Devora Elona

In the Jewish tradition, a naming is a ceremony in which a newborn(ish) girl is welcomed into Judaism and receives her Hebrew name. Claire's naming was last month, and she was given the Hebrew name Devora Elona. We chose Devora to honor Claire's great-great grandmother Dora Schuman. (And Devora also happens to be Grandma Debby's Hebrew name.) Elona was chosen to honor Claire's great grandfather Earl Solomon, Sr. whose Hebrew name was Elizar. Although Elona is a form of the Hebrew word for "tree," it is pure coincidence, and not at all an indication that we took Henry's suggestion to name Claire "Tree Villain."


We said the prayers; Claire chose to eat them.

Claire was lucky that all four grandparents could take part in the ceremony...

Thankfully, Henry had a steady hand during this part.

Good Ones

Here are some great pictures we've taken recently...

Donruss Rated Rookie: Henry shows off his t-ball jersey and hat

Gran Gran was in town for Claire's naming last weekend (update on that coming soon)

Like his cousin Luigi, Henry on occasion likes to spend some time in formal attire (not pictured: his smoking jacket)

Claire takes advantage of the early spring weather with Jonathan, Natalie and Henry

Great Eight!

"Ta-daaaaa!" Claire is eight months old! (We celebrated this milestone in March because, FYI, there is no February 30.)



Looks like Costco membership is less exclusive than it once was...

Sketch Artist

We've called Henry lots of things during his life, but "artist" has never been one of them. Usually, his "art" is just scribbling on a piece of paper. So imagine our surprise when tonight he actually sat down and drew a self-portrait. He was pretty proud of this, so we had him pose next to it...

He'll have you know, those are eyebrows directly above the eyes. (And he'll point to his own eyebrows to make sure you understand that point.)

After he "signed" his art with multiple number 4s (for his age), we asked him to draw Claire. The result was this blue face. You may notice that he drew her with teeth. Although she doesn't have quite as many as this picture indicates, she is getting two bottom teeth in...and Henry really is proud of her for it.