Life With Ella

Ella and grandma have been having a blast this week.  They have taken 2 ice skating lessons, gone to the Academy, out to lunch, taken a few trains and just have loved being with each other.  Grandma has documented the week for me and I am putting them up here.   Hopefully Ella will take a few pictures of grandma tomorrow.  The movie at the end is 2 days of ice skating, a magic trick and penguins being fed.

 Ella day 2 in the middle of the ice.

Our cousins were visiting this week and we got to see them for two dinners.  Here are Ella and Georgia at Scomas.  Ella and Georgia had so much fun together.

 Beautiful cousins – Bronwen, Georgia and Ella.

 Checking out the fish at the Academy.

 Eew…eels!

For the first time ever, butterflies landed on Ella at the Academy.  Grandma said that Ella was so gentle and patient.

 Hanging out after lunch.

 Serious and goofy.  Lots of love.

Once again I have fallen behind on the blog.  We all miss Towby so much!  The love and impact that Mr. Towby had on our lives is incredible.  Sunny and I got out of town on Friday and grandma and papa came to town to spend time with Ella.  Ella was so excited to be with them.  They had a fantastic weekend and Sunny and I had as good a weekend as expected.  Towby was in our hearts and on our minds.  We came back on on Sunday and got to spend some great time with papa before he went back on Monday.  Ella is off from school this week.  Grandma is here all week to be with Ella while Sunny and I are at work.  Ella is thrilled and I think grandma is too.  The photos I am putting in are from Ella’s field trip all the way through today when Ella and grandma took an ice skating lesson.  The video is from last Thursday when I took Ella to work with me.  The video is of Ella jamming with 2 of my 7th grade students.  Ella had a blast coming to work with me and the kids loved her.

 Ella on the morning of her field trip.  Ella was super lucky because mommy went on the field trip with her.

 Ella and her buddies Zach and Sakura.  Mommy drove the three of them up to Muir Woods.

 Ella and her Muir Woods journal.

Ella and her class listening to the ranger.

 Peace and beauty.

 Ella writing in her journal.

 Fun in the tree cave.

 Ella and some of her classmates.

 Writing down observations.

 Look at these majestic trees!

The Redwoods!

 Ella’s first swimming lesson in a long time.  Mommy said she was fantastic.

 Ella was rockin’ the drums at my work.

 Getting ready to hit the ice.

Ella and her ice skating lesson.  Grandma took the lesson too!  They are going back for another lesson tomorrow.  Hopefully Ella will grab the camera and take some shots of grandma.

 Love.

Another weekend has gone by and Ella had tons of fun.  On Friday night, Stella, Juliet and KJ came over for movie night and so Helen and Ron could go to a restaurant and watch the Knicks play.  On Saturday, Ella did a lot of Heelying – she’s getting pretty good, and then we went to south park.  Check out the video below.  Saturday night, Ella got to sleep next door while Sunny and I went to a kindergarten cocktail party.  We all had fun.  On Sunday, we had brunch with some CDS friends and then I went for an MRI.  Results should be in within the next day or two.  Fingers crossed everything is cool.  Debby and Toby came over while Sunny took me to the MRI.  We chilled at home on Sunday night.  Monday was back to work and school.  Ella is still very excited about reader’s workshop and is super excited to go on a field trip tomorrow to Muir Woods.  Sunny is driving and supervising Ella and a few friends.  They are going to have an amazing time.  Grandma and papa are coming on Friday.  This is totally exciting!  We can’t wait.  Sunny and I are supposed to go to Vegas for the weekend but we’re not sure what we’re going to to because Towby the dog is pretty sick.  We’ll see, one day at a time.  We really love the little guy.  I don’t think he’s ready to go, but it’s just so sad.  Tonight we had a valentine’s day ice cream party with the Kim/Arenas.  Always fun.

 Ella’s self-portrait.

 Friday might movie night!

Heelys!

 South Park!

 Valentines day at the kim/arenas.

Now for the movie…

Ella had a fantastic weekend last weekend full of movie night, birthday parties, Taekwondo, and then a Superbowl party at Helen and Ron’s.  The weekend was great.  This week, something new was introduced in Ella’s classroom.  They call it “reader’s workshop”.  Basically, the teacher puts 5 books in each kid’s bin thing and then the kids get 10 minutes a day to read their books.  Ella was so excited about this.  I think the teachers eventually help the kids figure out their “just right book”.  We’re so happy that Ella is so excited about reading.  Ella also started reading music this week during her drum lesson.  Check the video below.  She’s playing so slowly because she is actually reading each beat.

 Ella outside of the bowling alley before one of the birthday parties over the weekend.

 Ella was very serious about her bowling.

 Ella and Michael, Stella, Juliet and KJ’s new cousin.

 Ron and KJ celebrating the big win.

 Sweet Juliet and her cousin Michael.  Getting ready for a new baby brother on February 29th!

 Our beautiful ballerina.

 Ella is amazing at jumping rope.  Check out the video.

weather was beautiful and Ella had an fun filled weekend.  On Friday night, we had Friday night movie night with the Kim/Arenas.  This is one of Ella’s favorite things to do!  On Saturday, we took Ella to a birthday party at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley.  First the kids made slime and then then all played hard outside.  Ella loved it.  On Sunday, we spent a good part of the day outside.  Ella, Stella and Juliet were on their Heelys and KJ was riding his scooter.  The kids had a great time.  After our outdoor activities, we met Becca for brunch and took Juliet with us.  On Sunday night, my old friend David came over for a visit.  It was great to see him.

 Climbing on the DNA structure outside of the Lawrence Hall of Science.

 Getting read to make the slime.

 Helping Rosie make the slime.

 Having a really fun time.

 Deep in thought after the party.

 Heading over to “tall mountain”.

 Towby enjoying the great outdoors.

 Picking flowers.

 The finished product.

 Fun with Towby.

And now for another slow motion movie from this weekend…

We had a long weekend this weekend.  We both could have used a few more days to get the work done that we need to do but it was great to get some good family time in.  On Friday night, Stella, Juliet and KJ came over for movie night.  The kids watched the Little Mermaid.  The girls ended up staying over because their cousin was born early in the morning!  Ella loved having the girls sleep over.  On Saturday, Helen gave Ella her Chanukah present.  It was a pair of Heelys.  They are sneakers that have wheels on the bottom.  They are pretty hard to do.  Ella spent some time struggling to figure out how to do it but soon figured out her own way.  The video at the end shows the 1 day evolution of Ella and Heelys.  Ella went to TaeKwonDo on Saturday and then on Saturday night, we hung out with friends from Ella’s school.  While the adults were downstairs hanging out downstairs, the kids were upstairs watching Star Wars.  It was Ella’s first time, and her friends Harry and Eli were great about explaining what was going on.  We pretty much spent Sunday and Monday around the neighborhood, Heelying around and then today, I took Ella out to the cove to do some batting practice.  This year, Ella’s t-ball team is going to do coach pitching.  Ella was amazing.  She made contact with the ball quite a few times and I was pitching from pretty far away.  There are 2 small clips of that in the video too.  I think you have to download it in order to see it.  Not sure why this issue is happening, but the movie is there.

 Ella and 2 of her favorite people.

 Ella’s TaeKwonDo group is now made up of Ella and about six 7 – 9 year old boys.

 Ella meditating at the end of class.

 Ella and her Heelys.