Best of Friends

When I called on my way home today to find out what our plans for dinner were, the response I got was 'Well, the girls have already put on their PJs and they are upstairs having a sleep-over. Might as well pick something up'. This is a typical response in our house. Our girls, if you can pull them away from the TV, not only use lots of imagination while playing upstairs, but they love playing with each other. I give most of the credit for this to Abigail. She is a fairly easy going little girl when it comes to playing with others and she has no problems playing with someone 3 years younger than her. It never fails that Abigail always tries to include her 'goo' (her nickname for Emma) in an activity that she is doing.

You see siblings all the time that don't get along or don't want to do the same thing or end up fighting all the time, but Abigail and Emma are not only sisters but truly are best of friends. I'm sure they will have their moments as they get older and such (lets not go there quite yet... because that means we are getting older too), but I can only hope that this foundation of friendship stays this way through the rest of their lives and they depend on each other through thick and thin.

Mystery Reader

Every Thursday in Abigail's 1st grade class, a different person comes in that morning to be the mystery reader. The kids have no idea who is coming (Abigail didn't know that Jen was going to do it). The reader brings with them a book or two to read to the class.

So, after sending Abigial off to school with our neighbor, Jen told Emma that they were going to go up to sissy's school to read a story, but it was a secret. After that point, Emma would walk carefully and quietly around the house... even tip toeing... thinking that she was sneaking up on sissy. Such a silly girl. They get up to Abby's school around 8:15a. There is a note on the door to knock, which they did. Mrs. Hilsabeck came to the door and asked if she was the mystery reader. Next, she asked where the reader grew up, which Jen replied Sunnyvale. The teacher told this to the kids and ask anyone who knew someone from Sunnyvale to stand up, of which 4 kids did. Next, she asked Jen if she had a boy or a girl. After telling the class that she had a girl, Abigail started to get really excited. Finally, Mrs. Hilsabeck asked for Jen's middle name and that sealed the deal.

Funny thing is, once Jen and Emma came walking in, Abigail ran to the door... not to give mom a big hug... but ran to Emma and said 'Sissy!'. They all got to sit at the front of the class while Jen read the book The Giving Tree. The story was fitting because during that week, the class had been studying Johnny Appleseed (including having a dress like Johnny Appleseed day). Abigail was very excited and it made her day.

Bailey Belle

Also know as "LBD" (little black dog), Bailey Belle is the littlest girl in the house. Yes, we decided to give Bailey a middle name. It seemed like we were always getting on to her, and as every parent knows, you can't effectively discipline unless the one you are correcting has 3 names. I'm sure all of our neighbors have heard the words, "BAILEY BELLE BUTLER!" yelled quite frequently in our house. As you can see from the pictures, she is a lot to keep up with. We don't let her get on our Family Room couches because she still likes to chew on a lot of things. However, when we are on the phone or doing something in the kitchen, it never fails that you can from time to time see her poking her head up over the couch. What you don't see in this picture is her little tail wagging 100 miles an hour with excitement.

Speaking of training, she really is a quick learner. From the picture you can see her favorite activity, playing fetch. And for all the non-listening that she does for Jen, Bailey did learn a trick from her... 'Shake Paw'. Her other learned commands at the ripe age of 4 months are sit, stay (really lay down), up, down (well, only from Brian), kisses, bring (as in bring a fetch toy back), come, potty, go get it (if she isn't too tired) and speak. The cutest thing is watching little Emma hold a toy, say 'Sit Bailey' and she sits there attentively. Then, Emma runs and throws the toy down the hall and Bailey goes and gets it. The girls have also enjoyed "racing" with Bailey - they will line up at a starting line, and the words, "Ready, set, go!" will be followed by all 3 of them running to the finish line. They have also enjoyed a game or two of Duck, Duck, Goose. As Brian's step-mom would say, Bailey loves her humans.

All the Butlers

Here is a picture from Cubs game courtesy of Uncle Tom. Clockwise from the left you have cousin Bethany, Aunt Lynne, myself, sleeping dad (hehe) and Uncle Craig.

Flight adventures

Our trip wouldn't be complete without a flight delay. We finally pushed away 45 minutes late. On top of that, the AC at the gate was broken so they couldn't start the AC on the plane until they pushed us from the gate. Sure glad I have on shorts and a Chicago Bulls t-shirt.

Windy City Recap

Dad and I had a great trip to Chicago. When we planned the trip we never could've known that we would have such beautiful weather or the backdrop of 2 very exciting games to watch.

