February Lunch

On a beautiful day last weekend we had lunch on the Corner and it was warm enough to eat outside!

Blue and Gold Banquet

On Tuesday night, Benji had his first cub scout Blue and Gold banquet, which is the advancement ceremony for the pack:

Clapping during the achievement awards

Benji gets his belt loops

He wanted to put them on right away

Examining his new wolf patch

Getting his wolf paw painted on

He was a little lukewarm on this

I tried to get a good picture of them together, but this was the best we managed

Go Hoos Go!

It was a basketball-filled weekend, as on Sunday we took the girl scouts to the UVA women's game (it was Go Pink! Day):

Everyone happy after the hoos win!

Game Time

On Friday, we headed over to the high school to watch the Lady Knights (coached by friend Jim Daly) compete for the conference title in basketball. Benji was only marginally interested in the game, but he was very interested in Patrick Daly's "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" workbook, which Patrick graciously shared:

Scribblish

Benji has been loving playing this game from our trove.  The game starts with each person choosing a card with a caption on it and then writing the caption and a picture of it on their scroll.  The caption is then hidden, and the next person guess the caption from the picture.  The picture is then hidden and the next player draws a picture based on the second caption, and so forth.  A favorite from our last game:

This is my collection of porcupines (picture by Benji)

Taco vending machine (Abby's guess at a caption based on the top picture and Kevin's drawing based on the second caption)

Time machine (Benji's guess at Kevin's picture and my picture based on Benji's caption)

Spot the Benji

Valentine's Day 2016

We were lucky enough to get to share the day with our Paquette cousins.

First round of cards:

Early morning trip to Duck Donuts in our pajamas:

Watching the donuts get made

Second round of gifts from Aunt Annmarie:

Making heart pizzas for dinner:

New York Cousins

Chris, Annmarie and the boys came for a visit this weekend and everyone had fun, despite the cold temperatures and looming snow storm.

A little chilly baseball:

Followed by a fire with s'mores and looking in the telescope:

Asa from Israel

Benji's religious school classmate Asa has been in Israel since last summer (his parents are teaching there for the year).  He is back in town for a week and asked if he could play with Benji while he is in town.  We had lunch together at Bodos and then the boys played for a few hours.  See you again in June, Asa!

Girl Scout CSI event

We had a special event in the library with another troop:

the girls asked me to snap this picture

Fingerprinting

Junior troop interrogating the suspects

Mardi Gras

Because King Cake:

We also ate vegan Jambalaya and had Bourbon Street Jazz playing in the background, but the kids were mostly just interested in the cake.  Kevin found the baby in his breakfast portion the next morning.

Superbowl Sunday

We watched at the Daly's house:

The kids, all lined up with their tv tables in front of the smaller TV

Benji loved this

The kids were also fascinated by the football squares board, on which the parents had bought them all several squares of their own.

Pinewood Derby

After 2 postponements, Benji's Pinewood Derby for Cub Scouts finally took place this weekend.  A few pictures of the process:

Benji really liked sanding the wood

And weighing the car (repeatedly)

He also painted that little guy in the window (and came up with the concept for a "spirit bus"), but mostly "directed" the rest of the cutting and paint job

The day of the derby was exciting for all of the cub scouts:

The cars in the "parking lot" after check-in and before the race

Pack leader lines up the cars for Benji's first race

Watching eagerly

And he wins!

Also came in first in his second heat

Here's the race that cost him the trophy.  Benji's car did great, but the wolf den is huge and he finished just out of the trophies

Fooling around with buddy Sam Farmer