Halloween

Ok, so I'm back.
And It's good to be back.
Really good.
But, if it's OK with you, I think I'll just jump right in and act as if the last 6+ months never happened.
Although, in actuality SO MUCH has happened.
And I want to update you on all (or most) of it.
But I think I'll take my time and just post as we go.
Otherwise, blogging is just overwhelming.
And not fun.
And that's the last thing I want from my beloved blog.
Alrighty then... so, here we go!

Halloween 2012

This year the kids decided to bring one of my all time favorite childhood stories to life...

Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf

Normally, I'd be all about ladies first and such, but I really want to start with the Big Bad Wolf.

Originally, Sam was all about those scary, bloody wolf masks you find in the stores. But I struggled with it because, well, he's 4 years old! No way!!! So I decided to go a different route... my mom and I actually made his costume. Yep, we sure did! We bought the fabric and the materials and got really busy to meet our tight deadline. And I still have the hot glue gun burn marks on my fingertips to prove it.

Whataya think? 

Pretty awesome, huh?

Unfortunately, I can't take all the credit. I did find a tutorial for this costume on Pinterest. But my mom and I had the best time making it and changing a few things to simplify the process.

And the best part? Sam looked like a 4 year old. And he absolutely loved it! He got to wear it to school for a costume parade. He got to wear it for a photo shoot with mom at Shelby Farms. And he got to wear it to go trick-or-treating on halloween night, which kept him nice and warm. I'd say that's a win-win situation!

Now, let's move on to our Little Red Riding Hood. 

As much as I'd love to tell you that I painstakingly slaved and made her costume, that is just not the case. I did however order it from the internet. And considering all the hoochie choices you get when you enter Little Red Riding Hood into Google Images search box, I was delighted with how sweet and demure her costume was.

 She was thrilled with her costume, and looked dreamy in it!

And together they had a great time.

Posing for me when I asked (read begged) and playing and climbing and running all over the place.

I've been so busy with client sessions these last few months, that I've neglected taking the time to take pictures of my own kids. I'm so happy we took a quick break from our hectic schedules to go and shoot these photos.

And I especially love that we were able to have a whole lot of fun in the process.

Ten on Thursday

Being that it's been oh, I don't know, almost a month since my last blog post, I thought I'd update you on all the fun happenings at Casa de Butler with a Ten on Thursday-type post. So, here we go...

1. I have been very busy lately with client meetings and photo sessions and editing and all the other fun that comes along with being a photographer and owning my own business. (I'm still getting used to that!) I'm so blessed! I'll be sharing some images from some of my recent sessions here on the blog soon. Stay tuned!

2. I know this is SO last month, but I have to share some of our Halloween photos from this year. It was SUPER, to say the least. This year we had "Gooperman" (aka Superman) complete with muscles and super saggy pants and boots.

This super hero was oozing some serious attitude!

But out of all of his super powers, I'm pretty sure his super cuteness is the one that'll get the crimes solved.

And then we've got his sidekick, the adorable bedazzled Super Girl!

This super diva can fight fashion crimes like no other.

And she too can solve any mystery with her super cuteness.

The kids had a great time trick or treating this year. I love that we go out early, we come back early, hand out some candy and call it a night by 8:00pm.  And by 8:45ish Scott and I are sitting on the couch watching TV and eating some yummy candy, compliments of the kiddos ;)

3. A couple weekends ago Scott and I got a chance to get away for a few days. My mom and dad kept the kids (I'm pretty sure I have the best parents in the whole world!) and Scott and I went off to Las Vegas. It was a much needed break, which did wonders for both of us. I've got one word for you: Serendipity. YUM! I'll share some stories and post some pictures of our little getaway soon.

4. After much consideration, I declared yesterday a pajama day. Yes, I had a number of places I should have gone to and a number of things I should have done, but I opted to play hookie and stay home with my baby boy in our PJs ALL. DAY. LONG! We watched TV, played hide and seek, played tic-tac-toe, played chess and spent most of the day just hanging out. Together. It was glorious!

5. The countdown is currently at T minus 15 days until we pack up the family and spend a week in the most magical place on Earth. EEK!!!

