E,E, and Little E Stringfellow: August 2009

Baby Doll funnies... and one random video

Elaina is pretty enthralled with her baby doll lately... Pretty much everything she does, she has her baby doll do (as evidenced in recent photos of her taking her baby doll potty). Here are some shots of her playing with her baby doll. I think these shots are so precious.

She put her baby doll in her high chair and then got a bowl and spoon and was feeding her. BTW, her baby doll's name is Becca. Erik tried to get her to name it Erika and it came out Becca and it has stuck.

Next while outside, playing on her swing set, she said "get Becca" So, inside we went to get Becca. Here is what happened....

Climb up the ladder and lay Becca on the platform...
Give Becca a kiss because she hit her head on the platform

Down goes Becca..... Down goes Elaina....
Brush Becca off....
Smile for the camera....
Now lets attempt to get Becca back up the slide (this did not work)
And just for giggles, a short video of Elaina. I had the camera on her and she started to smile. I asked her "what do you say?" to see if I could get her to say "cheese" and she said this instead....

In case you could not understand, she said "umm, please." We ask her to say please all the time when she ask for something and we prompt it by saying "what do you say??" This made me chuckle.

August B-Day Party

So we have a lot of birthdays during the month of August in our family. So, every August we pick a Saturday to get together with all my sisters and their families and my dad to have a b-day party and just hang out together for the day. Normally we go to Chattanooga to my dad's house but this year we had it our house. We were going to go to our swimming pool but on Friday a big red sign that said "closed by order of the Knox County Health Dept" was posted on our pool. It was closed all weekend but opened back up on Monday. I still don't know why. So, we did not get to hang out by our pool. So, instead we just hung out, ordered pizzas, and had a swell time visiting with each other. Of course, the kids played and entertained us. Here are some shots of the day......

Celia giving it a pose....

Sadie showing off her gymnastics moves while everyone watches in amazement

Elaina's version of gymnastics

Celia showing off her gymnastics (while Elaina trys to mimic her)

And what would a birthday party be without cupcakes - Elaina had 3 I believe, someone who will go unnamed kept giving her one.....

More yoga and gymnastics poses

Elaina's pose

Sweet Alexandra...

Sweet Sadie

The gang hanging out on the couch - Leah, Elaina, Nell, and Abby

Nell and Abby (and don't forget Jax)

Izzie (Alexandra's friend), Alexandra, and Leah

So, because the festivities started at noon (Elaina's usual nap time), we decided not to lay her down for a nap. At 5:00pm, the girls sat down to have some quiet time and watch some TV, Elaina fell asleep upright in this rocking chair. It took her less then a minute to sack out.

Of course, Nell had to get in on the picture taking action

Pajama Day #2

Back in December Elaina's school had pajama day. Last week they did it again. You would think pajama day would be easier but I think for me it's actually more prep - with the hair in pigtails again and put on the robe, and picture time. And, of course, Elaina had to wear her Dora pajamas... Here is a shot of her before she left that morning...

All smiles - and yes, she is standing on the couch. I normally don't condone that but it happened okay - weak moment.

Just for comparison - here is a shot of her from her Pajama day in December. Look how much longer her hair is.... I could barely get them in pigtails back then.

And the paci.... I found out yesterday that she has not been taking her paci during her nap time at school for the past month (the new teacher didn't know she took one and Elaina never asked). So, we are minus a paci now during nap time (we'll see how that goes at home). Next step - no paci at night.... We're on our way.

Swingset project

This past weekend, we had a project to make the swingset in the backyard a bit nicer. The swingset is landscaped out and had mulch underneath and all around it. Well, slowly the mulch became overgown with so many weeds that we could not control it. It had started to look like part of the grass it was so green and overgrown. So, our brother-in-law, Kevin, and nephew, Ryan came over Saturday to help dig out all the mulch and replace it with wood chips. They dug out all the old stuff and we laid down new wood chips underneath. It looks SOOOO much better. Not only does it look better but now Elaina won't carry mulch in on her shoes and track it inside on the carpet - especially when it's wet. I took a before and after pic... see how much better it looks!! I love it.

Before......

After....

Thank you very very very much to Kevin and Ryan for coming over and helping with the project. You guys are awesome!!!

New Camera

So, if you don't know (and I don't know how that's possible), we got a new camera. I LOVE it - so much so that I've blogged about it once already and I am positng a special blog about it today. I was just getting so frustrated with the old camera that I am so happy about having a new one. Thank you so much to my wonderful husband who got it for me for my birthday. It is really just an upgrade of the camera we had before that was about 7-8 yrs old. It had served us so well, we decided to get the same kind in the most recent model. Anyway, now our blog pics won't be so blurry and discolored. Here are some shots with the new camera of our favorite subject... little Miss Elaina.

with the flash

without the flash... and, what would a picture of Elaina be without her "cheese." it will never get old to me but hey, I am her mother after all :)

More Potty Fun

One of Elaina's new loves is her baby doll.. She enjoys changing it's diaper, kissing and cuddling her, as well as taking her to use the potty??? Yes, that is what I said. I caught her in the bathroom holding her baby doll above the toilet letting her go potty. I caught some shots. These shots were with the old camera so the color and lighting is terrible BUT..good news, I now have a new camera so future blog photos will be better quality :) YAH!!

Also, Erik and I caught her rubbing one finger along her baby's bottom. We wondered what in the world she was doing. As we walked closer to her, we noticed she had the diaper cream open beside her. Yes, she was putting diaper cream on her baby.... Too cute. We had a good laugh on that one.

60th Birthday Surprise

On July 22nd my dad turned 60. On July 25th, we surprised him with a surprise party (I say we - his wife, Brenda did all the planning-we just showed up). Anyway, it was a great time and I think he was genuinly surprised to see us all there. He lives in Chattanooga so a lot of family made the short trip for the event. Here are some shots of the event....

Here is the whole party waiting to surprise him when he drove up

My dad after he got out of the car and it sunk in....

Chow time - we had a low country boil - delicious!

My dad's brother Tim and his wife, Rhonda

It's hard to see this pic but these are my dad's brother - Tim and Jeff

Dad hamming it up with Elaina

Cousins Jami and Celia

My dad's brother Tim, his daughter, Rebecca, and my Mammaw

Dad with Celia - and his really hideous glasses. Don't know what those are about

Nell, Rebecca and Dave - Nell's shirt is not pink. My camera is about to die. I'm in the market for a new one. I've got a b-day coming up so I hope to have a new one soon (hint, hint) :)

My cousin Rachel and Elaina

Celia checking out the pool - which we all got in by the end of the evening. It was hot

The grandmothers

My sister, Abby and cousin Anna

Cousins and Boat Rides

Our Internet has been acting up so this post is old. Last weekend (7/24 and 7/25) we traveled to Chattanooga for my dad's 60th surprise party (to be blogged about later). While there, we stayed with my cousin, Gabe, who has a little boy who is 1 week younger then Elaina. They just had their second son, Finn Michael so we were able to meet him. While there, Elaina and Tasio played like life long friends. We went on a boat ride and down to Cooledge Park for some fountain fun...Here are some shots of the weekend..

I love these shots.... On the boat - the kids letting the wind blow through their hair

My cousin, Gabe, and his son, Tasio

Gabe letting Elaina drive the boat - she turned the key and stopped the boat while no one was looking... oops!

Elaina and Tasio

Me and Elaina

Elaina with her daddy

After the boat ride, was bath time.... always fun

The next day we went to Cooledge Park so the kids could play in the fountain. Elaina and Tasio were complete opposites - this is about as daring as she got in the water.