Dear Evan, on your 8th birthday

Happy birthday to our sweet firstborn son, Evan Matthew! Today big brother, you are EIGHT years old!  It goes without saying, that you are the coolest 8 year old I know. To my brown eyed toucan lover with the sunglasses and toothless smile-you made me a mama and you will always be my little duck.

You've grown up so much in these past few years! Your'e an independent reader, you woop our tails almost every time at Sushi Go and even take showers. And speaking of the water, I can't wait to see you take on swim team this summer!

I love your art and creative spirit, especially the steady hand and attention to detail you apply to your drawings. This year you started playing piano and have learned to type in less than a month. Smart cookie! School comes easily to you, and while math is your favorite subject, those spelling sentences crack me up almost daily. Today you used not one but two of your spelling words(bonus) to write the sentence "My mother has a happy face." Of course it made me smile and hug you tight, to which you replied with rolled eyes"Moooooommmmm."

As you can tell from the pictures below, you get the goofball gene from your daddy. ;-)

This year we celebrated your birthday with friends and family Mario party style with a trip to Defying Gravity. You have some pretty awesome friends, great taste in chocolate cake and mad jumping skills thanks to our backyard trampoline.

Before you were born I picked out your special green blanket and my Linus you will always be. Though I'm sure you will always be tender hearted, I've noticed you grow so brave and strong over this past year. You've tried new things with gusto and skinned your knees enough times to get up and move on. You can ride your bike, roller blade, jump and skateboard with the best of them. No doubt this fun neighborhood of ours full of rough and tumble boys has brought out your inner wild man. Though no matter how much dirt you revel in outside, we can always count on your to have the cleanest shirt at the dinner table and for that we are continually thankful!

Eight years ago we found out we were having a boy and my world was turned on it's side. We say all the time that God's plan for us is so better than ours, and I am so thankful that He blessed us with not one but three handsome mama's boys! I pray the Lord continues to protect your sweet and sensitive soul as you grow into a young man and leader who is selfless, smart, strong and kind.

It's a joy to be your mama!

Evan's Scuba Dooby Doo party!

Zoinks!! We had the best time celebrating Evan's sixth birthday at our local Rec center pool. True to his love of dogs and swimming, Evan's theme was "Scooby Doo" and his pool party totally rocked. The boys had such a fun time splashing around with their friends, I only wish I took more pictures!

 

Present palooza!

Asher took a short swim in the pool too, and was a trooper for the whole party considering it was naptime! We are so thankful for the amazing friends we've made here in Wilson, and it's been so sweet for Evan, and then Bennett, to grow up alongside such awesome kiddos.

Last but not least, the traditional birthday video!

Evan is 6! from Rebecca Scott on Vimeo.

Now We Are Six

When I was one,
I had just begun.
When I was two,
I was nearly new.
When I was three,
I was hardly me.
When I was four,
I was not much more.
When I was five,
I was just alive.
But now I am six,
I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six
now and forever.

-A.A Milne

It's insane to think this first born boy of ours is now six years old. Big kid status! Five is comfortable enough, but I feel like six is the beginning of the climb to the big 10. Evan has grown up so much in this last year. He even looks different! He's gotten a good bit taller, has two less teeth, and dropped most of sweet baby fat-though I will always remember those enormous chipmunk cheeks he was born with! In honor of his sixth birthday, here are 6 things to describe our Evan Matthew...

1. He is a fish! He loves the water and has done really well in his swimming class. So far, swimming is definitely his sport of choice. As an aside, swimming is an excellent vascular exercise for kids with asthma and a great help to lung capacity/development. I can't wait to see his little fins take off this summer! 

2. He is artistic-not only has he come into a love of drawing over these past years, but he has a great eye for photography and capturing everyday life. He notices beautiful things, like the way the back of a cd casts a rainbow on a car window, and pretty girls with red hair. ;-)

3. He has an awesome memory. Maybe all kids have great memories, but I have particularly noticed this kid's booming brain and am determined to fill it with good things! So far in our kindergarten year I have had him review and store up the US presidents, 50 states, NT books, several psalms, poems and more. On a school note, I have to squeeze in that I'm so proud of how well he has done in our first year homeschooling. This kid is so smart I tell you. Now just to reign in that crazy short 6 year old boy attention span lol...smart and wiggly!

4. He is sensitive. This has always been a blessing and a curse to us lol! I always said I could more easily deal with a child with a temper over a child who whined...God has a sense of humor! I love that my Evan is sensitive and tender hearted, and pray it grows him into a kind and compassionate young man. In the meantime, a sensitive six year old often makes for easily hurt feelings and difficulty bouncing back from everyday bumps and bruises. I thank God for Bennett, who daily toughens him up and encourages his gentle spirit. They truly do soften each other's edges!  

