Percy

Percy is Ben's first purchase with his own money. He used some birthday money and the money he earned doing chores (20 cents a day to feed Hal and pick up his toys) to buy Percy. We ordered Percy online and Ben has been checking the mail every day waiting for the mail man to bring Percy. Taking him to the store and letting him hand his money over to the cashier would have been a more effective way to teach Ben how money works, but a wooden Percy costs twice as much at Toys R Us ($11.99 plus tax) than on Ebay. Ben is very excited about his new train and so are Thomas and Emily (the two trains he already had which were giving to him by the Schillings).

Puppets

As promised, we made sock puppets this morning while Mollie napped. They aren't beautiful. We'll call them "creative."

I'm not sure what this one is. Some kind of cross between a bird and a cat. It has lots of feathers, ears, and whiskers. These are joint efforts since I had the glue gun.

A better view of our catbird.

A butterfly with Cheerio eyes.

Once we completed our puppets, Ben kept building with the art supplies.

Ugly Duckling

Yesterday, we attended a "giant puppet show" at the high school, the Ugly Duckling Starring Pinky Flamingo. Ben was very excited about going. Here he is before his bath making his hair lay down "so that it will look good at the puppet show."

Waiting for the play to start. We were a few minutes early because I wasn't sure where we were supposed to park. The auditorium was packed with elementary students, Head Start kids, and day cares.

Mollie was actually more interested than she looks. She liked looking around at all the people. And once the music and dancing started she waved and talked. She did get tired of it about half way through and it took a lot of graham crackers to keep her happy for the rest of the show.

This morning we are making puppets. Ben wanted to do it yesterday but we didn't have time because we had a Maundy Thursday service at church. He's asked me about 50 times why we didn't get to go on the stage.

Here is a video from the puppet company's website if you want to watch a three-minute clip of what we saw: The Ugly Duckling Starring Pinky Flamingo.

Cucumbers

Since yesterday, our cucumbers have sprouted. We have four cucumber plants in one hill. We'll have to thin them eventually.

There is one cucumber plant in the other hill so far. Now we're waiting on the carrots (which take 8-12 days according to the seed package) and warm enough weather to run through the sprinkler while we water the garden.

Ben and Mollie

At the grocery store on Monday, an elderly lady told Ben that he was cute. He responded, "I'm handsome."

This morning after story hour, we decided to have an impromptu picnic in the park. Ben climbed all the way to the top of the play equipment (up two 6 foot ladders) and went down the big green tunnel slide. Since I didn't leave the house planning to go to the park, I didn't have my camera.

This isn't a very cute picture, but I wanted to show that Mollie has learned to use a straw. Ben was about 2 1/2 before he figured it out. Ben and I enjoy fruit smoothies in the afternoon. Yesterday, Mollie was trying to put her hand in mine, so I put the end of my straw in her mouth and let some run in. She figured out quickly how the straw worked and drank about half my drink.

Squash

Our first little squash plants appeared today. We have two in one mound.

One in the other mound.

And one just about to pop out.

Choo Choo

The nursery coordinator at our church organized a train trip. We met at the church this morning at 8 a.m. Took a charter bus to the train station, got on the train, and rode to Meridian where the charter bus met us.

John, Ben, and I went on the trip. Nana kept Mollie at our house. This was Ben's special birthday trip. (The past two years we've gone to the zoo. Memphis when he was 1. New Orleans when he was 2.)

Getting on the train.

Our seats were very popular because we brought crayons.

Meridian's train station looks exactly like you picture a train station.

Beside the train station is the train museum which houses a huge model train operated by the local model train club. It was hard not to touch but Ben loved watching the trains and didn't want to leave.

Wearing his junior conductor paper hat that we got at the train museum.

Back on the bus headed to the park.

Having a picnic in the park.

Ben made himself comfortable on someone's ice chest.

Climbing the park mountain.

Leila helped push Ben in the swing.

Riding the antique Dentzel Carousel (built in 1896) at the park.

Trying his first cotton candy. Ben didn't like it.

One last ride on the carousel before getting back on the bus to ride home. Ben fell asleep watching Charlotte's Web on the way home.