moving on....

Hi. So I've moved - now you can get the same thrilling wit and banter, just at a different address! Check me out here:

http://butlerfive.wordpress.com/

And you can also find me here:

http://thisandthatdesign.wordpress.com/

thanks for sticking around through that little 3 month (ahem) vacation. catch me over on wordpress!

Sarah

put me in the corner.

just do it. put me in the corner. i'm a very, very bad blogger. i keep saying i'm going to change, i've even fired myself once or twice, and nothing seems to get through. i'm a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad blogger. i should be put into a very long timeout. in my room. where my bed is. and could you leave me a stack of books, while you're at it? i'll punish myself by not coming out until i've read them all.

anyhow, easiest way to catch up? see that big orange section in the post below? well, just keep watching. as i update, those orange parts will turn into green parts, which means you can click on them and a link will take you to that entry. I promise, i'll work hard. as soon as i'm done with all those books. :)

staggering.

It really is staggering, how fast time has started to run on me. I know I probably sound as though I am 172 years old, but it's true. Time runs faster when you grow old.
And even though I'm pretty sure I don't have more than 4.7 readers, I do feel a bit guilty about the little 2 1/2 month hiatus I've taken from blogging. Not because I'm nearly positive that there are people gnashing their teeth and wearing sackcloth because they've been unable to pop in for a witty post or a glimpse of my ADORABLE offspring, but because I know there are nanas and papas and mimis and pas and even super awesome family friends who keep track of our little tribe through this site. So. All teasing about firing myself aside, sorry it's taken me a bit to catch up. In my defense, it's taken me this long just to "catch up" with my life. For reals. HERE'S WHY: (and mind you, this is not a complaint)
In the last 3 months we have: had a birthday, had a visit from nana & papa, gone to the zoo, had cupcakes for st. paddy's day, spent spring break with mimi here in oregon, gone to the aquarium, spent a bunch of days at the beach, spent easter on a farm, then gone snowboarding for the weekend, brought mimi & pa back to watch the kids while we snuck away to NYC for 5 blissful, wonderful, etc...days, started baseball (playing AND coaching), started karate, earned a new yellow belt, had another birthday, had a girls trip to Hawaii, had preschool graduation, had an anniversary, had ANOTHER birthday, (party for which is yet to come) and it doesn't show ANY SIGNS OF SLOWING. DO YOU HEAR ME, INTERNET?? I'm realizing something, here:
THIS IS NOW MY LIFE. It doesn't ever slow down - it just keeps getting faster. More people start playing sports. And demanding that you drive them places, like to play with their friends and such, and feed them THREE TIMES A DAY. OR MORE. It's staggering. So, I'm going to work hard to catch up and show you what we've done. It might not be witty, or bitingly sarcastic (well, it probably will be that) but there are pictures. Lots, and lots of pictures. So - here goes.

baseball.

baseball season is upon us. playing, and coaching, and practicing, and lawn chairs and snack bags and the baby sisters pushing dollies around in tiny strollers. i would love it more if i wasn't putting a puffy down vest on my kid for games, in JUNE. i'd love it more if we hadn't had 4 rainouts so far. but it's baseball. it's striking out, getting on base, tagging home and little boys cheering and clapping. it's keeping score for the first time, it's shoulders up, faces grinning, or even taking a ball to the face. (poor jackson!) we didn't win a lot of games. we had fun. we played baseball. we pitched the kids who wanted to try, not just the ones who could get it over the plate. we took them to ice cream. we ate sunflower seeds. i love it. i grew up on it. what else do you really need?

we think the coach is pretty hot. and he multi-tasks, too.

the pitcher...

the crowd goes wild!

the mama, keeping busy

the girls...

fired.

hi. so, in an effort to promote efficiency, reliability, and consistency around these here blog-parts, i've fired the blogger. she's been a COMPLETE slacker lately. i mean, it's like she hasn't even SHOWN UP to work in over two months! and get a load of that header - it still says WINTER. winter. and it CLEARLY is no longer winter. it's almost like she's had a million other things taking priority - birthdays, jaunts to NYC, visits from family, trips to Hawaii - jeeze. like i said - slacker. however, i'm I MEAN SHE's applying to be reinstated. so, we'll see how it goes. check back in a few days and we'll see if she got her job back. :)

i heart ny.

new york. in april. things are blooming, and there's sunshine, and there's the plaza hotel, and central park, and the babies are all safe at home, loving time with their mimi & pa. we snuck away for a few days, shawn working, me just, well, alone. with my camera, in new york city. for four days. shawn was worried i wouldn't have enough to do, or that i might get lonely. all by myself. for the first time in, well, you know - since the dinosaurs and all. oh, it was glorious. i loved it all. except for the one day i got a tiny bit turned around, and walked about 14 blocks in the wrong direction. but even then, i loved it. i'm breaking it down by days, because there were a LOT of photos. like, a lot. you can also see the whole set on flickr.

day one.
day two.
day three.
day four.

nyc days 3 & 4

Ugh. it's new york, right people? so you understand that there is so much to tell, and so much to do, and there was almost an entire day spent wandering through soho and visiting some shops i'd been yearning to get inside for a long, long time. there was dinner with shawn in a quirky, dark pub. there was a confection from vesuvius bakery in soho that included these things: toasted, crusty seeded sourdough bread, warm sweet ricotta cheese, and a drizzle of SPICY CARAMEL SAUCE. yep. there was purl soho, and of course, glassybaby nyc. there was cappucino all by myself, just sitting at a little bar inside a shop and enjoying it. there was plenty of time to photograph all the buildings, bikes, and yarn i felt like. there was a bath ordered up from our personal butler service, ready and waiting for me when i walked in the room. (shut. up. there are people who live like this? really? shut up.) it was unreal. really. a series of days, IN A ROW, where i was responsible for no one but myself. tomorrow, our last day. greenmarket, sunday brunch. mmmm.