Kate's Christmas Program

Kate had her Christmas program at school last Friday morning. Her class sang "Go Tell it on the Mountain" and "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" and all the classes ended with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

She had been practicing the songs for me for weeks and did a super job performing on Friday. Her class looked great in their red and everyone sang and did the motions. It was a fun morning!

Waiting to perform

"Over the hills and everywhere"

Posing for her close-up

"We wish you a Merry Christmas" (Kate is on

second row, third from the right)

A Post of His Very Own

I haven't posted about Ben since Thanksgiving mostly because he just eats and sleeps but it's his turn for some face time!

Ben will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. He has changed so much in that short amount of time. It's hard for me to see his changes, but I do know that he's growing like a weed because his 0-3 pjs started out with plenty of wiggle room and he now fills them out nicely! He eats every 3 hours during the day, usually 4-5 ounces a feeding and then at night he's free to sleep until he's hungry. That's normally about 3-4 hours but every night I pray for longer! He also is awake more during the day. We try to keep him up for at least 30 minutes after each feeding and sometimes we're successful and sometimes he's just too sleepy to humor us. Kate and Maggie love when he's awake and usually yell "Mommy, you can see Benny's eyes!" (Yes, he's already being called Benny, Benny Boy, or Benner!)

I'll save the rest of his stats for his month post which will be in 10 days...hard to believe! For now, enjoy the pictures of sweet Ben!

Snuggle time with Kate

Burrito boy fast asleep

Maggie finally wanted to hold Ben

His first KU basketball game

Ben's first "real" bath after his umbilical cord fell off (yes,

I covered his privates but the washcloth also was

keeping him warm!)

Post bath - warm and content

Loving from his big sisters!

Here Comes Santa Claus

I think this picture speaks for itself...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best pictures we could get with a 4 year old,
2 year old, and 2 day old!

Daddy and his babies

Kate can't get enough of Ben

Nanny and Bumps with great-grandchildren

#3, #6, and #7.

Glammy and Papaw with their 3 grandbabies

How cute is this turkey gown

that my friend, Terra, made

for Ben?!

Happy Birthday Ben!

James Benjamin Butler made his appearance on Tuesday, November 23rd at 4:22pm. He weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. and was 21 1/4 inches long. He is a big boy and I'm not really sure as to how he fit inside of me! We just got released from the hospital this morning and have been home for about 3 1/2 hours. Since being home, Ben has eaten, pooped, slept, been smothered by big sister Kate and ignored by big sister Maggie. And of course Lucy and Chuck are trying to get a handle on the situation too! I'm feeling pretty good, considering I had a baby 2 days ago. So all in all, I think we're doing pretty good as a new family of 5!

Enjoy the pictures of Ben's first couple of days of life!

Ben with Dr. Oglesbee...she had just

exclaimed, "I think he's 9 lbs!" Close!

A family of 5...doesn't Mags look happy about that?!

So proud and super sweet to Ben

Maggie thought it was funny that Ben would

hold her finger

Waiting to go home

Daddy and Ben

Let's go home!

O Christmas Tree!

We had to decorate a little early this year for Christmas because of a little someone special making his debut tomorrow. Regardless of when we did it, Kate and Maggie were super excited to get the trees up and put the ornaments on.

We started on Thursday night with the girls' tree...and Ben's!:) They have accumulated quite the ornament collection and their tree is full. We may have to work on getting a bigger tree for them next year!

So proud of their tree...and yes, they are

wearing Halloween pjs!

On Saturday we tackled the big Christmas tree. Kate was a great helper this year...Maggie was not so much! Kate sat patiently and drank her Starbucks hot chocolate while I organized the ornaments and put most of the breakable ones on and then she helped me finish up with the not so breakables. Maggie mostly just ran around the house, drinking her hot chocolate and playing with puzzles. She doesn't seem to be overly interested in the tree and that's just fine with me!

Special Christmas decorating treat - Mags had

hers in a sippy so as not to make a huge mess!:)

Helping for a short minute

Kate really loved picking out the perfect spot

Mimi and PopPop drove in on Sunday for the impending arrival of Ben and so Ryan and PopPop put up our outside lights. The girls went outside with the intention of helping but Kate said it was "kinda hard" and so they just played in the front yard and on the driveway instead.

We are looking pretty festive around here. Poor Kate just keeps wanting to know if it's Christmas yet?!

Blessing Basket

Maggie had her Blessing Basket performance at school yesterday. They had 3 songs to sing for the mommies and daddies...not one kid sang a word! Miss Kathy, the music teacher, performed a solo.:) That said, I'll post pictures but I'm not wasting my time by posting the video because she's just standing there looking around. On a side note, she's been walking around the house since she got home from school yesterday singing the songs...oh well!

Clark and Maggie before the big performance

Thinking about it but never made

the move

Didn't even throw her leaves

into the air during the "Leaves

Are Falling" song