The arrival of Spikey, Spikey Dinosaur

PIP -- Peeking in Progress

Christmas program highlights!

Reindeer invasion

The girls created these last week. I just love these art pieces with their hands. Small treasures that I'll cherish forever.

Breakfast with Santa

Santa Claus is Coming...

Two days, two accidents

So the girls are trying to give make me gray or give me a heart attack -- maybe both. This has been a rough week for the Beckner sisters. Lilly received her first injury when she took a rough tumble on Thursday. What was she doing? Jumping on a bed? No. Just walking on the sidewalk with her sitter, Kyle, and Belle on their way to pick up her daughter, Gabby. Lilly fell on her left shoulder on the sidewalk. She was fine until later in the afternoon, following her nap, she started complaining that her neck hurt. So I retrieved them from Kyle's. Dropped Belle off to Daddy (at his birthday outing) and took Lilly on to the ER at Women's and Children's, where we spent 2 hours. After talking to the doc (and assuring her that I had nothing to do with this accident!), they started the X-rays with the collar bone and discovered it was broken. She has to wear a "special backpack" for two weeks. We see an orthopedic doc on Monday for her injury.

I called Stacey (the sitter on Fridays) to tell her about Lilly's injury and explain you have to pick her up from the bottom when lifting her. She calls me two hours later and says, "You're going to kill me. But Belle jumped off the couch and hit her chin on the coffee table and is going to need stitches." I had just got to work from a meeting. I dropped everything to rush to Scott Depot and pick up both girls, where I learned it wasn't her chin, but her left eye (outer corner). I made a joke to calm Belle down, who is now hysterical again because I'm there. I asked if she was being the monkey on a bed who fell off and bumped his head, but Stacey explained that she just flopped off the counch from laying down and hit the coffee table.

At first, the gash didn't look so bad, but it just kept bleeding the 4 hours we waited in the emergency room at CAMC Teays Valley Hospital. The small band-aid was basically holding it together. It required four stitches. We were surprised that only Andrew and another man had to hold her still. She was actually very brave and very good for such a big injury. She cried of course and begged us to help her (breaking my heart, of course.) Mommy cried in the corner at this point. Doc told me I couldn't be near her if I was going to be upset as it would only upset her more. Belle told us it burned when they put the numbing medicine in, but then was pretty good for the stitches. Afterward and actually while we waited, she was the sweetest little girl and just colored and talked to people around us. She's quite the social butterfly, much like her Mommy. It's been an eventful, tiring and stressful two days. But I guess we were due... we haven't had any injuries or illnesses since Belle's last daredevil injury in May -- her left ear cut open. I just pray that the kid won't have all kinds of scars on her face before she's a teen-ager.

Note: We'll get a picture of Lilly's "special backpack" tomorrow and post it.

Best friends, first snow and new dos

So rather than the girls writing what's been going on... I thought I (Mommy) would share some funny stories with you.

Best friends.

Let's start with Belle's infatuation with bugs (or proper term -- insects.) The nasty, stinky brown ladybugs have started to infest our house. They're dying quickly (which makes me quite happy), but Belle discovers their dried carcasses and then brings them to us. "Look, Mommy I found a ladybug. Aaw. He's my best friend." Now I'm not so happy to see this new "friend" and tell her we have to throw him away. She gets quite upset. The first time this happened. Andrew convinced her to set him free and we let him go through a small hole in the screen in the bathroom window. Tonight, however, I wasted no time opening her hand and dumping the dead bug in the trash and said he could live there. She bawled and said she didn't want her frined to live in the trash. She wanted him to live in her bed. Ugh. Daddy convinced her that he would crawl out of the trash and live in the bathroom.

First snow.

So it starts snowing last night. Belle is quite excited and asks if they can go outside to play in the snow. I say, no. It's too dark and cold. She says we can go later when the sun comes up. I say no we have to go to school. This morning she says now we can play in the snow? I say, No we have to get ready for school. They're running around excited about the first snow of the season. Throwing open the blinds in the windows and upsetting me. I tell them to go downstairs to the dining room so they can have breakfast, where they can see the snow better from the door to the deck. Next thing, I know I hear giggling and stomping around as I'm putting on my make-up. I yell down to Andrew, who is checking school closings, that the girls are on the porch. They had run around on the deck in their socks. They had a ball. We were a bit upset. Then Belle tells Daddy has he's drying off her feet that there are ants on her feet. He tries to explain the science behind the prickling sensation, but she insists there are ants on her feet.

New do.

Belle's hair was quite long and I liked it. But a) she hates to have us mess with her hair and b) she won't stop twirling it. So she got her first real "do " tonight. She was very good. Sat quite still while the man cut her hair. Of course, before she entered his chair she had to model her outfit and say, "See my beautiful shirt and pants." Too funny.

Lilly has her moments too.

So I can't leave without telling a story on Lilly as well. She's entering the terrible twos in her own way, of course, and as any last born would -- with a mischievous grin. No, she's not going to be full of rage, but rather full of mischief. She has her moments of anger, but again, it's usually too funny and she starts giggling. Lilly disobeys your command and then giggles, grins and generally tries to "charm" her way out of it. When I tell her that I don't think she's funny and she's going to get into trouble, she insists, "Yes, I'm funny.

Well, last week Andrew had them when I had an evening work event. So he had Belle in the tub and a naked Lilly on the potty. She jumped up from the potty and ran her naked butt into her bedroom, where she climbed into bed, squatted and peed. She then rann into the bathroom and told Andrew, I pee-peed on the bed (with a grin, of course.) And then said, I pee-peed with my butt as she smacked her butt cheek. Andrew of course was upsetat the time, but later laughed when recounting the event for me.

The leaves are changing

Belle created this in school today.

She's quite proud of it, so we thought we'd share it with you.

Art is definitely her favorite "subject"/activity.

Happy Halloween

Trunk or Treat

We had a nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa this weekend. Mommy was in a friend's wedding and Daddy joined her. So we went to the Lady and the Tramp restaurant and hung out with Grandma and Grandpa.

Today, we invited them to Trunk or Treat at Emmanuel Baptist Church, where we've been attending the last few weeks. It was a lot of fun. We played some games and won prizes; received lots of candy and went down the inflatable slide several times.

This was the second time this week that we've been trick or treating. Mommy dressed us up and took us to Capitol Market again this year. This year, we are dressed as The Grouchy Ladybug -- like one of our favorite books by Eric Carte. But I told Mommy on Thursday I didn't want to be a grouchy lady bug; I want to be happy ladybug.

Fall frolicking

We just love fall. All the decorations. All the pumpkins. And the monsters! The scawwy monsters! We see monsters everywhere. And we like defeating them with our special monster spray. Lilly spots them and I spray them. I protect my little sister.

When we drive around town, I like to point out to Mommy who's celebrating Halloween too. I love to see all the Halloween decorations all around town.

And this past weekend, we helped Grandma and Grandpa pick out pumpkins for their house. We just love visiting Capitol Market and seeing all the goods.

I two!

We had such an exciting weekend --with lots of visitors. Not only did we have the usual visitors -- Grandpa and Grandma, Papaw and Granny, Aunt KaKa and Jesse -- but we had some unusual characters visit us. Gingy, Shrek, Donkey and Dragon all came to help me celebrate at my Shrek Free (Three) Party. We even had more visitors from Morgantown, our cousin Kadence and her Mommy and Daddy, Jamie and Kraig brought Mamaw to see us.

It was so much fun. I enjoyed visiting with all our family and friends. And everyone gave me nice things for my birthday, including books, clothes, a new Hermie video, Raggedy Ann and Andy and a princess hat. I told Grandma I was princess that day.

Now I can tell everyone that, "I two" and mean it! Thank you for coming to my Shrek Free party!

First Day of School

We started our first day of school today. I was very excited to go. I told Mommy on the way into town, "Finally, we are going back to school." Lilly was excited to have a new backpack and come to school too. Mommy told her no crying, but she didn't listen. She started crying when she realized that Mommy was saying goodbye to us at the door. I told her she'll have fun with Miss Velva. I have Miss Lisa as a teacher again this year. We'll tell you about our day later tonight.

On the hunt

We've had so many adventures this week. One such adventure was taking a walk along the beach at dusk so we could search for fiddler crabs. I only needed Grandpa to show me once how to hunt for and catch them. Then I quickly spotted one on my own (without a flashlight) and caught it. It was great fun.

Sadly, our week at the beach is coming to an end. Just in time to miss Hurricane Hanna. We will miss it and are already looking forward to our trip next year.

One big sandbox!

We visited one big sand box tonight. A place called Jockey's Ridge. It was fun to climb the big hills of sand and run down them. We rolled around and played a lot in them. Grandpa said we have now become a part of a 26-year tradition since he and Grandma brought Mommy and Sara here when they were small. We sure are having fun this week playing with Grandma, Grandpa and Sara, but I'm really tired of all the photos they are trying to take of me (Lilly.) Grandpa says I'm like a movie star and he's the paparazzi when I come running and tell him, "No, no, no. No more picutres."

