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!...