News From the Rollins Home...

The Greatest Christmas Present...

2011-12-20T20:48:00.006-05:00

Tonight at dinner we were talking about Christmas... Anson said "I am going to give Santa a present this year because he gives everyone presents and I have never given him anything!" I agreed that this was a good idea. Then Ella said "and I am going to give Jesus a present because it IS His birthday!" I said "That is great idea! Do you know that the best present you could give Jesus is your heart?" And she said "I am going to do that right now!" And she continued to pray all by herself..." Dear Jesus, please come into my heart. Amen". Isn't that awesome? A few minutes later when we were talking about what it really means to give Jesus your heart to make sure she understood, she said "and I wanted to be like Anson because he has Jesus in his heart too!" That was a good way for Anson to see that he is a role model for her and that what he does matters! We proceeded to call all the grandparents, aunts and uncles so Ella could share her good news! Dusty and I are thrilled as parents and fellow Christians that two of our children have made this decision to trust God with their life!! Please join us in praying that they will keep their child-like faith their whole lives!

"For God so loved the world, that He gave his one and only son. That whoever believes in Him will not parish, but have eternal life" John 3:16

Atlanta Fall Trip

2011-11-14T08:52:00.008-05:00

We went to Atlanta for a short weekend visit last week! It was our first time back as a family since we moved to Florida last summer. The Fall leaves and weather were beautiful! We enjoyed driving around town and being in the big city again. It was funny to hear the kids talk about how Atlanta is different from DeLand (only in every way!). Anson remembered a lot but Ella didn't remember anything! (She was not even three when we moved so that makes sense.) It was Ella and Asa's first experience with Fall leaves and they loved it! Ella couldn't get over how beautiful the trees' colors were! We even got to play all afternoon on Saturday with Sagan, Anson's best little friend in our old neighborhood! We had fun taking these pictures... we have taken Fall pictures in Piedmont Park ever since Anson was a baby and I laid him in a pile of yellow leaves so it was so great to be back and see Asa in the same sweater Anson wore! Happy Fall Ya'll!

Anson at the yellow tree...
View of Midtown from Atlantic Station
Anson likes taking pictures now so I had to pose for him! He did a great job!
Our favorite tree in the corner of Piedmont Park
Our tree

The kids and Sagan. Sharon prepared us lunch on Saturday and we had a great time playing and catching up!
Mommy and Asa (Anson was the photographer!)
Anson and Ella have never seen a working pay phone!
Having quite a conversation!
Piedmont Park
I took a picture of Ella here when she was 10 days old in a little purple outfit...same geese in the background!
Sharon and Asa (We first met Sharon when we were building the house across the street - in the background)
Asa's first romp in the leaves!
Anson and Ella throwing leaves for him
A little sleepy after playing

All of us in Piedmont Park

Ella's 4th Birthday!

2011-09-19T14:24:00.005-04:00

Princesses Joanna, Ella, and Charlotte :o)
Princess Ella and Princess Erica!
Erica, Ella, Joanna and Elena
Joanna and Elena, sweet sisters
I caught Princess Grace with a mouthfull of blueberry muffins! :o) Isn't she adorable?
The tea party
The boys had their own table ...
Princess Ella
A house full!

Our little Princess wanted to have a Princess party so we made it a Princess Tea Party! We invited all the little girls to come dressed as their favorite princess and it was so cute!!! They all loved being dressed up! My Mom and Amy helped me set up a tea party for them outside under a sun shade that we had decorated with toole and a Happy Birthday sign. My Mom made butterfly shaped pb&j sandwiches, mini blueberry muffins, and little skewers of fruit, served on silver trays. I made the cupcakes and we had real glasses with lemonade. They thought it was so fancy! And as a special treat (and a surprise to me!) my cousin Erica came dressed as a sparkly princess! It was so cute! We had 28 adults, 15 kids and 3 babies in all! A Birthday to remember! Happy Birthday Ella!

First Missing Tooth!

2011-09-19T14:13:00.003-04:00

On the second week of first grade Anson lost his first tooth! It was loose for a long time and it finally came out after school on Aug 31. Gramma had gone with me to pick him up from school. He go in the van and said "Look how far me tooth sticks out!". When we got home it was bleeding a little so Gramma got a paper towel to put around it (Anson is not a fan of blood!) When she got the paper around his tooth, he pulled his head back and she was holding his tooth! He was so happy to have it out! (As soon as the bleeding stopped :o).

That night he put his tooth carefully in the pocket of his tooth pillow (from Toto) and the tooth fairy left him 4 shiny quarters!

Anson's First Day of School!

2011-09-19T14:05:00.003-04:00

I can't believe that Anson is already in First Grade! We home schooled him for Kindergarten and now he is enrolled at St. Barnabas Episcopal School. We love it and so does he! There are only 13 kids in his class!
Showing me his first loose tooth!
Ready for school! The whole family rode to school the first day! (It is only 1.5 miles to school!)

Chillin' on the way...

He just jumped out of the van and never looked back! He really likes school and has adjusted well. We are so thankful that this transition in his little world has gone so well!

Alaska Whirlwind

2011-09-19T13:52:00.004-04:00

From the train window, just leaving Anchorage
A lake we passed in Wasilla - the beautiful pink flowers are Alaskan Fireweed.
The Princess Wilderness Lodge we stayed in
View from the deck
Just below the deck
Nice cool weather for August!
Mt McKinley!! What an amazing sight to see it rise out of the clouds!

The town of Talkeetna.

Dusty had a job to do in Anchorage, AK so I "volunteered" to go to help him! It was a ton of traveling for such a quick trip but I am so glad I went! Alaska is beautiful!! We got there on Friday Aug. 5, we worked on Saturday, got on the train in Anchorage on Sunday morning and headed to Denali National Park, came back to Anchorage on Monday night and flew home Tuesday morning. Like I said, a whirlwind! But we got to see Mount McKinley in all it's glory peek out of the clouds for about 1 hour and that was amazing! We have decided to go back when the kids are older and spend a couple weeks driving around because there is just so much to see. Here are a few pics...

Anson's 6th Birthday!

2011-09-19T13:35:00.007-04:00

Anson started out the day with Pancakes made by Daddy with whipped cream, chocolate syrup and a few chocolate chips - his special request! He wanted breakfast in bed but he changed his mind and had it on the couch! :o) Ella was so sweet... she ran up to get her big pink pillow to make him more comfortable!

After breakfast he got his present from Mommy and Daddy... a new bike!

We had his party the next day (June 18th) with friends and family. This year he wanted a Scooby Doo party (his new favorite show - we DVR the old episodes). And since it is so hot in June, we decided to have water games outside for all the kids. We set up a water ring and baby pool for the little guys, and a couple slip-n-slides for the big kids. Everyone had a great time!

Tring to cool off in the shade...

The boys slip-n-slide... the girls had a different one.

Scooby Doo cake

His binoculars from Toto and Pop

My big Six Year Old!

Happy Birthday Anson!

Rollin on the river

2011-06-03T21:21:00.005-04:00

Asa is 16 months now! Time is just flying! He is still a little peanut (just under 20 lbs) and isn't walking yet but I'm sure he will be runnung before we know it. He is such a happy guy! Just don't eat if you don't have some to share with him!! He loves to eat.

He also loves being pulled int he wagon! We are having lots of fun outside now... swinging, the wagon, and slides. He loves to go down the little slide.

We took our little boat out onto the river today... it was a beautiful day.

Asa was all wrapped up safely in his life vest! :o)

We saw this little guy on the shore...

Can you see the gator?

He ws a big one! We saw 4 gators, a big turtle sunning on a log, tons of birds (osprey, herons, cranes, and cormorants) and the racoon. Anson and Ella had a blast. They are at the age where they will sit still and just look for wildlife which was fun. We love Florida!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-23T23:29:00.005-04:00

We had an Easter party and egg hunt at our house today! We had so much fun celebrating Easter with our family! Auntie Amy hid the eggs out front and we all went out to watch Anson and Ella find them. Toto and Pop, Gramma and Papa, Amy and Andy, Auntie Dizzy and Erica, and Uncle Gavin came!
Auntie Amy

This is one of my favorites... Asa has a mouth full of grass and Ella has a mouth full of candy!
Little munchkin could have cared less about egg hunting!
The loot
Ella in action!

April already?

2011-04-01T23:09:00.010-04:00

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!

Happy Birthday Asa!!

2011-01-24T20:14:00.002-05:00

One year ago my sweet little Asa was born!

The party! Cousins Charlotte and Naomi helped Asa celebrate!

He really enjoyed his cake!

He didn't know what to think at first...

We celebrated Asa's birthday yesterday! I still can't believe that he is 1 already!! His official birthday is tomorrow. As you can see in the video, he has the best laugh! He was having so much rolling his maracca off the step... it doesn't take much to thrill him! And tonight as we were getting ready for bed, he crawled for the first time! Like, really crawled!! He has been up on all fours, rocked back and forth, and even become a champ at push-ups, but tonight he crawled, bona-fide! Watch out, he's mobile now. Just in time for his birthday! Happy Birthday little Buddy!

In attendance at Asa's party were:

Gramma and Papa

Amy and Andy

Jared, Brittany, Charlotte and Naomi

Erica, Robert and JR

Mommy, Daddy, Anson and Ella

Toto and Pop came to visit Asa on Monday(they were away during his party)

Thanks for helping us celebrate Asa's first year!

Random Anson and Ella-isms

2011-01-19T10:44:00.003-05:00

On Monday I was upstairs with the kids, getting them ready for the day. Anson brought out his slinky and showed me how "messed up" it had become. He said "Mommy, look how messed up my slinky got! I don't know how it happenned but don't worry, it won't ruin my life! Now, if something happenned to blue elephant, that WOULD ruin my life!"

And Ella, later that morning, was being chased by Anson who enjoys tormenting her from time to time, usually disguised as some sort of animal. She turned around and stopped, put out her hand and said, "Don't even 'sink' about it!!" I guess she told him!

They can be pretty hilarious! They do argue a lot like any normal siblings but one book I have found that gets them on track is "My ABC Bible verses - Hiding God's Word in Little Hearts". Each page has a verse and a story on their level which helps them understand the verse and it's concept and meaning. I just LOVE the one about not complaining! We try to read a page together each morning and it gives us a theme to work on all day.

Anson is doing great with home schooling! We are doing Saxon Math (Kindergarten) and he is breezing through it so far. I am using "Bob Books" for reading and "Explode the Code" for phonics and reading concepts. We went to an open house for St. Barnabas school in December and really loved it. He is going on a shadow visit this month where he will go to a whole day of school by himself! He is so excited and I think he will do well.

And Asa is being a litte stinker about being weaned! He will be 1 year old on Tuesday and still refuses to drink from a cup! Every day I try and I am so frustrated! On top of that, he was sick last week which set us back even further. But eventually he will learn and grow just like the others. I have a feeling he is somewhat allergic to milk so I have tried lactaid, formula, and now am going to try Almond milk. He is just so fussy which is not like him. Any suggestions??

Family Update!

2010-12-15T21:32:00.009-05:00

Ella

Asa

Anson

The Rollins Family

The Camp Family

Instead of trying to fit this into every Christmas card, I decided to post it on our blog! Here is our family update in a nutshell!

Merry Christmas! We hope you are having a wonderful season! We LOVE this time of year! This year is is especially nice being so close to our family! As you probably know, we moved to DeLand Florida in the beginning of June. I feel like we are still settling in! It is somewhat of a culture shock to be back in a small town after living in the big city for so long but we love DeLand.

After many years of talking about it and praying about it, we finally decided to move back to Florida. We had lived in Atlanta for 12 years, the longest Dusty had ever been in one city! We realized that we could run our commercial painting business from anywhere (the crews travel so much anyway) so why not be close to our families? In DeLand we are 10 minutes from Arin's parents, an hour from Amy and Andy (Arin's sister) and 1 and 1/2 half hours from the majority of Dusty's whole family! Arin's sister Aly is still in Maine and she and Brad have six children now!!! We just enjoyed a visit from them at Thanksgiving!

When we decided to move we started looking for a house in DeLand big enough for our family and at a price we liked. We were able to find both! After some pretty extensive renovations, we now live in a 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath, 2 story home that was built in 1925! It has a lot of "character" and is perfect for our family. So now for the family part of the update:

Dusty is still running a commercial painting business out of Atlanta. He does not have to go to Atlanta as much as we had anticipated. Business is going very well and God has blessed! We recently hired an assistant to help with office work and we rented an office in Downtown DeLand. Having an office outside our home has helped Dusty get connected in our new town and meet some people. He also has time now to develop his insurance business which he has been working on for a few years now. He is very excited about this! We also live very close to the ocean and the St. Johns River which allows Dusty to go fishing when he gets the itch!

