THE EVANS FAMILY: Reece

REECE TURNS 7!!

Reece just keeps growing up, getting bigger, and learning new things. We just can't get him to stop ;) We love watching who Reece is becoming and can't imagine our family without him in it.

At the age of 7, Reece is a little over 46 inches tall and weighs a little over 45 pounds. Reece still shares a room with Kade and still sleeps on the top bunk bed. On a normal night, he is in bed by 7:45 pm and he is still our most early riser waking up around 5:30 on most days. Reece still sleeps with a sleep mask every night and sleeps in just underwear most nights.

I am often surprised at how much energy Reece has. He is able to constantly run, jump, climb, and bounce all over wherever he is. He seems to have an endless amount of energy and it is no wonder he is fast asleep soon after his head hits the pillow at night. Some mornings, we hear him running around in circle upstairs while he is waiting till it is time to come downstairs to eat breakfast. He sometimes has 5000 steps on his Fitbit before Ember and Kade have 100. Reece still likes to follow others leads when it comes to choosing what to do. We will ask him what he wants to eat for lunch and he will ask "What is Ember having?" He likes to play games that his friends at school are playing and his favorite color sometimes also changes depending on what his current friend says their favorite color is. We are still encouraging him to grow in being who God created him to be and not trying to be someone else. Where Reece is, is still often a little too much noise. Whether he is pushing a friction powered truck around the living room or playing a game that involves loud laughing and screaming - it is loud when Reece is around... unless he is doing one of his activities that focuses him such as Legos, sticker books, or coloring. Reece still has his sweet side where we will randomly run up and give me a hug out of the blue. But he also still has his instigator side where he will cause issues with whichever sibling he is around.

Reece has many favorite things. He loves being outdoors. He loves riding his bike and scooter and playing at parks. He loves riding the dirt trails and doing the dirt jumps around our neighborhood. He loves to throw and catch a baseball or play a small sided soccer game. He loves digging for worms, shooting bugs with a spray bottle, and catching lizards, rolly polly bugs, and ants. He has grown to love fishing like his Daddy. He loves chasing other kids around at a park or grass field. He loves climbing trees. He loves jumping in the new bounce house. When it is warm out he loves doing the slip n' slide, swimming in the swimming pool (which he can do by himself now) and jumping off diving boards. Since he loves the outdoors so much, he adores camping. He is really curious and eager to try his friend's kids bows to practice shooting at a target. He loves vacations going to Disneyland and riding any ride and roller-coaster that he is tall enough to do. He still loves Mexico - fishing with dad in the kayak, building sandcastles, finding and catching crabs, and running wild with few boundaries. This is Reece's first year doing all day school and thankfully he is loving his year at Flagstaff Christian School in 1st grade so far. He still really loves being tickled - tickled to the point where he can no longer breath. He is a pretty good eater and a pretty routine eater. Most mornings he prefers to have cereal and his favorite lunch is almond butter, honey, and banana in a tortilla. A few of his other favorites are: waffles, bacon, baked oatmeal, grapes, grilled cheese, trail mix, pizza, french fries, and jalapeno-garlic olives.

Reece loves to play games when we are at home. His favorite, right now, is War. He also loves to play Go Fish, Sorry, Uno and Old Maid. He still enjoys building Lego sets but is most excited about them when they are new and being built for the first time. His favorite toys in his room are his Hot Wheels cars and Monster trucks. He also really enjoys his remote control cars when they are charged. He loves playing Ember's made up games until he gets hurt. Kade and him like fighting each other with swords in their room. Baseball and soccer are his favorite sports. He also really enjoys building with his magnetic tiles. He enjoys doing word searches and is really starting to get the hang of reading but still prefers to do it when someone is there to help him versus him doing it on his own.

There are also some of the things that Reece is not so fond of. He, as almost every kid, does not like when we tell him "no" to something and often chooses to cross his arms and make a grumpy face at us when we tell him "no." He likes when Ember creates a made up game for them but usually gets frustrated rather quickly if she changes the rules too often or it is too hard from him to succeed at. After trying the kids high ropes course at Flag Extreme for the first time, we learned that Reece has more of a fear of heights in those types of situations. He gets really upset when he is excited to do something and is not quite tall enough. This happened twice this past year - once at Indiana Jones at Disneyland and also for the waterslide at the Aquaplex in town. He also gets frustrated when he is trying to tell us something and we don't understand it. He is also pretty lazy when it comes to doing chores and grumbles and complains more often than not.

This year, Reece has grown in many ways and learned many new things. He has grown as a soccer player in his ball control and the power of his kicks. Reece played baseball this past year for the first time and got a hit every time. Since then, he has gotten better at throwing and catching the ball as well. Reece can now wash himself in the shower/bath. He is able to read more and more words and has been getting better at memorizing Bible verses. This is his first year with spelling tests and he is getting 100% on almost every one. He still loves numbers and math and is learning many new concepts in there as well. During our family Bible time, Reece is able to answer most of the questions we ask him about what we read. He still has not lost any teeth but they should be getting wiggly soon. And Reece and Ember got to fly in a small propeller plane all around town during a community event at the local airport.

Reece keeps us on our toes and active to make sure he is getting enough energy out to be able to show self control. It is amazing to see how his brain is growing and maturing daily. He is constantly described as such a sweet, kind and shy boy by those around him. But, at home we get to see his real self - silly, wild, and, often times, a little too good at creating problems. But, we love him so much and are so thankful to have the honor of being his parents.

Birthday Fun:

Reece wanted pancakes for breakfast