Reece turns 11 years old!
Wow! Reece is 11! He is gifted in so many ways and we are thankful to watch him learn and grow each year. He is uniquely special and we love him so much!
Reece is about 55 inches tall and pounds at age eleven. He continues to share a room with Kade and Reece still sleeps on the top bunk of their bunk bed. He faithfully wears his sleep mask every night and falls asleep quickly. He goes to bed around 7:45-8:00 on a normal night and still is our earliest riser. 6:00 am is sleeping in for Reece.
Reece is always moving and always making noises while at home. He loves to be active and loves having someone to do something with him. He is quieter and more shy in bigger groups but not that way at all when he is comfortable. He can be super engaged and helpful with unique or new tasks but has a hard time finding the motivation to do his weekly chores without complaining.
Reece's favorite things still mostly revolve around being outdoors and active. This last year he played flag football, basketball, soccer and started cross country. At home, he loves being outside playing basketball, kickball, sharks and minnows or kicking his soccer ball around on the turf. He loves riding his bike and scooter. He still often will make a fort and catch bugs and lizards in the backyard. He has been playing/practicing volleyball often with Ember as well. Reece loves doing things with his friends - whether that is playing at our house, playing at one of their houses or going to a park or Levitate. He continues to love hunting and fishing and will always jump at the chance to do either one of those. Reece loves our yearly trips to Lake Powell and Mexico and he is always excited to go camping. He is adventurous and likes doing the Flag X ropes course, jumping off 20 foot cliffs at Lake Powell and Clear Creek and doing the zipline and swing at Lost Canyon. He loves to swim and he enjoys skiing at Snowbowl as well. Reece likes going one on one with Dustin or I - whether that is to a store, to shift change at the laundromat or to Home Depot. Some of Reece's current favorite foods are: cereal, baked oatmeal, bananas, corn dogs, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, frozen grapes, fig bars, Zbars, pizza, smoked pulled pork and a tortilla with honey in it. He still remembers to get a piece of gum every day and really likes fruit juice otter pops in the summer time.
Reece doesn't play with toys as often as he used to, but will still occasionally pull out his Lego box and create something from his imagination with those. He will sit down and play with our magnetic tiles or his snap circuits at times as well. Him and Kade are often wrestling and throwing balls around their room at each other or at their small basketball hoop. Reece enjoys dribbling his silent basketball around his room and the house. He will get out a remote control car or his drone randomly and play with those until the batteries die. Reece still really likes Monopoly. He has also been playing Speed and James Bond often with his siblings. He likes to try and make a card tower and will occasionally sketch. Reece doesn't necessarily enjoy reading but when he HAS to read he likes "The Wild Robot" series and "The Bad Guys" graphic novels. He also enjoys the "I Survived" books.
Reece can be very easy going but just as often he can be a complainer that tends to only notice the negative and not appreciate the positive. Reece doesn't enjoy working on school work/homework that (in his mind) is too difficult for him. He isn't a fan of doing his laundry and other chores each week. Reece dislikes drawing unnecessary attention to himself. He is often complaining about a certain body part hurting him.
It has been another big year of firsts and learning for Reece. He got drawn for his first tag this year - a javelina tag. Unfortunately once it was his turn to hunt, we didn't see any more javelinas. Reece was a ring bearer for the first time at his cousin's wedding in April. Reece decided that he wanted to try cross country and completed a challenge to run 100 miles over the summer. As a 5th grader this year, Reece got to go on the 5th-12th grade trip to Lost Canyon for the first time. He had a once in a lifetime opportunity to go on a river trip in the Grand Canyon with his dad and others for a week where he got to try multiple new things. According to his teacher, Reece is doing great at school. He works hard and diligently to finish his work and then he is willing to help other students. He continues to be one grade level ahead in math and at grade level for reading/ELA. He has grown in participating and being more comfortable with being in front of his class with the spotlight on him. He is kind to his friends and classmates. He continues to grow in his knowledge of the Bible and scripture memory. We continue to pray that God softens Reece's heart and that he will be saved while still young.
Reece consistently makes us proud, challenges us, frustrates us and makes us laugh. Like everyone, he has his good days and bad days and everything in between. We truly are thankful for who God made him to be and for the honor it is to be his parents. We love you, Reecey Boy!
Birthday Fun:
We did a same day birthday party for both boys in mid-August. We rented and set up an inflatable water slide in our driveway and set up our slip n' slide in the backyard grass and let the kids go wild and play!
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