Outside!!!

This past weekend was AMAZING weather. We loved it. Elaina was puny all weekend with a stomach bug but we managed to get her out for about 20 minutes or so. I feel like the weather/sunshine helped her a little. She started to get sick on Friday night about an hour and a half after I got home from Idaho Falls. Sweet thing, she waited for me to get home (catch the sarcasm in that?). On Saturday she woke up at 7:30, then slept with me on the couch for about an hour from 9-10. Then laid back down at noon and slept until 4:00!!! Holy smokes - that was a nap. She woke up feeling better but not 100%. After that we went outside. She has made a full recovery since then. Here are some shots of outside. I am sooooo looking forward to warm weather again.

She wanted to push her baby in her stroller....she didn't feel well that day so not much pushing went on but I did get some cute pics out of the deal :)

Erik washed my car that day so she decided to get a rag and wash her tricycle too. Too cute!

Valentines Day

Valentines Day was over a week ago, but I'm behind - what else is new....??? We had a pretty low key Valentines Day but it was enjoyable nonetheless... We spent the day at home together as a family and I made chocolate covered strawberries again as I did last year. I am thinking I like this tradition and will continue to do it. This year I made white chocolate dipped ones too. I also made Oreo truffles which are DELICIOUS if you've never had them. No pics of them - they're not as pretty.

Elaina got gifts of things such as candy, candy, and more candy (M&Ms mainly).... and some bubbles and stickers. She was so happy to get bubbles....
I got Erik the game of Bananagrams... super fun if you've never played it. It is right up Erik's alley, he loves scrabble and this game is a take on scrabble. If you've never played, you should, it's fun. We hope you all had a great Valentines Day! Much love to you all from the Stringfellows!

The things Elaina says...

So, I've seen several people do posts like this just to quote some things their kids say that are either cute or funny. So, I thought, I'd jot down a few recent things Elaina has said that have either tickled me or made me smile.... Plus, this way I can remember them later in life.

1. "Here Me Am, Mommy" which means "Here I am, Mommy"

2. "That's Daddy's Mud?" every time we pass all the mud at the end of our subdivision caused by construction in the road. Here is the story behind that. Erik played mud volleyball back in June and Elaina and I watched. She was really weirded out about all the mud and talked about it for a few days. About 2 months later, Erik left the house to go play basketball. She asked me where he was and I said "Daddy is playing basketball." Elaina responded with "In the mud?" Apparently she thinks he plays all sports in the mud and that all mud is now "daddy's mud."

3. "I want toose of them" which means "I want two of them" For some reason, "two" is "toose" when referring to how many she wants

4. Her teacher told me that the other day she was trying to tell her friend, Anna Grace, something at school. Evidently, Anna Grace was not listening so Elaina blurted out in a commanding voice "Anna Grace Claire!!" Apparently Elaina thinks everyone's middle name is Claire. That really cracks me up - especially since Anna Grace already goes by her first and middle name. She calls me "Mommy Claire' sometimes.

5. The other morning when I went to get her out of her crib, she asked "Where's Daddy?" I said, Daddy is at work. To that she replied, "It's just me and us?" I said, "yes, just me and us." Too cute

That is all for now but stay tuned, you never know what will come out of a 2 1/2 year olds mouth :)

Snow

I am a little behind with my posts and quite frankly have not taken a lot of pictures lately. My grandfather died suddenly a week ago so for about the past week and half, it's been little crazy around the Stringfellow household. During his final days the hospital, many family members drove/flew in for his final days. He had many visitors who I had never met before who wanted to pay respects to him. I learned a lot of wonderful things about my grandfather that I did not know which was neat. My grandfather,Pawpaw, was a wonderful man who lived a wonderful long life and was loved by many. He touched a lot of lives and will be missed greatly. We love you PawPaw!

Now for some positive stuff....My cousin Gabe and his family stayed with us during this whole ordeal. They were here for the snow so Elaina and her cousin Tasio got to play in it. It's actually the first time Elaina has played in it. The last time it snowed, it was very wet, slushy snow so I was not into letting her get wet and cold - I know, I'm such a prude. When she went out, she was not so sure about it - like she is with everything she does for the first time. She went out in it and put her hands in it, kind of. Tasio was the complete opposite - throwing snow balls, diving in it. Those two are like night and day but when they get together they play so well together. We really enjoyed having them here. Here are some pics....

Ready for the snow....

Elaina in front of the constructed snow man

Tasio was all smiles...He loved the snow

This is how Elaina ended up... We did not stay out much longer because of this.

Tasio with the finished snowman. Look how he is looking at it. So funny. Oh, and the face is made out of fruit snacks. Erik's choice to use the yellow ones. Looks like "yellow snow," huh? Nice work Erik :)

After the snow - snacks! Elaina perked up for this.

And some other random shots of the weekend. Elaina LOVES baby Finn.
Did I mention she loves baby Finn? Every baby she sees she calls baby Finn.
All three of them. I took a bazillion pictures of them and this is the only one I got where they are all looking forward.