Sprinkler Time!

One our favorite things to do in the summer is play in the sprinkler. We seriously have quite a water bill each month, but it's worth it for the fun we have!

Angelman Syndrome Conference

Rob and I had an absolutely AWESOME time at the Angelman Syndrome Conference in St.Louis. Thank you to my mom, Aunt Dar, and Aunt Deb for the enormous task of watching the boys for us while we were gone. Thank you to our church families at IBC, HPCC and Wildwood for your financial support, prayer support, and meals! And thank you to all our friends for your support and prayers. We learned so much about ourselves as parents/caregivers, and we learned a TON about Chance. We believe he is so much more capable than we initially thought and we're excited to see how his life unfolds. We were encouraged by the hundreds of families and angels we met there. It was really emotional for us to meet other angels. Rob and I also enjoyed some LONG overdue alone time. We hope to make the trip to the conference every two years to continue to learn, but more importantly to see our new extended family!



During on of our lunch breaks, Rob did this crazy trampoline thing in the mall. He was a bit scared at first, but he settled in and was jumping REALLY high!
The next picture is our hotel. It's the old historic St.Louis Union Station, completely renovated into the Hyatt Regency and a mall. Very cool!

Okay- so I'm a dorky tourist!

This is the keynote speaker Dr. Elizabeth Thiele sharing her research on seizures. She was very very good!

Summer Time and Icecream

It simply doesn't get any sweeter than this! It's just a lot of fun to make icecream cones and let the boys make a huge mess of themselves outside. It's one of the few times that they actually sit quietly for a few minutes together!

Chance's First Day of Kindergarten

Watching for the bus to come!
I know, I know... it's summer, so how can it be his first day of Kindergarten? Well, Chance is part of the Extended School Year program for special needs and it just so happened that his first day of Kindergarten falls in July. He did GREAT! So much better than I expected. I guess I was just a nervous ninny, but his new teacher, Ms.Ginnie said he did better than she expected. Chance was so excited to see the bus coming, so that was a relief. And Ms.Ginnie was at the door when the bus pulled up to school, so he recognized her and was instantly at ease. I think we're going to have a good year!


He was so excited to get on the bus, he was pulling on my arm!

Angelman Syndrome Videos - Chance Evans

Here are a series of videos of Chance over the last couple of years. I'm posting these for my AS friends so everyone can see another angel and his accomplishments. Enjoy!

Chance took his first independent steps on April 15th, 2005, so this is just 2 weeks later and he's walking across a room. Simply amazing and simply through prayer! This was a special time for us.

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Chance seemed so enthralled by all the people, but he did smile a few times so I think he had fun. Ms. Cheryl is one of our pastor's wives and she LOVES Chance. The feeling is mutual. He adores her too!

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The only thing that Chance is able to say verbally is "MaMa"! Thank you God for giving me at least that! Here's video of him saying "MaMa". This was probably the first week he started doing it. Before that, he said nothing.

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Chance is in the back row in front of his classroom aid. What I love about this is that Chance is participating with his peers and doing the hand motions at the right time just like everyone else. He may not sing along verbally, but he certainly knows how to participate! So awesome.

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I get such a kick out of this. I call him my little chicken when he runs. I am so proud of how far he has come in the last two years!

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It's a ZOO Around Here!

We made our first ever trip to the National Zoo in Washington D.C. on June 7th. Myself, Grandma and the three boys geared up for a long, fun-filled, hot day of animal watching. We had a really nice time and the boys were just great all day! Cannon really loved the Reptile House. The lizards, fish and turtles were all his favorite. Chance seemed to really like the Small Mammal House where we saw meerkats, porcupines, rats and other fine little critters. He seemd to make friends with this one little critter (don't ask me what it was!) Me, I really just loved seeing the panda and the elephants. Couldn't tell you what Colin liked. He pretty much sat in the stroller all day with his mouth hanging open just enthralled in all the people and excitement. There were quite a few kids on field trips there. I thought by mid June field trips would be all done since kids get out of school right around then, but I was wrong.

It was a good trip, but I think I'd rather go to our local Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo over the National Zoo anyday. You can get up close and personal with a Bengal Tiger at Catoctin, versus being 200 yards away from the tigers at National. Oh well, it was fun and it was an experience!

Chance's PreK Graduation

Today (6/1/07) was a momentous occassion for Chance. He has been at Pikeside Special Needs Preschool for two years now and next year he's off to Kindergarten at Tuscorora Elementary. He was SOOOO proud of himself and did a GREAT job singing along to the ABCs with his classmates. He was the first one in the processional and the first name called. So exciting. Mommy was a wreck, crying through it all. It was really hard to say goodbye to Ms.Lisa, Ms.Diana, Ms.Chrissy, Ms.Patti, Ms.Cindy and all the therapists that worked with him. He really loved it there. Here are a few pictures of the day. boohooo.... and HORRAAYYYY for Chance!

Fist in the processional and then getting the BIG DIPLOMA!! WOOHOOOO!

Principal Dean Warrenfeltz giving the closing remarks and Ms.Lisa, Chance's favorite teacher EVER. He absolutely loved her. Followed her around! Too cute.

Ms. Diana - Chance's Speech Therapist

Ms. Chrissy - Chance's Classroom Aide