Eighth Grade Formal

Abby surprised us by agreeing to go to the 8th Grade Formal with her frinds Lucy and Eve. Eve's mom invited us to come over for snacks and pictures ahead of the dance:

Quick pic at home before we leave

Abby promised to do Lucy's hair for her

Playing on the swing in Eve's back yard

The photo booth company released the pictures from the booth, so we also got a little snap shot of the actual dance. Abby said that the boys kept photo bombing them:

Walker Instrument Selection Night

Last week, Benji attended this event where the kids entering band get matched with their instrument. The process involves a combination of their preferences and what the band directors think they will be good at. Each child tries as many instruments (but at least 3) that he or she wishes and is rated on a scale of 1-3. "1" indicates that the child has a natural facility for the instrument, "2" that he or she needs work but could do the instrument if they were willing to put in the time, and "3" is a no-go. Benji surprised us by scoring 1s on clarinet, saxophone and trombone (and 2s on percussion, tuba, and flute). He decided on clarinet for now, but will also try out the saxophone at Summer Band Camp:

Mexican Candy

Grandpa Steve bought this basket of Mexican candy for all of us to try. It was fun sorting through and tasting all the different kinds (lots of tamarind flavor!):

Strawberry Picking

Last week was rainy, which resulted both in cooler temperatures and many outdoor events being canceled. Abby spent Saturday at her friend Elisabeth's house after all soccer tournaments were canceled for the weekend. The rest of us took advantage of the time and went strawberry picking out at Critzer's Farm in Afton:

Soggy strawberry fields

The rain kept the crowds way down and there were TONS of red, ripe berries

Benji was far more interested in the water puddles than the berries

Good thing we wore boots

Our haul of berries

We ended with homemade strawberry ice cream. It was probably the best strawberry ice cream I have ever had

Always Prepared

It looked like we might lose our power to a thunderstorm last week, but Benji was ready:

Dress Shopping

Abby is planning to attend her 8th grade formal dance tomorrow with friends. We went dress shopping earlier this week in hopes of finding her something new (no luck yet):

Annie!

We missed opening night performance, but Gammy was there to cheer Benji on. Grandpa Steve and mommy were there for the Friday night performance, and Abby and daddy for the Sunday closing day performance. These pictures are all from the Friday performance:

Benji as an appleseller. He had a number of lines in this role and delivered them perfectly

Singing Tomorrow

In the Hooverville (trying to see the newspaper)

Benji as Wacky, the ventriloquist dummy. He stole all the laugh lines

With Fred McCracken during curtain call. Benji got to come out with the adults

Backstage with orphans Tabitha and Miriam

Backstage after the show with Grandpa Steve

Mother's Day 2018

We started the day (as we always do) with reunion weekend brunch at the law school. While the kids were still dressed up, I asked them to take a few pictures with me (and their gifts):

After we got changed, we had a little fun in the sun (including washing my car) since it was 95 degrees in Cville for Mother's Day:

playing with water balloons

The moment after he burst a water balloon over her head

At 3pm, we headed over to the Senior Center to watch Gammy in her play:

 Followed by dinner at Thai '99 and dessert at Kirt's ice cream. It turned into a beautiful evening, so I asked Kevin to take a few pics of the mothers out in the front: