Check this out!

Click the title of this post to follow the link to this AWESOME organization (ALEX'S LEMONADE STAND) and see who this week's featured hero is!!!

Vacation Top 10

We just got back from a week of fun in Florida. We went to St. Augustine, Miami, and The Keys in that order! We had a ball! This was our first family vacation for just the 4 of us, planned by us, and executed all on our own! It's funny how you can hang out with your family day in and day out and then learn completely new things about one another when you change the setting. Here are the 10 things I learned on vacation!

#1 - My husband amazes me! He is so great at managing our money and using it on the things we need and skipping the things we don't. He did an awesome job at planning this vacation on a budget!!!

#2 - You can only spend a few nights at a time in a hotel with children without going insane or driving those in rooms around you insane.

#3 - Cade loves history. He doesn't love everything that is educational, but he has always been so enthralled with places, times, and lifestyles in the past. Our first stop at The Fort of San Marco in St. Augustine was perfect for him. Personally, I was bored to tears (you've seen one fort, you've seen 'em all) but he LOVED it so much he and Rob went back twice!

#4 - Cora loves to eat out! She never tires of it and after each stop when we asked her what her favorite thing was she said "going out to eat."

#5 - Hotel beds are apparently made for one purpose-- JUMPING!

#6 - I have a real problem with fearing for my children's lives in any given situation. I am not sure if all mom's have this or not, but I will say mine seems to be really severe. It almost hinders me from having fun in certain situations. I just can't let go. Here are some examples from this past week. Cade falling of the top of the fort, Cade and Cora falling off the walkway through the rails and into the ocean, Either of them getting run over in a parking lot, Either of them drowning, Cade snorkeling around rocks where a small yet deadly sea creature is lurking and it lurches out for him, Either of them getting snatched by a maniac at the very crowded Miami Sea Aquarium, Either of them falling off the top of the historic Bahia Honda bridge in Big Pine Key, etc, etc....you get the idea, the list goes on and on! What are the true odds of any of these things happening??? But seriously, my three year old has cancer, the odds don't always seem to stack up in our favor!

#7 - Cora wants to be the lady that rides on the killer whale's nose when she grows up!

#8 - Cade loves anything fast paced! He loved riding the metro in Miami, wanted to be the wettest one in the audience in each show at the sea aquarium, and wanted to jump or swing off anything that would allow it! If only I could grow a banyan tree in my backyard. He'd never be bored!

#9 - The fishing really is better the further south you go. My poor husband is misplaced in Savannah. He LOVES to fish!

#10 - Cade will never be a transvestite after the look on his face after his first glimpse of some in Key West. He didn't even have any words!!! The look was priceless!

The Princess's Birthday

Yay!!! What a year it's been! It was hard work getting Cora Garola to age 3, but we made it!!! I can't tell you how glad we all were to celebrate Cora this weekend! It was the end of her steroid week, so she was not feeling great and pretty grumpy, but she had a great time! We're not super into usually overdoing our kids birthdays, but WE TOTALLY spoiled her. (and Cade wasn't forgotten either) She go her pink Barbie Mustang that she's admired for ages, had candles on each meal on Friday, went out to dinner, and had a "Princess Ball!" Mommy also made what was probably my tackiest birthday cake yet (simply because Cora picked it from a book). She thought it was beautiful!

