Wordless Wednesday

Spring Break Fun: A Trip To Toe Toe's

Last Friday the kids and I headed to B'ham to spend the day with Toe Toe and Banks. We had so much fun and enjoyed spending some time with sweet Bankers!! We went to Botanical Gardens in an attempt to get some pictures of all four of them together. Needless to say it was comical. I wish I had a video of all the action that went on.

Here's a brief rundown: Georgie pushing Banks in his stroller like he was on the Talledega Speedway, Jack finds a silver dollar in a planter of pansies, Georgie and Jack fight over the silver dollar, Daniel keeps trying to run away, a lot of sweating by me and Toe, two barefoot boys running in a big mud puddle, lots of wiping of feet with wet wipes, Georgie crying, Jack almost dropped Banks, Banks screaming, the silver dollar is lost, more sweating by me and Toe, Georgie pushing Banks even faster than before, lots more screaming by Banks, silver dollar found by Georgie (so now it is hers), packing two strollers, a bouncy seat, diaper bag and 4 kiddos in a mini-van, more screaming by Banks, driving off realizing the baby wasn't buckled in, panic by one frazzled mommy and aunt, and finally baby is safely secured and we are on our way!

And here are the pictures from our adventure! You can check out some of the funny out takes on Tori's blog here.

As I write this, my heart is heavy and heartbroken. This is Hartley Carter. She was Michael's first cousin, Tom's child. Hartley was killed in an automobile accident Wednesday night. I really am at a loss for words. This precious life has been so tragically cut short. The one thing I can do, and I ask you to do, is pray and ask Him to do for her family and friends what nobody else can. I pray He will wrap his loving arms around her parents, grandparents, and siblings and comfort them in a way only He can.

I remember a few months ago looking at a picture of her on Facebook and a comment a friend made. I went back to that picture and comment yesterday and thought it was so fitting to share. "She is so pretty. So pure and down to earth....who doesn't love Hartley?" Michael and I both tried to think of what we always remembered about Hartley and we both decided it was her smile. She was always smiling and happy.

Hartley's step sister, Tonni, was also involved in the accident. I ask for your prayers for her as well. She is suffering from major head injuries and desperately needs the love and healing hand of our Father.

Spring Break Fun: Monster Truck Preview

As I mentioned in my previous post, we are headed to the Monster Truck Show on Saturday. Well, were we excited when we drove by one of the local auto parts stores and saw this bad boy parked out front! They had one of the trucks and the driver from the show here for a picture and autograph session. It was even funny that both the boys had on their monster truck shirts!! Talk about luck! Needless to say they were in heaven....monster truck, talking to the driver, and free chips and sodas for the takin'!

Spring Break Fun: A Trip to the Zoo

We have tried to take advantage of the BEAUTIFUL spring weather this week while the children are out of school. Michael took some time off Monday and we all headed to the Montgomery Zoo. It was very crowded, but we all had a great time.

Georgie and Jack were very interested in the python snake in the water bowl. They looked at this for quite a while.

They were very amused by one silly monkey that was cutting up.

Georgie is so related to Michael! She looked at this map the entire time at the zoo. Every time we saw an animal she had to find it on the map. Funny girl.

The elephants had a new calf.

Daniel and the rhino were having a stare down!

As always, the train ride was a big hit! We got to sit in the first car next to the engine.

The zoo also has a very nice new playground that the kids enjoyed.

This was so funny! Georgie doing the log roll....she was really good at it!

Daniel and Jack liked coming down the slide together.

Georgie and Daniel love to swing....Jack not so much. He does, but gets scared.

Be on the lookout for more Spring Break Fun pictures. We are headed to the Monster Truck Show on Saturday. I never thought I would be excited about going to a monster truck rally, but I am! It's a first for everyone in the Butler family.

Wordless Wednesday

School Pictures

I just thought I'd share the kids school pictures. Georgie's is not the best quality because we scanned them from the order form (we still haven't received them so this is the best I could do for hers). The boys' pictures crack me up!

I had to include this. We always joke and compare the kids to the Charlie Brown characters. Tori and I have always said Georgie (especially when she was a baby) looked like Woodstock. Recently Michael has said that Jack is like Charlie Brown and Daniel is Linus. (Actually, Michael and I say Daniel is really like Linus, Pig-Pen, and Animal from the Muppet Show all rolled into one.) When Michael saw Jack's school picture, he immediately said "Charlie Brown." He have laughed about it all day.


You can see from the next three pictures why we say Daniel is a combination of the three above mentioned characters. HA!

Wordless Wednesday

A Random Post

This post is going to be all over the place....kind of random!

First, this sweet little thing is growing up way to fast! I want to slow the clock down just a little. She loves current (Top 40) music, is really into wanting to wear make-up, perfume and her nails and has a bad case of "Beiber Fever." I mean I blinked and she grew up. It really hits me when I am shopping in Target and I find myself wandering through the girls toddler section and I about lose it every time when I realize she can't wear those sweet innocent clothes anymore. She is in the dreaded "Girls Section" in the front of the store. You know... the one that has the hip hugger panties and graphic tees! I am going to freeze her so she can't get any bigger!



As far as the boys go, this is what they do most of the day.....

....and let me just tell you, this is one crazy little nut here!

We had all our windows in the house replaced a few months ago, and I am loving my new kitchen window! We have several trees you can see from the kitchen and this time of year it is a constant show of pretty birds who come to eat the berries on one of the trees. I have started keeping the camera in the kitchen so I could get some pictures of some of them from my window. Here are two little guys that I thought were pretty.

A few gates are down on the dam thanks to all the rain we got last weekend. I still think this is so pretty every time they are down, even if it is only a few.

Now this pic needs some explaining. We discovered that Tallassee has a pretty big population of groundhogs. When we drove down E.B. Payne Drive, and pass what we call the "Kudzu Patch", we would see the groundhogs pretty regularly. It got to be that ever time we rode by there was this one groundhog that would come out and sit about 10 feet away from the road on some old steps. We would roll down the windows and go by real slow so we could see him. Well, sadly last fall he got run over by a car. I didn't have the heart to tell the kids. They would look for him every time we went by, and he was never there. They would say things like, "I bet he is in his hole sleeping" or "maybe he is taking care of his Mama groundhog." It was a sad day when I saw him lying of the side of the road. He had kind of become a little friend of ours. Well, guess what we saw the other day! Another groundhog who likes to watch the cars go by. This one is a little more reserved though. He sits high on top of the hill and just comes out of his hole just enough to see what is going on. We have seen him several times and even got a picture of him. The kids were so excited! We called the first groundhog, Tallapoosa Tim, so I guess we can call this one Little Timmy (except he isn't so little).

Just a few new pics of the kiddos that I love...

And I had to end on this picture. On one of our walks this puppy followed us the entire walk. At one point Georgie got a little hyper (I know, imagine that) and this dog went nuts! He thought the kids wanted to play and he started jumping on them (in a playful way, not an aggressive way), but he was pretty big. You would have thought this dog was trying to kill them based on the reaction of these two. I think the looks on their faces is so funny! Does that make me a bad Mommy because what was sheer terror to them made me laugh? I hope not!

By the way, Michael took this picture. I couldn't because I was standing with my legs crossed so I wouldn't pee on myself!