Ben had fun painting the bathtub this morning. He was a little shocked when I told him he could paint the sides of the tub. I said, "That's crazy, huh?" He replied, "It's amazing!"
I mixed up the paint using a "recipe" that I saw online:
We moved our cookie making to the kitchen floor yesterday so that Mollie could help, too. She contributed by chewing on the measuring spoons and banging on a bowl. I promise we had finished using the measuring spoons before she got them and that I put them in the dish washer afterwards. If you notice that her hair is looking shaggy, it's because she learned how to pull her bow out.
Mollie is a great little sister. She's so happy because she thinks she's drinking Ben's milk. Since she kept trying to get his cup, I poured her milk into a matching cup. She would take a drink and then turn and smile at me because she knew she was up to no good.
Our carrots have been in the ground 11 days. According to the seed package, the germination period is 8-12 days. I've been checking every day for them and today there were finally tiny little green plants. Of course, these could be weeds since I have no idea what baby carrot plants look like. 
This butterfly was in our garden this afternoon. We called it a zebra butterfly. I googled it and learned that it is called a Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly.
After we hunted eggs, we had fun playing in the backyard. Ben wanted John to pull him "WAAAYYY Back."
He thought it was so much fun to go high.
By the time we finished lunch, it was naptime and every one was fussy (John and I included) so we loaded up and headed home without hunting eggs. Ben, Mollie, and I all napped in the car and felt better when we got home. John hid the one dozen dyed eggs for Ben. I gave Mollie her Easter basket and a few plastic eggs to play with while he hunted.
Climbing into the swingset fort to get an egg.
Ben needs egg hunting practice. We had to practically point his head at the pink egg in the truck behind him.
Mollie had fun with her Easter basket.
After Ben found all the eggs, he and John hid them for me to hunt.
Grandaddy's birthday was Tuesday so we had cake after lunch Sunday. Ben helped blow out the candle, of course.
All dressed up in their Easter outfits.
Thankfully, we took pictures before church. We all returned from church ragged and grumpy. According to the nursery workers, Mollie cried the entire time she was in the nursery. Ben didn't want to be left in the nursery so we took him into church with us. He often goes to church with us on Sunday night. I had his story Bible, markers, and a notebook that we always carry to church. For some reason, it was a disaster. He was whiny. Wouldn't color. Wouldn't stay still. Wouldn't be quiet. Finally, John rose to carry him out of the sanctuary and Ben started yelling during the service at the Elders' VERY FORMAL church. John carried him out and I followed with our stuff. We ended up sitting on the steps outside the chapel trying to watch the service through the chapel doors on the big screen TV. Not a great Easter worship experience.
We were invited to an Easter Egg hunt Saturday afternoon hosted by a family from our church. You can't see Ben in this picture. He's near the back on the far right.
Listening to the much-repeated instructions that no egg required going into the flower beds or digging up a flower.
They did require climbing under bushes. There were eggs everywhere. The family hid 2,000 plastic eggs in their yard.
I helped Ben hunt eggs while John carried around Mollie. She enjoyed all the excitement, too.
Ben loved the Easter bunny.
Mollie did not. When the Easter bunny stepped out onto the driveway where all the kids were waiting, there was mass wailing. The Easter bunny is NOT loved by everyone.
Ben and I dyed a dozen eggs Saturday morning while Mollie napped. Ben is waiting for the tablets to dissolve. 
Ben added insect and puppy stickers.
After they were all dyed, he colored them with markers.
Like Ben, Mollie is a late crawler. She gets up on her knees . . . 
and then belly dives forward.
But all that work was worth it. Now she can play with one of Elmo's legs. I know she knows that this is Ben's toy. I had two more interesting toys of hers on the floor and this is what she went for every time.
Percy is Ben's first purchase with his own money. He used some birthday money and the money he earned doing chores (20 cents a day to feed Hal and pick up his toys) to buy Percy. We ordered Percy online and Ben has been checking the mail every day waiting for the mail man to bring Percy. Taking him to the store and letting him hand his money over to the cashier would have been a more effective way to teach Ben how money works, but a wooden Percy costs twice as much at Toys R Us ($11.99 plus tax) than on Ebay. Ben is very excited about his new train and so are Thomas and Emily (the two trains he already had which were giving to him by the Schillings).
As promised, we made sock puppets this morning while Mollie napped. They aren't beautiful. We'll call them "creative." 
I'm not sure what this one is. Some kind of cross between a bird and a cat. It has lots of feathers, ears, and whiskers. These are joint efforts since I had the glue gun.
A better view of our catbird.
A butterfly with Cheerio eyes.
Once we completed our puppets, Ben kept building with the art supplies.
Yesterday, we attended a "giant puppet show" at the high school, the Ugly Duckling Starring Pinky Flamingo. Ben was very excited about going. Here he is before his bath making his hair lay down "so that it will look good at the puppet show."
Waiting for the play to start. We were a few minutes early because I wasn't sure where we were supposed to park. The auditorium was packed with elementary students, Head Start kids, and day cares.
Mollie was actually more interested than she looks. She liked looking around at all the people. And once the music and dancing started she waved and talked. She did get tired of it about half way through and it took a lot of graham crackers to keep her happy for the rest of the show.
Since yesterday, our cucumbers have sprouted. We have four cucumber plants in one hill. We'll have to thin them eventually.
There is one cucumber plant in the other hill so far. Now we're waiting on the carrots (which take 8-12 days according to the seed package) and warm enough weather to run through the sprinkler while we water the garden.
At the grocery store on Monday, an elderly lady told Ben that he was cute. He responded, "I'm handsome." 
This isn't a very cute picture, but I wanted to show that Mollie has learned to use a straw. Ben was about 2 1/2 before he figured it out. Ben and I enjoy fruit smoothies in the afternoon. Yesterday, Mollie was trying to put her hand in mine, so I put the end of my straw in her mouth and let some run in. She figured out quickly how the straw worked and drank about half my drink.
Our first little squash plants appeared today. We have two in one mound.
One in the other mound.
And one just about to pop out.
The nursery coordinator at our church organized a train trip. We met at the church this morning at 8 a.m. Took a charter bus to the train station, got on the train, and rode to Meridian where the charter bus met us.
John, Ben, and I went on the trip. Nana kept Mollie at our house. This was Ben's special birthday trip. (The past two years we've gone to the zoo. Memphis when he was 1. New Orleans when he was 2.)
Getting on the train.
Our seats were very popular because we brought crayons.
Meridian's train station looks exactly like you picture a train station.
Beside the train station is the train museum which houses a huge model train operated by the local model train club. It was hard not to touch but Ben loved watching the trains and didn't want to leave.
Wearing his junior conductor paper hat that we got at the train museum.
Back on the bus headed to the park.
Having a picnic in the park.
Ben made himself comfortable on someone's ice chest.
Climbing the park mountain.
Leila helped push Ben in the swing.
Riding the antique Dentzel Carousel (built in 1896) at the park.
Trying his first cotton candy. Ben didn't like it.
One last ride on the carousel before getting back on the bus to ride home. Ben fell asleep watching Charlotte's Web on the way home.
