Sunday

 It was a tough soccer weekend with three losses.  We're going to call it a learning experience for the team.

 Beauty shop.

Putting hats on acorns.

Saturday in Starkville

Ben's soccer team played in a tournament in Starkville this weekend.  They played at noon and 3:15 p.m. Saturday.  After the later game, John showed us around Mississippi State University.  After supper, Ben and John went to the men's basketball game while the girls and I hung out at the hotel.  They had been looking forward to the hotel all day.  Ben is #11 as usual.

 Mollie Grace, Annie, and another little sister, Jaslyn, enjoyed playing with acorns and leaves.

 McCool Hall, where John's business classes were held.

 The Bulldogs won.

Symphony

Friday we went to the Memphis Symphony Orchestra's Young People's Concert.  Ben did not have school because of teacher training so he was with us.

 We were on the mezzanine level right against the rail.  Which are great seats UNLESS you're scared of heights.  I thought I might throw up for a while.

 I didn't notice Ben's tongue sticking out until I uploaded the pics.

This Week with Mollie Grace and Annie

 Saturday Annie and I went to her friend Sadie's birthday party.  Elena from Alvalor was there.

 Annie's presentation for CC this week.

 Painting a flower like Georgia O'Keefe.

Our science experiment was making an egg float in salt water.  They were thrilled when the egg popped back up.  We did it lots of times.

This was my class' art for week 13.  I was having camera problems that week and didn't take any pictures.  This is in the folk art style of Grandma Moses.

Last week all schools were canceled because of the icy roads so we did school via Facebook Live.  This is Annie's Norman Rockwell inspired drawing.

These are my class' Georgia O'Keefe inspired flowers.

When fairy's make cookies they don't need mixers.

 Annie likes to help brush the horse at riding lessons.

Mollie Grace rode Wishes this week at riding lessons.  She worked on trotting.

Today Annie played Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  She was Santa and Lizzy her reindeer from Build-a-Bear was Rudolph.  She wore this all morning.

And where is Ben in all these pictures?  School or soccer practice.  He's playing in a soccer tournament this weekend so I'll try to take plenty of pictures of him then.

Snow Take 2

It began snowing again last night around eight and snowed steadily through the night.  Friday's snow had a lot of ice in it.  This snow was soft and perfect for snow ice cream.  It's currently 12 degrees at 5:30 p.m. and the low tonight is 2.  School was canceled again.  John worked Monday, but not Friday or today.  Ben's school has already canceled again tomorrow.  We didn't want to cancel CC because we would have to use our only break week this spring to make it up.  Instead, we did CC virtually using Facebook Live.  It was pretty hilarious.

 Working on their CC art projects in the style of Norman Rockwell.

We had to chose a picture with a lot of experience to draw.  We used this baby picture of Ben.

 Today was also "the last day of Cole." That's what Cole told us when he knocked on the door this morning.  His family is building a new house and they close on Friday.  He's spending the rest of the week with his grandparents while his parents finish packing.

Snow Take 1

We woke up Friday morning to snow.  The weathermen had been forecasting snow, but since it was 63 degrees Thursday evening, it was hard to believe it was actually going to happen.  School was canceled giving Ben a 4-day weekend because Monday was MLK Day.  Our mail hasn't run since Thursday.

 Ben and Cole making snow angels.

 The snow wouldn't press together to make a snowman so Mollie Grace drew a snowman in the snow.

Hunting

John spent the first week of January hunting.  It was so cold that he had ice in his beard on the deer stand.

Build a Bear

Nana and Grandaddy got Mollie Grace and Annie Build-A-Bear gifts cards for Christmas.  They had never been to Build-A-Bear before and were really excited to go.  After we dropped Ben off his first day back at school, we headed to Build-A-Bear.  Mollie Grace new exactly what she wanted -- a horse.  Annie was almost overwhelmed by the choices.  She wanted the reindeer, but she wanted to make her talk.  But she didn't like any of the sound choices.  After a long discussion (10 minutes or more) we finally decided to go with the beating heart rather than a sound button.  

 Putting the heart in her reindeer.  Annie knew exactly what her reindeer's name was -- Elizabeth Anna.  And Elizabeth Anna wears a sparkly gold tutu with a red sequined top.

Christmas at the Elders

After our traditional Christmas lunch at Arby's in the Loves truck stop in Tallulah, we arrived at Nana and Grandaddy's about 3.  After we opened gifts, Ben began complaining of a headache.  He felt hot so we checked his temp.  He was running a fever.  I took him upstairs away from everyone while the rest of the family had supper.  I took a plate upstairs to eat with Ben.  Even sick, he needed a second helping of fried okra.  After supper, we packed our gifts into our vehicles and drove home.  Arriving about 11 p.m.  The next morning, I took Ben to the Urgent Care down the road.  He was diagnosed with both flu and strep.  He spent the rest of the week quarantined in his room playing his new Xbox and watching Mythbusters.  No one else got sick.

When we arrived home at 11 a.m. Mollie Grace changed into her new Rainbow Dash onesie pjs.