Cookies

 Annie and Mollie Grace accessorized to go to the grocery store.

 Baking chocolate chip cookies to deliver to our neighbors.

 Ready to deliver cookies.

The box car Ben built.

More Fun

This has been a pretty calm week.  We've continued to do school.  Ben had a soccer game Tuesday night.  They won 8-0.  Ben scored two goals. We explored the outlet mall Thursday and finished our Christmas shopping.  Everything is wrapped and under the tree.  This morning we ice skated at the Memphis Zoo.

 Snoopy and Mollie Grace pink poodle Pippi (pictured below) got married one morning.  Snoopy is dressed up for the ceremony.

 We made gingerbread cookies.

 Ben created this Peanuts themed race car.  He pushes Annie and Mollie Grace around the house on it at brake neck speeds.

 Annie pretending to nap with her baby.

 Ice skating at the Memphis Zoo.  This was the first time Ben and Mollie Grace have ever tried to ice skate.  Ben got pretty good.

 Annie walked around on the ice in her boots.  We were the only people there and they pretty much didn't care what we did.

 This how Mollie Grace spent a lot of time.

 I love to skate.

 The attendant gave Mollie Grace a chair to push around the rink and then she had a lot more fun.

Mollie Grace wanted to take their picture with the elephant statue as we were leaving.

Dec. Continues

 Today Mollie Grace filled in her 100 chart completely.  She was very proud of herself.  (All her 6s are backwards.  I was sitting across the table from her and they didn't look strange until I was standing beside her.  We'll work on getting those right tomorrow.)

 Today was Mollie Grace's final dance class before Christmas.  Parents were invited to watch.  I thought they were going to do the Christmas dance they performed at the nursing home at the end so I didn't take any video.  I was wrong so I just have pictures.

 Tap

 Ballet

 John shared with me several pics he's taken recently on his phone.  Annie with Santa at Bass Pro.  Annie has talked a lot about seeing Santa. She says, "Santa is a nice guy.  I sat on Santa's lap."

 The line to get into the Zoo.

 We're in the green seat on the bottom.

Annie and I on the train.

More Christmas Fun

 Every time I think "Annie is being really quiet," I find her in the bathroom putting on lipstick.

 We made Christmas ornaments by squeezing paint into clear glass balls and rolling the paint around inside the balls.  They are really beautiful.

 Annie did not get to use acrylic paint and glass balls.  She painted with washable paints while Ben and Mollie made ornaments.

 Friday Mollie Grace and Ben helped me stuff, address, seal, stamp, and mail Christmas cards.  They were great helpers and we got all our cards in the mail.

 Saturday night we went to Zoo Lights at the Memphis Zoo.  Annie is relaxing while we wait in line to get in.

 On the Ferris Wheel.  John has pics from the ground on his phone.  We've ridden a Ferris Wheel before, but they were a little freaked out.

 Annie's favorite part -- the zoo train.

This morning, Ben and Mollie Grace sang in the Lessons and Carols program at church.  We had to be there early for practice.  We worked so hard to be early that we even had enough time to take a picture before we left for church.

Christmas Fun

 We taught Annie how to dunk her Oreos in milk at lunch on Monday.

 Ben bought this new #9 Chase Elliott car at Target Monday night using some of his Tooth Fairy money.  When I plugged in my camera to download pics, I had 102 pictures of his cars in various positions.

 The pleasant glow of our Christmas tree once everyone else has gone to bed.

We had our CC Christmas party at a place full of blowups.  I only took this one picture of Ben and Mollie sliding.  Everyone had a great time.

 This morning we saw Santa at the Bass Pro Shop in the Pyramid in Memphis.  There were very few people there to see Santa and he took his time chatting with each kid.

 Ben probably enjoyed playing on this remote control Nascar track more than he did seeing Santa.

 Santa's Wonderland.

 Checking out the fish.  They also have real ducks swimming and two live alligators.  The alligators are behind glass.

 The Pyramid from the parking lot.