Do the names Dylan and Cole Sprouse mean anything to you? How about Zack and Cody Martin?

If you have a child who watches the Disney Channel's The Suite Life with Zack and Cody, then you understand who I'm talking about. These about-to-be fourteen year old twins are the breakout television stars of their own children's show, having first stepped onto the movie scene in Adam Sandler's Big Daddy in which the identical twins played the character of Julian, the forgotten son. Later they appeared on Friends as Ben, the growing son of Ross.

Today Dylan and Cole's careers are on full blast, having turned their Disney show into a bonafide hit (which is said to have generated a larger audience faster than Lizzie McGuire) as well as started a magazine called Code that discusses everything boys ages 8-14 (like themselves) are into.

I had the chance to meet and talk to the adorable and incredibly articulate boys when they appeared on the Today Show on Monday. I was on the show myself to talk about 3 kids being the new 2 and the resurgence of larger families. Pictured here is my daughter along with them in the Today's Show green room. To keep things in perspective my daughter is their same age! Dylan and Cole were down to earth, funny and hilarious. They tried to convince my daughter that the best way to keep her younger brother from bugging her was to sneak into his room at midnight, call out "Truck coming" and as he wakes up shine two flashlights in his eyes and bonk him with a pillow. Quite the advice, but reassuringly they have yet to try this on each other. They told us how they had been "normal kids" in middle school until 6th grade, when their Disney hit took off and they have to be private tutored on the set. On the weekends, they just want to play video games and hang with their friends. Now that sounds normal! I was impressed with how grounded they both are.

Just recently, Dylan and Cole were featured in the New York Sunday Times as the next Olsens pair. In fact, Dualstar, the Olsen twins' company, has taken on Dylan and Cole as their new tween twin stars, seeing as the Olsens seem to be moving on to bigger, er, more mature ventures (think Badgley Mischka ads and club hopping in NYC). The Sprouse brothers have signed on with Dualstar as the "Sprouse Bros." (fitting, right?) to create a new commercial brand that will endorse everything from DVDs, CDs, clothing, sports gear, and video games, as well as their magazine, all targeting preteen and teen audiences.

So, not only are they cute and kind young boys but they are also a soon-to-be popular tween brand!

I wish them the best of luck with everything - hey, now I can say I knew them when!

Image from starpulse 

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