A blast to the past

We had the pleasure of spending a few days in Point Loma at our old Alma Mater. We stayed in the tiny little Alumni Cottage for $35 a night! I guess that private school education paid off for something. We had such a good time showing the boys all the places we loved in college, eating at our favorite restaurants, and even running into a few old friends. I think we had forgotten the sheer beauty of the place we went to school. You sort of get desensitized to it when you live there day in and day out - but I'll post a few photos so you all can be jealous - yes, we lived HERE for 6 years!

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Happy Birthday to our amazing, intelligent, curious, totally unique little man. Yesterday was Jackson's sixth birthday, and we are so thankful to have him in our lives. What a wonderful, hilarious, completely individual addition to our family. He's the one that started it all! We love him and can't wait to see what the next year brings. Happy Birthday Jack!

We spent the day at the San Diego Zoo with his Nana and Papa. What a great way to celebrate - we let him decide where we went, what we saw, and we even spent like an HOUR at the reptile house, looking at every lizard, snake, turtle and amphibian the darn place has. Fun times.

On the Road AGAIN!

I know, I know. Everyone we talk to says the same thing - you're gone again? Yes, people. We cannot for the life of us figure out how to stay put. So we're in lovely, sunny, 70 degrees and SUNNY southern California. Although, the first two days we were here, I thought about calling up Ahhnold to get my money back. It rained like an April day in the PNW - buckets, and buckets, and buckets. I really just wanted to wear my flip flops.

However, the last few days have redeemed this place (somewhat. Now if we could only do something about all these other people!). I thought I'd post a few pictures of what we've been up to - lots of fun has been had all around. We did Legoland in one hour (yay for the FREE shopping pass), we took 10 kids under 7 to see the new U2-3D movie (8 of the 10 fell asleep halfway through - these kids have been to way too many rock concerts.) It was pretty awesome though - you felt like you were in the front row, which is an experience I doubt I'll ever be able to afford. All the boys (Evan, Jack, Dylan, Aidan, Shawn & Chad) had a big sleep-out in the cousins' backyard. They stayed up until one a.m. imitating coyotes, then got up at 6. Boy, I'm glad I was snug in bed at Nana & Papa's!


Jackson(superman), Titus(spidey), Aidan(knight), Beatrix(Princess) and Baby Lydia. What a night that was! Our friends the Bowmans have a housefull of fun - and one more on the way! Thanks for having us over guys.



Legoland - totally a boy's paradise. We did the quick and dirty overview - Legoland in ONE HOUR!








Storytime with Uncle Chad - all the mini-Butler boys actually sat still, at the same time, for a good 20 minutes!!

The Bad Mommy Brigade

"Here’s an idea: Let’s give ourselves a break. And as a first step, we could try giving one to Britney Spears."

I had to attach the link to this article. It's long, but read through. It is so true that we mommies never know who we should be comparing ourselves to. It's become clear to me lately that the answer is NOBODY, but that doesn't always happen in the day-to-day negotiations of soccer practice snacks, whose kid is tardy 18 times in a quarter, and who brings the BEST cupcakes on their birthday. I loved this article - I hope all you mommies out there will love it too!

(click on the title to be redirected to the article!)

Play days

Here are a few of the boys at play. We probably won't post again for a few days, as we are heading down to San Diego on Thursday for 10 days. OOOOh, we can't wait. We are dying for sunshine! We'll post some pics from (hopefully) sunny San Diego!

Rockin' out to the Shrek 2 soundtrack (in jammies, of course!)


At the playground

A day of rest... (and lots of photos)

So yes, we played hooky from church on Sunday. But wait till you see the photos - you'll fully understand why we decided to take a "day of rest" at the beach! Days like this don't come around in February very often, so we decided to take full advantage. (Those of you reading this in San Diego, you won't understand!:) It was beautiful at Pacific City - 65, sunny, light breeze. It makes it feel like spring is just around the corner. Of course, it's supposed to rain tomorrow. And for the rest of the week.


Jack decided it was too cold to surf. Aidan pitched a fit until Shawn agreed to take him out. It took 15 min. to suit him up. He caught one wave. Then he was done!



They don't just snowboard in the snow, you know. They can shred on the sand too! Jackson had a couple of pretty sweet wipeouts, but he toughed it out after a few tears.




Aidan is at that stage where he HAS to do everything that Jackson does. Luckily, he has absolutely NO FEAR AT ALL. Scary.



He's such a maniac. Jackson had to take a break to recover from his spills. Aidan went back up the hill JUST so he could fall down it again. Seriously, there was sand all over his face, and he wouldn't even stop to let me brush it off. He's completely insane.




Stayed until the sun went down...and headed home tired, sandy, and completely content!

Karma is a you-know-what.

I apologize for my rather extended absense from the blospshere. I've had a little run in with karma, you see. Some of you remember the "MAN COLD" video I posted at the very beginning of this blog. Well, about 2 weeks ago, darling Shawn came down with a cough/cold. I may have made a few slightly disparaging comments about the fact that he was a little pathetic. I might have insinuated a little bit that he was being a (cough, cough) baby. It's possible I did those things. Well, needless to say, he did breathe on me, and I got KNOCKED on my ever-expanding pregnant hieney. I ended up being sick for LITERALLY two weeks. Fever, aches, chills, upper respiratory infection, sinus infection, you name it. I think I might have even deserved it. Sad, isn't it? I need to learn to keep my mouth shut!

Anyhow, here are a few of our last pics from NYC. What a great trip that was! In the meantime, the last two weeks have been pretty much same same at the Butler house. Everyone's had the cough and runny noses. Pleeeease...let cold and flu season be over soon!

Hey - I'm pregnant! I can stuff my face if i want to!:)

Maybe there's hope...

At the risk of sounding cynical and jaded (shocking, I know) it's been a long time since anything having to do with politics made me feel inspired. I haven't bought in wholesale to anyone yet, but the feeling of being moved is so rare in the political arena - I thought it was worth sharing. Thanks for posting this, Sarri!