Fantasy of Trees

Hello everyone... We hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday. We sure did - although I have no proof because I did not take a single picture on Thanksgiving. Why?  Well, I don't know really.  I had my camera, just didn't take it out to take pictures.  We did have a great day.  We celebrated at Erik's parents house and then it was off my my mom's for dessert.  All the food was delicious and the company was great.

The day after Thanksgiving we went to the Fantasy of the Trees which was also fantasic and this day I did take pictures.  So, sit back and enjoy.  Erik went with us this year and we all had a wonderful day as a family.  Elaina even sat on Santa's lap - she freaked out 2 years ago, and last year we did not even attempt Santa.  But, this year she was such a trooper and sat on his lap.  Good stuff.

On the carousel... one of her favorite things to do.  We walked through the doors and the first thing out of her mouth was "where is the carousel?"

Decorating a cookie with her daddy

Making a hot pad with her handprint on it

Getting her hand cleaned up - this shows her face painting that we had done prior to this

Her thumb print ornament...

Placing her thumb print on the ornament

Waiting in line for carousel ride #2.... she would have done this all day if we let her.  This time she went with her daddy.

On the carousel with daddy.... I found out that this was Erik's first carousel ride EVER!  WHAT!!!  I have known him this long and I did not know that.

And the most exciting part of the day..... She sat on Santa's lap.  We were so proud of her.  We saw him and asked her if she wanted to sit on his lap and tell him what she wanted.  She said "yes."  I was skeptical and did not want to wait in that long line just for her to freak out but she did so great.  We pepped her up about it the entire wait and once it was time, she sat down with him and told him she wanted a trampoline.  She may just be getting one this year - who knows.  I small one that is ;)

Granny turns 60

On November 12th, my mom turned 60.  To celebrate we surprised her with a fun night.  I told her to come to my house for dinner with my sisters, Kate and Nell.......or so she thought.  When she got here, we told her we were not going to cook, we were going out.  So, she said "great!"  While we waited, my sister Abby from Nashville and her family showed up, then her sister and an old family friend showed up.  The grandkids all did a skit called "When Granny was my age" which was totally adorable.  We included a presentation of pictures of her when she was the age of each grandkid.  I videoed it but it is entirely to long to put on the blog.

Then, the final surprise, we walked her outside to a limousine that took us to dinner.  It was a very very fun night and she was completely surprised.  It was very cool to surprise her in this way.

My mom and all her girls..... Kate, Abby, mom, me, and Nell

This kids took a ride in the limo before we left.  They thought that was SO cool.

Mom and Gale

My aunt Maria, Dave and Nell

Kate, Dave, and Nell



Doug and Abby - check out my cheesy sister, Nell, in the background



Me and Erik

It was such a fun night - Happy Birthday, Mom!  We love you!

Halloween weekend

So, Halloween 2010 was not full of boredom, that is for sure.  We had a wonderful time this past weekend making lots of Halloween memories.  Here are some shots of the fun (this post may be a sort of long one but I want to just get this all in in one).

This past week she has really been a stinker about taking her picture.  She always has her hands in her face.  This is her in her Halloween costume the day we got it, just wanted to try it on.  Looks like it fit, and pretty darn cute.  She wanted to be a bee like her friend, Addie, was last year.

We successfully bribed her in this picture to put her hands down :)  Here is her in her princess outfit for our pirates and princess event at church.  She went 3 times, let's just say she loved every minute of being a princess

On Saturday morning we carved our pumpkin - she loved digging the goop out with the "shovel" - so she called it.

Helping daddy carve

Final product - and a pretty cute shot of Elaina if I do say so myself.  I'm sorry.....I'm such a mom.

Here she is with her Aunt Nell before we went trick or treating.  You'll notice Nell had to hold her hands down.

We went trick or treating with our small group and all their kids - very fun - at Julie and Jack's house.  The costume winner was Mason, a 1 year old dressed as a cow.  But not just any cow, the Chik-Fil-A cow.  Totally adorable.  So, there wasn't contest but if there was, he had my vote.

All the kiddos before we ventured out.  Let's just say this shot was about as good as it got.  Getting a pic of all of them is no small feat.

This is Elaina and her friend Addie.  They held hands for the first 3-4 houses.  So sweet.  She just LOVES Addie.

If you will recall, her and Elaina held hands last year while walking through Boo at the Zoo...here they are last year.  Note: Addie is a bee

Getting candy -  this lady passed out tubs of playdough... nice! 

And finally, when we got home, we were able to serve some trick or treaters at our house.  Elaina thought it was super fun to hand out candy.  Here she is sitting in the candy bowl waiting on people.  The bowl only had about 3 left so no worries, no candy was harmed in the making of this picture ;)