E,E, and Little E Stringfellow

Building Forts

2012-01-26T22:37:00.001-05:00

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!!!

2012-01-05T17:59:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-03T19:59:00.004-05:00

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

2012-01-01T22:27:00.000-05:00

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......

Christmas Eve

2011-12-28T23:36:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve was super duper fun for us (as usual)... Want to know why?? Okay. Let's start off with morning.

We woke up, ate breakfast, and then we decorated our cake for Jesus' birthday. I let Elaina really have free reign over the cake decorating (more the usual) so the cake is pretty fantastic. I baked the cake the night before so it was ready for decorating the next morning.

Icing

I did help her write Happy Birthday Jesus on it....

Sprinkles and candy galore...

Finished product - you can't even see the words

Then she cleaned the dishes...with no soap but a good effort. I appreciated the gesture.

Next we prepared these rice krispie ornaments that we were going to decorate later at my mom's house. More to come on that.

After a quick visit to my mammaw and my grandma that day, we headed to church with my mom. This is a post church family pose at my mom's house

Elaina in her Christmas outfit

Lil E with dad

And one with mom

After dinner we started with presents. My mom likes to play this game where everyone draws a word from a hat. Then, Gale reads The Night Before Christmas and when your word gets spoken you call out. You then get to pick an envelope from a basket that has a gift card to somewhere in it. The next person can take a gift card already opened or pick a new one... you know, dirty Santa of sorts. It's super fun.

Here is Elaina sitting with Kate awaiting her word to be said. She got "Happy Christmas" so her word was last. But, she waited very patiently

Still waiting on her word, now in my lap

Gale reading The Night Before Christmas

Next, we decorated the rice krispie treats like ornaments.

Alexandra and Elaina

Some of the finished products...

Then we opened our stocking stuffers.... Elaina's favorite gift (probably of ALL the gifts she got were these Ariel pajamas)

Next we headed home to get to bed for Santa's arrival.....

The loot

Bike... super exciting

Here is a cute video of Elaina getting ready for Santa.

Here is the reindeer eating the food she left. He hovered beside the door for an hour until we let him outside. He was happy to eat it all.

Let The Christmas blogging begin

2011-12-26T12:27:00.000-05:00

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We sure did. Christmas Day was a bit exhausting but totally worth it - we had fun with family and enjoyed spending Christmas Eve and Day with them. We crashed when we got home, that is for sure.
The first post I will dedicate to our second annual Gingerbread decorating party with our friends, the Fords. We had such a good time doing this last year that we had to do it again this year. The Fords just welcomed their third child, Elias James. He is so precious. Because of his arrival a few weeks ago we had to put the gingerbread making off closer to Christmas but we are able to squeeze it in just before and were glad. These first few pictures are some of Elias....

This is a picture of me holding him when he was a couple of days old as Elaina looks on

Elaina held him - this is the first baby she has ever held. She's never really been into holding babies but after she saw Olivia do it, she had to join in.

This is me and Elias the other day when we did Gingerbread houses. He is already so much bigger

Silly husbands..... All ready for Santa Claus

Now, onto gingerbread house decorating...

Getting ready...

Elaina and Olivia are old pros at this

Erik is an "old" pro too :)

The kids put a on a performance for us... Isaac's outfit reflected in the flash

And the finished products

Don't you love the stick figure on the left.... I do.

This was super fun again this year..... Thanks again to the Fords - can't wait until year #3.

More Christmas Eve and Day Festivities to come.....

Breakfast with Santa

2011-12-21T22:36:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday we went to Lakeside Tavern to eat Breakfast with Santa. We had a great time together as family. It was put on for charity - Mission of Hope - and, needless to say, Santa was there. We ate some delicious pancakes and sausage and saw Santa. Note, I only said "saw" Santa. Elaina wanted nothing more then to watch him from afar. Oh well, it was still a good time together as family. I recommend this to anyone with kids. It was a nice quiet setting to visit with Santa and was nicely set up.

A pose in the booth before Santa got there

What else do you do when you are waiting on Santa but to take a picture of your half eaten plate of food. I took this, not Elaina :)

Our booth was literally right beside where Santa sat.

Outside waiting on Santa to arrive

And, Santa showed up in a Fire Truck, of course! ??

Family pose - as you can tell Elaina is freaked out because she just saw Santa

Now it's my turn to pose with Elaina

She sat and watched all the kids sit on Santa's lap

I took her to get in line - this is me talking it up for her to sit in his lap. She was having none of it. Oh well, not the end of the world. She did still have fun watching all the other kids sit in his lap

Ornaments

2011-12-18T22:20:00.000-05:00

Each year since Elaina was born, we have gotten a family ornament that is personalized.... They are hands down my most favorite ornaments and I love going each year to pick them out. We just picked up our 2011 family ornament yesterday so I thought I'd post a blog about it and show you the ornaments of years past....

2007

2008

2009 - the year is written on the bottom of this one but you can't really see it

2010

And 2011... Elaina picked this one out. This is the first year she has been with us to pick them out. She was very much into it

I love them all and the memories they each have with it. My favorite so far is 2010. Your favorite??

Early Christmas

2011-12-07T22:44:00.002-05:00

As usual, we attended the Fantasy of the Trees again this year - the day after Christmas. Elaina and I went with a friend and her two children because Erik had to work. While there, Elaina went into Santa's Secret Shop to buy things for me and Erik for Christmas. I love this idea. She had a helper help her pick things out. And they wrap it up for her. I remember doing this when I was younger - it was called Ms. Claus's closet. I always got my dad a rabbit's foot. Remember, Dad? You acted surprised every year....and more importantly, you acted like it was exactly what you wanted (what a good dad!) :)

Anyway, back on track. Elaina was so excited that she told me what she got Erik as soon as she walked out and started to tell me mine until I stopped her. All the way home she asked for me to open my present and for her daddy to open his. We told her multiple times that we were going to put them under the tree and open them on Christmas. Well, about an hour later after we got home, she took Erik's too him and proceeded to rip it open it with him. She was so excited that we couldn't bear to stop her excitment. I like that she is excited about giving presents.

Erik opening his mini football - very appropriate gift. She was very proud of that find

I got a red teddy bear, which she argues is a puppy, and a picture holder for my desk (it's pink)

Here we are with our gifts. We will forever cherish these.

Merry Early Christmas!!!

Oh, Kate...... "ONE PRESENT NOW, ONE PRESENT NOW!!!" :)

From Halloween to Thanksgiving, and then there is Christmas

2011-11-23T15:32:00.001-05:00

I have not posted anything since Halloween. We've been a bit busy. So, just to give you a glimpse of our life this past week (and to maybe make you smile), here is a video of Elaina entertaining us. Just some song singing... she gets "Old McDonald" and "BINGO" mixed up. Cuteness.

Also, this past weekend, we got our Christmas decorations up. Loads of fun. Elaina had fun helping us get our Christmas Carols on the tree. Christmas carols, you say? Yes, that is what she calls them this year. Funny. It took me a while to figure it out. As I was putting the tree up, I had Christmas music on in the background. She kept asking, "Mommy are we going to put Christmas carols on this year." I kept telling her they were already on. Then, she opened up my box of ornaments and said, "can I put this Christmas carol on the tree?" OOOOOHHHH!!! That's what she was talking about.

Speaking of ornaments, my Grandma got me an ornament every year since I was born. She did that for all her grandkids. I still have all 31 of them. My mom does the same for her grandkids. Elaina has 5 (my mom bought her one before she she was born). I let her put them on the tree. Here some of those memories...

Thanksgiving is tomorrow....stay tuned for a re-cap of action from the Stringfellow household. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving to all our blog readers. Hope your day is special. We have so much to be thankful for.

Halloween Fun

2011-11-01T11:51:00.001-04:00

Halloween came and went again this year but not without the absence of a little bit of fun with a little 4 year old you all know... Elaina wanted to be Rapunzel this year. Shocker, I know, since she spends half her time at home in her Rapunzel dress. But, who am I to change her mind. She loves her and quite frankly so do I, so we went with it.

First fun activity was a Trunk or Treat at a near by church last week. We met our friends Tami and Justin there with their 2 children, Olivia and Isaac. Much fun (and candy) was had by all. I had never been to a trunk or treat - they actually hand out candy from the back of cars. Who knew "truck" actually meant car trunks? They also had many activities/games for the kids to do. It was fun. We will definitely go back to one.

Erik walking in with Elaina, I mean Rapunzel, on his shoulders

Isaac, Olivia, and Elaina

Elaina and Olivia on the hayride...can you tell they are excited?

They had a fire truck there, Elaina sat in it...

Happy at the end of the night. She really racked up on the candy.

