Life With Ella

I also don’t have a good camera to carry around right now.  I’m still waiting to get one back that broke last month.  Anyway, Ella got her second haircut today.  I documented it.  She was so cute at the place.  So cooperative.  I am also putting in 2 videos from ballet yesterday.  In the first one, Ella was doing all the right moves but acting totally goofy.  It’s great to see her have so much fun in class.  The second one is very cute with the girls doing some kind of dance from the Nutcracker.  First, here’s the haircut…

We started out our day trying to go to the passport office to renew Ella’s passport.  It was closed.  After we got a bite to eat, we went to SFMOMA.  It was closed.  Then we walked over to the Jewish Museum.  It was closed.  What do you do when everything you try to do is closed?  Go bowling!!!  We had a lot of fun bowling today.  Mommy beat us all!  Papa decided not to bowl, but he did a lot of technique coaching from the seats.  Tonight, Sunny and I went to see Moneyball which we loved and Ella had dinner with grandma and papa.  We all had great nights.

 Riding the train to the Civic Center to the closed passport officed.

 Sweet love at Yerba Buena.

 Check out grandma’s amazing bowling shot.  You look fantastic!

Ella using papa’s technique…hold it to to the side and fling it.

 I was very focused.

 Mommy killed us all!

 Ella was the cutest bowler on the planet.

 The bowling family.  So much fun.

 Check it out – Ella scored a spare.

The girls came over and visited Ella and ate lollipops.

We just came home from Disneyland late this afternoon.  We had such an incredible time.  Thank you Jesse and Heather for helping us make this happen! We loved spending time with you guys.  I am super tired but I want to get these posted.  Here are the Disney Pictures.

Upon our hotel arrival, the  woman at the front desk gave  Ella a little bouquet of balloons.  Here is Ella holding the balloons on the top bunk of the bunk bed in our room.

 Doing the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.  Ella loved all of the challenges.

 Ella and mommy right before take off on Soarin Over California.  This is Ella’s favorite ride.

 This was on the Storybook Land ride.  Ella got to be the co-captain of the boat!  Check out the second picture.  We were riding into Monstro’s mouth.

 Busy trying to de-code a message.

 Opening up a special card from Ms. Alicia.

 A little hot chocolate down time with Uncle Jesse.

 Waiting on line for the Toy Story ride.

 Uncle Jesse and Mommy about to start the ride.

 Ella used her gift card to get this little guy.  She loves him so much!

 Ella striking up a conversation with Jessie.

 On the Ariel ride with Jesse and Heather.  Ella was a little scared to do this ride, but ended up loving it and going twice.

 Ella kept picking Heather as her ride partner on Saturday.  They make a super sweet pair!

Eating the bee off the top of a cupcake.

 It’s A Small World all lit up for the holidays.  Beautiful ride…great memories.

 Saying goodnight to Jesse and Heather after the Disneyland fireworks.  Thank you for a beautiful weekend.  We love you guys.

 We finally found Mickey and Minnie!

 We also bumped into Pluto.

 One last time on the Little Mermaid ride.

 Very last ride on Sunday…Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.  Jesse let Ella “drive”.  Ella loved it.

We have been celebrating Ella’s birthday since Friday morning.  On Friday, we took Ella, Stella and Juliet to the Academy of Science and then out for an afternoon tea.  We continued the birthday celebration with dinner, a delicious cake made by mommy and then a sleep over.  The girls woke up pretty early this morning and then Helen and Ron took Ella with them.  They had breakfast, played at Yerba Buena and then had lunch at the Ferry Building.  This afternoon, Ella and Stella went to taekwondo and after class, 2 of Ella’s friends from school came over.  We took them to Benihana for dinner and now the 3 of them are sound asleep.  Ella had a fantastic weekend.  She loved being with Stella and Juliet for over 24 hours in a row and is having a lot of fun with Emmi and Emily.  Next weekend, we are going to celebrate Ella’s birthday in Disneyland.

Ella rockin’ out on her birthday present – a new drum set!  Notice Ella’s drumming face in the third photo.

 Ella and Stella reading some notes that Ella took the other day.

 Best buddies.

 Looking for sharks.

 The girls were trhing so hard to be still so that the butterflies would land on them.

 The end of a really fun day at the academy.

 The girls had some kind of magic pink tea.

