Tonight, our family and the Kim/Arena family had a holiday dinner. We all went to Acme and had a great time. The girls had a great time with each other and KJ fell asleep just as the food arrived.
The girls were fooling around and playing a game with Ron and Sunny. Here is Ella making her not smiling face.
Ron and KJ. KJ is such a sweet boy.
The girls being super silly.
Ella giving Juliet a big hug.
Ella and Stella loving each other outside of Acme. The palm trees have been beautifully lit for the holidays.This is a little video of Ella singing part of a song that the preschoolers are going to be performing at the CDS winter concert tomorrow. Here are the actual lyrics of the portion of the song…Hello, bon jour, buenos dias,G’day, guten Tag, Kon nich-i wa,Ciao, shalom, dobrey dy-en,Hello to all the children of the world!In this video, notice that Ella has decided that the “guten tag, kon nich-i-wa” part is really coochie taco, nichiwa.
Holiday dinner
December 18th, 20092 days until winter break
December 17th, 2009Ella is feeling much better. Today Sunny and I did a family share in her class. We told a brief story about Chanukah, taught the kids about the menorah, sang the dreidel song and then had a few games of dreidel going in the classroom. It was a lot of fun. Hope the kids enjoyed themselves as much as we did. Tonight we lit the candles and the Chanukah fairy brought Ella a gorgeous peacock puppet that she loves. She opened the gift and said, “Oh my god – a peacock – just what I have always wanted.” I asked her why she loves peacocks so much and she said, “Because the feathers are so beautiful mama!”
The vice principal at the school where I work gave me these to give to Ella. Very sweet flamingo slippers. Ella loves them.
A very serious Ella lighting the candles.
Ella and the newest member of her peacock family.
Goodnight.
Sunday night Chanukah party and Monday’s ballet video
December 15th, 2009On Sunday night, we went to a Chanukah party at Phyllis and Michael’s. Hannah and Naomi were there with some of their friends and Sog, Nicole and Zani were also there. Zani is 3 years older than Ella, but they had a great time together. The Chanukah fairy gave Ella a Cinderella doll and Ella is in love with it.
Ella in the elevator on the way to the party.
Ella and Zani playing around with Zani’s parents Sog and Nicole.
Me and Hannah having a serious conversation.
Ella and Zani trying to get in on some latke making.
Ella at ballet class today.
This was the last class before the holidays. The teacher told me tat Ella was an absolute angel to teach and that she teaches 22 classes per week, so she’s seen everything and she just thought Ella was terrific. Ella did do an amazing job today. all the other kids were running back to their moms during the class and Ella stayed in the circle, followed directions and danced heart out. Here’s the video.
Getting a little better every day
December 13th, 2009Ella had a little bit of a rough night last night with her sinus stuff, but her fever is gone. We hung around the house today. The weather was pretty bad – lots of rain. This afternoon, we went to Brickelle’s 5th birthday party. Ella was so excited all day about seeing Brickelle and some of her classmates. She was out of school for 4 days last week so it was extra exciting to see everyone. Brickelle’s party was at this sweet tea place in Ghirardelli Square. It was also a princess tea party so Ella was ready to rock and roll. Here are some pictures of the afternoon.
Ella is ready to go!
Ella and mommy on the way to the elevator. Check out their rain gear!
On the way to the party, we saw this beautiful rainbow while driving down the Embarcadero.
Some of the princess party goers. Ella and Brickelle decided that the vase of roses would add a special touch to the picture. What they didn’t realize was that there was water in the vase and they got wet when they tipped it towards them.
These two have too much fun together.
This was one fun princess party for all!
I was in the middle of reading a story to the girls when the guy in the top hat came over and said, “Do you mind if I read them the story?” I said, “Sure – go ahead – good luck trying to get them to listen.” He looked at me and said, “They’ll listen, they’ll listen”. Whatever. Here are 2 shots of Sunny “enjoying” his story and his presence.
It wasn’t really raining but the girls decided that the four of them needed to shove themselves under one umbrella.
Second night of Chanukah.
Good thing Ella can’ read yet.
This summer while we were back east, Ella fell in love with the trumpet. Uncle Michael is a professional trumpet player and Ella and Michael had some pretty wild jams this past summer. Every time Ella sees a trumpet, she says, “you know me and uncle Michael are trumpet players”. Ella also told us that she wanted a red trumpet. Well…while searching around for a red trumpet (I didn’t think they existed) I came across this red pocket trumpet. It is smaller than the trumpet Ella was playing this summer and it’s shiny and red. She really seemed to like it – I think we were more excited about giving it to her. We’ll see what happens. We may have a pro on our hands.
