Tag Archives: Uncle Mike

January 26th, 2019

January 26, 2019 shreffler

Waking up to fresh powder

Eleanor learning fifth position in her first dance class

Lunch with (great-)(aunt) Molly at Lalibela Ethiopian

Napping with all of her friends- Margaret, Blue Bear, assorted animals and, clutched guardedly in hand- beloved monkey.

Now officially a tradition: dad’s birthday weekend celebrated with an overnight hotel stay, swim and pizza party. Des is just as excited as dad-

Eleanor wastes no time finding the nearest slide, dashing down with only mild hesitation

Desmond fearlessly conquering the two-story waterslide

All washed up after the pool, the pizza arrives! The pixar gods shone down on everyone with a quick find on the cable (re-explaining that concept to Des for the fourth time) with Finding Dory

Ella snacking with some of aunt Molly’s candied pecans (so yum!)

Snuggles and Nemo- the best birthday present

While Eleanor takes quite some time to fall asleep, Des and dad build a fort in the corner with a laptop viewing of The Empire Strikes Back (or with all the pause-and-explain-the-plot-details breaks, up until meeting Yoda on Dagobah)

January 25th, 2019

January 25, 2019 shreffler

Ella just kicking back with grandma for dad’s birthday dinner

Great-aunt Molly (!) imparts some of her famously skillful coloring wisdom with Des

Possibly Ella’s favorite dish- mom made dal!

Opening Ella’s masterfully-signed birthday card to dad

Everyone four-and-under is excited about dad’s vinyl gift of a unknown Omaha songwriter covered by an even less known Omaha guitarist (woohoo!)

Cousin hugs are the best hugs

The first birthday dad has spent with the entire family in years, let alone with great-aunt Molly was truly, and tearfully, a special night.

Christmas 2018

December 25, 2018 shreffler

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a Max

The stockings were laying by the presents with care

When, what to Des’ wondering eyes should appear…

Ella knew in a moment it must have been St. Nick.

Desmond and Eleanor listen as mom reads Santa’s thank you letter for having left out the pretzels and carrots (for the reindeer, of course) with (almond) eggnog

Eleanor mines her stocking for the next surprise

…and last, a navel orange!!

Sporting her fancy new red glitter clippy (great-grandma Jane would so approve), Ella volunteers to unpack dad’s stocking

Eleanor either steals or instinctively stows dad’s gifted jar of Huey Fong Chili Garlic Sauce (thank you, dear Billy–and Santa) in the pantry

“An orange!”

Eleanor’s “covering random objects with blankets and putting them to sleep” game is seriously upgraded with a new baby crib

A recent evolution to the family tradition of a post-stocking pretzel snack, Ella and Desmond crack open their package of craisins

Where’s Waldo? Dunno, but another generation is now searching through a crowded beach for the bespeckled and red/white scarf-wearing adventurer

Baby’s first lego set

“Backpack! Backpack! Butterfly! Backpack!”

Not sure if he’s more excited about Yoda’s hut on Dagobah, or that he now has an R2-D2 minfig

Showing off his new underwear, as you do

Present-opening collaboration for the new sushi set

Des opens Robot Turtles– an educational experience in computer science masquerading as a fun kids game

Santa is real- he got Desmond a real “remote-controlled dinosaur” (yes, apparently it’s a real thing)

Eleanor feeds her new baby

Looking over dad’s exciting new record addition- a translucent green (!) copy of A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio

And lastly, a new remote-controlled car

“Here son, let me help you with that.” Hard to tell who’s having more fun…

Eleanor is curious what this magical dinosaur robot is all about

Des drawing on the 21st-century equivalent of the etch-a-sketch

Yes, Ella is fairly excited about Christmas thus far

Where is that Waldo?

Ella modeling her new/first clip-on earings

Instantly his new favorite pajamas

Lego airplane from grandma

Perusing Cal’s new ninja turtle book

Shenanigans with grandma

The yeti is now indeed in the spaghetti

“I’ll give you [Eleanor], the Founder of the feast!”

Ella trying to start another verse of “Baby Shark”

A round (literally a parade around the table) of cheers

Everyone finds a cuddle buddy at the end of the night, drifting off to sleep with visions of sugar-plums dancing in their heads…

December 22nd, 2018

December 22, 2018 shreffler

Daniel Tiger and friends laying some early morning mind grapes on healthy expression of frustration and problem solving. And the kids just think they’re watching cartoons…

Oddly enough, Des thinks the frog blanket is his (Ella got it at pa’s union hall when she was an infant and Des annexed it). The construction truck blanket actually was Desmond’s, but Eleanor has clearly claimed it as “her” blanket. A surprising symbiosis has emerged, possibly their first successful trade.

