School Mainly

This week at CC, I helped in the nursery.  I thought this might be a complete disaster with Annie hanging on my leg crying when I picked up other babies.  She got a little fussy and wanted to share my lap at the end of the morning, but overall she did really great.  This is half the group strapped into a buggy to go for a ride.

Another mom shared this pic from Mollie Grace's class.

 I got to step into Mollie Grace's room and hear her give her presentation on the Fertile Crescent.  She chose Mesopotamia.  She prepared it herself based on something she learned from The Story of the World.  She said, "Do you want to know something really interesting?  Abraham from the Bible was from Mesopotamia until God told him to go somewhere else.  And then he went there."  She was amazed when she learned that the people from the Bible were actually part of history.

 This is actually part of Mollie's math lesson one morning.  She is sorting stuffed animals based on different characteristics.

 Don't know what Annie's plans were.  She came out of Mollie's room like this and I grabbed my camera.

 More math.  Acting out math problems.  Some friends got on the bus.  Some more friends got on the bus.  How many friends are on the bus?

I think Mollie Grace took this pic.

 I KNOW she took the next two.

What it looks like when your hand slips when putting a dish of browned rice in the oven.  Huge mess!

 

Visited the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology at the University of Memphis with some of our CC group.

 Mollie took this picture while we waited on someone that got lost.

 Mollie's Egyptian pose.

You aren't allowed to take pictures inside the exhibit so this is from their website.  They have three actual mummies on display.  Very cool.  We were given a tour by a grad student who did a really good job of holding the interest of a group of small children.

 We packed a picnic lunch because I wasn't sure how long the Egyptian exhibit would take.  Since we were near the zoo, we decided to make an impromptu visit (we have a family membership that allows us to get in free) and have our lunch there.  Since we didn't plan on going to zoo, we didn't bring swimsuits so we just got our feet wet when we arrived.

 Marco Mollie Grace Polo

 I let Annie get out of the stroller and walk around more today.  Ben had very little patience with her slow exploration.

She tried so hard to figure out how Ben and Mollie walked on that little ridge but she never could do it.

 We've never seen the grizzly bears so active.

 After we had lunch and looked around a bit, I let them wade in the water.  Of course everyone got wetter than they were supposed to and Annie fell completely in.  I had a change of clothes for her, though.

Rest of the Week

We had some unusually cooler temps at the end of the week with the highs in the mid-80s.  We took advantage of the pleasant weather on Thursday and rode our bikes about 1/2 a mile to the neighborhood lake for a picnic.  On Friday, we visited the zoo.  We repeated a favorite activity -- feeding the birds -- but mainly we tried to see parts of the zoo that we hadn't made it to in our two previous trips -- the Tropical Bird House, Aquarium, Animals of the Nights, Cat Country, and we rode the farm train.

 Annie loves Choo Choo trains.

 This was Annie's first time to really get down and explore at the zoo.  She loved the ducks in this free-flying bird area of the Tropical Bird House.  She also thought the penguins were ducks.

 Like the chick chicks, Annie liked the birds from a distance.

 This is as close as she let Mollie get.

 You can't tell by Annie's expression, but she LOVED the train.  She said, "choo choo, choo choo, choo choo" all the way around.  And then she cried when it was time to get off.

 There are a few fair-style rides at the zoo and Ben and Mollie rode the Tilt-a-Whirl.

 Mollie always likes an pic in the egg shell.

Annie as the Firegirl Princess this morning.

Firsts

 Mollie went to her first ballet class in our new town Monday afternoon.  She said she missed Mrs. Lynn but had fun.

 You can watch the class in progress on a TV screen.  Mollie's class is on the left.

 This morning was the first day of CC with our new group.  We've been doing school at home for a couple of weeks but I guess we'll now declare them officially in 2nd grade and Kindergarten.  Ben is wearing his Twin Lakes t-shirt for his presentation.  Today they told about something they did this summer.  Ben told about going to Twin Lakes and recited the memory verse he learned there.  Mollie Grace told about going to MawMaw and PawPaw's house -- feeding the chickens, riding the horse, fishing, and looking at the cannon in Vicksburg.

 I helped in Ben's class today.  All boys.

 Science experiment -- comparing a dried pinto bean to one that had been soaked overnight.

By the end of the morning they needed to burn off some energy.  They did push ups while reviewing their memory work.

Weekend

We spent the last few days with Mama and Daddy.  We had lots of fun.  On Friday, we spent several hours visiting MawMaw Wilma and PawPaw Sherman, went fishing with Daddy, and watched Rylee compete at the Play Day.  Saturday, we visited Zac at his new house, rode Daddy's horse, and ate the fish we caught Friday.  We headed home this morning.  We stopped to stretch our legs at the Mississippi Welcome Center in Vicksburg.

 Digging worms for fishing.

 Ben showing off the first fish he caught.

 Mollie took this picture of me with my first fish.

 This was Mollie's first fishing trip and she was so excited.  PawPaw bought her a pink fishing rod.

 Mollie's first fish!

 Reeling in another fish.  PawPaw and Mollie fished together.  PawPaw found the perfect place for Mollie to fish.  He baited her hook, cast her line, a fish immediately bit, and she reeled it in.  They caught 24.

 Annie loved the "chick chicks" from about three feet outside the pen.

 Rylee rode PawPaw's white mare at the Play Day Friday night.  Saturday Mollie asked if they could ride her.  Daddy saddled her and I led them around for an hour before supper and an hour after.  We "ran" the barrels.  I'm not very fast, but she hit a fast walk at least.

 Annie would look straight at a horse and say, "a goat."  She wasn't sure she wanted to touch.

 I was shocked when she got on the horse with me.

 Daddy fried the fish we caught.

 Annie loves choo choos.  We stood and watched as this one crossed the Mississippi River.

 Crossing the Mississippi River has always been one of the highlights of our drive home.

Mollie said we had "a good explore."