Never in a Million Years...

...did I think I would know-or want to know-about Superheroes. Obviously the one and only reason I care about or am interested in all things Superhero, is because my beloved little men, John and Jake are so obsessed with Supers....

Channel 753-our new favorite Mannel (man-channel.) FX shows all movies that are all-boy, i.e., Star Wars, Spiderman, Hellboy, etc. Sunday was "Superhero Sunday" on FX. We've watched Dare Devil, Elecktra, and Fantastic Four: The Rise of Silver Surfer. Last night, while watching Fantastic 4: Silver Surfer for the 2nd time, The Husband asks (probably to John or Jake,)

"Is Silver Surfer a good guy or a bad guy?"

I quickly reply, "He's both. He's torn. He's a bad guy right now, but he wants to be good. He's just staying loyal to Galactus and his homeworld...and he has no power without his surfboard..." and on and on I went.

A few minutes later, Mike said, "Hey look guys, it's The It!"

I snapped, "THE THING!" (The Thing is a part of the Fantastic Four.)

Oh my. How I've changed. I had to laugh at myself.

My whole life, up until now, I've hated any sort of sci-fi fantasy world of movies and other mediums. It always reminds me of the middle-aged obsessed with comic books freaks that attend those comic book conventions where they dress up in costumes and speak weird sci-fi-mumbo jumbo. (Actually, that sounds kinda fun...shhh, I didn't say that!) The last thing I want is for my sons to end up like those weirdos at the conventions. Picture Steve Carell in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," working at Best Buy, living alone in a small apartment with his collection of Superhero action figures--with John's obsession with collecting action figures coupled with his OCD, this picture of John turning into The 40-Year-Old Virgin is not so far off. Quite possible in fact. Good thing he has a super cool mom to make sure he turns out super cool too.




Now I find myself extremely excited for the new Iron Man 2 movie--in theaters Friday, May 7th. I can hardly stand waiting for it. I want to take Johnny to the theater, and I want him to wear his new Iron Man suit. Do you think people would disapprove of a mother taking her 4 year old son to a PG-13 action movie? Well, if you know me, you know that I don't give a rip if they judge me. Little do they know, we watch the first Iron Man movie practically weekly and we will soon own the Iron Man 2 DVD.

It's Iron Man

Wait, no, it's Johnny, I mean Tony Stark!

Angel Baby Turns 3 Today!

Jake is 3 years old today, May 3, 2010. My little angel baby is not a baby anymore...but he'll always be my baby. He had his first professional hair cut yesterday, in honor of his 3rd birthday. He did great. He sat still and didn't make a peep. He got a few gifts from me and dad: a remote control car, a GI Joe action figure, and a new spiderman t-shirt. He was thrilled for all of it. His birthday party is this Saturday, May 8th. It's a batman theme and he is excited to celebrate with his Grammy and Grandpa, Aunties, Uncles, and Cousins.

This year should bring many changes for Jake: potty training, weaning from his pacifier, sleeping in his own bed-through the night, and possibly preschool in the fall. He just learned to peddle his trike, so this summer will be full of bike rides.

Happy Birthday, Jake!

Jake, holding a tiny "shoot" (as he calls them.)

This little handgun came with his GI JOE action figure--one of his gifts for turning 3.

Jake holding his "pa-pa" (short for paci, short for pacifier.) Now that he's 3 I think the pa-pa's have got to go! It gives me a headache just thinking about this new hurdle to jump.
Jake LOVES his pacies.

Look at this face! He is such a little flirt.

Too cute for words.

Jake in his batman costume.

It's too small for him; he did a lot of growing from 2 to 3 years old.

This is the picture I used for his Batman themed birthday party invitation.

Watch out for The Dark Knight!

My sweet lil' Caped Crusader

Silly little man

Each time Jake sees Twilight or New Moon at the store, he says, "Mom! It's yer Vampires!"

My sweet baby boy

Taking pictures of mom

So grown up

He makes me smile:)

I'm well on my way to being...

SHREDDED Jillian Michaels

Ok, day 1 of back on the fitness wagon. I love Jillian's workouts because, a. they're free On Demand, 2. they're quick: 20-25 minutes, or 45 min. Third-they work. I'm always sore after the first few days of it, and when I get used to the "level 1 and level 2 30-day-shred," I move on to the longer/harder workouts. It's a great way to workout at home when you're a busy SAHM and don't have a gym membership, like me!

http://www.jillianmichaels.com/

Redecorating The Boys' Bedroom on a Budget: Superheroes! BAM!

