Malachi & Elias

Another Christmas photo

This was taken on Christmas morning, before we started opening gifts.

Malachi and Elias were thrilled with all their gifts. They received so many nice things from so many people - the adopted bat and Navajo stories from Matthew, the weaving loom and lap zither from Ant Laurie, the Brooklyn popup book from Debra, puzzles galore, and the space toys from Aunt Nancy. Malachi also got a camera, an electronics kit, and a weather kit.  Elias got a giant tower crane and lots of K'nex and SeaBonz building toys. They had a great day.

A Christmas greeting

Malachi and Elias have something to say!

Merry Christmas!

It is the afternoon of Christmas Eve. Here is a note written by Malachi, detailing our plans for today...

And a photo from last weekend when we went to cut a Christmas tree at a tree farm

Tom ran the NYC Marathon on Sunday November 5

He finished in 3 hrs and 44 minutes, which is not too shabby. We watched from the bleachers set up in front of Memorial Sloan-Kettering, which has prime race frontage on First Avenue. There were lots of people there, and they brought a bunch of inpatient kids out to watch. The Fred's Team volunteers handed out noise makers and signs and Tshirts.  Whenever a Fred's Team runner went by, the crowd let out a big cheer. Most of the Fred's Team runners came over to the side and did high fives with the kids in front.  There was a lot of spirit in the MSKCC bleachers. Afterwards, we walked over to Columbus Circle to find Tom, which took us about an hour because of Elias's short little legs. That is probably the farthest he has ever walked.

It was a nice weekend. We were able to stay at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, courtesy of Fred's Team. The boys loved the Times Square view from our room, and the "bubble" elevators that zip up and down the mammoth atrium.

Here are post-race photos

Here is a photo of one of Elias's oncologists, stopping to say hi while passing the MSKCC bleachers. Dr K runs almost every year.

 

Thank you to everyone who helped support Tom's run!! He raised over $5000 for pediatric cancer research and treatment at MSKCC.

Malachi playing his violin

                 

Malachi played his violin for his relatives in Connecticut last week.

Elias at the Tudor Halloween party

                 

Elias in his Halloween costume at Tom's company Halloween party

Raceday for Malachi, Elias (and Tom)

Tom ran a half marathon today, as warmup for the NYC Marathon in a few weeks. There was a kids fun run after the half marathon. Malachi had been planning to do it for a while and was preregistered. When we got there, we discovered there was a 4 year old category, so we signed Elias up to. He liked the idea, at least until it was time to line up. Then he suddenly got cold feet. Tom had to run along with him, and he ran the whole (short) distance clinging to Tom's leg.

When it was Malachi's turn, he went out with all the other 6 year olds. But partway through, his hat blew off, and he stopped to grab it. That cost him enough time that he ended up finishing in the last clump of kids. But he had fun, and was smiling through the whole thing.

Tom ran a good half marathon and thinks he is pretty ready now for the big race.

Tom is running the NYC Marathon with Fred's Team and needs your support!

Most people that know Tom know that he has run a whole bunch of NYC Marathons in the past, and that it is a race that he truly loves. Unfortunately, his marathoning took a hiatus for a number of years, due to - you guessed it - the arrival of kids and the disappearance of free time.

This year, Tom decided he is going to run another NYC Marathon, and do it for a very special reason : to raise money for pediatric cancer treatment and research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, where Elias was treated. So, Tom has joined Fred's Team, which was started by Fred LeBow, the man behind the NYC Marathon. Fred LeBow was treated for brain cancer at Sloan-Kettering. While a patient there, he saw the kids being treated for cancer, and was determined to find a way that runners could help find cures for pediatric cancer. Their website is at
http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/14334.cfm

Fred's Team is a really big deal at Sloan-Kettering, and they always have bleachers set up along the route, in front of the hospital, so the doctors, nurses, parents, and kids can cheer on the runners. You can bet we will be there. Some of the doctors and nurses also run on Fred's Team, including Elias's main oncologist Dr Kushner. In fact, the photo in the link above shows one of the nurses who often works with Elias.

