Toljabee -- first object selected ...

Toljabee -- second object selected ...

first birthday party!

We had a very fun first birthday party today. It was very sunny and hot outside, a good day to have AC! Mom and Dad spent the morning cooking and baking, getting the house ready, and our party was from 2-5. We were visited by Lizzie; Kristen and her Mom Joanie, her twins Kaia and Braeden; Amy and her son Rowan; Helen and her son Lucien; The Ortiz/Shadley family, Everett, Barbara, Rene, Kainalu, and Liliko'i; Godparents Danny and Sue. What a fun day! It was just fun to see all the kids playing together and fun to spend time with our friends. Eli had a good time for the most part, laughed a lot, flirted with all the adults, also cried a little when he didn't think he was center of attention ... he also got his first bite of birthday cake and ice cream! mmmmmm ....

We also did a very scaled down version of the Korean Toljabee ceremony, in which the child picks objects off of a table which symbolize different hopes for his future path -- the first two objects he picks are supposed to be the most predictive. We went with the tradition for most of the objects and added a couple of our own.

#1 ~ Eli and Liliko'i -- who is that pretty girl in the party dress?
#2 ~ Amy and Rowan -- Rowan, shy for once!
#3 ~ Kristen and Kaia -- Braeden took an uncharacteristically long nap, only joined in later
#4 ~ Helen and Lucien -- these guys are moving into the city, we're looking forward to their housewarming party!
#5 ~ All the kiddos from the party, minus the tiny 10-week twins -- Rowan, Kai, Lili, cracker-eating Elijah, Lucien
#6 ~ I'm afraid this is the best picture we've managed to get with Eli and the twins -- what a grump in the middle!
#7 ~ Danny and Sue, who are maybe the best ever -- we know Phoebe thinks so!
#8 ~ Suddenly not sure about being the center of the universe .... until getting some hugs from Sue
#9 ~ Eli's birthday cake. Homemade by mom, and it tasted great, but maybe we buy next time ... I had ingredient issues and had to run to the store three times!
#10 ~ These were the objects from Eli's Toljabee ceremony from left to right:
photo album, symbolizing deep connections with people
arrow fletching, symbolizing hunting
egg, symbolizing many descendants
yarn, symbolizing long life
book, symbolizing scholarship
chalk, symbolizing artistic expression
needle, symbolizing good with his hands
rose, symbolizing good connection to the environment
spoon, symbolizing good cook
rice cake, symbolizing wealth

Check out the two videos to see what Eli picked!
#11 ~ Green family, Eli gonna blow out his candle!
#12 ~ Ate some cake, blew his mind ...
#13 ~ Smiley smiley kid on a big sugar rush ...

We had a great day everyone, we were especially thinking of grandparents in Colorado and New York, and Uncle Declan in Iraq. On to a second great year ...

Happy Fathers Day!

Too many cute pictures to choose from for this post ... we had another beautiful boating day on Hagg lake yesterday. It was hot and sunny, definitely summer, for the first time in weeks. (They've been calling it "June-uary" here). We took advantage and spent the whole day outside. We boated to a semi-secluded spot and J set up a sun canopy for us. We had some snacks, took a nap, waded in the water, explored around a little, and J did a little fishing. And, posed for pictures!

#1 ~ Dad and Eli horsing around on Saturday
#2 ~ J setting up for us. Thanks Dad!
#3 ~ I finally got a picture of this new funny face Eli's been making. If you look close, you can just see his two teeth ... J calls it his "reverse woodchuck" look
#4 ~ full on reverse woodchuck
#5 ~ peek-a-boo! Sweet sweet EZ Green ...
#6 & 7 ~ Showing off ... look what I can do!
#8 ~ Demonstrating newest skill ~ waving bye-bye!
#9 ~ Mom and Eli enjoying our day-camp
#10 ~ On the way back, Eli braved up and stood on the boat floor, looking off the side. He liked holding on to the oar and bounced up and down with excitement. He had a good time and we could tell he remembered it from before, seemed more comfortable overall. (If you look closely, you can see we're holding on to his life jacket the whole time. We had him safe Mom!)

Love to all, hope you are all enjoying SUMMER!

Green family boat trip to Portland

This weekend was rose festival, and we decided to experience it by boat. We loaded up our little fold-a-boat and took it to the Willamette boat launch and cruised up and down the river. Eli did pretty good, but he is big enough now to understand that going fast over water can be scary. It was a beautiful weekend and a fun little outing.

#1 ~ These are the famous Portland dragon boats -- they were given to Portland by a sister-city in China, and you can often see teams rowing up and down the river, practicing for races. We got an up-close look -- beautiful!

#2-4 ~ Greens, recreating

#5-9 ~ Portland city and waterscapes, the Rose Festival!

Have a good week everyone.

laughing around ...

This week, a lot of smiling Elijahs. His new news: two bottom teeth have really come in, he can crawl up stairs like a pro, and he's starting to make sounds suspiciously like words -- "mom-ma", "dad-da", "up", "doggie", "na-na (banana)" -- these are all contenders. We gave him a little photo album with family pictures so he can learn some names and faces.

#1-3 ~ I had to go to Ft. Lauderdale for work this week, and Dad took pictures of Eli and sent them to me, which was great because I really really missed my boys! (FYI, I got the shirt he was wearing as a joke -- it says, "Think Green" :)

#4 ~ Peek-a-boo! He has a few different ways he is starting to initiate this game.

#5 ~ Peek-a-boo, through the screen door!

#6 ~ Now that the weather is nicer, we are trying to spend a little more time outside. This weekend, it was a good time for a little carpet picnic... you can see the outdoor carpet we put in the side yard and some of the work J has been doing to make the yard nice for us. Now stop dawdling and feed me already mom!

#7 ~ Just wanted to show that we recently ordered a custom frame for Eli's 100 day outfit and hung it up in the living room. It looks great!

Stairs!