play play play.

Ellie is a play-aholic.
what does that mean, you ask?
it means she's addicted to playing.
you see, i've noticed that 99.9% of our meltdowns these days are in someway affiliated with Ellie NOT playing. (grocery shopping, taking pictures, eating, changing a diaper, transitions (i.e. changing from doing one thing to the next), etc).
this means, that when Ellie IS playing, she's one happy camper.
giggling. pretending. reading incessantly. dressing up in who-knows-what.
so, the last few days, i've captured her doing some of her favorite "playing" things, much to her dismay (because as i mentioned before, she is NOT a huge fan of the camera as of late. and with a mama like yours truly, that's not always the best combo). but, the fight is worth it. because there are some cute, cute moments below. yes, yes there are.

playing with her toys, literally:

this picture kinda reminds me of where's waldo....
where's Ellie?
she almost-kinda-sorta resembles a cute cuddly toy.
i love when she plops herself amongst her toys like this. so silly.

and of course, what's a playful post without a few swimmin' pictures?
(even though that seems to be all we're postin' lately...pictures of swimmin).
because it's HOT.
and when it's HOT, Ellie loooovvves to swim. especially at Grandma's big pool.

and she looovvvees rocks. so climbing up and down them is essential. (and throwing them anytime she sees them is equally essential).

and dressing up...well, we do that 10x's a day these days.
caution: the pictures below will make your heart melt.
well, at least that's what they do to mine.

i love these pictures of Ellie in her Snow White dress (thank you Gammy!)....her favorite princess is Snow White (seriously? she's 2. and has a favorite princess. whatev), so she calls herself, "Princess Snow White Ellie" when she dresses up in her Snow White dress. so funny. and of course, in these pictures, she's blowing bubbles at the same time. she's a bubbles ADDICT these days. whew. let's just say we have bubbles spilled in every couch-crevice, carpet fiber, & tile grout in our house.

anyways, while taking these pictures, she kept asking me to put the camera away. "mama, camera away!," she'd say. but i just couldn't help myself. and then i promised her i'd put it away if she gave me her prettiest smile. this is what she gave me:

such a goofball.

we also love multi-tasking in ways such as this:

dressing up like Snow White, cooking, AND catching up on her reading (about Sleeping Beauty, of course), all at the same time. lovely.

coloring is still a must.
but much more appealing with markers.
and with a big mess of books/cooking stuff in the background:

and Ellie prefers to bond with her art by laying her whole body across it.

i think it gives it an extra-special touch.

and, i think it's safe to say that Ellie's favorite person in the whole wide world to play with is her dadda:

(side note/thought: i think this may be universal? i mean, what is it about dad's that makes them so much cooler? maybe it's the fact that they're not there all-day-long, so their pretend-fun-crazy-playfulness is not all worn out like an old blanket by the end of the day. yeah, maybe that's it.).

even if it's just sittin' down and reading a book.

and so i just bought my little playful Ellie these cute little play-shoes today (for only $8 bucks, SHIPPED, might i add...i get proud of myself in moments such as this).

 
they're a little goofy, but so is she. plus, i love crocs. i mean, who knew little kids' feet could be so stinky?? and that shoes could be such a pain in the butt to put on and off all day long? crocs are the solution, my friends. and i just can't wait for them to arrive here via snail mail.

hope you're enjoying your summer full of play play play!
i think it's pretty obvious we are :)

xoxo