The finished product!

Brent's Pumpkin


Alex's Pumpkin


The Fantasy:

We all sit around the table, talking about what designs the boys want on the pumpkins. The tops are carved off and they joyously dig into the mess inside, scooping and laughing. The time comes to make their designs and they carefully carve until they are happy with their pumpkin that they so carefully picked out. We take them out into the night and light them ceremoniously, with little eyes wide with wonder and excitement.

The Reality:

We all sit around the table, talking about what designs the boys want on the pumpkins. The tops are carved off....(so far so good)... and they look at us like we're insane. We animate and start scooping, raving about how fun the disgusting goop and seeds are to play with. We finally make them at least scoop a little bit, and they do it with grimaces of hatred. I take 10 minutes to finish doing the scooping while they wipe their hands on a towel and then fling it around, spraying pumpkin spittle all over the room.

The only carving kit I could find yesterday was a recipe for finger loss, so I had them pick out a design and I was going to carve it for them while they helped a little and watched. They happily picked from the samples I had, and one by one they sat beside me patiently and excitedly watched as their pumpkin was being transformed. Oh wait...back up... They hemmed and hawed about the designs, and then proceeded to dance around the room having the following conversation in the background while I'm trying to carve:

Alex: Hey Brent...I have batteries in my butt!
Brent: What??? What's in your butt!!?!?!
Alex: Batteries!
Brent: What are those for? To poop on bad guys??
Alex: YES! That's it!
Brent: Lets find some bad guys so we can poop on them!
Alex: Alright!!!!!

The pumpkins get finished, and we take the out into the night and light them ceremoniously, with little eyes wide with wonder and excitement. They shout and giggle "They're GLOWING!!" and skip around. Alex trips over a cord and skins his hand, and then it's time for baths and bedtime stories.

Life isn't always the fantasies that we imagined...but I wouldn't change a thing. The best parts write themselves every day.

Hmmmm....do I really have to pick just one?






Ummm...it's really BRIGHT!






Haystorm!

More pictures

I know I have been lax in posting more pictures. Life is just so busy and full of fun that my camera is constantly missing or hiding under a picture drawn at school, or more often, I just forgot where I left it.

But I do have a few special ones that I've saved up...

This first one I took this morning, while breakfast was being made. The boys took a blanket and snuggled up on the couch together. See, Brent has one arm draped over Alex's chest, and they both have their hair still tossled from the night, wearing goofy half-asleep smiles and fighting to make sure both of them have their feet inside the tiny blanket.

Next is one from yesterday, when Brent went in to wake Alex up (he's the lump completely under the covers). The yelling is what you hear coming from that lump, protesting the start to the day. It looks like Brent and I are just poking him, but we're making little kissing noises to go along with it. Usually that'll bring the grump out from under the covers after letting a few giggles sneak out first.

This one was taken just after that, with then holding hands while they walked down the hallway, trying to look like the little angels that they...well...TRY to be. :)

Oh here's one of my favories! You can't really see me in it. I'm kneeling on the floor after coming home from work. I tried to get my things down in time before they came barrelling at me full force with hugs. I remember that their hair still smelled great and how I went back and forth kissing them on the foreheads as they grappled and tried climbing on top of my head. I don't remember what day that was - they all run together sometimes...

This is one of Mike flipping through the music channels while me and the munchkins danced before bedtime. We learned the salsa, did some square dancing, a little head banging, some bluegrass silly dancing. Oh, and that techno station got some weird moves out of Brent. I'm almost glad there's no pictures of that!

Oh now here's a sweet one. There they are sitting nicely on the floor, hands on their knees, in their listening position. They get so excited about learning things and practicing with their flash cards. Right here is where Alex got stumped on a word and Brent was trying to whisper the answer to him. Usually its the other way around, but they both love helping each other. Sometimes during dinner they take turns asking each other to say their numbers or just babble back and forth about things they're learning.

I probably shouldn't post this one. This one could be from any night. It's after their showers, and they're running around the house using their towels as capes. Everyone they pass shouts "NAKED BUTT!" as they round corners to give everyone kisses before bed. Like slick oiled pigs they evade the person holding the pajamas and shriek from room to room, skipping like little bare skinned elves, using their one last bout of energy from the day. "No one wants to see your naked butts!," we plead as they run past, but to no avail.

And lastly, even though it was hard to get this picture in the darkened room, is Brent and I laying in his bed after reading his nightly book. You can see his arm hanging around my neck as he's bundled up in his blankets for the night. We are in the middle of singing "The Gambler"...again...just as we do every night. I beg to sing something different. I get denied. But this way is nice too, since he knows all the words and sings along with me. Just looking at this picture, I can smell his breath still tinged with Spongebob bubblegum toothpaste and the baby shampoo still wet in his hair as he snuggles up close. Pretty soon it will have been time for the last line of the song, which I always let him sing by himself. Then he will give my neck a firm squeeze and roll over to go to sleep. As I try to leave the room, he'll shout "Goodnight!!" and "See you in the morning!" and "I LOVE YOU" and "MMMMMwah!!" (big kissing noise)

What? You can't see the pictures? It must be an issue with your computer... because I can see them just perfectly ;)

And they're 4!!

I promise I will try not to make this a sappy post, so you can keep reading (*you know who YOU are*). And all the fun the boys had opening presents and going insane kept my nostalgia at bay anyhow. Also, we now have the "But you're a BIG BOY now" routine to throw at them when they decide to whine about not having the right color socks, or stealing each others toys, or whatever else is irritating them at the moment.

Without further ado...PICTURES of the oddball 'twins' (can you even tell them apart???):