Holidazzle and Barf!

Sunday was a fun day. Ella and I braved the snow and drove west to meet the St. Cloud girls for lunch. Katie, Kim and Rhonda had a great time playing with Ella and Ella had a great time hamming it up for them and gave a lot of hugs. There was a baby about Ella's age sitting at the booth next to ours. That baby kept looking at Ella and making noises at her. At one point, he made a loud noise and made a face at her and it startled Ella so bad that she jumped and started screaming! Poor girl, we had to take a walk to the restroom to look at Ella in the mirror to calm her down a bit.

Ella, Me, Kim, Katie and Rhonda at Houlihans on a snowy Sunday

We had a brief rest at home and then headed out in the snow again to attend the Holidazzle Parade in Minneapolis. My aunt's company is turning 20 this year so they rented a skyway over the parade route and held their holiday party there. It was really fun, well catered with lots of fun for the kids; including Santa and elves, face painting, coloring and gifts! Ella was thrilled with the lit up floats. She had her little face pressed up against the window glass and just studied each float intently. It's such a great event - and even better indoors! Last time we watched it, we sat outside with everyone else...where it's cold! I definitely prefer watching it from above, with food and heat! :)

It's possible that she recognizes this Santa...just possible.

First attempt at coloring...not successful.






Monday was a typical day in the neighborhood. Ella was in a silly, fun mood all day and just full of smiles and laughs. My mom and I went out of the night and apparently, Ella went downhill fast. She spiked a temp of 102.1 and Loran called the nurse line for advice and took really good care of her. We checked her temp at 11 and it was down to 99.2 and she seemed in a pretty good mood. I was rocking her to sleep when she woke up crying and then threw up all over myself, herself and the carpet. Think: "Exorcist". It was rather disgusting and showed us that even though Ella's favorite food is broccoli, she doesn't actually chew it when we give it to her. GROSS! Once we all got cleaned up, Ella was in better spirits. We set up her Pack and Play in our room and everyone slept well through the night without any mishaps.

This morning, Ella is in a good mood, ate a good breakfast and drank some water and milk. She looks a little pale, but when I'd checked her, her temp was still at 99.2. Hopefully a nap will provide a little extra healing.



Today is just Ella Day. I'm going to give her a lot of love and cuddles. We've been so busy lately and her illness prevented me from attending Bible Study. It's just showing me that she needs to slow down a little and relax, so our only task today is to work on the Christmas letter when she naps.