Go Fish

Cora is addicted to Go Fish! A few years ago, my mom gave us some Go Fish cards that were perfect for Cade at about 3. They are strictly colors. You make color pairs by asking your opponent for a specific color or drawing from the "go fish" pile. Cora loves it. She wants to play it all the time with whoever will play with her. So as I was preparing for our clinic trip tomorrow morning, I packed the Go Fish cards in her bag unbeknown st to her. The visit started off much better than our last sucker throwing visit. She was sweet to the nurses and staff and didn't cry when her port was accessed. Her counts were good, her ANC was 1500 which is down from last time but right where the doctors like to keep it. We were waiting for her chemo to come from the pharmacy and to see the doctor. She was bored with her dolls, so I busted out the Go Fish cards. She was so excited. We got the cards all set up and each had five in our hand just in time for Dr. Johnston to walk in. He greeted us and he and I started talking while Cora started nagging about who's turn it was. I told her the game would pick up in a minute after Dr. J checked her quickly. That was it! He had interrupted our game and she was having no part of it! The kicking and screaming ensued and Dr. J got the Go Fish cards thrown at him! This continued through her exam and until he left the room all the while with me whispering bribes and threats in her ear with no luck. My daughter is so sweet sometimes and so so so completely naughty others! I was so embarrassed that for the second visit in a row she is kicking one of the men responsible for curing her cancer! When he left she sat in time out, calmed down, and decided to apologize to him later all on her own. We did apologize and hug as we left, but still, I am not sure how I can continue to show my face in there never knowing what my daughter may do next! But the good news is...she is good! She looked great, is handling her new meds with little side effects and feels good enough to throw fits. We started her on her five days of the dreaded steroid and don't go back for 2 weeks! Her birthday is Friday! We are having a "ball"...like Cinderella on Saturday morning. This will be her fifth day of steroids so I am hoping she doesn't make a scene at her party, but she is very excited! Stay tuned for those pics!

Cade on the other hand, is depressed! While were were at clinic he and daddy went to the dentist. The dentist told him yesterday that he needs to stop sucking his thumb because it's pushing his teeth forward. Both of his front top teeth are loose so once they fall out sucking the thumb will push permanent teeth forward. He is so upset. He says he just can't stop and anytime he touches his softie dog he has to suck his thumb. He's so dramatic he went so far as to say "just throw softie dog in the trash, it's no use!" By bedtime he had decided he couldn't do it, he'd just continue to suck! Rob went through the whole scenario with him about how his teeth would stick out, he'd have to have braces, and maybe even surgery on his mouth if the bone starts to move forward because of it. Cade's response was, "Will they put me to sleep if I have to have the surgery?" Rob said, "ya, probably." And Cade said, "fine, I'll just get that." and rolled over and stuck his thumb in his mouth.

As usual, we've got lots of work to do around here!

Boring

Look I dressed myself completely perfectly today!


Well, almost perfectly!


Cade has become half fish this summer!


Cora's favorite part of the pool!


Happy to report that things around here are pretty boring.
It's been totally lazy summer days lately!
Pool time!
Beach time!
Lots of reading!
Lots of grilling!
A garden that ALMOST has veggies ready! (this is our first garden so that makes it extra exciting)
A house that can't seem to keep clean no matter how hard mommy tries!
Cade's attempting to learn to ride a bike with no training wheels (that's not going so well!)
Cora's been playing lots of doctor and vet and she continues to think she is about 15.
Rob's building a fence along one side of the house.
And doggy Leia's happy that Rob has committed to jogging with her nightly!
Boring, normal, fun, PERFECT!
We are so thankful!

Tuesday's Run Down

DISCLAIMER: PLEASE DO NOT JUDGE ME OR MY CHILDREN BY THIS POST! KEEP IN MIND THEY ARE GOOD, SWEET KIDS MOST OF THE TIME, BUT THIS WAS A BAD DAY! A REALLY BAD DAY!

