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Crafts, Goodies and Interesting Finds

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July 13, 2012

Jackson today- Sam today

Today he read us "Are you My Mother?" teacher-style with the book facing out and him turning pages and reading it to Colby, Sam, and myself. He definitely has that one and Llama Llama Red Pajama memorized. I was so proud of him. He also is starting to copy the British intonation of phrases. He really sounds like he has a bit of an accent. We do watch a lot of British things and I think he likes the lyrical sound. We watch Kipper, Wallace and Grommit and Mary Poppins. In fact, he loves Mary Poppins so much that when I came back in from hanging the wash, he shook my hand and said, "Good luck, guv'na!" So not only will he have a British intonation, but a cockney accent to boot. Sam, I have decided has mischievous eyes. We were watching a Bollywood music video with a how-to afterwards. To have Bollywood eyes (like at the beginning of the video) you must look from side to side slowly with mischief in your eyes. Sam? Mischief accomplished. He frequently looks slant-ways especially if he's doing something silly or he's in trouble.

Jackson can SWIM!

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't so stinkin' proud of this kid it's unbelievable. We were visiting the family at Veteran's Memorial Park. After going there, who would ever want to break the bank with Seven Peaks. VMP is $3 and a steal of a deal at that. Yes, there are only two water slides and one big pool (with no additional features) but who cares? For people with kids and stuff, I'd say VMP is the best! We were in the shallow "shallow end" of the pool and Jackson went under the water and I think he was trying to walk on his hands and then when he found that he couldn't touch with his hands anymore, he just went for it! He was swimming in no time. Well, doggie-paddling, but who cares?! I sure don't! Can you tell I'm ecstatic? He was also very proud of himself and his achievement.
No small thanks to Megan and Jared for being so willing to video copious amount of footage of our kiddos as well as Logan. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! And I'm also very proud that he not only went on the water slides, but liked them enough to want to do almost nothing else. His favorite? The "water gator" aka the fast slide.

July 10, 2012

Babes in Disneyland

Check out my newest post here on Babes in Disneyland. It's all about our adventures on Mickey's Fun Wheel with some great tips to keep young kiddos happy and how to avoid panicking on the swinging gondolas.

July 5, 2012

John Carter and extras

So first off, John Carter did not stink and Taylor Kitsch (a rather unfortunate last name) has an intensity that is captivating. The story is rather disjointed and hard to follow, but it is still really enjoyable if you know that ahead of time.

Sam's favorite lullaby is a girls camp song "Tell me Why" and Jackson's is "The Temple Song" which is "I Love to See the Temple". Sam is still addicted to eating his shirts at night. So much so that yesterday, he climbed out of his crib in tears to find a shirt. Of course after that big fiasco he does fall asleep in only his diaper, but instead of eating his shirt, I found him with both his hands down his pants! I just can't win.

Also on a recent long car trip, Sam had been really quiet for a while and then suddenly declared, "Pink. My fingers are pink!" He has also developed a penchant for eating tubes of toothpaste. There are lots of sample sized tubes in the drawer at my grandparents house. I was upstairs in the guest bedroom using the computer which is opposite the bathroom. (That computer is ancient, by the way. It's an 07!) I see Sam opening the drawers and pulling out toothpaste. I tell him to stop, but you can imagine how effective that was. So eventually I have to get up because he's almost got the cap off of this sample size tube. I take it away from him just as he gets the cap loose and tell him "no". Then I get a really good look at the bottle and I just have to laugh. I told Sam he should be extremely grateful to me because he had been trying to open a Monostat vaginal cream tube. Luckily he didn't eat it.

Jackson, poor kid, just got a sliver that was over an inch long gouged in his foot. Poor kid.

iPads and electronics abound. Yesterday, the kids watched Winnie-the-Pooh four times!!! Neither my sis nor I put it on for any of those times. Clearly the grandparents and gg-rents (and sisters) are not accustomed to child entertaining.

Yesterday we also made giant bubbles, set up a tent in the backyard and had cupcakes to celebrate the holiday. My mother and I also did a ton of sewing. So much fun.

I'm learning to relinquish most control and agency at the start of vacation and just go with the flow because everyone has a different opinion of good activities for the day. My idea is laying around the house. But cez la vie. I don't get to choose. Today is going to the lake and other assorted activities.

June 30, 2012

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.

June 24, 2012

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!

June 9, 2012

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.


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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!
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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.

June 3, 2012

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.

