Life With Ella

We have been super busy and I have not been carrying my camera around.  I will start to document things better since my school ended on Friday.  Here are some pictures of Ella from the past week.

 Ella performed a magic trick in a talent show a few weeks ago.

 We went to dinner with Ella’s friend Hannah after ballet a few weeks ago.  Ella has a blast with Hannah.  They are pretty goofy together.

 Pretty sweet ballet moves.

 Ella and her new Giants jacket.

 Dinner at Tate’s house on Memorial Day.

 Ella and her “fur brother” Panda.

This morning I woke up to beautiful Sunny, beautiful flowers, beautiful cards, beautiful Ella, beautiful Panda and a really cool present.  Throughout the day I got beautiful calls, texts and messages of happy birthday and love.  Thanks to everyone for making this day a really special day.  We all had work/school today and then met up at Benihana with the Kim/Arena clan and Becca and Ru.  What a fantastic dinner.  For dessert, Helen made me my favorite banana pudding.  I can’t wait to eat it for the next few days.  It is delicious!

 This week is “Spirit Week” at Ella’s school.  So far, Monday was pajama day and Tuesday was formal day.  Ella is thoroughly enjoying herself.

Today, Ella made me 2 cards at school.  One card was from Ella by herself, and the other card, Ella had her whole class sign it.  It was so cute and sweet and loving of Ella to do that.

 This is the incredible card that Ella had her class sign.

 Here is the other beautiful card.  Notice the otter (my power animal) on the front and the bird of paradise (my favorite flower) in the middle of the flowers.

 One of Ella’s classmates brought in a book about the Titanic.  Here’s Ella’s version…The TITANIAC!

I started writing this Sunday night and got super tired so I am continuing tonight (Monday).   First of all, happy mother’s day mom.  I love you so much.  You are the greatest mom.  Sunny and I woke up this morning and Ella was standing in our room.  She made a card for us out of a swimming certificate that she got last year.  She wrote, “Happy Mother’s Day mommy and mama.  I love you”.  Ella.  How sweet is that – she did it all by herself.  Nobody had to remind her or do it for her.  Ella is a terrific person.  On Saturday, we went to the zoo with the Kim/Arena clan.  All the kids (Except Isaac) had their faces painted.  Saturday afternoon, Ella went to Taekwondo (as a tiger) and then after we just hung around, had dinner, watched the baseball game and then Sunny and I finally watched Bridesmaids which really made us laugh,  Today, we went to Dolores park and had a picnic with Debby, Toby, Phyllis, Michael, Hannah, Naomi, Azana, Sog, Nicole, and then we bumped into Julie and Gilana and then our friends Candace and Courtney.  Ella played hard.  It was a lot of fun.  What a great day…nice and easy.

What a beautiful group of tigers and zebras.

 Friends forever.

 Sort of crouching tiger.

 Ella loves figuring out melodies.

 Schlepping the picnic basket down the hall.

 Trying to climb the wall at Dolores Park.

 Climbing up the web.

 Having a blast on the slide.

 Our little monkey.

 This is such a cool playground.

 Amazing view from the top of the slide.

 Best kid in the world!

 Ella took this beautiful shot of mommy.  You can see Ella in Sunny’s sunglasses.

 Picnic shots.

Things have been super hectic for us but wonderful for Ella.  Last week, Ella and her friend Tate’ had farm duty at school.  They got there a little early, went into the farm with Ms. Misty and found some eggs in the chicken coop.  They also did some clean up.  This week, it was Ella’s turn for the class share.  They usually have an assigned share, for example…bring in your favorite book or something that you do with your family or teaching the class how to do something.  For the last share, they can share anything they want except a toy.  Ella decided that she wanted to share Panda.  Ella’s teacher Luisa agreed to let Ella bring in Panda and on Wednesday, Sunny brought Panda to school and Ella presented him to the class.  Sunny reported that both Ella and Panda did an amazing job.

 Ella and Tate’ on farm duty.

Ella listening to Panda’s heart beat at the vet’s office the other day.

 Panda and Ella – they are quite a team!

This was a very busy weekend for us.  On Friday after school, Ella had baseball practice and then went to her friend Emmi’s birthday party.  Emmi’s party was a blast and Ella’s favorite girl band from school, Vons da Qua played at the party.  Ella was mesmerized and at the end of the party told me that she feels like she’s a member of the band.  She’s so cute.  When we came home, we celebrated Juliet’s birthday with Juliet and the Kim/Arena clan.  Good times and delicious ice cream cake had by all.  On Saturday, I took my big test.  I have no idea how I did but I feel so happy that it’s over.  Sunny and Ella went to the Country Fair at CDS and then I took Ella to her baseball game while Sunny went to a real Giants game and watched them take their first win in a while.  On Saturday night, I took 2 of my students to go see another one of my students in a musical and Sunny and Ella had dinner with Hannah, Naomi and Phyllis.  Today, Ella and Sunny took bike ride and took Panda to a dog run and I had a softball game.  This afternoon, we went to Juliet’s birthday party at Pump It Up.  The party was terrific, Ella had so much fun and then we came home and all spent the evening in the Zen garden eating left over birthday party food.  What a great weekend (except for the test).

 The little girls watching the big girls.  Quite amazing.

 This weekend was Emmi’s turn to get Trilby so Ella, Emmi and Trilby got another photo of with VDQ!

 Beautiful night with the Kim/Arena’s to celebrate Juliet.

 Ella at her baseball game after thir.  She had Panda “face painted” on her.

 Lots of bubbles in the garden.

Dancing with panda.

 CUPCAKES!

Today is a very special day because it’s the birthday of a VERY special woman, mom, grandma, wife, friend… We love you so much.  Wish we were there to give you a huge hug.  Hope you have a beautiful day.

 Ella getting ready to go to the game tonight.