So we're hoping for lots of support for Tom's run this year. Tom has his own fundraising site set up, and you can Tom's own thoughts on why he is running at this site :
https://fredsteam.mskcc.org/fundraising/Controller?action=userHome&user_id=36001&event_id=41

And now, to remind us all of why we do these things, here is Elias on our last camping trip

<

The big cube in Astor Place

We were in Manhattan on Saturday to meet friends. To get back to Grand Central, we took the subway from Astor Place, where there is this large black cube balanced on one end. The cube has been there as long as I can remember, and has always been a prop for trendy teens to pose in front of when they are snapping photos. I promised Malachi that we would take a look at it before getting on the subway. I told him that you can spin it.

When we got there, the usual clump of trendies were taking photos, of a small robot toy that they were posing under the cube. I shot a photo of Malachi posing. Then he want to spin the cube. The teens thought that was a good idea, so Malachi and trendy teen spun the cube round and round while we all snapped photos.

<

Scan results are all good

We now have the CT scan, the MIBG scan, and the bone marrow results, and they are all clear.

We're going to the "dinosaur bone" museum tomorrow in NYC to meet some friends who are here from California. They have a little girl who was born one day before Elias.

Elias has scans Aug 8 and 9

Elias is scheduled for his quarterly scans tomorrow and Wednesday. Today he had to go into clinic to be cleared for all the procedures. We took a train in, and a cab up to  MSKCC. Elias saw all the usual people and got weighed and measured.  There was also a visiting doctor from a hospital in Rome who was  observing, and he asked lots of questions about Elias and blew bubbles  with him. Elias had to have blood drawn, which he was not happy about,  and it took two tries to get it going.

Aftrwards, we went to the  playroom so he could do "CT scan play" with one of the Child Life  specialists. Elias is going to attempt the CT scan without anesthesia. We have to make sure he can stay still for 10 minutes or so.

They were setting up the playroom for the Talent Show  tomorrow. I got to see Dr Cheung practicing his number! Keep in mind  that he is a older distinguished doctor who manages enormous grants from  the NIH and who publishes everywhere. But there he was, belting out a  tune. I also heard that the entire NB team, including Dr Modak and Dr  Kushner and Ursula and everyone, will be singing a song from The Lion  King together. This should be a hoot.

Elias loves school

They made these Tshirts in preschool. Elias loves wearing it.

Malachi lost his first tooth!

Check it out. He lost a bottom front tooth. The adult tooth had almost completely come in behind it, so it is almost hard to tell that the tooth is missing.

The digger arrived!

A digger arrived at our house today and proceeded to dig up the backyard. Malachi and Elias were so excited. I could not tear them away from the window all morning. Here are some photos :

The digger arrived on a flatbed truck

Unloading the digger

The digger enters our driveway

Tearing up  the backyard

My raised beds are now buried in a mound of dirt.

The Dancing Ear of Corn

On Saturday, we went into Manhattan to see the Jamestown festival at the South Street Seaport.
http://www.americas400thanniversary.org/godspeedsail-newyork.cfm

It was beautiful weather, and Malachi and Elias enjoyed everything. There was a children's show that supposedly explained the coming of the English to Virginia, as seen through the eyes of various people in animal costumes that were supposed to represent the animals of the New World. There was a large skunk, a wildcat, a "native american spirit" known as a "windigo", and everyone's favorite, a dancing ear of corn. We liked that ear of corn so much that Tom, Malachi, and Elias posed for a photo afterwards.

Elias is finished with the 3F8 antibodies

Elias finished round 13 of the 3F8 antibodies. This is it. He can't get any more, according to the protocol. As of now, he is off treatment entirely. He will need to do quarterly scans for at least the next year, and he has to see the specialists in the Late Effects clinic sometime in the late summer.

Of course, he couldn't end treatment on a smooth note. Late Friday evening, MSKCC called with the news that Elias had been exposed to chicken pox that day. For those of you who aren't in the pediatric cancer world, you probably have no idea of the kind of chaos that is caused by a chicken pox case. It is highly contagious, and can be lethal to immunosuppressed kids. When a case occurs, they have to isolate all kids who have been exposed. Kids who are inpatient have to be moved to the adult floors, and kids who are outpatient are excluded from the pediatric clinic, and if they are staying at RMH, they are tossed out.

