Max is 8!

So I've fallen behind on the blog, but i wanted to make sure this post got done because it's important as it's like my children's life story.

Max is 8! I'll admit that I struggle with this age, as this was the same age Bella was when Josh passed away. Doesn't seem possible for Max to be that old. Max is really growing these days, in legs and arms. He's up to a size 7/8 for pants and shirts.  You like your light brown hair to be longer and your eyes are still the same color as your dad's.

You have wrapped up 1st grade. It was a challenge and there was a lot of stressful days, but you persevered and  I'm so proud of you. You started 2nd grade and already i can see how you are flourishing. You love science and math along with gym class. You are so creative when it comes to solving problems though you still only like to use Green and Yellow when you have to be an artist.  You were elected to Student council and enjoyed the leadership role.  Your favorite books are Dogman and any graphic novels.

This summer you fell in love with Pokemon. You love to Pokemon Go, collect the cards, play with the toys and watch the tv show. I haven't seen you this in love with something since you discovered John Deere Tractors! It cool to watch you figure out how to play the game or what each character will become. You have found some new friends who enjoy Pokemon too, and spread the obsession with friends too. It's something that all generations seems to be entertained with and helps you to be social with people you might not normally. 

While you can be so loving, caring, funny and friendly ..you also can be stubborn and moody. You get an idea in your head and need to have it happen right away or else. There are moments I see me and. your dad combined in the many emotions of you, Max.  You are my challenge to say the least, but you are still my shadow and don't want to be away from me for very long. I know someday that will change but right now, it's ok.
This past year, you went to two camps, Camp Grey and Camp Kesum. You did struggle a bit with Camp Keseum this year, but said you wanted to go back this fall when I had to sign up.  I love seeing you have fun with new friends and do activities that you might not get a chance too. I have worried about you being able to go out on you own because you always were with me and daddy when you were little, but watching you at Camp makes me know you will be ok.

We went to Dallas for spring break, our first solo trip of three. You had a good time even though you weren't feeling well. Thankfully it was jsut to the Great Wolf Lodge, so you could relax and rest.  We also went up to the Dells for your 8th Birthday. You were so excited to get a cake and balloons!
We had your first friends party and it was a hit! You loved it and all the attention you got! McDonald's for the win!

Max You are such a fun and clever little guy. You have a lot of traits of your daddy in you and I love to see them come out in you. You want to be a farmer and love to get to farm whenever the chance. You even grew your own corn this year! I'm so excited to see what will come in year 8 for you!  I love you lots!!

Summer Magic

So this summer we spent quite a bit of time doing daytrip things or things around the area. The kids did a few sporty things like crossfit kids, swimming lessons and tball. This kept us from doing a lot of long days away from the house as all these items were spread out in the week. IT was nice to have a little something going on each day.  It also allowed us to see friends too. :)

The kids did to camp twice, once to Camp Grey and once to Camp Kesem.  Max loved camp grey. He's excited for next year. I love that my kids love camp. I was too chicken as a child to attend one, but so happy my kids get that experience. They learn so much about making friends, independence and teamwork.  Bella got to ride horses which made her summer.  I'll admit it was bittersweet for me. While it was nice to get some guilt free kid free time, I missed the kids.

We got season passes to little amerrika for easter, so the kids and i took advantage of that. We would go for a couple hours and then head off to whatever else was on the list for the today.  It's an amusement park but the rides are more like those of a county fair. Its just perfect for a short visit.

We managed to squeeze in a trip to the other side of the state to for a birthday party and father's day weekend. Then just before school started we were back in our area for the kids to be farm kids while i took classes for school.  We also made it up to sheboygan for the day to see hang out with family.

We also checked out the Jefferson County Fair, Farm Tech days and the State Fair.

Summer Camp

This year the kids went to two different camps, one at the beginning of summer and one at the end of summer.  It was strange to have both kids gone for two seperate weeks. 
First up was Camp Gray. This camp is a catholic kids camp, but they have so much stuff going on that you wouldn't know it was a church camp.  Max had a great time, though he didn't shower the whole week (they went in the pool so it's all good, right ;-) ) and he had to go out of his cabin to find the bathrooms. Bella had a blast and got to do 4 one hour horse lessons. She even found someone that had been at camp last year too. She went with a classmate, too. 

 The kids the chance to try three different activities every day.  The groups of kids change up based on who wants to do what activity.

 Bella did some arts and crafts

 Meal time.. Bella always loves the yummy food!

 It makes a mom feel good to see this smiling face throughout the week

 They do something called Cassidy games which is blue vs red. Bella was red and Max was blue.. Blue Won :)

 There is so much fun activities and i love seeing the photos every day. 

 Bella on her horse..she was so excited about this. She actually is looking forward to working on the ranch next year. 

Just a couple weeks ago the kids went to Camp Kesem again. This is Bella's 4th year and Max's 2nd year.  Bella as normal had a blast. She is such an outgoing girl and manages to make friends anywhere she goes. She loves all the fun stuff they get to do at camp and getting messy too! Max on the other hand struggles a little bit. Everyone goes by their camp name instead of thier given name also they get messy there. HAHA Max is not a messy kid. Thankfully this year i talk to his camp counselor. I think this helped a lot. He did loose his shoes until pick up so that made it bittersweet picking him up. Next year thier camp will change locations, so excited to see what's to come. 

 Color Wars... Max was Orange and Bella was Pink... Orange won! Max was excited about that.

 They had dogs come visit.. Bella was in heaven

 The theme was cereals...so bella's cabin was in lucky charmes. IT also made it for fun themes, such as Pirate day (capt crunch) or PJ Day or Life (career day)

 Nerf gun wars!!

 Kind of sad this didn't make it home, but glad i have a picture of it.

 Click on the picture to see it larger and find Bella..Max did something else..less messy

 A magician came to visit camp..max got a 1000 dollar bill ;-)

She found a frog..should you be surprised? 

Just a photo dump of the last 6 months.

Bella had a great cheering squad at her basketball games. Here is just a couple photos.... But many more people came to the games.  Thank you for all those that did, especially Auntie Tori and Reed 

Clearly these two were done with the tournament

Catholic schools week was squeezed into two days..but we made it roller skating :)

Made it back out to ice hendge. It was really windy and hard to make it out there, but glad we did.

We celebrated Easter at my house this year. So thankful it wasn't muddy :)

Aunt Diane came to celebrate Easter with us. We love sharing the holidays with her.

Grandparents day at school this year...excited Great grandma could come and sad we missed Grandpa and Grandma Judy.

happy spring!

Got Mom and me photos done. I haven't been in the photos for while so it was nice to get some smiles in.. but nasty weather moved in so we didn't get to stay long in town. :(

Bella was in the fourth of July parade

I've been trying to use my camera more and taking some good pictures.. The pets are the best subjects 

We spent the end of Feb at Great Wolf Lodge... surprised.. HAHA

Aunt Livy and Uncle Jordan came to visit

Spring Break took us to Dallas...Great Wolf and friends

Catholic Kids for a Cause . Bellas team played against the boys team. Max has fun with gams and raffles. 

Easter Egg hunt on Easter Morning

Grandma and Tim came because I had to head to Chicago for three days, so they split the babysitting duties.

Happy Mother's day. We did a buffett with Nana and hung out at Nana's hosue

Smores on the grill..until we ran out of propane. HAHa