Happy 7th Birthday to my sweet Elly bean

So, a reeeeally nasty bug hit our house last week. It started with Cali and made its way to Ella this week...unfortunately she wasn't better by her birthday. Booooo. It was probably the worst illness I've seen hit our children. 5 days/nights of fever over 104(some days even over 105), head/eye pain, throat sore, vomiting, the works. Even with the flu, I didn't see fevers this high for this long, ever. We were hoping she'd be better by her birthday but she wasn't. So, the fun activities we'd planned are postponed, but we still did cake, icecream and presents and did our best to make Ella smile. Luckily, she had a couple of good hours where she was feeling okay. Thank goodness for Tylenol and Motrin.

I made one of her favorite breakfasts-crepes. That made her smile. . .

I baked her a cake with her favorite color frosting: purple. And did a Littlest Pet Shop theme(we've always gotta have themes:)

Ammon chilled in his little chair and enjoyed eating his fingers. . .

While we sang the birthday song!

We had to cut out a piece for her to blow out the candles(don't want to spread the germ love to everyone else!) So, we cut her name out. She didn't mind. It was a really big piece and she got to eat it all.

Then she blew out all 7 candles(7? How is it possible she is 7?)
Everyone eatin up. They said the cake was good. I'll let Duncan Hines know.

Present time. Cali made Ella two cards. One had a Chuck E Cheese coin and a dime inside. It was so sweet. Its a pretty big deal for Cali to give away money:)

Aubrey bought Ella a gift this year with her own money. Here is Ella opening it. . .

She was VERY happy to receive Godiva mint pearls. Joey had bought some for me once and the kids kept wanting to eat them all. Great idea Aub!

Here she is opening a couple presents from Mom & Dad. Zoobles! She was thrilled.

And an MP3 player and speaker(she wanted one since Aubrey has one. Just has to have one of her own!) Look at that face, I think she was happy.

She had LOTS of presents to open from us and grandparents and aunts and uncles. Thanks everyone for everything! They brought her many many smiles. Sadly, after presents, her fever went right back up and the rest of the day was pretty miserable:( It was so sad for me to watch as her mama. No one should get so sick on their special day. We'll make it up to her when she is all better. Her choice: Build a bear and Chili's. Sounds good to me! Hopefully Friday!

Ella, we love you so so much. You are a wonderful girl with a beautiful smile. You are one of the most creative kids in the world, always taping and cuting and gluing. You always have brilliant ideas and come up with the cutest creations. And you are such a sweet big sister, especially to Cali lately. I love how when you get home from school you always read her books. Its always a sweet sight:) I love your style and spunk. And I love your laugh. Thanks for being an amazing daughter. You have brought so much joy to our lives! XOxo