T-Shirt Fundraiser!!!!

T-Shirt Fundraiser for Ella's manual wheelchair ;)

Everyone's been asking about T-Shirts so here you go....
The Panthera wheelchair is only 8 lbs and amazingly, Ella can move it, despite her severe muscle weakness! It will help her to maintain her arm and trunk strength. Proceeds will help to buy Ella her new chair.

T-Shirts will have the "Helping Ella Grow" logo printed in white.

Adult T-Shirts are available in 6 colors in sizes S-3XL. $10

There is also a Women's jersey T-Shirt available in 3 colors in sizes S-2XL. (tighter fitting, lightweight t-shirt, I would wear a medium, they run small)
$15

The youth T-Shirts are available in 5 colors in YXS-YXL. XS(2-4), S (6-8), M (10-12), L (14-16), XL (18-20)
$10

Lastly, there are Toddler T-Shirts available in sizes 2T-4T, these also run small. Available in light blue with blue print or light pink with pink print.
$8

Call Jen at 402-960-3193 or email at Jen_peters@me.com to order. Include name, colors, sizes and contact info.
Payment must be received prior to deadline.
PayPal to jenpeters7106@msn.com or send cash or check made out to Ella Peters to:
Ideal Images, Attn Andrea
13747 F Street, Omaha, NE 68135.
If not in Omaha please add $5 for shipping.
Orders and payments due by October 20.
Thank you for "Helping Ella Grow"!!

Mammoths, playdate, and camping...Oh my :)

     The weather has been wonderful the last couple of weeks and we have been enjoying every minute of it. We want to make sure we pack in the fun before the winter. We stay in more then to try to avoid all of the germies :/ Anyways, kids had a great time taking Daddy to the Natural History Museum down in Lincoln. There are so many great things to see there! The kids favorite thing is of course the giant wooly mammoth, he is huge! They loved to look at everything but enjoy hearing about how things were found too. There were some crazy fossils of sea animals found in Nebraska too. But, they really loved playing down in the kids room. They dug for fossils, got to feel animal furs, read books, and hide in a tree trunk :) They had a lot of fake animals to play with too. Daddy and Kaleb grabbed some big fake snakes and teased Ella with them. She ended up screaming and flying out of the door in her wheelchair. She just kept going down the long hall, yelling "Ahhhhhhhhh". It was hilarious!
    We had some nice days just hanging around playing too. We visited "Old Grandpa", that's my Grandpa George. The kids call him that and its his special name :) I had told Kaleb that Old Grandpa was in the Navy when he was younger and on big ships. We pulled out the scrapbook i made for him and showed Kaleb all of the pictures of Old Grandpa when he was in World War II. Kaleb was so interested. Old Grandpa was telling him stories of all of the ships he was on and about the Admiral he worked with. Kaleb was paying such good attention, he said, "So...that's the third ship right". I think that Grandpa really felt good knowing that Kaleb was so interested in what he had done :)
   We also had a great playdate with the Bauer family. Ann is expecting number 4 and was nice enough to bring the three kids over to play. Kaleb and Blaise took off downstairs and had fun togther as always. The girls, Elise and Jolee, played doll house with Ella. They were so sweet to her and played around her while she sat in her chair. Elise would hand Ella things and even help her put dolls on the top shelf that she normally can't reach. We love time with our friends, Mommy talk was nice too!
   This weekend was our big camping trip. Well, big for us, it was one night at Mahoney State Park, which is about 30-40 minutes from our house. My family went out a couple of nights before us and set up camp. They brought all of the food and equipment and we just had to bring our tent, clothes, blankets and ourselves. We wouldn't be able to bring everything ourselves so were grateful for all of the hellp so that we could have fun with the kids. We put up the tent, yes we slept in it, and immediately Kaleb was playing football with my cousins and Ella was asking when we were going to start roasting marshmallows :) We went paddle boating under willow trees with the kids, fishing, on walks, did crafts, and of course had a fire. They love making s'mores for Mommy to eat....but they never want them. I guess I can't complain about having to eat them all :) The kids slept great in the tent, even Ella while on her bipap! I didn't take a ton of pictures because we were having so much fun that I didn't have time to grab the camera. There are at least a few I'll post here and more on the shutterfly site later.
   Kaleb is enjoying preschool and is getting a little bit better at telling me about his days. Ella finished her baseball season and had a blast at the awards ceremony. They announced her name and gave her a special little trophy with her name on it. Now, onto watching Kaleb's football games :) I only got to watch 20 minutes last week but am looking forward to the one on Saturday. I heard he has thrown touchdown passes already and rushed for his own :) That will be awesome to see!