Happy Birthday Papa/Dad
December 12th, 2009Happy Birthday! We love you. Wish we were with you but we’ll see you very soon. Have a beautiful day.
Happy Chanukah
December 12th, 2009Ella woke up this morning with no fever! What a beautiful thing. It only took about 20 minutes to get her to take her medicine this morning. What an ordeal. I called the doctor and they called in another prescription – this time we ordered chocolate flavor. It’s still disgusting but she took it tonight. Tonight the Kim/Arena clan came over to celebrate the first night of Chanukah and to have Friday night movie night. It was a really fun night. Sunny made delicious clams and we had crab and rice pilaf and broccoli. Dinner was enjoyed by all. After dinner, the kids started drawing and just were having a fantastic time – they didn’t even react to the presents that were in front of them. We did have present time – we gave Stella and Juliet Zhu Zhu Pets and all three girls matching nightgowns. Helen and Ron gave all 3 girls real REI sleeping bags. It was very cute when all three girls changed into their matching nightgowns and got into their sleeping bags. Maybe one day we will all go camping…in a place where the tents are already there. We watched A Bug’s Life and then the beautiful night ended.
A “Happy Hanuka” greeting by Ella. I helped a little with the menorah but the rest was Ella’s.
Sunny was showing the girls this really funny video of a kid playing “I’m Yours”. They were cracking up.
Sweet Ella lighting the first candle of Chanukah.
Happy Chanukah!
The kids happily drawing.
The three amigas in their new nightgowns.
Testing out their sleeping bags downstairs.
Using their sleeping bags for Friday night movie night.
Here is a video of our version of the Von Trapp family singers…
Ella has a sinus infection
December 11th, 2009Ella woke up on Tuesday morning with a fever…not too high, but it was a fever. The only other symptom that she had was a stuffy nose, but she’s had a stuffy nose since Thanksgiving weekend. She stayed home from school on Tuesday and was just hanging around and resting all day. Her low fever continued. Same thing for Wednesday. Today, I took her to the doctor. Everything checked out fine – he didn’t think it was the flu, but he said that he thought it was a sinus infection. This means that Ella has to be on amoxicillin twice a day for the next 10 days. Ella told me that she wanted bubble gum flavored medicine. I told her that it was going to be a liquid that she had to drink and that maybe she would want another flavor, but she insisted on bubble gum. I should have never listened to her. It took an hour of screaming (both Ella and me) to get her to take it. Sunny finally mixed it in with chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup. What a nightmare. 19 more times to go! I just want Ella to feel better.
Another Monday Ballet Video
December 8th, 2009Ella did a great job again in ballet class. The video is long…only long enough for a grandmother to love. We’re counting on you grandma! Once again, Alicia gave Ella a fabulous hair do. A braid twisted into a bun. Fancy!
Now for the video…
Watching Brickelle sing in the choir at Glide
December 7th, 2009We have had such a busy weekend – full of fun stuff. Today, we took the train downtown and went to Glide Memorial Church to watch Brickelle sing in the children’s choir. Ella was so excited to go, but then she remembered that the music is kind of loud at Glide and decided that she didn’t want to go. We went and got earplugs and she then seemed excited again. Ella and Brickelle have formed a really beautiful friendship and then really love each other. Ella loved watching Brickelle sing and also loved watching Brickelle’s mom Akilah sing in the choir. When the children’s choir was done, Brickelle came and sat with us. After the service, both families walked over to Nordstrom and we had lunch at the Bistro. Tonight, we had dinner at Pasta P with Debbie and Toby. At first, Ella was a little cranky, but as the night went on, she was back to herself and having a blast.
Coming up from the train station.
A hesitant Ella and her ear plugs.
Ella took this picture of Brickelle.
Buddies!
Being silly.
Walking over to lunch.
Tree trimming at Kate’s
December 6th, 2009Tonight, Sunny and Ella went over to Kate’s to help decorate her tree. I had to do a thing for work, so I missed most of it but joined them there at the end. When I came in, Ella was so excited to show me what they did. She said that when they got there, there were only 2 ornaments on the tree and by the time I arrived, the tree was filled with beautiful ornaments. Ella and Sunny brought their own ornament to Kate’s. It was a Mickey Mouse Happy Chanukah ornament. Ella seemed like she had a great time. Here are some pictures.
Ella and her Mickey Mouse ornament.
Getting the ornaments ready to hang.
Kate and Ella hanging ornaments way up high.
Ella and Karen watching the tree trimming.
Ella was so excited about this candy cane…she doesn’t like peppermint, but this one was strawberry flavored. Starburst thinks of everything!