Mathias' Dog Named Benji

Today Mathias has decided he needs a puppy. He's actually had this one a while, I think his Aunt Kiki gave it to him for Christmas. Well today he has walked the dog all over the house. We watched the movie "Benji" today (thanks Nana and Pop) so he started calling this dog Benji. When I got him at the table to eat tonight he started screaming for Benji. So Benji ate some spaghetti O's for supper.

After supper Benji needed a bath. Here is Mathias cuddling with him after the dog's bath.

Basketball Practice...It's Never Too Early to Start!

My two front teeth

Analy's tooth count is up to 4 with a 5th beginning to break through. Here's a photo where she is sporting her new top teeth. I hope she will grow into them!

Suppertime fun

This week Jamie was away at camp so it was just me and kids. As you can see Mathias likes lots of company at mealtime. Pasta tastes so much better when eaten off of a dump truck!

Analy has been enjoying watermelon and cantaloupe with her mesh feeder. You put a small piece inside the mesh pocket and she sucks and gnaws on it.

Here is a video of Mathias and Analy playing while I was cleaning up after supper.

July Photo Shoot

So as you can tell, I enjoy taking photos of my kids. I'm not exactly sure why because it always involves lots of kicking and screaming. Mathias has been due 2 year old photos for awhile but he's been keeping a steady supply of cuts and bruises on his head. Last week his head was clear so I knew I needed to take advantage of the opportunity. I can't believe I actually got him to participate. He threw a huge fit over wearing this outfit. I thought I was going to have to sew it back together the way he screamed and tried to pull it off. Thankfully he did calm down and actually cooperated a bit. Analy is always ready to pose for the camera. Here are a few of my favorites!

Saddle Ridge Ranch lives on and on and on...

Mathias really, really loved the theme song from VBS this year. His Aunt Amanda was so kind to give us the music cd from their VBS. Mathias asks to listen to the "cowboy song" ALL THE TIME. He only likes the one song and we listen to it over and over. Praise the Lord that the song does have a good message!

Analy has been working on her dancing skills lately. She loves to bounce up and down and clap. Here are some videos of her clapping to the VBS song (of course).

Our 4th of July

We spent the afternoon and evening of the 4th just relaxing at home. We worked in our garden and picked our first watermelon. I was impressed by how big it had gotten. I asked Mathias to sit on it so I could take his picture. Well then he wanted to sit on every melon he could find! Here's Mathias on a baby watermelon.

And on a cantaloupe...

And on the pile of melon vines.

Analy just sat back in her stroller and watch her silly brother. I can't imagine what it'll be like with both of them running around the yard.

Nana gave Mathias some new outfits. Jamie thought it would be nice to spike up Mathias' hair and turn up his collar. This photo was taken before Mathias threw a fit to wear his bedroom shoes as well to church on Wednesday night!

Sandcastles, Fishing, and Scalloping

We had tons to keep us busy while we were at the beach. The kids, Jamie included, enjoyed building sandcastles and burying each other.

The men got into fishing. I didn't realize there were catfish in the ocean but that's about all they caught. They got pretty excited about their catches none the less!

We all went snorkeling in St. Joe's Bay and tried our hand at catching scallops. We saw lots of cool fish, urchins, stingrays, and stuff. The bay was really shallow and you could just walk straight out into it. The water was only about knee deep.

Here's a scallop.

Here's our catch. After Matthew cleaned them we had about 1/2 cup of meat! I'm glad we did't have to depend on our fishing skills to eat!

Here's Mathias sporting his sun glasses. He thought he was pretty cool wearing them on his head.

Somehow Mathias ended up with a super-sized Blow Pop for the ride home (Thanks Uncle Matthew!) It would have taken him days to eat the thing. Thankfully he got tired of it after about an hour but not before he managed to get everything sticky. When we stopped for lunch we found a wad of gum stuck, more like fused to his neck. Jamie's solution was to stick a napkin over it. So here is Mathias hours later with the napkin STILL stuck to his neck. I think the gum stuck for another week!

Beach Babe

Analy did great at the beach! She seemed to enjoy the sand and water. Her favorite part was eating the sand! I guess it was salty? I had to do a blog just of her sporting her cute swimsuits. She's just too cute!
Here she is with her feet buried.
Just chilling in the sand...

Taking a break in mama's chair..

Relaxing in the pool her Aunt Amanda brought for her. It was nice and cool under Grandma's tent.

Smiling even though Mathias just splashed water all in her face.

Looks like she had a face full of water courtesy of Mathias. This is also before he stole her hat.

Posing for the camera...

Cape San Blas - Ellis Family Photos

We spent the week with Jamie's family. It was a blessing to spend time with each other. Since we live so far away, it's nice to spend some quality time together. Mathias loved playing with his cousins. Analy loved all the attention from everyone! Here are some photos we managed to take. It's a challenge getting this group to pose and look pretty! (Just kidding y'all!)