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!

Happy Easter!

Belle made these in class. Thought we'd share and tell everyone Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

Mommy's birthday is tomorrow. But we celebrated early tonight with cake, cake, cake!! It was soooo good that I just had to eat it with my hands. Belle tried to get Mommy to give her a second piece, but she said no! So Belle tried to take Mommy's piece!

Mommy says she's older tomorrow. Belle says she turns 24! Mommy said that sounds good to her! We asked her what kind of party she was going to have. Belle told her we wanted her to have a My Little Pony party, but she says big girls have big girls parties. Whatever that means!

Rough & Rowdy at Ritter

It was sunny out today. So Daddy and Mommy took us to the park. It was a looong way away. So long that I feel asleep in the car. Belle didn't like the long car ride and kept asking where in the world is the park. Daddy said she's just like Mommy -- she can't sit still for more than 5 minutes. I liked looking out my window, though.

Once we got to Ritter Park there were a lot of families there! I guess we weren't the only ones who wanted to get out on this beach day. Belle and I kept telling Mommy we wanted to go to the beach. Belle said it's a nice sunny beach day. We sort of went to the beach. We got to dig in the sand at the park. Belle told Daddy we needed to get beach pants though for that.

We also kicked a big beach ball around. That was fun. But with the sand and the ball we sure were missing the beach. We decided not to feed the ducks and instead played in the grass and a little on the playground. Belle wouldn't stop climbing and the doctor told her she couldn't climb so we had to just play in the grass.

After our play time, Daddy took us to his favorite Huntington spot -- Frosttop. It has a big cup of coffee spinning on top of it. We got to drink soda. It was yummy. So were the fries. Belle liked her hamburger better. All in all it was a fun day. I think they were trying to make us tired so we'd sleep past 6 a.m. Mommy says this should be fun week with something about the time jumping forward -- whatever that means.

we like to move it

We are quite fond of the Madagascar movies. We like to shake our booties like our friends Alex the Lion, Gloria the Hippo, Melvin the Giraffe and Marty the Zebra.

Poppa and new roomies

It's been a busy week. We spent five days in Morgantown visiting with family. Aunt Salah (read Sara) had a really bad headache so we had to go visit her in the hospital. But we also got to visit with other family -- like cousins Jenny and MoMo; Aunts Barb and Janie; G. Grandpa Bott, Mamaw, Grandpa and Grandma. We even went to Aunt DeeDee's house for a couple hours on two days. It was fun. She had a whole bunch of people and Little pet Shop toys to play with. We also made a craft -- a snowman.

Then we also met some new relatives, like Uncle Bill and cousin Lydia, who visited with Aunt Doris from Ohio. It was a busy week.

So we're happy to be home and trying to get back to our schedule. We were excited to return to school on Tuesday. But we're having trouble getting to sleep at night. So Mommy isn't getting much rest either. But because we slept in a bed together at Grandpa and Grandma's house, Mommy and Daddy moved Lilly into my room. So now we're sharing a room. It just means we have more trouble going to bed at night! Crazy Mommy and Daddy. What were they thinking?

We're still praying for God to heal Aunt Sara and hope you are too!

No Bones About It

Today, I visited Dr. Legg. He's a bone doctor. I told him that I jumped off a bridge and fell down and broke my arm! Mommy frowned and told him it was a bridge on the playground set at Coonskin.

He took my bandage off and I thought I was going to have my arm free again. Boy was I wrong. Now I'm in a hard bandage -- all the way past my elbow. I chose green for the color. I did have a hard time deciding though. I told Mommy, I think I'll change my mind and get blue. I think I'll change my mind and get yellow. Maybe I'll have blue and green. Mommy told me I had to pick only one and stick with it. I told her I'd stick with green.

