Monday, November 29, 2010

Uncle Michael Fills In The Blanks: Thanksgiving


Thanksgiving was a rather low-key affair, kind of like a regular dinner but with a more....uh..."luxurious" meal. (Seriously, it was great. Thanks, Susan!)

Here's a picture Susan took before everyone came to the table.

A wonderful bird, stuffing, peas, mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry.

She also made a pie the day before for dessert.
This is a top-down photo. There doesn't appear to be a side-on photo, which is too bad because it looked like she put a couple of shirts in there - not in a bad way, I just mean the pie was about (or seemed to be) 5 inches from top to bottom.

It was an apple pie. I didn't have any, so I can't attest to its deliciousness (but Rich seemed to like it just fine).

The night before, everyone had some ice cream (there were three boxes of it in the freezer, for some reason) and one box got finished off. Then it was given to...."The Cleaner."

He got straight to work.

He was very dedicated to his work.

There are no more pictures of the worker, except for the indecent one of him taken from behind. So we'll just end it here.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Uncle Michael Fills In: #4's Birthday

Somebody around here had a birthday not too long ago and nobody posted pictures of that blessed event (except me, on Facebook, so if you don't have Facebook, you missed it). So I'm here to do the job using the photos from Susan's camera. The Elusive Uncle Michael will make an appearance (in disguise) in these photos, so pay attention.

I thought this picture was taken in the morning but I just checked and it wasn't. This is the evening of that actual day, November 8th.
You might recognize this image from two posts ago.

Now here's the reason I thought that picture was from the morning. There are a whole set of pictures soon after that where our young star looks like this:

Investigating this mystery, I believe I have found the missing link. You see, the picture that appears "on the roll", so to speak, between the clothed and not-clothed picture is this one:
Know what that is? That's a close-up on a whole pile of cupcakes. And you know what happens between cupcakes and newly-minted one-year-olds, don't you?

That's exactly right.

Apparently, the whole "get naked" thing caught on, because look at Shea!

Here are the other siblings patiently awaiting their cupcakes.
Greeley in her "retro 70s" shirt.

Atlee being contemplative after some kind of fall or possibly a lip balm incident.

Chubs was very happy with his cupcake.
"Ah, cupcake, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways."

"Uh...it's ok that I'm totally making a mess of myself, right?"

"Dude, are these things laced with something?"

"Dude I am SO HIGH right now!!"

"Ok, that was fun while it lasted. Where are the presents?"

Now check this out: a little more than an hour later -
Poof! The original Emerson is back!

Still in party mode.

Quick quiz: Is Emerson happy or upset in this photo?
I'll give it to you: he's happy. But often times - or at least in the past - you could see a face like this, here a hitching noise similar to laughing and then BAM! - totally wailing.

We interrupt this blog post for a brief jam session by local beatniks "Nature Girl and the Princess":
Yeahhh...get down with that conga beat!

Ladies and Gentleman, another big hand for "Nature Girl and the Princess," local coffeehouse staples and performance artists!

Returning to our regularly scheduled programming, we come to the main event
Emerson's Public Birthday

When Rich saw, he said to me: "Did you see this? I almost fell down laughing!"
(Surely by now you know that his nickname is Chubs.)

There's Chubs now, in his place of honor, ready to receive the cake - wait a minute. Does he look upset to you?

He is upset! Aww, Chubs, what's the matter, buddy? Are you already upset that you're one year older? Do you dislike being called Chubs? Is it - oh, wait. I see. I see what it is.

It's me.

My brother and aunt were supposed to come to this party but they cancelled because the kids were "sniffly," according to Richard. Now, the whole family had been schedule to come to my house the week before to have dinner with my aunt (who was in town from Louisiana) but they cancelled because the kids were sick. The week before that was Halloween and Rich and I were on the phone when he told me Greeley would probably stay home that night because she had been sick. So this was the THIRD WEEK of people puking and such in this household (Sue the morning of the party). So I decided it was some kind of virus "hot zone" and that I should take appropriate precautions. Hence the mask and (I'm sure you can't tell) swim goggles under my glasses. What you also can't see is the latex gloves I'm wearing. Want to hear something funny? You can't really buy one pair of latex gloves. So I've got 99 pair of spare latex gloves for want of a joke. Emerson of course saw me and burst into tears.

This is me taking a picture of Greeley. I was told to take "close ups" of all the kids, so I made sure to get shots of their faces close up. Here I'm telling Greeley to hold really still (because the camera's flash wouldn't go off because of the sunlight streaming in behind her).

Also, see that jig that Atlee seems to be dancing on the side? When I explained that their house was so full of germs I couldn't come in without protection, Atlee reacted immediately, saying "I puked on Thursday!" and rubbing her hands on me like some kind of zombie. The girl is hilarious.

Uncle Michael, the biological warfare, camera-wielding terrorist. (Actually, I look like some kind of researcher documenting a plague, don't I?)

"Mommy, who's that scary man?"
[I apologize for the fact that this photo is skewed. I have tried to upload it six times now and it always comes out the wrong way. I want to throttle someone.]

He was soon mollified by a cupcake. (Aren't they always?)

Gree looks like she's enjoying hers as well. (Uncle Michael would like to boast here that the shirt she is wearing comes from KEXP, a hip internet radio station out of Seattle he listens to and supports.)

There are no more pictures from that day but there is this one from the next morning (8:58am, it's time-stamped) that shows dancing in the living room. Perhaps the party went all night??!!

Uncle Michael Post: Wherein I Show You What She Left Out




"Hello, I'm Greeley, pictures should always be about me."

Remember how Shea was horrified by what had happened to his hair? What she didn't tell you...

...was that Emerson was equally shocked.

Or he could have been reacting to this chili cheese dog his daddy made for himself.


Greeley went to Mardi Gras! (Ok, wrong time of year.)

Who is this fashionable lady? A friend of Paris Hilton's, perhaps??

Nope! It's just the Greelinator, out on the town!

Oh, wait! It looks like she's going swimming!!!

[Editor's note: Swimming pictures are too blurry; not worth posting. Sorry.]

They apparently went to a wedding or something. I'm posting this picture for the light globes. Just beautiful. Now check them out when it's dark.

How cool is that? So cool.

Look how good her husband looked! You'd think he was running for office!

Remember that trip they took to a farm? This is Atlee doing her best Miley Cyrus impression - "I throw my hands up, they're playin' my song..."

The place was so amazing, Greeley had to call Barbie. "Barbie, did you hear me?? This place has horsies!!!"

Here she has the phone closed but I'm pretty sure she's using it on speaker. "Barbie! Dude! I am touching one of them RIGHT NOW!"

Future heartbreaker. There is no doubt about it.

I call this one: "Still Life with Chicken."

Later, at someone's house...
Atlee firing up the ol' bubble maker.

"How does this thing work again? [mumbling] I could have sworn I knew how to work this..."

Atlee blows a bubble and we see the classic Greeley frown.

Such a pretty girl.

Do you know about the family trip to the diner?






Here Shea is transforming. I see him slightly as a Twilight fan here. It's something about his hair.


Here the slouch makes him into Emo Shea. I imagine this as his college persona (the cup is full of coffee, in college). "Yeah, I'm working on my music right now, but, I dunno, maybe I'll just chuck it and move to Cambodia."



Another farm visit! Alpacas!
White ones!

And black ones!

This picture made me want to write a children's book called "Atlee and the Alpaca."

Brave wanderers among the alpacas.

Does Emerson like alpacas? It would appear that he does.

Of course, Emerson likes all kinds of crazy things.

And lastly, SOUP!


More SOUP!

MOSTEST SOUP!