stuck in my head

When I was a young and innocent college sophomore, I did a study abroad in Vienna, Austria. It was a glorious, mind-boggling, and all-around good experience. But that is not really why I'm bringing it up. No, in fact, the reason I mention it at all is because of my Viennese roommate, Sara. Sara and I had a lot of adventures and good times together whilst living in Frau Alfon's Haus in the twenty-third district of Vienna (which is way out there, by the way), but we also had our trials. One of these trials was that I am an unconscious singer. This is true. I often sing two or three lines of a song over and over for a few minutes or hours or days and then forget that it ever happened. For instance, the theme music from Mario Brothers was stuck in my head for aboooooout.... five years. So, as Sara and I were getting ready in the morning I would unconsciously sing a couple of verses of some song or other that was stuck in my head. Then when I saw Sara later in the day she would be singing the song. This happened probably 75% of the time. Truly. And she didn't like it. At all. And told me so. A lot.

So, I would apologize, and make a futile attempt to not sing. But, those of you out there that are plagued with songs stuck in your head know that there is no permanent cure. The only possible solution is to get a different song stuck in your head, but this is a dangerous procedure that is only successful approximately 58% of the time with a multitude of side effects. And anyway, I wasn't really sorry. I just didn't want to get yelled at (which is not an uncommon reason for saying sorry). In fact, I thought it was pretty funny. I still do. In fact, I'm laughing a little just thinking about it.

The reason I bring any of this up is that I've had a new song stuck in my head since Thursday morning. And, I played it for Zach and have managed to get it stuck in his head (this is especially funny, since one line is "I'm just a little girl caught in the moment." Hilarious to hear Zach singing that). So, I'm going to try and get it stuck in your heads too. Because its a fun song and I want to share the joy and spread the disease around a bit.

And, if I'm really lucky, maybe Sara will find it.

Click HERE to hear the music and see the music video

A quick story of the dynamic duo

Their love of the dynamic duo goes beyond paper action figures and movie watching. They both climbed in the tiny, blue recycle bin the other night Ben called Sam Batman and Sam called Ben Robin. I think Robin was calling the shots on this one. They kept falling out and saying "Oh, no. Batman, are you OK?"

Batman: Adventures beyond the Printer

Ben and Sam are really into Batman. Their love comes from the endlessly campy and hilarious Batman movie from the 60s. Wonderful. Anyway, while trying to distract the boys and get something done on the computer, I printed two of the awesome picture above and gave it to the boys to entertain them for a few seconds. Ben thought it was the coolest thing ever and started jumping up and down waving the paper around. But Sam had a problem. He started whining incomprehensibly saying, "Batman. Batman. Batman."

Then after some calming down, I managed to get this out of him: "Mommy, Batman's stuck. Get him out. He needs help."

Apparently, Sam was upset that Batman was "stuck" in the paper and wanted me to cut him free. After I laughed hardily for several moments, I told him no, because it would fall apart. By that point he seemed pretty cool with it and made Batman fly around.

I guess I should print out a Robin too, to help out with dire situations like this one.

Go out and Vote!

threadless.com

Or be really smart and do it last week, like we did, by a mail in vote. Why doesn't everyone do this? It is so, so easy.

Anyway, I'm sure that the whole country (and probably world) is going to be chewing at the bit, half hoping for one candidate and the other half hoping for another. Isn't it bizarre and crazy that we are so evenly divided? I think so. But, no matter who wins, let's all remember that it is an amazing opportunity we have to actually have a say in who will be running our government and creating our laws. An opportunity that only a small portion of the world's population has had throughout history.

And we're darn lucky for that.

So go out and make your voice heard.

Kids and Halloween Fun

This year, because our house has been cursed with a vile, viral plague that has us all a'coughin', a'sneezin', and a'sniffin', we decided to take it pretty easy this year.  Luckily, we did managed to go to a Halloween pumpkin carving party before the curse descended upon us.  Zach and the boys were going to carve the pumpkin.  But, Ben and Sam decided that their talents would be better utilized if they ran off and played in the grass.  

