The Rollins Girls' Charleston Weekend

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

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

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

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!

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!!

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

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

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

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!

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)