Well, we made it back from our Disney adventure yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. Disney is such an overwhelming experience for all the senses that 6 days in the different parks (3 - Magic Kingdom, 1 - Animal Kingdom, 1 - Epcot, and 1 - Hollywood studios) feels like a month. We took almost 1000 pictures I think but I thought I would list out a few highlights and memories from our experience:

Emily's night as a princess - On Tuesday Emily and her cousin Allison got to go to Bippity Boppity Boutique and have an extreme makeover (hair, makeup, extensions, cinderella dress, etc) in Downtown Disney. They then went and had some appetizers at Rainforest Cafe. Then they took a boat ride across the lake and boarded a bus for the magic kingdom. Upon arrival the dads got to come and see their little princesses. The girls were sure that when the dads got there we would 'pass out because of they were so beautiful' so I played along acting very woozy and faintish when we first saw them. Then the girls enjoyed an amazing dinner in the castle and to their surprise got to meet four of the disney princesses (Snow White, Aurora, Cinderella and Aerial). During their main course (fancy chicken nuggets) they could see the fireworks show through the stained glass windows in the castle. It was truly a magical night for the girls.

Joshua, the doggy paddling pirate - For Joshua one of the highlights occurred at the pool in the house where we stayed. He learned how to doggy paddle with floaties or 'doggy paddles' as he called them. on Sunday night Whitney and I had to rush Emily to the ER as she slipped and fell and busted her chin on the concrete and Joshua stayed at the house and was taught how to swim with floaties on. Then on Tuesday afternoon we Joshua and I had some great Father/Son time in the pool for about an hour and a half where we just played together and I gave him 'challenges' to overcome in the pool and with every successful challenge he was so excited and giddy. He swam across the pool, he jumped off the side into my arms, he got to play whack-a-dad with a pool noodle as I popped up and down in the water. It was some great time with my son as I learned how to just play again and have fun. It was a good reminder to me to not get so immersed in bills, cleaning and to-do-lists that I don't take time to really enjoy the best gifts that God has given me, the relationships in my life.

On Friday Joshua had his own extreme makeover as they transformed him into a pirate. He was a little in shock during the whole process and didn't know quite what to think but I think he thought it was pretty cool. He also thought it was cool to have a 'moostache' (as he calls it) like Daddy. Right after his transformation was complete we rode 'Pirates of the Carribean' and they told him whenever he got scared to simply yell 'ARRRRR' and he would feel better. So sure enough several times through the ride I heard him yell 'ARRRR' at the scary animatronic pirates and creatures and he seemed to gain courage more and more.

Joshua completed another spring semester of MDO and all the parents showed up in mass force to witness our kids singing some of their songs they learned over the semester. Here's a shot of one of their songs from the performance.

One of our childcare staff, Angela, has made quite an impression on our son. So much so that Joshua has decided to work on his impersonation of her. Angela, with roots in Lubbock Texas, has apparently mesmorized our son with the way she says 'Light' or 'Laught'. Here is Joshua doing his 'Angela' impression.





Emily had her ballet pictures taken last week and she had the royal treatment getting to get a haircut, hairwash, blow dry and a little bit of lipstick (which she thought was pretty cool).




























It was crazy hair day at Joshua's school last week. He definitely went all out for the occassion or maybe Mommy went all out would be more accurate.

Well, it's a been a whirlwind of a month here in the life of the Dunns. We'll begin our tour with our trip out to Tennessee for the celebration of the life of Ira 'Crook' Minton or as we all knew him, 'Grand-daddy'. Here's a a few pictures from our cross-country adventure.

Here's a shot of the grandkids in Tennessee at the hotel.

Here's the kids getting to hang out with their cousins

After the funeral on Saturday we had a chance to go by Grand-daddy's old house near Jefferson City. The couple who lives there now has a small farm so the kids had a great time getting to make some new animal friends.

Josh getting in on the action too.

The kids also had fun feeding the goat as well!

Here's a quick photo tour of the last couple of weeks of our life:

We decided to go to the zoo the Thursday of Spring Break only to discover that thousands of other people had the same brilliant idea as us. So we eventually found a parking space in one of the medical center garages 'kind of near the zoo and began walking and walking and walking.

A good ways into our journey we happen to stumble across a group of people standing outside of UT Medical School and we just happen to be there right at 11:00 for my brother Jay's 'matching' ceremony where all the fourth year med students receive their envelope that contains their residency location. So miraculously we show up right on time to see Jay open his envelope. The kids celebrated with Uncle Jay Jay as he found out that he got his first choice of Ft Worth for the first year and then Houston for the next three for his dermatology residency.

We finally made it to the zoo and met up with Brent and Leslie Call from our church and walked around with them and their kiddos for awhile. Here is a shot during our picnic lunch. They are giving their best monkey pose.

Brother and Sister checking out the animals.

It's fun continuing to watch my children's personalities grow and flourish. Some of Emily's favorite things to do lately include being a teacher and us being her students, opening her own restaurant, called 'Woodlands Restaurant', and making cards for Daddy and Mommy. Here's a few pictures of her handiwork:

The official 'Woodlands Restaurant sign

The 'do not enter' signs posted on Emily and Joshu's rooms as they are not part of the restaurant:

The Restroom sign informing the patrons where to go when nature calls:

Joshua continues to crack us up each day. Here's a moment from Thursday with him:

He was hanging out with me at the church and was informing me of all the different things you can do with a styrofoam plate including: make a face on it and 'make wind'. He quickly demonstrated when I asked him how you make wind. He cleverly took the plate and waved it in the air like a fan and sure enough created wind. He was mighty proud of his accomplishment.

The weather this time of year in Houston is incredible. So we have let the kids play outside alot lately. Emily had Kyra come over on Friday for a while and they enjoyed some timme in the sand box and swinging together. Kyra's Daddy, Ted, and myself played the frisbee game with the two girls where they alternate catching small frisbees. Each frisbee they caught was worth one point, or 5 points for the special orange one, and the 10 pointer (which Emily is holding). They seemed to have quite a good time as did the Daddy's as well.

Josh gave the weather a thumbs up!

A couple of moments stood out to me the other day I wanted to share:


Moment 1: Watching my kids sleep

As I went to wake up my kids the other morning it was just one of those amazing moments just to sit there and take it in and watch them sleep. Both of them have their favorite stuffed animal named 'Scruffy'. Emily's 'Scruffy' is a brown floppy eared dog and Joshua's 'Scruffy' is a red floppy eared horse (going along with the cowboy room). On this particular morning both of them were snuggled up close with their respective 'Scruffies' and I just took a second to enjoy it.



Emily and Scruffy








Joshua and Scruffy
















Moment 2: Emily and her tickets
We were at McDonald's meeting with some friends and our kids were playing on the playground doing their thing. Towards the end of our time we noticed that Emily had been quite enjoying her happy meal toy: an iCarly pad of paper. She had apparently been busily transforming every pad of paper into a $1 ticket. She even interrupted me one time to ask me how to spell ticket so she got it just right. As we were wrapping up she came over to me to ask me if I wanted to buy a ticket. She informed me that they were one dollar. I happened to have a dollar in my wallet so I played along with her and then as she gave me the ticket she explained to me that she was selling these tickets to raise money for the people in Haiti. As it came clear what was inside of her heart motivating all of this effort and work she had been doing it really touched me. This whole time she had been busily working over there she was thinking and truly believing that she was going to make a difference in the lives of others through her ticket sales. It was one of those moments where I felt God was winking at me saying 'I know so much of the time as a parent is humbling and you wonder if you are just screwing it up more than doing it right...but things are sinking in...so keep persevering and trusting Me.'

Well, at long last Joshua spent his first night in his new big boy bed last night (Thursday night). It seems like we spent more time and energy picking out his mattress than we did picking at our house but nonetheless it is finally accomplished. Ted and Shelly came over to help us get the old mattress out and the new mattress in and we had a quick little celebration as is recorded here on video.

Emily wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up. So today was a day made for her as her school celebrated 'Texas' day with fun games (including the 'cow patty' toss and others) and Whitney and I got to hang out and do sing-along Texas and campfire songs.