnels and more! This year we left Chris sitting on a bench in the warm sun with his stupid cast and crutches while Max and I went to see what we could see. We ran into his friends Alex and "Little" Max, too, which made it all the better for my "Big" Max. They played hard; Max has a HUGE scratch on his shoulder to prove it. They discovered Apple Cider Slushies... uh... I must find this recipe, even if it means I have to buy one of those slushie machines! And Little Max got bit by a goat. It's ok, his mom and dad are both physicians and they weren't worried, so I couldn't be either-- even though had that been Big Max who got chomped on I probably would have been in the ER with him. ;)

Every year Max gets his picture taken by the pumpkin growth chart, just for fun. Let's compare....

Fall 2009: 44"-45" Tall

Fall 2010:

Yup, he's just about 48". We know this because he was barely too short to ride the big roller coasters at Kings Island and is begging to go back for Howl Fest and wear "taller" shoes so he can squeak by. Brave!

Happy Fall!

Our Nutso Week in Pictures

I got a new camera. Cheer with me!!!! YAY!!!! A fancier one (thaaaaaaaaaaanks, Chris!) so now I'm practicing with it. Max was out on the trampoline the other evening so I switched modes and snapped away. Got a couple good shots of him doing toe touches, dontcha think? Love the tongue shot in the second one? I do.

And in case you hadn't heard yet, poor Chris broke his ankle on Monday night. He was up at the high school playing with the SHS kids while recruiters from UD came to watch a player. Story goes he went up for a three-pointer and came down on a kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time doing something WRONG! Anyway, he thought it was just a sprain but the thing grew HUGE with swelling. On Tuesday he went to see Dr. Smith who took and xray and confirmed it is in fact broken. He has to be casted for 4 weeks; not a walking cast either-- a full on cast with crutches. And the crutches, I think, are the worst part. He is no good with them. He can't carry anything, they rub his sides wrong, they are cumbersome... and they are making him very grumpy. So don't take your ankles for granted, oh healthy ones! Oh and for the record, he made the shot. He makes sure I tell EVERYONE that fun tid bit. (ps- I kinda can't believe I'm posting a picture of a foot on my blog. Gag me.)

On Wednesday night this week, Max was supposed to start Tae Kwon Do. Mind you he did this for an entire year at preschool with the same teacher and most of the same kids. And mind you he did not pitch one tantrum at soccer or on the first day of school this year. Alas this day, he decided it was tantrum time again. I feel badly for him though (in between clenching my teeth as to not scream at him in front of other parents), and this is why... he is finally to the age where he can begin to voice what is making him react so wildly. He said he was "nervous" and "embarrassed". I'm guessing because loads of parents are watching behind the glass and there are bigger kids in there who seem to know more what they are doing. I think he is intimidated, plus we all know he's never wanted an audience for anything! Needless to say I had to carry all 58 pounds of him out of there kicking and screaming. He WANTS to do it, but can't get past the emotions. TKD is expensive too so I think we're done for now. Need to see about that refund... Here he is though, practicing at home before we left. Even pretending to karate chop Daddy's foot...

Aaaand... because Daddy's has a broken ankle, and because Max gets up SO early, he has vowed to deliver breakfast in bed to Chris every morning. The first morning I helped. He chose the items though. Cookie Crisp Cereal, a Toy Story fruit snack, 3 Starburst and a Capri Sun. Delivered on a tray. The next morning Max created his own breakfast for Daddy while I was out running early. He got a paper plate and poured onto it Cheerios (sans milk), placed on it a bag of chocolate chip muffins and a spoon and presented it to Chris in bed. How sweet is that? Look at the breakfasts!!!

Thursday was picture day at school. It was also the first day of fall but our weather begged to differ with record breaking temps in the mid-90s. I think a lot of people had to scrap their original idea of what their kids were wearing for picture day. Luckily dressing a boy is a lot easier than dressing a girl. We just rolled up the sleeves on a new blue plaid shirt, put on shorts and we were good to go. I took his pic on the way to the bus stop... no, he didn't squint like this for his real pictures; it was just so sunny!

On Thursday night we had Max's Kindergarten Open House. We got to go to his classroom and walk around, see where he sits, look at some of the fun things he's made, check out his mailbox and cubby, sweat a lot due to lack of a/c, and more. I was there all night selling Spirit Wear for the PTO. Here is Max modeling his new winter cap.... with a "mean panther" on the front!

So that's it! Pretty crazy week at our house! Who's ready for a more relaxing weekend? ME!

OH YES!... oh no...

Soccer started. I gave Max a choice this season, "do you want to play soccer?" He said "yes". You all know we deal with this every season... and this is his 5th! He gets on a team, loves to go to practice, but come game time he refuses to play and throws a tantrum on the sidelines. We've learned over the last year that his favorite sports are swimming and tennis and that's great! Personally I think soccer is awesome for young kids because of all the lessons it can teach about sharing, cheering another on, teamwork, commitment, exercise, etc. but if he likes individual sports better than so be it.

