Max is TEN!

Marvelous Max turned TWO DIGITS this week! I can't believe it.

I picked him up from school at 11:30 and took him to Wal-mart to buy his long-awaited Nintendo 3-DS. He's been saving his money to go in halvsies with us on it. He was counting down the days until his birthday. He woke up practically skipping around the house that morning. It was so cute.

After we bought it, we got Subway sandwiches. Then I let him stay home that afternoon from school.

Sadie helped him make his requested Lemon Poppy seed Cake that afternoon. She's such a great big sister.  We had cake that night before bedtime.








The next day, we made invitations for his party. What do you think? Photoshop rocks for birthday invites. Gone are the boring ones you get at the store.



This party was all his idea. A big game of Capture the Flag. And what a great idea it was! The whole party cost us less than $30. I love that it was cheap and still a BLAST. Before we headed over to the park, we divided the 12 boys into 2 teams and had them choose team names. Then each team decorated their flag and bandannas that identified them.  We went to a huge park that had lots of cool hiding places between trees and buildings. It was perfect!



Jeremy went to Google Earth for a picture of the park and made maps for the boys to refer to as they worked out their strategies. (LOVE this park. This is where we have our women's boot camp in the summer.)





We took a break after a few games for presents and cupcakes. Lucky kid... he got $60 in cash and a bunch of great gifts from his friends.





The boys absolutely LOVED this game. Once they figured out how to do it well, they wanted to keep playing it over and over again. They were sad when it was over.
We were lucky to have beautiful weather that day, which made it even more perfect.
I think this is a birthday that Max will always remember. Definitely a score!





I LOVE this age. Some day when we get old and our kids are all adults, I'm going to miss when my kids were like 8-12 years old. My favorite years, for sure.



Have I ever mentioned how lucky I am to be Max's Mom? Seriously, I don't know how I got so lucky. He's one that I never have to worry about. His toddler years were HARD because he's very detail-oriented and very aware of everything in his surroundings. (Hence many loud tantrums.) But these traits have turned him into the most amazing older kid ever!  I rarely have to ask him to do something twice. He does his homework without asking and is a HUGE help with the little ones. The best babysitter ever. I just love my Max and so appreciate what he adds to our family.