Life With Ella

This morning, Ella woke up and insisted on wearing another one of her leotards with a skirt connected to it.  We went next door and I soon realized that Ella wasn’t the only kook on the block. Stella and Juliet were both dressed up in princess dresses. They all had a lot of fun. The 2 other kids probably think that our kids are crazy.Ella found the tiara and shoes over at Stella and Juliet’s.Check out princess Juliet!A super tender moment with princess Stella.After lunch, Ella took a load off on one of Helen and Ron’s cool chairs.

Tonight, after mommy’s Giants Community Fund Board meeting, we went to the ballgame and watched it in a luxury suite. Ella had a great time – we were on the same floor as Charlie Brown and Snoopy so we went over and took some pictures. Ella also enjoyed a hot dog! Ella spent the day in a leotard with an attached skirt and tights. She has completely rebelled and does not want to wear pants or long sleeved shirts. As Nicky B said tonight on the phone – Ella has Caribbean fever! It has been a struggle since we came back from Anguilla. San Francisco hit a record low today. It was 56º for most of the day. When we were getting Ella ready for the game tonight, we were taking off her leotard and tights and she was letting us know that she was completely against the whole idea. I had to finally bribe her and let her wear her “ruby red slippers” to the game. The shoes are a little big on her and we don’t usually let her wear them outside, but tonight was a special night. As we were walking around the ballpark at least every 4th person made some kind of comment about how cool or cute Ella’s shoes were. Ella walked with her head held high.

Ella and Snoopy.

Here is Ella with our friend Jennifer who works for the Giant’s Community Fund.

Ella taking a bite into her hot dog.

Such a big girl!

Today we met Karen and Kate over in San Raphael for a street art festival. It was called “Youth In Arts Italian Street Painting Festival”. Basically it was this street festival where chalk artists were drawing on the street. The work was beautiful and fun. They had a section where kids can do their own square and we did one with Ella. We all had a great day. Here are some pictures.

This is a picture that I took of Ella this morning. She was so happy that she had a tank top on. She’s really not into long sleeves, pants or sweatshirts these days. Oy vey.

Here we are arriving at the street fair. The doggie is Kate’s dog Jessie.

Karen giving Ella a high five as Ella identifies animals in the chalk drawing.

Ella liked watching this one while it was being created.

Here’s another one. It’s hard to believe that this was created by chalk only.

Look at all the balloons!

I think mommy took this one for me. Otters are my power animal.

Here we are busy drawing our square.

Ella putting in her professional/personal touches.

Here we are completely loving life.

A close up of our square.

This is our final square. We had a lot of fun.

Today was mommy’s (Sunny’s) birthday. Mommy worked during the day and I took Ella, Stella and Juliet to Fairyland with Emily. The girls had a blast – I’ll put some stuff on tomorrow. After mommy had a facial and massage, we all went to the Giant’s game. Ella, Stella and Juliet polished off a bag of cotton candy – all the colors, and then we sang happy birthday to mommy and had strawberry short cake. Happy birthday mommy – we love you sooooo much! Here are 2 pictures from tonight that Helen and Ron took.Here we are at the game. It was our first game Giants game in a while. Unfortunately, they lost.Happy Birthday Mommy! Can somebody tell me why Ella and I are blowing out the candles and mommy isn’t? We love you mommy!

Today, I took Ella to My Gym in the morning. As usual, Ella had an amazing time there. Her jumping is getting stronger and so is her climbing and hanging. She has such confidence in herself – it’s great to see. After My Gym, I dropped Ella off at home where mommy met us so that I could go work at the 8th grade graduation at my school. Ella and Mommy played ball, had lunch at Maria’s, took a walk to the Ferry Building (where Ella fell asleep) and then I met them at the ice cream place. After ice cream, the 3 of us went swimming. It was the first time that Sunny saw Ella walk all around the pool on her tippy toes with NO FEAR. Sunny LOVED every minute of it. She was blown away. After swimming, we went to Oakland with the Kim/Arenas and went to see the Yankees beat the Oakland A’s. The girls were all wearing their Jeter t-shirts and looked fantastic. We all had a great time. It was fun to see the Yankees win. What an incredible day and night.

Heading outside to play baseball.

I know that I rarely write about work – especially because this is called “Life With Ella”, but today was a really special day. A bunch of 8th graders who Corey and I have worked with for the past 3 years graduated today. I have grown to really love these kids and I wish only wonderful things for them. This picture is of Corey, Luckey and me (obviously). Luckey is the class president and in his speech today, he thanked Corey and I for helping him. I was really moved. It’s nice to know that we can make a difference!

Here’s a picture of Ella and I walking home from the ice cream place after I came home from the graduation.

Here is Ella wearing a lei that one of my students gave me.

Here are our 3 little Yankee fans.

Here are the little sluggers walking up the ramp.

Wearing papa’s favorite player

“I love you Juliet”

Mommy and Ella. Mommy wore a vintage NY Giants jersey.

Ron and Stella running up to the seats.

The weather has been beautiful and Ella has been insisting upon wearing her sundresses. She loves them so much and loves to have everyone see her. She hates wearing a coat or a sweatshirt and it’s sometimes a little battle but that’s OK. Tonight we met Ellen and Joyce for Chinese food. We had a fun night.

Here’s Ella with her sundress and headband.

Walking down the hallway on the way to the car.

Fooling around with Auntie E and Joyce.

A sweet picture of El and El

Tonight, Helen and I took Ella and Juliet to the mall (to do a little Lucky Kid pre shopping), and then we had dinner at Nordstrom Bistro. We had so much fun. The girls were great! Here are 2 pictures from dinner. Ella didn’t sit on a high chair or a booster. She sat on the regular bench and did really well.

Tonight, after a delicious dinner cooked by mommy Sunny, we took a walk around the park with the Kim/Arenas. It’s so great to see the girls grow up together.

I took this picture of Ella when I came home from work today. Her fake smile is getting less cheezy.

Eating dinner while singing the theme song to the Backyardigans.

Ella wanted to take Zoe for the walk tonight.

“Lean On Me”… here are the girls hanging out on the Juan Marichal statue by the ballpark eating peaches.

Here is a fantastic picture that Ron took of Ella jumping. She is getting to be a great jumper as you can see!

Here is the gang playing kick the cup. It was kind of a mess behind the ballpark from last night’s Kenny Chesney concert so the girls were kicking around these plastic cups that were left all over the place.

Another action shot of Ella running towards her buddies.