Why, yes. I DO let my kids dress themselves.

This is a typical day for us. Maybe once a week, I'll pick out a cute outfit for Katie, but most days I just tell them to dress themselves. I've learned to live with the results.

( It's hard to see in the picture, but Michael's shirt is backwards.)

Paper Factory

Katie received a Bill Nye the Science Guy Paper Recycling Kit for her birthday. This kit allows you to take old, used paper and recycle it into even uglier paper to make cards for people you hate.

First, you tear up some old paper and let it soak in warm water overnight. Katie completely ignored my suggestion to stick to one color family and just threw together a bunch of construction paper - mostly black.

(Soaking the paper)

The kit came with a plastic hand blender. I let the kids use my blender to puree the soaked paper. They both ran screaming from the room as soon as I turned it on.

(Ahhhhh!!! Not the Blender!!!)

Then you pour the resulting grey sludge into a shallow pan.





You scoop up some sludge into a fine mesh screen then let the excess water drain away.

After shaking off the excess water you press it in this vise thing to get out more water.

Set your wet paper out to dry and in just a few hours, you have new paper.

(cool!)

Arrr! That Mirror is dARRty!

Katie saw the optometrist yesterday, and she will be getting glasses. Apparently, she's far-sighted in her left eye. Her right eye has been compensating for so long, that her brain isn't processing much info from the left anymore. She has an eye-patch that she's supposed to wear at home when doing close up work like coloring or writing. She loved the patch for the first 30-60 seconds, then she got frustrated because she couldn't see. I think this is going to be tough.

Party On!!

Michael and Katie had their 6th Birthday Party on Friday at Lifetime Fitness. They had pizza and cake, climbed the rock wall and swam in the pool. We had 16 kids total and it was three hours of craziness!!!! Below are some pictures of the fun, fun, fun!!

Ultimate Blog Party 2009

If you're a blogger, ever wanted to start a blog, or just like reading them, 5 Minutes for Mom's Ultimate Blog Party 2009 is going on now until the 27th. You can check it out here or click on the button on my side bar. There are tons of giveaways going on. I love bloggy giveaways and just this year I've won a Strawberry Shortcake DVD, a kid's game, some super cute shoes and an awesome blingy bracelet (see my older post for a pic of that baby)!





What can you win?? There are 119 different prizes up for grabs and you can see them all HERE . My favorites are:


1. A Kitchenaid Stand Mixer (Valued at $349)!

2. 5 kajeet phones with $5 of airtime

3. $100 gift card to HomeGoods

4. A $50 GC to Target ( there are 2 up for grabs!).

After that, in order, I want 58, 42, 26, 41, 50, 77, 89, 88, 91, 118, 1, 37, 43, 47, 49, 7, 5, 12, 15, 20, 18, 38, 63, 72, 114

COMMENCE VOTING!!!!!

Katie needs your votes! She's been chosen as a finalist in the My Princess Academy Role Model Contest. They have just started the voting stage. Please go to
http://extras.myprincessacademy.com/elect_a_princess.asp
to cast your vote. Each person may vote once per day thru March 31st. If you try to vote more than that they won't count your votes and may disqualify Katie. If Katie gets the most votes in her age category, she will win a $500 savings bond. We will buy one for Michael, too.

Look Out Below!

Last week, Michael got a book from the school library that included directions on how to make your own airplanes. We found some pretty simple directions to make parachutes out of tissue paper, thread and empty water bottles.

A Modern Princess

Exciting news!! We came home from lunch yesterday to find a package on the front porch. Inside was a bunch of super cute dress up outfits and a note. Back in February, I entered Katie in a Modern Princess Role Model contest hosted by the website MyPrincessAcademy.com. I had to write a short essay and send in a photo of Katie. Well, Katie was selected as a finalist! The note in our package said to take a picture of Katie in one of the dress up outfits and send it in. They will post that photo along with my essay on their website on Monday for a voting round. The girl with the most votes in each age group will win a $500 savings bond. Below is the picture of Katie that I just sent in. I will post a link for the voting when they have it available on Monday.

So Many Questions ... So Few Answers

I happened upon this in the foyer yesterday. I can't help but wonder, what did the dog do? What can a small stuffed dog do that would be a hanging offense? Did he receive a fair trial? I found him 3 hours after I took the kids to school. How did I miss this for 3 hours??

Playing Together ..... Sort of.

I overheard Michael and Katie playing together in the playroom this morning. Well, they were trying to play together, but it was very clear that they each had their own agenda. I guess this is what happens when boys and girls play together.

K: Let's play house. I'm the mom and this is our baby kitten. You're the dad.
M: Yes, the dad who is Spiderman AND a firefighter.
K: Isn't our baby kitten sooo sweet and cute Daddy Michael.
M: You mean Daddy Spiderman Firefighter.
K: Do you want to hold our tiny baby kitten?
M: Spiderman, Spiderman does whatever a spider can.
K: I'll put our tiny baby kitten in his crib.
M: THE CRIB CATCHES FIRE!! Weeeoooo! Weeeoooo!
K: Waaaaaa!!!!! Mooooommmmm!!!!!!!

And the winner is....ME!

This is why I love sweeptakes! I just found out that I won a 33 carat green Amethyst tennis bracelet. Whoop Whoop!! Here's a picture. That baby's going to look great on my wrist!

All the buttons on the right are blogs where I enter giveaways. This one came from An Ordinary Life. I've also won from Amanda's site.

FIRST KISS!!!