May 8, 2012

List of Books my Kids read over and over

  • This is Baseball
  • The B Book
  • Stuck
  • Boo, Bunny!
  • Bears on Wheels
  • Are you My Mother?
  • Skeleton Hiccups
  • Waddles
  • My Rhinoceros
  • Clumsy Crab
  • Color Street
  • Mr. Seahorse
  • Little Wolf's Song
  • Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
  • Cat in the Hat
  • Green Eggs and Ham
  • Snowball
  • Say Please, Little Bear
  • Super Why
  • Goodnight Train
  • Rolie Polie Olie Winter
  • Alphabet Mystery (More by author)
  • Dinosaur vs The Library (more by author)
  • Catch that Baby!
  • Catch me, catch me
  • Sector 7
  • Truck
  • Llama llama series
  • Go, Dog, Go
  • Monkey and Me (more by author)
  • Wolves
  • Hop on Pop
  • I'm a Shark
  • A book of sleep
  • the boy who wanted to cook

Becca's WB Pics

My sis came to town for a visit and it was so much fun to do touristy stuff that we haven't done before! We went to the WB Studios for a tour.
The iconic Warner brothers' Tower on our VIP tour before the Ellen Show. The WB Studios are located on a 110 acre lot in Burbank. The four Warner Bros came to CA in the 20's to create the best movie studio in the business. The iconic water tower was moved from its original location after an earthquake. The Warner brothers were worried that the water tower might fall and crush the Fire Dept beneath it. So it was relocated. The WB fire dept is a working fire dept and not only has jurisdiction over the WB lot, but also a one mile radius around the station. It's said that one of the Warner brothers was very cranky. His name was Jack and he would take employees that annoyed him and walk them to the Warner brothers' water tower tower. Then he'd point to the tower and say, "Whose name is that?" They'd say, "Yours, sir." He'd say, "That's right and I'm firing you." Then they'd be out of a job. Well, when the WB was filming Bonnie and Clyde, a film which Jack Warner really didn't like, he asked the lead male to take a walk with him. The actor, who knew about the walk of shame, wasn't surprised when they stopped at the Warner brothers' water tower and Jack Warner asked him whose name was on the tower. The actor, quickly thinking said, "Well, mister. That may be your name, sir, but my initials are ten times as big as your name." Jack Warner was so impressed with the quick response he told the actor to get back to work. The actor was, of course, Warren Beatty and the film was nominated for 10 academy awards.
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This is one of the main streets in the WB backlot and has been used in several movies. Anyone is allowed to rent the street and can change, paint, or even explode the street to pieces as long as it is returned to its original state. However, the movies Annie and Don't Mess with the Zohan made changes the studio liked so much they kept them: the fire escapes and the trees respectively. There are three different kinds of buildings. Practical ones that you can film in, a facade with no space inside or...we forget the name, but it did have an interior but it was a skeleton interior. Mostly for showing second or third story shots. The exterior. Most sets don't have ceilings to allow room for proper lighting.  The temperature of the set, with all the bodies, make-up, and lighting can reach over 100 degrees. So the ceiling-less set also sports a huge A/C system completely directed at the actor on center stage.
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 This is a picture of the largest sound stage they have. It's known as the indoor ocean as it gets flooded (on purpose) a lot, such as in the movie Inception and Perfect Storm.

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 This is the transportation museum. In it we saw the Get Smart car, The General from Dukes, two Batmobiles, the Ford Anglia from HP, a Bonnie and Clyde car as well .
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Megan is here "Getting Smart"-er.
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She's already pretty darn smart.
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The Rolls Royce from the modern version of "Albert"
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The Shaguar from Spy Who Shagged Me.
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General Lee from Dukes of Hazard
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Car from chase scene in Matrix
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Willy Wonka props
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Megan and Jared are acting impressed at the Friends set, Central Perk. Central Perk set from the show Friends. Apparently they were tearing it down when Jay Leno called to ask to preserve it for a final interview with the cast. Then he said on TV that of course the WB was keeping the set, right? So the WB had to.

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We've never seen a full episode of Friends, but we sat on the couch for a picture.

