Life With Ella

Here are some picture of Ella over the past few weeks.  I also forgot to write about an important milestone!  On April 18, Ella got retainers.  She has top and bottoms – the top comes out when she brushes her teeth and the bottom stays in.  She has been incredible adapting to them.  She only had some discomfort in the beginning.  She’s doing a great job speaking through the plastic and metal in her mouth.  We may be hallucinating, but we think that her teeth are already becoming straighter (if that’s a word).

 Day one with the retainers.

 Colette sends us pictures of Ella in the classroom from time to time and it really makes our days so much brighter.  We love getting these shots in the middle of a hectic day.  There’s nothing better than being able to see Ella in action in her classroom.

 On Friday night, we went to the ballgame with the Kim/Arena clan.  We all had so much fun.  Notice the beautiful rainbow behind Ella and Juliet.

 We took Ella, Emmi and Stella to see Frozen at the Castro Theatre on Sunday.  It was a fantastic sing along!

 A handstand and a headstand.

 Looks like Ella has had enough of my picture taking!

 We received these great shots from Colette today.  The Octopus class was making sandwiches for people who are experiencing homelessness.  Ella loved it.

We were in NY/NJ for Passover last week.  We flew in on Friday, went to Bronwen’s bat mitzvah on Saturday, saw AJ perform on Saturday night, saw Aladdin on Broadway on Sunday and then had 2 seders at grandma and papa’s on Monday and Tuesday.  The whole family was there and it was so wonderful to be able to spend time together.  Here are some pictures from the amazing weekend and a few others…

 Rigth before we left for NY, Ella found these Peeps.  We still have lots of them!

 Mommy and mama at our first baseball game of the season together!

 It’s a beautiful day for a Bat Mitzvah.

 Celebrating with Bronwen.

 Together at AJ’s gig.

 Ella had this amazing expression on her face while watching AJ perform.  What a beautiful night.

 We all had so much fun at Aladdin.  Thank you grandma and papa!

 One more Aladdin shot – Ella gave a little donation to Broadway Cares.

 Sweet shot of cousins Georgia, Isabella, India and Ella at Bronwen’s Bat Mitzvah.

 We had a short but great visit with Brickelle, Brooklyn, Akilah and Brooke while we were in NY.  Great to see SF friends on the east coast.

 Sweet Panda in the grass.

 Action packed hour at Overpeck Park.

 Cousins searching for the Afikomen – Isabella found it!

 Beautiful Afikomen cover that Ella made.

Ella and Emma put on a creative and wonderful show for us.

 Love.

 The most beautiful true love is right here!

 Sister selfie.

This post will be filled with photos and captions.  We are all on overdrive.  I am especially on overdrive.  I am in the process of finishing my credential program and it is a huge endeavor.  Good news is that it will all be over soon!

Sweet Ella reading to Panda (and me).

 Ella is playing goalie and putting her time in on the field.  I really don’t know very much about soccer so I’m not going to pretend that I know what position she plays or anything.

The next set of pictures are of Ella’s observation journal from her latest amazing learning unit on Tide Pools and the Rocky Shore.  Ella studied the sea cucumber…

 Pretty amazing stuff!

Ella with the amazing project that the Octopus class worked on.  Such detail and hard work put into this masterpiece!

 Panoramic shot of the whole thing.