5. He is a perfectionist. Already I can see in his schoolwork that he is his own worst critic, and daily battles with his rubbery arch nemesis, the eraser! Some days I wish erasers were never invented so we would just have to deal with our mistakes and move on. It's a hard line because in the world of tests you do want to shoot for a perfect score, but at present I'm happy to row in the boat of "trying your best with a good attitude." No sour lemonade here! In any case, I know this bent towards perfection, rightly steered, will serve him well in life. I can easily see him in some very detail oriented, precise engineering type of work. Currently he says he wants to be a "builder" when he grows up. :-)

6. He is a comedian. Evan loves his knock knock jokes and just being overall silly with his friends. As it stands in our house he holds the best record for making baby Asher laugh-and is proud of it! 

Happy birthday little man, we love you!!

Another one bites the dust

Soon after Evan lost his first tooth, the one beside it started to wobble. Sure enough, just two and half months later we had another visit from the tooth fairy. Actually, it was a near miss since this pearly white fell out while brushing his teeth last night and quickly snuck down the sink. Evan was devastated, sure that the tooth fairy would not know where to find his tooth. Daddy even put on his plumbers hat and got under the sink to look in the pipes! We did not find the tooth, but resolved instead to write a note to the tooth fairy explaining its whereabouts. Thankfully, Evan was happy with that. :-)

Pssssttt....fellow mamas and tooth fairy assistants all over-check out the most adorable "Tooth Fairy Receipt" printables FREE at JeniRo Designs. :-)

Big Boy Status

Yesterday afternoon, my very first boy lost his first baby tooth. Talk about milestones! Just a flash ago he was learning to crawl after Gerber puffs and now he's writing notes to the tooth fairy.

Of course I had to document the momentous occasion...

This bottom tooth of his has been loose for quite a while, and was waiting till it was good and ready to fall out. To be honest, I was completely dreading the moment. Based on the recent dramatics over teeth brushing and apple eating, I was sure Evan would fall into the whole "freak out" category over the "this is cool" school.

Thankfully, he proved me wrong.

I was sitting downstairs at the computer with the baby(it was quiet time for the big boys) when I heard the chourus of "you were right, you were right!" marching down the stairs. He was beaming with pride as he held out his tooth to me, and let me know that "I was right, and it did'nt hurt at all." No big deal he said with a new smile. I asked how and when it came out, and in that moment really did feel just as excited as he was. He replied very simply that he was practicing his math on the computer, and plop it just fell out. A little underwhelming after weeks of fuss, but I am thankful!

I'm happy to report that the tooth fairy paid his pillow a visit last night and left a note with two dollars. He was sooo excited to open his letter and man did his eyes pop when the two dollars feel out. His immediate response to seeing two separate dollars was "look Bennett can have one too!" The first dollar he picked up that had fallen to the ground went straight into his brother's hands. I wish I had caught the scene on video. My mama heart swelled with pride. I even explained that the money was special for his tooth and he could keep all of it, but he insisted that Bennett have the dollar. I was'nt surprised per say, but this is especially big and re-assuring to me as Evan is not my natural "share-er." It was a genuinely sweet moment,  full of kindness and thoughtfulness and care. The work of parenting is hard and often tiresome, but oh the fruit is sweet. Truth be told it was sort of an afterthought to include that extra dollar. It worked out. :-)

(We'll probably go the half dollar coin route for future teeth, you can imagine how expensive the tooth fairy could get with three boys and give or take 20 baby teeth to loose!)

Evan is already looking forward to loosing his second tooth, and I'm counting my lucky stars that #1 was so easy and not traumatic. Now, what's a brand new tooth fairy to do with this pearly white?

Evan sings the US Presidents

He may be wiggly and eat all of the m & m's before we've finished adding them up, but this little guy sure does have a good memory! Ripe for the filling I say. :-) I'm so proud that in just under 2 weeks he has successfully memorized this presidents song with very little help from me- I can hardly take credit for playing it here and there in the car on the way to Target! Of course, it's a bit rough around the edges and we have some work to do with annunciation and so on, but I think this is a great place to start. I've noticed early on that Evan does really well learning information to music, needless to say we live in a very musical house!

Click link to see Evan sing the presidents
(You may need to turn it up!)

After we finish up our Solar system unit study we'll be camping out at the Presidents for a while and can start to color in these lines with facts. For now, this hasn't been part of our regular kindergarten school day but rather something he's picked up in the background of everyday life. It's amazing to see the mind at work, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to pour into it daily. Lord help us to fill it well!

5 years and counting

Can we take a mommy moment of silence for the fact that this boy is 5 years old?! I mean I know how it happened, I was there for every good, bad and in between day of it. Still, it seems surreal that we've got an upcoming Kindergartener on our hands. I'm just not ready for the next stage of legos(insert scary music here!).

