Train Table Bullies

Warning: This got long because I am still fired up about it!

Today Laudan and I took the kids to Belk to do some shopping. We promised them that when we were finished we would take them to Barnes and Noble to play with the train table.

When we walked in there were 2 sets of siblings playing with the trains. One set had one train each and the other set had 6 trains each. The mom of the kids that only had 1 train was right there with them. The mom of the bully kids was sitting about 10 feet away reading a book.

Ben and John Henry hung back for a few minutes b/c they were being shy, but it really didn't matter b/c the bully brother and sister wouldn't have shared anyway. Laudan found one train and gave it to Ben. Then the bully sister left and left her train. The other mom and I started grabbing trains to give to our kids. We knew we had to act fast!

The whole time we were there, the little boy had all the trains and would pick up and hold anymore that he saw. I was so angry about it b/c Ben and John Henry only had 1 each, but what can you do? The mom was right there and never did anything besides say, "Share Scott" from her seat. Thanks. That was helpful.

I'll spare you more details, but finally the kids were ready to go (well, we were ready for them to go). Ben and Bec Bec were off looking at books, and I said to John Henry, "Ok, we are about to go to Monnie's." Bully Scott SNATCHED Thomas out of John Henry's hand and said, "He has to leave that; he can't take it with him." So, I replied, "I know. He wasn't going to take it. We have LOTS of Thomases at home, and he doesn't want that one." (mature, I know, but I was mad at a 4 year old) I told the little boy that John Henry could have that one back b/c we were going to stay a few more minutes. (Really, I just didn't want him to have it.) He gave it back, but in the meantime John Henry found another Thomas and picked it up. When Bully Scott saw that John Henry had 2 Thomases, he snatched 1 away and said, "He can only have 1." It took everything I had not to snatch all his trains away (he had 8 at this point) say, "Listen here you little *&@#, you don't snatch toys from MY child, or you will have to deal with me!" But I didn't because his mom would have heard because I would never speak to a child like that.

So the moral of the story is: Don't let you child be a train table bully! If your child has 99% of the trains, chances are all the other parents are looking at each other like you are the worst parent in the world.

I'm getting mad just thinking about it again!!

Here are some pictures of Ben and John Henry playing. The bully isn't pictured in order to protect the guilty. :)

In need of a haircut

This post is to show Schenaye the pics I took today. We are trying to get our pictures to look like http://flythroughmywindow.blogspot.com/. Obviously I have a long way to go.

But before the pics, I would like to document the fact that John Henry was asleep at 8:25, and it only took 10 min to get him to sleep. Of course, he didn't nap today, but that isn't important now. It definitely was this afternoon though. I thought I was going to go nuts listening to a tired, whiny kid. :)

Ok Schenaye, these are my pics. I don't know how she gets her background so blurry. My camera will only go to a 3.8 F-stop. She said she sets hers to 2.something. (I really sound like I know what I am talking about, don't I. :) )

Bathroom Humor

John Henry was playing with the slinky dog today. I walked in and he was pushing the back of the dog down. He said, "Wook Mama. (he's on a mama kick for the past few days.) Dog tee tee again!" Nice.

Now he just told me that the dog went poo poo. Great!

More Beach Pictures

John Henry wanted to hold Brant. He would pat his lap and say, "Sit Bobby (Baby). Sit!"

All 4 of the Apel kids. Tucker was acting silly. :)

Another pic of the kids!

Safari in the JC Penney parking lot!

Today Emily and I took the kids to a random group of animals in the JC Penney, Belk, and Books A Million parking lot. It was fun, but so strange! They say they have a wildlife preserve in Florida, but somehow I doubt that. I would think people who are really concerned about the welfare of animals wouldn't put a tiger in a 5x8 cage with one ball and a bowl of water to live his life, but whatever. The carnies, I mean Zoo Crew (I'd say the average # of teeth per mouth was 15), were very nice and they did let you take pictures of all the animals with your own camera and general admission was free. Emily and I were cracking up b/c we felt like we were at the fair. If you've ever been the to Cullman County Fair, that is saying a lot! I wanted to dress John Henry in a safari themed outfit, but I thought that might be taking it a little too far for the Belk Parking lot. They had a baby tiger, baby lion, baby kangaroo, lemurs, goats, some kind of strange mini-cow, llamas, camel, ponies, donkeys passed off as a ponies, a black leopard, and a white tiger.

The first thing we did was have the kids take a picture with a baby tiger. It was really cute! It cost $12, but b/c Emily and I are so thrify, I brought the pic home to scan and print so we only had to pay once. John Henry and Ava really weren't about the tiger. John Henry just thought it

was a cat. I'll scan the real pic later. It is funny!