The next night we carved our family pumpkin.....

Top off... guts out....

Helping me carve...

Check out the concentration on that kid

And to the front porch it went....

Also, over the past several weeks we painted pumpkins with different friends. They have all made it into this bowl for display. This was a fun activity to do with friends

Finally, Halloween night... I got a wig for Elaina to wear with her Rapunzel dress. I would love to tell you that she wore it all night but that would be a lie. We did persuade her to put it on for 1 minute to get a picture. Below is about as happy as the pictures got.... she was not into this wig. So, for the rest of the night, she was Rapunzel at the end of the movie when they cut her hair and it turned brown. That works for me.

She is much happier in this shot. No wig but she is equipped with her frying pan to defend her from the evil trick or treaters :)

After about 30 minutes of trick or treating, she decided she wanted to camp out in front of our house and hand out candy. She had much more fun doing this then actual trick or treating. So, we accommodated her request and had some fun handing out candy for the rest of the evening.

It was a great Halloween. Can't wait until next year! Hope you all had a great Halloween too!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-20T11:37:00.000-04:00

We went with our small group this past weekend to the pumpkin patch. The week prior to this we had a fall party at our house where we did games/crafts with the kiddos. It was super fun. We had the kids paint miniature pumpkins and the made these cute shirts that they all wore to the Pumpkin Patch a week later. We had 3 legged races, scavenger hunt, bobbed for apples, cookie decorating... I believe that covers it. Needless to say, the kids had a ball and so did the adults. We have such an amazing small group. Love spending time with them so much. Here are some pics to capture the fun!

Elaina and Caitlyn painting Pumpkins - Elaina looks like she is trying to tell Caitlyn what to do. In fact, she probably is.

Jack painting his shirt

Me and my love bug

Sweet Owen....

Amy making a shirt for her son, Alec and Andrew making one for his son, Aidan

Owen and his dad

Elaina making her shirt...

The gang painting pumpkins

Alec and Chad... and Andrew

Patrick making his shirt

How do you hold both kids at the same time? Like this, of course! Kevin looks like a pro at this

I forgot to mention we bobbed for apples. I was the first to try - unsuccessfully at that. But, Brandi and Pam got theirs. The kids had more fun splashing in the water and making the apples splash into the water

Owen making his cookie and eating it some along the way. I love how the black icing looks just like a mustache

Halfway through the party, Elaina decided to put her Rapunzel outfit on.... complete with crown and everything!

Caitlyn decorating her cookie

The next weekend it was off to the pumpkin patch.... The kids wore their shirts and looked totally adorable in them. Our friends, Tami and Justin came along with their kids, Olivia and Isaac too.

Elaina with her friends, Olivia and Olivia... the one on the right is Olivia Ford (who is 4). Elaina calls the one of the left "Olivia Six" because she is 6. I think Elaina thinks Olivia Ford's last name is actually "Four" so the other one would be "Olivia Six" Too funny!

Patrick, Olivia Six, Caitlyn, Olivia Four, Isaac, and Elaina

Sweet Aidan

Caitlyn and Jack

Pam with Caitlyn

Erik and Elaina picking out a pumpkin. The pumpkins were all green. they had very few orange ones and the ones that were were placed there loosely and not tied to a vine. We came home with 3 green pumpkins. They are kind of pretty

Elaina and her green pumpkin

Elaina and Olivia with their pumpkins of choice

I thought this was a cute pic of Owen and Caitlyn finding their pumpkin

Elaina... I just think these shirts are so adorable

All the kids....Front: Isaac and Olivia,
Middle: Jack, Olivia with Alec, Caitlyn,
Back: Elaina, Aidan, Patrick and Owen

The Stringfellow family posing for a fall picture

They had a super big slide that the kids enjoyed

And a corn box... rather the sand. Such a great idea.

A good time was had by all.... And for the record, I LOVE FALL!!! Until next time.......

Times Square Video

2011-10-17T11:01:00.001-04:00

During our last walk through Times Square on our last day in NYC, my sister told me to take a video standing in the middle panning the entire place from point to point. So, I did - just to capture the whole thing and the craziness of it all... The same sister, Nell, decided to crash the video every few seconds to be funny. And she gives a little message to Erik (who is in no way interested in ever going to New York City)....Take a look.

I did not know that the ball that drops every year actually stays on the top of the builiding all year (at the bottom of the poll of course). Just something I did not know.

New York City - Day 3 and 4

2011-10-07T23:13:00.003-04:00

Day 3.... started with a trip to the Empire State Building... It was a spotty, rainy day so the view was a bit cloudy. But I was so glad to have gone. The only good news is the line to go up was super duper short so that was nice. Here is one shot of the view...

The whole gang at the bottom when we came down

After that we headed over to Chelsea Market for lunch... or so we thought. Chelsea Market was cool, lots of good places to eat. We scored a great table at this great restaurant (The Green Table - not certain on the name). Someone did not show up for their reservation so we lucked out. As we sat down, ordered our drinks and food, my sister, Nell, said "we need to keep an eyeball on the time." We had a boat tour reservation at 2:15. Well, it was 1:30!! We totally lost track of time. We had to cancel our order, we all ate 1 meatball off of the appetizer that we ordered and we jetted over to Chelsea Pier for the tour. Bummer - the lunch we all ordered was going to be delicious. We found out on Yelp.com that this place had super high rating... oh well.

Over at Chelsea Pier, we got on this boat for our tour... it was nice. BTW - on the way to the boat, I stopped to eat a hot dog at a street vendor. DELICIOUS! Not quite the meal I was going to have but it worked and was something I wanted to so in the City anyways so it worked out..

The tour was great - we went all the way around the Island and got to hear cool facts about the city and it's architecture and the history behind so much of it... I HIGHLY recommend people do this sort of tour, for sure.

A shot of South Manhattan - you can see one of the new World Trade Center towers that is being built

And, we floated right beside the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island... pretty cool. She is a beauty.

All of us on the boat in front of the Statue of Liberty. Really nice guy that took the pic but he did not get the Statue in the shot with us... oh well! The boat tour provided wine and hor d'ourers... it was very nice.

Brooklyn Bridge...

Kate took my camera to get some shots of the Brooklyn Bridge... she and Abby took pics of themselves in front of it. So, why not include them in the blog....:)

And one of Abby...

Going up the shore was pretty cool... one section of it were buildings like this

Then just a 1/4 mile up were sky rises like this. It was interesting seeing the different types of architecture along the coast line

DAY 4.... started with a trip to the Sunday morning Today Show. This was SUPER fun. My mom made a sign (below) and at first we were all like "really mom?? are you going to really flash that??" Guess we're still embarrassed by our mom ;) But it got us some attention...

The weather guy asked us where we were from, we told him... and then he did his outside weather spot right in front of us.... SUPER fun. I am such a cheeseball in the film.. I waved twice. I was so excited that he was doing his report right in front of us. I am such a dork! Afterwards, I was pretty happy mom did that because it turned out alright... moms - they are always right!

This was recorded from a friend's camera recording the TV so it's kind of hard to hear.. but, he says, "these folks behind me are from the Secret City. We'd tell you where that is but then we'd have to kill you." HA!

All in all - a great experience. There are some other shots of us too that were caught on camera (panning the crowd) but I won't bore you with those. Sunday is definitley a good day to go to the Today Show. Not a crowd there so you're sure to get on.

Next it was on to a brunch at a small restaurant in the Theatre District called Chez Josephine. It is owned by Josephine Baker's son. It is a way super cool place and the breakfast was DELICIOUS. Mimosa's weren't bad either.

A shot of the restaurant... I love the decor of this place

At our table.....

Next it was on to the show!! We saw Wicked. In a word (or 3).... IT WAS AMAZING! I want to be on Broadway. I love the hound out of this kind of stuff. I want to see it again and again and again.

That night (our last night), we ate NY style pizza at a joint a block from our restaurant. I was great too. That was the perfect way to top of the trip. We headed back home the next day. I was glad to get home to my family but once home I couldn't stop talking about all the things we did/saw. I really want to go back one day... Hopefully that day will come sooner rather then later.

And, to my mom and sisters... you guys mean the world to me and I love you so much. I am so happy to have shared this experience with you all. I am excited about our next girl adventure (where ever it may be) with the four of you.

Speaking of that - any of my blog readers got any suggestions on where we should head for our next trip??

