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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.