Its hard to believe that Evan will be ONE YEAR OLD less than a week from now. He's now walking completely on his own - no more crawling for this little guy! Jorge calls him the "Little Monkey" because he can eat an entire banana in the morning, and he often wants just a banana for dinner. Evan now has such a big personality. He laughs so loud and even tries to make other people laugh by playing "ah-boo!"

I've really enjoyed this year with Evan, though I feel like it flew by much too quickly.

Jada just proved to me that she can read. She had a homework assignment (of which she gets quite a bit of homework!) and one of it was reading and spelling. "No way," I thought. There is no way Jada is reading at age 3. But, sure enough, when I pointed to the words, she told me exactly what they were (there were more than 20 words on the sheet) and she could spell them back to me. So, they weren't just sight words. She often does read something, and I find myself in disbelief that she is, in fact, reading. She also does most of the writing herself. She'll ask me, 'How do you spell ____?" and I'll tell her thinking she's just scribbling. But, again, sure enough, on her paper are the legible words. Amazing!

Joli is a reading fanatic. She loves to read. At age 6, Joli has read so many advanced chapter books, and she has taken a liking to reading to the family aloud. Again, I'm simply amazed by the amount of growth and maturity she shows.

The girls have been rehearsing for the Camp Sunshine talent show - yes, I know it's months away! Jada's favorite song is the "We are the World" song and Joli's is an Alicia Key's song "Broken Heart." I love listening to them sing; those kids have some talent!

We're getting ready for Evan's birthday, and I know this year we have been Blessed with such great love and joy in our family. We've had some tough times, too, and Evan's presence -- knowing that he's our last biological baby -- makes me thankful each day for my family.

Enjoy these photos! These are from my "52 Weeks" series, of which I only did about 1/2 of them. But, it is nice to see the changes in the kids!







"A Year in the Life of Evan"
What's happened this year? (not necessarily in order)
Everyone turned a year older, Evan was joined shortly by Kainoa, Uncle Pedro graduated from college, the girls went to summer camp, Jada started pre-school and Joli started 1st grade, Joli and I found out we were VHL positive, Norhanna was born, I decided to get my mastectomy, Jorge began the process of switching jobs, Jada went on her first airplane ride and vacation without parents, we got a new doggie, I decided to run a 1/2 marathon, the Flood of 2010 which made us re-think our basement .. and so much more!