Well, Elias isn't due back in clinic until late July, so we didn't have to worry about trying to get treatment on an adult floor. But, the doctor on the phone insisted, he really needed to come in for a 3 hour IV infusion of immuglobulin, to prevent him from coming down with chicken pox. Now, Elias is really difficult to get an IV into, and the nurse this week had commented that he has absolutely no veins left. And he is terrified of IVs. Since we didn't think his risk from chicken pox, 2 years post chemo, is very high, we were not thrilled about having to haul him into Urgent Care at MSKCC to have an IV placed.

So we dithered about what to do, and I asked some of the other neuroblastoma parents on the neuroblastoma mailing list. They told me that there is a better alternative, called VZIG, which he could get as a simple shot. But the manufacturer has quit making it, and MSKCC couldn't get any.  We called our pediatric practice here in Westchester, which is affiliated with Westchester Medical Center. The pediatrician checked, and discovered that the Medical Center had one dose left. So Tom and Elias went tearing off yesterday afternoon to get that last dose of VZIG. And then straight on to a friends birthday party. It was a busy day for Elias.

Pediatric Cancer Foundation Bikeathon

I rode in the bikeathon today. The weather was perfect for bicycling. There were lots of people riding in it this year. They had face painting and tatoos for kids. I talked to a woman whose daughter is being treated for Hodgkins at MSKCC. She knew a lot about the neuroblastoma kids and the antibodies since there are so many of those kids at the clinic.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to my ride.

Unfortunately, we forgot to bring a camera. But I did take some photos of the kids when we got back home so everyone could see their face painting. Malachi asked to be a tiger, and Elias chose his usual dinosaur.

Elias has clean scans again

Elias had his quarterly scans last week at MSKCC. I am happy to report that the test results are all good. Elias has now been in remission for 2 years. In the neuroblastoma world, this is considered to be a very good milestone.

Elias will be doing his very last round of 3F8 antibodies starting the week after Memorial Day. After that, he will officially be off treatment at last.

Happy Easter!

A Happy Easter to everyone. We dyed Easter eggs yesterday. This morning, Malachi and Elias gorged on chocolate. Then we went to church. They did an Easter egg hunt after church. In about half an hour, we are heading up to Litchfield, to Aunt Nancy's house.

Here are photos from yesterday, decorating Easter eggs.

Added information about 3F8 and HAMA

Since people constantly ask me the question "What is HAMA?", I put a bookmark under Neuroblastoma Resources,  pointing to MSKCC's own page on the topic.

The Decisive Moment

Last weekend, we went to the New York Hall of Science with my friends Jesi (and her kid Joshua) and Michelle (and kid Sarabeth and husband David). We all had a really great time. Malachi and Elias both love science museums.

All the kids particularly loved a Nautilus exhibit, where you can manipulate robot arms to pick up rocks, and play with lots of buttons and dials. Jesi meanwhile was playing with her new toy, a fancy Olympus digital SLR. At some point, we all started to move on, but Joshua and Elias were still playing in the Nautilus. Elias was on a stool so he could see. Jesi went to snap a photo. Suddenly, in one of those moments where everything seems to be moving too slowly, the stool somehow flipped up. Tom and I started to run, thinking that Elias would end up hitting his head on the hard metal. But Elias grabbed the bar with both hands and hung on. At that very moment, Jesi's finger went down on the shutter release, resulting in one of those "decisive moment" photos : Elias hangs on for dear life.

Elias was able to then lower himself gently to the ground. We had no idea he had the arm strength to hold himself like that.

Round 12 is done

Elias finished his 12 round of 3F8 antibody treatment on Friday. I am quite certain he did not HAMA. There was some discussion as to whether this should be the last round. The protocol says that they will do as many rounds as fits into a 24 month period from the first round (unless the kid HAMA's first, and most do). If Elias did a 13th round, the 24 month anniversary would fall in the middle of it.  So it was a little ambiguous.

On the theory that the antibody treatments are actually doing some good, I asked Dr Kushner (main oncologist on the team) if Elias could do one more treatment. After some consultation with the study's statistician, they decided that yes he can. So he will do one more round starting on May 30.  I felt kind of bad signing poor Elias up for another round - it isn't very much fun for him.

Elias will be doing scans the week of April 10, so keep him in your thoughts.

St Patrick's Day, and Elias on his 12th round of 3F8s

On St Patrick's Day, Tom played for all the kids at Waverly : 400 kindergartners and first graders! Tom played some bagpipe tunes, showed the kids how the pipes work, and played a medley of "toddler tunes".
Here is a photo of Tom and Malachi after the show

Elias started round 12 of 3F8s today. It was a typical Monday at clinic - actually, perhaps even a little more efficient than usual. We were home by 2:30. Elias needed 3 Dilaudid doses today, which isn't bad for the first Monday of a round.

