More Week

Yesterday I had a two-week doctor's appointment.  I got the last of my 18 progesterone shots and a flu shot.  

Ben and Mollie stayed home with a babysitter, Rachel, while I was at the doctor.  Mollie was very proud of the doll bed Rachel built her new baby out of blocks.  Mollie bought this Cinderella baby with money from PawPaw.

 Ben used his money from PawPaw to buy this Kyle Busch car that you launch, it goes up a ramp, flies into the wall, and breaks apart.  He LOVES it.

 John noticed today that Ben has a permanent tooth growing in behind one of his bottom front baby teeth.  That baby tooth is loose.  His dentist doesn't work on Friday so I'll call on Monday and see if we need to bring him in and have it checked.

This pic is for Janey.  Mollie was very excited about the Jessie (from Toy Story 2) costume that Janey handed down to her.  Now Mollie isn't sure whether she wants to be Cinderella or Jessie for Halloween.  I say whichever is fine since we have both costumes already.

99 Show Car

As we are driving home from church Sunday, Ben says, "On the way to church I saw Carl Edward's car hauler at the Holiday Inn."  John and I are both trying to figure out what he's talking about when we drive by the Holiday Inn and there in the parking lot IS a number 99 Carl Edwards show car hauler.  After lunch, I searched the Internet until I discovered that the car was going to be on display locally today.  I put it on my calender, which wasn't necessary since Ben was not going to let me forget. 

Ben and Mollie posing together by the car.

 We've recently seen a #11 Denny Hamlin car and other than the stickers they are basically the same.  What made this extremely cool was that they let Ben and Mollie get inside the car.  The seats are very, very deep.

  

Inside the hauler, they had some memorabilia on display -- a real fire suit.

 A fuel can.

Carl's 2011 All-Star race trophy.  Ben is holding a small Aflac duck.  The Aflac representative gave both of them one.  And, of course, they talk -- "Aflac, Aflac, AFLAC!"

Some pics

 Ben giving his presentation on his favorite biome, the rainforest.  He's telling that there are lots of different kinds of ants in the rainforest.  We read a library book about the rainforest.  Ben chose five facts that he wanted to share with the class.  They were supposed to bring a visual aid so I found pictures for him to color to go along with each fact.

 Art time.  Learning to draw mirror images.

Mollie was very proud of the castle she built out of plastic bowls.

Last Week

Here are some pictures from the past week.  John and Ben went to a local car show on Saturday evening, Ben had school Monday, we spent the end of the week with Mama and Daddy

 Ben was trying to take a picture of his reflection in the back door.  It's a very interesting picture.

 This was Ben's favorite car at the car show, a Nascar pace car.

John and Ben drove the Corvette to the car show.

 Mollie wanted to go with John and Ben so I told her we would have special girl time.  She chose for us to watch Cinderella and eat Oreos and milk.

 Each week Ben has to give a presentation in front of his class.  This week each child had to tell a story. They could tell a Bible story or bring a book, whatever.  I told Ben about the assignment and asked him if he wanted to practice.  Nope, he knew what he was going to do.  When Ben's turn came, he went to the front of the class and boldly told the story of Mr. David and the Hoe, a true story from when John, Jim, and David were teenagers and had a job hoeing cotton fields.

 Before we left for MawMaw and PawPaw's house, Ben took this picture of his fish Splash.  I'm not sure if he thought Splash wouldn't survive for a few days without us at home and John feeding him.

 Ben, Mollie, and Uncle Zac.  We won't talk about how many times we took this picture before everyone was looking.

 Daddy fried fish Thursday night.  PawPaw Sherman, Will, Danielle, and Rylee came and ate with us.  It was thundering and no one had seen rain in so long that we sat on the front porch and visited and waited for the rain.  The kids covered themselves in dirt.  They rolled in it, rubbed themselves with it, poured it in their hair.  (Can you tell that Ben didn't want to take a picture?)

Daddy had brought home this dog named Patch that Ben LOVED.

Husband material

A friend at church told us last night that her girls (ages 8 and 5) had been talking about the characteristics they wanted in a husband.  The youngest one said, "sweet, brushes his teeth every night, and helps clean up."  Then she added that she was going to marry Ben Elder.  It seems he fits all her requirements.

A few pics

Yesterday we went to the zoo.  They've added an African drum area since the last time we went.

 I was surprised that they had the Splash Pad running.  We didn't bring extra clothes, swimsuits, or even a towel but I still let them play in the water.   I just took most of their clothes off before they got in the car.
 

Mollie wanted me to take her picture this morning in her "beautiful princess gown."

First Day of School

This school year we are participating in a homeschool group called Classical Conversations that meets weekly.  Today was our first meeting.  Mollie goes to nursery while Ben has class but she is calling it going to her school.  She got a backpack, too, to carry her snack and change of clothes in.

 Ben and Mollie were excited about starting Classical Conversations this morning.

 Each group is led by a "tutor" but parents are encouraged to be present and participate.  Ben's class is tracing the continents on a map while listening to a song to help memorize the names of the continents.

Classes last from 9 a.m. until noon.  The last half hour of the day was spent doing art.  They learned how to use basic elements of drawing to draw a turtle.

 We packed sack lunches and everyone ate together and then the kids played until 1 p.m. on the playground.  Mollie was so dirty when we left.

Last Week

Here are a few pics from last week that I haven't posted yet.

Ben built his own Jellystone out of blocks.  It was very detailed with campsites, swimming pool, a bear cave for Yogi, a snack stand, and a map.

On Friday we went to Zoo Tots where we learned about the differences between birds and insects.  Ben and Mollie are painting bug bodies made from egg cartons.

 Their completed bugs.

 Touching a Madagascar coachroach.

Mollie spent most of naptime a couple of days last week building forts on her bed.

While I was helping Ben get dressed for church yesterday, Mollie ran into the bathroom and told me that she had cleaned up after breakfast and wanted me to come look. She was very proud of what a good helper she had been. I went into the kitchen and discovered that all the dishes were off the table, but they weren't in the sink or on the counter.  I asked Mollie what she did with the plates and she said, "Threw them away."  We often use paper plates, but these weren't disposable.  They were our real dishes.  I of course praised Mollie for helping, then fished the plates and utensils out of the garbage can.

Jellystone

Since Ben's arm was broken, we didn't make our usual July camping trip to Jellystone.  We wanted to get in one more trip this summer so we opted for a cabin at a different Jellystone this year for Labor Day weekend.

 We arrived Friday night after dark at our Rustic A-Frame cabin.

 You can see the the three bed platforms on the right side.  There is a bathroom with a toilet only on the back left.  We showered in the bathhouse. You can't see the kitchenette with a dorm size frig, microwave, sink and propane two burner stove top on the left.

 Bedtime reading.

 Only Boo Boo was at the flagpole Saturday morning to greet the kids and take pictures.

We spent lots of time playing in the pool.

 Right off the property was a private water slide.  You paid by the hour to slide, but everyone got one free slide.  Ben was determined to try it.  John and Ben are the little people about halfway up the hill.

 It was curvy and fast and Ben did not want to do it again.  I heard him describe it to Mama on the phone as "like Talledega."

 Both Ben and Mollie enjoyed splashing around in the wading pool.  The water in this pool was freezing.

 A silly face from Mollie.

 Sharing a strawberry snowcone.

Ben loved playing put put golf.  John and Ben played several rounds.  I only made it all the way through once because Mollie got tired of golf after about three holes.

 This is how Mollie played. She hit the ball three or four times with her golf club and then moved the ball right beside the hole so that she could knock it in.

 Saturday afternoon we left Ben and John to golf while Mollie and I attended a tea party hosted by Cindy Bear.  This was probably Mollie's favorite thing we did.  She talked about it the whole time.  Mollie is on the bottom left.

 A hug for Cindy.

 Roasting hot dogs Saturday night.

 Ben and Mollie were being so sweet standing together but when I tried to take a picture, these are the faces that I got.

 S'Mores.

 Paddle boats on the lake.

 Apple slice smiles.

 Playing in the cabin.

 John and Mollie playing at the Splash Pad.

 Sunday afternoon we met up with all the characters for pictures.  Mollie thinks the Ranger is named the "Stranger."

 Yogi

 Cindy

 Mollie outside on the concrete coloring.

Ben hiding from John around the side of the cabin.