Lets catch up!

Friday : Ben's first soccer game - he scored two goals!!! Watch out David Beckham Ben got his mom's awesome soccer skills - although he didn't watch for planes even once (all you Flyers & Twisters know what I'm talkin about!!)

Saturday: Ben and Mommy danced on stage with Kid Rock - I know its crazy but its one of Ben's favorite songs..."All Summer Long" and Kid Rock was riding in Endymion so Ben's Uncle Howard arranged for us to be at the stage on Orleans Ave before the parade. We didn't get a picture with Kid Rock but hey how many 5 year olds can say they danced on stage at a Kid Rock concert! Probably not to many 5 years old have even been to a Kid Rock concert!!

Sunday: Parades!!!!

Monday: Took a break from the crazy Mardi Gras scene so we could rest up for a Big Fat Tuesday!

Today: Mardi Gras
We spent the day out on the parade route catching treasures and having fun! Ben and Shaun went dressed as Pirates - of course!! And had a great time. All the cousins and Aunts and Uncles were there, a big Thank You to The Lawrence Family for letting us hang out at your house today! What a great parade spot you have!!! We had a fabulous Mardi Gras. But its back to real life tomorrow! Mom has a meeting with Ben's docs tomorrow - to go over all the options we have searched out over the last week. Dad has to work but Aunt Dr Steph is going to go with mom. Then tomorrow night mom and dad will decide what the plan is...

Not what we were hoping for

Well its been a very long day. We just got home after 10 hours at Childrens hospital. The MRI went smoothly and Ben came through great. The result weren't what we were hoping for, the tumor is smaller but still very significant. Our oncologist feels we need to pursue a much more aggressive treatment than they can provide at New Orleans Children's hospital. It looks like we will either be in Memphis at St Jude or at one of the Texas hospitals by this time next week. We have lots to talk about and think about right now. We will be looking into all our options over the next few days and will keep you all posted on our decision.

Thanks for all the prayers, keep them coming we will surely need them in the next few days while we are making some big decisions.

Love Always
Erin and Ben Sr

Tomorrows MRI

Okay everyone tomorrow is Ben's first MRI since we started treatment. We are of course a little nervous about what it will show. So in true Jackie fashion (a cancer mom friend of ours) I am going to tell you what to pray for!!!

Ultimately we hope that the original MRI tech was a moron and there was never a tumor to begin with..

Okay so thats probably not the case so option 2 is...

The tumor has completely disappeared!

Okay so again probably a little unrealistic so lets all pray for option number 3 (but I'll take 1 or 2 also)

Please pray that the tumor has shrunk significantly, that it is "stable" as they call it - no new signs of regrowth.

Whatever they tell us tomorrow we know we will be able to work through it with the love and support from all of you. I will try to post tomorrow night to let you all know what they said - but I'm not 100% sure that they will tell us tomorrow, we will have to wait and see. If I am unable to get to a computer to post I will have my sister Megan post a quick update.

Tomorrow 10 am (CST) happy thoughts, prayers, good juju, whatever you call it we'll take it!

Love you all

Erin

Disney Magic

Okay so I still haven't figured the slide show option out on this thing yet - I picked a few of the 623 pictures we took. Where do I start....
Early (5:30am to be exact) Saturday our ride showed up to take us to the airport - only when we opened the door expecting to see Ms Jessica it wasn't Ms Jessica it was a limo driver. Ben was very excited to ride in a limo and keeping Shaun in a seat was near impossible. Another limo met us at the airport in Orlando and Ben and Shaun treated us to a dance show on the way to the resort. We have video which we plan on using to embarrass them at every major occasion, graduations, weddings etc...
We checked into the Polynesian and headed straight to the Magic Kingdom by boat from the resort. The captain let Ben blow the horn and steer the boat and he was sold - only way we would be going to Magic Kingdom was by boat! Our first ride was Jungle cruise which ended up being his most favorite ride the whole time!! He loved Peter Pan and Pirates of the Carabean also. We were able to get a special pass that allowed us to bypass most lines. This was very nice. Ben would not have gotten to see and do as much as he did without the pass. He would have been much to tired.

Sunday we went to Chef Mickey's for breakfast and ate with Mickey , Minnie, Donald, Goofey, and Pluto then we hit the Animal Kingdom and Shaun started on his quest to be blacklisted by Disney Security. Shaun never meet a sprinkler head he didn't try and break!!! But the boys had a great time and got lots of character autographs here. They love getting autographs - Shaun runs up yelling "write my name...write my name" - our autograph books are almost full! We saw the Nemo- which was awesome. And then we decided to stay for the parade, its a good thing too, Ben was picked out of the crowd to be an honorary cast member and help with crowd control and keeping the crowd entertained. He was super cute and took his job very seriously. They dressed him up like Disney staff and he helped with some cheers and stuff. He even got a certificate that made him an honorary Disney Employee. Grandma, Grandpa & Ms Jessica arrived Sunday night and Big Ben and I went to dinner just the two of us (its been quite a while) it was great.

Monday we hit magic Kingdom again much easier when you have more adults than kids. Shaun is not a fan of lines, even when they are as short as they were for us. We had a great time again and got to have lunch with Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eyore, and Tigger at the Crystal Palace. Ben went on Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain.

Tuesday we went to Epcot and Ben loved Soarin! And I loved the margaritas they served in Mexico! Ben got to go to China just like he has always wanted to. We talked to Crush from Nemo, that was a cute show. Then we went to dinner at Fort Wilderness lodge. It was a lot of fun they throw things at you and there is lots of yelling, so right up the kids alley!

