superkids

Sam and Isa have been playing really well together. Sam cannot go without including her in everything, especially in making trouble. Isa is understanding more and following Sam's lead and at times being the mastermind. She is big into "I do it". Miss independent. Miss funny. Miss temper tantrum. She throws the biggest tantrums I have ever seen. Jumping up and down, clenching her fists, howling at the top of her lungs, and of course, throwing herself at anything soft (miss smart girl). It's comical and most the time we have to turn around and laugh. We have institituted the 1,2,3...timeout with her and it's been pretty effective. She sits in the time out chair for 30 seconds and even though she doesn't like it, she sure shapes up after. Ahh the terrible 2's. Good thing she's cute...
Here are a few of the funny things she does:
-Whenever she sees herself, either in a picture or in the mirror, she says "you! you! you!" That's because we always say, "that's you in the picture Isa".
-Whenever she's finished doing something she says "all done" in a growling voice like our friends twins.
-Her temper tantrums...for the time being.
-She chases Sam around yelling "I'm gonna get you!"
-She laughs everytime she farts.
-Everytime she plays with her Elmo dishes, she wants bananas to eat off them. (I used to do this when I was a child and I didn't even teach her)
-She will slowly, but surely rearrange random items throughout the house. It's been weeks since we last saw our remote control.
-She loves to color on the walls. (Not very funny at first)
-She'll smell our feet and say while scrunching her nose "ewwww stiiinky!"

Happy Graduation Charlie, Good luck Gladwells!!

On Sunday we attended our friend Charlies graduation. It's hard to believe that we have been here one year. Consequently, Charlie is done with the program and him and his family have left the state. Moving on to the splendid life of the post graduate...sort of. With his graduation comes the realization that we have but only one year left. It's like a breath of fresh air. And with fear of sounding trite, it seems like it was only yesterday that we were settling and getting used to our surroundings. Not knowing what lay ahead of us, what new trial was about to begin. It certainly hasn't been about the destination. Our journey has been filled with happy smiles and tearful eyes. From the empty void of not having our family around, to a filling sense of knowing that we have made great friends for life. To know that the sacrifices that we make today only secure a better life for ourselves and our families tomorrow. To our families, thank you for your continued love and support. We couldn't do it without you. To our friends (far and near), thank you for your support, your words of wisdom and the laughs, and to Charlie and Kay, thank you for showing us the ropes, for being such a good senior buddy to Rueben, for the wonderful cook outs and for including us in your celebration. We will miss our games after dinner, especially Charlie's impersonation of a guy parachuting...that was priceless. We will see you again, soon. Good luck with boards, your new home, and with your beautiful childern. And, although I wont post it, Charlie sang a Josh Groban song, "Thankful" and it was beautiful. We truly are are thankful and next year, we'll be graduated! Better than Josh G.

Sam was looking really good in his shirt and tie.

Say cheese!

About a week ago we had our friend Kristin take some pictures of us. We were hoping for a sunny day but we got cloudy and somewhat rainy. Nevertheless, the weather was the least of our problems. Getting 2 kids to cooperate and smile simultaneously is like pulling teeth without anesthesia. Thanks Kristin! I know you tried your hardest, but if it's ok, we'll have to do it again.

Flashback Friday: Two wild and crazy guys

Check this out, what do you get with wide collars and

super hot velour clothing, that's right, two super hot

dudes. I mean seriously, just look at that hair, it's like

two fantastic comb-overs minus the bald spots. Another

awesome detail is the tucking in of the velour sweater

Andrew is sporting, and I have no idea why my hands

are in my pockets. Enjoy this little nugget of dorkiness everybody.

Conversations with a 4 year old

Sam has an obsession with marriage and women having children. It's actually quite interesting and provides us with some laughs and fond memories. Here is a conversation about marriage we had one day while I was cooking.