Elias the wolf

Yesterday, Elias came home in wolf ears that he had made in school. They had
acted out the story of the 3 pigs, and Elias was the wolf. He did not want to
take those wolf ears off all evening. He was so proud of them.

Malachi and Elias had a birthday party with their friends

Malachi and Elias had a joint birthday party with their friends at Sheldrake Environmental Center, the same place they had their party last year. This year, the theme was "Creatures of the Night". They did a bat craft, then had pizza. Then the naturalists did a presentation about nocturnal animals. The kids were good and enjoyed the presentation. Elias even answered a question. After that, they went outside and played a game that had to do with bat echolocation. And then they went for a walk in the snow, and saw animal tracks, birds, and the bat house. Finally they had cake.

Here are a few photos

Elias raising his hand to answer a question during the presentation

Malachi and Elias with friends

Happy Birthday Elias!

Elias turned 4 on Wednesday. On Friday, I brought cupcakes to his class for a little party.
Here are a couple of photos :

The Birthday Boy

Stephanie, Owen, and Elias playing with their party blowers

Later on, when I picked Elias up at the end of the day, I saw him concentrating on a drawing. He has been doing a lot of drawing lately, so I was not paying much attention. Suddenly, I realized he was spelling his name out loud (which he has been able to do for quite a while) and I looked at what he was doing - he was writing his name ALL BY HIMSELF!! This is definitely a first. Here are the results

Snow!

We had almost no snow this winter - until yesterday. A blizzard hit and buried us. We measured 21 inches in the driveway. According to the newspaper, they measured 27 inches in Central Park. We spent much of the day digging out the driveway. We did get to take the kids sliding later in the day, on a hill in town which was mobbed with kids sliding.

Malachi and Elias both helped shovel and clear cars.

Malachi's recital

Malachi played in a recital yesterday. He played "Go Tell Aunt Rhoady". He practiced and practiced that song, for the last 2 weeks. He played it perfectly in the recital.

Sibs Day at the hospital

Malachi had no school today, so we had to take him with us into clinic. But there was a scheduled
"Sibs Day" in the clinic playroom today, so it was pretty fun for Malachi. They had facepainting,
a magic show, pizza, cake, and a movie ("Hoodwinked"). Malachi had a blast. Poor Elias was
trying to have fun too, but the silly nurses kept calling him out of the playroom to do awful things
like have an IV placed, and an exam, and finally to have his antibody treatment. I think he was
really depressed by the end of the day, because he wanted to have fun in the playroom with
Malachi - he had been so excited and happy that Malachi was coming - and instead he just ended
up feeling lousy. This treatment round has been really hard on Elias in general.
He is old enough and verbal enough to understand that this sucks.

Here are photos from clinic today, showing the facepainting results. In case you can't figure it out, Elias has a T-Rex on his face (his request) which is inexplicably breathing fire. These photos were taken with my PDA, so they are a bit fuzzy.

Good scan results

We have back the results from the CT scan, the MIBG scan, and the bone marrows, and everything is clear. That is good news of course.
Elias is now two days into his 11th round of 3F8 antibodies. It is the usual grueling process. If he never HAMAs, which is looking increasingly likely, then he will probably have two more rounds of 3F8s to go. Then he will be off treatment.

Elias has scans on Thursday and Friday

Elias is scheduled for his 3 month scans on Thursday (CT scan) and Friday (MIBG scan and bone marrows). Everyone, think good clean thoughts for his scans!

Here is a photo of Elias and Tom at Jamestown Settlement. They are wearing appropriate headgear.

Happy New Year from Williamsburg, VA

This was taken New Year's Eve in our hotel room at the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg.
Despite the fact that it looks like we were really partying, the truth is we all fell asleep before
midnight struck. We were all too pooped from a day at indoor waterpark, and then traipsing
around for First Night Williamsburg.

Merry Christmas!

