Life With Ella

Tonight, we were meeting Becca, Ruthann and Jaeden for dinner.  Ruthann asked us if we could bring some of Ella’s costumes to dinner because Jaeden had to get dressed up for his last day of camp.  We brought her monkey, skunk and dragon costumes to Amicis and at the end of dinner, Ella and Jaeden decided that they were going to put the costumes on.  There was a little girl in the restaurant who was watching the whole thing and she really wanted to play too, so we gave her the skunk costume.  Ella is getting better at sharing, but she’s not the greatest.  At first, she looked at the little girl and mumbled something like, “Why are you wearing that?  We don’t even know you.”  I shot her a look and she said, “You can wear that.”  The kids were really cute in the restaurant and the people eating were sweet and so tolerant.  We ended up giving the skunk to the little girl and Ella told Jaeden that he could keep the other two forever.  They are getting too small on Ella, but it showed maturity on her part and we told her that she did a great job.  We have this red cape and red mask at home that we have been waiting to give to Ella – for a moment just like this when she not only shared, but gave away something that she really liked.  She loved the cape and mask and turned herself into Word Girl.  Check out the video at the end. On the way to dinner before the costume party started. Big costume party at Amici’s.  Notice the little skunk stranger who joined the parade. Word Girl!

Ella has been going to camp this week.  On Sunday night, she decided that she didn’t want to go to camp and wanted to stay home with me.  It’s that time of year where we all have to switch gears and get out of the summer and back into the school year.  Once Ella gets to camp, she’s perfectly happy, but she also pretends that she doesn’t want me to leave the classroom.  I kiss her, hug her, and leave when it’s time to go.  Her teacher says that it takes her about .5 seconds to recover once I am gone.  On Monday we took Ella to see Despicable Me.  It was actually pretty cute and Ella laughed out loud at a few of the scenes.  Ella had a great swimming lesson (video attached) on Tuesday and she seems to like her new teacher.  Ella is having some trouble falling asleep on her own  these days – its all about change in routine and we have to get her back into the school routine so she gets enough sleep at night! Ella at Despicable Me in 3-D. Heading off to camp.A scooter ride to meet Becca and Ellen for dinner.

Today was face painting day at camp.  When I picked up Ella, she came running at me, “Look mama – I’m a zebra” and then she showed me her arm that had a cat painted on it and then her leg had a lotus flower.  She loved all of it.  When we got home, Ella said that she wanted to go for a bike ride.  We went around the block a few times and then came home and had dinner with Beccca, Ruthann and Jaeden.  Ella was really hyper before bed and she was laying in bed yelling out tongue twisters and laughing.  Her laughter was so sweet and she was so happy that I had to film her.  Enjoy. Ella and her face/body paint. Ella wanted Ann to come along on her bike ride.  She sat very comfortably in the basket.

I guess I’m the only family member who is still on Hawaii time because Ella and Sunny are soundly sleeping and I am wide awake at 1:32 am.  Hopefully I will get tired soon.  We left beautiful Kauai this morning.  Ella got to feed the koi one last time.  She said that she wanted to stay and swim.  Good thing she loves swimming.  It was a wonderful family vacation and we are looking forward to trying to get out here next year as soon as Ella’s school gets out.  It was a great way to wind down. Here are a few photos from today and then a video I made mostly of Ella swimming in the pool and going down the slide.  Tomorrow I am going to take Ella to the county fair across the street from our place.  It looks like a lot of fun!Beautiful peaceful Ella sound asleep this morning while we were getting everything together.Saying goodbye to the koi and feeling them one last time.

Ella woke up this morning feeling fine.  She had a good breakfast, was in a great mood, sang her little heart out on the way to school and I thought everything was just groovy.  Ella had a dentist appointment today at around 4 that she was a little nervous about but she was doing ok with that too.  At around 1:00, Alicia called to let us know that she thinks Ella may have an ear infection.  She asked us to pick up Ella early.  I think at this point, Alicia has earned the title Dr. Alicia.  She has not missed one of Ella’s illnesses.  Sunny took Ella to the doctor this afternoon and she does indeed have an ear infection.  When Sunny first picked up Ella from school, Ella was miserable, crying, in a lot of pain.  Sunny gave her Tylenol and it took a while to kick in, but she was out of pain in about 40 mins.  The doctor finally saw her and he found an infection in her right ear.  He put her on meds for 4 days and Ella should be as good as new when we go to Hawaii next week.  Ella was doing really well when she came home after the doctor.  I asked her to make a little video explaining her ear infection but I didn’t get that much from her.  I’ll put it at the end anyway. Ella with one of her “get well” toys from today. Ella and I put this together.  She was very pleased with it.Here’s a kind of lame video…

It is really late and I have no business typing this up but I wanted to put this out there into the universe.  Maybe a will be a woman of few words and many images.  Ella’s class did their second assembly of the year.  We missed the first one and today’s was super cute.  Ella actually had a line…she introduced the song.  I was remembering back to December of 2008 when Ms. Alicia had to hold Ella during the entire song because Ella was crying.  This time around, Ella did her thing, sang out, and held up a sign upside down with 2 other kids during the entire performance.  Tonight, Ella and I went to Houstons with Becca, Ruthann and Jaden.  Ella and Jaden had a lot of fun together.  We watched Toy Story 1 for Friday night movie night and Ella and Jaden ended the evening getting dressed up as a skunk and a dragon. Fun times!Now for the photos from the assembly followed by the video… The kids are all getting ready for their assembly to start.  It was very sunny out and luckily, Ella remembered that her red sunglasses were in her jacket pocket. Looks like the show is over. Ella heading back into the classroom with her buddy Casi.Great Job Leaping Lizards.  Great job Ms. Alicia.  You guys were adorable and wonderful to watch.  Sit back and enjoy the video…

MAY 22, 1968 is a national holiday to us! We rejoice on the day of your birth as a beautiful baby woman Lauren  was born and grew and grew to be a brilliant, compassionate, fierce woman and mama. The world  is a much better place because of your goodness, music, love and profound service that will impact generations to come!WE LOVE YOU MORE THANK WORDS CAN TELL!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN/MAMA!!