Arin is still staying at home with Anson, Ella and Asa. And since we hired our assistant, Kristen, I actually have time to home-school Anson who is in Kindergarten this year! Kristen is doing much of what I had been doing... bookkeeping, scheduling, calling, faxing, website and trying to keep Dusty in order! :o) She is much appreciated! Since moving back to DeLand I started playing my clarinet again in a group based at Stetson University called Southern Winds. We had our first concert in November and it was so nice to play in a wind ensemble again. I had not played since I graduated from college! I love being able to stay home with the kids and I learn so much as a Mom every day. They are as much fun as they are challenging!

Anson turned 5 in June! He was supposed to start Kindergarten this fall but we are keeping him home. We needed some time to get acquainted with the schools in the area before deciding where to send him. We have since found a very nice Christian school where we will pursue enrollment for 1st grade. He is such a fun kid! He is full of energy and passion for life! Everything is exciting to him, especially dinosaurs. If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up he will say "a paleontogolist" (pronounced the way it is spelled!) He learns things very quickly and remembers everything! He also loves going fishing with his Daddy, playing outside, and watching dinosaur and nature shows. His favorite toy right now is his big box of animal figures which he plays with every day during nap time. He is allowed to play quietly while the others rest. He is a very sweet boy and we are so proud of him!

Ella turned 3 in September! She talks up a storm all day long and loves to sing and tell stories that all begin with "Once upon a time ago..." She gives new meaning to the phrase "filled with the dickens"! You just never quite know what she is going to come up with! Just recently her Papa was talking to an older gentleman and he said that he has 9 grandchildren with brown eyes but she was the first to have blue. The man asked Ella to show him her eyes. He said "Oh my, you have beautiful eyes!" and she instinctively cocked her head to the side, tossed back her hair and batted her eyelashes at him! :o) Like I said, full of the dickens! She is so much fun! She loves to play with her dolls and has a favorite stuffed doggie that goes everywhere with her. Her favorite colors are purple and green and she loves princesses and castles. We have been to visit Cinderella at Disney a few times this year... one of the perks of living in Florida! Ella adds flair to our little family and we are so thankful for her!

And our baby Asa was born on January 25th! He is the sweetest, happiest baby! He has the most adorable belly laugh that you have ever heard. He attracts a lot of attention when we are out and people just can't help but laugh when they hear him! He is our little peanut of the bunch and was born just shy of 7 pounds. He is rolling and scooting and getting up on all fours but not quite crawling yet. I am in no rush to have him mobilized! He is still quite bald which makes him all the more adorable and has bright blue eyes. Anson and Ella adore him and love to hold him. Asa is a blessing to our family and we are so thankful for him!

So to sum things up, this year we thank God particularly for sending His Son Jesus as the greatest gift, for quality time with our family, continued good health, and our happy home in Florida! We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Very Happy 2011!

Love,

Dusty, Arin, Anson, Ella and Asa

Cousin Fun!

2010-11-22T13:56:00.008-05:00

Ice cream in the "bus" after the beach. Yes, Aly drives a 12 passenger van! :o)

New Smyrna Beach (Canaveral National Seashore)

The boys!

Asa and Zachary are only a month apart!!

Ella and Emily are a month apart, too!

Laura, Zachary, Emily, Anson, Joshua, Ella, Rebekah, Asa, and Rachel!

My sister Aly and her family came down from Maine for a visit and we have been having so much fun! Anson, Ella, and Asa have been having a blast with their SIX cousins!! Aly's last 3 and my three are very close in age so it has been fun seeing them interact. And eveyone is getting along well! :o) So far we have gone to the beach, gone shopping, and done a lot of eating meals together. They are going to be here for Thanksgiving and for the first week of December. What a great way to start the Christmas season!

Tepending

2010-10-12T12:16:00.003-04:00

Here is a conversation that just took place between Anson and Ella...
Anson: (sitting on the couch side by side, each with a huge backpack) Hold on Ella, here we go!
Ella: Wait, there is a baby gaffe! Come back here baby gaffe!
Anson: Ella, there are no giraffes here... we are in the patacious time period!
Ella: No, Anson, I am just tepending!
Anson: Well, pretend that there are no giraffes! Only dinosaurs!

Ella is really into "tepending"! Anson loves pretending with her except they even fight when they pretend! He will say "can I have some tea, too?" And she will say "No, it's all gone" and he will say "please, Ella? I am really thirsty!" and so on...
So what do you do as a mom, pretend to punish them for pretend fighting? :o)

Animal Kingdom

2010-10-08T20:39:00.006-04:00

"Oh yuk! Kisses!"

Walking through Africa...

Ella wasn't fond of anything dark but evidently Charlotte was having a ball! :o)

Waiting for the "Bug's Life" 3D movie...

Flash forward 11 years! I don't even want to think about Anson driving just yet! Hold on Charlotte!

Aren't these Minnie Mouse ears barrettes adorable?? Auntie Brittany made them for all the girls! She's so clever!

Asa is his safari outfit ready to go on his first jeep safari! Yes I am that corny! When in Disney you must dress the part! Ella's Minnie Mouse dress is getting too short so I'm on the look out for a new pattern!

Since we purchased our Disney Passes last month, we are determined to go to all the parks before the end of the year! This week we went to Animal Kingdom and had a great time! Jared, Brittany, Charlotte and Naomi went too! There was entire area of the park devoted to dinosaurs which Anson loved! And the animal safari ride was really neat. I think we saw all the animals... giraffes, elephants, deer, antilope, hippos, rhinos, tons of birds etc. Disney just does things right! And Anson and I rode the Mt Everest roller coaster together. He was very brave... it was not a kiddie ride! He didn't like the dark part but he did great! And Ella managed to disappear for probably 30 seconds which felt like an eternity to her frantic parents! We turned around and she was gone! We were in the bat exhibit and she just walked out the doors all by herself! SCARY! We had a big talk about how you never leave your Mommy and Daddy's side!!! After that we did not take our eyes off of her!

So, Jared and Brittany, Epcot next?? :o)

Rollin' Asa Rollins

2010-09-30T20:23:00.002-04:00

Asa is now 8 months old! Where has this year gone??? He is just now starting to get more mobile with the rolling and I'm sure scooting will be right behind! I will risk sounding like a braggart here, but Asa is just the sweetest baby! He rarely fusses, sleeps great, wakes with a smile, and doesn't stop smiling all day! He *loves* Anson and Ella and laughs when they look at him. He has just started giving me "kisses" when I ask him. His favorite food right now is bananas (least favorite - green beans) but he will eat just about anything I give him. And he is a finger sucker... his first two fingers on his left hand which are the same fingers that Dusty sucked when he was a baby! I weighed him yesterday and he was 16.5 lbs. Getting bigger! We are all enjoying Asa and just think he is the cutest little guy.

Happy Birthday Ella!

2010-09-23T20:32:00.004-04:00

This was just before she sat on her cake! :o) Graceful!

Ella's 3rd Birthday was actually well over a week ago... running a little behind with these posts! This year Ella looked forward to her birthday ever since Anson's birthday in June! Right now she is into princesses, castles, everything purple and green, and tinkerbell. Her favorite princess changes daily but she will usually say Cinderella or Snow White. And since we live so close to the best castle in America, we took a trip to Disney for Ella to see the castle and as many princesses as we could meet. It was great! She loved every minute! (So did we! Enough to buy yearly passes!) Jared, Brittany, Charlotte and Naomi went too and they also bought passes so we are looking forward to going to Disney quite a bit in the next 12 months! Ella got to meet Cincerella, Jasmine, and Sleeping Beauty. When I asked Ella who she liked the best she said "Cinderella... but I didn't like Jasmine" When I asked her why not, she said "because she didn't have all her clothes on!" Way to go Ella! You just keep that view as a teenager and we'll be alright! :o)

Then on Saturday the 11th we had her birthday party at our home. She had a lavender and green decorated cake with little castles and flowers and I made lavendar and green tutu's for Ella and her friend Grace to wear at the party with their pretend tieras. It was a nice little party and she received many wonderful gifts fit for a princess! We are so proud of Ella and can't believe that she is growing up so fast!

Princess Ella - and other musings of Anson

2010-08-29T21:27:00.003-04:00

Auntie Aly just sent Ella a smocked dress that was Rachel's when she was a little girl. Ella couldn't wait to wear it because she thought is was so pretty. When I put it on her for church this morning, Anson said "Oh, Ella, you look just like a princess!" What a sweet big brother! Ella said "sank you, Anson!" as she twirled around a few times. So thank you for the dress Aly! Maybe it will fit Emily in the spring and we can send it back to you! We managed to get through lunch at church today without getting anything on it! :o) I can't believe how grown up Ella looks... and she is still just 2!

She loves princesses and castles so, of course, a trip to Disney is on order for her birthday! When we told her we were going to see Cinderella's castle for her birthday she said, "I want to meet a real live princess too! One in a big dress!" So let's hope we get to see at least one "real live princess" while we are there!

This morning on our way to church, we were talking about... going to church! Anson said "sometimes we don't go to church, right?" and we said "yes, when we are sick we don't go to church" and Anson said "or sometimes we don't go to church when we aren't in the mood"! Seriously, where does he get this stuff?? :o)

Lastly, (I have to get these on the blog or I will forget!) we just bought Financial Peace Jr. by Dave Ramsey to teach Anson and Ella about money. Dusty sat down with Anson (Ella doesn't quite understand all the concepts yet) and explained to him that he could work for commissions (instead of allowance) and laid out a few jobs he could do. One of them was to sweep off our sidewalks. If he sweeps off the sidewalks he earns a quarter. The kit came with a money pouch that clips to your belt and he wore it over to my parents house to show them. He explained to Papa that if he sweeps the sidewalks he will earn a quarter in commissions. Papa said "so if I go to your house and sweep off the sidewalk, could I earn a quarter?" Anson thought for a second and said "No, Papa. But I will pay you a penny!" I think he has the entrepreneurial mindset of his Daddy after all! Who knows, Anson may have his own business soon! :o)

Before and After - Kitchen and stairway.

2010-08-24T14:27:00.015-04:00

The stairway in our home is in the kitchen.

The "lovely" carpet that used to line the stairs...

Carpet ripped up and stairs sanded down.

Stairs and risers painted. The treads were painted to match the stain of the floors upstairs and have a sandy texture so the kids don't slip in their socks!

Stairway complete!

The old kitchen had green tile floors, over lanoleum, over wood floors. The old wood flooring couldn't be saved.

The door in the distance lead to the exterior breezeway between the mother-in law suite and the main house. The floor had so much water rot under the sink that we had to replace most of the sub floor.

The walls/flooring being ripped up.

more demo

And our new kitchen! Terra cotta colored tile and Sherwin Williams shade of "Pennywise" paint on the walls. We really wanted a shade of orange somewhere in the house and the kitchen was the perfect place. Kitchen cabinets and counter tops were designed and made by my Dad and Mom!

Plenty of cabinet and drawer space in my little kitchen!

With the space we had to work with, I am thrilled at how it came out!

To the right of the fridge are two skinny pull-outs perfect for storing baby food, spices etc and a tray storage compartment above! Every space used wisely!

Some Before and After Pics - My Office

2010-08-24T13:53:00.012-04:00

This room was full of mold which scared many buyers away from the property...But Dusty knew what to do and who to call and we had the moldy wall completely removed properly. The house is now joined together with the mother-in law suite throught this room we call the breezeway. (Arin's office!)

The breezeway being joined to the house... moldy wall removed.

The breezeway in progress

Standing in the kitchen doorway looking into the breezeway. This doorway used to go directly outside via a breezeway between the mother-in-law suite and the main house.

almost done...

And thanks to my Dad who is an awesome cabinet maker, I now have space to be organized!

I made my bulletin board...

So now my office is between the kitchen and the master bedroom/Dusty's office. The perfect place to do art projects with the kids, work on the computer, and sew!

Gemini Springs and Music Camp

2010-08-04T13:35:00.005-04:00

The storm that came just as we got there. It passed quickly.

You can't swim in this part... because of the next picture.

Baby alligator and a turtle

Anson spotted this alligator first so we told him he could name it... he named it "baby-growing-up-soon alligator". :o) Nothing is simple with that kid.

We are having fun exploring our new home town! This springs is just south of Blue Springs where we went last week and runs along the St. Johns river. Isn't the color of the water gorgeous?? I am trying to post some really pretty pictures of Florida to entice our out-of-state friends to come visit! Is it working?? :o) What you can't see in the pics is the steam room/sauna like atmosphere we are living in right now in the peak of summer! I forgot how hot it could get here. But don't let that stop you from visiting, anyone!

This week Anson has been in music camp at Stetson University (my Alma Mater) and he is loving it! We can't tell if he likes the music aspect or just that he gets to go there by himself... yesterday when Dusty asked him what he likes the best he said "lunch"! He gets to pack his own lunch and is so excited about that! He goes M-F from 9:30 - 3:00. That is a full day for him since he has never done anything like this! I was a little nervous about how he would do but at the end of day one I was greeted at the door by all 3 teachers just raving about my little man! They all said what a great kid he is and how well behaved and attentive he was. (Dusty and I were worried that he would be labeled ADD!! :o) So I guess he is doing great! They are having a recital on Friday evening to show all the families and friends what they've learned. Can't wait! I am trying not to be too proud, but we are very proud of Anson! :o)

Florida Fun - Asa is 6 months!

2010-07-29T22:07:00.017-04:00

Evidently squeezing your toes together helps you to sit up better!

Or crossing your feet!

You talkin' to me?

Just chillin' out after his bath...

Can you see his peach fuzz?

Happy 6 month old!

Rollin' on the river...

Away they go!

Ella was a little apprehensive at first but she LOVED it!

This one cracks me up! This reminds me of a papparazzi photo or something! Ella with her glasses on upside down, sucking on a lollipop and Anson with his wild dinosaur shirt (that he just HAD to have and I gave in :o) pulling Ella around by the wrist, spouting off directions for her to follow...

Me and Sharon

Now it is feeling more like home here! Dusty had to travel every week for the past 6 weeks but this was the first week he was home all week! Today he took Anson and Ella out on the St. Johns River in our little john boat. They loved it!! They saw a few alligators and had a fun time just riding in the boat. Ella loved putting her hand in the water as they went but that freaked Anson out. He did not want his hand in where an Alligator could bite him! Ella is my little dare devil :o). Asa and I didn't make it on this trip. We are holding out for the bigger boat! :o) And we had out first over-night guests! Sharon and Sagan, our neighbors from Atlanta and Anson's best little friend, came on Tuesday! We took them to Blue Springs (and i forgot my camera!) and Dusty cooked dinner for us that night. It was fun to see them!! Anson LOVED having Sagan here... he has missed her quite a bit. He loves for us to tell him stories in the car and EVERY story has to be about Sagan! :o)

I am also slowly getting the house decorated and situated the way I like it. There are still a million little things to finish but they will get done sooner or later. No real rush I guess. But it is with mixed emotions that I can say I have a working laundry room now. We have a new drain field in our back yard so I can use the washer now! My Mom had been doing my laundry for the past 6 weeks and I have been pretty spoiled! :o) So now it is back to reality and doing my own laundry! What a great Mom I have!! And my awesome Dad is installing the last of my "office" cabinets tomorrow! I will post some pics asap!

Asa turned 6 months old on Sunday! I can't believe that he has been with us for half a year already! He is such a blessing to us and makes us laugh and smile all day! Every time we look at him he is already smiling as if he is just waiting for us to see him! And he has the BEST belly laugh you have ever heard! I will try to get a video of him and post it. He laughs when he is getting tired which is pretty darn cute! He is eating solid foods now and doing pretty well. He will eat every thing I give him, although no matter what it is he gags on the first few bites! He is learning how to sit up and how to grasp things and bring them to his mouth. He is "talking" quite a bit now and tonight he talked himself to sleep. So cute! He really is a great baby! I just kiss those little cheeks all day! Now if I can get him to freeze at this age ...

Atlanta vs. DeLand

2010-06-30T21:07:00.004-04:00

So we have left the big city. There are definitely pros and cons to living in a big city vs. a small town. We were never socialites and we didn't have a ton of friends that kept us busy with outings. We didn't have a sparkling night life, but we had everything we needed/wanted within 10 miles of our house... Church, shopping, zoo, aquarium, airport, chiropractor, doctor, parks, restaurants (every kind you can imagine), skyscrapers... and then there is the smog, trailer trucks and fire engines whizzing by our house, police search lights from helicopters lighting up the sky on a random Tuesday night, Boulevard between Freedom Parkway and Ponce De Leon Ave, Rubber Man Tires, The sock man who sold socks and rims for your car...

But we have traded all of that for...

90% of our family within a 1 1/2 hour drive, Gramma and Papa 10 minutes away!, having a "little" birthday party for Anson with 26 people(mostly family!), a quaint little downtown with shops and restaurants, a BBQ restaurant that I went to once and on the second time going, they remembered me!, being able to meet my Mom, Aunt and Uncle, Cousin and her son for the Wednesday morning farmers market held at the fairgrounds, having Gramma willingly take the kids to her house for the afternoon and Toto coming for the day to entertain them!, hearing the crickets at night instead of the hum of traffic, the St. Johns River right down the road and the Atlantic Ocean 25 minutes away, seeing beautiful Florida sunsets from our second story windows, and even a palm tree in our front yard! So yes, it may take two weeks to get our foreign car fixed and two hours to find a store with just the right thing we need (but they could call another location and get it here next week!)but, culture shock and all, we love it! We are glad to get to raise our kids in a small town and glad to be near our family!

Asa's Baptism - Mother's Day

2010-06-26T21:05:00.004-04:00

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! Dusty's parents came up for the weekend and took Anson and Ella to the cabin for the day on Saturday! They had a great time together and Dusty and I had a nice date at a restaurant we had wanted to try for a long time. (The Shed) Asa was a good little tag-along guest! I was also able to clean out Ella and Anson's room while they were gone for the day (looking ahead to packing up). On Sunday morning, Mother's Day, Dusty and Anson and Ella cooked me and Toto breakfast in bed! We had sourdough french toast and strawberries Romanov, coffee and OJ. Yummy! Anson was really into it this year and made me feel very special! We then got ready for church. We didn't realize it at the time but this was our last Sunday at the Church of the Apostles. (We really miss our church!!!!) Asa was baptized during the morning service and it was a very nice ceremony! It was great to have Toto and Pop there! After church we ate at our favorite Malaysian restaurant, Penang, and our dear friend Cyrl joined us for lunch. That afternoon we started packing up for our first trip to FL to work on the house. We ended up only making two trips down before the big move. In hind sight, we could have used one more week to finish things up but us Rollins' like to keep things interesting!! :o)

We Have Moved!

2010-06-20T09:08:00.002-04:00

Hi All!
We have moved and are settling into our new (old) home in DeLand, FL! So much has happened over the last six weeks so I am trying to play catch-up with the blog. Over the next week, hopefully I will be able to get some posts and pics up about:
Mother's Day/Asa's Baptism
Our first trip to FL to work on the house
Our last week together in Atlanta
Our second trip to FL to finish the house
Our actual move down
Our new house
and
Anson's 5th Birthday!

Stay Tuned!!

The Cabbage Patch and Lollipops

2010-05-01T21:14:00.007-04:00

Babyland General

The "babies" in the nursery

The Cabbage Patch

The kids and I took a trip to Cleveland, GA (up in the mountains) today to take some pics of a job for Dusty (He flew to Orlando for the day to do an estimate down there!) And while we were in the tiny town of Cleveland, we stopped in to see Babyland General where the Cabbage Patch Kids were born! It is free to go and it was so cute! I LOVED Cabbage Patch Kids when I was a tot and it was a big deal when I got my first one! Anson and Ella loved walking around looking at all the babies growing up from the cabbage patch. I was so sentimental seeing Ella pick up and love on the babies that I was about to plunk down a very large sum to "adopt" one for her but then when she was just as excited to see a lollipop in the gift store, I decided against it! :o) The babies in the picture are life sized and are only sold there. They were really cute. We did end up getting a little doll AND a lollipop!

So on the way home Anson and Ella are sucking on their lollipops, chatting away about how Anson's has gum in the middle and Ella's has a tootsie roll, and this was their conversation...

Ella: Does a person live inside my lollipop?

Anson: NO!

Ella: Why not?

Anson: Because lollipops don't have refrigerators!

Like, Duh! A person couldn't live in a lollipop without a refrigerator! :o)

These kids crack me up!

By the way, Asa was an angel on our outing! He ate, slept and smiled in between! Such a sweetie!

Asa's First Laughs - 3 months old!

2010-04-30T10:42:00.002-04:00

We just wanted to share Asa's first laughs with you! I was trying his baptism outfit on him so I decided to take a few pictures. When I propped him up on the arm of the chair he started laughing! Melt my heart!! By the way, he is being baptised on May 9th, Mother's Day at The Church of the Apostles. You can watch live online at www.apostles.org at 10:30am Eastern time! We were glad to get him baptized by Dr. Youssef before we move to Florida since the other two were baptized by him.

A Work in Progress...

2010-04-24T14:20:00.004-04:00

Dusty was working on our house in Florida this week! They got a ton of things done! Dusty managed to get in some fishing too, surprise, surprise. Well I guess it actually turned out to be just kayaking since he didn't catch any fish, but he did have fun! And now at least he knows that he likes kayaking!

Here is a pic of the house with the new porch columns and the addition being attached to the big house now. They also ripped out the old HVAC system, ducts and all. We are going to be installing an alternative air/heat source other than central. The floors have all been sanded down and look like new! The last thing we will do is stain and poly them (when all the dust is out). They ripped the entire sub-floor out of the addition and added support columns under the floor because there were NONE. So now we get to do laminate flooring out there because the old vinyl flooring is gone! (Yea!) The addition is where Dusty's office and the master suite is. It is really going to be a fun place to live!

"Symonyms"

2010-04-24T09:30:00.003-04:00

It is a rainy day here and we are doing some "work" at the table. I was just explaining the difference between "here" and "hear" to Anson. He has flash cards with simple words printed on them and he practices writing them on his paper. We came across the word "here". I said "it's like, 'come here'." And Anson said "or it could be like, 'I hear something'." Pretty good on his part! So I said that hear and here are synonyms. He said, "yea, like M&M's, only different!"
And to top it off he says "symonyms". So cute. I hope he doesn't grow up too fast!

Tell the Truth

2010-04-23T20:46:00.003-04:00

I have to write this before I forget... classic Ansonism.

Anson came running into our room the other day and the following discourse took place:
Anson: Daddy, Ella just hit me and I am telling the truth! I don't always tell the truth but I am this time!
Dusty: (Trying to hold back a smile) Well, when don't you tell the truth?
Anson: (not skipping a beat) Well, mostly on Thursdays, Fridays, and Wal Mart days.

Dusty then hugged Anson to his chest so he could not see us both dying with laughter!! Where does he come up with these things? And he is so quick about it! At lease now I know that when we were in Wal-mart and he told me he wished he didn't have a mother, it was just a Wal-Mart Day and he wasn't telling the truth. :o)

Picnic at Grant Park today

2010-04-21T14:07:00.006-04:00

Does Anson look like Gavin in this picture, or what?
When did Ella get so tall?

Picking flowers

Anson looks so tall too!

Brother snuggles

Little dreamy blue eyes

Happy Boy!

The Picnic

While Dusty is in DeLand, slaving away working on our house, we are sitting around in Atlanta having picnics! It was beautiful outside today! We found butterfly catchers at Target and decided to have a picnic and try them out. They used them to put their picked flowers in as there were no butterflies to be seen. And after running areound on the playground, they are all napping now!!

Anson's Bedtime Prayer Tonight

2010-04-20T19:23:00.003-04:00

"Dear Jesus,
Please help Ella to have a good night sleep and not be afraid of the dark. Amen
Oh, and please let it not rain again. Amen.
Oh, and please God, Oh pretty please, if it has to rain one day only let it rain a little.
Amen."

Background...
Ella had just been complaining that it was too dark in their room. So I said, "Anson will tell you that when you pray, Jesus will help you not to be afraid", hence his prayer. And this afternoon when he was playing outside, it rained on him. :o)

Naptime at our house is interesting... Anson plays "quietly" in his room, Ella sleeps like a rock in Asa's room, and Asa sleeps in our room. But since naptime is the time I use to get work done, I am usually on the computer or on the phone. Asa used to be able to sleep through my noise but not anymore, so this week I tried putting him, cradle and all, in my bathroom for naptime! It worked well! But today Dusty was going to come home during nap time and need the use of our facilities so into the closet went Asa! No sooner had I put his cradle into the closet (don't worry, it's a big closet) Anson walks in and asks where Asa is. When I told him he was in the closet, he chuckled and said "Now that is a strange place for a baby!" His tone was almost to say "Mom, don't you know babies don't go in the closet!" What a kid!

The Rollins Girls' Charleston Weekend

2010-04-16T21:40:00.019-04:00

The Rollins Girls!

Mom and Mel (an honorary Rollins)

Brittany and Naomi, Me and Asa, Megan, Whitney(another honorary) and Amber

King Street - shopping!

And outdoor market - art and food

Asa, enjoying his stroller rides all over Charleston! He was such a good boy.

Beautiful flowers at the market

Asa and Toto

The Anson Restaurant

One of the many beautiful churches

The three daughters-in-law

Just a neat column on a house near the ocean

Anson Street!

It was high time for the Rollins girls to have a weekend all to themselves! Brittany came up with Charleston and it was a great pick! The architecture was gorgeous, the food was delicious, and the weather was perfect! We had such a wonderful time shopping, talking and eating! And since we were all there without our children (except nursing babies.. Asa was the only man in the group!) the Rollins men were slaving away being Mr. Moms for the weekend. Oh, wait, what's that? A Gator football game in April? As it turns out, NONE of them kept their own kids while mommy was away! :o) They all stayed with their maternal grandparents! I was amused by this fact. So they ended up having a fun Rollins Men weekend, too, watching the Gators play and then playing some soccer themselves. They also got to go to Gavin's fraternity family day. We love our Rollins Men!

Well, here are a few pics from Charleston. I was so excited to find "Anson St." and the Anson Restaurant!

House Renovations

2010-04-16T16:52:00.007-04:00

We are excited to be working on our house in DeLand now! When we went down last weekend it looked like this...

And when we (and Dusty's crew) left two and a half days later, it looked like this!

As you can tell we still have a few exterior things to do (there will be columns on the other side of the chimney where the metal ones are now to match the ones by the door and they will have the darker green accent paint NOT the red). And the inside has been stripped down in many areas and ready to be re-done. My Dad and Mom are already working up the kitchen drawings. So we are on our way! Did you notice the swing set on the right? The kids LOVE it! It was really dirty so we thought it was in bad shape but when the crew pressure washed it, turns out it is brand new! I think we are really going to enjoy living in DeLand and in this house. Keep us in your prayers as we wrap up things in Atlanta and move to Florida, most likely in June.

Good Friday

2010-04-02T20:02:00.002-04:00

Tonight I was reading to the kids about Jesus dying on the cross and what it means for us today. When we prayed, Anson said
"Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross so I didn't have to. And thank you that when I die I will be happy and not have any boo boo's. Amen"
I think he understood!!
And Ella, who I didn't think was getting any of it said "Jesus, Ella no die, Amen" .

I had to write this before I forgot!

We have been trying to focus on the real meaning of Easter and trying to get Anson to understand it this year. At the end of tonight's reading, Anson said "I know it is sad when Jesus dies, but it's OK Mommy, he comes back alive again!" Pretty cool.

Have a Happy Easter!

Sharing

2010-03-29T21:11:00.004-04:00

Dusty took this picture on his phone at Longhorn Steakhouse last week. They were so cute sharing their milkshake! Unfortunately the Reese's Peanut Butter/Chocolate part kicked in just before we were ready to leave the restaurant! Talk about wound up!

Honorary "Uncle" Cyrl holding Asa. He is so nice to have dinner with us all the time, even with our crazy hyper milkshake kids! Now that is a friend!

Big Smile - Two Months!

2010-03-23T23:07:00.003-04:00

We have been enjoying these big smiles from our little guy! On Thursday he will be 2 months old!! This past week he was having trouble with spitting up and would lose all the contents of his stomach at least twice a day. It didn't seem to bother him at all, though. He would be smiling, puke, then go back to smiling! It went away for a few days and then came back today. He goes for his two month check-up on Friday so I will see what the Doc says. It may be reflux which is pretty common.

Anson asked me in the car today when we were going to have another baby!!! I told him that I don't know. Then I asked why. He said "Because I want lots of kids!" And Dusty said, "Great. When you grow up YOU can have lots of kids!" It is pretty sweet... Anson tells us every day how much he loves Asa and he is so glad to be a big brother. And tonight Ella told me at bedtime that "Me so happy with Asa". I thank God for giving them sweet little accepting hearts when they could be jealous of all the time I have to spend with Asa in these early weeks.

The other day we were talking about heaven and how God is preparing a place for us there right now. I didn't know how much Ella was understanding until she said "I want my room purple"! So Ella's room in her mansion in heaven will be purple!

Anson and Ella have been playing outside quite a bit in this nice spring weather. On Friday we ate our lunch outside on a blanket. I had gone inside to do a couple quick things when Anson came in and said "Mommy come outside, quick. I think you will enjoy this!" (Since when does he say "enjoy"!!) I then hear Ella crying for me... she had climbed up the lattice work on the outside of the deck and was holding on to the hand rail for dear life! She was about 4 feet off the ground. Anson thought it was great and was so proud of her! I later found out that he told her to do it! I guess I can't leave them for a second! :o)

Our Florida House!!

2010-03-20T10:15:00.004-04:00

We just received word yesterday that our offer has been accepted! Here is a little about the house...

It has 3 bedrooms 1.5 baths in the main house and the detached part has 1 bed 1 bath, a kitchenette and a huge office. We will close in the little breezeway between the two buildings to make it part of the main house and that will become our master suite. The kids will each have their own room upstairs! And the kids rooms are off a big family room/play room with a fireplace and beautiful red pine floors! The house was built in 1925 and needs some updating but nothing Dusty and his guys can't do in about a month. That puts us moving to FL sometime this summer but definitely by Aug. 1. We are very excited about this move and feel it is God's plan for our family.

One thing we love is the huge yard! Our plan is to fix it up like we would to rent it out and live in it a couple years while we find a place to build our ideal home. But this house will be a great place to live for that time.

We close on April 5th. But the best part... wait for it... we got it for $37,000!!!!! I still can't believe that we found a big house for this price. God is so good!

Family Resemblance

2010-03-15T15:39:00.002-04:00

Asa

Anson

These are my two boys at approximately the same age... I really need to take one of Asa in the same outfit. Coming soon!

Bedtime Stories That Will Warm Your Heart

2010-03-14T16:09:00.003-04:00

The other night Dusty was reading to Anson and Ella at bedtime and the story had a horse in it. At the end of the book, Anson placed his finger at his lips in the "thinking position" and asked "Daddy, are you stronger than a horse or is it stronger than you?" Dusty said "I don't know". Then Anson asked "Well, what about a pony? Could you kill a pony?" To which Dusty replied "Yes, but why would I want to?" And Anson said "Because I've never had wild horse meat before!"
I guess Anson is in the mood to try some new things!! This cracked us up and I promised Dusty I would post it!

First Smiles

2010-03-12T19:15:00.006-05:00

I published this entire post using one hand! I actually have a whole list of things that I can now do with one hand! I guess that is what being a mom teaches you! We have had a crazy week with kids being sick but things are looking up! And kuddos to my best friend and hubby who helps sooo much with the kids and cooking and cleaning and yes, even laundry!
I will write a better update when I have two hands free. .... May be a while! :o)

Asa is 1 month old!

2010-02-27T13:12:00.010-05:00

Isn't my little Ella getting tall?
Ella in her new dress.

Asa enjoying his first trip to Grant Park!

Anson and Ella on the Lion bridge at Grant Park.

Asa is getting pretty active! He was kicking his legs this morning!

He is trying to smile!!

At his well check-up on Friday, Asa weighed 9 pounds 8.5 ounces and was 21 and 3/4 inches long! So he has grown 2.5 pounds heavier and almost 3 inches longer since birth! I was very happy with his report!

This past week he was having a terrible time with gas and was very fussy for a few days, mostly in the evening. I was getting a little worried that I gave birth to a cranky baby, but when we figured out it was a gas issue I began my online research. I was giving him Mylicon gas drops, which I found out only joins together small gas bubbles making them into one big gas bubble so it is easier to make them burp. But if they don't burp, that huge gas bubble moves down into their system causing great pain! Then I read about "gripe water" and decided to give it a try. It is a natural remedy which has ginger and fennel in it which calms their stomach and helps get rid of the trapped gas. After one dropper full of this gripe water, he was a new boy!! He has been so calm and relaxed and can even burp now! So I would like to thank the makers of gripe water for the return of my happy baby boy! ( By the way, I bought the "Little Tummies" brand by Little Remedies, available at Target and most pharmacies in the antacid section).

So that was the bulk of my week, exciting huh? Anson and Ella have been good. I took them to Monkey Joes on Monday (an indoor jumping place) and Dusty took them to the Yellow River Game Ranch on Thursday (and gave me the morning off!) The ranch has all the animals indiginous to Georgia, which unfortunately includes some pretty obnoxious free range chickens! The chickens followed them around and freaked out the kids and one pecked Ella's finger. So they didn't stay too long but it was fun to see all the animals. I got to go do some shopping with Asa while they were gone. I had not been in an Ann Taylor for months so it was nice to be back! Asa slept almost the whole time!

Dusty has been soooooooo helpful with the kids and housework, especially since Asa's birth. He cooked dinner twice this week, did the dishes a few times, took the kids on outings, and even did some laundry! What an awesome husband I have! I am so thankful to be married to my best friend!!

So this week we are heading to FL for a couple days. Most of "my readers" know, but for those of you who don't know, we are planning on moving to FL in the next 6 months! We put an offer on a house in DeLand and are still waiting for an answer (it is a short sale so we are dealing with a beurocratic bank) We should know something soon! We are very excited about the move! It is a perfect time to make a move before Anson starts school. We will be very glad to be close to our families again! So please keep us in your prayers and we decide on housing and just for the move in general!

And last but not least, I thought this video was so funny! Asa has a very active sleep phase just before he wakes up. He opens his eyes and makes squeaking sounds, etc. I could see him moving into this phase when we were at the park and caught it on camera. Enjoy! :o)

The week in pictures

2010-02-17T21:51:00.016-05:00

Tiny little feet
Tiny little hands

Sweet little baby boy

Love those little feet!

3 weeks old!!

Cousins! Asa and Naomi! What a beautiful girl!

More cousins! Anson and Ella with Charlotte! We loved having Jared and Brittany, Charlotte and Naomi visit!

We even had snow on the ground to play in!

Ella... left alone with the stamps and stamp pads!

Anson making a snow man.

Ella in the snow

Boy, Do I Feel Loved!

2010-02-17T21:28:00.003-05:00

This was a conversation Anson had with Ella today in Wal-Mart... But first, a little background... I try to spend as little time as possible in Wal-Mart but sometimes I just HAVE to go (those darn low prices!) So when Anson is in the mood to touch EVERYTHING in sight, making me stop the cart and call him to keep moving, I have to pull out the threat to "take him to the bathroom". (In other words, the wood shed!) So today when I asked him to put the bottle of shampoo back on the shelf, he turned to Ella very innocently and said,

"Ella, wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have a Mommy? We could touch anything we want and go anywhere we want!" A little offended, I asked "Well, who would take care of you if you didn't have a Mommy?" To which Anson quickly answered as if he had been thinking about if for days, "We would just go to Sharon and Sagan's house!" (Our neighbor friends) Even more offended, I said "Wouldn't you miss Mommy?" This one made him think a little longer. Then he said "Oh, I guess I would miss you , Mommy".

Let's just say I have been warned! I guess I am on thin ice with Anson! :o) I admit I have been a little more stressed than usual, getting used to being a mother of three. So I am making an effort to be patient, loving, and kind to my little charges so they no longer have to wish that they didn't have a Mommy! Don't get me wrong though, they are still going to listen and obey!!

2 weeks of Asa!

2010-02-08T17:26:00.014-05:00

This bear is the size of Anson's elephant (for those of you who know elephant!)

This puts his size in perspective!

In his big crib!

Saying goodbye to Toto

Meeting Pop for the first time!

Holding Toto's hand

This one cracks me up!!!! :o)

First bath! 10 days old

In his cradle

first bath... not a fan yet!

"Nake Nake boy" - to quote Ella :o)

Just before his first bath.

Today is Asa's two week birthday! He is doing really well! He weighs between 7 and 7.5 pounds now and is eating well. We are having so much fun with him! Anson and Ella still love to hold him and talk to him. Anson tells him stories about all the "Big Boy" things they will do together when Asa is "4 like Anson". :o) Today was also the first day we were on our own! Dusty's parents left yesterday and my parents were here the week before. We are so thankful for our wonderful parents who were willing and quite able to come help take care of housekeeping and Anson and Ella while I recooperated! I don't know what I would have done without them! Actually, I would have been curled up in a little ball under the table (or something to that effect!) But now at the two week mark I feel pretty good! Today we ventured out to Target and the grocery store. Asa and Anson were great! Ella whined, complained about Anson standing too close to her on the end of the cart, kept putting things in the cart, and then at the Target checkout she handed the lady a candy bar and the she had it rung up and back in Ella's hand before I noticed! I made her void the purchase and had Ella put it back which resulted in a minor melt-down with waterworks! And that was before we made it to the grocery store! Two year olds are a challenge!

Well, enjoy the new pics of Asa! More to come soon!

Welcome Asa!

2010-01-28T14:55:00.017-05:00

Gramma has been holding down the fort for me!

Ella kisses - she's doing really well with him!

We just love our new addition!

Welcome home Asa!

Going home!

Getting ready to go home!

His first gassy smile caught on camera!

All swaddled and warm

Snuggles with Papa

With Big Sis Ella

He fits on Dusty's arm!

My little man - did I mention how tiny he is?

One day old!

We welcomed Asa Leslie Rollins on Jan 25th at 1:00 PM! He weighed only 6 pounds 14 ounces and was 19 inches long! Definitely the runt of our litter! He is so sweet and tiny and cute and we just LOVE him! Anson and Ella are doing great and just want to hold and kiss him. I just got home today at noon time and am recovering very well. I am trying to rest but couldn't resist posting some pictures. I will do a full blog all about Asa's arrival soon!

Pregnancy No. 3

2010-01-15T20:55:00.003-05:00

I just realized that I haven't written much about this third pregnancy. Bottom line... it's been great! No problems to speak of and now just the normal aches and pains. With just a little over a week to go, I am just now getting to the uncomfortable part. Walking any length (especially now that Asa has decided to turn head-down) is uncomfortable, turning over in bed is an ordeal, and I am amazed every time that I am able to stand up again after stooping to pick up toys off the floor! I have, however, used this time to train Anson and Ella to help more! They are getting pretty good about cleaning up toys, taking their dishes to the sink, taking out the garbage, getting themselves into the van/ car seats, and playing in their room together when I need a little sanity :o). I must seem pretty tired to Anson because he keeps coming up with different things for he and Daddy and Ella to do so I can "stay home and rest". Pretty perceptive little guy!
I never get tired of feeling Asa move around in my tummy. It is still amazing to me how God can use me to grow a little tiny human being! My doctor doesn't think that Asa wil be as big as the other two (Anson 10'3" and Ella 9'8") but I have a feeling he will be right up there with his siblings. I have a tendency to deceptively "pack them in". A lot of people are asking me if I am nervous about the C-section surgery but really I am not. After doing it twice, I know just what to expect and just pray that things go as expected.

Over all, I just can't wait to meet Asa! Dusty and Anson and Ella are excited too, of course. I know this sounds weird, but I am actually looking forward to my hospital stay! I get waited on, I don't have to cook or clean, I can push a button for "room service" any time of the day, and I get to spend tons of time getting to know my new little son! I will miss Anson and Ella though. They are not allowed into the hospital because of this whole flu epidemic but will be well taken care of at home by Gramma and Papa. And Auntie Amy will be coming for reinforcements!!

So the day is Monday Jan 25th and the time of surgery is 12:45 PM. Please keep us in your prayers and we will post pics very soon! I will probably take just a few pictures of our new little bundle!! :o)

Snow! And Asa's Upcoming Arrival

2010-01-12T16:02:00.011-05:00

Yes, it was pretty for a day but we have had enough cold weather! The kids played in the snow for about 10 minutes and never asked to play again... it was that cold! But we had a fun time making snow angels! Anson was dying to make a snow angel and had been talking about it for weeks. In fact, he made a sand angel on the beach in Florida a couple weeks ago because we hadn't had any snow! I think I would like to go back to the beach now! :o)

And in other news, we are on the final countdown for Asa's arrival! My surgery is scheduled for Jan 25th at 12:30 PM! My Mom and Dad are coming up on the 23rd to help us get ready and to stay with Anson and Ella while I am in the hospital. I am so grateful for their help!!! And then Dusty's parents will be coming the next weekend to take over helping! Thank you everyone for your help in advance!! We can't wait to meet our new son! I think he is going to be another big one although everyone seems to think I don't look as big as I was with the other two. I think Asa's position has something to do with that... he is technically "breech" right now. They are going to check his position tomorrow because at this point he probably does not have enough room to turn "head down" . Not that it matters because I'm scheduled for a C Section anyway. :o) I will keep you posted on his arrival and post some pics as soon as I get them!

New Members of the Family!

2009-12-21T13:46:00.005-05:00

Zachary David Reed

Naomi Faye Rollins

This morning at 7:57, my sister Aly gave birth to her 6th child!!! Zachary David was 9 pounds 2 ounces and 21 inches long! He is such a cutie! I am a blessed lady to have a new niece and nephew all in the same month! Brittany and Jared had Naomi Faye on December 7th and she weighed 9 pounds 3 ounces! Big babies just run in both sides of the family I guess! Both babies arrived 1 week early to the delight of their mommies and both are doing well! Congratulations Jared and Brittany and Brad and Alyson! Aren't these babies beautiful??

Shepherds watching over their flocks by night...

2009-12-16T14:09:00.004-05:00

Anson made his spectacular debut as a musician/actor on Sunday night! He and all the four-year-olds at our church were sheep in the nativity program! I would love to say that he stole the show with his singing and doing all the correct hand motions, but it was quite the opposite! It was all pretty funny, actually... when they were supposed to stand, he crawled around the feet of his peers. And when they were supposed to say their scripture passage with hand motions, he continued to look in the wrong direction and do nothing. But, hey! He was there with a happy heart, a great attitude, and had a great time! When I asked him what his favorite part was, he said "Singing all the songs!" I guess God can hear the songs we sing "in our heart", too! :o) So we will be working on some things, like watching the teacher and doing what he is supposed to do... he is definitely an individual! :o)

Anson and Ella

2009-12-10T09:56:00.003-05:00

Here are some pics of their new bunk beds!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-10T09:43:00.007-05:00

I have been a blog slacker for the past month! I will try catch everyone up with a couple posts...

Thanksgiving was great here! Both sets of grandparents came to visit us as well as Auntie Megan and Uncle Gavin and Megan's friend Whitney. We had 11 people for Thanksgiving dinner! My parents stayed for the weekend (Dusty's went to their cabin then back to FL) and we went to Stone Mountain for the Christmas festivities! There were tons of lights and a train ride around the mountain and food! It was a fun way to start the Christmas season. On Saturday we celebrated Christmas with my parents since they are going to be in Maine with Aly's family for the real Christmas. (Hopefully Aly's baby boy will decide to come before Christmas!) So there were tons of presents to open and we all had so much fun! One of their presents was a new bunk bed that my parents made!! Anson and Ella are officially sharing a room now and they LOVE their new beds! Sharing is going pretty well, although I separate them at nap time so Ella can actually rest. She gets distracted with all the toys! So that was our Thanksgiving in a nutshell! We just love this time of year!

Disney World!

2009-11-14T23:07:00.011-05:00

Two weeks ago on our Florida trip we took the kids for their first visit to Disney World! Most of Dusty's family went with us and we had such a great time! The kids were really good all day... no melt downs from being over stimulated or over tired, good attitudes, and smiles all day! Here are a few pictures from the day:

Fall Leaves

2009-11-11T16:22:00.002-05:00

Ella has really enjoyed collecting the beautiful leaves this year. These are a few from her collection! I'm hoping the rain will stop so we can get out and take some more leaf pictures before they are gone! I will also post our Disney pictures soon!

Florida Fun

2009-10-31T20:56:00.008-04:00

My budding musician... composing music.

Ella is proud of her new sunglasses!

Well, we made it to FL! Anson, Ella and I drove down yesterday to my parents house in DeLand. Last night I took Anson to his first concert! We went to hear the Stetson Orchestra! Anson LOVED it! He stayed awake throught the first piece (Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suite) but fell asleep during the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 performed by David Bjella - awesome! Sitting in the audience instead of being on stage was weird but really neat to experience with my little boy! Plus I forgot how hard the seats are in Elizabeth Hall! :o) But Anson loved it and it was worth it. Today he played my parents piano and had to write his own music like the musicians had last night. :o)

Today's highlights were lunch at Bellini's and the Fall Festival at my parents church. Anson and Ella both loved playing the carnival games for candy and jumping in the bounce house. Anson got a strike in pumpkin bowling! He also had a whale painted on his face, which he loved. Ella loved the food, especially. She had an icee and some cotton candy (very little) and a couple bites of a hot dog. Gramma and Papa had to work at the food booths but Auntie Amy and Uncle Andy came to join the fun! I had two tired little children by 7:30 so we were home and in bed by 8:00.

Thanks to Dusty lending me his laptop for the trip, I am able to update this while we are away. More to come!

A Sweet Little Rascal

2009-10-25T20:32:00.006-04:00

The fall colors are here!
Look Mommy! A squirrel!

Ella and Anson enjoying a cup of hot chocolate

Ella has been in a "big girl bed" for about a month now and she loves it! It took about a week for her to get used to it... one night I heard a muffled cry at about two in the morning and she had actually fallen asleep with her head under the bed and woke up and freaked out! Now, when I go to bed I look in to make sure she is in bed and not under it! A couple times I have found her on the floor beside the bed or kneeling, with just her upper body on the bed. Funny! So going to sleep in the toddler bed is going well, however when she wakes up and decides to roam around her room, she usually gets into mischief. Just when I think I have removed every potential mess-maker from her reach she finds (or invents) something new! One day she used her rocking horse as a stool to reach the baby powder and diaper cream. Her room smelled like a clean baby's bottom! But then came last Sunday... I opened the door to find that she had taken off her poopy diaper and walked through it!!!! YUK!!!! I just stood there in silence, not knowing where to begin! She had literally walked all over her room on her nice cream colored carpet. So I threw her in the tub and when she was clean I started working on the room. Dusty and I were runnning around cleaning when we realized that she had disappeared again... this time, with her new-found stealth abilities, she had pulled a stool up to the kitchen counter, opened up a new box of hot chocolate and helped herself to a couple packets. She, the counter, and the floor were covered in chocolate dust! So back to the tub went Ella as her mother slowly went insane! This all happenned in a matter of minutes! She has a gift of making messes! And she does it with the cutest smile on her face. She has taken this two-year-old stage to a new level for our family. I don't think Anson ever did anything like this. So for now, all stools are out of reach and Ella is watched like a hawk. I really comtemplated placing a bell on her neck because she just sneaks around so quietly. She also does really sweet things like asking to kiss "Mommy's baby" every night before bed, wrapping up her baby dolls in a blanket and telling us to be quiet because they are sleeping, saying thank you all the time without having to be reminded, and giving hugs and kisses when you least expect it. So she's a sweet little rascal indeed and we can't imagine life without her!

Another trip to Dillard House

2009-10-14T15:25:00.009-04:00

The beginnings of some fall colors
What a smile!

Ella feeding the goat that escaped

The donkey has a nice style!

The little stow-away about to make his escape!

And the bull's big ol' tongue!

Two monkeys

We love going to the Dillard House in North GA, especially during the fall. The restaurant serves a huge family style Southern meal right to your table and the view of the mountains is amazing! The kids favorite part is going out back to the little farm/zoo where you can feed the animals. They have goats, chickens, a donkey, a llama, some sheep, some rare breed cattle, and horses. This trip to see the animals was hilarious! Firstly, Dusty discovered that when you feed the Texan longhorn, he sticks his huge tongue out to get the food! The donkey preferred to open his jaws wide and askew and show all his teeth. But the young goat was the most clever. He hopped from the rock he was perched on right onto the longhorn's back and got a free ride around the pen! The cow didn't seem to mind which made me think it was a common occurrence. And then just as the big cow got close enough to the fence, the little goat jumped right out and proceeded to stuff himself with the food that was dropped just over the fence and out of all the other animal's reach. It was the cutest thing! Of course Anson and Ella loved having the little goat to chase around. It was a fun way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Lobster Dinner

2009-10-09T19:27:00.010-04:00

Touching the lobster for the first time
He was big!

