Rounding out April

 Following Andy's birthday, he volunteered to chaperone the 6th grade science day field trip. The 6th grade class took a bus up to a camp near Payson and spent the day doing science activities. They left Phoenix at 6:00am, so it was a very early morning, but Max slept on the way to camp.

Max said this was a very fun day and was happy that his dad got to volunteer all day. Andy and another day had a group of 10 or 12 kids to watch. I believe this is a day Max won't forget since he talked about it for the next week.

Following the field trip, we got a visit from KB. She was in Las Vegas and decided to drive down and visit us for a few days. This was great catching up in person. We even had dinner with TK and SK while she was in town.

Max is now taller than KB, which is kind of funny.

I volunteered for the last time to teach Art Masterpiece at Max's school. This was definitely a bittersweet moment. I have been doing this since Max was in 2nd grade, so it was emotional.

We had dinner with Grandpa T and Grandma S one last time before they headed back to WI.

Of course, we saw the Michael movie. This was a movie Max and I had been waiting to see...mainly for the music though.

I ended up getting a last minute ticket to a B2B marketing conference in downtown Phoenix. I ended up staying downtown so that I didn't have to drive back and forth. This was a good conference and had great networking. They had the Fray perform one night at another venue, which ended up being a lot of fun.

That rounded out April. Next up, a quick weekend in WI!

Happy Birthday Andy!

 We celebrated Andy's birthday the way Max wanted. Max has been dying to take Andy to Caldwell BBQ and thought this would be the best time. Max loves this place, but not as much as his dad's BBQ. Max and I have had it a few times, so he wanted to take his dad. We got the family of four meal with pork, brisket, and turkey. We chose their potato salad and coleslaw for sides. Their pulled pork is amazing, but again, Andy's is better.

We did presents.

Andy chose Coldstone for his "cake" instead of a real cake.

Another year around the sun and a very happy birthday to Andy!

Happy Easter

We started the Easter weekend by decorating eggs. This is always a fun time.

We celebrated a win!! Andy and I enter into March Madness brackets with our friends, and whichever family loses has to buy the other family dinner at Ocean 44 or Steak 44. We won for the second year in a row, so a toast with champagne was definitely necessary.

The Easter bunny came and gave Max a very nice basket and hid eggs throughout the backyard.

It didn't take Max too long to find all 30 eggs.

But, he had trouble finding the straggler high up in the tree. Andy had to help get it down. Soon, Max won't need any help. He's now taller than me.

We hosted a very small group for Easter lunch/dinner. I was very bummed to realize that night that we forgot to take the annual photo in the backyard. I honestly can't believe I forgot to do this. With no photo evidence to share, we had Grandpa T and Grandma L at the house for Easter ham, potatoes, and Max's favorite corn.

March Roundup

 March ended Q3 at Max's school and he again landed on honor roll and he received the PACK award for his good behavior. Max was thrilled to get honor roll again.

Quarter three also ended with Field Day, where I volunteered again to run the water race with a good friend of mine. It was a nice, warm, and sunny day, so it made the water races fun for the kids.

Getting sushi with Grandpa to kick-off spring break.

Max spent time with his grandparents and myself during his two week break from school. He went to the Cubs spring training game with Grandpa T, Grandma S, and Beau. 

I took him to Pecan Lake for some fun with his friends. They did the ropes course, games, putt-putt, and go-karts.

We ended Spring Break at the Ostrich Fest with friends. The boys had a great time riding all the rides, and Max ended up winning a giant panda. He was thrilled to win his first large stuffed animal from the fair. 

Zoe seemed to link the Panda too. She liked using it as a pillow until I made Max store it in his room. 

Time is going by really fast. So fast that I didn't even realize I missed a whole month of blogging. We are creeping toward the end of Elementary school, and it's sad, but also exciting at the same time. 

End of February

 I received Max's Spring photo from school, and he's such a handsome man. I will say that Andy's genes run strong in this kid, but my mom recently sent me my school photo from when I was 12, and I have to say he looks a lot like me.

It has been unseasonably warm here in AZ lately, so Max has been sweating it out at golf.

We saw Stella play Sven in Frozen. It's always nice to watch her do what she loves. We were talking about the first time we saw her in Frozen when she was probably 8 years old. Boy, time flies!

The last weekend in February, Andy and I went to Vegas for 24 hours. It was a quick getaway to see NKOTB in concert while Max hung out with Grandma L. We had a lot of fun just having a weekend away and being "young" again.