Go Micah!

Mr. 2 is a late talker and wouldn't say his name for ages.  Finally about a month ago he became Mi-tah and discovered his favorite thing was cheering for himself.  It started at Mr. 5's jogathon for his preschool.  The teachers saw Mr. 2 coming around the track and cheered for him - "go Micah" - and he loved it.  Enough that he did 4 more laps.  Over a mile on his own feet yelling "hooray, go Micah".

Go Micah: http://youtu.be/Z4Ksey9fq80

Echo bridge

Yesterday Mr. 9 and Mr. 11 both had friends for the day.  It was actually a fun crazy time with 6 boys in the house.  After we dropped Mr. 11's friend off, we headed home and I told David that it would be fun to do one last thing with the 6 of us to end the weekend.  Suddenly Mr. 11 realizes that we're right by Echo Bridge which he and David had visited but most of the rest of us had only heard about.  It seemed the perfect choice so we parked and started off.  We hiked under to hear our voices echo and then up to the top to walk across the bridge in the setting sun.  The boys were racing each other, waiting when someone fell behind, and generally just enjoying being brothers.  And we loved watching them just being brothers.

Off to Chicago

I had to attend a board review class in Chicago last week. Rather
than leave the all the boys with David, we though Mr. 5 and Mr. 9
could spend some special time with Nana and Papa. I had to present at
journal club that morning so I raced home from work to finish up the
packing and organize the boys. David took us to the airport while our
nanny stayed with Mr. 11 and Mr. 2 and we made it just in time despite
long lines in security due to the marathon and spring break. It
looked like all had gone smoothly until the announcement that there
was a mechanical problem with the plane. It took 3 hours but they got
us a new plane and we actually made it to Chicago. Unfortunately this
made for a very late night and I had to be at the first day of my
review early the next morning.

The review was good but exhausting - 10 hours of sitting in a big room
listening to lectures repeated for 4 days - but the boys had a
wonderful time hanging out with Nana and Papa. They went hiking,
played at the Bass Pro Shop, planted a garden, made a fairy garden,
played Starcraft, took walks, worked in the workshop (Mr. 9 wanted to
make a car for Mr. 2), went out for meals, played games, and generally
did all the fun things you can think of! The last day of the review
was only a half day so I had the chance to head back to Nana and
Papa's house and spend the afternoon hiking and going to the
playground before it was time to pack up to head home.

We flew back Monday morning which meant getting up at 4am to catch our
flight. David picked us up at the airport, dropped me off at work,
and we started our crazy week, tired and feeling very behind.

Mr. 5's birthday party

We celebrated Mr. 5's birthday with a backyard superhero party. It
had been a hard week leading up to the day and had kept everyone up
too late the night before so we were in no way prepared when Saturday
dawned. Despite this, with Mr. 11's help, we managed to get
groceries, make superhero CDs, finsh the birthday cake, organize some
superhero games, and even put up a few decorations (Mr. 9 hung Batman
streamers on the fence but pulled tight it looked a bit like caution
tape which was probably appropriate). Everyone had a great time and
Mr. 5 declared it a 10 out of 10.

The games were planned out by the big brothers and Batman and the
Riddler made surprise appearances. Our superheros practiced running
faster than a speeding bullet, being more powerful than a locomotive,
and leaping tall buildings in a single bound. We grilled and ate our
first watermelon of the season. And finished off the time with Batman
cake and ice cream.

One of the scarier moments was suddenly realizing Mr. 2 was gone while
everyone was eating cake. We had moved indoors as rain clouds seemed
to be gathering and he had come in with us. It turns out he can get
out through the back door when it is not locked and had quickly
decided he would rather be riding his bike. He was found trying to
get into our car (which was parked on the street so the driveway would
be clear for the party) by some kind women out for a bike ride. By
the time we had realized he was gone and started looking, they had
already asked around at the park and were wondering what to do with
him. He seemed unfazed by the whole thing despite our racing hearts
so we are not convinced that he won't make another break for it. At
least he didn't take off to the park without a grown-up - progress
perhaps?