December 31, 2010

one more time, Sans feeling

last year, anth officially declared Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer to be his favorite holiday song.
if it came on in the car, on the radio while we were in the kitchen, in a store, you name it, the entire world had to stop in its tracks so that he could listen.
and sing along.
loudly.
like, really, really loud.
really.

so, when i received this email last year from his pre-school teachers, i have to admit i fell in love with it a little bit.
(**note- a huge thanks to Kathy and James for resending this to me this week. in my on-going quest to be Parent of the Year, i lost it.)
but, it's perfect.
why do i love this video so, you ask?
1. anthony is in it.
2. he is wearing the reindeer hat with a straight face.
3. it appears that the Rudolph next to him is shying away from the camera.
4. for his dogged determination to get through his performance despite the fact that it sounds like an army of small children are rioting in the background.
5. it is so very clear from the expression on his face that this is his "very favorite song."

so, as i tend to acknowledge December 31st as the official end of the Christmas season, here is a vocal send-off to our favorite holiday.

December 30, 2010

don't Stop believin' - round 3

yesterday's post shared the insights that anth offered up in mid-October about what he believed to be true in this world.

here is what anth shared upon his December 14th interrogation a la mom.
(don't worry. he's used to me and my little projects. or at least that's what i tell myself.)
apparently he was in the mood to homor me, because there were more than the first few attempts...

1. i believe that babies need to take smaller bites. (no, i don't know what made him think this.)
2. i believe hockey is a really hard game.
3. i believe Christmas is about giving. (clearly from one of those TV shows...)
4. i believe that babies are messy.
5. i believe if you don't wash your hands, you will get sick. (grandma will be so proud)
6. i believe that Iron Beads (his latest craft craze) are plastic that are iron proof. (one would
    hope.)
7. i believe that markers has little tiny holes in their pointy parts where the ink comes out.
**i paused to ask him to share things he feels are true, not just facts.
8. i believe toots are funny.
9. and puppet shows.
10. definitely iron bead puppet shows.
11. i believe running and climbing are happy things.
12. i blieve halloween is scary.
13. i believe it's sad when someone hurts you.
14. i believe...hey mom, how do engines work? i'm curious...(exit anth to go find dad...)

...and so i knew we were done with this round of fun.

December 29, 2010

Believe - Part 2

a while back, i wrote a post regarding a video of a really thoughtful little boy named Tarak.
it including statements about his beliefs.
it had inspired me to go home and ask anth to generate his own.
they were listed in this post:  the first attempt...
clearly, anth was on a different page than Tarak.

while packing for our holiday trip to California... (expect some lovely posts from both the flights and the time at Grandma and Grandpa's soon. hilarity ensued.)...i found a scrap of paper dated 10.16.2010.
I, apparently, went back to anth for more belief statements.
and was once again non-plussed.
this led to two things...
first, i walked down the hallway and asked for even more belief statements.
then, i decided i didn't have time to post them while i was running about packing.
So, here you go...these are the things anth believed to be true as of October 16th, 2010...

1. i believe that lightbulbs just glow...
2. i believe that i don't know how the lightbulb actually works.
3. i believe the earth will get hurt if you put trash on it. some bad people do that. (this was 
    probably inspired by mommy's set up for the questions. though, to his credit, anth will 
    generally change what he is doing, such as using 93 paper towels in a public restroom, if 
    you tell him it hurts the earth. )
4. i believe that family loves each other. (unprompted. he's really that sweet.)
5. i believe you get scrapes when you're having fun.
6. i believe daddy can find things even though he wasn't there (this is a loving dig at mom,
     who can't find things, hers or otherwise, even when she is there when they were set down)
7. i believe magic can turn things into anything.
8. i believe Harry Potter is not real. for real, the magic wands are just sticks.

check back tomorrow to find out what profound wisdom anth had to bestow amidst mommy's packing earlier this month...

December 28, 2010

somewhere in my youth, or childhood

first, i apologize if i lured you in thinkging this would be a usual post regarding the hilarious antics of our children.
it's not.

today, i'm choosing to send a shout-out to my hubby of 8 lovely years by adding a page that shares a little bit of info about us.
perhaps it will shed some light on the people bringing up anth and benny.
perhaps not.
either way, i had fun making it.
and, yes, here it is...

the complete and utter shameless link to a page on my own blog:
Our Story

happy anniversary, sweet boy!

