Wonderful weekend.... and some bleeding

Saturday we had such a wondeful day. As I have mentioned before it has been really hard for me as my siblings have moved away. I was feeling so sad for my kids, that they wouldn't be surrounded by all of their aunts and uncles and cousins. I am so thankful that two of my sisters are still around but I certainly miss my other sister and my two brothers and their families. Thankfully God has blessed us with Christian "aunties" and "Uncles" for these munchkins of mine. I have written often about the Paradis family. I feel so incredibly blessed to have Meg in my life, another sister in the Lord who is just a kind sweet spirit, who has been such an incredible prayer warrior for us. It is so wonderful to have that person that you can share faith with so deeply. We each are so thankful that God has paved the way for this friendship. Her husband Jeremy is wonderful too! These guys have just loved on us so completely. I am so thankful for each of them, and their children Abbby, Gracie, Benjamin and Josiah. We also have been blessed to get to know another wonderful family in the recent year or so, the Murphy family. Tippany blessed us so much last year with childcare when she was out of work. It was such a tremendous blessing, to know the kiddos were so well cared for.... We had an after Christmas sledding party on saturday. Meg and Jeremy have a huge hill in their backyard which Jeremy snowblowed into a cool sledding track! The kids had a blast... Well Sophia was very afraid but she did manage to go down once :-)

After Sam's severe belly pain last week I have been anxious about what was going to come of it. Well this weekend it would appear that he is having bloody stools again, not a huge amount but there is some.... :-( Please be praying for him. I am waiting for a call back from his actual GI doctor, not the oncall doctor....

:-(

So we went to meet our friends at the bike path the other day. Went into the garage and couldn't find Sam's bike. We then remembered that it had been next to the garage and not in it. But someone STOLE it:-( Poor kid was heartbroken. I feel so bad. He got to pick the bike out at the store so he really enjoyed it. Thankfully someone from Matt's work had given us one to use when he was bigger. It was definitely too big but at least he got to use it. He can't get started on his own but he does ok once he is going. Soph and her friend Alex road their scooters, they really enjoyed it, but they got pretty worn out...

Mr P has taken to a new hobby. He likes to rearrange my cabinets. We let him get into a couple of them so that it keeps him occupied while I am cooking. The kids like to say that he is going grocery shopping:-) He has really been eating poorly lately but there are a couple of things that he eats well, the little pouches of food are still a huge hit with him. His favorite is pumpkin, cranberry. Doesn't that sound yummy?

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -- and all the more as you see the Day approaching. —Hebrews 10:25

Pony Rides and ANOTHER new doctor....

So I am surrounded by some of the most amazing wonderful women. My kids are so spoiled by so many people. They are loved by so many and I am so thankful. One of my wonderful friends, Judy, has a pony and two horses. She invited us over to play and the kids just had a wonderful time. Judy's daughter Audrey was in Sophia's nursery school class. And the girls got a long wonderfully. Also in Sophia's class is her friend Alison, whose older brother Sam was in my Sam's class last year. So the boys had a wondeful time playing too. First the kids got to ride the pony, Pearl. They each really enjoyed Pearl as she was so gentle...

Sam riding Pearl

Sophia riding Pearl

Alison and Sophia

Sophia, Audrey, and Alison

Sam riding Tess

Sophia riding Tess Then today Sam had an early appointment at Children's. Back in May when Sam had his follow up with his immunologist, Dr Baxi expressed some concerns he had with some of Sam's skin tone, as well as some marking on his skin, and he requested that we be seen by a dermatologist. So we had that appointment today. Dr Gellis was very nice. But there were several comments that were made that made me pretty sad. He started off the conversation by saying "Wow your son has quite the extensive medical history, I've not seen anything like it." Which just reminds me what a struggle poor Sam has had. He then went on to inspect Sam skin, which does have some abnormal markings, and he also apparently has a very large amount of moles, in very unusual areas. The doctor kept saying how "unusual" and "concerning" these markings were. He then went on to ask very explicitely about skin cancer in both my and Matt's side of the family. He said to keep a very close eye on his skin, and to call if there are any concerns or changes in his skin.

Hiking with the munchkins

I took the munchkins on a hike with my friend Myriah and her kiddos today. We have this little book that looks like a passport, and inside of it is a list of all the different state parks, reservations, mountains etc in the state. As you go to each location you get to put a code in a little lock box and inside there is a stamp. So it is a fun little adventure for the kids.

The kids had so much fun with their friends as we walked around a lake and through the forest. We hiked for just about two hours, which was just enough for the littler kids, and Preston was starting to fuss at the end too. After our hike we had a nice little picnic lunch and then we all left. It was perfect. This trail was in the Leominster State forest

Birch Hill Dam

We took a family walk the other day with the kiddos. It was really quite fun, until the down pour on the way back! The kids of course thought that that was the best part. We have a very large dam about 20minutes or so away from us. So we went and walked up to the dam, the kids loved seeing the rushing water, and all of "the nature stuff" as Sophia calls it. The kids thankfully have a very adventurous daddy. I am so thankful that we can balance each other out in this aspect. Matt is definitely experienced with the outdoors and all that God has blessed us with in nature. I love the fact that he has so much knowledge about it, and likes to share it with our kids. Daddy even had them walking up on the train tracks that ran along side the path to the dam. The kids were so excited to be up there. It is silly but when I was a teenager and dating Matt, we went out on the traintracks together. It was so fun, and I remember thinking that he was so brave and knowledgeable about it. I also remember being terrified that a train would come. Thankfully one never did, then or when we were at Birch Hill. But these are the things memories are made of. The view looking down into the Dam. Preston just hung out in his stroller, unfortunately the bugs really liked him once it started raining. I had to completely cover him with clothing in order for them to not eat him. Rock climbing with Daddy:-)