SNL Sneak Peek

I'm currently working on putting some finishing touches on my layouts for our November SNL class which is this coming Saturday. And I can honestly tell you that I am thrilled about what we'll be creating in class.

Remember, in SNL you leave the class with 8 completed and photo ready 12x12 page layouts. Danielle will teach the first half of the class (4 layouts) and I will teach the second half (the remaining 4 layouts). You will get a short break in between, so be sure to bring a snack.

Our main theme for the months is Family, Thanksgiving, Fall. So I thought I'd share a sneak peek of some of the layouts we will be creating:

Oh, and yes my dear friends, those are real turkey feathers we'll be working with. I can't wait!

Saturday Night Layouts (SNL)
Saturday, November 7th
4:00 PM - 8:00 PM
$29.00

Bring your basic scrapbooking tools and we'll have fun making pages that will make you run home to look for the perfect pictures. But don't delay. Make sure you call Eclectica at 901-377-0730 to sign up and secure your spot.

See you there!

Another month bites the dust

Fist of all, I cannot for the life of me believe that it is already November. It seems like October came and went and I'm left with nothing but a blur. I don't know what it is, but time is just flying by at the speed of light and I'm foolishly and unsuccessfully trying to hold on.

Let's see... oh yeah, so life got in the way of our plans, as it often does, making our Halloween festivities not quite as fun as we were anticipating. Right when I was getting Isabella, or should I say Tinkerbell, dressed and ready Sam came up to me and pretty much collapsed on my lap. What was so very odd was that just minutes earlier he was being his active and chatty self while eating a Kit Kat. In a matter of a few minutes he went from being his joyful self to being lethargic, running a high fever, and vomiting. Let's just say Saturday night was a very LONG night and daylight savings did absolutely nothing for us.

So anyway Scott took Isabella out to trick or treat and to my mom's church harvest festival afterward while Sam and I cuddled on the sofa for hours. But you know I just had to take a few pictures before they embarked on their adventure. Can you tell how excited she was?

TinkerbellIsabella & her friend Madison

This is what our sweet boy did all night,
except it was me he was cuddling (and vomiting) on.

Isabella & her crazy Tata

He finally ate and drank something at around 10:30pm

On Sunday morning his fever was even higher so I called his pediatrician's office and made an appointment to have him seen that afternoon. For some reason I was totally expecting to hear that he had the H1N1 virus. I just knew they would say it and I was dreading hearing it.

Luckily he tested negative for the flu as well as for strep. He did however have a viral infection so not much could be done for him, except making sure he was hydrated and rested and use Tylenol and Motrin to help manage the pain.

By Sunday night he was starting to act like himself running around and yelling and laughing. And on Monday there was very little trace of the terrible virus that totally knocked him out on Saturday. Don't you just love how incredibly resilient children are? Heaven knows if it would've been me my throat would most likely still be on fire.

OK, so back to it being November, which again let me just say is CRAZY! This months presents itself with a whole new set of challenges for me/us. It's going to be a very busy month indeed. I'm teaching two scrapbook layout classes this month as well as participating in two craft shows. And in the midst of it all I have to find the time to decorate our house and put up our Christmas tree before Thanksgiving (which BTW, we are also hosting). To say I'm feeling a bit of pressure right about now is a huge understatement. But somehow it will all get done... right?! Please say yes!

Not so Merry & Bright

A few years ago I received the cutest Christmas card from some friends who live in Illinois. I instantly fell in love with their card. It was different and innovative. In fact, I loved their card so much that I have been saving it ever since so that one day I could "replicate" it with my own children. So last November I did what you do when you want a beautiful picture; I turned to the very talented Marci Lambert.

Well, let me just start by saying that the inside of our house is very dark. Natural lighting is pretty much hit or miss at the Butler home. Add to that a very cold, dark, cloudy and rainy morning. As you can imagine, just by walking through the door Marci was faced with a lighting disaster challenge.

Then add to this equation the two most unwilling and uncooperative subjects you've ever known. I mean cantankerous, belligerent, ill-natured, crying so hard snot's all over the place type subjects. They would not play along or sit still or smile or do anything else that was asked of them. Nothing!

Finally, let's not forget the incredibly stressed out Momma who wanted nothing more than an adorable picture of the children for our Christmas card. I mean seriously, is that too much to ask?

As easy going and laid back as Marci is, I think she quickly realized this would be no easy feat. I love her for being SO unbelievably patient and for never losing her cool with any of us, because heaven knows there were been plenty of times I wanted to lock the kids in a room and take the first flight out to Timbuktu.

After some really hard work on Marci's behalf and because she's, well.... Marci Lambert, she managed to take some gorgeous photos of my kids.

However, there is one specific picture that made us laugh SO very hard. And we talked and giggled about how funny it would be if we actually did use this photo on our cards. Without further ado:
Pathetic, isn't it? And please do make sure to click on it so that you can get the full effect. Seriously! By the looks of it you'd think we're electrocuting these kids with a strand of multi-colored Christmas lights. And what in the world is up with Isabella?