New York City

2011-10-05T22:01:00.002-04:00

This past weekend my mom and my 3 sisters packed up and headed to the Big Apple. This was my first trip and let me just tell you, I hope it was not my last.... I will have to break this blog up into a couple different posts. Let's start at Day 1.
When we got to New York City, before setting out to do some walking through the city.... food. After traveling, we were pretty hungry. After a whirlwind through Penn Station (okay, so we got lost down in the bottom somewhere), we found our luncheon destination. We ate at Lugo Cafe which we found on the web site, Yelp. Very cool website. It's where we found all our eating destinations. What did we do before SmartPhones? Anyway. Here we are with our bellies full ready to walk the streets of NYC.

We stayed in Manhattan right beside Madison Square Garden. We walked to Times Square and around that area to Rockefeller Center, etc... stopping in and out of shops on the way. My first impression - LOUD. I am not into loud but it's the city so what do you do??

Top - mom and my sisses in Times Square, Bottom - me in Times Square

We stopped in the M&M store to buy our kiddos an NYC M&M treat... on the way out of the store, my sister, Abby pulled this out of her purse...

Her napkin from Lugo Cafe... first souvenir!

Next we stopped at St Peters Cathedral (my mom the cathedral lover, had to go in) It was nice. I could not get a decent pic of the inside because of lighting but here is Abby, Nell, and mom outside of it

Then to Rockefeller Center.... more on this later. We visited the Today Show on Sunday and let's just say we got a cameo on
it... stay tuned for that.

We had tickets to the 9-11 Memorial that evening... So, it was off to that... here we are in line

The fountain of the North Tower... This was pretty surreal standing at the fountain. It was so gorgeous and to think this was the exact spot where the building fell. I was tearful and moved by the beauty of the fountain and the meaning behind it. I am so glad we were able to see this... I hope to go back when the museum is finished to see it. Everyone should go visit this memorial

This is the South Tower... It is half way complete which I found to be amazing because at even half way up it was taller then the buildings surrounding it. It's going to be so beautiful.

The new North Tower being built. It's not quite as complete as the South Tower

Just some touching shots of some items left around some of the names on the memorial....

This was one of my favorite things that we did.... Like I said, everyone should go see this.

On to Day 2....

First stop... a subway ride to Central Park. When I got off the subway and walked up the stairs my first reaction was how quite it was uptown.. I LOVED this part of town - Park Avenue, Central Park. Awesome! If I lived in NYC this is where I would live. But, I need about a Bazillion dollars to do it, so not happening.

Nell and Mom....

The Park was seriously so serene and quite and beautiful. I've heard it said before how crazy it is to have all that right smack dab in the middle of the city but I did not know just how crazy. It is straight up nature right in the middle of all the concrete. I mean a scene such as this with those sky scrapers in the background.. craziness!

Me and Nell

LOVE IT!!! Turtles sunbathing on a rock. For those of you who don't know, I love Turtles. I try to buy a turtle nick knack where ever I go. Good news, I found a cute one in NYC so I have another for my collection from NYC.

Kate, Nell, and mom

Next stop - lunch at Alice's Tea Cup. This was my favorite place we ate at. I love all the places but this was super quaint and delicious. We had all you can eat Scones, sandwiches, tea, and cakes/cookies. I am not a fan of scones but evidently I have not had one from here. I now LOVES scones - if they are made correctly Who knew???

Here we are after lunch :) Stuffed!

The next stop was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was neat but not my favorite thing. I don't know why, but I was glad we went. After that was dinner at DB Moderne Bistro. DELICIOUS! We saw Mario Batali there - in his black t-shirt, bright orange shorts, and orange crocs. It was a nice place too but he was all decked out in his usual.

He did not look much different then this (minus the shoulder bag and his shorts were the same orange as his shoes and hair)....I thought this was his TV look but not so. He dresses like this everywhere he goes (apparently).

That wraps up day 1 and 2.... So far, it's been fun. Stay tuned for Day 3 and 4 :)

Annual ND Trip

2011-09-28T17:43:00.000-04:00

This post happened almost a month ago... I realized today I did not post anything on it. Over Labor Day Weekend, we traveled to South Bend, IN to see Notre Play their opening game of the season. It was good to go because we were not able to go last year (so, I guess it's not annual but whatever... we've gone every other year but last year). Anyway, this year we took my mom and Gale. They had not ever been before and were interested in going to see the campus. Again, the campus is remarkable - so beautiful and my mom couldn't believe how clean it was. We had a good time. ND lost but it happens. Not ideal but a fun time was had by all. The most interesting thing that happened was the stadium was evacuated twice for thunderstorms in the area. The first time the evactuation was about 2 hours long. The second time we had already started heading to the car because we saw this coming our way...

But we ended up in this little Irish Pub right off campus where we watched the last 4 minutes of the game on a big screen. Beer and food were good so all in all, it turned out well in the end.

Some pictures of the weekend....

Like I said... this campus so beautiful. I really like this shot - gets a view of the Basilica and the Golden Dome (should have cropped out the tents, oh well)

My mom is really into going to different cathedrals. This is inside the Basilica, not a cathedral, but was georgeous. This was one of her favorite things that we did. It was super beautiful

Gale and mom before the game....

Erik in his "IRISH" get-up... He looks like a school boy but he was ready for the game for sure.

We waited outside the stadium to watch the team march into it. There is a reflecting pond just down from the stadium. The day before I had asked and wondered if anyone had gone swimming in it. Well, while we waited some students took a dive....on an air matress?? I guess when you are in college, you use what you got. Anyway, it was funny and entertaining - they were quickly pulled out by the local security.

Erik took this shot - good shot :)

Erik also took this shot.... um, really???

At the game....

Band before the game in ND formation

Like I said, ND lost but we still had fun. We got to see a day game, and then when it resumed after the storms, it was a night game by then. On top of that it went from upper 90 degrees to 70 degrees so we got to see a summer game and a fall game too :)

Frozen Yogurt Wall of Fame...

2011-09-22T13:50:00.000-04:00

Well, maybe it's not fame.... and more like hands. A new frozen yogurt place opened up by our house recently and we decided to try it out. These types of places seem to be popping up all over the place lately. So, why not try them all?? In my opinion, they are all pretty much the same. This one lets kids put their handprint on the wall in paint. It's pretty cool. After we ate, Elaina said she wanted to put her hand on the wall. So, we did. Not much more to it then that - but I felt it was fun enough to blog about. They provided the paint (although she had enough chocolate sauce on her hand that she could have used that), she dipped her hand in it, and the rest is history. She wrote her name underneath it too. She is forever a part of Koolioz frozen yogurt.... until they repaint it. But, until then we will commemorate the occasion by showing pics taken with our cell phones...

Surprise!!!

2011-09-13T13:24:00.001-04:00

I have the greatest friends!!! About 2 weeks ago, me and my friends, Tonja and Sabrina, had a date set to go out to eat. Unknown to me and Tonja, Sabrina had planned a homemade dinner for me and Tonja at my house. I came home from work to a set table, dinner in the oven, and salad in the refrigerator. The husbands were all in on it too so they went out to eat while we enjoyed a night at home with each other. Tonja's daughter Christine came and Elaina was able to hang out with us too. It was so very fun and a very nice surprise. Sabrina did it in honor of our birthdays - mine in August and Tonja's in September. She wanted the daughters to celebrate long with us (Christine is studying abroad this semester so this was her send off too).

BTW - I should have known something was up when Erik picked up AND vacuumed the downstairs the night before. Don't get me wrong, he is a great help but usually only does those things when there is company coming over. :)

So, a special thanks and love you BIG to Sabrina for doing that for us.

Photos from the night....

me, Tonja, and Sabrina

Mom's with their daughters... Tonja, Christine, and you know those other two characters over there on the right

Adorable pic of Christine with Elaina....

Sabrina made the cake... it's a teapot cake. I was originally going to do a teapot cake for Elaina b-day but decided on the princess cake last minute. So, she did one for the occasion.

Hair cut....cuteness!

2011-08-29T22:01:00.000-04:00

On Saturday Erik had a hair cut appointment and I told him - Elaina and I are coming with you. His hair stylist has trimmed her hair in the past. I have been considering cutting her hair for a while because it has just been getting so dried/frizzy at the ends. All that hair on the ends has been growing out for about 3 years. We've had her hair trimmed before but never cut it majorly.... We cut about 5-6 inches off. I love it - it, of course, makes her look older. We basically just cut it even with where her bangs has grown out. Just a cute 4-year old bob. She was very excited about it. Two of the girls in her class have short dues so she was excited to have hair like theirs.

Before...

