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A pocketful of posies…
ashes, ashes…
We all fall down.
…whereas I investigate and attempt to capitalize on the boys interest in the 50’s western classic, Wanted: Dead or Alive.
Once again, I’m in the basement with Alex and Adam. They’re playing with their toy cars on the table, the television is on Fox News and they don’t seem to care. I pique their interest as I open the cabinet and place a dvd in the player, but they return to their cars as I change the television input to HDMI. The dvd menu flashes on the screen and I select the pilot episode; the intro begins almost immediately. As the intro fades and the opening theme music begins, the boys are, just as before, pointing at the screen and scrambling to my lap. They sit there glued to the television for 5-minutes or so before their off, once again, to play with their toys.
Although their response to The Wild Wild West was similar, they didn’t demonstrate near the interest they did in Wanted: Dead or Alive. I’d say the result of the experiment in inconclusive, which means I need to do more research, which means that we’ll be watching more old television westerns.
I may never find an answer. 😉
…Dead or Alive!
It’s another Friday night, and me and the boys are in the basement chillin’ out. I’m sitting on the couch watching the toob while Alex and Adam play on their Little Tikes slide. I’ve had enough news for one day and ain’t really into another episode of The King of Queens, so I put on a great classic western: Wanted Dead or Alive with Steve McQueen.
The dvd starts spinning and the show begins. The intro trails off into the 15-second opening where the camera pans away from the sawed-off Winchester on McQueen’s leg, as he walks to the board in front of the sheriff’s office and pulls off a wanted poster. As the theme music begins, the boys turn their heads and point at the screen, then run over to the couch and climb up into my lap. They actually sit and watch a good portion of the show with me, talking and pointing.
It’s pretty interesting, really, that of all the things on TV, both network and dvd, that we’ve put on for the boys, they’d find this late 1950’s black-and-white television series the most appealing.
Are they my kids or what? 😉
Adam’s hair has been the subject of conversation since the day he was born. His bushy little head of jet-black hair that soon developed into curls that then evolved (after a couple of haircuts) to a thick, helmet-like quiff that resembled a not-so-popular Chicago politician’s…
“The Blago”
has now, thankfully, become a sort-of shag that resembles someone much cooler…
“The Jett”
Hello, Daddy; Hello, Mom…
Today is Friday which has pretty-much become “Pizza Night” in our household. I must admit, it’s the one meal the boys truly eat with gusto! So, on the way home from work, I stop by this quaint little Italian restaurant and order two medium pies (they don’t have “small” pizzas, just “medium” and “large,” which of course, makes the “medium” pizza a de facto “small,” but don’t get me started on the parlance of pizza parlors), one plain cheese for the boys, and on the other, something for me and Cindy–usually pepperoni and something else.
Anyway, when I arrive home, the boys immediately recognize the pizza boxes and get jump-up-and-down excited at the thought of the cheesy, gooey, delicious party about to hit their tiny palates. As I open the box, they make a bee-line for their little table and sit down on their little chairs. Then I take the biggest slice and cut it into smaller slices suitable for a 2-year-old. Of course, this exercise essentially transforms the classic, and personally preferred, triangular New York-style pizza slice into the square Chicago-style, but the boys are understandably oblivious to the nuance, and frankly couldn’t possibly care any less.
So, with juice in hand, they literally gobble-down the pizza morsels on their plates, and once empty, they bring the plate to daddy for more. The second slice is eaten more slowly and with much less enthusiasm, before draining the juice cup and transitioning to another all-important activity. At this point, the previously all-consuming desire for pizza has become nothing more than the distant memory of just another dinner.
Until next week when once again the moon hits their eye with a big pizza-pie!
That’s amoré
(with apologies to Dean Martin :-))
A condition in which we find Adam as he discovers the basement is now furnished with a bouncy house!
The boys could literally have EVERYTHING and mommy would still manage to find one more item to add to their enormous collection of stuff! 😉
I’d consider advertising the basement as a “Play Zone” for the other little kids in town, but Alex and Adam make enough noise on their own. Could you imagine the rafter-shaking turmoil additional rug-rats would create?!? No, I think I’ll forgo the extra income in favor of the relative peace-and-quiet of the twin’s laughter, screams, screeches, stomps, crashes, clangs, booms, and bangs.
Besides, my TV is in the basement.
Jess and Kameran were supposed to fly out yesterday morning, but the weather (SNOW!) led to flight cancellations at Philadelphia International. So, their Christmas visit was extended a couple days. That’s okay, especially for Kameran who was looking forward to a white Christmas this year!
Snow Bunny…
A rather pouty Snow Bunny…
Watch-out, Pennsylvania!
Happy Birthday, Alex and Adam! It’s a wonder, after Adam’s misadventures, especially, that you made it to this day! It’s an even greater wonder that mom and dad made it! Whew! What a couple of years it’s been! Nana and Pa were visiting, which made the day even more special!
To celebrate, we made some iron-ons for the onesies they’d wear on their special day!
They seemed to like ’em…
And what birthday is complete without big helium-filled balloons and a personal cake, or rather a cake of cupcakes x 2!
Adam really enjoyed his birthday cake; Alex, uh, not so much…
But the best part of the birthday is definitely the presents. Especially, when the bag is almost as big as you are!
Happy Birthday, Boys!
Last night Cindy and I saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly (Home of the Flyers!). They did two shows: a 3:00 and an 8:00 (we had tickets to the 3). So, we hired a baby-sitter for the boys and headed downtown. The traffic was as-to-be-expected, terrible, but the concert was awesome!
The shows on the TSO Winter Tour are divided into two acts. The first act is a narrated performance of most of the songs from “Christmas Eve and Other Stories”. In the second act, the band performs a mix of songs from their other albums. They opened with “Night Enchanted” from their Night Castle cd, and it only got better from there. Here’s a glimse of the performance with “Queen of the Winter Night”…
After the concert we had dinner at a pub/restaurant in South Philly called “The Ugly American” (gotta love the name!). Great food! I had a roast beef sandwich with a couple pints of Yuengling and Cindy had fish tacos with some obscure wheat beer (yuk!) .
Cindy had actually wanted Asian Fusion, but the restaurant we found near the event center was in a pretty shady part of town, and so we bypassed it. It worked out very well, though!
We came home to two peacefully sleeping toddlers, and a glowing report from the baby-sitter. A great night all-around.
Here’s another video from TSO, a promo piece to give you a sense of the intensity of the concert…
Forward Memory 