Outside fun

We haven't broken down yet and bought Mathias a proper slide. He seems to keep himself entertained with the mulch pile in our yard as you can see in the video. Analy enjoys being out in the fresh air too. It's such a blessing to see your children enjoying God's beautiful creation!

Ellis Dance Party

Since Mathias could walk, he has loved to dance. Each evening after supper we turn on Jamie's iPod to some of Mathias' favorite songs. He tends to be a big TobyMac fan. (We love his new cd!) In this video you can check out some of Mathias' signature moves. You can also catch a glance of some of Jamie's. Mathias definitely got his moves from his daddy!

Bubbles!

We should have known since one of Mathias' first words was "bubbles" that he would have a thing for them. I think they blow bubbles in nursery at church a lot. We tried some of our own one afternoon. Mathias insisted on blowing them himself. The solution didn't work very well, I should say not at all, so no actual bubbles were produced. But that didn't stop Mathias from trying...

And trying, (and eating them)...

...until finally he got a bubble!

Who needs the bubble wand?

Spring fever

We enjoyed a beautiful weekend. Everyone had been itching to get back outdoors in some warm weather. Jamie and I have been trying our hand at gardening since we moved down to this sandy state. Basically we've learn that nothing grows here except blueberries (of which we have 36 beautiful bushes!). Last year we decided we would try raised beds and the "square foot garden" method. We've gotten a few crops so far, but possibly the most expensive white acre peas ever! It will definitely take a few years before we break even on this project. Our kind neighbor gave us a huge pile of mulch that Jamie spent several weekends moving to our house shovel by shovel! Our plans are to mulch an area with several raised beds and pollinator gardens. There will be a nice fence around it to keep out the dogs and rabbits. Jamie calls it our "English garden." We have one 4x12 bed with some winter vegetables growing. Jamie just set up a deeper 4x4 bin for potatoes and carrots. Mathias loves to help his daddy whenever we are outside. The extra mulch pile is his favorite mountain and slide.
He takes any chance to grab any of daddy's tools.

Analy hasn't really gotten into the whole gardening thing yet. I'm curious to see if she is going to be like her brother, taking any chance to dive into water, dirt, or mud, or if she'll be a girly girl. We should know in a few months!

Analy's 3 Months Old

...well actually she was three months old on Wednesday but I slept through that day. I thought I would take some time to update everyone on her latest tricks and such. She is such a sweet baby! She always has a smile and a sweet "coo" to share. We wake up each morning to the sounds of Analy just babbling and laughing at herself. It is precious! She likes to sit in her bouncy seat and take swings at the toys. Unfortunately her "tummy time" is pretty limited. She usually rolls right onto her back or just starts screaming. She loves to play with the toy mirror. It was Mathias' favorite toy too. Mathias loves to get on the ground with her and give her lots of kisses. Analy is just growing up too fast! You really don't know how time flies by until you have kids.

I'm alive!

Tuesday I said goodbye to my gallbladder. I've pretty much been sleeping since. Today is the first day I've actually been up and about longer than a few hours. I'm still a little sore but each day I'm better. Thankfully my mom was down for a visit over the weekend and could stay through Wednesday to help with the babies. She was a huge help. Jamie is handling everything like a pro himself. The house is clean and we are all fed and bathed. I'm not supposed to lift anything over 20 lbs for a few weeks so hopefully I'll be able to handle Mathias on Monday when Jamie returns to work.
Mathias and Analy enjoyed having Nana and Pop down for a visit.

Mathias hated to see Pop go on Sunday afternoon.

Thanks to everyone who has helped us out this week! It has been such a blessing!

So it goes...

I think I'm one step closer to having my gallbladder removed. I see a surgeon tomorrow so hopefully my surgery will be soon! It's only 2 months before our trip to England and I want to be well recovered by then. Last week I had a scan that made me radioactive and unable to hold my babies for 24 hrs. Pretty insane!

We are all getting ready for a visit from Nana today! She should be here soon!


Our family loves to take walks around the yard. Analy is enjoying a beautiful day out in her stroller.

Jamie just got in from a hard day of working on our garden. I'll post some photos of a garden and plans soon.

Finally

So I have been putting off starting a blog for months and months. Jamie is not thrilled by the idea but I think it will be a useful way to share daily info with our family. I'm getting pretty tired of facebook so I thought I'd give this a try. We'll see how it goes!

I hope I can share daily photos and videos of the babies. Here are a few of my favorite photos that I've taken this week.

Mathias loves to swing! Unfortunately, yesterday the rope broke and fell while swinging. Luckily super mom was there to hold him up and get him out. No worries, everyone is fine!

Analy is such a precious baby. A friend at church told me last Sunday that I needed to get some profile photos of Analy. I thought this one turned out perfect!

Mathias LOVES the tractor. This is a video of him practicing his driving skills.