6. It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is a week from today. I am so looking forward to it, especially since it'll be the first time in forever that we won't be hosting it at our place. It's all about being grateful for the little things, people!

7. I'm planning on starting the Christmas decorating extravaganza this weekend. This is most definitely my favorite time of year!

8. Yesterday, on the way home, Sam was singing a song he'll be performing at his preschool's Christmas program. I asked him what the song was about, to which he replied: "It's a song about how much God woves us and how He sent us His gun. You know God has a gun, wight?" Yeah,... Gun = Son. I SO LOVE THIS BOY!!!

9. I had a great meeting with some clients this morning. Afterward, I ran some errands, made some phone calls and had lunch at my parent's place. (Have I told you I have the BEST parents?) Since I had such a productive morning, I came home looking forward to spending some time on the couch, reading, until it was time to go pick up the kids. I had so not anticipated walking in and finding the huge stinky mess I found in Rocky's crate. So, instead of the relaxing 90 minutes I had envisioned, I spent the time hosing down the crate, cleaning the floor and "washing" Rocky. Ugh!

10. After a couple of months without really reading, I've made it a point to make the time to read again. And this makes me so happy!

A hairy situation

Last Thursday, as I'm brushing his hair before school, Sam informs me that he wants to wear his hair ALL crazy.

Ummm,... OK!

A little gel and a whole lot of hair spray later, we ended up with the return of the faux-hawk!

Well, not one to leave well enough alone, the next day he decides he wants even crazier hair.

OK!

A whole lot of gel and a whole lot of hair spray later, we ended up with Mr. Spikes!

Step aside, Zoolander,... this boy can work these crazy do's like it's no one's business, lemme tell ya!

And if this is the only way this boy will willingly step in front of the camera for me, then I will gladly go and buy industrial size bottles of both gel and hairspray  ;-)

"Quasi" Wordless Wednesday - New Friend

Sam made a new friend a few days ago.

They bonded, hard and fast!

Until Sam dropped him... four times!

Oops!

At which time I suggested to Sam maybe it was time for our new friend to go to the hospital
to get checked out... and you know, to live.

And to mingle with his peeps.

Ten on Tuesday ~ I'm back!

1. I know, I know... many of you are probably thinking that this has turned into a "Ten on Tuesday" blog. Trust me, I get it! But rest assured that now that the school year is officially in full swing with both kids back in school, and we are back to our "old" routine, I have more time and quite a few blog posts that I'm dying to share with you in the next couple of days. With lots and lots of pictures.

2. Isabella lost her second tooth last week. There was some serious celebrating in this home,... that tooth has been loose for months. And of course, the tooth fairy made a pit stop and left her a little something.

3. Last week my Mom went into the hospital for what was supposed to be a routine 30 minute exploratory procedure. Well, that quickly turned into an overnight stay when they found 80% blockage on the front artery of her heart and immediately inserted a stent. Thank you all for your prayers and kind words. Fortunately, she has recovered beautifully and is right back to her amazing self.

4. Sam is really enjoying school so far. I was concerned since he kept flipping back and forth between dying to go back to school and dying because of having to go back to school. Luckily, he really likes his new teachers and he loves playing with a lot of his old friends. All is well in Sam's World!

5. Isabella had three different sleep overs this past weekend. THREE! On Friday night she spent the night at a friend's place, on Saturday night we had a friend spend the night here, and on Sunday night my parents took both kids (and their cousins) to spend the night at their place.  Needless to say, yesterday Isabella was WAY overstimulated, overextended, and oh SO grumpy. Guess who won't be doing that again! Ever!

6. I'd like to do a shout out to my dear friend Celimar... today is her birthday! She lives in Italy (jealous much? I know I am!), and I've only been asking her for, like, EVER to start a blog so I can live vicariously through her. Anyway, Happy Birthday, Beautiful! I hope you hanno un grande giorno!!! ;-)

7. I'm thinking of resurrecting the ol' OPAM (One Project a Month). We have a few home projects in the horizon and this would be the perfect way to share them with you.

