“for you are fearfully and wonderfully made…”

dear ellie,

today you are three years old and a full-fledged “big girl.” gone is the squishy baby with the roly-poly arms and wispy fine hair, the diaper-toting toddler who once slept in a crib. you are three, big girl! you hold up three fingers and tell me so, which is how i know it’s true.

your hair is still blonde, but its gotten longer and darker. we decided to give you bangs this year, a style choice i will never regret, not even when you’re older and want to grow them out and have to go through that awkward not-so-cute stage. your deep blue eyes continue to sparkle and your smile is as beautiful as ever.

the older you get, the more inquisitive you are, and the level of your intelligence continues to astound us. your memory is vast — sometimes you recall things that happened more than six months ago and i have to rack my brain before i realize for myself exactly what is it you’re talking about.

even in our new house and your new bed, you have continued to sleep well. you take one nap during the day and sleep between 10 and 12 hours a night. as well as you sleep, though, you are the personification of a morning person. every day you wake up bright-eyed, so eager to start your day. you are the most wonderful thing about every morning.

we spend our days together running errands, taking art classes and having playdates with friends. we go to the zoo and the mall and the park, feed ducks and have picnic lunches together. you will start preschool later this year, and although it’s only a few times a week, i will miss you more than i can explain.

milestones this year included your first haircut, your first art and swim classes, your first time in the snow, your first time on a boat, and the ever-daunting (but really not so bad) potty training. it took about two weeks and you were a potty pro. i am so, so proud of you.

it’s hard to believe it’s been three years since the first time i laid eyes on you, heard your first cries, held you, fell in love with you. there is no higher honor, no greater privilege, nothing in the world that makes me happier than being your mommy.

happy 3rd birthday, my sweet girl.

love,
mommy

christmas! ah, christmas. it feels weird to recall it now, since it seems like it all happened months ago in a whirlwind of ribbon and wrapping paper. it always goes too fast, doesn’t it?

anyway.

the timing of our christmas celebrations has always worked out extremely well (thank goodness, as it’s favorable to avoid drama whenever possible). we spend christmas eve with ryan’s mom’s side of the family, christmas day with mine and the day after christmas with ryan’s dad. we even added a little something new to our holiday this year: christmas eve breakfast at the ginns <3

let me rewind a few weeks. the season got off to a jumpstart the weekend after thanksgiving when ryan strung icicle lights outside (so pretty) and we bought our christmas tree, the first in our new house.

during that same week, ellie and i gave ryan an evening to himself and went with my parents to the tilden park merry-go-round to see it all done up in lights for the holidays. it was beautiful! we braved the cold long enough to go for two rides, enjoyed some fresh popcorn and, most importantly, each other’s company. i think we’ll make it a tradition!

the rest of december flew by. we decorated cookies with friends, took pictures with santa at the mall and partook in other fun christmas-type activities. the next thing we knew, it was the morning of christmas eve and we were enjoying a delicious homemade breakfast with our favorite couple, matt and alyssa. it was cozy, relaxing and the perfect way to start the holiday. we were so happy to be invited.

after breakfast we went back home for a bit before heading over to ryan’s mom’s house in our pajamas (danielle’s idea, and one we all embraced). we enjoyed another delicious meal and then sat down to open the piles of presents that surrounded the tree. we all spoiled each other, as families often do, and ellie (the most spoiled of all because she is the baby) was in absolute heaven.

we arrived home late that night, but not too late to put out cookies, milk and carrots. ellie woke up bright and early the next morning, and ryan made sure to have his iphone ready to record her reaction to the sight that santa had come.

after presents, breakfast and a little play time, we headed over to my mom and dad’s for more family time and yes, more presents! the best part was when my dad opened his new computer from my mom. most expensive gift ever! well, except for that time she bought him the mercedes … just kidding. needless to say, he was happy.

from there we drove an hour and a half to my aunt and uncle’s house for christmas dinner. it was good to see both them and my cousins, since we hadn’t spent time together for a good six months. the company was good and the prime rib dinner was delicious.

as burnt out as we may have felt after the initial marathon of christmas eve and christmas day, we drove home and woke up refreshed the next morning, ready to make the three-hour drive to ryan’s dad’s house in the foothills. it’s always a special treat to spend time with geoff, rodi and the girls. it was really nice to see miss lily, too, who has gotten so much bigger since her birthday! we opened our third round of presents, enjoyed yet another feast and called it a night by the wood burning stove.

ryan really hit the nail on the head in his earlier post about being a parent at christmastime. i know i haven’t enjoyed christmas morning quite so much since i was little. the very best part of the holiday season, aside from all the time spent with loved ones, is the light in ellie’s eyes, watching her imagination work in overdrive when we talk about santa and his reindeer, snowmen, stockings and christmas morning. there really is no greater joy.

hope you all had a warm and cozy holiday season <3

that’s right … an entire season!

i have infinite good things to say about this past fall: the half moon bay pumpkin festival, all the halloween parties we attended in october (including our niece lily’s first birthday), trick-or-treating with our own little bumblebee, our newest mother/daughter hobby: messy art with the parks + rec department, our ride on the ferry to pier 39, our annual photoshoot with the amazing niki du, our three thanksgiving dinners (my first turkey!) and MORE, but that would take a solid few days of focus and, let’s face it, i’m just not motivated enough to commit to that.

*INHALE* so, let’s go the lazy route and look at a few photos.

the pumpkin festival was fantastic. we walked main street and took in the arts + crafts, ellie got her face painted for the first time, and she and pop danced in the streets. we left with a trunk full of pumpkins “because,” ryan insisted, “we have a HOUSE now.” gotta keep that front porch festive :)

trick-or-treating was wonderful. we opted to stick to our own neighborhood and get a feel for our new neighbors instead of meeting up with friends. ellie did great and was polite as ever with her pleases and thank yous before she ran home to check out her loot.

we took the ferry to san francisco with my mom a few weeks back. it was ellie’s first time on a boat and, while she wasn’t as impressed as i thought she might be, she really enjoyed herself at pier 39. she was fascinated by the sea lions, thrilled to ride the double-decker merry-go-round, and very pleased with her first churro.

a few days after our ferry boat experience, my lovely friend and former coworker niki came out to our house to take our annual family photos.

she did such an incredible job shooting ellie last year, i couldn’t wait for her to work her magic again! while ellie was a little more difficult this time around (much more independent, defiant and, you know, AGE 2), niki still managed to snap some real gems, photos ryan and i will cherish for a lifetime. thank you, niki!

thanksgiving wrapped up our cozy autumn with big family feasts at ryan’s dad’s house, ryan’s mom’s house, and my parents at our house. wine tasting in camino, seeing kyle, tai and danielle, and making my first thanksgiving turkey were some of the highlights.

i’m glad ryan posted a little something about christmas. i’ll go into more detail in a later post, but in the meantime …

happy new year!
from our family to yours <3

have you ever been to a wedding where the vows made you cry, the toasts made you laugh, you danced at the reception from start to finish without sitting down ONCE, and when it was over you remarked no fewer than ten times just how much fun you had? that was kelly and tony’s wedding, and it was really that much fun.

the weather was perfect: warm in the sun, cool in the shade, an all-around beautiful fall day. after driving for six hours to get to the last wedding, it seemed too good to be true that this one was a mere two miles from our house. hooray!

kelly looked stunning as she entered the courtyard and as happy as a bride can be as she walked down the aisle arm-in-arm with her dad, whom (you can tell by the pink sunglasses) is quite the character!

there was a sweet reading by uncle paul, vows were short and sweet and kelly cried, so of course i cried (even ryan got a little choked up). then came the smooch, complete with bride’s hands on groom’s butt, followed by plenty of cheers and then the always anticipated cocktail hour.

then we sat down at our table (sauvignon blanc, my favorite, the irony!), the wedding party was introduced, toasts were shared and dinner was served. post-meal we all headed inside for music, dancing, cake, bouquet & garter toss, etc. we danced the night away and had a total blast.

thank you, kelly and tony, for inviting us to share in the fun with you guys! definitely one of the best times EVER <3

ellie’s wonderful grandma shirley recently had a birthday, so in honor of her special day, we had her and robert over for appetizers, dinner, drinks, presents, cake, music and fun.

i prepared some finger foods and a yummy salad, and ryan made his famous tangy glazed pork tenderloin (by request of the birthday girl herself), and then we brought out the cake. it wasn’t homemade this year, but it was a baskin-robbins ice cream cake, and a very cute one if you ask me :)

of course ellie helped with the make-a-wish-and-blow-out-the-candles part, and then they all had a good time playing the “you have frosting on your nose” game, which made for some very cute pictures.

happy birthday, grandma! we love you!

we’ve had a month full of wonderful weddings, the first of which was the walker/morell event in los angeles on october 7th. ryan and melissa are good friends and former co-workers, and we’ve always considered her fiancé (now husband) chris one of the nicest dudes ever, so we were super honored when we received an invitation.

besides, what better excuse to hop in the car, road trip it down to socal and leave ellie behind to spend a little quality time with grandma? (thanks, grandma!) oh and when we heard the wedding would be catered by in ‘n out, we KNEW we had to be there.

we’ve done the drive before but it felt especially long, so we were super excited when we arrived at hotel palomar in westwood. it just sounds fancy, doesn’t it? the view of the surrounding neighborhoods from our room on the 19th floor was magnificent, and we stopped to peer out the window at the spanish style houses below at least several times a day.

we took it easy the first night and walked about a half mile down wilshire boulevard to a restaurant called palomino for dinner and drinks. despite my head congestion and not being able to taste much of ANYTHING very well, i had a delicious maple marinated chicken salad and ryan had fresh trout. the food, the drinks, the service and the ambiance were all wonderful. needless to say, we were pleased.

we woke up bright and early the next morning (after a night of sleeping on the most comfortable hotel mattress in existence) and walked down wilshire again for breakfast. nothing fancy, we just went to denny’s, and when we got back to the hotel, we took a nap! those of you with kids know this is a rare occasion and we enjoyed it to the fullest.

post-nap, i walked to a local salon where a lovely french girl curled my hair and made me feel quite pretty. ryan retrieved the car from valet and picked me up so the wind wouldn’t ruin her hour’s worth of hard work, and we headed straight back to the hotel to get dressed for the wedding.

from there we cabbed it with the adorable ciji and doug (another of ryan’s co-workers) to the smogshoppe, an unassuming but totally charming event venue aptly described on their web site as “LA’s greenest urban oasis.” it totally is!

the moment we walked in, i fell in love with all the personal touches and quirky, colorful decor. there was a candy table topped with an array of vintage style candies, brightly colored name tags in the shape of little flags, and each table was named for a beatles song.

the ceremony was short and sweet. melissa was escorted down the aisle by her dad and met a beaming chris surrounded by their best friends and family members. her aunt read some love letters her grandparents wrote each other during world war II, it was pretty much the sweetest thing ever. the reading was followed by vows, rings, smooch and applause, and all was joyous.

then we partied, ate, drank, danced and made new friends. after getting sufficiently drunk and sweaty, our lovely friend bev graciously drove us back to our hotel and we called it a night. thank you, bev!

and thank you, chris and melissa, for including us in your special day. we had a truly fabulous time. best wishes for a lifetime of love and wedded bliss!