The Ladies McGurr

2009-09-06T19:34:00.007-04:00

Happy Gotcha Ya Day, Madeline!

We love you!

2009-08-13T17:10:00.012-04:00

The Ladies McGurr Love the Indiana McGurrs (and Their Super Awesome Slide!!!!)

I started this post weeks ago, but Blogger has not been cooperating with uploading the pictures. So, here is our fun weekend in Indiana finally!

It was Ella's big 2nd birthday party this weekend and a fun time was had by all. We loved seeing the Indiana McGurrs, chatting, hanging out, and doing all the fun things we usually do. I have to say, though, that the girls loved the super mega slide the best though.

I liked the slide too--it was hot and the kids splashed me a lot coming down. You can see my arm in a lot of the photos. I think my favorite thing was seeing Jeremy, Courtney, Aedan, and Ella and Mrs. Corbin's potato salad.

Bettie did not actually want to get wet. I'm not sure how that is supposed to work, but someone had to hold the one water shooter down while she came down the slide. I think she was ok with getting her body wet, but not her head.

Maddie, of course, could care less. She looks like she had a pretty wild ride here.

Maddie could also chill when she needed to come down from the slide high.

It was a really fun party and great to see everyone. Somehow I have no pictures of Ella, but she looked beautiful in a special birthday dress. Bettie loved the Mickey Mouse cake when she was not whining about being wet and Maddie loved the Indiana sweet corn!

We are trying to be more aware of good places to stop with the girls--picnic spots, playgrounds, or playlands. We've been meaning to write down places on our different regular trips to Cleveland, PA, and Indiana. For example, Lodi Outlet Mall has a really nice playground, but you might not think that would be a good place to stop.

Anyway, we have not written any of this down of course. We found a new place to stop this trip---the Warm Glow candle outlet. If you have spent some time with Bettie lately, you will know she has a candle problem. When we go to the dollar store, she wants a candle. When she can buy a special treat for doing something good, she wants a candle.

She has quite a collection now spread all over her room. It REALLY smells like Yankee Candle Co. in there. My favorite is a square candle that Aunt Sarah gave her (with no scent!) She has one that is so strong that it makes me want to faint just smelling it. We don't light any, of course, but she likes to just have them around.

We have joked that we should stop at the giant candle before, but we actually did this time on the way back. You can get a drink, some ice cream or a little something to eat, and walk carefully through the store (lots of breakables). There were tons of candles for Bettie and pumpkins for Maddie to look at.

It takes her forever to pick out a candle. She wants to smell every possible one. I've spent more time in Wal*Mart and the dollar store sniffing and discussing candles that I care to admit.

Maddie thought the place was pretty fun, but it was not a pumpkin outlet.

Here is a pic of Bettie in her element. I think she thinks she is going to be on America's Next Top Model or something. She got a candle (of course!) and a butterfly lollipop. That is a big score for her. Maddie does not look as pleased with her choice.

2009-08-04T18:59:00.011-04:00

The Ladies Love Their New House (but Might Love the Splash Zone More)!

We have been very busy lately, moving, visiting, being visited, and being obsessed with Peter Pan (Bettie) and Veggie Tales Jonah (Maddie). We finally have everything moved, out of storage, and are now home owners again (well, kind of--I guess we are mortgage holders again).

We were not sure how the girls would react to having their own rooms, but they have done really well. The only time Bettie wanted someone to sleep in her room with her (she wanted the dog to), was when she was not so sure about the live action Peter Pan movie she saw.

We have attempted to take some change of address type pics for weeks. We finally have them printed and ready to go, but not sent out yet of course. Here are some of the pics we rejected. None of them were that great--don't even get me started on Bettie's attire. One girl or the other always looked away from the camera.....

Or my bright idea to take a picture under a big tree in our back yard.....

We eventually settled on one inside. Here are a few of the rejects....

Bettie actually wore this outfit to Wal-Mart when we took the pics to get printed. I am just hoping everyone thought it was some sort of Christmas in July prank. Maddie was fine with wearing the nice outfit I picked out for her.

We also got a small pool so we could have some back yard fun before the summer is over. They have water day at day care every Tuesday, also known as the easiest day to get them to go to day care. They don't have a pool there, but seem to have an intricate succession of sprinklers and hoses. Regardless, it is the highlight of Maddie's week. But, she likes swimming in the back yard too, as you can see.

Well, swimming in the back yard was fun until Sean made the Splash Zone discovery. We live near a quaint downtown area that has all sorts of cute shops, restaurants...you know the drill. Most of the other part of the neighborhood is "quaint" McMansions, but whatever. They do have a very cool Splash Zone that is free to residents. So, even the people from the other side of the tracks (this means us) can come have fun. When Sarah and Chris came to visit us we thought it would be a great time to try it out.

As you can tell, the girls loved it! It was really nice and not that crowded since the day was overcast. Bettie was not into getting wet, but she loved spraying people with the water gun. Luckily, some clever engineer rigged it so it would not spray people behind you (in other words, you can't spray your parents or uncles and aunts).

Maddie spent the whole time running around or just standing and staring. It blew her mind!

I think after a bit it was all too much for her, so it was not as hard to get her to come home as we feared it would be.

Maddie has been having problems in day care, but she is still doing really well with communication. She has started making random observations, which makes us very happy and also makes us laugh. On our way home from day care today, we passed a teenager riding his bike. It was humid out, so he had his shirt off. Maddie sees him and says "There is a naked guy riding his bike!" I know, he was not really naked, but it was really funny. When Bettie wanted to play outside with Dad this evening, and Maddie wanted him to stay inside, Sean asked her who was going to watch Bettie if Daddy stayed inside. Maddie told him "Peter Pan."

We have all sorts of fun things to do. We are not that far from our old apartment, so we have all that fun stuff, plus new fun stuff. So, do the in thing and come and visit! You will only have to watch Peter Pan and Veggie Tales 5 times a piece.

2009-07-27T07:15:00.002-04:00

The Ladies Love Their Grandpa

This picture is from this past Christmas when Grandpa and Grandma came to visit. One of the very few occasions when both girls are smiling and looking at the camera.

