Post-Halloween Update

OK, so we haven't posted in two months. And a lot has happened, apparently. First, we need to rewind to June, when we got portraits for Eleanor's first birthday. We had photos taken on the steps of the NY public library in Manhattan. We posted some of our favorites.












Now here is the rest of the update:

Headline: Elle and Seb Continue to Grow, Be Cute

Relief Society presidency stopped by to give Amber a birthday cake
Daleen surprised Amber and showed up for her birthday. (Accompanied by Amber's uncle Don) We visited the city with them. This is Elle on the Staten Island Ferry, as we passed the Statue of Liberty
Pizza in Times Square
Nena (Grandma) and her babies.
This pigeon found its way to the observation deck of the Empire State building. Some flight!
Empire State building's shadow on the other buildings
After Daleen left, Grandpa John came to visit for Seb's blessing. This is us at the Empire State building.

Seb seems to like corny jokes. (Just kidding!)
Seb's blessing: September 30, 2007




Elle and Seb hold hand everytime we get into the car.
We visited Central Park with Grandpa John
We took Elle to the Long Island Children's Museum. This was a news broadcast simulator.
We visited the Queens Farm Museum. Yes, they have those in NYC. Here are some people taking a picture of a real, live chicken.
Picking a pumpkin at the "farm"
Clowning around with Roberto
FHE with the Valenzuelas and the Elders
And the envelope, please...

Our neighbor Debbie, and her sister Barbara.
Newlyweds: Liz and Jose in Silver Spring - we visited the old stomping grounds while Gabe attended a conference at GW
We observed one of David Strom's Suzuki violin lessons. Elle was thrilled.
Seb loved the hotel pool so much that he fell asleep on Amber's shoulder
King of the Pool!
And... the pool princess
Visiting Michelle and Eric in Leesburg, VA
Elle loved the horses from afar, but not too close...
Amber enrolled in a flower arranging class with her friend Heather. Two of her works of art are below.



Haloween! Amber: Russian Spy. Seb: Cute bear, or something. Eleanor: Sassy Tigercat. Gabe: The other Russian Spy.
At Heather's house for a Halloween party
We ran into Juan Romero (Gabe's home teaching companion and good friend) at a community "Fall Fair" Elle's favorite part was the petting zoo.
Elle wanted to baby-bjorn her doll.
A subsequent fair - Elle still is not too sure she wants to be this close to a horse.
But she will feed the goats.
Swing siblings
Elle's favorite place besides home - the children's place at the public library. She's with an adoring librarian - Karen. Elle adores her, too!
Seb thought the stroller was awesome. We did this when Elle was asleep so she wouldn't get any bright ideas.

Seb's second month

Seb has almost caught up to Elle in size. He's 15 lbs. (2 months) and Elle is 20 lbs. (16 months). Seb is almost out of his 3-6 month clothes. Elle still is the boss, though - she loves to kiss him, but unintentionally leaves tooth marks quite often. She likes to hold him, but sometimes hugs a little too tightly. And then one day, she took the apple slicer to his head - with only minor injuries. But all this is very much out of love.

Elle still likes to dance. She learned a few more signs like airplane and siren. She loves being chased by mom and dad, but she doesn't like getting caught (I guess to her, that means the fun is over). She loves being outside and looking for birds. She loves kidney beans and cottage cheese. She's been patting her diaper when it's full, so we decided to see how she'd react to sitting on the toilet. For some reason, unknown to us, she's terrified of the toilet. So, I guess it will be a while before we try that again.

One month old.

Jen came to visit while Natalie was here.

Cheesy

Aunt Natalie!

Elle loves to say "Hi" to Seb. She draws it out in a high-pitched voice, "Hiiiiiii."

Again, "Hiiiiiiiiii."

Chow time

So tired. Almost ... made it.... to my bed.

Our good friend, Lourdes.

Go Terps!

Exploring at the park. Elle filled her pockets with acorns.

Jinn and Daphna over for a visit. Daphna is a Seminary student at church.
Elle and her library friends Lila and Eva.
The Kritzers over for a visit - Jack, Brian, and Regan

A classic Long Island wedding - everything was beautiful and perfect. Liz Spinola is Amber's good friend from grad school, originally from Long Island
You can dress 'em up, but you can't take 'em out.

More church friends over to visit
This was a busy day. In the morning, the Desjardins family visited from Maryland. They visited the American Girl store in the city over the weekend. That night, the Belliston's came to stay the night - also from Maryland.

The Belliston's - we loved the visit!

Apparently, it's Elle's turn to use the camera.
Manorhaven park
At our ward Labor Day picnic with the Valenzuelas
After the picnic, we went to the Central Park Zoo. Elle would have been content to just hang with the sea lions all day.
Zoo puppet show
It's llama time
Ribbit
Juggler in central park - a quintessential experience
Sign language for airplane
Hooray for going on a walk!!
Our new car.
"Now that was funny!"
"Remember that joke you just told? That was awesome."


A pride of moms. Officially the "Port Washington Moms group"
Lilly and Brenden make out in the care whilst Elle looks on in disbelief
What was that?