Rudolph The-Red-Nosed Reindeer

We're eagerly awaiting Rudolph, his pals and Santa. We can ha

rdly contain our excitement, which unfortunately is getting us into a bit of trouble!

First Snow of Winter 2009

"Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below..."

Oh what joy! We woke to a wintry wonderland Saturday morning. There was a whole bunch of snow out my window! Lilly and I couldn't wait to get outside to play in the snow. We made a snowman (Frost the snowman), threw snowballs and went sledding in the backyard. It was so much fun. Lilly's hands got cold, though, and she wanted to go inside before too long. It was so much fun -- even though we had no electricity. We went to Granny's to spend the night because she had electricity and we could watch movies there.

It was a lot of fun until we came home today and found the house in a big mess. Ellie! Ellie had made a big mess. There were muddy pawprints all over the house. We had to help Mommy clean the house this afternoon. Boy, was it hard. We were happy when we could help wrap Christmas presents and decorate sugar cookies. Only 4 more days until Santa comes. We can't wait!

Christmas Montage

Happy Turkey Day!

We're looking forward to eating turkey and visting with family this week.

ALL we want for Christmas

Toys"R"Us Wish List a gift registry for Birthdays, Holidays & special occasions

We had a great time looking through the new Toys R Us catalogue to find what we want for Christmas. Course, we don't have any trouble finding things we like. Mommy told us we couldn't circle the whole book,nor could we ask for toys that were too old for us (like Bratz dolls or skateboards!) Geesh, she's no fun! But here are a few of the items we'd like Santa to bring us.

Go Jump Off a Bridge

Each day, I (Belle) wake up and ask Mommy and Daddy where we're going today. Usually the answer is "school." Today, though, the answer was "someplace special." Daddy told us we were taking a trip to the forest to visit a special bridge. Along the trip, Mommy told us about the gord (gourge) with a river under it. I wanted to make sure there weren't any sharks in the river -- which Mommy said was the New River.

I asked, "New riverbend?" I thought it would be cool to be around the riverbend like Pocahontas. We watched Pocahontas on the way to the bridge to get ready for the forest. First, we had to bundle up because it was very cold and windy and rainy. Daddy brought the wagon to pull us in. Mommy brough a blanket to lay on our laps and keep us warm.

I kept asking how much longer until we get to the bridge. We did a lot of walking. Then we finally reached the bridge and watched on a big TV as people jumped off and flew with wings (parachutes). We saw a picture at the restaurant where we ate lunch of someone jumping off the bridge with what I thought looked like a hotdog.

Once we finally reached the bridge, we saw a lot of people jump down to the river with pretty wings. Some were blue and black; others were green and blue. I thought it looked like fun and said okay Let's jump. Daddy said I wouldn't be allowed to jump for a loooong time. Dirty barnacles!!

It was a lot of fun and a fun trip, but I wasn't happy to be cold. Mommy couldn't get us back to the car fast enough for me!

Fishing weekend

We had a nice trip to the cabin with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa took us fishing on Sunday, but Lilly was the only one who got a fish. She catches all the fish. Before we headed off for the weekend, Grandma took us to get our hair cut and to the WV Book Fstival, where Mommy worked. It was a lot of fun.

First Day of Pre-K, Pre-School

Today, was the first day of The Growing Place Preschool for 2009. Yeah! Mommy said she was very excited for us to return to school. I don't know why! We were excited to see our friends. She took us to our classroom on Friday to make it easier for us to adjust to our new classrooms today.

I'm in Pre-K now -- which is upstairs. It has a big rug for circle time, computers, a rice station, a science station, a small kitchen for learning how to cook (now I can help Mommy with dinner!), a new tent and lots of toys. I was so excited to see my friends Jonah, Ethan and Haleigh today.

Lilly is in my old classroom --downstairs. She's 3 now. Well, almost. Her birthday is coming up and she's having a princess birthday party. She was excited to see her friends: Will, Teagan and Gabby.

Today was a big change for both of us. We have new classsrooms, new teachers and a new all-day schedule. Even though Mommy told us about the new schedule on the way to school today, we didn't like it. I cried because I thought Mommy was coming to get me. Lilly cried too. I also didn't like naptime. I didnt' sleep. But then we made a cool puppet during craft time this afternoon and that was fun. We're excited to go back tomorrow to see what we learn.

