Archive for July, 2008

Last day in NJ – back in SF

Friday, July 18th, 2008

This is going to be very short and sweet since I am exhausted. We had an amazing time back east and it was so great to get to spend time with our loved ones. There were so many people who we weren’t able to see or who we didn’t get enough time with but there will always be the next time. Now for the pictures.

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Grandma and Ella laughing in the pool.

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Here they are playing footsie.

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Here are 2 pictures of Ella with Zack. Zack’s grandma Adrienne is great friends with grandma and papa and Zack’s mom was one of AJ’s first friends. Adrienne takes care of Zack every Wednesday and she brought him over for us to mush. Ella was so happy to have Zack over and wanted nothing more than to hold him. She was so sweet with him and he was so sweet with her.

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I love this picture of Nikki B and Ella – they both look so happy and crazy.

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How many grandparents does it take to put on an exhausted toddler’s diaper? Hopefully in the next few weeks we can say goodbye to the diapers…we’ll keep you posted.

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Here’s our little rock star schlepping through the airport at 7:30 this morning.

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Back together again. The girls were so happy to see each other. It is so excellent watching them interact.

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Here are the girls sitting on the floor at Acme waiting for our table to be ready. Stella is holding a copy of the galley of mommy’s book! It’s almost finished! It’s so exciting. Even Stella can’t wait to read it!

Back on the horse

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

Today mommy had a meeting in NY, so grandma and I took Ella to Van Saun Park. Ella rode a pony again although she was a little bit hesitant. She told me that she wanted me to go with her and she had one hand on the horse and one hand on me at all times. She really did a great job. When she got off the horse, she said, “I was really brave.” After the horse, we went on the train and then went into this little netted thing that had a bunch of tiny birds in it. We bought this little stick with bird seed on it and the birds came to us and ate the bird seed. Ella loved it until a bird flew away and there was a gust of air and the wings made a funny noise and she got freaked out. After the birds we came home. In the afternoon, my aunt Sandy came over and played with Ella for a little while. It was a really sweet visit. Tonight, we played outside, went up to the park and had dinner out.

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Ella riding on Donut the horse.

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Ella and grandma on the train.

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Ella sitting on the train all by herself. I took this picture when we were going through the tunnel.

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Ella is checking out some huge bison in this picture.

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Here we are looking at a bird together. Ella didn’t want to hold the stick but she was willing to be pretty close to the bird. Check out the shadow – pretty cool. I think about 10 seconds after my mom took this picture, the bird started flying and freaked Ella out.

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I was having a lot of fun with the birds.

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Look at this pretty bird.

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Grandma and Ella were checking out the birds in the tree.

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Here are a lot of beautiful birds. It was a really fun exhibit. (At least for me)

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Aunt Sandy and Ella having a tea party.

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Beautiful Ella at the piano. She’s not quite ready for lessons – she’s just getting the feel of the keyboard right now.

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I think Ella has outgrown the slide.

Lamb chops

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

Today was a little rainy in the morning, so grandma, Ella and I went to Trader Joe’s to do a little grocery shopping. At the Trader Joe’s here, they have tiny shopping carts for the kids. Ella was so thrilled to have her own shopping cart and she went to town putting things in her cart. She was like, “Oh – I need some bananas, and a few apples” and was just throwing things in her cart just like her mommy does.

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Ella right when she first started pushing her grocery cart.

We also went to Target and another store to pick some stuff up for Stella and Juliet. After shopping, we came home and Ella took a nap. After the nap, Adrienne came over to spend some time with Ella. We all had a good time. Tonight, I went into NY to pick up Sunny and to have dinner with Nikki B, Jamie and Carol. Ella stayed home with grandma and papa. They took a lot of great pictures. Ella ate lamb chops and mint jelly and then proceeded to give a concert on the piano.

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Ella and I share a little OCD. Check out how she lined up the crayons. Pretty cool huh?

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Lamb chops – YUM!

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Don’t forget the mint jelly.

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Very thirsty.

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Chillin’ with her new red ruby slippers.

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Pianist in training.

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Look out Joni Mitchell.

And now for a funny video. Thanks for taking these grandma and papa.

More twins and fireflies

Monday, July 14th, 2008

This morning, we all hung out at home. Grandma and papa’s friends Diana and Kenny came over and we all had a really nice time. Ella loves having visitors at the house. Mommy left for DC this afternoon. We hope that work goes well mommy. We love you. AJ and I took Ella into NY to meet Sonja and Sebastian, the kids of Claire and Sasha, good friends of AJ’s. KK also met us at their place. The kids were super cute and Ella had a good time, but she skipped her nap today and became kind of cranky at the end of the play date and wouldn’t share her Pirate’s Booty. She passed out in the car on the way home and I had to wake her up at 7:30 to have dinner. After dinner, we all went outside to look for fireflies. We had a blast.

