Uncle Maury Visits

Every few months Maury comes for work and stays with us. Max loves his Uncle Maury! I guess none of Maury's other nephews or nieces call him Uncle so whenever Max says, "Uncle Maury" he responds by saying, "Yes nephew Max?"

 One night we were in the living room trying to put the boys to bed but Max insisted that Maury read him his bedtime story. It was very quickly turning into a tantrum when Maury came in to read to him. It was fun to see gruff Maury reading to my little boy and to see Max's excitement. 

After Max had gone to bed we thanked Maury for taking time to read to him. I teared up when Maury said, "I didn't do anything today that was more important than reading that story to him." As obnoxious as Maury can be he definitely has his moments. And he is really good to Max.

The Circus

At the entrance...

Max with his hand over his heart (sort of) for The National Anthem.

And sitting on the bike with two of the crazy motorcyclists. 

Eight motorcycles in a 16 foot steel sphere reaching speeds of 65 mph. So cool to watch!

Two hour of amazing sights. We were all amazed at the acrobats, the bare-back riders, the motorcycle high wire, the Kung Fu Kings, the Shaolin, the lion tamer and of course the silly clowns. Zane especially loved the elephants. So many talented and daring performers. We all had a blast!

At our favorite Chinese restaurant after...

What a fun and exhausting day.

New Cousin Brooklyn

We went to see new baby Brooklyn at the hospital.

Max was super excited to hold her.

Zane wasn't happy about sharing his Mom.

Logan started taking pictures and managed to get some of the best pictures we have ever seen of Max.

Look at those smiles!

Max's Tumbling Class

We enrolled Max in a community tumbling class. He has always been a bit timid physically and we thought this would be a fun physical experience for him. He had a blast and it was fun to see him become more sure of himself.

Max's 1st Primary Scripture

Max was asked to give his first primary scripture and prayer.

We chose Mosiah 12:33: "Abinidi said unto them, I Know if ye keep the commandments of God, ye shall be saved."

I wrote the scripture down and read through it with him a few times. He memorized it SO quickly.

His little brain just soaked it up and spit it back out. 

We practiced all week long and I had no worries that he would remember the words.

My worry was that he was going to say it so quietly it couldn't be heard or in his crazy robot voice.

We worked on saying it slowly and clearly and in his normal voice and when the time came he did AWESOME! We all went to primary with him. He sat in front and when it came time he stood right up with his picture of Abinidi. The leaders looked at me to see if I was coming up to stand with him but I stayed sitting down. He glanced at me a little uncertainly and I held up the paper that we had practiced with all week and he jumped right in. He said the scripture loud and clear and you could understand every word. Then without any help he said a prayer that was so sweet and sincere. I cried I was so proud! 

The parent sitting next to me (SallyAnne Wakley) said, "You are kidding me!" I smiled even bigger as he ran back to us to give us hugs and high fives. His first ever public speaking and memorization was a huge success! 

Alphabets

I was momentarily distracted and walked away from the pantry.

I returned to find Zane helping himself to some Alphabets.

Three years earlier the culprit was Max.

Max's Music Class

My friend Tiffany teaches music classes for children. She approached me about doing some work for her in trade for tuition for Max. I didn't realize it but she has been waiting for Max to be old enough to start the classes so that we could trade. I do the paperwork, registration, and weekly emails. I think that I by far get the better deal from this, but she thinks it is well worth it for the time and energy it saves her. I am so grateful for this opportunity for Max. We would not have been able to do it otherwise and he loves music and will love these classes.

Here he is ready for his first day of music class...