Zach carves our pumpkin.  Sam decides where he should run next.

Ben offers some constructive criticism and then runs off.  

We asked the boys what they wanted to be for Halloween a while ago.  They said superheroes.  I said, "Sweet!"  Because I already had the cape from the Diablitos costumes from last year.  And, if I was a better person I would probably admit that I was asking some leading questions when I broached the Halloween costume question, but I am not a better person.  Of course two days before Halloween Ben said he would rather be a robot.  

Here are Ben and Sam as Superheroes.  

Super Sam!  

Super Ben! 

(unmasked, "gasp!")

The boys did not quite grasp the whole trick-or-treating process this year.  Sam had a major breakdown at the first door because he wanted to go in and play with their toys.  And they kept asking if I would open each individual candy for them.  And they didn't want to put them in their bag.  Probably worried that they would never see them again.And neither of them ever said "trick-or-treat" once, but Ben did keep saying, "next house!"  Maybe they did get it.    

Super Dad and Super Ben

We didn't go around to too many houses, because the boys didn't want to take candy from actual people (they were fine with bowls that had been left out), and then it started to rain.  So, we went home and made the biggest rookie mistake our our parental careers: We let them eat candy.  

Are we idiots?  Oh, ya!  Definitely.  

Super Sam: surveing the area for super dangers

The sugar high that resulted from this blunder kept the boys up and wild until after midnight.  Unfortunately for Zach (and fortunately for me) I had taken some cold medicine that completely knocked me out, so I was barely aware of it.  Until the medicine wore off, and Zach collapsed, and I finally forced the boys to stay in bed.  

  

Super Ben!  Preparing to Trick-or-Treat

So, we're going to take this lesson and learn from it.  Take this whole Halloween candy business a little more seriously.  And eat the rest ourselves.  

Highlight of the evening: When an overexcited Sam was trying to greet his awesome buddy Kimball, and ran into a screen door, bouncing back in a hilarious cartoon fashion.  Ah, kids and Halloween fun.... 

101

Hurray! This is my 101st blog post! Wow. Can you believe it? I was suppose to celebrate my 100th blog post, but I accidentally posted the previous one about the boy's and the haircuts. Alas. But, still celebration is always a good idea, even if it a little off.

Anyway, I went through a lot of options about what I should actually do for this, and I decided to turn it into a big collection of lists, pictures and facts, all of which are things I enjoy writing about and looking at.

10 Random facts about me:

1. My passport says I am a freelance writer (standing goal: make this true. Ditto weight on passport)
2. For a period of three and a half weeks in the fall of 2003 I woke up at exactly 6:30 am with no alarm clock. Very weird.
3. I was awarded a plaque for receiving a perfect 4.0 in high school for all 4 years, even though this is not technically acurate. I did not give back the plaque.
4. I know ALL the words to Don McLean's American Pie song.
5. I've had paper routes in three different states.
6. I have four names.
7. I have perfect eyesight.
8. I was once charged by a cow moose when I inadvertently surprised her and her calf. My parents and brother, portaging a large red canoe over their heads, stopped the charge. Thanks, guys. That would have been nasty.
9. I have been bitten several times by a african pygmy hedgehog.
10. I started and canceled three other blogs before this one took.

Ben and Sam - 1 year old

The 10 most common phrases the boys use:

1. "What doing Sam/Ben/Mommy?"
   
2. "What's going on here?"
3. "Mommy, I want milk/juice!"
4. "Please!"
5. "Sam/Ben, you okay?"
   
6. "Ya, I'm okay."
7. "Daddy's home!"
8. "What's that?"
9. "That's so funny!"
10. "I a robot/superhero/dinosaur!"
    

Sam enjoys sleeping sideways in his crib. I find him like this all the time.

