dear ellie,

today you are two and a half years old and rapidly approaching the big three. since the day you were born, people have told me how fast time flies, to cherish your early years because one day i will blink and you will be headed off to college. i have always put that notion aside because the older you get, the more i love you. i didn’t think i’d ever miss the chubby little thing you once were because in her place i’d have the walking, talking, sassy little princess you are today. but looking back on all the pictures and videos of you when you were bald and drooly, i can feel the tears welling up because it’s true. you have gone from little baby to little lady in the blink of an eye.

in the six months since you turned two, you have perfected the complex structure that is the sentence. you literally floor us with some of the things you say. the other day we were in a toy store and you held up a mountain lion-type animal and told me it was a puma. i know every mother thinks her child is bright, but you, my dear, are especially so ;)

you remember everything. from santa claus to the names of all of our friends, you are constantly surprising us with the things you recall. one of your very favorite things to do is come home and tell daddy about your day. you are so proud of your many accomplishments, your artwork, the fact that you (sometimes) finish all your vegetables at dinnertime. if it is possible for anyone to take more pride in all that you do, it’s me. i burst at the seams with pride for you. you make me proud every single day.

you love to run, dance, swim, jump and climb. we arrive at our gymboree art class a half-hour early so you have time to play. your best friends are jenna and audrey and their sisters, jocelyn, grace and baby kate. you are OBSESSED with baby kate. every time i see you with her, the urge to give you a little brother or sister of your own gets more intense.

we have several playdates a week and i try to make sure we do something fun every day, whether it’s going to the zoo or the park or painting pottery at color me mine. you are actually quite easy to please. one day we might have nothing to do but errands, and simply letting you push the cart at the grocery store can make you as happy as seeing the elephants at the zoo.

you love your grandparents like the stars in the sky. when we visit nan and pop in oakland or grandpa geoff and grandma rodi in placerville, you never want to leave. even getting you upstairs to take a bath in the evenings is hard when you’re busy playing with grandma and grandpa. and, if it’s possible, they adore you even more.

between exactly two and now, you’ve gotten your first haircut, participated in your first organized classes (art and swim), seen snow for the first time, nailed your third gig as a flower girl, and watched fireworks for the first time. i got teary-eyed, of course. it’s just something that happens when i’m doing that bursting-with-pride thing :)

your favorite foods are chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, turkey sandwiches and ice cream. luckily you’re also partial to fruit of all kinds. you love milk (especially of the chocolate variety), apple juice and lemonade. you continue to take one nap a day, you insist that i read stories and sing to you before bed, and baby bear is still your most beloved friend.

of course, as any parent knows, life with a two-year-old is not all sunshine and happiness. you throw fierce temper tantrums and you have a bit of a mean streak, but i know this time will go quickly like all the rest and eventually i will miss your foot-stomping, head-turning refusals to hold my hand in the street or finish chewing the food that’s been in your mouth for five minutes (arg!) … because most of the time you are absolutely enchanting. you melt my heart (and the hearts of everyone you meet) with that little voice and those big blue eyes.

for every tantrum, there are triple the smiles. for every refusal, there are triple the hugs. you are the best thing that ever happened to me and i love you more than life itself.

happy half-birthday to you, sweet girl.

love,
mommy

father’s day was so great this year! actually, it’s great every year because we get to spoil daddy and that’s always fun, but this father’s day was especially great because we went back to the roots of ryan’s *first* father’s day and met my dad and danny at tilden for a little merry-go-round and steam train riding.

we made ryan a really big cereal bowl at color me mine a few weeks back, so he opened that and was totally thrilled by it. he also loved the accompanying cereal we picked out … lucky charms and reese’s puffs, aka processed sugar in a box!

we started out the morning with breakfast at home with robert and shirley and then made our way over to berkeley to meet my dad and danny at the steam trains. it was warm in the sun and comfortable in the shade, the perfect weather for a train ride.

after the trains we headed over to the merry-go-round. ellie wanted to go THREE TIMES! so, of course, we indulged her.

thanks for spending the day with us, dad and danny! we had a blast.

with recommendations from michelle, tara and several of tara’s friends, we signed ellie up for a 13-week session of swim lessons at american swim academy. i was intrigued by the program because they let parents in the water with the kiddos until they’re 3, and i know my kid well enough to know she wouldn’t DARE go in the water with some stranger without one of us right there with her. so we did a trial lesson, she loved it, and we decided to sign her up.

