Another round of chemo...

Grace had chemo Friday afternoon. She astounds us with her ability to pull herself together and just do it. Her nurse even commented that much older teenagers often don't handle it with her...well...Grace. She did well this afternoon-even making it with her siblings to their Peter Pan themed school carnival. (pictures to come) But, tonight she has dropped hard. It's as though someone flips a switch and a vivacious, joyful child grows pale, grows weak, grows too tired to care about childish things. Our nightly bedtime routine typically includes favorite songs, but they fell too loudly on exhausted ears and she couldn't hear, see, or do ONE more thing. What a sweet, tired out little body...it makes us so sad.

Also-a quote I liked-I think JR and I feel this often, especially about the time chemo rolls around:
"My life cannot implement in action the demands of all to whom my heart responds." (Anne Morrow Lindbergh) Ever feel that way?

Tanner is back from outdoor school

Tanner returned home Friday evening. Before any of the eager parents could see the bus, we could hear the bus ringing with the sound of 20 some kids singing at the top of their lungs. Of course they learned many camp-type songs to share with their family, but they learned so much more. Tanner developed his pictures he took of his trip and I will scan and include them at a later time, but he had so much fun. Thank you to all the parent volunteers, Tanner was in good hands. They hiked up a mountain and down to the ocean, they learned so much about our Earth and came home with a new respect and understanding of their actions. Our family missed T so much and it is good to have him home. As he walked off the bus his hair looked a little odd. In fact, some of the girls in his class had decided to style his hair on the 6hr ride home. We were told by his teacher that there might be up to a pound of hair gel on his melon. He also came home less one tooth. He decided to see if the toothfairy was real by pulling out a loose tooth when mom and dad were far, far away. Overall, he had an amazing experience and we are planning to return to that beautiful area of the country.

Gracie has chemo on Friday so we really took advantage of the nice weather we had this weekend, and I included video of Eva reminding me of the words of Raindrops from tonight. I also added picture of Benji to show how his girlish figure is progressing.

I forgot to post Ben's new trick video so here it is..

Tanner

Tanner has had a busy week. On Saturday we travelled to Corvalis to take part in the State Destination Imagination competition. Until Tanner started to go to Cascade Heights, I had no idea what DI was. It is pretty much a team of kids chosen from a particular school to compete in creative challenges using problem solving skills. A recent article was written about one of the teams in oregon http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2010/04/beaverton_third-graders_among.html
Anyway, after a lot of hard work and fun, Tanner's team took 1st in State and was invited to the global finals. Tomorrow Tanner is on his way to outdoor school where he will spend 5 days in the rainforest of Washington state exploring the ocean, the forest, and so much more. We will miss him so much, he is such a great son, brother, and helper and makes our days so much more pleasant. Knowing Tanner, you are probably not shocked that besides the normal things he had to pack, he also included a camo ruck sack, binoculars, and a compass. He is not allowed to bring any food, money, or electronic devises so it is just him, his class , and the great outdoors. We will let you know of all his adventures when he returns.

Happy Birthday Nick, Happy Easter, Happy Birthday Annabelle

Happy Birthday Nick- WOW YOU ARE OLD

We had a great Easter. One of the best things was that Grace hand wrote each of us a card. Here are two of them. Then today, I looked on our family calendar and Tanner wrote "Great Mom I love you, you are the best mom you are the best dad." Ben is still getting bigger and we couldn't help but include the pics of him before kim took him on a walk. Eva was so excited for the Easter Bunny. She got a zsu-zsu pet and plays with it non-stop, in fact this morning she was eating Cheerios with Eva.