Treasure Hunt

Abby's class went on a special treasure hunt. They began by drawing maps to a surprise destination. Amazingly, not knowing where they were going did not hamper their ability to draw a map of how to get there. Next, following "the pink line" on the map, they took a walk through Lee Park (which Abby calls Leaf Park):




The kids spent some time exploring the cannons (good for sitting on), before taking off for their final destination....





Gelato! Oh, the excitement.





Here is Abby holding her map. I think she is trying to figure out how to get home.





Before leaving, the kids had one more surprise....a tour! Shockingly, what is behind the scenes at a gelato store is .... freezers. Who could have guessed?

Ballet Hispanico

For the last theater trip of this school year, Abby went all out. Her class went to see Ballet Hispanico, and Abby wanted to look "the prettiest yet." Here she is showing off her ensemble:

Little Man

He is going to hate us for these clothes. But, isn't he cute in his little button down shirts?

Inherited

Here is Abby wearing some of her Great-Grandma Charlotte's necklaces, kindly sent to her by Aunt Barbara

Mother's Day

Finally getting around to publishing this - only two weeks late. We had a nice mother's day with Gammy, which included brunch at L'Etoile and and afternoon of gardening at Gammy's house. Here are the kids cuddling up to "mommy's mommy"

Blog Poll: Ugly Sweater?

Kevin and Ruth are having a little disagreement. Ruth thinks that this sweater is just adorable for a little boy (we've had a bit of a cold snap here). Kevin, on the other hand, has taken to referring to it as "the Cosby Sweater" and thinks it is not good wearing for our little man. So, we have agreed to put it to a vote of the blog-o-sphere. Ugly, or no?

Playing with Science

Daddy made an appearance in Abby's class last week to teach a little science. The kids were fascinated by a baking soda/vinegar volcano, and also enjoyed guessing which ice cube (plain, with salt, in warm water) would melt first:



The science went so well, the kids were clamoring for more, and the Levana teachers had to improvise the next day. Here they are playing with water, oil, and food coloring.



What did they learn? If you mix a lot of everything together, it turns brown. I think this is the conclusion that most preschool experiments come around to eventually:

Playing in the Band

We are really into instruments these days. Especially ones that make a lot of NOISE. We are beginning to call him destructo-boy.

Congratulations, Alex!

Graduation day finally came on Sunday. The girls were besides themselves with excitement over getting to wear fancy dresses and watch Alex graduate. Of course, the allure of getting dressed up and going to the graduation ceremony quickly wore off when faced with the reality of sitting quietly in folding chairs for more than two hours:

The rain did not help. And the sea of umbrellas made the actual ceremony hard to watch:





But, at last it was done. After graciously posing for a few pictures, we all enjoyed some pie and ice cream.




And now, Alex, good luck on your Bar studies....

Recycled Art

Abby's class received a "fiddle box" a few weeks ago. This is basically a box of stuff, considered junk by manufacturers, but given a new life as recycled art materials. It mostly consists of plastic or foam do-dads. Abby has been having a grand time throwing herself into some new and interesting art projects. I especially like the house she crafted in the last picture:

My First Shoes

As Benji is teetering ever closer to walking, we finally took him to be fitted for his first real shoes. He seems to be adapting pretty well to wearing them, although they do increase the "drunken sailer" aspect of his gait.

Deer Attack

We have a lot of deer in our yard. A lot. They are nice to look at, and we have spent many a morning watching them scamper through our trees. Here's the thing about deer. They like to eat plants. We have apparently discovered some of their favorites.

Lilies before:



Lilies After:

Coneflower before:

Coneflower after:

I guess we need to re-think our gardening strategy. Or invest in some coyote urine, which is apparently the only surefire deer repellent.

Climber

Right now, he is climbing up EVERYTHING. It would be highly frustrating, except he is so darn proud of himself when he gets to the top.

Summer Haircut

Abby has been asking to have her hair cut for weeks (a result of both Julia and Celia getting haircuts). We finally made our way to master cuts, and the stylist cut her hair like a big girl - breaking it into sections and pinning up the parts she was not cutting. Abby was thrilled, although the cut was not as short as she had hoped it would be. Maybe next time.

Drinking Problems

Since Benji has mastered the art of drinking water from a cup, he has been looking for new challenges. He is very interested in water bottles, although he has yet to figure out which way is up:


He took very well to coffee cups - he needed no instruction, although seemed disappointed to find that they contained...water.


Just this week he has jumped to master level drinking, trying to get the all-powerful coke. I am sure he finds coke cans intriguing, since mommy and daddy seem to derive so much pleasure from them. He has the basic mechanism down, but keeps trying to bring it to his mouth on the wrong side. Probably for the best, since he won't actually be allowed to drink coke for another 10 years or so...

Abby's New Favorite Book

Fancy Nancy: Poison Ivy Expert. This book has received approximately 200 readings in the last month. Now, we are all poison ivy experts. Thanks, Uncle Chris.

Fairies

Abby decided that it was high time that daddy experience life as a fairy king. Lucky for him, she is a fairy princess herself, and has the power to make such a transformation happen. Kevin was a good sport, and here was the outcome of all her hard work:



Only Benji didn't think much of the fairy king, or fairies in general. Here he is showing his disdain for all things magical:

Making Friends

Benji has finally started to notice other kids and wants to play with them. At Hannah's birthday party on Saturday, he was very curious about what Alex was doing. Here they are examining the window together (or plotting an escape - who knows?)

Hanging with the Paquettes

Last weekend, Kevin's parents came to visit us in Charlottesville, along with his brother Tom and Tom's girlfriend Christine. Abby loved all the extra attention and time to just relax with everyone.


It was a particularly hot weekend, so we did less running around and more chilling in the house.

Abby was particularly attached to Christine, and has been asking about her all week, wondering when she will come back. Apparently Christine is much more glamorous than mommy. :)

Mirror, mirror

On Saturday, we spent part of the morning at the children's museum on the downtown mall. Abby played in the dress-up corner, with the ball machine, and in the giant frontier cabin, where she likes to climb into the loft. Benji spent most of his time playing with the baby he found in the mirror. It is not clear whether he realized this baby was him or not. Unlike our last visit, he did not keep trying to crawl into the mirror to meet the other baby, which had resulted in a lot of bonking. Here he is taking in that handsome fellow:

Worms

April showers...and the worms are out. Abby's class has been somewhat fascinated by the wrigglers, so they gathered a few up for scientific observation. Abby seemed perfectly content to take a few looks, butt hen moved on to other things....