Bonnie, Tom, Malachi, and Elias wish everyone a wonderful, merry Christmas.
Here are photos from our Christmas morning...

and here is our front house. Yes, we have a giant inflatable Nativity this year

Lunch for Life fundraiser

Lunch for Life is a charity that raises money for the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation. There are links to both organizations on the sidebar. Lunch for Life is running its big fundraising event over the course of December. The idea is that you give up lunch on one day (or more if you want),and donate your lunch money to Lunch for Life, in the name of a child affected by neuroblastoma. You can make a donation in honor of Elias. He has a "Giving Tree" on the site. If you use code 14147 when you make the donation, Elias gets an ornament on his tree PLUS an additional ornament for using the code. The website is
www.lunchforlife.org

The Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation sponsors research towards a cure for neuroblastoma, as well as the annual conference that brings together leading doctors in the field with parents and families of neuroblastoma patients. We have gone two years in a row, and have learned a lot both times.

The person who organizes Lunch for Life, Mark Dungan, is the father of Sydney, a 4 year old who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma about 6 months before Elias. We see them frequently at Sloan-Kettering, since Sydney also does the 3F8 antibodies. Mark maintains a very thorough journal of their experiences at
www. sydneydungan.com
Here is his personal letter about Lunch for Life
_______________________________________________________

Hello and welcome,

My name is Mark Dungan but, perhaps, I am better known as "Daddy" to a
beautiful 4 year old little girl. Sydney, my daughter, was diagnosed
with Stage IV Neuroblastoma in June of 2003. She continues her
struggle but serves as a constant reminder of how strong and resilient
our little children are. Although she has received over 8 rounds of
high dose induction chemotherapy, multiple surgeries, a stem cell
transplant, 12 rounds of radiation and months and months of
immunotherapy and maintenance chemotherapy there is no guarantee that
she will survive. Neuroblastoma is an extremely difficult cancer to
beat and she, like thousands of others, fight this battle with little
guarantee of a future.

It was her inspiration and others that led hundreds of families to
unite to try and fund the cure. We started "Lunch for Life" in an
effort to save our children and the thousands that will follow. The
concept is simple. We are asking everyone in the world to give up
lunch for one day and donate the money to research. All funds raised
through "Lunch for Life" go directly to neuroblastoma. It is an easy
price to pay and, if we can get enough of the world to take a stand
against childhood cancer, thousands and thousands of lives will be
saved.

Please help us change the world. It is just one lunch out of your
life and it will be the very gift that provides thousands of children
with just that -- Life! Please donate your lunch money to the
Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation and help us eradicate this
monster. Give up a lunch. Spread the word. We will save lives.

____________________________________________________

Malachi in Thanksgiving attire

Malachi during his school Thanksgiving party

Halloween!

Malachi and Elias after the Halloween parade on Sunday. Malachi is
an "insectidroid", and Elias is a tyrannosaurus who won't wear his
head.

They enjoyed the parade a lot, but Elias was running
fevers and obviously sick. Worse yet, he had his
first day of round 10 of 3F8 treatment on Halloween itself.
He had a lot of problems during treatment (he always
does on the first Monday) and did not get home until
7pm. When he saw the trick or treaters though, and realized
that candy was involved, he rallied and was able to visit
a few houses.

Malachi and Elias ride ponies

This was at a birthday party on Saturday...

MIBG scan is clean

It took forever to get the results, but Elias's MIBG scan looked fine. We won't
have the final bone marrow results until next week.

Elias has a swim class, and scans

Elias is now taking a swim class with his preschool class. He started last week. Today was
the second class. He loves it!!

After swim class today, though, he had to head to clinic to have an access placed, so
he could have an MIBG injection in preparation for his scan tomorrow. He dealt with
having the IV placed pretty well today. Hopefully, the MIBG scan will go well tomorrow.

Here are some photos from the swim class today :

This is before they got into the water. Elias spotted me.

Cold Elias at the end of class

Elias had his first swimming lesson today

I signed Elias up for the preschool swim class. Today was the first class. I came along, assuming he would be difficult, and not want to get into the water. He is usually very suspicious of new activities.

I need not have worried. He went down in the line of kids, smiling. He
lined up on the edge and sang the Fishy song. And then he got right in the water with the other kids. He blew bubbles, he swam with the teacher using marshmallows, he kicked holding onto the edge. And he smiled the whole time.

I did not have a real camera with me, just my cellphone. So I used it to
snap a photo of Elias swimming on the marshmallows. You can kind of make him out.

