Mr. Smiles

Noah is now 3 1/2 months old and growing like a weed. He is an absolute delight - always happy and just goes with the flow. He certainly is a people person and will chat up anyone whom he can charm with his smile. He is very ticklish and has a very infectious giggle. Just recently, he has reached out and grabbed the toys on his play mat and now loves to grab them and pull them to his mouth.

Daily Life

As is expected, the Evans' house continues to be brimming with non-stop energy as Ryan and Caleb continue their quests into boyhood.

Caleb is becoming more of a boy everyday. Recently, he has become a complete daddy's boy. He loves to go for rides in "daddy truck" and has even been known to add "no mommy van" (despite my attempts to convince him that mini-vans are cool!). He also loves Home Depot. He has begun doing jig-saw puzzles and is really good at figuring things out without getting frustrated. Lately, he has been big into patterns and lining things up - like his cars. He has also started taking swim lessons. This is his first time taking a class of any sort and he loves it. Daddy takes him on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then Ryan gets his turn on Tuesdays and Thursdays - whew! and so the busy schedule begins! Caleb looks forward to his class and of course, always asks to go in "daddy truck".

Ryan finished his first year of pre-school and has started attending a day camp a few hours a week. he loves the chance to get out with other kids a couple times a week. We also go to the park once a week for a picnic with the other moms and kids from church. The biggest thing for Ryan was his B-day present from mommy, daddy, and his brothers - a new bike! He has been riding a Skute bike for months and can coast forever on it so we figured it was time. He loves riding it, and as soon as his feet touch the ground and he gains a little more confidence on the hills, we'll take the training wheels off. Ryan also continues to progress in his writing and is trying hard to learn to read. He really enjoys being able to write his letters and is always trying to figure out how to spell things. He thrives on learning - something I hope is never squelched.

The Mighty 4

On May 28th, our little man turned The Mighty 4. It's hard to believe that is has been four years since we welcomed our first bundle of joy into this world and entered the realm of parenthood. From the moment Ryan was born, he has been nothing but exuberant. His eyes sparkled from the beginning, even in the delivery room. In the last four years, we have watched with amazement as Ryan has approached life with so much zeal and so much emotion. He is certainly priceless and a source of constant entertainment. I've decided to include a few pix of Ryan through the years, including one at 14 hours and one for each of his birthdays.

Ryan began his 4th birthday with helping to decorate his Spiderman Cupcakes for pre-school. This was a big moment for me as it was the first time making cupcakes for classmates =)

In honor of turning 4, Ryan received 4 crisp dollar bills from Grama and also from JoAnne. He also got a bug catching set from Nana and Papa, among other fantastic gifts!

This year, for Ryan's birthday, he decided that he wanted a Dinosaur birthday party. The weekend after his birthday, we hosted a party at the "Dinosaur Bones" at a local park were we had 14 kids to celebrate with. We had a great time. The party began with a dinosaur hunt where the kids searched among the bones for hidden plastic dinosaurs. Then, they went on a fossil excavation where they searched for fossils. I had found these great plastic dino skeletons which John and I covered with a coffee/sand mixture and baked until they were like little rocks. Then we buried them in the leaves at the park and turned our little paleontologists loose. Finally, each kid got to make and erupt their own volcano. Wow!! The kids were terrific and hopefully had a good time.

"Wasn't me!"