Fun Days

 It has rained every day this week.  Yesterday they literally had swim lessons in the rain.  Their teacher said they were going to get wet anyway and it wasn't thundering or lightening.  Between Ben and Mollie's class we hung out at Krispy Kreme donuts.

 Today after swim lessons, we attended a shadow puppet show.

 A dark picture of Ben, Mollie, and a row full of their friends watching The Three Little Pigs and Hansel and Gretel.

 Shakes were 1/2 off at Sonic today.  Ben refused to participate in this picture.  He's acting like that is the most interesting cucumber he's ever seen.  He picked it from our garden.

Sam came over to play this evening.  They took turns filming each other racing Matchbox cars.  They are watching their race video.

Ducks

Feeding bread to ducks that decided to walk through our yard.  Mollie's wet from playing in the sprinkler.

Water Guns

Ben and our neighbor Sam had fun this afternoon playing with water guns.

 Sneaking up on Sam.

 Mollie (who had already changed into her favorite flannel princess nightgown) had fun playing with the hose.

Swim Lessons

Ben and Mollie both began swim lessons today.  Mollie's lessons are at 8:30 a.m. and Ben's are at 10:30 a.m.  Parents and siblings aren't allowed to stay, so we had to find ways to pass the time.  Ben and I went to Krispy Kreme (we didn't tell Mollie), the three of us checked out the animals at PetSmart, and Mollie and I happened to run into some friends playing in the gym at church.

 I snapped this quick pic after Mollie's swim lessons.  She was very happy when we picked her up and her teacher said she did great.  She didn't get sad at all when we left her at the pool.

Ben was very excited about swim lessons.  This pic is before his lesson waiting for the other kids to arrive.  When we picked him up he said that he had been jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side.  This is a huge improvement over swim lessons two years ago.  We have a video of him on the last day of swim lessons on the end of the diving board with his legs completely stiff refusing to jump. Eventually one of the swim teachers thew him into the pool to the other teacher.

Mollie's Birthday Take 3

Mollie's birthday was during the week of VBS.  She had cupcakes with her Bible school class and then cupcakes at home, but we waited until things had calmed down a bit to invite family over for a true birthday party.  

 Yesterday afternoon, Ben and Mollie helped me bake Mollie's birthday cake.  We used two boxed mixes so Ben got to break six eggs into the bowl while Mollie added the water and oil.

 Ben used the hand mixer while Mollie stirred with a wooden spoon.

 Licking the bowl.

 Mollie wanted a Cinderella cake.  I found this princess cake idea online.  It looked pretty easy.  Bake the cake in a mixing bowl to be the dress and then stick a Barbie doll down through the center of the cake for the body.  I looked critically at some of the whonky cake pictures posted proudly online.  Ha, it was not easy.  I knew the Cinderella doll was tall, so I used my largest mixing bowl plus my smallest to stack two cakes.  However, at seven o'clock last night I was nearly in breakdown with Cinderella's hips sticking out two inches above the cake.  John said she looked more like Marilyn Monroe popping out of a cake than Cinderella.  For a few minutes, I thought I was the Cake Boss and tried trimming around the bottom of the cake and then filling in around the top with the extra cake. It was all falling off, crumbs in the icing, a disaster.  I peeled all that off and started squirting icing straight on Cinderella's body with my cookie press/icing gun. That worked.  To cover the lumpy icing, I dumped mounds of blue sprinkles all over the dress.  I know she's still kind of lumpy and uneven, but I consider the cake a roaring success knowing what it looked like when I started.

 Mollie loved her Cinderella cake and that's what really mattered.

 Candles lit.

 Nana, Grandaddy, Ben, and John singing Happy Birthday.

 MawMaw Wilma, PawPaw Sherman, and MawMaw D'Juana singing.

 Mollie blew them all out in one blow.

 Mollie was throwing the paper and gifts out so fast she hardly knew what was in this bag from Nana and Grandaddy.

 PJs and dress up jewelry in a sand bucket from Aunt Connie.

 What could be in these boxes from MawMaw and PawPaw?

 A pink BB gun.

 A race car for Ben from MawMaw Wilma and PawPaw Sherman.

 A very loud alphabet learning toy from MawMaw D'Juana and PawPaw Mac.

 Opening a card from MawMaw Wilma and PawPaw Sherman.

Wednesday

 Mollie loves the new bedding that she got for her birthday from Nana and Grandaddy.  At naptime I took the pillows in the shams off her bed.  When I went back to get her after nap, she had gotten them and put them back on the bed because she wanted to sleep with them.

Tonight was out annual waterslide night at church.  Last year, we skipped, but Ben heard it announced from the pulpit Sunday so there was no staying home.  That's Ben going down the slide.

 Mollie went down the big slide a few times, . . .

but really preferred playing on the Slip N Slide with her good friend C.J.

Ben was not at all scared this year and went down again and again and again.

 Ben and Mollie waiting in line together for the big slide.

Ben's last time down he went backwards like he had seen some of the bigger kids do.

Random Pics

Mollie's class was extremely busy last week during VBS.  I have VBS crafts hanging everywhere.

 Mollie took this picture of the prince in her new Cinderella Lego Duplo castle.

 Helping me clean the bathroom yesterday.

 Ben took this picture of a dragonfly this morning.

 Mollie showing off the clip-on earrings that she wore all day (including to the hair salon when Ben got his haircut today).

We hung Ben's juice carton bird feeder that he made at VBS.  We saved cartons for two months (along with lots of other people in our church) to have enough for all the kids to make these.  This week as we've used up juice cartons, I've felt like I was committing a sin by throwing them away.

 I found this picture on my camera of Ben's class making the bird feeders.

 Enjoying playing in the sprinkler this afternoon.  Mollie is holding a squash that she picked in her hand.  Our garden hasn't produced much yet, just three squash.

VBS Closing Assembly

VBS is OVER!  We had a great week, but we are tired.  This is a video of all 150 children singing together at our closing assembly.

Mollie's Birthday

Mollie was so excited about her birthday Thursday morning.  As soon as I put the 3 shirt on her, she understood that she was three years old.  She was singing in the mirror, "I am three years old."

 Mollie got to celebrate her birthday with her friends at VBS.

 Eating birthday cupcakes.

 Trying out her new hair products including extensions that she got from Allie Bug (Mollie is highly offended if you dare suggest Allie Bug's name is just Allie).

 Playing with the birthday card Mollie received from Bonnie Jean and Merlin.  Ben peeled off the stickers and Mollie stuck them on the cake.

 Showing off her decorated cake.

 Mollie got to eat another round of cupcakes at home.  John told her to be careful not to burn herself on the candle so she's guarding her face.

 Listening to us sing "Happy Birthday."

 Blowing out her candle.

 This princess piggy bank from Ben was her favorite gift.  She's been wanting her own piggy bank.

 Opening her Cinderella Lego Duplo set from John and me.

 A Doc McStuffin DVD from MV and Janey.

 Opening a gift from Aubrey and Ella Kate that came in the mail.

 Caring for "Other Baby" with the baby care kit that came from Nana and Grandaddy.