Life With Ella

Before I get into the Annie costume, Ella had her first unofficial day of school today.  The orientation went really well.  Ella seemed to be really happy to be back at school and was talking up a storm.  She was talking to Alicia as if they were long lost friends, filling her in on what she did over the summer.  It was actually so cute to watch Ella speaking with Alicia with such confidence and poise.  She’s usually a little shy around her.  After the orientation, Ella told me that she wanted to grab lunch at the Nordstrom Bistro.  Ella had mac and cheese and then ordered ice cream with hot fudge.  She used some of the fudge to dip her strawberries and some on the ice cream.  After Nordstrom, Ella had a swimming lesson.  After the lesson, we had dinner at home.  A package was delivered this evening and it was a part of Ella’s Halloween costume.  Yes - “Annie’s” dress came in the mail, and of course Ella put it right on.  She was so cute in it.  The wig should be in sometime this week.  We went out for a walk with Towby and at the end of the walk, Ella did a song from Annie for us in the hallway.  The song was “dumb dog”. Ella after eating a whole bowl of mac and cheese. Chocolate makes Ella very happy. Sandy and Annie. Annie walking down the street.and now for the video…

 

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Happy Birthday Jesse - hope you have a beautiful day.  We love you.  Can’t wait to see you.  We had a mellow day - Ella and I went to a park so she could run around.  Ella’s class is having an informal get together at this park on Sunday and I told Ella about it yesterday so she told me that she wanted to go there today to check it out.  Tonight we had Friday night movie night with Stella and Juliet.  We watched Beauty and the Beast.  On Saturday, we are taking the girls to see the theatrical version of Beauty and the Beast here in San Francisco.  Bug is still hanging in there - she’s just relaxing and eating turkey.  We are going to see how the weekend goes and then figure out what to do next.  This is difficult but we’re trying to be as honest as we can with Ella.  Whenever we spell the word D-I-E…she says, “That spells die - when Bug dies I am going to write her a card saying, ‘Dear Bug, I am sorry that you D-I-E.”  I told her that would be beautiful. Ella and Bug today. Ella and Towby today. This is a drawing of an angler fish that Ella and I made the other day. we bumped into a colleague of mine at the park and her son Cairo joined Ella on the swing. Ella is a fantastic climber.  This thing also spins but I made sure that nobody spun it around while she was climbing. Making brownies for movie night. The girls having brownies and watching Beauty and the Beast.

 

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This morning, we met our friend Julie and her daughter Gilana for brunch.  Gilana is about 18 months old and super cute.  I didn’t have my camera with me so I didn’t get any pictures, but we had a really nice brunch.  It was great to catch up.  We came home and rested - this fog here can kill ya!  At around 2:30, we headed over to the gym.  Ella was very excited for her second taekwondo class and was super excited to get her uniform.  When Steven, her teacher gave her her uniform, she was so happy!  We didn’t stay for the class this time.  Sunny worked out and I played racquetball.  I did manage to catch the last 25 minutes or so.  When I got down to the class, they were all running around in a big circle - the teacher came over to me and told me that the class was in trouble - not Ella, but all the yellow belt students.  He said that they would not stop talking so they had to do laps.  Ella told him that she wanted to do laps too and she was tearing around the room, laughing and giggling and running like crazy.  She also attempted to do a few push ups when Steven instructed them to do 10 push ups.  Her kicks are looking a little better.  She is just so confident there, even with kids who she doesn’t know.  The kids are really sweet and they take care of her.  She is the youngest by about a year.  We ended up at the Public House for dinner tonight and watched the Giants lose.  We need them to start winning every game now…we want baseball in October (when it will hopefully be warm). Ella in her uniform. Sweet Ella with 2 of the other kids in her class. Look at the focus. Steven is a great teacher and really wonderful with Ella. I almost caught the kick! Fantastic class.Now for a sweet video.

