And Just Because It's Funny...

This is a clip of Jack taken way back in July... so he was walking (briskly, at that) by then, but not saying much.... at least not much we could understand anyway. It appears he had quite a bit he wanted to say (or yell, as it were) at this particular moment. I just found it again on my phone and decided it should be blogged.

Maggie and Claira... BFFs

This lil' video clip was taken this morning, at our playdate with three other moms at the church. Maggie's rowing partner here is Claira... who is for all intents and purposes, I believe, her BFF. Now, Mags loves all her church buddies... there are close to 15 kids in our Young Families group through our church and she knows the names and talks about getting to see just about all of them (with the exception of the very new babies I think) at church or at Bible study. But Maggie loooves Claira. They hug whenever they see each other, and there is an over abundance of giggly toddler squeeling. We're still working on what it means to be a "good friend" (no pushing, hitting, snatching of toys, etc... this is the mantra we repeat prior to most social visits)... but these two girls really seem thrilled to see each other. In fact, when we had to cancel Bible study last Thursday cause the snow had started coming down heavy - Maggie bawled her big brown eyes out... and just repeated (in her most pathetically heartbroken voice) "I need to see Claira". I posted this in a thread on Facebook to our group... and a short while later - Claira called Maggie on the phone and they had their first official gab-fest. Not sure what all was said but I heard some "i miss you, too" and "i love you, too" on this end. 'Nough said.

You Know You've Reached a Milestone When...

One thing Jon and I have been very thankful for and have worked quite hard at is giving our children the sense of security and confidence to be able to leave them for a few hours with other caretakers without a huge meltdown or an abundance of separation anxiety. Mostly due to our gym habits, both Maggie and Jack have been going to child care at the gym since they were 6 weeks old. And because it is party of our regular routine, they both got used to it quickly and never really hit any sort of phase with separation issues. Most who know Maggie well can attest to the fact that she is pretty friendly and comfortable in most surroundings. Jack, however, is a little more cautious and slightly more clingy. I say slightly because he is not at Maggie's level of confidence, but I still think he does pretty good flying solo (sans parents, that is). Well, today I witnessed confirmation that we have reached another milestone in respect to Jack's confidence. We were asked (as a family) to light the advent candle during today's church service. We both agreed that Jack wouldn't do very well with being quiet through a portion of the service and then being well behaved up front while Jon read Scripture and we lit then candle. So we put him in toddler nursery, and let Maggie do the advent candle with us. She did awesome - far better than either of us expected. But when I took her down to the toddler nursery room, I expected Jack would cause a fuss upon seeing me and not want me to leave again. Instead, I found Jack sitting at the little table with all the other toddlers, playing with play dough. I got a very sweet smile and a "hi mimi!" (he calls me mimi... not entirely sure why but it's cute). Maggie ran to join the crowd, so I gave Jack a little kiss on the cheek - at which he smiled and as I walked away he joyfully said, "Bye bye mimi!" And that was that. No fuss, no crying, no stomping of feet or even begging for a hug. And instead of being upset that he didn't "want" me, I was one proud little mama walking back upstairs knowing that my son has the social confidence and sense of security that Mommy and Daddy won't ever truly "leave" him to watch me come and go with ease.

More Pictures of the Snow

This is us enjoying some hot chocolate after playing in the snow (and if I get around to ordering them, will be our Christmas card picture...)

Jack buried his face in the mug of hot cocoa and screamed when I would take a sip.

You can't see it super well but these kids have some super rosy red cheeks.

Snow Storm!

These are current pics of our house and yard from this morning! We got 10 inches of snow or so... the kids didn't make it long outside since it was so hard to walk around in. And Jack was so padded with snow clothes every time he fell... he mostly just stayed there.

