Keeping Up with the Butlers: December 2010

2010- What a Year!!!

2010 has been a busy and full year! Hard to believe that when we started this year that Cole wasn't even 6 months old... he hadn't crawled yet, wasn't really eating much baby food, didn't talk other than babbling, etc. Now he can do and say so much, learns more everyday, and has SO much personality! This year has also brought the excitement of a new baby on the way, and it's a girl! We have strengthened friendships, grown closer as a family, and been blessed in so many ways. God has been good to us, and tonight was a prime example of that...
We spent the evening with friends from our small group and had such a great time! We started out at Chili's, and, considering that we had almost as many kids as adults, I felt like we kept it pretty under control... until they started running around the table. Haha.

At that point, we headed back to our house to let the kids play and the adults hang out... kind of. Haha. With 7 kids running around, everyone plays.
The guys...

The girls...

Some of the kids...

If you can't get all the toys out of the toybox, just get in the toybox.

Sweet baby Slade... the couch was well used tonight!

Kylie and I made a snowflake craft...

Will & Davis sharing the couch...

This would have been SO cute if Cole weren't yelling SPIDER in the picture... Oh how he loves the Itsy Bitsy Spider song.

Rock Band... kid style!

Our crazy group! Haha.

Counting down to the New Year... or 8 o'clock. Haha!

The kids loved the horns!

Then things got crazy!

Once all our friends had left, Cole got into his new UT jammies, and we had a little family fun before bedtime.

What a great way to end the year... can't wait to see what 2011 brings our way!

***Check out 2 new posts below!***

Huntingdon Christmas

Christmas wouldn't have felt right if we hadn't made it to Huntingdon to spend time with all of Murray's family! We got there Saturday afternoon and stayed till Sunday night, and we definitely made the most of our time there! We started out with Cole's big announcement. It was really fun to tell Mrs. Jennifer because she has wanted a girl for many, many years now! Soon after that we headed to Murray's grandparents house for Christmas dinner with his mom's side of the family. Talk about a houseful!

Cole loved this old tractor that Murray said he used to play on. Is he not so cute?!?!

Cole and Maddox had a big time playing together. Maddox just had his first birthday too! Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Megan, Joseph, and Easton checking out their presents.

Murray's cousin Andrew and his wife Megan realizing how tough they make it to get kid toys out of the boxes... Cole just continued to open the rest of his gifts. Haha.

Murray's cousin Rachel, her husband Lyle, and Maddox. He is SO close to walking!

Best buddies...

These two are a mess! So proud they can drink out of a straw... and of course they can't let the other one do it alone!

Sunday afternoon we had a wonderful Christmas lunch with Murray's immediate family and then opened our presents from Santa and each other. Cole and Easton are so funny together, and Christmas was extra fun this year watching them interact and play. I have a feeling that Joseph and Megan may pay us back one day for this gift, but it just looked like so much fun!

Thanks for the help Uncle Tom! By the way, this dump truck has been pushed about 100 laps around our house... definitely a winner!

I had Morgan's name and made her a photobook from their wedding day. It was such a beautiful day and definitely needed to be captured!

Mr. Walter reading his card from Murray...

Mrs. Jenn was proud of her new watch from all the kids!

Cole loved his new suitcase! He took off immediately shouting "bye-bye!"

The barn was also a hit, and apparently dragons live in barns too. ;)

One of my favorite presents... Baby girl's first tutu and ballet slippers!

My other FAVORITE... my double jogging stroller! Get ready neighborhood!

Cole saw Morgan taking a silly picture like this with Easton and decided he wasn't missing out on an opportunity to be silly too. So cute!

Opening presents from Great-Grandmama Sara...

So sweet!

My husband... scary- huh???

Family photo...

All the kids!

That brought our Christmas festivities to an end. Sad to have the holiday end, but it was truly wonderful! We ended up with more than we could even bring back, and it took about a week to sort through it all. Haha. Mostly we were just blessed with so much time with family. Hope your Christmas was as merry as ours.

***Memphis Christmas posted below.***

Memphis Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day in Memphis with my family. Cole was center of attention, of course, and he definitely didn't mind. He even got an early Christmas present as soon as we got there. His new big boy bed & chest for his room. Dad made the bed, and Kelsey and mom finished it and the chest. I am SO excited to get to work on his room now. It's gonna be so cute!

We even took Cole to his first movie. I didn't give him much credit, but he did great! He sat with Nonny & Poppy and probably ate more popcorn than the rest of us combined. Haha. He fell asleep during the last 30 minutes or so, but otherwise he made it through all of the new Narnia movie. By the way, you know you have a big family if you take up an entire row in the movie theater!

Santa was even at the movies!

Christmas Eve we continued our traditions of opening a single gift. Cole did surprise everyone with the Christmas secret shirt that night too (see previous post). Cole got a new Elmo outfit!

I got this awesome frame from Kelsey and Smith! It's already hanging in our living room and looks awesome... Want one? Click here http://pleasantlydistressed.weebly.com/

Cole gave Nonny a new calendar... full of picture of him!

Gotta love this crazy girl!

We also kept the tradition of all sleeping in the same room. It is getting harder and harder to all fit in there, but we made it work. I guess when our kids get big enough to want to sleep in the room together we will have to give it up. Till then...

Christmas morning Santa had definitely found us, and we must have all been really good!

This is the awesome painting Logan made for Kelsey and Smith. My brother and sister are so talented... at least someone in the family is. Haha.

Justin wasn't too sure about getting up at 7am- presents or no presents!

Posing for a picture...

Being the good little helper he is!

Opening presents from everyone!

I'm not sure which team Justin roots for...

Checking out the Elmo guitar Uncle "LoLo" gave him.

Reading one of his new books with Aunt Kelsey!

Mom proudly displaying Kels & Smith's gift... a lab coat with her new title DPT!!! Go Momma!

Always snuggling with Poppy!

The poster we had made for Logan with his From the Hollow design. Check him out if you haven't heard him before or even if you have! Click here http://www.fromthehollow.com/