Grandpa and Grandma also came to visit this summer at our new house. Those should be posted soon.

2009-06-20T20:47:00.009-04:00

The Ladies McGurr Love Father's Day (and Daddy)!

We hope everyone is staying cool and relaxing someplace with the A/C on and a cool drink (pick your own beverage). The Ladies McGurr had fun hanging out with Daddy this weekend. On Saturday we went to the zoo for the first time in a long while, renewed our membership and are ready for a fun summer!

Actually, Bettie was at the zoo earlier in the week on a daycare field trip. Since Maddie is not allowed to go (too much for the teachers with a bunch of other kids in a big place), we told her we could go this weekend if she was good. It was so sad when she kept asking to go see the Manatees. As you can see, the girls brought their cameras. Bettie actually took some good shots, which I will show you below.

There is a new baby elephant at the zoo, so he is a big attraction. While you are waiting in line, you get to see a rhino. He was REALLY active the day we were there. Made us a little nervous. But Bettie got some action shots.

Unfortunately, her picture of the baby elephant did not come out. Many of her pictures are of random body parts or pictures of you are not sure what. She had a ton of pictures on her camera when we downloaded the ones from the zoo. Lots of pictures of her feet and about a dozen of her Hello Kitty pillow/blanket carrier. We call that the Hello Kitty Series.

Maddie talks a lot about taking pictures--mostly of dogs. She does not actually take many. I think Bettie took most of the pictures we downloaded from Maddie. This is our favorite one from Maddie's camera:

We have no idea what is going on here, but I'm pretty sure Sarah is possessed.

The girls were into crawling all over stuff at the zoo. We have about 8 pictures of Bettie crawling on the little statues they have around--warthogs, manatees, polar bears, you name it.

The girls still love the penguins and manatees. Maddie talked about them all week and woke up every morning asking to go to the zoo.

So, we made the pilgrimage to their favorite zoo spots. I think Bettie got some good shots here--very artistic.

Well, we will try to take a lot of pictures of 4th of July and the next few weeks of fun. Our camera is duct taped and not working that well, so we may need to spring for a new one to get the fun shots we want.

2009-06-14T17:51:00.006-04:00

The Ladies McGurr say Some Things Never Change!

Hello, everyone. As Sean just said, I am a blogging machine! What I am, really, is a procrastinator. My 4th year review is coming up. I have all my paperwork in order, but am struggling with the narrative part. So, here I am.

This weekend we told the girls they could go wherever they wanted to around Columbus since they were good at school. I thought maybe they would want to go to the zoo, but Chuck E. Cheese won the day. As I said earlier, some things never change.

The great thing about this CEC is that they have a Teletubby ride! The best thing ever, as you can see from Maddie's face. They are all there---Tinky Winkie, Dipsy, La La, and Po. Even Dipsy's cool hat makes an appearance.

As you can see, Maddie soon became a little less enchanted. We go to CEC really early (9AM) if we can help it. We almost always have the place to ourselves for an hour before the parties start coming in. But I guess this meant that the TeleTubbies were really loud.

And by our third picture, Maddie is not so sure anymore. The look on her face is priceless! Actually, she rode it again a lot and did not really stray too far away from her friends.

Maddie also loves the basketball games except that she can't reach to throw a shot. So, you have to lift her up and let her throw it in the cage nowhere near the hoop. Since I am doing that, I can't take pics of that. As you can see, she also found her old phone friend. She did not have to stare anyone down or hurt any toddlers.

Bettie was all over the place. She loves to play all sorts of games. This time, however, she insisted on no pictures. I tried a few times and she kept saying no. So, I stalked her like I was a paparazzo after a celebrity and got this shot. She still does not know I took it, so don't tell her.

Notice she does no have on her striped shorts! They were conveniently dirty and look how cute she looks! We rounded out our morning by going to a furniture store (which the girls call a microphone store--long story) and lunch at Burger King with a playground. We also went to Toys R' Us where they were having a SuperWHY party, but when we figured out he was not actually there, we lost interest pretty fast.

As our parting shots, here are some pictures I was supposed to be posting all those months that I was not posting pictures! Maddie was very lucky and Grandma Paul and Grandma Shirley were here for her birthday. I think we gave Maddie a choice of what she wanted to do and she chose the Sesame Street exhibit at Cosi. Then we had a fun party at home and Grandpa Paul and Grandma Shirley were able to partake in that pink Foofah cake!

So, here are some nice pictures from our trip.

There were all sorts of fun things to do and look at. Bettie was especially intrigued by a machine that chewed, digested, and then pooped out food. She was all about that.

2009-06-09T19:36:00.007-04:00

The Ladies McGurr are Getting Ready for Summer!

The ladies are starting to get into some of their summer habits. Begging to go swimming and wanting to play outside all the time. We have a small enclosed (locked) patio, so they can play there. Usually that is not expansive enough for them, so they start begging to go on "the hills," which is the lawn by the front door of our apartment.

Sean got them some sand for their table and that was a big hit. Especially with Maddie who keeps trying to eat it. She never did last year, so I have no idea why she started. She does not like it, of course, so then she wants a drink and has it all over her face and hands. She comes running into the house and makes a mess. Good times.

I think the girls were a little shocked this year because we bought plain sand. Last year we had purple. But since they already have a ton of it out of the table and Maddie is eating it, I'm glad Sean went for the less expensive stuff.All the toys that went with the table migrated inside at some point, so they are happy with small shovels and their hands and whatever else they pick up out there.

In the picture below, Bettie is wearing one of the only two pair of shorts she will wear. She's wearing the pink striped ones in a picture from a few posts ago. If those are dirty, she wears sweatpants--not matter how hot it is. I have to say she has good taste. They are very cute shorts, but she should expand her horizons a little.

The girls did get to go swimming this weekend. Their friend Owen had a birthday party at a community pool that was really nice. There was a whole section for kids with slides and buckets of water that fell on your head and this Flashdance like thing where you pulled the rope and water fell on you. It seemed super fun.

