In like a lamb...

I can't believe it's March. No, I'll rephrase that: I can't believe it's March and we are still not moved into a house of our own. What the heck were we thinking in buying a house that we'd have to spend a month+ fixing up?!? Oh yeah, we got a good deal... d: Meanwhile, John is trying to spend evenings over at the house ripping out disgusting subflooring and putting in new stuff, continuing the popcorn battle, and hopefully having the family room ready to move all our stuff out of storage and into that room on Saturday (yeah, that's the one that currently has holes in the floor and views down to the basement). I'd like to be up helping, but hauling three kids up there just incapacitates someone so they are watched over, so I may as well stay home with them. Meanwhile, Calvin has a cold that developed into croup and after a couple of days nervously watching him I took him into the doctor and got some meds. He's breathing much better, though still has a cold, which I have now caught. Probably because he hasn't let me out of his sight for a week. Meanwhile, we're enjoying 75 degree weather and the kids spent all day yesterday outside... hallelujah. Weird to be worried about sunburns in March.

Here are some random pics of the kids, just for kicks:

The girls at the lake in Feb.

This one really was taken in January, we've had a weird winter.

new old home

We finally closed on our house!! Yay, hooray, and all that stuff! It as a very long, very weird closing with a mountain of paperwork, a selling agent who was a no-show, and walking out at the end without the keys... but we did get them eventually. So we own a home. Today John is spending the day ripping out carpet, spraying stuff to kill pet urine odor (yuck), and getting started on taking off the popcorn ceilings that are all through the house. Fun, fun. Hopefully in two or three weeks we can get it to where we can move in.

Here's the pictures, finally...

Here's the front of the house, up close. The bushes are majorly overgrown, but the yard will probably have to wait until spring to get fixed up... I really like the brick on the house, and the large porch. The two upstairs windows you see will be the kids' rooms.

Here's the family room, this is the nasty smelling room--it's carpet will be the first thing to go. We'll also be taking out the weird half walls. The picture is being taken from the eat-in kitchen area.

And the kitchen... I have big dreams for this area that involve ripping out cheapo old wood cabinets and redoing the whole thing, but we'll have to see how feasible that will be. The fake wood floor will also be coming out at some point--anybody have input as far as tile vs. laminate flooring?
Ok, that's all. Au revoir.

ps..

John just told me that the real estate agent called and we are not closing on our house now until next Friday. The reason? Who knows. I'm ready to just walk away, this is getting ridiculous.

talkin' the talk...

