VACATION!!!!

So we are about to head out for a few days. Cade is so excited and has actually counted down how many more "sleeps" we have until we leave. We were planning to head to Orange Beach for a week, but the oil has changed our plans somewhat. So we decided to go visit Chris' aunt in Satellite Beach, Florida, on the Atlantic side. We will stay with them for a few days and decided since we are so close to Orlando we will make a stop to SeaWorld. Cade has not stopped talking about SeaWorld. He is not a big animal person, but has always loved ocean animals so this will be a special treat for him.
We are also going to be in Tampa for a week with my parents and my brother's family. Our vacation with them to Seagrove Beach was moved further down the coast also due to the oil. We are very ready for some family time and to spend more time with Chris before his crazy football schedule starts in July. We feel very blessed to be able to get away for a few weeks!

On a side note, we did hear from Cade's doctor this week regarding his recent MRI. It was not news that I wanted to hear. She told us that the VM has increased in size and is "different" in some areas. I am not sure what all this means, but I am not going to jump to conclusions either. Again, my prayer for Cade is really a miracle.. that our BIG God will just heal this VM and remove it or keep it from growing or re-appearing in other areas. That is my prayer. I was reminded again this morning during our worship service that "nothing is impossible for Him..nothing is impossible, because He holds the world in His hands!!!"

Will post more of our trip in a few days!!! Love you all!!!

My Celebrity Crush

(disclaimer: i apologize for the randomness of this post-ha!..)

Okay, so everyone has one but not everyone would admit to having one. I must admit that my celebrity crush changes from time to time, but right now it is Carrie Underwood. Yes, I have a little obsession for her right now. Her new CD has been out for a while and Cade and I love to listen to it in the car. She is getting married in July and coming to Nashville on tour in October. I do not have tickets YET, but hope to get them!!! A few of my students went to a benefit concert last night for flood relief here in Nashville and guess who showed up??? She did!! They sent me a couple of pics of her performing. So great!!!

Off to the Races!!!

Felt like it has been forever since I last posted. We are thoroughly enjoying our summer! We have had some fun times and it has been very relaxing.. very thankful that I have summers off.
We visited my parents a few weeks ago just to get out of town for a few days. As most of you know, Cade loves cars! He has so many hot wheels that we have given boxes away at times to other kids. It is all he plays with at home. He races with them, lines them up in many different ways, tows them to the garage to get fixed, etc.. It is what he loves to do.

My parents live about 5 minutes from the drag park. They have lived there for some time and you can always hear the races from their house at night.
We decided to take Cade to the races. Number one, I felt like the biggest redneck paying for a ticket to the drag race. Number two, was not dressed properly-I guess proper attire was cut off blue jean shorts, tank top and at least 3 tattoos on each arm. Number three a bad sunburn from being there all day!

My mom and I took Cade and we waited and watched several different kinds of cars each line up to race. It was very loud and I thought Cade would want to leave, but he just covered his ears and watched! He loved every minute of it and it was all he talked about for the next few days. Even now when he plays, he says, "red, yellow, green.."
It was fun to watch him enjoy something that he loves!

Back to VCH..

We headed back to Vanderbilt Children's yesterday for Cade's MRI. He is having surgery in July so the doctors wanted to get a grasp on what they would be working with and how much of the VM is left in the orbit area. This is a routine procedure, but Cade's fear of the hospital never makes things so routine.
They gave him what we call "happy juice" to calm his nerves before they gave him his IV and it worked great. I would love to have some of that in a bottle here at the house at times! It always seems to make things a little bit more pleasant for him and his parents of course.
When he woke up in recovery he was ready to eat. They gave him teddy grahams and juice. He kept asking "can we go home now?" Because he wet himself earlier, they also gave him some Spiderman boxers that he has worn since we left the hospital..ha!
On the way home he kept saying,"they almost gave me a poke mommy.." So glad he didn't remember any of that!
He is doing great and was back to his old self by the time we got home yesterday. He is very excited, because today we are headed to Chattanooga to see Nana and Papa! That is all he has talked about since yesterday, so much so, he would not go to sleep last night! He loves to visit his Nana and Papa!!!