A Week Away

We are heading to Savannah in the morning. Sadly enough, the trip is to say (possibly) our last good byes to Grandma Rollins. Dusty's grandmother has been pretty weak and has had loss of appetite for a few weeks now, and the doctors just discovered that she has terminal cancer. The great news is that she loves the Lord with all her heart and she is ready to go home! She has been telling Dusty for 15 years that she is ready to see the Lord! So it will be a bittersweet time with the whole Rollins clan and we are looking forward to seeing many cousins, aunts and uncles we haven't seen for a long time. A great time to celebrate Grandma before the Lord taked her home!
From Savannah, the kids and I will continue to Florida to see the Dusty's parents and mine. Dusty will join us on Thursday and we will then spend Friday-Sunday on the St. Johns River ! We are renting a house boat and floating down the river fo a weekend! The boat has everything you would want for cooking, sleeping, fishing, lounging, etc so we are looking forward to a great time! Dusty's Mom and Dad, our friend Mel, Dusty's brother Jared and Brittany, and Gavin will be going too! Oh, and I can NOT forget my little buddy Anson will be going too!!! He is so excited and has been for weeks! Ella will be staying with my parents in DeLand, where we pick up the boat.

I'm sure I'll have tons of pics when we return. So until then, have a great week!!

By the way, when I get back, I am launching a new blog about sewing and I will have my first give away!! It will be really nice, so stay posted!!! :o)

Two More Projects Complete

A shirt for Anson "just like Daddy's"

A cute and stylish bag for my cute and stylish sister, Amy!




Notice the new tags!

My growing girl and week recap

Anson holding the first parakeeet!
He loved it!

Ella tried to touch and kiss the birds!

Her first skinned knee! She took it pretty well!

She loves to sit on the potty! She hasn't actually done anything yet but she goes through the motions!

All ready for bed.

Ella really seems to be growing up so fast! She is having lots of firsts these days... like her first temper flare-up ( I wouldn't call it a tantrum, it was more like a hissy fit! :o) her first skinned knee, her first attempt at singing along... and she really has a pretty good sense of humor! Yesterday I had her alone with me in the car and I was trying to get her to say "mama" . Everytime I would say "Say Mama" she would say "Dada" and just crack herself up laughing! She knows how to say Mama and usually says it when she's hurt and needs a kiss or if she wants something really bad.

This week we went to the zoo to see the new Parakeet exhibit. There are around 500 parakeets flying around in a big aviary enclosure which you can walk through and feed the birds! They give you a food stick when you come in and the birds will actually land on the stick and stay there and eat! Anson and Ella loved it! I though it was pretty cool myself! Nice new addition to our awesome zoo.

Today we went to a smaller park near us (Glenwood Park) and the kids had fun running and sliding and climbing. Ella does it all now! She can climb up the stairs and go down the slide all on her own... and loves it! Anson had fun kicking his soccer ball in the field with a little boy. He initiated it! He went and asked the boy if he wanted to kick the ball and excitedly said "Come on!" One thing Anson is NOT is shy!!! In fact yesterday he piped up and asked the teller at the bank if they had any lollipops (even though he had just disobeyed me in the car and I told him "no lollipop" - he thought he would try anyway!!! and he did not get the lollipop!) And at Chic-Fil-A, he watched some kids take their kids meal prize up to the counter and exchange it for ice cream. Well, you would have thought it was Christmas! He was so excited to exchange HIS toy for ice cream. So no more cute Chic-Fil-A books for Anson... he'd rather have the ice cream! And he goes to the counter all by himself and says "Excuse me. Could I please have some ice cream?" When he gets back to the table I ask him if he remembered to say thank you. At that point he runs back to say "Excuse me, thank you!" The workers usually get a kick out of him! Fun times!

Well, we hope you have a great week! Check back soon for my first ever Rollins4 give away! I am going to start giving away some of my hand made goodies to my blog readers! It should be fun!

Happy Easter!

The kids Easter Baskets
Anson got Madascar 2! Ella was so happy about her basket!

Getting into her bag

Ella had a runny nose so we kept her out of her class. She hung out with Daddy during the service.

Leaving church...

Ormewood Park Easter Egg Hunt

"Get Ready"...
" Get Set".... (notice the tongue sticking out for concentration :o)

" Go!"

Ella in the 1 year old area!

A little help from Daddy

Anson, Ella and Anson's friend Sagan checking out their goodies!

(Anson already has his mouth full!)

Ella's first jelly bean!

The sand-dipped cookie!

Ella's new church bag

Anson and Ella really enjoyed our neighborhood Easter egg hunt today! We have a little park within walking distance, which is where it was held. Anson found about 10 eggs and Ella, 5. Anson scurried around fast and Ella just kind-of mosied. It was fun to watch. There were tons of people there!! When all the eggs were found, the kids found a bench by the play structure to see what was in their eggs. Every piece of candy that Anson took out, he said "Wow! I've NEVER seen one like this before!" He sampled a few and then went to play. Ella had her first jelly bean and loved it! Then later on, I caught her dipping her cookie in the sand and taking a bite! :0) She enjoys her food!

We told Anson that he could have another peice of his candy after his nap today...so as soon as he woke up, he asked to choose his piece of candy. After eating it, I heard him say, "Daddy, I will share with you! Would you like a piece?" I was thinking, wow, how sweet to share his candy! As soon as Dusty took a small bite, Anson gave his Daddy a sweet smile and said, "Daddy, you could share with me, too!" That little bugger conned his Daddy into more than just his one piece! I though it was so ingenious that I let him con me into sharing a piece with him too! :o)

Last night we had a fun time with our friend Cyrl. He came over for dinner, and while he and Dusty were catching up, I made Ella and Easter bag! I think it turned out so cute, and it matches her Easter dress. Thanks again Roxanna for the cute fabric!

I am so excited.... I ordered labels to sew into all the bags and gifts that I make. The labels are going to say "Good and Perfect Gifts... by Arin" . I got the idea from James 1:17 - Every good and perfect gift come from above... So now I am legit!

I'll post the Easter pics tomorrow. Have a Happy Easter!

Tid Bits

My little sick kids laying around

Watching a Thomas movie

Dusty's first shirt I made!

I am looking out my bedroom window, watching two of our workers re-seed the backyard. They also cleared a place for us to plant a small garden. Can vegetables grow in the city? In the past my thumb has been many colors but never green, so we'll see! :o) I'll post pics soon.

Anson and Ella have been fighting a cold this week. Anson had a high fever in the night a few days this week and stayed warm during the days. Ella had more of a yucky runny nose. Today they both seem to feel much better. I really stay on top of Anson's fevers ever since the time he scared me to death when he was 18 months old! (He had febrile convulsions in the middle of the night and Dusty and I thought he was dying! As it turns out, febrile convulsions are harmless just very, very scary!) So I made sure his fever stayed under control and checked him often. I'm a little sleepy today!

I just made Dusty his first shirt! I think it came out pretty good for a first! I have enough material left over to make Anson one that matches! Cheesy, I know! :o) But I'm the Mom and I'm going to make them wear them!

Anson informed me this morning that we can not see God but his elephant can! And elephant says that God looks good! Anson lives vicariously through his elephant. His mind never stops! (Neither does his mouth! He even talks in his sleep!) Whata kid! :o)

And Ella is trying so hard to talk! She jabbers a lot and tries to say words after us. Anson tries to teach her new words every day. It is so cute. One day she is just going to speak in sentences! She stayed home with Dusty this morning while Anson and I went to my Bible study and I got to talk to her on the phone for the first time. She kept saying hi! Hi! It was so cute.

Well, I guess that's all for now. Have a good Good Friday and a Happy Easter!

The Park Today

Everything is in bloom and it is a sight to behold! I am going a little crazy taking pictures this spring but here are a few from the park today. I think I took over 100! I love the one where Anson is roaring like the lion statue! That is so him!