Jessalyn (7) loves telling jokes. I got her a children's joke book which she carries around and has read every joke to us numerous times. Tonight she made up a couple jokes and asked them to me:

Q - Mama, what did Douglas say to the town that was being really silly?
A - That is re-Douglias. Get it mama? like ridiculous, but reDouglias.

Another joke by Jessalyn:
Q - What did the shoe say to the sock?
A - Let's play football!

Now my silly child is saying that everything is re-Douglias... strange humans I am surrounded by ;)

Antelopes are tasty!

Jessalyn (7) went on a field trip with her 1st Grade class today to the Jacksonville Zoo. I took her to school early, then came home and Mattilyn (3) and I began to talk about the zoo. I told her that I want to take her one day soon and we will see all kinds of animals. Following is our conversation:

Me: You will see all kinds of animals. Do you know what kinds?
Mattilyn: Like doggies!
Me: Well, elephants and giraffes and hippos and rhinos and...
Mattilyn:: and puppies?
Me: Oh, and there is a train and you can see jaguars and hyenas and antelopes...
Mattilyn: Oh! Antelopes on the train? I love antelopes! We had antelopes at Mimi's hospital the other day and one fell on the floor and we threw it in the trash.

Back story: My mama (their Mimi) had knee replacement surgery last week and we went to visit her in the hospital. Our church sent mama a huge fruit basket with all sorts of fruits and cookies and crackers, etc... Mama had just finished her dinner and had some cantaloupe leftover in addition to the other fruit. Mattilyn had eaten a banana, grapes, and a plum before finishing off the cantaloupes. One piece of cantaloupe fell on the floor and we threw it in the trash. ;)

Moral of the story: When I take Mattilyn to the zoo and we get on the train, I better sneak some cantaloupes on because she expects "Antelopes" to eat on the train!!

A new year

So there were many wackos in the world that truly believed our world would end on December 21, 2012, since that is when the Mayan calendar ended. Had I never read the Bible, perhaps I would have jumped on the bandwagon. However, God told us that no man knows the hour of Jesus's return so I didn't put any faith in all the hype about the end of the world.
On the other hand, America is traveling at a high rate straight into the dirt. I am only 29 (30 in exactly one month), but I can't believe how much my world has changed in just my few years on this earth. Years ago I found it so very interesting to talk to older people that had "seen it all". They were around when automobiles were invented, they lived through the depression, they were appalled by Elvis (or impressed), they survived the hippie movement.... the list goes on. Well, now in 30 years I have seen prosperous times in our nation, I have seen terrifying times on 9/11/01, and I have seen devastating financial times. Now is the scariest time of all. Our country has nearly completely turned her back on God. We have become a politically correct nation that is afraid to offend anyone, anyone except Christians and Jews. Well, guess what - Jesus wasn't politically correct and neither am I. We are called to be different than the world.
So many Americans are afraid now to call a spade a spade. To quote another cliche, If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is probably a duck. This may offend some, but this is how I feel: the President that is in office right now does not have the best interest of America in mind. Our president is half white / half black and the majority of our country has made this a matter of race. Personally I don't care if he is purple with orange polka dots, he is wrong. Our country was in a mild recession several years ago. My hubby and I started really struggling with bills and things like many lower middle-class citizens did. Things are now much worse and we struggle more than we ever have before in our ten years of marriage. Again I must state that if not for my faith in God, I would feel like giving up. There have been times that I felt like giving up and I remind myself that God has everything under control. I remember that He knows how this will all end and even though we will go through some hard times, it will be worth it!
One major problem I have with the current president is his opinion on gun-control. I honestly don't understand how so many people in our country can be snowed into thinking that is a good idea. We have a right to bear arms and I intend to fight for my right. Obama wants to change the constitution and I am not okay with this. Does anyone out there truly believe that if no one could own a gun legally, all crime would stop? News flash: murder has existed since the beginning of time with Cain and Abel, the first brothers in history. Did Cain have a gun? No. Research history, people. Please. Other countries have tried this "disarm the public regime". Trust me, this NEVER turns out good for the public.
I'm not really sure why I blogged all of this tonight. It has just been on my mind for a while and I guess I just wanted to put it down on "paper". I pray that God will radically heal our nation, but sometimes I feel like we are living in Sodom and Gomorrah and God has left us to our own devices. Right now in America, it is legal to kill an unborn child, yet illegal to kill certain animals. Protect the whales and eagles, but kill the babies. Something is bad wrong with this.

Ello?

My little shadow goes to work with me while big sis is at school and daddy is at his work. I absolutely LOVE these days and I am so sad that I missed this time with Jessalyn when she was this age. At that time I working full time at the bank and going to school at night. I am so thankful that I am now able to spend much more time with both girls.
Today Mattilyn rode with me to grab lunch for everyone at the store and she had a play phone in the backseat. Here is the conversation that played out:
Mattilyn: Mama, my phone is ringing.
Me: Okay, baby
Mattilyn: Ello? (small pause) My going to get macaroni and cheese. (pause) 'Cause. My just want to. 'Cause. Bye.
After this "phone call" she had another one just like it. :) I love her 2 year old imagination!

