The Final 2008 Easter Post (Yay!)

 

This is the last Easter post for 2008, I promise.

Anyhow, we went overboard on the baskets because Lisa actually prefers Easter to Christmas and this year she had money of her own to toss in the mix.

Each kid got one 'big' gift, and their standard basket (which also included a smaller ~$5 gift). YaYa's gift was a set of doll clothes for her (generic) American Doll and a Littlest Pet Shop toy, while LuLu was given a Puppies in Your Pocket set and a Lilly (of Hannah Montana) doll and Smiley received a Knight in Armor play clothes set. All the kids also received a character beach towel.

Oh, the baskets also contained matching Easter outfits from my folks.

Here's Lu's:.

YaYa's:

Smiley's:

and the Baby's:

Three things: One, LuLu originally balked at another year with the Frog basket, saying it was a 'boy' thing, but upon review it is very feminine. I also axed plans to get the kids character baskets as I like the tradition of using the same ones each year.

Two: The kids each got a big chocolate bunny that, somewhat playfully represented them. Smiley had one with a school backpack, LuLu had one with big feet, YaYa one called 'too tall'. Uh-uh - save your scolding for the Mrs. It was her idea.

Three: YaYa no longer believes in the Easter bunny. After nearly choking on her owngiggles when talking about the Bunny with us, Lisa busted out and told her the truth flat-out. I'm sure she knew already, but it 'twas a milestone, it was.

While I thought it odd timing, their cousin and friends stayed overnight into Easter morning (thus explaining them in these shots).

You won't see much of Lu either, as she woke up ill with the baby's flu and wasn't up to celebrating.

That's edible Easter grass, btw.

I was stuck working while Lisa took the kids to an Easter breakfast with her Mom at a restaurant.

Later, I took YaYa and Smiley to my parent's house for dinner, as Lisa stayed behind with the sick baby and the (by now) completely ill LuLu.

YaYa and cousins in their outfits:

YaYa with her doll, which she took to my Mom's.

And last but not least, Smiley, who as always had such elegant manners . . :)

Happy Easter!

Tags: Easter 2008

Easter Egg Dyeing 2008

                                            

Trust me, you're no sicker of Easter posts than I am. This one and one more; after that I'm done. I promise. If this doesn't apply to you, feel free to check out the 2007 post from a few days ago, or the 2006 post here.

This years Egg Dyeing was canceled on Good Friday because of the baby's illness and the blizzard that came with it. It was hurriedly rescheduled for the next day, but Lisa couldn't wiggle out of work so I ran the show alone (although Lisa's friend Chris stayed to watch the Baby).

All the usual suspects were there, minus my nephew and my oldest niece.

Ugh. Smiley and his di-di (pacifier). Gotta break him of that soon, but since he doesn't talk he seems so much younger than he is. Still, he usually only uses it to fall asleep and then drops it behind his bed. Not sure why he grabbed it here; maybe he sensed a chance to embarrass his folks online :)

 

We did a lot more eggs than usual, as I brought home 5 dozen to dye for work. Still, it was much more chaotic, disorganized, and not nearly as artistic an endeavor as when Lisa runs the show.

For instance, I started the kids out in their everyday clothes.

Before making them put on play clothes.

Here's the baby silently watching the festivities from a distance. Note the IV bandages still in place.

Here's smiley, being a boy

It may not have gone perfectly, but at least our tradition was kept going.

Tags: Easter Egg Dyeing

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Fay Wray, Richard Widmark, a hot Angelina Jolie, the Zodiac Killer, DB Cooper, and Egg McMuffins

I'm just going to point out that I've created this post three times now, and AOL has 'errored' out and lost it twice. Buggers. I"m not even going to *try* and incorporate links throughout this time; you'll have to look it up yourself.

Last night I watched The Most Dangerous Game, a 1932 movie with Fay Wray that tells the story of Count Zarkoff, a madman who hunts humans for sport on his private island.

Very well done for a film made during the Hoover administration, even if the acting was stilted at times. Some trivia: Fay Wray did this film during the day and then left to do King Kong at night.

I was a bit freaked out watching the film, as I know the Zodiac killer was a fan of the movie, referencing it in his taunting letters to the San Francisco press and basing his costume on Zarkoff.

To imagine that madman watching the screen with a glimmer of excitement in his eyes . . it gave me chills.

Maybe he should have paid better attention to one of Zarkoff's lines in the film: "You don't hunt the female of the species".

In news of other, less violent criminals, it was announced that some kids may have found DB Coopers long-buried parachute.

Cooper, you'll recall, is the alias for the man who hijacked an American Airlines jet in the '70's, collected the ransom, and then brazenly parachuted into oblivion from the back of the plane.

My opinion? In a few days they'll have a small print article in the back of the paper calling this a false alarm.

If DB is alive, and has managed to keep quiet and out of trouble all these years, then clap him on the back, say 'heckuva story' and move on.

* * *

The inventor of the Egg McMuffin, Herb Peterson, died yesterday. To my recollection I've never had one of his creations.

* * *

The whole Hillary lied story? A weak but effective means of diverting attention away from Wright's hate speech.

* * *

Can we please fire the genealogists, journalists, and editors who feel compelled to give us election year stories about what famous person is related to each candidate? This year, Brad Pitt is reported to be related to Obama and Angelina Jolie to Clinton, or vice versa.

How convenient.

Why is it famous people are only related to other famous people? No one is the great-granddaughter of a fat, ugly pickpocket with eczema, ED, and a stray sixth toe? No one?

* * * *

More snow expected today, and I'm rooting for it. We're so close to the all-time Milwaukee record it'd be a shame to take silver this season.

* * * *

Richard Widmark, an actor I enjoyed a lot on American Movie Classics as a kid, passed away yesterday. Best known for laughing as he pushed an old lady down a flight of stairs while tied to a wheelchair (and earning an Oscar nod for it), Widmark had a great career that spanned decades.

DesLily did a much better write up on Here, There, and Everywhere. Kindly check it out.

RIP Mr. Widmark.

* * * *

The first two versions of this post were better, but whatever. I saw a post about Google Docs on Nutwood Junction. Maybe I'll try that.

Working in AOL isn't doing the trick, and moving text from Office always leads to stray code and 'smushed' text.

BTW, I'm fully aware that an editor would be grand . . I'm always re-reading a post and noticing a wrong word here, an awkward phrase there. Sorry about that.

Tags: Angelina Jolie, Fay Wray, Richard Widmark, D.B. Cooper, Zodiac

Buddies - 2007 Version

That long winded 2007 Easter weekend also features some great pics of the kids posing with friends, and I think I'll post them here for posterity.

Here's Lu with her cousin:

Lisa's longtime friend Chris and her (then) new baby:

Chris' oldest with Smiley

and in my basement w/ her own cousin (such love from him, eh?)

Here's Chris' oldest with my niece. Apparently they are demonstrating the proper way to use invisible scissors.

Here's YaYa and my godchild/her cousin, taken in YaYa's room

Here's Lu and her cousin. It's a shame about the goofy face, because Lu looks so loving in the photo.

And one of the trios, again with that silly face AND closed eyes. I am not, if you haven't guessed, a fan of that stage where kids refuse to do anything but the silly face, because they think it's 'cool'.

Tags: Easter 2007, Buddies

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Easter 2007 Continued . .

 

I figure we might as well finish Easter of 2007 before moving on to this year.

Here's a shot of the kids Easter Baskets on the mantle, the first Easter morning in our first house.

From left to right: Smiley, LuLu, YaYa.

The kids (naturally) woke up at the crack of dawn to raid the baskets. Note all the unpacked boxes in the background; this is also long before Lisa painted the picture that hangs above the fireplace.

The baskets included 'donations' from the grandparents. The girls, esp. Lu, received Princess themed items, while Smiley got his share of Spiderman.

The set of 'carrots' in the background of some of these pics is a Easter bowling set, with carrots as pins.

Poor Smiley . . there are so many pictures to humilate him with when he's older. These bunny ears were featured in a nekked bunny pose we had professionally done for YaYa four years prior.

In the afternoon it was on to my Mom's house. That's their dog Cocoa, which just happens to be one of the first words both Lu and YaYa ever spoke. For years it was their all-purpose word for 'dog'.

Their has to be kieabalsa, of course, and blessed bread, and coarse horseradish . . .the girls love kieabalsa.

Granted, it's a year later, but from what I remember it was a very nice Easter!

Tags: Easter 2007