Notice how my handy apron hides my big belly!

Chef Anson

The finished product!

Enjoying the meal!

Ella warned him! Can you see the shiner under his left eye?

Actually it wasn't inflicted by Ella, but by the ottoman in the living room!

Today, Dusty brought home a 2 pound live Maine lobster from the Farmers Market! The kids went crazy! They loved touching it and watching it swim around in the sink while I prepared the pot of his doom. Actually, you can see by the picture that he was so big, he took up the entire sink (the smaller side). Once the water came to a rolling boil it was time to make him turn red. I placed him claws-first into the pot of water and sea salt and let the kiddos watch him turn that nice red-orange color. It was quite a memorable experience and neither of them seemed too sad that we "killed" the lobster. They were excited to taste him! A couple years ago Target had all this lobster feast stuff in their dollar section and I bought one of everything they had with the intentions of having a lobster party. Well it may have just been the four of us, but we made it a party! Anson had fun helping me set out everything on the table while we cooked dinner. When the lobster was done, Dusty had the honors of of getting all the meat out and eating most of it! Anson ate some and really liked it, too. Ella wasn't interested at all. And me, well, I had a nice spinach walnut salad with raspberry vinagarette dressing since I'm not supposed to have shellfish while pregnant! :o( Maybe next time!

By the way, if you've never cooked a lobster, it's easy!

Here are the directions I used:

Half fill a large kettle with water and add 1/4 cup of sea salt.

Cover and bring to a boil.

Grasp the lobster firmly by the middle of the back (see my awesome example above! :o) with claws held away.

Plunge them head first into the boiling water

Cover. Begin the timer when the water is again at a boil.

Cook 10 -15 minutes for 1 - 2 pound lobster.

Overcooking toughens meat.

Plunge cooked lobster directly into cold water for 1 minute to stop the cooking process.

(I fill my sink with cold water)

Take the lobster out of the water and let it drain for a few seconds and place on platter.

Twist off large claws and pull tail from body section. Discard entire body - no meat there.

Make a slit down underside of tail and serve with melted butter.

See? Easy!!

Dusty likes his served with garlic mashed potatoes but tonight we settled for yellow squash and spinach salad.

Parenting By The Book

2009-10-03T08:45:00.002-04:00

I am reading the best book with my Mom to Mom group at church. It is by John Rosemond - a long time syndicated columnist on parenting and psychologist - and most recently a Christian, hence the title of the book. It is great to hear his frank words on how so much of the "psychology" of raising children that came out of the sixties free-thinking era is a bunch of "doo dah"!!
For instance, What is self esteem? Good for your child, right? REALLY?? God says that the proud will be humbled. What we should desire for our children is a humble heart, not a proud, "self-loving" spirit. Besides, the psychologist in John says that people with high self esteem often have terrible trouble dealing with any failure in life because they have been built up so much by well-meaning parents/teachers. How much better to teach them to rely on God for strength and not on "their own inner strength". Who would you rather have as a friend, someone with high self-esteem or someone with a humble spirit? Just some thoughts...
But here is a funny quote (of which there are many funny parts of the book, too, not just the heavy stuff :o)
"God in His infinite mercy has distinguished us from animals in many ways, but one of the most significant to our discussion: He has not allowed human offspring to grow to full size in one or two years. Imagine the consequence to the mother who denies her five-foot-ten-inch-tall, 165 pound two year old child a cookie before dinner. Not a pretty picture! God is good!" :o) :o)

Sometimes there are days that I feel like all I do is yell "No... Stop that..." etc. At the end of the day I feel like a "big meanie". I don't know how any mother could be as loving and patient as all the great moms you read about in the books. But I just heard an encouraging story about Ruth Graham (You know, Billy's wife...) and her daughter. Her daughter was feeling like I do a lot of the time and asked her mom "How were you able to be so patient and loving and kind while raising all of us? You never lost your temper!" to which Ruth replied "I just prayed every day that God would erase those memories from your minds and by His grace, He DID!"

So there is my new prayer! That God would erase all those impatient, "mean Mommy" memories from their little minds! :o)

Well, Dusty is teaching a seminar at church today so the kids and I are off to the mall! Let's hope we don't have any memory-erasing moments today! :o)

Our Little Preacher

2009-09-30T14:42:00.005-04:00

I was happy to catch this one on video! So many times they will say or do something cute or funny and I can't find my camera... but this time I heard Anson say "Come sit down, Ella. I'm going to read you a Bible story". That was my cue to get my camera. (Notice Ella holding her baby :o) He has come a long way in his story telling since this post in April of 08! I have a feeling that Ella (and Asa) will be preached at a lot throughout the years!

Anson and Ella do get along pretty well most of the time but they are also starting to realize that they can bug each other. Like today in the van, Ella was making a spitting sound with her mouth and Anson asked her to stop. First he asked nicely, "Please stop that Ella". When she did it again and again with a little smirk on her face it escalated to a "STOP IT, ELLA!" Of course that is when I get involved with a "Both of you stop!" followed by a short speech about doing things that make each other happy instead of mad. They will get it one day. They may be 23 and 25 but they won't irritate each other as much! :o)

The Maine Crew

2009-09-18T20:34:00.005-04:00

This is a recent picture of my sweet nieces and nephew in Maine. For some reason (or 5 of them!) Aly doesn't get the time to send pics very often let alone time to do a blog! :o) And just imagine that there is one more on the way to make it an even 6! They found out that their newest addition is also a boy and due around Christmas!! So I am earnestly looking for little boy sewing patterns and cute boyish material. Fun! On top of being a (pregnant) full-time Mom of 5, Aly is also homeschooling all the kids. It makes me tired just to think about it! :o) They live in Beautiful Bass Harbor, Maine.

In the picture: Rachel (11) Rebekah (almost 10) Emily (almost 2) Laura (almost 7) and Joshua (5 1/2)

World, Meet Asa! ..............It's a BOY!!!!

2009-09-15T17:45:00.006-04:00

Well, I guess the Lord really did speak to Anson! I went for our untrasound today and the first thing I saw on the screen was the second picture... he was showing off his little boy parts! :o) I said "Oh, it's a boy!!!" The ultrasound technician was impressed that I saw it right away and concurred! It is a good thing we saw that first because for the rest of the time he had his legs crossed at the knees and had his hands over his face. I think he wanted us to leave him alone! :o) He is very healthy and everything is where it is supposed to be developmentally. So today we are praising God for another son! We are naming him Asa Leslie... Asa is a Biblical name and he is in the lineage of Christ (He was a good king of Judah) and Leslie is my grandfather's name, my father's name and my middle name! Anson was very excited and enjoyed calling people to tell them "we're going to have a baby boy!" Ella is excited too but can't put it into words quite yet. :o)

Ella's Birthday

2009-09-13T23:06:00.005-04:00

Anson helped me make and decorate the cake!
Ella clapping at her birthday song!

"I'm two now!"

After clebrating her birthday twice in Florida a couple weeks ago, Ella finally had her "real" birthday yesterday! It was just the four of us, one cake, and one present and she loved it! She loved us singing to her when we brought out the cake and she loved her present too so it was a fun time! Thanks for all the "Happy Birthday" phone calls! She learned by the second or third call to say "thank you" after someone sang to her! :o)

Happy Birthday Ella!

2009-09-12T15:12:00.008-04:00

Almost 2!

1 Year Old

1 Week Old

Happy Birthday Ella!! We can't believe that she is two already! She is such a sweet little girl with such a fun spirit. We are very proud of her and know that God has such special plans for her life! Have a happy birthday, little princess! We love you!

My Labor of Labor Day

2009-09-07T19:11:00.005-04:00

Dusty and I thought that it was finally time to have living room curtains! We've only lived here 5 years! So I went to the fabric store on Saturday morning and bought the fabric and cut out the curtains. I sewed one pair on Saturday and the other two today! Anson helped me hang the curtain rods and Ella even helped me sew a little this morning! She likes to press the foot pedal! I think it gives our living room a warmer feel to have curtains and not just the blinds.

Today Anson helped me fold the clothes - on his own volition! And then later informed me that he would like "Subway" sandwiches for dinner with all the "gredients"! Ella told me today that she saw "two owls tee" which means two owls in the tree, and prayed for Mommy's baby at bedtime. How sweet! This was after she had to be spanked twice at dinner for standing in her chair and throwing her food! :o) Ah, the give and take! The picture above is Anson and Ella with bubble beards in the tub...

We're a Minivan Family Now!

2009-09-03T19:44:00.003-04:00

Here is the new addition to our family! It's not brand new but it is new to us... and it is paid for! How much better could it get? We have been looking online for a couple months so we knew what we wanted. And after riding in Jared and Brittany's and Chad and Amber's Siennas, we just had to go get one for ourself. The paint combo matches our Lexus car exactly so now we have a matched pair just like Jared and Brittany! :o) Anson and Ella love it too. So now we are ready for baby #3.
And speaking of baby #3, we find out on September 15th wether it is a boy or a girl so we can start calling them by their name! I am so excited to find out!

Florida Fun

2009-09-01T14:32:00.017-04:00

Ella helped Gramma with the dishes!
Blowing (or dumping out!) bubbles at Amy's house

Anson and "buddy" the frog at Amy's house

Ella, James, and Charlotte - cousins!

At Silver Springs

Silver Springs - the water looked blue it was so clear!

The girls in their matching dresses taking a ride in PaPaw's wheelchair

Big ol' gator at Silver Springs

Tired Baby James

Tired Charlotte

Tired Ella

Tired Toto!! :o)

We just got back from a very fun trip to Florida! The kids and I went down last Friday and spent a week in DeLand with my parents. We went to visit Auntie Amy, did a lot of swimming in Gramma and Papa's pool, roamed around DeLand, did some shopping, and got to rest too! Anson enjoyed going to the barber shop with his Papa and then going for a treat at the doughnut shop! Dusty flew into Jacksonville on Thursday and we were soooooo happy to see him! He had been in New Jersey for two weeks with one of his painting crews. We are so thankful that he usually doesn't have to travel because none of us enjoyed having him gone! On Friday we went to Melrose to see all the Rollins'! Jared, Brittany, and Charlotte (and baby Naomi, still in utero!) cam Friday also and we all enjoyed visiting. Ella and Charlotte are so cute together. They walked around hugging and holding hands! Then bright and early Saturday morning (really, 5:45 am is pretty early!) Chad and Amber joined us and we all went tubing down the Itchatukcnee River! It was a such a beautiful day and we all had a lot of fun. Ella and Charlotte stayed home with Charlotte's grandma but Anson came and had a fun time! We all rented rafts instead of tubes because the spring water was freezing cold! But the scenery was gorgeous! I wish I could have taken pictures. We saw turtles, ducks, cormorants, and even saw an osprey dive down and catch a fish! Then we ate lunch in Lake City and went to see Chad and Amber's new house and office! They plan to move there in a month to be close to Chad's new office. When we got back to Melrose, all the guys played a soccer game and exhausted themselves. Anson was so proud to be included in the soccer game this time! He is really growing up!

Then on Sunday morning we all went to Silver Springs park! Silver Springs is home to the famous glass-bottomed boats. We took a couple boat tours over the Silver River and saw lots of fish, birds, and turtles and even a few gators. We went to a couple shows where Anson was not shy to ask questions! In the reptile show he asked the man "What do alligators say?" and he proceeded to make a pretty large alligator hiss unhappily! It was great! And then in the snake show he raised his hand and said "That sure is a beautiful yellow snake!"... more of a comment than a question but that's OK! :o)

Then on Monday morning we headed back to Atlanta, and here we are! Now I need to go through all the pics I took and find a few to post here!

16 Weeks!

2009-08-16T13:53:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I turned 16 weeks pregnant and it seems like my tummy just popped right out there! I am still tired every afternoon but not as bad as a few weeks ago. Other than that, I have been blessed with another smooth pregnancy! Anson noticed my belly getting bigger and the other night when I was tucking him into bed we had this dialogue:

"Mommy, your baby is really getting bigger! Is it a boy or a girl?"

"I don't know yet... only God knows right now!"

Anson to God: "God, is it a boy or a girl?" *pregnant pause*

"Yes! God told me it's a boy! I'm so excited we're having a boy!!"