During...adoreable

After (still wet)

And after....

after.....from the back

Mini vaca to the Wilderness

2011-08-28T22:13:00.001-04:00

Erik and I were thinking about our summer and realized that we had not really taken Elaina anywhere fun this summer. Not that she has not had a great summer and she certainly isn't deprived of anything but we were thinking back, and the one vacation we took was to Vegas and she did not go. Sooooooo, we made a last minute trip to the Wilderness... of the Smokies, that is. It's a super fun indoor/outdoor water park. We took Thursday off and went up for 1 night. We got to stay 2 days at the water park. It was fun. I would recommend this to anyone who has a youngster - very reasonable price. Especially, during the time we went - after school started and during the middle of the week. Not having too many people made the time a bit more enjoyable. This was her first time at a water park and needless to say, it was a fun time for her. I have always loved water parks/slides/etc... so this was fun sharing it with her.

Waiting on our bus to take us down to the indoor park......

It took her a few times to go down this slide by herself but once I got her to do it, we couldn't keep her off. We love to see her face. This is how she look every time she went down.

Erik and Elaina in the wave pool

She thought it was so cool to be able to crawl around the 1 foot section of the wave pool... Here is her and Erik doing this.

This is the other slide we could not get her off of. This was the one she was tall enough to go down with us on. She is about 3 inches too short to go on all of them with us but by next summer, she will be good to go. She would just giggle and say "woo-hoo" all the way down. So fun!

This last series of shots was Erik standing under huge bucket that pours out water every few minutes.... The first was the start and by the last picture you can hardly see him for all the water... You had to hold on to your glasses and your drawers or else you might lose them.

Camping....preview

2011-08-09T21:53:00.001-04:00

Each summer, mom and Gale take all the grandkids camping for a long weekend. The only stipulation is that you have to be 5 in order to go on this camping trip. They do all sort of things from swim, fish, paddle boats, rock hopping in the creek, bike riding, hiking.... you name it. The grandkids love it. Well, since Elaina is now 4..... well, I'm sure you can surmise what I am about to say... She is going on this trip next summer.

About a week ago, I had to drive my niece Alexandra up on Saturday morning to meet with the rest of the gang because she couldn't go up early because of band camp. I took Elaina so that she could hang out for a couple of hours and get a preview of what to expect next year. Good news... I think she will love it.

Here is almost everyone... Elaina wouldn't get in the shot. Sadie was super sick this year so she couldn't go. Kind of a bummer. My mom makes them shirts each year to wear with their names on them. I think it's for her sake so she doesn't forget their names.
Alexandra (in front), Back - Quentin, Celia, Hannah, and Blake

Sweet Celia

Catching critters in the creek

The girls.... See, I told you, Elaina is ready for this for sure. And, there's another granddaughter, Ella, who turns 5 within a week of Elaina who will be there next year so they will have 8 grandkids in total next year!!

Showing me her critter

The boys... Blake and Quentin

Sweet Hannah....

The crew.....

I think it is so cool that they do this each year and can't wait for Elaina to be a part of this fun with her Granny, Poppy Gale, and her cousins.

First Movie

2011-08-06T19:42:00.000-04:00

We took Elaina yesterday to see her first movie at the movie theatre. We saw Winnie The Pooh. It was a perfect movie because it was only a little over an hour long. Erik and I NEVER really watch movies much less go to the theatre so this was kind of a big treat for all of us.

Elaina did well, she did take a bathroom break in the middle (I forgot to have her go before the movie started - oops!). The movie was a perfect one, no scariness or overly loud scenes to frighten her (as she is easily frightened). So, we will do it again, next time.....$2 movie :) Even though we saw the matinee, still expensive - one of the reasons we never go. Second reason is because we can never agree on what movie to watch. We have different taste in movies.

Anywhosie.....as always, I brought along the camera for some photo ops.

Next to the Winnie The Pooh window decal with daddy

Now with mom...

All set..... popcorn - check, drink - check, candy - check

And now one with mom....

Again, another time when Elaina had the camera in the back seat.... We did not know she took this until we were downloading pics from the camera. I think it's a a cute pic of her (as a mother should) :)

Birthday Extravaganza

2011-07-21T22:34:00.001-04:00

You thought that the post that chronicled Elaina's actual birthday was it but oh no, think again my friend. After her actual birthday, the week went on and the celebration continued. Seriously, this kid is rotten but we think she' pretty special so what the hay... why not?!?! Friday after her birthday (July 8th) the celebration continued at my mom's with dinner, cake pops, and swimming afterwards.... (I am just going to warn you - this post is long, sorry).

On the way there, we stopped to show someone Erik's car that he is selling (sold). While were were outside the car talking, Elaina had gotten my camera and was doing this....

I did not know she had done this so as you can imagine as I was scrolling through my camera later this same night looking at pictures and saw this, I cracked up....

My sister, Kate, made these darling cake pops... They are incredibly adorable and probably one of the greatest things I have ever tasted.

And, of course, there were presents..... Showing off some of her princess stuff she got from Granny

The whole gang.....

The next day was Elaina's princess party - with her friends. I had 10 girls at my house all dressed up like princesses. At the party, we:
-decorated tiaras
-did makeup, hair, and nails
-accessorized with gloves, boas, shoes, hair clips
-played games
-decorated cookies and wooden letters
-ate cake / drank tea (apple juice)
-were merry
It was a blast....

Here is the princess cake our friends Carl and Sabrina made for Elaina... so incredibly beautiful.

The best part - Erik was the "butler" in blue jeans.... He is such a good sport. Made a great addition to the party.

My friend Tonja and her daughter Christine were a HUGE help - they did all the girls makeup/hair/nails/etc. The girls loved it.

Tonja in action

Princess Caitlin

Princess Addie

Princess Elaina

Princess Addie and Princess Elaina

Princess Riley

Princess Laurel

Princess Liana - they all decorated wooden letters of their first initial and got to take them home to put on their wall.

All the Princesses

And finally, Sunday my dad came up for a visit and brought presents, a cookie cake, and we celebrated with him. Seriously, the kid is rotten. But, again, fun times.

I mentioned presents... yes, she was excited about more present (of course)

Singing happy birthday (again). Can you tell she loved every minute of her attention all weekend long??

My dad bought her a slip and slide - oh yeah... fun times ahead. We tested it out that day.

Check out this cool shot Erik caught of her going down the slip and slide

And one more...

The week/weekend was fun. And, now it's over. Sad for Elaina but, admittedly, kind of happy for mom and dad. She is a very special little girl though. We are so very blessed to have her.

And since this blog is long, why not one more shot for smiles. This is her in her new Hello Kitty outfit that Tonja and Christine got her... She wore it to school the Monday after she got it. She loves it (in case you couldn't tell)

Thanks for hanging in there for that whole post.....

Happy 4th Birthday Elaina!!

2011-07-08T15:25:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday, Elaina turned 4. You could have fooled her. She has told everyone she was 4 for at least a week now. So, the day was just another day for her. Erik and I took the day off to spend with her. We wanted her to decide what we were going to be doing. Well, turns out, not very much. She did say she wanted to eat breakfast at Chick-fil-A (same as last year). Then we went to Toys R Us to pick her out a gift. Then she said she wanted to come home. I think the poor girl was tired from the weekend so we enjoyed the day at home. We didn't mind obliging her request.

In the afternoon, we went to her school to take cupcakes for her class friends. That was fun...

And now...as usual... pics from the day:

Of course, after she ate, she wanted to play on the play thing at Chick-fil-A

At home, we opened up her new Lite Brite the her aunt Melinda got for her and played with it. She loved it and secretly so did I. I used to love mine as a kid so it brought back a lot of memories. It's cool to do the kind of stuff that you did when you were little with your children. Good times.

At her school - here are the girls eating cupcakes

And the boys....

Anna Grace, Katherine, and Elaina.... they are big buddies.

It was a fantastic day. We can't believe it's been 4 years. They have flown by so quickly and I know the rest is sure to come even quicker. We are so blessed with this little wee one. We love you, Elaina!

4th of July

2011-07-05T22:00:00.000-04:00

This fourth of July was great. Full of family, friends, food, and fun... and fourth!!! (lame, I know). Anyway, to recap, the weekend started out with a play date with Elaina's friends Olivia and Isaac. We love hanging out with them so much. Tami (the mom) is pregnant again with a boy and we were discussing baby names. I think she needs to name it an "A" name so we could have combined kids that start with A,E,I,O. The next baby can be a "U" name. Not sure that's gonna happen. Anyway, I think it's a great idea. Not sure Tami is on board but we'll see.

Olivia, Elaina, and Isaac

Saturday we went over to Erik's parents house in the early afternoon to celebrate. They normally conduct a very crazy firework war but this year they opted out of it (I am VERY thankful for that). Instead, we filled the day with games, laughs, and good food. For the kids- a slip and slide which literally kept them occupied for hours. Above is Elaina prepping for her first slide.

Cornhole... always a good time.

