Ahhhh.... the beach!

We just returned from 4 days at Cannon Beach. We love the beach! Playing at the city park.

Playing on the skate park.

Silly hat store in Seaside.

Yup even the grown ups got silly.

The carousel at Seaside.

Silly pictures..... yes that is Darren punching a shark.

The seaside aquarium.

Running from the waves. A personal favorite.

The Tillamook Cheese factory. And the ice cream counter of course.....

More silly pictures around town.

Tidepools at Haystack rock.

It was raining most of the time we were there, but we didn't mind. The beach is always a good time. And thanks to my parents (who's condo we stay in) we get to return in August when A) it'll probably be sunny and B) Jack'll have his brace off and we can play in the sand!

So bye bye Cannon Beach for now.... we'll see you next month!

4th of July

So believe it or not this was our 1st official attempt at a "home" firework show & BBQ since kids. It was a total success.

Our resident pyrotechnician.

The boys developed a "I'm so happy about fireworks" dance.

Safety first. Always watch from a distance. And for those of you wondering that firework is on a rock... not the grass.

Granny was with us. She and Jack had fun "oooing and aaaaaing" over each one. So cute.

It was super fun. Happy 4th!

Happy Birthday To Me

I turned 39 today! Yea 39! I got to have a party at my mom & dads. And I was happy to share my day w/ my neice Marley (who turned 10 yesterday), my husband Darren who turns 38 next week and my mom who's birthday is the 14th of this month! Busy July Birthday month for my family.
My Brother & I.

Darren & I

Sweet moments between grandpa & Jack.

And lots of playtime for the cousins.

It was a great day!

Time to press "PLAY"

You know how when you take a vacation it feels like you push STOP or PAUSE on your real life? The past 2 weeks have been like that for the Lewis family..... only we haven't been on vacation.

2 weeks ago today we pushed STOP.

Jacks fall stopped life as we knew it. Tomorrow we will attempt to push PLAY again. But it won't be starting back up in the same place.

Obviously Jacks fall was by far the scarriest thing we have ever been through..... however, in spite of that I feel like the past 2 weeks have brought a lot of blessings.

First and formost God is letting us keep Jack. We don't take this lightly. In fact it has reminded us that all our kids are on loan. It has reminded us how precious all of our children are. Here we are on a walk. Oscar & Calvin got scooters for being so brave and helpfull during our family emergency.

We've watched our community come out of the woodwork to support us in prayer - which was amazing. We've grown even closer to our local family (and we were pretty close to start). I watched my mom & dad and Darrens mom drop everything to be there for us. My brother and his family showed up when we couldn't get things together. They all stepped in when we needed them most. And they suffered with us & were terrified with us. And we are closer because of it. And as for the 5 of us we've been refocused on each other. We've been able to spend the time since the fall doing just that.

Quality boy lego time.....

We also visited the firemen who responded to the 911 call. That was super fun for the boys.

Jack is healing physically way faster than anyone thought. Emotionally we are still dealing w/ sleeplessness, nightmares, fears, etc. Here he is doing some medical "play" to help him work through what happened to him.

Isn't he cute? He gets a little better every day. We all do. Thanks for checking in w/ us. We've been amazed by the outreach and concern from all of you for Jack. Thank you so much!

Why Jack is destined for greatness....

Last sunday Jack leaned on a screen in an open window that turned out not to be attached at the bottom. Meeting no resistance what so ever, he fell 20 feet onto our concrete driveway below. I was in the hall. Darren saw it happen out of the corner of his eye. His scream, "go downstairs" started the scarriest several hours / days of my life. We were taken by ambulance to OHSU. Jack was given x-rays, CT scans, abdominal ultra sounds, later a 90 minute MRI. Turns out Jack must have landed on his bum. He has 9 injuries (fractures, contusions, etc) starting in his hip / pelic area and up to his middle back. His organs, brains, nerves, everything else is totally fine. He is a miracle. He has ZERO bruising and other than where his IV was put in ZERO open wounds. Yup he fell 20' and has no cuts or bruises. None. Here he is w/ his neck brace in his room at OHSU. He loved visitors. Especially his brothers.

So his treatment is a back / body brace for 4 week to 3 months. Turns out no one really knows how fast little kids really heal so we'll see. We have a tiny walker which we were told he might want to use in a week or two...... He's been home less than 24 hours and has already taken several steps w/ his walker all by himself!

Darren ran out & got him a little chair since all the adult chairs he needs to climb into and obviously w/ pelvic fractures can't do that. He LOVES it! Darren also bought an assortment of super hero tee shirts. Since he is superman and has litteral "armor" for now.....

And we have a tiny wheel chair. The boys love to wheel him around the loop in our house.

