her birthDAY

as mentioned previously, ellie turned 2.
i've heard that turning 2 is associated with the word "terrible."
i understand what they mean.
but i wanted to make ellie turning 2 wonderful.
so we did all of her favorite, wonderful things on her birthday.

exhibit A:
eating chocolate chip Mickey Mouse pancakes, with extra syrup, extra chocolate, and double-extra whipped cream.

 {side note: i looovveee her bed-head. it is classic}.

exhibit B:
getting all dressed up in a new birthday outfit. Ellie looovvvees new clothes (what a girl) & loves getting dressed up (again, what a girl).

exhibit C:
Grandma & Grandpa came by with an ice cream sundae...before lunch time! lucky duck (wish i had a picture of this).

exhibit D:
going into San Francisco to meet Daddy for lunch + an afternoon full of play time at the Exploratorium. Ellie was in heaven. she loved the big "bubble wall", the bouncy balls floating in mid-air, the colored-shadow wall, the spinning circus tent thingie, & the "cute corner" with the miniature couch the best. (oh, and we had a moment of silence at 3:39 pm, the time Ellie was born. what a miraculous moment, one that i will never, ever forget. that moment of silence was broken when Ellie started jumping off of an-entirely-too-high-surface. but still.).

{Ellie- chasin' the tornado}

{Ellie- trying to hug the tornado}

{Mama + Ellie playin' at the shapes table...brought me back to my Kindergarten days :)}

{Ellie can fly...}

 {Ellie chillaxin' on her mini couch}

{darn cute}

{this cool shadow-freezer thing- basically it would capture your shadow- so even though you moved after it flashed, your shadow would remain on the wall. it was awesome}

{blowin' bubbles through the bubble wall (please ignore my creepy bubble-blowing-face}

exhibit E:
getting new toys/gifts. we saved a couple of things for her birthday party- but gave her our "main gift" this evening: a plasma car. she LOVED it! (thanks Karen + Paige for the tip!) especially since we let her play with it in the street. (don't worry, i was RIGHT there the whole time. and after about 5 minutes, my racing heart couldn't take it anymore, and we returned to the sidewalk. visions of everything bad flash into a mom's brain in those kinds of moments for some reason).

exhibit F:
eating homemade pizza for dinner- Ellie's all time favorite food EVER. seriously, she asks to eat pizza or cereal or yogurt or apple juice (i don't know how you eat apple juice, really) all. day. long. other foods are lame. pizza is the bomb dot com. (and yes, i just used the phrase "the bomb dot com" and am fully aware that it is so last year).

exhibit G:
cupcakes with frosting + blowing out candles + singing Happy Birthday over and over and over again.

exhibit H:
all the phone calls + texts + facebook messages + emails, etc wishing our little monks Happy Birthday. she is truly one very, very loved little girl.

exhibit I:
reading her favorite story before bed "Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, too?", then having a small, but memorable dance party-- while telling her how excited she should be for her rocking party tomorrow.

and then the day was done.

and she would never be one again.
because she was now two.

more to come later on her summer-splashin' party...

xoxo