Life With Ella

Yesterday it was another beautiful day here so the 3 of us decided to go to the Oakland Zoo.  It’s a sweet zoo that also has a fun train and some little kid rides.  We all had a lot of fun.  This morning, we woke up, went into the room with the big TV, ate donuts and watched the inauguration.  Ella was great – she hung in there for most of it.  She sang a bye bye song for Bush and of course I captured it.  A little bit later on, she said, “Mama, the Obama show is making me tired”.  I guess she knows when she has had enough!

Here we are brushing our teeth the other day.

Ella is so excited about what she is seeing that she gives mommy’s head an extra grab.

Mommy and Ella were looking at this magnificant chimp.

Ella had a blast on this ride.

Ella still loves a great carousel ride.  She went on a tiger and I went on the rhino next to it.

Mommy and Ella checking out the white handed gibbon.

Playing in the hippo mouth.

Happiness!

Passed out in the car on the way home.

and here’s a bye bye song for Bush…

We took advantage of a beautiful day today and met Elaine, Chloe and Oskar at the Bay Area Discovery Museum.  The girls were a little shy at first, but after about 5 minutes, they were running around and having a great time.  Oskar is a just a sweet boy and as soon as he starts to walk on his own, his parents are in big trouble.  Here are some pictures of the day – a movie will follow in a few days.  Make sure you look at the end of this entry – there is a video of Ella recommending Sunny’s book.

Ella drawing a…(drum roll please) peacock!

Oskar enjoying a strawberry.

Ella and Chloe playing around on the balance boards.

We dressed Oskar up in a shirt that they had in the Kung Fu section.

Surfs up dude!  Ella has great balance!

It was a beautiful day today.

Ella loved this telescope.

Ella climbed up and down all by herself!  (and so did I)

The girls playing with the starfish and octopus.

Huggie at the end of the day.  The girls really get along well.  Thanks for a great day!

Here is Ella’s recommendation for mommy’s book.

Today was a beautiful day.  We hung around the house, played at the park and ended the day by having our friends over for Chanukah.  Phyllis, Naomi, Debby, Toby and Rachel came over.  We had a really sweet night.  Ella insisted on lighting all of the candles on the menorah all by herself.  There is a video at the end showing this miraculous event.

Ella sharing dances with her favorite people.

Absolute beauty

Having fun at the park.

A really sweet picture of grandma.

A tender moment at the park.

LIGHTING THE CANDLES

Well…today was the big day.  We went to the Children’s Day School winter concert.  Each grade got up and sang a song.  The preschoolers went first.  Ella saw us before the performance and she looked so happy.  Her eyes lit up and she began waving and waving.  Once they were up on the stage, Ella spotted us again and waved again.  She had a blast up there singing “The More We Get Together”.  I have the whole thing on video at the end of this post.  After the concert, the kids were dismissed.  Sunny and I took Ella to Pier 39 to buy fairy dust – Stella had it a while ago and Sunny promised Ella that she could have some too.  Ella did not forget!  On the way back Ella and Sunny went on the carousel.  Ella chose a spinning tea cup on the already spinning carousel and Sunny had to talk herself out of vomiting right then and there.  Tonight we went out for a holiday dinner with Helen, Ron, Stella and Juliet.  It was a really great dinner.  Ella loved hanging with her buddies and so did we. On the way to school. I just couldn’t help myself…here are mommy and Ella on the carousel.  Mommy doesn’t look very comfortale.  The schmutz on her face is fairy dust.  What an amazing mommy.  I refused to get on the carousel.AND NOW FOR THE SONG…