Max is Two!

Thinking over the last two years, Max has been through a lot. And he has done a great job overcoming many of his obstacles. It was amazing to see the difference in him between his birthday last year and this year. I am so proud of him. He is the sweetest, happiest kid. When he smiles and laughs it lights up my day. He loves to cuddle! He is very curious, and adventurous. Along with his adventurism, he is also brave. When he gets hurt he recovers fast, and can go right back to playing. Currently, he is a better eater than Zac. I never thought that would be the case. He is picking up words and phrase very quickly. He is attempting to try new words and phrases too. This most current set of tubes really seems to have done the trick to help his speech progress. He is such a joy to have in our family. It has been a wild ride with this one, and I am sure he will continue to keep us on our toes.

This year for his birthday we just did a simple family birthday party. I have been stretching myself too thin the last while, and I am trying to not over do things. We did breakfast for dinner and it was pretty good. Jon made it home about 6:20p and that was about 15 mins before everyone else showed up. I didn't plan to do things the day before like I should have, ie wrap presents and do most of the big chores. So, the day of left me with tons to do, and on my own, with no motivation. Everything worked out fine.

While I was frosting the cake, Max had woken up from his nap. I forgot to cut the domes off the cakes before I frosted it. Luckily, I had an extra tub of frosting. But in the midst of fixing the cake, while holding one layer of the cake frosting side down in my hand, I started to hear paper ripping! Max had started to open one of his presents. It was pretty funny, and cute. I was actually surprised that he knew what to do. Last year he had no idea what was going on. I was a little concerned about that so a few weeks ago I borrowed a "Happy Birthday" Signing Time DVD from the library. The movie went over all the Birthday stuff. The boys loved it and watched it almost everyday for 2 weeks, often more than once a day. (Boy, does that birthday song get obnoxious!) This year he seemed to know exactly what was going on.

Adam and the boys were playing with balloons. I thought it was funny that Adam seemed as fascinated as the boys were!



I took Zac to Toys R Us for his birthday to get a free balloon and crown and thought it would be fun to do the same for Max. So he could feel special on his day too. When Zac realized that he would not be getting a balloon or crown he was so upset. He started to cry. It was pretty hard to explain to him.

Earlier, in the week Zac and I went to Toys R Us to find something for him to give to Max. I talked about what he thought Max would like before hand. And he thought of some good things. But mostly he was thinking of what he would like, cars that light up ("like the ones he gave to Eddie last year"). After we got in the store he was so distracted with all the toys and pushing all the buttons on the mechanical toys. He could not focus at all on what kind of cars he wanted to get for Max. (They didn't have any light up ones, which is probably a good thing, because Zac would constantly be stealing them from Max). He kept asking me about his birthday. And telling me what he wanted and when was it, and how come it was sooo far away. He was completely self aborbed ;) Maybe Zac is still too young to understand the concept of giving or maybe he is . . . spoiled!? I didn't really think Zac was spoiled before then . . .but maybe he is?

Max loves balloons.


This was the GREAT toy Grandma Munk got for Max. (Zac sure loves it too, maybe more;)


It was so fun to see him unwrap and think what the next part to rip off was.


My mom made these ADORABLE pillow cases for the boys. They even have their names embroidered on them. They are available at their boutique, which will be one more weekend, Dec 10-12! There are lots of different fabrics and styles to choose from!


The boys got so excited they went right to their rooms to get their pillows and changed pillow cases and took a little break from wrapping presents.



Zac was a good helper. And was able to stay "out of the action" pretty well while Max unwrapped. But he did want to hand Max his gifts. This was a big gift. Zac made funny faces while trying to lift it.


It was one of my black friday super buys. A fold-able slide for $15.


Then we had cake. As soon as the candles were lit Max blew them out. Again, I love that he knew exactly what to do. (The simple joys). I had to keep my hand over his mouth so he didn't blow them out til the song was over.



I think this may be one reason the slide was $15. "Some" assembly required. Jon did a great job!


It was a fun night, and I am so grateful my family is around to come and share fun events with us! Hopefully, we can see Jon's side of the family more often too.

Happy Birthday, Max. We love you!!