Life With Ella

OK – getting back on track here.  All I have to say is that we’ve been having a wonderful break from school/work.  Mommy still has to work but we love it when she comes home.  Grandma and papa have been here for a week and it has been so wonderful having them here.  AJ, Milo and Michael arrived today.  It’s going to be so much fun having everyone here.  Here are pics from the past 2 weeks.

I took Ella and her friend Isabel ice skating at Union Square the week before the break.  We all had so much fun.  Ella was zipping around the rink!

 Here are some shots of Ella during her Winter Performance.  She was so sweet and adorable.  I can’t believe that this is her 5th CDS Winter Performance!

We had a wonderful Dim Sum meal on Christmas Day.

 Grandma and Ella had some great Jenga games going.

 An archetectural masterpiece by Ella.

 Ella and papa worked so hard on one of Ella’s Lego projects.  They make a great team.

 On Thursday, grandma and papa took Ella to see the Nutcracker.  They all had a wonderful time.

 Mr. Panda.

Beautiful cousins catching up!

 Sunny entertaining everyone with her hula hoop skills.

 More family hula hooping.  Ella was the most coordinated by far.

 Ella and AJ dancing the night away.

Grandma dipping Milo.

It has been super busy around here since Friday!  On Friday afternoon, Ella performed in her very first play.  The afterschool program at CDS put on “A Light In the Attic” and other poems.  Ella was adorable and really liked being in the play.  She thought Monday and Wednesday rehearsal was too much and probably won’t be doing another play in the spring but she had a great time.  On Friday evening, we celebrated the night before Chanukah with the Kim/Arena clan.  We had latkes, blintzes, chicken, broccoli and had chocolate gelt for dessert.  Helen and Ron got all the kids Beyblades and they had some great tournaments.  On Saturday morning, Ella took a long scooter ride as I walked quickly along side.  It was a beautiful day.  Late in the afternoon, Sunny and I watched as Ella got her green belt in TaeKwonDo.  Ella has been working hard but now needs to start working harder.  She has forms to memorize.  It was pretty fantastic to see Ella up there with some pretty big kids earning her green belt.  Tonight, we went to a fantastic Chanukah party at Becca’s house.  It was really a wonderful night with the most delicious latkes.

 Some shots from before and after the play.  I have some on a movie but I have to do a little editing.

 Twas the night before Chanukah.

 The Schwartz moms and the Kim/Arena boys!

 Green Belt!Happy Chanukah!

 Ella’s latest Powerpuff art.

I have had so much work to do that I have neglected the blog once again.  Here are some pictures from the weekend that grandma and papa were here and some from the past few days.  We miss grandma and papa very much but are so excited that we will all be together at the end of the month.  Life has been good and busy.  Ella is in a play at the end of the week and then has a music theater performance on Tuesday evening.  I have my big winter concert on  December 13th and then things should mellow out a little.

 Ella leaping her way to the Ferry Building.

 Great shot of the three musketeers after eating a delicious Dim Sum meal.

 We all had a great time bowling.  Looking forward to a rematch.

 On Saturday night, we took Ella and Emmi ice skating on the Embarcadero.  It was super crowded, but Ella did a fantastic job skating around the crazies!

 Emmi slept over and the girls went and played on the Coke slide that next morning.

 Ella and Panda right by the ballpark.

Ella and sweet Isaac on Friday night movie night.

Today was a wonderful day in so many ways – we had beautiful company, beautiful weather, great food, a fun movie, and a game of monopoly jr!  We started out our day with a bike ride for mommy and Ella and a walk for grandma, papa, panda and me.  Ella was flying on her new bike.  After a lot of fresh air, we headed to Pier 39 for our traditional Thanksgiving lunch at the Crab House.  After the Crab House, Ella went bungee jumping.  Ella flipped backwards by herself for the first time!  She was amazing.  She must have flipped like 15 times.  After all the activity, we went downtown to the Metreon and saw Wreckit Ralph.  Ella cracked up in some parts.  It was pretty good.  Our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of spanakopita, grilled cheese sandwiches, bok choy and two amazing Asian Pears.  We had a heated game of Monopoly Jr. and then we called it a night.  Once again, it’s so wonderful having you here grandma and papa.

 Mommy and Ella driving down to the library.

Papa with his fur grandson.

 Grandma was jogging along for a while.  Great stamina!

 So beautiful watching you guys ride together.  Can’t wait to get my Chanukah present (hint, hint).

Beautiful family shot.

 Family shots at the Crab House.  AJ taught me that pose.  Maybe I overdid it a little.

Waiting on line to jump!

 Check out Ella the flipping fiend!

 Some more love for grandma and papa.

 It’s Monopoly Jr. time.  I was the banker.  Grandma’s glasses are at it again.

 Grandma and her fur grandson.

The birthday celebrations continue!  I think today was the last day of celebration and presents.  On Saturday night, we went to the Rainforest Cafe (bad food but fun for Ella and her friend Hannah) with Hannah and her mom Meghan.  It was a fun night and Ella and Hannah had so much fun.  On Sunday we took Ella, Marlowe and Emmi to the Academy.  Once again – they all had a great time with a little 6/7 year old drama at the end of the night.  On Monday, grandma and papa arrived.  We are all so happy that they are here.  Grandma, papa and mommy went to Ella’s school for grandparent’s day on Tuesday (I had to work).  Ella read stories and made bookmarks for grandma and papa.  On Tuesday night, Sunny and I had a date night and went to the MLB screening of the Giant’s World Series movie.  It was a fantastic movie and it was really exciting to be at the event.  Grandma, papa and Ella also had a date night at Momo’s.  I’m sure they had as much fun as we did!  Today, grandma and papa took Ella to the bicycle store to get her birthday present…a new bicycle with 20″ wheels.  Can’t wait to see Ella soar on her bike.  We had a great dinner at home tonight and then we played Pictionary Junior.  We had some great laughs.  It’s great to be on a mini-vacation from work and to have grandma and papa here!

