St. Ed's Concert

The kids had their xmas concert last week, and it was a joy to see all but one of our kids in it. The remaining child (Frankie) was thoroughly entertained throughout the show. I think this was the first year one of us didn't have to chase him around.

Charlie,  by far our loudest child who spends a good 3 hours a day belting out songs at the top of his voice, apparently quiets down in front of a crowd. It also didn't seem to help that the concert was so close to bedtime. He was must have yawned 20 times during his 2 songs.

It was Sam's first time singing in the choir during the nativity story reenactment. He was flanked by his two cousins, Ian and RJ, and the three of them sounded great together!

After a bit of convincing, Elena agreed to sing a solo. She did a beautiful job. She then got to enjoy having Olivia up on stage with her when Olivia played the baby Jesus. She played the part well, and didn't fuss until near the end when Elena was right there to calm her down. Ever the big sister, Elena was also at the ready to make sure her brother was standing in the right place - specifically not right in front of her.

Here are some highlights on video along with a few more pictures.

Charlie the Knight

Last time Elena was sick, she came up with a pretty creative way of getting the boys to be her servants at her beck and call. She decided that her "sick chair" was a throne, and she was the queen. Then she knighted Charlie and Frank and told them that when she had a job for them, she would sound the alarm (a soup pan lid) and they would come running to see what she needed. Charlie in particular took this duty very seriously. His sound effects were my favorite....and the time he said, "Sir, yes sir!....I mean Ma'am!"

Frankie wasn't o easily convinced to help.

Here are a couple of clips:

A glimpse inside the mind of a 4-year-old

Today Seth and I were saying that we should get to the children's museum again soon. I said something to the effect that time was running out and we should go before our membership expires.

Frankie overheard us and, I tell you, what went through his head was pretty different from the reality. I suppose "membership expiration" is a rather abstract thought for a 4-year-old to grasp.

So a few minutes later (after I had completely put this conversation out of my mind), this was our conversation.

Frankie: "Is our house going to start on fire?"

Me: "No, why? Is something on fire?"

Frankie: "No. Will it be on fire when we go to the science museum."

Me: "Why would our house start on fire when we go to the museum?"

Frankie: "Because the timer will go off and then it will explode."

Six Months and Sick

Olivia turned 6 months on Sam's 11th birthday. Unfortunately for her, she was pretty sick and spent the day sleeping in our arms with very goopy eyes that we kept having to wipe. Her super long lashes were not great for this as they captured a lot of goop and kept sticking shut.

The upside was her timing. She started getting sick on Thanksgiving and also at the start of a winter storm. This meant we had 3 full days after Thanksgiving for her to rest and get better. We had to skip a wedding on Saturday (we wouldn't have made it with the storm anyway), but Sam was happy to have us all home to celebrate his birthday with his friends here.And I don't think Seth minded the watching all the football games that were on when while he took his shifts holding the sleeping baby.

No large family birthday picture is complete without an unsuspecting sibling lurking in the background. 

She's still recuperating, but I'm hopeful we're on the tail end of this. In other news, she successfully made her first big mess when we sat her down too close to a bag of pretzels: