To Evan On Your 8th Birthday

Dear Evan,

They say they eight is great!  2020 has been a very weird year for us, so let's hope the rest of the year is great.  But today is definitely great because we get to celebrate you!

You finished up second grade this year and are heading in to third.  You're still searching for your group of friends at school, but I have no doubts that you'll find some great friends. 

While school isn't your favorite, you are very smart and had a great year.  You ended second grade with all A's and B's.  Math is definitely your strongest subject.

You played baseball this year and you decided it wasn't your favorite.  I think this summer season will be your last season.

You also started hockey at the beginning of the year and you seem to really be enjoying it.  Unfortunately you only got to go a couple months before the quarantine started, but I'm hoping you'll love it just as much once you can start back up in August.

You were in cub scouts this year and this was definitely a favorite.  Being outside in nature is the way to your heart.  You love exploring, fishing, riding bikes and camping. Swimming is one of your favorite activities too.  You always tell us you want to live by the beach when you're older.

You're still a snake loving guy.  Legos and video games are still a favorite as well.  You would spend all day playing Minecraft and Roblox if we let you.  You hate wearing shirts and would never wear one if we didn't make you.

We love you big, Evan Michael.  I hope the next year turns out to be a great one.  

Love,

Mommy

Interview With Evan - 8 Years Old

Each year on the kids birthday, starting at age 2, I ask the kids the same 20 questions.  It's been fun watching how their answers have changed over the years.

1. What is your favorite color?  Black

2. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Cereal

3. Who is your best friend?  Don't Know

4. What is your favorite toy?  Nintendo Switch

5. What is your favorite TV show?  Loud House

6. What is your favorite drink?  Shirley Temple

7. What is your favorite movie?  Maleficent 2

8. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes

9. What is your favorite book?  Don't Know

10. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Snake

11. What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner?  Homemade mac and cheese with ham

12. What is your favorite snack? Pirate's Booty

13. What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas

14. What is your favorite song?  Shape of You

15. What is your favorite outfit? PJ Shorts (with no shirt)

16. What is your favorite animal? Snake

17. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Snake Tamer / You Tuber

18. What is your favorite game? Monopoly

19. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Lizard Hunting

20. What is your favorite thing about school? Monkey Bars

Last Day of 4th Grade

Emily finished up 4th grade.  Next year she'll be the "big man" on campus in 5th grade.  She's very much hoping that she'll get to go back to 'in-person" school.  She's missed her friends a ton. 

She was in Mrs. Stewart's class and Mrs. Newman was her switch teacher.  She had the very best year.  Her teachers couldn't have been sweeter.  I was so sad to see the year end the way it did. 

We celebrated the last day with ice cream from Sonic!

Last Day of 2nd Grade

The kids finally finished up the school year.  They ended up doing the entire last 9 weeks at home doing e-learning.  I think we were all ready for it to end.  It was super challenging to keep them engaged in their school work and also difficult to know how their teachers would normally teach them the concepts.  We can only hope that they will get to go back to "in-person" school in August.

Evan finished up second grade.  He was in Mrs. Lewis's class.  Now he's on to 3rd!

We celebrated the day by getting ice cream at sonic!

May Little Things

May ended up being another full month spent in quarantine.   Things started slowly opening up by the middle/end of the month, but school was closed through the end of the year and Shawn and I were both still working from home full time.  Here are all the things we were up to this month.

We kicked off the month with Mother's Day.  The kids made the box that my present went into.  We went over to Kevin and Julie's house to celebrate Mother's Day.  It was the first time we had seen my parents in a couple of months.

Shawn built some shelves for the wall in the kitchen.

Emily continued all her soccer workouts.  By the end of the month, small group practices were able to start back up.  Em was excited to get to see her friends again and get out of the house!

Shawn took Evan fishing over at the catch and release pond in the park by our house.

Evan had been asking to use Shawn's dremel, so he cut a fish out of some wood and let Evan go to town on it.

Emily was finally able to get a haircut.  I think it had been a year since she last had her hair cut.  She cut off a ton.

Em got super creative with chalk and drew lots of pictures on the sidewalk.

We went over to Kevin and Julie's for dinner one night.  Em and Natty made up a haunted house and got into character.

Shawn took Evan camping at Turner Falls in OK.  Evan had a blast.  Em was pretty jealous that it was a boys only camping trip.

While Evan was camping, Emily had her friend Grace sleep over.  I took them down to the creek by our house to play.  It's a favorite spot for our kids.