Ellison Update

I can't believe Ellison will be 6 in only a few weeks. This girl continues to amaze me with her awesomeness. She is creative, caring, compassionate, and strong. A few photos from the past weeks: 

No, I am cool.

 Dylan has really come into his own as of late.  The kid has a huge personality and imagination.  Love this sweet boy! A few Dylan statements:

"Mom,when are we going to have a baby. Because I think he is going to be awesome. And I like awesome things."

"I'll do it by myself."
"Mom, can you call her mom and dad on the phone and tell them I'm going to marry her. Marry her, ok mom?"

"I broke up with her.  She has a potty mouth."

After Ellison told us about her crazy idea of bungee jumping, Dylan responds with his crazy idea... "I know, we can go to Monkey Joe's without socks."

I will start singing Everything is Awesome from the Lego Movie and he will change the words to "Everything is Horrible". 

He told me that he was washing his hands. 

Too cool.

Dress up time. 

My sweet little boy. 

Surprise Beach Weekend

Unbeknownst to Ellison and Dylan, Graham and I had a fun impromptu trip planned to NSB for the weekend. After a fun friday evening at Dommerich's Beach Blanket BBQ, we told them to get their pajamas on and hop in the car.  They were beyond thrilled to hear where we were headed.

Ready to go at 7a.m.!

Ellison remembers everything about the condo and still rates NSB as the best beach.

Dylan did not remember the condo from last summer, so he was exploring everything for the first time.  It was very cute... and tiring... it was midnight and he was still exploring closets. 

"Let's go surf. It's a beautiful day." 

Still timid, but more willing to try!

My Water Bug... that was actually swimming!

The Deep Beach Sleep 

A Face Without Freckles

My Mom always told me, "A face without freckles is like a night without stars."

As a freckled human being, I searched my babies for freckles.  When they finally appeared, I rejoiced.  Afterall whats a night without stars like?

Ellison and I had a special date to Orlando Rep this weekend to see "Freckleface Strawberrry".  We had a blast together... and the show was pretty wonderful as well.

Easter Fun

I think we spent most of Sunday enjoying Easter egg hunts.  The kids woke up and immediately began to hunt for eggs.  Their baskets were secondary.  After devouring only sugar, we headed over to Ashley and Andy's for a delicious Easter brunch and an Easter egg hunt.  Again, food was passed over for sugar.

For our Easter egg hunt at home, Dylan employed the method of finding the egg, breaking it open, dumping the egg shell, and taking the goods.  For the second hunt, he wanted to win.  So he was into the hunt (and beating his sister).

 Olivia chose to employ Dylan's earlier method - find out whats inside and dump the shell.

Our egg hunting was not over at Ashley's house and either was our sugar only diet. We headed home for an amazing hunt orchestrated by our neighbor, Moriah.  This time Dylan won the hunt... much to Ellison's dismay.  After 3 egg hunts, it was nap time... for me (and Dylan).  However, the fun resumed at 5 pm.  This time the kids gathered all of the eggs from the earlier hunts and hid them for our neighbor to find.

It was the perfect Holiday filled with family, sugar, yummy food, and a nap!  Oh yes, and a funny tidbit... Easter is the one time a year that we eat fried chicken. This year, we were in charge of picking it up. Graham told us that must try "honey on our biscuits" - a tip from the Popeyes guy.  Wow, did I marry a Northerner or what?  Welcome to the South, Graham!

The Arts and Ellison

 It's official, Ellison is my daughter.  Although there was never really any question (splitting image of me), she has confirmed it after our recent outing to the Maitland Arts Festival.  For the first time, she actually enjoy the "art" aspect of the art festival. She stopped at booths and perused their art.  In addition, she even left some comments for the artists.

Ellison loved this artist.  She took her time and meticulously made a selection.

Her first art purchase.

Where was Dylan? Looking at turtles.

His big purchase?  A bow and arrow. It's art, right?

Boys and Worms

 Nothing gets Dylan more excited then spying a worm in our yard. "Wormy" gave us hours of entertainment and laughs on Sunday.  In fact, little did I know that "Wormy" had taken a place on the couch with us and was watching TV for at least 30 munites before Graham clued me in.

Ellison really wanted to hold him.

She freaked when "Wormy" was being placed in her hand. 

Still not willing to come close.

Finally was brave and held the little guy.

Easter Egg Time

We did the whole "egg thing" on Sunday.  Dylan could not recall ever painting eggs.  It was a lot of fun to see how excited he was to dye eggs.  Of course, typical boy after painting 2-3 eggs, he was done.  Glitter, beads, jewels - oh no... that was left for Ellison.  Dylan was done in 10 minutes, Ellison spent hours.

TBT: Fishing

Just found this picture from last time we went fishing on the Spanish Sardine.  Doesn't Ellison look thrilled! She refused to hold a fish that time as well.

Party Time!

Ellison and Dylan were my super helpers on Friday night as we prepped for Aunt Ashley's Big Celebration!

Is that cake on fire?  No, Ashley is just getting old!

30 years old to be exact!

Ellison worked hard on her special banner for Ashley's Ice Cream Bar. 

Note to self: Ashley will pawn off any costume items... Ellison was happy to be the pawn.

Not only did Ashley have a wonderful party, but she welcomed a new member to the family... Finn!

Happy 30th Aunt Ashley!  Welcome to the club!