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The set designers used forced perspective to create the illusion that the set was bigger than it was.
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This is the props dept. Anyone can rent any prop or have a contract with the WB studios to use their props for anything. WB studios really provides the space for production companies to use for rent. Sometimes the WB will produce an entire series, but a lot of times, they use the space, props, or costumes from the WB. One of the largest props company. Everybody comes to rent from WB. They rent for 10 percent of the original price.
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Props from the Matrix
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 Some items are not included in a contract and  must be rented individually, like this one.
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This is the props dept. Anyone can rent any prop or have a contract with the WB studios to use their props for anything. WB studios really provides the space for production companies to use for rent. Sometimes the WB will produce an entire series, but a lot of times, they use the space, props, or costumes from the WB. This is hall of official seals for offices.
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Used in Maltese Falcon
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Props lighting room with original Tiffany lamp. The story goes that WB rented out the lamp for a very cheap price not knowing it was a real Tiffany lamp. They were informed, upon the lamp's return, that they had charged too little. The WB was very surprised to find that they had an original lamp in their possession.
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Props used in Inception
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Being silly.
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There were two standing chandeliers and each of them were valued at 3 million dollars. They are originally property of the last czars of Russia. How did they get to the WB studios? In the 20's and 30's, the world may have been in a depression, but business was booming for Hollywood. The WB gave their wives a large sum of money and said go shopping. They did. Many European royal families were selling off their furniture in preparation for war, funds, to make space, all for upcoming war. So several pieces of  furniture in the WB studios are original pieces from royal families sold during the Depression era.
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When getting props for movies or TV, You'd really need to know what your character would want because of the immense amount and variety of the props available. It's like shopping almost. Someone walks into the prop dept and says, "I want this, this, and this!"
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We also got to go on the sound stage for Big Bang Theory and The Mentalist. It was really interesting how they filmed the different shows. The Big Bang Theory and other sit-coms work a regular 9-5 hour schedule and they film in front of a live audience, something developed by Desi Arnez. Lucille Ball was a vaudeville actress and needed a live audience for her humor. Hence the audience. They also taped the laughter and played it when the show was aired to help the viewers at home know to laugh. There are also 5 or so writers at the filming. If the audience doesn't react the way the writers want, the writers re-write the gag then and there, pass the new lines to the actors on post-it notes and  the actors must re-act the new gag. Sometimes the studio will have comedians, food, and energy drinks to keep the audience pepped in between takes. There are cameras A, B, C, and X (because X doesn't rhyme with D). Each actor gets their own camera. There only used to be three cameras. In "I Love Lucy" there was a camera for Ethel and Lucy, one for Desi and Fred and one for a wide shot. While Mork and Mindy was filmed, the same camera system was still in place. Well, Robin Williams was doing so much Robin Williams crazy stuff off camera that the director liked, when asked to do it again, Robin Williams was unable to reproduce it. So the director introduced camera X.
For the Mentalist, only one camera is used and the set is circular. Each
Labeling and product placement is interesting for movies and stuff. Usually the studio will place a generic sticker over a product. The studio is allowed to use a logo if 30% of it is covered. However, if a studio wants to use the entire product they can gamble. If The Mentalist wants to use Coke in their show, they have to guarantee 20 million viewers. If so, They can use the product and either Coke will pay them or they get a discount ( I can't quite remember). If the studio fails to get that many viewers, then the studio owes Coke two times that (or something like that). You get the idea. No viewers, you lose a TON of money.
I am Castle fan. It was really enjoyable seeing a police drama set. Each hallway/room can be doubled. They use the interrogation room for the line-up room (which backdrop is lowered from the ceiling. They use the hallway from one angle for the police hall, the next for a business building. Each window/glass in the set is put on a gimbal so prevent reflections caught in the camera.

May 6, 2012

Oh, no! An alligator!

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This is Red Hill Community Park. AKA The duck and turtle park and now AKA the place we got our sand toys stolen. Yes. This park has three levels and we left our sand toys at level two to walk to level 3 for the turtles and when we came back they were gone. We'd done that before but now apparently, it's not a wise idea.
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Megan came up with this brilliant game called, "alligator". Basically her arms snap together menacingly and the kids run for safety. I led that charges and also the "nyah nyah nyah, can't get me" chants. It was great. So great that Jackson asked for it several more days after we'd played it.
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Running to see the turtles
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Visits from cousins



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 Enjoying our first of three Pinkberry trips.


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 Sam has opted for a hands-on approach to a lot of things, including ice cream.


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Sam is smiling.


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We wisely waited for the splash pad as a sort of shower


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Logan was a little nervous at first. Jackson says that the water is "just like a humpback whale." It does spout.1111111


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love, Jackson (he typed that himself)