Of course, no Butcher birthday would be complete without a birthday cake from Nana. See, a nana cake is a custom order. Nana will make it just to Blake or Blair's specifications. So there are a lot of extras like, the rainbow. the kitties, the princesses etc. It was beautiful and delicious too! Thank you Nana!

What a day! Shoes, shoes and more shoes, Fancy Nancy purse and crown, Little Mermaid and Cinderella dresses, clothes, clothes and more clothes and the feather boas! What more could a little girl (or a big girl for that matter) want??

It seems to be difficult to get all four of us to look at the camera at the same time!

Enjoying the Beautiful Day

We have had a beautiful weekend in Middle TN. I have needed some sunshine therapy and we got it this weekend!

One of the Many Looks...

The Symphony

All dressed up for the symphony.

I love the symphony and I have been really wanting to take Blake! Nashville has a wonderful program for kids called the Pied Piper Series. They have 4 or 5 concerts a year on Saturday mornings for kids. The concerts are an hour long and preceded by crafts, games and an "Instrument petting zoo". We went to see Peter and the Wolf. It was wonderful and Blake loved it! We went with our good friends Christy and Emily Grace. We will definitely be going back!

Emily Grace and Blake. I cannot believe EGC is 7! Really? This is the little baby I rushed over to see the day we got back from CO? Time is flying by! And, what a GORGEOUS day! I am so ready for warm weather!

Playing the guitar, trombone and drum (note to self, don't buy a drum set!).

Blake looked so sweet playing the violin. I wanted to sign him up for lessons on the spot!

My Valentines

Great Clips Best Customers!

I took Blake and Blair to get haircuts on Thursday. As Teresa was finishing up with Blair she got out the blow-dryer to dry her hair just a little bit. Blair says, "No, No! You'll make me look like a cotton ball!"

PJ Day at School and Blake

Snow Pictures

An Update

It's been awhile since I have posted anything. I have no excuse. I've just been lazy! We have been getting back into the routine of school and our other weekly activities. We are glad it's a little warmer. Scott was off this past Monday and we spent most of the day outside. He even managed to squeeze in 9 holes of golf during nap time. Speaking of nap time, Blake really isn't napping anymore. I guess I've done well to hold onto it for four and a half years. It is good that he is getting adjusted now before starting Kindergarten in the fall. I am looking into taking a couple of courses at Austin Peay to keep my teaching license current. I don't have any immediate plans for going back to work, and I don't know that I would go back to teaching, but I don't want my license to expire.

A couple of stories:
We were going to school the other morning and Blake had asked something about Kindergarten. It was quiet for several seconds and then Blair said, "Bwake, I gonna miss you, you go to kindergarten." Boy, is she ever going to miss him! I don't know what will be worse, sending him to school or staying at home with her to field "When will 'Bwake" be home?"

One of Blair's favorite expressions right now is "I'm so proud of you!" They were playing the other day when Blair told Blake she was so proud of him for something. He responded "Blair, you're so weird!" (in a really loving tone though) to which she said, "yes, bwake, I know, I'm weird."

Christmas Pictures

Hogan doing what he does best...he's starting to turn gray in the snout. He'll be 6 in February


Blair got the Little Mommy All In One Nursery from Santa.


Blake got a Big Red Barn from Santa. Notice the bracelets and necklaces that Blair has on. She loves her jewelry!!


Blair got a princess dress and all the rest from my grandmother for Christmas. There are even little shoes and she just loves it. I thought she was going to sleep in it the other night. She loves to have her fingernails and toenails painted and my mother loves to paint them!

Snow pics

My parents have a very long driveway. My dad got the golf cart out to assist in the sledding efforts. It made the walk up a little easier!



Hogan chasing Scott down the hill.



My parents have a "miniature" blue spruce in their yard that they put lights on every year. It looked so pretty in the snow.



Blair all bundled up! Yes, she could see. A little bit!

We have had a wonderful Christmas. Children really do make it so much fun! We visited my parents last weekend and it snowed. Not just a little bit but 8-10 inches! Perfect for sledding! The only bad part of the snow was that Scott couldn't leave Clarksville until lunch on Friday and he ended up sitting on the Interstate. So what should have been a 5 hour trip ended up taking 11 hours. We came back to Clarksville for Christmas Eve. We went to church, put out food for Santa's reindeer and cookies for Santa. Blake and Blair were so excited on Christmas morning. Mommy and Daddy were very excited too since Santa brought them a new SLR camera. Our old camera broke which is why there haven't been any photos recently. Mommy felt like she had a new toy!

We Give Thanks

Blake sang Sunday at church. He really enjoys the Cherub Choir. My personal favorite part of the video are the quiet chuckles of the older gentleman sitting behind me and the comment that followed after service. "That boy of yours sure likes to sing!" Yes, he does and I hope he will always love the Lord with that much enthusiasm! Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Blair

What a big girl I have! Blair is officially potty trained. She adds such fun to our house. She is sweet and sassy and I love her!

Awards Show

Here you go mom! I'll post the picture of Christy and me when I get it from Jennifer.

Happy Halloween

I didn't really get any new or different pictures of my two little goblins but we had a great time! I guess this was really the first year we actually braved the neighborhood and trick-or-treated. Last year we just went to the houses on our culdesac. I brought along an extra bag to empty Blair's pumpkin into because I thought it might get a little heavy for her. It did, but do you think she would let me dare empty HER candy in the bag. No, she just struggled with, trying to keep up with Blake to every house. There's probably a little trail of candy to every house we visited last night! When we got home B&B asked to go to bed! Blake tried to stay up and watch the UT's (as he calls them), but he just couldn't make it. A very successful night!