November 29, 2011

climb every mountain. . .

last weekend, we were supposed to decorate for the holidays.
instead, we watched Ohio State play Michigan on saturday, and then built a bunk bed. 
on sunday, we shopped for christmas decor.
we had some. 
but it was kind of a sad amount. 
this is mainly because we usually head to california for the holidays, but are celebrating in our own home for the first time this year. 
santa has decided he would like to head down our non-existent chimney and provide whatever size gift he wants on christmas day. 
this made things like outdoor lighting, garland, and more snowmen necessary. 
so we hit up target and joann's on sunday. 
then we ran around looking for bedding for the guest room we suddenly acquired via bunk bed. 
and then we built a desk and a dresser and the trundle bed. 

so.
lots of christmas music.
no christmas tree.
just some garland around the staircase.
(which, by the way, made for an experience of unmatched expectations tonight. we put up the garland while the boys were sleeping last night. so bern wanted to show it to them tonight with the lights on. he had the boys come into the room with their eyes closed, plugged it in and told them to look. anth, of course, thought it was beautiful. ben surveyed the room and was upset that there was "christmas but no presents." oops.)

anyway. 
anth loves christmas lights. 
bern is at the the OSU/Duke basketball game tonight with his Uncle Bill.
i am packing for a trip to visit my friend Kelly in Madison this weekend. 
this means another night of no holiday decorating. 
but, i thought that i could at least give the boys a strand of lights for their room. 

 
here it is. 
(you will note that we have not yet put the books back on the shelf.)

in order to put up the lights, i stood on the little table anth is sitting on in the picture above. 
anth, seeing me standing on the table, yelled, "mom! oh no! be careful up there!"
(you will also note that "up there" is a loose term when you consider the height of this table.)
while looping the lights over the curtain rod, i told him, "don't worry, anth. i won't break the table."
i wish i could have seen his face, because i could hear the exasperation in his voice. 
"NO, mom. i'm not saying that because you're so BIG. i'm saying it because you're so OLD."

November 28, 2011

it's always time for christmas music

okay.
so, i don't actually think it's always time for holiday music. 
but, i am always ready for it to be time for holiday music. 
as such, i decided this year that the week before Thanksgiving was the appropriate time to bring on the holiday cheer. 
i officially kicked off the holiday season in the car, boys in tow, with the Glee Christmas Album. 
number 2. 


benny quickly decided that his favorite is Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town. 
this is entertaining to me because it is about being good or bad, and ben teeters on the brink when making some of these decisions.
but, he loves it. 
this, of course, means repeat. 
often. 


at some point while we were driving and listening to this song for the nth time, ben decided it was not cold enough outside to warrant a vest. 
and he demanded that i immediately remove it from his 5-point-harnessed person. 
while driving. 
he then became quite...spirited...when i informed him that was not able to do so at the time. 


anth turned to ben, put his hand on his arm, and waited for him to calm down enough to listen.
"ben, you better listen to this song. even though it just sounds like a happy little song, it's the truth!"

November 22, 2011

diving right in

it is once again Mirror Lake Jump Night here at Ohio State.
on my end, this night involves being on campus, usually from about 10pm to 1 or 2am, to help support my staff who working to keep our students safe.
more specifically, it involves me hoping that all of our students come out of the experience safe and sound.
i wrote about this in more detail last year on the night after the jump

perhaps, after a night of observing, i will have more to add to this list tomorrow.
perhaps not.
when anth asked me to remind him what "jump night" was again today, i did. 
he asked, "don't they all know that that's just kind of gross? and could make them sick?"
(the answer? i assume yes. but most college students are not in the business of taking advice from 6-year-olds.)

anyway, on a night that is filled with a full spectrum of choices made by our students, i am choosing to share a video of one particular student who currently has my heart.
anth.
one of the lovely RAs i have worked with at OSU is Allison Gering.
she is currently in a class that has tasked her with meeting with a K-2nd(ish) grade student to do reading assessments.
we offered to share anth for the cause, and he has had fun doing his last two "tests" with her.
he has done really well.
too well, actually.
to the point that Allison left our house a looking a tad bit stressed because she didn't bring books that were hard enough.
she has her last appointment with anth tomorrow morning, and i told her i would see if i could find some reading materials that were more challenging for him.
i quickly realized that most of the books in his room were ones that he was now able to read.
so i grabbed the hardest one i could find.

but first, like the nerd that i am totally comfortable being, i asked him to wait while i got out my phone to record.
if he was going to be able to read this particular book, i wanted to be able to catch it on film.
so, here you go.



i don't think i did much to help allison, but i am so proud of my little man.

