the car...

now, the car wasn't a surprise.  

we had been talking about it for weeks...if not, months.

we were giving max the chance to "trade up."  

when he received the car for his birthday, he had to give his nuk away.

play ball...

here are a few shots of us down on the field waiting for max to be the "play ball kid."

 watching the players!

showtime...and success!

good job buddy!

max is 3...

we had everything ready on sunday night to surprise our buddy on his birthday!

his new car was waiting, complete with a big red bow, and his elephant, buddy, in the drivers seat!

his snuggle buddies had their birthday hats on and were ready to CELEBRATE!

we woke him up by singing him happy birthday.  

then he came downstairs to find his new car and immediately wanted to go outside to ride it!

he was in love! 

we did some playing, had smoothies for breakfast and hung out in the backyard.

then we decided to head out to lunch and go play at a park.

we went to copper rock and it was yummy!!

how old are you now max? 

we shared a delicious piece of strawberry shortcake!

after lunch, it was off to city park!

family picture at the top of the slide!

is my baby really 3?  i can't believe it!

trying to master the web, just like spiderman! ;)

after a nap, we got ready to head to the evening's activity...a timber rattler's game!

first, it was time to open a present...airplanes! 

and share a yummy piece of (store-bought) cake!

we had family and friends join us at the game!

max got to be the one to go down on the field and say "play ball" to get the game started!

it was awesome.  i'll have to try to add the video later.

max and teddy watching

and being silly.

me and my 3 year old boy.

family shot! :)

baby audrey was able to model a tiny baseball helmet!

max posed in one of the race cars that they use for an in between inning contest.

and this baseball from the tratts helped us get through night #1 without the nuk!

update on max's health...

so, we headed down to milwaukee last week for a clinic visit.

we saw ent, speech, pulmonary and gi.

we were able to get the actual results of the sleep study and have max seen by the whole team of docs.

everyone thought max was doing great!

so, here's where we are now.

the sleep study showed that max has mild sleep apnea.

if a "0" is normal, max is a "3."  mild sleep apnea ranges from 1-5.

because of his other issues, they suggest getting his tonsils and possibly his adenoids removed.

it'll just open things up and make life easier for him.

the pulmonary doctor gave us a prescription for an inhaler.

since he only really struggles with lots of activity, she suggested we give this a try.

the hope is that it'll increase his exercise endurance.

it won't get rid of the noisy breathing, but hopefully it will help him get more oxygen.

two of the four doctors said most patients with tracheomalacia (soft or collapsed airway) grow out of it with age.  it was nice to hear this optimistic words.  

i pray every day that "this too shall pass."

i never want max to miss out on opportunities or experiences because of his health.

lovin' summer...

there's nothing better than enjoying some fun in the sun.

and to cool down...a popsicle! :)

(this one is my favorite!)

i'm a welder...

i had a really awesome opportunity last week.

i was able to take part in a intro to welding class.

miller electric, a local company, wants to offer this program to local united way agency participants.

we got to use a plasma cutter.

that's right, we cut steel.

i also learned how to arc weld.

i made this for max's bookshelf! :)

it was a pretty amazing morning.

i was a little nervous at first, but we had a great instructor.

i can't want to figure out how to bring this program to my youth!

first trip to the movie theater...

the day finally arrived...i took max to his first movie!

he was excited but didn't really realize what we were going to do.

he loves the madagascar movies...so we decided on madagascar 3!

he posed in front of this display.

then he said, "wait momma, i want to be a penguin."

your wish is my command! :)

we were ready.  we had gummy bears and gatorade in my purse.

max gave me a thumbs up...he was ready for the show to start!

he was in awe of the huge tv.  he did great sitting and staying entertained.

it got a little loud for him.  he's pretty sensitive to loud noises and he cried a few times.

the movie was great and he said he had fun!

farmers market and visiting friends...

saturday morning we went to the farmer's market.

max was a little bit of a grump.

we picked up peas, spinach, and dog treats.

after the market, we went with becky and baby audrey to visit her parents.

it was a fun and relaxing day.

max went for a walk with becky's mom and their dog jeb.

we ate some yummy food.

and hung out by the river.

max and audrey both got naps!

then we headed to dinner.

and here's some photography by max on the car ride home!

strawberry picking and a pool party...

last friday max and i decided to go strawberry picking.

we travelled to oakridge farm in neenah.

here we are ready to go!

my goofy little buddy gave me a thumbs up while waiting for the tractor to take us to the field.

it.was.HOT!

max was pretty focused on picking berries and avoiding the pickers.

he was doing great...so i offered him a berry.

mistake.  he went from picking to eating! :)

posing.

enjoying.

messy face cheesing.

we were just about ready to go and a nice lady that we'd been chatting with offered to take our picture.

here is our loot!

they were delicious!

we snacked on some of them and froze the rest to use in our smoothies.

we stopped at great harvest for a sandwich after for lunch.

after lunch and a nap, we headed to gram's for some swimming and dinner.

what a stud!  he loved the water.

and to end the night he wanted a picture with his new jake and the neverland pirate toys!