Maxwell's 5th Birthday Party

Maxwell loves the show American Ninja Warrior and wanted to have a Warrior Ninja party.  He was REALLY excited.  :)  For the first time, we did a birthday party at a location other than our house.

 

Doing his best to get up the big warped wall (he didn't make it)

Luckshya, Maxwell, Joshua K (Maxwell calls him JK), and Preston.  These boys all went to preschool together.  They were really excited to be back together.

My crazy girl jumping off into the foam blocks.

Preston

Landen and Emmalyn (man - she's so tan!)

Sadie

Hayden swinging out over a foam block pit.  Maxwell really wanted to do it but he just wasn't tall enough...

...So he just jumped instead.

Everyone wanted to conquer that warped wall!

This is his starting position.

Running his hardest.

Avery

Still working on that warped wall.

Preston, Maxwell, and Joshua

Emmalyn hanging out with Grandma Donna

The birthday "cake" and the party favors.

He only wanted a doughnut cake.

The food!  (plus pizza)

Right before it was time to go in for the food, I went to check on Maxwell and found him on the couch with an ice pack on his ankle.  Oh man, not good.  Apparently he hurt it somehow but thanks to the ice pack and a gatorade (a special treat), he ended up being okay.  It stinks to have anyone get injured at the party you are hosting.

All the kids - Clockwise

Preston, Maxwell, Owen, JK's brother, Avery, Hayden, Landen, Luckshya, and Joshua.

We had this huge room all to ourselves - they upgraded us for some reason.  It was a great set up!

Avery and Emmalyn were good partners.

Carter and Sadie

"Happy Birthday"

He blew them all out!

He was clearly thrilled.

The whole group.  They had a ton of fun and were worn out!

Silly faces

The party was a great success.  

At home we let him open his presents.

Love this sweet, smart, funny, observant, handsome boy!

Legos!

Transformer toys

Water guns are always fun

An Uno twist game

So earlier this week, we came home and Joe was teaching Landen how to ride his bike without training wheels.  Peter and Maxwell decided to give it a try as well today after the party.  

Starting out

Pretty wobbly and needing dad to keep him up

Within 20 minutes though, he was doing great and had ridden up and down the street with Peter running next to him in case he started to fall, but not touching him.  It was awesome how quickly he got the concept!  He still will need to practice with dad right there, but we will count this as the day he learned to ride a two wheel bike.  It's been a memorable and fun day!

Max also invited the twins from his soccer team but they couldn't make the party so we went down to their house to play for a little bit.

First Week of November

November is going to have to really step up if it's going to beat the awesomeness that was October!

Big girl sitting by herself at Costco

When Max visits me at work, I don't want to erase what he leaves behind.  :)

I am so glad we live somewhere with a short winter.  It's great to be able to play outside without jackets in November

A girl after my own heart - LOVES spaghetti

Max was excited to eat the gum he got on Halloween.  This was the first time he's ever had gum.  He did a good job of chewing for a minute or two and then spitting it out.

A pic a friend sent me from Halloween.  Emmalyn is busy looking at her neighbor friend, Michael

Good morning Mr. Selfie

Video - Maxwell is doing so great at swimming lessons.  Here's his backstroke (Remember, he's a little over 4!)

Jumping with dad  - fun for everyone

Max still move around a ton when he sleeps and doesn't just lay with his head on the pillow.  He also ends up without a blanket on.

At night when it's time for bed, usually I cuddle with him in his bed.  Well, Peter has said told Maxwell that he loves the "Little Red Caboose" Kindermusik song.  So, when Maxwell wants Peter to come into the bedroom for something (get him socks, kiss him goodnight, etc.) he will start singing "Little Red Caboose" really loudly until Peter comes in singing it.  It's fun and it's sweet to see Max want to also connect with his Dad when he's going to bed.

We went and enjoyed dinner/dessert at my old work friend and boss, Lori.  Her kids were cute with my kids and I was able to enjoy a little break.

Emmalyn quickly warmed up to Wes and even climbed up on his lap to share his cake.

Looking at pictures with Kylie

Reading books at bedtime

Look how long her hair is getting at the back!

Ugh.  Look at that big balcony on the house behind us.  It looks directly into our yard.  We are going to have to do something to get our privacy back and have decided a new tree is probably the best option.

Video - Maxwell has some pretty good (in my opinion) gun/weapons sounds.  Not sure where he learns it from...clearly his momma doesn't have those skills!  This kid is such a BOY!

We went to a local tree farm and got to ride around in a golf cart.  Max thought it was super cool.

Walking away in anger because she didn't like what we were telling her.  Oh man...this girl!

I love her in those boots!

Having fun at the park.

There is something about this picture that makes Maxwell seem so old!  It's like that body belongs to a grown boy, not my sweet 4 year old.

always a character

playing with playdough (I think for the first time at our house)

Our neighbors invited Maxwell over to have dinner and play.  He had an awesome time.

Building a lego soccer game with Mr. Chris

Emmalyn update:

She picks her nose

She gets so upset in the morning if I leave the bed once I bring her into our bed to nurse (Sorry Peter, I know you get left to deal with it)

She loves to brush her own teeth

Her drooling seems to be starting to get better

She talks in full on sentences but you can't understand her language

She loves showering, turning on the bathtub

She's talkative and funny, lots of momma momma momma momma or daddy daddy daddy daddy.

She can say more than 60 words that I can think of...she says: Water, Shower, Bow, Teeth, Toes, Eyes, Nose, Ears, Hair, Head, Mouth, Belly, Diaper, Poopy, Dress, Shoes, Pizza, Milk, Cheese, Chips, Bite, More, Bread, Bye, Hi, Love you, Look, Daddy, Momma, Max, Maxwell, Landen, Hayden, Joe, Brittany, Banana, Book, Puppy, Kitty, Flower, Thank You, Please, Down, Up, Towel, Splash, Pumpkin, Hooray, Sleep Sack, Off, Ipad, Snack, Strawberry, Applesauce, Yogurt, Step, Walk, Door, Ball, Backpack, Bread, and more every day!!!

Emmalyn is not happy to be contained whether in the car, the stroller, the high chair, your lap, or a shopping cart.  She just wants to be doing her own thing, moving on her own.
She is singing all the time and is really into Kindermusik - sang along with the song "ram sam sam" in class.
She likes the rough/adventurous stuff like being play dropped onto the couch and bouncing up and down or going down slides.
She says cheese when taking pictures
I have started giving her my phone to play with (it's locked) when in bed, and she loves to go grab the ipad.  So, the screen time has already started with her.  I wish it hadn't but it's just too hard to fight it so instead we work to limit it.
She's great with a spoon.
She asks for milk in the morning and says, "yay yay yay" when I give in and tell her I'll nurse her.
She does 2 naps still but they are not very long sometimes.


Maxwell update:
Maxwell is enjoying his once a week Spanish class at school.  Unfortunately, having both Spanish and Chinese now has caused him to struggle more to remember what he knew from Chinese and he gets confused.
He stopped saying "good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite, I'll see you in the morning light, don't let the superheros get you" when I tuck him in at night about 2 weeks ago.  I try to get him to say it and he won't anymore.  Sad...
He says he wants to marry me but then when I tell him he can't because I'm already married he says he wants to marry Aunt Julianne.  (How cute is that)...Then this morning he said that he didn't want to get married and he wanted to keep living in the house with me.