(i realize that there might be some out there who won't understand that reference of this title. first of all, sad for you for not growing up in a house where your mom listened to musicals while cleaning and can watch this movie annually with the same devotion. second, here is the least awkward link i could find. j'adore...something good)

December 27, 2010

going downhill

while we were finishing serving food for Christmas dinner, benny managed to get his hands on two of anth's new christmas toys. they are Bionicles/Hero Factory. i find them to be terrifyingly creepy compared to the My Little Ponies and things i used to enjoy. 


we overheard benny making the typical little boy "fighting" noises between the two characters. as he approached the table, the spike-covered blue character told the large-weapon-wielding yellow character, "i gonna punch you!"


we quickly corrected benny and told him these were not appropriate words to say to someone else. he smiled sweetly, told us ok, and then went back to playing. 


this time, yellow guy to blue, "i gonna SHOOT you!"


lovely. 
that's what we meant, honey. 

December 26, 2010

little man of genius

benny is 100% certain, and cannot be convinced otherwise, that the male doing the voice-over on Bud Light's "Real Men of Genius" radio commercials is, in fact, Buzz Lightyear.


which we find to be equal parts hilarious and concerning. 

December 25, 2010

A Holiday Message to My Savvy Boys' Followers . . .

yes, this message is specifically for the 13 of you who have opted to "follow" this blog. 
i know, and love, each of you...

ben wants all 13 of you to have a happy holiday

to the rest of you...well, see ben. 
apparently, anth still sends you 
(a somewhat deflated looking) Merry Christmas!

...too bah humbug? 
:)
okay. 
um...
i hope your gifts are...
...tasty?
(and that your older sibling cheers you on instead of saving you from eating cheaply dyed paper...)

but, in a rare moment of seriousness...
to those of you who celebrate Christmas, 
and those who do not, 
i wish you love, laughter, good health and inner peace. 
today, and always. 


...with just a dash more laughter going to 
the world's unluckiest number of followers. :)

December 23, 2010

welch girls mean well. . .

today is my sister's 27th birthday. 
katie lives in kauai, so i don't get to see her nearly as much as i would like.
when we were younger, katie and i were clearly distinct people. 
she had long, straight blonde hair and a tan. 
she was shorter than me. 
and she is one of the only adults on this planet who continues to be. 
and i love her for that and for many other reasons. 
over time we grew to look a bit more similar. 

Exhibit A:

we do, however, have quite a few personality traits in common. 
some of them are lovely. 
some, not so helpful. 
let me explain...

my mom does many things well. 
this includes sending cards and gifts in a well-wrapped and timely fashion. 
my sister and i...both...have good intentions. 
generally, we know your birthday/anniversary/etc., is coming. 
we probably bought a gift. 
likely bought or made a card. 
even wrapped the gift. 
and here is where the story ends. 
you see, my sister and i feel mutually apathetic about making our way to the Post Office. 
(or, we just really, really fail at it.)
either way, really. 

in prepping for the holidays this year, and in keeping with the miracles associated with the season, katie and i both managed to buy, wrap and mail gifts in time for them to arrive at my parents' house BEFORE christmas. 
however, "wrap" is a loose term in this case. 
Exhibit B is the photo below. 
it is of one of the gifts that arrived in the package from katie. 


the bow attached was the "wrapping" that occurred after arrival on my mom's behalf. 
(no worries, someone will manage to do this for real before the am on the 25th.)

all of this goes to say, Happy Birthday, Katie Mae!!!!

...and sorry i forgot to throw your birthday card in the box with your gift. 
for real. 

love, 
me. 

December 22, 2010

cookie monster

my mom has a recipe for oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies that people tend to adore. 
she typically makes them and throws some in the freezer. 
over the years, my dad has developed a preference for eating them straight out of the freezer. 
benny has decided he enjoys them the same way. 
except for the part where he gets frustrated because they are notably harder to eat in that condition. 
so this week we let him get some out of the freezer, but microwaved them for him. 
a little bit too long. 
so they went from too hard to eat to too hard to keep in one piece. 
he was wandering about with one of these damaged treats, when a small pile of crumbs fell off. 
he looked down and quietly kept eating. 
anth, who was nearby, told him he should pick up the crumbs and put them in the trash. 
ben looked back down at the crumbs. 
then looked back at anth and tilted his head to the side, in consideration.
"ummmm....nope! i'm busy eatin' duh pawts i din't dwop yet." 

December 21, 2010

b-b-b-benny loves Elton

recently, we were watching an episode of "The Sing-Off" that had been waiting patiently in the DVR for our attention.
I had not been waiting quite as patiently to watch it.
:)
one of the groups, from the University of Oregon, was performing a medley of Elton John songs.
this included the song, "The B!$@h Is Back."
i commented that i was surprised they were allowing this particular song on the same episode that was including holiday songs, etc., as i moved to grab the remote to turn it down since anth was there. 
his response? 
"i know, right? but you know benny would LOVE it."

