Spring Break Part 2

After leaving Jekyll Island, we headed down to Orlando. We spent the first night at Nickelodeon Hotel and Suites. We had so much fun. It was a perfect place for us to go and hang out.

We got to meet Boots. Macie was showing him that he and Dora were on her dress. Carson had no interest in meeting any characters.



Then she gave him big hugs and smiles.



We went to see several 4D movies. Even Ellie loved them.


We did not get to meet the live Dora. Macie was very sad, but she settled for having her picture taken with the fiberglass Dora. And, even Carson was willing to pose with her.


We sat in Blue's thinking chair


We went down the water slides.



Some of us just looked adorable.


We got slimed. I did no think Jeff wanted me to post the pictures of him getting slimes


We discovered that the littlest Portis loves the pool like her brother and sister.




It was a great time for our family. I know the kids would love to go back and would suggest you check it out!

Spring Break Part 1

I am going to try to go back and post a little about Spring break. The first weekend, we spent at the 4H camp at Jeckyl Island with the cub scouts. It was a certainly not the Ritz, but we had fun.

We had time to play.


We learned about all kinds of animals and made a few friends.


We got to hang out with good friends.


We changed shoes often, because we got really dirty. (Both Carson and Macie fell in the marsh, but I did not have my camera with me.)


We wore ourselves out!


The kids had a great time and learned a ton. Our favorite part was the night walk. We learned a lot about constellations. It is amazing how much you can see when you don't have lights all around. Macie fell in love with a first grader and talks about him all the time! We are kind of hoping we will get to go back again.

One!

Happy Birthday sweet Ellie. Today you turn on. It is hard to believe a year ago daddy and I were spending out 2 night vacation at Northside with you. You have brought us so much joy this past year. You are such a smiling little girl. As long as you have your way you will flash everyone your big grin. You love to play with your brother and sister and to play outside.

On your first birthday, you have 8 teeth. You are moving to taking one nap a day and sleeping about 12 hours at night. You like to eat regular food and shake your head a big no if we are giving you something you don't want to eat. Today was the first night I got you to drink a bottle of whole milk. You still won't drink it out of a cup, but I am sure you will get there. You love to drink water. You are not walking, but you do stand on your own for up to about 15 seconds. You can get anywhere crawling and often crawl off and find something to play with on your own.

We are having your birthday party tomorrow with a few neighbors. I promise to post pictures and to come back with your stats after your doctors appointment on Monday.

We love you baby girl!

11 Months

Sweet girl is just one month away from celebrating her first birthday (have you done your taxes yet?) It really amazes me how quickly babies turn into little people. She is starting to develop her personality. I think she is going to all somewhere between Macie and Carson. She lets you know when she is not happy with what you are doing, but she can entertain herself for a good amount of time.



Ellie has discovered a love for being outside. It is so nice to be outside this time of year, so we are out most afternoons. She has also discovered she likes pretzels and cheese its. I guess that is the benefit of having an older brother and sister. She is becoming a little more picky with what she will eat.

Ellie had her first stomach bug this month. It was not very bad, but it seemed to make her reflux kick back in. She continued to throw up randomly until we really got her back on her medicine. She also got another ear infections and lost close to a pound being sick (she is just under 18 pounds). But, she is still happy most of time.



She isn't walking yet. I don't think she will hit this milestone before she turns one. She can stand alone for a few seconds, and she walks a little bit with a walker. But, she does not look like she is in a hurry. She will get there though.

She is doing a little better being left. We have even made it through church without being paged. She still cries, but she survives! She is just such a sweet little thing! Now, its time for mommy to start planning a party.

Seven

Today is Carson's 7th birthday. We are having a party this weekend with some of our neighbors, so I will get a bigger post together. But I couldn't let the day end without saying happy birthday to my first born. He is the one who made me a mom and made me believe that toddlers were easy. It is hard to believe how quickly he is growing up.



This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Carson. I took it in January when we had the big snow.

10 Months

Our sweet girl is 10 months old today.



Getting pictures is getting hard now that she is on the move and getting to be a big girl.



She loves to be outside, so we moved outside to take the rest of the pictures. The weather has been great this week. Ellie loves to go sit outside and watch all the big kids play.



Don't you love how she is lifting her foot to get it out of the grass?



This month, Ellie has gotten 5 teeth. She is up to 8 now! She also had her first antibiotic. She has a double ear infection that was also in her eye.



Macie taught Ellie how to crawl out of the room this month. She looks so adorable crawling around the house. Today, she grabbed a sippy cup of water in her mouth and crawled back to the family room. She is not pulling up yet, but she loves to stand. She is starting to take a couple steps holding on to my fingers. It should be a while before she is walking . But, she still manages to get in some trouble.



Ellie finished nursing this last week. Like her brother she just quit. I don't think she was getting much milk anyway, but she finally just turned away. But, she eats like a champ. I think she would eat and entire chicken if I let her! She is just such a joy.

This last picture I took for Joy of Love on the Kiss day. I have not decided if I will use it, but I kind of like the way it turned out. I just held out the camera and snapped. Those of you doing the class with me can weigh in on what you think.

Eye Answers

I think most people will have figured this out on day one,but if you didn't here are the answers.

Eye 1
Macie

Eye2
Carson (Sorry its a little blurry. The other eye has his scar so I did not want to use it!)

Eye 3
Ellie