Erik, Erin, and Elaina

Let's do a recap of some of the fun fall activities we have had the past few weeks.... We had a game night with our dear friends, the Hall's and Breaux.  We ate dinner, made Halloween cupcakes, and played games.  Super fun night!  I adore our friends and they adore Elaina (which is such a blessing).  They love her so much and that is truly special Our current favorite game is Googly Eyes.  You have to draw pictures wearing these ridiculous glasses that blur your vision.  So much fun! The next day we painted pumpkins with Elaina's friend Kaitilyn....always a fun activity They did a little swinging too... The following day, we went with our small group to the Mayfield Dairy Corn Maze/Pumpkin Patch.  We had never been to this one before and it was totally worth the drive.  They had all sorts of fun things for the kids to do... This super fun slide... A zip line...what?? A pumpkin patch... Family photo op

This summer we made a concerted effort to spend more time at the lake.  I would say we did pretty good at it.  In past summers, we always ended up feeling like we didn't utilize it as much as we should have.  So, here are a few pics to highlight some of the times we were out there. We went down one weekend with my sisters and my cousin Gabe from Chattanooga.  Gabe has 4 kids all under the age of 9.  So, they are always fun...here they all are on the float This was from a separate weekend when Nell, Dave, Sloane, and new baby Tessa were there...we went on an evening boat cruise.  Always fun. Boat selfie Feeling the breeze through her hair Cousins - Elaina loves being a "big" cousin more than just about anything. We got to go down one weekend with Elaina best friend, Kaitilyn Paddleboarding.....

I went to summer camp with Elaina back in June  We went with our church.  I wasn't sure what to think about it all....but, I had a GREAT time!  I had a group of 8 girls.  They were all so very sweet.  I loved getting to know each of them.  Elaina was in my group which was fun for us.  We went to Camp Fort Bluff which is in Dayton, TN.   I have never counted to 8 more times in my entire life, lol.  All week long, I just kept counting to 8 to make sure I had them all.  A selfie with the my 8  rising 4th graders Here they all are:  From left:  Elaina, Gracie, Daisy, Addison, Riley, Tatum, Ava, and Lucy We won the clean bunk award one day...they were super excited to get this trophy I will def go back next year...if it works with our schedule.  Our church does such a great job putting it all together.  It's very structured and organized (which I like) and full of fun activities.  So, I am looking forward to going again.

So, for those of you who have followed us over here to this blog site. Welcome!! I have been MIA to the blogging world for lots of reasons but mainly, it was getting too hard.  About a year and half ago, I changed emails which lead to lots of issues with my google accounts.   Basically, our old blog was tied to my old google account that did not store my most recent photos.  So, to update the blog took lots of time to transfer pictures, then upload them on to the blog.  Time I never seem to have. So, my solution.....start a totally new blog page that is attached to my current google account.  This way uploading pics is easy. Hopefully this means I can keep my blog current.  I talked about giving it up but bottom line is we LOVE the memories that are captured on it.   So, let's get started again. There is no possible way to catch up for almost a year of blogging.  So, let's hit the highlights of the past few months: Elaina started 4th grade.  She is still at Grace.