A Decade to the Max

Maxwell got to spend most of his tenth birthday AT SCHOOL.

Poor guy.

He took Twinkies to share with his class

(after his mom talked him out of cheese balls).

Once everyone was home from school and soccer

practice, he chose Panda Express for dinner and then

got to open his presents and have cake. He chose

a regular cake with maple frosting (it didn't taste as 

much like a doughnut as we'd hoped, but it was okay).

He blew the candles out one at a time - does that count?

Gift #1 - Webelos book and ribbons

Gift #2 - bow and arrows

Gift #3 - a skateboard, wait a minute,

it's a Ripstik not a skateboard!

For some reason, I thought the Ripstik would

be easier for the kids to ride. It was really hard at first,

but Bentley and Maxwell have it down now, and 

Jonah is working on it. Max has been so good at sharing.

One week AFTER his birthday, he and I went on our

date. He chose Terra Mia and got a pizza all to himself.

Happy Birthday little Max.

We love you!

Walking to School

Bentley and Maxwell start school 45 minutes after Ruby and Jonah,

but they were ready early this morning, so they came along

with Milo, Alton, and I to take the little kids to school.
The kids didn't fight once on the way there or back.
It was pretty awesome.

Buddies?

We got to see some college friends over the weekend

and introduced Alton to another of his future friends.

Quite of a few of our friends had little boys over the
past year, so Alton will have no shortage of
playmates when we get together with their families.
Hopefully he won't mind too much.

The Weekend in Photos

To Boldly Go . . .

For his birthday party, Maxwell invited a few friends

to go a on space mission with him. Their flight was

on August 8th, two weeks before Max turned 10.

Before their mission, they had pizza and root beer,

and Maxwell opened his presents (some with his teeth).

Then, John and I each drove a car full of space cadets
to the Discovery Space Center where the boys
anxiously awaited their turn on the Spaceship Endeavor.

They entered the transporter two or three at a time
and were warned not to tough the sides of the craft.
Some of them didn't follow directions and ended up
with someone else's arm. I think all the parts were
straightened out by the end of the mission.
(Even Maxwell and Riley got their own arms back.)

Once in the space craft, the boys suited up and were
assigned their positions. Maxwell was engineer
and operations officer. He was in charge of the panel
that fixed everything. He had to push buttons, attach cables,
and switch off and on switches.
Corban was Captain and ambassador,
Caleb was 1st officer, Simeon was sensors,
Riley was tactical (guns, shields, and bombs),
Eli was communications, and Joseph was navigation.

They assumed their positions, the parents were shown

out, and the mission began. Their objectives was to

find someone that knew all of the space center's secrets

and had quit. They found him just before the mission ended

and he was blown up in a huge blast that the Endeavor

barely avoided. Things were pretty tense there at the end,

but all of our boys survived and their mission was successful.

Birthdays and Anniversaries!

Maxwell turned 10 years old yesterday,

and John and I are celebrating 13 years today!

A pretty good end to an unexpectedly good week.

Back to School

Today the kids went back to school.

Ruby is in 1st grade

Jonah's in 3rd

Maxwell is in 5th grade

Bentley is in 6th - his last year of elementary school

They were all pretty happy with their first days.

Ruby liked the snacks throughout the day.
She and Jonah have early out day all this week,
so she'll get to ease into the full day schedule.

Jonah seemed to like everything.

Maxwell said he teacher was nicer than he expected.

And Bentley ENJOYED school!!!