Once upon a time (part 1)…

A little girl named Ella spent the night at Nana’s house. Ella, a beautiful princess, is always very curious, full of energy, extremely smart, and so much fun! At Nana’s house, when Ella is there, it is all about what makes Ella happy – for that is after all the right of every princess!

The night started with pizza – Ella and Nana decided they didn’t want to eat their crust so they shared it with Fancy and Kelso (Nana’s dogs); making it a pizza party of four. After dinner, it was time to switch from a pizza party to a beauty shop party. Ella enjoys having Nana comb and play with her hair, especially with all of Nana’s hair clips, brushes, combs and head bands. She also enjoys combing Nana’s hair, but even more than that – she enjoyed applying make-up! Oh, Nana was just sooo bea-u-ti-ful after Ella finished putting bronzer, white eye shadow and mocha lipstick on her, over and over and over – because as Ella said, “it’s not enough right here Nana”.

Soon, it was time to play with Play-Doh… and what a fun time that was! Ella and Nana made all kinds of shapes (per request, always Ella with pink and Nana with purple). Nana convinced Ella that even though it was time to put on jamma’s – she did not have to go to bed yet. Again, it is the princess’ right at Nana’s to stay up late!!

Throughout the night, they played, they read, they talked to Grandpa Cookie on the phone, they danced to silly songs, they jumped on the bed, they put stickers on Fancy and Kelso, they laughed (a lot), they talked (a lot). They had treats for having no accidents. And even though Ella corrected Nana when she said ‘God Bless You’ after Ella sneezed – Nana convinced her that we can say that… “that’s a good word Nana?” Ella asked; “yes”, Nana told Ella, “God Bless You is a good word, its okay to tell somebody that.” “Oh”, said Ella; and after a few seconds of intense thought on the subject she continued “but we can’t say Oh My God Bless, that’s a bad word.” Nana decided she was probably quite right and agreed!

After having so much fun, Ella’s beautiful blues eyes began to get heavy. Nana could tell she was getting very sleepy, but knew Ella was not ready to admit it. So, a new game was invented! Nana and Ella decided to invite Bunny to watch cartoons with them in bed. When Nana asked Ella to say her prayers, Ella replied “but I’m not going to sleep now Nana, I’m watching you TV!” Nana saw this as a tiny dilemma – how was she to make sure Ella said her prayers before falling asleep?? An idea came to her, “Ella”, she said, “I haven’t heard you say your prayers in a long time, I don’t think I remember – I just want to remember. Can you help me?” Ella, being such a good princess and always willing to help when asked said, “yes, I help you say you prayers.” And with that, prayers were said, Bible verses were said, and Ella declared that today she was thankful for “Fancy”. (Nana assumed she was talking about the dog that was lying at her feet, but she could have meant Fancy Nancy…) She didn’t ask, because Ella was already drifting off to sleep :-)

~~to be continued