When we went out shopping for a birthday present for Owen, the girls were allowed to pick out something small. Bettie took me literally since I did not explain the monetary assumptions behind the word small. Maddie started looking at something "big" or around a $20 toy. Sean was wavering, so I said, if Maddie gets something big, then Bettie might too.

So, Bettie pointed to the biggest things she could see (huge stuffed animals, a giant crayon bank...you get the idea) and was very upset and confused when we told she could not get this huge stuffed animal. After all, it was big! So, we had a little discussion about economics at Toys R Us. Bettie ended up picking out something small (a Ni Hao, Kai Lan toy) then as soon as we got home started wailing because she changed her mind. I guess you can't win.

Maddie, however, did not get the big toy, but this cool SuperWHY! outfit, complete with cape, wand, and tiara (Auntie Em is going to be so proud). Here she is showing it off. She is Princess Presto with Spelling Power!

If you go to the Web site, she is the girl in the purple dress. I'm partial to Alpha Pig myself. When she had everything on, she started saying "I'm Maddie with Spelling Power!"

She wore the cape around a lot last weekend. We are hoping the girls will have their own back yard to play in soon, but more about that later when it is a done deal.

2009-06-03T19:24:00.009-04:00

The Ladies McGurr Have Some Catching Up To Do!

Well, after all my false promises, here we are with more pictures for you. Bettie's birthday, Easter, Memorial Day...all fun days that passed and we did not post pictures. So, now we will try to play catch up.

Our digital camera is on the skids, so we have some good pictures on a disposable that we will get developed soon.

In the meantime, here are some memories from Bettie's Birthday. We all made the cake together, as you can see. We used the star candles from Maddie's cake, but we also went a little overboard with the sprinkles. Bettie loved it anyway.

I forgot to buy icing to write on the cake, so I came up with the not so brilliant idea to write her name in chocolate chips. Sean could only fit Bets on. We often call her Betts, but we could not even fit on the second T.

We do have some other pictures from her birthday, but it seems that Maddie and Bettie thought pants were optional, so those pictures are not appropriate for this venue.

The girls have been doing well at pre-school and daycare. On the day of daycare pictures, I tried to dress them up. Maddie was game, but Bettie protested and ended up in a Halloween shirt. In April.

It is a never ending adventure getting them dressed. They are both particular. Bettie love t-shirts and sweaty pants (sweat pants) and jeans. Maddie likes flowers so she is welling to wear something more than t-shirts when she is in the mood. Both prefer "blue pants" or jeans even though I try to get them to wear something different.

We also had fun coloring eggs at Easter. The girls talked about it for a over a week, so they were way excited. I'm not sure if it lived up to their expectations. Aunt Donna bought them some fun kits.

Maddie seemed to take the whole thing seriously. They both wanted us to draw semi-impossible things on the eggs with crayons before we dipped them. Mr. Topemhatt, a pumpkin and so on.

Bettie had an assignment for school when they were talking about community. She had to bring in a picture of herself at her favorite community spot. We talked about a few of her favorite places--Kroger, playground, but finally settled on the library. They both like to go, but Bettie is very adventurous with her book choices. She has been into comic books lately, but also picks up anything that appeals to her. She was way into Sleeping Beauty, then Beauty and the Beast, and now Peter Pan seems to be pulling ahead.

Maddie usually has a favorite book and right now she is obsessed with a pumpkin one from the library. She loved it A LOT, so we had to buy a replacement for the library copy. She is pretty sure she wants to be a pumpkin farmer or a vet when she grows up. Maddie is also really into spelling and reading. The girls get word packs from daycare and one of Maddie's favorite thing is to go through them. She does really well sounding things out. Bettie just says all the words spell poop. That is where her mind is most of the time.

I was inspired to take their picture today because they were both dressed nicely--with clothes that actually matched! When Bettie dresses herself it can get very interesting. So, I thought I should record this day.

They both insist on posing with something. Maddie has been really into this kitty and puppy lately--she carries them around in her backpack. Bettie just seems to have randomly grabbed things. Maddie seems pretty bummed. I think she does not want to go to Kindercare. You can tell if she does not want to go. She says very specific things about it.

They both like to carry certain things with them to pre-school and daycare. Bettie tends to take books and always her blanket. Maddie takes a variety of her current favorite stuffed animals and pretzels. Every morning after breakfast she asks for some and then very carefully puts them in the front pocket of her backpack. They are gone by the time we pick her up. We think she eats them on the bus on the way to or back from pre-school. Nothing wrong with being prepared.

As our parting shot, here is Maddie doing one of her favorite things. She loves playing on Nick Jr. and PBS Kids. They are both good about setting up the mouse and finding the page they need. On this day she dressed up for her daily meeting with her friends at PBS kids and wore a dress! As you can see, her spring insta-tan is already visable.

2009-01-28T08:28:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday to the Ladies McGurr!

Well, we are late for Maddie's birthday, but right on time for Bettie's. Auntie Dahl made them this beautiful cake when we were in Cleveland over Christmas. We are all snowed in here, so Bettie and I just put her cake in the oven. She wants a Toby cake (for those of you in the Thomas know, you know that will be hard).

Maddie was lucky enough to have Grandpa Paul and Grandma Shirley here for her birthday. You can just see the Foofah cake here. Maddie let Bettie help her blow out the candles. Maddie wanted a pink cake, so we made a strawberry cake with pink icing. It was actually pretty good!

For some reason, Bettie thinks she is having a huge party and is taking everyone to the movies. This weekend we will take Bettie to the movies (her first trip!) and go pick out a bike.

We hope you are all warm and safe.

2009-01-01T18:41:00.004-05:00

Happy Holidays from the Ladies McGurr!

Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays from the McGurrs! It is New Year's Day and although the apartment is looking pretty good, we are still not done with our Holiday cards. Baby steps, I guess.

We are too tired to talk about much, so I thought I would post a few pics of the girls in party mode.

Everyone is so generous to the girls that we cannot say thank you enough. Bettie now has her own e-mail address, so she wants to thank everyone individually. These Princess costumes came from Auntie Dahl, Uncle Kenny and Jen. They have matching Barbies and they thought it was fun to dress up like Snow White and Cinderella. Maddie has always liked the Disney Princesses, but Bettie is getting into the movies.

I hoped to make the girls party hats for New Year's Eve, but I had a bad day and started "celebrating" at 3 and never got around to it.

We have lots of pictures from the holidays are were lucky to see a lot of family over the past week or so. We will try to post more soon, but as our parting shot, here is a picture of Maddie and Bettie waiting for Santa. Notice the milk and cookies by the tree. Bettie wanted to make sure Santa was happy.

2008-11-12T20:50:00.014-05:00

The Ladies McGurr Love Costumes!

Happy Belated Halloween to one and all. The Ladies McGurr really enjoyed Halloween this year. Maddie was so excited about her costume. I've never seen her look so proud.

Maddie told us what she wanted to be for Halloween and we went with it. She kept saying she was going to be a ghost, but she was just teasing. She still keeps asking "What does Maddie want to be for Halloween? Thomas!" She already has an idea picked out for next year. She wants to be a strong man. It's a long story. So, if you are hanging with Maddie over the holidays, Halloween costumes are a good topic of conversation. Or ask her to sing the Rainbow Connection. That will keep you entertained for a long time.

Bettie originally wanted to be Little Red Riding Hood. Then she thought a ghost, but then decided it might be too scary. We went to the Halloween store to look at their costumes. Big mistake--what do you say to a three year old when she says "is that a real three headed baby" or "what happened to that guys arm" near a display of fake limbs. She was not interested in anything there. We talked about it a bit and she decided she wanted to be Max from Max and Ruby.

The costume was very homemade and most people did not know who she was, but she enjoyed the experience. And she certainly was not shy about saying she was Max. She has already decided she wants to be a really obscure character from Thomas next year. Good luck with that Betts.

The girls love the fall with all the leaves and pumpkins, but now that they understand that Halloween is also in the fall, they love it even more. Maddie is not into candy, but still loved going door to door. We did not go many places. Although our apartment complex is huge, we don't know many people and the girls don't need too much candy.

We expected to get a lot of Trick or Treaters because we have tons of kids around, but not many people showed up. The girls and Daddy had to entertain themselves.

On Saturday we went to see Sue and Dan in Urbana. Sue is very into decorating, so the girls wanted to check out her yard and have a visit.

We have also done the other typical fall things--visited a pumpkin patch, went on a leaf walk on the Ohio State campus where there are all sorts of interesting leaves. Since we lost our digital camera for about a month, we don't have any pictures of those fun things.

We do, however, have pictures from one of our favorite new playgrounds. It is not too far away from our house in a really nice neighborhood and the girls love it there. As our parting shots, here are some pics of the girls in action.

2008-09-07T20:18:00.004-04:00

The Ladies McGurr Love Thomas and Maddie REALLY loves Sir Topham Hatt

This weekend the Ladies McGurr (and their parents) took a rather spontaneous trip to see the Thomas the Tank Engine Tour in Lebanon, Ohio. Spontaneous for us means buying the tickets the day before. We talked about doing the Thomas thing earlier in the summer when we were in Cleveland, but did not have the time. So, we thought we might go to this one (near Cincinnati), but a colleague at work reminded me that it was coming up. Here are some pics of the girls and Sean on the train.

The girls enjoyed seeing Thomas and loved the ride. Thomas goes forward and backward for a mile or two, but that was enough for them. They also had tents set up for a gift shop, video watching, and other things to spend your money on.

Bettie's favorite train is Toby, but Maddie's favorite is not a train at all, but the railroad controller, Sir Topham Hatt. Just like her mother she has a thing for British aristocrats. They had a special tent where you could meet Sir T.H. himself, but there was a long line. Plus, he left every half hour to take a half hour break. So, if you waited and line and he went on break, you were stuck there for another half hour. We did not think Maddie could handle that, so Sean ambushed the tent and got this picture.

I have a soft spot for old Sir T.H. because he was the first thing that Maddie told us she wanted. We used to ask her all the time what she wanted (to try to bribe her for the pottie), but she never said anything. Finally she started saying "Mr. Topham Hatt" (she has no respect for his title). So, we found a tiny figure of him (there is not much out there that I could find for him). She was so excited and we threatened to take him and TooDee (a Yo Gabba Gabba toy) away if she did not keep going poopie in the pottie. After losing them for a few days, she relented and now does not even wear a pull up at bedtime. Sir T.H. can perform miracles! No wonder the line was so long.

We went to McDonalds for lunch and they had a great Playplace. The town of Lebanon itself was beautiful and worth a trip. They often have train related stuff going on all year around. The day was a little much for the girls after their first week of school, so we stayed around the house today. They entertained themselves by playing pretend beach.

Bettie started the game, but Maddie joined in after a bit (and after she got over the fact that we were really not going swimming). As our parting shots, here are the bathing beauties.

2008-08-30T10:11:00.008-04:00

The Ladies McGurr Say Good-Bye to Summer

Well, the days are not getting any cooler, really, but pre-school starts next week, and the Ladies McGurr are bidding a fond adieu to their fun-filled summer.

We got to see most of the Stahlman clan at the annual Retirement Party for Papa. This year we also celebrated his 80th birthday! The girls were very excited and enjoyed all the fun. The girls and Papa took a break to get this picture, though.

We also had fun hangin' with the fam. Bettie liked the special activities Aunt 'Lessa and Auntie Em had planned. Tyler is showing her the ropes in this picture. He's an expert at family parties, so he is teaching Bettie some tips. The girls insisted on calling Tyler Ronald Reagan for some reason. Then they figured out we thought it was funny, so then they really loved doing it.

Uncle Mike and Maddie seem to have disagreed about something? What could it be?

