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.

Belle's birthday highlights

Happy 3rd Birthday, Belle!

Belle celebrated her third birthday today, with family & friends and some unexpected guests. Typical Belle, not afraid, just picked up our unexpected guest (locust on her arm!) and wanted to share his visit with them all. Lilly & Mommy were happy to see him from a distance.

Lilly helped her celebrate her day with cake and fun in the water.

In small spaces

It's been a tough a few days in the Beckner house. Mommy is really busy with work this week ( an event on Thursday.) Daddy has been busy too. We've also had a lot of excitement with a visit from Granddaddy (who is in from Florida) and our extended family. We've had fun playing with Jesse, Ka-Ka, Aunt Dodie, Jonah, Aunt Grace and their dog, Hendrix. It's been so much excitement, though, it's been tough for us to settle down at night and go to sleep.

We've also been unusually rotten -- well, Lilly has. Tonight, while Mommy & Daddy changed out of their work clothes Lilly climbed into her bottom drawer and emptied it. She thought she was pretty funny. (as she says, "I funny.") During this adventure, I discovered the Easter card that Grandpa gave us and started dancing to the chicken dance. Mommy was glad that I quickly put it away though.

I'm pretty excited that my birthday is just three days away. I'll be three! Lilly keeps saying she's the same age as me. "I free," she says as she hold up all her fingers. Silly Lilly! She's such a baby! I'm such a big kid. Now, if I could just get that potty training down.

Accident-prone

It's official: Belle is accident-prone! I thought we'd escape the rest of her twos without another injury, but she snuck one in just a week before her birthday. She ran to get her shoes from the bench in our entryway, tripped on the rug and I believe caught her left ear on the corner of the bench. I didn't see the accident take place. I just saw her facedown on the floor, bawling. She didn't cry long. It bled a lot and I realized a trip to the ER was in our near future. I called Daddy to return from the store "Now!" And called Granny & Pawpaw for reinforcements as I didn't want to wake the crank monster known as Lilly from her afternoon beauty rest.

I thought for sure Belle needed stitches. But the wonderful staff at Women's & Children's ER (whom Belle entertained with her witty conversation) told us it was a clean cut and could easily be glued back together! Wish I would have known that -- I know I have superglue somewhere in this house!

So now the rule is running is forbidden in the Beckner household (outside okay; inside -- absolutely not!) Any offenses of this rule are punishable by spanking. Belle nearly suffered the same accident tonight because she was running. I think three more gray hairs popped out in my head this weekend.

Visiting the Mountains

It's becoming a tradition to visit the family cabin in Pocahontas County for Memorial Day Weekend. The girls were eager to visit the mountains or as Belle referred to it -- Capitol Market. She confused cabin with Capitol Market.

We had a wonderful weekeend with Grandma and Grandpa. Among our adventures we took a trip on "Thomas the Train" to Whittaker station at Cass. Belle enjoyed the trains except for when the whistle blowed. "It's to noisy," she said.

Grandpa took the girls for a short fishing trip to Seneca Lake. Belle was more interested in reeling in the line than waiting for a fish to take bite the bait. Lilly just wanted to get in the water.

Once again, we visited the playground at Green Bank Elementary. On one visit, Belle discovered a fuzzy caterpillar and picked it up. Lilly wouldn't hold it or touch the fishing worms. Belle is certainly more outdoorsy than Lilly, but both girls enjoyed playing outside at the cabin -- taking many trips down to the bridge to throw rocks into the creek (just like Aunt Sara and Mommy when they were little.)

Monkeying Around

In today's fast-pace world -- full of learning your ABC's and new ditties -- it's more important than ever to just let your hair hang down and play. That's why Lilly and I just monkeyed around today -- literally! I shared my monkey costume with Lilly tonight while we played dress up. Sometimes, we pretend we're princesses. Other times we're pirates, or lions, cats or dogs! For the most part, we have a good time. Ocassionally, Mommy has to come in and break up a fight -- usually when I've had enough of my little sister.

Here's a study the AAP released about the importance of play: http://www.aap.org/pressroom/play-public.htm

This is my ticket to getting Mommy to let us just goof off more!

Transitioning to a Big Girl

We had an exciting day today. Mommy & Daddy took us to a "special place" as Mommy told Belle this morning. We went to a really neat museum right here in our own town, the Clay Center. It was fun. Belle and I especially liked the exhibit about Earthquakes that had lots of water displays. Mommy wasn't too happy that we were able to get messy. We also enjoyed the gizmo factory -- with lots of neat science projects like this cool mirror.

Later, Mommy decided she'd switch out my crib for a big girl bed, like Belle has. Notice my bed is exactly like Belle's -- even with a Dora sheet. I've been climbing into Belle's bed for weeks now. Mommy asked me if I wanted one and I said yes. So she gave me one today, but when it came time to sleep in it tonight, I wasn't very happy about it. In fact, I screamed and refused to sleep in it. So Mommy took me downstairs and let me sit with her until I fell asleep. She tried to carry me back to bed, but I was too smart for her and woke up. Bedtime began at 9 p.m. (after all the rearranging of furniture) and I finally went to sleep at 11:20. Mommy had to get tough with me and spank me (read: lightly swat) on the leg and put me back into the bed. I cried for about 10 minutes before I passed out -- with my legs hanging off the side of the bed! I got in the last word!