8. I'll be making Kraft's Cheesy Chicken & Salsa Skillet recipe for dinner some time this week. You can find the recipe here. Seems fast, easy, healthy and yummy. I'll let you know how it turns out.

9. Have you seen the movie Tangled? If you haven't, you must. It is adorable! If you have, you know the song they sing when they're in the tavern, I've Got A Dream? (BTW, you can watch it here.) Well, I have a dream,... and this week I'm finally getting off my bootay and taking some critical steps towards making that dream a reality. EEK!!! I am so excited! Can't wait to share all the fun details with you once things start falling into place.

10. And since every post needs at least one photo, here it is:

 I can't help but think of "Oh, the places you'll go!" when I look at my sweet boy in this one.

Ten on Tuesday

(1) I feel like I've seriously neglected the ol' blog lately. I'm also WAY behind on reading and commenting on blogs. But I'm sure that as things start to settle around here, and our back to school routine is re-established, my time (and desire) for blogging will return. At least I hope it does. I miss my bloggie peeps!

(2) We didn't really do as many things on our Summer Fun List as we would have liked this year. Don't get me wrong, we certainly made a pretty dent. But in all honesty, when I think back to our summer, this is all that I seem to remember:

It seems like we spent most of the summer either taking swim lessons at the Y or swimming at my Mom's.

(3) Still on the list, and soon to come, a HUGE garage sale along with the kids' lemonade stand. My friend Tracey printed out a nice big banner for them to use on their lemonade stand. It is adorable and they can hardly stand it!

(4) I've got some really fun home improvement projects I am absolutely thrilled about, and lots of indoor painting that will soon take place. Stay tuned!

(5) Isabella survived her first week and is really enjoying being a first grader so far. We get to meet with her teacher tonight, and we're definitely looking forward to it.

(6) Sam has two more weeks before he starts his 3YO Pre-School. I'm ready! Him... not so much anymore! He's working overtime on his case for staying at Tata's all day, every day. How quickly things change! Poor baby...

(7) Scott has been lusting after a Dyson vacuum for years. No joke. However, I couldn't justify buying one while we had a perfectly good Hoover in the house. I mean, have you seen the price tag on those rug suckers? YIKES! Anyway, Scott decided to vacuum the house this weekend. Yeah, I'm not one to discourage anyone from such behavior! Amazingly, an item of clothing got misteryously sucked in and pretty much burnt the heck out of our perfectly good Hoover vaccum.

(8) Guess who is the proud owner of a brand new Dyson!

 

Yeah!

Coincidence? 

I think not!

(9) The Help

Loved the book!

LOVED the movie!

Did you read the book? Have you seen the movie?
The casting, the sets, the wardrobe, the acting...  It is AMAZING!
Seriously, go see it!
That's all I'm gonna say about that!

(10) Sam was being his silly self yesterday. So, I decided to pick up my camera and snap some pictures. This is my favorite one:

 

Technically, it's all wrong. But he's not making silly faces. He's laughing. Like, really laughing. And he's such an adorable and lovable and awesome child. And all that comes through in this picture. And that is exactly why I love it so much!

Have a great day!

Ten on Tuesday

1. I spent last weekend in Nashville. With some girlfriends. For a CKC scrapbooking convention. We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.  Took some layout classes. Did lots of shopping. Ate at the Cheesecake Factory. I'm not gonna lie, it was HEAVEN!!!

2. In fact, I enjoyed the convention so much that it apparently reignited my desire to scrapbook for us again. Here lately all I ever work on are my classes, but suddenly I've got an itch to get to scrapping. And well, that just hasn't happened in forever!

3. It's official... we are now the parents of a first grader. Eeek!!!

4. Even though none of her former classmates are in her first grade class (not a single one! how does that happen?), Isabella has had a wonderful couple of days so far. She says her teacher, Mrs. Franklin, is very nice and she's already made lots of friends. She's very happy, which of course translates into me being very happy!

5. My neighbor and I are now carpooling. She takes them in the morning. I pick them up in the afternoon.  I love it!

6. OK, so I am now hooked on Words with Friends. HOOKED! Have you played it? You must. If you decide to check it out, be sure to play with me. Just search for user name "liztbutler". All I'm gonna say is that with my addictive personality, it's a really good thing I don't enjoy gambling.