Auntie Em and Uncle Mike also invited us up to spend some time at their super cool cabin in Erie. Sean had to work, but Mom and the girls could take advantage. We went to the zoo and saw penguins....

rode the carousel, saw pretty birds, kangaroos, and rode the train. The Erie Zoo is very nice with all sorts of fun activities. The girls started to melt down at one point, but we hustled them out.

We also enjoyed time at the beach. This is what the girls were REALLY excited about. Maddie still talks about it all the time. They loved the waves and Maddie wanted to go be one with the lake.

She had to have a bodyguard at all times, so a few of us got very dirty and wet because we just gave up and sat in the water with her. I think she would have stayed there forever.

Bettie, on the other hand, would not stand still. She ran around for hours, it seemed and exhausted everyone. I think everyone was surprised at how much energy she had and how long she could keep it up. I say, welcome to almost every day at the McGurr house!

Auntie Em also planned a birthday party for Mom while we were there--it was really nice and Tyler, Dylan, and Aunt 'Lissa came up to stay over. Then we all went to the beach the next day.

As you can see from this picture, Maddie was cranky and missing the lake.

I just made prints of these pictures for a little scrapbook that Maddie will take with her to school. She and Bettie are going to the same school (they are 50% special needs and 50% typical kids at the school). We were filling out Maddie's paperwork and the office staff said we should bring Bettie too since she was 3 and ready to learn! So, they both start next week. Bettie really enjoyed orientation and did not want to leave. Maddie was not so sure about the whole thing. They will also be riding a bus back and forth to their daycare. So, lots to think and fret about.

As our parting shot, here is the transportation option we've chosen to take the girls to school. Gas prices are going down, but you can never be too careful!

2008-08-03T16:23:00.003-04:00

The Ladies McGurr Love A Change of Scenery!

Happy Girls Day 2008 to you all! We had a very big day. We went to Chuck E. Cheese and then to Toys R Us. Maddie & Bettie both got to pick out a toy for being so good at their new school (or at least trying really hard to be good).

Maddie loves to go to Toys R Us because they are one of the few stores on earth that still sell Teletubbies stuff. She always gets something TT related. You can see the new additions in the picture below (sort of). This was at our picnic (which Bettie thought would be a nice idea). Maddie is trying hushpuppies for the first time and loved them! She has not really tried a new food in months if not longer and she decides to try a hushpuppy.

Bettie chose a Ming Ming (a duck from WonderPets). Sean thought maybe she had buyers' remorse after realizing the duck does not talk. Aunt Donna came with us to our picnic at a nice park near her house.

Here are some pictures of Aunt Donna and the girls.

Aunt Donna also went with us to get Bettie's haircut at her first big girl haircut place. They are both hysterical at times about getting their hair cut, but we thought if we took Bettie to a kid only place by herself she might like it. There were a few moments when she was not so sure, but Aunt Donna talked her out of any fits she might want to have. Maddie wanted nothing to do with it and started yelling whenever we suggested it.

We capped off an exciting day with a visit from Uncle Jay, Aunt Robin, and Faith on their way through town on a road trip. We got to visit with them for a bit and catch up on family stuff. It was a very big day and the girls (and Mom and Dad) were beat by the end of the day. We will have to save up our energy for another fun adventure. We are very close to the zoo now, as well as Cosi, waterparks, big playgrounds and pools.

As our parting shot here is Bettie sporting her new 'do. As you can see, it brought out her creative side since she is painting a picture about the days of the week (or so she tells me)

2008-06-17T18:33:00.005-04:00

The Ladies McGurr Love Daddy!

Yes, we are long between posts, but that does not mean the Ladies are not having fun and/or causing trouble. We have had some big excitement. The girls and Daddy had a very nice Father's Day. We made a whirlwind trip to Cleveland for a family wedding on the McGurr side. Bettie and Maddie stayed with Ella and Aedan at Uncle Walt & Aunt Kathy's house during the wedding and reception. They are all very brave!!

We have been enjoying the summer--swimming, playing outside, taking a few walks. Mostly we love to play in the backyard.

They both enjoy time outside, but Bettie really loves it. I think she would stay out there all day if she could! She plays Simon Says and Hide and Seek, talks to our 3 year old neighbor Ava about important things like leaves and school, gets really dirty doing this and that. And when no one else wants to play, she plays pretend. She loves her sidewalk chalk and practices her "B"s a lot. You can actually tell what she is trying to draw most of the time. She really surprised me the other day when she started counting in Spanish. I guess Dora and Diego are coming in handy!

Bettie is also into picking out her own clothes. They are both more vocal about what they want to wear, but you can sometimes wrestle Maddie into things. Bettie...not so much. She won't wear buttons. At all. Her color coordination is not all I could wish either.

Maddie is much more into politics than playing outside. She is very concerned about the election, especially about health care reform and funding for special needs schools. But seriously, she is very interested in Obama and Clinton, but also talks about McCain. She is kind of wishy washy about her vote and will say her favorite is whoever you mention last. She does know all of the presidents from George W. back to Nixon. Then she skips to Ike and then back to the first 3 presidents. So, we have a lot to work on.

School is out for the summer, so she is pretty bored. We will start a new daycare in July, so we are hoping she likes it. She will start at a new school in the fall so we are trying to prep her for that. One of our favorite games is to ask her what any word starts with. She will tell you the letter 99% of the time even if it is the first time we have asked her that particular word, but sometimes gets annoyed with us and won't say.

Maddie also started in a baseball league. We will try to take pictures. Last week was the first time she cooperated, so we shall see if we can get some pics this week. She hit the ball twice last week and did well in the outfield when she was not chasing butterflies.

Sean's new job makes us happy, but because we are both driving to Columbus now, we need to make the move. Soon enough we will be moving to an apartment, so we will miss the back yard (especially the girls and Sarah). Daddy won't mind not taking care of it, I'm sure. The Ladies and I had someone come and mow and weed eat the lawn for Father's Day, so we could spend more time with him.

