Max First Day.

max's first day of school was today.  he was so, so excited!  i don't think i was giving him enough credit on everything he knows... i didn't think he really understood that he was going to school or that lilly actually goes to school everyday.  i'm not sure why i thought this, maybe because he's not able to communicate all that he knows in the big, brilliant brain of his...

he loved putting his backpack on just like his big sister:)

 the early childhood kiddos start a little after the rest of the school, so a few minutes earlier we dropped lilly of by the door she always goes in, and got back in the car to wait till it was time for his class to start. 

this was the moment i got it, i got how much that little boy of mine is taking in everyday.  he always finds a way to surprise me:) 

anyways, we got out of the car and we put his backpack back on.  i said "okay max it's time for you to go to school," and he just turned and started to run to the doors that lilly gets to go in:)  he was telling me he knew why he was there and the biggest thing he was ready... not so sure if i was, but he was and that's really all that matters!

max running into school on his first day.

max and miss heidi.

max is on his to start his great education, we are so lucky to have such wonderful people like miss heidi to start this journey with:)

My boy is three!

today is max's third birthday.  this morning was different then other mornings.  max woke up first, before grey and lilly.  nick and i brought the fully awake birthday boy into bed with us.  he sat between nick and i, the first thing he did was point to me and say "mom" and then to nick and say "dad" with a huge smile on his face:)  since he was in the talking mood, i asked him to say other family members names and he did!  he tried every time and was so proud of himself:)  he then signed "drink, milk, please" i responded "okay max lets go downstairs".... he then with the sweetest face signed "cookie"!  how could a mom say no to that! 

max and daddy!  i could just tell max was cheering wake up daddy, lets celebrate today's my birthday!!!

max and his cookie and milk for breakfast.  oh, and i loved this picture because i asked him who's birthday it was and he pointed right to himself!!! what a big boy:)

i just wanted to make a note that we did have yogurt and crackers with cheese (max's favorite things) after his cookie! 

Happy Birthday Little Man!!!

goodbye for now.

today was max's last visit with his physical therapist lisa from birth to 3. 

thanks for a the love and support you have given us lisa.  we are going to miss you.

Grey's first haircut!



Before

 

After



what a handsome boy:)

Down to earth:)

at the end of summer a Down syndrome group called Down to earth located in oshkosh invited us to their annual picnic, we have gone the last three years and it's always a good time:)

lilly and max loved the music... they both really got into it!

max and lilly busting a move:)



nick and grey watching the great entertainment.



the weather was beautiful, and we were able to meet a few new families from their area.

smiles.

lilly.

in august lilly had eye surgery,  i was a little nervous about that. i think anytime any of you children have to go under it’s a scary thing. you might be wondering what was wrong with lilly's eyes? well she has/had intermittent exotropia it's nothing serious(it's funny because before having max i thought all these little thing were so very serious) it's just that the muscles in her eyes aren't always working together so, the dr. loosens up the lower muscles attached to her eyes:) but like i said it's not really the surgery that worried me, it was more the putting to sleep:(

lilly before surgery:)

nick and lilly:)

lilly after surgery:(

she did fabulous! her eyes were a little sore and was having double vision for about month.  she needed to ware a patch on one eye for two hours every other day.  now she is great!  everything went perfect:)

time.

over the summer nick spent time with just lilly and max up at the cottage that his family rents, and i was able to spend some quality one on one time up north with my youngest:) it was just what we needed, we took naps together, played, and went for quite walks.   i was really able to appreciate the age of this little one of mine:)



the zoo.

every summer for the past few years we try to make it a point to get to the zoo at least once. 



we were waiting for this one little penguin to jump into the water... but it never did.  lilly to was a little disappointed.



nick and the kids took a train ride around the zoo.  max kept trying to climb out the side:)



for each of the kids first visit to the zoo we have gotten them a stuffed animal, lilly got a tortoise, max got a hippopotamus and for grey's first visit he got an alligator!

we were able to feed the giraffe, it was awesome.  i don't thing i was ever that close to one before.  the lilly and max love it:) 

lilly feeding the giraffe.



i couldn't believe how long it's tongue was!  that's only half of it in this picture!  you can see max was a little stunned by the size too:)



it kept licking my arm trying to get it's food, max thought that was really funny!

max was telling him to go down by lilly.

to be honest the kids were a little crabby, i couldn't really understand that... their bellies were full, they had enough sleep the night before and on the way there, the weather was a little rainy but nothing that should have affected their moods... i just kept saying to nick "what's with these kids, here we are at what should be a wonderful place for kids... what's with these kids?" despite that, nick and i enjoyed our family time at the zoo:)

hugs:)

normally every day when nick gets home from work max will run to the door and say hi to welcome him home... and then just go back to what he was doing.  but on this day he must have really missed his daddy because he would let him go:)  they were the biggest, longest, tightest hugs i have ever seen a child give:)

lilly and grey even wanted to get in on the hugging action after they saw how happy it made their daddy.

so cute.



grey and me:)



lots of hugs and smiles in the this house:)

wordless wednesday.

silly max.

max has turned into a little ham for the camera:)



i love this one:)



4th of july.

wow! the forth of july feels like a really long time ago.  we had wonderful weather, a lot of swimming, a lot of s'mores and a spectacular fish fry.

my littlest man playing in the water:)

before this weekend i would have never guessed how much max loves swimming!  he was like a little fish and this life jacket was awesome, he was able to swim off on his own in any direction:)

riley and lilly.

max and daddy at the fish fry.

max and nick with the master fryer:)

just some of the minten family:)





max's first time keeping the headphones on in the car to watch a movie!