Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving WAS a long time ago - but I remember it like it was yesterday. Well, not really. But I do recall that We had our first Thanksgiving here in North Carolina, and Dad & Feather came down to help us celebrate it in style!

They arrived either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. They were certainly present for Pizza Night (every Wednesday)!! We ate pizza and afterwards had a memorial birthday for Bean with LOTS of presents and some weird cake Feather made in some weird pan. Orginally, it was supposed to be a Yodel Ice Cream cake but they don't have Yodels down here. So we used some sort of horrible knockoff (I think they were Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls - yuck).

See? Pizza Night!


Loch and Sean "help" with the presents!

Thanksgiving Day brought with it a lazy day of playing, parade watching and preparation for Thanksgiving dinner! I remember there was a problem with the turkey taking FORever to cook - but the bacon-wrapped green beans were the hit of the night! Plus, there was a last-minute gravy creation (Me: So, where's the gravy? Bean: GRAAAAAAAAVY?) that was actually one of the best gravies I ever had. And of course, more of that weird cake.

Here we see just who lost the "Who gets to be Elektra" contest.

El bandido del oso

El bandido toma una siesta

Now how did we fit all that stuff into Friday? Dad and Feather flew out that evening, but during the day we went to the park for five minutes (Hay-zoos it was friggin' cold) where Loch impressed Peepah with his monkey bar skills. Then we had lunch at Chik-Fil-A, where Loch renewed his bovine love affair with their mascot. Feather was also able to help us update an old family photo she took back in Aught Seven.

Soo.....cold.....


When we said "Put on a jacket" Peepah, we meant a coat!


He'll come at you like a spider monkey!


Rocket Loch and his Sterling Crew!


"I love you, Anthopomorphic Cow."

April 2007

November 2009

No sooner had I said "Farewell" to my father and sister did I jump in my car and drive to meet them in NJ for a wedding - the wedding of my 1st cousin once removed Sarah Meagher Burns! It was a beautiful ceremony and I think most of the reception was a lot of fun, too. I wouldn't know because Dad, Feath, Gail and Joe offered to give me a ride. We would arrive later. But it was a fun trip!

My Sisters and Me


A historic meeting...John Joseph Burns meets John Joseph Meagher
I hope Sarah isn't saying "Feather - get your brother away from my husband!"
though that is what it looks like she is saying.

IN MEMORIAM

Our cat Pretty had to be put to sleep before Christmas - the above pic was not the reason why.
It sparked some....interesting conversations with the boys. They wanted me to go to Heaven
and bring the cat back; I had to break the news that it was a one-way trip.

But First....

I had a verrrry busy Thanksgiving holiday. But before we get to that, I have to tell you about the weekend before Thanksgiving...when we had a lot of visitors! Uncle Rich, Aunt Cass, Carter and Baby Tristan came to see us - and it was very exciting. Batman, Superman and Ballet Girl showed up to put the evil Uncle Richie in jail!

Pre-Teen Titans Go!

Bean took Cass to a baby shower in Durham on Saturday, which left Uncle Richie and myself with the enviable task of keeping the kids busy. So - we went on the long hike thru the woods to the Lost and Secret Playgrounds!

Getting ready to venture out


Snack break!
or, as I like to call it:
"Drink o' water, boss?"


We've reached the Lost Playground!

We then went on to the Secret Playground further in to the park - and luckily I had the foresight to "plant" the Caravan nearby so we didn't have to trek back to the house from there. It did tire the kids out - so much so that Loch and Carter were asleep by 7 PM that evening.

I had the bestest time with Tristan - feeding her, playing with her, getting kisses, etc. - I do believe that I am tied for the position of Most Favorite Person After Mommy and Daddy (with Gramphog).

Loving the Exersaucer!


The Many Faces of Tristan

No sooner did the VA Meaghers leave than one of Bean's college friends (and her daughter) arrived! They could not get tickets to see Miley Cyrus in VA, so they opted to see her in the Gate City - and Bean went with!!

Trista, Savannah and Bean - ready to rock!!!

They stayed over and left early the next morning - which only a few days until the arrival of even more guests!

Halloween 2009

Hey! It's not only Halloween, but it's my 101st post to the blog as well! Such a momentous occasion deserves a lot of pictures, and Halloween makes that easy!

First off, we had to decorate the yard, in our minimalist fashion. So that meant hanging ghosts from trees and carving pumpkins! We missed the Fall Festival this year, so we just had to buy our pumpkins at the supermarket. But everyone got one - though I had to carve the boys' as well as mine. I tried to get them involved with scooping out the "pumpkin guts", but THAT they thought was too icky.

One more to go!
I should point out here that Bean carved her own pumpkin (the skull on the right) and was very proud of her efforts.

Here are all 4 carved pumpkins - Sean, me, Bean and Loch.

And here they are lit up at night. Unfortunately, the weather was so warm, Bean's did not last 'til Halloween. In fact, the other 3 had to go right after Halloween.

