E,E, and Little E Stringfellow: November 2013

School

This happened almost 2 months ago......but, I never blogged about it because I got behind and...well, you know.

Elaina has chapel at school every Thursday. About 6 weeks ago, her class led chapel which means they lead the song time. Elaina (our quiet reserved child who is slowly coming out of her shell) volunteered to read a bible verse. So, Erik and I attended to watch her 10 seconds of speaking. It was awesome. Sounds silly, but we were very proud of her for doing it. It's good for her confidence and we pray daily for that to enlarge over time.

On a related note...she later tried out for part in their Christmas performance and got a small part (1 line, so nothing major). What?? Elaina? She came home and told us she tried out. We could not believe it. Now, when she found out she got the part, we had a mini nuclear meltdown in our house about how she didn't want to stand on the big stage and do it, so she told her teacher she did not want to do it. That is okay with us - we are happy for the small victories where her confidence is concerned and just proud of her for trying out.

Okay...enough of the mom boasting. Sorry. Here is some video of the chapel day.

Reading the bible verse... She knew it but nerves took over so she read it. Still very cool.

and the song....

Thank you to those of you who watch and read these kinds of posts to the end. I'm a mom who is pretty smitten and proud of her daughter. I worry that at times I can seem too boastful about her on this forum...and, maybe I am but I can't help it. We are very blessed to have her :)

Halloween

Moving on to Halloween - 2013.

Getting caught up still.

We carved pumpkins. Tradition every year. It's fun.

She did one pumpkin with stickers...

All of them - mine is the generic one with the face. I like the basic pumpkins with a face of some sort. Old school. Erik's is the one on the far left. Elaina's is the far right

Halloween night - trick or treating in our neighborhood. It was perfect. Elaina was a mermaid (she would say Ariel - same difference)

We went with our new neighbors - they have a 3 year old, Grace. Elaina and Grace have become fast friends. We have enjoyed them as neighbors

We also went with our other neighbors (who also happen to be my cousins...this is Brooklyn, my cousin's daughter.

Elaina walked away from every single house with a full report on the exact candy bar she got...exciting stuff. One house in our neighborhood gave out those huge pixie sticks AND a regular sized candy bar to each kid. Crazy! Needless to say they had a line at their house.

Trick or treating was fun - the only down fall is that where we live, we got no trick or treaters ourselves and Elaina LOVES to "sell candy" (as she puts it). So, she was sad about that. But, maybe as more houses are built on our end of the road we'll get more trick or treaters. I enjoy seeing all the kids in costume too.

Leaves...

Elaina told me on two separate mornings how she dreamt about jumping into a pile of leaves. A day or so later, Erik decided to rake up a bunch (without knowing she had these dreams). She looked outside one evening, eyes got super wide, and quickly ran to get her shoes on. Not much could be more fun to a kid, I think. This is what happened....

Do you remember how much fun this was when you were little? I do....Fun to see your child enjoying it like you did.

After she was done, Erik burned them all up. But, we have plenty of leave left to fall so hopefully Elaina can do it again.

Fall Fun

Getting caught up here (story of my life)...Some fun fall activities over the past few weeks. We headed to the pumpkin patch. We took Elaina's friends Dylan and Laurel from church. Beautiful weather, super fun time. Here go the pictures....

Hayride....to the pumpkin patch

Daddy/Daughter sweetness :)

The pumpkins cost $5 so we told the kids you can only pick them up and pose with them...no buying. After paying to get in, I feel like the pumpkin should be part of the cost. Anyway, rant over. We bought them for cheaper elsewhere.