December 20, 2010

the littlest ghostwriter

  •  Scene: putting anth to bed last night. (typically, we either read to him for a bit or let him work on reading to us.) i had let him stay up later than usual to watch last wednesday's episode of The Sing-Off with me so we would be caught up for tonight. (upcoming post regarding the sing-off...) because it was late, we agreed i would just tell him a story of my own. all of this transpired with us lying on our sides facing one another for story-time.
  • Me: Once upon a time, there was a boy named Anth, and...
  • Anth: (shakes head) No, mom. not a story about me. 
  • Me: Okay...once upon a time there was a girl named krystyne...
  • Anth: (rolls eyes) NO, mom. not a story about you and daddy.
  • Me: Haha. okay...once upon a time there was a prince who lived in a far-away castle...
  • Anth: (look of complete disgust) Ugh! no mom, i don't want the story to be a fantasy story.
  • Me: Ummm...okay...once upon a...
  • Anth: I want it to be about a toy factory!!!
  • Me: Perfect! A long time ago, there was a....
  • Anth: But i DON'T want it to be about Santa's toy factory and all those elves...
  • Me: Definitely not. okay, a story about a random toy factory....once upon...
  • Anth: (bolts up in bed) I know! Make it about a Matchbox toy factory! (lays back down.)
  • Me: Sounds great! What happens in the factory?
  • Anth: (throws up his arm in exasperation) I don't know, mom! YOU'RE the one telling the story!!!!
  • (clearly.)

December 19, 2010

4 Generations of Fail Photo

we spent this Thanksgiving with bernie's family. 
this year, we went to his aunt and uncle's house. 
bern's dad likes to get an annual shot of the 4 generations of Savarese men. 
this was this year's attempt...

Fail # 1 - way to go Great Grandpa and Uncle Frank
(check out anth's eyes. haha)


Fail #2 includes cousins Jason & Dylan- benny was trying really hard. 
i'm just not sure why he was trying in that particular direction...

and, finally, Fail #3 - another "when you know the shoot is over" shot, compliments of benjamin...
poor anth is at least giving us his "i'm over it but i know this is important to you mom" smile. 
bless his heart. 

December 17, 2010

8th Floor Improv presents - Fail Photo 17

..today's post is nothing but a shameless plug on behalf of some lovely gems in a student organization called 8th Floor Improv at Ohio State University.
they are funny people.
hilarious, in fact.
and, upon the invitation of a creative-minded colleague,  they are taking their talents to the radio to spread some holiday love.
or, holiday humor, really.

i think this picture best captures the holiday spirit that was in the studio as the lovely folks of 8th Floor recorded the upcoming holiday show for Writers Talk.

as you can see, the show promises many tidings of comfort.
and much joy.
you know you want to hear it.
here's how....





Monday, December 20th @ 3:30pm - WCRS radio, 98.3 & 102.1 FM
Wednesday, December 22 @ 8:00pm - WCBE radio, 90.5 FM
Christmas Eve @ midnight - WCBE radio, 90.5 FM...followed by a another round of the ever-festive Writers Talk Halloween Show.


now, i use the word "wholesome" quite a bit in my day to day life. 
i would not, though, use it to describe this particular brand of holiday show. 
i might, instead, use "genius." 
another common savvyism. 
because, if you are looking for a nice, cozy, hot chocolate-by-the-fire-with-the-kids kind of radio show... 
then i say, this is not 1952. 
but, instead, if you might have overdone the holiday music and decorating a tad early, and are willing to look for a new lens on the holiday season, tune in. 


AKA, ...

there may be a little bit of this...


















and a tad of this...
and, hopefully, only the slightest snippet of this...  
(oh yeah, here's where the fail-photo part plays into this shameless plug of a post.
this is anth at just about 18 months.
one of the founders of 8th Floor, Chris Lochinski, gave him this shirt.
and asked me to take photos of him in it for advertising.
um. sorry, chris.
it was useful. 
just on a 4 year delay. )

...for more delicious info about 8th Floor Improv check out: http://www.8thfloorimprov.com/

for more on the students' journey into writing for radio, Writers Talk, or to find the podcast of the show at a later date, check out: http://cstw.osu.edu/

December 16, 2010

what would we do, baby. . . ?

back before i had two little men of my own, i used to think i would never be that parent who would throw their kids in front of the TV in order to get something done. 
that was a noble idea. 
but, it wasn't all that well thought out, as i'm not exactly sure when i thought i would actually accomplish the daily to-do list. 
this week, bern and i let the boys watch a new version of Transformers on The Hub while we tried to catch up on cleaning around the house. 


