it’s a mild autumn afternoon and i just put ellie down for her nap. ryan is trimming the hedges, bruiser is crouched down in the grass stalking sparrows, and i’m sitting here on our backyard patio enjoying a very welcome fall breeze. my feet are up, computer on my lap, and other than the wind in the trees and the occasional airplane flying overhead, all is quiet. in a few hours my dad and i are leaving for sonora, a sleepy old town in tolumne county where my family took many weekend trips when i was little. it will be the first time i’ve left ellie and ryan for more than a day, and i’m looking forward to spending some quality time with my dad.

this summer has been good to our family. our house-hunting roller coaster finally came to a stop on a street we love in a house we adore. we’ve made small changes that have had a big impact and it’s slowly but surely becoming the home we used to only dream about. one of the best things about this place is knowing we’ll never have to move again if we don’t want to. it’s neat to be able to drive by ellie’s future elementary school and think “yes, that will do just fine.”

it’s also nice to have family and friends over to a place we are so, so proud to call our own. we’ve had countless swim play dates and backyard barbecues. i can’t think of another place i’d rather have a birthday party or a family gathering.

and now we witness our first change of season in this new place. the leaves on the trees that line our street are already changing color. halloween is on the horizon, then thanksgiving and, before we know it, another christmas will come and go. ellie will turn 3 and with any luck, 2012 will be as incredible a year as this one has been.

much love from the lacks!

hello! it’s been pretty quiet around here lately, i know. we’ve been so busy with the move that i even went a few weeks without uploading any photos to flickr. what? who, me? anyway, we’re very close to being completely settled, so i thought i’d break out the laptop and post a friendly update.

a few weeks before we moved, we had our annual family garage sale in san leandro. we made a nice chunk of change. ellie sold lemonade and it was the cutest thing ever.

we’ve had some super fun playdates with friends and enjoyed a few mommy-ellie outings as well.

we moved and spent our first night in the new house on august 15th. a few days later, ellie’s new mattress was delivered and ryan and eric assembled her big girl bed. she’s been sleeping soundly ever since!

we celebrated my mom’s birthday and mine with some delicious grub at two of our favorite restaurants. ryan and ellie made me a cake and it was definitely one of the yummiest i’ve ever had (the pictures aren’t loading properly right now, but hopefully i’ll be able to post them soon).

and that’s a quick recap of the past few weeks in the lives of the lacks. home improvement is an ongoing process, but we’re having some of our extended family over for a barbecue this weekend, so i’ll clean the place up a bit and post some pictures of what we’ve done so far. hope all is well with everyone!

well, we finally did it. after years of saving and months of searching, ryan and i are officially homeowners :)

it all started back in january. we hired a realtor and a mortgage broker and within a few weeks we had made two offers, one on a townhouse in pleasanton and another on a single family home in livermore. the townhouse had multiple offers higher than ours, so we lost out on that one, but the sellers of the house in livermore accepted quickly and we were thrilled. we were pretty sure that house was going to be “the one.” unfortunately for them, they left us without a real update for nearly six months, so we grew restless and started looking at other properties.

it took awhile before we found anything else we liked as much as the short sale, but it finally happened on may 23rd when we saw a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in another part of livermore. this one was located closer to downtown in an older (but nicer) neighborhood assigned to better schools. it had a bigger kitchen, hardwood floors, prettier landscaping and a pool! so of course we made an offer. by the following week the sellers had accepted without a counter. we couldn’t believe it! we knew it would move faster because it was a regular sale, so we were really excited.

from that day forward, the home-buying process was an emotional roller coaster. inspections cost us hundreds of dollars, negotiations regarding who would pay to fix what were stressful and frustrating and had us feeling on edge much of the time. our realtor stretched the truth on several occasions and we had a hard time putting our faith in her to represent us the way we felt we should be represented. we often felt misguided and manipulated, even up until the very last day.

in the end, the important thing is that we made it through the past two months and came out with the perfect little house for our family. we plan to stay for a long, long time <3

more pictures to come after a new kitchen floor, some fresh paint and a few personal touches :)

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.

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.