Life With Ella

Tonight, our family and the Kim/Arena family had a holiday dinner.  We all went to Acme and had a great time.  The girls had a great time with each other and KJ fell asleep just as the food arrived. The girls were fooling around and playing a game with Ron and Sunny.  Here is Ella making her not smiling face. Ron and KJ.  KJ is such a sweet boy. The girls being super silly. Ella giving Juliet a big hug.Ella and Stella loving each other outside of Acme.  The palm trees have been beautifully lit for the holidays.This is a little video of Ella singing part of a song that the preschoolers are going to be performing at the CDS winter concert tomorrow.  Here are the actual lyrics of the portion of the song…Hello, bon jour, buenos dias,G’day, guten Tag, Kon nich-i wa,Ciao, shalom, dobrey dy-en,Hello to all the children of the world!In this video, notice that Ella has decided that the “guten tag, kon nich-i-wa” part is really coochie taco, nichiwa.

Ella woke up this morning with no fever!  What a beautiful thing.  It only took about 20 minutes to get her to take her medicine this morning.  What an ordeal.  I called the doctor and they called in another prescription – this time we ordered chocolate flavor.  It’s still disgusting but she took it tonight.  Tonight the Kim/Arena clan came over to celebrate the first night of Chanukah and to have Friday night movie night.  It was a really fun night.  Sunny made delicious clams and we had crab and rice pilaf and broccoli.  Dinner was enjoyed by all.  After dinner, the kids started drawing and just were having a fantastic time – they didn’t even react to the presents that were in front of them.  We did have present time – we gave Stella and Juliet Zhu Zhu Pets and all three girls matching nightgowns.  Helen and Ron gave all 3 girls real REI sleeping bags.  It was very cute when all three girls  changed into their matching nightgowns and got into their sleeping bags.  Maybe one day we will all go camping…in a place where the tents are already there.  We watched A Bug’s Life and then the beautiful night ended.

A “Happy Hanuka” greeting by Ella.  I helped a little with the menorah but the rest was Ella’s.

Sunny was showing the girls this really funny video of a kid playing “I’m Yours”.  They were cracking up.

Sweet Ella lighting the first candle of Chanukah.

Happy Chanukah!

The kids happily drawing.

The three amigas in their new nightgowns.

Testing out their sleeping bags downstairs.

Using their sleeping bags for Friday night movie night.

Here is a video of our version of the Von Trapp family singers…

Ella did a great job again in ballet class.  The video is long…only long enough for a grandmother to love.  We’re counting on you grandma!  Once again, Alicia gave Ella a fabulous hair do.  A braid twisted into a bun.  Fancy!

Now for the video…

Ella did a great job in her ballet class today…it’s not all about the dancing, it’s also about participation.  Ella is so into the class and loves answering the teacher’s questions.  She gives everything she does in the class 100%.

Another beautiful ballerina hairstyle by Alicia.

Crazy Ella in her PJ’s and her special out of the bath hair style.

Now for today’s ballet video…

On Saturday, we took the bus to the Contemporary Jewish Museum to see the Sendak on Sendak exhibit.  Ella kind of raced through the exhibit but then stopped when something caught her eye.  She really liked some of the books.  Ella was also really into this other thing where you can draw on a mouse pad.  She was really cooperative with taking turns with the other kids there.  Grandma and papa left on the red-eye on Saturday night and will be back at the end of December.  We’re all looking forward to another wonderful visit.  Today Sunny did a speaking engagement in Napa and Ella and I hung around in the neighborhood…had breakfast at Crossroads and then visited Becca and the doggies.   When Sunny came home, Ella helped her clean up downstairs.  Ella is great at the dustbuster.

Beautiful family walking to the bus.

The sunglasses crew.

Ella loves these water steps.

Reading “Where the Wild Things Are”.

Throwing coins into the water with papa.

Ella had a little fit and didn’t want to sit with us when we were eating lunch.  She was crying into the wall…I call this photo “The Wailing Wall”.

Going down the slide at Yerba Buena.

True love.

Posing with Orlando Cepeda on the way to Crossroads.

Fooling around on the way to Becca’s.

Here is a video of last week’s ballet class.

