Max's Spring Party

It may have felt a lot like winter, but the room moms tried to bring a little bit of spring into Max's 4th grade classroom. 

 We had a photo booth and balloon relays.  Max may have made me crazy and popped two balloons, but he had fun!

 The kids got to make a fluffy slime that was pretty cool.  Luckily their teacher was great about the mess - and of course we cleaned up before we left.

 He decorated a wind chime - that was super cute, but ended up getting all tangled before we could get it home to hang up. 

 I can't beleive that I have now helped to put on ten classroom parties for this little man!  Only two more left - and the thought makes me want to cry!

William's Spring Party

Our school parties were moved to just before spring break this year.  I was able to celebrate with both big boys and it was so much fun! 

I started out in William's room.  The kids were able to use tissue paper and muffin liners to decorate a flower pot. William took his job very seriously. 

They also made these super cute bunny headbands. 

 

The kids had a blast dancing around to What Does the Fox Say.

 


We wrapped up with two more games - blowing an egg across the carpet with a straw and a math problem/egg match.  The straw blowing was much more difficult than it looked!

I just love this little wild man so much -and I'm so grateful that I have the opportunity to participate in events like this at his school. 

Pinewood Derby Districts

 Max's car was the big winner of our cub scout pack's pinewood derby!    This meant that he was able to move on to the district event to compete against the best cars from all the packs. 

 His car is that first one in the pic above.  He won all four of his first races by quite a bit.  Things got more competitive once their narrowed the field down to hte top 80 cars.  The whole event was pretty fun for the entire family.  Jack went thorugh this blow up obstacle course about 1,000 times and loved every minute. 

 William and Max thought it was pretty cool to check out a real life indy car. 

 When all the races were complete our big guy came in 26th place - out of almost 400 cars.  Pretty impressive if you ask me.  He is super proud of his trophy and he can't wait to build another car next year!

Birthday Continued

This is just too big a birthday not to have a 2nd post.  Also, these pictures are just too cute not to share.

 Nonna made a cake for Max's birthday to keep the celebration going. 

William's Work

William wrote this note to the principal with his reading teacher.  He got to take it to the
principals office and talk to her about it.  Today when I stopped by school for something the secretary told me how adorable he was sitting in Dr. Pott's office talking to her.  His letter is hanging on her door and it is just too cute not to document.  I swear this is reason number 10,482 why I love our school.

Happy Birthday Max!

 10 . . . ten . . . TEN!!  Seriously?  How did my baby boy turn into a TEN year old?  I swear it happened overnight.  We had a wonderful weekend celebrating 10 years of Max. 

Saturday night started the festivities with dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  His favorite dinner was served and there were brownies and white ice cream for dessert.  Pretty much his ideal dinner.  He looked so cute blowing out that candle.

 The celebration continued Sunday on is actual birthday with a party with friends.  He chose to have a laser tag/high ropes party.  Laser tag was a huge hit and everyone loved it.  I guessed a few boys might be thrown by the ropes course, but most of them at least gave it a try.

 I thought Max would love it and he did.  He completed almost every single obstacle and he didn't look back.

 We wrapped up with pizza and cake in the party room.  I sure hope that wish come true!

 

It so fun to watch Max grow.   I feel like he is maturing before our very eyes.  Some parts I'm ready for and some parts make me long for my little baby Max that sounded french when he would call me mama-mama. 

That being said, its fun to watch Max come into his own.  Growing up can be tough and there have been some bumps, but my wish for Max is that he always finds joy in the here and now. 

So I'm finding joy right now thinking about Max just as he is - with his mathematical brain, his dread of reading, his love of video games, his desire to be a you tuber, his sly smiles when he is praised, his snuggles with the dog,  his determination to get the cat to sleep with him, his growth in soccer, his excitement about baseball, his swimming progress, his big feet, his dread of fancy pants, his fast showers, his crazy laugh, my unending and immeasurable love for him.  How did I get so lucky to have this guy call me mom?

Strings Day

Max had lots of family members in attendance for his very first strings day performance.  It was HUGE!!!  There were so many kids and we were totally not prepared for how crazy it was.   We could barely see Max from where we finally found seats, but he did a great job!

Watching his enjoyment of strings has been so much fun.  He loves strings days and talks about what they learned.  We could work in a bit more practice, but he is doing pretty great! 

 

We love his strings teacher.  He has a great approach with the kids and makes it enjoyable for them - all while they learn a great deal. 

Moving On Up!

So proud of these two!  Within two weeks, they both moved to the next level in their swimming lessons. 

They love swimming, especially Jack, and we are thrilled with how their skills are developing.  Go my little swimmers, go!

2CELLOS

Max's big Christmas gift this year was tickets to The Fox to see 2CELLOS perform.  His strings teacher had shown him some of their you tube videos and he was hooked!

He and I headed to dinner at his favorite restaurant - Olive Garden - before heading down to the show.

We had a little time to kill before the show. . .

Once the show began we were in awe.  These two men are so incredibly talented!  They had the entire audience on our feet and signing along to songs like 'Satisfaction'.

The highlight for Max was when they played their version of AC/DC's Thunderstruck.  I had to agree it was completely amazing.

It was such a great night out for both of us.  I'm so glad Max picked me to take him!