I met some friends this morning at Grabill Park. I haven't been there before, but overall I thought it was a nice little park. The toys are geared for younger kids, so I was able to let Ben run around and climb on things without too much fear of him getting hurt. It was extremely windy which made it feel pretty cold there. We were going to eat a picnic lunch there too, but as it got closer to noon, Ben and I were pretty frozen. I decided it would be best to head home to thaw out. When we got home, I put a blanket on the living room floor and we had a picnic inside the house. Ben thought that was pretty fun! Going down one of the smaller slides at the park. Riding on a turtle. Will rode on the ducky. Ben and Will talking by the train. Ben's friends Tiana and Isaiah gave him a ride on the merry-go-round. Bekah gave everyone a big push. I think Amarah looks like she is having a great time! Ben loved playing on the train. It reminded me of Little Poof at the zoo.

Yesterday morning, I watched Evan for a little while, so Glenda could get some things done for their move next week. Ben had so much fun playing with Evan. They spent most of the morning playing with cars...a favorite activity for Ben. Usually Ben wants me to play cars too, but I didn't even get asked. It seems that Evan is way more fun to play with than mom! :) Ben and Evan playing on the car track. They also enjoyed playing with Ben's Handy Manny toys.

We had Ben's Lil' Sluggers baseball class again this morning. It is every Monday for eight weeks. I was able to snap a couple pictures of him practicing his hitting. They turned out a little blurry...my camera is not the best. :) He's been learning about hitting, throwing, catching, and running the bases. Getting ready to hit the ball. SWING!

This morning, I took Ben to his second class at Country Kitchen SweetArt. It was called Digging for Dinosaurs . He made a "Land of the Dinosaurs" cupcake, a chocolate dinosaur sucker, and crispy dinosaur bone (made from a rice krispie treat and melted chocolate). He had such a fun time making his treats! We even stopped over at Curt's work (because it's right around the corner) and Ben shared a treat with daddy. Ben putting the tree on his cupcake. His favorite part was the volcano with "hot lava." The finished cupcake with one of the molded chocolate dinosaurs. Ben showing me the other chocolate dinosaur he made today. We had such a fun time. We'll definitely have to go back for more classes!

Last night, I had the opportunity to go to the Carrie Underwood concert at the Coliseum with some friends. It was so fun to have a girl's night out! I have not been to a concert in a really long time. When we arrived, we even got to get closer tickets because the show had not sold out! I thought Carrie did a great job performing and the show was really fun to watch. The best part of all was spending time with some wonderful friends! The four of us: Amy, myself, Erin, and Rebekah. When the show started, Carrie came up from under the stage on this couch. Her first, of many, wardrobe changes during the night. She sang a song on a swing way up high on the stage. It was really cool! I couldn't believe it when she came out singing in this truck way up in the air. It moved around in a semi-circle from one side of the Coliseum to the other. That is some serious engineering!

I was in the mood for some shopping today, so we headed to the mall. Ben did really well while I looked through several stores. He brought a couple cars along and that kept him busy. I was able to find him some good deals at Children's Place on summer clothes...yay! After all the shopping, I let Ben run around the play area. He had fun playing with the other kids. Then he asked if he could ride on the boat. I dug in my wallet for some change and away he went! I also let him ride on the ice cream truck...the picture turned out a little blurry. He loves pushing the buttons for the horn and music on this ride. Last, but not least, we got some yummy lunch from Chick-fil-a. Shopping and food...what a great way to spend the morning!

In Ben's Easter basket, he received some new crayons. He was excited to get them out earlier this week and make some masterpieces. At first he wanted to try a white crayon, so I got out some black paper for him to use. Then, he added several more colors to his paper. Picking out a crayon while playing with a car at the came time...that's coordination! Coloring in his Handy Manny coloring book.

Since we attended church last night, we had a slow morning in our pajamas. I've been talking about Easter with Ben this week and I hope that when he is older he truly understands the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. He made a picture in his Sunday school class last night that said, "Jesus is Alive!" That really says it all...I'm so thankful for my Saviour. We had some fun surprises for Ben on the table when we came downstairs this morning. He was so excited to look at all of the stuff in his bucket. We also hid some eggs around the house last night. Ben enjoyed looking for them. I kept them in places that he could see really well, except for one that I hid in his bike seat. Surprisingly, he found that one right away! Ben's Easter bucket and an extra present that wouldn't fit inside. He immediately dumped the bucket over and started collecting all the treats that fell on the floor. His bigger present was the Octane Gain truck/car/tire changer...

Yesterday, Ben and I met our friends Erin and Will at the park. It was our first trip to the park this year. It was warm out and very windy. The park was completely packed...there were kids everywhere! I parked farther away than I ever have before. Ben wore me out running all over the place. I'm sure we'll be back at the park many more times during the spring and summer. Ben and Will playing by the Jeep.