7. As I mentioned earlier, my neighbor took the girls to school this morning, so Sam and I got to hang out today. All day. Today was the first time in a LONG time that I didn't have anywhere to be. (Notice I didn't say I didn't have anything to do. I just chose not to do anything.) So I made sure it was a very mellow day. We sat on the couch and watched episode after episode of Justice League. I read some of my book. We had lunch. We took a nap. We went to pick up the girls. Apparently my body was begging for some downtime, because it felt really good to just chill.

8. What I neglected to realize, until about 5:30pm, was that I had an eye appointment scheduled for today at 11:00am. Oops, it appears I did have somewhere I needed to be after all! Guess I'll be calling tomorrow to reschedule.

9. I'm not certain of what Sam's MDO start date is, but he is definitely ready! He can't wait to meet his new teachers and reunite with his little friends.

10. My brother is healing and feeling better and standing strong in his faith. Often times it's hard to see the good in life's speed bumps, but they are definitely there. And I am ever so grateful for him and his faith journey thus far!

Now we're talking... "SAM" language, that is!

Once upon a time I was a very worried mom of an adorable toddler boy 

who would smile ALL day long, but would not speak.

I remember just waiting and waiting for the words to come... 

Wondering if they ever would.

Well, they did!

Our little boy is a talking machine these days. 

He talks NONSTOP!

All day! 

Every day!

I am no linguist, but I do have a passion for words. And I love how much his vocabulary has evolved within this last year or so.

The problem is that often times people don't necessarily understand what he is saying. And to be totally honest, I've had times when I've had to ask Isabella, who happens to be extremely fluent in "SAM" language, what it is he is saying. And I love how she looks at him, asks him to repeat what he is trying to say, and then turns around and without missing a beat, translates his words for all of us to understand. But I do have some favorites that I do understand. And I just happen to find them SO incredibly adorable (or funny), that they are worthy of documenting.

So here's what I'll do: I will give you his word, our word and I will use it in a sentence for the purpose of demonstration.

Ready? OK, here we go:

* GAY!, which really means YAY! As in:
Sam: "Mom, can I play outside?"
Me: "That's fine!"
Sam: "GAY!!!"
or, used while in the check-out lane:
Sam: "Mom, can you buy me some bubble gum?"
Me: "Sure, Honey!"
Sam: "GAY!!!"

*GOOSE, which really means JUICE. As in:
Sam: "I looooovvvvveeeee GOOSE!"
Which he really really REALLY does, and has been limited to one cup a day by his pediatrician, which drives Sam crazy and has turned him into the world's best negotiator.

*GUESS, which really means YES. As in:
Me: "Sam, would you like some juice?"
Sam: "GUEEEESSSSS!"
The first time he responded with "GUESS!", I looked at him, blinked twice and said "Yes?,... No?"
Which prompted him to look at me, blink twice and say "I said GUESS!"
It was all very confusing there for a minute.

* GAU, which really means WATER, and DOISTY, which really means THIRSTY. As in:
Sam: "Mom, I need some GOOSE, I'm DOISTY!"
Me: "No juice, Sam. You've head enough. But you can have some water."
Sam: "Fine, I'll have some GAU."

*ISABELLA's name has gone through an array of changes throughout the last couple years:
It all started with BA. As in: "Stop it, BA!"
Then it morphed to BEA. As in: "Stop it, BEA!"
Then came my all time favorite, BEATCH. As in: "Stop it, BEATCH!"
I won't lie, Scott and I just about died laughing every time we heard him say this. Yes, we're worse than a couple of 12 year old kids! And don't even get me started on the looks I got any time we were in public and he let out one of his very loud  "Stop it, BEATCH!" I can't help but giggle as I type this... 12, I know!
Which leads us to the most recent one, ISABEWA. As in: "Stop it, ISABEWA!"
Can you say adorable?

*KEEKEE, which really means CHRISTIE, our neighbor's name. As in:
Sam: "Hi KEEKEE! Look at me wide my bike!"