The Cubs game was everything that it could've been, with the ace of the staff pitching 6 strong innings and getting to see Kerry Wood pitch 2 good innings as he continues his trek back to being effective. The crowd was in it and nearly half the stadium knew what the score of the Brewers games before they posted it on the outfield scoreboard. 3 different times the place broke out in the tomahawk chant to cheer on the Braves against the Brew Crew. Wrigley is such an awesome place to see a baseball game.

After saying bye to cousin Bethany who joined us for the game, we took the L to downtown to walk around Millenium Park. The public transportation system here is just awesome. For $5 we were able to ride any train or bus for 24 hours, of which we did a lot off. Maybe in 10 years we will have something that works half as well as the transit system that they have here in Chicago.

Finally, we spent the evening watching the Bears and Cowboys. Even though we had on our Bears garb and cheered them on, we felt fine with Da Boys pulling out the victory. If we did have any cheering interest in Dallas, we probably would've been wearing beer all night long. The atmosphere was as loud as a playoff game in Dallas... And nearly every one had on a Bears jersey or shirt. No 'seen to be seen' crowd like we have at Texas Stadium.

More public transportation success and we made it home safely at 12:20a. Thanks to Lynne and Tom for letting us crash and eat their food.

Monday included golf with me and the 3 Butler kids. We had an enjoyable outing in a balmy late Chicago morning. The golf game itself was OK.

We are off to fly back to the republic of Texas. See ya soon.

Brian

End of Sports

We have ended our weekend of sports and I shot a 47, quite a feat considering the 2 triple bogeys I had and a 3 putt from 3 feet turning a perfect birdie into a bogey. I blame my putting on the circa 1960 putter I was using. Lynne shot 51, Dad shot 52 and Craig had a 53 (including a 12 on the first hole).

Off to find some lunch (Fotos, here we come).

Bogey Golf

Playing bogey golf without a group in front of us. My golf is impressive considering the group of clubs they put together for me. Most of the clubs are from the 1980s.

Fore

Its golf time. We are playing Rob Roy, a muni that goes around Craig, Lynne and Tom's place. A little 9 hole course that we play a lot when we visit. Behind me is a tree that my grandfather put in with a plaque to my grandma over 15 years ago. It is really huge now.

Weather is beautiful again, if not a little hot. Bug spray is a must though with lots of misquitoes.

Are you ready for some football?

Its gametime. Easily 70% of the crowd have on Bears jerseys or shirts. A whole lot more spirit then you would see at Texas Stadium.

Go Bears!

Everything is bigger in Texas

Time to remember our wonderful nation in pre-game. They might have Gloria Estefan singing, but the US Flag at Cowboys games covers nearly the entire field.

They did finish it off with a flyover of a couple of F18s.

Da Bears

Its gametime. Dad and I have made it to the 'newer' looking soldier field. Go Bears!

The Bean

Between games we went downtown to Millenium park to see all of the 'abstract' architecture. Here is a picture of 'The Bean'. From left to right is Uncle Tom, Uncle Craig, Aunt Lynne and my dad.

Now we are off to find some dinner and send the Chicago-ites back to the burbs.

Cubs Win!

Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win! and with the Brewers losing today, the cubs magic number for them making the playoffs is 4.

Now its off to fight 40,000 people at the L station to head downtown for dinner and the Bears / Cowboys game.

Play Ball

Let's play some baseball... Zambrano started off the game blowing the batters away with 3 strikeouts!

Let's get it started

My Chicago day of fun has officially started with a trip to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play the Pirates.

Go Cubs!

Puzzles are Us

Emma is quite the master puzzle worker. She can quickly do a 100 piece puzzle all on her own.

Welcome

Today is the day that this blog was created... but from time to time I might go back and fill in some items that never got posted due to our lack of web space when we switched ISPs many months back.

Hope you enjoy a glimpse into our crazy life.

Emma's First Day of CCDC

Here is Emma ready for her first day of 3 yr old pre-school. (Notice the height difference from last year by looking at the mirrors on the wall). She has 2 teachers, Mrs. Klancnik and Mrs. Moran (not the easiest names for a 3 year old to say) with 12 students. Her best buddy, Jordyn, is in her class again this year.


And here she is from last year on the first day of 2 yr old pre-school.

Go Aggies (from email)

The girls (completely inspired by my Aggie wife) had to get out the extra fan power to help A&M make it through overtime against Fresno State.