Happy Chanukah!

Steampunk Menorah by Roger Wood of Klockworks.com


Joy-filled sheep found on pinteresting.com via house of milk (?)

Jacob is Eighteen!!!!

A really terrific animation!

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Liliana Turns One and other Antics

Here she is, our favorite One year old:

LilyInDress, originally uploaded by Eleanor.

Lily's birthday celebration is happening in stages, since Ellie is up against a thursday deadline. Young is going in a couple weeks, but Grandma Gail and Grandpa Marc (Jacob's Parents) came for pre-game warm up and Ellie posted a video. Note the exciting wrapping paper:

Opening an early birthday present, originally uploaded by Eleanor.

She also posted a bunch of videos of Lily learning to walk. Here is my favorite:

Really walking, originally uploaded by EleanorHarvill.

Jacob, Ellie and Lily have moved back into their house in West Philly, sans student room-mates, and this is very cool - Jacob's sister, Elyse, her husband, Peenesh and their 9 month old baby have moved in. It's a three story house, so each family has some private space, and they can share cooking and childcare and company. It's exactly what I would have wished for them.

Here is a picture of the two girls dining together:

IMG_3739_dinner, originally uploaded by Eleanor.

and one of Mira by herself - what a cutie!

IMG_3719_mira, originally uploaded by Eleanor.

Down the coast in Santa Cruz, Susan, Jeffrey, Katy and Dorothy are settled into a new school year. Katy shared her American Doll collection with her class:

and here in El Granada, we have a new kitten, Zazu, who looks to be more than a match for Sparky:

Cute People

It turns out that liquid latex body paint is painfully difficult to remove.

First Day of Senior Year, and a report from Philadephia

Jacob started his senior year at Half Moon Bay High today. No muss, no fuss. you can enbiggen (enlarge) the pix by clicking on them. Blogger seems to have gone to very small in line pictures.

And here's the news from Philadelphia:

From: Eleanor H.

Sent: Mon Aug 23 09:52:28 2010
Subject: Highlights from the weekend

Lily took her first steps on Saturday, and we moved to west philly on Sunday.

After getting into a standing position on her own, Lily takes a single
step towards something to grab onto, but she does this pretty often
and with much excitement. She can crawl really really fast, usually
towards an open door and her cruising is likewise speedy, if ungainly.

Jacob and I are incredibly lucky in our friends and family, who
knocked themselves out packing all day Saturday and moving all day
Sunday. Lily's room is unpacked, but we couldn't find the coffee
making supplies this morning.

Mira and Lily are making friends. After many rounds of stealing each
others pacifiers, Lily offered her pacifier to Mira who was prevented
from accepting it. Later, Mira expressed her affection by crawling
after Lily and trying to gnaw on her ankles and hindquarters.

[ed. note: Mira is Liliana's cousin. She and her parents are sharing the

house with Lily and hers.]

Alex stepped off the plane in Philadelphia at 11pm, though he was
scheduled to arrive from Hartford at 7pm. He and I will be unpacking
and babyproofing!

Cream Cheese!

Cream Cheese!, originally uploaded by AnnLasko.

Lily's first time feeding herself. She does not have a problem.

Cranky-pants eats cheerios

Cranky-pants eats cheerios, originally uploaded by AnnLasko.

She's not really that cranky, considering she's cutting 3 teeth at once.

9 months, new tricks

9 months, new tricks, originally uploaded by AnnLasko.

She's a doozy!

Babies in the Berkshires

This one of Ellie and Lily with Jacob's sister Elyse and her daughter Mira, reminds me so much of me and Lorraine when Ellie and Zena were babies.

A flea in his ear.

Actually it was a tick. I looked at Jacob over the breakfast table this morning, and there was a tick in his ear. People who know the game Bad Mojo, might remember that it all started with a roach that Drew Huffman got in his ear. Once, Drew wore a roach costume to a video game trade show... but that is another story.

Anyway, this was a tick, and it would not come out, and all the burnt matches I poked at it just made it wiggle it's little legs around. So, just as Drew had to do, we went to urgent care. The doctor was amazed. Jacob was the second patient of the day, and the second tick. I was inclined to assume a tick epidemic, but Young reminds me of the Poisson curve (which is bell-shaped, not fish-shaped) and the tendency of random data to be "clumpy" i.e. for random events to occur in proximity.

Daddy has socks on his ears.

IMG_3154, originally uploaded by AnnLasko.

According to family lore, my first sentence was "Daddy's glasses keep hes (sic) eyes warm."

Clearly, Lily appreciates her Daddy's ear apparel!

She doesn't want it...

MVI_3195, originally uploaded by AnnLasko.

What part of "No" don't you understand?

Raspberry

Raspberry, originally uploaded by AnnLasko.

Fenton Generations

IMG_3092, originally uploaded by AnnLasko.

'Struction

'Struction, originally uploaded by AnnLasko.

Lily is HUNGRY

Lily is HUNGRY, originally uploaded by AnnLasko.

Welcome to 2010!

Here is a recap of the last wonderful days of 2009:



Ellie and Jacob brought Liliana to celebrate her first Christmas with us in California. At 3 months old this first day of 2010, Lily is almost visibly growing, learning about gravity, her own hands, and especially about people. I don't think I've ever seen a baby as responsive and delighted by people. She smiles, laughs, coos as everyone around her becomes her instant fool.








Young turns out to be the most heartbreakingly sweet Grampa in the world.

We got to spend time with Ellie and Jacob, and see the impressive partnership they have forged as parents., In short, they rock!





We also got to see Ellie's friends, women I have known since they were young girls, meet Lily. Here is Jessica with he two year old Dillon and Lily:



Kristin:



Annie:



Sabina:

She's a very stripey baby.

Cutting the Tree

CuttingTree, originally uploaded by AnnLasko.