Payton get's his wings (7 of 7 new posts)

Our wonderful neighbor is a fighter pilot for the Redhawk squadron in Portland. Captain "Rico" gave him an invitation to be a Redhawk for a day and an official Redhawk patch. Payton will be able to sit in a jet, they will do special takeoff's for him, wear the helmet, and some other fun things. This came on a day that he was in need of a pick-me-up. He has been having a hard time after these last 2 treatments. His energy has been sucked from his body and he had to be taken into the hospital 4 times in 8 days this past week. This invitation brough the biggest smile to my little man's face. He was in heaven, and for a moment he didn't look sick. It lasted until the next morning but soon after slipped into his worst day yet. He is beyond excited for this event. It should happen within the next 2 or 3 weeks. He has told us he wants to be a Jet piolot for a long time so this will be awesome. Thank you Captain "Rico"!!!

Running Y resort, Kalamath Falls, OR (5 of 7 new posts)

Our first vacation this summer was at Running Y resort in Kalamath Falls, OR. It was a 6 hour dive (I didn't realize that when I booked it) but the kids did great in the car. I use the word vacation loosely because vacations usually are relaxing and full of fun. The area was beautiful and the place we stayed was very nice, but Payton was going through a "rough patch" and could barely move most of the time and the babies were not sleeping at all at night. Saturday was a good day. We were able to get out and go to the driving range a couple times and were able to go swimming a few times. Jared was the photographer on this trip since I didn't even get out of the condo because of the babies (good job babe!). He took the big kids on a few walks around the grounds and helped show Tate the ropes on the driving range. It was Tate's first time. The golf shop had little clubs we could borrow for the both of them. We wish we were able to do more but Payton wasn't up for anything and it did rain one of the days.

Relay for Life (5 of 7 new posts)

Payton's first Preschool teacher organize a booth for Payton and another little boy in our area's Relay for Life. He was given a "Survivor" shirt and they sold banana bread in his name to help raise money.
She also organized "Pennies for Payton". It was a fundraiser to help with his medical bills. All the preschoolers in his current class and in Ms. Nickki's class raised over $600.00 for our family. My friend's mom's class in California also raised over $200.00! Isn't that amazing. Thank you, thank you!!!

"Charity Never Failith" (4 of 7 new posts)

These pictures are A-MAZ-ING! There is a wonderful person by the name of Lara Blair with an amazing talent. She didn't know who the "Northam's"were but she heard Payton's story through a friend of hers. She contacted our family and wanted to help. She donated her time and extraordinary talent to our family so we could have some family portraits. We haven't done any since Tate was a newborn, so we have no formal record of the Cohen and Tessa. I can't tell you how greatful we are for what she has done for us. She has done far more then we could even hope for. THANK YOU LARA! You have blesses our lives and given us an amazing gift.

www.larablairimages.com
www.larablairimages.com/blog
www.modernprairiegirl.com

Father and Son's Campout. (3 of 7)

Our church does a camp out every year for just the Father's and their son's. They have such a good time. Fishing, hiking, getting all kinds of dirty, and of course, smores!

Pool Initiation 2009! (2 of 7 new posts)

We broke out the pool and while it was filling the boys "tested" it to make sure it was going to work. Unfortunately a frog couple decided to start their family in our pool and without checking for such a thing I threw in some chlorine. I later was checking out the dirt on the bottom that needed to be cleaned and saw hundreds of little tadpoles swimming everywhere. Not for long. They started to turn to their sides and float to the top; by the hundreds. I tried to hurry and skim the undissolved chlorine out of the pool but it was too late. I scooped Mama frog out and rinsed her off. The boys observed her in a bug box for a few hours and when she seem ok we released her away from the pool. An hour later I went to check on the water level and found a partialy disolved Mama Frog floating on the top! SOOOOOOOOOO sad. I'm a frog killer! I said this to Payton and he assured me... "you didn't mean to mom, you tried to save them". At least he doesn't see me for who I am...a dirty rotten frog killer!

Dozer Days (1 of 7 new posts)

Not too far from our house is a rock quarry that holds an awesome event...Dozer Days! The kids can sit an ride in all kinds of construction equipment. Payton and Tate sat and helped control a backhoe loader. It was an AWESOME day but a little too hot. The lines were really long so we weren't able to have the boys experience all the events that were going on...next year!

Blog Update comming soon...

I am trying to update this blasted blog. I will have 7 entries but I need to figure out how to do it right first. I HATE not knowing how to do all this "techno" stuff. I use to be on top of thing; not so much anymore. So, hopefully in the next couple days. Sorry for the "teaser".
(Yeah, like I'm so interesting you are just itching to know what we are up to. I only wish)