Rollin on the river

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!

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?

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!!

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

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!

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!

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

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

"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)