Hogwarts Festival

making a snitch

Held by a UVA club at the local library

Gunner

Benji with Gunner, the law school mascot, who is currently studying for finals.

Earth Fair

In celebration of Earth Day, we took in the Earth Fair, where Abby's class had submitted pictures for an Earth Art competition.  Abby had trouble locating her exact picture in the crowd, but we took a snap in front of her class's section:

 

Abby made a "tree of life"

The kids also enjoyed trying to make a wind turbine:

 Happy Earth Week!

Changing Places

Last night, Abby and Benji came to dinner dressed as each other. For Abby, this just meant a t-shirt and Benji's sunglasses, but she did quite a makeover on Benji (who welcomed it enthusiastically):

After we "figured out" the ruse, they changed costumes to try again.  Here is Abby helping Benji into his new disguise:

Big Boy Booster!

After several months of asking/begging, we finally decided to let Benji move out of a car seat and into a booster seat. Of course, the hope was that in exchange, he would get himself into the seat, but he was not quite able. Sweet big sister Abby decided to lend a hand:

Happy boy!:

My Own Cart

At Trader Joe's.

Feels Like Summer

Fair Time!

We decided to take the kids (plus Nina, who was over for a playdate) to the Dogwood Festival last Friday.  We gave each child $12 to spend as they pleased, which worked out really well (both girls even had $5 left over!).

The girls taking in the seen before they start spending money

Benji immediately wanted to buy cotton candy (which he generously shared with all)

 

On the Ferris Wheel

All smiles

Benji waves to mommy

Abby and Nina plot which games they want to play

Winner!

Benji was more interested in the rides

Playing fill 'er up (for the second time)

Everyone went home with something

Benji's Birthday, part 4: Sweethaus Party

Ok, I think this is actually the last post on this.  We had Benji's birthday party on Sunday at Sweethaus Cupcakes, a venue he insisted on.  We were lucky to be among the first to use their new party room (which was not yet built when we booked the party).  Everything looked great:

Even the tables for the kids were adorable:

Coloring bags for their goodies

The highlight of the party was decorating not one, but two cupcakes.  For the first, they got to use edible lego blocks:

Annie explaining how to use the frosting bags

They really snap together!

Green frosting for Benji, of course

Some of the creations were a little insane

Abby's cupcake

Benji was too busy building with his lego blocks to actually decorate a cupcake, but this just made it easier for us to stick a candle in and for him to eat:

I love that Benji spent most of the party next to Abby:

 We ended the party in the candy shop, where each child got to fill a carton with whatever he or she wanted.  They were like....well, kids in a candy shop:

Hope it is a sweet 5th year!

Benji's birthday, part 3: the legos

All Benji wanted for his birthday this year was lego city sets, and he was not disappointed:

He was so happy with his haul, he just wanted to stay home and build them all.  We have managed to get him to school, but he has spent every spare minute at home working on them.  Here Abby "helps" him construct his police station (he can do it himself, but she really wants to be a part of it):

Benji's birthday, part 2

Benji was VERY excited about his birthday this year and wanted to wring everything out of it that he could. He reminded us several times about decorating his room, so we tried to live up to expectations:

Lego themed streamers and balloons

Abby made him a birthday poster

He noted all this when he woke up, but mostly had eyes for the pile of presents on his chair:

And his new poster:

Benji asked Pop-pop for a figment poster this year, after our visit to Epcot

His celebration continued at school, where his friends made him a birthday chair:

It is apparently a lego chair, but I don't see it

Mommy also had a few surprises in his lunch box:

After cake, his teachers lifted him up in a chair five times (Jewish custom) and sang to him in Hebrew:

He enjoyed this part a *lot*

We ended the day with pizza and cupcakes at home with Gammy.  Benji was pretty worn out by then, but still soaked in all the attention: