Happy Birthday Big Ben!

Dear Ben,

Yesterday you turned 1! What happened to that tiny premature baby that was in our arms? You are SUCH a big guy now! Ben, you came into our lives under the most challenging of circumstances. I remember feeling quite overwhelmed that I would never be able to give you the attention you deserved while taking care of a child with Cancer and caring for your other siblings. But, into the world you came- a full month early-as a tender reminder that we really aren't in charge in this life, but are graciously given to nonetheless. You are nothing short of a miracle and a gift from Heavenly Father. I honestly believe you were a little "reward" for some of the hardship. You are everything joyful, patient, calm, understated, and blissfull. You are like an answer to a question. Every member of our home relishes in you, Benny. From your chubby little toes to those weepy, but rather large eyes...you have totally STOLEN our hearts. We look forward to every little second we're lucky enough to spend with you. Thank you for being exactly what our family needed, without us even knowing it.

Here are some of your favorites at age 1:

-Books-you are such a book worm...hence the cake. You spend a HUGE amount of time each day perusing books, which I find fascinating. You have a large attention span for such a "little" guy.

-You LOVE to throw your food at meal time-and anyone sitting on your right side is really unfortunate. They end up with a facefull of food. But, you didn't throw one stitch of your birthday cake. You discovered a new love for sugar...oh my.

-You LOVE your siblings. Each one makes you light up. We love your reaction when they walk into the room.

-You love to roll a ball back and forth.

-You love pounding on the piano and will even sing along, but when we pull you away from it, you get ticked.

-You love rain and love being outside.

-You love animals...especially our dog, Annabelle-and feed her fistfulls of food at mealtime...so busted.

-You can say:

dog dog, dada, mama, ahh ohh when something falls, you make a tick tock sound for the clock, you impersonate lizards and giraffes with your tongue sticking out, and make lots more sounds!

-You are the cuddliest baby ever. You love to snuggle up and will just giggle and stare up at us as you cuddle. We A.D.O.R.E. you! Thank you for being in our family. Can't wait to see who you will be as you grow up!

Love,

Mom and Dad

In a few years time...

Can you believe how faded the old "Team Grace" bracelets are? JR snapped these photos of our bracelets versus a brand new one, just to see the change that two and a half years brought. Those bracelets have seen MANY long days of chemotherapy, and we're hoping one day we're brave enough to take them off and feel safety that there is no use for them any longer besides a cherished memory.

As of late...

Eva and Ben are the best of buds. It is darling to see the way Eva tenderly cares for him. What a good big sis. Ben will spend a half hour straight looking at books. It's his favorite thing to do!

Grace had an animal presentation, and chose one of her favorites-the Cheetah. She did a great job!

The dinner hour is like paying for dinner and a show...there's always something silly, chaotic, or fun occurring during dinner time.

JR was a judge at Tanner's Classroom Law Project program. Tanner did a great job with spur of the moment questions regarding electoral candidates.

Halloween

Halloween weekend was a blast. Because it was on Sunday we had a whole weekend to celebrate costumes. You can see Grace decided to be a fairy one day and Alice the next. We went to a lot of fun parties and got to see some great costumes. Tanner had fun going out with his friends and Eva, Grace, Ben, and Annabelle hit our neighborhood. Although Ben was dressed as a goldfish most people thought he looked more like a puffer fish...don't tell him he is very sensitive about his weight. Kim wore an authentic "call for" Multnomah County Jail outfit which is for inmates who get into fights, hence the black eye , neck tat, and blacked out tooth. She was a great sport since we all know Halloween is usually a holiday where women wear less not more. The jumpsuit is not supposed to be fashionable, but she pulled it off beautifully and very authentically.

Disneyland Celebration for End of Chemo!!!

To celebrate the end of Grace's chemotherapy, Shele, Glen, Nick, Max, Sam, and Gate were kind enough to take us to Disneyland!!!! This trip was nothing short of F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S!!! Every thing was so amazingly planned out, including dining with Disney Characters, a full princess makeover for Grace (and Eva, though she was too shy to do it), VIP seating at the water shows, and so much more. The kids were in absolute heaven. Even though Grace had chemo the week before, it didn't stop her for a moment. She was in Disneyland with people she LOVES after all, and no amount of toxic medicine would put a damper on that. On Saturday, October 16, she took her final dose of 6-Mercaptopurine, a medicine we hate giving her. To mark this momentous occassion...she did a little dance off right in the middle of magical Disneyland and couldn't have cared less who watched. Other family members even got in on the action. Thank you SO much for the memorable trip. We will never forget such a sweet and grand finale to a very challenging few years. You helped prove that the "happiest place on earth" isn't so much about the places you visit as the company you keep.