All Weekend Long !

* You try to pose 4 little girls under the age of 5 when they all have their own little agenda ! This is the best we could do !

You may be able to tell by now when we have a busy weekend or even a busy week ... no Elaina posts ! My apologies !

Finally, with Memorial Day weekend giving us an additional day off from work, it felt like we had some time to rest ! Can we do this every weekend ? I enjoyed every bit of my time home with my family. The only thing I didn't find time to do was ... blog !

Here a recap of how we enjoyed our weekend :

Friday, our friends, Derek and Beth and their 3 sweet girls came to stay at our house. We had a cookout and just enjoyed everyone's company. Their girls were so excited to see their friend, "Belaina" that she is all they had talked about in the days leading up to their visit.

On Saturday morning, Beth and I had "business" to begin early in the morning. Our "business" was a neighborhood garage sale in her parents' allottment filled with wealthy families and great deals. This was the 11th annual sale and it is always packed with bargain hunters. Luckily, there were plenty of bargains to be found. Beth and I had a great time spending the day collecting our treasures. Back at home, the dad's had a father / daughter day. Two dad's and 4 little girls under the age of 5 ! This is a day that Eric hadn't ever experienced before. We figured that Beth and I have our "business" in the summer that we can devote a day here and there to shopping together and the guys get their turn during football season going to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fair is fair. We all have fun in the end and that's really the most important thing of all.

Beth and I had a long day, but accomplished plenty. We were proud of ourselves and our great finds. The dad's survived and enjoyed some time at the local park with their girls. No one was about to cook on this night, so we ended up at our favorite local pizza place for a great dinner ! What a day !

Sunday meant saying goodbye to our guests. Derek and Beth had to leave to visit with her family for a cookout before heading back to their home. Their departure was followed with a family nap. We were all beat. It truly was Elaina's naptime - Eric and I just thought we would join her slumber. Aahh.... how often can you steal away the time to enjoy a nap with the 2 people you love the most ? Sign me up for everyday !

This night, we invited our neighbor, Sam, to join us for dinner. Sam is a friend of ours who lives next door. He is Eric's age and single and just a really nice guy. I have a sneaking suspicion that Elaina has a crush on him ! Here are two examples : yesterday, I was holding Elaina outside and upon spotting Sam, Elaina immeditely began waving at him like her little arm was made of rubber as she flapped it so hard to get his attention. She gave him a giant, sloppy smile and wasn't content until her acknowledged her. At dinnertime, we sat outside (Elaina in her walker) and she was practically flirting with Sam. She laughed and cooed and batted her eyes and gave him every bit of attention that her little 19 pound self could muster up. It really was very humorous seeing her react to someone in such a way. She is a nut !

And finally, we have today's events. It's Memorial Day and our town has a small parade down Main Street before heading into the cemetary for a memorial service to honor those who have (and are) served our country. Eric was involved in the parade riding in the fire truck with the fire department and Elaina and I caught up with him after the parade at the cemetary. It's an overwhelming feeling to see most of the town make time to honor our service men and women in this nearly 30 minute ceremony.

The rest of our day has been spent cleaning up the house, catching up on some projects and playing with StinkerBell. Elaina was in rare form today. She was a little bit of a (do I dare say ?) .... a brat ! She is cutting yet another tooth, this would be her fourth tooth on the bottom and she sometimes gets a little fussy. (Justified - of course ! ) But today, she was not only fussy- she was cranky and defiant and refusing to eat and didn't play well and just really not my usually- happy baby. I hate to say this, but bedtime couldn't come soon enough tonight. Goodnight all .