Life With Ella

We had one last birthday dinner over the weekend. It was a lot of fun. At Helen’s recommendation, we even had our friends watch the kids while we all went out. Of course, we just went across the street to Acme, but it was liberating. My parents left on Sunday and I’m sure they are now going through Ella withdrawals. We miss them too! Here are some cute pictures from last Sunday.Here are Sunny and I at Acme.What a beautiful cake! It didn’t taste as good as Carol and Marietta’s Duncan Hines cake, but it was beautiful!Here are a whole bunch of our friends having dinner with us at Acme.Ella getting tickled by Towby licking her.Ella kissing papa.Ella kissing grandma.Just look at these three beauties!

It’s been a while…I feel a little overwhelmed. I have an incredible amount of pictures from our trip to Anguilla. I somehow have narrowed it down to about 78 pictures. That’s a lot. We had an amazing time. We were so sad when it was time to leave. It was a truly beautiful way to spend my 40th birthday. It was also so wonderful to watch Ella with our family and extended family and see all the love that everyone has for each other. Thank you everyone who celebrated with me, in San Francisco and Anguilla. Thank you for all the birthday wishes. Thank you mom and dad for making the week possible. I love you all. Now onto the pictures…

Ella on the airplane watching Dora and eating Cheerios

Here are Jesse and Heather on the boat from St Maarten to Anguilla.

Nikki B humoring me and giving me a great big smile as the boat takes us through bumpy waters

Grandma, Jesse and Heather on the boat. It had been almost 5 months since we all saw Jesse and Heather. We missed you guys!

Here is a really cool picture that Jesse took with his super zoom lens from his balcony. Mommy is walking and holding Ella on our first night in Anguilla. The weather was perfect.

Here are grandma and papa on their roof/terrace. They were checking out their place.

Ella gnawing on her first lamb chop with grandma and papa at the beach barbeque on our first night in Anguilla

AJ, Ella and Michael dancing with each other at the barbeque

Here’s part of our gang…Michael, Heather, Jordin, Kevin and AJ

Ella and papa having lots of fun together

Here are the 3 of us in the ocean. Ella had a pretty good time in the ocean, but she preferred the pool.

Here I am playing Kadima with Kevin.

Here are papa and grandma playing Kadima.

Here I am having a sweet moment with Ella.

Another sweet moment.

Here are grandma and Ella playing on the beach. Ella did not want to get sand on any part of her. She was sitting on a towel and had us carry her when we were on the sand.

Here is the amazing beach that we spent every day on. It was literally outside of our rooms.

Beautiful Ella getting ready for dinner. She was wearing an “om” necklace that AJ and Jordin gave her.

Mommy and mama at dinner.

Here’s the whole gang at dinner.

Ella drinking her first Shirley Temple and looking a little like Shirley Temple with her curly hair.

Another beautiful birthday celebration and an incredible chocolate souffle.

Ella in the morning. She had on a tutu and nothing else and was dancing around the room.

Here is a very happy Sunny welcoming in the beautiful day. This is the pathway from our terrace to the beach.

Here is Ella wearing…

AJ’s hat

I know this picture is from really far away, but that is Sunny and Nikki B out on that kayak! I wish I had Jesse’s super duper zoom lens.

AJ playing Kadima.

AJ was very patient with Jordin while they were playing Kadima.

Here’s a great picture of Uncle Jesse chillin’ on the beach

Here I am building a castle for Ella.

Here is the finished sand castle. I think Ella’s toys appreciated it more than she did!

Grandma and papa taking a walk on the beach.

Ella with a captive audience at the pool.

Grandma and Ella waiting to be seated at dinner.

Beautiful Ella smiling for the camera.

Another Shirley Temple!

The next morning, papa and mommy went out and hit some golf balls. Looks like they had a blast.

While papa and mommy were out hitting golf balls, Nikki B and grandma were out on the sea in a kayak! Uncle Jesse took this one with his super zoom.

On Monday, we all went over to Calindius by the Sea – KK and Claudius’ house. KK (Carol) hosted a beautiful birthday lunch for me. Claudius cooked an amazing meal and KK and Marietta made a beautiful party. Jordin and Kevin also helped make the day perfect. KK even hired a live singer who serenaded us while we ate lunch. Thank you for such an amazing day KK, Marietta, Claudius, Jordin and Kevin.

