Bowling, Birthdays and Babies

Well it has been another crazy and hectic week for Ella's Halo.  We are creeping up on our event B4B on May 14th.  Lots of things to do yet before the big day.  I keep thinking I have time but as we get closer to the one month mark the more things I remember we have to do yet. 

We also celebrated Ella's birthday.  I will do a post later on our special day of donating and remembering our little girl.  Ella's Halo did three donations at 3 separate hospitals this past Friday in honor of Ella's special day and it was just so much fun.  This is why we continue to do our events, so we can raise money and donations to be able to give back to the NICUs.  It was such a wonderful day.

We are also looking for families who would like to include their baby's photo in the NICU in a little video we are going to play at our bowling event.  We would like to include other families and show our bowling guests what NICU life is like.  Each family has a different story about their NICU journey and each baby has a different experience.  We would like to include other families who know this roller coaster all too well.  So if you are interested in having your little NICU baby included in our video with your child's name, please email me at info@ellashalo.com.  We would be so honored to have your child featured at our Bowling for Babies event.  Seeing their little faces while in the hospital will be a great reminder to everyone about why we are raising money, to help babies and families in the NICU!

Ella's Halo had a planning board meeting last week as well.  We are working on putting together silent auction packages and new raffle ideas.  This year we will have a face painter for the kids in addition to little prizes for them as well.  We are all getting very exciting for our favorite family friendly event and hope you are too.  If you haven't purchased your tickets go here to register. 

We have some awesome lane sponsors joining this year's event as well.  Thank you to Paradigm, Wedding Designs and Rentals, Jenny and Michael Reyes, Natural Nutrients, and Andy and Chelsea Marthaler for being lane sponsors.  If you are interested in being a lane sponsor or event sponsor, email us at info@ellashalo.com.  The costs for an event sponsorship is $250 and lane sponsorship is $100.  Contact us for more details.

And this year if you purchase your Bowling for Babies tickets by April 15th you will be registered into a special drawing.  So hurry and order your tickets so your name will be included in the drawing!  Tickets for adults are $20 and kids 12 and under are $10.

Also we have something special for you this Friday.  A new feature we will be hosting here on our Ella's Halo blog!  So come back on April 1st to check us out!

Happy 2nd Birthday

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Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet baby girl.  Two years ago you came into our lives and changed us forever.

Happy Birthday Ella!
We love you and miss you everyday.

T-W-O

Two must be the theme for this week.  We are less than two months away from our 2nd Annual Bowling for Babies event on May 14th and our little girl's 2nd birthday is on Friday. Two is definitely on our minds. 

1.  We are preparing for our 2nd Bowling for Babies event.  So many fun things are being planned and we are looking forward to raising even more money this year to help NICUs.  I can't believe our 2nd bowling event will be here in less than two months.  Time flies when you are having fun helping others!

We currently have 2 wonderful sponsors for our event.  River's Run and Ride Rally and Brian & Laura Bredenberg are our current event sponsors.  As always if you or your company are interested in being an event sponsor or a lane sponsor, please feel free to email us at info@ellashalo.com for more information.  Thank you to River's Run and Ride Rally and Brian & Laura Bredenberg for your support for Ella's Halo Bowling for Babies 2011 Event.

We have received so many awesome donations for our raffles and silent auction this year too.  It is so fun to see all of the fun and different prizes we will be able to give to participants at this year's event.  If you are interested in promoting your business, etsy shop or your creative side, feel free contact us on how you can donate items to Ella's Halo.  All donations are tax deductible and help us raise money to help babies in the NICU.  We have golf vacations, wine tasting, tickets to We-Fest and the Guthrie, autographed photos, a gift pack to the Mall of America and so much more.  Don't forget to click here to purchase your tickets for our event. 

2.  Ella's 2nd birthday is March 25th.  I definitely have a heavy heart this week but am also looking forward to the fun day we have planned.  Ryan and I will be doing three donation drop offs at the 3 Level III NICUs here in the Twin Cities area.  We have over 100 bags for Children's St. Paul, 60 cameras and a couple of CD players for Children's Minneapolis, and 75 blankets, 20 books and 25 hats for Amplatz Children's Hospital.  It will be a nice way to give back to the NICUs on our little angel's birthday.

Ryan and I are planning to spend the day together and releasing 2 pink little balloons up to heaven to help our little girl celebrate.  I really can't believe it has already been two years.  It makes me sad to think of the things we are missing out on, things we don't get to do with our two year old little girl.  But it brings me some comfort knowing that other babies will be receiving the love from Ella's Halo on March 25th too.

Feeling Lucky

Most people think of green beer, rainbows and leprechauns on March 17th.  So I decided today I would reflect on something different.....on just how lucky I am.  Maybe it is the warm weather and spring being right around the corner but I am feeling lucky for so many reasons today.

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• I am oh so lucky to have a wonderful husband and lucky he just happens to be Irish! 
• I am lucky to be part of  Ella's Halo. I have to sometimes pinch myself to believe this is all true.
• I am lucky because I have a little girl who is my own personal Saint watching over me.
• I am lucky to be living in Minnesota.  Lucky today's beautiful weather will bring green grass.
• I am lucky to have lots of dreams.  They give me hope and let me wish on rainbows.
• I am lucky not to have a pot of gold but a heart full of love.

I hope that today you are all feeling as lucky as I am and may the luck of the Irish be yours.  Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Happy Day

Today is a happy day .........

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Today my husband and Ella's Daddy turns 30.  Happy Birthday Ryan!  You make every day a happy day!

Time Flies

Wow, it has been a few days since I last updated our blog. You don't realize how fast time goes until you take a quick vacation, catch a cold and try to get back into the swing of work – oh, and try to plan an Ella's Halo event.

Ryan and I took a nice mini-vacation to Nashville, Tennessee, to see some good friends. We had such a fun time visiting, and we can't wait to go back. We love country music, being country kids at heart, so it was fun to get into the small bars and hear some good old country music.

However, I did catch a cold, and I think Ryan might be getting it too. We are trying to get better before this weekend, we have another BIG birthday to celebrate. Ryan turns 30 tomorrow and I am excited for the weekend I have planned. I can't even believe we are a couple of old married 30-year olds! Ha! Time sure does fly by when you are having fun.

In between work and meetings, we are still finalizing details for the B4B event in May. We are getting so many fun and unique donations this year. And speaking of country music, we received 2 three-day passes to We-Fest! Yee-ha that is an awesome prize. We also have golf packages, hotel rooms, theater tickets, wine tasting, Mall of America gift pack and so much more. May 14th is going to be such a fun day.

But first up we have another birthday to celebrate on March 25th. Our little Ella will be two years old. Wow, time sure does fly by. I can't even imagine how crazy I would be planning a party for her if she were here with us. I am sure pink and princesses would be everywhere. I can't believe how fast these last two years have gone, and yet how they have taken so long too. I don't even know if that makes any sense, but it truly is the only way I can describe it.

Well, I am back into the swing of things and have lots of things coming up for Ella's Halo. Some exciting things to talk about, some exciting things for Bowling for Babies, and some exciting things to do. So I better get going - time flies and it’ll be here before I know it!