LABOR DAY
Greenbelt Labor Day Parade
Famous local jump roping team
Greenbelt's Lone Ranger
Our favorite entry in the parade. It's illegal to hang dry clothes at a residence in some cities in MD. This group is taking matters into their own hands.
Some carnival fun afterward
VIOLIN
Packed and ready for Elle's first violin lesson
Stairs around and down to the studio
Ronda Cole. Totally worth the twice a week trip, over an hour drive each way, to lessons and group class. Ronda was my graduate professor in Suzuki pedagogy. I was pregnant with Eleanor during graduate school and Ronda has doted over her ever since, nearly adopting her. I've always known Ronda was a miracle worker but have been even more grateful to her as she loves and teaches Eleanor.
Eleanor, 6 months old, with Ronda. Elle and I flew down from NY to attend a recital in MD so we sat in on a pedagogy class at UMD for fun. Elle was mesmerized by her then, too.
Elle's group class teacher, David Strom. He's a genius with the little guys. I went to school with his wife, Mariam.
Notice Seb, so excited for his sister
Elle's first group class. David had everyone line up afterward to each shake her hand and say, "Hi, I'm (their name). I'm your new friend!"
Sebby is a good sport to tag along to every lesson and group class.
Elle and Seb's favorite friend (and former student of mine), Grace Brigham.
Elle, 1 year old, with David. We drove down from NY for Ronda's surprise birthday party and did some observing while we were there.
Elle got a bow for her 1st Christmas at Grandma's cabin, just for fun.
Elle, 1 year old, goofing around.
Elle, 2 years old, rosining her bow. I was getting ready to play at a gig so she joined in.
PARTIES
Dr. Seuss breakfast-themed dinner party with friends. It was great. We had babysitters feeding the kids at the little table in the kitchen so we could chat over dinner. Brilliant.
Allens, Sellers, Hawleys and Faggards
Davis Alder's 1st birthday
Meagan, Davis's mom
The Alders, Meagan's cousins, and friends from our old ward in Baltimore
We have the greatest realtors! Every month or so we get a nice gift card in the mail for a store around town. And, each year they throw a client appreciation party. Last year they rented the IMAX theater at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore. This year they had a Sound of Music sing-in, European style. They had a large screen set up at an old girl's boarding school in historic Ellicott City. We were each given a bag of things to do during the show. For example, we shined flashlights during the cemetery scene, waved a flower in the air during Edelweiss, shouted 'Maria!' every time she came into a scene, and sang along with the songs. They hired Gabe to be the emcee. It's nice to have a husband who's willing to wear tight leather lederhosen in front of a large crowd and lead the actions to Do a Deer. I dressed up as the bowing winner of the Salzburg Festival, Elle was "girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes" and Seb was "Re, a drop of golden sun."
Ryan Faggard was nice to come over and show us how to make homemade pizza. We had heard about his famous pizza, and ours had never quite worked out until this night. Thanks, Ryan!
We had the neighborhood over for treats. We realized that some of our neighbors didn't know each other very well, and neither did we. It was a great party.
Sofia's birthday party. Making hand spiders.
Darling Sarah
Gabe and my birthday are one week apart. Elle made this cake for me, with a little help from Gabe. Our friend Mariam's parents both play in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She got us tickets for our birthday date. We had the best time. 'Time For Three' played a new symphony written for them while at Curtis. We couldn't take our eyes off of them. It was an inspiring concert. Nicholas was one of Ronda's former students. It was fun to talk to him and get bow hairs and signatures from everyone. That will be a fun trip to the frame shop to add to our collection! After the concert the group played for half an hour in the lobby of the concert hall. Nicholas took a picture of the crowd on his phone and posted it on their website. Find us in the crowd at tf3.com.
Gabe just wanted Rocky Road ice cream for his birthday. That was easy.
PICS OF ELLE AND SEB
Cleaning tomatoes from the garden
We keep finding these guys sleeping together when we check on them before going to bed. It seems their toddler beds pushed up together still isn't close enough for them.
Elle, with her journal
Centennial Lake, by our house
Watching a spider with Sofia and Kevin
Sadie
Riding in our new van. 2008 Honda Odyssey. My fantasy came true. After almost 8 years with only one car, it was time. Gabe went to work one day and I ran an errand at the same time, in the opposite direction. That had never happened before. I got a little choked up about it. Gabe and I were masters at juggling our schedules. We joke that we might not communicate anymore because it doesn't matter who needs to go where and when. Maybe we can start talking about more important things together. Thanks to everyone who helped us out when I was without wheels, especially when the ER was involved. You know who you are. I'm ready to pay it forward.
Watching conference
Visiting Betty Anderson, an old friend from the Kensington Ward. She teaches math at a nearby college. Elle and Seb loved her and her magnet collection. They ended up eating all the cookies that we had brought for her. Little stinkers.
WEEKEND TRIP TO LANCASTER PA
The Susquehannah River
Lititz, PA. The first hard pretzel factory in America. We took a tour and Elle and Seb got to roll their own pretzel dough and learn how to fold it in one quick flip of the wrist. We were suckers and bought Julius Sturgis shirts and bags upon bags of pretzels.
Original brick ovens from 1860
The houses along the way were beautiful. Lititz was founded in the early 1700s.
Swimming at the hotel pool. We somehow forgot Elle's swimming suit so Elle wore Sebby's suit and Sebby wore Elle's underwear. Worked out.
Watching a baseball game, just for Seb
A little practicing before bed
Elle was on the cart in front of the luggage. Seb was grunting.
The famous Strasburg steam engine train in Lancaster County (Amish country).
45-minute ride through the countryside. Best part of the trip.
Seb kept yelling, "Hi, cows!"
The whistle was loud
This was a hotel we passed. All the rooms are transformed cabooses.
Amish horse-drawn buggies share the road with the rest of traffic
PUMPKINS
Carving Joe and Lisa's 80 lb pumpkin. They live next door, but they have a farm in Ohio where they had planted this pumpkin.
Joe is a carpenter. He used a saw to cut the tops of the pumpkins off. For this cat he used a drill to cut out the eyes and nose and a dry wall knife to cut out the cat's body.
We divided the seeds among the neighbors and baked them later on