And finally, one of my favorites...
* TCBOY, which really means TCBY. As in:
Sam: "Mom, can we have TCBOY for dessoit? Pleeeaaassseee?"

So there you have it... your very own personal "SAM" language cheat sheet. 

Which I guarantee, will come in quite handy next time you sit down to have a conversation with him.

Ten on Tuesday...on Thursday

(1) Isabella got a surprise mani/pedi at Sweet and Sassy for her birthday. This girl is just like her Mama in the pampering department... she just can't get enough. Needless to say, she was in HEAVEN!

(2) The summer art program Isabella attended at the beginning of the summer is having their art showcase reception this coming Sunday. Unfortunately, we'll be helping a friend celebrate turning 6, and we won't be able to make it. So we decided to go and check it out last Sunday instead. It was amazing walking into the lobby and SO fun looking at all the colorful artwork.

(3) The class Isabella took was called Sculpture Safari and she made the following two projects:

An elephant:

A cheetah in its habitat:

We are so proud of our little sculptor!

(4) I came across this recipe on Pinterest recently. Are any of you as hooked on Pinterest as I am? Oh. My. Goodness! Talk about an overload of fabulous ideas. It is awesome!!! Anyway, I made it for dinner last week. It was delicious!

(5)  Our boy is desperately fighting naps these days. Claims that he's not tired and doesn't need one. The result, more often than not, is that he totally crashes at about 5:00pm. Anywhere and everywhere! And it is nearly impossible to wake him up without him throwing the MOTHER of all tantrums. Yeah, this is NOT working for me. So we're going to have to reconsider the whole skipping the nap thing... like, PRONTO!

(6) Isabella had her cousin and our neighbor over for a sleepover on Tuesday night.  Sam was almost as excited as Isabella was to have the girls over. The evening consisted of pizza for dinner, donuts, dance battles on the Kinect, lots of running and giggling, makeovers, a movie and popcorn. It was lights out at 11:00 pm. Scott and I were exhausted!

(7) I don't know if it's just us, but my kids will watch a movie and pick that same movie to watch over and over and over for days... It gets to where I can recite them in their entirety. Yeah, I'm not kidding. Anyway, the movie the girls picked for the sleepover was Ramona and Beezus. And in true Butler children fashion, we've been watching it over and over and over ever since. But can I just say, I absolutely loved it. It is sweet and imaginative and funny and perfect for our 6 year old and her Mama to sit and enjoy together.

(8) I can't believe that school starts in a little over a week. I am SO not ready. Like, at all! I foresee some serious back to school shopping in the very near future,... quite possibly tomorrow?!

(9) And speaking of being behind, I'm participating in a consignment sale in a couple of weekends, and I still have not gone through the dozens of bins of kids' clothes, or entered them into the system or prepped them. Yeah,...

(10) I get to spend my evening with the very talented Marci Lambert at a photography seminar, and I am SO looking forward to it!

Ten on Tuesday ~ Playing Catch up

Hello???

Is there anybody out there?!?!

I so would not blame you if you gave up on me and the ol' blog. 

I have been a terrible blogger lately.

But finding the time (and motivation) these days seems to be a HUGE challenge. 

Sooo, I'm using the Ten on Tuesday to play a little game of catching up.

So, here we go....

1. We had a lovely Father's Day. Scott got his Father's Day/Birthday present early this year (a Motorola Xoom tablet, which pretty much elevated me to best wife ever status, thankyouverymuch!), but we still gave him some pretty snazzy new work clothes. Being that we had his gift exchange early in the morning before going to church, I didn't take many pictures. But from the few that I did take, this one is by far my favorite:

2. The reason Daddy got some snazzy new work clothes, is because he will soon be starting a different job. We are SO very excited about this. Trust me when I say this is most definitely answered prayer!

3. Also, speaking about Father's Day, look who signed his name on daddy's card:

Arghhhhh!  This is painfully adorable!

4. Did I mention that Isabella lost her first tooth a couple of weeks ago while we were on vacation?

She did! She was lying down on the floor coloring, when suddenly a tooth that has been loose for oh I don't know, 6 months or so, fell and landed on her coloring book. Lucky for us the tooth fairy found us in the Arkansas mountains. And needless to say, she was one HAPPY girl!