So now my arm is a green mummy arm! he,he

Dr. Legg gave me lots of bad news. He told me no gymnastics, no running, no climbing. In fact, he told Mommy my feet have to stay on the ground! Can you believe that? And, I have to wear this thing for 4 weeks! Mommy says that's a really long time. Then he'll look at my arm and see how it's healing. I'll have to have another picture taken of it. Then I have to wear another cast for 4 more weeks! Geesh. Mommy said maybe next time I can choose blue, though.

All, I know is it's going to be a long spring!

Freaky Friday, Freaky February

So I'm really going off on my ranting now... February is ABSOLUTELY the worst month in our lives. The girls always seem to have accidents, illnesses, and there is usually other drama during this month.

Don't believe me?

Last February, we discovered Lilly's heart murmur; Belle broke her right wrist and they had colds.

in Feburary 2007, Lilly was highly sick (with another virus) when she was supposed to go for her well-baby visit and I'm pretty sure that's when Belle had to have her second round of testing for her kidney reflux.

This February: pink eye, stys, colds and now a broken arm! Yes, that's right. A broken arm.

Belle fell from a "bridge" on the playground set at Coonskin yesterday. We took her to Urgent Care last night to have her checked out. She told us her should hurt. So the doctor checked her shoulder. It was fine. We went home, agreeing X-rays were NOT necessary.

She slept fitfully (we gave her Motrin last night). Belle woke at 6 a.m. this morning, coming to me crying about her arm. This is a girl who loves to sleep in in the morning (like her Mommy) and despite what some belive is not prone to drama when it comes to her injuries.

She continued to not put weight on that arm and so Mommy instincts kicked in. I decided we would return to the MedExpress this morning to have an X-ray and make sure she was okay. She complained more of her wrist hurting this morning.

After two hours and four X-rays, the doc comes to me (same one from last night) and says "You have one tough kid there. You're never going to believe it when you see this X-ray."

She had broken both of the bones in her left forearm. They aren't hairline fractures. They are breaks! She has a temporary cast until the swelling goes down. She'll get a full cast when we see the orthopedic doctor (probably on Monday).

If you pray... say some for good health for our family!!

Prediculous!

"That's prediculous!"

Yes that word came out of my nearly 4-year-old daughter's mouth! Of course, she meant ridiculous, which comes out of Mommy's mouth quite a bit. It's pretty darn close.

This she says to me today as we're driving by the Clay Center (museum -- or place where the dinosaurs are, as she lovingly refers to it) and asks if we can go there today. When I explain we can't because she has school and I have to work. She then asks why I have to work. I say to earn money. She asks, "For our car?"

"Yes that, and our house, our clothes, our food..." and then we have her response: "That's prediculous!" Future socialist on our hands? Daddy fears not I'm sure!

What is ridiculous is the amount of "small things" that we've had in our lives lately. The girls both caught the respiratory illness going around, then gave it me, then they contracted pink eye. Or at least Belle did. Hers cleared up quite quickly with drops (that we had to pay $60 for).

Lilly, however, is suffering from what we believe is chalazin (sp?) -- stys on the inside of the eyelid. We visit the eye doc tomorrow. I fear a surgery is in her future, like the one Belle had two years ago.

Course, the school is concerned that she has what appears to be a black eye and tells the sitter today to mention it to her Mommy. So don't be surprised when my next post is written after CPS comes calling!

The girls have certainly been a handful, but they've also been quite a treat! Very amusing.

Belle says to her Aunt Sara on Saturday (during our Motown visit), "Sara, you're not being sensible." Where she learns this stuff, I have no idea.

Ooh yeah, and the other "small thing" to hit the family this week: Belle had her first major dental visit. Unfortunately she's inherited the bad English teeth (from the Botts) as well. She had her first filling today. Daddy says she did very well. She was such a big girl. No crying. They did give her laughing gas for the procedure, which she thought was very cool. And she was apparently an amusing stoned 3-and-1/2-year-old. She held a ball and said she just loved it while gazing at it lovingly. She then walked into the waiting room and announced to the other patients that she was a big girl!