God saved Jack. He will have our eternal Praise for that.

We are also trying to get the word out to check your windows / screens. If something like this can happen to us, something like this could probably happen to anyone. KGW did a story that was on the news. Here is the link to that. Here is a web site w/ the same mission. www.stopat4.com

Labels

We are 2 days into summer vacation. Oscar started labeling stuff this morning. This gives you a HUGE peek into his personality. Hmmmmm I wonder where he gets his lable / listing skills from? Now..... how to steer this into something more productive......

Kindergarten Graduation

It's official. We have a "grader". Oscar graduated from Kindergarten this morning. So cute.

Tee Ball

Oscar started tee ball this year. He LOVES it. His team is the Cubs. Today was his first game. Here is his "stance". We all went to cheer him on. Here is part of the Oscar fan club.

Oscar played 1st base. And ROCKED it. Seriously. That isn't just the mommy in me talking either......

Turns out Oscar is pretty good. Here is him hitting. Coach Mike pitched to the team rather than having them use a tee. Which is awesome. They all did great and it teaches them how to hit a pitch which is a skill they'll need in upcoming years, obviously.

It was a fun time for us all. It is so fun to watch 5/6 year olds play baseball. Here is Oscar heading for a ball w/ his buddy Max.

This is what our saturday mornings will be like for the next 7 weeks. We are good w/ that. Baseball. Sunshine. Family time. Doesn't get any better..... right?

Out of our comfort zone.....

Sometimes God takes the drivers seat in spite of ourselves.

About a year ago we thought Darren would be given an ultimatum from his firm (who had just shut down thier Architecture office here in Portland). Relocate or be gone. So we prepped the house for sale. Either way we'd have to move. Either we'd relocate or we'd have to get by on less (local Architects make less than Architects working for international firms). We WERE going choose relocation. But that door shut. And Darren got to keep his job! That was great news. But we still wanted start getting by on less so Darren could start an MBA program.

We had a new plan. Sell our house & buy a house in SW portland near Oscar's school, the Karate studio, tee ball, etc. Well after 7 months we finally have sold our house. We are to be out march 31st. And it appraised out ok which is a miricle in this market. So that is great great news!


We found a great house we loved in a great neighborhood and made an offer. They countered. We countered. They said no. NO.


We found another great house we loved in a great neighborhood. (We also found a back up house just in case.) We made an offer. They accepted! We went through the dreaded repair addendum phase. Then the appraisal came in $30,000 lower than our offer. Buyers won't match it. We loved this house. They said no. NO.


Our back up house in the mean time sold. Another NO.


Do you ever feel like God is trying to tell you that maybe the path you are on is the wrong one?


So given we have to be out of our house in 7 days we've decided to rent a house. That is our remaining door left open. We can't imagine why He has shut all other doors but this one. Is the house for us not on the market yet? Are we supposed to wait & see what door open to us in 2 years when Darren finishes his MBA? We don't know the WHY...


Darren & I have been scrambling the last 48 hours and have found a house to rent. It has everything we need AND is close to West Hills Christian, Karate, tee ball, the city, etc AND it is vacant. Thank goodness!

It is a little scarry. We've not rented since we first got married. We are planners and this is blowing our minds. But it is a little exciting too. There must be something out there for us that is even better.

Pirates

The Boys have been playing pirates lately. ARGGGGG.

Snow Day!!

Yah for Snow Days! Being married to a Canadian we are ALWAYS prepared for snow, ice, storms, being trapped in the moutains for days.... anyway. All our kids have head to toe gear so by 7:30 am we were outside having fun! Darren went into work a little late. All the boys / men made a snowman together.

And since this is the last snow day we'll spend in this house I was happy to have the opportunity for one more shot. Isn't it pretty?

And now - at the time of this blog - 9am it is starting to melt. Our portland "snow day" was actually 2 hours. but it was super fun!!

Little Drummer Boy

Calvin turns 4!!

My little Calvin turns 4 today. *SIGH*

We've had a great weekend.

Yesterday was craft day. First the kids used needle & thread to poke pom poms for birthday window decorations. Craft inspired by my friend Jen. They turned out so pretty. And I was impressed that between Oscar, Calvin & I..... I was the only one who pricked my finger with the needle.

Then we made Calvin's birthday cupcakes. Cookie Monster.... can you tell?Today was the party. It was small w/ just family. But it was fun... as always.

Happy Birthday little man!!

WHCS Field trip

This week Oscar had a field trip to the Portland Center for Performing Arts for a production of "Diary of a Worm, a Spider and a Fly". I got to go. It was super fun. Amazing child actors. All in all a great time!

Oscar's Kindergarten class has 15 kids in it - 5 boys. Here they are.... the boys.