The Story Behind Last Christmas

And by "Last Christmas" I mean the pop Christmas song by Wham! Many of you know that this song is by FAR my favorite secular Christmas song. And I will take a brief moment here to explain why. Aside from the fact it's song by George Michael whose voice is smooth like butta (too bad he is totally cooky) ... I associate it with Christmases of my childhood in my home town of Arlington, Va. Mix 107.3 played this song ALL THE TIME when I was growing up and the only other song that comes close to my memories of winter evenings that get dark early and driving by houses and stores lit up by lights is "Feliz Navidad". Which oddly enough, I equate with driving to my grandmother's house on Christmas Eve. Specifically, "Last Christmas" is the song that I most closely relate with our annual family drive-bys of "Tackytown" - the neighborhood located behind the Wendy's on Lee Highway which used to have a competition each year as to who could decorate their house the tackiest. They all used mostly blue lights with large and often strange lit up shapes and figures. It was a TOUGH competition, and the winner was always hard to call. But these annual trips, accompanied by Georgie and Andrew (the other guy in Wham!) are some of my strongest holiday memories. And "Last Christmas" has hollowed out a special place in my heart since moving away from home.

Mommy's Little Helper

This is what happens when you've asked your almost - three - year - old to "help" you make Banana Nut Bread with Chocolate Chips ... and then leave the batter bowl unattended for approximately 3 minutes with said three-year-old standing over it. That white stuff you see? That's salt. Which the recipe does NOT call for. Because I took the pic with my phone you can't also see the many specs of black pepper that accompany the salt that is coating the mixture.

What did I do, you ask? Well after sending said child to a brief timeout (her only infraction really being that she knows to not play with the salt and pepper shakers), I scraped out as much as I could, and then baked it. I decided that I wouldn't make a new mix because then there would 0 cause and effect learning here. And I explained that the bread may not taste that great because she added ingredients she wasn't supposed to. But as it turns out, it's not too bad. A little on the 'spicy' side but not bad.

Missing in Action

The Butcher fam has been missing in action it appears for quite a while. We've have a great, but busy, fall so far. Here are some pictures to sum it up....

The National Kidney Foundation Walk in Springfield, MA

Our sweet niece, Anna, all bundled up for the cold

The fam, walking in support of kidney research

One of the many team t-shirts at the walk (and my personal favorite)

Brandon sharing a little about why kidney research is important to him...

Painting wooden turkeys with the kids, just for fun. It seems Maggie may have an inner artist that needs unleashing.

Maggie's turkey - quite colorful.

Jack... just wanted to eat the paint. *sigh*

Our great friends from ATL came up, equipped with baby Ian - the kids were quite taken with him.

Apple picking in the dark! Maggie and her aunt Tin Tin had great fun.

The girls talking a long walk through Cornell's campus.

And that pretty much sums up the month. On to holidays!...

The Butcher family has been tagged

The rules of the tag are as follows:
1.Post the rules on your blog.
2.Write six random things about yourself.
3.Tag six people at the end of your post.
4. If you are tagged, JUST DO IT, and pass the tag along.


Our good friends Patricia and Jamil tagged us for this fun little task. Theirs was quite humorous, so I think I'll enjoy coming up with some random thoughts here...

Random Things about Jonathan and me:

1) When Jonathan was younger, he would save wrapped Christmas presents for MONTHS before opening them. This still re-surfaces when he delays opening birthday or Christmas presents until I threaten to take them back because he enjoys knowing he still has a present to unwrap.

2) Cheez-its have replaced french fries as my favorite food. What can I say? I have upscale taste. Well... unless they are Chili's french fries. Then all bets are off.

3) Jonathan frequently gets song lyrics messed up. Which he doesn't realize till he's singing his own version of a song and I bust him on it, while laughing my head off.

4) I am a huge flake on occassion. One time, I was returning a movie to Blockbuster (at the same time as renting out another so I had to return it at the counter). And as I approached the Bbuster employee I said, "I have a movie to return, too, and I'm pretty sure there is a late fee." So he took my little Blockbuster card to check my account ID and said, "Christine?" and I said, "Noooooooo... we didn't rent that movie." (it took a good 30 seconds for me to figure out he was asking ME if I was the Christine listed on the account - my sister was with me and nearly peed her pants)

5) Jonathan busted his shoulder last year playing flag football with some friends in Charleston (he's adamant it was an actual flag football league) and now he can't swim. Until he has surgery on said shoulder.