Last 10 Books I read:

1. The Time of the Doves
2. The Host
3. Breaking Dawn
4. Eclipse
5. New Moon
6. Around the World in Eighty Days
7. The Scarlet Pimpernel (Please, just watch this adaptation, it rocks like crazy)
8. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
9. Twilight
10. Jeeves and Wooster

Ben and Sam playing around in our bed.

1. 

Adorable Sam - 1 year old

The Last 10 Places I've Lived:

1. Bay Area, California
2. Platja D'Aro, Spain
3. Provo, Utah
4. Vienna, Austria
5. North Ogden, Utah
6. Warner Robins, Georgia
7. Papillion, Nebraska
8. McGuire, New Jersey
9. Norman, Oklahoma
10. Pittsburg, Pennsylvania

Ben -who loves socks

8 Questions I get asked about the Boys all the time and the answers (besides "are they twins?"):

1. Q: Do twins run in your family? A: Supposedly, but the last person in my family to have twins was my great, great grandmother.
   
2. Q: Were you surprised? A: Yes. I have never been nor will I ever be as surprised as I was that day.
3. Q: Were you on fertility drugs? A: No. It was all me, au naturale.
4. Q: Did you have a C-section? A: Nope, though I was in an operation room in case I needed one. No, dim lights and comfort music for me.
   
5. Q: Did you have any help? A: My Mom stayed with me for several weeks before and after, my sister helped out when she could (considering she has her own kids) and Zach of course is awesome. But, I didn't have any outside help, like babysitters or anything.
   
6. Q: Wow, you must be busy? A: Yes.
7. Q: Who is the dominant twin? A: There isn't one.
   
8. Q: How do you tell them apart? A: They look different. Even though they have the same coloring and several of the same features, there are differences. Their heads are shaped differently, the smiles are a tiny bit different, and their voices are different. And I spend every waking moment with them, so it gets pretty easy. But I have mixed them up, from time to time. It helps now that they know their names.
   

Me, the day I was induced with the boys. I was huge.

1. 

Ben and Sam - their first Easter

7 Questions I have for the Universe:

1. Where do all my bobby pins go?
2. How can I get Stephenie Meyer to write her sequels to The Host faster?
   
3. Why do I always get sick at the worst times?
4. How do the boys always find the wrong things?
5. What's the deal with daylight savings time? I just don't get it.
6. What happened on Roanoke Island?
   
7. Why do people watch reality TV?
   

Ben - 1 year old - helping plant a garden, in which nothing great except weeds.

10 Things I wanted to be when I grew up:

1. a writer
2. an actress
3. an elephant rescuer with an elephant orphanage
4. a history teacher
5. a fashion designer
6. a wedding coordinator
7. an architect
8. an olympic diver
9. a baker
10. a chef

And that's it. I was going to do a 101 facts, but I'm getting tired. Maybe I'll think of more and put them up later. Don't count on it, though.

101 Posts!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow...

Despite how absolutely adorable the boys look with their little golden curls, we decided it was time to cut them off.  So, we buzzed 'em.  You are probably shocked and aghast!  Cutting off curls!  But, they would wake up with matted head of curls every morning.  And it usually didn't get much better as they day progressed.  

Ben

So, we lured them into their seats with promises of chocolate and got cuttin'.  Zach actually did the cutting, and he did a great job.  I kept everyone happy with M&Ms.    

Ben, avoiding getting hair in his eyes

The boys did surprisingly well with the whole process.  There was very little complaining and no crying.  Hurrah for that!!

This finished project on Ben (doesn't he look so much like Ethan here, fam?)

Sam

Here are the M&Ms in question.  This worked amazingly well.  Except that the boys kept getting tiny hairs in their mouth.  And then they would try to get them out themselves, but their fingers had a bunch of little hairs on them, and then they would get more hair in their mouths and then they would start spitting and then, I would have to break in with a towel or something and wipe them up.  And then they would eat another M&M that had a little hair on it and the whole process would start over.  

Sam, enjoying his chocolate.

But they didn't seem to mind too much.  

Don't they look adorable?