So what's the point of a blog if you can't brag about your kids a little? Since this is kind of a family journal I'll justify it by saying I'm documenting Calvin's growth and progress. I wanted to post a picture of him but it's not letting me, so we'll have to be pictureless. Calvin will be going into nursery beginning next month and I can't believe that he's already a year and a half. I know John is probably thinking, "Finally!" since he is the one who has to entertain him all during church while I'm playing piano. To me, it's gone fast. He's so big already, at least tall.. though I don't know how he is in the percentiles since we haven't been to the dr. in a long time. He's losing his baby fat, darn it, the thunder thighs are slimming down, but he still has the adorable cheeks that jiggle when he runs. Which he does a lot. He has this funny little jumping run so he moves almost as much vertically as he does horizontally. He is a good jumper too, and clears two inches off the floor. I don't think my girls cleared the floor at all until after they were two. Maybe later. I wondered, with Calvin being male, if he would not be as verbally strong as the girls were. I don't think he was talking quite as soon as they were, but the past couple months he has really taken off. He has been learning new words every day and can verbally communicate what he wants now, in so many words. Just now he came up to me and said "where's gon-kie?" (donkey), I stood up and he ran back to the bedroom, making sure I followed, and pointed into his crib, where he had dropped it into. I got it out for him and he took it, saying "Gake-oo!!" (thank you) and took off running. At dinner he asks for a spoon "poon!" and bowl "Boh!" and "wah-tee" (water). He's learned "no!" and "ess!" (yes) and "book" and "sooz" (shoes) and "beh-kess" (breakfast--blasted kid wakes up every morning at 6am ready to eat); and surprises us sometimes by saying new words spontaneously like "stop!" and "Let go!" and "my hair?" (actually pointed to his hair and wanted a hair clip in it like the girls...) He will repeat every word you give him, especially animal names (even attempts "elephant" though it kind of comes out in a jumble), of which his favorite (and mine) is "mon-key!" "Mah-mah" is grandma and pa-pa is grandpa and Mommy and Daddy he has down pretty good. Kimmie is "Mimmie" and Emily is "Eh-lee" (he really does the L sound!) and uncle Richard is "Rich-ee" and we can't for the live of us get him to say uncle Gary's name. Not sure why. He answers my questions, usually with an "mm-mmm" (foreshadowing of things to come I'm sure), though if the answer is yes he will usually repeat the last word or two of my question.
He loves to play chase with the girls, and today the three of them were wrestling on the floor and giggling hysterically. It was really cute to watch. Then for a minute or so he was just standing there watching the girls run, and I was watching him and then he turned those big brown eyes on me and gave me his most impish grin, and my heart was just full. Do you ever get those moments where you are watching your kids and you see for am instant into their souls? And you think, "they are so beautiful, how can I possibly be the parent that they deserve?" Do you ever think of the path of life that is stretched before them, of the pain and sorrow that is just inherent in growing up and a part of life, and want to wrap them up in your arms and never let go? Do you ever think, "what would I give to keep them from hurting, to save them from all the things that are out there waiting to destroy the precious light they hold?" And then, is it any wonder that the great plan of happiness' central feature is the family, is the potential for each of us to become a parent, that we may come a little closer to understanding the love of a Savior who gave Himself for us? Could God possibly love me even more than I love these little people that have been placed in my care? Somehow, in some incomprehensible way, the answer is Yes.

miscellaneous

So I've been thinking of many things lately, most of them stemming from frustrations with my female brain, and female hormones. I'm noticing a trend where one half of the month I'm miserable and crabby, and the other half I bounce back a lot better and am happier. I hate it. You'd think that once you know why your cranky it would be easier to just ignore it, but no. At least for me, it is not so easy. How do you just turn off your emotions?

The other thing that bugs me is my female mind, that just can't turn off that comparison litany that keeps going and going in my head. Why are we, as females (hopefully it's not just me) so darn quick to see where we are falling short and compare ourselves with others' strengths? This has been difficult for me lately living with my mother-in-law who's very very good at getting a lot done in a short amount of time. This is not a strength for me. I also compare myself with others who are good at home-decorating, gardening, deep thinking, and several other things. I know I am good at some things, and yet, somehow my mind drives me to conclude that I'm not good enough. I notice this trend more also during one half of the month. Blargh.

One thing I am learning is good to combat all this? Gratitude. I have a great many blessings, and would be a lot happier if I spent more time remembering them. I will work on that. I will think of something right now that I'm grateful for...

My kids. I am grateful for three bright spots in my life named Em, Kimmie and Calvin. As much as I get tired of cleaning up their messing and dealing with whining and constant demands, they give my life purpose and meaning. They make me laugh and make me see the joy in life. I love watching them learn new things, laugh together, chase each other through the house, and how they love me even when I'm not holding it together completely. They bring light to my life.

Also, what is a post without a picture? So I will post this pic that I stole from my sister-in-law's blog. The whole Butler clan, together at last at Christmas. If you can't tell from the kids' expressions, it was a bit cold...

update, if you can call it that

Well, the one bit of paperwork finally came through, so we got the inspection and appraisal done, and now we have another bit of paperwork we are waiting on. I'm developing a distinct dislike for Fannie Mae. So... we've made progress, but not much. Still waiting. Hopefully next week, but we've heard that one before. Other than colds and other such nonsense, we don't have much to contribute to the blogosphere.