It’s been a while for me.  Grandma and papa arrived on Monday after visiting Jesse and Heather in LA.  Ella was so excited when they picked her up from school with me.  Mommy had some major dental surgery on Monday so she was at home recovering.  She is doing really well now…only took about 2 days to begin the healing process.  Grandma and papa went to Ella’s ballet class.  That made Ella really happy too.  On Tuesday, I went to work and Ella went to school and then grandma and papa came with me to pick her up.  We all went to Bi-Rite to get some ice cream for ourselves and to pick some salted caramel ice cream up for mommy.  On Wednesday, it was grandparents and special friends day at Ella’s school and Ella was thrilled to have grandma and papa at school, in her classroom, and watching a great outdoor assembly.  On Thanksgiving day, we woke up, had breakfast and then went back upstairs to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Ella loved it – there were so many characters that she recognized.  On Thursday night Sunny and I went to see Precious – heavy movie but a topic that we are both so used to with the work that we do.  Today we went to Pier 39 to the aquarium, had a great crab lunch and then went to a little shop where Ella picked out an oyster and this woman opened it up and found a pearl inside.  Ella was concentrating so hard on watching what was going on and was kind of in shock when she saw the pearl come out of the oyster.  We have had a great visit with my parents and can’t wait for them to come back Christmas time.  We have one more full day of fun tomorrow and then they leave on the red eye.  We love you guys!

Grandma reading to Ella before ballet class.

Leaving school on Tuesday.

Walking to Bi-Rite with grandma and papa.  Love the dress AJ!

Papa and Ella having some ice cream together.

Touching the trees.

Ella and some of the sweet kids from her class reading books before school starts.

Grandma and papa in Ella’s classroom.

On Wednesday night, Sunny and Ella did a little scooter ride around the ballpark.  The trees are beautifully lit and the night was magical.

Ella and Juliet hanging out together.

Mommy and Ella.

All you need is love, love…love is all you need.

Grandma cautiously watching Ella climb the red thing.

Playing with papa on the merry go round thing.

Heading up the stairs to the aquarium.

Ella in the octopus tank.

Here are Ella, mommy and grandma at the “petting” part of the aquarium, waiting for the rays to come out of the water to pet them.  It’s really exciting and a happy experience.

Ella petting a red-eared slider.

Ella picking out an oyster.

Here we are watching the lady trying to find the pearl.

Here is Ella’s pearl…it’s beautiful and she loves it.

Here is a short video of Ella on Wednesday night riding her scooter outside of the ballpark where they just put up magical lights and then of Ella picking out an oyster and finding the pearl.

What a crazy week.  Not only did Ella turn 4 this week but she had her 4 year dentist appointment and her 4 year doctor appointment.  Her dentist appointment was on Tuesday.  She was very anxious about it and pretty much cried all the way there.  Once we got there, she was ok – a little crying here and there but not having to do with anything that the dentist was doing.  She was on Sunny’s lap the whole time and watched Toy Story on the video.  Her teeth are looking good – she loves to brush her teeth but she hates using toothpaste.  That’s our big next step…we have already tried all the flavors, even chocolate, and she pretty much gags.  We won’t give up.

Ella went to the doctor on Friday.  She was a little nervous before the appointment but not so bad.  When we got to the waiting room, she started to cry a little bit.  Once she was in there, she was totally cool.  Ella now weighs about 33 pounds and is 38″.  She had a vision test, hearing test and had her blood pressure taken…all firsts.  Everything was great.  Ella then had the H1N1 nose spray and 2 other boosters.  They didn’t have any more seasonal flu shots so we are going to have to go back next month.  Ella didn’t like the shots too much but she did much better than I do when I get shots.

On Friday night, one of Ella’s classmates Eli, his brother Harry and their parents came over for Friday night movie night.  We all had a great time.  The boys love music so for a good part of the night, the kids were upstairs singing in the microphone, hitting the drums and playing the piano.  Ella took the camera and took some great pictures of the boys.

Mommy made Ella chocolate chip pancakes on the morning of her birthday.  Mommy has skills – check out “Ella” in pancakes!

Some of Ella’s great photos of Eli and Harry.

Harry took this art shot of Ella.

Here is last week’s ballet school video…we have been very busy this week!