Fun with sand

The beach is so much fun. There is endless play with the sand. I just like digging with my new orange shovel. But yesterday, Grandpa and Mommy showed me how you can have even more fun with sand by building a sand castle. I helped find the seashells to decorate it. Course, Lilly and I had more fun tearing it down!

Later, Mommy and Grandpa buried my feet in the sand and then I tried to pull them out. That was a cool trick. Lilly was tuckered out at this point and just slept with Grandma while we continued to play in the sand. Aunt Sara also flew a kite while we were at the beach yesterday. It was a perfect day for that because it was really windy. We weren't allowed to swim in the ocean yesterday because the waves were so big. I can't wait to see what adventures we'll have today. I just want to go to the beach, beach, beach as soon as I wake up in the morning. But we have to wait for all the grown-ups to wake up before we can go.

It's not the beach; it's the ocean

I don't know why everyone keeps calling this place the beach. It's the ocean! The big ocean. I just love playing in the waves, which was a surprise to Mommy and Daddy since I didn't enjoy the wave pool too much this summer.

I've been a big help to Grandpa. I helped him pull the cart with all of our beach gear. Then we played in the sun, sand and surf. It's hard work and I quickly got tired. Luckily, Grandpa let me rest on his shoulder.

Later we want to Barefoot Bernie's to have dinner for Sara's birthday. Daddy showed Belle a new trick, which she demonstrated for us.

We're at the beach, beach, beach

After a long tortuous trip, we finally have arrived at the beach, beach, beach! We're happy to be in Nags Head, N.C., and finally out of the car. Our house is pretty cool. We have bunk beds and fish in our room. We have a swimming pool (Jacuzzi) at our house. We can see the ocean from our porch and hear the waves. We played in the sand a little when we arrived. Today, we're going to stay at the beach all day. We're so excited to get to the beach that we woke up at 6 a.m. today. But Grandma laid down with us and we took a long nap this morning so that everyone else could sleep in some.

Later today we're having cake for Aunt Sara's birthday. She's an old woman now! (30)

(We're also happy that WVU won their first football game of the season. Go Mountaineers!)

Digging for Dinosaurs

Today was Dino Day at the Clay Center. Mommy took us to look for dinosaurs. We had a great time. What a dinosaur adventure! We did our usual activities when we visited the museum -- played in the balls; on the slide; and with the musical instruments in the kids corner. Today, we also colored pictures of dinosaurs, looked at fossils and just like real paleotologists, we used brushes to discover dinosaur bones! And for a souvenir we each had a toy dinosaur to bring home with us! It was a great adventure.

Later, Mommy painted her toenails while Lilly slept. I told her I wanted to paint to and wanted to be like her! So she just had to paint my nails! But only the ones on my big toes.

Sweet & Sour

The terrible twos are arriving early with Lilly.

We didn't think it possible, but sweet little lilly is becoming a bit of a pill. And leaving a sour taste in our mouths.

Of course, you know she's the girly girl so she's all about dressing up in the heels (above photo.) Doesn't she look ready to walk the catwalk? And then she breaths fire at us. Like at dinner tonight, when she refused to eat anything and kept telling us no and then growled at us. We laughed (under our mouths) and then, yes, I tried to record it. But for some reason I can't get the video to load. So you'll just have to take my word for it. It was ugly and yet funny at the same time.

A melody, by belle

Belle loves to sing.

Lately she makes up her own tune and own words. Often, she combines several songs she knows to create her own medley. On our way to Chuck E. Cheese, she sang that Jesus told her to poop on the word of God. (medley of Jesus loves me and B-I-B-L-E) She was receiving a reward for finally getting potty trained.

Hallelujah!

We can hardly believe it, but the time has finally come! Belle is now fully potty-trained. We still have the occasional accident, but no more diapers! I'm so overcome with joy I could cry. In celebration of her going to the potty for two weeks, we finally took her to visit the big guy -- Chuck E. Cheese. Our cousin, Jenny, was in visiting us that weekend and so Jenny experienced the wonder (and craziness) that is Chuck E. Cheese.

We were glad to have Jenny visit us and watch the girls for us two days. Belle cried tonight and said, "I miss the guys, Mommy!" The "guys" are Aunt Barbara, Jenny and Mo. Barb and Mo came to pick up Jenny yesterday and we all had a nice visit to the mall. Belle is so found of them that she asked if they were coming for dinner tonight too!

Fun all around

We've been having such good times lately. We really enjoy going to Miss Stacey's house now. No more tears! (which thrills Mommy and Daddy)

Last week, we visited with Grandma and Grandpa and did all kinds of fun things. We swam, rode the roller coaster, played at the park and visited with friends and family.

