2nd Annual VA Area Angelman Syndrome Picnic

This year's Angelman Picnic was again held at Clearbrook Park in Virginia. We had a gorgeous day, and I'm not talking about the weather. It was such a joy to share the day with so many families and their angels. And the weather was gorgeous too. We had great food, great company, and great fun. Here's a little video montage of some pictures from our day.
Mark your calendars for next year; the first Saturday of August, same place, same time!

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Dewey Beach 2009

We finally took the plunge and took the boys to the beach. You know with three young boys we weren't about to do it alone, so mom came along... and we are so glad. Unfortunately, after that long weekend, she's now laid up and unable to walk. I guess we worked her too hard!
We packed a lot into our weekend. Three trips to the beach, a ride on the Jolly Trolley to the boardwalk to have icecream and ride rides at FunLand, steamed crabs and the Outlets on our way out of town on Sunday. It was really great to see Chip, Keegan and Ellie.
The boys loved the beach. Colin was a little scared of the water, but by Sunday, he put his feet in. Chance and Cannon were fearless. Thank goodness for floatation jackets!
I have tried several times to upload pics, but I'm failing. You can go to www.facebook.com/hevans7020 to see the pics from the weekend.

The Boys of Summer

We are in full swing of summer around here. Whenever possible, the boys are outside playing! Daddy is doing a great job of keeping them entertained... boys will be boys. Here are some fun pics from the summer. Cannon in the pool with his buddies. Chance and Colin on the motorcycle and 4-wheeler, Colin making bisquits with Daddy, Family Fun Day at the park with train rides, Cannon's last Kings Kids concert before summer break, and my favorite... Chance trying to eat noodles with chopsticks!
Chance has also taken swimming lessons... pics to come soon. And Cannon and Colin attended their first summer camp of the season at OLP. This week's theme was God's Creation. It was adorable. I will have pics and videos to come soon of that too.

Jake's Make-a-Wish Party

Our friends Michelle and Dustin, the proud parents of two beautiful kids, Jake (who has Angelman's like Chance) and Bailey, hosted a Make-a-Wish party. Their son Jake was granted a wish and they received a beautiful adaptive swing set, complete with a rope swing, ramps and lots of cool sensory stuff! We enjoyed the day so much watching all the kids interact and play. I do think, however, that Dustin's tractor train stole the show over the swing set. All three of our boys absolutely loved that thing and insisted on being driven around all the deer paths through the woods pretty much the entire time we were there! Dustin and Michelle have a beautiful home and we were blessed to be a part of the party. It was nice to spend the day with parents of an angel and be able to relax and not apologize for Chance all day long. He was a bit of a stinker as the day went on... also managed to put his whole hand right smack dab in the middle of the cake. Thankfully, Michelle had already snapped some pictures of it! I hope we can get together more as it's nice to remember that we aren't alone in this journey of raising an angel and typical kids. Thanks for having us to your party Jake! Maybe you'll come to our Make-a-Wish party some day... guess I should apply, eh?

Raspberry Picking at Orr's Farm

I took advantage of some gorgeous weather and took the boys to Orr's Farm this week. Rob got a much deserved day on the golf course and I dragged the boys to pick raspberries! It was actually really fun. We took a hay ride out to the patch and picked 8 pints of berries. I think Chance picked more leaves than berries, but he sure had fun. Colin got bored after one pint, and relaxed under a nearby apple tree in the shade. The weather was perfect, the boys did great and we had a wonderful day. We came home and made 10 jars of jam. Cannon had a blast smashing the berries. He keeps asking if we can smash more and make more jam! If anyone wants so, let me know! We still have 8 jars and it is GOOD!

Cannon's PreK Graduation

I'm not sure if you would call it graduation, since there were no caps and gowns or anything like that, but "Our Little Preschool" held their end of the year picnic in the park this past week. Cannon received his special book and got to share one more beautiful day in the park with his teachers and friends from Preschool. I love how Colin snuck into the picture too. Hard to believe he's going to go to kindergarten next year. Where does the time go? Oy! Next year, Colin starts at OLP!

Are we Down Under? NOOOO! It's just West Virginia!

Well, you'd think from the pictures that the boys were on a walk about in the Outback Bush of Australia, but nope... they are in the backyard bush of our West Virginia home. Leave it to Daddy to come up with a way to make a lazy (almost) summer day fun, just by putting hats on! Now that our deck is done, the baby pools are full, and the trampoline is up, we are really enjoying the backyard.
Last night Rob busted out the fire pit, marshmallows and chocolate and had the kids make smores when they got home from Kings Kids. It was lots of fun. There was one time Rob poured lighter fluid on the fire and it lit up pretty good. Chance started clapping, Cannon leaned in with a big smile, and Colin... well, he took off running so fast that I nearly peed my pants laughing. Oh, the distinct personalities of my sons! You can see in the one picture below where Chance is clapping, Rob is cracking up and looking over to the other side of the yard. Yeah, he's laughing at Colin bolting off. I promise you, it was so funny. Colin was like "AHHHH... I'm outta here!"

Today, for Memorial Day, we just played outside alllllllll day. We had at least 12 of the neighbor kids in our yard at one point! It was hilarious. We just love it. Personally, I'd much rather have the kids in my yard where I can keep an eye on them!

Angelman Syndrome Walk-a-thon 2009

This year's Angelman Syndrome walk-a-thon was as fun and rewarding as last years. This year, Team Chance consisted of Chance (of course), Mommy, Daddy, Cannon, Colin, Grandmom, Pop Pop, and Auntie La La. We had cool weather and a fun tailgate lunch after the walk. The highlight for me was watching Chance cross the finish line. He just gets so excited to see everyone cheering for him. I also thoroughly enjoyed seeing old friends from the AS community. We really are a tight family of families! Here is a video of Chance crossing the finish line and several pictures.

May is the Month for Birthdays!

Since Colin's birthday is the 30th of April and Cannon's the 10th of May, we have twice now celebrated both birthdays together in a combined party. It saves on the cost and adds twice the fun! We also celebrate Mother's Day(10th this year) and Pop Pop's birthday (12th). We did celebrate Colin's actual birthday ON his birthday, but then he also got a party. He really lucked out this year! So we had a weekend of parties. I think everyone in the family got a Hallmark card of some sort, except for Daddy (poor thing). The boys party was at Galaxy Skateland, complete with face painting, a huge indoor pirate ship climbing area, ski ball, video games, pizza and cake. What a great time we all had. The place is a family run business and we just had a very very nice time! So that was Friday night. Saturday morning we had a yard sale (or should I say ROB had a yard sale). Mom and I entertained the kids. Saturday afternoon Mom, Ruby and I went to a ladies luncheon at church. Then Sunday we had church and Sunday night we had steaks on the grill for Pop Pop's birthday. Here are some pics from the weekend of parties!

They Really Are the KINGS Kids!

Cannon joined the youngest choir group at our church called Kings Kids. He absolutely LOVES going every week and takes a lot of pride out of singing songs about Jesus. His first "performance" was totally cute. He's in the group with so many of his friends: Dominic, Ethan, Jasmine, Katie Lynn, and many many more. I'm so glad he loves it as much as he does. Here is a video of them singing and some pictures.

Family Fun Day at the Mall 2009

Every year we, and hundreds of other kids, descend upon the Martinsburg Mall for a day of fun geared all for kids. Moon bounces, puppet shows, crafts, reptile exhibit, pony rides and so much more. The kids absolutely love it. They did so great this year. Chance has been sick, so he just wanted to go for the ride in his stroller, but Cannon and Colin walked the entire time. Needless to say, they were worn out after pizza in the food court!