 Mommy and Ella at the Rainforest Cafe.

 Hannah and Ella and Ella’s volcano birthday cake.

It’s snowing at the Academy.

 Ella, Marlowe and Emmi having a great time.

 Ella and papa worked really hard on Ella’s new Star Wars Lego project.

Grandma gave great moral support.

 Grandma, papa and Ella were quite a great pictionary team.

 Papa drawing a tennis court.

 Ella drawing her version of a turtle dove.

 Panda really wanted to play.

 I was not so great at pictionary tonight.

 We only had a few turns becuase Ella and her grandparents were such a great team.

 I couldn’t resist…grandma had a little issue with her reading glasses but she hung in there!

So as you can see – so much fun was had on the first day.  Here are the shots from day two and a few shots from today.  Stella and Juliet (and the rest of the Arena/Kim clan) gave Ella her birthday gift tonight…something Ella was dreaming about having that we were not willing to get her.  Ella now has her own American Girl Doll.  Ella named her Sophia.  She is so happy and they are now sleeping soundly in Ella’s bed.  They are both in their pajamas.

 Ella and Heather on Day 2.  Look out Disneyland…here we come! Showing some beautiful love on Main Street.

 Ella and Heather waving at the characters driving by.

 Ella getting a birthday wish from grandma.

 Our beautiful 7 year old.

 Waiting on line at Star Tours.

 Here we are before going into the Buzz Lightyear ride.

 I don’t know exactly what was going on but it looks like fun.  We were waiting to go onto the little roller coaster.

 Jesse, Ella and Heather on the Roger Rabbit Ride.

 Jesse and Ella on the Mader ride.

 Ella and her chihuahua cousins.

I took these two shots of Ella today before Musical Theatre class.  We climbed up a tall hill and we were on top of the world.

Ella’s dreams have come true.  Here she is with her “sisters” and their American Girl dolls.

We just came back from a wonderful weekend with Jesse and Heather in LA/Disneyland.  We celebrated Ella’s  7th birthday at Disney.  This is becoming such an incredible tradition.  We all had a terrific time.  We went to the new Cars section of the California Adventure Park.  One of the rides, Radiator Springs Racers was the greatest ride.  The first day there, we waited on line for 3 hours for the ride and then were turned away when the ride broke down.  Ella was such a champion – she hung in there.  We left that part of the park and went on a bunch of different rides – The Little Mermaid, Toy Story, Soarin’, and then Ella went on her first little roller coaster type thing.  It was Goofy’s Flying School.  She got a little nervous on some parts, but she loved it.  We also went on the Bug’s Life rides, Monsters Inc (3 times) and then we went on Luigi’s Tires and Mader’s Ride in Cars land.  At the end of the night we decided to go on the single rider line for Radiator Springs Racers.  The line is much shorter but they separate you into cars that need the extra people.  Luckily, Sunny and Ella ended up on the same car, but Ella said that she was willing to go alone if she had to – not her first choice though!  We all LOVED the ride.  The next day, we woke up and drove to Disney for Ella’s birthday.  This time, we started in Disneyland.  First we ate an amazing lunch in “New Orleans”.  After lunch, we went on Pirates of the Caribbean.  Ella liked it but it sort of creeped her out.  After pirates, we went to the Star Wars Star Tours ride – it was amazing.  We all loved it.  After that we went on Buzz Lightyear, and then went over to Toon Land so that Ella could ride on a roller coaster.  We all ended up going on it and although it was a “kiddie ride” it was thrilling.  After the roller coaster, we went on Roger Rabbit and then we went on the Haunted Mansion ride.  We took the train back to the main gate and then headed back into the California Adventure Park.  We went to Radiator Springs Racers again – single rider line and Sunny and Ella once again lucked out.  Then we did Mader’s ride again, Soarin’, Monsters’s Inc and we finished our night at the Little Mermaid.  Today we spent them morning hanging out with Jesse and the dogs.  What a perfect weekend.

Beautiful Ella at the airport ready to rock and roll.

 Waiting on line for the Radiator Springs Racers.

 Making a birthday wish.

 Now that face is saying, “I don’t want to be on this line anymore!”

 On the Little Mermaid with Jesse and Heather.

 Waiting on another line for Goofy’s flight School

 It was starting to get cold!

 We were a little chilly but really excited to go on  the Toy Story ride.

Best shot of the weekend.

 Jesse and Heather on Toy Story.

 Having a lot of fun on Luigi’s tire Ride.

Stay tuned for day 2…I am super tired.

Here are a few shots of Ella during the past few days.  Ella got a pogo stick from us for her birthday and she is starting to learn how to operate it.  She is having a lot of fun with it.

Here are the girls meditating before watching Madagascar on Friday night.  Beautiful.

 Let the pogo sticking begin!

Today Ella’s six game season was over.  It’s pretty incredible how much this team has grown.  Ella actually likes it!  Maybe she will play next year after all.  Ella played goalie today for the entire game.  She did a great job – only let 3 goals get by her.  We’re going to work with her on getting in there and grabbing the ball.  She’s a very sweet goalie.  Time for her to learn to be more aggressive.  Tonight, we had dinner with a friend of ours who is in town from Maryland.  We had a great dinner at Koh Samui and the monkey.

 Ella was doing a great job following the game today.

 Presenting the 2012 Black Widows.

Ella getting her medal.

 After dinner with Cheryl.

 Ella and Willie.