Big Mouth Billy Bass

I love that my granddad has a BMBB fish, mounted on a plaque, singing "Put me in the River" and "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Grandad is just such a big fishing fan that when those things came out, we snatched it right up. The kids love it. Jackson just told me, after a chorus of "Put me in the River", "He's not going in the river."

Jackson's current favorite song is "The Yodeling Vetrinarian of the Alps" and \Sam's is "We are the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". So fun to see them try to sing those songs.

Apocalyptic FAIL

So I hear the new buzz word is "apocalyptic" and it is replacing "epic". I'm not sure I like it.  When I hear that I think of this: ZOMBIES

or a scenario like this: HUNGER GAMES

Pretty much zombies or fighting for food. Well, if that's the case then bedtime tonight was an apocalyptic fail. I was either debating curling into a corner and crying, running away screaming, or eating substantial amounts of chocolate. I didn't do any of the above. First, I'm not like that and second, I don't have any chocolate. I decided to write about it instead. And drink all of the chocolate soy milk.

They have finally settled with a trick. Stay in bed until the timer buzzes then you can get out. Little did they know that the timer was set for 60 min. Mwah. Hah. Hah. I win.

Colby is busy studying, I am typing and all is right with the world.

My Fav Actors and Actresses From Start to Finish

So, this post is as rough draft as it gets. I just don't have the heart or energy to finish it off!

 Leading Men

Gregory Peck

Who doesn't love Gregory Peck, especially in Roman Holiday. I still tear up at the final scene.
Cary Grant- Great in I was a Male War Bride.
Bruce Willis- Action man with a plan. Totally playing off the old action hero very well and is very funny.
Dwayne Johnson- Who didn't love Get Smart?
Michael Caine- I could go on and on of his great movies. 2nd Hand Lions, The Last Valley, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, so on and so forth.

Robert Downy Jr- the comeback kid. Great in Heart and Souls and wow. Iron Man and Sherlock? Awesome.

Good Performances lost in Mediocre Movies

The Hulk
Edward Norton and Liz Tyler were actually pretty good in a movie which I expected to be 98% mind-numbing action.
Mummy one and two:
Brandon Fraser and Rachel Weiz I thought made a great pair and let's face it. They're just great corny movies. I do like Brandon Fraser, though.

Leading Ladies I Don't Hate

Talk to my Mom and my sister. Chick flicks and me don't always get a long. There has to be a myriad of things to come together forming a quintessential chick flick movie.
Sandra Bullock: Depends, but I really like most of her movies.

Michelle Pfieffer- Also doing well in her aging-in-Hollywood years. 
Meryl Streep- Always talented
Goldie Hawn- Hilarious

Emily Blunt- We'll see. I liked her in Young Victoria and Wild Target, but I think she's taking raunchier roles for her comedy and I'm not a fan.
Queen Latifah- She has a certain...something. I'm not sure what it is, but she does great in all of her movies. Hairspray, Last Holiday...

Cameron Diaz- Knight and Day? Hilarious! What Happens in Vegas? Laughed my head off!

And counting...

Sam has been valiantly alternating between screaming, "Open the gate, Mommy!" to "I neey-aw-wate-gah!" I'm not sure what the second part is. The volume undulates every 10 seconds or so.

A slightly nicer version of the usual scowl.

Jackson is calmly reading a book. I think this scenario provides some very deep insights into my children.

Since...I dunno... let's just say, a long time ago, if a toy got taken from Jackson or something interferred with his planned activities, no biggie. He'd just switch activities.

Sam on the other hand, flaps, flails, and flops if something is amiss. Even the slightest thing. He's a great communicator. For example, he's tried to claw a chocolate out of my mouth that had I split and shared. Apparently, he wanted the whole thing and for it to be in his wrapper. Insta-tears and sharp fingers digging, trying to pry my lips open, communicated volumes efficiently and effectively.

Jackson is pretty good at waiting and tries his hardest at any task even if it's pretty difficult (unless he's tired or hungry, but we'll give him that).

Sam will often fall into the "F" behavior pattern hoping that the triple threat will one day work into getting us to do his bidding. Sam does have his flopping behavior perfected. He'll definitely look for the closest open spot to flop onto and do one of two things within .03 seconds. He'll either do a timber logging style flop in which I'm sure he thinks he's a giant Sequoia being ruthlessly and unjustly hacked, or he'll pull a Superman/Matrix move just inches from the floor and somehow get himself horizontal completely before impact. Or a combination of the two of them.