Sam: Mom, I'm going to marry you.
Me: No Sam, mom is married to daddy.
Sam: Then I will marry Isabelle.
Me: No, you can't marry your sister or any family member for that matter.
Sam: Then who am I going to marry?
Me: Well, you will marry someone you don't know, someone you will meet later and fall in love with.
Sam: Well, (pauses and you can just see the wheels turning) what if there are a lot of girls who want to marry me? How am I going to choose just one?
Me: (What??!!??) You will know which one to choose and she's going to be one lucky lady. You can always marry Kiki or if you dig older chicks, then Olivia or Grace.
Sam: But I already know them. You said someone I don't know and they are my friends.
Me: It's okay to marry a friend.
At this point, Sam looks at me like I am crazy and walks away. He has really perfected that look.

The other topic is about children. Sam knows that only women can have children. He knows that women carry their babies in their belly's and that when the baby is ready to come out, the doctor cuts a hole and pulls the baby out. We had this conversation while driving in the car.

Sam: Mom, how many babies does Isabelle have in her belly and when are they going to come out?
Me: I don't know honey. She's going to decide how many babies to have and they wont come out until she is older...much older.
Sam: Well why can't we get them out now. I want to see them.
Me: Isabelle is just a baby herself. She needs to grow up big like mommy before she has babies. What about you, when are you going to have babies.
Sam: I can't have babies, silly mom!!
Oh right, what was I thinking??

Sometimes we wonder exactly where he came from as we look at him in awe. One night, after our bedtime routine, he came into our room for the 6th time to ask us a question. He has endless questions. Well, on his forehead he had stuck a piece of play doh. And because I did not want to keep him from going to sleep, I didn't ask him what was up with the doh. Even though I really wanted to know.

Sam: (on his way out) Aren't you going to ask me about the play doh?
Me: (you can see right thru me huh?) Since you brought it up, what's with the play doh?
Sam: I want to see if I wake up with it.
Me: Okay, good luck and good night.

Sam goes to bed. A few minutes later, he comes back in with another question. By this time we had lost it but before we could yell at him to get back in bed, it took one look at him for us to bust up laughing. I know it's hard to tell from the picture, but he taped the play doh to his forehead. Who needs luck when you have tape!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

For today's flashback Friday, we are going with some old school hair pictures of Rueben and I when we were in 8th grade. Even then, we were mad stylin! Fortunately some styles fade (for some people). I am just glad to report that we did not get stuck in some funky time warp. All I can say is that I would spend countless hours getting my "bangs" to look just right with adequate height and fullness. Then this "wall of China" would become impervious to any adverse weather with massive amounts of Aqua Net hairspray. I was an addict! I am actually back to having bangs or a "fringe", but I have not been able to duplicate this look. I am lacking Aqua Net. Do they even make it anymore??
Rueben is sporting the timeless mullet with a twist. Business up front, party in the back. His product of choice was Paul Mitchell mouse and with that he would get it spiky and it would smell like coconut all day long. It was delicious! With this look, Rueben would render the girls speechless and powerless. We were both hot messes in the making. Fierce!! Oh, and check out the popped collar. When you got it, you got it!

Flashback Friday: This is the sleep lab, not the move lab!

This posting is dedicated to the brave men and women

of the Sleep Lab. These wonderfully grainy photos were

captured by the old sleep lab polaroid, an archaic

method of producing instant pictures, however an awesome tool

for amusement at three a.m. after the Beto's power surge has worn off.

Here I am mounting Andrew as he attempts to sleep in the

sleep lab, seriously did he think I was going to let him sleep

when I was awake and bored? There is nothing

quite like mounting your brother in the wee hours of the morning...breathtaking.

Here we see Ron Jeremy in his early years,

few people know that Andrew was actually part

of the motivation for the glorious Maystache movement,

this look predates the actual Maystache by at least five years.

Seriously, can you say

Sleazetastic?!!!

Hi I'm Rueben, I enjoy wearing headgear at night to straighten my teeth,

reading LOTR and re-enacting famous chess games.

Remeber Andrew trying to sleep in the chair?, well this time

he decided to wear a helmet in case I tried to attack him again.

Honestly, he didn't have a pillow and discovered that his head

was very comfortable using Spencer's helmet to sleep.

Here is sissy Spencer, "I'm cold, I'm cold". j/k he's not a sissy, but he

was whining about being cold. He does look pretty sweet all arabic style..