We recently bought Ella a “Johnny Jump Up” that hangs in the doorway. What we didn’t expect was that every single doorway in our flat was larger than 6″. So it has to go back. But, luckily my coworker was selling her stationary jumper — so here she is…

I’m finding that we’re only posting about our weekends. But, to be fair, nothing really happens during the week. So you’re not missing anything. Friday night I was listening to NPR on the way back home from picking up Ella. There was a story on about military returning home from the war. They were interviewing some folks from Alabama who were putting on a church dinner. The quote went something like this “We’re Baptist — so there’s fried chicken!” To which I thought, “Hummm, I’ve never made fried chicken.” So, we’re not Baptist, but we too had fried chicken, collard greens, and French fries. It came out fabulous, to my delight.



Saturday we lazed around the house. Milo loves to lie in the sun. Ella has been wanting to hang out on her own more, so here’s the kids …






Alex has decided to move his office from the Mission to the Richmond. Not only is it closer to our house, it’s right aboveGreen Apple, his favorite bookstore! Hopefully he’ll be able to move in next weekend.




After a walk to the video store, here was the fabulous view by our house. This is why they call it the Sunset!





Sunday morning was Easter. Seems like the bunny paid a visit to a very good little girl…



Here she is getting dressed…





I was ambitious enough to make her Easter dress. This may be a one time deal — don’t look too closely! We took the family toGlide for Easter services. It is very loud — great gospel music, clapping, a roaring good time. Ella slept. I can’t believe it, but she did.

Ella had a big week. She got to show off theOmar Little shirt Jared made her:




She went toJapan Town so mom and dad could get some Ramen (but not the $.10 pack of noodles we remember from our college days):



After dinner, we posed for some family photos in a Japanese photo booth:



Then on Sunday, we had our usual park walk. It was a little chilly in spite of the sun, so Ellie wore a hat. She ended up looking like a celebrity cancer patient trying to avoid the paparazzi:



After the walk, she joined dad for her first ever shower (which she loved). The mist from the water got all over her face, and she just closed her eyes and smiled. But parenting note: Holding a wet naked soapy baby when you’re wet and naked yourself is trickier than it sounds when you’re on dry ground:


Last but far from least: Ellie hit a new milestone this week, as evidenced in this video:

I had a job cancel this week, and so I took the time to spend with Ella. I’m now officially of the opinion that we should pay parents who stay home with children, and let people work for free. The economic returns are way out of balance for the work you put in.

But Ella and I had a great week. We ran errands to the bank, to the post office, had lunch with friends, took some long walks in the park (her favorite), had a trip to the doctor, went to my office, and today took a field trip to the South Bay. I had a work meeting (with someone who was gracious enough to let me bring Ella) and then made a stop to drop off a package, then went to visit our friends Jared and Karen.

Karen is atalented photographer, and she snapped some shots of Ellie and I while we were there:



But it was Jared’s skills that drew us south. Not hisfurniture making prowess, but a side project:



In addition to some mutual friends, and a tendency to long winded conversation, we also share a passion forThe Wire. Jared recently sent me a t-shirt with the likeness of Omar Little, a character on the show that recently met hisdemise. I talked him into making a few more, including one for Ella:






Ella insisted on thanking Jared in person:



It was a great week with the kids. Hope to be able to do it again soon.

I just received this photo from my brother. This is Ella’s Grandpa John and cousin Gray. I’m not even going to try to explain it.

Today the whole family is well! Finally… too much sickness in this house lately. To celebrate we went to Berkeley this morning for breakfast. A new place we’ve never tried, La Note for a nice French breakfast. Alex got the Creme Fraiche pancakes w/bacon and I got the Les Oeufs Lucas (which means two eggs lightly scrambled with goat cheese, chives, roasted tomatoes & toast) plus a bowl (literally) of hot chocolate. It was Ellie’s lucky day, because we gave her a couple tastes — a taste of bacon, jam, and chocolate. Not a the same time. She LOVED it. It was a riot.

She’s also gotten more talkative… we’ve moved beyond grunt-talking to a softer talk. Video below:

After an afternoon nap we took Milo and walked down to the park. It was sunny out, so we all wore our sunglasses.

We stopped at the video store, and she had a hard time picking out just the right movie…

The California Academy of Sciences has rebuilt their museum, and it’s set to open in late September. We like to walk by and check out the progress. We’ve also become members, so once they’re open we can walk down any time.

All in all, a great Saturday.