Life With Ella

Happy Father’s Day Dad.  I love you so much.  You’re an amazing dad!  I can’t wait to see you.  Here are some pictures from the past week ending with another milestone for Ella…her 3rd tooth came out today.  It was the one of the ones on the bottom.  Her upper one should be out in the next few weeks. Ella was a little freaked out because the tooth that came out today was kind of bloody.  We noticed her taking deep breaths.  This week was the last week of ballet for the summer and the class was doing Swan Lake.  Ella decided that she wanted to wear the Tutu that she wore last year for the little performance.  She looked sweet and beautiful.  After the class, Hannah’s mom and I took Ella and Hannah to the Rainforest Cafe.  I had never been there before.  It felt like being at Disney.  Ella loved it so much and said that she wanted to live there.  I guess you have to see it to believe it.

 Our beautiful swan.

 Ella, Miss Laura and Hannah.  Cuteness!

 The cooky girls on the way to the Rainforest Cafe.

 Ella couldn’t get enough of this elephant.  She kept running to it and touching it and talking to it.

 Some giant stuffed animals running around.

 The fish tank right next to our table.

 The tooth.

Our beauty without her tooth!

Saturday was the last Asteroids game of the season.  It was a great season.  Ella really improved so much this year.  She loved playing catcher and was able to get the ball back to the pitcher, she had some great hits, and even tried to make some plays out in the field.  The kids on the team were great and we all had a lot of fun.

 Serious concentration.

 A sweet smile.

 Such a cool little catcher.

 Stepping into the hit!

 Getting her trophy from coach Brooke.

 Ella and her trophy (the player has a ponytail just like Ella).

Today was Ella’s last day of kindergarten.  She had a great day and a great year.  They had a very busy day today and we ended it at Bi-Rite for ice cream and then we hung out at Dolores Park for a few hours with a bunch of Ella’s friends.  Let the summer begin!

 Ella and of her teachers, Kay.

 Ella after the passing the torch ceremony.  She is now a 1st grader.

 Ella and Emmi at Dolores park looking a little like two street urchins.

As I’m writing this, I am thinking that tonight is Ella’s last night as a kindergartener.  Tomorrow is Ella’s last day of school and then she will be a 1st grader!  This year has flown by. Ella is really excited that tomorrow is the last day of school.  She’s looking forward to playing hard this summer.  Here are some shots from last weekend.

 Ella warming up with mommy before the game.

Ella and some of her teammates.

 Having fun at Taekwondo.

 Snow cone tongue!

 Walking across the visitor’s bullpen.

 Running the bases.  The Giants won!

Ella has been riding like a champion.

 Some fun jumping.

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.