The boys' room has had many transformations. First it was a "vintage cowboy" nursery for Johnny. Jake's nursery was a color theme of stripes and gingham in baby blue, baby green, khaki, and white. When John outgrew his vintage cowboy crib, I used some of Mike's old Oregon Ducks Football memorabilia to make a sort-of football theme. It was a mess: the bedding was blue-camouflage and there were remnants of cowboy decorations. It bothered me how miss-match the decor was...a little cowboy, a little camo, a little football, a little superman...not ok!

Now that Jake and John officially share a bedroom, I decided on a Superhero theme because that is the shared obsession between the boys. When John first got his twin bed a couple years ago, I ordered the cutest Superman sheets and pillow sham from Pottery Barn Kids. At the time, Superman was John's big obsession; he carried a small Superman action figure around with him at all times. This was the obsession that broke the "Cars" obsession for Johnny: the discovery of Superman!

The oh-s0-cute Superman Bedding! I only purchased sheets and a sham. I used an inexpensive Target comforter for the bedspread.

When it came time to attempt to put Jake in his own twin bed at night, I ordered Spiderman bedding for John (his current obsession) and the Superman bed became Jake's bed. Poor Jakey, he will forever get Johnny's hand-me-downs. Although, even when the Superman bed was John's, Jake would tell me it was, "MY bed." So it all worked out in the end.

The oh-s0-COOL Spiderman Bedding!

I already had this picture frame, so I filled it with vintage Marvel comic book postcards: Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Captain America, Hulk, X-Men and Iron Man.

We purchased Malm twin beds from IKEA in black. Also from IKEA, I bought $2 frames in red, blue, and black. Over John's bed, I filled the frames with recently taken b&w's of the boys. I also bought 'J' magnets from dollar spot at Target for 25 cents! I posted them on blue and gray card stock and framed them.

The boys still need new black Malm dressers from IKEA-to match their twin beds. I would also like a tall book shelf to organize their millions of books.

On the other gigantic plain wall in their room, I have a couple posters...Iron Man 2 and a group picture of the 100s of Marvel Superheroes. These are cheapy posters and are tacked into the wall low so the boys can admire them at eye-level. This is the tackiest part of the room decor, and also the boys' favorite part-of course.

John's Dreams

This one's a doozy...

Poor John and his dreams and nightmares. It's been this way since I can remember. He talks in his sleep nearly every night. i.e. suddenly sitting up and shouting, "Where's Daniel?!" (Dan is our neighbor and John's good buddy.) Or, "Ester! Stop!" (Ester is our neighbor as well, but not so much a buddy but more like a bossy big sister.) Another one recently was, "Poo-poo diaper baby!" This is "potty-talk" while sleeping.

Last night, John had a really bad dream about bees and bugs. He woke up shouting that the "bees are getting me!" I tried reassuring him 100 times that he was just dreaming, there are no bugs, there are no bees, everything is fine, mommy is here, it's ok, lay down, go to sleep, bugs are outside, not in our house, and on and on and on and on for what seemed like forever. Then things got worse...

John started dodging invisible flying bugs and crying in terror. He hid under the covers and cried out that the bees were going to sting him. I kept trying to comfort him, to wake him, to reassure him that what he was seeing wasn't real. He begged me to hide with him and cried, "why are they doing this to me?" It broke my heart to see him so frightened. It seemed like he was wide awake and hallucinating. But I have to assume he was in a deep dream state. It was disturbing to watch him dodge flying bugs and cry and scream in terror.

I turned on the light and said, "See, Johnny, there are no bugs in here," and he said, "I can see them mom! Right there! " as he pointed at them. And then he begged me to move to the living room with him.

We sat in the chair in the living room and cuddled for about 15 minutes while he looked around the room. He seemed scared and paranoid. I asked him if we could go back to bed. He took my hand, and in a completely different tone of voice, a calm voice said, "OK mom, we can go back to bed now. The bugs are all gone."

Whew.

Then of course I didn't sleep well the rest of the night. It took me a couple hours to fall back to sleep. And when John woke at 7am, the very first words out of his mouth were, "Mom! The bugs are gone!" with a huge smile on his face. *yawn*

Hanes Commercial (w/ the lil kids mean-muggin the non-eco-friendly boy)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy7ZtDV0mO4
I just think this commercial is funny.

They Might Be Giants

My boys have loved these guys since forever. Google 'em.

http://www.theymightbegiants.com/