A Trip to the Dentist!

Uh oh, blog readers beware...I just figured out how to post pictures to my blog via my phone!!

This picture is from Lauryl's second trip to the dentist. She was a real trooper this time and did not make me sit in the chair and hold her. The dentist said that her teeth look great and was super excited to hear we are binky free. I was informed that Lauryl has a functional crossbite and may or may not eventually need a palate expander. My mom will enjoy this one--I'm sure she has fond memories of making me lay backwards over the bathtub and turning mine!

Two Divas

Kendyl had her annual dance class pictures at Everal Barn & Chapel in Westerville last week. The weather was perfect so I took the opportunity to capture some pics of the girlies.

Her outfit this year is perfect for a hip hop routine and she was hamming it up!

Lauryl didn't want to miss out on the photo fun and was determined to get in on the action too!
I'll definitely have to keep this place in mind for future photo shoot attempts with the kiddos. I really like the brick and wood backdrop.

Relaxing with My Baby Girl and Baby Kitty

Fun with the McDougal Klan

So, Kendyl was on spring break and I took some time off to take advantage of her vacation. I was trying to think of things to do and decided this would be the PERFECT excuse to finally go see my friend Amy's new (to me) house in Rocky River, OH! Sadly, they moved like three years ago and I'm just a terrible friend:-(

Originally we were planning to go in conjunction with a business trip Rob had planned, but when that fell through I decided I still wanted to take the girls. Kendyl was less than thrilled, but only because Maddux (the new kitten) had only been with us one day and she was heartbroken over leaving him. The DVD player in conjunction with the new movies that each girl had received for Easter was a lifesaver as usual. They only got ansy the last 20 minutes after the movie stopped.

We arrived at Ames' house just in time for lunch. We took a tour of their beautiful house and had a delicious lunch. It was fun to watch the kids get quickly acquainted. We decided it was time to head out if we were going to do something. Amy had mentioned a few possibilities of things we could do when I first mentioned the idea of coming, but the weather ended up being quite crappy and eliminated my first two choices (parks near their neighborhood or the zoo). We decided to brave the I-X indoor amusement park, that happened to be in town, with the 4 kiddos in tow. I have to admit I was taken aback by how nice the park was. The fun of an amusement park without the weather elements and bugs. It was a dream! The kids really had a blast and got along wonderfully.

There were so many rides that I can't possibly post pictures of them all. Lauryl was lacking courage and refused to ride quite a bit. She did warm up a little towardsthe end and absolutely adored the huge fair slide and riding down on my lap!

Here is Kendyl and her new buddy, Rowan

Lauryl with Bode

The kids waiting for the swings to start

Rowan, Kendyl, and Bode riding a coaster (Ms. Lauryl was scared to try)

Amy got in on the action and rode the caterpillar:-)

Rowan and Kendyl in the spinning cups

Lauryl lovin' on an uncertain Bode

Checking out the petting zoo

The beautiful star of the worst tiger show EVER

After well over 3 hours at the park we decided it was time to pack up and head back to the McDougal house for some pizza before we hit the road. We enjoyed the yummy pizza and caught a quick glimpse of Kreg and then loaded up the car and headed back to C-bus. Lauryl was out like a light after 15 minutes and Kendyl hung on until we were 20 minutes from home. It was a long, but fun, day! We were glad to have made the drive and I greatly enjoyed seeing my sorority BIG and good friend!

Head over Heels

There's no doubt that Ms. Kendyl loves our new kitten, she would hold him all day everyday if he would let her!

I think these two were a match made in heaven!

Introducing Maddux!

After much discussion, the idea of getting a dog was tabled at the Burns household. However, the idea of getting the girls a pet they would get to watch grow up remained something that interested us. Sosa is getting up in years and he is getting VERY vocal with age. We've been thinking that maybe a new friend would be the perfect thing to get back some of his friskiness. He's pretty laid back (eg. the nanny brought her dog last year and while he didn't love it, he did pretty well) and we don't expect that a new animal will phase him.

We visited a shelter with Mindi a few weeks back and the cats were just a little older than what wanted. We wanted a small kitten that the kids could watch grow and that could adjust to them as it matured. I've been watching Craigslist with little luck and asking around to everyone we know. Today we went out for lunch and decided to stop by Petland just to look around. Much to our surprise there were 4 kittens that had only recently arrived. An adorable black and white kitty and 3 tabby kitties - all males.

We got them all out and tried to get a feel for their personalities. Maddux won us over pretty much immediately. He looked just like his soon to be big brother and he wasn't phased by the kids. He snuggled into my chest and the vibrations from his purrs were too cute to resist.

Our new sweet guy, Maddux

Our eldest kitty, Sosa

The two boys checking each other out

The girls enjoying their new buddy

While they both love him, Kendyl is SMITTEN

Here's hoping Maddux will enjoy having us as his new family!

Easter Day Family Festivities

Easter morning began with the traditional basket hunt at home. The girls enjoyed the searching and looked sleepy eyed and adorable in their robes showing off their goodies.

Next it was off to MawMaw's and PawPaw's for the annual Easter egg hunt! The girls really look forward to doing this with their cousins each year. It always warms my heart to see them enjoying these holiday celebrations together. They are so lucky to have cousins that are so close to their ages. They will always look back fondly at these times spent together!

Here's a great group shot

A good family shot minus Rob's missing head (Thx, Jordyn!)
After taking the obligatory family shots, the kids were off and running...

After all the fun, Lauryl was beat and needed a short cat nap before heading off to celebrate at Grandma and Grandpa's house.
At our second stop the girls cleaned up again! They got some awesome gear for our upcoming Disney trip and some fun craft kits to take home. An added bonus was the fact that the neighbor's grandkids were in town and Lauryl became fast friends with Flora, the little girl that was her same age. They ran from house to house and simply had a blast. Too bad they don't live in town, the 4 girls were all fast friends. As usual uncle Joe was in the middle of the festivities and got lots of loving from his nieces.


I think this display of Easter loot confirms that my children are spoiled rotten by their grandparents!
What a fun day for all!

Happy Easter!

Easter is a fun holiday for the kids because of all the opportunities that it presents to be crafty. We've been taking full advantage this year and enjoying every second! Our first foray into Easter crafts was the traditional dying of the eggs. We invited Mindi to join us for the fun and while she and I had some great ideas from Martha Stewart, they didn't really turn out quite like the pictures in the magazine! I failed to take any pictures since my professional photog bestie was in attendance, but you can see a couple of hers here!

Next we made some adorable Easter egg pillows courtesy of a good friend from the office. The girls really thought they were fun and Kendyl was proud that she did the whole thing all by herself (I only had to tighten some of the knots!).

Next, we did some holiday baking. Kendyl is doing a lesson in fractions at school and they made bunny biscuits last week. The teacher sent home the instructions and I thought it would be cute to use the cut and bake dough to make bunny cookies! The body and head are two whole circles, the ears are halves, and the arms and legs are fourths. Gotta love math in action! Here's the finished product:

We also made some delicious mini cupcakes. Mini cupcakes seemed like a great idea until I realized that one boxed mix made 48 cupcakes! There were more sprinkles on the floor than the cupcakes, but the final product looked great!

The girls hard at work

The finished product

Lastly, we were asked to bring one of our homemade sugar cookie cakes to my parent's house today. It's definitely not professional grade, but I didn't think it turned out too bad!

Happy Easter, Everyone!