The first of many things

Max's birthday

Max turned three in January!  I can't believe how fast the years have flown by.  Each day with Max brings a new adventure and tons of surprises.  I can honestly day that he keeps me on my toes and I am grateful for him and his soft(yet mischievous) heart.  Right now Max loves Cars(the movie), puzzles, playing with friends, reading, and dancing.  He does not love eating.  In fact, we have to find ways to coax or just plain trick him into eating most days.  Except chocolate.  Max, much live his papa bear, loves all things chocolaty.  I have considered coating meatballs in chocolate (hello, Princess Bride) but we haven't got that desperate yet.  To celebrate his birthday, we first went to BounceU with a few friends and bounced for a while.  Max loved it.  This is a picture of Max and one of his best buddies, Alex.  At first, Alex was not sure if he liked the giant inflatables but with a little encouragement from Max, he ended up loving it.  I think my favorite part of the morning was hearing Max scream to Alex as he would run by: "Come on, Alex!"  It was just darling. 

We also had a birthday dinner with a few more friends.  We went for simple and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and of course, I made a cake.  This is my first attempt at a carved cake and I think it turned out pretty well.  I will admit that I royally missed one up and had to throw it away but I rallied and made this one.  It's not perfect but I actually pleased with it.  Max requested sparkle cake, Funfetti to the rest of us, and strawberry and so it was.  Oddly enough, that is exactly what Carl requested for his birthday last year.  Carl and Max are so similar it is almost spooky.

This year we also achieved a birthday milestone:  Max blew out his birthday candles!  Last year he was a little too shy to do it but this year he found it quite thrilling.  All in all, Max's birthday week was filled with lots of fun, love, and laughter.  Just like him.