Building Forts

This past weekend I decided to teach Elaina how to building a fort in the bonus room with pillows and blankets and whatever we could find.  I am not sure if we were the only family that did this but for those of you who don't know, this was a favorite past time of mine growing up.  My sister, Nell, and I used to build forts downstairs of the house we grew up in all the time.  We had the best couch to do it with because the cushions were sturdy and big....  My best friend's brother, Jeff, was the master fort builder and taught me everything I know about building a good sturdy one.  He could build huge ones.  He passed away about 4 years ago so this post is a tribute to him. 

So, it's time Elaina learned so she can continue the fun times...  It was super fun building them and playing in them with her.  She loved it, of course.

I wish we had more furniture in the bonus room so we could go even bigger.  I've got to figure out how to incorporate the treadmill in the back into it

Peeking out... not sure why she pulled out her Easter basket to be a part of it but whatever...

Erik got in on the action....

Elaina is in there somewhere :)

Happy New Years!!!

For New Years, we went to Nashville to visit my sisters for the evening.  On New Years Day my dad drove in and we had Christmas with him.  We spent the evening hanging out at my sister Abby's house and ringing in the New Year.  Elaina stayed up to watch the ball drop (central time), 1:00am her time.  She crashed HARD and then did not sleep in very much because her cousins were up.  Needless to say she was the most tired she had ever been.  She had trouble putting sentences together all day.  She slept the entire 2.5 hours home.

Nell....

Dave is not excited about 2012

The girls played dress up and put on New Years Eve parade for all of us

Celia and Elaina

Sadie waiting on 2012

This is New Years Day at my sister Nell's new house.  These are my 3 sisters and Alexandra

Leah, Sadie, and Erik

Brenda, Dave, and Doug

Elaina - still standing

Nell, Dad, Abby, and Kate - sorry Kate, your eyes are closed but I had to include this picture

Elaina got a Hello Kitty Squinkie dispenser...  she LOVED it

Dad got the young kids wax lips -  hilarious!

Kate and her pretty purple sweater - much better picture, Kate

Sean, if you're going to do this in the picture, you deserve to have your face plastered on my blog for all to see.

Dad and Quentin

Elaina and her Pappaw - Adorable picture!

Elaina with her wax lips.  This is terribly funny to me.

Day After Christmas

The Day After Christmas was a great one for us.  We spent the day as a family together. 

First, Elaina practiced riding her new bike outside.....  She's got to get the hang of it still.  She will.  Last year we were outside in the snow with her barbie jeep.  This year we barely needed jackets while outside.    Anyway, here she is giving it a shot.

Later that day after naps, we headed to Pigeon Forge for the day.  We have never gone up to see any lights during the holiday so we thought we'd hit a few stores that we got gift cards to and then have dinner and see the lights at the Smokies stadium.  We had never done that before and were super impressed.  I was glad we went. 

Anyway, before we did that, we wanted to do something fun with Elaina since she was a trooper and walked to a bunch of stores with us with no complaints. We happened upon this Christmas themed road carnival right outside the Wonderworks Museum.  Perfect!  She had a ball and we enjoyed watching her have a ball...

Train ride...

Carousel...

Big tall fast slide...  This was her favorite.

And... Ferris wheel...  Little tid bit of information that even I did not know - this was Erik's first Ferris wheel ride EVER!!  WHAT??  How did I not know that and how is that possible??  So, he and Elaina experienced their first Ferris wheel rides together.  I am so glad he did it and we got to snap this picture of the big event.

We finished off the night with dinner and the light show at Smokies stadium.  Like I said before, I thought it was super cool.  You set your radio to a particular station and the lights are synchronized to the music...  I thought it was worth it.. and, it's not near as crowded after Christmas so it did not take long.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Day was super duper.  We had a tremendous time with family.  Lil E was spoiled as always but had a great time with all her new stuff.  Now, on to photos...

On her new bike... she LOVES it.

She got Squinkies...  Evidently, these are all the rage (in case you don't have or know another 4 year old), or at least they are to Elaina

A LeapPad... super cool.

Her most favorite part of the bike - it has a seat for her baby doll.... as evidenced above.

Walking her new puppy.

After we celebrated with just us, I made cinnamon rolls, we ate them.  I made cinnamon monkey bread and took it over to Erik's parents for a breakfast/brunch over there...  The monkey bread turned out delicious (just sayin).  Anyway, more family time was spent at the Stringfellows.  After gifts, we played a few games over there that were fun.... check it out.

The game was called "One arm Santa" (or that is what I am calling it).  We get into teams of 2 and you and your partner have to wrap and put a bow on a box both using only 1 hand.  Erik and Kevin went first with a respectable time and were all super impressed at how well they did.

Next, was me and Melanie - we blew them out of the water.  No video because no one took one, but let's say we beat them by about 25-30 seconds.  They are still a bit bitter about it and say we cheated but we didn't (who said you couldn't use your mouth??) Sore losers.  Anyway, they did have the disadvantage of giving everyone tips of how to do it and everyone built upon that to get better.  Maybe next year guys :)

The losing team

The winning team!!

Can you tell I like to rub in a victory any chance I get - especially with Kevin and Erik.....  Not very a great Christmas spirit but I take em when I can get em (which is not very often).  Merry Christmas to me!!!

Seriously,  I love all my family and hopefully they can forgive me for being such an annoying winner.  We had such a great time with everyone and are blessed beyond measure....

The Christmas week is not over.  Erik and I were off all week so more fun stuff to come.... Until next time......