When it is rainy or gloomy, we stay inside and play. They went through a "tent" stage for a few weeks. Thank goodness it was short lived, because it was annoying to make and clean up. I'd like to take them camping in the backyard for real in a little tent, but I'm sure they would be over it in a few minutes, and Sean said he would enjoy the night to himself in the house. I've been experimenting with taking them to the library by myself (not always successful). It is usually ok to take them to a playground with one parent, but they are starting to scatter as soon as they get there.

We had a nice visit from Grandpa Paul and Grandma Shirley and are looking forward to a long visit to Slippery Rock to catch up with the Stahlman side.

As our parting shot, we got up close and personal with some kangaroos at the Columbus Zoo.

2008-03-14T09:27:00.002-04:00

The Ladies McGurr Love Winter (but Hate Cabin Fever)

The Blizzard of Aught Eight hit last weekend and the Ladies McGurr were snowed in. After a few days, it warmed up enough that the girls were able to go build a snowman. Why they insisted on bring umbrellas is anyone's guess.

We had over a foot of snow. Luckily, a neighbor from across the street came over with their snowblower which helped us out a lot. Just a few days before the blizzard, we had an ice storm that caused our power to go out for five hours.

This week was the first week in a long time that both girls went to school all their scheduled days. Between weather and sickness, it seems like there was always a missed day. It's made the girls a little stir crazy.

For example, Maddie has taken to wearing inappropriate hats.

And Bettie wears her mother's shoes as she curls up in the corner.

But the good news is that Spring will be here soon and the girls are mostly pottie trained. So all is good.

2008-01-01T20:16:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year from the Ladies McGurr (and Bob the Builder)!

Well, it is 2008 and we did not post enough pictures, but we tried to make up for it in the last few days of the year. We had a quiet New Year's because we spent most of it chasing after Maddie asking her if she had to go to the potty (she went a lot today, so we are happy).

A few days before the New Year we went to see Bob the Builder at Cosi again. He leaves town on January 6th, so we thought we should get one more visit in before he moved on as part of the Maddie birthday celebration.

We did not know that Bob himself was actually going to show up! When he came in, Maddie was the first in line to meet him. As you can see in the photo above, she enjoyed it. Bettie, on the other hand, was a little scared. She went over a few times with Daddy and finally took her picture with him when Daddy stayed with her. Bettie told him she dressed up like him for Halloween and gave him five.

The girls ran around like crazy again from machine to machine. We felt bad for the person dressed as Bob--he could not see at all and had to have a handler with him to guide him around. Maddie ran up to him at least a half dozen times and his handler would have to warn him that she was around so he did not trip over her.

As our parting shot, here is Bettie with the inanimate Bob she is cool with. The girls both had a great time and Bettie even thought she saw a pirate (a little guy with a boo boo on his eye).

2007-12-26T20:42:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th Birthday Maddie!!

Today is Maddie's 4th birthday, and we did our best to make it fun! Well, we had plans to do fun things, but Maddie seems tired and has a little cold and Bettie is officially sick, so we stuck close to home. Here you see in the pic above that it looks like Maddie is searching for the party.

We opened presents after the nap (and Bettie had a few too, of course). We also had some Christmas presents from Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Courtney, Aedan, and Ella. Maddie opened some birthday presents before Christmas in Cleveland, but had our presents and ones from Uncle Chris and Aunt Sarah to keep her occupied. As you can see from Bettie's face below, she really likes the Play-Doh. We gave Maddie a set of pots and pans so she could stir and clang.

Maddie also got some books, a keyboard, some Dora skates, and an electronic book. Now that Maddie has a drum set, keyboard, and Elmo guitar, she is about to start a one woman band. She still LOVES the drum set best, though, and was not as impressed with the keyboard. Bettie really liked her Little People construction set.

I did my best to make Maddie a seal/penguin cake. This is the best I could come up with.

She wanted to eat McDonald's for dinner, although I think she was dissappointed that we did not go to a playground McDonald's, but Dad just came home with it. The girls got into singing "Happy Birthday" for the first time and both helped to blow out the candles. As you can see, it was a little too much for Maddie. She laughed after this picture, though.

After all the fun and excitement, it was time to take a bath and relax. The girls loved their new bath wraps from the Indiana McGurrs (ie Jeremy, Courtney and the kids). As our parting shot, here are the girls modeling the newest post-bath fashion.

2007-12-25T22:25:00.001-05:00

Happy Holidays from the Ladies McGurr!!

Just a few pictures to wish everyone a happy holiday season. Christmas was good to the Ladies McGurr. Since they are basically good girls, it was mostly all deserved. They were spoiled in Cleveland, but Santa and Mommy and Daddy spoiled them today.

Maddie loves the penguin gift she got from Aunt Dahl, Uncle Kenny, and Jenny. She also plays with both lap tops that Grandpa Paul and Grandma Shirley got for both of the Ladies. She will have them both open at once and goes to town. Bettie and Maddie both love the Leap Frog Letter set Aunt Sharon and Uncle Buddy got Bettie. They play with it and dance around. One will shout a request for a certain letter, or Bettie will ask Maddie what she wants--like "Maddie, want to hear the H?"

Grandpa Paul's side of the family spoiled them with lots of books that Bettie is busily reading and playing with. She has started "reading" books to us at night. Last night Bettie was having trouble sleeping, so she was reading to her ducks to calm down.

Maddie's favorite gifts so far from Santa is her drum set. As you can see, she knows how to rock out.

She likes to play with one of the demo songs on the drum set. It is to the tune of London Bridges, but she sings a song from school with that tune and tries to play along. She also sings the Seal Song and plays along. If you have spent any time with her lately, I'm sure you have heard her original Seal Song creation (well, Daddy created it, but Maddie has put her own stylings to it).

Sean and I cracked up that she already has the rock moves down as you can see below.

We had to beg her to even look at her other presents. She ended up opening the last ones (with Bettie's help) after their afternoon nap.

Bettie liked all of her toys, but is really into opening presents.

