A while back, Rob bought the boys bags with little magic tricks in them. Phil remembered his and tested some of the tricks out on me and Chris last night. He needs to work a bit on his patter :)

Philip hands me a tiny black cup with a red lid and a die, asking me to pick a number on the die, place it into the cup with that number up, put on the lid, then return it to him, which I do. Chris is working on his homework beside me. Phil then hands me a second, larger black cup with a red lid and intones solemnly, "Examine this; it's a regular cup, isn't it?" Chris and I look at the larger cup, agree that it's "ordinary" and turn to Phil, who we find holding the smaller cup in the air, tilting it and squinting to see the numbers on the die as it is now resting against the cup's red lid. Arrested in mid-motion, Phil turns back to us with a "busted!" grin on his face and asks for the other cup back. By this time, Chris and I are laughing hysterically and the trick's over.

Later, Phil taps a set of nesting boxes. "How many boxes do you see?" Phil asks Chris, indicating the stacked set on the table. "Four," says Chris immediately, earning a dirty look of frustration from his brother. Phil turns to me. "How many boxes do you think you see?" he asks. "Four," I reply, to which my aggrieved magician son responds, "How many boxes less than four do you see?"

Still later, he pulls out one of those cups for the 'vanishing ball' trick. He opens up the container, pulls out the ball and sets it beside the cup on the table. "Now you see it, and now..." he uncovers the cup to reveal a ball nestled firmly inside it! Magic! Chris and I both stare at the ball on the table, causing Phil to remember he hadn't palmed it. "Dude," said Chris as we laughed again, "You gotta learn to hide that maybe not on the table next time."

Maybe Phil's not a magician, but he's sure cute. :)