Here is the big tiger. We were only like 3 ft away from it. His teeth were huge! The cage seemed secure, but it was a little to close for comfort for me. I was mentally planning my escape route to my car in case it got out.

I got a picture of Ava riding the pony. John Weston was across from her. His pony was a donkey, but the kids didn't know that! :)

We did pay $1 per person to go in the back (a tent with flap that came to the floor) and see the "rare white tiger and majestic black leopard." They stunk, literally.

John Henry, Ava, and John Weston in front of the white tiger. I am pretty sure that is tiger pee that John Henry is standing in. The kids were more impressed with the big fan. :)

This picture cracks me up. Look at that camel in front of those stores! His name was Scooter. We got to watch some kids ride Scooter. John Weston and Ava really wanted ride it, but Emily decided it would be best to wait on Patrick to ride with them. That camel is pretty tall! The workers cleaned up after all the animals as soon as they used the bathroom, so it was a pretty clean place.

Sissy hugging John Henry!

After the safari, we went to Sweet Peppers Deli to eat. We saw lots of students we taught and our kids acted like nuts while we talked to everyone! It was really fun though, and it's not everyday you get to see a kangaroo in Cullman!

John Henry's Favorite Pastime

John Henry loves to cut the grass like Daddy. For a while he was super-obsessed (he wanted to cut the grass rather than go to the pool one day), but he's mellowed out about it some. He does say, "Cut grass. Daddy cut grass" like 100 times a day. I think he thinks it's his job or something. He calls it his "awn more." I think he dreamed that I took it away the other night b/c he woke up screaming for it and saying, "No Mommy! No!"

Memorial Day Weekend

We went to Pop and Ri's this weekend with Hank, Julie, and the kids for Memorial Day weekend. We left Friday b/c I couldn't get all my stuff together for Thursday and we had to come home a day early for Kurt to work, but we still had fun! It rained most of the time, but we got to go to the pool one day and the beach one day. Julie has some good pics of Kurt and John Henry in the pool that I will try to get, but here are the ones of the beach. John Henry LOVES the sand. He thought it was snow at first. :) He dug and played in the water. He wasn't scared at all!

Jumping in the ocean. He and Tucker threw the football to each other for a long time. John Henry mainly wanted to throw it in the water and run to get it.

He looks so big in this picture!

Cute little Brant sleeping under the tent on the beach. The pics of all the kids are on my other camera. I'll add those later.

More Backyard Pictures

Here are the flowers that Kurt planted for me on Mother's Day! I love hydrangeas. We have a total of 17. I think our neighbors think we are crazy.

Check out John Henry's new shoes. He loves them. Me, not so much. He insisted on wearing them with a cute jon jon on Saturday and his pajamas tonight. He screamed when I made him take them off before bed.

Smoke is home for another day. She has been home for 2 weeks, and she is a lot better than she was before. She doesn't jump as much and she has only destroyed one fern since she has been home. John Henry loves her and has started calling her "Big Smoke" or "Smoke Smoke." :)

(There are 2 more new posts under this one.)

Backyard Fun!

We finally got the swingset up that we bought with his birthday money (thank you Pop & Ri, Bapel, and John and Marie!). He loves it!

Laudan, Ben and Bec Bec came up on Monday to cheer me up with Starbucks and Rumor's. It was so sweet, and the kids had so much fun playing together. Laudan had chips that she wouldn't let Ben have until he ate his sandwich. John Henry kept asking her for chips, and when she would give one to John Henry he would say, "Ben more chip?" and get Laudan to give him an extra to take to Ben. It was so funny and cute!

Ben loved the swingset and slide!

Someone wasn't so brave when it came to sliding!

John Henry's Easter Pictures

I went to get John Henry's pictures taken with Beth b/c she has a bunny, "Rabbit Daniel." Bridgette got the cutest pictures done of Rex there last year with Rabbit Daniel, a sheep, and chicks. It was just the bunny this year, and I forgot John Henry's Easter Basket and eggs. Oh well, John Henry still thought the bunny was the greatest thing ever! And the pictures turned out cute!

http://www.bethdanielphotography.com/

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Password: apel

First Post

I'm copying Laudan and starting a blog to keep up with everything John Henry is doing. So many times he does something cute, and I intend to write it down and, of course, never do. Hopefully I will be better about it if I have this blog!





I've been really bad about taking pictures lately b/c I lost my big camera charger. This picture was about a month ago, but it is so funny I had to put it in. John Henry always begs for us to put Bailey in the bath with him, so Kurt finally did. Now when he gets in the bath, he pats next to him and says, "Bailey sit." Bailey was less than thrilled about the whole situation.