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!!!

looking up?

Well, things might be looking up.. we will still be playing the waiting game for a while to see. John met with owners of a small geothermal company that he had met at a business expo. He had offered to do some engineering for them free of charge for a month since they are short an engineer but not in a place to hire at the moment (I think?). They met for lunch and agreed on an "internship" of sorts, where John will work for them for a month and then they will review at the end and see how it went and if they want to hire him full-time, unless he is able to land a job somewhere else before that. It is a great thing because finally an alternative energy company is willing to give John a chance even though he doesn't have experience (free labor? what's not to love?) and he will be able to get some experience and learn the basics to put on his resume if they decide not to keep him at the end of a month. However, I am fairly confident that once they see how smart this kid is and what he can do for them, they will want to keep him. John was telling me about it and, from the bit I can understand, it seems like there are a lot of ways that John can contribute and make himself valuable to them. He starts this on Monday. Also, tomorrow he has an interview with a small engineering firm in Fort Collins that he visited last week, so that is good news as well. We'll see how that goes.
So I am feeling hopeful again and encouraged that perhaps we will not be living with our in-laws forever, after all. :) They have been really really great, but I am ready to move on. Any time. It is interesting that all this has happened this week, following the Sunday on which I made a renewed commitment to reading my scriptures and saying my prayers. And I have been doing a lot better, which makes me wonder if Heavenly Father has been standing ready and waiting to bless us this whole time, but could not act because I was not willing to be obedient to the commandments upon which such blessings were predicated. Makes sense to me, and also makes me feel a little foolish. But I'm learning. Again, we'll have to wait and see how things will turn out, but we are getting a taste of hope when we desperately needed it, and I believe it's because I was finally humble enough to be obedient in the little things that, perhaps, are not so little after all.
I think I will close with a Calvin story, just because I think it is funny and captures what he is up to nowadays just perfectly:
The other night I went to a RS craft activity and left John's brothers in charge of the kids for half an hour (I was just next door, so no worries, right?). When I came back to put the kids to bed (I had had them all in pjs and ready to go before I left) I found Calvin in a different pair of pjs than I had put him in. When I asked about it, Gary told me he had some watermelon and made a mess with it. I thought it odd that they had fed him watermelon at 8 at night, but shrugged it off and put him to bed. The next morning I learned the whole story: the girls were playing video games with their uncles (new favorite pasttime--it's hilarious to hear a three year old girl ask if they can play "supersmash" but kind of disconcerting at the same time) and after a few minutes looked around and wondered where Calvin had gone. When they got to the kitchen they found Calvin sitting on top of the table working on the last of two wedges of watermelon that had been left there from dinner. He was absolutely thrilled with himself that he had climbed up on his own and discovered this treasure of his favorite food (he will seriously eat a piece of watermelon down to the rind--as in the skin, not just the lighter green, he will eat that too). I found the pjs and can witness that he had watermelon all over him from his chin to his toes. I think this is hilarious because I know how fast Calvin can get up on the table (he does it multiple times a day, as soon as he discovers a chair accidently left pulled away from the table) and I can just picture the grin on his face and his laugh, and the faces of Richard and Gary as they try to figure out how on earth he made such a mess in so little time, and how on earth they are going to clean him up! They did a good job, though. And thanks for watching the kids, guys, I really appreciated the break.
PS.. I don't know if anyone else is as disturbed by current economic events as I am, but I am grateful that we have prophets who have warned us repeatedly to get out of debt and stay out, and I am grateful that we heeded that warning! What a mess. I am also looking forward to General Conference and to hear the words of prophets again. What a great blessing!!!
PPS.. Does anyone have any bright ideas of low cost, low prep activities I can do with the kids? We are all getting bored and I need to spend more quality time with my kids in things we can all enjoy. And don't say storytime at the library, I'm trying that but have yet to get there on time, in between naps and not hungry; with three little kids hanging onto me and having to chase Calvin down every time I set him on his feet, going places by myself with the kids is not high on my list. :) Thanks!!

Birthday Boy

Calvin is officially one year old. I can't believe it. Where did the time go??? We had fun celebrating with family, it was our first kid birthday to be celebrated with grandparents (well, one grandparent, I guess, but uncles were there too). Grandma made him an ice cream cake which I frosted with a yummy chocolate ganache. Delish. Calvin had a great time eating that, as you'll see from the pics. He got some fun toys, a toothbrush (two in fact, no more stealing his sisters'!) pajamas, socks and a sweatshirt that we'll be using much sooner than I'd realized... it's gotten cold here! Only a high of 63 yesterday, when we were used to 80s and some 90s. I guess fall has arrived. Anyway, since pictures speak louder than words, I'll just post them and be done. Oh, the first picture is of the kids at a local park. Loveland has a ton of these great bronze sculptures, and so we got the kids to pose on this one for us.