Boogie-boarding

Our summer playdate

We had a great time eating and playing with our church friends in the Kanawha State Forest on Saturday.

Belle's friend

This weekend we had a picnic at the Forest. We met some of our friends from church and played on the playground. A man had a camera and a butterfly landed on him. He asked if I wanted to hold him so I said yes. Mommy's friend, Emily, took my picture on her phone.

Bravo Belle

One Brave Little GIrl

Lilly jumping into a pool for the first time. Pretty big drop for such a little girl.

Summer Days

Just a small sampling of some recent photos. We haven't been home much and it's rained a lot this summer so we haven't had many outdoor activities. However, recently we took Ellie for her first walk around the neighborhood. She only barked a couple of times. And no, Aunt Sara, she isn't Shiver. Now Belle has taken to calling her Gigi.

Lilly is doing very well with Ellie. She plays with her, pets her and lets her lick her sometimes. She is happy to have a dog now too. Both girls want Ellie to say goodnight to them in their room before bedtime. Belle wakes up first thing and runs downstairs to see Ellie and tell her good morning. She tells Ellie all the time it's okay and lets her know what's going on. Belle has become quite astute.

Classy music

Today we played music. I used a stick to move it "back and forth" on a violin. It was fun. Belle also played the drums and the trombone. But it was the recorders we liked because they make a lot of noise.

We had a lot of fun at Summer Fun Day today at the Clay Center. We visited for a little while after Mommy was fnished working. We watched her paint some faces of other kids before she painted mine. I said, "You're doing a good job, Mommy." She made me look like a cat.

Later, we jumped in the balls in the Kids Museum and then went outside to plant a tree. We have to take care of it. Water it. And then we take it back in a little while and plant it in the new city park. We're going to take good care of the plants.

Summer cuts & FestivALL

We are having a fun-filled summer. Mommy is trying to keep us busy with activities (so we have some structure to our days, she says.) So I'm taking swimming lessons and reading class. Lilly is too young for both. Next month, though, Mommy said we'll both attend VBS.

After swimming on Thursday, Mommy took us to get summer haircuts. Everyone says I look so much older with my hair cut. I like it because it doesn't take as long to dry. Lilly's never takes long to dry!

This is one of the most fun weeks in Charleston -- when we have FestivALL. We've attended a lot of fun things. Last night, we went to a movie (Sound of Music.) We got to bark and yell at the movie and sing along with them . It was fun until Lilly chewed on her glow stick and got yellow all over her. She was glowing! I told her on the way to Live on the Levee that she can never, ever do that again because she would vomit. And maybe she'd vomit on the street and then other peole would see it and vomit. She said, yeah.

Today we went to Mommy's work for the Street Fair. It's a lot of fun. We played in the sand and the water fountain. Got balloons and tattoos. We had birthday cake because the newseum, I mean the Library, had a birthday. It's 100. But we eventually had to leave because Mommy said we were too cranky. She tried to get us to take a nap, but we didn't go to sleep. Then we played in our swimming pool for a little bit... until I dumped the water out and Mommy made us come back inside.

I told her I can't wait to see what we do tomorrow.

First Catch

We went fishing this weekend and caught our first fish! It was a lot of fun. We had to drive to the cabin Friday night to sleep so we could get up early Saturday. Then we had to drive far, far away to the pond to fish. We rode in Grandpa and Grandma's car and sang, "Country Roads" a lot on the way.

When we arrived at the Derby, there were lots of kids catching fish. Some of them left with the fish in a bag as we came into the fish hatchery. Belle said she wanted to bring one home with her too. But Mommy said no we had to put them back. But we didn't have to put any back becuase we didn't catch any at first. Belle didn't like waiting for the fish to get on her line. I didn't like fishing very well so I just played with Grandpa's tools. Then Mommy, Grandma and me walked to the car to get our chairs. When we were gone Belle caught her first fish, but it didn't stay on her line. She was upset that she couldn't keep it.

