THE EVANS FAMILY: Reece

Reece turns 8!!

It is crazy that Reece is EIGHT years old already. My how the time flies! This boy continues to make us laugh and surprise us.

At age 8, Reece is a little over 48 inches tall and weighs around 51 pounds. Kade and him still share a room upstairs and Reece continues to sleep on the top bunk of their bunk beds. He still is by far our earliest riser each morning. He usually wakes up between 5:30 - 6:00. He is usually in bed by 7:45 each night and falls asleep quickly. He still wears a sleep mask each night to bed and likes sleeping in underwear, not pajamas.

Reece loves to be silly and still has seemingly endless energy. He is almost always running, jumping, spinning or some other form of movement. Thankfully, he seems to be able to keep himself under control when he needs to at school and church. He is pretty quiet and reserved at school but the opposite at home. He is constantly making loud noises, randomly clapping his hands together or being loud to be loud. It is a constant challenge for him to show a little more self control in this area at home. Reece can be such a kind and sweet helper or he can swing to the opposite side of the spectrum and purposely try and cause trouble with his siblings. He is very bright but often lack confidence. He is stronger in math than in literacy and reading. He struggles when things are challenging and his first reaction is to give up. But then, he is very proud of himself when he does keep working at something and gets it. Reece still would rather follow than take the lead in most situations. But he is making progress in choosing for himself instead of just copying what his friends or siblings are choosing.

Reece has many things that he loves! He loves things that involve running and being active. He plays outside alot and loves recess and PE at school. He played basketball for the first time this last year and enjoyed that and continues to enjoy soccer as well. Kade and him have spent many many hours chasing and catching bugs in the backyard and greenbelt. He loves riding his bike and scooter around the house or on walks. He loves to climb trees, make forts and move rocks around. Reece enjoys going to friend's houses and any other activity such as: pool, gymnastics place, laser tag, library, etc. He still is really enjoying school and likes going. His favorite subjects are math and PE. Reece loves camping and fishing and going on any other vacation such as Mexico, Great Wolf Lodge or any amusement/theme park. Reece is an overall good eater who often has an endless stomach. Some of his favorite foods are: cereal, scrambled eggs, banana, yogurt, almond butter and honey in a tortilla, pizza, hotdogs, hamburgers, grapes, fig bars, cashews and salami.

Reece has many games and activities that he enjoys to play. He has been less into board/card games but still enjoys some. He most often plays a card game called James Bond with Ember. He still will play War as well. He enjoyed playing Uno with his friends in Mexico with a giant set of Uno cards. Reece's favorite indoor toy are his Picasso Tile magnets. He loves building different things with them and then destroying it. He has also been playing with his indoor basketball hoop and trying to do trick shots. This has been inspired by them watching quite a bit of Dude Perfect shows for their TV time recently. Reece still really enjoys doing new to him Lego sets and is getting better at free building with his bin of Legos. He still enjoys paint by sticker books but has slowed down on those. He will get really into Perler beads when we occasionally pull those out as a project. Kade and him really enjoy playing Gaga ball in their room - they roll a ball at each other trying to hit each other's feet. They also still enjoy wrestling and fighting with foam swords. One of Reece's favorite things is still being tickled. He laughs so hard but doesn't want it to stop. Reece continues to love pushing the toy dump truck around the backyard. He enjoys puzzles and just got a 100 piece puzzle for his birthday that he has already completed multiple times. Reece got a cool rocket for his 7th birthday that we were finally able to do that he loved. It shot up SOOO high and then he got to run like crazy to go get it.

As many favorites as Reece has, he also has plenty of dislikes. He doesn't enjoy when things are hard for him. He gets frustrated and says that it's impossible. He doesn't like when we cannot understand him when he is talking too quietly or mumbling which he sometimes tends to do. He doesn't like it when Ember creates a game to play that is confusing or he always looses at. Reece dislikes the attention being on him and will avoid wearing costumes or pajamas on pajama day. He still isn't the biggest fan of heights in some situations. He still usually complains about doing his chores and has not gotten paid a few times because of it.

Reece has tried/learned quite a few things this past year. He played basketball for the first time this year and enjoyed that. He got some rollerblades and learned how to do those. He is growing in his reading and spelling more and more each week and is starting to enjoy reading books. Reece. Reece continues to do well in math and was moved up a grade level this school year. He tried another high ropes course at the Great Wolf Lodge and did the lower level just fine but then got scared on the higher level. Reece was brave enough to do the big swing at the Lost Canyon camp in Williams. But only a few weeks later, he did the high ropes course at Flag X in Flagstaff and did the whole thing 3 times through, He tried a bungee trampoline at Snowbowl and did a backflip after being too nervous at first. Reece skied for another season and has gotten so much better and faster on his skis. Reece continues to grow in his Bible verse memorization and ability to answer the questions each night from the Bible reading we do as a family.

Reece is very different than Ember and has been his entire life in personality and learning style. But it is amazing to me how God can bless different people with different minds and talents. It is so fun to watch Reece continue to grow and learn in so many aspects of life. We love him so much and are very grateful to be an eye witness to the special young man that Reece is becoming.

Birthday Fun:

Chia pudding to start off the day