Oh, here's a couple pictures, for grandparents' sake, of the kitchen they got our kids for Christmas without actually seeing. It's a big success!

My sympathies for friends in Kentucky dealing with nasty ice storms. My congrats to beloved cousins who just gave birth to twins!! And happy February to all as we strive to remain sane during the winter doldrums.

nothing

"Nothing is haa-a-a-ppening!!" I think Scuttle's words are a fairly accurate portrayal of the past couple weeks. We are in the process of buying a house, but it is being held up by some unknown force in the labyrinth of Fannie Mae since it is a bank-owned property. Soooo, we are waiting, waiting. We were supposed to close this week but I guess that won't happen. I'm not sure why I'm so anxious since we won't be able to move into it until we do some work on the ceilings and floors, but oh well. Soon I will have my own house!
Christmas was fun, it was great to have all of John's siblings together for the first time in a long time. Crazy, but fun. The girls had a blast with their cousins and were very sad when we left for Utah and again when they left for home after we came back. Does that make sense? I will have to post Christmas pics later since I'm not sure where the camera is at the moment. We had planned to leave the day after Christmas to go to Utah and see my family, but then this huge winter storm came in and ruined all my plans. I was extremely disappointed, but then the weather cleared up the next day and we decided to go for it (John was so great about going since he knew I really wanted to, and I think he was excited to drive in the snow). We actually didn't tell my parents we had decided to go, so we got to surprise them at my cousin's wedding reception that night (we missed the wedding, :( but made it for the reception!). It was a blast. I wish I had it recorded, from my brother-in-law Jason's cocked eyebrow and "What the..." to Mom's gasp of shock after looking at us three times and finally realizing it was her grandkids looking back at her! Very fun. It was so great to see my family and spend time with them, even if it wasn't as much as wehad originally planned. We got to see temple square, tour behind the scenes at the conference center (where Jason works) play a rousing game of twister, and had many more presents than expected (which the kids of course loved)! The pictures are kifed off of my sister and mom since I was lame and didn't take very many!















The reception: post-surprise entrance, loving the cake.















Emily and her aunt Melissa

Laura, Kimmie, and Grandpa--Kimmie's

probably pointing the way to more cake.

Playing at Aunt Laura's house















Temple Square with Grandma and Grandpa!















Grandpa reading with the girls















Calvin inherits the John Deere, and loves it!















Emily with her new fav toy, Derby















Kimmie in heaven!!















A rousing game of twister, even Calvin got in on the action!




Happy Birthday John!!!!
John was so great about doing this trip, even when it took him away from his family on his birthday. I don't know if I would have been so self-sacrificing, if I am honest with myself. John, through good times and bad, I am so very grateful to have you by my side. Thank you for giving me all that makes my life meaningful. I love you. Happy Birthday, hun.


I'm also posting some pictures of making chocolate pretzels with the girls, lots of fun, and playing out on the ice on Lake Loveland over Christmas. It was so cold then, we had six inches of ice! John decided to give me more stress and worry by taking the girls out on the ice. But it was fine and they thought it was awesome. I didn't go, the pictures are bad enough. :)















Are they not the cutest girls EVER?















Emily is growing up so fast!!















Look at those eyes pop!!





Kimmie with an ice fisherman in the background. Looks like Kimmie's inherited her mother's (in)tolerance for cold. I don't even want to know how far out on the lake they are.






ps.... I realize my blog background is a bit outdated, but I guess I'm having a hard time letting go of Christmas. Plus, I've spent to long on this computer already. Time to go see what kind of mess the kids have gotten into this time.... sounds like cereal, everywhere.

officially employed!

So, a couple nights ago, we're getting ready for bed and John tells me that he brought home a benefits folder from work so we could pick out health insurance stuff. I stopped what I was doing, looked at him and said, "So, does that mean you are officially hired?"
He looks up, "Oh, yeah, it does."
"And you were going to tell me this, when?"
"I forgot."
Classic. So we have a job!!! They weren't supposed to really decide til next year, but they really like him and so they decided early. So we'll be official in January. Today he is doing assessments (where he goes to different businesses and checks out their facilities to figure out how they can save money on energy) by himself for the first time. So, big day. Congrats, John! I love you!
We have continued the house hunt but haven't been successful yet. Something to do with wanting to pay bottom dollar and also not finding a house that we are in love with and want to fight for yet.
We have had very cold temperatures here lately, the snow that fell a week ago is still here and really hasn't melted off much at all even with a week of sun because it's so cold. The other day we woke up to temps at twenty below! COLD! And we're supposed to do it again this weekend too. Why is it that in places that actually snow and it stays for extended periods of time, they never plow the roads?!? I've slid around more in the past couple days than I have in my whole life. Fortunately it was just little slides and no big deal, but still! I figure they don't coat the roads in salt here like they do in KY because the Colorado environmentally-conscious general public would have a collective cow; but really, you could plow at least the main neighborhood roads!! The snow has been relatively dry, but you get 5 days of traffic on it, warm sun, and frigid nights, and it will inevitably turn to ice.
The first snow that fell, John took Calvin sledding. I followed with the girls 20 minutes later after their tantrums about having to wear coats and boots and gloves finally died down. Yeesh. Calvin really didn't think too highly of sledding. Maybe John letting him biff it face down in the snow the first time had something to do with it. I'm not positive, but I'm guessing... Here's a couple pics of the fun in the snow, and the annual snowman with dad. Maybe it will be more than that since we live somewhere that snows enough for a snowman more than once a year now!

Uncle Richie and the girls

John "snowboarding"

It's a race!


Calvin, not thinking too highly of the cold

Fun times sledding!!

Uncle Matt came home this week and the noise level in the house increased drastically. :):) Em and Kimmie hardly know what to do with all of these great uncles who will play with them whenever they ask. We are looking forward to a fun Christmas with everyone here, and then a trip to Utah (weather permitting) to do it again with my family!! Yay for family!!!! After two Christmases in a row alone (well, we fortunately had some awesome friends) this is going to be a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday Em!

Emily turned five almost two weeks ago, and I'm finally getting pictures up. Better late than never, right? She had a fun birthday, just a quiet family affair, which was plenty because she got lots of presents! She wanted a heart cake with red and purple flowers on it, and fortunately we are at Grandma's house where there is a red velvet cake mix and heart-shaped pans. Perfect!! She loved it, and so did I because it was fairly easy. Too easy, since I procrastinated and was still frosting the cake while everyone was eating dinner. But it worked out. She had all her birthday meals planned out from birthday breakfast (oatmeal) to every bit of birthday dinner: bbq pork, rice, peas and carrots. She wanted to help with the cake and had fun mixing the batter and frosting the cake.

After dinner, she said presents first! (go figure) so she tore into all her gifts and was thrilled with every one! Then we ate cake and I was glad that she loved the flowers, even though the roses were a bit... mushed. Here she is with her cake and her booty... Thank you to everyone for her gifts, she really did love them all. I had to take a picture of Em and Kimmie with the crown and jewelry that Kimmie "gave" her. Kimmie was so excited to get these and wrap them up for her, and Em was excited to get them!