Getting ready to hang ghosts from our trees. Hmm, I forgot to take those down today. Maybe I can keep them up for Thanksgiving - little pilgrim spirits or something. Then they can be the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future later in December. Somehow, I don't think Bean'll let that fly.

The boys were Batman and Robin for Halloween - and it was really Bean's idea. I swear!

The Dynamic Duo

I let Lochlain ham it up here - he's a natural.

As opposed to Seaniebear - whose karate kick looks more like he's about to step on an ant.

Seanie looks like he's going to be a football player; again you see the difference in the boys' posing abilities.

Holy Bat-Bookends!

"Can't....keep....balance...on tilted...floor!"

Funny If You're A Meagher Dept.: When we were little, our mom would make us tents using chairs and blankets. Well, the boys wanted a "secret hideout" this weekend. So I put 4 chairs together and threw some blankets over it. And that should've been that. But no....they needed pillows, extra blankets, a library, snacks, drinks and toys, to complete the experience. I'm surprised they didnt ask me to set up the portable DVD player for them as well (though come to think of it, that might've afforded us extended quiet time)......

The "Secret Hideout"

A rare glimpse of the "Members Only" section

The More Things Change aka I Have A Short Story About That

Real quick story related to me by my wife from the other day.

Setup: Lochlain and Sean have started a new daycare - The Primrose School (look it up). This means leaving old friends of 3 years behind and making new ones.

Mommy and Lochlain are going into his classroom - after hanging coat and bookbag up, the first order of business is handwashing. Sophia greets Lochlain everyday - and on this day skips up to the sink as Loch is washing his hands, puts her elbows up on the counter next to him, places her head dreamily on her folded hands and says: "Lofflain (she calls him Loff-lain), what WAS that you saying to me yesterday that was SOOOO funny?" Aside to Jeanine: "He was sooo funny yesterday and was making me laugh..tee-hee!"

Sigh.

By the way, the thing that was sooooo funny? Lofflain repeating the word "applesauce".

At least she hasn't mentioned marriage yet.

Peepah Comes To Visit!

Ah, but which one you ask? Well, if we ask Loch, it is "Peepah with the lost tooth" and not "Peepah with the sharp hair". Peepah Meagher flew in Thursday night to enjoy a simple dinner with us and see the boys off to bed. He did manage to get talked into reading Lochlain a last minute bedtime story - a book about Batman!

Lochlain likes to participate in the reading of this book, rattling off the names of the bat-vehicles and the villains. He also likes to demonstrate young Bruce Wayne's training regimen, especially...

...the meditation!!!

Still, it is one of Lochlain's favorite books to read even though it can sometimes turn into a scene from the 60's TV show:

Friday saw Bean off to work and the boys off to daycare. Dad and I stayed at home to run errands, hang out, and get ready for my 2nd Birthday.

FUNNY IF YOU'RE A MEAGHER DEPARTMENT:



So, yeah - Dad helped bake my birthday cake! Look - he even used the mixer:

Later, he provided technical assistance with my broken power supply (which arrived today and is working perfectly - good work, Dad!):

"Now, John Joseph - don't forget a second SATA power connector!"

Then Dad kept the boys busy as I made dinner - he was especially helpful keeping Seaniebear out from underfoot:

Milky Milkerton sez: "Don't crush my bad arm, Peepah!"


The Angry Cuddles

Before I knew it, it was time for my second birthday celebration - with a cake Peepah made pretty much all by himself (bet he never did that for Feather!)

A great 2nd birthday party - all Meagher birthdays last a long time!

The boys received presents from Aunt Feather - she made them superhero t-shirts! Lochlain had received two Green Lantern shirts from Feath that he loves and wears a lot (well, one of them - the black shirt's GL icon started to come off) at Christmas. Seaniebear got a tshirt that said "Please Don't Feed the Seaniebear" but with the "Don't" crossed out and "Juice and Pancakes" pencilled in at the end - he loves to "read" it to you when he is wearing it. Well, when they got their new shirts - they loved them and had to wear them right away!

The Brave & The Bold

Bean ended up reading us all Spoon, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Peepah was amused by Seanie leaping off the bed every time the page was turned to point out one thing or another. NOTE: Please notice that Milky Milkerton is not wearing his sling at this point. Though he would go on to complain about his arm once or twice between this time and game time (9:00 AM) the next day, he is completely recovered.

Another fascinating read.

We did a lot of other things with Peepah that weekend - including going out to dinner sans kids, going to the movies, going to (of all places) Peepah's favorite supermarket and doing this puzzle:

But what was really great was having Peepah attend Sean and Lochlain's games on Saturday. He got to see Seanie attend his team picture AND play his game (which got a little rough for a bunch of 3 year olds) - though Seanie at one point did assist the other team in scoring a goal on his own net:

This is not a picture of Sean's "assist" - I was too busy yelling at Sean
to turn the ball around and go the other way at that time to take pictures


Loch fields this ball cleanly - a good stop. And then keeps it. Sigh.


"So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb."

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
But summer has been ended, now starts the season fall;
there is some joy in Greensboro - mighty Lochlain hit the ball.
(with apologies to Ernest Lawrence Thayer)