Grace is back in the hospital

Just to inform everyone, Grace had a fever of 102 last night at about 2am. She has been at the hospital ever since. We are told that she will be there at least 48 hours, but it could be much longer depending on how her numbers do. Right now she is neutropenic, which means her white blood cells are very low. We will update the blog when we know more.

12 years and going strong!

Yesterday, was Kim and my 12th anniversary. What an amazing 12 years. I am extremely grateful for the amazing woman I married. I didn't consider myself wise when I was 18, so how I managed to catch the most amazing woman, mother, wife, and friend is beyond me.

Kim surprised me with my favorite appetizer, my favorite sushi restaurant, and my favorite raspberry chocolate cups. We had a great time and the entire day our kids were wishing us a happy anniversary and making us cards. It was a great day.

Here are some videos of Eva's first Ballet class. She did an amazing job, unfortunately you cannot hear her class because the dance studio is partitioned off from the viewing area. Grace volunteered to film these videos. She is the youngest one in her class, but loves it so much she wore her tutu all day and has been asking everyday if it is ballet day (Mondays). If you think her moves in class are nice you should see her freestyle in the house!

CHEER CAMP, LEMONADE STANDS, AND A CAMPING TRIP

Making a Lemonade stand to prepare for summer weather. The kids designed it and were so proud when it was done, that they played store in the backyard.

Kim, Tanner, Eva, and Ben brought Grace some Roses for her hard work. We will probably never know how hard it was for Grace to go each day. She had a spinal tap on Friday and has a fractured Radius bone. Yet everyday, whether she was feeling awful or not she got ready and worked at it. She came home bruised and exhausted, sometimes sick with her Chemo, yet today, she did it and did an amazing job. She is so proud of herself and we are too for her hard work, her perserverence, and her courage. Tonight as she said her prayers she said "thank you for giving me the courage to overcome my fear of performing in front of A LOT of people."

Tanner and I camped along the Deschutes river this last weekend for Father's and Sons. It was great, although we got rained on most of the evening it didn't stop us from playing night games like capture the flag and catching fish. Tanner was in Heaven, and like always a great kid to be with.

Althought Eva was trying to do her own filming and Ben isn't feeling well, Kim got some great video of Grace's cheer performance on her last day of cheer camp.

Give this girl a break (or fractured wrist) already!

We wanted to celebrate the kids milestones of graduating from 6th grade and Kindergarten so we threw them a class party. Grace had a park party and Tanner had a rollerskating party. It was SO much fun...that is until Grace fractured her poor little wrist. Her bones are very brittle from chemo, so it wasn't too surprising that even a slight fall could do that to her. It makes me want to keep her in a protective bubble, but where is the fun in that? Grace will go back to the doctor in a week or two to determine if she needs a harder cast. It was really interesting to see the x-rays of her bones. They look similar to the diagrams you see on hair commercials where you see the waves of damaged hair. Her bones literally had "waves" in them. We believe it's from chemo, but we'll have to do more research on that. Grace was tremendously optimistic and brave though. Despite how much she is hurting, she is such an optimist. The only time she even complained was at night when she was tired beyond belief. So....here's how this girl's weekend will go down in history-or on our humble blog:
-Did her jobs, practiced piano, got excited to party rollerskating style, started to feel unwell from her chemo meds, fell down the stairs when she was tired, went to the party, fractured a wrist, headed to chemo/spinal tap Friday... just a regular day in the life of Grace. Uggghhh, I'm tired just thinking about Grace's life!

Evidence that Tanner NEVER willingly lets us snap his photo.

Eva was AMAZING on skates! She had such a blast!

Grace had a blast and really worked the skating department! That is until the fated fall...

It was Eva's first time rollerskating and she did great. She wanted to do it by herself and she did.

SUMMER....we welcome you with open arms!

The summer weather finally visited Portland. We have had the second wettest May on record, so when the forecast said Saturday and Sunday would be 80, the kids had their swimsuits set out and ready to go. What a difference warm weather has on them, and how fun the yard becomes when water balloons and wet trampolines are the norm.

I am sure it was very hard for the doctor to find some extra thigh for her needle.

Gracie, right before she performs at her last day of school assembly. We tried to get a picture of T, but he hid every chance we had. For some reason, having you whole family hanging out at your assembly, cheering really loud, and taking lots of pictures is not cool?

T and G before their last day of school. We cannot believe that Tanner is now a 7th grader and Grace is a 1st grader!

Grace announcing the last day assembly

Tanner being announced as the new National Honor Society President.