Pre-Christmas get a way

Last weekend, Erik and I went to Nashville for the weekend. We went with Erik's sister, Melanie and her husband, Kevin. It was super fun - we used to hang out with them a lot (pre-Elaina) so it was nice to get a chance to hang out with them again. We visited the Opry Mills mall and then walked over to the Opryland hotel to look at the lights. I am not sure what we were thinking going to the Opry Mills mall the weekend before Christmas - DUH!! But, we waded through the crowds and luckliy we did not have a toddler to look after so that reduced the stress. While there, we shopped, and ate at the Aquarium restaurant-delicious.... It was a really cool restaurant where you are surround by huge aquarium tanks with huge fish swimming by.

This is the view from our table at the restaurant... pretty cool

The happy couple
And again...
Melanie and Kevin

A pose at the Opryland hotel
This tree was amazing - and huge.
This nativity scene was gorgeous. Pictures don't do it justice

Another pose - when Elaina's not around, we take pictures of ourselves (evidently)

Mel and Kevin again

A cool poinsettia tree.........

On Sunday, we scalped tickets to the Titans game vs. Miami Dolphins. As big Titans fans this was so much fun. The Titans were victorious so we were happy

This shot was taken right before we intercepted it in the end zone... don't know why I put this shot in, just thought that was cool.

One final pose taken by our drunk neighbor - he was a nice drunk and offered to take our picture

Christmas Stockings

This year I ordered stockings with our names monogrammed on them. I am super excited about this because I have been wanting to do this for a while. I found these stockings from a magazine that came with acrylic paint so you could put your handprints on each stocking. It's a simple idea but I thought it was too cute. And, it was fun to do. Elaina enjoyed it. Here are some shots of doing them...

Prepping the first hand

Hand #1Prepping hand #2 Hand #2, with a smile - her look is a bit devious And, the finished products.... I like them. We put the year on the back so we know when we did them....

Family Movie Night

A long time ago back before I was pregnant with Elaina, my friend Robyn told me about a family tradition that she does with her girls. They lay blankets and pillows in the living room floor, pop popcorn and have family movie night in the living room. I think they even all sleep in the living room. Well, I heard that and thought to myself - I will do that one day with our kids. Well, this past Friday, we decided to try it out (not sleeping in the living room but the movie watching part). Elaina's attention span is not long enough for a long movie but Rudolph was on TV so I thought maybe she would sit through that. It was on TV Wednesday night but we taped it so we could watch it on Friday. It's was only about 45 minutes once you skipped through commercials. She lasted about 40 minutes. Not bad - she loved having the bowl of popcorn in her lap and snuggling with us. We enjoyed it to. We look forward to many more family movie nights... Here are some pics of the fun...(this was a good exercise in figuring out the self timer shots on my camera too. I had not used that until now).

Twirling at the Fantasy of Trees

So, my niece Alexandra is a phenomenal twirler (at only 14 years of age). She has won many awards for her talents in it. She twirled at the Fantasy of Trees of Thanksgiving weekend. We went early Saturday morning to see her twirl. I have only 2 pics of the event and none have her twirling in them. My batteries died after I took these two pics - I was so upset with myself for not having back up with me. But, I thought I would at least blog about it to say "Alexandra, you are so amazing!!! I love watching you perform. You are so beautiful and I know you are going to go far with your talents. I love you so much and remain proud of you! Keep it up!"

Here is the whole gang waiting on Alexandra to hit the stage

A pic of Granny with her grandkids (or some of them - minus Celia and Alexandra).

We had a great time at Fantasy of Trees. I have never been before but enjoyed it. Elaina rode the carousel (of course - it's her favorite) and had fun hanging out with her cousins.

Thanksgiving and a sick kid :(

I am way late on putting this post up. It's been over a week since Thanksgiving and I have not updated with Thanksgiving pics. The unfortunate part is that I don't have pics up of everything I want to because well, I forgot to take pics but, I did get some. We had a good Thanksgiving but Elaina got sick when she first woke up. She seemed to be okay other then she had no appetite so we went ahead and went to my mom's but during that visit she spiked a fever so our visit was cut short. The even worse part was that we did not get to go to Erik's parents to visit them and we feel terrible about that. But her sickness was short lived. I did get some shots from my mom's Thanksgiving festivities....

This shot is from the Wednesday night before. We had dinner with my dad's side of the family that night. I just thought this was a cute shot. It's the only one I took all night.

These are all shots from Thanksgiving Day at my mom's.... Alexandra with my sister Abby.

My sisters Nell and Abby

All my sisters and mom... Abby, me, Nell, mom, and Kate. Nell is the youngest and so much taller then the rest of us. She's gonna kill me for writing that.

Elaina and her daddy - she pretty much was held by someone all day. Poor thing, she did not feel good. She didn't touch her food.

These girls however ate all their food. This was before dinner started - they were ready to eat.

Elaina's cousin, Celia

Elaina's cousin, Sadie

Cousin Quentin with Uncle Doug

Erik and I with a post dinner pose...

More post dinner posing - Kate and my mom

Dave and Nell

my mom set up the garage as a kid haven with toys and TV. They played and played out there..

I was in charge of cookie decorating. Here are the two I did so the kids could see and decorate their cookies just like them. Cute....

They ended up looking more like this... oh well, they had fun

Nap Time

I have been letting Elaina take a couple of books with her in the crib before nap time. Since we've lost the paci, we've had to get creative on ways to sooth her to sleep. I have rocked her some but don't want to start that habit (as much as I love it). We always read books before nap and bedtime. Well, last week she requested to take two books in the crib with her to read. I thought, "what the heck" and did it. I said, "read those books and then you need to go to sleep." She waved bye-bye to me (which was comical) and I left. I was skeptical when I left but it worked well. When I went back into her room 15 minutes later, she was asleep. The second day we did this, when I went in to check on her, I found her like this...................

Dead asleep.... SO STINKIN FUNNY!

Elaina's first hair cut

Elaina got her first hair cut yesterday (11/15/09). This was a big day for us. I've been putting it off for reasons that I can't explain. But, we did it. And, I am glad we did. She did so great - sat there very still (with the help of a sucker) and it looks so adorable (if I do say so myself).... It is also nice that now, I don't HAVE to put her hair up. It's not hanging in her face all day long. My friend Jodie who just got her cosmetology license did it. She was so sweet to do this. Here are some before, during, and after shots of the moment....

Before

The first cut...

After....

Look at those curls....
More after shots... SO PRECIOUS!

The Bubble Wrangler

My sister Nell has always made amazingly big bubbles by using her hands and some dish soap. It's a pretty easy concept and maybe others do this too but she's the only one I know. A few weeks ago, she was trying to teach Elaina how to do it. While they were doing this, her husband, Dave, called her the "bubble wrangler." Hence, the name of the blog post....

If you don't know how, you basically lather your hand up with Palmolive (or whatever dish soap you have) - like a LOT of soap. Add a touch of water. Then, make an "okay" sign with your fingers and blow a bubble through it. It's pretty cool. Here are some shots of Nell and her partaking in the fun... You can kind of see the bubbles.... Elaina loved this.

Halloween

So, now onto Halloween... After this post, the Happy Halloween blog background can come down... Here are some shots of our Halloween. It was a bit rainy so not too much trick or treating was done but we did get some in before it really started raining. Elaina had a great time and got more candy then she needed - but she (and Erik and I)have been enjoying it.

Pre-trick or treating poses...... so adoreable

Elaina (Dorothy) with Jax (Toto) We did not take Jax with us as originally planned. He would have been all over the map. He did however sit still for some pictures (which was amazing)

We went trick or treating in our friend Julie's neighborhood with others from our small group and their kids. They all had super fun... Here is Elaina with her friend, Laurel
The whole gang....
When we got home, Nell and Dave came over - Nell had a mouse mask... Here's a pic of her and Elaina

Then the mask made it on Jax's face....One more pic - We had Pirates and Princesses at church. This is Elaina in her princess outfit.... So cute - she LOVED being a princess and talks about her princess outfit a lot since then

Pumpkins and Parties

So, just some more shots of more Halloween festivities. I don't remember doing quite so many Halloween related activities before having Elaina :) We had such a fun time with it all.

On Thursday before Halloween, we carved pumpkins. I figured Elaina would love the "scraping out the inside" part - WRONG. She was not into getting her hands messy.

She wanted to help - she did okay with this but it made the process really slow. Luckily her attention span was in and out so I was able to actually carve during the moments she walked away.

This was the pan of pumkin insides. Elaina said "I want some cheese." So funny - it looks like shredded cheese.
Helping her daddy

Finished pumpkins - I did a free hand one, Erik did a sketched out one... We are amateurs at this - not too bad.
On Friday before Halloween, her school had a Halloween Party and trick or treated from classrom to classroom. Here are some shots of that.

She got glasses in her goody bag - she's worn them everyday since she got them.

Elaina's class - she's still got the glasses on...

Here she is standing in line to trick or treat at the 4 year old room....glasses still on - upside down
She is so silly - these pics crack me up!

Corn Maze

On Sunday, we made an unplanned trip up to the Corn Maze in Corryton, TN. The weather was beautiful so we decided to take advantage of it and go. Elaina was pretty excited about it after we mentioned it to her - she kept saying "get punkin" the whole way up there. My mom (Granny) and her huband (Poppy Gale) went with us. It was pretty crowded there so it worked out nice that they went. The line for the hayride/pumpkin patch was long so they were gracious enough to wait in line for us while we took Elaina to do some of the fun games/stuff for kids. Here are some shots of the day....

Elaina with her daddy - look how she's holding on to his face and pulling it back (like she forcing him to smile)

Me and Elaina in the kids maze....
Cute picture of Elaina going down the tunnel slide -she did this a bunch and loved it.

Elaina with her Granny on the hayride

Elaina walked around and touched every pumpkin (or so it seemed). When we asked if this was the one she wanted, she'd say "no, nother one"

She tried to pick this one up. She said "hebby" (heavy) after she did it. Needless to say, she did not try to pick anymore of them up after that.