Family Fun :)

    Now that it isn't as hot outside, we have been able to venture out a little bit more. Ella just gets so hot that it is nice to not worry about that :) My mom and dad thought that maybe before our big family camping trip, to Mahoney State Park (a half hour away), that it would be a good idea to have a practice campout with the kids. My parents, brother, sister in law, other brother, the kids and I all packed up and headed to Papa and Granny's house for a night of tent camping. The kids had a blast. We grilled for dinner, made a campfire, ate s'mores, and slept in tents. Uncle Matt and Aunt Tristin slept outside with Kaleb and Ella and I slept inside in a tent just for her ;) Daddy had a work event to go to but we are all ready to show him how good at camping we are when we go in a couple of weeks. Joining us will be some of my dad's brothers and sisters. I have so many great memories of camping with all of my extended family and am excited for my kids to have the same! (pics below)

   We also celebrated a bunch of birthdays last week. Brandon's little brother, John, his mom, Grandma Kathy, and Brandon and his twin brother, Ben, all had birthdays within a week of each other. They had fun singing Happy Birthday so many times and getting to eat cake. Grandma Kathy's chocolate cake is one of Kaleb's favories :)

   And lastly, Kaleb, my baby, started preschool today! Can you believe it?! He has grown so much and is such a little man :) He was very excited today and didn't hesitate at all to go into his classroom with his new teacher and friends. As soon as he got in the van, he was counting down the days until he came back on Wednesday. Ella has been begging to go too, but I told her she has to be 4 too. I just can't even think about that yet! Lol.

    Ella and Kaleb are anxiously awaiting their sports games this weekend. She is ready for another tball game and Kaleb is ready for his first flag football game. I actually had to mold a mouthguard with my 4 yr old, that was hilarious :) Kaleb also starts a new session of swim class at Swimtastic this week. He is very excited. So, busy as usual. Someone asked me, "why do you already have them in so many things, you guys are so busy". Because they love it! They have fun getting out and having somewhere special to go. Plus, it keeps them active. All of us love going and watching them too :)

Stay tuned for some more fun later this week. Daddy and I have a fews days off and the kids have some fun requests, including the Natural History Museum in Lincoln. Yes, I'm serious, my 2 yr old and 4 yr old have been begging to go!

Bags for Sale... :)

   After several requests, I will start making these bags for those interested. You help me design your bag, let me know what colors, or characters you like, choose a size, kinds of straps and add-ons. These are great for strollers of any kind, wheelchair push bars, and walkers. Straps can be secured onto bars with the velcro option or regular shoulder straps can be used. Email me at jen_peters@me.com to order...

Currently there are three options but I am open to special sizes...

1. The Ella Bag Original with Velcro straps. Approximate size 14x12x6
Basic bag--$45
With an initial +$3
With and initial and embellishment (flower, iron ons, etc) +$6
With name and embellishment +$10
Shipping to be determined at time of order
(you choose colors, type of straps, etc)
*pic below with Ella's name on it

2. The Ella Bag Medium size with Velcro straps. Approximate size 12x10x4
(great size for walkers)
Basic bag--$35
With an initial +$3
With and initial and embellishment (flower, iron ons, etc) +$6
With name and embellishment +$10
Shipping to be determined at time of order
(you choose colors, type of straps, etc)
*pic below with Sadie's name on it

3. Little Girls Soft Purse. Approximate size 8x4x2
Bag with initial $15 plus shipping
One color fabric for bag and coordinating fabric for initial
*no photo shown

One more....

I can't help it, Ella looks so cute in these dresses that I had to make another. Can't wait to show her in the morning. It will look much cuter on her ;)

Cure SMA

My sweet blessings. They need a cure for SMA, because they need each other....

Mommy's New Obsession.....

    Well, I found another project to take up the very little spare time that I have. Pillow case dresses!!! I found some easy directions on making them and then added my own twists to make Ella the perfect dresses. They are perfect for her because they are roomy and lightweight. I have made her two but have two more stacks of fabric for some more. That's one of my weekend projects :) Plus, when it gets cold outside I can just put a shirt and leggings underneath of them! I love making her things because her reactions are great. She always gets huge eyes and is so thankful! Pics below...enjoy!
And I also posted some pics of our surgery day when we gave the kids' stuffies new tubies. Post on that on caringbridge. www.caringbridge.org/visit/ellapeters