Life With Ella

On Friday night, I went to a friend’s retirement party and Sunny and Ella did the usual Friday stuff…t-ball practice, dinner at Pasta Pomodoro and Friday night movie night.  They watched Mary Poppins and had a great night.  On Saturday, Sunny went to see Hannah graduate from Mills College in the morning and then picked Ella and I up to go to a sweet party in a beautiful Oakland park to celebrate Hannah’s graduation.  It was a lot of fun and one of the highlights was a huge orange dinosaur piñata.  Ella really tried hard to open it up, but she’s too much of a little lover.  On Saturday night, Sunny and I went out to see an opera and Toby stayed with Ella.  They had a great time together and watched Mary Poppins for the second time this weekend.  Today, we met up with Brickelle and we waited on line at the ballpark to get a Willie Mays bobblehead.  After that, we came home, hung out, and then went to watch the game.  The girls had a blast at the game and the Giants won so it was great all around.  We met up with Brickelle’s parents and little brother after the game and had an early dinner at Mijita.  After dinner, Ella and I went over to Stella and Juliet’s house to spend some time with them.  They were away for the weekend and Ella was missing them.  OK – now time for a very busy work week for both of us. Check out Ella and that huge stick – it was bigger than Ella!  It was a really fun party. Ella and Brickelle before the game. Walking up the ramp. Ella is every serious about her sunflower seeds. Brickelle showing Ella her blue cotton candy tongue. Ella looking a little too cute in her hat. What a smile. Smiling away and they don’t even have a clue that the Giants were about to win. Coming home from the game.

Ella’s mood is so different than it was last week.  She is a joy to be with, really hasn’t cried at all, she’s been incredibly reasonable and so loving – not needy.  Who knows what was going on with her…but we are sure happy to have her back.  Whenever I pick up Ella from school, we go to her classroom, get her lunchbox, jacket, Ann and then she hands me all these little pieces of paper with staples or tape or cut with fancy scissors.  Sometimes the paper has scribbling on it and she tells me that it’s homework, sometimes it says “Mommy, Ella, Love” or “Mama Ella Love”.  Today she handed me this black folded and stapled piece of paper.  She told me that she wrote a rhyming book.  I have to admit that I thought it was going to be another one of those scribble things but instead, she gave me this.Cat, bat, rat, fat, jet, met.  She said that she did this all by herself.  I think it’s terrific!  Ella’s class been reading rhyming books each day so maybe this inspired her.  Whatever it was, way to go Ella!Ella decided after her shower at 6:00 that she wanted to stay home for dinner so she put on her nightgown.  I guess that sealed the deal – no going out.  Ella played around the house – she’s been really physical lately, climbing, jumping, playing with the basketball, baseballs…I got these shots of her jumping off the bench. After jumping and dinner, Sunny went out and got Ella some Blush – cookies and cream.  She loved it and was sleeping by 8:50.

Ella had a great Monday.  She actually fell asleep at 9:00 on Sunday night which gave her a good 10 hours of sleep.  That’s a lot for Ella lately.  Ella told me that she loved farm and garden today at school.  She said that she shoveled, raked, found a roly poly and fed it to one of the chickens.  After school was ballet – Ella had a blast.  I realized tonight that I never made last week’s movie and I am way too tired to make one tonight.  Photos will have to do.  On the way home, we picked up Nikki B who is in town from NYC.  Ella was really happy to see her.  We came home and the new Ann arrived.  We said goodbye to the old Ann and sent her to the hippo barf swamp (the garbage can).  When Sunny came home from work we all went to Mijita for dinner.  After dinner, we went over to Borders to get Ella a new book for night time reading – Ella and Sunny finished Charlotte’s Web last night.  Ella fell asleep at 9:30 tonight which is better than 10, but not so great.  I had a lot of fun playing Wii tennis and golf with Nikki B. I had to put this picture in from yesterday.  After Juliette’s party, she changed into this getup.  Pretty cute!Our happy little ballerina after ballet today. We bumped into Stella and Juliet in the lobby on the way to dinner.  They see each other pretty much every day and they still get so happy like they haven’t seen each other in years. Very serious playing with her water, straw and lime.

