Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

This is a holiday that apparently all elementary schools celebrate.

The Story

Our local PBS station hosted a children's story writing contest for k-3rd graders, and Abby decided that she would like to enter. Since the story could be either fiction or non-fiction, she wanted to relate her favorite bedtime story about Uncle Josh. We sent her self-written and illustrated story in a few weeks ago, and this weekend she received a letter from the station telling her that, although she was not among the top three judges' choices, she was in the top 5 (out of 120 entrants), so she was being awarded an honorable mention certificate and a book. She seemed pretty happy with this outcome, especially since they returned the story to her. Next time you are int own, ask her if you can see it! :)

Mastermind

We acquired a used copy of Mastermind Junior for Abby this weekend. It was marked for ages 6 and up, and had three levels - younger kids, older kids, and expert. We decided to break it out right away and see if she was old enough - good thing we didn't wait any longer! She figured it out right away, had mastered all three levels within 30 minutes. After an hour and a half of non-stop play, she was bored because it was too easy. She's asked for the adult version of the game, so we'll try to hunt it down for her. Looks like she might be a gamer in the making. :)

Spring Visitors

We had an abundance of visitors this weekend and a great weekend for company. Alex, Steph, Julia and Sophia arrived from DC on Friday night, and on Saturday morning we headed downtown for the Virginia Festival of the Book. Since this year marks the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, that was the theme of the children's storyfest portion of the program. The Mayor turned out with an official proclamation declaring Main Street to be re-named Sesame Street for the day, and we followed a parade of characters down the mall to the Paramount theater. Abby's favorite - Super Why, of course!





After the parade, we saw a show with Maria (the real Maria! - she still looks great after all the years) at the Paramount, which Abby loved. Later in the afternoon, the LeWinters joined us from Greensboro and we spent some time on the playground. Benji desperately wanted to play with 2 and a half year old Aviva, and followed her around avidly. From these pictures, you could almost pretend that she was playing with him, but in fact she was mostly trying to get away from him:





Aviva perked up quite a bit under Abby's attentions (big girls are so exciting) and even was willing to ride down the scary slide in Abby's lap:

Spring Has Sprung

The daffodils and tulips are up, and the dogwoods are starting to bloom in the sunnier areas of town. The kids are loving the warm no-coats needed weather - let's hope it lasts!

Purim Party

The kids got dressed up for the annual purim carnival at Temple. Benji went as tigger and Abby as a princess (what else?)


Afterwards, we made Hamentaschen with Gammy - fig, cherry. and apricot. Yum!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

a little late getting this up, but a great St. Patrick's Day was had by all.

The kids modeling the shamrock headbands Gammy got them:




In their St. Patrick's Day finest:




Abby, on discovering that the Leprechauns turned our milk green (they also left footprints on her mirror):

Puppet Theater

Abby and mommy had a special date this weekend for some girl time. Abby decided that she wanted to go to a puppet show at the Old Michie Theater, followed by ice cream. The puppet show was very good - The Princess and the Pea - and after the show, they bring out teaching puppets for the kids to play with. Abby really enjoyed trying to work the strings. Here she is trying to figure out a dog puppet:

Playing Together

It still surprises us every time we come upon the children playing together. They get along so well, but we tend to think of Benji as still being a baby. Abby, on the other hand, treats him as a full participant in her games (as do Abby's friends).

Getting Dressed Up for Gammy

Potty Time

Benji has taken a real interest and demands to sit on the potty whenever Abby uses the bathroom. Of course, he has not actually figured out what the potty is used for.

The Princess Takes a Bath

Num Num

Thanks to Grandpa Steve, Benji received a zhu zhu pet for Hanukkah. Despite our initial skepticism, this has fast become a favorite toy. Every time Benji catches sight of the little hamster, he starts pointing at it and demanding "button, button" until either we turn it on for him, or he gets tired of waiting and turns it on for himself (which he is perfectly capable of doing).



It is not entirely clear whether or not he understands that num num is not alive. He often redirects num num with the command "num num go", and when num num comes charging towards his feet, Benji tends to hide behind one of us or jump out of its way with a squeal:

100 Days of School

Despite about a billion snow days, they finally reached the mark and had their 100th Day Party in Abby's Kindergarten.

Route 11 Chips

Last weekend, we were able to introduce the kids to our love of factory tours. We stumbled along the Route 11 Potato Chip Factory in Mt. Jackson, VA (awesome chips, by the way!). It is a tiny little factory, but just perfect for us.

Paintings of a few of their chip packages:



Here is Abby posing with the mascot:



There was plenty of room to run around (and we were the only ones there):



AND, you get to taste ALL the chip varieties. Everybody thought this was great:

All Dressed Up

Still sorting through our pictures from NY, but here are our two favorite of the kids all dressed up in their finery: