E,E, and Little E Stringfellow: July 2009

Hopscotch Fun

So I never thought that drawing a hopscotch board on the driveway would be so much fun for a 2 year old but.....check out the videos below. She loved it. Here is some footage of the hopping action as well as some counting "a la Elaina"

Local Celebrity

Well maybe not but..... she did make the Farragut Press last week along with a bunch of other kids but it's still blogworthy. It was a part of the feature on the Farragut 4th of July Parade (which I blogged about earlier). I knew that a lady was shooting pics but wasn't for sure she'd make it. Elaina was waving to the helicopters (by this point in the day she was no longer afraid of them and waved each time they went by). It's kind of blurry because it is a scanned copy but here is the pic that made it.

4th of July Parade - you have to look at the last picture

On Saturday, the 4th of July - we had a very busy day. We started off the day by going to my mom's (Elaina's granny). There, we watched the Farragut 4th of July parade. My niece (Elaina's cousin), Alexandra was in the parade twirling. The parade was fun. It took Elaina a little while to get used to the helicopters that flew overhead about 10 times but she eventually decided they were cool and waved to them. She enjoyed watching all sort of people, clowns, and crazy things walk down Kingston Pike. Here are some shots of the parade....

We had to wait a while before the parade started - here is a shot of the pre-parade dance that Elaina did with her uncle Dave. We told Elaina this we the only time she was allowed to dance in the middle of Kingston Pike :)

Me and Elaina

Elaina and her daddy

Elaina showing her patriotic spirit

She did lots of waving during the parade

This shot was taken towards the end of the parade. She was tired and just chilled in the chair for a while until the parade was over

After the parade, we went back to my mom's house (who lives close to Kingston Pike) - she had a neighborhood BBQ. We went to help serve food. We had a great time - food was delicious. I only have one pic that Erik took from his camera phone. I did not realize how funny it was until he sent it to me yesterday... Take a look - Erik entitled it "I need to check your ID please!"

Happy 2nd Birthday, Elaina

Today is July 6, 2009 and Elaina is 2 years old today. We are so excited to be hitting this milestone but it makes me sad all at the same time that our baby is growing up. She is such a joy in our lives - I don't remember my life before Elaina and can't imagine my life without her. God has blessed us with such a beautiful sweet girl and we give him many thanks for her every day. She is so much fun right now - mixed in with all those 2 year old things that come a long with it. All in all she is a wonderful child.

So, now on to the pictures... We had a very casual b-day party at our house yesterday with family. We had E-Claire cake (made in honor of our little E-Claire, or Elaina Claire). Family came and it was a very good time. Elaina ate cake, opened gifts and soaked up the attention.

Here is her cake I made her - not as nice as the store bought Mickey cake at her last party but made with love.....

Blowing out her candles - trying to

This time she got it

Eating her e-claire cake

Elaina with her Mamaw (Erik's mom)

Elaina with her Granny (my mom)

Elaina and me - her "cheese" face will never get old to me

Hamming it up for the camera - what kind of face is that???

More "Cheese" face

After her party we spent the evening playing with her new toys/books. Here are some cute shots of her playing in her princess tent/tunnel that we got her. She loves this thing.

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us on this occasion and thank you so much for the gifts. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives and in Elaina's life. She loves each and every one of you so much.

Elaina's B-Day Party

So, I know it's not Elaina's birthday yet but last weekend we had a birthday party with her friends from small group at Bounce USA. Needless to say, she had a fabulous time jumping and playing with her friends. We had the party early because her birthday falls on a holiday weekend and it's hard to do a party then with everything else going on. We are doing a small family party with just cake at our house on Sunday. Her are some shots from the party... They are a little blurry - I had the camera on a different setting them normal and didn't realize it.

Elaina's Mickey Mouse Cake