She seemed to like her pirate ship and really loves the Hello Kitty pillow and blanket Aunt Dahlia, Uncle Kenny, and Jenny got her. She really loves something that was not even really a present. Aunt Dahl's friend has a granddaughter who grew out of some toys. One of those toys is a Dora doll house that Bettie loves to play with. She loves playing with toys and "guys" like Mickey, Bob, and other figures. So she likes playing with Dora in the house, but moved Bob and the Crew in tonight. Not sure how Dora's mom is going to react to a large backhoe and cement mixer in her house.

Daddy is helping her with some puzzles here.

Tomorrow is Maddie's birthday, so more presents and pictures to come! We've already discussed the fact that Maddie will get presents tomorrow to Bettie (and of course she gets a few too) Her birthday is coming up soon, so that helps. We had plans to do some fun stuff for Maddie's birthday, but Bettie has a lung infection, so I think we will stick close to home and have fun with presents and a seal and penguin cake...just wait, you'll see. It involves an animal set that Aunt Maureen got the Ladies. You have to be pretty creative when your daughter might be a silkie.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

2007-12-03T09:18:00.000-05:00

The Ladies McGurr Love Bob the Builder
During Sesame Street a few weeks ago, I saw that COSI was having a Bob the Builder exhibit. COSI is only 45 minutes away and Bettie loves Bob, so we headed out there on a Saturday morning.

We forgot the camera, so we grabbed a disposable one and some lunch and we were off. When we got to the museum, the ladies weren't very sure of where we were or if it was going to be fun. We told them to give it a chance. After walking down a long hall, we saw Bob!

The ladies seemed pretty happy with this small display, but then Maddie stuck her head through the doorway and saw everything else. It was game on at that point.

Bob and all the team were there. Each one talked when the ladies pushed a button. The girls loved it. They ran around from display to display trying everything out. It was like a giant playground.

Bettie loved helping out with the wheelbarrow and Maddie liked building a wall.

Maddie's favorite thing was this water pump. She couldn't get enough of it.

Eventually we were able to move out of the Bob room, but it took well over an hour. The girls weren't that interested in the rest of the museum (maybe next time), but we were able to take them to the little kids playground before we left. Bettie took a ride on a helicopter.

But all that tired the girls out, so it was time for a drink and the ride home.

The exhibit is at COSI until January, so maybe we will get there again.

2007-09-15T21:24:00.000-04:00

The Ladies McGurr Love Grandpa Paul!

Enjoy these two pictures of the girls with Grandpa Paul in honor of his birthday coming up this week!

These were taken at Chris and Sarah's wedding in June. The girls had a really fun time dancing and visiting with everyone. As you can tell, they also had a great time hanging out with their Grandpa.

More pictures are coming soon!

2007-05-19T22:19:00.000-04:00

The Ladies McGurr Still Love Chuck E. Cheese, But Are Not Loving Big Girl Beds!

Summer is almost here and the Ladies are ready to play and have fun. Mom and Dad are also willing to tire them out as much as possible! We went to Chuck E. Cheese when Melissa and Melba came to visit. The girls were beside themselves--we hardly have any pictures of Maddie from this visit because she was a blur running from ride to ride.

She has really been into Barney lately (they both love to sing his song), so she did sit with him for a bit. Maddie was torn about this ride, though. She loves Barney, but hates that he sings Old McDonald during the ride (she loathes that song and will start crying when she hears it. Bettie sings it at night sometimes just to make her cry). To drown out the horror of Old McDonald, she sings the A,B,C song.

They have all sorts of tubes you can climb up into and roam around in. You can climb back down or take a slide down. Maddie has no fear and just goes up there by herself. One time I thought she got stuck, but she came down eventually. Bettie, on the other hand, road the same 3 rides again and again. She adores Bob the Builder for some reason and spent most of her time with him.

She talks about him all the time. I guess she has always liked trucks, so it should not be that surprising, but it is still pretty funny. She also still loves a school bus (short or long, yellow, white, or whatever) and can spot them a mile away, I swear. Since she is not ready for school yet, this is as close as she gets.

Bettie just likes all sorts of transportation in general. She is always on the lookout for airplanes, helicopters, vans, trucks, and so on. Bettie also loves her tricycle and rides it around the kitchen table like a woman possessed. I wanted to get a picture of her in action, but she kept almost running me over, so this is as close as I could get.

Well, the fun always has to end and bed time comes. We decided it was time to transition the girls' cribs into "big girl" beds. Since we will be moving at some point, I did not want to spring everything on them at once (new house, new beds, and so on). So, we decided to go cold turkey on the cribs last weekend. We went on a special shopping trip to buy new bed sets (Maddie chose Elmo and Bettie chose Sponge Bob--we don't watch him, but the girls talk about him a lot--they call him Sphee Bob). Long story short, they are doing ok (and just ok) at night, but afternoons are another story.

Mostly they play and yell and run around for a long time. Ruth, Sean, or I go in and talk to them, put them back in bed, etc. No one has actually escaped the room yet, but we've removed most of their toys and put a lock on their closet. None of that stops the fun though. So, they don't sleep much in the afternoon. And what sleep they do get tends to be on the floor.

I think that makes them settle in easier at night, but they still sometimes wake up in the middle of the night upset. We are hoping they get the hang of things soon. Next up is intense potty training! We are bribing them to stay in bed with the idea of a playground in their back yard. As you can tell, that is not working so well. So, I'm not sure what we will do about the potty.

As our parting shot, here is Bettie's new favorite place to sleep in the afternoon. Yes, that is Maddie's bed.

2007-05-19T21:52:00.000-04:00

The Ladies McGurr Love Aedan!

The Ladies McGurr are keeping themselves busy as usual, but wanted to post some pictures from their visit to see Cousin Aedan in March. Mom and Dad almost cut the trip short because Bettie would not sleep in the hotel (and finally ended up sleeping on a reading chair turned toward the wall so she would not fall out--that was the only place she would agree to sleep!), but the girls and Aedan sure did have fun.

Aedan showed the girls a fun time--we went to his dad's Meijer, played with his Bob the Builder Blocks, went to Pizza King, the playground, and his back yard (which the girls are still talking about). Aedan has fun slides and swings and the girls would spend hours out there if they could. Here are some pictures of Maddie and Bettie in action on the slide.

