This week was a busy week in the
Hennessy household. Almost every night we had something planned and were on the go a lot. We did lots of fun things and Ella got to experience a lot of firsts!
Something that is not new is swinging at the park but it was a first that Dad took her and the dog after dinner one night when Mom had a girls night with her friends. She does still love the baby swing but is getting more brave each time and trying out the big kids swing.
On Thursday night, we headed out for a night of baseball to watch the Charlotte Knights, the minor league team here in Charlotte. These two got right into the swing of tailgating, drinking their juice boxes in the tailgating chairs. Fast forward 20 years and they will be doing this same thing at their college football games except substitute the juice boxes for something else!
One of our best buddies, Kayla turned five this week and we did lots of celebrating for her big day! Before the baseball game, we all sang to her and celebrated not with cupcakes but munchkin donuts. Ella had never had one before and liked to lick all the glaze off it and then throw it away.
Giving the birthday girl a big hug!
This shot is rare and will probably never happen again but here are all the kiddies lined up ready to head into the game. I still can't believe they all actually stood for a picture.
We had never been to a game with Ella before and weren't sure what to expect out of her there but she was
mesmerized from the moment we walked in. Here she is getting her first look of the game with Daddy.
She was most excited about the team's mascot, Homer the Dragon! She loved looking for him, waving to him and following him around. However, when she went down to see Homer, she of course got super scared and gripped onto Mike's arm with the jaws of life. He tried to give her a high five but she wanted nothing to do with him. That is until he walked away and then she kept saying, "Dragon high five" over and over. Maybe next time she will be a little more brave with Homer but I think the game was a big hit since she has been talking about it and Homer all weekend.
(She had to get closer for a better look)
On Friday, despite the monsoon rain we had here in Charlotte, we had a fun lunch
play date and got to meet a new friend! 3 of my former coworkers from Bank of America came over for lunch since one of them, Elizabeth was in town from South Carolina and we got to meet her new baby girl Chandler that she had in February. Katie also came over with her little girl Emma born in April. The four of us girls used to sit right next to each other everyday and now have all moved onto different things and we don't get to see each other very much so it is fun when we get to catch up like old times. I tried to get a picture of the little girls but this was the best I could do. As you can see, Ella wasn't very interested in posing for the picture.
This weekend Ella got to try a new treat and boy did she love it! We went over to Addie and Wesley's house for dinner with the
neighbors and all the kids got
Oreos after dinner. As I mentioned before, Ella's sweet tooth is growing by the day but she had never had
Oreos before, mainly because I do want them in the house or I will be tempted to eat them all! She quickly learned from the others the proper way to eat an Oreo. On the plus side, I think she did drink more milk with that Oreo than she did all week so at least she got her calcium!
This morning was hot again but after being cooped up for 2 days, we had to get out of the house. Dad decided to take Ella to the park solo again for some bonding time while I took Dakota on a long walk. It was so bright, it was hard to see but Dad quickly fixed that problem by adjusting his hat for Ella to wear.
He said she kept it on the entire time so I guess she likes Dad's masters hat more than her sun hat which she constantly takes off the minute you put it on her. But all that playing in the heat makes you really tired and take lots of rests.
This afternoon was a big new first! Ella was invited to a princess party at Pigtails and
Crewcuts for Kayla (as I said, we did a lot of celebrating for Kayla)! Ella put on her
tinkerbell dress, since all the girls had to come in their princess costumes and we headed out!
Since Ella just started growing hair 6 months ago (no lie!), we obviously haven't been to Pigtails and
Crewcuts which is a mini spa for the kids. They give kids haircuts and paint their nails, etc. I wasn't sure how Ella was going to react since it was her first time but she has happy when she saw all her buddies!
First up, painting the fingernails. I doubted she was going to sit still and was a little nervous after nail one when she got up from her chair but she decided the pale pink color she started with was too light and switched to the hot pink. She sat so still the entire time and was fascinated by the whole thing.
After it was finished, she walked around so proper with her nails making sure they didn't touch anything. I see lots of Mommy and Ella manicures and pedicures in our future!
