Alaska Whirlwind

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!

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

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??