White House Halloween 2011: Bo As Superman

The First Dog is super rather than scary as the White House recycles a darling statue from the 2010 Christmas celebration...
A cute statue of First Dog Bo--or as he's called today, "Boo"--dressed for Halloween as Superman--stood among the hay bales, bats, cobwebs, and pumpkins at the White House as President Obama and First Lady Obama welcomed trick-or-treaters on Saturday evening, starting at 5:45 PM. (Above: SuperBo stands guard at the White House)

A light snow fell, following a heavy rain as a storm swept through the Northeast. The President and Mrs. Obama gave the kids goodie bags filled with a box of White House M&Ms, a White House Sweet Dough Butter Cookie, and a scoop of the dreaded dried fruit that the President publicly worried about earlier in the week.

“Let’s give out some candy,” President Obama said to the kids as he walked to the driveway. “I know it’s cold here, you guys doing alright? It’s not ideal out here.”

The kids were fine, and thrilled by the First Couple as well as by the 4-foot statue of the First Dog, which was recycled from the White House 2010 holiday decorations. The statue was first created by volunteers last December, using about 40,000 pipe cleaners. Recycling decorations is big at the White House: Today's decor also featured faux apples used at the most recent State Dinner, which were also re-purposed for a party Mrs. Obama recently threw on the South Lawn.(Above: The real First Do with his statue in the East Garden Room during last year's holidays)

Bo is big with kids: He recently had his portrait taken with his mistress in her world-famous Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn, as a special memento to be mailed to children who write to the First Lady.

Cookies in honor of the sweet First Dog are very popular with White House guests, too, though the cookies for this year's Halloween were in the shape of an orange White House. During the winter holiday receptions, guests who got ahold of Bo cookies, which came in a variety of versions, tended to pocket them rather than eat them. (Above: Bo cookies for the 2010 holiday receptions)

Bo also has his own White House baseball card downloadable here, and here he is with me at a State dinner.

*Top photo by AP; others are White House photos.

read more "White House Halloween 2011: Bo As Superman"

Kitchen Garden Portrait: First Lady & First Dog Bo

Good boy, Bo: The tomato-loving First Dog is perfectly behaved as he sits for a portrait with his mistress, created as a gift for kids who write to the White House...
The White House has released an "official portrait" of First Lady Michelle Obama seated with First Dog Bo in her Kitchen Garden. It's the first formal "portrait" of Mrs. Obama in her signature project, though she's been photographed a-plenty by White House photographers and members of the media in the 1,500-square foot childrens' vegetable education showpiece at the bottom of the South Lawn.

Neither Bo nor anyone else in the First Family has previously had a "portrait" taken in the Kitchen Garden, but there has been one official White House photo released of President Obama walking through the crop rows (see below). The Bo portrait, Mrs. Obama told reporters on Monday, was created especially for kids who write to her.

"We get so many letters from kids, who want to hear about the garden, they want to see it, and they also want to see Bo," Mrs. Obama said. "Bo is really the most popular. So we decided to do this official picture that we could send to them when they write in."

A Portuguese Water Dog, Bo turned three on October 9th. Mrs. Obama has referred to Bo as "my son," and he loves to eat tomatoes, she has said. No such hijinks are going on in his portrait with his mistress, of course, which was created by White House photographer Lawrence Jackson, an East Wing spokesman told Obama Foodorama. The lovely image was achieved in just three tries, Mrs. Obama said.

"We want to have something a little more tangible than just a letter to give to kids, because often it's the visual thing that makes it real," Mrs. Obama said, adding that the kids' letters are "inspiring," and describe changes to their families' eating habits.

Bo also has his own White House baseball card (downloadable here). He's been memorialized in White House holiday cookies (and here he is with me).

President Obama had his photo taken in the Kitchen Garden on July 1, 2010, when he led a power walk through the pea stalks. On a scorching Washington afternoon, President Obama guided Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), through the lush crop rows after they met in the Oval Office. The jaunt came in advance of the Senate's vote on the child nutrition legislation that is a centerpiece of Mrs. Obama's Let's Move! campaign. The Senate later approved it by unanimous consent. (Above: Sen. Reid is behind the President, and VP Biden is in back)

Malia and Sasha...
Despite their absence from photos taken in the Kitchen Garden, daughters Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10, are crucial to the project. In her forthcoming book about the garden, which will be released in April of 2012, Mrs. Obama will describe how her girls "were the catalysts for change for their family's eating behavior which inspired her national initiative to address childhood obesity and resulted in the idea to plant a vegetable garden on the South Lawn," according to the publicity blurb from Crown Publishing Group.

In a March, 2009 interview with the New York Times, Mrs. Obama vowed that her daughters--and the President--would be on weed-pulling duty in the Kitchen Garden. Noted the Times:

"Virtually the entire Obama family, including the president, will pull weeds, “whether they like it or not,” Mrs. Obama said with a laugh. “Now Grandma, my mom, I don’t know.” Her mother, she said, will probably sit back and say: “Isn’t that lovely. You missed a spot.”

*Top photo by Lawrence Jackson; second by Pete Souza/White House

read more "Kitchen Garden Portrait: First Lady & First Dog Bo"

Jesse Tyler Ferguson Dishes On The Obamas

In a Twitter Q & A, the "Modern Family" actor talks about his confab with the President; admits he'd like to be stuck in an elevator with the First Lady; & reveals a wish about First Dog Bo...
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Emmy award-winning star of the hit ABC sitcom "Modern Family," was in DC this weekend to hear President Obama keynote the Human Rights Campaign dinner. On Monday, Ferguson visited the White House to have lunch with Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard. While on a red eye heading home, Ferguson announced to his 175,789 Twitter followers "I am bored on a flightamd @JustinMikita is sleeping. I'll take questions for 15 mins. Go!" (sic). (Above: Ferguson, left, as he emcee'd a campaign event for the President on Sept. 26)

Ferguson (@JesseTyler) was peppered with questions. Apparently he didn't run into First Lady Obama during his White House lunch, because he declared she's the person he'd most like to meet. But first, Ferguson took a Q about the President.

Obama Foodorama tweeted: "Any behind the scenes chat with President when u met him at House of Blues? If so, what'd you talk about?"

Ferguson tweeted back: "we talked about MF. he said it was very American!"

Ferguson's character on Modern Family, "Mitchell," is an openly gay man who is partnered with "Cameron," played by actor Eric Stonestreet. They have an adopted daughter, "Lily."

Asked by other Twitter users "Who would you really want to meet?” and "Are you a dog person or a cat person?” Ferguson replied, simply, "Michelle Obama" both times.

Asked who he'd like to be stuck in an elevator with, Ferguson once again replied "Michelle Obama."

Asked "if you could trade places with anyone, who would it be?” Ferguson selected a different member of the First Family: "beau, the white house dog," he responded (sic).

The best part of his job, Ferguson tweeted, is that gay teens look up to him as a role model. Ferguson's favorite book? The World According to Garp. His favorite "guilty pleasure TV show?" Project Runway (and he's rooting for designer Anya). If he could play any other character on TV, Ferguson said he'd like to be the baby on "Raising Hope."

Read more: @JesseTyler. Obama Foodorama is @ObamaFoodorama.

read more "Jesse Tyler Ferguson Dishes On The Obamas"