Katie got her first kiss from a boy this week. His name is Cooper and she met him at the gym. They had been playing together before Steve picked the kids up to go home. Katie gave Cooper a hug when she was saying goodbye and he planted a wet, sloppy kiss on her cheek. "Gross!" cried Katie, turning away and wiping off the kiss. She later reported that his kiss was "gross and slobbery." I always kind of figured that the first boy to try to kiss Katie was going to get a knuckle sandwich for his efforts.

I hope she continues to think boy kisses are gross....until she's 30.

Trip to the ER

Katie had a little accident in the mall parking lot today. I opened the van doors to let the kids climb inside, then opened my door to get in too. I didn't see Katie bend down to pick up something off the ground and hit her with my car door. She ended up with a deep gash in her head above her right ear. Luckily, there is a hospital across the street from the mall so I could get her to the ER right away. Two hours later, Katie was the proud owner of 4 staples in her scalp. She was very brave through the whole process.

Wrapped up and waiting for the Doctor.

Ouch!

All stapled up!

TV Sunday!

Sunday is family TV night at our house. We eat dinner in the basement and watch America's Funniest Videos and Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

Michael is a huge fan of AFV. I'm not sure he totally understands what is going on in the clips. He has the same reaction for every single video:

Michael: Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha ha ha ha ha haha!!........ What happened?
Me: That guy got hit in the privates with a bat.
Michael: Oh, ha ha haha ha ha.

next video

Michael: Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha ha ha ha ha!!!...... What happened?
Me: That guy got hit in the privates with a ball.
Michael: Oh! ha ha ha ha hahaha ha ha

Seriously, he does that for every video. Eventually, I start making stuff up.

Michael: Ha ha Ha Ha haha ha ha!!....What happened?
Me: The penguin lost his cell phone in the piano.
Michael: Oh! Ha ha ha ha ha.

Katie has her own script for every video:
"Oh, that's dangerous!"
"That is NOT SAFE."
"Oh, he could get hurt. That is really dangerous."

This from the girl who invented the game Get Hurt or Don't Get Hurt. To play the game, you jump from a high spot. If you land on something hard, you get hurt. If you land on something soft, you don't get hurt. She can't understand why I won't let her play it.

What Could Go Wrong???

I saw the cutest kid-sized sponge mops at the store today. They even have a little handle to squeeze out the extra water, just like mine! The kids are always pestering to help when I do my bi-annual kitchen mopping, so I figured this would be an awesome way to keep them busy. We got two mops (for only $3.50 each!) and headed home to give that kitchen floor a good scrubbing. I filled up a bucket of soapy water and taught them how to use the squeeze handle. We're in business! Then the phone rang...

When I returned, there was only an inch of water left in the bucket. The kids had changed into shorts because their pants were all wet. They were happily sliding up and down the foyer in the foamy water.

(Michael mops like a girl.)

(A close-up of the foam)

A Slight Resemblence...Maybe

Exhibit A: My Kindergarten Picture, Sept 1980.

Exhibit B: Katie's Kindergarten Picture, Sept 2008

Apparently, neither one of us likes to show our teeth when we smile.

We can't forget Michael. He saw the post and wondered where his picture was. Oops.

Handsome!!

How's That Again??

Michael and I had this conversation in the car today.

Michael: Mom, did you know that Monday is America's Birthday.
Me: No, honey. That's the 4th of July.
Michael: No, Mom. It's Monday. I know this because I'm smart....and you are not.

That kid is growing up to be just like his father. *sigh*

That Was Quick!!

The tooth is out! She lost it eating an apple this morning.

First Loose Tooth!!

Katie has her first loose tooth! It's on the bottom right and it is a Very Big Deal at the Becher house. Her other bottom front tooth is a little loose, too. That will be an interesting look when they both fall out. I think that first loose tooth should fall out in the next week or so.

Katie has been leaving notes and gifts for the Tooth Fairy all week. I assume Katie is trying to butter her up to get more loot for her tooth. I've saved some of the notes because they are so cute. One said:
"Der tot fare. Ths is Katie. Did you no I am grwin up?" Oh, the Tot fare knows! In fact, she may have cried a little when she read that note.

Michael has been furiously wiggling his teeth trying to find a loose tooth, too. I finally told him that one felt a little loose, but it would take a while to fall out. He beamed from ear to ear! It must be hard when your twin is showing a tangible sign of growing up and you've got nothing.

On Tuesday, the kiddos awoke to find little notes from the Tooth Fairy under their pillows! Michael's note mentioned all the ways that the Tooth Fairy could see that he was growing up even though he didn't have a tooth ready to fall out yet. Both notes mentioned that the Tooth Fairy prefers white teeth, so keep brushing. Katie brushed her teeth for 20 minutes that night! Hmm...maybe the Tooth Fairy should mention that she likes it when you put your dirty clothes in the hamper, too.

May The Force Be With You

Michael has become a real Star Wars fanatic - mostly because his friend Tyler loves Star Wars. He has seen a few of the movies and has some toys and collectibles that he plays with. A few weeks ago, Michael and Katie decided to play Star Wars together.

Michael as Darth Vader. His mask has a device inside that makes the Koo-Kah breathing sounds. Very cool! He loved the costume but didn't want to be a "bad guy" so he said that he was a nice Darth Vader.

Katie put on her party dress to be Princess Leia. I did my best to style her hair in the side buns, but I didn't have any bobbie pins. She even did the Leia quote: "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."

Michael makes Vader look cute!