John's 4th Birthday Party

John was blessed to have many family and friends at his birthday party. We had pizza and homemade cutout "cars" cookies at Village Park. Although it was cooler than most August days, we were pleased that it wasn't rainy.

The kids sat at the table to eat...at least for a few minutes

Emma Rae with her messy face, John opening presents

Tommy, John, Madison, Emma K

Bella and Grandma W, Drew

Great-Uncle Wes, John, Great-Aunt Arlys

Grandma-Great, Grandpa-Great, John, & Julie

John, Scott, Judy & Leon Thompson

Lauren and Blake Whitaker, John

Gpa & Gma W with the kids, Gpa VM & John

Alyssa & John, John & Grandma VM

Trying to get a picture of our family at the end of a long day proved to be challenging.

Stairs, Stairs, and More Stairs

John, Scott, and I joined Uncle Wes, Aunt Ginny, and several of my cousins on a climb up 319 stairs at Roche-A-Cri State Park in Wisconsin. We were rewarded with an incredible view. John climbed up the stairs all by himself (near the front of the pack) and made it most of the way down on his own. Uncle Wes carried him the last bit.

Going down...(where's John?)

The Generation 4 Climbers: Dillan, John, Luke, Adam, Grace

Riding the Train

Getting a good picture of all of us proved to be a challenge.

Aunt Ginny, Adam, and Luke

Luke and John by the engine, John and Luke talking to each other

Grandma VM, Emma, and John trying to wait patiently.

Looking at the scenery go by

Waiting for the Train

Some of us took the younger kids on a small train ride near the Dells. We had a little bit of a wait for the train, which provided a great photo opportunity...even if the kids weren't 100% cooperative.

John, Luke, Adam, and Emma

Aaron and Emma

Bounce, Bounce, Bounce

Brad and Alyssa brought Drew's bounce house for the kids to play in, and it provided great fun for the youngsters. Emma wasn't too sure about it at first, but she gradually warmed up to it. John enjoyed it toward the end since he fell asleep late in the afternoon and slept through supper. It took awhile to get the cranky boy to have fun, and then it took even longer for him to go back to sleep for the night.

CARS Dominoes

John and Landon were entertained before supper on the first night of family vacation by playing CARS Dominoes. John played with Luke later in the week too.

Not Me Monday #2

Here's my second attempt at a "not me" Monday post. It'll be shorter than the last one.

Friday on the way home from my cousin Doug's funeral in Grand Rapids, I did not stop at Target to buy a new DVD player for the van. Since John broke the other one, I would not even think of buying another. He doesn't deserve it if he can't take care of the other one.

And when we stopped, we did not buy the one with two screens that have the option of playing one DVD or two different ones. That would be completely unnecessary.

I did not make the decision for us to get a hotel in Walcott because I was concerned about the weather. And I did not find out after checking into the hotel room that the storms had already passed.

On the way home from lunch today, I did not give in to Emma's insistent "uh...uh" and pointing at the DVD player. I did not play a movie for her...or John...on the 10 minute drive home. Ridiculous.

Finally, I did not just finish posting pictures from the Fourth of July to my blog. You would not find those blogs by scrolling down or looking to the July blogs. It's July 26 (almost 27) for goodness sake. I'm not that far behind!

Not Me Monday

Okay, so I've read about "not me" Mondays on a few other blogs that I've come across and decided that after our camping experience in Kansas City last week, I needed to take a shot at it. (You can check out the founder of "not me" Mondays here.) Well, here we go...

Last week, I did not leave for Kansas City only two hours after another crazy Sunday morning. I did not go there for 3 days in a camper only a week before VBS. And I didn't go those three days without checking my e-mails, Facebook, or blogs. That's absurd!

On Tuesday, we went to Science City in Union Station downtown Kansas City. I did not go out in public with Emma's hair falling in front of her face because she needs a haircut. I did not let her win the battle of putting a ponytail in her hair. No way!

I did not forget to make John go to the bathroom before leaving the camper. And I DEFINITELY did not let him go in front of the truck in a parking garage. That's disgusting!

I did not watch my one-year-old daughter fall face first (leaving a bruise on her cheek) while I was trying to take a picture of her and John. Nope, not me.

I did not wait until 1:30 to feed my kids lunch because Science City was so fun. That's borderline child abuse!

For lunch, I did not feed Emma lunch even though the front of her shirt was messy with something mysterious and her breath smelled like vomit. I was not completely entranced by the train delivering meals from a track around the restaurant at Fritz's, and I did not almost miss Emma choking on a piece of cheeseburger. Couldn't be.

I did not pick Emma up out of the high chair to discover that she was completely soaking wet. And my shirt was not wet either. Surely we had not let her diaper go unchanged for the last 3 1/2 hours. Nope, not me. I did not leave the "back-up" outfit in the truck. I did not decide to leave my daughter in only her dirty, stinky tank top and diaper. That would make us look like white trash.

Emma fell asleep in the stroller with Scott pushing her around while John and I explored. Her pacifier did not fall out on the bridge where Scott took her to watch trains. I did not not discover the missing pacifier until 45 minutes later and decide to go searching for it. I did not decide to skip the laser show to find the pacifier. I did not pick it up off the middle of the train bridge. That's so unsanitary. I absolutely did not wash it off with soap and water...three times...and stick it back in Emma's mouth because I wanted her to fall back to sleep.

After leaving Science City and driving in rush hour traffic to visit our friends the Meyers, I did not let my daughter walk in their house with a bruised face in only a tank top and diaper even though they haven't seen her for a year.

I did not let my children get away with eating next to nothing for supper.

I did not hear John hit his head HARD on a doorknob and he did not only whimper a little bit. He did not instantly have a knot the size of my large knuckle on the side of his head. And I did not calmly hold ice to his head for a only a few minutes before letting him go play again.

I did not let my son stay awake playing A LOT and watching tv while the adults visited and played game. I did not head back for the camper at 1:30 AM on Wednesday.

I did not let Emma watch a Praise Baby DVD in our bed for an hour because she wouldn't sleep. I definitely didn't give her tylenol to help her sleep only to realize that she was probably crying because she was hungry (after eating next to nothing for supper). I did not crawl into bed and go to sleep at 4 AM after giving her a couple toys, sippy cup, and a snack container of mini nilla wafers in her pack n play. And SHE did not eat all but 6 of the cookies in bed. No way. Not me and not my kid!

On our journey back from KC, we did not stop 5+ times.

When we got back, I did not kiss my daughter and go back to unpacking the camper after she landed headfirst on the landscaping blocks, leaving a nice bruise on her forehead. Not me.

Okay, I think that's enough "not me"s for today. I hope to read about some things that you did not do soon. I hope this provided a good laugh for all of you.

Warning: DART buses

On the way to visit Grandma VM at Lake Red Rock this evening, John called her from my cell phone.

This isn't Jules, Grandma. I'm John. We're on our way.

Do you see that bus, Grandma? It's going in front of that van.

Me: That's a DART city bus, John.

It's a DART city bus. With a horn on it. It's DANGEROUS!

Don't step near it.

***After all the pedestrian vs. DART bus accidents of late, I think that sounds like a good warning. Funny that it's coming from an almost-4-year-old.

Science City

music fun

This is where I tried to get a picture of the kids together, but Emma fell.

Scott and John climbing the spiral staircase, Emma playing peek-a-boo through a tunnel.

slides through pipes

model trains

bubbles from a fire hydrant

flying a helicopter