As this is the year of no birthday "party-parties," the festivities were low key, stress free and perfectly delightful-with a cherry from Fro Yo on top! Earlier this week I brought in birthday cupcakes-chocolate and Transformer themed per special request-to his preschool class. He was beaming for most of that day I know he felt so special to wear his super cool birthday sticker and be serenaded Happy Birthday by his sweet school friends.

On Saturday, which was his actual birthday, I planned a family birthday dinner with special guests Gigi and Poppi. On the menu were his favorite foods-barbeque chicken on the grill, strawberries, blueberries, sweet corn on the cob and peas(because I made him pick something green). After dinner he was thoroughly spoiled with presents-transformers, legos, an optimus prime costume, books and fun games from family. Our boys are so well loved, and I don't take it for granted. The present opening resembled more of a tornado of sorts, he whizzed from present to present so fast-I know he was jumping in his skin(figuratively and literally) to know what was underneath each colorful package and bow! No doubt we'll take some time to really enjoy each present once the birthday jitters wear down. 

Next was dessert at Cheerio, a local FroYo place. Both boys went for the strawberry lemonade sorbet mixed with cake batter and topped with all sorts of gummy delights. FroYo was a first for Gigi and Poppy and I'm happy to say they were quick converts-Gigi even went for seconds! :-)

We were sad to miss Grandma, but had a wonderful pre-birthday celebration with her earlier this month in Washington D.C. We rode the "fast trains," toured the Dinosaur aka Smithsonian and Air & Space museums, ate our weight in Easter candy and even caught a fun swim at the hotel pool.

All in all a great time celebrating this first born boy of ours. Happy birthday love, I can't wait for all of our adventures in Kindergarten that wait before us!

My little Tumbler

Almost every time we drive past the Y down Airport Rd., I hear a not so tiny voice from the backseat yell "Gymnastics!!!!"

We have had an awesome time at gymnastics class over these past few months. In addition to excising his little muscles, the gym has been a great environment to exercise those oh so important listening and take your turn skills. We've also made new friends along the way, and could not have asked for a better class.

This has been Evan's first real "teacher-student" structured activity, and we love Miss Sandy!!! It helps that we're all good and familiar friends to start with. :-)  I've loved seeing him learn knew things and conquer the obstacle course with excitement and ease. He's a great little tumbler, and has added few donkey kicks and forward rolls to his resume. If you asked him what his favorite part of class would be, it would probably be our parachute time or freeze dances.

This above photo may be the most attentive I have ever seen him EVER...I'll have to file it for future reference! lol

Bennett's trick of choice by far is the trampoline-his face lights up to jump on it! It was fun to see him get more involved over the course of the class, though he's technically just my sweet tag-a-long. He loves copying big brother and let's face it, an open gym is pretty much a little boys wonderland. After we get all of our wiggles out, Thursday afternoon naps are a dream!

 Actually though, this isn't our first time in a gym. Remember this?

Way back when, a baby Evan took a "bugs" class at the Little Gym in Raleigh. He was 5 months old in this picture...my how time flies!

Strawberry Icing

Strawberries, spring, and sunshine on my shoulders, oh my. On Friday we celebrated Evan and his friend Kylie's birthdays with a fun strawberry picking, park and picnic-n' playdate. It was the height of delight and deliciousness. A true sign of a good time, both my boys enjoyed amazing afternoon naps(and so did I!). The pictures tell a happy story so I'll let them do the talking!

 

  

It was icing on the cake to a wonderful birthday week! 

Play ball!

Blue socks and baseball pants, ball cap and cleats-check! This Spring we signed Evan up for his very first season of rookie basebseball with the Wilson Rec League. Truely, baseball is bigtime here in Wilson! Chris and I both have been really impressed with the program and are so happy with our team and coaches.

The Little Bulldogs had their first games this week...

Our coach is a local college student and Evan LOVES her!

Being a 3-4 year old team, Evan is not only the youngest but also the smallest on the team-and boy does a year make a difference. In hindsight, I think we could have waited a year but here we are and I'm committed to having fun out there on the field. Our expectations for what a 3-4 yr old team would look like have been blown out of the park-it's serious stuff here! I'm so proud of my big boy, every game/practice seems to be better than the last. Our major hurdles now during the games are teaching him to be patient in the outfield, while paying attention and being alert to run after the ball. In the "dugout," we practice cheering on our teammates while waiting our turn to bat. What good lessons for a growing toddler!  The games are also a little over an hour long, which I'm convinced is like a millineum to a three year old. It's a good thing we have team snacks to look forward to afterwards!

  

Notice Bennett's adorably supportive bulldog attire-he is his brother's biggest fan after all. I vote we make him the mascot! :-) He has already made a sweet new friend...

 

I think Evan's favorite part of the game is this hands in huddle-"Go Little Bulldogs!"

 

Lastly, the game ends with a line of high fives...no scores are kept, but everyone has a good time!