They loved the slide and swings so much that they now demand to go to the playground on a regular basis. Maddie has a nice playground at school and just started agreeing to come in when they ask her instead of having a fit. The Ladies would like a playground in their backyard too, but we are not sure what to do since we have no idea when we might move. We are also using that as a bribe for them to sleep in their big girl beds (that is the next post).

The girls were not on their best behavior, but Aedan was ok with that. We all had a fun visit and are eagerly awaiting Aedan's new little sibling. We are also excited that we get to see everyone again soon.

As our parting shot, here is a picture of Bettie congratulating Uncle Chris and Aunt Sarah on their upcoming nuptials. She planted herself in the basket while they were opening presents and stayed there for quite a long time. Sarah and Chris are getting married on June 1. We can't wait to go to see all of Sean's side of the family, and the girls are especially excited about seeing Aedan.

2007-03-11T21:00:00.000-04:00

The Ladies McGurr Loved the Holidays!

Ok, so maybe love is a strong word, but they did enjoy most of the festivites. They yelled and cried a lot in Cleveland but that is mostly because we took them to 6 different places in 36 hours. They did well at our hotel, at Laura and Jim's and at Walt and Kathy's. They had a chance to visit with Grandpa Paul and Grandma Shirley before we headed to Cleveland and they were very good then. Other than that, they were in varying degrees of hysteria. Bettie had a hard time with her shyness, although you can't tell it from the picture above (you can also see that Maddie is not shy and is sprawled all over the floor). She is getting much better with this and goes to storytime without a fuss. If you come to the house, she may stand in the corner and stare at the wall for a few minutes, but she gets over it quickly.

These first two pictures are from Walt and Kathy's. The girls set themselves out to please and had a great time playing with everyone. Maddie is trying to impress Uncle Chris and Aunt Sarah with her musical abilities. Either that or she was auditioning to be the musical act at their wedding.

We came back on Christmas Eve so we could get to bed and wait for Santa. He was very good to the Ladies. I have no idea what is on TV here, but Maddie thinks it is too funny.

We have tons of pictures of them opening presents. Here are a few choice ones of Bettie. She loved her Dora shoes. She actually wore them around K-Mart when Santa went shopping. We originally were going to buy a pair for Maddie for her birthday so she could have a new pair for school. Well, Bettie cried and cried in K-Mart until we got her a pair and insisted we put them on her feet. So, whe wore them around with the plastic tags still on.

Now both Ladies have a pair and love them. Bettie loves to wear any shoes around--Maddie's, Sean's or mine. Even her own! Her favorite present from Santa may have been her big red truck. She carried it around the store too! Luckily, she was still glad to see it on Christmas morning. Bettie and Maddie both loved the stars that you stick on the ceiling. They glow in the dark. For the first few weeks after we put them up, they would both say "ooooohhh" when you shut off the light at night. We added more to the after dark show in their room, but more about that on Bettie's birthday post.

As our parting shot, Maddie is inviting you to draw a picture for her. She has cooled down on this a bit, but at first she was driving us crazy asking us to draw things on the chalkboard. She'd ask for various Teletubbies and Boobahs. That was not too bad. Then she got more abstract--like draw a big hug. What? We tried our best. Her favorite was to ask you to draw a seal. She would get so excited that you would draw one line and she would freak out and run away or steal the chalk.

2007-03-04T20:34:00.000-05:00

The Ladies McGurr Love the New Year!

Here we are in the year of the pig! The Ladies are doing well, but are very busy, which makes telling Mommy what to write hard. We will write later about birthday celebrations and other fun things, but tonight a short post on togetherness.

Maddie and Bettie are best friends. They worry about each other, talk about each other, and fight over things. Sean and I used to laugh that they are so close together that they might have a twin language thing going on. Things are not that bad, but they do have a few mysterious words. A new one is "gung." We have no idea what it means, but they both say it. I've tried to get Bettie to tell me what it is (she is better at answering a straight question and will usually give her best shot at helping you). She wasn't interested in helping though.

They also talk about "boo-boo tay," but we do know what that is. They have an eczema bath wash that we sometimes use and that is what they call it. One day they just started pointing at it and calling it "boo-boo-tay." It's like they talked about it one night and decided on a name.

We had a big week this week since both Ladies used the potty to pee. VERY BIG DEAL in our household. We have a sticker system, but they are not totally into it yet. Maddie may end up getting a sticker and fortune cookie for her efforts, but we are still in negotiations.

They are both talking a lot and Maddie loves school. She gets happy face stickers if she is good at school, so she roams around saying "happy face good!" Sean has Maddie saying Ni hao (hello), but she says it with the correct intonation even though he does not. We find that amusing. Bettie is going to story time at the library when the weather is being good to us. She adores the library and talks about it all the time. She's not so into sitting down and listening to a story, but she is getting better. We end up taking them on the weekend because she is obsessed. If you ask her what makes her happy, mostly she says library, but she sometimes says nuggets. It is a big topic of conversation for her, but other big discussions are based on Papa and Garnet, the moon, and Bon Jour (don't ask).

So, Bettie tells us that Maddie goes to school and Bettie goes to the library. Bad weather makes the girls stir crazy, so we've made some road trips the last few weekends for some fun. We went to Chuck E. Cheese last weekend. Maddie got stuck in the tubing you crawl through and Sean had to go get her and she spilled a drink all over the place. She also desperately wanted to sit with a big family that was having lots of fun. She kept running over to their table and trying to get in a booth. I guess that tell us what she thinks of our company!

One of their favorite things to do is sit with Daddy. They mostly try to jump around on him, but they sometimes want to read a book or get a hug. Maddie tries to define how things should be by saying "Maddie, Daddy, Bettie, Mommy." In other words, Daddy is in charge of Maddie and Mommy and Bettie are a pair. But both of the girls love to spend time with Daddy. I keep attempting to do things to their hair with mixed results. Our parting shot is one of my favorite pictures of them. I just forced them into putting their hair up and they are trying really hard to see what is going on with the TV.