Labor Day

 Darrel and Trina invited us over for Labor Day.  Xander opted to stay home but the rest of us went and had an awesome time. 

 Trina set up a slip and slide in the back yard.  The kids had a blast!

 Max, Ben and Addy played slip n slide football. 

 While Ian played some Song Pop.

 Darrel and Ian hanging out.

 The boys were excited to eat some watermelon.  I never buy it so they love it when they can get some.

Later, Darrel played a Jim Gaffigan special for Ian and I.  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.  I'm so thankful for Darrel and Trina and their kids.  Not only are they family but they are some of our best friends.  SCORE!

Random

 Ben goofs off.  Sometimes I am amazed how such an awesome boy can be mine. 

 Evan sleeping...again.

Max and Evan at the Lego store.  It's fun to just browse - all though Max can walk out without begging for any thing, Evan has a harder time. 

Still fishing

 We interrupt this blog to announce that Xander is still highly addicted to fishing. 

 Sometimes he even gets Michael to come along...

And he's getting so good that he always catches something.  Lately he's been posting on a fishing website about his interest in fly fishing.  As a result fishermen from all over the state have been sending him flies and one guy brought over a fly fishing pool.  It's been awesome!

Evan turns 6

Evan turned 6 on November 6th.  I told him it was his "magic" birthday and I did my best to make it a magical day for him.  We got Bosa donuts for his class before school and then stopped at the book fair and bought a book for his class library (it's a tradition at his school to give a book on their birthday).  The best was when we got to his class, the kids that were there immediately surrounded him and wished him happy birthday.  My shy little boy was grinning ear to ear.

Although I had to work in the morning, I was able to get the afternoon off to spend with the birthday boy.  As I walked up to get him after school, his aide saw me and immediately got my attention.  "You'll never believe it" she said.  "Evan played with another boy today!"  This may seem weird but Evan has struggled since the beginning of the year with shyness.  His teacher, aide and I have devised numerous solutions and schemes to get him to engage, but to no avail.  Today, a little boy named Zane (who concidentally he invited to his party) shouted, "C'mon birthday boy, let's go play!" at recess and Evan ran to play!  Numerous boys have asked him to play before and he has always refused.  So this was a MAJOR breakthrough!!!

On the way home he proceeded to tell me what a great day he had - filled with friends, donuts, story time...his teacher told me that it was his best day EVER.

At 5 we had a small party at Peter Piper for a few of his friends.  He included Aunt Kimmy and grandma and grandpa on his list :)  Kimmy came but unfortunately grandma and grandpa couldn't make it.  Grandma made up for it by taking him on a special birthday date on Saturday.  He misses grandma and grandpa so much and talks about them all of the time.

He had such a fun time at Peter Piper.  I had fun watching him run around and play with his friends.  He had such a great day.

Facts about Evan:

favorite color:  orange
favorite food:  pizza or hamburger
favorite treat:  starbursts
favorite show:  Spongebob or Ninja Turtles
favorite(s) thing to do:  crafts, make books, give mom, dad or Ben tests

For his birthday my mom got him a wallet and he LOVES it.  Ian made him a pretend drivers license and Evan loves to put cards and money in his wallet.  It is so cute.

Interesting facts about Evan:

He routinely falls asleep eating or in the car

 He loves to draw.  Below is a picture of him with his self portrait:

 He always is creating or making something.  Below is the beard he taped on his face.  Him and Max like to make disguises :)  Currently we have no tape or glue in the house - Evan has used it all. 

 For his birthday he really wanted a Spongebob movie.  He kept telling me it was in aisle 7 at Wal Mart. :)  Below he is opening the movie. 

 Pictures from his party:

Evan's friend Sam won the jackpot! 

Michael's 4th grade teacher's son is one of Evan's friends and attended the party.  I had to get a picture.  Coincidentally she was Max's second grade teacher too

Sam wins the jackpot for a second time.  He ended up with more than 1,000 tickets

Ben won the jackpot for Evan :)

Ruby, Ro and Addy signing a birthday t-shirt for Evan

Last year at his birthday one of his friends blew out his candles.  Well, Evan did not forget and kept mentioning it all day - how Kelson blew out his candles and this year he wanted to blow them out.  Well, wish granted! 

Happy birthday Evan!

Half day

 I am so thankful for our friends, the W fam.  The boys had a half day a while ago and they invited us over to swim. 

 I didn't take many pictures but managed to get these with Max, their dog. 

 The boys had a blast swimming and jumping on the tramp.  We are lucky to have such good friends that live so close.

Hair-do

 I love this picture of Evan and Max.  Notice the glove on Evan's left hand.  Just because you never know when you will need a glove at church..

 Evan loves to do hair. 

 It's hilarious watching him do Ian's do.

Love that boy.

Fishing

 In August and September, my Saturday mornings usually consisted of me taking Xander fishing somewhere...

 One Saturday we met our friends there.  Xander had a blast fishing with Ashton. 

 I think it's hilarious that whenever Xander goes fishing he attracts a crowd. 

 He loves showing others how to fish :)

 Ashton caught a whopper!

I love that Xander is so passionate about fishing.

Josh turns 6

 Joshua celebrated his 6th birthday by having a fun filled water party. 

 There were games...

 water balloon fights and slip-n-slides...

 but the biggest hit was the inflatable water slide

 Joshua is such a smart, fun kid. 

Evan and Max both had a great time.