THE EVANS FAMILY: Reece

Reece turns 10 years old!

How has it been 10 years since our Reecey boy was born?! He has grown and changed so much throughout those years. He is an important part of our family and we are thankful for a DECADE of loving him.

At the age of 10, Reece is about 53 inches tall and weighs about 62 pounds. He continues to be the tallest at each age. Reece shares a room with Kade and he sleeps on the top bunk of the bunk bed. Reece wakes up the earliest and is ready to go immediately and he rarely stops going throughout the day. He is usually in bed around 7:45-8:00 and falls asleep quickly. He still chooses "Twinkle Twinkle" as his song at night and still wears his sleep mask each night.

To the public eye, Reece comes across as quiet and kind. At home, however, he can be loud and a trouble maker. Reece has a 50/50 mix of a desire to be helpful and kind and then, on the other hand, to look to incite his siblings and make obnoxious noises. Reece is smart and athletic but doesn't like to draw attention to himself. He is happiest when he is outside or doing something physical. He is also a great helper when there is a job that he can assist with.

Reece's favorite things revolve around the outdoors and being active. He enjoys playing sports with football taking the lead as his favorite. He also enjoys playing basketball and soccer as well. He is often found searching for and catching bugs and lizards. He will make habitats or homes for the critters he finds. He also loves running, jumping and climbing everywhere outside. He likes riding his bike to the train tracks and back or around our yard. He plays kickball with Ember and Kade often. One of Reece's greatest loves is fishing - whether at Lake Powell, Mexico, Lake Mary or other local places around Flagstaff. He knows how to bait, cast, reel and unhook all on his own and it keeps him entertained for hours. Reece loves going camping - especially when we go with friends and he gets to run around with and play with them from sunrise till past sunset. He enjoys building forts and practicing shooting his bow at a target. He loves fishing in Mexico but also searching for hermit crabs and catching bigger crabs. He loves swimming. rollerblading, water slides, playing at Levitate or the Aquaplex, going to the park and sledding when it snows. He continues to like doing adventurous activities such as the high ropes course at Flag X, the zipline and big swing at Lost Canyon and cliff jumping at Lake Powell and Clear Creek. Some of Reece's current favorite foods are cereal, bananas, chia pudding, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chicken nuggets, Z-bars, pulled pork, brisket and pizza. He also really enjoys gum.

Reece is most entertained by being active and sometimes has a hard time finding something quiet and still to do. He goes through phases of building with Legos and Picasso magnetic tiles. He will play with his Snap Circuits or create a domino trail. He is more often doing trick shots with his little basketball hoop or wrestling with Kade. He will sometimes make paper airplanes and fly those around. He enjoys driving his remote control cars and his new drone that he just got for his birthday. Reece still loves playing the silly game "Shawn" with his Dad and being tickled. He also still loves to play Monopoly with whoever will play it with him. He enjoys playing War or Solitaire. Reece is becoming a more proficient reader all the time. He just finished reading "The Wild Robot" and also likes books with dragons in them. He really enjoys "The Bad Guys" graphic novels as well.

Reece sometimes struggles with looking for the bad in situations and finding things to complain about. He doesn't like working on spelling words. He isn't eager to do his chores and put his laundry away. As much as Reece enjoys adventurous things, he has a slight fear of heights and doesn't enjoy being pulled on a tube behind a boat. A few foods that he doesn't like are ribs (he threw up after eating them once and hasn't recovered mentally from that), roasted vegetables, and sweet potato fries.

Reece had a big year of trying and learning new things. After years of saying he "hated" football and never wanted to play, he tried it and is loving it. He is also a natural at it and scores at least one touchdown each game. Reece tried wrestling as well and thought it was ok. He didn't get to actually wrestle in any tournaments so he is wanting to try that soon. Reece learned how to solve a mini Rubix cube. He was able to get up on a wakeboard at Lake Powell and stay on for about 5 seconds. He completed his Hunter's Education classes online and will be able to start hunting soon. As stated earlier, Reece continues to improve in his reading and writing all the time. He is still a grade level ahead in math. He is growing in his knowledge of the Bible and who God is. He will occasionally read his Bible at home and does well at memorizing the memory verses at school.

Reece is so different from his siblings and our family wouldn't be complete without him! He keeps us on the move and growing in patience. He can be so sweet and helpful and we love watching him grow and mature into who God has created him to be. We love you, Reece!

Birthday Fun:

This year, we were at Lost Canyon for family camp on Reece's birthday! We surprised him in the morning with some decorations.

He was called up on the stage at dinner and sang "Happy Birthday" to by a couple hundred people. He had a good attitude about it and I think he actually enjoyed it.