Chris is the coach and Kaylee's dad is the assistant. (that was our sneaky attempt at getting him more interested and keeping them good friends since we didn't know that they would miraculously end up in the same kindergarten class!) Max has had 2 games now and let me say, WHOA, he is a changed kid! He is aggressive, he runs the whole time, he begs to be put in, he fights and kicks and elbows and pushes, and he loves it!!! No, I am not kidding! The first game he scored 4 goals and this weekend he scored one. How awesome is that? I'm beyond thrilled that he loves it this season. I actually look forward to his games because of it... even the wet, cold, rainy ones! Ha!

To this we all say "OH YES!"

There were a couple of "oh no's" this weekend too though. The first, I lost my brand spankin new expensive fancy camera. I'm seriously depressed about it and can't snap out of it. I do NOT know where it is. I love to take pictures and have wanted a fancy camera for a long time. I have been practicing with it and was getting comfortable with all the manual settings. I took a picture of Max with it on Thursday before school and set it on the back of my truck. I SWEAR after he got on the bus I walked back in the garage, took it off the truck and inside with me, and practiced with it some more in the kitchen. After that though it's anybody's guess... where is it? Did I really leave it on the truck and the practicing happened another day? (my days can run together you know!) Did I carry it with me somewhere and leave it? Did I stash it somewhere secret without knowing? UGH! I have turned this house upside down looking for it... it's NO WHERE! It is seriously sad... I can't just go buy another one!!!!! UGH!!!!!

And that "oh no" leads to the second of the weekend... Kelly turns 40 on Weds and this weekend Tim and I threw her a PINK party. "OH NO" cause I hate 40 for her and "OH NO" cause I didn't have my fancy camera to snap awesomely fabulous pictures.

The party was so great though... everyone HAD to wear pink and most did so without complaining. We had pink balloon towers and pink flowers and a pink and black zebra cake. I bought Kelly a tiara with pink gems and the tables had pink buckets with pink candy in them. In case you didn't know, pink is her favorite color and she's a bit obsessed with it; we thought having a pink party would lessen the blow of 40 a little... and I think it did! Here are some pics of the night... taken with a pink camera, no lie... I'd rather have taken them with my cool black fancy camera, did I mention that I'm sad about it going missing???

Me, Kelly, Nicole... in pink!

Chris and Me... in pink!

Chris even went out and bought pink socks! That's the spirit!

Birthday Girl and Me

The fabulously delicious and fun cake

Oh, and one last update... Max still looooooves kindergarten and the bus ride! We completed two homework worksheets tonight. It's mostly stuff he learned two years ago in preschool but that's ok, makes him feel smart! LOL! He wants to say thanks to a few people... to Mamaw and Papaw for the nice cards and the puzzles and the books... to Grandma and Grandpa for the money with which he bought cool new shoes... and to Aunt Tara for the "funny and gross" (as he calls it) new shirt for school! :)

"First day of school! First day of school!" -Nemo

So I guess the State of Ohio allows kindergarteners to have a "phase-in" day before school actually starts. This lets the classes divide into smaller groups and come for a shorter period of time to get a feel for what school will be like. Max's phase-in day was Tuesday.

Since this will be the only time I take him to school myself (no busing for phase-in) we had to take our pictures in front of the school. He was a good sport at first but as more and more people came he grew impatient and annoyed with me snapping away! Ha!

We went inside the front doors and waited for the doors to the lobby to be unlocked. While we were waiting we saw a lot of familiar faces including Carley and Heather Breehne. Max was so excited and so brave! All three years of preschool drop offs happened with tears and fighting from him, but here we are at a brand new school with nothing but excitement. YAY!

He ended up walking down the steps to the locked doors alone, pushing through the crowd of people to get up front. Left me in the dust. When the doors opened he ran inside and took off down the hall. I had to call out to him to wait for me!!! I got this picture of him running, skipping and cheering down the hall. :)

He went right to his class, no problem!! I was so relieved!!! What a joy it was to watch him be so happy go!! Two hours later I came back to pick him up. He told me he is assigned to the table labeled "red hearts" WITH Kaylee, of all the luck! He told me he met a new friend named Cari. He told me he picked the "purple letter U" to sit on, on the alphabet rug. He told me his favorite thing was recess. Figures! :)

Today is the first day of school, officially. No Mom taking him to school. He is riding the big yellow bus! WHOA!

All morning he is asking "Is it time for school yet?"... he is used to going to preschool in the morning so this afternoon business is new to him. He had to eat an early lunch so we could get to the end of our driveway a little early. The bus is scheduled to come at 12:17. We got out there at noon, just in case! We took a lot of pictures, including one by the front door, which we do every first day of school, as well as some waiting for the bus.

Earlier this morning Max and I practiced inside what it would be like when we saw the bus coming (I get nervous just thinking about it!) up the hill. We decided we would both jump up and down and cheer!!!! The doors would open and we would wave to Janet, the driver, then he said he was going to shove me and in a deep voice yell "Seeeeee yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!". A light bulb went off in my head! I said "Max, if you really do that I will pay you $5!" Bribes are ok, right? I'm the mother! ;) He is a little greedy guy so I thought that might keep him from worrying or crying or holding on to me or refusing to get on at all.

