Scooter Scooter, I Love You!

Ella got a scooter from Abuela for her birthday. Not only did she get a scooter but she got matching knee and elbow pads, a helmet, and a backpack with sunglasses and a cell phone. Can we say true love?

Another morning of waking up to a present!
Riding

Even Sofia took it out for a ride

I know it has been post overload these past couple of days but things have slowed down considerably in our household so the posts should too. Time for us all to take a little breather.

The Jewish New Year started tonight, so L'Shana Tova to all our Jewish friends. Ella doesn't have school but we are going to children services tomorrow at the Temple and then to the Duck Pond to celebrate.

Sunday is Ricardo and my 6 year wedding anniversary so we are taking advantage of having Abuela around to go out for Thai food on Saturday night. Besides that we plan to just have a nice low key weekend.

Happy New Year!

The Finale to Ella's Birthday Weekend-The Party!

Today was Ella's big birthday party and boy was it fun...and loud, and chaotic. All I can say is, thank god we did it at In The Swing and not at our home. We had 23 kids, 3 babies and countless adults. All we had to do was provide the goody bags, pizza, fruit and veggie dip and the staff took care of the rest. It was a great time and Ella loved playing with her friends and is loving playing with all her new toys.

Playing

The main play area
Sofia and Abuela
Daddy and Ella (fake smile-just put me down!)
Sofia and her BFF Sammy
I turned around and found Sofia lying on her back on the mat. I thought she must have fallen (although she showed no signs of distress) so I picked her up and she just threw herself back into this position. Just chillin'
Pizza Time-Can you say CHAOS!?

Singing Happy Birthday to the Birthday Girl!
The Birthday girl and her parents (cute pic of Ricardo and Ella, not so much of me)
An attempt at a picture with all the kids. I think we're missing a couple of kids in this picture.
In a sea of presents

California cont...

So, I stink for not getting back to write more about CA. So I'm coming back now (a month later) to post some random pictures of the trip and pictures of the BIG party. It was a combined party for Sofia who turned 1 and my grandma, Tissie aka GG who turned 90!

We got back from Napa on Friday. Both girls had so much fun with their grandparents but were excited to see mommy and daddy.

We spent the next couple of days just hanging out and getting ready for the big party on Sunday.

We hung out with Uncle Will

We played with the dollhouse that Gaga painstakingly sanded and painted. This dollhouse was built for me by my Papa when I was 5 years old. I loved this dollhouse and played with it for many many years. It was never painted, so Gaga took the time to furnish it and sand and paint it. Ella loved it and Sofia liked pulling off the spindles from the deck :(

The birthday party was on Sunday, August 31st.

We had a great time with all our friends and family. We rented out a clubhouse in my mom's community and decorated with purple and green, ate lots of food and played. What could be better?

Of course we took no pictures together as a family, with GG, with Gaga, or with Abuela and Papa. I also didn't take any pictures of the decorations. I know...I'm horrible. I'm hoping Uncle Michael did and I can pilfer them from him. But these pictures will do for now.

The Birthday Girl and daddy
The other birthday girl, Tissie and Uncle Michael (her son/my mom's brother)
My mom hired these dancers from her community and well lets just say it was interesting. The kids loved it though!
Yes, these are old ladies in spandex and tassles..

Sofia couldn't get enough of it though
Ella and Madeleine loved them too

The Slovers-Pete, Stacey and Nick
Cousins Garrett, Anne and Kianna

Good friends Jack and Christina Cuddy
Cake Time

Checking out the cake

Daddy pushed her hand in so she looked at him like, What did you do that for?
Finally enjoying her cake

The other birthday girl enjoying her cake
The end result

The next day was Memorial Day and we went over to Cousin Garrett, Anne and Baby Kianna's house for lunch and the park. They have a beautiful home and the girls had a great time (as did Ricardo and I).

Helping Kianna open her birthday gift

Cuz Love!
Feeding the ducks across the street from their house (which coincidentally is the apartment complex Ricardo lived in when we first started dating 9 years ago!)

The day before we left we went to Children's Fairy Land at Lake Merritt. My mom has a lot of pictures of my brother and I there when we were children. Ella loved it, but all I can say is, well...it hasn't changed a bit. It's fun but just a little tired. But like I said, Ella had a blast and that's all that matters.

The Ferris Wheel-Luckily it was empty there so Ella got to just ride and ride and ride and ride...and ride...
Going down the slide for kids 5 and up!
Sofia enjoying the train ride

Later that evening we went to see Tissie one last time before we had to fly out. We enjoyed a nice dinner with her.

The girls just adore her and that just means the world to me. I'm so happy that they get to know their GG (Great Grandma) and she's not just going to be some "old lady" that the we talk about fondly. When we see her Ella climbs right into her lap and pushes her wheelchair down the hall. Sofia crawls all over her and they both just light up and smile and chatter with her. Tissie might be 90 but she really doesn't seem a day over 60 and I'm not just saying that. I know she's going to be with us for a long time to come and that makes me so happy.

No offense mom and Maggie, I mean you all are great Grandmas to my girls, but hands down, Tissie is the BEST Grandma in the world (and I'm not biased).

We tried (in vein) to get a picture with Tissie on our last night and this is how it turned out...

Don't we all look so classy?

We had a long flight home the next day. It was good to be home and sleep in our own beds but we sure did miss being with all our family.

But there was one member of the family who was glad to have us home!