i was so excited to watch! i didn’t go to the trial lesson because we didn’t want her to see me from afar and cry for me to hold her in the event that she got upset. we knew with ryan she would try extra hard to be brave. but since she did so well the first time, i asked if i could come along next time and of course she said yes! so along i went and TONS of pictures i took.

i almost burst with pride about a million times just watching her do simple things like kick and extend her arms in the water to reach for toys. seeing her push her way out of the pool and jump back in, watching her go from daddy to the swim instructor without tears, seeing her smile and wave to me from behind the glass …

she’s just growing up so beautifully <3

now that it’s summer and we’ve had a string of sweltering hot days, ellie and i have been spending more time in and around water. the kiddie pool out back, local parks with water features, even just washing the car … you name it, we’re doing it. grandpa even cleaned out the hot tub this afternoon (aka “ellie’s pool”) for everyone to enjoy! so, in honor of summer, here are a few pictures from the water activities we’ve been engaged in lately.

our backyard



val vista park

ellie’s definitely a water baby if i ever saw one. next up, swim lessons!

while we wanted to dedicate a post to each of the following events, we’ve procrastinated so long that the idea of catching up one post at a time is somewhat overwhelming. so, let’s do it in a more efficient way … a recap of recent events in one great big post :) going back in time nearly a MONTH and starting with:

jon and maria’s wedding day

maria and her bridesmaids looked beautiful, and ellie performed her flower girl duties with grace and poise. she even sat through the hour-long greek ceremony without so much as a peep! even i have trouble sitting still for that long ;) ryan looked handsome as ever as one of jon’s groomsmen, and we had a fabulous time at the reception <3

memorial day

we spent a lovely memorial day at the san ramon art & wind festival with the ginns, followed by an afternoon barbecue at their house. the food was delicious, the weather was beautiful, ellie fell a little bit MORE in love with her uncle matt and a great time was had by all :)

niles canyon train ride

we went on a train ride with the amador mothers club through niles canyon. it wasn’t as cool as the steam train in tilden park because it was a great big amtrak-style train, but it was still a lot of fun! we even got to eat lunch on the train. good times with amc and the blanchard girls.

carmel

the weekend following memorial day we were lucky enough to be invited to stay overnight in carmel with the ginns. ellie had more fun with matt and alyssa than she did with us! we had dinner at mundaka and when we got back to the cottage, alyssa served up a most delicious dessert. it was yet another fabulous time with our favorite fellow marrieds.

emily’s graduation party

my cousin emily graduated from college! she now has her bachelor’s degree in nutrition and is going on to do her internship at fresno state. she eats so healthily it’s inspiring, but not so much that we’ll stop eating our fair share of junk food ;) she had a lovely afternoon barbecue to celebrate her achievement and it was nice to spend time with family we haven’t seen since christmas. congrats, ems!

lindsay wildlife museum

another amc outing, we spent a very warm summer morning at the lindsay wildlife museum in walnut creek. we saw birds and bears, reptiles and rodents and other animal species native to the bay area. it’s a very neat place, and it was even more fun going with michelle, tara and the girls. we took over quizno’s for lunch, all nine of us, and it a fun time was had by all.

and those are a few of the things we’ve been up to the past few weeks!
(ahh, that feels better…)

with love from the lacks <3

happy father’s day to all the wonderful dads out there, especially ellie’s daddy, her three amazing grandfathers and her great-grandfather <3 we hope you know how much we love you, admire you and appreciate you, today and every day.

on friday evening of memorial day weekend, we met jon, maria, their parents and the rest of the wedding party for their rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. they were to be married the next day at the greek orthodox cathedral in oakland, so montclair’s italian colors was the perfect place for dinner. it also happens to be where we had our own rehearsal dinner back in 2007.

the church was sooo pretty inside. the rehearsal was quick and smooth, and the kids did great. walk from the back to the front when mommy says go. piece of cake! especially for ellie, already a two-time veteran, a real professional :)

grandma shirley was nice enough to tag along with us so she could take ellie home and put her to bed while ryan and i went to dinner. after all, saturday was a big day and we wanted to make sure she had a good night’s sleep. so home they went and to dinner went we!

we got super lucky and scored prime spots next to the betrothed <3 dinner was delicious and so was dessert (blackberry sorbet!), and the company wasn't too shabby either. so many nice folks and so much love in one room. what could be better?

already feeling so honored to be a part of jon and maria’s special event, we left the restaurant full and happy, ready for the big day to follow. thank you for a lovely time, guys <3

up next: the wedding!