Ben's Nutcrackers

Sam Tickles the Ivories

Welcome, Welcome!

So, I managed to get this video to work, but still no pictures. Hopefully I will figure out this problem ASAP. Before Zach's family arrived, I decided to let the boys make a welcome banner for them. (Sorry, I didn't think of this for your visit Gma! I hope you still felt welcome :). So, here are the boys trying their hands (and later feet) at painting.

Oh Boy! A Carnival!

We had a carnival in our neighborhood this weekend. It was awesome. The boys are old enough now to really appreciate a lot of the activities that they weren't able to last year. And that's always nice. They were especially happy about the pony rides. Sam didn't even want help, as you can see below.

Ben (with assistance from Daddy) and Sam riding the ponies

Sam, dreaming of wide, open spaces

Ben, requested a hand holding

The children riding the ponies seemed to be divided into three groups: the kids who didn't cry, the kids who cried when they were put on a pony, and the kids who cried when they were taken off the ponies. Our boys fell into the latter category. Especially Sam. Only an encounter with rabbits could have soothed his troubled soul.

Luckily, there was a petting zoo. And we headed there straight away.

Sam and Rabbit

Sam chased this brown rabbit all over the place, even though there were plenty that were sitting still not minding being petted at all. But this was the rabbit that he decided was Peter Rabbit and he needed to pet it. Apparently Peter is still a little jumpy after his encounter with Mr. McGregor.

Me, Ben, Chicken, Sam and Rabbit.

Umm... sideways? Right. Anyway, this is Sam trying to grab a goat from behind. Not a great idea in general.

Ben and Me feeding attempting to feed ducks and chickens.
(Note - those chickens are a feisty bunch)

This carnival was pretty rockin'. There were games, and face painting and balloon twisting (the last two having lines way to long for our impatient selves), but most importantly, there was cotton candy. We may or may not have gone back for seconds. I'm not saying anything till all the facts are in.

Ben and Cotton Candy. What more is there?

Sam and Cotton Candy. The Good Life.

Afterwards we headed over to watch the magic show, which the boys thought was probably the funniest thing ever. Zach and I thought it was... interesting.

Me, Ben and Sam watching the hilarious (for toddlers) magic show

We skipped out a little early because I was starving and the boys kinda lost interest. So, we headed to play games and go and see the Fire Truck.

Ben, high-fiving the Fireman

Like I said, it was awesome. Here's some video of Sam and Ben riding the ponies.

Beach Movie

This past weekend Zach's family came in for a visit. It was tons of fun and we wish they could have stayed longer. While here, we went to Half Moon Bay. The following is a documentation of the good times had there.

In case you were wondering, there was enough sand in the boys diapers to build a small castle. Not that we tried.

The Weiner Express

This is a little video of one of our last nights in Platja d'Aro, when the boys decided to take the cocktail weinies and make a train. It was glorious.

Ben and Sam's Band

Here is a video that I made of the boys. I hope you enjoy it!

My Guitar Hero

Ben is a boy of great passion. He loves to love things. One of his current loves, among pirates, superheroes and any type of vehicle, is guitars. He loves guitars. Ben has used a pair of kitchen tongs, a whisk, a broom, a spatula, and for several days, a guitar shaped, musical toy as a guitar.

Here he is playing the broom as a guitar and singing a song he wrote. Before he started he said, "This goes out to all the ladies out there." Sam is keeping the beat by slamming his car onto his tray.

He also has a singing style which sounds a lot like heavy metal and involves a whole lot of screeching. I prefer the more soulful music myself. Sam plays as well. They'll get together and Ben will play the broom and Sam will play the plunger, or vice versa, and they will make some good music together. They're thinking they'll start booking some gigs after they spend some time in Europe finding themselves and fine-tuning their sound.

Wiggly, Wiggly Insanity...

A few months ago we were living in blissful ignorance. At least regarding television. The boys would only watch about ten minutes or so of any movie or show before they started climbing the table or playing with their cars.

Then came Christmas. Our neighbor gave us a DVD of Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas. It's a movie by The Wiggles. Had you already figured that out? Well, good. I popped that in, thinking that it would distract them for the standard ten minutes while I started dinner. As I was successfully preparing a meal without any interruptions, I began to wonder if the boys were okay. I found them both standing inches away from the TV, with these exact expressions on their tiny little faces.

Wonder, delight and amazement

That first Wiggly encounter was, of course, far, far, far from being the last. We watched that DVD so much that we decided to bring it with us to Maine and burden Grammie and Grampie with it. After Christmas, the boys still wanted to watch it. After several weeks, totaling to almost two months of the same Christmas movie, I decided that measures needed to be taken. Enter YouTube. We found that tons of people have put little clips of the Wiggles online for our viewing pleasure. it really is so sweet of them. Really.

Sam, Ben and Mommy - a daily dose of Wiggles

The boys will request the Wiggles by saying, "Wiggy!" They know the moves to a few of their songs. They pretend to be asleep and then say, or try to say, "one, two, three, wake up!" for those of you who don't have a clue what I am talking about, this is a particularly funny joke performed by the narcoleptic, purple Wiggle, Jeff. We have spent countless hours playing this game where one of us "falls asleep" and the others wake them up. Good times.

I'm usually doing something on the internet as well. This is purely for visual effect.

Sam, after waking up early from a nap and requesting, "Wiggy"

I'm not in love with all this Wiggle watching, but at the same time, I don't hate it. The boys enjoy it and they really won't watch it for too long before they get distracted. And if truth be told, I like the Wiggles. They are extremely silly and kinda funny and they have very addictive songs. Zach and I have both had various Wiggles' songs stuck in our heads. So, if you have a moment, here is a look into this Wiggly, Wiggly World that we are entrenched in. But be careful, because they'll probably get stuck in your head as well.

And there is a whole lot more where that came from.