Single Sibling

For my brother, Ken, 1/22/68-10/31/88

Two innocent children
Played together as siblings do
Fought one minute
Giggled the next
His feet were always so ticklish
But they were hard to get
When he was wrestling me
To the TV room carpet
We watched Fat Albert on Saturdays
Ate Dad's grilled cheese and tomato soup
While Mom gave piano lessons
We were each other's summer best friends
When we went on our annual camping trips
Hunting for weird bugs and baby toads
And singing Queen songs at the top of our lungs
In our one-of-a-kind TravelAll vehicle
We walked to school together in the morning
Almost always late
And played kick-the-can in the street at night
We blared the "Big Foot" record out of the window
And made up our own game to go with it
We took art lessons together
While listening to The Carpenters on WDOV
We convinced our babysitter
To fill up big cups with peanut butter for our snack
And we got caught by our parents
I went to his Little League games
He went to my concerts and recitals
He taught me Asteroids and Pitfall
But never once let me win
He attempted to drown out my Xanadu soundtrack
With his KISS albums
But he never expected that I'd like their songs, too
We created goofy lyrics to pop songs
And we called each other funny names
And he teased me endlessly
But defended me fiercely
And then somehow
We grew up
And in all that time
I would have never believed
That he wouldn't be here
To relive those memories
With me

Boo!

That's a "boo" for this Halloween and a "boo" for not having a winning guess in my last post. Maybe I made you believe that the boys were going to wear the same costumes as a previous year by also posting links to their previous costumes. My intention was to give you the links so you knew what they weren't going to be this year and to see what types of costumes they have liked in the past. You know, like these:

See? They were plain and peanut m&ms last year. And they have both chosen new costumes this year. And no, unfortunately their costumes don't go together this time. But they are still adorable! And their outits really do look a lot like this:

Okay, fine. Here is some additional help!

Peanut will be...this...hero:

And Pumpkin will just keep swimming:

Now do you know?!? ;)

(Real-life little boy images to follow soon.)

Another Identity Crisis

Okay, are you tired of guessing games yet? (Assuming you said, "Of course not, Kristin! We just love your silly guessing games!") Well, good.

Peanut came home with this gem of a drawing, and I just had to add it to my blog. After all, you are all probably dying to know what my little men have chosen to wear for their Halloween costumes.

So, here you go!

What...that's no help?!?

Well, let's see if anyone can venture a guess. What are Peanut (left) and Pumpkin (right) planning to be for Halloween based on this beautiful artwork by Peanut himself?

And, just in case you need a refresher, here are the costumes my boys donned last year and in past years.

On your mark...get set...guess! :)

My Tiger the Grrrrrrreeeaaat!

Congrats to all of you who quickly and correctly guessed that Peanut has become a Tiger Cub. (Accepted answers also included "cub scout" -- the more general term -- and "boy scout.") And because I am feeling generous, I am going to give all of you shout outs! Thanks to Kristin, Kelly, Kristen, Heather, and Laura (who even specifically guessed "Tiger Cub"!) for participating.



Both my husband and my brother were cub scouts, so when Peanut heard that and some of daddy's stories of the pinewood derby, he was interested. Before that, he was really concerned that being a cub scout would entail us dropping him off in the far-off woods with only a tent to protect him from the bears. We assured him that we wouldn't do that until he was much older. ;)

Clearly a Hint!

Okay, so apparently using the watercolor effect on the secret identity photo made all of your creative juices flow! I thought the pic would be way too easy without some sort of disguise. But I had no idea how much your responses would make me giggle.

So, let's try again. Now do you know what Peanut has become?!?

As much as I loved your pretzel superhero, fruit roll-up, Care Bear crusader, parachute, and insect-like guesses, alas, the answer is far less imaginative. But it is still exciting for Peanut! So guess again....on your mark, get set, GO!

Peanut's Secret Identity

Let's have some blogging fun.
Can you guess by this picture
What Peanut has become?

As usual, the winner will receive lots of praise and a link to his or her blog. Oh, and you will also receive my utmost respect! Now that, ladies (and gentlemen?), is a prize worth fighting for!