November 21, 2011

grandpa

those of you who know my husband well know that he adored his Granpda.
i would say that most folks who knew "Grandpa", as he was universally called by the family, also had a soft spot for him.
including me.
sadly, bern's grandpa passed away recently.
this sent me on a tour through the 19, 850 photos on our computer.
here are a few of my favorites. . .

bernie, anth & grandpa at Alum Creek, june 2005.

three generations of Savarese men, with my dad.  july 2005

granpda visiting anthony at our apartment on 9th & worthington.
that has since been demolished.
october 2005

grandpa looking horrified at how sweaty anthony used to get while napping.
(ok, he's not really horrified. but seriously, the kid was an oven.)
april 2006.

trick-or-treat at Alum Creek, october 2006.

anth's second birthday party, april 2007.

benny & bernie, april 2009.

all the Savarese men & grandkids, july 2009.
(those are the boy's cousins, Katelynn, Jason & Dylan. Cutie pies.)

bern's cousin francesca's high school graduation party, may 2010.

benny stealing a kiss at grandpa's birthday party, august 2010.

hot mess of a photo in which 50% of the subjects are paying attention, thanksgiving 2010.

benny gets his own Buzz Lightyear from grandpa for christmas 2010.
this is a Very Big Deal.

krystyne catches grandpa enjoying the boys' presents from Christmas 2010.

bernie's Fisher School of Business graduation ceremony, march 2011.

benny's 3rd birthday, march 2011.

love.

bern's MBA graduation party, march 2011. 

benny & benny, march 2011. 

November 18, 2011

fail photo 43: more trick than treat

i did it!
i posted a fail photo friday post...on friday!
sometimes, we must celebrate the little things. 

yesterday i shared some photos of our pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating moments. 
here is what the majority of my pictures actually looked like. . .

alex is a hugger. 
normally, anth is as well. 
except i'm thinking he was caught off guard in this particular moment. 
(note: they are actually standing.)

we decided to go out onto the porch to get better light for our pre-trick-or-treat photos. 
ben refused to take off his mask. 
or align his eyes with the mask holes. 
at that same moment, anth decided that this was a good expression for a photo.

insert alex into picture. 
ben takes off mask, but refuses to look at the camera. 
anth gets another hug. 

ben puts the mask back on his face.
(yes, these are in chronological order.)
anth takes a catnap.
while, perhaps, meditating.
alex gives up on my boys.

one last attempt. 
benny pulls up the mask party way. 
anth's hood slips. 
mommy gives up on the photo opp.

November 17, 2011

halloweekend

i often reference being behind on life here on the blog.
well, the reality is that i am eternally  behind on life. 
i am coming to terms with this. 
to illustrate this point, here are some photos from Halloween. 
hot off the presses. . . 18 days ago. 

first, it is important to note that Halloween can be stressful. 
especially when you are three and faced with the blank canvas that is a pumpkin.

fortunately, dad was there to save the day. 

anth was also there to carve this ghost. 
though, i don't have decent picture to prove it that involves either of his eyes being open at the same time. 
also, my colleague Mary Anne was there that day. 
well, not really. 
but she and i spent lots of QT on the phone together for work, so it kind of felt like it. 
glad to have you with us, MAK. 

at long last, it was time to don the halloween garb in the pursuit of sugar. 
benny spent some time practicing his light saber skills while anthony finished getting ready.

then it was anth's turn. 
he was rather intense about the whole thing. 

(that's my boy. staying in character.)

and then, the big moment. 
the boys' friend Alex came over to trick or treat with them. 
she had a costume with a light up skirt. 
this was significant to anthony, because he found it rather important that they all had the opportunity to "glow a little" between her skirt and the boys' light sabers. 

so close to the perfect picture.
of course, ben is actually smiling. i just can't prove it's him. 

precious.

also precious?
the effect of darth vader bundled in vest, hat and gloves. 
with a bright teal trick-or-treat bag. 
(well done, mom.)

tomorrow? 
is friday. 
and you know what that means. . .
the really good halloween photos.

November 15, 2011

wholesome revisited

this weekend, i was in a conversation with someone that reminded me of an old post. 
specifically, this one on my definition of wholesome


tonight, i needed to call a good friend.
quickly. 
so i picked up the boys, made them dinner, and got them into their jammies. 
i told them they could watch one show before we read for bedtime. 
and i left them in peace for 30 minutes to chat with said friend. 


i came back to this. . .





while i may describe my 3-year-old as impish at times, there is plenty of this in him, too. 
wholesome. 
:) 

November 14, 2011

seek and you shall find. . . my blog

when i first started blogging, i got a kick out of tracking the hits on the site on Google Analytics.
this was only entertaining for so long, and i have since basically stopped.
in order to drive up hits i would have to have a different blog entirely.
or offer incentives.
and i'm thinking that the only offer i have right now is "leave a comment to get one of my extra 10 xmas cards i ordered so i could get the bulk price."
and that is not nearly as exciting as the fun prizes available on the blogs i follow.

so i stopped looking.
except for one little feature that is built into the Blogger site that i love to check on occasion.
this would be the "Traffic Sources" page.
it basically shows me from where most folks are linking to the blog (Facebook, etc.).
but, the best part is that it shows me what keywords people have used in search engines that brought them to My Savvy Boys.
i like to check these every few weeks.
i gain absolutely nothing from these other than entertainment.
and, after quite a long week and no energy to post something useful, i thought i would share them with you.

these are from the last month.
in an effort to not be completely lazy, i have categorized them for you. . .


Things that make sense:
My savvy boys
My savvy boys blog
Benny bern

People who didn’t get what they wanted, though i've mentioned the topic:
Boogie board beach Kauai
Holidays exhausting
Geothermal wells on ohio state campus
Face art boys
Boys buzz haircuts hairstyles
Zhi karaface
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
An ipod made out of perler beads
Overalls in the 90s
Atreyu neverending story
Snowsuit wearing
Things that are shaped like a square
Ice rink border
My kids don’t look like me (so sorry to the person who was searching this one in earnest)
Beyblade top spinning
overacting
People who didn’t get what they wanted, but I find entertaining:
Boys are confusing songs (i like to believe they were making a mixed tape)
Frankie and bennys big balloons for anyone to play with
Boys are like analogies (i could offer a few about my boys. . .)
Searches I find concerning/wish did not relate to my site
Legal forms of torture
Boys creepers.com
“playing with matches”
(i was tempted to add frankie and the big balloons here as well.)

Most popular search other than something that included “my savvy boys:
Karaface

so, there you have it, friends.
these the things in life that make me giggle.

November 8, 2011

play date plus

this fall, benny transitioned into the pre-school room at his child care center. 
for all of his spunk and sass, he has found it to be a bit of a tough transition at times. 
he's not used to being the little boy being told what to do by the big boys. 
(and we all know how he feels about being told what to do.)
as a result of all of this, our littlest man has enjoyed going back to visit his teachers in his former classroom. 
he is nostalgic for the days when life was a bit more simple. 


tonight, at dinner, benny was apparently pondering this situation. 
because, out of nowhere, he suddenly declared that our family needed to marry his former teacher so that she could come live with us. 
and he went on from there for about 10 minutes, and 5 more at bedtime. 


from what we can deduce, this is his plan: 
- bern and i have to marry said teacher, because he and anth are too young. 
  (the fact that bern and i, and the teacher, are married is not a wrench to him.)
- the teacher cannot live in the basement, because there is not a potty. 
- thus she will live upstairs with the rest of us
- she, and her husband, both have room at the dinner table, because we have a 6-seater.
- he believes she will make him a great deal of Ramen and peanut butter sandwiches. 
- she will has access to all of his toys, and she is welcome to bring hers when she moves in. 
- and in return, he will let her play on the DS. 
(note: the DS is not his to share. but it's just about the best thing he could imagine having access to, so i believe this is considered an amazing payment for moving in with all of us.)


bern and i suggested that maybe we start with visiting his old classroom soon. 
and, perhaps, let the kid have a bowl of Ramen sometime soon. 

November 5, 2011

i'm a sucker for handwritten notes

seriously. 
i am. 
kind words are wonderful. 
a nice email is amazing. 
but i miss the art of the handwritten note. 


i received one in the mail recently from my favorite buttface in Wisconsin. 
it was a handmade card with the simple little message inside. 
to the effect of remember when we used to make bean dip and do crafts. (because how can one really achieve their full creative potential sans bean dip?)
and it made my day. 


this came home in anthony's backpack this week. 
from a friend at school. 
asking for a play date. 


it kind of made my week. 

November 4, 2011

the things we do out of love...


...sometimes include strapping in your son's art project and driving him to a variety of public places. 
lest something bad happen to him. 
(it would appear he has already had a rough enough time. and is barely holding himself together.)

November 2, 2011

punch line

at the top of each month, we do a little family dinner date. 
we usually end up at Las Margaritas. 
but, tonight, we opted for Rooster's
their tag line is "a fun, casual joint."
and, really, it is. 
it also has wings for mom and dad, nachos for anth, and grilled cheese for benny. 
an all-around savvy crowd pleaser. 


because Rooster's is both fun and casual, part of their decor includes a random smattering of white pieces of paper with random quotations/jokes printed on them in black ink. 
anth, being the little reader that he is, was taking in his environment and reading the ones near our table. 
suddenly, he laughed. 
"oh dad. listen to this one, it's hilarious..."


(insert terrible picture from phone camera)

can't read it? 
allow me to assist. 
it says this:
3 words you never want to hear when making love. "honey, i'm home!"


anth read this for all of us to enjoy. 
"man. that's funny."
now, i KNOW he has no idea what makes this funny to the adults in the room. 
but, i am quite curious what makes it funny to him.
(while also frightened to ask.)