Life With Ella

Today Ella went over to Stella and Juliet’s house who were hosting Bruno, Natasha (aka Kai and Mei) and Tyler. The kids played really well together – Ella was a little hesitant to go into the house. I think it was because of pushing Juliet yesterday. Anyway, things turned out beautifully as you’ll see in the pictures. The cutest part was when they all sat down to have lunch together. They all sat in their seats and did really well. After hanging out for a while, Ella told me that she wanted to go to Maria’s for grilled cheese and french fries. After Maria’s we came home and I tried to get Ella to take a nap. She kept yelling from her crib that she was awake. She also acted out a whole bunch of Backyardigan shows and made up some stories between Muno and Broby. At one point I went into her room and said, “Ella – I’m going to put a Music Together CD on for you and you can do whatever you want, but you need to stay in your crib and chill out”. I peeked in on her a little while later and she was dancing around with her blanket. I went back about 5 minutes after that, and she was passed out. I made a video of it. It’s pretty funny.

Stella, Juliet and Ella painting dots on the house.

Ella playing with lots of guys

The kids playing together peacefully

Ella patting Natasha on the back.

Everyone eating lunch together

Outside of the Java House

HERE IS THE NAPPING VIDEO

Today Sunny and Ella went to yoga class. Sunny said that Ella did a great job. Unfortunately, she has a little cold, but she’s getting through it. After yoga, they came home because Ella told mommy, “I want to go home now and eat gnocchi” so they did. After gnocchi, since it was such a beautiful day, mommy suggested that they take a walk to the carousel. The carousel was unfortunately closed, so they played at the Yerba Buena park. Ella ran up the monkey bars about 5 times all by herself. They came home and Ella took a nap. Tonight, Stella, Juliet, and Helen came over for dinner (Ron had a softball game). We all had a great dinner cooked by mommy, played downstairs and then came upstairs and watched Shrek and ate popcorn. Ella loves Stella and Juliet so much but didn’t do such a great job sharing tonight. When Sunny asked her about it later on, Ella said, “I didn’t do a really good job sharing. I wasn’t feeling well”. Ella is a trip!

Here is Ella getting ready to go to yoga class. She insisted on wearing her ruby slippers. Notice the potty in the middle of the living room…we’re still trying!

Hands on knees, ready to do some yoga.

Here is Ella in her yoga class. Look how focused she is.

Climbing at the park

The 3 amigas. Stella and Juliet came over in their new boots and of course, Ella needed to put hers on too!

A BIRTHDAY VIDEO FOR NIKKI B…Happy Birthday! We love you.

We arrived back yesterday afternoon. Ella was incredible on the plane. She slept for the first 2 1/2 hours and then she watched movies, drew with crayons and looked out the window for the rest of the flight. Becca picked us up and Ella was really happy to see her. We arrived home and Ella immediately banged on Stella and Juliet’s door. They weren’t home and Ella had a melt down. She recovered and then went crazy when she heard them coming down the hall. They had a beautiful reunion, we all had dinner at Nama and things are back the way we left them. Here is a picture that I took from Ron’s blog of the girl’s reunion.

Here are the girls all hanging out on Stella’s new bed!

Today I had a massage and Sunny took Ella to a park and met Debby, Toby and Rachel there. Ella had a great time with them and told me that she loved going on the slide and swings. Sunny had a massage after mine and I took Ella to the Crossroads Cafe and we had a bagel and hung out. She was talking up a storm and I was loving every minute of it. We met Becca for pizza tonight and had a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures of Ella going to town on her pizza and hanging with Becca.

Mmmm…this pizza is good

It’s really really good!

Becca and Ella being silly together.

Here is a movie that I made from our trip to the Central Park Zoo the other day. It’s really short. The video at the end is great – it’s of the polar bear who used to just do laps all the time because he was depressed. I guess they have him on new anti- depression meds. He really put on a show for us.

Tonight we went to a ballgame with Helen, Ron, Stella and Juliet. The weather difference was about 20 degrees from today it was chilly and windy and Ron bought the girls cool pink Giants knit caps.

How sweet is this?!

Here is a little video of Ella doing her doggie pose…something she made up but insists is real

Today, Sunny and I took Ella to the zoo. It was a gorgeous day – they say that it got up to 80º, we’re not sure, but we were all so happy. It was one of the first days that we felt the real heat. This was our first time at the zoo since the tiger attack happened. It was trippy watching the lions and tigers. I have about 20 seconds of tiger footage, this guy Tony was the companion of that tiger Tatiana who was killed. Anyway – we all had a blast. We saw many animals, rode the steam train, went on the carousel and were treated to a peacock completely opening his feathers. Here are some pictures and a video…not my greatest, but I know Ella will love it.

I took this picture this morning of Ella and her sweet pajamas – they were a gift from friends of ours. Ella LOVES them and pointed to the flower in the middle of her chest and said, “Just like grandma’s pajamas”

Put em up!

Ella with her prairie dog in her hand

Nothing cuter than a fake smile on a fake turtle!

Playing with the water – Ella was actually pushing me away here because she wanted to jump in the water.

Here we are…the nudnick family

Here’s the movie – nothing monumental, but it does the trick

The title of this post has to do with the video at the end. Ella took home a lion mask from the birthday party yesterday and when she puts it on, she turns into the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz. It’s such a trip and she’s so cute. Her favorite thing to say is “scared are ya?” Tonight, Stella and Juliet came over and Helen and Ron went out with friends for a normal dinner (FINALLY!) They have done this for us before and we were so happy that we could do it. We had a blast with the girls. We had some dinner, danced to “Baby Got Back”, ran around the hallway and finally settled in to watch the Bee Movie. Sunny made a great big bowl of popcorn and we all had a great time.

Mommy and Ella wore the same shirt today and ran around the neighborhood like beautiful twins.

Here are the girls eating dinner together

Here are the girls holding hands while they were watching the Backyardigans – it was a “scary” one about the angry volcano sisters

Look how well these beautiful girls play with each other…they are all growing up TOO fast

Today, Julie (Helen’s sister) and I took the kids to Coyote Point Museum and park. The girls had a great time. They saw lots of little animals including a badger, raccoon, porcupine, birds and an otter, and they also saw some reptiles like snakes, lizards, frogs. Then they went into the museum and saw some experiments and some natural history. After that, we had a picnic and went to an amazing playground. Ella played hard and actually took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. This evening, we went to My Gym for a birthday party where Ella had a blast.Ella and Juliet checking out the otter from the secret underground caveElla and Stella venturing into the world of the dragonHey dragon, don’t bite down!Ella on a big girl swing sporting her fake smileWhat a cutie!Ella strutting her stuffGoing down the slide with confidenceNow we’re at the birthday party. Red seems to be Ella’s favorite color latelyElla loves bubblesI got it!Here’s Ella getting a big huggie from her mamaElla showing off her hanging skillsElla and Mommy with big smilesElla copping a lean on mommyElla really loved the turtle and baby dinosaur puppetsCOYOTE POINT MUSIC VIDEO

Ella and I had a great day. We started out at My Gym where she continued to practice her hanging from the bars.

Ella’s legs are really in the air and parallel to the mat.

We came home and had some lunch and then we ventured out into the city. We have a lot of birthday parties to go to this weekend and we had to go get some presents. We ended up at the SFMOMA gift shop because they have cool stuff there. After the museum, we went to the Yerba Buena gardens across the street and Ella loved watching the waterfall at the Martin Luther King Jr. monument.

Ella checking out the waterfall

I love it so much here that I feel like dancing!

Ella looks so cute and sweet here doesn’t she…well…about 2 minutes later, she was sneaking and trying to put her hand in the water.

After the gardens, we went over to the Metreon and Ella was playing around on this cool video thing on the ground. The video is at the end of this entry. The last thing that I took a picture of was Ella on the carousel imitating a fire breathing dragon.

Do you see the fire coming out of Ella’s mouth?

Check out the Metreon video

Well…starting today, it all counts. It was a good thing that it didn’t count yesterday because the Giants did not win. Helen got luxury suite tickets from her work and took us all to the game yesterday. It was a lot of fun even thought the Giants lost. After the game, the girls ran the bases. A mean usher told Sunny that she couldn’t take any pictures of Ella running the bases, but Sunny did anyway. That’s why the video at the end of the blog is of Ella’s back. Sunny had to sneak! Today is the first game of the season and I hope we get off to a good start.

This was taken before the game while Ella was watching a Dora episode where they were secret agents. She asked us to get her sunglasses so she could be a secret agent too!

Ella giving a fake smile and hugging her Yo Gabba Gabba pals

GO GIANTS!

Does anyone want some cotton candy?

Looks like Ella dug into the blue while Stella prefers purple

Ella and Juliet sharing a tender moment in the luxury suite

A movie of Ella rounding third and heading home…