Gymnastics

We signed Elaina up for gymnastics. Its a parent taught class so it's been fun for the whole family. I never did gymnastics growing up but I wanted to get her into something to see how she'd do and for the experience of it all. It's too early to tell if she'll be a superstar gymnast (kidding).

She did okay the first class. We have been a second time since then and she did much much better the 2nd time. The first time, she kept getting upset everytime the teacher told us that we were moving on to the next activity. Just when she started having fun, we'd have to stop to move on to the next activity. It was a good lesson for her though. The second time she went, she knew that just because we stopped one thing, didn't mean it was all over. We would just move on the next activity. Needless to say, she loves"nastics" - as she calls it So, I think we'll keep her in for a few more sessions. Here are some shots of the fun...

Prepping to jump on the long trampoline....

I have no idea what she's doing here...

Bunny hops across a balance beam...

Walking across the balance beam....

Hanging and swinging, her favorite...

Her forward roll.....

Blurry, but more balance beam action. You like her airplane pose??

Probably her favorite thing - the rings.

Climbing out of the tunnel. She looks mad but she is really having a good time. really.

One final pose...

Crazy pics

My sister Nell has a Mac laptop with a camera on it that you can do all these crazy things to your picture with... She did these with Elaina a while ago but I had forgotten about them. She sent them to me recently and I thought I'd share them. These are only 2 of many. Look at me cracking up in the first one. I could hardly breath, I was laughing so hard. Check out Elaina... she looks so funny :) And Nell looks pretty rediculous herself. Good stuff.

Build-A-Bear

My friend Courtney and I took Elaina and her daugther, Caitlin to Build A Bear last Wednesday night. Caitlin and Elaina are 10 days apart and Courtney and I went through our pregnancies together. Elaina and Caitlin don't get to see each other that often but when they do, they have a ball. We took them to eat at the mall and then to Build A Bear. We all had fun. It was Elaina's first visit to Build A Bear. She is still talking about it.

At dinner - I was holding one hand up to get their attention so they followed suit And again...

And after dinner, it was off to Build A Bear - here is Elaina with the the dog she wanted. So, she "Built -A-Dog" instead.

Elaina and Caitlin picking out their hearts....
Elaina kissing her heart before putting it in her bear, I mean dog.

What's with this face??

Posing with the dogs - they both got the same dog

Giving their dogs a bath. This was super fun for them.

And walking out to the car.... How precious is this?? They walked all the way through the mall like this....

So cute that I had to add one more....

Before leaving they had to play in the shopping carts that you rent at the mall that are like cars - they were parked in the stalls they are stored in. They could have played in these all night - we could have saved a bunch of money had we known that.

And when we got home, we posed for some more pics with her new dog - whom she named Fluffy, by the way.

Baby Sydney

The Saturday after Christmas, we celebrated with our friends, Lisa and Jeff. I have known Lisa since 1st grade and we are still best friends to this day. They had their first little girl, Sydney, in July. She is so precious. I can't believe she 5 months old already. Here are some shots of the day....

Me and Sydney

Elaina got a new book from Sydney
Here is my friend Lisa with Elaina and Sydney. I have no idea why Elaina has finger in her eye.

Sydney's grandpa is a big Notre Dame fan too. They dressed Sydney in her Irish shirt for Erik. Turns out Erik wore a blue Irish shirt too. Here they are posing with their ND garb..
Elaina reading her book.

Just a good shot. Jeff is a fabulous photographer

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was awesome..... We had such a good day. We woke up to presents from Santa and cinnamon rolls (a Stringfellow favorite). Before Christmas Santa was a concept Elaina did not get. I don't think she actually realized who Santa was but rest assured, she know who he is now. She now understands that Santa does actually come to her house and leaves presents. She did understand presents though....as evidenced in the previous blog post and below

She got a Dora Spin Brush toothbrush in her stocking... She yelled "MARKERS" when she pulled these markers out of her stocking. Girls loves her markers - hers were all dried out so she needed new ones

Pushing her new shopping cart loaded down with toys and books. Sadly, we are exchanging this one for one that pushes easier around. This one was not engineered well. She does love shopping carts and has already asked where hers is. We'll have to hurry and get her a new one.
Helping her Daddy open his stocking...

Elaina got her Daddy M&M's for Christmas. It what she said she wanted to get him. Ironically, she told Erik the same thing and I got M&M's too. So, we have M&M's galore at our house right not. Anybody want some?? Elaina is the one who is crazy about M&M's - smart girl for telling BOTH of us to buy them. This is Elaina opening up his present for him - did I mention she likes opening presents??

Christmas morning pose with her Daddy...

One more present....

Helping me open a present...

Me posing with my new wooden cutting board.... Funny story of the day:

Right after I opened my cutting board, Elaina opened another present. It was a wooden puzzle that she opened upside down so it looked like a piece of wood. She saw it and yelled "A CUTTING BOARD!!!" She was so excited to have one too - I had to tell her it was a puzzle and turned it over to show her. We had a pretty big laugh over that one.

She got a cardboard playhouse that you can color on and put stickers on from her friend Caitlin. Such a cool idea - can't wait to do this with her

After our Christmas at home, we went to Erik's parents where we spent the rest of the day. Here is Elaina playing with their dog, Lakota. She loves her and was having a big laugh over something with her in this pic

All smiles...

Elaina did not get a nap on Christmas Day either. On the way home at 6:30, she sacked out. I brought her inside and was going to just lay her down. Well an hour later she woke up and was wired. At 10:30, she was still up and bouncing off the walls. I think she was so overstimulated from the day that she did not know what to do with herself. Luckily we have her back on schedule but it was a busy 2 days. All in all, it was an amazing Christmas. We hope you all had an amazing, wonderful and blessed Christmas as well!!!

Christmas Eve festivities

Christmas Eve was a busy day but a good one this year. Elaina was all about opening presents and knew what the whole "gig" was about this year. That was fun to see. We hosted for the day... My dad and his family came over at noon to celebrate and exchange gifts - and we ate. Then later the evening, we went to Mass with my mom and then back to our house for dinner - more eating. It was a fun day. Elaina did not get a nap so at about 8:00 or so she hit a brick wall and she was not a happy camper. Once we got her settled down she fell asleep in about 1.5 seconds. Here are some shots of the day...

This pic was actually taken last Friday. At school, she had her Christmas party and they made the adorable Christmas Tree shirts. Those are her handprints in the green paint that made the tree. pretty cool.

Christmas Eve began with a surprise visit from Elaina's Mamaw and Papaw. The weekend before when Erik and I went to Nashville, she stayed with them. Evidently she ate her weight in the cheese puff things. Well, they wrapped some up and brought her a bag of her own. She loved them as evidenced in this picture below. Why no clothes?? They showed up in the middle of clothes changing time so she has no clothes on
This is my step-brother, Sean, playing with Elaina

Elaina with her other Pappaw...(my dad)

Elaina with my Mammaw (her great Mammaw). I was thrilled she was able to come. I have the best Mammaw!

Elaina got a new puzzle that has fish on it with metal pieces on it. It came with a fishing pole with a magnet on the end of it. It was really cool - here she is fishing for the fish and holding one up.
Quentin with Elaina Alexandra (my neice) with my step sister, Leah

Later on, we had dinner with my mom. My sister and her family were there along with our friends Sabrina and Carl who joined us this year. It was awesome having them here with us.

Me and my beautiful neice, Alexandra. I remember when she was Elaina's age. They grow up so fast!!!

Carl and Sabrina

The kids - Alexandra, Elaina, and Quentin

My sister Abby and Nell and their family spent the Christmas out of town with their in-laws.

Me and my girl.... Alexandra again....

Elaina got a guitar from her Granny. She was so excited to get it. Here she is rocking out with it :)

Quentin got some transformer toy that he was dying to have - look how excited he got. It was a pretty funny moment

Elaina opening up a gift. She was a pro at this by the end of the day and wanted to help everyone open theirs
The last gift was a gift my aunt Ellen Jane to Elaina. She found this old baby doll crib (wooden) at a yard sale for dirt cheap. She fixed it up, and her and my mom made a quilt for the top and gave it to Elaina for her baby dolls. Pretty cool. Here she is with it.

Kissing her baby doll night-night

After Elaina was asleep, Santa set up camp. Here is a pic of what he left.... lots and lots of stuff. too much, but Elaina was so excited when she saw it.

Santa even left presents on the couch for Erik and Elaina.................