Sometimes I think that Jackson spoiled us as parents as far as behavior goes. Sam gets into everything, falls, jumps, etc. He'll tear open the baby gate and then run out and jump saying, "I did it!" At times he does elecit the "Terror of Silence" response and I rush to see what he's doing.

All in all, I guess I'm saying. I love my kids. And, yes. I love Sam. Seriously, who could turn down The Cuteness? The Sultan of Silly. The Great Sambino!

A great picture. Who could say no to The Cuteness?

"Mommy! I waw-gey-hah-bah-AH (sobbing and gulping)!"

Nine minutes and counting...


In other news, I saw this blog post and this parent very wittily sums up his experience with his daughter and in some small way, I can relate. Just so you know, we have already had to call Poison Control once in Sam's very short life because  he'll eat anything that looks edible. We called because we think he ingested one of Colby's sleeping pills. Ok. So he did. And the conversation that we had with poison control went exactly like The Weed's post did. Internal thoughts and all. Definitely worth the read. Sam also did none of the following: get a fever, throw up or even fall asleep. Not even a long blink. He must be immune. Or we were wrong about the sleeping pill part. But that was what the half-dissolved tablet that we fished out of Sam's mouth looked like.

Sam will also eat cough drops because he thinks they taste good. Eww. Sam has also eaten one of my multi-vitamins. Sam gets 5 vitamins/day: 2 calcium, 2 omega, and 1 multi. I eat 2 calcium and 2 omega (because they taste amazing) and take my multi. I put my oblong reddish-brown pill on the table, turn to get something from the kitchen and then sit back down to eat my breakfast. I am still finishing it when Sam, who had excused himself from the high chair and escaped to do something else while my back was turned, came running into the kitchen saying, "Help, mommy!" There was liquidy brown stuff all over his fingers. What was that? I immediately think "poop" and lean in to smell. That's when I notice there's reddish-brown gunk on his shirt and dribbling down his chin, as if he'd just spit something out of his mouth and then tried to wipe his mouth with his hands. The smell, in case you're wondering, was not pleasant, but at least it wasn't poop, right? *sigh*. So I tow Sam back into my bedroom and sure enough, there is my reddish-brown and unpleasant smelling multivitamin lying on the floor, with tiny teeth marks in it, looking sad, deflated and kind of like a kidney bean skin. Sam's hands smelled like the vitamin the whole day. Don't worry. Sam just got extra calcium, folic acid and is now protected against osteoporosis. Phew. Dodged that bullet.

Sam also loves keys. He is also getting very smart. Yesterday, Colby was driving down Euclid to go to grandmommy's house (a place Sam frequently blesses in his prayers) and Sam had my keys. Sam was strapped in. Colby saw that Sam had the keys and asked for them. Sam said, "No these Sam's keys." He then pointed to the ignition and said, "Those are Daddy's keys." Clever.

Sam and his baby. Sam, about 4 months back went through a baby phase. He would carry around our heating bags that he saw and take care of them and called them his baby. He'd want to take his baby in the car and the stroller and he wanted to sit on the couch holding baby. Very cute.

MIscellany about Sam and Jackson

Sam still hates to be tickled.

Jackson will NOT wear a tie, but he can be persuaded to wear a bow tie. At least he doesn't try to yank it off every second.

Sam likes to split his Oreos. Or really any kind of sandwich do-hickey. He just discovered raspberries and blueberries.

Jackson associates church with the Doblers because after church they always go to the Doblers for babysitting for choir. Yesterday they watched the kids and Jackson repeated, "No church!" emphatically when I told him they were going to the Doblers.

Sam is addicted to any and all kinds of fruit snacks. He goes into a melt down mode if he is refused in any way.
Sam also doesn't like to be squeezed hard, but is not opposed to being flung high in the air. He's not really a cuddly kid. He's a doer. Often if it's quiet, I get chills. Sam is up to something.
Sam is extremely observant and he'll often start scolding Jackson if Jackson refuses something I ask. Hello, Pot. My name is Kettle.
Sam likes to jump out and scare people. Hasn't gotten me good yet but it's only a matter of time.
He also likes to dismantle things.