Spring is here!

Finally the days are getting warmer. The grass is getting green and all the flowers are in bloom. Every member of the Ellis family loves being outside. We spend time tending to our plants and garden. Mathias loves when we water the fruit trees! The dogwood is in full bloom. What a beautiful reminder of Easter and God's love for us!

I'm not sure what this bush is but it is full of blooms. I tried to get Mathias to stand beside it for a photo but this is as close as he got. Also, the dead balloon he is holding is from my birthday. He thought it was fun to throw it in the wind and chase it around the yard. Too bad it had a run in with a barbed wire fence and lost.

Our blueberries have reached about 50% bloom. There are lots of butterflies, bumble bees, and carpenter bees busy pollinating. (Funny, there are no honey bees! I guess they are busy working somewhere else.)

This is the perfect time of year to be outdoors enjoying God's creation!

The Big 3-0!

I had a wonderful birthday weekend! My mom and sister came down on Friday. They watched Analy and Mathias so Jamie and I had a night out on the town. We had a yummy dinner at the Italian restaurant in Alachua. Afterwards, we enjoyed a romantic stroll around Lowe's until closing. Saturday I spent the day shopping with the girls. (Mathias and Jamie hung out at home doing yard work.) We went to the mall and Target and got some very important Easter and spring shopping accomplished. Jamie cooked-out for us Saturday night. We enjoyed steak and birthday cake. I'm sure there's a law against holding a baby that close to a flaming cake!

Mathias thought my birthday called for special dancing without his pants!

Jamie cooked breakfast for me Sunday morning. As you can see, the cinnamon rolls are shaped like the letter "A" in honor of me.

Mathias and Analy loved seeing Nana and Aunt Kimberly. We all hated to see them leave!

Thanks to everyone who made my 30th special! I'm still waiting to wake up anyday now with a head full of gray hair. My sister did remind me that "30 is the new 20" so that is encouraging.

Analy's 4 month photo shoot

This morning I got to have a photo shoot with Analy. She wasn't very thrilled about it so it only lasted a few minutes. Here are a few of my favorites!

Analy's 4 month check-up

Analy went to the doctor this morning for a check-up. She weighs 11lb 11oz and is 25 1/4 inches long. She's 10th percentile in weight and 82nd in height! We call her our long, lean super model.

Here is a photo of Analy and Mathias one morning actually playing nice.


Spring is starting to explode around here. The blueberries are starting to bloom and the grass is starting to get green again. We are all excited about the warm weather that is supposed to get here by the end of the week. Mathias is ready to get outside!

Look alikes?

People keep telling me how much Analy and Mathias resemble each other. Analy turned 4 months old yesterday! In this blog I've posted some photos of Mathias at 4 months and Analy. You be the judge!

March 16, 2002

On March 16, 2002, Jamie and I said "I do"! The past eight years together have been absolutely amazing. We have supported each other through a BSc, a MSc, and 2 PhDs. We have lived in Athens, South Africa, Watkinsville, Bishop, Gainesville, and High Springs! During the last few years of our "settled" life we have had two beautiful children. We have shared so much during our marriage and I pray that God blesses use with many, many more years together! Thank you Lord for blessing me with a wonderful husband! I've included a few photos from our wedding day that I found on our computer.

Miss Roly Poly

Analy sure is on the move these days. I am unable to lay her in a spot and she stay put. She loves to roll, roll, and roll some more. No matter what, the blanket I lay her own is never big enough. When we put her in her crib on her back to sleep, she flips to her side or belly. This freaks Jamie out (big SID worrier) but what can you do to stop her.

I think Mathias takes all her rolling as a challenge to wrestle with her. Hopefully someday she will be able to beat him up! He's been getting in trouble a lot lately for playing too rough with his baby sister. I've tried to explain to him that when she's as big as him pay back will be tough!

Bath Time

Analy LOVES bath time. She can be super fussy but the moment we start to get her ready for bath she gets all happy and excited. She loves to splash and laugh the entire time! Doesn't it look like she's having a good time?

Mathias, on the other hand, hated bath time until he was about 1 year old. As you can, he has fun at bath time now.

Passport photos

Yes babies have to have passports. I wanted to share the passport photos of my babies. Mathias was 6 months old in his photo and Analy was 2 months old. Their passports are good for 5 years. Hopefully their looks will change some by then (mainly with the addition of hair!) Now should we really complain about our own driver's license photos! I hope this makes you smile today!