Malachi started kindergarten

Malachi transitioned into kindergarten this week. On Tuesday, there was a 30 minute orientation session in his room, with parents present. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, he rode the bus to school, but they got out early. Starting next week, he will be in school from 9 to 3!

Here are some photos.

Malachi in his room during orientation

Malachi with the twins from across the street, waiting for the bus.

Malachi gets on the bus!

Malachi is a preschool graduate

Malachi graduated from preschool last week. Here are some photos from his graduation pizza party :

Here is Malachi with his "girlfriend" Emma, who is also graduating.

This one shows Malachi and Elias with the preschool teacher Liz.

And this one was taken yesterday at the "bus orientation" for Malachi's kindergarten. The kids got to find out which bus they will be riding, and then actually ride around the neighborhood on it.

Boys, Girls, and Trikes

Here are two photos taken today at the preschool playground. The kids were riding the tricycles. The first photo shows Elias and Lisa. Lisa thinks she is Elias's girlfriend, but Elias wants no part of it. He tries to get away from her whenever she is around.

The second photo shows Malachi chasing Rebecca. They have been together in the school since they were each 4 months old.

Elias has good results on his scans

After waiting all day for the MRI results, Dr Kushner called about 5:30 to say that the MRI and bone marrows are clean. We already knew the CT scan was clean. So everything looks good.

Yay!!

Waiting on an MRI

During scans last week, they saw a spot on the MIBG scan. The doctors think it could be interference from the bone marrow biopsy site, but they don't know for sure, so Elias is doing a followup MRI today.  Keep him in your thoughts today!

Yesterday, when I picked the kids up from daycare, they were just coming up from the playground. Inexplicably, Elias was wearing a paper crown with his name on it. He was very proud of it, so I took a photo with my cellphone while the kids were getting into the car. King Elias!

Elias has scans tomorrow

Elias has his quarterly scans scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday.  Everyone, think
clean thoughts for him!
He will be doing a CT scan and bone marrow aspiration/biospy tomorrow. On
Thursday he has a MIBG scan, and an echocardiogram. He needs the echocardiogram
because his pediatrician detected a murmur at his last well checkup, and because
the chemo can damage the heart even years later, they don't take any chances.
However, no one thinks this is likely to be a serious problem.

Here are a couple of fun photos taken a couple of days ago, in the
backyard wading pool.

Malachi playing with dinosaurs

Elias is doing IV therapy with Suzi Tortora  to get over his fears of IVs and blood draws. Suzi Tortora works with lots of the kids at Sloan-Kettering. Her studio is up in Cold Spring, an hour north of here. Cold Spring is quite a hippie haunt. Next to the building that Suzi has her studio in is a dinosaur rock garden, a little strip next to the sidewalk which is filled with toy dinosaurs. Kids can play there, and we often see kids hanging out there. Here is a photo of Malachi playing there last night. These photos were taken with a cellphone, so the image quality is pretty poor, but you can get the idea.

Ant Laurie sent me a giant crab for my birthday! Elias is convinced it is really a birthday present for him. He had trouble understanding how there could be a birthday cake with candles if it wasn't his birthday

Camping Trip

We went for a quick camping trip this weekend. We went to Lake Taghkanic State Park. This is the first camping trip we have taken in 3 years. Last summer, Elias still had a Broviac, so it would have been hard to have gone camping.

We drove up Friday night in pouring rain, the remnants of Cindy. Setting up the tent was wet and miserable. But the weather improved the next day. Malachi and Elias had so much fun. They played "golf" with a toy golf set. Actually, Elias kept insisting it was baseball. They dug in the sand by the lake. Malachi went on a nature walk at the park nature center. He spotted various flowers and lily pads and a bullfrog. Later that evening we had a campfire and roasted marshmallows. Malachi like roasting them more than eating them. Elias just clutched his, like he always does.

Here are Malachi and Elias, relaxing in their chairs at the campsite.

Ant Laurie is here!

Ant Laurie is spending the 4th of July weekend with us. Malachi and Elias are so happy. They have someone who just wants to play with them, and nothing more.

On Saturday we went into Manhattan. We went to a museum (Museum of Biblical Art, to see a show on folk art from southern evangelicals), and did some shopping, and sat at a playground for a while.  Here is a photo of Laurie, Malachi and Elias