VERY belated Thanksgiving with Joe, Bethany, Lucy and Hailey

Greetings all you FamiliaShaha fans. As usual I have been flaky in my postings, and your mother has been VERY busy getting prepared for your arrival for Christmas. We are so looking forward to all of you being here.

Though very late, I wanted to post a few photos from our great Thanksgiving with Joe and Bethany and their lively girls (it is possible that getting Hailey and Caroline together may cause some sort of spontaneous reaction akin to adding fire to gasoline). Bethany provided a most delicious feast for us all, and we had a very fun week with their family. Here are some photos I took--admittedly a poor photographer (but then we were installing a sink some of the time).

Hailey puts away the silverware after the dishwasher cycle is completed. She is very efficient.

And we had a most enjoyable birthday party for Hailey while there--her happy 2nd. We also celebrated Joe's birthday, but couldn't get all the candles in one shot so I decided to just go with Hailey's birthday photo.

The girls had a good time harassing Steve as he tried to rest--Lucy just leaped off the chairassured Steve would catch her. It worked every time.

And we did a lot of reading--mostly to Hailey (who chooses her dad over all other readers) . . .

and Lucy--both avid readers.

You all be excellent to each other, and come to us safely. Only reason I have time to do this this morning is we're in the midst of a pretty good snowstorm--the one that blew through Utah the other day. I hear it's hammering Iowa so hope Dave and Wendy and Oakley are hunkered down today and that the roads are safe for their travel here tomorrow.

See you all soon!!

Love, Pat and Nancy/Gampa and Gamma

Merry Christmas to All and to All A Demotivational Night

Since I'm going to be seeing family members starting next Friday, this will be my last post of 2012.  Happy Holidays to all, and I hope you enjoy this last batch of Demotivators for 2012.

This last one is specifically for Dave and Wendy.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Demotivation

So, I'm posting a day early because I will be away from my computer all day tomorrow due to what promises to be an epic day of VIEWING ALL THREE DIRECTOR'S CUTS OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY!!! (I'm excited).  That having been said, here's this week's installment of demotivators...enjoy.

 I sure hope this guy is drunk, get ready for winter weather.

 You know these guys have to be drunk.

I hope this guy's scraper isn't inside the car.

  Be sure you aren't on the naughty list THIS year, Santa's stit appears to be quite low.

And last but not least, this one's for Ben.

I'm Thankful for Demotivators

I have no excuse for not posting last week, but hopefully this will make up for it.  This is going to have to count for a couple of postings, so I will include a few bonus posters.  In any case, Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you enjoy these Demotivators.

 This one is dedicated to those of you who will be going into battle on Black Friday.

 This might be Dad's all-time favorite Far Side cartoon.

 It wouldn't if Dad does something like this in the not too distant future...like next Sunday A.D.

 Who believes that Dave will be writing like this soon (if he isn't already)?

 I hope Ben never even thinks of doing a portrait like this (even as a joke).

Star Wars rules!

Natalie and Jack Kung Fu Fighting Dance

Brian Williams Rocks

I found this on The Soup's Youtube channel and felt compelled to share it with all of you.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx-Rw-QVvV8&feature=g-user-u

Halloween video

More pics from the month

This one is actually from last month when Katie and Shea were out. Sweet pic of Emily and Natalie braving the Garrapata Beach. (No garrapatas sighted).

Emily does her impression of Joe's pirate costume.

I bought a sweet shirt off of my Polish Trekkie friend. Unnamed, expendable landing party member reporting for duty.

This next pic is kind of hard to see because of my crappy camera. We went down to the Coast Guard pier to look at jellyfish and starfish. This otter rolled out with a big crab. He would float on his back with the crab helplessly flailing on his stomach. When he felt like it, he'd pick up the crab and munch off one of his legs. He was putting on a good show. Kind of felt bad for the crab though.

Emily and Caroline checking out all of the fat, lazy, SMELLY sea lions.

Halloween

The girls are now obsessed with the Tinkerbell Disney video. Emily went as Tinkerbell while Caroline was "Vidia." As with last year, you can tell which picture was taken last... the one with Emily giving me a razzie indicating she's tired of taking pics. It was funny actually because they were kind of scared to go trick or treating and wanted only to give out candy at first. Ben

Hailey Singing

Hey Shayhays! We neglected to post last month and have no good excuses. October was a good time and fall is absolutely gorgeous in Virginia. It hasn't been too cold here yet, so we have nothing to complain about unless you are from southern California and shiver in 85 degree weather. Reminds me of when Ben used to wear his winter coat to school in Panama. Above is Hailey's one volume. This video is yet another indication that Lucy will play the flute and Hailey the drums, that Lucy will pursue ballet while Hailey will pursue the mosh pit, and that Lucy will do yoga while Hailey will go into powerlifting.

We look forward to seeing all of you soon and having Emily teach our kids how to read.

Joe, Bethany, Lucy and Hailey 

After Halloween Costume Sale

Not sure what Hailey is contemplating here, but it probably has something to do with destroying something valuable.

We love sales! now we have new dress up clothes

Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and the Pirates

Here we are at the JAG Halloween party. As usual, daddy is the only one looking at the correct camera. The women are in need of an anchor to keep them on the straight and narrow, for they are easily distracted. They probably saw a quilt or something.

This is the back of Peter Pan's (Hailey's) head as she left a house after acquiring some junk food for her dad. Daddy ate nearly 80% of the girls' candy in order to preserve their dental health. We're always being told to sacrifice on behalf of our children and I think I've fulfilled my quota for the rest of their lives.

Here we are at the church party.  The little cupcake is our friend's daughter--Kennedy--both of her parents are amazing attorneys so she will no doubt be very successful in life. Bethany drew my mustache--I'm Captain Hook but kind of look like Rolly Fingers going through a mid-life crisis.

halloween yo!

Oakley the elephant and Dave the ringmaster. And Wendy the trapeze artist who changed her costume before this picture because it was sweaty and gross.

Happy Halloween!

The Old Man Checking in Early - finally

Once again I got these in backwards--loaded them that way because I thought that's how they'd show up on the blog. One of these days . . . .

Anyway, catching up on a few photos I don't think we've shared. Here's evidence of Gramma's FIRST 5-Guys burger--note the paleface Natalie who'd had her face painted the day prior as seen in Katie's last entry. And Jack chowing down on them 5-Guy fries!

Here's Grampa at the last Reunion and . . .

at the Silverado facility last time I got to have lunch with him. He's thinner and getting more frail, but is charming with his young caretaker from Honduras--I got to practice my Spanish with her during our visit. Grampa seems to be very comfortable with the facility and the people there, and now Gramma is better at visiting periodically.

 And then there's the literary opportunities with the grandchildren that present themselves when we're lucky. Jack was not as interested in Goodnight Moon as was Natalie--but he was having a great time throwing that ball at us (appears he may be a lefty!)

And Hailey is quick to point out a skipped page or mispronounced word, as you can plainly see.

And here's one of my favorite photos of Joe's little ones. We are SO looking forward to having you all out here for Christmas . . . we can't stand the wait.  You all be careful out there, and be excellent to each other. And PARTY ON for Halloween. Hope we get to see the costume photos on the blog soon.

Love, Mom and Dad/Pat and Nancy/Gwamma and Gwampa/Groover and Bopper