Sharing

It's every parent's dream that their kids will just naturally share with others. In this case though sharing was not what I had in mind. Yesterday afternoon I was craving one of Mathias' suckers left over from his valentine's candy. So to ease my guilt I let him have one too but we were going to eat them outside . Sucker + Mathias = gooey mess! I told him before we went out to keep his sucker away from the dogs. I knew he would be mobbed the moment we stepped outside. He was fine for a few minutes but as soon as I turned my back he had is sucker stuck in Nyla's mouth. The next second it was back in his own mouth. Yuck! (Keep in mind our dogs are not house dogs and regularly dine on squirrels.)
Here's Mathias enjoying his sucker after sharing with Nyla.

Here's Nyla hanging close by hoping Mathias will feel generous again.

A boy and his tractors

Mathias has really got a thing for tractors! Anything he sees with wheels that is not a car is a "cractor." Jamie has a tractor that Mathias loves to ride with him. Every time Mathias goes outside he runs straight to the shed to inspect the tractor and ask for a ride. I think he has finally figured out that mama doesn't drive the tractor so he doesn't even ask me for a ride. He also loves lawnmowers, golf carts, and those little motorized kiddy trucks. I always thought that little kids will like whatever the parents like and talk about a lot but this tractor thing is definitely all Mathias.
Mathias doesn't look very excited in the photo but he is doing what he absolutely loves. He always gets a real serious look on his face when he is out for a ride.

Mathias also has several toy tractors. He sleeps, eats, and bathes with his tractors. I hate to admit it but Mathias stole this blue tractor from the church nursery.
We've tried to return it several times but it always ends up back in Mathias' hands. We used to make sure it at least went to church with Mathias each Wednesday and Sunday but now we've even given up on that. Maybe 10 or 15 years from now we can donate it back to the nursery!

Night, Night

Bedtime is my favorite time of day (and not just because it means Jamie and I finally get a couple of hours to ourselves!). Analy and Mathias both enjoy bath time. Jamie is the designated bath giver. After baths, we all sit together while Jamie reads a chapter from the Bible. After that we talk about prayer requests and pray together as a family. Mathias picks a few books for Jamie to read. Finally, Mathias and Analy go to bed. Mathias has quite a crew of toys that he sleeps with these days. I think there is a blue bunny, a 32 year-old Mickey Mouse that was Jamie's, a monkey, a puppy, a tractor, a book, a zebra, a blanket, a pillow, and his lovey. Mathias purposely chose everything that is in his crib. One time, Jamie went and removed a toy a day and put it in the bottom of the toy box. A few days later, Mathias discovered all the toys and put the exact ones back into is crib. Anyway, bedtime happens about 7:30 each evening. Mathias now says "night night" and blows us a kiss.

Last night after baths, Mathias actually asked to "hold" Analy. He can be sweet to her at times. (Although is these photos Analy looks terrified!)

Don't worry about Analy, we follow all the SIDS rules and her crib is toy free!

Our special chests

My dad has really outdone himself at the past couple of months. He made Mathias a toy box for Christmas. Notice that "Mathias" is hand-carved on the front. I think he has started a tradition for all of his grandchildren!
For my birthday, which is coming up in a few weeks and I will not mention how old I'll be, he made me a beautiful chest for my bedroom. I've always wanted one and it matches our bedroom perfectly!

Thanks so much for the special gifts!

9 years ago...I said yes!

Nine years ago today Jamie asked me to marry him and I said yes! He was in graduate school in South Africa. I was still an undergrad at UGA. Over my spring break, his sister and I travelled to South Africa to visit Jamie for a week. We only had been dating a few months and I had no idea he was going to propose. Evidently he had been working out details with his sister who, by the way, threatened to kill him if I said "no" and ruined her trip! I did say "yes" and never regretted it! Here is a picture of us at the beach during my visit. Hopefully you are all thinking "they haven't changed a bit!"

Home Again

Our trip to GA to visit our family was wonderful. It was great to get to spend a little bit of time with everyone. I can tell that Mathias is starting to remember everyone which is very special. He had a great time playing with his cousins. Analy ate up all the attention from grandparents and aunts and uncles!

After being gone for a few days, I finally tackled the mountain of laundry and you can see by the video and photo what help I get from my babies.

Mathias' favorite toy for the moment is his dump truck. He decided it would be fun to "dump" himself out of it...over and over again. At the beginning he is counting "one, two, three" before he jumps.

Analy enjoys just relaxing in her boppy while watching Mama do all the work.

So at what age can you actually expect your kids to do chores?