Selle Family Reunion

Posted on May 22, 2011 by admin

The weekend after graduation we all headed to Camp Quarry Ledge in Oswego, IL for the Selle Family Reunion (Aaron’s mom’s side). About 50 people attended and we all had a blast. Below Elijah points out something interesting to Uncle Jack.

Playing trains on the floor with fellow train aficionado cousins Jack and Andrew.

Hug for Grandma Janet. Elijah loves to hug.

Photo of all the “little ones”.

We celebrated two birthdays. Janice Henrickson, the oldest, who turned 80 and Andrew Selle, the youngest, who turned 1. I made the cake on the left. 🙂

Breakfast with Daddy

Fun with homemade playdough

Like Father Like Son

Posted on May 18, 2011 by admin

Aaron was working on his bike one day so Elijah of course had to get out his tools and fix his bike too! So cute!

Aunt Rachael’s Graduation

Posted on May 15, 2011 by admin

The weekend after Elijah’s birthday party we headed to Lamoni, Iowa for Rachael’s college graduation from Graceland University. Little miss rock star won the Student Life Award (highest non-academic award Graceland gives). She also graduated with a 4.0 GPA!

Elijah is very proud of his Aunt Rachael.

You can tell that there are A LOT of cameras going off at once because everyone is looking in a different direction.

Proud parents.

Rachael and Tyler (boyfriend)

Proud big brother

Tassles are fun!

Elijah’s Actual 2nd Birthday

Posted on May 10, 2011 by admin

Of course we had to do a little mini celebration on his actual birthday a few days later.

Blowing out the candle…

You’ve gotta love the toilet paper in the background.

This boy loves cake!

Mother’s Day

Posted on May 9, 2011 by admin

Since Elijah was born on Mother’s Day it usually takes a back seat to birthday party plans. This year my mom, Janet and Aaron’s grandma Carol were in town so we had a fun Mother’s Day lunch out at the White Chocolate Grill in Naperville.

Elijah’s 2nd Birthday Party

Posted on May 8, 2011 by admin

We had Elijah’s 2nd birthday party in our new house this year. He loves trains so of course we went with a train theme. Below we are opening a few pre-party gifts so the kids could all play with train sets.

He is very excited!

The cake, all edible fondant over a banana cake with vanilla buttercream.

The cupcakes were chocolate with peanut butter buttercream. Mmmmmm.

Elijah’s best buddy Jackson arrived and they quickly got down to business.

Baby Kennedy slept through the entire party.

Kids playing outside.

Jackson blowing bubbles with daddy.

Cousin Jack playing with trains with his mama Megan.

Elijah’s new friend Katherine playing with play dough.

Her new sister Megan, just hanging out.

Blowing out the candle. Afterwards he said, “more”. He wanted to blow it out again!

Cousin Andrew hanging out with uncle Ron.

Gift time!

Choo choo book!

Jackson and Elijah hugging, adorable!

Elijah also loves airplanes, so we got him an airplane fork at MOMA. He loves eating with it.

Elijah is always trying to play with Aaron’s tools so we got him his own toolset. Jackson and Elijah has a blast checking them out.

Grandpa Guy giving Elijah a ride in his new wagon!

Weekend in New York

Posted on May 8, 2011 by admin

Aaron and I took a trip to New York to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary thanks to a very generous gift from Janet & Guy!

Day 1: We walked around a lot the first day checking out midtown Manhattan. Below Aaron is checking out Times Square.

We ran into an old friend and had to take a photo for Elijah. As soon as we took this Elmo insisted that we tip him. Should have seen that one coming.

We decided to see a matinee performance of Wicked. It was incredible!

In the evening, the stars aligned and we were able to get tickets to see a concert at Carnegie Hall presenting several of Steve Reich’s pieces that had been sold out for months. One was a premiere of a piece he wrote about 9/11.

Day 2: The next day we had the most amazing breakfast at a little French cafe called Maison.

I’d been craving a croissant and was delighted to find a delicious, authentic French croissant!

Happy me!

Then took a tour bus all around downtown to see the sights. It was the perfect day to sit on the top deck of a bus and drive around. There was a bike race that day and so the bus was rerouted a bit. We ended up getting to see a lot more of ground zero than the tour normally does. This is one of the new towers being built.

This piece of art in battery park was pulled from the wreckage in a ball just like this.

After lunch, another matinee Broadway performance. This time we went to see The Book of Mormon. It is a brand new show by the creators of South Park. Aaron is a big fan of South Park and was so excited to see it. Afterward, he couldn’t stop smiling.

In the evening we took a dinner cruise aboard the Bateaux. It was lovely! This is our boat.

Fancy plate.

Sunset on the stern.

My hot date!

Photo turned out weird, but this was our table by the window.

Off the stern after dark. Again weirdness with lights.

View from our table.

Lady Liberty!

After this we headed back to our hotel room to find out about the death of Bin Laden. It was crazy! We’d just seen ground zero 12 hours before.

Day 3: The next morning we took a tour of the NBC studios. We saw the Nightly News Desk where Brian Williams had been on the night before. It was very cool. I love NBC! Below, looking up at 30 Rock.