Tonight the girls were in the tub and I could hear them playing and laughing. I then heard Jessalyn say, "Sissy, you're pretty. And you're rotten. You're pretty rotten". <3 These girls are just the coolest kids I've ever known. Yes, I am biased, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Short Story

So, there are many times and many days that one or both of my little loves will say something cute and note-worthy, but it might just be a one-liner or at least not enough to write a whole blog about. However, last night I was thinking about a couple cute things that were recently said and I thought that I better write these things down now or they will be lost forever! So, I am going to TRY to do better and write these things down, even if it is just one little story at a time.
Today is November 30th, 2012, and Jessalyn is 7 and Mattilyn is 2-3/4. They are by far the coolest kids on the planet and they say the cutest things. Mattilyn cracks us up daily :) Last week Jessalyn said that she was rubbing Mattilyn's belly and Mattilyn said, "Stop sissy, my not an instrument." Now, this is not enough in itself to take up a whole blog, but you gotta admit that is cute and note-worthy. I mean, where does she come up with this stuff?
A couple days ago Mattilyn was taking a nap at our store, Witness 4 Life, and when she woke up she was crying, which is unusual for her. I went to check on her and when I walked in I picked her up and asked why she was crying. She said, "Mama, you just upset me." I laughed and said What?! She repeated, "You just upset me. That's why my was crying."
I am sad when I think about all of the adorable things my ladybugs have said and done that I never wrote down so now I don't remember. I resolve to do better, beginning right now!

Is that poop in the tub? - be warned

I know it has been a while since I last posted something from the never dull house of Butler, but things have been cah-razy around here! March was a jam-packed month with two retreat weekends in a row, then a baby birthday weekend, then the release of The Hunger Games ;)
Nearly every day and/or night has been jam-packed with fun and craziness, but tonight was so much so that it warranted a nice blog post. Let me start by saying that I am beyond exhausted. I got home with my girls around 5:00, started supper, and refereed my two little UFC fighters-in-training, did dishes and laundry, then bathed my girls. They wanted to play in the tub after I finished bathing them so I left them to get towels out of the dryer for them. Now, the last time they were left to their own devices in the tub I returned to a soaked bathroom and a kid who threw up in the tub due to drinking bath water.
When I came back in with the towels the girls were playing with the water and Jessalyn (6) was pouring water on Mattilyn (2). I told her not to pour too much and choke her like last time. Trust me, my Jessalyn is no fan of anything related to vomit, pee, poop, snot, or any other body fluid from another human (who can blame her, right?) So, I came back to fold more laundry when I heard crying and Jessalyn saying, What happened? What happened? I don't know what happened! So I go in and Jessalyn is standing there looking all innocent and Mattilyn was crying about her nose. All I could figure is Jessalyn dumped water on Mattilyn resulting in water up the nose... Not important. What is important is that when I got Mattilyn out of the tub there was nothing but bubbles in the water. So I went to dress Mattilyn and left Jessalyn in the tub alone.
Jessalyn played for a while in the tub, then started yelling for me. She came in wrapped in her towel a few minutes later and said, "Mama, remember earlier when I told you my sister had a stinky diaper? Well I think it is in the tub." I told her that there was no way that was the case because I had changed her diaper then and because there was nothing in the tub when I got Mattilyn out. She insisted that I go look because there was poop in the tub. So I go into the bathroom and there in the tub and covering the toys in there was lots of brown "stuff". I asked Matt what he had used when he bleached the tub after the last throw up incident and told him about the situation at hand. I went back in the bathroom to assess the damage again and I thought that this "poop" looked eerily similar to chocolate. So then I did what any good mama would do. I swiped some up and smelled it. Guess what it was... Chocolate! Yay!!! Have YOU ever been excited about chocolate in your tub? I have. So, the question remains how the chocolate made it into the tub, but to be honest I am so thankful it wasn't poop that I don't care how the chocolate made it into the tub!

Our 8th Anniversary - Oct 5, 2010

So, by our 8th wedding anniversary Matt and I were the parents of an almost 5 year old and a 6 month old. We decided to go out to eat for anniversary but instead of getting a babysitter we took our girls out with us. I shared the following adventure with my facebook friends during the ordeal, but it is way too much fun to not share with everyone else now. I am going to copy and paste the original post below:

ok, so originally Matt and I had planned to go out just the two of us for a quiet anniversary date. Oh how boring that would have been! Let me share our adventures thus far:
We ate at this awesomely delicious restaurant in Jesup, Habaneros, with few cries or whines - all in all an enjoyable meal. Mattilyn made some questionable faces, however, so I knew a diaper change would come soon. We left the restaurant and headed to Dollar Tree to let Jessalyn shop around. When we got there Matt was going to go in Hibbett's while I sat in the backseat of the car and fed Mattilyn. As soon as I picked her up I was reminded of the faces she made earlier so I said to Jessalyn "Let mama change Mattilyn before I feed her" (continued but do not read more if you have a weak stomach)
I started to take Mattilyn's pants off and felt something on my finger. Immediately I knew I was in for a MESS so I gave Jessalyn the phone and said call your daddy and tell him I need his help. She was on her knees in her carseat watching me and I pulled Matti's pants off to discover her diaper had overflowed and her leg was covered. Jessalyn began gagging. I started yelling for her to open the door and get out! She gagged some more. Mattilyn tried her best to roll to her belly... I was wrestling a poop-covered baby while trying to convince a gagging child to get out of the car. Jessalyn threw up on herself in her carseat.... Mattilyn continued to roll... By this time I had snatched the phone from my gagging child with one hand while holding the legs up of a poopie child. I told Matt to get out here NOW and hung up. He took over on throw-up duty while I handled doodie duty.
After getting everything cleaned up (which was neither quick nor clean) I picked up my phone only to discover I had accidentally called ACA preschool and talked for 2 min 13 seconds. Apparently they will have an interesting message on their answering machine tomorrow!Oh I have been cracking up myself! I HAD to share this because I definitely see the humor of it all :) Now, by the way, Jessalyn is dressed in a pair of lizard pajamas her mimi gave her right before we left

Did you enjoy a few laughs at our expense? I certainly hope so! What is life about if we can't laugh at ourselves?! Life is an adventure - just hang on and enjoy the ride :)