Elf Of the Shelf

I am excited that this week we started a new tradition with Ella for Christmas. I finally purchased her The Elf on  the Shelf. The set comes with an Elf and a book. The elf appears right after Thanksgiving. The story goes that you name the elf as soon as you get it (Ella picked the name Jessie). Each night the elf flies to the North Pole to report to Santa on how the child's behavior was that day. Each day you find a new spot for the elf (as if it really did fly to the North Pole) to sit and Ella will find the elf each morning. The child is not supposed to touch the elf, which Ella is having a really hard time following, but the child can talk to the elf and let them know what they would life for Christmas. Its a fun tradition that will last for many years.

(and yes she has a really fat lip on top and bottom. Before bath the night before, she fell face first into the ceramic trash can)

I am really excited for the tradition that we will be starting with Ella tomorrow night. Blog post to follow...

O Christmas Tree

We put up the Christmas tree this week. 

Ella helped me carry the tree in...

Then while I did the hard part, straightening the branches, she sat and watched and read books

And acted goofy

Until I broke out the ornaments and then she got down to business. She put the first two ornaments on the tree and then designated herself as the one to take all the ornaments out of the box and hand them to me. She was beyond excited and ooohed and aaahhhed at every ornament she took out. She was handing them to me so quick that I think we got the ornaments on the tree with record speed. She was so gentle unwrapping each one of them and nothing was broken

From the moment we got the tree out, Ella kept saying, "It needs a start on top"

She was even able to be the one to put the star on top of the tree this year

I am Thankful

Today we went to Louisville to spend Thanksgiving with Grandma Jo Jo and Steve. Grandma Jo Jo had a bedroom all set up for Ella with Steve's adult daughter's old Barbie house, cars, Barbies and accessories. We had a wonderful, big meal cooked by Grandma Jo Jo and Steve and The Packers on TV.

Ella helping Grandma Jo Jo with the whipped cream

I have so much to be thankful for. My family, friends, our home, that I have a job, food in the refrigerator, a car to drive, my health, life....

Ballumanaria

Last night we headed to Ballumanaria at Eden Park. Its the kick off of the holiday season. There are food vendors, clowns, balloon makers, face painting, characters, etc. The main attraction is they line up 10-12 hot air balloons right along mirror lake and at dark, illuminate them.

Balloons first going up

I have been wanting to check out this event and while I am glad we went, felt like we had to high of expectations and left slightly disappointed. Ella left extremely disappointed. There were thousands of people there and I felt the event was way under prepared. There were only two food vendors with lines of 30 or more people. There were only two balloon makers and one face painter with literally 60 or more people in a line that was not moving. Poor Ella was so looking forward to balloon making and face painting and left with neither

Westie Wear

Winston got a haircut last week and Ella was wearing her Westie outfit, so of course I had to take a pic of the two of them

Mommy's Night Out

Tonight I went to The Melting Pot for ladies night with a group of girls from grad school. Ladies night you can each choose a salad, two cheese fondue, and two chocolate fondue for 19. The cheese comes with veggies, apples, and bread to dip. The chocolate comes with cheesecake, pound cake, brownies, marshmallows, bananas, and strawberries to dip. It was nice to get away with the girls and the yummy food was an added bonus.
Desserts to dip

Tom had a work meeting at Montgomery Inn at the same time so Leslie came over to watch Ella. It was so nice to come home and be greeted by Ella saying "Did you have fun Mama?' She is so sweet

Hibachi Happenings

The two older kids, who no longer go to Ella's sitter, invited the sitter and Ella and I along with their mom, to Iron Chef for some sushi and hibachi. Tom and I go quite frequently to Iron Chef; however, Ella has not been there for quite awhile. Her reaction when she first saw the table next to us light a fire

Our hibachi chef getting started. Look at that poor face!

She really had a love/hate relationship with the fire. It terrified her yet at the same time she was really excited. Holding hands while watching the fire

Chopsticks!

She loved our chef and he did lots of tricks: onion volcano, tossing food, tossing an egg into his hat and pocket, etc.

Ariela catching food

Ella's turn

Leslie's turn

I was able to catch the food after three tries. Ella's actually hit her mouth but then fell to the ground Onion volcano

Ella's reaction to onion volcano

Ella wanting to catch more food, even after her food arrived

Ella has not seen Ariela and Jonas in quite awhile and she was so excited to spend time with them. As soon as we pulled up and she saw them standing in the parking lot she started yelling their names and could not wait to get out and see them. We really had a nice time tonight and Ella's excellent behavior made the experience even more enjoyable. She even asked to try my sushi and surprisingly liked it. She did say a few times leaving that "she was really scared of that fire". But then she would get all excited and talk about him catching the egg and throwing the food.