Wednesday we had breakfast with Lilo & Stich and had to say good bye to Grandma Grandpa and Ms Jessica. So we spent the morning at Magic Kingdom before they had to leave and then Ben's Aunt Steph, Uncle Henry and their kids, Catherine, Stephen and Virginia and Grammy and Pops arrived to spend the end of the week with us. We went to Epcot that night for dinner. Ben was really excited to show all his cousins the cool stuff he had ridden on.

Thursday we did Hollywood Studios - I think this was Shauns favorite park. They loved the Playhouse Disney show - Shaun was dancing the whole time. Ben and the Crocker kids loved the Toy Story shooting game. And Ben went on Star Wars and got to be in the Green Army Man show. Shaun got his face painted. Ben and the Crocker kids also enjoyed the pools at the resort every afternoon - the loved the slides.

Friday we went to Animal Kingdom again and had Breakfast with Donald, Mickey and all his pals again. Then we saw the Lion King Show and Ben and Steve got picked out of the crowd to dance in the show! We had dinner at Epcot again and Ben fell asleep at like 6:30 and slept through dinner and all the evening Epcot rides. It had been a really long week and he gave it 100% the whole time.

What a week - we had to leave early Saturday we were going to cram in a few more rides at Magic Kingdom but decided to just have an easy morning before we headed to the airport by limo again!!!

We brought home tons of souvenirs and present for family and friends who couldn't join us. Ben has decided that he wants to go back for his 6th birthday and bring all his friends!!! I think we are going to need a lot of chaperons!

Such amazing memories. And like I said over 600 pictures, and videos.

BIG THANK YOU to our Brighter Horizons family!!! This was an amazing trip and we were so family so many of our family were able to make it for a couple of days.

We truly have turned Ben into quite a rock star I'm not sure I'll be able to get him in the Envoy to take him to school tomorrow - I'm sure he will be looking for a limo!!

Check out all those smiles!!!

Love you all

Erin

DISNEY WORLD UPDATE

Hey everyone quick note because I am very tired and Ben has planned another big day for us tomorrow. To say we are having an amazing time is an understatement. The boys are none stop and loving every minute. What wonderful memories we are creating. Believe it or not this is not Ben's Make A Wish trip - this is his Brighter Horizons trip. An amazing gift from Ben's school - we could never have planned all this on our own! We can never say thank you enough for this amazing trip. Ben is truly a lucky little boy to have you all in his life. I will be trying to add the slide show feature to the blog so you can all see the pictures of a trip we will never forget.

We love you all

The Sarrat Family

DISNEY WORLD

Hi everyone---
Aunt Mego here. Ok, is everyone as bummed as I am that we all didn't get to go on the big trip? Rest assured we can all be happy that Ben is having an absolute fabulous time, and I hear he and Shaun are running mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and Miss Jessica ragged trying to fit everything in. Since we all couldn't be there to see the huge smile on Ben's face as he takes Disney World by storm Erin wanted to make sure we all experienced some of his favorite things about Disney (so far). So here are a few highlights:
-The limousine rides to and from the airports (Ben called to tell me about it at 5am, I have a great message on my phone cuz Aunt Mego was sleeping)
-Ben's favorite ride is Peter Pan but Splash Mountain & Thunder Mountain are among the top ten (I guess he grew enough last month to go on some of the big rides- yeah!)
-Nemo Show is awesome
-Animal Kingdom was lots of fun yesterday and Shaun reports that the ELEPHANTS were the best animals there
-Both Ben and Shaun think its pretty cool that they get to take a boat to the Magic Kingdom everyday
-Grandma and grandpa tell me they get to watch the fireworks everynight from their hotel room
It sounds like everyone is having a blast, and Ben and Shaun can't wait for everyone else (grandma and grandpa Sarrat, Aunt Steph and cousins) to get there in a few days.
Most of all Ben wanted to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who helped make this happen. You truely made a little boys dream come true and he is having the vacation of a lifetime.
Erin promises pictures and more stories when she can get her hands on a computer.
That's all for now- I hope you're all thinking back to a good memory of your first trip to Disney World or Disney Land- it can be magical!
Love you all,
Aunt Mego

Soccer Ben

Hey Everyone

Wanted you to know tonight was my very first night of soccer practice! I am playing soccer at PAC. My team color is orange, but I don't know my team name yet. I am big number 8!! My mom was very excited because 8 was her first soccer number when she played for the "Flyers" when she was little. I am going to miss my first game when I am at Disney, but I'll be there for the game on the 20th.

After practice I took my mom and Ms Jessica out to dinner (my dad gave me the money!)

So I'll tell you as soon as I know my team name, but until then "GO #8 ORANGE!!"

4 days till DISNEY!!!!

Love ya
Lil'Ben

PS I wanted everyone to now we have joined forces with other families in the fight against childhood cancer. The group is called "TEAM UNITE" check out the web site and learn how we together can cure childhood cancer, read about the teams (and the one Pirate Crew - you know us we always have to be crazy different) and learn the staggering statistics about childhood cancer. www.teamunite.net
Erin

Catching up!

Hey everyone just wanted to check in and let you know what I'm up to! Its only 6 days till I go to Disney and I am VERY EXCITED. My Grandma was here all weak so I didn't go to school everyday - but don't worry I still did my school work.

We went to the Vietnamese New Years Festival yesterday with my cousins the Boyd girls! It was really cool there were dragon dancers, and fireworks. Shaun didn't like it very much - he hates fireworks!

Shaun and I got haircuts on Saturday. The barber tried to even up my hairloss areas, so I kind of look like a Marine - My mom thinks I am very handsome! Shaun wouldn't sit still, big surprise - so his haircut is kind of crooked!

Gotta go eat dinner!
Love ya
Lil'Ben