THE EVANS FAMILY: Kade

Kade turns 7!

Kade just keeps getting older and older! He is an absolute hoot to be around and keeps life fun and interesting. We love him so much and are thankful for 7 years with our Kippers.

Kade is about 42 inches tall and weighs about 40 pounds. Him and Reece continue to share a room with bunk beds and Kade sleeps on the bottom bunk. Kade usually goes to bed around 7:45- 8:00 after we sing "Silent Night" to him while scratching his back. Kade is up early with Reece around 6:00 am or he sleeps in till around 7:00 am on non school days.

Kade loves to be silly and make others laugh. He has an overall sweet and agreeable demeanor and loves to be around family and friends. He is very active and busy but can harness his energy and focus on tasks as well. He is good at taking care of what he needs to without complaining but tends to forget things like his water bottle and jacket places. He has very expressive faces with alot of eyebrow movement.

There are a lot of things that Kade loves! He is active and loves being outside - running, jumping, riding his bike or scooter, rollerblading, searching for bugs or lizards, playing kickball in the driveway, etc. He loves climbing trees and jumping from rock to rock. He enjoys playing at parks or exploring near water. He loves when we go camping or to Lake Powell. He also loves Mexico and searching for little creatures and shells there. He is getting braver and braver with water as he gets more confident in his swimming and he likes jumping the waves in the ocean and boogie boarding. He loves going places like Levitate, the Aquaplex, Flag Tag (laser tag), and Jay Lively to ice skate. He loves going to birthday parties or to a friend's house for a play date. Some of his current favorite foods are: cereal, waffles or pancakes, pretty much all fruit, pizza, mac and cheese, salami, yogurt, carrots with ranch, pickles, ribs, brisket, pulled pork, rolls, Ceasar salad and any treat. He still loves gum as well and often asks for a La Croix or Bubbly. He loved the fruit juice otter type pops in the summer.

Kade has plenty of games, toys, and activities that he enjoys. He still loves the Picasso Tiles to build with. He gets in spurts of wanting to do alot of Legos and then doesn't do them for a while. One of his favorite activities is wrestling with Reece in their room. He likes driving remote control cars around. Kade really likes stuffed animals and carrying them around and playing with them. He enjoys building forts inside and outside. He likes doing Perler beads, Playdough sets, and Kinetic sand. Kade really likes being read to and also being able to read some by himself now. He likes going through BOB books and the Dick and Jane Storybook Collection. Some of his favorite books for us to read to him are still Elephant and Piggie, Dr. Seuss and Richard Scarry's Big Book of Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. His favorite board and card games to play are War, Candy Land, Go Fish, and Blokus. He learned how to play Solitaire this year and enjoys that. His favorite game to play with Dad is Shawn where they are pretty much just silly and goofy.

Kade is an overall happy little boy but there are things that make him unhappy. He doesn't like it when his siblings are doing something that he isn't quite big enough to do. He isn't always excited to go and watch his siblings sports games. He doesn't like it when Reece turns the sound machine off and the light on when Kade is still just waking up. A few foods that he isn't a fan of are kiwi, salmon, tomatoes and pasta/potato salads.

It is so fun to watch Kade learn new things and grow in his knowledge and ability in things. Kade played basketball for the first time this year and was a good defender and got better and better at dribbling. This was the first summer that Kade didn't need a puddle jumper for the swimming pool. Kade learned how to solve the mini Rubix cube. He jumped off the top of the houseboat at Lake Powell for the first time. Kade also lost his first tooth this year. He is getting the hang of reading more and more and is enjoying reading signs as we drive around town. Math makes sense to him and he is doing very well in that subject. He loves to try and answer the questions we ask when reading the Bible/Bible based books at bedtime and he is growing in his comfortability with praying, Kade continues to put his own laundry away and help out with other simple chores around the house.

It is hard to put into words just how much we love Kade. He is such a kind-hearted, silly kid who just wants to have fun and help others smile and have fun as well. Our family wouldn't have been complete without Kade and we are so thankful that God blessed us with him 7 years ago.

BIRTHDAY ACTIVITIES:

Kade wanted donuts for breakfast

He was super excited to open his gifts and get a new remote control car. He also got some Lincoln Logs, an ice cream playdough set from his siblings and Coco the tumbling panda.