Catching Snowflakes

We had a few flurries on Friday when I picked Benji up. He tried so hard to catch one! It helped when I told him he had to angle his face upwards:

Relay Rally

To start off the new year and energize the teams, we had a Relay for Life Rally, where everyone was encouraged to wear purple. The children took this task very seriously:

Piano Playing

Abby and her friend Sarah played in their first public piano recital last weekend, hosted at the Colonnades. They played two duets:

Nervous girls, ready to perform

They did great!

Dressed for Success

For this Thursdays "adventure day," Benji wanted to go back to the Discovery Museum. He needed to dress for the occasion:

Gammy's Birthday

A little late downloading this pic. Gammy's birthday was last Sunday and we had a lovely day, including a movie (Imitation game), massages and a wine tasting. After dinner at Bizou, we came back to the house for ice cream cake:

New PJs

Kevin really wanted to get these for him. They say: Caution: Not a Morning Person. A little gallows humor for him as we drag him out of bed bodily each day.

Abby's 4th Grade Awards

Happened to notice the engraving was done when I had lunch with Benji one day at Greenbrier:

Playing with Our Christmas Gifts

Benji received a lot of awesome stuff this Christmas, and has been busy playing with it all:

Coast Guard lego set, which he put together first chance he got

Library check out cards and due date stamp. He lost no time in making pockets for his books and adding the cards.

Abby working her "shift" at the library

Playing Minecraft on his Kindle, which is his new favorite thing ever.

Building robots from his make-your-own robot kit

I did not get a picture of  him with his new microscope, but he and Kevin have spent some good time with that as well.

Custom Condos

What kids do when there are extra boxes in the house:

Magic in a Suitcase

For Christmas, Uncle Josh and Aunt Kathy gave Benji "Magic in a Suitcase" a giant magic kit which included over 100 tricks and an instructional DVD. He is in love with it. He spent most of the weekend watching each trick and trying to replicate it for us:

After the first few, he decided he needed to dress fancier:

By the end of the day, he had also added a white shirt and the hat:

New Year's Eve 2014

As has become our custom, we spent New Year's Eve in Herndon with the Lamy-Peterson clan. And, we kept up our crazy party afternoon tradition for the kids:

Activity balloons, waiting to be popped

Musical Chairs

Benji and Sophia, playing between games

Spoons

What's next?

Baking cookies

Tape ball

Win, lose or draw

The girls made this awesome pin the ball on Times Square game

New Year's countdown (at 7:30pm)

New Year's countdown (at midnight)

Uncle Tom's 33rd Birthday

We were able to celebrate with him the night before we left:

Visiting Aunt Barbara

As we do every year, we took one day of our trip to trek up to Purdys and visit Great Aunt Barbara. This year, we were lucky that all three of my cousins and their partners were able to join us:

We got to meet 9-week old baby Charlotte for the first time

Kevin and Hattie play the "birthday candle" game

More presents!

Abby always loves Aunt Barbara's gifts

Haverstraw Park Playdate

The Saturday after Christmas, we met back up with the Payne cousins for some park time and lunch:

After all that fresh air, the boys needed their....minecraft: