April already?

At our favorite beach/fishing spot! We always see tons of dolphins!

Smyrna Dunes

Ella - she is quite a ham! Asa waiting for Anson and Ella during music class at Stetson

My big girl

First elephant ride and first trip to the circus!

First wagon ride for Asa!

And first horseback ride! They had been on a pony ride at a festival but not a pasture ride.

At the DeLand train station waiting for the train to come in.

waiting to see the train. He doesn't even know what a train is but he was excited!

Watching the kids ride the horse with Gramma and Auntie Dizzy.

The view from out hotel sundeck in South Beach!

I have been a serious blog slacker! Let's see if I can sum up Feb and March for posterity...

After Asa's birthday came a couple weeks of stress with his Dr. apt... at his one year check-up his Dr. (who had never even met him before) ordered a slew of tests because Asa was not off the charts like Anson and Ella but not even on the charts for weigh and head size! What can we say, he is a little peanut! But we had the tests done and there is nothing wrong with him, praise God! All kids are different and he is just developing at his own rate. He didn't learn to crawl until his first birthday but now he is pulling up to standing and I am sure he will be walking soon. He still does not weigh 20 pounds but he eats very well and is the happiest little guy you ever did meet! So we will just continue to monitor his milestones and trust God that all is well with our little guy.

Anson and Ella are doing great! They go to music class at Stetson Univ. on Mondays and to Awana at our church on Wednesdays and look forward to both! In February Anson went for his 1 day shadow visit at St. Barnabas Episcopal School. He loved it and they loved him! A week later I took him in for testing to enter 1st grade in the Fall. I was a little nervous because I have been home schooling him for Kindergarten. But they said he tested very well and is ready for 1st Grade and he was accepted into the school! Yea!! So my baby will be starting school in August! Can't believe it!

In Feb. we also went to Epcot and Hollywood Studios with Jared and Brittany. Our Disney days are always so fun with them! The kids could go anywhere with Charlotte and it would be a fun day! We also attended Dusty's "little" sister Megan's graduation from the Police Academy! She is now gainfully employed at the Gainesville Police Department! Megan is packing heat and doing an awesome job!

Dusty and I had our first night away since Asa was born! We went to South Beach, Miami and stayed at a very nice boutique hotel right on the water. We were upgraded to a penthouse with it's own sun deck! Nice!!

We were all sick for 10 days straight at the beginning of March. Some sort of virus that caused high fevers in the kids accompanied by a cough and runny nose. This was our first time giving any of the kids antibiotics! Not bad for 5 and 1/2 years without them! I ended up with a sinus infection and had to go to the Dr. for the first time in 10 years (not counting for childbirth of course!). Not fun! And just as I thought we had turned a corner, Ella came down with another high fever two days ago! She had little white bumps in her throat and she was miserable. Luckily it was not strep and she is already feeling better.

Ella is just growing by leaps and bounds and learns so many new things every week! She keeps right up with Anson and sometimes I forget that they are two years apart! They play pretty well together and love pretending. Just yesterday, Anson had the only "bubble gum medicine" that would make Ella's doggie feel better. She was calling to him, "Anson hurry, doggie is about to diiiieeeee!!!" He made it just in time to administer the medicine to doggie and all was well. :o)

She said, "Wouldn't that be terrible if something happenned to doggie?" Yes, Ella, it would.

Today they were sharing some playdoh toys and Anson said, "Ella, I neeeeeed that knife" to which she replied "Oh Brothers!". Cracks me up! And one more, on our way home from Awana (way past their usual bedtime) Ella said, "Wow, it is peach dark out here!". Anson said, "Not 'peach' dark, 'pit' dark, like arm pit dark!" The blind leading the blind!

And most recently, my cousin Erica set it up for Anson and Ella to ride a horse! Someone she works with has two small horses that love kids. They loved riding the horse, "Thunder"! My Aunt gave them each a straw cowboy hat for the occasion. When she got the hat, Ella said "When I ride the horse I am going to take off my hat, swirl it around and say 'yeee haw, ride 'em cowgirl!" I seriously don't know where she gets this stuff! :o)

So now we are looking forward to April and more fun that Spring brings!