Quite a week in the lives of the Becker Sisters -- and it's only Tuesday!

Snow Day

It's snowing outside. We didn't have school today. But Mommy and Daddy went to work, so we went to Kyle's house. I was upset that Mommy wouldn't stay home and play with us! She told me if I was a good girl at Kyle's today, we'd go outside and play in the snow.

When we came home, Kaitlyn had made a big snowman in her front yard. I told Mommy I wanted to make one too. So we put on our snow gear and went outside. But we couldn't make snowballs because there was a sheet of ice on top of the snow! We tried to make a little snowman, but it just feel apart. So we just threw snowballs at each other. It was fun!

I'm doing my own exercises

Mommy has been getting into shape lately. She goes to Zumba, Zumba, Zumba. Tonight, I went to my own exercise class -- gymanstics!

I was so excited to start my class tonight. Yesterday, Mommy took us to Target to my uniform for class. Lilly got one too -- even though she's too little to take the class yet. She just wants to be like me!

Maverick Gymanstics was so exciting. There were a lot of big kids doing flips and all kinds of neat things in the gym. There were about 5 little girls in my class with me and we took turns doing our exercises.

First, we warmed up on the floor. Then we tried to do cartwheels. Then we jumped on this big trampoline. That was fun. And then we walked on a small board called a balance beam. Then we hung from a bar and then did a flip on it. That was really fun too. Jumping was my favorite!

Lilly, Granny, Daddy and Mommy watched me from the gallery. They were so proud of me when I finished. I can't wait for next week.

We're happy to pretend to be ballerinas with our new WVU tutu! We're staying busy with school and coloring in the evenings. Every night we color before we go to bed. It's our favorite pasttime.
In school, I (Lillly) am learning nursery rhymes. I learned today that Jack and Jill bumped their head and broke their crown.

Belle made me cry at school today because she took the ball from me in the gym. I've been crying quite a bit lately. Mostly, I just miss Mommy.

Little artists

Today, we tried our "magical" paint set from Grandpa and Grandma. We love it! It's so cool how the paintbrush changes to the color of the paint when you hold it above the jar. We're getting a lot of use out of all our art supplies -- from our Magna Doodles to our crayons -- every day. Pretty much, all we want to do is paint the world a pretty color! I even gave up an opportunity to play with Spike the other night so I could color!

Color in these dreary times

Belle's artwork is a colorful treat in these dreary, cold days. She's so proud of all of her drawings/paintings. We are enjoying all of their art supplies they received for Christmas. Every night, we either color, paint or trace letters. It's the first activity they want to do in the morning and the last thing on their minds at night.

Belle is doing very well tracing her letters and learning how to spell words. We're working on the word C-A-T.

Lilly is doing very well going potty more and more every day, with fewer and fewer accidents.

We're so proud of both of our big girls.

They are thrilled to be back in school and their normal routine. Belle's been so excited about school she's having a hard time sleeping at night.

There are so many wonderful changes taking place in our lives this year. The girls are learning something new every day. Daddy and I are starting new jobs this year. Daddy goes to work for Union Mission in two weeks. I will go to work for the Kanawha County Public Library at the end of February. Exciting opportunities (and a some big challenges) await us in 2009. We appreciate your prayers and support as we make these transitions.

Happy New Year

We're praying for good health and happiness in 2009. We suffered a lot of illnesses, broken bones and injuries in 2008. But our overall health is good, according to our recent visit with Dr. Rubin.

I (Belle) am now 40 3/4 inches tall and weigh 37 pounds.

Lilly is 36 inches tall and weighs 28 pounds. Mommy is waiting for her to break the 30-pound mark so she can move up to a booster seat!

We hope you had a wonderful holiday season and wish you health and happiness in the New Year.

The arrival of Spikey, Spikey Dinosaur

PIP -- Peeking in Progress

Christmas program highlights!