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Ella and AJ with the twins.

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Looking for fireflies.

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Where are they? Check out papa’s sneakers – are they fireflies?

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Normyn smelling the flowers.

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Look – Ella has a firefly on her hand.

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Uh oh – did the firefly drop in the grass?

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So happy.

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Look at all of those curls! They both got pretty dizzy from spinning.

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Right out of the bath and laughing with papa.

Saturday with the family

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

Today we took Ella into NY to hang out with her cousins Bronwen and Georgia. Ella had been asking a lot about them so we set up a date. We had lunch at a diner, hung out at their place and then ended up at a park where Ella pretty much fell asleep on a swing. We put her in the car and drove downtown to pick up AJ and Normyn. On our way back to NJ, Ella woke up and realized that AJ was in the car and she was so happy. We got back to grandma and papa’s and had a really sweet night. We had a barbeque and went to the park.

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Petting a dog on the way to the park with Bronwen and Georgia.

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Shucking corn with grandma.

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Watering the plants with papa.

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Mommy and Ella running up the hill to the park.

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Normyn and her ball.

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Swinging high!

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So much fun on the balance beam.

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“Goodnight Ella”. “Goodnight Normyn”.

Swimming at papa’s club

Saturday, July 12th, 2008

Today, mommy, grandma and I went to papa’s club to go swimming while papa played golf. We had a great time. Ella swam in the kiddie pool and then in the big pool. We all actually had to evacuate the kiddie pool because a baby made a poop in it and they had to drain the pool. Tonight, mommy and I went to dinner with our friends in NY and Ella stayed home with grandma and papa. They went to the park and caught fireflies. Grandma and papa reported that Ella put her hands out and the fireflies flew into them and she was so happy and gentle. When they flew away, she told grandma and papa that she wanted to fly too and that tomorrow she would put on her butterfly sun dress and fly like a firefly.

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Ella in the kiddie pool.

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Ella loved pouring the teapot of water into her cup and watching it overflow.

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Mommy watching Ella from the pool with so much love.

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Here is grandma cooling Ella off by pouring water on her back. Ella loves how it feels.

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Grandma, Ella and mommy in the big pool.

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Kissing papa.

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Here we are having a blast in the big pool.

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Here I am getting Ella’s hair wet. She was protesting and laughing hysterically!

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Windblown buddies. Ella loves driving in the car with the sunroof and windows opened. Grandma is such a good sport and let mommy take this picture.

Some new friends in NJ

Friday, July 11th, 2008

Today I took Ella to see some of my friends that I grew up with and their kids. Ella had met them once or twice before, but she was so young and really didn’t remember. I think she’ll remember this visit. My friend Cheryl has two kids, James and Emma and Ella really loves Emma. When we walked into Sue Sue’s house, Ella had me carry her in and was hanging on tight, but when she saw Emma, she let me put her down and went into her arms. Sue Sue has 4 kids, 2 of them are older and then she has 3 year old twins. They were really sweet and loving and really enthusiastic about Ella being there. They hugged her right away and were talking to her and Ella was taking it all in and I think really loving it. Paige was also there and Ella remembered Paige from San Francisco. It was a really sweet visit – I had a good time and so did Ella.

Mommy came home tonight and Ella was so happy (so was I). Ella was sitting in her high chair when mommy came in and she said, “I want to get out, I want to get out. Do you want to go to the living room and play with me?” Mommy took Ella outside to see the fireflies. Ella loved seeing them.

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Ella and Emma in the little pool.

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Ella wore the same dress as yesterday. I think she’s a little attached to it. Here she is with one of the twins (I think Ava) who put on her butterfly dress when she saw Ella in hers.

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Emma did such a great job taking care of Ella today. Thank you!

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Ella and the twins Ava and Sofia. Beautiful curly haired kids!

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At the end of the visit, the girls had a candy party. I don’t have to say how much fun that was for Ella!

