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!

I'm Bored!

School is out. Forever!

Okay, not that long. But it sure feels that way! Like every parent in the area, I have been trying to find new and interesting ways to entertain the kids until January 6th.

Last week I took Michael and Katie roller skating for the first time. Their teacher had given out free passes to a local skating rink, so I figured we could try it out. If they didn't like it, I wasn't out any money. Well, they LIKED it!! But I did have to spend some money because concessions are as expensive as a movie theater and everyone was wearing glow-stick necklaces at $2 a pop.

Yes, they were the ONLY kids with helmets.

Before they got out on the rink, I told them to stay close to the wall because that's where the slower skaters will be and they would be less likely to get run over. Of course, Katie was all "Why do I have to skate slow?!!" I tried to explain that she can skate just as fast as she wants, but until she is going as fast as everybody else, she should stay close to the wall. But I had already insulted her, so she just stomped away from me and onto the rink.

(Notice how she's hugging that wall. Told you!)

On Monday, we went to the movies to see Disney's Bolt in 3D. Another hit with the kids; I am 2 for 2! Michael and Katie were delighted to wear their 3D glasses and the movie was super cute with just enough grown-up jokes for the parents. This was the first movie that Michael has been able to sit through without running from the theater in terror. Usually Michael will cover his eyes and wail thru the entire movie. As soon as it's over, he will announce "I loved it!!" This is after 2 hours of "Ahh, make it stop! I wanna leave! I wanna leave!"

I thought the glasses would be red and blue like when I was a kid.

Baking Cookies

Katie asked to bake some cookies for Santa. She also wants to sew him a scarf and mittens. I think she's taken an honest assessment of her behavior and decided on bribery to get on Santa's nice list. Not a bad plan.

So, we went to the grocery store and bought cookie dough and supplies for decorating. I rolled out the dough and gave the kiddos some cookie cutters. They cut out their own cookies and we put them in the oven. While the cookies baked, I mixed up 5 colors of frosting, got out 4 colors of gel icing, and set out 8 different containers of sprinkles. "This should take hours," I thought gleefully!

Here's Katie's cookies:

And Michael's:

Are you kidding me?!? This totally sums up the differences in their personalities. Katie used every color of frosting available - on each cookie. Michael puts on one stinking dot of gel icing!! And quits! If there were an Olympic Qutters Team, he would take home the gold medal! Of course, he'd never make it to the gold medal podium to accept his award, because he'd quit somewhere around the bronze podium.

Winter Party at School

Thursday was Michael and Katie's last day of school before the looooong Winter Break. Seriously, they are out, like, 18 days!! The class had their Holiday Party with crafts, balloons, snacks, games and a book trade. The kids had a wonderful time!

They played one game called "Shaving Santa." All the kids got shaving cream beards then they shaved each other using a popsicle stick. You can tell by Michael's face that shaving cream tastes pretty yucky.

Putting Up the Christmas Tree

Last night we finally put up our Christmas tree. The kiddos helped bring the branches from downstairs and provided directions/assistance assembling the tree until they were kicked out of the room for driving me crazy. Once the tree was up and the lights were on, Michael and Katie added the ornaments. Katie really wanted to stand on a chair to put up her ornaments, so there is a cluster of bulbs in one spot about 5 feet off the ground. I am trying (very hard!) to resist the urge to rearrange everything after they've gone to bed. Sometimes I have to sit on my hands to keep from moving the decorations.

Is There a Doctor in the House?

I picked up an Operation game at Target and I can tell you it certainly was a hit at our house. It's simple enough that the kids can set it up and play all by themselves. My kind of game! Michael doesn't do very well with boardgames and tends to want to quit as soon as he gets behind. So if he isn't ahead on the first move in Candyland, he's out!! This is very frustrating for Katie and I often have to step in and finish the game with her. It's frustrating for me to when the break I was hoping for never materializes. Fortunately, Michael played two full games of Operation before moving on to something else. Yay!

Since I had the camera out to capture some pics of their game, Katie felt compelled to ham it up for me. Seriously, you can only capture a candid shot of that kid if she's not looking. I blame a certain camera-happy Grandmother for that.

Curly Girly

Katie wanted to put her hair in curlers just like mom. Of course, she told me this 15 minutes before we had to leave for school. I didn't get any pictures of the end result. Basically, her hair was just a little wavier and fuller than normal. She felt (and acted) like a supermodel all day!

Sudoku Katie

Katie has been doing Sudoku puzzles with her Dad and loves them! Here she is working on one herself.

Trip to St. Louis

We all drove into St. Louis for Thanksgiving. It was great to see family and the kids had a blast! Even with the DVD player, Michael gets a little bored during the 4-hour drive. That led to this exchange:

Michael: Are we in St. Louis yet?
Me: We're still in our driveway, Michael.

Seriously, I thought we'd get out of the driveway before they started with the whole "Are we there yet?" routine.

Photo Contest Winners!

I just found out we won the Women's Day Back-to-School photo contest! And I will soon be the owner of a cool new digital camera. Yay! Photo credits go to Steven who had the great idea to get a picture from behind of the kids walking down the porch.

This is the winning photo with the caption "Take good care of your sister."

And here is a link to the contest results.

Imelda Marcos, Watch Out!

When I was a kid, we had two pairs of shoes - tennis shoes that you wore every day and dress shoes that you wore on special occasions. Oh, and you got in trouble (!) if you grew out of them too quickly.

Here is Katie's current collection of shoes. One pair of light pink crocs is not pictured, bringing the count to 16. Because she NEEDS them!

In my defense, many of these shoes were purchased for less than $2/pair. How can you pass that up??

50's Day

To celebrate the 50th day of school, Cedar Hills Elementary held a 50's themed party. Students were encouraged to dress up and they had crafts and activities related to the number 50. Here are Michael and Katie in their outfits. Katie's "Poodle Skirt" is actually a tutu that I made for her. I figured she could wear it again for dress up and it was way easier than making a real poodle skirt!!

Halloween

The kiddos had a blast on Halloween. Katie dressed up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Michael was Batman. These are some pictures from their class Halloween party. Both kids had a great time Trick or Treating. They went out for about an hour, then stopped at home to dump off some candy because Katie's bucket was full. Katie went back out for more Trick or Treating and Michael stayed in and watched the Charlie Brown Halloween special. Later that night, Katie snacked on her candy and watched E.T. with dad.

Marathon Man

On Saturday, October 18th, Steve ran in the Kansas City Marathon! His official time was 4:29:38, under his goal of 4:30. Steve trained for months and we are all very proud of him!!!!

Pumpkin Patch

We spent Saturday at a local Pumpkin Patch. The kids had so much fun! They both loved the rip cord the best!! After enjoying all the attractions, we took a hayride out to the fields to pick our pumpkins. The rule was that you had to be able to lift your pumpkin, so don't pick one too heavy. Thanks to Miss Stubborn (I CAN lift it!!), we had to modify that rule to carrying your pumpkin 20 feet. Eventually, she chose an appropriate pumpkin.