Life With Ella

I am going to continue our vacation pics, but I want to talk about Ella’s day today.  Sunny and I went to Ella’s classroom this afternoon and brought in cupcakes for the class – chocolate with chocolate of course.  Ella stood in the center of the circle time rug and her class sang “Happy Birthday” in English, Spanish and Chinese!  I have a video of it which I will post in the next few days.  After school, Ella had Tree Frog Treks where she met a turtle and played with a worm.  Ella had ballet after that and she was beautiful.  She did a fantastic job.  I will post pics and videos this week.  The video at the end is from a feature at California Adventure Park called Turtle Talk With Crush.  It was dark in the theater, but you can hear Ella’s voice over the microphone.  Crush picked her from the audience to ask a question.  She was thrilled.  Now for more photos. We stayed at a Howard Johnsons  for one night at Disney.  Ella loved that there were bunk beds in her room (we got a kid’s suite).  Tomorrow, I will download the photos and movies from the pool at this place.  It was a perfect place to stay with kids. Ella really wanted to pose with Mickey! THe birthday pin. Very excited to be on Soarin’ again! At Turtle Talk with Crush.Best spot to be to see a parade! We really thought Ella was going to pass out when she met Tiana.  Check out Ella’s high shoulders. Jesse telling Ella all about Jack and Malefacent. Ella showing off her new Hannah Montana sweatshirt that Heather gave her.  She almost ran into traffic when Heather gave it to her. Playing games while waiting on line for Small World. Ella looking like a little thug on It’s A Small WOrld.  It was really beautiful. Beautiful holiday lights. Having a blast with Jesse and Heather. On the Nemo submarine.  Ella took our hands and gripped them so tightly.  Half way through the adventure, she let go! On the Autopia ride…Heather let Ella drive and Ella did such a great job that she earned a driver’s license! Mommy loved Autopia too! Waking up at Heather and Jesse’s house.  Ella loved her message and she colored it in.Hanging out with Inca, Shirley, Bob and Snake.What an amazing trip.  We loved seeing the family in Tucson and LA!  Thanks so much for making Ella’s 5th birthday so special.

Ella’s Mondays are intense and yet she comes out of it all loving life.  She started at school which she loves.  She worked on a poster for the Giants in class today.  After school she had tree frog trecks and she met a lizard and made butter.  After that, I took her to ballet where she was so focused.  I stayed for the beginning of the class and got some different footage.  Ella just loves the class and listens to the teacher and does her best.  After ballet she took a quick shower, ate dinner and then we had yogurt with the Kim/Arena clan.  Tomorrow is game 3 of the playoffs…we are taking Ella out of school early to go to the game.  Hope the Giants kick butt! Ella and some of her classmates working on a poster for the Giants. Ella and Juliet heading over to Blush. Fun at Blush.  Ella had a Hawaiian shave ice, the girls had yogurt.  KJ fell down the other day and scraped his nose but he’s still so handsome.Here are 2 movies.  The first is Ella and Brickelle dancing to the Nutcracker on Sunday morning and the second one is from today’s ballet class.

The first year that Ella started school, when we asked her what she did, she would say either nothing or, “I played”.  The second year, we got a little more out of her but not so much.  This year, when she’s in the mood, we can’t get her to stop.  Here is a great example from tonight.  We were coming home from dinner and she started talking about this pumpkin in her classroom.  Today the kids guessed how much it weighed.  Ella said that she thought it weighed around 37 pounds.  I don’t think it weighs that much…Ella weighs 38 pounds and I picked up the pumpkin with one hand but that’s not the point.  After she said how much she thought it weighed she went into this monologue…”When I pick up the pumpkin, I have to be sitting down because if I pick it up when I’m standing up, I could drop it and then it could split in half.  We have a lot of things that we have to do with the pumpkin.  We are going to cut the top off and then feel inside and it will be squishy and stringy and then we will get the seeds out.  After we get the seeds out, we are going to count them.  After we count them we can cook them and eat them.  You see – there are so many things to do with the pumpkin before we carve it at the end of October.”  It was so great – she was so animated and happy and proud and it was wonderful.   After school today Ella had her swimming lesson.  She is doing really well – check out the video. Ella super happy to go to school today. Nothing like seeing Brickelle after a long weekend.

