Easter 2013

A few months back we celebrated Easter.  Yes, I realize its almost June.  In case you didn't know, I took a three week subbing job at the end of school.  I have a new-found admiration of you full-time working moms.  Now that summer is here, I have a little time to catch up on everything else in life.  And because Easter happened over two months ago, that's all I can tell you.  Easter happened.  Here's proof.

More Holiday Fun

We were able to enjoy an evening of looking at incredible Christmas lights with Will's parents and brother.

One of the girls' favorite parts of Christmas with Will's family is the fancy bows Grandma uses.

Yeah!  New bikes!  The camera had been in the cold car and the lens was fogged over.

Butler Christmas 2012

I wrote last year about our family Christmas with my maternal grandma's family.  I can't tell you how much  I love it.

We start with a late lunch.

The family talent show follows.

Last year Emma was too shy to do anything on her own.  This year she was brave enough to sing the "Fa la la la las" in Deck the Halls.

Taylor was going to sing Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  This was her first attempt.  She decided she didn't want to.

She decided to give it another try.  Taylor is a bit of perfectionist and her cousin skipped a few words.  This completely threw Taylor off and once again she quit.

Taylor gave it one more try with her cousin Peyton.  Thankfully, they made it all the way through!

Next comes "We Three Kings", followed by the Halleluja Chorus, which I didn't get a picture of.

We end by reading the Christmas Story then opening gifts.

This afternoon with family always blesses me deep down in my soul.  I leave you with a few extra shots of  sweetness.

December

December has been a whirlwind of activity.  Strangely, I think January is going to be busier.  This month has brought a lot more volunteer opportunities at the girls' school, which I've enjoyed, and of course, all sorts of holiday festivities.

The first weekend of the month my parents and sister went looking at Christmas lights with us.  I've decided that we just went too early.  Not very many lights were out yet.  We went to the parade on the river, but because of the recent drought, there was no river.  We found a few houses to look at, but overall, it didn't meet my high expectations.  We did enjoy spending time with family, though.  I wish I would have taken a picture of my mom, sister, and me crammed in the backseat.

Last weekend we took the girls to visit Santa Claus.  They were not impressed by the first Santa we saw.  In fact, Emma wouldn't even sit on his lap.  They were convinced he wasn't really Santa and questioned how he got is suit.  We finally decided that Santa needed some helpers and lent some suits to a few guys to help out.  We then headed way across town to find the "real" Santa.  We drove so long that one of the girls asked if we were driving to the North Pole.  Relieved, we found the real thing.

I was happy to find that this year, the girls were actually very helpful in the cooking baking department.  Past years have proven to be more work than fun for me.

Thanksgiving 2012

This post is kind of late, but I forgot my camera at the girls' school and couldn't get it until today.  That's just the way things go.

Emma and Taylor's school had a Thanksgiving feast last week.  It was a BIG deal.  Parents donated, prepared, decorated, and served the kids.  Each grade had a responsibility for helping - the kindergarteners made place mats.

All the kids got to eat with their buddy.  I have great pictures of the girls with their third grade buddies, but I'm not posting them because I don't know or have permission from their parents.  Emma and Taylor absolutely adore their buddies.  I even caught Emma's cutting her meat for her.  How sweet.

The days leading up to Thanksgiving we spent time every night talking about one thing we were thankful for.  We wrote it on a "leaf" and glued it to a stick.  It was our tree of Thanksgiving.  It was good for the girls because they sometimes had a hard time thinking of things.

Here are our lists:

Will

getting off work

Mommy's good cooking

having dinner together

days off

weekends at home with the family

a wife who makes my lunch every day

T.V.

*I kind of think that maybe he likes us. :)

Emma 

Jesus

pumpkin pie

nature

blankie

snow

turkey

Taylor

bugs

colors

my mommy and daddy

my toys

my dogs

my sister

money

nature

Alisha

Jesus died for me

dishwasher

books 

coffee

getting to be a stay-at-home mom

getting mail that's not a bill

music

Happy Late Thanksgiving!

Halloween 2012

The girls had two opportunities to dress up this year.  The first was their school's Fall Fun Night.  It was an event filled with carnival style games, candy, and incredible balloon creations.  Taylor was a zebra.  My mom had this body suit, but it didn't have a head or tail.  I had to make those.  I was pretty impressed with myself.  She didn't like wearing it much.  It inhibited her ability to see.  Its a miracle we got any pictures of her in it.  Emma was a bride, which she decided on two days before.  Luckily, Will's mom had previously given us this beautiful white dress.  Thank goodness for grandmas.

I told you they were impressive!  Emma's was a bear hugging a heart.

Taylor's was a butterfly sitting on a flower.

We carved jack-o-lanterns a few nights before Halloween.  I encouraged the girls to just do plain ol' jack-o-lanters, knowing that we wouldn't do a pattern justice.  They chose patterns anyway.  Taylor chose Snow White and Emma chose Minnie Mouse.

I'm trying to teach Taylor that she doesn't have to be a ham in every picture.

Minnie looks pretty good, but Snow White looks more like a piece of modern art with block features.  Unfortunately, I was the artist of that one.

Halloween night we went trick or treating with good friends.  I couldn't get the camera to work right so we didn't get many pictures.  Turns out I didn't have the flash on.  Who would think to check a thing like that?

By the time we got to the end of the block, Taylor had taken off her hat and we'd forgotten her tail.  Emma had taken off her veil and we'd forgotten her flowers.  So, it turns out that they went trick or treating as a girl in a pretty dress and a girl in a leotard.  That's okay, no on seemed to care.