Visiting the cousins

In October, Mr. 3 and I left the older boys and David at home and
headed out to meet Baby M and see the cousins. It was a great weekend
and now Mr. 3 always wants to know when he'll see the cousins.
Luckily we'll all be together again for Christmas!

Piano Guys

For St. Nicholas Day this year the boys received fleece-lined long
underwear shirts for hockey, wool socks, and tickets to the Piano
Guys. We love the Piano Guys - Steve may be why Mr. 5 is playing the
cello and they are by far Mr. 11's favorite music to play. So last
Tuesday, our piano guys and our cello concert had a fantastic time
seeing them in concert.

Surprisingly all the gifts were a huge hit. Mr. 9 reports that with
the shirt and socks he is not cold at all on the ice!

Shark on a roller coaster

Mr. 11 filmed a movie last movie last week.  There's some rather good editing including putting in a holographic image of the villain Loki.  However probably the best line in the entire film is:

"I have them in my hands now."  Maniacal laugh.  "I am sending my greatest minion - a shark on a roller coaster."

Cue Mr. 5 in shark costume green-screened riding a roller coaster while roaring.  Hysterical!

Shhh...

In the past week Mr. 3 has seemed to grow up more than he has in months.  On Saturday he sat through an entire Christmas concert without yelling, throwing something, or running away.  This is major progress.  He sang, he clapped, and was rather delighted to be there.

Yesterday we were headed in for the Lessons and Carols service at our church.  David and Mr. 9 were at hockey so the rest of us cleaned up dinner and set out for the train.  Mr. 3 refused to ride in the stroller but happily ran alongside Mr. 11 and Mr. 5 enjoyed the ride (he had a rough morning and was happy to take a turn in the stroller).  Suddenly he stopped and put his hands up and very seriously told us in his whisper voice  "Shhh...  Baby Jesus is sleeping."  He looked at us for a few more seconds and then took off running and laughing down the path.  We arrived at the station and found out that they were actually bussing from Alewife to Davis to Porter to Harvard.  This was going to take awhile.  We ran up to catch the shuttle bus.  Mr. 3 told me at each stop "Next stop Kendall" and then laughed when I told him the right station.  Mr. 11 read him books, rapping his way through Green Eggs and Ham and singing his way through Where the Wild Things Are.  I think half the people on the train were laughing.  So although we were late, we made it in time to see our friend S talk and had a rather enjoyable trip.

When we got home Mr. 3 was very excited to tell us all about the Christmas story.  He told us that the shepherds came and the angels were singing and that Mary was Jesus's mommy and God was Jesus's daddy.  Pretty good for someone who was only speaking in 2 word sentences in the spring.