Grammy's Birthday

I've been taking my mom lunch on her birthday since I've been a stay at home mom. She enjoys it and the kids like going to Grammy's school to eat and see the big kids. Her birthday this year was on Good Friday so that means nothing fun. So we did lunch the day before. A few years ago we discovered the Reuben sandwiches at Arby's. They are delicious! So that's what she wanted. There's an Arby's close to her school, and with only 25 minutes to eat, it's perfect. So Reubens and curly fries it was! It's nice to go have lunch with her and let the kids eat too.

Spring Break-Disney Style!

We took an absolutely wonderful vacation in December to Disney World with our family to celebrate Joe being cancer free for 5 years.  What better place to celebrate happiness and life than at Disney World with your family!  So 18 of us spent 10 magical days there!  What a memory!  (Don't let the kids' tired faces fool ya! It was awesome! :) )  

The next available time for Brad to be able to take vacation was over Spring Break, so what did we do?  We booked a Disney Cruise!  I tell ya, Disney has us hooked!  We cruised on the Disney Magic out of Galveston, TX.

The food, staff, accommodations, activities, pools, everything was awesome!  We got to see all of our favorite characters and princesses, too.  There were dance parties, pirate parties, fireworks, and a trip to Cozumel, Mexico with beach time and water park time for the kids.  We got to attend Broadway type shows after dinner each night.  Our favorite show was the last night.  I think the show was called Disney Dreams.  I bet it makes it to Broadway-it was that good!  The kids enjoyed the shows as much as Brad and I did!  One night we saw a magician and that was really fun, too.

They had an Oceaneer's Club and an Oceaneer's Lab that Alex got to go to and Abby went to the nursery.  They each went twice.  During our first time away from the kids, we went to the fancy restaurant on the boat, Palo, and had a very gourmet Italian brunch.  We sat next to a window that overlooked the ocean, there were complimentary mimosas, and our waiter described everything with such detail, it was hard not to try everything that was offered.  Probably the best thing I ate was the passion fruit cheesecake.  Wowzers!!!!  Of course, if I would have taken pictures of everything we ate, you'd be here for an hour drooling over them! Here is round one of appetizers and round one of dessert.

The second time we took the kids to their "daycare" we went to the adults only pool.  It was so nice to just hang out in a pool with a drink and not be splashed in the face by kids jumping over you every five seconds.  We enjoyed the pool, the hot tub, there was live music, and we got to lay out!  I can't remember the last time we have layed out together!  It was definitely over 5 years ago!

We highly recommend a Disney cruise!  (and Disney World, too, which will have to be another post since we went before I started this blog) We have planned to go back to Disney World in 5 years, and after taking this cruise, we plan to do it again, too!

Cancer Sucks!

Ash Wednesday of this year, February 13, 2013, we learned that Brad's dad has cancer.  He went to the ER to have a swelling in his thigh looked at, hoping it was not a blood clot, and after a few tests, it was determined to be cancer.  He has rhabdomyosarcoma.  It's basically a large tumor that is wrapped around the bones of his thigh.  After meeting with the oncologist in Tulsa, it was decided that his best option would be to travel to MD Anderson in Houston for treatment.

Originally, it was thought he would go to Houston, have the tumor removed, and come back to Tulsa for chemo and radiation treatment.  However, it is an aggressive tumor and very large, and even if they were able to remove it, there is a 50-80% chance it would return. The new plan is to try to shrink it down to an operable size, which will allow for keeping as much of his leg as possible and keeping it functioning as well.  He will undergo 6-9 treatments of chemo that will be 3 weeks apart.  After that, he  will have 4-6 weeks of radiation and then 4-6 weeks of rehab.  This will hopefully reduce the tumor to an operable size.

So it looks like Houston will be a new home away from home for Jimmy and Karen for the next several months.  They will fly to Houston every 3 weeks.  Treatment will last about 5 days, and then he will be able to come home to Tulsa for about 2 weeks before returning to MDA.  That's a lot of flying back and forth!  Thankfully there are Angel Flights that fly out of a nearby town to Houston.  The Conoco Phillips Company flies to Houston often and they offer their extra seats to patients going to MD Anderson for free!  Isn't that amazing?!  One less worry!  

So please add our family to your prayers.  Please pray especially for Jimmy and his wife Karen.  They are going to endure so much these next several months and years as they battle this awful disease.  He will beat this and with the power of prayer, it will speed up his healing! Thank you all so much.

Alex's 5th Birthday

I can't believe Alex is 5!!!!  It just doesn't seem possible to have him be so grown up.  He wanted to have his birthday party at Tulsa World of Gymnastics this year.  It's a fun, fun place!  The kids can run, jump, climb, be loud, and they have so much fun!  Plus, I don't have to worry about a bunch of rowdy 5 year olds running through my house! :) The kids got to play for about 40 minutes, then we had cake, ice cream, and opened gifts.  After that, they got to play some more.  It was perfect! 

We also had a family party for Alex.  All of our parents, brothers and sisters, and Alex's cousins came to his party.  Brad cooked a great brisket, and we had potato salad, veggies, and chips.  I made Alex a Spiderman cake and Spiderman jello.  It was a great day!