Here is Claudius cooking the crayfish. I couldn’t include his face in the picture because he is a Rasta and he said that a photo can steal his soul.

KK, Ella and papa in the pool at KK’s place.

Here we are having lots of fun in the pool.

Marietta, KK and Jordin hanging out at the party.

AJ helping Ella the burrito dry off.

Here is a sweet picture of papa looking very happy.

Ella jammin’ on the recorder.

Nikki B in heaven…the great outdoors and a diet coke.

Here we are getting ready for the cakes to come out.

There’s nothing quite like Duncan Hines white trash cakes! They were delicious.

Birthday kiss!

Another birthday kiss!

Jordin and Kevin finally relaxing.

Mommy rocked Ella to sleep! Nothing more sweet than that.

Mommy passed Ella over to uncle Jesse who got to feel the amazing feeling of Ella totally letting go.

Ella and Heather relaxing after breakfast. Unfortunately, it was Jesse, Heather, AJ and Nikki B’s last morning in Anguilla.

“I see you…” Here is Ella checking herself out in the coffee pot.

Ella about to attack her chocolate croissant

The siblings. It was so great to be together for my birthday!

Saying goodbye to Nikki B and Heather.

Grandma and Ella in the pool after lunch.

Papa and Ella enjoying the water.

Mommy and Ella swimming over to papa.

Mommy and I went to get massages and Ella and grandma took a nap on the beach. Thanks for holding down the fort papa!

I had to bribe Ella with M&M’s to wear this head band!

Checking out the fish pond.

Mommy and Ella checking out pictures on papa’s computer.

Papa and Ella playing around in the closet.

Bye grandma and papa…we love you!

Ella doing a little ballet in the room.

Ella relaxing on “crabby” in the pool.

Kissing mommy in the pool.

More fun in the pool.

Hanging out on the beach chair with Chloe – a friend that Ella made on our trip.

Sharing spaghetti on our last night in Anguilla

Making friends everywhere she goes…Ella and Etienne at the airport.

Waiting for our luggage to arrive at JFK.

I have a lot of stuff to do, so I’m going to make this short. Ella and grandma walked to the Aquarium of the Bay today. It’s on Pier 39. It’s a 7 mile round trip walk. They all had a lot of fun. Tonight at Ella’s request, Ella, grandma and I ate dinner at Nordstrom. Ella was in the mood for their mac and cheese and french fries. We had a blast. We’re going to NJ on Thursday and we’ll be reunited with mommy and papa. We love you guys – can’t wait to see you.Ella and grandma playing around on the spider on the way to the aquarium.Ella looks really happy and excited to be at the aquarium.Ella and grandma touched the rays today! Ella was really excited to tell me about it.Ella at dinner wearing a new headband that grandma and papa bought for her.Hooray! Here is a very happy Ella after eating a delicious dessert.

Today, Ella and grandma went to yoga, had a play date with Mei, Kai, Stella and Juliet, took a nap, read books, painted, played in the house, and then had dinner together at Amici’s. Grandma is in heaven and so is Ella. I had to work all day and then I had a tennis match at night. Here are some of grandma’s photos from today.

Here’s Ella playing with a train set and the little people. Grandma said that Ella really liked to arrange the people.

Here is one of Ella’s people arrangements

After Ella’s nap, she had some apples and soy butter…she also had grandma put her in her leotard and tutu.

Ella went to dinner in her leotard, tutu, pants, sweatshirt and boots. There is no rain and no need for boots, but Ella took them out of the closet and put them on all by herself. Grandma said that as they were leaving, Ella grabbed her toy cell phone and said, “Oh – I need my phone” and proceeded to make a few calls.

Ella before the spaghetti arrived.

Looks like Ella ate well!!! Yummy!!!

Ella and her artificial sweetener collection.

We are all going away next week for my birthday but Sunny had to leave to go to NY early because she has some work to do. Sunny left this morning and grandma arrived this afternoon. Grandma is mommy’s stand-in for the week. I have a lot of work to do before we go away. Before mommy left, she explained what was going on to Ella. This morning, when Ella woke up (Sunny was already gone), she said, “Mommy went to NY and then she will come to New Jersey and we will all go to Anguilla. Today we will pick up grandma from the airport.” I guess Ella pretty much comprehends and remembers everything. Ella was super excited to see grandma. Tonight, we had a nice dinner with Uncle Ray and Aunt Abigail.