I have to say a bit about my Emily for memory's sake. I can't believe it has been five years, and I am constantly amazed at the incredible girl she is. I'd like to take some credit for that, but I don't think I can. She is so loving and kind to her little siblings, she is obedient (most of the time), she is so thoughtful (she's been learning about service in primary and has loved surprising me with cleaning up the room and making her bed, which is delightful), and she's smart as a whip. I can't believe she's going to school next year but I know she's ready for it and will love it. Sometimes I wish these kids would just stay young, but it is a delight to watch her grow up. I got a kick out of her inspecting her presents, and putting them up to her ear and shaking them to figure out what they are. I remember doing the same thing as a kid, but I don't think anyone taught her to do that, she's just using her powers of observation. Emily is such a great helper to me, and is always teaching me how capable she is. She loves to help feed Calvin at lunch, and keeps tabs on him and his michevious ways by hollering his name as loud as she can when he's doing something he's not supposed to. She and Kimmie are best friends and play really well together every day. Kimmie will miss her so much when she goes off to school next year! Emily is a fabulous artist and I think very logical and mathmatical because she has an innate sense for patterns and symmetry in her artwork. She is also very detailed and meticulous and wants everything to be just right. She is very creative and can make a plaything out of anything--including her fingers at dinner which drives me crazy sometimes... but it is also incredibe to watch the things she comes up with to play.

I love you, Emily, and I am so blessed to have you as my daughter. Your dad and I love you so much and are so proud of you. We hope we can be the parents you deserve and that we will be able to cultivate your many talents and help you become the incredible person that I see inside you. I know from experience how hard it can be to be the oldest child and oldest daughter, but I know that you were born first for a very specific reason, and that you will be able to be the example and trailblazer that your siblings (and your parents) need. I thank God everyday for my little Emily Rose.

Calvin

He's a boy. He's definitely a boy. And he's definitely different than the girls. How much has to do with gender wiring and how much is personality, I don't really know. But he keeps me busy. Today he found the pepper shaker, again, so I was vacuuming the kitchen, again. He also has a major temper, and everyone knows it when he doesn't get what he wants, immediately. He climbs on everything and has figured out how to climb into his high chair (my girls never did that! They never climbed on top of the table, either!). A night or two ago he woke up in the middle of the night and wouldn't go back to sleep. I left him in there to see if he would fall asleep again, and all he did was work himself into a major fit. He bangs his head on things when he's mad, so when I finally gave up and got him up before he gave himself a concussion, he had scuff marks on his forehead, and now has a scab the shape of the mesh sides of his playpen because he whacked his head so hard. I can't really figure out why he does this. Any ideas? How do I stop him without giving in to what he wants? I'm toying with the idea of keeping a watergun handy...
On the other hand, he loves to snuggle and hold my hand, which I love. He's starting to say words like "hot" and other random things (though the primary mode of communication is still point and grunt). This morning he lugged this huge unopened bag of diapers (there are about 50 in it) over to me, put them in my lap and started grunting. I picked him up and got a whiff and realized he was telling me he wanted his diaper changed! He loves to look at books, he loves to play chase and peekaboo and hide and seek. He's my sweet boy, I just need to figure out this temper of his! To give him a little slack, I will say he is cutting two molars (still, it takes like three weeks for this kid to cut a tooth), so maybe that has something to do with it? I love my kids, somebody just tell me how to get them to do what I want them to!!

Other news

John has a job. He started this week at an engineering firm in Fort Collins. Right now it's part time as they figure out what they want him to do and while it's "probationary" until the first of the year. After that, he'll switch to a full-time salaried employee and life hopefully will fall into place. It's an energy efficiency firm that does energy audits and other things on other buildings to try and help them conserve energy and save money and such. If you want more details, you'll have to ask John, because that's about as far as I understand it. He's excited about it, it's in the industry he wants, and for a salary that's fairly comparable to what he had before. So, cool. I must admit, I'd be more excited if it were full time right away and we could get a house NOW, but it is a great blessing and a great relief to have a direction to go. I'm excited about Fort Collins, I have been told great things about it and we already have friends there from BYU who say they love it. We are feeling very blessed. Now if I can just stop frothing at the bit to get into my own home, and be patient!! And yet, after this, I'm going to start looking at MLS listings in Fort Collins. :) "I want an oompa-loompa now!!!"

