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!

Holiday Pages Sneak Peek

Okay guys, so next on my scrapbook teaching agenda is: Holiday Pages. And let me tell you there's a reason it's called the "Most Wonderful Time of the Year". Glitter and sparkle and ribbon and buttons, oh my! Let's just say that planning for this class has definitely awakened my Christmas spirit and I am so ready to put up our Christmas tree ~ like NOW!

Anyway, here's a sneak peak of some of the things we'll be doing:


So if you want to get a jump start on creating four beautiful pages to record your favorite family memories and holiday traditions, join us:

Date: Thursday, October 22nd
Time: 6:30 PM
Cost: $18.00

To sign up visit or call Eclectica at 901-377-0730. I hope to see you there!

So excited!

I can hardly wait until next weekend to take Isabella to see this:
We love this book! Love it! But truth be told, I think I'm even more excited than she is.

Heritage Pages Peek

With my parent's recent move to Memphis, a whole lot of cleaning and purging went on in my parent's house in Puerto Rico. Since my family knows that I'm the photo taker and memory keeper of the family, they brought me boxes of old family photos. I cannot even begin to express how excited I am over all the family treasures I have been recently bequeathed. Don't worry boys, I'll make sure you guys get copies as well.

Anyway, when Eclectica recently mentioned that one of the layout classes its customers have been requesting is a Heritage pages class, I gladly jumped on it. The class will be held next Thursday October 15th at 10:30am.

Here's a little taste of what we'll be making:
And some sneak peeks...
This class is for anyone who would like to record and preserve their family heritage. We will create 3 beautiful 12x12 pages that will inspire you to dig through your boxes of heritage photos and create priceless heirlooms to pass on to rising generations.

And with the holidays right around the corner, why not frame one of these beauties and surprise a beloved family member with a handmade gift they can treasure for years to come?

To sign up visit or call Eclectica at 901-377-0730. I hope to see you there!

This and That

Not a whole lot going on around these parts these days, except for:

Amazon sent me an e-mail with some purchase suggestions. Apparently they think I really need these. Like, really!Yes, you too could be the proud owner of a Twilight Bella Swan Barbie Doll (who really looks much more pleasant and less annoying than the girl who played her in the movie) and a scary pasty white Edward Cullen Ken Doll. Because seriously, who doesn't want these gems in their doll collection?

Hmm... I'm wondering how I can tell them that although I loved the books and watched the movie (okay, so I watched it four times), that I'm a bit older than their target demographic and that that's pretty much where my obsession ends. Seriously....

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On a totally different note I cannot wait to go see this:

Oh yeah baby, November 20th cannot come soon enough!

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Guess where I'm going on Saturday? I'll give you a little hint:

Okay, so maybe that was a big hint. Yep, I'm officially reuniting with my ol' pal yet again... enough said!

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Since I so loved both Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code, I could not wait to get my hands on this:

I'm currently reading it, but unfortunately not loving it. I'm actually looking forward to being done with it and moving on to a different book. Hopefully a much better book.

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I'm fervently working on my scrapbooking layout classes and on some crafts I'll be selling at two upcoming craft shows. I'll make sure to share some pictures soon.

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My cell phone is acting up All. The. Time! It drops calls constantly, on a daily basis and it is driving me insane. I took it into AT&T and they think it's the battery. I'm up for an upgrade in December so I don't really want to spend the $50 it costs to get a new battery now. So if by any chance you call me on my cell phone and we get disconnected right in the middle of our conversation, please do not take it personally. Really it's not you, or me... it's my crappy Blackberry.

Well, that's about it for now. I promise to work much harder on my next post. Until then!

One down, many more to go...

OK, so I'm ecstatic to report that I taught (and survived) my very first scrapbook class tonight and it was so much fun! The ladies who attended were fun and funny and made me laugh so hard that my nerves were non-existent after the first few minutes.

Anyway, these are the pages we created:

"Halloween" Single Page

"Autumn" Single Page

"Delight... in the little things" Double Spread

I am very excited about this opportunity and am so looking forward to my upcoming classes. Better get back to work now!