Emma K's Birthday Party

After the Flip Flop Crop, I stopped in Pella to help Scott set up for a DJ gig. Then I rushed back to pick up the kids from Mom's house. Emma was still sleeping, so I ended up just taking John to Emma Kritenbrink's birthday party at the park. I like the idea of having a kids' party at the park. No games needed, and the parents can still visit with each other.

Tommy, Emma, Madison, and John cooling off with juice boxes.

Their first double date?

John and the birthday girl, Emma K

Flip Flop Crop #2

I had an AWESOME time at the second Flip Flop Crop at the lake. Alyssa and her mother-in-law Terri hosted a great weekend of food, prizes, fellowship, and most importantly, time to scrapbook! I completed about 8 pages in our Christmas album, and if I remember correctly, 17 pages in Emma's baby album. Below are some of my favorites from Emma's album:

Alyssa had finished A LOT of pages earlier in the week. She didn't get as much done during the Flip Flop Crop, but her creative pages were AMAZING!

Aunt Arlys working hard

A few of my favorite pages:

Food table:

Sick Days for SAHMs

Why can't a SAHM have a sick day? I think that should be in a contract somewhere. I was sick a few weeks ago and basically locked myself in the bathroom until Scott came home. Fortunately, it didn't hit until around lunchtime and Scott came home from school earlier than usual to take care of the kids. However, when I walked out of the bathroom, this is what I was greeted with (and couldn't resist taking a quick picture of):

Memorial Day

Scott's parents were camping at Swan Lake near Carroll, IA, so we visited them for a few hours in the afternoon. Then we helped them pack up their camper and headed to Audubon to lay flowers on Scott's Grandpa and Grandma Wiederstein's gravesite. John fell asleep on the way to the cemetery, and he hasn't too excited when we woke him up. He did recognize his name on Grandpa John Wiederstein's headstone.



Isn't it neat that John was named after Scott's Grandpa Wiederstein AND Julie's Grandpa Van Manen? We love and miss Grandpa John W., Grandma Gladys W., Grandpa Evan Anderson, Grandma Helen Anderson, Grandpa John V.M., Grandma Leona V.M., Uncle Kenneth Wiederstein (Kendall's twin brother who died shortly after birth), and Uncle Donald Berry (Arlene's brother), but we are blessed to have Grandpa Case VanderHart, Grandma Rachel VanderHart, and our parents with us today. We love you!

Signs of Summer

John with Daddy - Don't they look great?!?
Cubs or Cardinals? - GO CUBS!

Iowa Cubs Baseball

Emma at the I-Cubs game

Playing in the fountain at Principal Park

Outside Principal Park

Playing Outside

Scraped-up Knees (Emma)

Scraped-up Knees (John)

GrillingFor more pictures from the Iowa Cubs game and dinner at Mom's house, please click here.

Fruit Snacks Please

John left the cupboards open, and Emma obviously knows where to find the fruit snacks. She was reaching up at them, and when I came in she kept signing please and pointing. FYI - the answer was no.

"Wii" Had Fun

After dinner and the horse race, we headed to Grandpa VM's house and played the Wii for awhile.

Scott and Matt boxing

They knocked each other down at the same time...Jackie and I had done the same thing. That was pretty cool to watch on the replay.

Emma's giving Matt pointers on his golf game.

Peek-a-boo!

Our First Horse Race

After dinner at the Triple Crown Buffet (at Prairie Meadows), we went out to watch the horses. Our timing was good...we only had to wait a few minutes to see a race. Number 6 was the winner.

Aunt Jackie, Emma, Uncle Matt, John, Grandpa VM, Scott

Getting into the starting gates

Just about to the finish line

The winner

John's First Golf Outing

Grandpa Van Manen and Uncle Matt took John with them for their golf outing at Copper Creek. John had a lot of fun, even though it was a warm day. John took the last two pictures.

Front Yard Fun

Emma's watching John here. Her hands crack me up! John looked like he was conducting.

John's been getting the hang of riding his scooter.

When John's not looking, Emma starts to play with his car. (This is the 4th summer he's played with that car. He's VERY attached to it. I love when $1 garage sale finds turn into 4 summers of fun, but come on already!) Aunt Jackie wants Emma to get addicted to purses in addition to shoes. Here she is with my camera case.

John's been wanting to take pictures lately. He took this one of Emma and me...with Emma's hat on my head. I know...it's a good look. We're thinking of getting him a kids' digital camera for his birthday. Any suggestions on what kind?

Emma's been teething and MUCH fussier than usual. While playing outside, she decided to throw a fit. This is what it looked like.

Here's another picture John took as Grandma and Uncle Matt pulled up to visit.

Park Fun with the Gaskills

Alyssa had the day off, so she and Drew came to Pleasant Hill for fun at the park with us. Click here to see Alyssa's blog entry on our fun times. Here are a few of the pictures I took:

Drew and Emma had more fun climbing the stairs. Drew kept crawling, which shocked Alyssa. We think he wasn't too sure about seeing the ground through the flooring of the equipment. Emma held on VERY tightly to the rails as she walked/crawled up. Oh, and this picture HAD to be posted since it's the only one I had of Alyssa. Sorry babe!
Drew and Emma went in the baby swing together. It was a little tighter squeeze this year. Click here to see the pictures we took of them in a swing together last summer. Notice that this didn't require blankets between them this time.