I know this isn't a chronological update, but I had to post a sad event that happened for Ella on Friday. It started off a relatively normal day. Not normal part of the day...Ella decided not to nap, which is the first day that has ever happened. Really, no big deal. But, Jeremy had to get home late, I had no food for dinner, no nap and I was by myself....I thought it best to get out of the house. So, the kids and I decided to have a night on the town and check out the new Chick-fil-A that just opened. Ella brought her baby doll along which she has been the best "mommy" to this week. Ella loves to have her window down in the car. So, on the way, I rolled it down. About a minute later I hear "my, baby, my baby..." I didn't respond initially because, well as many of you know, you can't respond to everything with kiddos 24/7 or you loose your mind! So, I hear it again "my, baby"...but a little more frantic now... Then it clicks in my mind! I ask what happened to your baby Ella and she says "she fell out the window". Weird thing about this is that earlier this week I had this fleeting thought that maybe I should not roll her window all the way down for fear that she could throw something out the window...and then it happens. I am sure she didn't throw her baby out on purpose. She probably wanted the baby to see out the window and the air sucked her out. Nevertheless, I knew I had to go back and find her. I had to go back a ways because I didn't really know when the baby fell out. A mistake of mine was to ask, "Ella, why did you throw your baby out the window? She could get run over by a car." First, I know I shouldn't ask "why" because they never know why or tell you why they do things at this age, but second, she hadn't thought of that yet. So, the sobbing and tears started and "Mommy, find my baby!" over and over again. I started to feel a little panicked...I was so sad for her because I knew her heart was so hurt about loosing her baby but then also, the longer it goes, the more unsalvageable and harder baby will be for us to put baby back together. Fortunately, I found the baby about 1/4mile back laying in the middle of the road. So, as much as I hated to leave them alone in the car by themselves...I had to do it. I ran back to get baby but I had to wait minutes before I could find a break in traffic during rush hour. I have no idea how I did not cause an accident. Baby did not fare too well; she had been run over. She had black marks all over her legs from being smashed into the pavement and one leg was torn half off. I tried to clean her off the best I could with wet wipes before I gave it back to her, but there was not much I could do. Ella didn't seem to notice how bad she was at first...she was just glad to have her back. Ella said "Her legs are black...mommy, we need to clean her off." I assured her I would try again when we got home. Then (second mistake), I pointed out the fact that her leg was half off. This brought tears again and "She needs a Band-Aide". Two things I can learn from this...before you roll windows down in the car, tell your kid not to drop something out of it and second, Band-Aides can fix everything!
The weather is getting colder! Yeah! But, we still had to visit the park this past week. I am so glad Ella's coat still fits again this year! We did get her a new hat and gloves. She is very excited about them, especially because these are the first gloves she has ever worn with finger slots in them. He are some Ella expressions... Amazingly enough, she was still happy although she had just accidentally gone down the big slide at the park headfirst...all the way to the ground. Typical Ella style! 
An unhappy Charlie Brown!
A happy, pizza-eating Charlie Brown!
All the kids. I think Ella chose Curious George over Thomas the Tank Engine.
Snoopy, is it you?!