Family photo on the hayride on the way back - Elaina was not into this...

One final shot of Elaina's scrunched up face....

We had a wonderful time and can't wait to do it again next year....

Boo at the Zoo

This past Friday I took Elaina to Boo at the Zoo. We went with my friend Tina and her daughter Addie who are in our small group. I was skeptical about going because I had heard that it is so crowded but it had rained that day and there was rain in the forcast so I think a lot of people stayed home. So it did not rain, there wasn't as big of a crowd, and the tempurature was perfect for a night out. We had a great time. Elaina is Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz this year. Check her out in her costume. I know I am biased but I think she is absolutely the cutest Dorothy ever....She's even sporting a basket which she loves and wants to take everywhere with her - dressed up or not.

Here is a pic of Elaina and Addie before we got started...

They held hands part of the way.. so sweet!

This is Elaina about half way through the trick or treating... she figured it out - you walk up, hold out your basket and they give you a treat. She's no dummy
The final booth was Krispy Kreme doughnuts -my personal favorites. There's my girl enjoying hers - again, she's no dummy. Those things are so yummy.


The final event of the evening was a carousel ride that went backwards. As I mentioned in the last post, she will sit on one by herself now and loves it. In fact, I had a battle with her to get off.

Sweet Addie

One final "cheese"

What a Beach.....

Hello everyone.. It's been a while. We just returned from another trip down south. This time we went with Erik's family. We went to Orange Beach, AL and had a great time. It was very cold the first 2 days we were there but by the last 3 days were great. The wind was what was so bitterly cold. Each day the wind got calmer and by the last day we were able to be in swim suits on the beach with no warm clothes over the top. As usual, Elaina had a ball digging in the sand. She learned that covering up hers and other people's feet was quite funny. So, we did a lot of that. Here are some shots of the week.....

This is day 1.... bundled up and have a towel around Elaina to block the wind that was pelting us...
Day 2... It was better, no pelting wind but we still had to bundle up. Elaina walked a long way picking up shells and putting them in her coat pocket. She LOVED this so much.

Later on day 2, we went to Lamberts, a restaurant near the beach in Foley, AL. They are known for their "throwed rolls" which means they throw them to you from across the room. It's a very entertaining place to eat, if you're ever in Foley, AL you should try it. It's country style food (as you can see from the pic below that has a sign behind it that says "Beef Liver and Onions"

After lunch, we went shopping at an outlet mall where they had a caurosel. Elaina sat on the horse this time by herself. She loved it.

Post Carousel ride...
Day 3.... MUCH nicer out. Here is Elaina digging in the sand with her cousins Liana and Kelsey

Day 4, digging in the sand - shocker! :)
This is her covering up her daddy's feet. This became her favorite thing to do


She still wasn't sure about the whole walking the sand thing with her bare feet but by day 4 she was doing it.. Here are some cute shots of her from behind walking

Elaina's Papaw reading her her favorite nursury rhyme book

Ode to the Paci....

Oh Paci, Oh Paci.... Elaina loved you so
The time has come, dear paci, for her to let you go
We pleaded and we begged, she looked at us with blank stares
But alas, she went to sleep, and Paci you were not there..

Okay... totally just wrote that out without any backspacing... I'm such a dork.

I have no pics for this post but I wanted to let the world know that Elaina has been to sleep the past 3 nights with no paci. And, it was sort of on accident. As you know from previous posts, she has not had it at nap time for about 2 months (due to her fabulous teachers at school). So, Erik and I have been talking to her about how she would have to give up her paci soon - she would just look at us like "whatever". Then, on Thursday night, as we did our usual bedtime routine of books/puzzles/prayers. I picked her up to give her goodnight loves and she did not ask for it. I think I may have even asked her to get it right before we read books but she did not get it. Anyway, I looked at Erik and gave him that "don't say a word about the paci stare" and laid her down. No crying, fussing..... nothing. Just sleeping baby. We were amazed. So, needless to say, while she was at school on Friday, the Paci's were thrown out. We are on night 3 with no paci. She asked for it last night and tonight but we just told her that we did not have paci anymore. Erik and I seriously stressed about how we were going to handle that and, bam, it happened. Many thanks to God for that one. I never imagined it would be that easy. And, she has slept good through the night without it. Whoohooo!!!

I know -it's the small things in life that excite me.....

Labor Day Tent Fun

Elaina's tent she got for her birthday is a pretty big hit. We have not had it out in a while so this past Labor Day, while relaxing at home after our trip to Notre Dame, we got it out. She wanted me to play in it with her. Those things are not designed for anyone over 3.5 ft tall, but.... I did it anyway. I've done it before but never with anyone home except for Elaina to capture evidence of the event. Here are shots of the fun....

I had a hard time getting in... as you can see below

You should have seen me try to get through this tunnel - luckily there is no pic of that

I wouldn't get out so Elaina just pulled the whole thing over my head and got me out herself.... :)