 

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Tonight, we were meeting Becca, Ruthann and Jaeden for dinner.  Ruthann asked us if we could bring some of Ella’s costumes to dinner because Jaeden had to get dressed up for his last day of camp.  We brought her monkey, skunk and dragon costumes to Amicis and at the end of dinner, Ella and Jaeden decided that they were going to put the costumes on.  There was a little girl in the restaurant who was watching the whole thing and she really wanted to play too, so we gave her the skunk costume.  Ella is getting better at sharing, but she’s not the greatest.  At first, she looked at the little girl and mumbled something like, “Why are you wearing that?  We don’t even know you.”  I shot her a look and she said, “You can wear that.”  The kids were really cute in the restaurant and the people eating were sweet and so tolerant.  We ended up giving the skunk to the little girl and Ella told Jaeden that he could keep the other two forever.  They are getting too small on Ella, but it showed maturity on her part and we told her that she did a great job.  We have this red cape and red mask at home that we have been waiting to give to Ella - for a moment just like this when she not only shared, but gave away something that she really liked.  She loved the cape and mask and turned herself into Word Girl.  Check out the video at the end. On the way to dinner before the costume party started. Big costume party at Amici’s.  Notice the little skunk stranger who joined the parade. Word Girl!

 

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Ella has been going to camp this week.  On Sunday night, she decided that she didn’t want to go to camp and wanted to stay home with me.  It’s that time of year where we all have to switch gears and get out of the summer and back into the school year.  Once Ella gets to camp, she’s perfectly happy, but she also pretends that she doesn’t want me to leave the classroom.  I kiss her, hug her, and leave when it’s time to go.  Her teacher says that it takes her about .5 seconds to recover once I am gone.  On Monday we took Ella to see Despicable Me.  It was actually pretty cute and Ella laughed out loud at a few of the scenes.  Ella had a great swimming lesson (video attached) on Tuesday and she seems to like her new teacher.  Ella is having some trouble falling asleep on her own  these days - its all about change in routine and we have to get her back into the school routine so she gets enough sleep at night! Ella at Despicable Me in 3-D. Heading off to camp.A scooter ride to meet Becca and Ellen for dinner.

 

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Today was face painting day at camp.  When I picked up Ella, she came running at me, “Look mama - I’m a zebra” and then she showed me her arm that had a cat painted on it and then her leg had a lotus flower.  She loved all of it.  When we got home, Ella said that she wanted to go for a bike ride.  We went around the block a few times and then came home and had dinner with Beccca, Ruthann and Jaeden.  Ella was really hyper before bed and she was laying in bed yelling out tongue twisters and laughing.  Her laughter was so sweet and she was so happy that I had to film her.  Enjoy. Ella and her face/body paint. Ella wanted Ann to come along on her bike ride.  She sat very comfortably in the basket.

 

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Ok - I finally put it together.  It’s a long one, but Ella isn’t taking ballet again until September so I guess the length is fine.  Enjoy…

 

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I guess I’m the only family member who is still on Hawaii time because Ella and Sunny are soundly sleeping and I am wide awake at 1:32 am.  Hopefully I will get tired soon.  We left beautiful Kauai this morning.  Ella got to feed the koi one last time.  She said that she wanted to stay and swim.  Good thing she loves swimming.  It was a wonderful family vacation and we are looking forward to trying to get out here next year as soon as Ella’s school gets out.  It was a great way to wind down. Here are a few photos from today and then a video I made mostly of Ella swimming in the pool and going down the slide.  Tomorrow I am going to take Ella to the county fair across the street from our place.  It looks like a lot of fun!Beautiful peaceful Ella sound asleep this morning while we were getting everything together.Saying goodbye to the koi and feeling them one last time.

 

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Ella woke up this morning feeling fine.  She had a good breakfast, was in a great mood, sang her little heart out on the way to school and I thought everything was just groovy.  Ella had a dentist appointment today at around 4 that she was a little nervous about but she was doing ok with that too.  At around 1:00, Alicia called to let us know that she thinks Ella may have an ear infection.  She asked us to pick up Ella early.  I think at this point, Alicia has earned the title Dr. Alicia.  She has not missed one of Ella’s illnesses.  Sunny took Ella to the doctor this afternoon and she does indeed have an ear infection.  When Sunny first picked up Ella from school, Ella was miserable, crying, in a lot of pain.  Sunny gave her Tylenol and it took a while to kick in, but she was out of pain in about 40 mins.  The doctor finally saw her and he found an infection in her right ear.  He put her on meds for 4 days and Ella should be as good as new when we go to Hawaii next week.  Ella was doing really well when she came home after the doctor.  I asked her to make a little video explaining her ear infection but I didn’t get that much from her.  I’ll put it at the end anyway. Ella with one of her “get well” toys from today. Ella and I put this together.  She was very pleased with it.Here’s a kind of lame video…

 

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Just found this footage of Ella’s very first Leaping Lizard assembly from December 2008.  She was a wreck and wouldn’t have been able to stand there if Alicia weren’t with her.  Love to be able to look back and see how much Ella has changed!

 

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