Grandpa Gary's Birthday

We are staying across the street from the church at the Hartsock Mission house.

Grandma Deb is giving Ben a bite of Grandpa Gary's birthday cupcake.
Another bite!
Here is a funky tree in Beverly Hills.
Time to check out the tree.
Mmm...that birthday cupcake is yummy!

Spring Break Trip to LA

Grandpa Gary has an amazing view from his office at church. Here is the Scientology Celebrity Center. He can also see most of the "HOLLYWOOD" sign up in the hills.
Here are beautiful gardens on the church campus.

Granny and Gramps

Ben loves Gramps' truck. As soon as Gramps got out of the truck, Ben wanted his hat! I guess I better look for a cowboy hat for Ben. I think Ben played in the truck for at least 15 minutes.
perfect
Ben is showing Gramps the finer points of playing "Tiger Woods." You have to have a bat and a hat. You have to have both hands on the bat and you may have to wear your hat backwards.
Ben hit the ball to Gramps. Here's the wind up....
....looks like this one is curve ball...

...folks, it's the bottom of the ninth, two on, two strikes, two outs, and it's a STEE-RIKE! Cards win, Cards win!!!! Gran and Ben having a catch.
Ben wanted to trade bats and turn the hats backwards.

another perfect

Gran just hit a stand up double.
This hit went all the way across the driveway!
Ben telling me he's playing Tiger Woods with the tone, "Come on mom, you KNOW what we're playing!"
Gran is loving playing with Ben.
Ben hit a foul ball into the garden.

The drama of the day happened at nap time. I put him down around 12:20 for his nap. It took him awhile to fall asleep. By 1:30 I heard him and was bummed! I peeked in on him and he was standing up in the pack and play in a puddle of children's motrin! He had somehow reached the diaper bag that was on the other side of the bag, unzipped it, got another smaller bag out, unzipped that bag, dumped everything out except for the motrin which he unskrewed and poured out everywhere. SIGH I got a little excited because I was afraid that he had swallowed some. While Gramps and I stripped him down and put him in the kitchen sink for a quick bath Gran called poison control (the number was on the bottle) all the while Ben is saying, "the bottle tastes good!" The good thing was that the bottle wasn't full (that's how he was able to open it---it's not child proof) and the lady said that if he had drank some, he would have fallen asleep :-) She also said that a child could drink the whole thing (4 oz.) and it not be dangerous because it's not that potent of medicine. The worst that could happen would be a tummy ache from the sugar. Wheww! Cleaning up the pack and play was the worst part! It's still sticky and has this sugary grape smell! I think it will be sticky for the rest of it's life. Ben did end up falling asleep around 2:40 and slept for an hour. That night I put him to bed by 7:30 and he slept soundly till 7am! That was a treat. I'm tellin' ya, life is NEVER boring with a Ben around.

Fun with family

Ben insisted on wearing his snake shirt that Granny and Gramps got Ben while they vacationed in Arizona. And, he always has on a ball cap. Grandma Jo bought Ben some Mickey Crocs for our California trip. He loves them.
Ben taking Bob the Builder on a wild ride in the shopping cart.
Andie and Jules Grandpa Curt and Auntie Auntie

Playing with Auntie Auntie

Ben and I went up to Springfield for the weekend while Jake finished up mid-terms before spring break. Ben and Auntie Auntie had tons of fun!

Alphabet time

We found some alphabet stickers and Ben put the ones he knew on his face. He had some help from dad recognizing the letters. He does know R, T, S, B, E, A, and O. I'm not sure how he knows them....I guess we're doing something right.
Jake would ask Ben, "Where's the A?" Then Ben would find it, Jake would put it right where Ben wanted it and then Ben and I would go look in the mirror. It was very fun.

Ben's new diet

Cranberry candles for dessert!

First snow, then T-shirt weather

Ben and his BIG GULP.
We just had snow a few days ago and now it's warm weather. Strange.
Diggin' in the dirt.

Tasting the dirt.

Snack Time

Ben doesn't like to sit at the table to eat unless it's breakfast time. Most of the time he wins :-) Today snack was in the laundry basket. Mmmm....bananas and a granola bar and apple juice.

More snow pics

I forgot some pictures on my camera. Before the snow fun ended, Ben needed a little help getting around. Jake really wore him out.
Taking a walk around the yard.
This really did it in for Ben. He did NOT like falling over---it really was an accident.