Here is Elaina on the slip and slide. This was her first time on one - she liked it and did relatively well. She slid on her knees most of the time but she did not seem to mind. Ouch, is all I can say.

A post slide pose....

For dinner - low country boil!!! Oh yeah!!! Delish!!

Kelsey, Liana, and Elaina eating their grub....

Kevin and Erik making their plates

We also had a quick b-day celebration for Elaina who will be 4 on the 6th. Here she is blowing out her candles. Because she had her party early, she is convinced she is already 4. She can't grasp that her actual birthday is not here yet. Oh well, we'll go with it.

Then, the adult (boys) had a try at the slip and slide. Needless to say, this brought on a few good laughs. Here is Erik on one of his slides.

Brandon

And the other Brandon - the family currently has 2 Brandon's. One niece is married to a Brandon, her sister is dating another. Makes it nice and confusing. We also have Elaina and Liana (which can get confusing) and Erin (me) and my nephew, Aaron. Sheesh!

Next on to the 3rd of July...

First the three of us went to our neighborhood pool. We had fun. We always take Elaina in the wagon. She was pretty tired so on the way back, she rode like this......I thought she would fall asleep. She did not.

After a great nap, we celebrated at our church's 4th event. It was fun - lots to do for the kids, free food, free entertainment, and free blistering hot sun. No, it wasn't that terrible but it was hot. We had a good time hanging with our small group friends. The only downside was that it was SO crowded. Elaina only got to do a few blow up things. She wanted cotton candy SO bad so we waited in line for 35 minutes for cotton candy. She waited so patiently with me. I was amazed - just stood quietly waiting. I kept asking her if she wanted something else as a way to get out of waiting but she wanted some that bad. The things you do for you kid....

Dancing to the music

Playing with her friend Olivia (a different one)

Then, finally on to the 4th. We celebrated with our usual Farragut 4th of July parade. My niece, Alexandra, marched in it again this year. So, we like to go see her. Elaina was pretty tired from the weekend's activities so she was very chill during it. She sat in the chair most of the time. So, we headed back to my mom's a bit early to let her rest. Afterwards, mom and Gale made BBQ for the neighborhood and we helped with that - and got some pretty delicious food too.

Waiting on the parade... in her shades

With her granny...

Alexandra

The rest of the day was relaxing at home... Whew! Good weekend but busy. We were going to go swimming but a storm rolled in. Secretly, I was glad. It gave a good excuse to stay in and relax. We hope your 4th was a good one too!

Oh yeah, Oh yeah!!!

2011-06-29T21:54:00.000-04:00

The other morning, Elaina and I were out back playing with her t-ball set. She hit the ball and busts out with a celebration cheer that cracked me up. It's a short cheer but I wanted to share. The video goes on longer then just that but I don't know how to shorten it down so you get the whole thing. I hope it makes it make you smile as it made me smile.......

Happy Father's Day!!!!

2011-06-19T18:42:00.000-04:00

For Father's Day we celebrated our favorite dad, Erik :). He had to be at church all weekend so after we went to the early services, we cooked up some rice krispie treats for him before he got home (Elaina's idea - and not a bad one if you ask me). Here she is cooking up a storm.....

We added chocolate to the top of them - they were peanut butter rice krispie treats so this made them super delicious. We added a little decoration for fun.

Here is the final product with all the cards we made him.

A close up of the treats - the blob to the left is a "house" that Elaina built for him.

And a quick video of Elaina while making her card for Erik......

Happy Father's Day to all you dad's out there!! And to Erik, you are the greatest! Elaina and I love you so very much!

10 YEARS!!!

2011-06-07T21:58:00.000-04:00

So, I know that I posted our Vegas trip which was our way of celebrating our 10 year anniversary. But, I have not mentioned the day of our actual anniversary. May 16, 2011 - it was exciting - we both worked. Yah! No seriously, it was great. I was delivered this awesome edible arrangment bouquet at work (which I LOVED). Guess I should mention that Erik sent them to me??? :) I love those things - super delicious. The most memorable part of the gift was the card. It read:

Happy Anniversary! Save me a cinnamon apple. Love, Erik

(if you know Erik, you know how funny that is). He's so silly. I laughed when I read that. But very sweet and I love him so!

I did fix dinner that night (Elaina helped me set the table) :) We enjoyed a quiet dinner at home with Elaina. Super fun - my kind of night!

I am so blessed to be married for 10 years to such an awesome man!

Alexandra

2011-06-05T19:52:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, Elaina and I went to see my neice, Alexandra, perform in a baton competition. We were not able to stay long but we did see Alexandra do some of her "tricks." We love Alexandra ("Xan" as we jokingly like to call her). We think she is the greatest baton twirler that ever was!! We are so proud of you, Alexandra!!

Just a tribute to her....

Look how beautiful....

Elaina and Alexandra - Alexandra is trying her hardest to get Elaina to be a twirler like her.

Showing E some of her tricks...

Ducks

2011-05-26T21:43:00.000-04:00

In our neighborhood, we have some ducks that wander through frequently starting this time of year through the summer. Not something you expect to see in a neighborhood like ours but we like it. They are often in our yard. We used to feed them bread but last year they got so comfortable that they used to camp out in our neighborhood pool so we decided to stop feeding them. Not that they can't come visit, but a duck in the pool is just kind of strange. Plus, to have duck dropping floating around in the pool was not very pleasing. We had our first visit a few weeks ago. Elaina loves to watch them in our yard. Here is a shot of her greeting them with Erik....

A stroll down memory lane.... part 3

2011-05-22T22:33:00.000-04:00

We are done with the Vegas trip.... So, to change it up, I thought I would post another trip down memory lane. This one is about one of the baby showers I had while I was pregnant. I am not sure I have ever posted pictures of me pregnant and looking at these pictures, now I remember why. But, this blog is about memories so I'll take one for the team, I suppose. Anyway, there are not a ton of pictures but there are a few. This was a baby shower that was held for me by my friends, Sabrina and Tonja (from church). It was held at church with many of my church friends and many of my former co-workers.

This was the cake made by my dear friend, Sandy. It was carrot cake (my favorite) and was decorated like a cabbage patch with tiny babies all over it under cabbage leaves. It was ADOREABLE!!!! and DELICIOUS!!!

Ugh!!! Can you say "round??" I wasn't even my biggest yet.

Me and my friend, Lesli

Me and Sandy (the cake maker)

My sister, Kate, me and my mom... playing the "what's in your purse" game so we're digging trying to find whatever it was that was called out....

That is really about all for the pics... Again, just wanted to post this for memories. I loved being pregnant and miss it (not the way I looked but all the other stuff was cool). All in all my pregnancy with her was easy breezy. Until next time......

Wax Museum

2011-05-16T15:28:00.002-04:00

One of the things we did in Vegas (by suggestion) was go to the Wax Mueseum. It was pretty cool, I have to say, but just not long enough. I felt like were were in and out in no time and to spend the money we did to go I expected a bit more. It was pretty amazing how to scale all of the wax scuptures were and so life like. In fact, it kind of creeped me out - you just walked from room to room and there were all these wax statues everywhere. At times, it was hard to discern who was real and who was wax. Creepy. But, blogworthy, so here we go...

Just chillin with Jamie Foxx

Me and Eva Longoria - one of my guilty pleasures - watching Desperate Housewives on Sunday nights (now you know, don't judge). Eva (aka - Gabby) is my favorite character

The Rock

So dreamy.... his wax figure, not near as cute as he is -unless this is what he looks like in real life. If so, I've been wrong all these years.

Erik talking to his therpist... Oh wait, that's Ben Affleck.

That's right, Erik, show him how it's done....

Seriously.... He is HUGE!

Whatever, Erik, not gonna happen!!

Me and Stevie... I actually am a big Stevie fan - just singing along

I tried with the whole head cock thing, but can't be near as cool as Gwen

Put up your dukes!!

God Bless America!

"I had a dream" that one day Erik would meet the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr
Seriously, though, wouldn't that be cool???

If you are ever in Vegas, this is a cool place to go.... We would recommend it on a rainy day.

Our time with Elaina!...by guest blogger, Aunt Kate

2011-05-11T11:20:00.000-04:00

Well, as most of the Stringfellow’s loyal readers know, Erin and Erik went for a fabulous trip to ***VEGAS baby***! The Gates Clan (aka Aunt Kate, Alexandra and Quentin) lucked out and had the pleasure of babysitting Elaina for the week.

