All that celebrating and we hadn’t even had his actual birthday yet! Maxwell woke up on Monday officially 11 years old! Traditional birthday breakfast followed of course…

Off to school!

I dropped him off lunch from CFA and cookies for his class…

That night we had Shake Shack and chocolate chip cookies! Excellent choices all around!

Throw in some good presents and I’d say this kid had a fantastic birthday!

My very favorite 11 year old…

Happy Birthday Maxwell!

Maxwell decided to take some friends to dinner and a movie for his birthday this year. The best idea! We had quite a crew…

and took over Tecate for some mexican food…

and then headed to the movie…

where we hit up the concession stand…

and filled up a row at Jungle Cruise!

He then had three friends spend the night and play all the Fortnite!

A great celebration for a great kid!

Maxwell really is so easy to celebrate and deserves all the good things! Since the club is closed on Mondays, we celebrated with dinner on Friday night!

Make a wish!

Then the vultures descend…

ha! We’ve also been working on getting Maxwell’s room set up and things came together just in time for his birthday! New desk with new gaming monitor…

New lighting and new framed Ferrari prints!

A cool room for a cool kid!

Today Maxwell is ELEVEN! I don’t know how we got here so fast.

Just born…

One year old…

Two years old…

Three years old…

Four years old…

Five years old…

Six years old…

Seven years old…

Eight years old…

Nine years old…

Ten years old…

and now 11!!

The older this kid gets the more I love and appreciate him. He is just such a good, good kid. I know he’s always going to do the right thing. I’m always getting compliments about how polite he is and how kind he is to younger kids. Goodness gracious he makes me so proud. I see how much he loves GJ and how helpful he is with Daddo and my heart just bursts. I love him so much. The thing I’m most proud of him this past year is how he’s handled some pretty tough situations. He’s still battling migraines and they are entirely unfair and miserable but he just handles them. He never complains. He never asks “why me?”, he just gets through them and manages them. He also got covid the day after Christmas forcing us to cancel our Naples trip. His disappointment was deep but, after a few tears, he made the best of it, just like we all did. He, Spencer, and Samantha have had to deal with so many challenges and disappointments during this pandemic and Maxwell has lead them all with his (mostly) positive attitude.

He’s become quite the gamer this past year. Fortnite is what he plays most. He’s still playing just about any sport he can. Tennis seems to be a big new interest so I hope he continues to pursue that. Football, basketball, golf, baseball – he’s doing them all and doing them well!

He’s developed a great group of friends that I like I a lot. He’s making smart choices in who he hangs out with and he’s as loyal as ever. Everyone likes Maxwell! It’s hard not to. He and Spencer bicker all day but they also like playing Fortnite together. ha! They are brothers through and through – different as night and day but will always stick up for each other (I hope!). Maxwell takes such good care of Samantha and she doesn’t know how good she has it with him as a big brother. She’ll realize one day and then he’ll get all the hugs he wants!

Favorite book? The One and Only Bob
Favorite TV show? Big City Greens
Favorite movie? Austin Powers
Favorite color? Red
Favorite song? Baby Yoda
Favorite number? 29
Favorite restaurant? The club
Favorite thing to eat? The club or mexican
Favorite friend? Max and Jack
Favorite toy? Fortnite
Favorite dessert? Cookies or brownies
Favorite sport? Football
What do you want to be when you grow up? Don’t know!

Happy eleven years to “my most useful engine!” If only every parent could be so lucky to have a kid like Maxwell!

Happy birthday buddy. We love you more than you will ever know!