The Ice Cream Man

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!

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

Two More Projects Complete

A shirt for Anson "just like Daddy's"

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




Notice the new tags!

My growing girl and week recap

Anson holding the first parakeeet!
He loved it!

Ella tried to touch and kiss the birds!

Her first skinned knee! She took it pretty well!

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

All ready for bed.

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

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

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

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

Happy Easter!

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

Getting into her bag

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

Leaving church...

Ormewood Park Easter Egg Hunt

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

" Go!"

Ella in the 1 year old area!

A little help from Daddy

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

(Anson already has his mouth full!)

Ella's first jelly bean!

The sand-dipped cookie!

Ella's new church bag

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

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

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

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

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