We haven’t hung out with a 3-year-old full time in quite a while so the whole gang had lots of fun playing “Cooker” (that is playing chef with plastic food and little kitchen ) and remembering that getting a kid in and out of a car seat is a real workout sometimes! Elaina seemed fascinated with the fact that she didn’t “have a door” in Aunt Kate’s car (I drive a 2 door Blazer) and she liked to tell us that every morning on the way to her school . I hope Elaina had as much fun as we did and I hope her teachers at school don’t think I am too crazy for letting her wear some of Aunt Kate’s BRIGHT RED lipstick to school in the morning !!!!

I took these pics with my camera phone, so they aren’t great, but here are a few highlights from our week!

Elaina quickly learned to chill with her cousin Alexandra!

And we thought Alexandra was hysterical wearing Elaina’s bunny!

As most of you know, some VERY bad storms with tornados blew through our area on Wednesday, so we had to take cover (Aunt Kate doesn’t take tornado warnings lightly). We were watching the news closely and here are Elaina and Quentin in the basement riding out one of the storm cells….they didn’t seem nearly as anxious as Aunt Kate was! We passed the time by coloring pictures.

Afterwards, we went to take a look at the hail that caused a LOT of damage to cars in our area. This is a picture of Quentin holding some pieces (and Elaina’s little feet in the background).

This is a pic of the front flower beds – the white stuff is hail! CRAZY WEATHER FOR SURE!

We hope that Elaina comes and stays with us again! We love her!

Vegas, baby!!

2011-05-07T22:33:00.006-04:00

It's over a week since we've been back from our Vegas trip and still no post update on the vacation. So, here it is.....To sum it up, we had a FANTASTIC time. We went in celebration of our 10 year anniversary (which is in a week). Vegas is something to see, that's for sure. We enjoyed seeing everything (I was wide eyed the entire time). Best part about the trip - Phantom of the Opera. It was completely amazing. We also saw Cirque de Soleil, "O." It was phenomenal as well. We also scored tickets to a magic/comedy show that was cool and hysterical all at the same time. The food we ate there was spectacular (and expensive) but, for me, totally worth it. I am a big fan of dining out especially when it's so delicious. But, seriously, the most incredible part was spending 5 complete days with Erik and connecting with him. Elaina was in good hands back home (stay tuned for a "guest blog spot" from my sister, Kate with details of her week with Elaina). We got some much needed "us" time. Here are some shots to cap off the week (I'll try to keep it short but no promises).

Check out this room... super nice. It had drapes that opened and closed by remote. What???

The light/water show in front of the Bellagio. Very cool. Pictures don't capture how cool it is

A view at night of part of the strip

A pose in front of this water feature at Caesars Palace

The strip during the day (part of it anyway). There is no way to get a picture of the whole thing from the street

And again - another view of the strip - I actually like this one with the flowers

This is a view from a balcony (not our room) from the hotel we stayed at. It's the canal that you ride on a gondola in and go through the hotel. We did not do this.

This picture does not capture how cool this was but this is a view from inside the Venetian. With the way the ceiling is, it feels like you are outside in Italy (or at least that's how I imagine it to look - never been)

At the MGM, they had a lion exhibit. The guys were in a cage with 3 lion. The lion were gorgeous but look at this guy stooped down just chilling with his lion friend. I would never do this. They threw the ball, ran and played with the lion. Entertaining but crazy if you ask me.

Some interesting things I saw and thought were blogworthy...This was a statue of liberty made entirely out of Jelly Bellys at the New York New York

This was a purse at the coca cola store made entirely out of aluminum soft drink tabs.... interesting. Do people actually buy this stuff???

This was a ledge just across the way over the canal at the Venetian. Why would people throw their change on it?? I have no clue. I was trying to find a way to get over to it to get money for the slot machines. I never figured out how to do that with out getting hurt or arrested.

We ate at the Mesa Grill, Bobby Flay's restaurant. I am a fan of Bobby Flay so I wanted to try it plus my sister told me it was delicious. Turns out, it was seriously the best food I've ever eaten.

I took this picture - we ordered tuna nachos (except it was called something much fancier then that). Well, out came this. Not the nachos I had envisioned. These tasty chips that you ate the tuna on came on the side. BUT, it tasted so incredible. The entire meal was to die for. You have to eat there if you go.

Keeping in line with food, we ate the last night at this place called Serendipity. I ate this ginormous doughnut. I should have taken a picture of it with me holding it to give you an idea of just how big this doughnut is. But, this will have to do. It was about 8 inches in diameter. YUM!

One more pic of us eating at Magarittaville. Food was good - entertainment was even better.

And just some poses to round this whole post off... me in front of this huge butterfly sculpture made out of flowers. We must have walked past this thing 50 times coming and going out of our hotel

Erik and I in front a water feature at the hotel

At dinner before we saw "O"

Terrible pic but this was before we saw 'O' while we were sitting in our seats. This was before I had to put my camera up, they don't allow photography.

Happy Easter

2011-04-28T18:02:00.001-04:00

So, Easter came and went and we had a spectacular day. We went to church and saw great friends, spent time with family, and then spent time with our small group. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed it. Elaina crashed out hard that night - it took her about 45 seconds to fall asleep. The day was filled with Easter baskets, candy, food, easter egg hunts, family, and friends. We are so blessed and thankful that God sent His Son for us to die for our sins. Here are some shots of the day.

Here is what the Easter bunny brought... Our Easter morning started off with a 3 year old a bit on the cranky side. She did not want to wear her dress. This basket helped the mood a bit (thankfully).

Going through her loot

strike a pose - that's a harmonica in her right hand. She loved this prize

And another pose.... I'm not sure her deal with posing but it's pretty cute if you ask me

Elaina and her momma (she has been calling me "momma" lately rather then "mommy" and I like it)

So precious.... Daddy's little girl

Elaina took this pic...not bad other than being dark

After we went to church, we headed to Clark Park in Oak Ridge for a Easter Day cook out with Erik's side of the family. I do not have pictures. Sorry, I did not bring my camera (oops). But we spent a few hours eating, we had an Easter egg hunt, and we enjoyed each other's company. It was a fun time.

We came home for about an hour before we had to head to Small Group. While home, we got a knock on the door from our neighbor asking if Elaina could come over for a quick Easter egg hunt. So, we headed across the street for that. It was very very nice of them to ask us over. Elaina had a good time and we got to meet some neighbors we had not met yet. After that we quickly headed to our small group for an Easter party. There, we ate (some more) and then the kids had an Easter egg hunt. The adults got to hunt for eggs too (adult eggs) so that was fun. Erik and I did not make out too well in that hunt. Turns out we are not very good egg hunters.

We actually got the kids to sit together and take a shot - this is not too bad, you can see everyone's face :)
From left: Patrick, Caitlyn, Alec, Owen, Elaina
Back from left: Jack, Olivia, Aidan

Easter 2011

2011-04-23T17:43:00.001-04:00

So, I thought I'd get a jump on the Easter post since we are headed out of town next week. We did Easter with my mom today (Saturday). We ate food, dyed Easter eggs, and painted eggs that were blown out (the yolks, that is). It was a fun day. Oh, and there were Easter egg hunts too. The weather was gorgeous and it was a fun day. Not everyone could make it so it was a small crowd but still a good day.

The Easter egg hunt... there was a lot of this going on (digging in the grass/flowers for eggs)

Pink was her first color of choice (of course)

Not sure why the face... but, Quentin prefers this face over a smile lately. I don't know, he's 11, we just go with it.

The master egg dyer, Alexandra.

The whole crew dying eggs

Our little girl...

Elaina wore an old shirt of my moms. I just thought she looked cute in it, so hence the picture

Then it was outside to paint the eggs. Elaina really liked this and got into it this year

Quentin and Alexandra painting their eggs

Even Erik got in on the action

A shot of all the finished eggs...

The last egg was just rolled around in all the colors for a tie dyed look

Mom, Kate, and Alexandra. Kate exaggerated the head tilt as a tribute to my mom and all her sisters. They are head tilters from way back. You don't see a picture of them anywhere where their head is not 90 degrees in 1 direction or the other

Kate made the most adorable cupcakes. Look like flowers with the dum dum suckers.....

random fun around the house....

2011-04-20T21:31:00.000-04:00

Just a couple of shots of what goes on on a typical week night at the Stringfellow household

Elaina likes to help wash dishes - who am I to say no.

This is the way I feel after I wash dishes too :)

She does this quite often on her trampoline

All the blood rushing to her head has got to hurt... Remember doing that when you were a kid and not even noticing. If I were to do that now, I'd pass out.

Bowling

2011-04-12T20:17:00.000-04:00

My nephew Quentin celebrated a birthday at the end of March - his 11th to be precise. To celebrate, my dad came up on a Sunday afternoon and my sister, Abby, and her family came into town to celebrate too. At first I was not sure how bowling would go with a 3 year old but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Having other kids there certainly helped. Fun was had by all. We will for sure go again. Here are shots to capture the day.....

Sadie prepping for her first big roll (is that the technical name for what you when you bowl?? I don't know)

Celia (aka - CeCe)

Check out this action shot.... don't know how we got this but it cracks me up

This was actually her first "roll," "bowl" (whatever we are calling it) A funny - about halfway through the game, Elaina and I were about to push her ball down the lane. She said "I want to kick it." Before that statement registered in my brain, she stood up and proceeded to kick the ball down the lane. It looked like it hurt but she thought she was big stuff kicking it. She didn't try it again.

Sadie, Alexandra, and Elaina. How gorgeous is Alexandra?? Just sayin...

Kate with Sadie

Celia squeezing Elaina (so sweet)

Sisters - Sadie and Celia

Elaina with Aunt Abby

For some reason the kids got on their stomachs to watch the ball go down the lane

For some reason my dad felt compelled to join in... :)

Another cute pose - again, Celia is squeezing Elaina. E does not look as happy this time. :)

Elaina crawled up in her uncle Doug's lap. I looked over to see her sitting there. So sweet. Uncle Doug, my bro-in-law, is such a cool person. All the kids love him - including Elaina

Don't ask.... cause I don't know.

Now on to some bowling technique.... you be the judge on the best form

Abby??

Quentin??

Erik???

Brenda???

I could not get pictures of anyone else's form. My camera is hit or miss on those types of shots being a digital "non-fancy" one.

And finally a pic of my dad (Pappaw) with all the grandkids. Not a bad shot really

Picking Flowers

2011-03-29T16:52:00.001-04:00

A few Sunday's ago, Erik and I ventured out with Elaina to a local track so that Erik and I could run some laps while Elaina rode her new Barbie Jeep and some bicycle around the track with us. It was a good idea in theory but......

It was a beautiful spring day, we were ready to get some much needed exercise and she was not into us leaving her by herself to ride around the track. So, we ended up alternating turns playing with her while the other one ran some laps.

Although it did not turn out like we had liked, I still got some quality time with her. And, by quality time, I mean we picked flowers - or weeds that blossomed into some pretty flowers. I don't know if it was the fact that it was such a beautiful spring day but as I squatted down picking those weeds, I mean flowers, it took me back to a feeling I had when I was a little girl. Squatting down with my little one really was a sentimental moment for me. She was so excited to be picking these flowers and I remember feeling the same way when I was little. For all she knew, these flowers were the cream of the crop and nicer then any flower she could get at any store. She was so proud of her bouquet that she picked for me and her daddy. It just made me realize that we should all see life as our children do everyday. Life would be so much sweeter. Those "weeds" as we would call them were the most beautiful flowers in the world to her. I think children see everything in life that way - they don't care how cute or stylish a person's hair or clothes looks, or how much something costs. They just see things for the natural beauty that God gave them - just like those weeds.

These pics were taken from my phone as I did not have my camera. I wasn't expecting to have an "Ah-Ha" moment that day but I did so out came the camera phone.....

Those flowers are gone - she was so upset when she walked out into the garage where she left them to see them dead. She said "uh oh, daddy. They are dead. I'm sorry." like it was her fault. So, precious. I told her we could pick some more some day soon and I can't wait until we do :)

Doughnut Meatballs

2011-03-07T20:34:00.001-05:00

Funny story....

On the way to get my rental car on Sunday we stopped by Dunkin Donuts for a quick treat. We pulled through the drive through and we asked Elaina what she wanted. She paused for a minute. I said, "do you want a pink doughnut?" because that is what she normally wants. She then said:

"Yeah, and some of those meatballs"

After a brief puzzled look at Erik, we realized she was talking about those Dunkin Dounut munchkins (doughnut holes). Needless to say, we had a big laugh.

So, we ordered some up - they will forever be called "doughnut meatballs" in our house

Here is a recent pic of Elaina taken by a friend at small group a few weeks ago....

A stroll down memory lane.... part 2

2011-02-22T21:59:00.001-05:00

The next set of pics I ran into as I was organizing pictures on our new computer..... Elaina's dedication. I don't know why we never posted about this. This was a big day for us - our family was there to celebrate this day with us. My mom shot these pictures. It was January 20, 2008, she was 6 months old. I particularly love this picture - I love the way she's looking at Pastor Chris.

The other 2 pictures are more of the same.... This was a good day marking our dedication to raising Elaina up in a Christian, Godly home.

Warm weather in January???

2011-02-05T16:45:00.000-05:00

Yes, we did have warmish weather last Saturday and Sunday. Sunday was even warmer then Saturday but both days were spectacular. It got me wishing for spring again but alas, the cold is back again. Spring will be here soon though.

To get out of the house, we packed up a picnic lunch and headed to Concord Park for a few hours. It was awesome. It was a bit breezy but when the wind was not blowing, it was perfect. Here are some shots of the fun.

We found a great spot in the sun near the water where we ate. It was so great. Here is Elaina and Erik with a pinic pose/cheese.

.....and one with momma. She's squeezing me so hard my glasses are crooked.

Interesting habits

2011-01-31T21:36:00.001-05:00

Just one other way our sweet little 3 year old makes us laugh...... If she eats all her dinner, she knows that she gets to pick one candy treat from her bag of candy (left over from Halloween). Each night, this is an activity for Elaina. Every night we tell her she can have one, without fail, she dumps the entire bag on the living room carpet and sorts all the candy into separate groups - tootsie rolls, suckers, hershey kisses (by color), smarties, etc..... I took a picture the other night to document the OCD she's got going on. It's pretty funny...

And just another to make you smile. During quiet time about a week ago I went in to check on her to make sure she was okay. I found her asleep sideways in the glider rocker. She prepared a pallet of blankets and pillows to sleep on though - looks pretty comfy.

A stroll down memory lane

2011-01-26T17:28:00.001-05:00

Since we got our new computer, I have been trying to get all my pictures organized. I have been given a lot of CD with pictures of various events from people. But, until now, I have never transferred those pics from the disks to my computer. So, I've been doing that lately. One disk that my mom gave me had pictures from a trip that I took with mom and my sisters to the Dominican Republic. We took this around February of 2007 trip when I was about 18 weeks pregnant and before I started blogging - so, really, Elaina was there too. So, I thought it would be fun to show some pics of that trip (just for the heck of it).

Here we all are the airport in Miami with our matching passport holders that my sister, Kate, bought us all for the trip.

This house had it's own private pool. So, there was A LOT of swimming and lounging going on the entire week. This is my crazy sister, Nell, being crazy - as usual.

More lounging... We are eating a delicious something that our "in house" cook/maid cooked up for us. Abby arranged for us to have one stay with us for the week. Not too shabby. My sister is pretty awesome!

Mom, me, and Nell

I dont think Nell and I got out of the pool much the entire week.

Here are all my sisters and I posing out in town......

Another pose - I'm not crazy about this pic due to my roundness in the middle but it is what it is I guess. Comes with the territory

Now, mom is the crazy one posing with the donkey and wearing the hat. Funny.

We had a fantastic time and it was a trip I will never forget. Girl trips with my mom and sister are always a blast. Can't wait for the next one. We're thinking New York City. Should be good. Stay tuned.

Music City Bowl.....

2011-01-22T19:38:00.002-05:00

This is an old event but I forgot I had it in line for posting.... On December 30th, Erik and I along with his sister, Melanie, and her husband, Kevin, went to Nashville to see the Vols play in the Music City Bowl. Let's not talk about the game - let's just say it was a disappointing loss. But, we had fun anyway. I had not been to a Vols game in a while so I was glad to go. And, Erik went with me so that was super cool. He is not a fan but he supported the team that night. I have never been to a bowl game so that part was neat. We enjoyed our day and night in Nashville - good food, good company, sort of good football.

Melanie and Kevin

The band doing the circle drill - we may not have won the game but we did win the battle of the bands for sure. There is nothing like the Pride of the Southland marching band.... I don't care if you're a Vol fan or not. Just saying. They're awesome.

Snow Day - take 2.......

2011-01-10T20:09:00.001-05:00

We have had quite a winter so far here in East Tennessee. Today, we got about 2 inches of snow......so, we had another snow day!!!!!! The roads were too bad to get to work plus Elaina's school was called off so we took the opportunity to stay home and enjoy family time (who doesn't love that?). Here is some action from the day....

Elaina and Erik making a pint sized snowman. The snow was average packing snow - not enough to roll big balls

Elaina with her what I will call "refrigerator snowman." By refridgerator I mean the face was made out of things from our fridge - eyes were sliced carrots, nose was a celery stick, and the mouth was a roasted red pepper

Erik and Elaina making snow angels

Our neighbors were out too - this is Elaina and her friend Riley who is about a year older then her with Riley's snowman. Look how cool it is with the hat and arms and legs....

