Today, Sunny and Ella started a new class. It’s a gymnastics class – a little different than the class at My Gym which Ella still goes to on Thursdays. Besides having fun and taking a class with mommy, there is something else about the class that is exciting for Ella…Juliet and Stella are in the class! And one more great thing…they all took the train to and from the class. What a great adventure! They will all be doing this on Monday mornings. Sunny didn’t get any pictures in the class (because she was so busy working out with Ella) but Sunny got some great shots on the train and on the street…
Ella and Stella on the train
Three beauties strolling down the street
Archive for September, 2007
A new adventure on Mondays
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007Ella’s weekend
Monday, September 17th, 2007It was a beautiful weekend weather wise in SF and a beautiful sweet easy weekend for us. On Saturday, we went to the Farmer’s market to get some fruit and stuff and met Phyllis there. In the evening, our friend Cheryl from Baltimore came over to spend some time with us and to meet Ella. We had a great dinner at Acme (mac and cheese and french fries for Ella). Cheryl told me that she caught the Ella bug. It’s hard not to. Today, Sunny and Ella hung out at the South Beach park while I had a massage and then later on, the 3 of us walked over to Pier 39 so that Ella could ride on a carousel. We thought the one she usually goes on was closed for 2 months, but it turns out that it was only closed for 2 days! It was true love that we took Ella to Fisherman’s Wharf on a Sunday evening. We stopped at Houston’s on the way home and had a good dinner.
Our peace child
Cheryl and Ella reading “Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus”
As we were getting ready to leave, Ella grabbed her special orange hat for a night out.
We made it to the wharf!
Here are Sunny and Ella on the upper deck of the carousel. It’s pretty nauseating up there
Here is one very serious young lady
Lucky me! I get and after dinner kiss.
Ella and her doggies
Saturday, September 15th, 2007Ella and I took a long walk to the Ferry Building today and had some lunch at Taylors. It was a gorgeous day and walking with Ella is incredible. She notices every little thing – the flowers, the wind, the bumps on the sidewalk… When we came home, we spent some time in the Zen garden with the dogs. Each dog has a different “song” when we want them to go to the bathroom. Bug’s song is “Good girl, make a doody” and Towby’s is “Hurry up Towby, go potty”. Ella has learned both songs and they are on the video below – very cute.
Sunny and I took Ella swimming tonight and then Phyllis met us at the pub for dinner. We all had a great time.
Here is Ella dancing. She loves to dance. Check out the new shoes that Helen got for Ella.
One very happy child with the wind blowing in her hair.
Ella feeling the soft flower on her hand.
Kissing Bug
Kissing Towby
Challah time
Friday, September 14th, 2007We had a beautiful Rosh Hashana. We woke up in the morning and Ella and Sunny began to make a challah. They mixed everything up and set the dough aside to rise. I took Ella to her 10:30 My Gym class. When we came back, Sunny and Ella braided the challah. We went to temple in the afternoon and then I took Ella to the park with Stella & Juliet. We had a brisket dinner again tonight. Becca came over. I started making a video of Ella and Sunny making the challah but my camera ran out of batteries, so the last part of the challah video is a bunch of pictures. By the way…the challah tasted…it tasted pretty good for bread…um…maybe not exactly like challah…it will make great french toast…maybe they can keep practicing.I just looked back at the video and it seems to get stuck when it starts to go to the photos. All you have to do is click on the bar underneath when it gets stuck and it will move to the next series of pictures.
Erev Rosh Hashana
Thursday, September 13th, 2007Tonight is the night of Rosh Hashana. When we came home from work, we had apples and honey with Ella. Ella really wasn’t into the honey, but she had her apple. After our apples and honey, Sunny honored us by blowing the shofar to bring in the New Year. Ella loved the sound of the shofar – so did Bug. After the shofar, Ella had matzah ball soup. We had a brisket dinner (Sunny’s famous brisket) which was delicious.Something great happened tonight – I gave Ella a bath and after the bath, she sat on her potty. She was making noises with her mouth like pssssssss, pssssssssss…then she got a funny look on her face. All of a sudden, she was making a pee on the potty! She was so proud. She smiled and clapped.L’shana tova everyone. Here’s to a happy and healthy new year.Much love,Lauren, Sunny and Ella
Happy 22 month birthday!
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007Ella is 22 months old today. What a beautiful thing.
After work, Ella and I took a little walk to a store nearby and when we came home we heard the sweet sound of Stella and Juliet in the hallway. Ella had been talking about Stella since I came home so she was so happy to see her. They greeted each other with a big kiss and then Juliet rounded the corner. She is so sweet. Helen and I took the girls and the dogs into the Zen garden and when we were coming back inside, Juliet and Stella were holding hands and walking. Ella kind of looked over at them and we sensed that she wanted to hold hands too. They all held hands walking down the hallway, I ran inside to get my camera while Helen and Ron watched the sweetness and then I caught it on video. Here it is!
Ella at Strike Out Violence Day
Monday, September 10th, 2007Today was the 10th annual Strike Out Violence Day at AT&T Park. Sunny came up with the idea 10 years ago to bring awareness to domestic violence through a major league baseball team and the Giants agreed. There was a great pre-game ceremony where survivors are recognized along with “Founding Fathers” – men who take an oath to teach boys to be non-violent boys and men. It was a meaningful day and Ella was on the field with Sunny to take it all in. I made a video of Ella’s day. We hung out with our friends in the bleachers to watch the game and the Giants beat the Dodgers! It was a great way to celebrate a beautiful day.
Back to the ballgame
Sunday, September 9th, 2007The Giants will not have a post-season this year, but that isn’t stopping us from enjoying the games. Today we went to our first game since we’ve been back. We played the Dodgers and lost to them but we had fun. After the game, we went to a friend’s birthday party and reconnected with some friends who we hadn’t seen in a while. It was a really fun day and night.
Getting ready to go to the game.
Ella at the game. It was a beautiful day.
Ella and Becca at the birthday party.
Sunny and Ella catching up with our friend Heidi
Mickey Mouse
Sunday, September 9th, 2007Jesse and Heather moved to LA last week. Although we miss having them here in SF, we are so happy for them. Heather landed a great job at Disney. Ella is getting the Disney bug early…here is a little video/shout out to the Disney lovers
Fairyland
Saturday, September 8th, 2007Today, Julie and I took the girls to a place in Oakland called Fairyland. It was a little park built in the 1950’s – before Disney and all the rest of the amusement parks. I don’t think they have given that place a paint job since the 1950’s either! It was sweet, but pretty dirty and run down. I think the girls had fun. There was a tiny ferris wheel there and it was a kids only thing. Stella didn’t want to go so Julie and I put Ella and Juliet on the ride. As the lady was closing the door on their little car, I realized that we put two 1 year olds on a ride together. Oy vey – it was crazy. They were doing really well but then they both stood up and Ella started crying and then Juliet joined her. It was sad and very funny at the same time. I caught most of it on video so I hope you get as much of a laugh as I did while I was editing it. There was also a cheezy carousel thing that the girls went on. They all wanted to ride the one where there was a seat which is not usual for these girls. I think the highlight of the day was the end when there was music coming out of a speaker in the bushes and Ella and Stella started dancing like crazy. I also caught that on video. When we got home, I felt bad for Ella that she had to go on a bad carousel so I brought her to her favorite carousel by our house.
Peeking out window of a little house
Sitting on a flower chair (notice the cracks and dirt)
Farmer Stella and farmer Ella
What a big girl!
See ya later!