Life With Ella

Ella had a fantastic weekend last weekend full of movie night, birthday parties, Taekwondo, and then a Superbowl party at Helen and Ron’s.  The weekend was great.  This week, something new was introduced in Ella’s classroom.  They call it “reader’s workshop”.  Basically, the teacher puts 5 books in each kid’s bin thing and then the kids get 10 minutes a day to read their books.  Ella was so excited about this.  I think the teachers eventually help the kids figure out their “just right book”.  We’re so happy that Ella is so excited about reading.  Ella also started reading music this week during her drum lesson.  Check the video below.  She’s playing so slowly because she is actually reading each beat.

 Ella outside of the bowling alley before one of the birthday parties over the weekend.

 Ella was very serious about her bowling.

 Ella and Michael, Stella, Juliet and KJ’s new cousin.

 Ron and KJ celebrating the big win.

 Sweet Juliet and her cousin Michael.  Getting ready for a new baby brother on February 29th!

 Our beautiful ballerina.

 Ella is amazing at jumping rope.  Check out the video.

weather was beautiful and Ella had an fun filled weekend.  On Friday night, we had Friday night movie night with the Kim/Arenas.  This is one of Ella’s favorite things to do!  On Saturday, we took Ella to a birthday party at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley.  First the kids made slime and then then all played hard outside.  Ella loved it.  On Sunday, we spent a good part of the day outside.  Ella, Stella and Juliet were on their Heelys and KJ was riding his scooter.  The kids had a great time.  After our outdoor activities, we met Becca for brunch and took Juliet with us.  On Sunday night, my old friend David came over for a visit.  It was great to see him.

 Climbing on the DNA structure outside of the Lawrence Hall of Science.

 Getting read to make the slime.

 Helping Rosie make the slime.

 Having a really fun time.

 Deep in thought after the party.

 Heading over to “tall mountain”.

 Towby enjoying the great outdoors.

 Picking flowers.

 The finished product.

 Fun with Towby.

And now for another slow motion movie from this weekend…

We had a long weekend this weekend.  We both could have used a few more days to get the work done that we need to do but it was great to get some good family time in.  On Friday night, Stella, Juliet and KJ came over for movie night.  The kids watched the Little Mermaid.  The girls ended up staying over because their cousin was born early in the morning!  Ella loved having the girls sleep over.  On Saturday, Helen gave Ella her Chanukah present.  It was a pair of Heelys.  They are sneakers that have wheels on the bottom.  They are pretty hard to do.  Ella spent some time struggling to figure out how to do it but soon figured out her own way.  The video at the end shows the 1 day evolution of Ella and Heelys.  Ella went to TaeKwonDo on Saturday and then on Saturday night, we hung out with friends from Ella’s school.  While the adults were downstairs hanging out downstairs, the kids were upstairs watching Star Wars.  It was Ella’s first time, and her friends Harry and Eli were great about explaining what was going on.  We pretty much spent Sunday and Monday around the neighborhood, Heelying around and then today, I took Ella out to the cove to do some batting practice.  This year, Ella’s t-ball team is going to do coach pitching.  Ella was amazing.  She made contact with the ball quite a few times and I was pitching from pretty far away.  There are 2 small clips of that in the video too.  I think you have to download it in order to see it.  Not sure why this issue is happening, but the movie is there.

 Ella and 2 of her favorite people.

 Ella’s TaeKwonDo group is now made up of Ella and about six 7 – 9 year old boys.

 Ella meditating at the end of class.

 Ella and her Heelys.

Not sure if the movie able to load so I’m trying something else here… I am also posting some pictures from last week.  As soon as I get this all in, I will start taking pictures again!  Just checked, and you can  watch the movie by clicking on the download thing under the movie.

These are from New Year’s weekend.  Nikki B was in town and we took a little hike in Glen Park Canyon.

 Towby wanted to sit on Ella’s lap in the car.

 Celebrating Helen’s birthday.

 Ella dancing with her buddy Hannah in ballet.

This past weekend was fun and busy.  On Sunday we went to see Ella’s favorite band VDQ and then went to Brickelle’s ballet birthday party.  Ella had a terrific day!  We are all so excited about our upcoming trip next week!  We can’t wait to be with the family and can’t wait for some warm sunshine.  Here are a few pictures from the weekend and a video of Ella dancing with her teacher today at ballet.

 Ella and her third grade buddy Alex after the VDQ concert.

 Ella and Brickelle.  Two beautiful ballerinas.

 Putting on a little show at the end of the party.

On Friday morning, Ella’s class presented at the assembly.  They did a really cute song about seeds growing.  All the kids were super cute.  The video is at the end of the post.  Ella has been asking to go ice skating lately.  We have never taken Ella ice skating but we decided that today was a great day to do it.  Before we left the house, you could see Ella getting a little bit nervous.  She kept saying that she didn’t want to get a bloody knee.  Ella did a great job.  She held onto the wall for most of the time and took a little spill but she got up and kept skating.  Ella said she wants to do it again tomorrow.  We’ll see!

 Some sweet shots from the assembly today.  All the artwork in the background was done by the Redwood class.

 Ella made this in school.  She said instead of “Peace on Earth” it’s “Peace on Dreidel’!

 Friday night movie night.  All the kids watching Mary Poppins.

We had a lot of fun ice skating.

Today was a big day for Ella.  First of all, she woke up and was able to hug and kiss grandma and papa.  It has been way too long since we’ve all been together.  It was special friends and grandparents day at school today.  We all went to see the assembly.  Ella was the presenter for the kindergarten music.  She did an amazing job.  I am posting the video at the end of this post. After the performance, we all went back to the classroom and Ella did a shape project with grandma and papa.  Sunny and I had to go back to work so grandma, papa and Ella went to Nordstrom for lunch.  Mommy picked up Ella from Nordstrom and took her to her 6 year doctor appointment.  Ella got 1 booster shot and a flu thing up her nose.  Ella was very proud that she didn’t cry from the shot.  We all had dinner at the Epic Steakhouse tonight.  It’s so wonderful to have grandma and papa here.

 Ella and some of her classmates at the assembly.

 Sweet happy Ella.

 Hanging out with grandma and papa in the classroom.

 Balloon fun!