Weekend Recap: Eggs & Baseballs

Happy Monday!  Not only did we have a great weekend, we also had a great week.  Ben is LOVING being outside, and aside from the SNOW we had today, we've had some pretty gorgeous weather.  We've even been using getting to go outside/on a walk as an incentive to get Ben to eat, and it has worked SO well.  Between spending time outside and playing with his new HOOP, we can get Ben to do a lot of things.  This might be a long post, but I have so many pictures it was hard to narrow down my choices.  I'm going to try and briefly summarize our week.  It was off to a great start when Ben had another fantastic day at school.  There were minimal tears at drop off and the teachers had glowing reports.  Of course, we praised him like crazy and told him that we were so proud of him.  The other day, I had this crazy idea of taking Ben to Chuck-E-Cheese, so we decided to celebrate Ben's great day at school with a trip to see the mouse.  (Because I'm sure he linked the 2 events...)  Andy and I hadn't been there since we were kids, and it is quite different these days.  While the restaurant itself appeared clean and nice, the longer we were there, the less comfortable I felt.  There were not a lot of people there, but the few kids that were there were brats!  We didn't stray far from our table, but Andy caught a girl, approximately 10 years old, going through our stuff.  It was just the diaper bag so there wasn't much to take, but still.  I think she even took some of the few tickets we had.  Then, Andy saw 2 guys looking through the windows of my car.  Like, face up to the glass looking (snooping.)  What the heck?!  Since it was hard to watch Ben, the diaper bag, our table, and our car at the same time, we decided it was time to go.  Ben had a blast, but I don't think we'll be back until Ben is actually old enough to ask (BEG) us to go there.   Although I was questioning my "great idea," I loved seeing how excited Ben was when he saw a new game and I couldn't get enough of him screaming "hoop!!" and asking for "more money!" over and over again.

Ben has been snotty, junky sounding, etc for the past few weeks, and when he woke up saying that his ear hurt the other day, I thought it was time to take him to the pediatrician.  His symptoms haven't really slowed him down, but he just hasn't been getting better.  He did not have an ear infection, but he was started on amoxicillin because of the duration of his symptoms.  He doesn't love taking his medicine, but when given the choices of taking his medicine or having his beloved hoop disappear, he typically sucks it down pretty painlessly.  I was a little hesitant to buy him a basketball for no real reason, but I'm so glad we did.  He is obsessed.  When we aren't taking walks or playing at the park, Ben is shooting hoops.

With weather in the 50s-60s, it was hard to abide by Ben's 7:30 bedtime.  We were out there as much as possible, soaking up the warm weather and daylight!  I love that is is light out when I get home from work these days.

Another one of Ben's favorite things lately is our new bird feeder.  He is simply amazed that birds can fly, which is pretty cool if you stop to think about it.  :)  I think we've had more squirrels than birds thus far, but luckily Ben isn't picky.

Alright, on to the weekend!  We convinced some friends to join us at our Friday night lenten restaurant of choice--all you can eat pizza and salads!  I'm pretty sure I could survive off of these foods.   We had our typical Saturday morning music class before it was time to dye eggs.  (Ben was such an angel at music class.  He is getting to be so independent and doesn't cling to me as much as he used to.  I'm such a proud momma.  Ridiculously proud!)  The EGGS--where to I begin?!  This ties back to my theory that kids make holidays infinitely more fun.  We had SO MUCH FUN.  I took a million pictures because I want to remember how excited and proud (and bossy) he was forever!

I don't know where he was getting these faces and poses from, but I loved each and every one of them. We should have made another dozen; he was loving the "eggs! eggs! eggs!" so much.   It was a surprisingly clean process and he only threw one of the eggs like a basketball.

I think the final products are pretty darn pretty.  Well, they were pretty until Ben got his paws on them and made them "FALL!  Uh oh."

In case the pictures weren't enough.  ;)  (Pretend he doesn't get super angry at the end of this video. ;) )

As if that wasn't enough excitement for me in one day, I went to a casino night fundraiser with some of my co-workers.  I really don't gamble so I didn't know what I was doing, but it turned out to be really fun.  My friend Maya and I were the newbies at a table, so we weren't quite as blown away when Maya had 4 Aces while playing Blackjack.  The whole table was going crazy though, so I thought I better take a picture.  :)  We seriously had a blast though and we even went out afterwards.  I didn't get home until after midnight!  I seriously cannot remember the last time I was out that late.  Believe it or not, Ben was still up with the birds on Sunday morning.  Being the awesome boys that they are, Ben and super daddy kept busy making pancakes and playing with his HOOP! until it was time for church.

Although we were hoping for some awesome tailgating weather, we still had fun eating on/in the car before the Brewers' game on Sunday afternoon.  Some friends organized a group trip, and although we were nervous Ben wouldn't last too long, we stayed the entire game!

The keyword is "stayed" the entire game, not "watched" the entire game.  Ben and I spent the majority of the game in the kids play area.  I didn't even know this existed, but thankfully it was right near our seats!  It was photo op after photo op after photo op.  Ben only made in about 1.5 innings the last time we attempted a game, so we were pretty excited that we were able to stay the whole 9 innings!  And the Brewers even won their 8th consecutive game. 

And last, but certainly not least, Uncle Joe and Auntie Anna came to visit on Sunday night.  He loves them both so much!  He also loved that they were vying for his attention.  We have been talking about doing "Sibling Sunday" dinners for a long while now, but now that it is actually nice out, we have more motivation to entertain.  

And it's now Tuesday as I wrap up this lengthy post.  Oop!  Ben is on Spring Break (hah!) so no school this week or next week.  Looking forward to celebrating Easter this weekend!!