Riley had a sled so her dad took Elaina and Riley down the road for a ride - super fun for them

While we were in the front yard playing with Riley, we had a tragedy in the back yard..... Jax ate the face off of the snowman. Guess we should have seen that coming. That's why you shouldn't use food for your snowman's face. On the bright side, at least Jax got his nutrients in for the day.

Look mom, no hands.... or pillow

2010-12-29T14:55:00.001-05:00

I promised a video of Elaina riding her jeep. This was 2 days after Christmas in our driveway. She did not get a nap this day (not for lack of trying - she is anti-nap lately) so she was pretty tired. She was riding her jeep and just turned the wheel all the way to the right and was making circles. This is progress on the riding part because at least she is holding the pedal down rather then off and on in a jerking motion. Anyway, she would not hold the steering wheel at all, just went around in circles until she ran into something and I got her back on track. I thought for a second she was going to put herself to sleep and probably would have had she not run into anything.

Here she is with her hands down just staring into space - very sleepy eyed

Now to the video.....She did this for at least 15 minutes.

This was about 30 minutes later while at the computer playing her game. She still had her jacket on. Erik went into check on her and she was sound asleep with her head on the desk.

Poor girl was pooped - she had a long exciting weekend with less sleep then she usually gets.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-28T20:51:00.000-05:00

So now on to Christmas Day happenings....

Let's start off with the coolest happening of the day - it snowed. So, it may not be much but I considered it a white Christmas and was pretty excited about it. We even got more of it the next day.

So basically, Santa came, Elaina got all sorts of cool stuff including this Barbie Jeep and the pillow pet in her lap. Her face we priceless when she came downstairs to see all her stuff. She was as solemn as she could be - no smile, no expression, no words. She didn't want to touch any of it. It was like she was in disbelief that it was all happening. Then she said "Did he eat my cookies?" :) She eventually warmed up and started touching/playing with all of it.

Jumping on her new trampoline.... This has been a huge hit

With her new umbrella - she is really into this too

A shot in the jeep outside for the inaugural run. Let's just say she needs some practice steering. Her main issue with steering is that she doesn't do it. I've got some pretty funny video of her driving it that maybe I'll share later.

Then there were presents and more presents - she got lots of paint/drawing stuff for the bath which is pretty fun, a stamp set which she LOVES A LOT, and other toys/books/etc....

My mom stopped by Christmas morning to say hello and brought Elaina another gift. It's this quarter collector set that you put the state quarter in the hole where the state is. Elaina thought this was really cool. My mom and Gale got all their grandkids one of these for Christmas along with all 52 quarters. They have been gathering quarters for a while. She said they have been just going to various banks trading in dollars upon dollars in quarters. Now that's determination. I wonder what those bank tellers thought of them :)

Then it was off to Erik's mom and dad's for Christmas with them. Elaina got more gifts, of course. We ate a delicious meal and enjoyed time with them.

I decided while I was there that I hardly ever post pics of Erik's parents/siblings/nieces/nephews on our blog (or at least not as much as my family) so I thought I'd get some pics of them all and do some intro for those of you who don't know the Stringfellow bunch (the rest of them). This is his mom and dad, aka - Mamaw and Papaw

Erik's sister Melanie and her husband, Kevin

Erik's sister Melinda and her daughter, Brittany (left)

Erik's brother, Brett, and his wife, Lisa, and kids Zach and McKayla

You know this crew....

Melanie with her youngest daughter, Cassie

Melanie's oldest daughter Jessica with her husband, Brandon, and daughter, Kelsey

Cassie with her daughter, Liana

And finally, Kevin's children - Aaron and Ryan

So that about wraps up Christmas Day. We were blessed once again with wonderful time with family. We hope you all had a fabulous Christmas too!!!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-27T16:40:00.001-05:00

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We had another wonderful holiday with family and friends. Here is a re-cap of what went on with the Stringfellow clan on Christmas Eve....

We started off the day with a cake decorating session - a birthday cake for Jesus. This is a tradition we started last year but this year was the first year she was totally into it. It was fun stuff.

The finished product - I pretty much let her have her way with the cake. I just helped with the words. Not the most beautiful cake but fun, nonetheless.

Then, it was off to Mass with my mom (as is our usual Christmas Eve custom). Then we headed home for dinner, fun, and presents. We had a cookie decorating contest this year. This is Elaina preparing to make her cookie.

My sister Kate, and her daughter, Alexandra decorating their cookies

Nephew, Quentin, decorating his

Sister, Nell, decorating hers

Nell's hubby, Dave, decorating his

Mom, Carl, and Gale decorating theirs - this is a serious crew right here. Our dear friends Carl and Sabrina joined us again this year. They are big cake decorators so they provided the professional cookie decorating tools. It was very cool.

Sabrina was the judge but she took a few minutes to decorate her own cookie

Here are the Stringfellow cookies - Elaina (reindeer), Erin (weird eyeball looking cookie), Erik (ornament)

The Gates cookies, Kate (Santa), Alexandra (love cookie), Quentin (icing piled cookie - he was going for tallest cookie)

The Smith's cookie - Dave ("S" cookie??? No idea), Nell (Christmas tree cookie)

Sabrina (snowman), Carl (Santa - he put 2 cookies together. GENIUS), Gale (wreath), mom (candle)
The winners in the following categories:
Elaina - best little kids cookie
Alexandra - best big kid cookie
Nell - best adult cookie
Mom/Carl/Gale: Best Group of cookies

Then it was present opening time.... Elaina got a cheerleader outfit from her Granny

We did stocking stuffers only with everyone this year - this is Elaina with her bath soap stuff that you paint on.

Dave and Nell played the part of the reindeer

A pose with Erik and I

Then it was home to get ready for bed and put out cookies and milk for Santa... Elaina was super excited about doing this. It was fun for Erik and I too ;)

Stay tuned for Christmas day adventures with the Stringfellows.......

Gingerbread Houses

2010-12-21T19:49:00.000-05:00

I've got to give props for this blog post to friend and fellow blogger, Marta. She did a blog post showing how her and her family did these adorable gingerbread houses made out of graham crackers. So, I snagged the idea and with her help got the recipe for the icing and we did it. We went to some friends house for dinner and did this as an after dinner activity for the kids..... and adults. Everyone had fun and they turned out well. Our friends, Tami and Justin, have a blog too and the posted about it on their blog. Check it out as this link

I forgot my camera but Tami provided me with some pics so you can check out the action here too.....

Decorating action

The guys got in on the action....

Here is Elaina putting green gel on hers

Finished products..... they turned out really well

Here are the kids with the houses - Isaac, Olivia, and Elaina

Christmas Spirit

2010-12-19T19:35:00.002-05:00

We have been a bit absent on our blog lately. The holidays have certainly kept us busy. So, I thought I'd post a few things to tell you a few things that have been going on and hopefully get you into the spirit of Christmas. I know we are ready for Christmas around our house.

We decorated our tree the weekend of Thanksgiving. Elaina helped... she put all the ornaments within a 1/2 foot of each other on the bottom. Not sure you can tell from this shot but here is a bunch at the bottom right on top of one another. Also, she did very well. I harped on her over and over to be sure not to drop an ornament. Guess who dropped and broke two - ME!! Figures.

We also got a new computer as a gift to each other. We needed a new one desperately. Our current one was 7 years old which is about 102 in computer years. It was long overdue. It is a Touchsmart touch screen so Elaina LOVES the thing. She already can work it better then Erik and I can.

Elaina and I do a lot of dancing in the living room to various songs. Here we are dancing to Christmas music in the living room. Didn't know Erik was taking shots but glad he did - memorable stuff

This past Sunday night/Monday morning, we got about 2 inches of snow. So, we had a SNOW DAY! Talk about feeling like Christmas. We all 3 stayed home for the day. Erik's work closed, Elaina's school closed, and I took the opportunity burn some vacation and spent the day at home with them. It was super fun. Erik went outside to take pictures of our yard decorations in the snow.

When you are at home all day, you do silly things - Here Elaina is with her jammies on and my shoes.

Elaina got the camera and took some shots with it

Then it was outside to play in the snow. It was pretty cold so Elaina did not make it very long. But, it was fun while it lasted.

Making snow balls - sort of. Not good packing snow but it was worth a shot anyways

And now for some Christmas Carols to get you into the spirit... She does not know all the words perfectly but I think that makes this even more precious.... Enjoy!

I got her to come back and do two more....