Our Dancing Queens

The girls had their recital last night and this afternoon. Ella tap danced to "Jolly Holiday" from Mary Poppins and Addison danced a pom routine to "What Dreams Are Made Of."

Ella was SO excited when she got out on stage (in front of a entire auditorium of people) and couldn't stop giggling the entire routine. She danced though and giggled with the girl the....entire....routine! That's our Ella!

Addison had some serious dance moves (which I believe she got from her Dad-Otherwise known as, "The Night Train". It was entertaining for all of us! Ella kept asking when she gets to "go back to that place with the stage again"!

Happy Easter!

Ella loved decorating the eggs!

Lauren only broke one egg...she only made two though:)

Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Mauk's house

Addison dressed up in her dr. outfit taking time out of playing doctor to decorate eggs

Getting ready to enjoy Claudia and Aunt Kristin's tasty yet gorgeous cake pops!

Easter Morning-Lauren was still half asleep...:)

Fun with our cousins on our easter egg hunt!

Addison's 1st Surgery

Addison had developed an infection of an oil gland in her eye a few months back already. She was treated with antibiotic drops and we tried warm compresses for a month but this "bump" just never went away under her eye. It turns out is was just a chalazion. It is somewhat like a stye but if it wasn't removed, it would keep growing and would eventually distort her eye shape if not surgically removed therefore causing permanent damage. 

She work up the morning of at 5:30 and said, "Mom-today is my surgery and I wanted to make sure you didn't sleep in and miss it!" (Like I sleep in often-OK I did ONE time on a Sunday-the whole family did and I told her we missed church because we all slept in too late....I guess she didn't forget that:)

She was such a trooper and never let on she was scared. She was joking in fact putting on the gown, pretending to be a robot (which was what was on her gown). Then she was making small talk with one of her nurses about how she's planning on Hawaiian themed birthday party in September. She gave me a hug and smiled as they wheeled her away.

Twenty minutes later they called us back and we met with the doctor who said all went well!  They all said she did great. The anesthesiologist even said she asked right before they put her under, if she was being "cooperative" after she heard him explain to me earlier some kids are uncooperative and that effects the process so it could take longer. She doesn't miss anything!

The nurse explained she would sleep for an hour or two when we got home... After arts & crafts, building her Lego kit and eating lunch, she was asking if we could go for a bike ride...she never napped. She was a little sleepy on the car ride but was good to go. 

Her eye looks great only a day after and she never complained it hurt-we'll take it!

Where did the past 22 months go?

Lauren has recently been "into" potty training...today was a big day-she went "poop on the potty" for the first time and was SO proud and her sisters were even more excited! Not sure where the past 22 months went!?! Here is a little video clip of her doing some art work:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202659873470880&l=3099331131973789416

All dogs go to Dog Heaven....

We had a very sad day last month. It took me awhile to post it on here but as you can assume, Bailey went to dog heaven.

She had lived a good lift and would have been 12 years old on May 1st. She had diabetes since September and was responding to the two insulin shots each day for a few months. However her weight was dropping over time, her eyesight was failing and she was in a lot of pain.

She is now in a better place as we explained to the girls, eating lots of treats and rolling in bunny poop, and feeling better again in dog heaven. She sure do miss her tons though...she will always her our first "baby":) She taught us so much and was such a great cuddler.

Las Vegas Getaway minus the Girls

Larry and I had never left the girls overnight with the exception of when I was in the hospital after having them:) We decided to head to Las Vegas (a fun place we loved to go every Spring pre-family) and our friends Tim and Megan decided to join us. We really had a great time with them.

We really made the most of every moment of the 4 days, 3 nights we were there. On the second day we ran/walked (according to my FitBit so I know it's fairly official) 21 miles - 8 miles we ran and the rest we walked in 24 hours. It helps when you are awake for 20 hours in a 24 hour period though:)

We're not huge gamblers at all but thought since we were in Vegas, we'd play a little bit. I hit it lucky at the penny slot machine after spending a total of $3.30 and won $116! At that point I decided I was way ahead of where I started and knew it was time to cash in for the trip.

The highlights were hitting a Cirque du Soleil show, lots of yummy restaurants, hitting the dance floor (with Larry's "Night Train" moves as you may recall from our wedding, and hitting the pool daily.

We couldn't have enjoyed it any more knowing our girls were in great hands with their grandparents. Grandma Baier stayed with them for part of the time and Grandpa and Grandma Mauk stayed for the other half at our house. They all did wonderful although it was nice to get lots of love from Lauren and Ella all week afterwards in appreciation of missing us. We are SO very thankful for all their help as we couldn't have gone without their help. Ella kept telling me, "Mom-I really missed you!" I guess perhaps distance makes the heart grow fonder:)

"I can't believe I just won $116!" 

Megan and I outside the Bellagio - at 3:00 a.m. - notice we had no problems with random people in this photo

Blue Man Group (at our hotel)

Larry and I enjoying our vacation:)

Larry doing his "night train moves"

Our pool...could have spent all day here but for my skin's sake, I didn't...and I used SPF 50!

Enjoying a "smoothie" (alcohol free of course!) when we went for dinner after getting back

Fun with Grandpa and Grandma Mauk

Chicago - Friends & Fun

We spent last weekend in Chicago and met up with great friends that we don't get to see often. We also checked out some fun family activities too and made the most of our 3 day weekend. Addison and Ella LOVED shopping at American Girl. Addison has wanted to get her dolls ears pierced for some time so that was especially fun for her. They had fun playing at the Children's Museum and swimming at the hotel. The Jelly Belly Factory was another fun place to visit because candy was involved-what's not to love!?!