as i have said many times, we can trust anthony to follow rules.
this includes the job of monitoring TV. 
we simply have to tell him that something is a show that is "off-limits," and he will forever avoid watching it. 
this system works nicely for us. 


so, as we were rounding out the 30-minute mark while desperately moving piles about the house, anth suddenly shouted, "mom! dad! come here! quick!"
assuming someone was injured, we made the mad dash toward the boys. 
while on the move, we then heard anth shout, "there is some REALLY WEIRD show on TV!!!"
and as we rounded the corner into the room where they were quietly sitting, bern and i heard the familiar tune that accompanies the lyric "...and there ain't no nothing we can't love each other through."


i can see how the cast of Family Ties could come across as somewhat out of place in comparison to Transformers and The Avengers and Phineas and Ferb. 
but the look on anthony's was was truly one of horror. 
maybe it was the hair...






sha la la la. 



December 14, 2010

a christmas lesson

tonight while tucking anth in to bed, i had him run down the most current list of his christmas wishes. 
i needed to make sure Santa had the most up to date list possible. 
anthony listed a RC something-or-other car, Criss Cross Crash and Beyblade (sp?). 
but then he leaned in and patted me on my cheek and said, "but mom, i'm not most excited about getting gifts. i'm most excited about spending time with my family." 


um...what?

i mean, yes the christmas season is definitely about more than presents and i'm all about that. 
but come on, the kid is 5. 
so i asked him if he and dad had been talking about that recently. 
"no, mom. but i'm pretty sure that's kind of what those christmas TV shows are trying to tell me."

December 11, 2010

table talk

tonight, in the middle of a healthy dinner of pepperoni pizza, benny suddenly pointed at 
his father and declared, "daddy, you FIEWCE!"


after some clarifications on our end of what word he was trying to say, it became clear that our little benjamin was, in fact, telling bern that he, in that moment, was "fierce." 


which left us to wonder if our littlest man, who likes to play 'monsters' these days, was confidently mispronouncing "ferocious"... a stretch for his vocabulary...or, if he was simply paying his papa a pop-culturally relevant compliment. 

December 10, 2010

December 9, 2010

holiday planning equals fail (photo)

and in this case, the failure part will be coming from me. 
i'm owning this in advance. 
looking ahead to the holiday season and the general hustle and bustle that comes with it, i'm making this statement in advance: i'm probably going to be a tad lazy about posting this month. 
or a lot lazy. 
only time will tell. 


but, case in point, tonight i'm tossing up one of my many photos gone awry and putting my nose to the holiday grindstone. 
while i keep my kids contained. 
literally...




*note: dear friends in Social Services, no i am not literally keeping my children in a box. 
this shot was taken last june. 
the kids were playing sweetly together in this box. 
as many children who have plenty of good toys tend to do. 
it was cute enough for me to walk to the next room and grab my camera. 
and this is what the cute moment evolved into by the time i returned. 

December 8, 2010

that's what HE said.

  • benny's command of the english language is getting more solid all the time. his vocabulary is increasing and, though it breaks my heart, he is slowly learning to properly pronounce words. thankfully, he is not quite there yet, and even his pint-sized defiance is still kind of precious. 
  • that said, his little declarations tend to have a certain rhythm to them these days. for mommy, this serves as a very convenient what-just-happened-leading-up-to-this-statement decoding mechanism. thanks to benny's go-to responses, here's how i know what you (or, perhaps more accurately, i) just did...
  • if he tells you YOU BOKE IT!...you have thrown away something that he did not consider trash
  • if he insists NO, I'M TUFF!...you have paid him a compliment
  • should he state I'MMA FRUDDAH WADED... he is irritated. likely with you. likely because you told him no. or supported a household rule. or, heaven forbid, informed him that, in fact, no, he can not have candy for breakfast/lunch/dinner. 
  • if he looks at you, indignant, and shouts NO, I'MMA DEDDO MAYO!...you have started to head down the driveway to the mailbox without him
  • if he retorts NO, I NOT A FART!...you have told him he is smart. for some reason, this is highly insulting to him. 
    • if he declares, NO, I BIG!... you have reminded him he is little. 
    • if he declares, NO, I LITTLE...you have suggested he is a big boy.
    • and, if he comes back with no YOU (insert verb/action phrase here)...you have asked him to do...anything.    (ie, "no, YOU take a bath, momma. no YOU wash yo' hands, daddy. no, YOU stop pokin' me, Antony.)