A Week

 Mollie has been hosting daily tea parties.

 For the past two weeks, it has began thundering about 4 p.m.  Some days it just thunders.  Other days it storms.  This day I had promised pool time after nap, but since it was still drizzling we just played outside in the rain and puddles.  Annie and I were under an umbrella.

 On Wednesday, Mollie chose matching dresses for her and Annie.  Ben is trying to insert himself into the picture even though he didn't match.  Annie has her tongue stuck out.

 Ben took this picture of Annie and me rocking in my bedroom.

 Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning Ben when to soccer camp at the Y.  He's in the red muscle shirt on the left.

 We went to Nana and Grandaddy's house after soccer on Thursday.  Ben and MV made a clothing store (using clothes from Nana and Grandaddy's closet with Nana's permission).  They had all been shopping at the store.

 The store was called BV Fits. There slogan was "Where the beautiful and handsome clothes live."  B for Ben.  V for Varner.  Ben thought BMV sounded too much like BMW.

 MV in rapper pose.  Who knew Nana had rapper clothes?

Have I mentioned that Ben is in my Sunday School class this year?  I took this group picture this morning to make a memory verse poster.  Ben keeps asking when we are going to do something really fun.  I think he had high hopes for my class based on the piles of things he's watched me carry in on Sunday mornings over the last couple of years.  I guess I'm not meeting his expectations.

Annie

 Annie's teeth may be hurting.  She's sucking both thumbs.

John brought the high chair down from the attic on Saturday.  Annie's enjoying sitting in it at meals.  I'm enjoying her not sitting in my lap.  She's been grabbing my placemat and has pulled my food off the table a couple of times.  At lunch on Friday, she gagged when I tried to feed her refried beans. She threw up in my lap while simultaneously pulling my taco off the table onto the floor.  

Mostly Ballet

While I was preparing lunch on Sunday, I noticed that Mollie was being very, very quiet.  When she came to the table, it was obvious what she had been up to.  She had put on her makeup and fixed her hair. She spreads pink eye shadow from her eye brows to her cheek bones.

I

 Ben built his first major Lego project -- a sports car with 286 pieces.  He worked on it for several days.

 Same car but with the doors open.

 Mollie had her 4-year-old well child appointment last week.  I forgot to record her weight and height on the blog.  That appointment made a liar out of me as I assured her she wouldn't get shots.  Ben got his school shots when he was five but they've started giving them at four now.  Mollie was not excited and screamed like she was being tortured.

Tonight was Mollie's first ballet lesson.  She was incredibly excited.  Parents were given the option of staying  and watching the first class, but I chose not too.  I thought Mollie would do better without me there and it would be boring for Ben and difficult to keep Annie quiet.  When we got home, I had Mollie show me what they learned and recorded it.  The video is below.

Mollie had two church friends in her class, Kate and Anya.  Anya's mom did stay and watch.  She posted these pics on Facebook.

Beach Camping

We camped Wednesday through Saturday at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Santa Rosa, Fl.  This is our third year to camp there but we had a couple of firsts.  It was Annie's first camping trip and Mollie's first time to take her bicycle.

 Campsite 18 is our favorite.  I have a picture of Mollie in this tree last year.

 Annie's first night in the tent.  She slept great every night.  I wasn't sure how we were going to arrange the tent to fit in the pack n play and have room for our stuff. I hung a towel on the side so that she couldn't see Ben and Mollie.

 Annie really just went with the flow napping on the beach . . .

 and in the shade at the campsite.

There was a 100% chance of rain on Friday so we put away all our stuff and  John built this tarp teepee so that we wouldn't be stuck in the tent all day.  It thundered, the wind blew, but it never rained so we went to the beach.

 Ben wrote my "name" in the sand.

 This was Mollie's first year to ride her bike rather than ride on my bike with me.  She is very, very slow.  If she got over a crawl she would say, "I'm going too fast.  I need to brake."  Mollie and whoever was riding with her (John, Fran, and I took turns) were usually about five minutes behind.

 This year Annie was was riding with me.

Roasting marshmallows for S'Mores.  Ben liked to set his marshmallow on fire.

VBS, Mollie's Bday, etc

This has been a very busy week with VBS and Mollie's birthday.

 The week began with Promotion Sunday.  Our children's Sunday School classes promote the first Sunday in June.  Ben is now in my first grade class and Mollie is in the 4-year-old class.  Annie stayed in the baby room.

 Ben making a suncatcher during crafts at VBS.

 Mollie is in the middle being a train during music at VBS.

 On Friday we took cupcakes to Mollie's class to celebrate her birthday.

 Preparing to sing at the closing program Friday.  Mollie is on the bottom in the middle.

 Ben is on the third row a little to the right.

 Friday night we celebrated Mollie's birthday.  She got to open one present before supper.  She finally got Frozen, which we had never watched.  She and Ben watched it Friday night.  Ben said it was good except for all the singing.

 Mollie got a dollhouse from John and me.

 She got dance things (ballet slippers, leotard, tights, and tap shoes) from MawMaw and PawPaw and Nana and Grandaddy.  Mollie is going to take dance lessons this summer beginning in mid-June.

 A cross necklace from Nana and Grandaddy.

 Mollie LOVES the dollhouse.  It's made of cloth covered cardboard and velcros together.  It is easy to fold up and store flat under a bed or in the closet.

 Several of Mollie's babies plus Cat slept in the dollhouse Friday night.  We moved it to her bedroom Saturday morning.

 We bought Ben and Mollie a larger pool a couple of weeks ago as a surprise while they were at Nana and Grandaddy's house, but then it rained and rained and rained and we couldn't put it up.  John and I put it up Saturday afternoon.

 Annie did not like being in the cold water.

 It's 10 feet diameter and nearly three feet deep.

 Mollie thought she looked very fancy.  We've been reading Fancy Nancy lately.

 Brushing Annie's two little teeth for the first time this morning.

Both Ben and Mollie took turns brushing her teeth, too.