Life With Ella

Today was Strike Out Violence Day at the ballpark.  It was a successful day all around…Rich Aurilia one of our players recited an amazing pledge about being a “No Hitter” both on the field and in the home and Jonathan Sanchez, one of the pitchers who pitched a no hitter a few weeks ago was standing by his side.  Sunny was honored and Sunny and Ella were on the field together.  It was super sweet.  To top it all off…the Giants won!  They clobbered the Dodgers.  A whole bunch of our friends were at the game – including Stella and Juliet and we all had a blast.

Ella insisted on wearing her tutu to the game.

Just like a real ball player.

The jumbotron.

Ella and mommy on the field.

Ella and mommy on the jumbotron.

Mommy and Ella during the national anthem.  Ella decided that she was going to cover her ears.

Ella and Lou Seal.

Me and Ella at the game.

Stella, Ella and Juliet.  Its always so hard to get all 3 to cooperate at the same time.

Happy Ella sitting between her 2 best friends.

Laura, Kate, KJ and Karen.  Kate held KJ for a while to give Helen a little break.

Our friends Simon and Tonia.

Helen and KJ.

Helen, KJ and Tonia’s baby Lola (obviously Tonia was holding Lola).

Becca, Ella and Lori.

Ella and some of our friends from the building…Hannah, Max and Pablo Sandoval’s daughter.

Grandma and papa came in on Thursday night for a quick visit.  Ella was so excited to see them.  When she woke up on Friday morning, she was so happy that they were in our house.  We took Ella to school on Friday for the morning part but then I picked her up early so that she could spend the rest of the day with grandma and papa.  We just all had a really sweet time.  We love you – can’t wait to see you in October.

Ella and Brickelle on Friday morning with their 7th grade buddy Cassie, who they both LOVE!

Grandma, papa and Ella on our way to lunch.  Ella scooted all the way down the Embarcadero!

Putting on lipstick after lunch.

Our little diva.

Just beautiful.

Papa reading one of Ella’s favorites…Angelina Ballerina.

Doing magic with grandma.

Ella took her first swimming lesson today.  Sunny and I took Ella to the pool. Ella was a natural and Ella told us that she didn’t want the lesson to end!  What a difference from a few weeks ago when Ella said, “I don’t want to take swimming lessons, they stink and are boring”.  The beginning pictures are some shots from the past few days. Kate came over the other night and we had such a fun time. Ella joined me on the piano and also danced and sang for us. Sleepwalking down the hallway on the way to school. Ella’s dry erase board art. Playing before class. Some serious trampoline jumping.Now for the swimming lesson pictures…

Today was a beautiful day and we spent it at the ballpark.  The Giants beat the Padres and we made it through another 9 innings.  Ella had a great time.  During the game Ella went with Sunny to go visit our friends Tonia and Simon and their little girl Lola and then I took her to go see some classmates that were sitting a few sections over from us.  What a beautiful day to have off.

Running to the elevator.

Beautiful Ella at the ballgame.

Ella visiting with her school buddies.

Tender moments with Mommy.

The Giants are gonna WIN!

Today we met our friends at the Jewish Museum to check out a Chagall exhibit that is leaving soon.  While we were waiting for them to arrive, Ella had a great time playing outside of the museum.  First she made some wishes and then played around the fountain.  Ella quickly went through the exhibit and then played around on these bean bag chairs.  We tried to go swimming in the afternoon but they told us that the pool was closed due to a chemical issue in the pool.  We think they were understaffed because of the holiday weekend.  Tonight Kate came over and we hung out and then Helen, Ron, Stella, Juliet and KJ came over.

Getting ready to go out.

Making a wish…notice the penny mid air.

Cooperating for the picture.

Mommy enjoying the beautiful day.

Walking across the water.

We kept warning Ella to watch where she was going because we knew that her feet were going to go into the water.  We were right.  Of course I didn’t catch it on the camera, but we just knew that it would happen.

Playing around on the bean bags.

Ella got in a bad mood when we were leaving.  She wanted to throw A LOT of coins into the fountain and we only had two.

Right before Ella’s transformation into…

GOGGLE GIRL!

Ella made it through the first week of school (first 3 days) with flying colors.  Ella is a confident preschooler.  She loves going to school and she loves her weekends.  Today, we hung around the house and then we went over to the new yogurt store in our neighborhood called Blush.  The place was packed.  They gave you a raffle ticket when you bought a yogurt.  They were giving away great prizes…an iPhone, iTouch, iShuffle, PSP, 49ers tickets.  We got our tickets and there was going to be a drawing at 3:00.  Ella had her scooter so we decided that we were going to Walgreens pick some stuff up and then go back to the raffle.  As we were “scooting” away, this lady said, “Here, take my ticket, I can’t stay for the drawing”.  I told her to write her name and # on the ticket and if she was chosen, I would give her a call.  Well…she won!  I had to pick a ping pong ball out of a box and I (she) won a PSP.  That’s a portable play station.  I called her and told her and she called back thanking me for calling her and telling me to keep the PSP.  Now I can download movies and stuff for Ella!  Pretty cool.

After that adventure, Ella and I went to the pool and met Ron, Stella and Juliet.  Ella is starting swimming lessons on Wednesday and she has been doing really well in the water.  Today I suggested that she put on a bathing cap and goggles for the pool and she went a little crazy in the car crying that she didn’t want to wear a bathing cap or goggles because goggles made the water come in and hurt her eyes.  Then she said that swimming lessons stink and are boring.  I asked her if she was scared and she said that she was.  When we were in the locker room, I put my bathing cap on and Ella saw me and decided that she was going to put hers on.  As soon as we got into the pool, she saw that Juliet had goggles and they actually traded.  Ella put the goggles on and started having a blast.  Juliet, Ella and I played under water for most of the time.  We were waving to each other, pointing at things and having so much fun.  Ella is doing really well and she said that she wasn’t scared for her lesson on Wednesday.  Tonight Ella went to Stella and Juliet’s house and watched Totoro.  Sunny and I stayed here and watched the Soloist.

Fooling around in the hallway before school on Friday.

Great work!

Entrance of Blush.

Look at all the balloons!

Ella had a great day today during and after school.  When I came to pick Ella up from the after school program, she was playing on the slide and didn’t even see me!  For some reason, that makes me feel good.

Ella in the hallway on the way to school.

Having fun on the trampoline before school.

Walking through the garden looking for butterflies after school.

Well…I have to say that a year has gone by and so much has changed.  Any anxiety we felt last year at this time was gone.  Ella was so excited when she woke up this morning and she was ready to go to school!  As we entered the classroom, Ella said hi to her old classmates and was really excited about being there.  When Alicia rang the bell, Ella kissed each of us and that was it.  At one point, Ella and Brickelle were hanging out and there was a new girl Emily just standing there and they took her hand and led her to the block/dramatic play area.  They were really beautiful and sweet and welcoming and hopefully put Emily at ease.  The only stumbling block we had was that we decided that we were going to pick Ella up 1/2 hour later this year because of our work schedules.  We told Ella all about it and she seemed excited that she would have 30 more minutes to play after school but when 2:15 rolled around and we weren’t there, she got really upset and cried.  She was a little shaken up when we arrived at 2:45 but it will be OK.  She already told us that it would be ok tomorrow.  If its not, that’s ok too, but I think she will be fine.  This is really good for Ella.  Change is good.

Ella last year…first day of school

Ella this year first day of school.

Classroom rule…the kids all have to wash their hands upon entering the classroom.  They also have to sing the entire alphabet song while they are washing.

Ella and Brickelle escorting Emily over to the block/dramatic play area.

Questioning…”how old are you?” “what’s your favorite color?”

Things seem to be going well!