The Hoden Family Blog: Max is 12! (well, he has been for awhile:)

Maxwell,

Better late than never? I had kind of given up on blogging, but then you guys started going through all of the old blog books and reading them, so I decided it would be sad if I stopped with these birthday letters! Dad has you at the cabin for a few days to let me get some school stuff done. I'm taking a break from organizing files to write a little note about you! We spent your 12th birthday in Marshalltown at state swimming. More on that later...

You completed your first year of middle school at Roosevelt and it was a great one. In fact, we're headed to an awards ceremony next week to honor you for getting gold honor roll 3 trimesters in a row. That means straight A's the entire school year. It was your first experience with real grades and I'd say you knocked it out of the park. You loved your science and social studies teachers and tolerated math and ELA. You were the student council secretary (only 6th grader with a position on the student council), in debate club, garden club, ultimate frisbee, chess, euchre (even though I'm not sure what they taught you), and many more that I'm probably forgetting. Dad and I are so proud that you jumped in and got involved right away. You also made TONS of friends. Where to sit at lunch was your biggest struggle because you had so many options. One of your goals was to be Raptor Rave and you accomplished that in the month of March.

Now onto your activities....there are a lot. You played flag football last fall and didn't really enjoy it, but we are glad you gave it a shot. You played DSC soccer for the whole year and had a great year. There is a great group of kids on your team and you love Coach Matt. He yells "Hoden" about 25 times a game, but being a coach myself, I know that's a good thing! You play defense and your goal this year is to be all time center D or offensive center D (both of which I have no idea what they are). Last winter, you swam again for the Dolphins. You had a great year and even qualified as an 11 year old in the 11/12 division for state in a relay. You are a work horse in the pool. Other kids are better than you, but nobody works harder than you.

Other things you love....First and foremost is your puppy Jasper. You loved Chloe so I knew you'd love another dog, but I had no idea how much. You and your sisters are obsessed with him. You would prefer if he wouldn't be wanting to play the second you got home from school, but being in the crate all day makes him have lots of energy! We're getting closer and closer to letting him sleep with you. He hasn't puked in a couple months in the middle of the night so hopefully that means his stomach is getting a bit stronger. You also love history, Norse mythology, are a voracious reader...you read the entire Harry Potter series in less than a month, the Vikings, watching The Office, playing Fortnite, researching things on the computer, gardening, playing tennis and much more.

You are an awesome kid. We are so thankful that you're ours and we can't wait to see what your future holds. Keep being kind to everyone and the rest will fall into place.

Love you bud,
Mom

March 3rd, 2007