Santa on a Garbage Truck

Here are a few pics from elana's first Santa experience at daycare last week. She is in the bottom picture, 2nd from the right. Yes, Santa came on a garbage truck. She hasn't stopped talking about it since it happened:







Here is a pic of Elana on the plane on our way to AZ last weekend:



more to come later. . . .

Spinning Around

With Taryn and Elana in Arizona for the week, I have found myself watching videos of Elana in her absence (not as fun as the live version). Here's a recent video of Elana spinning around the room.

Music at the Mall

Today Elana and I went downtown to see Taryn conducting her chamber ensemble. They were playing Christmas songs for a couple hours at Pacific Place. They piped the music throughout the whole mall. The first picture shows Elana after she realizes that her Mama is in the vicinity.


Elana stayed close to the action:


Reunited at last:


On our way out, Elana ventured into the AT&T store - she saw the balloons on display, not the phones. The manager was nice enough to give her one. She said "thank you" under her breath.

Halloween and Fall Hike

Elana had a very fun Halloween, despite her strong dislike for the top part of her costume. There was a party at her daycare on Friday, and on Saturday we visited some of our neighbor's houses before going to our local park for a Halloween Event. We ended the night at Grandie and Grandpa Ken's house for some homemade pizza. YUMM!!

Today Elana and I climbed a mountain with some friends of ours. Noah stayed behind to get some work done, which meant that I was doing the full parenting duty during the hike. Thank goodness for good friends! Somewhere during the day Elana didn't get her nap, so by the time we were heading home she was acting very strange. She was asleep before we hit the highway, and thankfully stayed that way as I transfered her to her bed. Phew!

la la la la la

this was too cute not to post :

Video Update

Apple Sauce: this is Elana's first attempt at jumping.

On the Mic: listen as Elana sings some of her favorites, starting with Happy Birthday.

Last days of Summer

School is back in session, and everything is pretty much running on auto-pilot again. We thought we would take an hour to cherish one of the last beautiful days will probably have for a while here in Seattle, and headed to the beach. Elana loved it.

Zeichners and Webbers

What fun we have been having around here. The Zeichners finally arrived a few weeks ago from Wisconsin, and it has been great spending so much time with them. The Webbers arrived on Wednesday night on a stopover before their Alaskan cruise. Since both families were in town and it was Mama's birthday, we decided to have a party. Martinis, music, and lots of babies and kids!!! What a perfect afternoon. Thanks so much to everyone who came over to share in the fun.


Maya, Elana, and I on Maya's hammock




Edie, Maya, and Elana




Grillmaster Webber




The GIGANTIC sunflower in our yard




Elana finishing off a beverage




The band




Elana and Uncle Aaron




Uncle Aaron, Elana, and Erica




Elana trying her first sushi




papa feeding her mac and cheese with chopsticks!




the happy grandparents

Fruit and Teeth

Here are a couple of recent videos of Elana Lee.

1. Fruit

This was a couple of weeks ago during the hot weather. Elana loves her fruit.

2. Teeth

Elana brushes her teeth every night. Here she is last night after her bath.

Party Girl

We have had a busy weekend of weddings other various events. Elana had a lot of fun at Becca and Sam's wedding last night. She especially loved the fruit platter.

Can you tell where Elana's dad went to college?

Sydney (and Holly and Drew) came over for brunch this morning. Elana showed off her pirate hat.

Elana discovers something new every day.

Cooldown

The heat wave has ended. We hit 103 on Wednesday and 97 yesterday. Not only has it been hot, but it has been unusually humid. Today it will only be 85, which is a huge relief. On Wednesday we went to the Mountlake Terrace Recreation Pavilion where we found an air conditioned indoor playground. We also went swimming in their pool.

Elana has been playing a lot lately with an empty bubble container. She dips the wand in the bottle and blows and doesn't seem to mind that no bubbles come out.

It's hot

Well, the heat wave has hit. We are not used to 5 straight days of 90s here in Seattle. Tomorrow we may break the all-time recorded high temperature ever if we hit 101 as they are predicting. To cool off yesterday we went to Lake Washington. Elana had fun digging in the sand and wading in the water. It was nice and cool at the park.

NEWS FLASH!!! Today as part of our cooling off activities we were at the mall where we purchased a little potty for Elana. Somehow, she knew exactly what to do. In the 5 times that she sat on the froggy potty this afternoon, she peed 3 times! She would say "pee pee" and then sit down and actually do it. Whoah.

Today's moment of zen: Elana brushing her teeth before bed.

Rock on the Beach

Yesterday I played with my friend Charles' band Puppet King on Alki Beach in West Seattle. We were part of the Alki Beach Art Fair. It was a beautiful, but HOT day! Elana hung out with her friends Max, Jonas, and Sydney. She kept trying to rush the stage, but thankfully never quite made it!

More Summer Fun

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of days.

Swinging at Carkeek Park on Sunday

One-two-go!

Sipping water at the Los Lobos show at the zoo on Sunday.

Edie took Elana under her wings at the wading pool today.

Our friend Jeremy joined us for some fun at the park.