Halloween 2008

This past Halloween we got to go Savannah to spend some time with Dan's parents. We took Katelyn to a fall festival at FBC Rincon, a small town outside of Savannah. We had tons of fun! Katelyn got to ride a pony which she thoroughly enjoyed! We also rode a hayride, jumped in a princess castle bouncy house and played lots of fun carnival games. She loved getting candy, but she wasn't a big fan of putting it in her bag. She wanted to eat it all! She may not be a big cake, cookie, ice cream person, but boy does she like candy! The next day we went down to the waterfront to the craft fair they have in downtown Savannah on the first Saturday of each month. We went to a cute little Tea House for lunch and tea. They brought Katelyn a little plate and mini utensils. She even got her own demi cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows. We had a wonderful time!

Pumpkin Patch

After a few failed attempts, Katelyn and I finally made it to a pumpkin patch. Mandarin United Methodist has a really neat patch with lots of photo places. I had never taken Katelyn to a pumpkin patch before but I had always seen other people's pictures and though they were so cute! So, I was determined this year to go! We met up with our friend Misty and "Bwake" as Katelyn calls her son and had a great time. I got a little frustrated because Katelyn was not cooperating very well. She has decided she does not like her picture being taken so she won't smile, or even worse, she just turns her head. Hopefully it's just a stage!

Wow! I'm behind!

Man! It's been a long time since I've updated anything on here. Sorry about that! It's been a pretty eventful couple of months. We took Katelyn to Disney World for the first time at the end of September. She had so much fun! She loved the Merry-go-Round, Small World, the Nemo show at Animal Kingdom and the character lunch at Chef Mickey's. She was pooped (as were we) by the end of the weekend. We're planning on another day trip in December with my parents and brother and sister-in-law. That will be a blast! Katelyn and Elias are best buds so they will enjoy spending the day together at the happiest place on earth!

Dan and I have finally decided on a name for our little girl. Her name will be Caroline Dean Elkins. We love the name Caroline because it's so girly. Katelyn is our girly girl who loves lotion, lip gloss, and shoes so watch Caroline be our tomboy. Either way we are so excited. Dean is special because it is my mom's maiden name and the name of one of my brothers. We just thought it would be neat to honor my family that way.

Katelyn is a definite two year old. She is learning new words and phrases everyday. Her memory is getting sharper each day. She is also testing every boundary put out there. She is strong-willed and fiercely independent. Her favorite phrase is "No, me." She loves to help mommy and daddy cook and she always wants to help with whatever is going on. She'll carry grocery bags, put clothes in the washing machine, sweep(or at least try), and pretty much whatever else I'm doing. She's definitely mommy's little helper.

Our New Baby

Well, we just found out this morning that Katelyn is going to have a new baby sister! I told Dan that he must have prayed really hard! Anyway, we're really excited about it! Hopefully some of the clothes I saved from Katelyn will work for this new little one even though they'll be born in different seasons. We haven't decided on a name yet, but we've talked about a couple. So hopefully it will be nailed down soon. She is healthy, has all her parts and is very active! The ultra sound tech was having to chase her all around. Dan is going to try and post the pictures on his Facebook sometime today (the proud daddy wanted to take the pictures to show off at work). Please keep us all in your prayers!

My Sneaky Sneaky Child

So this past Saturday we celebrated Katelyn's 2nd birthday with a party at my parent's house. We had a great time but my child's sneaky came out in full force. My daughter has figured out that when you push the lever on the refrigerator, water will come out. Needless to say when she does this, she gets wet and mommy gets upset (because she knows she's not supposed to do that). So on this particular day, she proceeded to push the lever and got a pow pow on her hand. About a minute later, we're still standing in the kitchen when Katelyn starts pushing me out of the room. I knew what was happening, but I let her push me out. As I peeked around the corner, Katelyn was going straight for the fridge. She looks behind her to see if I'm looking (as I duck around the corner so she won't see me). She then pushes the lever on the fridge (though my mom put the lock on so it wouldn't spray water). Can we say Sneaky McSneakerson?!

Vacation to the Mountains

Katelyn playing in the teepee.
On top of Chimney Rock
In the Opera Box, looking at Chimney Rock
At the waterfall
Climbing to the top of Chimney Rock.

After we got home from camp, we headed to the mountains with Dan's parents, brother, his wife and their little boy, Connor. We had such a wonderful time! One of Lisa's (Dan's mom) clients let us borrow his beautiful mountain home for 3 nights. We were outside of Asheville, NC. The area had a beautiful pool, lake beach, putt-putt, and golf. We went into Asheville one day to visit Biltmore Village. The estate was $50 per adult! We decided against that. We ate the Biltmore McDonalds that had a player piano and stone fireplace. We found a neat toy store and had a wonderful time! Another day we went to Chimney Rock. The group hiked to the Rock and took poctures then the original clan (minus Brooke and me) hiked up to the Opera Box and down to the waterfall. Hiking is not my thing, especially pregnant, but katelyn had a blast! Dan said she walked the whole trail to the waterfall (about 25 minutes) although he carried her back.

We had a wonderful time just getting out of town for a few days. Dan even truned his cell phone off. We just got to relax, play games together, eat together each meal and just make great memories! I can't wait until next year's trip!

Middle School

Well it has been a very eventful summer in the Elkins household. Dan and I both have been in and out of town with our middle schoolers on many exciting trips. We had the 8th grade mission trip to Atlanta, GA in June. God did some really amazing things in and through our kids on that trip. After that, Dan took a group of around 80-90 back to Atlanta for their Discipleship trip. They helped 3 different church plants by putting on a sports camp, helping with VBS and doing service projects around the community. The kids had a blast!

Dean and I flew up at the end of the Discipleship trip to go on the Secret Trip. The kids earned this trip by doing their quiet time, scripture memory, being at church, and taking sermon notes. We took them to a place right outside of Asheville, NC. We rented 3 huge cabins, went to Chimney Rock, a really cool place like Adventure Landing (but theirs was so much better), we ate at Dillard House, and just hung out together. We talked a lot about leadership on the trip. It was a sweet time and we all had a blast.

After a week at home, we packed up and headed off to camp! What a week! God did some incredible things. We saw around 30 come to Christ, over 20 baptized and many rededications. We are praying the Lord continues to work in the lives of our students this year. What a way to start!

So after our busy summer, we're heading off with Dan's family to the mountains for 4 days to just relax. We are both so worn out, and Katelyn has been missing her mom and dad (and we've missed her!). It will be nice to just get out of town for a little while and not have to be anywhere or do anything.