Before Beach

These are pics that were on my camera from the week before we went on vacation.  All but the last two were taken one rainy afternoon.

 Mollie is painting and Ben is going science experiments.

 One of Ben's experiments involved Mollie and me tasting food while holding our nose and closing our eyes.  We were VERY trusting.

 Mollie can't just paint.  She has to be accessorized to paint.

 Since Mollie was wearing an apron and a beret, Annie needed an apron and a hat.

 Ben was going over catechism questions with Mollie.  When I walked through I found her sitting on his back while he asked her catechism questions.

Labor Day

 No drama involved when I tell them to dust the bookshelves.  (Notice the huge pile of pillows to protect them if they fall off their stools.)

 Swinging in a big swing.

 Ben repainted his green table.  He decorated it with a #18 and a picture of Charlie Brown.

 Swinging after playing in the backyard pool.

 We finished out the Y pool season by swimming Monday afternoon (the last day the pool is open for the year).

 Look who's in line for the slide.

 I asked Mollie Grace to brush Annie's hair after I put on her pajamas.  She came out fully accessorized.

 Today I was in Mollie's class.  They were working on their maps.

 Learning about abstract art.

 A review game at the end of class.  For presentation today each child recited a Bible verse.  Mollie said Psalm 100:3.  Ben chose Revelation 21:1-5.

This is actually from last week.  I downloaded it from Facebook after I had already posted.

John's Birthday

 Friday was John's 39th birthday.  We celebrated on Saturday with grilled steaks, cupcakes, and presents.  Ben and Mollie Grace were very excited about choosing and wrapping gifts for John.

 Needed work clothes from Nana and Grandaddy.

 Whoppers from Annie and a car wash sponge from Mollie Grace.

 Ben was so excited about his gift.  We had ordered a FedEx Freight car online.  However, when John opened it, it was the wrong car and Ben was SO disappointed.  It was my fault that I didn't check the box before giving it to Ben.  It's been mailed back to be exchanged for the correct car.

 I was back in Ben's class on Tuesday at CC.

 This week's presentations were about ancient cultures.  Ben chose ancient Rome.

 Mollie is telling her class about the Great Pyramid.

 Ben had his first soccer practice Tuesday.

 I put Mollie and Ben to work cleaning bathrooms.

 Ben is drawing a Peanuts movie.  We created a light table by putting Annie's lamp under the glass side table so he could trace his original drawing differing it only slightly.  He says it takes 30,000 drawings to create a 30 minute animated movie and that I need to buy more paper.

This is the title of his movie:  "It's Beethoven's Birthday, Charlie Brown."

School Mainly

This week at CC, I helped in the nursery.  I thought this might be a complete disaster with Annie hanging on my leg crying when I picked up other babies.  She got a little fussy and wanted to share my lap at the end of the morning, but overall she did really great.  This is half the group strapped into a buggy to go for a ride.

Another mom shared this pic from Mollie Grace's class.

 I got to step into Mollie Grace's room and hear her give her presentation on the Fertile Crescent.  She chose Mesopotamia.  She prepared it herself based on something she learned from The Story of the World.  She said, "Do you want to know something really interesting?  Abraham from the Bible was from Mesopotamia until God told him to go somewhere else.  And then he went there."  She was amazed when she learned that the people from the Bible were actually part of history.

 This is actually part of Mollie's math lesson one morning.  She is sorting stuffed animals based on different characteristics.

 Don't know what Annie's plans were.  She came out of Mollie's room like this and I grabbed my camera.

 More math.  Acting out math problems.  Some friends got on the bus.  Some more friends got on the bus.  How many friends are on the bus?

I think Mollie Grace took this pic.

 I KNOW she took the next two.

What it looks like when your hand slips when putting a dish of browned rice in the oven.  Huge mess!

 

Visited the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology at the University of Memphis with some of our CC group.

 Mollie took this picture while we waited on someone that got lost.

 Mollie's Egyptian pose.

You aren't allowed to take pictures inside the exhibit so this is from their website.  They have three actual mummies on display.  Very cool.  We were given a tour by a grad student who did a really good job of holding the interest of a group of small children.

 We packed a picnic lunch because I wasn't sure how long the Egyptian exhibit would take.  Since we were near the zoo, we decided to make an impromptu visit (we have a family membership that allows us to get in free) and have our lunch there.  Since we didn't plan on going to zoo, we didn't bring swimsuits so we just got our feet wet when we arrived.

 Marco Mollie Grace Polo

 I let Annie get out of the stroller and walk around more today.  Ben had very little patience with her slow exploration.

She tried so hard to figure out how Ben and Mollie walked on that little ridge but she never could do it.

 We've never seen the grizzly bears so active.

 After we had lunch and looked around a bit, I let them wade in the water.  Of course everyone got wetter than they were supposed to and Annie fell completely in.  I had a change of clothes for her, though.