I thought it would be fun to decorate some sugar cookies today with Ben. I picked up some easy cookie dough from the store and make some homemade frosting. He struggled with the frosting part...so he only did that for a couple of the cookies. I frosted the rest and he put the sprinkles on them. Frosting his first cookie. This is serious work. There's a little smile. Putting some sprinkles on his cookie. Taking his first bite of the finished product. He wanted to eat more cookies, but I just let him have one. Still finishing up his cookie. Some more of Ben's masterpieces! Who wants a cookie decorated by Ben? Don't worry...he did wash his hands. :)

Ben likes to be on the move, so the park can be a challenge at times. I met my friend Erin and her son Will at Parkview this morning. I would be in the middle of talking to Erin and then I'd have to say, "Sorry I gotta run after Ben for a minute." The big structure at the park can make it difficult sometimes because he can run from one end to the other and it's way too high for him to go by himself. I was at least able to contain him in a swing for a while and his stroller while he ate some lunch! Ben playing with one of the steering wheels. I thought this was funny how he was following the notes of the song with his finger. He did that with all four songs before he was ready to move on to something else. Saying "Hi" to his friend Will. After he climbed up to the top of the play structure, Ben stopped and noticed the ducks on the pond. He kept saying, "Duck, duck, duck" and pointing out at them. Ben waving at himself into a mirror that is in need...

Ben enjoyed playing with Olivia at her house this morning....while the grown-ups got to chat. :) Olivia shared her mega blocks with Ben. She had made a nice tower the night before. Once she started sharing, Ben decided that meant that he could take the tower apart. He likes to tear/break down things more than build them right now. So, he made a mess of mega blocks all over the place! Ben threw himself over the side of this toy to try to grab out all of the balls. He didn't really understand that you sit and play in the balls. He just wants to throw them around the room.

Today felt like an art day because Ben did some coloring this morning and finger painting this afternoon. I love doing little projects with him and look forward to all of the things we can do together as he gets older. That must be the teacher still buried inside of me! :) Ben starting to color his pictures this morning. Picking out some more crayons. This afternoon I had Ben try finger painting with pudding for the first time. I taped some paper to the table and put the pudding in a bowl. He put a little on his paper, but when I told him that it was pudding that he could eat, he really only wanted to put it in his mouth. Digging in the bowl for some more pudding. Yum! Someone likes his pudding! In this picture he looks like he's thinking, "Hmmm...I think I'll have some more of that." After it was all said and done this was all that ended up on his paper. I guess that's what happens when you give someone something delicious to paint with! :)

Ben laughing with my dad while they were looking at a book together this morning. This afternoon, while Ben had a snack, he asked my mom to show him some of the stuffed animals in the toy room. Here he is looking at an Arthur doll. He kept pointing to animals over and over for her to get down, so that he could look at them. Later in the day we headed to a campground where my sister and her family were staying. We were having a birthday party for my nephew Caleb. Their campsite was right across from the playground, so Ben enjoyed playing over there with his cousins. Emma and Mya gave Ben a little ball to throw around. They would chase after it and bring it back to him so that he could throw it over and over again. Does anyone have a washcloth? Ben got a little messy eating his hotdog dipped in ketchup. Caleb opening one of his presents. I wonder if he likes it? :) Ben and his Uncle Matt hanging out together. Ben playing with his Uncle Joe. Ben had a little toy in his hand that he kep...

This weekend we are visiting my family in Grand Rapids. We added an extra day to our trip, so that we could have time to visit the beach. Going to the beach is my favorite part of summer and this was my first visit to the beach this year! All week the weather said rain, but it ended up being a perfect day. It was sunny and 75 out at the beach. It was a perfect place to spend the morning! The pier at the Grand Haven beach. Curt and Ben heading out to the water. Ben and daddy getting ready to play in the water. Ben didn't like the cold water at first. After a while, he would stand there and let the waves roll over his feet. Curt helping Ben build some things out of the sand. Putting some sand in his bucket. A family picture with Ben ignoring the camera...of course. :) After the beach, we headed to the Dairy Treat for some ice cream. Ben had fun eating his first ice cream cone and making a big mess!

Adzook's Puppets was at the library today as part of the summer reading program for kids. I took Ben and we met Patty and Olivia there too. Ben really seemed to like the puppets and got excited whenever we needed to do some clapping. The people leading the show used all kinds of things to make their puppets. They were trying to show the kids that if they use their imaginations they can use different household things to put on a puppet show. They used many volunteers from the audience. In this picture, the kids are using worm puppets that hung from sticks. Here they are with "The Strongest Puppet in the World." The kids helped him lift a barbell. After the puppets, we went out for lunch at Culver's with Patty and Olivia. Ben wasn't very interested in eating his hamburger...he had a much better time playing with our table number!

Curt and I went out for a date tonight! We had dinner at Cork 'n Cleaver. I had never been there before and Curt has just gone for lunch. We had a gift certificate that was about to expire and we didn't want to waste it. We both had the prime rib and it was delicious. We also shared a yummy black tie mousse cake for dessert. The menu is written on a meat cleaver, which I thought deserved a blog picture. You can check it out below. Overall, we had a great time getting out by ourselves!

My brother Joe picked up his new dog today in Indiana. He stopped by our house on the way home, so that we could meet Surge. I think he is just over a year old. Joe said that Surge is very friendly and did a great job riding in the jeep to our house. Hopefully, he does a good job the rest of the way home. Surge enjoying a little drink before he needed to get back into the jeep. Joe trying to get Surge to pose so that I could get a picture of his cute face. Ben was really excited to pet Surge. He kept reaching out his hand. He got a little nervous though, if Surge made any sudden movements. It's surprising to me that we haven't found an animal yet that Ben doesn't like. Even bigger dogs don't seem to worry him that much. It was nice to see my brother, even if it was just for a quick stop. We hope Surge loves his new home!

Curt and I took Ben on a quick trip to the park this morning. It was pretty busy. It looked like there was a birthday party set up, so there were lots of people around for that. Ben had fun playing around, but didn't seem interested in staying too long. We were getting hungry for lunch, so that was fine with us! :) Ben playing with the parachute guys with Curt. Sitting in the mouth of the lion. Going down a really big slide! Getting off the slide at the bottom. Swinging with mommy.