Life With Ella

Ella didn’t have school today – her school had a professional day.  I had to go to work and Ella and mommy hung out together.  As soon as I got home from work, mommy went to work and Ella and I went to Ella’s ballet class.  Ella had a great ballet class.  I’ll make a video in a day or so…it’s too late now.  Here are a few sweet pictures of Ella from today. Ella charging at me after ballet class today. Ella looking more than adorable in mommy’s sweatshirt. Kissing Zhu Zhu pets.

We had a great weekend in Scottsdale.  The 3 of us went to Arizona for spring training.  Part of the trip was work for Sunny who is on the board of the Giants Community Fund.  Sunny’s nephew David lives in Scottsdale so we were able to spend some time with him and his wife which was great.  It was the first time that Ella met them and they all hit it off right away.  We all had dinner the first night we arrived and after dinner, Ella was obsessed with going swimming.  It is not very warm in the desert at night in March, but I bit the bullet and went in with her.  She had so much fun and I froze!David and Ella – fun and love at first sight!Super sweet photo of Jackie, Ella and David.What a beautiful family!Night time swimming fun!  Well…at least for Ella.  I was freezing!The next day, Sunny had to go to the ballpark early, so Ella and I hung out in the room, went swimming and then met up with Sunny and the other board members and their families at the ballpark.  One couple had their 6 year old son Jesse with them and Ella connected with him right away.  For the next couple of days, they had such a great time together.  I think the most fun they had was one night during an “adult’ dinner.  They sat under the table and watched WordWorld on my iTouch.Ella chillin’ in the morning eating her freshly frosted  cinnamon roll.Check this out – Ella is on our bed.  Notice the spiked mirror decorations right above our heads…I guess Arizona doesn’t worry about earthquakes.Licking off every last bit of cotton candy.Ella and Jesse walking back to the hotel from the ballpark.Ella, mommy and Jesse in the hot tub.  Ella would not go into hot tubs until that very moment.  Jesse was her inspiration.Happy Ella the next day at the game.Ella enjoying the animal sculptures on the way back to the hotel from the ballpark on Saturday.Dinner with some Community Fund members and their families.Ella actually finished her entire thing of linguine!Here we are dancing with the kids.  The other mom is a board member Christine and her daughter Isabella.Ella and mommy playing name that tune.Ella and some prickly pear cactus.Christine, Sunny, Isabella and Ella at breakfast this morning.Ella patiently waiting to board the plane.On the plane heading home.  Ella loves Honkers – a gift from David and Jackie.  She buckled Honkers in with her and told him that flying is fun and that there is nothing to be afraid of…she would take care of him.

I am so happy that Ella loves her ballet class but I have to admit, I have been getting a little sleepy in there lately.  Ella did a terrific job today.  When you watch the video, check out her angry face towards the end.  It’s too cute to be an angry face!

We found out last week that Ella’s teacher Megan is going to be leaving SF.  She’s going back to medical school.  She’s been such an amazing teacher and Ella has responded so well to her.  We’re sad to see her go but really happy for her.  Next week will be Ella’s last week with Megan.  We’re in the process of finding another teacher who teaches in a similar way to Megan.  We now have an underwater digital camera. Megan  took a video or 2 underwater.Now this is a great shot!  Ella showing her chop stick skills. Ella sharing her udon noodles with mommy.

Today we met one of Ella’s classmates, his brother and their parents downtown for some bowling and playing in the park at Yerba Buena.  Its sweet watching Ella play with the boys.  She really had a lot of fun.  She has been practicing hanging on the bars and is getting stronger.  Maybe one day she’ll conquer the monkey bars at her school.Ella and her classmate Dillon at the bowling alley.Ella, Dillon and Liam on the slide at Yerba Buena.

We never made it to the Bay Area Discovery Museum on Monday, but Ella and I did make it downtown, did a little shopping, had lunch and met mommy at Yerba Buena.  It was another beautiful day and Ella played hard!  She still has a cold and cough so we decided to skip ballet.  Here are some pictures of Ella from yesterday.

Ella walking to the train.

Mac and cheese at Nordstrom all gone!

Ella at the MLK fountain.

Ella groovin’ on the beautiful red tulips.

Having a blast playing at the Yerba Buena playground.

Ella’s school is off this week for winter break but Sunny and I can’t take off work so we enrolled Ella at the camp at her school.  On Monday night, as I was putting her to bed, we were talking about camp and the teachers who were going to be there.  I told her about 2 teachers who are from her class and one teacher from another class.  She got a little teary and said, “I only want to teachers from my class – I have an idea, let’s skip camp.”  It was so sweet and so sad.  I told her that I promised to talk to the teachers that she knew and to ask them to give Ella some extra love.  She thought that was a good idea.  Today when Ella got to camp, she ran into the room, sat down and immediately began an art project.  I guess she got over her hesitation.  She said she had a great time.

Here are some pictures from tonight of Ella playing “volleyball” with a balloon.  I took Ella to my school on Friday to watch some of the kids that I work with play volleyball.  I guess she liked what she saw.

We arrived home on Saturday at around 2:00.  Within one hour, Ella was over at Stella and Juliet’s having a beautiful reunion.  Stella was going to her first sleepover party and Juliet was very sad so we took Juliet to dinner with us along with our other friends who live in the building.  Candace also hung out with us.  Today was a beautiful day and we spent a lot of it outside.  We went bike riding with Stella and Juliet, had lunch at the Java House and then went over to AT& T park, hit some wiffle balls, played on the cable car and Stella and Juliet enjoyed the slides.  Ella wasn’t interested.  Ella was really helpful around the house today.  She helped Sunny make cinnamon buns this morning, helped me do the laundry and clean the carpets and then helped set the table for dinner.  She’s doing great.

Max, Ella, Hannah and Juliet getting ready to eat dinner at the Burger Joint.

Max, Ella and Juliet having a blast together.

Candace, Juliet, Ella and mommy walking over to Blush and singing Tomorrow at the top of their lungs.

Juliet and Ella at Blush.

Ella’s new dress arrived while we were away.  She loves it so much and couldn’t wait to put her sequin hat and glittery shoes on with it.

Ella getting ready for her bike ride today.

Juliet and Ella chillin’ with their shades.

Ella feeding pigeons.

Ella and Stella on the cable car.

All of a sudden, Ella was hitting lefty.  Who knew?  She did a pretty good job too.

Today was the winter concert at Ella’s school.  The preschool performance was really cute and you can see it at the end of this entry.  Unfortunately, I put my hand near the mic during the last 30 seconds or so and it’s a little muffled but you will get the overall feeling.  It was great and Ella did a great job in her own sweet way.  After the performance, we had lunch at Amici’s and then we went to the Ferry Building for some tea.  Ella and I are officially on winter break as of this afternoon.  Ella is feeling much better now.  The break should be a lot of fun.

Mommy and Ella drawing at Amici’s.

Such amazing focus and concentration.

Here we are at the Tea House in the Ferry building.

Mommy and Ella having tea.

I think we were saying, “Coochie taco”.

Photos taken by Ella.

Love at the Ferry Building.

Here is the concert..

Ella is feeling much better.  Today Sunny and I did a family share in her class.  We told a brief story about Chanukah, taught the kids about the menorah, sang the dreidel song and then had a few games of dreidel going in the classroom.  It was a lot of fun.  Hope the kids enjoyed themselves as much as we did.  Tonight we lit the candles and the Chanukah fairy brought Ella a gorgeous peacock puppet that she loves.  She opened the gift and said, “Oh my god – a peacock – just what I have always wanted.”  I asked her why she loves peacocks so much and she said, “Because the feathers are so beautiful mama!”

The vice principal at the school where I work gave me these to give to Ella.  Very sweet flamingo slippers.  Ella loves them.

A very serious Ella lighting the candles.

Ella and the newest member of her peacock family.

Goodnight.

On Sunday night, we went to a Chanukah party at Phyllis and Michael’s.  Hannah and Naomi were there with some of their friends and Sog, Nicole and Zani were also there.  Zani is 3 years older than Ella, but they had a great time together.  The Chanukah fairy gave Ella a Cinderella doll and Ella is in love with it.

Ella in the elevator on the way to the party.

Ella and Zani playing around with Zani’s parents Sog and Nicole.

Me and Hannah having a serious conversation.

Ella and Zani trying to get in on some latke making.

Ella at ballet class today.

This was the last class before the holidays.  The teacher told me tat Ella was an absolute angel to teach and that she teaches 22 classes per week, so she’s seen everything and she just thought Ella was terrific.  Ella did do an amazing job today.  all the other kids were running back to their moms during the class and Ella stayed in the circle, followed directions and danced heart out.  Here’s the video.