 Ella’s beautiful birthday cake.  Great job mommy.

 Happy Birthday to you!

 Our beautiful 6 year old!

 Ella and Emmi doing some drwwing.  The JB on Ella’s paper stands for Justin Bieber.  Miley is out, Justin is in.

 Emily, Ella and Emmi at Benihana.

 Sweetness.

 Check out the onion volcano.

 The girls were loving the amazing cupcake lollipops that grandma and papa sent for Ella’s birthday.

…and we should know who the next Sheriff of SF will be.  Hopefully our guy Chris will win.  Mommy has been working so hard over these past few months!  We love you mommy and we are proud that you are working so hard for what you believe so strongly in!  This weekend, Ella had her last soccer game.  She had a blast at the game and loved getting a medal at the end.  Ella is very excited about her birthday which is next week, Disney which is in 2 weeks, and grandma and papa coming which is in 2 1/2 weeks!  So are we!!!

 Fun on the field.

 That little guy is Trilby, Ella’s class mascot.  Each kid gets the chance to take him home for a weekend.  This weekend was Ella’s friend Cecilia’s chance.  The kids loved having Trilby at the soccer game.

 Ella seemsvery excited about something!

 Run Ella run!

 We all know that Ella is a bit of a close talker but this is crazy!

 Our happy girl.

 The Black Widows!

 Nothing like a cukpcake after getting a medal.

Although our lives have been busy with work and campaigning, we have had lots of time for fun with Ella.  On Sunday, we went to Golden Gate Park for Pet Pride Day, an event sponsored by the SF Animal Care and Control where Becca is the director.  We brought Towby with us this year!  He had a great time and we had a great time.  Ella met all different kinds of animals.  After Pet Pride, I got a pedicure and Ella got a manicure.  After the mani/pedi, we had a sweet dinner wtih Debby, Toby and Rachel.  Today, Sunny volunteered in Ella’s class to get the kids ready for the Halloween parade.  She had such a fun time being there and Ella loved it that her mommy was with her at school.  We met up with the Kim/Arena clan tonight for some amazing trick or treating in Noe Valley and then we ended the night watching Ella’s favorite band, Vons Du Qua – the 7th grade girl band from CDS.  What a fun night.  Ella loved every minute of it!

 Getting ready to go to Pet Pride.

 Fun at Pet Pride and in Golden Gate Park.

 Nothing like a manicure on a Sunday afternoon.

 Beautiful Ella as Jessie from Toy Story 2 and 3.

Something is going on here and I can’t seem to download more pictures.  I am going to publish this one and then start another Halloween post.

On Friday night, Ella went over to the Kim/Arena’s place for movie night.  Sunny and I went out to dinner to the Public House and watched game 7 of the World Series.  It was great to have a nice adult dinner out.  It was also great to join everyone next door and to watch the kids model their Halloween costumes.  Ella is going as Jessie from Toy Story 3.  Today, I took Ella to her soccer game while Sunny was busy campaigning for Chris.  Only about 9 more days…can’t wait for this chapter to be done.  Tonight, mommy took Ella to Taekwondo and I went to a testing center to take my CBEST for teaching.  I got the results from the reading comprehension and math multiple choice back tonight.  Looks like I passed both of them!  Just have to wait for the results of the essay questions but I think I only need like 3 points in order to pass the whole thing.  I feel relieved.  Now I have to figure out my next steps.  Mommy and Ella had dinner with Auntie Pie and Uncle Michael and then picked me up after 4 hours of testing.  Ella played soccer like a champion today.  She was the first on her team to score a goal.  She was really into it.  She hardly took any breaks.  She wanted to play and play.  Sunny said Ella did a great job during Taekwondo!  Enjoy the pics.

 KJ the nosepickalatasauris and Jessie from Toy Story 3.

Jessie and the good witch Stella.

Juliet was a beautiful Indian princess and Ronnie was a beautiful Indian prince.  I must take pictures on Halloween.

 Ella looks so happy doing the throw in.

 Ella had a great soccer game today!

 Ella almost made it to the top of this monstrosity today.  IShe’s quite the climber.

 They are making a quilt at mommy’s work for survivors of domestic violence.  The quilt is about love and peace.  Ella did this panel all by herself (we sounded out mindfulness for her – but the word was her idea).