Moose Size

This is for my mother. We always talk about the moose that are in my neighborhood and I wanted to show her the real size of these creatures. These are just photos from the internet, but one was taken where I live. The above picture...wow, what an idiot.

Although moose are mean, how on earth could you hunt and kill one? And then be proud of it?!



This is the picture that was taken in our town.

Big Hair, Big Air

"Big hair, big air" is something Ben (Maximus' idol at the bike shop) used to say. His hair is big and beautiful, and when he jumps on his snowboard, he gets a few inches of air. He's just so cute!

Typical Day

Maximus just being cute after school. He's so grown up.

School and a Warm Day

One day last week it hit 45 degrees! Everyone was outside, in T shirts! At home I had all the window open and Maximus played on the deck while I made dinner. The sun...oh the sun...up here the sun is HOT. Even when it's 45 degrees and there's snow on the ground, the sun hits you and makes you so warm. I love it.
Maximus laying in the sun enjoying every minute of it. He told me he was going to take his "night nights" out there.


Look how gigantic Jesse's bike is compared to Maximus. And Maximus is a really tall kid!


When you walk in the doors of Maximus' elementary school, you meet "Paws". He's a bear that was living in the area. I don't know the full story, but if he was caught by a trash can he was killed immediately. That's like, some law here. If a bear is seen sniffing a trash can, he'll become territorial and defensive over it, so you're screwed if you try to take out your trash one day. Poor Paws. But, he does catch me off guard every single time I walk in the front door. I mean, it's a bear.


Here's my Valentine from the sweetest boy in the world. It's perfect because he loves to play basketball in the school gym and he LOVES "puzz games" (puzzles).


10 minutes after leaving school.

Caterpillar

I made Maximus a caterpillar out of an egg carton to keep him out of the kitchen as I made dinner. He thought it was the coolest thing.

Snowboarding at 3

Here's Maximus at Keystone yesterday morning. He's getting better- he's finally able to control the board by turning and stopping it. I'm amazed.

Snowshoes and Icicles

What a great 3rd birthday Maximus had. Gifts from family and friends across the country. I think I'll get some snowshoes and we can go snowshoeing as a family in the woods. Fun, fun, fun!

Scentsy

My mom got Maximus this "Scentsy" stuffed monkey. It has a zipper in the back and holds a pouch of fresh lavender and smells WONDERFUL. It even puts me to sleep! Look at this sweet boy all cuddled in last night.

Yes, he still sleeps with a dodo in his mouth at night. It's the only time he's allowed to have it and hey, that's a huge step forward for us!

Hardcore Kid & 2HaffEpic

Big Kid in School

It feels so weird to have a kid in school. Each school morning, we do our routine and go to school. As we walk to his classroom, he points out the art projects he made that are hanging in the hallway. Here's his penguin:


Here's his name and picture that's displayed with all the other kids in the classroom. I love this picture!


School is out for the day!



Look at how gigantic he is. Big boys wear Carhartt overalls.

Now What?

Now where am I supposed to put snow? This is almost 6 feet tall...

3rd Birthday Video

Bike Pedalers Maximus Ads

A really cool perk to being co-owners of a bike shop and having an epic kid: your kid gets to be in advertisements!

Photos by Ben Kamprath and Alexandra Matzke

Success!

Maximus completed his first "week" of school. He goes Tuesday - Thursday, 8:45 am - 11:45 am. He works with his speech pathologist, Miss Kirsten, during school and he LOVES her. She's great. When I picked up Maximus today, Miss Kirsten and Maximus showed me what they had been working on- the word "bye". Maximus pronounces it as "gye". Miss Kirsten made a hand movement similar to how a monkey would pick a banana and then brought her hand to her mouth saying, "buh". Then she pointed to her eye and said, "eye".

Maximus did the same exact thing and said the word "buh eye". I cried. I am so proud of him.

Miss Kirsten had to go and gave Maximus a hug and said, "I love you Maximus." Maximus hugged her and said, "I wuv you." He received a "bear tag" (sticking to the "buh" sound) as a reward and a spin on the scooter in the gym.

Maximus' 3rd Birthday

Hello handsome! Great hat mom, perfect.

Yesterday Maximus 2HaffEpic turned 3. AND it was his first day of school. This kid LOVES school. After his second day, he has a little girlfriend- Sarah who is always in a corduroy jumper with heart tights and stick straight hair. She's 4. Since the weather isn't above 0 degrees, the kids have to go to the indoor gym for break where they play number color dodge ball. His teachers said he's one of the few they've seen adapt so well and his extreme social butterfly tendencies help. Me...I ended up bawling my eyes out in the parking lot for 15 minutes, attempting a run in -20 degree weather thus absolutely killing my legs, eyes and lungs and crying some more. Today I did more productive things and cried less. When did I become "that mom"?

Birthday breakfast- buckwheat pancakes, blueberries and Green Machine juice.


"Dinosaur Island" birthday cake. If you really want to know about what's in it, I'll post the recipe on my food blog.


Hooray! We gave our 3 year old hockey skates to see what other epic things he can do!


Rawr! Thanks for the plate mom!


This was Maximus before bed. All cute and snuggly in his suit, Pooh blankie and the lavender scented monkey. Then he shoves his finger up his snout.


This picture he drew today- it's his "Happy kay too" (happy birthday cake).

A Fox, Whiteout and Snowman

Maximus brought his doctor kit to his check up yesterday. How cool is that?


After we left his appointment yesterday, I got hit in the head by an icicle and then we drove home in a whiteout. This pic was taken before I went over the Dillon Dam and couldn't see past the hood.


This was in Breckenridge last Sunday. And THIS is how to properly build a snowman.


As we left Breckenridge, we ran into a fox walking down Main Street.