Archive for September, 2009

Third week of Tutu School

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

While Ella was having a fun day at school, Sunny and I were at home fasting and getting hungrier by the minute.  We both picked Ella up from school and she greeted us with big hugs and another wonderful ballerina hairstyle by Ms. Alicia.  Thank you for taking such great care of Ella.  She really looks forward to your time together where you help her transform into a ballerina.  Here are a few pictures and of course a video that is way too long but if you love Ella, you’ll love the  video.  Sunny and I both went to the class and we were so impressed at who Ella is turning into.  Ella is not a follower and not really a leader either.  She is a happy, confident independent spirit who loves and is present with what’s right in front of her.  The ultimate buddha.

124.jpg This was taken at the end of class.

215.jpg314.jpgMs. Alicia’s latest and greatest.

Here’s the movie.

Wardrobe change…for a few hours at least

Monday, September 28th, 2009

As you can tell from the past few months of pictures, Ella loves wearing dresses…sun dresses, long sleeved dresses, princess dresses and fancy dresses.  She likes to wear tights under the dresses but she’s not into wearing pants or jeans.  She does wear the occasional sweatpants every once in a while but it’s rare.  I got Ella a skirt the other day and she told me that she wanted to wear it under her dress.  She said that shirts and skirts weren’t pretty.  This morning, Stella came over to say hi and she was wearing a skirt and a shirt.  Ella decided that she wanted to wear a skirt and shirt too.  When we went upstairs to find an outfit, she went a little coo coo because she wanted to wear the same shirt that Stella was wearing…a Lucky Kid lucky cat shirt.  She doesn’t have that shirt so it took a while to get an outfit together.  When she finally decided what to wear, she loved her outfit. The 3 of us went to Noe Valley to pick up a round challah for Yom Kippur dinner and we also had lunch at a cute diner on 24th street.  Tonight, Becca and Debby came over for dinner.  It was a sweet dinner and we had a lot of fun.  Ella was a huge help – she kept asking what she could do at the end of the meal so I let her help me wash the dishes.  She did a great job.  I hope that everyone who is fasting today has an easy fast.

1jump.jpg2jump.jpg3jump.jpg4jump.jpgElla jumping in her new outfit.

5biggirl.jpg Look at Ella – growing up right before our eyes.

6huggie.jpg A beautiful hug at lunch.

7berries.jpgRaspberries on the finger.

8stoop.jpg Hanging out on a stoop with mommy and eating a cupcake.  Life is beautiful.

9candles.jpg Having fun before lighting the candles.

10grapejuice.jpg Drinking our grape juice after the blessing over the wine.

11washingdishes.jpg12washingdishes.jpgWashing the dishes.

Probably our last game of the season

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

We went to the game today and had a great time.  The Giants didn’t have as much fun as we did.  They are going down hard.  Looks like we’re not going to get the wildcard.  The greatest part of today for us was that Ella got to give Lou Seal a great big hug.  Ella was so happy after she hugged Lou Seal.

120.jpg Heading over to the game.

214.jpg Happiness is…cotton candy, a cherry snow cone and a ball game.

313.jpg Ella fooling around with her vampire lollipop.  Nothing like a lot of sugar on a fine Saturday afternoon.

414.jpg Ella and Lou.

Here is another song that Ella did the other night…

Lots of stuff

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Ella is doing so well in everything that she does.  She’s growing up right in front of our eyes.  Ella had a great week at school this week.  She is making new friends and loving her old friends from last year.  Its amazing to watch how her school life has evolved.  Tonight we had movie night with Stella and Juliet.  Before we watched the Bee Movie, Helen and Ron had dinner with all of us.  Sunny made delicious steamed clams and the ate almost all of them.  After the movie, the girls took turns singing into the microphone.  At the end of this entry is a movie of Ella singing 3 Little Birds with me playing a pretty sad ukulele and Sunny singing along with Ella.  It’s really cute.

1kj.jpg Here’s a sweet picture of KJ with a little smile from the other night.

2ellabella.jpg Ella and her friend Bella playing before school.

3line.jpg The Leaping Lizards coming out to the assembly this morning.

4sayinghi.jpg Ella saying hi to her friends from last year who are now in kindergarten.  It was like she was an old lady greeting people at a Bar Mitzvah.

5dancing.jpg Ella and Stella dancing tonight before dinner.  I guess they were at a royal ball.