We had a neat time at Miss Stacey's house today. Lilly enjoyed a ride with Blake in his fire rescue jeep and I played with a big bouncy ball.

We'll share some photos with you from Grandpa and Grandma's house soon.

Kids Day & Reunion

We had a full weekend of activies in Morgantown.

On Saturday, we went downtown to celebrate Kids Day. We enjoyed playing in sandboxes; eating snow cones and popcorn; painting on a wall and playing with Grandma in a huge sprinkler provided by the local fire truck. Later, we visited with family at Mamaw's house and ate pizza for dinner. What fun.

Today, we visited with more family at a picnic where there was a pool. We played with our cousin, Kadence, and got lots of toys in the reunion auction.

My favorite part of the weekend was the pool. It had waves. Lilly told us her favorite part of the weekend was Grandma.

We were tired after our exciting weekend, but are definitel looking forward to visiting Grandma and Grandpa later this week.

Summer is time for insects

I just love bugs.

I can't wait to use my Booming Bugs Observation Deck. I can't wait to hear the bugs inside and look at them closely through the magnifying glass.

I made this drawing of insect fingerprints at Miss Stacey's last week.

-Belle

Full weekend

Whew! We're exhausted after a weekend full of activities. We enjoyed visiting with friends of the Kanawha Valley Emmaus Community at the annual picnic Saturday and then Mommy and Daddy took us to the pool again. (Friday we visited the wave pool in Hurricane for a couple of hours.) I'm doing much better in the swimming pools this year; although I still have trouble keeping my mouth closed.

Today, after attending Sunday School and morning worship at Bancroft Church of God, we visited with Granny, Pawpaw and GG Bunny. We had a nice lunch before I had my first play date with my new friend, Charlotte. (Charlotte's grandma, Carol, works with Mommy.) We visited the Clay Center for the Summer Fun Day, but it was unbelievably crowded and noisy. And we all know how well I do with loud noises! So after a short time of playing there, we all traveled to Ellen's Ice Cream on Capitol Street for some homemade ice cream. Charlotte and I had a nice time enjoying our treat, reading a book and playing with a small play kitchen. I sure enjoyed playing with my new friend and look forward to seeing her again soon.

Dinosaurs & Dora

We've had an exciting day today. First, Daddy & Mommy took us to the museum downtown so we could see the new Dinosaurs Alive! movie playing in the IMAX theater. We didn't sit through the whole movie, though, because Belle was scared every time one of the dinosaurs was big and looked like it would eat us.

After the movie, we visited the exploration stations to investigate fossils for ourselves and act out scenes from the movie of dinosaurs eating one another.

Then we came home for lunch and naps. We had to get some rest so we could attend our friend Savannah's birthday party tonight. She had a special guest join her for her birthday -- Dora! Even Belle couldn't resist a nap so we could see Dora. (the party was this evening and meant we'd be home past our bedtime.) It was so exciting to see Dora. Belle couldn't get enough of her and kept trying to take Map out of Backpack. Mommy had to tell her to wait her turn. After all, she was there for the birthday girl, Savannah. Belle is having a bit of trouble these days understanding that everyone's birthday isn't her birthdy and she doesn't get presents at everyone's party. Still, she was pretty good and we enjoyed visiting with our friends from Bancroft.

Happy Fourth!

Today, I learned about the American flag while we stayed with our new childcare provider -- Stacey. We reviewed the colors of the flag and learned there are many stars on our flag. I started to learn something called the Pledge of Allegiance. Mommy thought that was so neat so we said it together this evening. In celebration of Fourth of July, I made an American flag with my hand.

On our way home today, I (Belle) spotted several flags and pointed them out to Mommy & Daddy.

Exploring in our backyard

This evening we played and explored in the backyard with Daddy. Here are some of our finer moments caught on film.

Artistic weekend

In honor of FestivALL this weekend, we created our own work of art. After we enjoyed seeing pieces of artwork created by West Virginia State University students downtown on Saturday, we decided to paint some of our own on Sunday. We just loved all the activities of FestivALL this weekend. On Saturday, we visited the Smoke on the Water Chili Cookoff. Sunday we enjoyed the Ice Cream Social at Stonewall (in Mommy & Daddy's old stomping ground -- West Side) for a 1/2 hour before the rains came. So Mommy helped us top off our weekend of art by painting ceramic magnets and creating a suncatcher. There are many more activities this week in Charleston for FestivALL. To see a complete and fun schedule, visit http://media.cnpapers.com/festivall/ Mommy's friend, M.K., is one of the designers of this fun piece.