Life With Ella

This week flew by!  It was great to have a 3 day weekend.  It made this 4 day work week tolerable.  I took Ella to work with me on Tuesday (she was off from school) and she had a great time.  We are really excited that the Giants are in the playoffs and we’re getting ready to go to the game tomorrow.  Ella is going to hang out with the Kim/Arenas.  I think she is just as excited about hanging out with them as Sunny and I are about going to the game.

 Here is Ella with one of my special needs students.  Ella is helping her with the lyrics of Twist and Shout.

Beautiful Ella after her musical theatre class.

 Having so much fun at soccer practice.  Ella made her shirt at the CDS after school program.  She LOVES it!

 Ella and her fur brother Panda.  They really love each other.

 Ella and our neighbor Hector Sanchez – one of the SF Giants catchers.  He’s a really sweet guy.

 We went out tonight to hear some music at Yerba Buena gardens.  Here is beautiful Ella  walking around above the MLK waterfall.  We had a great night.

Grandma and papa came in on Thursday night.  Ella was so excited but we wouldn’t let her stay up because they were coming in pretty late (Ella time).  Ella was up at 6:45 am waiting at their door to hear any signs of them being awake.  She was so excited to see them but didn’t want to wake them up.  I peeked in and saw grandma’s iPad light.  I sent Ella into their room and she jumped into bed with them, so happy that they were here!  On Friday, Ella cut school and spent the day with grandma and papa, going to the Academy of Science and hanging out.  We all had dinner with Abigail and Ray on Friday night at Nama.  It was great to see everyone.  On Saturday, grandma and papa came  with us to watch Ella’s soccer game.  Ella played really well and was a fantastic goalie.  After soccer, we had lunch and then Ella went to Taekwondo.  Grandma and mommy met Ella at the gym for the last 30 minutes.  On Saturday night, Sunny and I went to the Giants game (too bad they lost) while Ella, grandma and papa had dinner at the Burger Joint and t hen took Panda on a walk with Ella on roller skates.  It was terrific having grandma and papa here and we can’t wait to see you at Thanksgiving!  We love you.  On Saturday night, Ella went to the Kim/Arena home to hang out while Sunny and I went to another disappointing Giants game.  The kids did some wild dancing!  I will try to attach a video or at least a link to the video.  It’s hysterical.  Here’s the link    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I64tQk32e_s&feature=youtu.be

Ella is becoming a soccer star!

 Beautiful people.

 LOVE.

I know I have not been so great at the blog but I am doing my best.  Here are some shots from this weekend.

 Ella had her first Black Widows soccer game of the season.  She scored 2 goals!

 Emmi came over after the game and slept over.  Here are Ella and Emmi sharing some  coconut water.

 On Sunday we took the girls to the Oakland Zoo.  The girls had a great time.

 On Saturday, I took eight of my 8th grade students to play at a benefit for Little Kids Rock – an organization who supports us and donates instruments to the music program.  It was a great night.

 On Monday, Ella brought home her first homework assignment.  She was so excited to do it.  They take homework home on Monday and return it to Friday – they need to figure out if they want to do it all in one night or pace it out during the week.  This week, Ella is very excited to hand in her homework on Thursday because she’s cutting school on Friday to hang out with grandma and papa who are coming in on Thursday night.  We all can’t wait!

We went to Ella’s back to school night tonight.  I think she’s going to have a terrific year and that by the end of the year, she will be an incredible reader and writer (among other things).  While we were in the classroom, I took a few pics of some of Ella’s artwork.

 This is Ella’s dream classroom.  It’s a pool with a diving board and slide and of course 2 disco balls.

 Ella’s self portrait.  She realized that  her brads were pretty short!

 Ella’s hope is to get better at science.

 The real true beauty.

Our weeks are full of work and school and our weekends are full of activities and love.  We had Stella, Juliet and KJ over for our traditional Friday night movie night.  The kids watched Aladin.  Ella will be performing Aladin during her musical theatre class.  She really loves it.  On saturday, it was Ella’s first soccer practice.  The girls seemed to have a great time. TOnight was erev Rosh Hasanah.  Becca, Ru, Jaeden and the doggies came over for an amazing brisket dinner cooked by mommy the pro!  Great meal babe!  It was a really sweet night.  Time to go to sleep.

 Friday night movie night.

 Fun fun fun at soccer practice.  Ella did seem like she was having a great time.

Serious Ella lights the candles.

Wishing everyone a sweet, happy, healthy New Year.

I know it’s not an excuse, but life is busy!  Ella spent last week at Wheel Kids camp.  She became an incredibly confident bike rider.  On the second day, they rode all the way from the Marina to AT&T park and then went to the Ferry Building.  Another day, they took their bikes on the ferry and went to Alameda, rode around and went to the USS Hornet.  Ella loved that trip.  Another day they went back to the Ferry Building and then the last day, they rode around the Presidio.  Over the long weekend, we went to the Russian River. We had a lot of fun but unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures.  We put panda in the river and he started moving his legs and swimming before he touched the water.  Very cute.  Today was Ella’s first day of 1st grade.  She took it all in stride and loved her first day.  She was so happy to see her buddies and said that she liked her teachers.  After school, Ella started Musical Theatre classes.  She said that she loved that too!  Ella is a true lover of life.  What a pleasure.

Ella and Panda are best buddies.

Ella helping the counselors bring out the bikes at Wheel Kids.

Our little biker.

 Ella indulging me and letting me take a pic on the way to school.

Comparing teeth lost over the summer.

 So happy to see Emmi on the yard.

 Lining up!

 Have a great day beautiful.

Doris was in town with her beautiful family this week and we got to see them tonight at the ballgame.  We all had a great time – especially Ella who got to see her buddies from NJ.  To top that, the Giants won!  Here are some pics.

 Ella waiting for her friends to come.

 Hanging with Willie.

 Ella seems to be watching something on the jumbotron.

 All the beautiful grandchildren…Kara the beautiful daughter and Doris, the beautiful grandma.

 All the kids loving Ella.

Ella started gymnastics camp this week.  Stella and Juliet are going also.  Ella has been having so much fun with the girls.  Being at camp with each other every day for the past 2 weeks has been a really special time for Ella.  I don’t have any pictures of Ella actually doing gymnastics but I do have some morning shots of Ella in her gymnastics get-ups.  On Friday, I’ll videotape the showcase.

 Beautiful sleepy faced gymnast!  Ella showed me a few flips on the bars today when I picked her up.  I was impressed.