6dinner.jpgThe girls at dinner.

7clams.jpg Empty clam shells from mommy’s delicious dinner.

8towbystella.jpg Stella and Towby chillin’ during the Bee Movie.

9ellapopcorn.jpg What’s a movie without popcorn?

10julietsinging.jpg Juliet singing into the mic.

11ellasinging.jpg Ella singing into the mic.

Ballet and more ballet

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Tonight we had dinner at Acme with the Kim/Arenas.  All the girls were wearing the same Cinderella dress.  We were sitting in a section at the restaurant that had a lot of empty space and our girls did the Cinderella ballet.  Below is also a video of Ella’s ballet class from Monday.

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And now for the video…she’s becoming more graceful!

Ballet class week 2

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

There is a movie to be made but I am way too tired.  Ella was absolutely adorable in class today.  She really loves it and she looks beautiful.  Here are a bunch of pictures from the class.  Movie tomorrow.  I also want to give a shout out to Ms Alicia.  Thanks for the beautiful ballerina bun.  You’re the greatest.

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Golden Gate Park

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Today we decided to go to Golden Gate Park.  The weather was beautiful and we thought that we could squash Ella’s kayaking desire by going on a row boat at Stowe Lake.  When we got there all the rowboats were rented so Ella decided that instead of waiting, we should go on a pedal boat.  Well…we got 45 minutes of amazing exercise.  It was such a sweet afternoon and Ella was so cooperative.  After our pedal boating, we had a little picnic on the side of the lake.  Ella’s cold seems to be all better.  She actually fell asleep at 8:30 tonight so that means we will have a happy camper tomorrow morning.

117.jpg Ready for an afternoon on the lake.

211.jpg310.jpgLots of love and fun.

411.jpg59.jpgOur picnic.

69.jpg Ella loved this little tree.  She loved how she could reach up to the top.

79.jpg Twirling in her twirly dress.

95.jpg103.jpgLove by the lake.  Mommy and Ella were feeding the ducks, geese and of course seagulls.

L’Shanah Tovah

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Last night our friends Heidi and Sharon came over for a Rosh Hashana dinner.  We had a great time.  Ella had a lot of fun with all of us.  Right at bed time, Ella got a stuffy nose and was breathing in really hard and she was getting really frustrated that she was having trouble breathing.  She started yelling, “It feels like a big ball up my nose…it’s too big.”  It was sad but I was really impressed with her description.  Today we laid low because we wanted Ella to get some rest so her cold would go away.  We took a walk with Becca and were throwing some bread into the water over the 3rd street bridge and we looked down into the water and saw Ron and Juliet kayaking in the Bay!  It was fantastic.  Luckily I had my camera and took some great shots of them.  Ella really wants to go kayaking now.  Maybe in 20 years or so.   Tonight, Phyllis, Hannah, Naomi and Charlie came over and we had Rosh Hashana dinner and played the Beatles rock band.  We had so much fun.  Ella sang Yellow Submarine with Sunny.  At the end of the post is a video of Ella playing the shofar.  She is amazing.

115.jpg Going to school on Friday morning.  Nothing like a lollipop at 7:50 am.  By the way uncle Michael…Ella picked this headband because you love sea horses.

210.jpg Washing hands at school.

39.jpg410.jpg58.jpgFun fun fun with the shofar.

68.jpg Becca and Ella playing around in the lobby.

78.jpg85.jpg94.jpgRon and Juliet on their amazing kayak adventure.

102.jpg Trying to catch a bubble.

116.jpg Sunny, Ella and Becca on a beautiful sunny day.

Ella’s swimming lessons…week 2

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Ella was really excited about her swimming lesson today.  Ella did a great job.  Ella told us that she held her breath under water, learned to keep her legs straight when she kicked. Megan is going to teach Ella how to start swimming freestyle next week.  Here are some pictures of the lesson.114.jpg29.jpg38.jpg49.jpg57.jpg67.jpg77.jpg84.jpg93.jpg

Another hair style

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Well…Ms. Alicia outdid herself today.  When I picked up Ella today, she came running towards me with a wonderful princess hairstyle.  Ms. Alicia and Ella decided that they need a blue headband and it would be just like Cinderella’s hair.  Here are 2 pictures.  The first is of a serious princess and the second is of a very happy preschool kid.

1princess.jpg2princess.jpg