Mud Puddles, Pumpkins, and Parties

Our neighborhood had a chili cook-off/fall festival a few weeks ago! This is a mascot from an animal rescue group that was there, and Max was OBSESSED with him! We had to keep moving him away so other kids could come visit, too. The volunteers joked that Max was the dog's first groupie.

It had been pouring rain all week and Max and another boy from the neighborhood, Miles, found a giant mud puddle. Needless to say he was soaked to the skin, and I was thankful I happened to have a change of clothes in the car!

Grandparents... no need to go Christmas shopping for Max this year. He played with this stick for over an hour! I believe he was pretending it was a fishing pole in this photo.

Third annual visit to Kinsey Family Farm to see the pumpkins and go on a tractor ride!

 "This one is too bumpy, Mommy."

Handsome boy before a birthday party!

My friend's daughter turned one and had a Dr. Suess themed party. All the kids got to wear Cat in the Hat hats!

Jumping in the bouncy castle! Max got bonked on the nose by another kid's head while jumping and got a bloody nose. As soon as it stopped bleeding and he ate a snack, he was ready to start jumping again!

Running in the cul-de-sac with another friend's daughter... so sweet!

A day later we went to another birthday party! This time for his friend Dylan from school. It was at a place called Catch Air that has all sorts of inflatables, cars, slides, ball pits, and other fun activities.

Max is on the left in the blue Ninja Turtle mask... this is the best photo I could get with four, three year olds (two in chairs and two standing). haha  Left to right is Max, Dylan, Ka'Ron, and Landon (the girl in back is Dylan's older sister). Their friend Sophia was there, too (above in the snowman shirt by Max).

Turning 3 Years Old!

Mr. Max had a whopping FOUR parties to celebrate his big day. Please forgive me for not actually putting these photos in order... you'll get the idea. :-)

Celebrating with the Lilly's! Uncle John and cousin Valerie celebrated birthday's, too!

Two birthday boys getting ready to blow out candles!

Blowing out a candle on his birthday applesauce cup (by request) on his actual birthday!

Party at school with his friends! Buddies Saxton and Edward were celebrating their third birthdays, too!

Three year old silly time

A birthday hug from his best girl, Zoey

A birthday trip to the playground after the class party with Mommy and Daddy!

Out for birthday pizza dinner then home for balloons and birthday gifts from Minnesota and New Hampshire.

Dinosaur and train themed birthday party at home! Thomas the Train cupcake wrappers, and mini dinosaurs on top of each cupcake.

Dining room all decorated! (Unfortunately it ended up being too bright and hot in the dining room by dinner time, so we ended up moving the party to the kitchen).

Celebrating his birthday with the Teal/Heinlein crew in Tennessee!

Catching up...

Whoops! Sorry I got so behind on sharing photos of our little guy! I just realized it's been almost a month since I have shared anything on the family blog. Here is a photo dump of parts of August and September!

It's a Max sandwich!

Crazy hair day at school... "Max, show me your rock and roll face!"

Cool dude after his haircut.

Dreams do come true.... meeting Clifford at the library. Now Max looks for and asks about Clifford every week when we visit the library!

Riding bikes with Dad in the driveway before bed.

A bunch of Max's friends from his class during the summer (many of the kids pictured have moved up to another class). The little blonde boy leaning against the white cabinet is Max's best friend, Dylan.

Wearing Daddy's little plaid shoes from when Daddy was a little boy!

Love and snuggles from Daddy and Aunt Lisa!

Driving the tractor.

Waving to the farmers during the tractor parade!

Cousin snuggle time!

Max the bagpiper (and Lucy the photo bomber). 

Max was whining that he wasn't tired and didn't need a nap, so I told him he had to at least stay in his room and read or play quietly. When I checked on him about ten minutes later this is what I found:

Max said, "I'm going to write a L" and then he drew this!! (Hard to see because it's yellow crayon, but he basically drew a L!)

Mommy's little monkey

Somebody is pretty excited about the $6 dragon costume Mommy found him for Halloween!

Giving R2D2 a little love at the grocery store...