Ella had a great day at school today after a little sweatshirt morning trouble. When we picked Ella up from school we went over to the playground at the school. A whole bunch of other kids were there and Ella was having a particularly fun time with her friend Kaliko. He was running up the structure and then laying down and hang his head upside down and said things to Ella that were making her laugh her head off. Very cute. I took Ella swimming after school. I went to watch Sunny and Amy do a podcast on incarceration. They both did a great job. I’ll post it when I find out the website/blog for the podcast. I was happy to be there.
Play-doh early in the morning.
Looking up at Kaliko.
Mommy and Ella laughing.
Amy, Sunny and Deborah at the podcast.
Their thank you gifts. Great job ladies!
Having a blast
October 17th, 2008HAPPY BIRTHDAY AJ
October 16th, 2008It’s AJ’s birthday today. We wish we could be there to give you big hugs. We love you. Have a beautiful day. Enjoy Ella’s video. This is her version of “Happy Birthday”.
Picture day
October 16th, 2008Today was picture day at school. I think we are going to get the pictures in about 2 weeks. I asked Ella what they said to her while they were taking her picture and she said, “They asked me what I liked better, a birdie or a kitty cat”. I asked her what she said and she said, “a kitty cat”. We’ll see how the pictures come out.
Ella walking into school this morning.
Playing with the guys.
Singing “Buenas Dias” with Bella.
Becca came over for a while tonight. Here she is reading Ella a good night story.
Beautiful smiles
October 15th, 2008
Ella on her way to school this morning.
After Ella’s bath, she asked for her robe and she danced around and laughed.
Lemo’s Farm
October 14th, 2008We all had the day off today, so we decided to take Ella to Lemo’s farm for some fall fun. We played around there, fed some goats, went on a train ride, played on a playground, and just had a blast. Ella brought little pumpkins home for Stella and Juliet. She loved picking the pumpkins out. I am really tired so I am going to post some pictures.
Mommy and Ella feeding a baby goat.
Petting goats with mama.
Fooling around in front of the HUGE tire.
On the train.
Ella called this place “Tiger Lily” from Peter Pan.
Ella jumping in the bouncy house (didn’t last too long)
We ran into Ella’s old friend Ava along with her mom and sister. It was great to see them all.
Shopping for albino pumpkins.
Ella was watching these crazy ducks swim and jump and run on water! It was pretty funny.
Beautiful Ella/
Doing some pretend riding on the stagecoach
Introducing Ballerina Ella!
On top of tall mountain.
Mommy, Towby and Ella.
Hanging out on the top of tall mountain.
Practicing for the prom
October 13th, 2008I think we are still getting used to Ella’s pre-school schedule – a major change to our life schedule. We are exhausted on the weekends! The weather was beautiful and we just hung around the neighborhood. We took some really nice walks and played a lot with Stella and Juliet. The girls are really into costumes and I think we pretty much bought most of the cute Old Navy costumes for the kids. Today, Ella was a dragon, a skunk, a mouse, and a skunk again. She didn’t put on her cat costume or her monkey costume today. Tonight, we had dinner at Los Jarritos with the Kim/Arenas, Helen’s brother John and our friend Amy. Ella fell asleep in the car on the way to the restaurant but woke up about 1/2 hour later so happy to see her buddies. Ella and Juliet danced with each other to the juke box and I caught it on video. Helen wants them to go to the prom together.
Getting ready for a sunny day.
Ella likes to wear her shades on her head just like us.
Mommy and the two skunks.
The skunk sisters.
Running down the hallway this morning.
Mommy, Amy and Ella at Los Jarritos.
AND NOW FOR THE MOVIE…
Trip to the dentist
October 11th, 2008Ella woke up in the middle of the night last night and after sleeping in our room from 4:00 am – 5:15 am, she decided that she wanted to “go downstairs, turn on all of the lights and play”. It was the last thing that I wanted to do, but Sunny, being the amazing mommy that she is, went downstairs with the demanding little sleep deprived creature. I had to warn Alicia that Ella could potentially be a little jerky because she gets that way when she is tired, but she wasn’t at all. She had a great day. After school, we took Ella for ice cream and then to the dentist. Ella was fantastic at the dentist – no crying, really cooperative and even funny. There is a video of the trip to the dentist at the end. Tonight, we had dinner at Acme with Ellen and Joyce and Ella threw up at the table at the beginning of the meal. After she threw up, she was in a great mood and we had a great dinner. Either she had a little bug or the dental work made her sick. She’s sleeping soundly now. Hopefully she’ll sleep through the night.
The hallway shot on the way to school.
About to go down the slide after school.
Sneaking in a hug while I zipper Ella’s sweatshirt.
Exploring the garden that is in front of the school.
Finding a cozy spot to have ice cream.
Purple teeth at the dentist’s office.
Getting her teeth brushed.
Painting an airplane.
What a character
October 10th, 2008Ella is such a little character. I don’t really have any concrete examples at the moment, but that’s the best way I can describe her. Sunny and I took the day off for Yom Kippur and fasted and Ella went to school and had a blast. There is a video at the end of this entry of Ella running away from us up to her classroom. She loves school and she loves it when we come to pick her up. Today I bought Ella a new leotard and she told me that she really loved it but she knew that it would be itchy so she actually wanted to wear a shirt under it. This was a first. She’s actually becoming reasonable about her clothes. We all hung out today after school and then mommy went to temple with Becca. Ella and I stayed home and played around, did some painting and then Ella accompanied herself on the piano with a few songs. I’ll post them tomorrow when I have more time. She was so cute. After temple, we had Chinese food to break the fast. It was a sweet night – a good way to start the new year.
Leaving to go to school.
Ella has a new job. Alicia told us that she was really cute the other day doing the calendar. She didn’t know which number was 8 so she just kept pretending until she got the right one. Then Alicia had to pick Ella up in order to help her to reach the place where the tilted 8 was velcroed.
Ella waving bye bye.
I guess growing up in SF has turned Ella into a tree hugger.
Ella asked me to take a picture of her against the wall.
Ella in her new blue itchy leotard.
Ella in action
October 9th, 2008Ella is really loving school and she is having less and less accidents. It’s hard to believe how stressed out we were about potty training 2 months ago! Next step is the big girl bed. Here are a few pictures of Ella taken yesterday and today.
Mommy and Ella on our walk last night.
Here is our happy girl.
It looks like I am giving Ella a little “be careful” lecture.
On the way to school.
Watercolor! Ella’s favorite thing to do.
Ella and Brickelle on the swings after school.
Thank you
October 8th, 2008We just wanted to send a huge thanks out to our family and friends both near and far for all of your love and support. You have helped Sunny grieve with an incredible amount of compassion and ease. Here are some pictures that I took of Ella a few days ago. She heard from a mom at school that it may rain so she told me that she wanted to wear her rain coat, boots and use her Elmo umbrella. Here is Ms. Ella.
Practicing just in case it rains.
Later that day, mommy and Ella made brownies. Ella loved licking the bowl!