A Busy Week

It's hard to believe that it's only been a week since I last posted.  It's been a busy week.  I downloaded 139 pictures from my camera that I had taken during the past week.  Ben lost a tooth, had two baseball games, and a soccer party and we visited MV and Janey at Nana and Grandaddy's house.

 On Friday night Ben pulled his third tooth.  Since the first two teeth he lost had adult teeth growing behind them, this is the first tooth that left a gap.  Friday night I found him in bed very upset.  I asked him what was wrong and he told me that he didn't want to give his tooth to the tooth fairy.  I told him that he didn't have to and he put it in the drawer with other things he's saved like the top wrap of his cast that people signed. When John got home from work, Ben was already asleep. I told John about Ben losing a tooth and that he wanted to keep it.  John decided to write a letter to the tooth fairy explaining that Ben wanted to keep his tooth.  The tooth fairy was fine with that and left Ben a dollar under his pillow without taking the tooth.

 Saturday was particularly busy.  Ben had his final soccer game of the season at 10 a.m., baseball pictures at 11:15 a.m. and his first baseball game at 1 p.m.  Ben's team lost their soccer game.  They played each team twice and this team beat them both times.  Ben's team won all their other games.  Above is Ben's whole baseball team.  Since it was opening day each player was introduced before the game started.  Ben is 11 for the third year in a row.

This year they are hitting from a pitching machine.  Ben is on the left.  The two players closest to the pitching machine are wearing their batting helmets while fielding because they are closest to the batter and most likely to get hit.

 John was coaching behind the plate so he's helping Ben get in position.

Ben hit the first pitch from the pitching machine but got thrown out at first.  This year they can actually get out.  They can also strike out but it's hard.  They get three pitches from the pitching machine and then two tries from the tee because 6-old-old is actually still tee ball.  If they miss all five attempts, they are out.

 Annie slept through the entire game in her carseat.

 Mollie was pretty bored.

 You can see how close I was paying attention to Mollie.  She had drawn all over her legs before I heard someone say, "Look at that little girl drawing on her legs."  I turned and saw that it was Mollie!

 Ben had his second game Monday.  It was scheduled for 5:30 and the coach asked everyone to be there by 5.  When we arrived, we learned that there was an updated schedule that no one on our team (including the coaches) had gotten and our game was at 6:30.  The team spent some time practicing in the batting cages while we waited for an hour and a half.

Ben batted twice this game.  He got a hit from the pitching machine his first time at bat but didn't make it home because their team got three outs (or maybe six runs. They are only allowed six runs an inning) while he was on base.  The second time he had to use the tee and was thrown out at first.

 Mollie didn't draw on herself this time.  She passed the time eating popcorn and taking pictures like the one above.  Annie was very content to stay in her car seat.  She napped a while and then just looked around and cooed.

 Mollie's team shirt is a little big so she wore it with leggings and boots.  She thinks this shirt makes her run faster.

 On Tuesday we went to Nana and Grandaddy's to spend time with MV and Janey, who were visiting for Spring Break.  They had fun dying eggs together.  Easter is late this year and they won't all be together again until after Easter.

 Janey really likes holding Annie.  MV held Annie too but Annie was about done by the time MV got a chance to hold her.

 A silly picture of MV and Ben hunting eggs.

 And the fun continues.  Tuesday night Ben had an end of season soccer party at GattiTown.

 Mollie's favorite game.  You sprayed water at ducks and made them "swim" through a hole for points.

 All the kids on the bumper cars are on Ben's soccer team.  They had a lot of fun bumping each other around.

 Ben's favorite -- a Nascar arcade game.

 On Wednesday morning Ben and Mollie got haircuts.  This is Mollie's first real haircut.  There was one section of hair that was three inches longer than the rest that was driving me CRAZY!

 Mollie was proud of the girl wearing a hairbow that she made out of patten blocks.

 Our neighbor Sam got off the bus at our house Wednesday at lunch.  It was an early release day at school and his mom had to work.  They took turns hiding and hunting Easter eggs over and over again.  Sam took these pictures of Ben and Mollie hunting eggs that he hid.

Whew! And today is only Thursday.  No baseball games this weekend, though.

Milestones and other things

I haven't posted since we returned from Disney, but of course life has continued on and I've taken pictures of some of it.  

 Ben has been building a "car" out of a diaper box.  He wanted to take a picture of Annie in his car with him.  Mollie also has a diaper box car, but Annie didn't cooperate to take a picture with Mollie.

 Annie chewing on the Minnie Mouse rattle that we bought her a Disney World.

 On Saturday, we gave Annie carrots for the first time.  She let most of it dribble back out of her mouth.

It was kind of hard to eat with Mollie making her laugh the entire time.

Sunday night as we were putting Annie to bed, we noticed that she had a barky sounding cough.  A little later in the evening as I was washing dishes, Mollie got out of bed and came and told me, "I'm scared.  I can hear something in my room."  I went to her room and investigated and found that she was hearing Annie breathing really loud.  A little while later, Ben came into the kitchen to tell me that he could hear Annie breathing in his room.  Annie had the croup.  She and I were up most of the night alternating between a steamy shower and the cold air from the freezer.  I took her to the pediatrician Monday morning and he gave her a steroid to open up her air passages.  Annie was five months old on Monday.

On Monday mornings, we go to CC.  Ben was so sad when I told him that we were going to have to miss CC this week, that I called a friend who's son is in his class and asked if Ben could go with them.  She sent me these pics of a bridge building project they worked on for science.

 Mollie has really become interested in learning her letters and "doing school" with Ben lately.  She has her own Saxon Math book now and her assignment was to build something with pattern blocks.

This morning as I was folding clothes in the living room and Annie was laying on a blanket on the floor beside me, Annie rolled from her stomach to her back for the first time.  I think she scared herself and because she CRIED.  Ben was very excited that he saw her roll over for the first time.  Ben and Mollie shook rattles and cheered for her.  

Hollywood Studios

On Friday night while we were making our way around the parade at Magic Kingdom, MV was throwing up on the bus headed back to the hotel with Fran.  On Saturday morning, John woke up sick as well.  Fran, MV, and John stayed at the hotel Saturday while the rest of us went to Hollywood Studios.

 We began the morning at Disney Junior Live, a big puppet show starring the characters from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

 A "magic trick" during the Sofia part causes it to snow in the theater.

 Dancing along with the show.

 Checking out Lightning McQueen and Mater.

They cracked me up posing by the cars.

I have no idea what this car is.  Jim took this picture.  But aren't they funny?

We went to the Disney Junior Play N Dine lunch at Hollywood and Vine.  I did a terrible job taking pictures of them with the characters.  We met Jake, Sofia, Doc, and Handy Manny.

 Dancing with Sofia.

 Janey loves Doc.

 Since MV was sick, they decided to leave on Saturday afternoon.  Before they left, we got one more special Ariel moment in for Janey -- Voyage of the Little Mermaid.  It's a live show where they perform songs from the Little Mermaid with parts of the movie playing on a screen in the background.  The special effects were really cool.

 Ready for Toy Story Mania.

 On Saturday night, Grandaddy, Nana, Ben, Mollie, and I went back to Hollywood Studios to watch Fantasmic.  Ben and Mollie are being silly with Nana on the bus ride home.