6) I'm basically afraid of cats. They scare me and I think they have unnatural powers of cognition.

Now I'm supposed to tag 6 people... which, again, is basically impossible for me to do because I don't think there are six more people out there that read this blog AND blog themselves. So EMILIE - you're up :) Pass on the fun!

The Glory of Fall

Today we spent the late afternoon at Grisamore Farm in Locke, NY. It's about a 35 minute drive north of Ithaca and they have numerous fall family fun activities to partake in... and seeing as the fall weather has settled upon us, we decided we had to go. The above picture is my favorite of the day, as it also appears to be the only one I got in focus. But I LOVE the orange pop against the mud ground - no photoshopping whatsoever! The following pics are of the kids and our couple hours at the farm. They had a ton of farm animals which both the kids thoroughly enjoyed heckling, but we didn't catch any pictures of that.

Maggie meets and instantly befriends a beagle puppy named... Maggie! It was love at first site.

Jack thought little beagle Maggie was a riot.

Mags talking to her new friend.

The kids on their wagon ride.

Jack picking out his pumpkin.

(If only this picture were in focus)... Maggie posing with her pumpkin.

Jack amongst fellow pumpkins.

Kids wondering why Mommy has lagged so far behind to snap a pic of their sweet Daddy pulling them along.

Lots of Catching Up...

This post is mostly pictures of every day life that I've taken from the past month and a half or so. Please note in the porch swing picture Jack's prominent little tooth on top :)

Do you see what I see?

The perfect paci holder.

Our little visitor in the garden wall..

Jack on ice cream cake

The tray on ice cream cake.

A typical mid-morning playtime on the porch.

Note Jack's tooth :)

Sweet lil Maggie pie.

Jack's pretty non-stop now too.

Jack's new favorite toy - you plop the ball in one of those tower thingy-dos..

And he is SO proud of himself when he can make the ball go down (it's actually quite hard)

Jack on cupcake icing.

Oh hello, there. This is what happens when I turn my back to put away kitchen towels.

The Buck Stops Here :)

so, I've been tapped to fill out this lil bitty survey by my friend Emilie. Who also tapped Sarah. And I believe that leaves me with no one else to tap as... Sarah already tapped Allison and I don't think anyone really ever reads our blog! so the Buck ends here.

1. How many children do you have? 2 (unless you count Maggie as more than 1 child)

2. What are their ages? Maggie is 2.5, Jack is 1.5

3. What time do you start your day? It is getting later.... usually 8 these days. Days that Jon has to teach, closer to 7.

4. What do you eat for breakfast? Kellog's Smart Start or eggs. And coffee. Though everyone who knows me already knows that.

5. Do your kids watch TV? Yes - mostly only in the morning, unless it's Dora the Explorer at 7pm. Mags loves the Disney playhouse shows but usually only sees Wiggles, Tigger & Pooh, & Little Einsteins. Jack pays a small amount of attention to the shows, but is usually trying to upset Maggie by turning the TV off over and over again on her.

6. What are their favorite activities? Jack loves to play ball. Anything to do with a ball. Maggie likes to sing, color, climb, play dress up...

7. Do you get a break during the day for some you time? Sometimes. Some days their nap time is work time for me, as I work from home. When work isn't busy, I get a good 2-2.5 hours of catching up on chores, reading, or just unwinding a little.

8. How do you end your day? Usually watching TV and catching up on any work necessary, but trying to do that as closely as possible with Jon.

9. What is your best parenting advice or tip? Well, Sarah's right about keeping your sense of humor. As for the parenting experience I have up to this point, here's what I think - for Babies: routine, routine, routine. For Toddlers: Teach that everything they do is a choice, and there are consequences/results for both good & bad choices.

Because Now I'm Really Curious...

I first saw this on our friend Kennan's Facebook page. And I made a remark that I probably shouldn't do this because the soundtrack to my life, as comes up on my iTunes would comprise of mostly Richard Marx songs. Then Sarah did it... and well, now... I'm just straight up curious. Just how many Richard Marx songs comprise the soundtrack of my life?

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool


Opening Credits: "Mexico" by James Taylor. Huh. Great song...nice and mellow... good intro to a movie in my opinion.

Waking Up: "Take This Heart" by Richard Marx. Well that didn't take long.

First Day At School: "Your World" by Richard Marx. This is actually a decent song for the first day of school kind of event - it's a father singing to his kid about how the world belongs to him/her now.

Falling In Love: "Should've Known Better" by Richard Marx. (i'm seeing a trend here...). But - ouch.

Fight Song: "Once in a Lifetime" by Keith Urban. (who, by the way, I like to refer to as my Richard Marx of country music :)). Not a good fight song though.

Breaking Up: "Endless Summer Nights" By Richard Marx. Very fitting.

Prom: "Those Sweet Words" by Norah Jones. Perfect. prom is pretty mushy like this.

Life's OK: "Congratulations" by Blue October. Definitely NOT a "life's ok" song but it IS my new favorite.

Mental Breakdown: "Again" by Richard Marx. Sort of fits. Also a new find (this song is on the first Richard cd I've bought in approximately 10 years, to my defense).

Driving: "Calling You" by Richard Marx. Bleh.

Flashback: "My Immortal" by Evanescence. Yikes.

Getting Back Together: "O Come All Ye Faithful" by Josh Groban. this is getting just a little funny.

Wedding: "Georgia Rain" by Trisha Yearwood. totally inappropriate to be singing about an old love at wedding time.

Birth of Child: "Heaven's Waiting" by Richard Marx. again - horrible match.

Final Battle: "Dance" by Petra. PERFECT song. "Dance with the one who brung ya! Dance with the one who got you there!" (this would be a la Jono)

Death Scene: "Creepin' In" by Norah Jones. YIKES.

Funeral Song: "Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake. I could not have ended on a more inappropriate note.

End Credits: "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey. WTH?


Well, there it is. The horribly assembled soundtrack of my life. Of 19 songs, 7 are Richard Marx. And the remainder did not fit all that well. I must have needs to update my iTunes.

The Dictionary According to Jack

Jack's vocabulary has not quite exploded, but we seem to be nearing that point... here's a list of all his words to date:

Mom/Mommy/Mimi
Daddy/Dada
Daisy/Doggie
Baby
Ball
Baba
Up
Off
Bye Bye
Hi/Hello
Cracker
Water
Please (very recent addition...only used twice)
Amen (most recent addition... just used last night for the first time)

As for animal noises... which don't quite count as words, but I'm his mom and therefore they count to me...

Quack-Quack (only when he sees a Duck)
Moo (same deal, as with cows)
Cock-a-doodle-doo (comes out Cock-a-oo!... also recent - used for roosters/chickens)
Roooaaarrrrr! (for lions, tigers, and dinosaurs)

Here's a New One

Maggie is actually having a fit because she cannot each her cheezits with oven mitts on her hands. Go figure.

Watkins Glen Gorge

Kathleen and Luke made at trip up to see us for the long weekend (and celebrate my bday). We had tons of fun with the kids and spent quite a bit of time outdoors, enjoying the beautiful warm weather that seems to be slipping away up here... So, Sunday - Kathleen was dying to go to Watkins Glen to visit this amazing state park there. There is a gorge along the Glen River (?) and they've made a gorge trail along it. I am telling you - it was incredible. I haven't seen anything quite like it since we honeymooned in Hawaii. So, the four of us decided to hike it - 1.5 miles up to the top of the gorge - carrying the kids the whole way. And when I mean carrying - I mean - on our hips & shoulders as we have no hiking baby carriers. So, we did it. It was awesome and the kids loved it. And here are a ton of pictures from it:

Entrance to the Gorge Trail

From behind a waterfall