Halloween

I think I'll do one post about Halloween and save the rest for another.
Here are the severely overdue pictures of the big night(s):

Pumpkin Carving

Kimmie chose a baby pumpkin this year. Needless to say, hers was done first.

Calvin, in true boy fashion, loved scooping out the pumpkin goop!

Emily did her pumpkin almost entirely by herself this year. With close supervision, of course. She was extremely proud of herself.

The gang having a great time. That's Grandpa Butler watching in the back.


The finished products! With Grandma and Uncle Gary

Trying on costumes... this year was significantly less stressful for me since I wasn't making any full skirted princess dresses. The girls were fairies, with dresses made from oversized t-shirts. MUCH easier. I found Calvin's dragon costume at a garage sale, and felt extremely proud of the great deal I got. Plus, he looked adorable.

Had to get a picture of Calvin with his tail, it was so cute how it would start swinging side to side as he toddled around! I will have to post a video of it later... it's on the camera phone which I don't have right now. He actually wore the costume pretty well, he just didn't wear the hood for too long at the ward party.

The Butler Boys manning one of the games at the ward Halloween party.

The girls doing the bean bag toss. I was actually kind of surprised at how much they participated, but I guess they are growing up. Too fast for me.

I tried to get a picture of all three of them at the party... it didn't work too well. Oh well, I got a pretty good one Halloween night.

Candy candy candy! Calvin digging into his stash in the trunk, at the trunk or treat. He got tired of walking around and just wanted to eat the stuff.

All the kids in the trunk... Enjoying their haul!

Halloween night, post-trick or treating, as you can tell from Kimmie's sucker. John's hiding in the back because Calvin wouldn't hold still!

The kiddles. Oh, fyi... Emily is a heart fairy, Kimmie is a diamond fairy, and Calvin is a dragon. Everyone thought they were butterflies, but oh well. We had fun decorating the wings and the shirts. The girls had wands too, but they got lost by the time Halloween night arrived. Go figure. I still don't know where Kimmie's went. Oh well, they had a great time anyway. They got lots of candy, which is the important thing, right? :) I didn't stress about pacing their candy intake and just let them eat it however fast they wanted to. Em's was gone the next day, and Kimmie ended up giving me half of hers because she didn't want to pick it up off the floor (I had threatened to take it if she didn't clean it up, and she said, "That's okay Mom, you can have it." Ohhh-kay!) I think partly because she got sick of it. I think I'll keep this strategy! I was sure the kids would be sick after eating so much junk, but apparently not. And now, since the candy's gone, I'm not pestered every five minutes about whether they can have a piece! This is great!Happy Halloween!

kiddles giggles

Here's a video of the kids from today. Not really doing anything, but just laughing together. Kimmie was blowing raspberries and Calvin thought it was hilarious. These little ones make me smile. Our bishop recently told me to "treasure your little ones," and I am doing that. They run me ragged sometimes, but they also bring great joy in my life. What would I do without them?

Also here's a picture of Calvin in one of his new shirts, which I thought very appropriate (it says "little hooligans club"), and also a pic of a halloween "garland" I did. Our RS president made the pattern up, she's very creative. But I picked out my own paper and colors, so I felt proud of myself. Also pictured is a craft I did with the girls, making ghosts out of glue. I found it online, and it was pretty fun. Turned out pretty cool, actually. We also made jack-o-lanterns and spiders out of paper plates and painted them, which the girls LOVED, but I didn't get pictures of them yet.

I also have to post this video of the girls dancing together. I was going to post it before but I don't think I ever did. Or maybe I did and I can't remember. Dunno. But I think it's hilarious. Mom, maybe you recognize some of the moves you taught Emily!

Also a picture of a post-spaghetti lunch Calvin. This kid still will eat just about anything and everything, though he might possibly be slowing down. Or else he's just getting selective. He won't eat the whole bowl at dinner, but as soon as he gets down he beelines for grandma or whoever is eating dessert!!

Gotta love these little munchkins!!!