Birthdays

After supper there were presents and cupcakes.  Janey's birthday is this weekend, Ben's is next week, and Grandaddy's is later in the month.

 A gardening set for Janey from Nana and Grandaddy and paints from us.

 Don't think Mollie and MV were left out.  A spring outfit for Mollie.

 And a Fancy Nancy book for MV.

First we sang to Janey.

 

Then to Ben.

And last to Grandaddy.

 

As soon as we finished singing, Ben went to work on his new Lego Duplo construction set from Jim and Fran. 

He was too busy to eat his cupcake.  He had it for dessert after lunch the next day.

Secrets

Monday night we ate at a Japanese/Chinese buffet.  Janey and Mollie were so cute together.  They would whisper secrets to each other (just nonsense words) and then laugh and laugh like it was the funniest thing they had ever heard. I stole this picture from Fran because I didn't have my camera with me.

Dying Eggs

 We spent Monday night and Tuesday morning at the Elders along with Fran, MV, and Janey.  Nana had lots of fun plans for the grandchildren including dying Easter eggs.

Singing

Ben's Sunday School class sang during the church service tonight.  Ben is the fourth boy (wearing a light blue shirt).

Soccer

Today was a big day at soccer.  Ben scored his first goal AND I don't have a picture.  I don't have any pictures of the game.  I do have some pictures of his cheering section, though.

Mollie and PawPaw.  This was the first soccer game Daddy's ever watched.

 Maw Maw and a silly Ben.  He's signalling that he wants a cracker.

 Both teams ran through a tunnel made up of the other team's parents.

Mollie loves her pink chair.  She does a lot of sitting and watching Ben so she needed her own chair.

Last Week

Last Saturday night John and I had crawfish.  Ben thought the smell was disgusting.  Mollie actually tried one, but said they were "not tasty."

Mollie vacuuming the living room.

Week

Ben and Mollie got a karaoke machine for Christmas.  They were super excited about it.  After Christmas, though, the home I found for it was on the top of Ben's bookshelf.  I didn't do it intentionally, but since it wasn't easy for them to reach, they didn't play with it much.  Ben asked me to get it down this week and I moved it to the entertainment center in the living room.  They have played with (and fought over) it all week.  

Watching ants after a picnic lunch in the backyard.

This week is spring break here.  We made plans with several friends from church to meet at the zoo today.  I think every family in the area had the same plan.  The parking lot was full plus there were two buses.  There was a line to get into the zoo.  We have NEVER stood in line to get in our zoo.  We decided to play at the park instead.  When we saw the busloads of kids leaving the zoo to have lunch, we decided it was time to go to in.  We had a big day.  We petted goats, . . .

road the train, . . .  

 road the carousel, . . .

watched a nature show (and got their picture taken with the great horned owl), . . .

 and got faces painted.

 We also had a picnic but I don't have any pictures of that.

This morning at home I told Ben that we could get rainbow popsicles at the zoo.  There was a half hour wait at the concession stand so I talked him into stopping at the convenience store on the way home.  They didn't have rainbow posicles but Jolly Rancher push ups were a good alternative.

Mollie must not have went straight to sleep after I put her down for nap.  When I closed her door, she was in the middle of the bed under her covers with her head on the pillow.  When I went to wake her up, I found all her friends on the pillows and Mollie squeezed on the edge.

Tee Ball

Ben had his first tee ball practice tonight.  He's playing on the Coke team.  There were ten players at practice.  Three (including Ben) played last year.  There is one girl.  She and her twin brother are both three but will be four at the end of the month. (They look tiny like Ben did last year.)  They started with running the bases.  Most of the kids didn't know the pattern so around and around and around they went.

Practicing catching ground balls.

 Batting off the tee.  You can see Ben got a hit. The ball is in the air.

 Practicing hitting a pitched ball.  That is Ben's coach helping him get in the right position.

They pitched two rounds of five pitches.  The first round Ben did not get a hit.  The second round he got three good hits, tipped one, and missed one.

Mollie spent practice eating graham crackers and taking pictures.  She took this picture of herself.

Hole

Ben's favorite thing to do is dig.  His friends from down the street come over and they dig holes in the garden.

Soccer

Ben has played in three soccer games.  The first two games their team got beat.  They were more evenly matched this game and tied.  Ben is learning more and more about soccer.  He got in and kicked the ball more this game.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of his game face.  He was SO serious.

Waving to his fans (Nana and Grandaddy) while he runs off the field.  There are eight players on his team but only four play at a time so the coach subs them in and out.

Hanging out with John while waiting on the sidelines.

 Mollie has a special Ben 4 soccer shirt that Nana made her.

Mollie took this picture of John and me.

A Week

 

Ben and Mollie love to play restaurant in the playhouse.  I love that we can play in the playhouse when it too cold to play outside.  Ben took this picture of Mollie and I pretending to eat the food he prepared.

Delivering more food to us.  (I don't know how his hat ended up at that angle.)

Mollie singing to the ants.  I suggested The Ants Go Marching but she said said they wanted to hear Holy Holy Holy.

Although we've been to the zoo countless times, Ben and Mollie needed maps today.

 Mollie petting a rat named Emille.  I thought this rat was huge but supposedly sewer rats are twice this size.

After the zoo, we did our weekly grocery shopping.  Both Mollie and Ben were wiped out.  Mollie fell asleep in the car on the four-mile drive from the grocery store.  Usually she wakes up when I get her out of the car but she was still sleeping so I laid her on the couch.

 Even Ben took a nap.  He seldom naps anymore although he's required to rest for a little while every afternoon.