I took this picture of Ella after dinner. She looks like a spacey little elf to me.

They are not happy to see each other at all!

Not one bit!

At dinner, Ella was playing with her necklaces and bracelets and announced, “When we go home, I want to take off my shirt and pants and diaper and crocs and put on these and walk around naked”. Life is beautiful.

We all went to Tyler’s birthday party today. It was a lot of fun. Ella did, however, fall off of an indoor slide and hurt her finger. She was crying for a while and wasn’t really able to communicate what was wrong. I moved every joint in her body to make sure that nothing was broken and there was no blood, so that was good. It turns out she jammed her middle finger on her right hand. It could have been so much worse. After about 1/2 hour, Ella started climbing up the slide again! She said, “I’m not going to fall off and I am going to be brave.” I guess falling off the horse and getting back on really helped the cause. Everyone at the party was really sweet and wonderful. Ella was the greatest!

Here’s a picture of Ella at the party. She is one happy kid and really loves to party.

Here’s Ella climbing up the slide

They had a face painter at the party, but Ella decided that she wanted to have her legs painted. Pretty cool.

Today was a beautiful day. Ella and I started the day going downtown to SFMOMA to get a birthday present for her buddy Tyler. We’re going to his party tomorrow. We came home and went over to Stella and Juliet’s for a play date with Stella, Juliet, Mei, Kai and Tyler. The kids had a lot of fun. Ella started to get a little cranky so I took her home for a nap which of course she never took. At around 5:00 the kids went into the garden and “painted” on the walls. Then we played with bubbles. We had dinner with the Kim/Arenas and took a beautiful walk after dinner. The weather was still great and the kids played in the little park. As we were walking past the ball park tonight, Ella looked at me and said, “I smell french fries”. She was right! We were walking by a concession stand that they allow you to go to if you are not attending the game. We got the girls fries which they loved.

I took Ella to let the dogs out this afternoon and the sprinklers were on in the garden. Ella stood in one corner and was “rained” upon. She thought it was really funny.

Here’s a cool shot of the girls “painting” in the garden.

Ella blowing bubbles again

Tonight Ella practiced her new jumping skills by jumping off this small step. She did a great job but also fell a few times and had pretty raw knees by the end of the night.

Here’s another one of my overhead shots of Sunny, Juliet, Stella, Helen and Ella…almost looks like they were actually at the beach.

I have a lot of photos to share here. We had a great Thursday. First we went to My Gym, came home and went to the baseball game with mommy. After the game, Ella took a nap. Tonight, Stella and Juliet came over while Helen and Ron were at a preschool orientation. We took the girls to the little park behind the ballpark and they had a blast. Phyllis met us over there. After the park, we took a nice walk towards home and stopped at the ice cream place and had some ice cream. After ice cream, we all came back to our house.   What a beautiful day and night.Ella in the elevator on the way to My GymHere we are at the ballgame. It was somewhere in the 90’s today…very hot for SF. Ella was getting a kick out of me splashing her head with water.Here is Ella at the park. She insisted on wearing her leotard to the park. We had a compromise – she had to wear little pants too!Here is a really sweet picture of JulietElla is getting really good at blowing bubblesElla was standing on the back of a tricycle that Ella was trying outElla is a great passenger! She’s giving Juliet a little kiss on the head.The girls playing at “the beach”. Look at those dirty feet!Here’s an overhead shot of the ice cream party.

Seems like we have had so much going on…work, work, a visit to CDS, work. Here are 2 pictures I took recently. There will probably be more pictures tomorrow. I have the day with Ella.

We found a ladybug on our curtains the other night while we were eating dinner. Ella was very excited to hold it. We set it free in the garden a little while later.

Here’s a picture of Ella right before she was going to bed. Last night, Ella fell asleep at around 10:45, woke up at 8:00, didn’t take a nap all day, went to music class and tonight went on a visit to Children’s Day School. Ella played in the playground and investigated the classrooms. After that, we went to dinner at Pasta Pomodoro and then took a stroll down 24th street where we bumped into our friend (and real estate agent) Nadia. Ella took to her immediately, let her hug her and kiss her and it was a pleasure to see. Ella was still in a really good mood when she finally passed out at 9:30 tonight.