Toyland

"Toyland, toyland, little girl and boy land. While you dwell within it, you are ever happy then." Those are the words to the classic Christmas song "Babes in Toyland" and they perfectly describe the Butler girls' Christmas!

We started celebrating on Saturday at Glammy and Papaw's in the morning followed up by Nanny and Bumps' that evening. There were so many fun, new toys that for once in her short life, Kate was nearly speechless and motionless. She just didn't know where to begin. But, once she laid eyes on the princess costumes, everything else was forgotten...until she spotted the her digital camera! Needless to say, she had a very busy morning, a long nap, and a busy evening as well. Maggie had no clue that there were so many great toys for her...she slept through the entire morning.

Santa found Kate and Maggie at Mimi and PopPop's house this year and they must have been a good little girls because Santa left them some great toys. Kate is really into art these days, which Santa knew, so he brought her an art easel and art supplies. I'm sure she'll be producing masterpieces any day now. Santa brought Maggie a lights and sound stage that she will love once she can sit up and and play with it. Until then, Kate is putting it to good use!

We had a great week celebrating with our families. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

P.S. We did have more pictures of Maggie celebrating her first Christmas, but Kate got a hold of my camera and somehow managed to delete some pictures. The life of a 2nd child!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Kate and her classmates had a small Christmas program this morning to show off their singing abilities! They sang the favorites: If You're Happy and You Know It, Jingle Bells, a song about Baby Jesus, and ended with We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Kate is always a very willing participate as you will see in both videos.


We have talked alot about Baby Jesus, his mommy, Mary and his daddy, Joseph. Kate loves to play with our nativity scene!

Kate and her best friend, Caroline, wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas!"

The sweetest sound

Here's a quick video of Maggie giggling...which is precious if I say so myself! (Please ignore my obnoxious ploys to get her to laugh!)

A visit with Santa

Our Santa visit was way more successful this year than last. Kate fussed while we waited in line, but once Santa started chatting her up she was smitten! The picture isn't so great (at all), but hey, at least no one is crying this year. Santa did ask Kate what she wants for Christmas this year to which she replied, "a present." She is going to be so easy to shop for!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

at least at our house anyway!

We started the holiday season the day after Thanksgiving by decorating gingerbread houses with Glammy and Kate's cousins at Southern Hills. I had wanted to buy a kit at Target to do with Kate, but this was SO much better because they had all the materials out, organized, and ready to go, plus I didn't have to clean up one thing!! Kate and Preston worked on a house together, although Preston did more eating of the candy than decorating!:) Kate, however, loved spreading the frosting on the house and then arranging the candy in her own exact way without help from mommy or Glammy (and she let us know if we tried to help too much!). She had a great time and we definitely want to make this an annual event...thanks Glammy for inviting us!

On Sunday, we decorated our Christmas tree together. This was Kate's first year to have a hand in it and she was a big help. Most of our ornaments are breakable so we had to remind her to be very careful, but she did a great job and loved the end results. She tells me everyday how "beautiful" she thinks her tree is! I do think that after Christmas is over and the sales start, I'll buy the girls their own, smaller tree and fun ornaments and they can have their own special tree to decorate each year. That way we can have our "beautiful" tree and a tree with Dora ornaments and homemade ornaments. On a side note, Ryan ran to Starbucks before the decorating started to get drinks and got Kate a drink as well...her very own, child-size hot chocolate. She thought she was so big-time!! She loved it and has already asked to have another. I think we'll try to keep them to a minimum because a. they're messy (as you will see in a picture) and b. a 2 year old does NOT need that much sugar!

Maggie loved looking at the lights on the tree!

Potty-trained!!

Well, it's official...we are only having to buy one set of diapers again! Kate started the potty-training process last Monday and the beginning was a bit rough. Before lunchtime, she had already had 4 accidents. I didn't think we were cut out for this potty-training business but decided to give it a shot through the rest of the day. Good thing I did...it clicked and we've been going strong ever since (except for one tee-tee accident last Friday)! She's awesome at it and is even to the point where she tells me when she has to go versus me bugging her about going all the time. I'm so super proud of her!!

Just a funny little story that she will one day be oh so embarrassed that I shared with everyone...she needed to go poo-poo on Thanksgiving and when I sat her on the potty to go, she looked at me so seriously and said "It's gonna splash!" I love the things that she says!

Here is a picture of my big girl on the potty. Of course this adds a whole new element to getting dressed in the mornings...which panties will it be today?!