A very fun and busy Wednesday

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

Ella slept for 12 hours straight! She woke up and actually looked tired from sleeping so much! Grandma, Ella and I headed into NY at around 10:45. We met up with AJ and uncle Michael and went to a kid’s park in Washington Square Park. Ella had the most fun on the swings. First she went on the little kid swing and then she told AJ that she wanted to go on the big kid swings. She yelled “higher, higher” and AJ pushed her pretty high. Ella held on tight and did a great job. This was the first time that she spent a long time period on the big kid swings. She’s growing up! She liked the rest of the park but was pretty unimpressed with the sand all over the place. I guess the park was too messy for Ella. After the park, we all had lunch at a restaurant on the corner of AJ and Michael’s block and then went back to their place. AJ gave Ella a beautiful sundress with velcro butterfly wings and Ella fell in love with it. She posed in the mirror, flapped her arms and tried to fly, jumped up and down, and just looked so adorable in it. After spending some time with Uncle Michael we headed uptown to the Manhattan Children’s Museum. This is a really cool place that we would go to a lot if it were in SF. There was also a whole floor dedicated to Dora and Diego – I guess it’s an exhibit that’s at the museum for a while. Ella loved it. She really explored everything and played with some kids and also held her own against some pushy kids. After the museum, we headed back to NJ and stopped over to see my grandmother. Ella was really beautiful and sweet to my grandma. We explained to Ella that she was really old and didn’t talk at all and Ella was wonderful. Ella also had a good time with Gail who takes care of my grandma and had a fun time walking around the apartment and looking at everything. We ended the night out to dinner with grandma and papa. We went to Dante’s in Leonia and after eating a lot of ziti with butter and cheese, Ella passed out at the table – literally. She slept for about 45 minutes. When we came home, Ella watched the Backyardigans and Dora with grandma and papa and then I put her in her crib. She has been entertaining herself and yelling things out for the past hour! Oy vey – I hope she sleeps tonight. Mommy comes tomorrow and we are so happy. We love you!

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Ella giving Normyn a kiss.

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AJ pushing Ella on the baby swing.

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AJ and Ella going down the double slide. They both had me take the sand off their slides before they went down.

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Check out how happy Ella is on her big girl swing.

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On the way down the curvy slide.

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Checking out Uncle Michael’s Dr. Seuss horn.

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Checking out her new butterfly sun dress.

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Giving Uncle Michael a kiss goodbye. Hope your shows are great!

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Walking down the street.

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Enjoying the musical instruments at the Dora exhibit.

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Laying down in Dora’s bed.

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Driving a car, a firetruck and a bus!

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Walking over a bridge.

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Hanging out with Gail who takes great care of my grandma.

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Ella gave the lollipop to her great grandma.

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Back at grandma and papa’s house – papa and Ella have on the same color again. I wonder if papa has wings on the back of his shirt.

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Asleep at Dante’s!

Here’s a little video of parts of Ella’s day

It’s sun dress weather!

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

We arrived in NJ on Monday night. As soon as we got to my parent’s house, Ella reminded me that I told her she could wear a sun dress, so I pulled one out and she put it on with a huge smile on her face. Traveling with Ella was really wonderful. It was the first time that I was alone on a plane with her and I was a little nervous, but everything was great. She is such a great traveler. We both really missed mommy a lot. I would much rather travel with mommy and Ella. Ella was so happy when she saw grandma and papa and I don’t need to say how happy they were to see her! Ella woke up this morning in such a great mood. She immediately told grandma that she wanted a sun dress and she got it. Grandma and Ella spent time together going to Fireman’s park and hanging out while I went into NY to hang out with AJ. Ella was taking a nap when I came home and when she woke up, grandma and I took Ella to another park and to the public library. When we got back, papa was home from work. He brought Ella a present – an I Zod dress. The day before, Ella admired papa’s alligator on his shirt, so he got her one but in the dress style. Ella put it on and loved it although she let us know that it wasn’t really a sun dress. Tonight, we went out for Chinese food and ice cream and had a lot of fun. WE MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU MOMMY! HURRY UP AND GET HERE ALREADY.

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Grandma pushing Ella on the swings.

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Ella loved swing on this “big girl swing”. She wanted to go so high.

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This is what I call happiness.

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Here are grandma, papa and Ella having a popsicle party.

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Ella in her new dress.

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Here they are – the alligator twins.

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Ella requested this picture with grandma and papa.

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Grandma and Ella falling asleep together while watching the Letter Factory.

Ella and the “mirror”

Monday, July 7th, 2008

Sunny and Ella took a walk today while I was having a massage. Ella decided that she wanted to wear a leotard, tights and a tutu. As they were going around the ballpark, Ella admired herself in the mirror. Ella and I leave for NY tomorrow morning and Mommy is joining us on Thursday. We can’t wait to see you mommy – we love you!

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Ella in her car on the way outside.

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Hey there – how are you?

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Check out little miss crazy curls.