Juliet had her 4th birthday party today.  Helen and Ron did the party at the little club house by the Channel Park.  The party had a carnival theme…ring toss, tattoos, knock the cans etc.  The kids had a great time.  Fantastic job Helen and Ron.  Buki the clown was also at the party.  She did face painting and balloon things.  2 years ago, Juliet had Buki at her party also and Ella took one look at her and cried.  She did, however let her paint her face and I think that helped her like her a little better.  Ella remembered Buki, was a little apprehensive at first, but this time she didn’t cry or want to go away.  She actually stared Buki down a few times and laughed at her clown jokes.  Once again, Buki did a great job face painting.  What a fun filled exhausting weekend. Ella and Stella at the tattoo parlor. Mommy and Ella sharing a tender moment.The birthday girl as a butterfly princess. Ella asked Buki to make her a rainbow butterfly princess.  Good job Buki. Stella was a beautiful star princess.Butterfly beauties. I took this photo 2 years ago. And here they are 2 years later.  I love it that Ella is growing up with these two.  They really have a beautiful friendship.Just one more shot.Facepainting and cupcakes…bliss for Ella.

We had a fun filled day today.  We took Ella and Clara to Ella’s friend Tyler’s birthday party at Pump It Up.  We all had a fun time there.  After the party, Ella had a T-ball game.  Ella has been falling asleep really late and waking up pretty early and has been really tired during the day.  She almost fell asleep on the T-ball field!  After resting, we went out to Nama and then Stella and Juliet joined us for Friday night movie night on Saturday night.  Ella had a great time with Clara and we all had a great weekend.  Ella, however, has been really emotional, possibly because she has been so tired, but who knows.  We’re just going to ride this wave together.A very happy Ella at Pump It Up.Clara, Ella and Juliet having some lunch after a hard workout. Having some creative fun with the birthday hats. Mommy must have said something really funny!Ella had a quick outfit change after the party and we were off to the T-ball game. T-ball fun.  Ella fielded another ball today and also chased down some balls.  She was doing really well until she almost fell asleep on the field! Cousin love. The girls watching Kung Fu Panda.

Today I went into Ella’s room to wake her up and she wasn’t there.  I went into the living room/guest room and found Ella and Clara watching TV…it was 7:00 in the morning!  We got her downstairs and ready for school.  Ella went to school until 12:00 and I picked her up and then came back home to pick up Dan and Clara.  The 4 of us went to Mo’s Grill at Yerba Buena and then the kids played in the playground.  They had a lot of fun.  We came back home, relaxed for a little while and then I took Ella to Emmi’s birthday party at Pump It Up.  Ella had a blast for the most part…she did have a few melt downs but they were nothing compared to the fun she was having.  I never really take pictures at Pump It Up because I love to jump and play there too!  After the party, Ella and I met up with Sunny, Dan, Clara, and friends of Dan’s for dinner by Pier 39 at one of favorite places, the Crab House.  After a delicious dinner (Ella was a little cranky because she fell asleep in the car on the way to dinner) the kids went and did a jumping thing.  They all had a blast.  I am happy that it is the weekend. Ella and Clara at Mo’s Grill. The girls had a blast on the slides. Having some fun in the sun hanging. The girls rode on the carousel after playing in the park.This is the bungee jumping thing on Pier 39.  Ella has never done it before and really wanted to do it last night.  She was super brave and had a lot of fun.  Clara was a daredevil and jumped really high.  She inspired Ella and next time, Ella said she wanted to go super high too!

Today was a beautiful day and we spent all of it outside.  Ella’s school had it’s annual Country Fair today.  Sunny and I volunteered to work a few shifts at different games and Ella just played hard for the entire event.  This is the third year that we have gone and the first year that we knew that Ella would be safe and happy without us right next to her the whole time.  After the Country Fair, Ella had a T-ball game.  All of the kids from the team were at the Country Fair so the 3:00 game had a bunch of exhausted kids (and parents), but they still had a lot of fun.  Ella actually fielded a ball today and once she made the play she yelled, “Mommy, mama, I got a ball!  I got a ball!”  It was really cute.  Here are some pictures from today’s events. Ella and one of her friends Layla hanging out in the school garden. Mommy and Ella waiting in line for face painting. Pretty incredible rainbow butterfly! Ella and her 7th grade buddy Casi. Ella and her friend Emmi chatting. Ella and her friend Clark climbing the structure. I think at this point, Ella was spinning around in circles. Mommy helped with coaching today. Batter up!Ella just having a lot of fun.