My day went something like this...
-Rob gets up early for a baseball clinic.
-I get the kids up and ready and apparently BOTH of them have woken up on the wrong side of the bed.
-Cade has a total breakdown about some pg-13 Star Wars movie that I will not let him watch until he is 13!
-Cora throws a toy at Cade and tells him to "hush his mouth."
- Cade cries harder.
- Cora and mommy have a heart to heart about how you throw balls and play with toys, but if you throw things at your brother, a spanking is the consequence. (yes, we spank, not often, but we do!)
- We all go to the car (crying)
- I forget something and run back to the house.
- I return to find Cade crying HARDER and Cora yelling something to the effect of "this van has 2 doors and that's MY door! Don't get in my door!"
- Between cries Cade sputters out that Cora has thrown a bottle of nail polish at him for using "HER" door.
- Cora verifies this.
- I spank Cora's hand firmly.
- Cora flies into hysterics and then a total rage!
- I get in the drivers seat in time to see Cora beat red, clinched fists, and violently screaming at the top of her lungs. She then looks at me and yells, "YOU'RE FIRED!"
- Cade's crying turns to roaring laughter and I try hard to keep a straight face.
- We drop Cade off at Vacation Bible School.
- Cora finds a sucker in the car and stops crying when I tell her she can have it. (breakfast of champions)
- Cora and I drive to clinic to get her counts checked.
- We walk all the way to the building and once we reach the doors, Cora falls completely apart and says, "I wanted to ride in to the building in my stroller!"
- I try to reason and tell her we are all ready here and the car is far.
- No luck, she goes boneless and falls on the ground.
- About this time one of her FAVORITE nurses walks out and says, "Hey Cora, what's wrong?"
- Cora screams, "AHHHHHHH! DON'T LOOK AT ME!"
- I get her a little calmer and we proceed into the building cautiously.
- Upon our arrival we are greeted by the ever so sweet childlife specialist, Ms. Annie, who Cora adores. She too says, "Hey Cora. What's wrong?"
- Cora throws her sucker at Ms. Annie. (yes, she did!)
- Mommy is enraged and has had enough.
- Mommy escorts Cora outside and spanks her firmly again, this time on the hiney
- Eventually Cora calms and we make it pretty much through the visit incident free.
- Cora's ANC was 2364! Yay for an immune system!
- Dr. G wrote Cora a prescription for orthodic inserts for her shoes because she now walks so flat footed that her ankles look like they may buckle. This is partially due to the chemo. (One more thing for mommy to worry about!)
- We pick Cade and his friend up from VBS.
- Eat lunch
- Send Cade and his friend to the slip and slide where they stayed for the next 2 hours.
- Attempted to put Cora down for a nap, once, twice, three, four, times. She continued to get up until daddy (who is WAY too much of a sucker for Cora) agrees to lay down with her. They both fall asleep.
- laundry, house pick up, monitoring the WWF on the slip and slide
- Cora wakes up and sticks Dora stickers all over the coffee table and squirts cherry burst shampoo all over her play kitchen.
- Walk
- Dinner with some interesting conversation about how Cade has now decided that he wants to be an archeologist in Rome (good luck with that, Cade!).
- Dinner clean up and bath
- At this point, I am BEAT! I am totally over Cora and her antics and I am near tears wondering where I went wrong with this unruly child!!!!! What the heck has gotten into her? How on Earth will she go to preschool next year?
- Rob and Cade are doing Math flash cards and I lay on the couch.
- Cora empties her entire piggy bank on the floor ( I am BEYOND caring).
- Cora brings me a box on the couch that has coins and a folded up piece of paper in it and says, "This is for you mommy."
- I half heartedly say "oh thanks!"
- She says, "It's medical fund money and a card." I get a little more interested at where she's going here.
- She continues, "I will read you the card." unfolds the paper "Dear Mandy, I hope you are having a good day and a good year. I pray for you everyday because you are a good mommy and I hope you feel better."
- Cora puts the paper down and hugs me.


So I decide to not worry too much! Because yes, she had a bad day. She's still two. But, she is learning. Maybe we need to work on not throwing objects at people, but she is learning a lesson way more important. (well maybe not way more important!) She is learning about generosity, caring about others, and prayer. And she is learning it because of you! Our family and friends who continually reach out to us! It really does take a village to raise a child! Thank you! I am glad somebody's getting through to her!

Ode to Daddy by Cade and Cora

I love my daddy because...
he's nice,
he's kind,
he's sweet,
he mows,
he lays blankets on the floor and lets me lay on him,
he puts bandaids on me and uses the brown bottle (hydrogen peroxide),
and he loves me!

By Cora









I love daddy because...
he helps me brush my teeth,
gives us candy,
he takes me to Bass Pro Shop,
he goes to work and coaches,
he tells jokes,
plays rough house with me,
and he loves me.

By Cade