Would this not have made an awesome Christmas card? It would have looked a little something like this:

Go ahead... click on it. You know you wanna.

Honestly, what would you think if you got a Christmas card like this one? Oh boy, I can't wait to see what we come up with for this year's card.

Feliz Navidad

I love Christmas. Love it! I love the reason for the season. I love the Christmas Eve services at Hope. I love the decorations. I love all the fun gatherings with friends and family. I love Christmas music. I love sending and receiving Christmas cards. I love the food... oh, how I love the food! I love my kids' excitement. And okay, I also love the presents. I think I thrive on the adrenaline of everything that goes on throughout the season I surely consider to be the most wonderful time of the year.

As busy and hectic as Christmas time can be, I am hardly ever stressed during the Holidays. I usually decorate right before Thanksgiving. I do a heck of a job staying away from the mall. And I do absolutely NO shopping on Black Friday (aka the Friday after Thanksgiving).

So why am I rambling on and on about Christmas when it's only the end of October? Well, when Eclectica asked me to do a Holiday Page layouts class this month I was more than happy to oblige. And since apparently I forgot to post pictures of the layouts and a few of you have asked to see what we created in class, I thought I'd indulge you with a little bit of Christmas spirit:

Disclaimer: all of the colors are actually much brighter IRL, I'm not sure why they look so washed out on the photos. Oh well...

O' Christmas Tree Single LO
I really do ♥ our Christmas tree.

Traditions Single LO
Butler household traditions: Building our Gingerbread House,
Visit to Alpine Village, Visiting Santa and Christmas Eve
matching PJ's for the kids

Christmas Morning Double Spread
I'm hoping to use these for this year's pictures.

So there you have it. These are the four pages we created in class. I hope you like them.

And since I'm so in the Christmas Spirit right now, please stop back tomorrow for a funny story and an even funnier picture of our attempt at getting the perfect Christmas card picture last year. Trust me, you won't want to miss it.

I don't know about you but now I'm definitely ready for some eggnog.

Weigh-In Results

Because we are enjoying our lovely weekend and beautiful weather, I will keep this post short and sweet and straight to the point.

I went to my WW weigh-in this morning to find out that as challenging as last week was for me, and I'm not exactly sure why that was, I still managed to do the following:

Pounds lost this week: 2.0 lbs
Total pounds lost: 7.2 lbs

So there you have it: 7.2 pounds lost in the last couple of weeks ~ hey, I'm not complaining. As of right now all I'm hoping for is an easier week.

Have a great weekend!

Fun Fall Day

We took the kids to Cedar Hill Farm last Saturday for a day of playing, running, hay riding, pumpkin picking, face painting, horse riding, animal feeding fun. Phew! Say that three times fast.... Although is was a bit on the chilly side, the kids had themselves a big ol' time.

Sam really enjoyed eating smelling the pretty flowers:

Exploring the little pumpkins:
And playing in the midst of all the big pumpkins:

We were happy to see our friend Ms. Connie who has done the amazing face painting at both Sam and Isabella's birthday parties this year. Isabella was glad to have her face painted as a butterfly:
Sam,... well this is as far as Ms. Connie could get before his meltdown:

Yep, he got crow's feet.

Suddenly my children became chicken whisperers:
Apparently we didn't plan appropriately since we neglected to take quarters required to purchase the animal feed. So Isabella found some pieces on the ground and fed some of the animals. After observing Isabella, Sam, not knowing any better, started feeding the animals rocks and gravel. Needless to say, his "food" wasn't a big seller.

As long as we're in the topic of chickens, Sam LOVED the chicken show:
And was mesmerized the entire time those crazy chickens were singing and dancing:

See? Told ya...

Isabella on the other hand was thrilled to ride the horses not once, but twice:
Sam wanted absolutely nothing to do with the horses and decided to love on his daddy while we waited for Isabella instead:
And finally, I leave you with a picture of my children... together:
Yes my dear friends, getting my children to look at the camera (never mind smile) these days is an impossible task, regardless of how hard I try and how crazy I act. So this here is as good as it gets. Lovely, isn't it?

The long overdue return of weekly weigh-ins

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I (re)joined Weight Watchers a couple of Saturdays ago. My weigh-in day and time is still Saturday mornings, which I love. Last week was my first official week back on the program. I'm glad to report that it wasn't as tough as I had anticipated and I did a heck of a job resisting temptation. So, I had my first weigh-in this past Saturday and this is how it went down:

Pounds lost last week: 5.2 lbs
Total pounds lost: 5.2 lbs

YAY! Trust me when I tell you that I was beyond thrilled to start out so strong. I'm a realist and having battled my weight my entire life and having been in this program numerous times before, I know not to expect these results too often. But I'm definitely motivated to doing everything I can to kick these extra pounds to the curb.

So stay tuned for what will hopefully be some more good news this coming weekend. Wish me luck!