After we got something to drink and eat, we tried again. This time, Mommy said we'd try the catch and keep pond. We went to the pond, with lots of people. We put this orange stuff on our hook and caught a fish within the first two minutes of having our line in the water. Mine was bigger than Belle's. Mommy said my fish was almost as big as me! I didn't like it when Belle caught hers. It was red (with blood on it. Mommy said I was traumatized for life! But I took my rod and fished with Grandpa anyway. I caught a fish next and it was real heavy. It was too hard for me to reel in so Grandpa had to help me.

After we got our fish, we had to take them to a table to be fileted. Whatever that means. Belle kept asking them what they were doing. She wanted to take our fish home. She didn't know that Daddy and Grandpa were going to eat him!

Later that night, Daddy found a turtle along the road and brought it to the cabin for us. We played with him and then brought him home to be our pet! We haven't named him yet. Do you have any suggestions?

Swim lessons

Belle had her first swimming lessons today. Typical Belle, she thinks she's a big girl now and just wanted to jump right into the deep end. I had to tell her to stop and wait for her instructor, Sarah. Then she kept asking me if she could just get in while she was helping the other student. She did very well with her kicking and blowing bubbles. She didn't like floating on her back too well. The photos aren't the best quality because they were taken with my iPhone.

Photo gallery of Belle's birthday

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=934747007/a=34153457_34153457/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Happy 4th Birthday Belle!

Belle celebrated her 4th birthday with her friends from Growing Place and other playmates. They had a wonderful time exploring all the exhibits at the Clay Center, but the highlight was the science demo. Belle was happy to have such a good time with her friends.

Growth in a year

I've been too busy to post much to the girls blog lately. I hope to do better when work slows down a bit. So today's post is just a little sampling of Belle's artwork from the school year, an early school picture and some facts about her that were gathered in September and May.

All About Me!

My name is: Belle

I am 3 years old (both months)

My hair is brown. (both months)

My eyes are blue (both months)

I am 41 inches tall (Sept.) and 43 1/2 inches tall (May)

My favorite food is Lucky Charms (Sept.) and peas (May)

My favorite color is blue (both months). Which is funny because she's been telling us green lately because that's Lilly's favorite color and she has to compete with her sister.

When I grow up I want to color (Sept.) and play (May).

Happy Mother's Day

We were very excited to give Mommy her presents today. We wanted to give them yesterday when Lilly came home from the hospital. Mommy took her to the ER at 4:30 a.m. becuase she had a bad fever. She threw up in Mommy's hands, again, at the ER. After lots of painful tests (like the RSV nose swap), they still can't tell us what's wrong with "My Lil." She had lots of band-aids on her when she got home. Snoopy ones.

I was nervous about it so Daddy helped me on Mommy's card. I spelled Mommy on the envelope. I told Mommy when she got home that there are three M's in her name! So we each got Mommy a card and a little statue of two girls (Willow Tree). Daddy got her new hot iron for her hair! It's very hot. We can't touch it. We also made her these nice presents at school. It was a nice day -- except I didn't get any presents!

Little Picasso(es)

Some of their recent artwork sent home from school today. So cute...

Chocolate Lovers

We had an event-ful weekend in Morgantown.

First, we went to a party for Aunt Sara. There was music and food and dancing and LOTS of people. Everyone was there to help Aunt Sara because her head hurt.

It was a good time. We had fun eating popcorn and chips and dancing onstage with our cousin Kadence.

On Saturday, we went downtown and walked to a lot of stores to get chocolate!! First we had wonderful chocolate cake at Aunt Barbara's store. We went to the library where they had fried wontons fiilled with Nutella. Lilly took a bite of one and decided she didn't like it. She tried to put it back, but Aunt Sara wouldn't let her!

We also bought two books at the Library for just two dimes. Aunt Sara let us give the coins to the lady at the counter. It was a busy day walking around, with lots of good chocolate treats. Daddy said we had too mcuh chocolate because we were all jacked up on sugar. he,he

As a special bonus, we celebrated Grandpa Bott's birthday with cake, cake, cake on Saturday. He was surprised that we had a cake for him. It sure was hard keeping that a secret from him. I was tempted to tell him too many times.

Hungry Caterpillar

Belle made this in class today. She's very proud of it so we thought we'd share it. She explained the green on the bottom is the grass that he's walking across. They also read The Hungry Caterpillar in class today. She explained that he had a bellyache because he ate too much!