Watermelon Smile

This was shortly before he said "You're my favorite, Uncle Chris."

Piracy & Garlands

Sometimes, Family makes for a nice Saturday.

The More Things, Stay The Same

Zach and his Papa, 2011.
Me and my Papa, 1976.

My Assistant And I Catching Up On Email

Nanas Are Special

c. 1977

PS: Whatever happened to those PANTS?

The Bunny Hostage Taker Returns

Each year it gets worse and worse.

Baby Eyes Of The Tiger

So I dropped a bunch of green on Christmas presents for the nephew, which I was glad to do.

The favorite present? Well he video-called to tell me about it.


It's a Tiger Hat, which also come with Tiger Mittens. It was a last minute grab at the store.

Apparently, he wears them all, day, every day, and cries when they come off. This baby, who was shy around strangers before, now goes up to everyone and roars, and if he forgets to roar at someone, insists they go back.


Here's a vid of him in action.



God Bless, this little man.

I Call This Trick "Shaping the Next Generation"

The Future's So Bright

I like playing The Sunglasses Game with my nephew on the iChat.

iPoop

It's the end of the world as we know it. Curmudgeons: you were right. Culture is dead.

On the plus side, my nephew is potty-trained.

Dancing, Underpants

Me? I'm overwhelmed with work leading up to my Germany trip.

My sister? "Nothing much happening here, just potty training and dancing."

I'd say for September 2010 it's CRD 0, Sister 1.

The Watermelon Dance

So this weekend I had two 8 hour travel days to spend about 36 hours with my family, including my nephew.

This here video? With him calling my name at the beginning? Makes it all worthwhile.



I guess babies are OK after all.

In The Family Way

And now, here is why I believe in Intelligent Design.

So I'm supposed to like my niece a whole lot, right? Well, I certainly do. She's a goofy looking little peach, and I got to thinking about the ingredients that make her up.

I had been staring at this picture here for about a half second before I figured out who she resembled:


Yup, that's right: my Nana, maybe my favorite person on earth (seen here with Baby):


Need more proof that she was intelligently designed for my love? See photo here:


That's right - she looks just like these little Loretta Lynn Muppet babies from my favorite program.



God Bless, family, and DNA, and the Lord above.

Guess Who's Ready For Shark Week?

Baby On Board

It's like those beach photos of your knees and the horizon, except with more Baby.

Little Baby

God made her toes long like mine.

Baby Time!

I am now what they call a Double Uncle. So, double bully for me!

At around 3:30am, I got this text:



I was tucked in.

Here she is again:


Here is when Baby met Little Baby. With my dad holding Monkey in the background.

Here is Baby giving a faceplant to New Baby (I'm assuming a kiss?).

And here's Mom, Dad, Baby, New Baby, and Monkey.

Mazel Tov!

This Is What The Baby Does

So I texted this picture to my sister.

Her response:

And then later Baby did this:
The End.

Farley & Family Trees

Here's something else I learned in Farley Granger's memoir.

In 1959 he was in a Broadway show, The Warm Peninsula, which costarred Larry Hagman, later of course the star of I Dream of Jeannie and Dallas.

Here's a snap of them with some other cast members (the others being Ruth White, Julie Harris, and June Havoc) -
During breaks in rehearsals they would go across the street to see Larry's mom...Mary Martin. She was just about to open a new musical called "Sound of Music."

Really? Major Nelson / J.R. Ewing is the son of Maria von Trapp / Peter Pan? I had no idea.
Here's Mary, in a snap by Carl Van Vechten,

And here's Larry with a little genie in his hand.

Go figure.

In The Family Way (Matrilineal Edition)

From my mom:

Grandpa is the little blonde boy front and center. The one in the dropped waist dress is Nellie, Grandpa's mother and a VERY stern woman); Helen (grandpa's sister) is the little girl with the necklace, next to her is George, Grandpa's father (a sweet, kind man who would sneak us candy when Nellie wasn't looking).


I was never terribly close with my Grandpa, but he was a good man, and I always enjoyed favored status as the first (of fourteen) grandchildren. The resemblance is kinda illuminating too:

This picture would be from sometime in the mid-1920s. Heritage.