Max was on the news!

https://youtu.be/vLa7x1OtFF8

YoU aRe BeuTiFuL

Several times in a day Max will tell me I'm beautiful.

He tells me in the morning while eating breakfast,

he tells me when I pick him up from school.

He tells me when I'm ironing his shirt and

he tells me while we are sitting in church.

One day I counted how many times he told me I was beautiful.

I lost count after 27 times. 

The picture below is with his Grandma Reynolds.

 Max is her youngest grandchild .

Max's grandma is a British lady who grew up and married in England

and is the oldest child of 12. 

Max looks at her with compassion and love.

He also tells her she is beautiful. 

A month ago we were over visiting his Grandma

and she was watching a show that he did not like.

It was a scary show to him and he asked her to turn it off. She wasn't happy about it,

but she did.

On our way home from her house he said,

"Mom that show Grandma was watching did not bring a good spirit."

Max believes that any show that is scary is not one that brings a good spirit.

She wasn't watching a bad show just not one he approved of. 

When Max was little I never thought he would be able to say, I love you or you're beautiful. 

For those who have special needs children who deal with Autism you can relate to the pain of wondering if your child will ever be able to express their thoughts and opinions.

And Max was able to express his opinion on the show Grandma was watching. 

Max still copes with explaining homework assignments, a activity he went to

or what happened that made him upset or happy. 

I have to second guess his experiences of what happened when he is away from home.

And email his teachers for homework. 

I try not to compare him to others his age. It would be wrong of me as a mother.

How many 17 year young men tell their mother they are beautiful 27 times a day?

I have been blessed with five amazing children.

Each one of them has given me more

than money could ever buy. 

I thank my Heavenly Father for letting me be the mother to five wonderful children. 

I have been blessed. 

Oh, Max said yesterday. "Lets skip Halloween and have Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Max does not like Halloween and hasn't since he was young. He doesn't like candy and he does not like it when I put up Halloween decorations. I have decided to get rid of the Halloween decorations and put up fall decorations instead. 

Max won 4 gold medals!

Max had Special Olympics swim meet on September 23, 2017

He swam the 50 butterfly, 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and did a relay 4 x 50 freestyle.

He had a wonderful time. 

I'm so grateful for Special Olympics because it has given Max opportunities to develop skills

that make him feel like he matters.

Max's relay team. 

Max found a classmate he had in his first through sixth grade class.

He was so happy to see her. 

They remember each other as though it was just yesterday that the saw one another. 

Big News...

Max has been selected to represent the Arizona swim team

in the 2018 USA Special Olympics in Seattle, WA.

Max talks none stop about how excited he is to go to the USA games.

Max asked a girl to prom...and she said, "Yes."

Here is how Max asked her to Prom.

We wrote on a poster board and then cut it into puzzle pieces.

Max wanted to put it in a bag so that is what we did.

He dropped it on her door step.

He was tickled when she responded, by putting a puzzle on our front porch,

 that he had to fill out to get her answer.

I think it's pretty clever.

The whole prom process was overwhelming for me,

because I had to help Max with everything.

I am honored though to have the opportunity to be help him.

From how to ask her, buying the corsage, to what he should wear and the day events.

We talked about how he can carry a conversation with her, open the car door

and letting her enter the building before he does.

He responded, "Mom you always let the girl in first."

I drove Max to all his day events.

Which included getting donuts at 6 am, for the morning group date at the park

and then after the morning group date, I drove them to the batting cages.

His date was not to thrilled about the batting cages, but Max loved it.

She was an good sport about it though.

After batting, I drove them to a frozen yogurt store.

I sat with them and encouraged Max to have a conversation with his date.

It was awkward for me, but Max seemed happy.

Max is always happy. :)

The one thing, I didn't have to help him with is what to bring to the batting cages.

He brought his baseball bag that had extra batting gloves, batting helmet and

 baseball bats for his date.

He brought bottled water too.

 Before they left for prom they had a group dinner
and Max brought lasagna.
He told me he tried the salad and didn't like it.
Max has a difficult time eating green food.

After dinner they took pictures and then left for prom.

Max's date is the one on the far left.

Here are their formal prom pictures.

Here's the pictures of the group he went with.

Max had a wonderful time.

Great memory.

The prom theme was, "A Night in Paris."

Max went to Morp!!!

Max got asked to Morp!!! And he said, "Yes."

Here are the pictures of him and his date

She is a wonderful young lady who has been a good friend to Max.

Max sung the National Anthem at two different events.

Max did an amazing job singing the National Anthem

at a car show and Special Olympics swim.

He was nervous, but he pulled it off.