Basketball, skating, and other late season items....

So if you want to see how much progress has truly been made...

Here is the game from Dec. 6. Very, very different from the first.

Go Angry Birds!

Plus, thanks to several generous contributions from some family Santas, Max got this for an early Christmas gift. 

Wooo hooo! I see several long summer nights in the driveway in our future. 

In downtown Lawrence, we now have a synthetic ice rink. It's cool because we don't have to drive all the way to Crown Center to skate and it's only $3, including skates. The uncool part is that it's super slippery and it's really hard to get any kind of grip to push off. But, Max and I still tried our best and had fun! 

He tried the walker for a bit.

Then he decided he was a big kid and didn't need it! Boom!

We'll rock the ice more as the season continues! 

Some funny stuff from Thanksgiving: Max and Dex decided to rock the Turkey Leg this year. AWESOME!

Nooooiiiiiiicccceeee!

And the boys have told us their favorite band. 

I feel like Benny had something to do with that madness.

Buddies at Walts after work.

Just a cute picture of Grandpa Joe and Max.

Lastly, Max likes girls. We all know that. Here is what it looks like when Max Facetimes with a girl he likes. She's an older woman, so I'm not sure how much hope there is, but it's still pretty funny.

Makes himself right at home in the Dugout. 

That smile cracks me up! 

A final funny picture.

Ahhh. This kiddo! More to come! 

Oops! Now that Christmas is rolling around, let me update with Halloween!

 So for Halloween this year, Max wanted to be a dinosaur, specifically a scary T-Rex. Well, if you've been shopping for children's Halloween costumes lately, you'll note that they don't make scary dinosaurs in a boys small.

Cue crafty Susan. After several web visits, hardware store visits, and time cutting, painting, taping, and sewing, we got the finished T-Rex.

Here are some shots from Paul's office.

Quick video of Max "performing" for Allison.

Dino still likes the ladies, especially the coeds in go-go boots. 

Dino vs Jedi

Here is Maxie with his pumpkins this year.

He looks so old in this picture. Sigh.

#BeRoyalKC

Paul retweeted a picture of Max's costume to the Sprint Center in KC as they were having a contest for their Walking with Dinosaurs event. And guess which little dinosaur won? Saurus Growl himself.

So Max got to take his friend Bella for a date night with dinos! Yippee!

Awwww!

Max's prize package dinosaur, Max, and Bella Boom!

Eric, Bella, Max, and Paul
Love these kiddos! 

A Man for All (Sports) Seasons

Just a little post of pics and videos I'd saved of Max with some swimming and our newest effort - basketball. 

He's made such great strides in swimming. If you'd have seen him in early 2014 vs now, you'd note that he's lost a lot of fear and gained a lot of enjoyment. I'm guessing by next summer, we will have a real little swimmer on our hands! 

Here are some videos from his last day of lessons. He's the one in the goggles and Darth Vadar suit.

I really like this next video because Max would NEVER lay back on his head before. He's gotten so much braver! So proud of him! 

Max also started playing basketball for the first time! And yes, 5-6 year old basketball is everything you'd hope. It's pretty funny, but hey, we all have to learn somewhere. Most of us aren't born LeBron. I'm really proud of him for trying a team sport, for trying really hard to learn the rules, and for not getting grumpy in practice or in the games when he doesn't get playing time or something. I've been assured that most kids basketball pretty much looks like this until 2nd or 3rd grade. Ha! Just glad the kiddo is trying stuff out. 

Practice shots.

Dribbling in practice.

Looks like a baller, right? Ha!

Some action shots from the first game. By the end, he was pretty solid on knowing the difference between offense and defense. A little better at playing on the defensive end. And don't worry - we have a 529 in case Bill Self somehow forgets to give the kid a scholarship. Ha! 

A little video. It's really too funny, but like I said, we all start somewhere. :-) Also, he does have his hands up on D. Just saying. :-)