Well – the Giants lost tonight, but they played with heart and hopefully they will clinch tomorrow.  We will be at the game, but need to leave for a minute to take Ella to taekwondo which she does not want to miss.  Hopefully the Giants will have a huge lead when I take her there.  Today after school, Ella told me that she wanted to show me something.  She took me over to this bar that the kids hang on and said, “Watch this”.  Ella proceeded to pull herself up and hang on the bar.  Ella has not been able to reach the bar since she started at CDS and she always wants us to pick her up so that she can hang.  I think she has been watching the other kids do whatever they do to get up and Ella has been practicing.  Of course I caught it on video and will put it in this entry.  OK – time to go to sleep.  Go Giants! Ella and Casi at the assembly today.  The 6th graders put on a great skit. Heading back into the classroom!

Today, Sunny and I went to the Giants game at 12:45 and left at around 2:45 to pick up Ella and Maya and take them to soccer practice.  When we left, the Giants were winning and they kept the lead and won the game!  We have 3 games left from the regular season and all we need to win is 1 of the next 3 games against San Diego and we will clinch the NL West title.  It’s gonna be crazy around here over the weekend!  Ella had a great soccer practice today.  I am even putting in a little video of Ella scoring a goal at practice.  We’re missing her soccer game on Saturday because we are going to a Giants game and Ella has taekwondo.  It’s going to be a great weekend. ON the way to soccer practice. Ready for parctice! Hugging her friend Tessa. Kicking the ball to the car. Great balance, even while holding a soccer ball.

Sunday was a really busy and exciting day for Ella.  This morning when I tried to wake her up, it felt like I was trying to wake up a teenager.  She just wouldn’t wake up!  I finally got her out of bed and downstairs for breakfast.  She seemed so tired.  I spent some time with the Leaping Lizards this morning and also one morning last week.  It was so great to see the class in action and get a glimpse into Ella’s every day school life.  Ella really loves school and does different things every day.  Sometimes she hangs out with the other kids, and other times, she really keeps herself busy doing projects or just checking things out.  Today at school she seemed a little bit out of it.  I didn’t really think she was going to make it for the rest of the day without collapsing.  After school, Ella started her first class with Tree Frog Treks.  These people come in with live animals  – mostly reptiles and the kids get to touch them, feed them, learn about them and learn about other living things.  Sometimes they go out and dig for worms and bugs and they also do art and science projects.  Ella LOVED her first class.  She got to hold a lizard and pet it and watch it eat.  She also told me that at the end, she got to touch a dead squirrel.  I asked her if it was real and dead and stuffed and she said, “No, real, dead and flat”.  After Tree Frog Treks, Ella had ballet.  Of course Ms. Alicia gave Ella a beautiful hairstyle for ballet.  It looked incredible.  This was the first 5 and older class that I had observed – Sunny took Ella last week.  I took Ella there and then went and hung out at Starbucks for 1/2 hour and then caught the last 15 minutes of the class.  Ella was wonderful and her class did the sweetest thing at the end.  I caught it on video and the video will be at the end of this entry.  Watch the whole thing – the best part is the last 30 seconds or so. So excited to go to ballet class. Another Alicia masterpiece. A little starbucks after class. This is Luca – the lizard that Ella made in Tree Frog Treks.Here’s the video…

Today we hung around the house – Ella helped me build this incredible marble slide game.  It had about 480 pieces I have no idea why I got it, but I did and now it’s cool.  I’ll take some video of it later.  After that, we took Ella to Taekwondo.   She is doing so well in the class.  We are signing up again for the next semester of classes.  While I was looking at the sheet I noticed that it said, “For kids 6 – 12”.  I’m happy that Steven let Ella into the class because she sure has a good time.  Tonight we went to a break fast at someone’s home that Sunny was invited to.  We all went and we all couldn’t wait to go.  There were so many people there and it didn’t feel like break fasts have felt like to us.  Next year we’re having in back at our place again with some bagels shipped in from NYC.  Here are a few cute shots of Ella in her Taekwondo outfit.  At the end, there is s little soccer movie that I put together.  Hope whoever fasted had an easy one.  Goodnight. Ella really loves her TKD class.Here’s the soccer video.  THere are a lot of kids on this who you probably don’t know, but they are really cute.

