Egg!!!

Butterfly egg:

Shirley

R.I.P.

Frank: "Is there a ransom note?"
Ed: "Yes, the butler found it; it was tied to this window and thrown into the rock garden. I sent the note to the lab; they're demanding one million dollars."
Frank: "Why would the lab demand a million dollars?"

Thanksgiving Flambe

This picture is not from Thanksgiving. It is from the lovely birthday party Amy threw for me and Jamie last weekend. (Happy birthday Jamie!) She made us a yummy, healthy chocolate zucchini cake and I can assure you that candles were the only thing on the cake that were on fire. (Thank you Amy!) Normally, this picture would probably have rated a post of its very own, but since it was the only recent picture of fire that we had handy, it seemed like a good way to kick off our Thanksgiving post. Because I managed to set not one, not two, but THREE separate dishes on fire for Thanksgiving this year.
This was pretty much the first holiday that we've spent with my family in the 20 years that Patrick and I have been together. I was VERY excited to see my two sisters, my aunt and uncle and my cousin Sebastian, as well as all our other guests. Bell and Zod and I look calm, cool and collected here, right? In truth, I'd already set a cake on fire earlier that morning. Normally, I think I'm a pretty decent cook, but I somehow failed to notice that a burner was still turned on on the stove and I set the cake pan down on top of it and well, the cake is history.

We were all feeling a little nostalgic, so my sisters asked for a traditional mid-western thanksgiving just like my grandma used to make for us, which included sweet potato souffle - with marshmallows. The mini-marshmallows instantly caught on fire, which then promptly spread to the green beans. I managed to put out the fires quickly without causing much damage to the casseroles and I rememebered my Mom's sage advice in times of cooking crisis...scoop off the top (put on more mini marshmallows) and serve dinner in candlelight. (Mom, I would just like to note that this strategy is more effective when half the people who will soon be eating the dinner aren't in the kitchen with you holding boxes of baking soda, just in case.)

Everything turned out just fine. We all had a good laugh and a nice meal and Patrick exercised tremendous self-restraint by not taking a picture of me with half my dinner in flames.

One of many good laughs.

Sweet boys, all three of them! We were very happy to have some of Patrick's family with us, as well. It was half a Monahan thanksgiving and half a Los Feliz Village Thanksgiving, including Amy and Jamie and Felix and our neighbors Veevak and Kristin, as well as a late night visit by Julie and Scarlett.

Three pirates! It almost looks like they actually ate a little dinner.

Happy...

Thanksgiving!!!

What family gathering would be complete without some squishy time with Aunt Bell? Even sweet shy Felix got in on the action.

Ah-ha! Sneak attack! 3 against one...

Who-ho! Revenge is sweet. Love to everyone!!! And apparently green bean casserole is better after it's been set on fire. Either that, or my family is very, very kind. Either way, we're very thankful for all of you.

Paul!!!

Here's a little Thanksgiving present for the Clash fans out there (OK, mostly Eric). The Selvedge Yard is a great site that does cool little photojournalism essays about some really interesting subjects. It's a little motorcycle oriented (sorry Dad!!), but it covers a lot of bases and is really fun to take a look at every once in a while!!

Check it out here (and click on "Read more"):


http://theselvedgeyard.wordpress.com/2010/11/25/tsy-stle-hall-of-fame-paul-simonon-how-to-clash-art-music-and-style/#more-21162

BTW - There is a slight chance (that Eric will probably demolish soon) that we are in the picture above!! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!

Birthday boots!

I hear it's supposed to rain today. Bring it on! Thank you to Kathi and Petur for my new rain boots!

Retreat!!!

Em and the boys and I had a great time last week at the Church of the Angels retreat in the mountains near Lake Arrowhead!! It was really fun to have a little camping trip in the middle of the school year, and was a really different and interesting thing for us to do. Also, it was nice and chilly - right before it actually started to snow in the mountains!! It was definitely a good time!!

Well...there was the small matter of getting lost in the woods for a few hours, but I'm sure no one got too upset about that (sorry Em!!!).

Of course there was more to it: great people, good food, a nice, if smokey, campfire, and some great talks about the big stuff. It was a different kind of thing for us, but I'm really glad that we went!!!

Anyway, here are some pix of our hike before it turned into The Blair Witch Project:



Some frogs in the empty frog pond:


The Mama Oak:



My loving and patient family:



Some tired boys after a loooooooong hike!!!

Fug!!!

For some reason friday night and Go Fug Yourself work well together:




VALENTINO: I AM THE TANNEST MAN IN THE WORLD.

ANNE HATHAWAY: You are kind of --

VALENTINO: NAY. I AM THE TANNEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED.

ANNE: That might be --

VALENTINO: LIKE A BURNISHED OAK FLOOR, I AM.

ANNE: I do feel a bit --

VALENTINO: YOU LOOK LIKE SKIM MILK IN COMPARISON.

Things are tough all over!!!

One big advantage to teaching low performing students is that on parent conference night, no one shows up!!! So I'm sitting here in my room at 5:30 feeling lonely, when I realized that this was what ended up on my whiteboard:

Don't ask :)

Eight!!!

Disneyland!

Here we are at Disneyland...the happiest - and the brightest - place on earth!

The Jungle Cruise! Oh no, the hippos are wiggling their ears!!!

Patrick and Finn waiting in line for the Matterhorn. Finn went on The Matterhorn, Big Thunder, Space Mountain and the Indiana Jones ride! Woo-hoo, go Finn!

Patrick and Jack toured Storybookland while Finn and I went on Space Mountain.

Jack hated it.

By the river...

...we got a little snack and did a little dance.

Tom Sawyer's island! Or Pirate's Cove or something like that. Whatever it is, it's still cool and a great place for little boys to run off a little energy.

Further proof that I am the least photogenic person on the planet - but the boys were too cute not to post this one.

Jack emerging from a cave. (I think Patrick may have blinded him.)

The ever-popular rope bridge.

Lunch at Blue Bayou. Fancy!

Waiting in line.

More waiting in line - shocker, I know!

Flash forward 12 years.

Mickey! Jack is such a tough little guy most of the time that it always surprises me when he turns into a big tender-hearted softie. When we visited Mickey Mouse's House, Jack would not let go of Mickey. His whole face totally lit up, he gave Mickey a huge hug and then kept his little hand on him the whole time, like he was worried he would disappear. I think Mickey was the highlight of our trip for him. Along with the Rodger Rabbit roller coaster.