So here we are... waiting, waiting, waiting... First we see the mail truck. Then a biker. THEN... THE BUS!!!! (seriously my heart is pounding writing this) Here it comes, up the hill... Max and I did just like we practiced... we held hands, looked at each other and started jumping up and down cheering "THE BUS! THE BUS!" The bus then pulls to a stop and the door swings open. We wave "HI JANET" very enthusiastically and then it's time... Max looks up at me... gives me a push and yells "Seeeeeee yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" and climbs up the big steps. I almost couldn't get a picture he was so fast! I couldn't believe it. He actually did it!!!!! No tears, no fear, no anxiousness... he was such a big, brave boy.

I tried my best to savor every moment. I watched the bus pull away with tears streaming down my cheeks. Chris got all of this on video but I'm cheering so loudly during parts of it that I'll spare you from watching and hearing me! :)

So that was it. Back up the driveway we walked... then Chris left and I was home alone to think back on the moments of the morning and cry. I'm so proud of Max!!!

I had a meeting at the school with Jen Johnson (Jen Tharp for those of you who went through Springboro schools with us) right after PM kindergarten started to discuss volunteers for an upcoming event at Clearcreek. I saw Max's bus pull in but didn't see him get off. Jen did tell me though that she walked by his class and he looked happy, just sitting on the rug on the floor with his friends.

Day 1= HUGE SUCCESS!!!!! Now I sit and wait to hear every detail (that he'll share anyway) about the first day! WAHOO MAX!

Big Week

I'm losing sleep. This is a stressful time for me. First, I'm the new PTO President for Clearcreek and with that comes a LOT of stress and responsibility, especially this time of year when I have to plan things without a lot of parental help! Secondly, this was a big week for Max... he had his state kindergarten testing, he found out who his teacher is (and which kids are in his class), he met his teacher, and he had a bus program at school. BIG THINGS!!!!

The school posted the class lists over the weekend. Man were we excited. I felt like I was going back to school. We cautiously walked up to the doors, found Max's name under Mrs. Dillon's class header and searched for friends. Trey from his preschool will be in his class... Taylor from his preschool will be in his class... KAYLEE, his BFF from preschool will be in his class. What a blessing! I almost did a cartwheel when I learned that!!!!! That will (hopefully) make this transition so much easier for him. The odds were NOT in our favor with 9 Am and 9 PM classes but we were lucky to be placed with Kaylee. SHEW!!!

On Tuesday Max got to go to school for testing and meet his teacher. He had to do some rhyming and writing while I waited in the hall. Mrs. Dillon is awesome! I had met her before and was secretly hoping that is who Max would get. YAY!!! Get this... after testing she told me that he said "Um, do you think I'm smart enough I should just go to first grade instead?" HAHAHA! She told him she wanted to spend time with him this year. :) We also got to test the new playground at his school...

Yesterday we had a bus program at school. We learned all the rules. We took a few pictures. We got to ride the bus. We met Max's bus driver for the drive to school as well. (he has a different drop off driver... weird?) Max was a little nervous. I am not looking forward to seeing what he does that first day, when the bus stops at our driveway to pick him up... alone. He will be on for a while before school starts too, like 40 minutes! Yikes. I'm nervous already!

Max and Kaylee

Max and Carley Breehne

I will have a new post next week... Max has his two hour "phase in day" where I take him to school then on Friday the 27th, his first official day with a bus ride and all.

Sentimental Max

My baby is a sentimental fool. It's sweet but at the same time makes me nuts.

Today, after weeks of wiggling and wiggling and us begging, he lost his first tooth. It was the first tooth he ever got too... awww. I tried to pull it for him using a wet paper towel but he was too anxious to let me keep trying. He then said "I just need some privacy" and went to his bathroom and shut the door. The next thing I heard was giggling and him saying "Mom! My tooth came out." He was very matter of fact about it. He then told me "this is very exciting". We rushed outside to show Daddy, took a gazillion pictures, listened to him giggle, watched him stick his finger and tongue through the new hole, and put him to bed.

As he was putting his tooth in the case under his pillow he started sobbing, HARD! "BUT IT'S MY TOOTH, I WANT TO KEEP IT AS A SOUVENIER" So I had to agree to write the tooth fairy a letter asking her to please leave money AND the tooth; to not take it to a new baby in Heaven.

Sorry new babies. :( (ps- he's also cutting his 6 year molars! WHAT??)

And speaking of sentiments... one of the mom's from Max's preschool class sent out an email asking all the kids to join in on a "kindergarten kick off" playdate at the park. Most of the 15 kids showed up. It was HOT but so fun! It's amazing how much some of them have changed over the summer!! Max had a great time with his friends and I had a fun time chatting with the mom's. It was a great idea!