The good kind of buttons to push…

Ella, pizza artist

Des and Cal busy as beavers building damns

“Beep beep!” (as all tractors go?)

Ella getting in on the water play action, getting only slightly drenched

Pushing the button to talk, Cal respectively asks “Please give me some of your money.”

She’s definitely got part the bottle part down…

…giving medicine is a different story.

Likewise, the boys nailed their blood pressure testing

Slide! She sprinted back to go again about a dozen times.

Ella doing her signature dance move with mom

He’ll play with legos with a mouse, in a house. Or on the floor or a wall-

The crayon equivalent of dumpster diving

After Des is done assembling his creation with wood, nails and tape, Calvin quietly turns to suggest, “Uh, but it doesn’t look like an AT-AT walker” That’s ok.

“Game on!”

As he grows taller beyond the toddler days, a real Mavs hockey jersey puts it all in perspective

Game face.

Some kids like to kick around the soccer ball. Others enjoy collecting and stacking field cones 🙂

Excited to stop in and see aunt Kelli and uncle Mike at the restaurant

New favorite past time

A spaceport crane, naturally

Movie night: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Rest well, little pretzel dough balls

November 17th, 2018

November 17, 2018 shreffler

Des helping dad fix mom’s new office lounge chair in grandpa’s garage

If an object has wheels, it will be ridden

Grandpa showing Des how flutes are made

Ella surveys the fresh falling snow, baguette in hand

Early Thanksgiving dinner at grandma’s house, Ella has found her legos

At age two, Eleanor has already perfected her perplexed-reading-instructions face

And of course dinner breaks out into a verse or six of “Baby Shark”

She found a minion!

Everyone humoring dad/brother/uncle for a family photo

That’s a cute cousin set

A Very Butterfly Birthday

November 3, 2018 shreffler

Eleanor riding the birthday whale into her second birthday

Up close and personal with SO many butterflies, it was a magical birthday morning

Birthday hugs…

…followed by mom’s famous (birthday) blueberry muffins

Yeah, they’re that good.

Naturally.

It wouldn’t surprise anyone that she got up there all by herself.

Can you say “birthday envy?”

Aptly making a cake for sister

Exchanging family gifts, Des’ card

Pure joy upon opening her own Margaret Tiger stuffy

Combining two of her current passions- Margaret Tiger and putting any object to sleep with a blanket

She pretty much has stethoscopes figured out

New Daniel Tiger story book, and brother isn’t complaining

Let the wild, pink-spangled butterfly rumpus begin!

Reading with ma

…followed by asking grandma to read the exact same book again.

Grandma cheerleading taking bites with the slow/distracted eating crew

Weeks candle-blowing training comes down to one moment…

Nailed it!

Cake!

Saying good-bye to Ol’ Monkey Butt

The many faces of cake euphoria (during)

After cake, as you’d expect

All clean

Silly goose [mouseover/tap]

“Oh look,” the monsters shout. “It’s 6:08! Your present opening cannot wait!”

Cookie baking as a companion set to the much beloved tea set

Ella takes the same creative liberties to opening cards as she does bucking convention while eating sandwiches layer-wise

The birthday Hug of Thanks tour starting with grandpa

Kisses with ma

Cousin Cal, one of the finest huggers known east of 72nd st.

Dr. Des and Dr. Cal checking up on the llama patient

“It’s ok, her throat beat is strong!”

May Des’ Fourth Be With You

October 14, 2018 shreffler

What was certain to be a good omen, Desmond starts his birthday party day with the season’s first snowfall. On a trip with dad to nab folding chairs, Des also gets a special birthday hot chocolate

All warm

A young Jedi recreating a scene in Star Wars

Eleanor is in a phase where any material, regardless of how small, is either spread out as a blanket to lay on or cover something that is “going sleepy”

Ella is as surprised as everyone else that the snow is sticking and begins to accumulate

What dad thought would be just a nice background (while Beatles played on the speakers) ended up being an early focal point of the birthday party

Getting pigtails with aunt Megan, who is significantly more skilled than mom and dad

Snack picnic

When originally prompted for birthday theme ideas, Des, almost without thinking, replied “Star Wars and Rainbows.” Safe to say, mom and dad’s baker friend nailed it. Mom took to the next level with action figures.