A Week

Whew! It felt like we didn't stop to catch our breath until Thursday this week.  On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings we helped with Hope for Hattiesburg, Friday was my birthday, and today has been all about football.  Ben had a game in the morning and we spent the afternoon watching Mississippi State defeat Auburn.

 On Tuesday we went prepared to paint, but that project had been moved to afternoon.  We had also brought gloves to do yardwork.  We cleaned up tar paper and weeds at a house that was being roofed.

 PawPaw gave Ben and Mollie some spending money when we visited a couple of weeks ago.  Mollie bought this bird feeder that she decorated beautifully for the girl birds.

 On Wednesday, we got to work on the painting project.

 Annie has finally figured out how to crawl and she is everywhere.

 Ben built wooden block houses for his dinosaurs.  I don't think we've seen these dinosaurs for a couple of years.

 I have been wearing Annie on my back a lot so Mollie wanted her favorite girl to ride on her back,

Ben and Mollie made me birthday gifts.  Ben made a stuffed dog out of Kleenex, drinking straws, and tape.

 Mollie drew me a picture.

 A closeup of the dog Ben made (on top of new pajamas from the Elders.)

 Going for a flag.

 Ben usually plays center and defense, but there is only one flag football game left and since they were ahead his coach made sure that everyone got to carry the ball today.

 The other team trying to pull his flag.

 Good game.  Ben's team won 24-6.  They have won four games and tied two.

Annie found a marker and drew herself a goatee.

Art Presentation

Each week at CC, the students have to give a presentation.  This week they had to choose a work of art, show the picture, and tell about it.  We went to the library last week and got Ben and Mollie each an art book.  They chose which picture they wanted to show the class.  Mollie chose the picture below because she thought they girl was cute (the highest compliment from Mollie). 

 

Mollie decided that she wanted to dress like the girl in the picture for her presentation.  She wore her blue Cinderella dress and a scarf tied in a bow around her neck.  Mollie did a great job on her presentation.  She told her class that she also "has a cat named Hal and if they came to visit it would bite them so we put him in Mama and Daddy's room until visitors leave."  

I have not taken any pictures of Ben at CC because I've been going to class with Mollie.  She loves having me with her and Ben enjoys the independence of going without me.

Camping

We camped Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and spent Saturday night at Jim and Fran's house.  Jim and his family camped Thursday and Friday.

 First trip down to the beach with John while Annie and I grocery shopped.

 The shark that they saw.  John said it was swimming about 15 yards out (and he still went into the water the next day!).

 Mollie wanted her hair pinned up on top of her head Wednesday.  It looked like a lion's mane when we took it down at bedtime. (We're in the bathhouse.)

 A bottle on the beach.

 Annie did not like the water.

 She fell asleep while she was walking in the water with John.

 A beach nap.

 Ben wrote his whole name in the sand.

 I picked up this canopy at Wal-Mart because it was supposed to rain Friday and John hates having to sit in the tent while it rains.  Last trip he built a canopy out of a tarp.

 The canopy was a great shady place for the kids to hang out at the campsite.  They are coloring and eating a snack.

 Mollie loved Mary Varner.

 Roasting marshmallows for S'Mores.

 Flying kites.

 And then Mollie's Barbie kite got tangled in Ben's Lightening McQueen kite and that was the end of the kites.

 Annie did not enjoy her dishpan baths.  She didn't like when I poured water over her head to wash her hair.

 Coloring rocks.

 Entertaining Annie as I packed up inside the tent.  You can see that it cooled off on Saturday morning.

Catching Up

These pics are from the last week in September.

I'm not sure what they were playing but their outfits were hilarious.  I wish the picture hadn't turned out blurry.

An up close pic of the lizard they caught (and released).

Learning about fingerprints for their science experiment at CC.

Football practice.

At the end of the week, we spent a few days with Mama and Daddy.  Annie cried when anyone held her EXCEPT Rylee.  She loved Rylee!

A back porch hair cut by Cara.  She cut my hair too.

Rylee fixing my hair.

Notice my pigtails.

The girls were all fixing each others hair.  Ben just jumped in to be in the picture.

This is how Annie felt about everyone except Rylee.

Saturday football game.  Ben's team won again.  John had to coach defense since the regular coaches were on vacation.