Recital

Abby's rendition of the Swan Princess (as performed in Benji's room).

Fall Swimming

Abby decided she wanted to keep swimming this fall, so as of this week, we are back to the pool. Lucky for us, the city swim team has a fall conditioning session, which is perfect for her. As an added bonus, they are meeting at the brand new aquatic center, which is not yet open to the public. It is pretty cool looking:





Here is Abby practicing her stroke technique:

Bookfest

This weekend was one of our favorite annual events, the WPVT bookfest. This year was particularly good - it was a beautiful day at the pavillion and both kids had a great time. Some highlights...

Meeting Clifford:


Chatting with the Cat in the Hat:


Seeing themselves on TV:

Rocking Out

Abby, pretending to be a rock star:

Sukkot

We celebrated the fall harvest on Wednesday, which was also Abby's Sunday School class's holiday this year. The night had a rocky start with Benji refusing to leave school:


But eventually he found the pizza and everything was all right:



We moved on to decorating the sukkah:








Here is Abby's class singing a sukkot song and presenting their sukkot book:

The Muffin

Benji's school is closed today, so we ran a few errands together this morning. At the end, I took him to Panera. You would have thought this muffin was the best thing in the universe by his reaction to getting it.

Bee-side Himself

We went to an open house this weekend and ran into Bumble, the mascot for Albemarle Family Magazine. It was love at first sight. Benji repeatedly pushed his way through the crown and threw himself at Bumble, who good-naturedly hugged him back each and every time. At one point, he leaned over and nuzzled Benji, who spent the next 10 minutes yelling "Bee kissed me!" at the top of his lungs.

Sneak Preview

Abby, trying on her Halloween costume.

Apple Picking

Mid-September means it's apple time! Our annual trip to Carter's Mountain:

Heritage Harvest Festival

We attended this yearly event at Monticello this weekend and had a blast.

Abby, showing off her nature-frame:


Benji and his vegetable stamping:


Playing along with Jimbob:

Getting Dirty

The weather has been great, and the kids have loved getting outside in the evenings. Their favorite activity? Making food out of mud. This week we have had mud pie, mud milkshake and mud burritos...

Tree Hugging

Benji, in the CBI courtyard

Happy New Year!

May it be a sweet one. All dressed up for Temple:

Hugs

Patrick giving Abby some love.

Benji wants in on the action:

Keshet Short Day

Before starting big boy school, Benji had a "practice" day at CBI. He had no trouble running right in to the school, and waved goodbye with no tears:

After an hour, the parents came back for their kids, some of whom were still crying for them. Benji, however, refused to leave. Here he is proudly showing off the Shabbat table he set (just before telling me to leave so he could stay at school):