So there you have it! God told Anson it's a boy! We will know in a few weeks! :o)

I Love Daddy!

2009-08-14T08:00:00.004-04:00

Ella loves her Daddy! Could you tell? :o)

Yummy Krispy Kreme!

2009-08-10T09:06:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we went to the Krispy Kreme "factory" for a treat! There is a big window where you can watch the doughnuts get made by a huge automated machine. Pretty interesting. Although the kids favorite part was eating a sprinkle covered doughnut and sharing Mommy's orange freeze! (That was Anson's idea to get another straw and have Daddy take our picture! Can you see his arm around me? So sweet. :o)

Crabs or Frogs anyone?

2009-08-05T20:51:00.004-04:00

Today we ate at our favorite Malaysian restaurant, Penang. We are going to have to start ordering more food because Anson and Ella both like it now! They both love the satay chicken and roti canai, and of course the pulut hitam (sweet black rice with hot coconut milk) for dessert. After eating there, it is our tradition to go to the Asian market next door to see the sights. They have pigs and ducks hanging in a case by the front door! Then in the back they have all the fresh seafood... catfish and tilapia swimming in tanks, live blue crabs in a stainless steel tub, snails in a plastic bucket, and our favorite (which we saw for the first time today)... "lide frogs!" Gotta love the asian art of spelling words how they pronounce them... I think they meant "live frogs". :o)

Ella was a little grossed out by the crabs at first (or was it the overall putrid smell of the seafood section?) But she and Anson love going there so we continue the tradition!

Here are a few pics we took on Dusty's phone...

Questions, Questions, Questions

2009-08-04T19:37:00.004-04:00

Anson is full of questions! All day, every day, 365 days a year! From the time he wakes up until I close his door at night, he does not stop talking! I am very thankful for this (most of the time :o) because I never have to wonder what he is thinking about. But other times, I am shameful to admit, I tire of the questions! Don't worry, I try my best to answer each one and when I don't know, I use my stock answer of "Because that's how God made it!"

Here is a sample of recent questions:

Why are Brachiosaurus' so tall?

Why does that man have a hat on?

Why do Moose's like to live in Canada?

Can we go to Antarctica? (Well, Uncle Jared, you have at least ONE taker on that trip! :o)

When can we go to Heaven?

Why can't I hear God talk?

Are they calling for rain today?

How did the baby get into your tummy? (Go ask Daddy!)

Other recent musings, not necessarily questions:

Look, Mommy! I'm so excited! That lady must be having a new baby too! Look at her big tummy! (said in a loud whisper in reference to a rather large woman behind us in line!)

I think you just went through a red light!

That car broke God's rules and now they have to pay a ticket! (someone pulled over by the police)

When I am 16 years old I am going to go to work with Daddy everyday!

Mommy! I just ran all the way to the fence and back in 2 days! Do I get a trophy?

We are thankful for our inquisitive little guy! :o)

Puddle Jumper

2009-08-03T09:50:00.006-04:00

Wouldn't it be nice to take time to jump in puddles? If there is water anywhere, Ella will find it! First she stomped in the puddle... then she splashed in it with her hands... then she sat right in it... finally she took off her shoes to experience it fully! What a funny girl! Then, of course, came the bath!

The Great Strawberry Caper!

2009-07-29T08:38:00.004-04:00

We went to the farmers market yesterday and bought a bunch of goodies. I was tired from the outing, so when we got home I layed down on the couch for a few minutes while my two little angels played quietly in the living room. :o) I heard a noise in the kitchen and realized Ella was MIA. I asked Anson to go see what she was doing... I assumed she was playing in her favorite drawer or cabinet. He called out, "She's OK Mommy! She's just eating strawberries!" I jumped up to find her with her turtle stool pulled from the bathroom and placed right in front of the stove where I had put all the bags from the market! She had helped herself to a single bite out of 11 huge strawberries! She had strawberry juice all down the front of her, in her hair, on the stove and on the floor below her! I guess they were good and juicy! I just had to laugh!

Anson and Ella

2009-07-13T21:33:00.006-04:00

I keep this blog because I am horrible at keeping a journal! So this post is an update on all things Anson and Ella...

Anson: 4 years old, 39 pounds, 41 1/2 inches tall

Anson still loves his blue elephant and makes up elaborate stories about him. (I just performed minor surgery on Elephant and re-stuffed him! He was completely flat!) It is amazing how much Elephant and Anson have in common! :o) Elephant just had a baby that Anson "takes care of" and makes sure he's tucked into bed with them at night. Tonight at dinner, elephant's mom baked us a berry pie for dessert! He is really into making forts now and his favorite place is under the dining room table. He brings tons of toys under there and will play in there for hours!

He had his four year check-up last week and had to get 4 shots. He was so brave and didn't even cry! He told the nurse, "Ouch! That really hurt!" As if to say, "How dare you?"

He loves to pretend he's a lion or a cat or a mean dinosaur. He would like a baby bird as a pet. When we told him the baby bird would grow up, he said we could let him fly home to his family and get another baby bird! He always has an answer for everything! He can write his name now! The letters are not always in the right order but they are all there! - semantics. He can count to 20 and usually leaves out 14 and 17. He can say and recognize the ABC's. He would like to name his new baby brother or sister "Rudolph" - which is his all-time favorite song! To Anson, anything in the past happened "yesterday" and anything in the future is "tomorrow". He loves going to the park and zoo and pool. At his four year old check-up he told his doctor that he can even swim backwards! (He can't :o) He loves playing with "fake food". His friend Sagan has pretend food and little dishes and that is what he plays with everytime we go there. And in Maine, he played with his cousins' miniature Barbie-sized food and carried them around in a little tiny suitcase. At Gramma and Papa's house he loves playing with our old miniature dishes sets. He also loves his trains and cars and animals. When asked what he wants to be, he says "the ice cream" man everytime. He knows 42 of his catechism questions and can tell you that sin is "any lack of conformity to, or transgression of the law of God" and the scary part is I think he really knows what that means! :o) He could technically start Pre-K in a month but I am going to "teach" him at home. He will shout from the back seat of the car at random times "Mommy, you just went through a red light!" and scare me half to death! Usually he's looking out the side window and sees the other light... He can be pretty moody when he wakes from his nap - which now is about every other day. He stays in his room for the whole 2 hours but sometimes he plays instead of sleeps. He is learning how to tattle on Ella - and unfortuantely there is a lot to tattle about.

So on to Ella! (22 Months, about 28 pounds, 34 inches tall.) She is really coming into her own! She has a very sweet spirit and loves caring for her baby dolls. She learned to wrap them up in blankets and will carry them around like that, usually with a bag over her sholder. She now has quite a vocabulary, too! Some of her favorites are "I do!" and "Hold me", followed by baby, Mommy, Daddy, EE, (She calls Anson EE now which is what he used to call himself!) mine, pool, book, hi, bye, uh-oh, happy, ti ti, more, and bowl. She loves to tackle Anson and sit on top of him, which makes him squeal at a barely audible pitch! She will sneak in and turn off the TV right in the middle of his favorite show. She wants to do anything and everything Anson does...And when I tell her no, she puts her head down and runs to her room! Sometimes she cries, sometimes it's just a silent rebellion. :o) She LOVES shoes. Who ever has left their shoes in her reach, she puts them on! She can actually put her own shoes on the correct feet more often than Anson! She also loves the potty. She will come take my hand and say "Ti Ti" and wants to go sit on the potty. She hasn't actually done anything in the potty yet but at least she's practicing! I have hope that maybe she'll be potty trained before baby #3 comes! She loves to smile and uses it as a tactic with her father! It's hard to discipline a "smiling little cutie"! She now successfully wears pig-tails! - another favorite of Dusty's. And now for the "dark side" of Ella... she will stick out her tongue and spit at Anson when she's mad. A couple weeks ago she went through a biting spree - she would only bite Anson and it was usually on his back or sholder. Ouch! It seems to have gone away(after much prayer!) and now she just sticks her tongue out at him! Progress. That pretty much sums up my little princess in a nutshell. But then again they change everyday so stay tuned! :o)

Independence Day

2009-07-04T22:56:00.003-04:00

We had a great time celebrating America's birthday today! Anson and Ella loved eating dinner outside and shooting off a few fireworks in the broad daylight - it didn't matter to them! But as we were wrapping up our outside activities, I got a call from my sister Aly. I had been expecting this call for a couple days now and it finally came. My Aunt Becky, who we just visited in Maine, has gone home to be with the Lord. Today was HER Independence Day. A little over a year ago she had major surgery for colon cancer that the doctors were reluctant to do because of the failing condition of her liver. Amazingly, she came throught the surgery and God gave her one more year with us. When we were in Maine, she received the news from her doctors that she was now experiencing kidney failure. Dialysis was not an option. We were blessed to have a nice visit with her in some of her last "good" days. She was able to see Anson and Ella and we discovered that our baby #3 is due on her birthday, January 3oth! But tonight at 6:15 she left this world, surrounded by her family, and is now surrounded by the angels rejoicing in Heaven!
When I told Anson the news (and he remembers just meeting her) he said, "But It's OK because she's with Jesus now, right?" What a kid.
Becky was married to my Mom's brother David. Together they served the Lord in Ecuador for the better part of the 70's and 80's with Wycliffe Bible Translators. And for the past year my Uncle Dave has been her sole caretaker. I know he is exhausted but God has given him strength - he would do anything for her. Please keep the family in your prayers.

Baby Rollins #3!

2009-06-30T08:33:00.003-04:00

Here he or she is! The heartbeat was very strong and he/she was wiggling all over the place!! It was so nice to see our baby! If you can tell from little peanut's picture, the leg buds are on the left, then the tummy, then arm buds, and then the head! This is at 9 weeks and 2 days. The doctor confirmed my due date of January 30th and will schedule the c section 1 week early. I still do not wish to take the risks of a VBAC after 2 c-sections and they concurred. So we're all set! We are very thankful to God for another smooth pregnancy so far! He is really blessing our entire family with new life!

Our Maine Trip

2009-06-29T23:08:00.022-04:00

Excited to see the plane come! They did great on the plane! Ella had her moments but over all it was good.
Our gang on top of Cadillac Mountain (overlooking Bar Harbor)

Anson - King of Cadillac!

The kids in Bar Harbor

Ella and Emily! They were so cute together. They would run around holding hands and squealing!

The adorable little town of Somesville

Maine Lupine in bloom- these wild purple flowers were everywhere!

The footbridge in Somesville

Aly's pond - she lives on 5 acres in Bass Harbor and this pond is just down her driveway a bit.

Ella with a mouthful of wild strawberries! She loved them!

Anson and Joshua playing with Joshua's trains... they would disappear for an hour and we would find them here!

Bass Harbor- it rained all but the first day of our trip! But we had a great time anyway!

Southwest Harbor - at the lobster wharf.

Anson eating some of Gramma's lobster roll! He loved it!

The marsh near Aly's town

Ella, enjoying the Oceanarium through her eyelids :o)

Anson holding a horseshoe crab at the Oceanarium- he touched and held everything!

Aly is 5 weeks "more pregnant" than me... we were comparing baby bumps! :o)

Me, Mom and Aly on Aly's porch.

Happy 4th Birthday Anson!

2009-06-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

3 rd Birthday
Second Birthday

First Birthday

His real birthday!

This is one of my favorite poems and I couldn't wait until Anson was four to use it!

Time is of the Essence
(Irene Foster)

Now is the time to get things done...

Wade in the water,

Sit in the sun,

Squish my toes in the mud by the door

Explore the world with a boy just four.

Now is the time to study books,

Flowers, Snails, How a cloud looks.

To ponder "up," Where God sleeps nights,

Why mosquitoes take such big bites.

Later there'll be time to sew and clean

Paint the hall that soft new green,

To make new drapes, refinish the floor,

Later on...When he's not just four.

Happy Birthday little buddy! We love you!

Off to Maine via Florida!

2009-06-14T20:36:00.002-04:00

I can't believe that two weeks have flown by and we are going on our trip! We are going to DeLand tomorrow morning and flying out from Sanford airport on Wednesday morning. We will get to Bangor, ME around lunch time on Wednesday! Anson is so excited! He keeps asking me "Do we leave TODAY?" I will miss doing a post on Anson's birthday, which is Wednesday so I'll try to sneak one in soon for his special fourth Birthday! I can't believe that he is 4 already! It seems just like yesterday I brought that little pink-faced bundle home from the hospital and wondered, "OK, what do I do now!" ;o) I guess we're doing pretty well four years later. He is such a great kid... full of energy and wonder and questions and even his own answers! We gave him his birthday present last night and it is a miniature horse stable with three horses, a race track, and some fencing. The stable has sky lights over where the horses sleep. At bed time, Anson shared this concern with me...
"Mommy, are they calling for rain tonight? Because I'm worried that the horses will get wet in their beds with those holes in their ceilings!"
I assured him that it would not rain and the horses would be fine.
"Well are they calling for just sunshine then?"
Again I said yes and that satisfied his mind. :o) The horses slept fine and so did Anson.

Week Update

2009-06-01T20:28:00.007-04:00

We went to the zoo today with a Sarah, a friend of mine from church, and her son Chandler. The kids enjoyed eating their bananas in front of the gorillas!

Anson and Ella as baby birds - in the giant life-size nest.

Ella crawled up into our bed and covered herself up like this... all by herself! :o)

Cooling off with ice pops and a dip in the baby pool!

Just playing around outside...

My first week officially pregnant went well! No signs of morning sickness yet! I think with Anson and Ella it showed up around 6 or 7 weeks and I'm just 5 weeks now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

On Friday we went to the Farmer's Market and bought some of the first peaches of summer. They were really small but very sweet and juicy! Ella helped herself to an apple and the nice man just gave it to her. He said he always wanted a little girl to spoil but he only had sons. :o)Anson loves watching the airplanes fly overhead while we are at the market. It is very near the airport and on Friday it was particularly busy.

Speaking of airplanes, on Friday we also booked air tickets to go to Maine to see Aly! Dusty couldn't go because of his busy summer schedule but Anson and Ella and I will drive down to FL and fly up with my Mom and Dad. Amy found us round trip tickets from Sanford direct to Bangor for $88!!!!!!! Can you believe it? It was too good to pass up and worth the drive to FL! Now I just pray that Ella does well on the plane! Anson will be entertained/entertaining but Ella... well I just hope we have nice people sitting around us! :o) She is definitely going into her "two's" and has found her will. If she wants something and you tell her no, she protests... and not silently! Yikes! We are just so excited to see Aly and her family that it will all be worth it! Keep us in your prayers on June 17th! Yes, we are flying out on Anson's 4th birthday! I can't believe that he is already going to be 4! He acts so grown up one minute and so silly the next. He keeps it fresh! :o) His vocabulary is growing daily... last week he told me that he couldn't wait for the baby to "arrive"!

And speaking of babies, I'm not the only one pregnant in our family! Aly is pregnant with baby #6!!!! It was a surprise for them but they are very excited! And she and I are due a month apart! She is due on December 28th (Jared's Birthday!) and I am due on January 30th! And Brittany is due the second week of December (I can't remember the exact date)! Lots of babies this winter! How fun!

And lastly, don't forget to check my sewing blog for the free give-away this week! It's a cute summer tote bag!

A Reward From Him!

2009-05-25T15:57:00.002-04:00

We are very excited to announce that we are going to have another baby! We found out Saturday morning and can not keep it a secret! The approximate due date is January 30th. Please add this new little one to your prayer list!

Anson had such a fun time calling his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and saying "Guess What? Mommy is going to have a new baby! " It was so precious. He was genuinely excited!

The way we told my parents was pretty cool... I just set up a new blog for them (as a surprise) with pictures of some of their awesome wooden toys and other items. The first post on the page was, "Arin is Pregnant!" So not only were they surprised by their new blog, but by news of another grandchild too! Stop by their blog and look at their great stuff...
www.campwoodworking.com. I have it set up more like a brochure so that they don't have to keep up with comments. It's a start!

Have a Happy Memorial Day!

What a beautiful day!

2009-05-20T15:07:00.006-04:00

Our picnic in the backyard today.

What'll ya have? Hot dogs and fries at the Varsity! Yum!

Watching the 16 lanes of traffic whiz by in Downtown Atlanta - by the Varsity!

I think this match was won by Ella!

Spring definitely came in like a lion back in March when we had snow and hail storms, but it appears that it will be "out like a lamb". We are having some very beautiful weather now and we are going to take advantage of it! We ate our lunch outside today as Anson enjoys a good picnic. And in a few minutes we'll be off to the zoo for a couple hours.

And for some recent musings...my little princess Ella is getting some attitude! She has stuck her bottom lip out more than a few times, crossed her arms, and downright cried when I told her "no"! I have to catch myself and not laugh in front of her but it is so funny! Yesterday she was "helping" me in my office and was determined to type on my computer. After a few "no-no's" from Mommy, I finally (very gently) popped her on the hand. Well, you would have thought I had tried to pull her hair out the way she screamed! Not so funny! She turned around and sat under my desk and wouldn't look at me! After spending a little quality time with Mommy in her room (accompanied by the "we don't talk to Mommy that way" and "God loves it when we obey" speaches) she was happy and sweet again! Discipline is a good, good, thing!

OK, off to the zoo!

Don't forget to leave a comment on my Give-Away post on my sewing blog! Many thanks to you all for spreading the word and commenting! You have until Friday, so tell your friends!

Give Away Time!

2009-05-18T17:07:00.003-04:00

As you know, I just launched a new blog about sewing and have a few posts up so far. There are many more to come... but I wanted to do my first give-away! So click here to go to Easy Sewing Tips and leave a comment to enter to win a cute little zippered bag! If you link to the article through your blog you will get an extra entry! Thank you to everyone who has left comments! I was able to work some kinks out of the new blog program and it was fun to hear from everyone!! Have a great one and I hope you win!!

Arin

The Ice Cream Man

2009-05-14T21:33:00.002-04:00

Gavin came through Atlanta this week and it was great to see him! Anson woke him up at 6:30 am and not me! Thanks Gavin! Anson and Gavin were talking and Gavin asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. Without hesitation, Anson replied "an ice cream man!" Hey, you gotta aim high! :o)

Thanks to everyone who has taken a look at my new blog! I have been able to tweek things thanks to all of you! Keep the comments coming! I am learning Wordpress fast and this is helpful! Thanks again and I will let you know ASAP about the big give-away! (have I built it up enough?? :o)

Check Out My New Blog!

2009-05-13T15:42:00.005-04:00

I am playing around with a new blog about sewing! This was actually Dusty's idea! I finally got it up and running and here it is... http://www.easysewingtips.com/ It is mainly for people who have an interest in sewing, are beginners or mid-level, and folks who like simple, fast sewing projects! Please do me a favor and help me work the kinks out. I am running it through Wordpress and am still learning the ins and outs of their blog program. When you have a minute, check out the blog and leave a comment on one of the posts so I can see how the comments work. If it is hard to figure out or hard to leave a comment, please let me know by leaving a comment on this blog! :o) Got all that? I would appreciate any help and suggestions!! Once I get the kinks worked out, hopefully this week, I will launch it with a big give-away! Keep posted and thanks for your help! I will continue to keep up with this blog too!:o)
Love, Arin

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T14:24:00.003-04:00

This is how my day began! Breakfast in bed cooked and served by Dusty and Anson! Dusty went online and found the recipe for Strawberries Romanov and made it himself as a surprise! He even bought sourdough bread for the french toast, which is another favorite of mine! The flower on the tray is from the arrangement that Dusty broght home yesterday. Dusty took care of the kiddos all morning while I ate my yummy breakfast in bed and took a bubble bath! I did receive the royal treatment today and am very blessed to have such a loving, thoughtful husband and 2 great kids! After church we ate at the Penang Restaurant for our favorite Malaysian meal of Roti Canai and Satay Chicken and Pulut Hitam for dessert. Another yum!

Dusty and I want to say a big "THANK YOU" to our Moms... Toni and Gail. Thank you for all the sacrifies you made to make our childhood so great and for all the love that makes us the parents we are today! We love you!

And a special Happy Mother's Day to Keidi Lewis who just gave birth to their second beautiful daughter on Tuesday! It is very nice the way God brought Eliana into the world less than 2 hours after Grandma Rollins left this world. Life is Precious!

St. Johns River Trip

2009-05-09T14:52:00.014-04:00

The Crew! Dusty, Arin, Anson, Mel, Gavin, Toni, Brittany and Jared
At Blue Springs

Dusty cooking the catch of the day!

Our boat

The Blackwater Inn in Astor

Sunrise in our favorite little lagoon.

a moss covered tree... common sight on the river.

An osprey carrying a fish!

Our neighbor in the lagoon

Saw this one as we were cruising by

A gator near our first night's stay

Last weekend we rented a house boat in DeLand, FL and cruised down the St. Johns River! It was the kind of trip that really made you feel like you "got away from it all". We got on the boat Friday afternoon, and after a quick lesson from the marina staff we were Rollin' on the River! We saw tons of alligators, many kinds of birds, beautiful old Florida Live Oak trees eerily covered in hanging moss, turtles, and some other humans too! The first night we tied up to some palm trees on the side of the river in a little inlet called Catfish Bend. We didn't catch any catfish but I did catch the first fish of the trip... a nice little Bluegill! Since I caught the first fish, that motivated the guys to get serious and catch some fish of their own!

Anson had the time of his life! He loved fishing with Daddy and his Uncles, Jared and Gavin. He loved climbing up to the top of the boat, shining the flashlight to see all the gator eyes at night(and there were a lot!) and looking for owls in the trees (didn't see any but we could hear them!). Ella stayed with my parents in DeLand. She wasn't quite old enough to be cooped up in a boat and I didn't want to worry about her flinging herself overboard every second of the trip :o). On Saturday we traveled up river to Astor and ate lunch at the Blackwater Inn. Dusty and I have passed it many times from the road and we finally got to eat there! We had a propeller fixed while we dined and then we were on our way to Blue Springs. We got there in late afternoon and decided to tie off in a little lagoon near by. This ended up to be everyone's favorite stop! It was so serene and quiet, with just the sights and smells of nature. I was a little freaked out going to sleep that night because we had gators all around the boat and I was sure one could climb in my window :o). Well, they didn't and we had a nice quiet night in the lagoon. We did all of our cooking/grilling on the boat and ate very well! One night we had steaks professionally grilled by Mel and the next nigth we had chicken Satay by Brittany! Yum! I made pancakes one morning and dessert the next day.

We all decided that we will definitely do this trip again. We made the mistake of looking at the bigger, more expensive house boats when we got back so we will probably upgrade next time, although ours was perfect this time. It slept 8 but there was only 1 bathroom and 1 real bedroom. The other beds were a double bed bunk bed and a pull out couch. Since we were all family we did not mind the open sleeping arrangement, but the bigger boat has 4 separate beds and 2 baths. Nice!

Check out Jared and Brittany's post about the trip... They are so creative! They even created a trip soundtrack with river songs! :o)

We're Back... and we're gone again!

2009-05-06T08:14:00.005-04:00

The window in the Port Wentworth Church

Grandma being entertained by Anson last week

We got home Monday night from our trip and it was awesome! We had such a great time and I will post stories and pictures soon. However, yesterday we received word that Grandma Rollins went home to be with the Lord. She was ready to go and we are glad that she is no longer in any pain, but walking in Heaven with Jesus! We are going to Savannah this evening and the funeral is on Thursday at 10:00 am. The Port Wentworth Alliance Church is cooking lunch for everyone following the service. We are so grateful to that church for all they have done for Grandma and Bennie over the years! Above is a picture of a stained glass window in their little church dedicated to Grandpa and Grandma Rollins. Uncle Bennie (who is mentally handicapped) is doing well and talked to his Mom just before she died (he went up to Aunt Nancy's in NC). He told her on the phone that she could "go be with Daddy" in heaven. Please pray that this transition for him will be smooth. One thing is for sure, Grandma and Grandpa Rollins left a great legacy of love for Christ. They taught all of their children to love the Lord, who taught all of their children to love Him, and now we are teaching our children. One of Grandma's greatest joys was recounting the fact that all of her children and grandchildren walk with the Lord and have a relationship with with Him. What greater joy could there be when you are getting ready to go to heaven, knowing that all of your family will join you there?

A Week Away

2009-04-25T23:37:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-21T15:50:00.007-04:00

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

2009-04-18T21:05:00.009-04:00

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!

2009-04-12T21:38:00.007-04:00

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

2009-04-11T20:09:00.013-04:00

"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

2009-04-09T14:42:00.007-04:00

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

2009-04-01T21:01:00.005-04:00

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!