Busy Weekend

 We had a very busy weekend, but this past weekend is always busy for us. On Friday, Andy and I spent the day at the Phoenix Open in the skybox and then went to dinner with work people after the day at the golf event. 

While we were enjoying some adult time, Max was picked up from school by grandpa T and grandma S. They went to dinner and had a sleep over.


Sunday morning started bright and early (especially after a long Friday) with Max's flag football team playing two games back to back. It's so fun to watch him play and put a lot of effort into it. It's also fun to see him grin ear to ear when he pulls a flag.

Saturday afternoon Max had a birthday party for one of his flag football teammates at a park. It was a three-hour party where Max played hard with all his football friends. Normally we have not been staying at birthday parties, but this one Andy and I stayed and hung out at the park with the rest of the flag football parents that we know. By the time we got home from the park, we were all exhausted.

Come Sunday morning Mas just wanted to lounge around and play video games, so Zoe joined him.

Then it was Super Bowl Sunday. Andy and I planned to stay home, but Max really wanted to go to his friend's house in the neighborhood to hang out for their Super Bowl party that we were invited to. We thought we would stop in since it's in the neighborhood and Max can play with his friends, so we did that. We were both so tired though from the weekend's festivities, but Max had a blast playing with his buddies from school. I did not take one picture. I think I was too tired to care.

The Open/Super Bowl weekend is always exhausting here. We survived another year.

Playdate, Hibachi, Football and Swim

 Two weekends ago Max had a bye week in football so he had a playdate with two of his buddies at our house. They played hard and had so much fun together. 

That night we went out to dinner with friends for hibachi and tepanyaki. It's always a good time and Max was pretty excited to eat this again. Of course he had to get sushi for an appetizer though.

This past Saturday, Max had another football game. I think he pulled one flag. Either way, he played very hard and gave it 100%. I was so proud of him for trying and giving it his all. 

Then last night Max passed in swim class. He is now officially done with swim lessons. He learned the final swim stroke, the breast stroke. That was the hardest one, but Max wanted to continue going until he passed so he could win the large medal. He was so excited when they announced that he passed. He couldn't stop smiling. On the way home he told me it felt really good to pass and be done with swim. He's pretty proud of himself. He is now officially done with swim. No more swim lessons since he knows all the strokes. They did ask him to join swim team and Max doesn't really want to, but I asked him to at least do the one week trial in March and if he doesn't like it then he won't have to continue. But he won't know if he likes it until he tries it. He agreed to do the one-week trial, so we will see if he decides to join the team. I remember back in the day when he first started swim lessons and he was crying every week. It was long and hard to watch. He eventually got over the crying in the water, but then when he passed his first level he did not want it to be announced and a big deal made over him. He just wanted his medal and his toy. Now, look at him. He wanted the announcement. He was so proud of his hard work and we are very proud of him too.

Football, Wedding + Family Time

 This past weekend Max had a football game on Saturday morning. It was chilly out, but I snuggled up with a blanket and watched the Fire Dragons (their team name) beat the other team. Unfortunately, Max did not pull any flags this weekend or get a touchdown, but he sure had fun playing. 

Saturday night, Andy and I had a wedding to go to that was outside in Scottsdale at a friend's house. It was an absolutely beautiful backyard and we all had fun celebrating together until it started downpouring rain at 10pm.

We all huddled under the back patio during the downpour while we waited for our Uber to come get us.

Andy had some extended family in town this week, so we had them over for dinner on Sunday. It's family that we never get to see so it was fun to just hang out and catch up.

Here's Max hamming it up with Taylor and Abby.








Zoe just loves grandpa T. She will follow him everywhere he goes when he comes over.


Max and cousin Emily played hard in the trampoline together. Max had a lot of fun playing and says Emily is so much fun! He looks forward to hanging out with her again.

On Tuesday night we went to grandpa T and grandma S's house for dinner and to hang out with extended family while they are still here before they head back to the freezing temps Wisconsin is currently experiencing. While there, Max swam and showed off his cannonball skills to his cousins and their girlfriends. 

January Update

 We are more than halfway through the month of January and we have been busy. The first weekend we got back from our trip to Wisconsin, Max and I spent a day attending our annual Friends Christmas. It's crazy to see the picture of the kids this year and how much they have grown over the years.

Max has had a playdate with his best buddy Jake and Peyton.

Max had his first flag football game of the season and he pulled three flags. We are very proud of him for getting out there and putting in 100% effort. On top of that, he was having so much fun just playing football with his friends.

Max attended Owen's 9th birthday party. He had a laser tag party at their neighborhood park. A company came in and set up laser tag and organized all the games. Max had so much fun and the kids were exhausted at the end of the party. It was a win-win for everyone.

WI Xmas: Part III

 Part three started off with an early morning drive north to Watoma to visit Great-Grandma N. We hung out for a couple hours visiting and Max loved playing with grandma N.'s dog Murphy before we headed back to Madison to see Grandpa T and Grandma S.

Once we arrived at Grandpa and Grandma's house we opened presents and Mas was definitely excited about more presents. 

Once all the presents were opened we started the NYE festivities and this would be another annual tradition for us that Max liked to point out.

Max helped grandpa pop a bottle and shot the cork right into the snowy golf course.

Max set up teams to play against each other in shuffleboard. His teammate was Mark and they beat me and grandma S. I kind of think Max carried that team though and Mark agreed with me on that.

The final tradition for our family is the annual NYE pinata. This year the pinata was a video game remote controller and Max had fun smashing it open.

It was another cold, but fantastic, trip to WI for the holiday season. We had an early flight to catch so Andy and I went to bed pretty early. We didn't stay up anywhere close to midnight to ring in the new year. Until next year!