No fake smiles in these shots! Ella has had a pretty bad cold and cough all week but her spirits have been amazing considering. Here are some pictures from last night and today. The weather was incredible and Ella was actually outside in a sundress.
Those eyes say everything.
This is a happy kid.
Walking with mommy and Towby. The walk was too long for Bug.
Calling Towby…good boy!
Ella playing with her shadow.
Checking out some hallway construction with Stella.
Sunny did a reading at Book Passage in Marin on Thursday night. It was a fantastic reading – at least 40 people showed up and the Q & A was incredible. Time for some TV shows! Sunny – you are amazing.
We dropped Ella off at school on Monday and found out that there was a lice case in the classroom. This meant that Alicia had to check each kid’s head before they settled into the class. It really threw Ella for a loop and she was not happy about it. We left the class on Monday and Ella was in tears. Today, I took her to school and there was another head check and this time, Ella was totally cool about it. She brought this peacock to school with her that grandma and papa gave her and first Alicia checked the peacock for lice and then checked Ella and Ella didn’t cry at all.
Love those stripes…Ella picked this outfit out all by herself.
Circle time.
Ella enjoying a cup of tea at Nama tonight.
Grandma and papa came in on Wednesday night. We were all so happy to see them and Ella was so thrilled and even a little shy. We have been having a lot of fun. Today we went to the Academy of Science. This trip was more successful than the last 2 times we have attempted to go. We were able to go into the tropical rain forest and see the butterflies and to the aquarium to see the beautiful fish. We are already trying to plan for the next time we can all be together again. Possibly a weekend in San Diego. We love you grandma and papa.
On Thursday, grandma and papa came with me to pick Ella up from school. It was raining a little bit. Here are papa and Ella leaving school grounds. Ella is all rain geared up!
Here are the 3 beauties after a great lunch at the Nordstrom Bistro.
Ella and grandma in the rain.
Ella the dragon trying to blow down the tower that she built with grandma.
Ella checking out a shark through the glass floor at the Academy.
Trying to get her hands on that butterfly.
Ella, grandma and papa looking for a gopher. Last time we were walking back from the Academy, a little gopher popped his head out. This time, Ella was singing a gopher song to the tune of Frere Jacques. Guess what happened…
We got gopher!
Papa and Ella enjoying the gopher.
Ella ordering dinner at Acme tonight.
Playing at the table with grandma.
We have been pretty busy over the past few days. Sunny did her big book reading on Thursday at the public library here in SF. Sunny was incredible, the house was packed and it will be aired on C-SPAN in a few weeks. Last night, Sunny did a reading in Berkeley and it was also amazing. On Thursday, there were 100 books at the event to be sold, and they sold out before the event ended! Here are a few pictures from the reading.
Here’s Sunny reading and then the panel after the reading. It was all incredible.
Here is Sunny on Friday night in Berkeley.
Sunny and her co-author David answering questions after the reading.
Yesterday it was another beautiful day here so the 3 of us decided to go to the Oakland Zoo. It’s a sweet zoo that also has a fun train and some little kid rides. We all had a lot of fun. This morning, we woke up, went into the room with the big TV, ate donuts and watched the inauguration. Ella was great – she hung in there for most of it. She sang a bye bye song for Bush and of course I captured it. A little bit later on, she said, “Mama, the Obama show is making me tired”. I guess she knows when she has had enough!
Here we are brushing our teeth the other day.
Ella is so excited about what she is seeing that she gives mommy’s head an extra grab.
Mommy and Ella were looking at this magnificant chimp.
Ella had a blast on this ride.
Ella still loves a great carousel ride. She went on a tiger and I went on the rhino next to it.
Mommy and Ella checking out the white handed gibbon.
Playing in the hippo mouth.
Happiness!
Passed out in the car on the way home.
and here’s a bye bye song for Bush…
Ella had so much fun recommending Sunny’s book that she wanted to review some books that she likes. Ella has a book of fairy tales that she loves. She decided that she wanted to talk about “Beauty and the Beast”, “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “The Nightingale”.
It was a little cooler today, but it was still beautiful. We were trying to figure out what to do for lunch and Ella said, “Let’s take a walk to the Ferry Building and have lunch there”. What a great idea. We had a nice walk, bumped into Helen, Ron and the girls and had some fun playing around and then we had lunch and visited with Phyllis, Richard, Lisa and some other friends who are regulars at the Ferry Building. It was a beautiful day.
Walking down the block.
Waiting for the train and playing a game.
The girls did this all by themselves. How cute are they! What amazing friends.
Playing around upstairs at the Ferry Building.
Doing the old behind the back pick up!
Sunny had her first book reading last night. It was in Santa Cruz. Sunny did an amazing job and I am really excited for the big reading at the public library on Thursday. Here is the sign in front of the book store from last night.
I guess they couldn’t take a look at the book cover to figure out how to spell her last name!
Here are some pictures from today that I took of Ella.
Ella is so happy going to school!
Happy Ella after school chewing gum and holding a handful of quarters…another potty technique. Ella has been pulling some potty “power trip” stuff. The money seems to do the trick. She is saving up for a giant panda stuffed animal.
Balancing on the curb.
Ella and her buddy Brickelle.
It was so warm out today that we went for ice cream and popsicles after school.
Here is the toy chest that Ella and I built together. I couldn’t get a good shot of the shelf thing downstairs.
I am finally posting this video. I just need to say that the music was chosen by Ella. I showed her the video without music and then she said that she wanted the “Hello Song” in the beginning and the “Goodbye Song” at the end. Ella had a vision and we made it come to life!