Before I get into the Annie costume, Ella had her first unofficial day of school today.  The orientation went really well.  Ella seemed to be really happy to be back at school and was talking up a storm.  She was talking to Alicia as if they were long lost friends, filling her in on what she did over the summer.  It was actually so cute to watch Ella speaking with Alicia with such confidence and poise.  She’s usually a little shy around her.  After the orientation, Ella told me that she wanted to grab lunch at the Nordstrom Bistro.  Ella had mac and cheese and then ordered ice cream with hot fudge.  She used some of the fudge to dip her strawberries and some on the ice cream.  After Nordstrom, Ella had a swimming lesson.  After the lesson, we had dinner at home.  A package was delivered this evening and it was a part of Ella’s Halloween costume.  Yes – “Annie’s” dress came in the mail, and of course Ella put it right on.  She was so cute in it.  The wig should be in sometime this week.  We went out for a walk with Towby and at the end of the walk, Ella did a song from Annie for us in the hallway.  The song was “dumb dog”. Ella after eating a whole bowl of mac and cheese. Chocolate makes Ella very happy. Sandy and Annie. Annie walking down the street.and now for the video…

Happy Birthday Jesse – hope you have a beautiful day.  We love you.  Can’t wait to see you.  We had a mellow day – Ella and I went to a park so she could run around.  Ella’s class is having an informal get together at this park on Sunday and I told Ella about it yesterday so she told me that she wanted to go there today to check it out.  Tonight we had Friday night movie night with Stella and Juliet.  We watched Beauty and the Beast.  On Saturday, we are taking the girls to see the theatrical version of Beauty and the Beast here in San Francisco.  Bug is still hanging in there – she’s just relaxing and eating turkey.  We are going to see how the weekend goes and then figure out what to do next.  This is difficult but we’re trying to be as honest as we can with Ella.  Whenever we spell the word D-I-E…she says, “That spells die – when Bug dies I am going to write her a card saying, ‘Dear Bug, I am sorry that you D-I-E.”  I told her that would be beautiful. Ella and Bug today. Ella and Towby today. This is a drawing of an angler fish that Ella and I made the other day. we bumped into a colleague of mine at the park and her son Cairo joined Ella on the swing. Ella is a fantastic climber.  This thing also spins but I made sure that nobody spun it around while she was climbing. Making brownies for movie night. The girls having brownies and watching Beauty and the Beast.

This morning, we met our friend Julie and her daughter Gilana for brunch.  Gilana is about 18 months old and super cute.  I didn’t have my camera with me so I didn’t get any pictures, but we had a really nice brunch.  It was great to catch up.  We came home and rested – this fog here can kill ya!  At around 2:30, we headed over to the gym.  Ella was very excited for her second taekwondo class and was super excited to get her uniform.  When Steven, her teacher gave her her uniform, she was so happy!  We didn’t stay for the class this time.  Sunny worked out and I played racquetball.  I did manage to catch the last 25 minutes or so.  When I got down to the class, they were all running around in a big circle – the teacher came over to me and told me that the class was in trouble – not Ella, but all the yellow belt students.  He said that they would not stop talking so they had to do laps.  Ella told him that she wanted to do laps too and she was tearing around the room, laughing and giggling and running like crazy.  She also attempted to do a few push ups when Steven instructed them to do 10 push ups.  Her kicks are looking a little better.  She is just so confident there, even with kids who she doesn’t know.  The kids are really sweet and they take care of her.  She is the youngest by about a year.  We ended up at the Public House for dinner tonight and watched the Giants lose.  We need them to start winning every game now…we want baseball in October (when it will hopefully be warm). Ella in her uniform. Sweet Ella with 2 of the other kids in her class. Look at the focus. Steven is a great teacher and really wonderful with Ella. I almost caught the kick! Fantastic class.Now for a sweet video.