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It's been so cold this spring! It's the end of May and the lilacs are still blooming! We've only had popsicles ONE day . . .
played in the sprinklers/watered the plants ONE DAY . . . .
and showed off our muscles ONE DAY. And that was WEEKS ago!
Max is as obsessed with tigers as Alex is with excavators. Here's a picture I keep meaning to send to Pam, but I just haven't got my stuff together: Max and his tiger case. This case goes EVERY where with him. He sleeps with it. He puts his treasures in it. It comes with us on outings. Best birthday present ever. Total hit.
Everything else in his world echoes his love of the tiger case. He will only drink milk out of his tiger cup - which actually is a tiger. When I ask him to put on his shoes, he asks 'my tiger shoes?' Which are his red sneakers. But first he naturally has to put on his 'tiger socks,' which are whatever pair of socks he's going to be wearing.
We go check out the baby tigers at the zoo pretty regularly, and Saturday we were rewarded with getting to see snack time for the tigers and leopards. The answer is 'guinea pigs,' and no, kids, the leopard is NOT playing with a stuffed animal.
Max's current hobbies include:
pastry chef - he helped me make tartlettes for New Beginnings for YW. (I naturally forgot to take pictures of the finished product. I was trying to make everything gluten/corn/dairy free. Not easy to maintain taste, but pastry cream made with coconut milk is really really good!)
Sous chef - here he's helping with some meringue. It would appear that he is a fan. 
performance artist - here is a piece involving chocolate pudding.
and gardener - hopefully spring will come soon and we can move this activity outside.
For breakfast, he usually eats 2 bowls of cereal - and often finishes Alex's on top of that. And still the ribs are showing. 
Last week independent Max has really started shining through. Here, he had to feed himself entirely on his own - no help. He actually got more of the pudding in his mouth than I expected.
After dinner, Katie wanted to paint. I naively thought that Max would let me at least hold the paint for him. Again, independent Max appeared. It's fun to watch this little creature master new skills almost daily, but for crying out loud slow down little buddy! (Apparently green paint is tasty, but not nearly as delicious as chocolate pudding or dirt.)
Here are a few of Max's recent adventures:
He has moved on from eating dog food to filling up the dog's water dish with the dog food.
He DOES still enjoy eating dirt. Just picture that same little face with a ring of brown around the lips - the same face you'd get if you gave him an Oreo cookie. And for him, I can't tell yet if there's a taste difference.
He is very good with ladders. We put the Christmas lights up the day after Thanksgiving. I untangled lights, Roger put them up. At one point I turned around, and there was Max at the top of the ladder. I would have grabbed a picture, but figured that I was already pushing my luck regarding him taking a nose dive, since I wasn't entirely sure how long he'd been up there. I look forward to him figuring out the ladder on the bunk beds.
After telling him 'HANDS OFF' approximately 100,000 times, I finally learned my lesson and chose to keep the glass ornaments in the box. The tree this year is about 99% metal, which should prevent most of the damage Max could cause. And I moved the toy bench across the room, so his only access is by taking a leap off the back of the couch. More on that when he figures it out.
I have been a super slacker this summer, and every day I think 'I really ought to slap some new pictures up on the old blog' and then the morning dawns anew and it has not happened. Thanks to Aunt Jules for kicking me into gear. At least I know there is ONE person out there who actually checks this thing! Downloading all the pictures off of the camera reminded me of all the adventures we had this summer, so stay tuned for a recap.
In the meantime, our little Max is ONE! Katie and Alex decorated Max's cake. 
We spent the morning at the reservoir - how can it be warm enough in September in CO to play in the sand in swimsuits?! - and then came home and put everyone to bed for naps - including Oma and Opa.
Max got to attack his cake before dinner. I thought he might put on a better show if he was actually hungry, but he kept his methodical approach even for chocolate cake. He would examine the cake and then choose the spot - probably based on M&M color - that he was interested in. He'd then go for a little grab and then start the process over again.
I can't stand how cute his wiry little body is, and how different he is from his brother already. Alex is a tank, and Max is just a little string bean, but still so strong and CONSTANTLY moving moving moving. He gives the best sloppy kisses ever, and loves to watch his brother and sister all the time. They are not quite ready for his kind of help with everything yet - when he comes near the train tracks they both yell 'KING KONG!' They do enjoy playing with Max's birthday loot, and even let him play once in a while.
This is how Max felt about missing Grandma Kathy last January. (My friend just sent me the pictures - the batteries on my camera died after one picture at the beginning of the adventure.
Back in January Max and I took a jaunt to SLC with a buddy for a good friend's wedding. We ended up having a little time before the return flight, so we tried to go visit Grandma Kathy. Unfortunately, we ended up at her house during the exact time that she was not in it. Uncle John let us in, and we horsed around taking a few pictures to prove that we indeed try to catch her. This is my favorite. I'm sure being dragged around for two days in unfamiliar territory helped his mood a little as well. ;)
The Maxster is turning into a super smiler.
Seven is getting tired of sitting still for these growth shots, but I'm still slightly in charge.
Alex has moved from body-slamming hugs to trying to pick Max up. It's so cute to see how much he loves his little brother.
Dad and Max like to rock out to Guitar Hero. Too bad the music is so terrible for that silly game!
Katie and Max are buddies too. 
I've been thinking a lot again about the talk given by Elder Oaks in Conference Oct 2007 titled Good, Better, Best. Briefly, he talks about being conscious of choosing the BEST things for us and our families out of the myriad of good options out there. Whether or not you are 'churchy,' this is still good advice.
This photo is not a very good indicator of the magnificence of this boy's smile - the photographer really needs to work on her lighting choices and 'click' times - but the Max-ster has officially started smiling on purpose. Opa claims he got some real smiles Sunday night, but it wasn't official until he did it for me. He's been smiling in his sleep for weeks, but that's not nearly as gratifying as having him look at your face and flash one at you! 
