Ta Da!!! It's Underwear Boy!

Ella is really getting around! I let her play a lot on the floor now and she gets into some precarious positions! She scoots backwards a lot which is how she ended up under the couch. I thought these were cute...

And Anson did this all on his own! For the past couple days I have let him wear his big boy pants. He came out with his Thomas underwear on his head and proclaimed, "Look, I'm underwear boy!" My day is never boring!

Our 8 seconds of fame!

We had an exciting shopping experience on Saturday! We went to Sams Club to buy a few things and ended up on the ABC National News! A couple minutes after walking into the store a man came up to me and said "I'm from ABC news, can I ask you and your family a few questions?" So we said yes and ended up on the news! Here is the clip if you want to watch it: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4732569&affil=wsb

They followed us around the store filming us buying shorts for Dusty and then the diapers. They used the diaper clip for the national news. Dusty had a positive comment about the economy and how our business was doing well but of course they didn't use that! Bad news sells. Oh, well. But hey! It was cool being on the news! Click on the link above and it should play after a quick commercial.

Train ride...

Anson reading Super Pig!

I planted these 3 years ago and every year I think I've killed them but they come back! I can't even remember what they are but they are pretty.

Ella enjoying her exersaucer outside.

Let's see...Monday we took a train ride downtown for Anson. He LOVED it! We took MARTA which is the Atlanta subway system. We went underground for a while then came above ground to go over the interstate. It was really fun for all of us, actually. I forgot my camera so we don't have any pictures of our adventure. You'll just have to imagine the fun! :o) That evening Anson said "Thank you, Daddy, for taking us to the train station". He is starting to thank us for things without us having to remind him!

This morning when I went in to get Anson up he said "Good Morning Mommy! How are you doing this morning?" Sometimes I think he is an old man trapped in a little boy's body! He really loves reading still, and very often I find him looking at books on the couch or in his room. Yesterday he tried to teach Ella his verse for the week, "Love your neighbor as yourself". She is going to learn a lot from her big brother!

We have been having beautiful spring weather so we've been playing outside a lot. I thought Anson would love riding his tricycle but he just isn't into it yet. Maybe soon. But in the meantime, he still loves looking for worms, playing in the sand box, and going on walks. We are lucky to have such a great old neighborhood to walk in. I've been walking in the evenings after I put the kids to bed and it is so neat to see everyone out on their porches or weeding the gardens or just out for a stroll.

Well, I can't think of anything else right now. Have a good one!

Story Telling...

We have been enjoying being outdoors this spring! Anson is really into finding worms. He carries around a bucket and puts the worms in there when he finds them. We just renovated a corner of our yard for his sandbox and he is loving it! A sand box and a bucket of worms equals hours of fun for a little boy!

And on to the story-telling... Today I was preparing lunch and I had Ella in her exersaucer in the kitchen with me. Anson disappeared to his room and came back with a chair and his Bible. He sat down right in front of Ella and said he was going to tell her a story. He opened his Bible to the Samuel story (his favorite one right now... we read it every night and apparently he has it memorized!) and "read" Ella the whole story! In case you can't understand his 2 year old dialect, this is what he says:

"Samuel was just a little boy but he lived at the tabernacle and helped Eli the priest. One night he heard a voice and thought it was Eli but it was GOD's voice. God had a message for Samuel. Samuel listened and obeyed and listened and obeyed".

Here is the video: Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

(FYI, their Bible is called "My First Bible in pictures" compiled by Kenneth Taylor. It is a great first Bible! It puts the Bible story in words they can easily understand and God is the hero of every story...not just a good moral tale.)

Ella is still on the verge of crawling. Tuesday night she actually moved one knee and one hand forward! She is becoming a real wiggle worm now that she has had a taste of moving on her own.

I guess that is it for now. Have a great weekend!

Squash, peas, worms and bees!

One big worm!

Content after a lunch of squash and peas!
Getting ready to crawl!

What's new? Not much new going on here. Today we ate a picnic lunch outside which was accompanied by bee hitting and worm hunting. Dusty and Anson have a ritual of hitting big bumble bees with toy shovels and brooms. When Dusty hits one, Anson steps on it and they hoot and holler and high five! This may sound rather brutal, the the little "honeys" are literally eating through the wood on the eaves of our house. So I don't mind the new sport. The worm hunting is a new addition to our outside time. I decided to weed the back yard in an attempt to get some grass to grow. I dislodged some rather big earth worms in the process and Anson puts them in a bucket of dirt and watches them bury themselves again. He loves it.

Ella will be 7 months on Saturday and she is on the brink of crawling! She gets right up onto her hand and knees and rocks back and forth! She's ready to move! I don't know if I'm ready for her to, but I am so happy with her progress since having the brace off in the daytime. I wasn't sure if she would be behind in hitting her developmental milestones but it hasn't seemed to hold her back at all. Praise the Lord! She is also enjoying her solid (pureed) foods now! So far she has successfully eaten squash, peas, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, apples, pears and bananas. The only way I get her to like her rice and oatmeal cereal is to mix it with bananas, so that is usually what she has for breakfast. She continues to be such a sweet little cuddle bug who rarely fusses. We are so thankful for her!

Some Ansonisms

Last night when I was reading to Anson before bedtime, we were reading a silly book about fish. We came across a line that said "They'd better hurry or they'll be bait!" He said "late, Mommy, not bait". He corrected me in grammar! He obviously didn't get that it was a play on words, but hey, I thought that was pretty good!

Then at church last week, Anson was flipping through a Bible sitting on the end table and he said "Mommy, I need to read my verses... The Lord is my shepherd... The Lord is my light and my salvation...A wise man fears the Lord... A happy heart is like good medicine"! HE remembered ALL the verses that I've been teaching him! Makes a mommy's heart proud!


Well, have a great weekend!

The Zoo Today

We went to the zoo this morning for a few hours. It is so nice to have the zoo so close! Anson always has a great time. Here are a couple pics...

Which one is the ape?? :o)

Ella's First Carousel Ride

Quick Ella Update: We went back to the orthopaedist on Wednesday and he took some more x-rays. Her hips are looking great! They are starting to calcify which is right on schedule (between 6 and 12 months) . Since she is doing so well with wearing the brace at night time, he wants her to wear it for 2 more months until her bones are even more calcified. So it was a great report!

Elephant Kisses?...

Star Wars character ... or... Anson tring to take his shirt off??

It is so much fun to have a 2 (almost 3) year old! Anson seems to learn new things and grow everyday now! Every night after we pray, Anson has a whole kissing ritual that we do which he totally made up on his own!

First he kisses both of my cheeks (European style!).
Then he gives me an Eskimo kiss (we rub noses).

Then come the butterfly kisses (eyelashes).

Then lastly the elephant kisses... this is the newest addition. We have to rub our ears together!

He made this one up with his famous blue elephant! (The one we lost, but Jesus helped us find! Read the full story in the January 22 post)

What an imaginitive kid! And so sweet and curious and energetic and a little mischevious...

What fun to be blessed with children! Here is a passage from Psalms 127 that I heard in Bible study today.

Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the
gate.