The nails went well and she even got an Ariel tattoo on her arm as well but I was nervous about the hair. She watched all the other girls get their hair done and we tried once earlier and she wasn't ready yet but after seeing all her buddies with fancy hair, she was ready. She definitely had the shortest and most fine of the bunch so it took lots of hairspray to do anything with her hair.
And here comes the ponytail, her first one ever! And her first time sitting in a hair dresser's chair.
And the final product! Our little
tinkerbell got a pebbles hairdo. She kept walking around after saying, "Ella hair pretty!" Mom may have to try and do this do at home, with lots of hairspray of course! I love having a little girl and getting to do these fun girly things together.
Addie, Wesley and Ella with their fancy nails and hair.
Getting pampered and primped is nice but Ella really came for one thing, the cupcake! Here she goes, right for all the icing of course. Note to self: load up Ella's cupcake with lots and lots of icing for her birthday.
It was definitely a very busy week full of so many new firsts. This next week will be even more busy as our little princess turns 2 on Saturday. How can our little peanut already be turning 2 years old, I feel like she was just a newborn. But we do have a "monkey themed" party on Saturday so let's hope for a little less heat and no rain please.
Since we all turned 30 this year, we decided it was time for a getaway and since 4 of us are now Mom's, who couldn't use a girls weekend without the kiddos? We had a great time, stayed up late talking, shopped til we dropped and ate some great food. We all commented on how it was nice to just go out and not have to rush home for nap times or early dinners. We didn't have an agenda and that was perfect. I wish I got to see these girls more (and we were really sad Lynn couldn't make the trip last minute) but these little get togethers remind us how special our bond is and how much fun we do have when we get together. We are thinking NYC girls weekend 2012!!
But I have to admit, as much fun as it was, it was so hard leaving and I almost didn't go. Thursday night before I was going to leave, Ella woke up in the middle of the night burning up with a high fever. All day Friday, she had her high fever and she wanted to lay around and watch movies. She wouldn't eat a thing and didn't want to play which is not like her at all. I was apprehensive about leaving her when she was sick but Mike assured me she would be fine and to go and have a good time. However, Friday night, her fever continued and Mike snapped this picture of what their night entailed. Laying on the couch and snuggling. While we love getting snuggles, we would prefer them when she is feeling better.
However, she slept through the night on Friday and woke up Saturday morning with a lot lower fever and requesting eggies for breakfast! Finally her appetite had returned and within a little while, her fever was gone. I guess it was just one of those nasty 24 hour viruses but it sure had us scared.
One of Ella's favorite birthday toys is her Play-Doh kit. She loves to play with and have us make characters out of it. Daddy made Ella a "Woody" play-doh.
After breakfast and play time, Daddy got Ella dressed (and even put in a bow, how impressive!) and they went shopping. Ella just got a new soccer ball for her birthday and Mike really thought she needed some pink soccer shorts to go with it. I tried to tell him they would be huge on her but he wanted to go anyway so they went to Dick's. As you can see, the XXS are still huge.
But like mother, like daughter, Ella hopped out of that stroller and went to find something on her own. Just browsing the racks to see what she wants!
After she apparently destroyed the store, they left and headed out for lunch at Chick-fila. Yum, that french fry looks good.
Clearly Mike took this one on one time to focus on some serious things, like soccer! Ella is such a girly girl right now, loves purses, necklaces, playing beauty salon and not so much sports but if Mike has anything to do with it, she will be the next Mia Hamm! She is more into throwing the soccer ball and actually kicking it so maybe she will be a goalie??
Daddy and Ella have a very similar taste palette and like pretty much the same foods so for dinner, they had to order pizza of course. And if you are sick the day before and don't eat a thing for 24 hours, pizza tastes pretty good.
Finally, right before I came home, they took a quick trip to the park in the morning. It didn't last too long because it was so hot out that day but Ella does love taking her doggie for a walk.
So, overall, despite the stressful beginning and sickness, it turned out to be a wonderful weekend for all. Mommy got some fun friend time and Daddy and Ella had a blast bonding together. 
