Ben and I had a fun morning at Erin and Will's house. Rebekah came too with Tiana, Isaiah, and Amarah. The kids had fun playing together in the backyard while the adults got to chat. Erin had the pool set up and after it warmed up all of the kids wanted to put on their swimsuits. Ben even went down the pool slide a few times which really surprised me. He seems to be braver when there are other kids around. Isaiah, Will, Ben and Tiana playing in the sandbox. Ben trying to play horse shoes. The kids all had fun playing in Will's pool. Ben relaxing with an apple while Tiana strums some music. :)

We saw Toy Story 3 this afternoon. It was Ben's first time at a movie theatre and he was very excited! We've been talking about going there for the past week. The movie was great and Ben did really well sitting through the whole thing. Since there were about a million previews at the beginning, I thought he might get bored before the movie was over. But, Ben loves Buzz and Woody and they were able to keep his attention the whole time. Ben and Curt enjoying some popcorn before the movie started. Ben was too busy eating his popcorn to pose for a picture with me. :) Ben even brought his Buzz Lightyear along to watch the movie with us.

Today is Curt's 31st birthday! He took the day off of work and we have lots of fun things planned for the day. He played golf this morning and we are going to see Toy Story 3 after Ben's nap. We were going to eat cake after dinner, but decided to have some after Curt got back from golfing. It was a new recipe and tasted so good! Right now Curt and Ben are trying out his new Wii Mario Kart game. Well...I gotta get back to the birthday celebration! :) Ben helping Curt open one of his presents. A new Tiger's hat. His old one is pretty dirty. More help from Ben. This is the cake I made. It is called Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. You can find the recipe if you click HERE . I'm sure it has a million calories, but it was worth it! Ben sang "Happy Birthday" to Curt so sweetly right before I took this picture. Ben and Curt playing Mario Kart.

Curt, Ben, and I spent a sticky Sunday afternoon at the ballpark. We had tickets to see the Fort Wayne TinCaps . Last summer we went to three games together, so we thought we should try to fit at least one in this summer. The whole drive there it was pouring rain. I was a little worried that we would spend the game in the rain, or not be able to attend at all. Thankfully, it cleared up while we were parking. Then, it got really hot and humid out. Ben was already dripping sweat before the game even started! The wind picked up during the game and that really helped cool us off. We left when the 7th inning started with black clouds rolling in. As we drove home it was pouring rain again, so I guess we left just in the nick of time. We got lawn tickets, which we love, because Ben can move around and we can all stretch out our legs. A family photo before the game started. It was hard to get everyone looking at the camera. :) The game getting started. This is Ben's head at the start ...

"Snakehead Ed" was at the library this morning as part of the summer reading program. I took Ben to see the snakes and we even ran into a few friends while we were there. In order to get ready for our snake adventure, we read Verdi before we left for the library. I love this book! It's a fun story about a little python who does not want to grow up, turn green, and be slow like the older pythons. He wants to stay young so he can jump and fly through the sky. One of the first snakes we saw. Ben clapping for one of the snakes. At one point he was even able to touch one. He wasn't nervous about it at all. Erin and Will came to see the snakes too! Rebekah & her kids (Tiana, Isaiah, and Amarah) sat with us too, but I just got one picture of Isaiah. He had a python that looked just like Verdi. It was fun to see a snake that resembled the one in the book we had just read this morning. The last snake we saw was a boa constrictor. It was pretty big! Ed did a lot of...

After a little shopping, Ben had fun playing at the mall this morning. Ben was so proud of himself because this was the first time he was able to climb on the top & slide down without any help. Being silly I let him pick one thing to ride on and he picked the ice cream truck. It's one of his favorites. He took his "Buddy" along for a ride too. :)

Over the last few days we traveled to Grand Rapids and Lansing to spend some time with family and friends. On Friday, Curt went golfing with his friend Derek and brother-in-law Tim in Lansing. Then, Curt and Derek drove to Detroit to see a Tigers game. Ben and I spent that day with my family. It got very humid by the afternoon. It was nice to be able to cool off in the pool. Ben wasn't brave enough to try swimming, but he enjoyed floating in a little boat. Saturday morning we headed to Lansing to celebrate Curt's birthday and Father's day with his family. Ben was very excited to see even more cousins! We were pretty tired when we got home on Sunday, but it was worth it in order to visit with everyone. :) Ben, Jacob, and Bella enjoying the pool on Friday. Mya had fun in the pool with us too! Molly and Ben  (Ben's face looks like he's saying, "Huh?" which seems to be his favorite word lately.) Saturday in Lansing was also a hot day. The kids had fun coo...

This morning, Ben and I went over to my friend Bekah's house. Ben was very excited to play with Tiana, Isaiah, and Amarah. We had a very nice visit and a yummy lunch. Ben fell asleep right after we pulled out of the driveway. Thankfully I was able to get him to lay down for a nap...unlike yesterday. Isaiah showed Ben his cool car track. Tiana took lots of pictures and showed me the different things her camera can do. At one point, she took a picture of me and turned my head into a crazy shape! Ben had a chocolate cupcake for dessert and thought he messy face needed to be documented. :)

Today Ben and I went out to lunch with Curt. Ben was really craving some "daddy time" and all morning he kept saying, "Let's get going mom!" He was happy to sit right by daddy and eat his chicken nuggets. When we were driving home, he fell asleep in the car for a few minutes. I've never had a problem with him not laying down for his nap if he fell asleep in the car, but today he just wouldn't settle down for a rest. I knew that Olivia the pig would be at the library at 2:00 today, so I decided to head there with Ben. He loves to watch Olivia on TV and he was very excited to meet her. After visiting with Olivia, we checked out a few books and headed home. I'm glad he got to meet her, but hopefully this won't be the first of many napless days! Squeezing close to daddy. Showing me the little clock he got in his happy meal. All of the kids were very excited to see Olivia. The room was packed! Olivia sat in a chair and said hi to the kids. Then, s...