5. Last week, the kids and I spent some time in Barnes & Noble looking for a birthday present for my nephew. While perusing the Bargains section, I came across these books:
Shhh... please don't tell my nook that I broke down and bought actual books, OK?
It's just that at $4.98 each, I couldn't pass them up.

6. Speaking of reading, I've been on a roll lately. Out of the 35 books I set up to read at the beginning of the year, I've already read 26. Woo Hoo! I will definitely have to up that number next year. And if any of you have a good book recommendation, please feel free to send it my way. I'm always looking for good reading material.

7. The kids recently discovered, and are totally obsessed with, a bunch of caterpillars hanging out and devouring some bushes in our front yard.

Needless to say, we check in on them every single day. These are some very hungry caterpillars!

8. I already started all the planning and preparations for Isabella's upcoming birthday party. The theme for this birthday is ART! Shocker, I know! I have so many fun projects and decorations planned, I can hardly stand it! So stay tuned...

9. The kids started VBS at my brother's church tonight. I won't lie, was a bit concerned about the 6-8:30pm time frame. But today I dropped them off, had dinner at Subway, walked next door for a pedicure (my toe nails are PURPLE and I ♥ them!), and then drove by the McDonald's drive thru for a $.75 low fat vanilla cone. And I did all of this before picking them up. It was a good night!

10. The kids started their swim lessons yesterday.

One of them loved it, the other didn't. 

Wanna venture a guess as to who it was??? 

Let me give you a hint:

 Yep, this is pretty much what he looked like during the duration of the lesson.

And like this.

And later in the day, when his Tata asked him about his swim lessons, his immediate response was: 

It was a NIGHTMARE! 

HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa! 

That boy of ours cracks me up!

Isabella, on the other hand, loved every minute of it!

It literally seems like she shed all her "water" fears overnight.

In fact, her teachers mentioned she might be ready to move up to the next level.

We are so proud of our cute little fishy!

Wordless Wednesday - My Boys

Yeah, I'm pretty smitten with these two!

Ten on Tuesday

Top Ten Signs that Summer Break is ONE Day Away!

1. At the beginning of the school year, I was really good about waking up early and getting everything ready for the day. Here lately, I've been getting up around 7ish and running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Not good!

2. Once upon a time, when I used to wake up early, I would prepare eggs and sausage/bacon, pancakes, muffins and all sorts of yummy breakfast foods. These days, the choices are limited to oatmeal, cereal or waffles.

3. We celebrated Isabella's Kindergarten "graduation"/end of year party last Thursday. She was so excited that Mom, Dad, Tata and Sam were able to come and celebrate. We had pizza and drinks and cupcakes and fabulous goody bags. Their teacher, the beloved Ms. Long, gave every student a cute little certificate. They were all beaming with pride. SO cute!

4. All the kids in Isabella's class talked about character and the characteristics that make an outstanding character. Then they voted on who ( a boy and a girl) in their class exhibited these characteristics, and would be considered a role model for Outstanding Character. There was a tie within the boys. But, Isabella was voted the girl who was a role model for Outstanding Character. Yeah, we are SO very proud of our girl!

5. Even though Isabella is so ready for a break, she gets really sad when she thinks about not seeing Ms. Long and her friends for such a long time.

6. Sam had his end of year program today. Mommy, Daddy, Tata and Isabella were there to cheer him on. It was adorable. His class sang four songs. For days, whenever I asked what he was going to sing, his response was "I don't know!" I just knew it would be quite the interesting experience. But he did great. Very funny,... and entertaining.

7. Scott and I gave the kids their end of school year gifts today. Sam got a remote control F150 (now he has a truck just like his daddy), and Isabella got the Penguins of Madagascar Leapster game that she's ALWAYS wanted. They both got an art caddy filled with art supplies. They were thrilled!

8. We've been busy brainstorming about all of the events we want to include in our Summer Fun List this year. Stay tuned!

9. We are counting down the days of our family vacation. LITERALLY!

10. These two aren't even trying to contain their excitement!