cast

 

Poor Gus, fractured his tibia jumping into the kitchen from the third step ("because I am three and should jump form the third step"). He looks sad in this picture but mostly he looks like this . . .

 

This little walking cast is not slowing him down. Jonathan even caught him attempting to jump down the stairs again. For those keeping count, this is Gus's fifth injury, and the seventh for the brothers. Good grief.

chanukah party

 
We all had a great time at the annual family chanukah party.

 
Theo made himself right at home on the lap of a cousin

 
and watched Gus assist the magician with his routine.

 
The boys could not wait for their turns to pull out a fist of coins form the fishbowl.

 
When it was time Theo climbed right on to the table.

 
They had playing fooz ball with Ella

 
and PopPop

 
The party went down hill for me when the magician started making balloon animals and weapons.

 
But the boys sure liked them.

 

 

morris trains for the holidays

 
Tonight we went to the train party at Morris Arboretum. I have been waiting for this event since we joined the Arboretum in September. It was fabulous! But it would not have been even half as great if we had not met up early with our Mt. Airy friends, Nate and Meredith.

 
We arrived before sunset and had fun rolling down hills. The log cabin was locked . . .

 
but the Summer House was as fun as ever.

 
It is so cool. My pictures do it no justice, but you can tell the boys like it.

 
Then Nate brought us to this tree bench, which we had not discovered before. I love the arboretum.

 
When it got dark we headed back to the train display for hot chocolate, cider and cookies, and to see the trains running through the village decked out for the holidays.

 
Again, hard to capture the beauty of the train display. But the highlights for the boys were visiting the tree house in the dark (!) and rolling down a huge hill in the dark(!)--which turned out had a lot of goose poo on it. But you know what they say about an arboretum party, it is not a party unless you get covered in goose poo.

turkey weekend in beantown

 
We had a great Thanksgiving and long weekend in Boston. Gus is finally old enough to play Elephants Never Forgot, which was the favorite game at my house growing up.

 
Theo played, too. He will get it soon enough.

 
On Friday we had a nice, but too short, visit with "cousins" Margaux and Jamie.

 
I waited too long to break out my camera, and then had to plead for a group shot.

The guitar in the photos above was Gus's favorite toy at Grammy's this Thanksgiving. Gus won it when we went to York Wild Kingdom last summer, but this was the first visit he really played with it -- and did he play with it. Gus and Theo put on quite a few "concerts" and Kevin recorded a few on his phone (send those videos, Uncle Kevin!). Kevin had stopped recording when Gus and Theo busted into their rendition of the Beastie Boys' "Brass Monkey." They were screaming and jumping around and Grandpa was pleading with them to stop. They did, and Theo very earnestly went right up to him and said, "You no like our song, Grandpa?" And Grandpa responded, "No." And Theo made his hurt and ashamed faced (I need to get a picture of it--it is adorable in a sad sort of way) and then burst into tears and ran up to me crying "Grandpa no like our song!" It was the funniest thing to happen at Grammy and Grandpa's since Kevin kicked Amy dog two Christmases ago. Grandpa then tried to say he liked the song, but it was too late. I hope this is not the end of Theo's stage career, Grandpa. Just kidding. Knowing Theo, I am sure he will bounce back.

turkey

 
I traced Gus's hand and he did the rest . . . well after seeing what I did with my hand tracing. He is not that into drawing, so to me, this turkey is a huge deal! Look at the colors. Beautiful!

overheard at 2042

It is my intention to be much better at recording the funny things the boys say. There have been some funny conversations, but I didn't record them and now I cannot remember them. My plan is to jot them down here in a draft and post them on Fridays. We will see how I do..

At supper on 11/17. I made spinach salad, mixed veggies and sloppy joes, which they usually love.
Gus: It's yucky, Theo. Don't even try it.
And Theo did not try it.

At Miss Alissa's mock wedding/shower on 11/18.
Miss Cindy: What happens when people get married?
Gus: They change their names.
Odd response considering I did not change my name. Later in the day
Gus: Mommy, what was your name before you were married? Kelly?

Eating lunch at MacDonalds while taking a break from errands on 11/19.
Gus stands up in the booth and starts yelling: I'm eating junk food.
Theo stands up and yells: I'm eating junk food.
Gus to the people at the next table: You're eating junk food.
Theo: You're eating junk food.
I hushed them as quickly as I could, but I think they ruined a few lunches.


Jonathan and Gus were in the living room on 11/22.
Jonathan: Do you want to play Candyland?
Theo came running in from the playroom faster than Jonathan has ever seen him run.
Theo: We are having candy!?

***Oh well, I did not post these back when I recorded them but maybe in the new year I will follow through with my intentions . . . only time will tell***

the wedding

 
Gus's teacher, Miss Alissa is getting married this weekend so the class moms put together a wedding/shower/party-thingy for her and the class. It was just like a real wedding. We had a little ceremony/blessing with Miss Cindy and danced the hora.

 
There was a "fancy" brown bag lunch.

 
Miss Alicia, Gus's other teacher, made a toast.

 
And there was even cake. This is Gus's classmate Remy. He reminds me so much of Theo. Do you see it?

 
How about now? Theo had a lot of fun at the wedding and kept hugging Miss Alissa. He is really ready for school.

shabbat

 

Gus's school observes Shabbat, a few hours early, every Friday and once every three months or so, Gus has a turn to be "Shabbat King," which means he, along with kings and queens from each class, gets to help Miss Cindy, the principal of the Hebrew school, with the essentials of their service, like holding the challah . . .


 
and lighting the candles. See Theo? He likes to get right up there, too.


 
Grandma and PopPop have joined us for the big all-school family Shabbats, which happen one a month, and for Gus's Shabbat King turn. It is pretty fun, though very noisy and chaotic.

popcorn picking

 

After Lara's party we took the boys popcorn picking. Yes, really, popcorn. According to the farmer we should be able to pop it in the microwave next Sunday. It is hanging in the kitchen drying and Gus is counting down the days to pop off. I cannot wait to taste it. Nothing like fresh picked corn. Hope it is the same for popcorn.

 

 

 

lara is four!

 

 

 

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