balarina

can you see marcella's tutu under her little dress???? when i put it on her this morning she proceeded to twirl...how do little girls know to twirl???

the cleve girls with a tacker boy

quincy kills me with his gaping mouth. at any given time you can look at him and his mouth will be wide open...waiting to catch flies! he is posing with anne and hannah cleve. i'm kinda freaking out because hannah is a big girl now...12!!!!! i remember when hannah was a baby quincy's size, and now look at her all grown up and about to start the 7th grade. she's got great style. today she was rockn' an 80's look complete with the big plastic earrings and vans. i had vans, pink and purple check vans, i thought i was sooooooooooo cool!

joseph and marcella

here is marcella sitting in joseph's lap. doesn't she just look so comfortable sitting on his lap with her blanket?!

we will miss you robin!

robin

today we had a going away BBQ for robin. robin has worked at tom james as the office professional and whipped everybody right into shape. thank you robin for taking such good care of brian, i know he will miss you lots. good luck in Tennessee!!!!

happy birthday gracee!!!!

gracee simone is 8 today!!!! happy birthday cutie girl, we miss you!

happy birthday nana!

today is nana's 63rd birthday! i took this pic the last night the girls were here. quincy looks a little crazy and marcella's hair...whew, girl, mama needed to put some product in it...LOL......

happy birthday mom!

watching for shooting stars

so almost everynight we would sit out on the back deck, drink wine, tell stories and watch for shooting stars. i have to say i don't think i laughed so much in such a long time. telling old stories of growing up, hearing dad's stories. perfect ending to a day!

sunriver

ok, so even though i only left the house once the whole time we were in sunriver we had a wonderful time! dad and mindy rented a big house on the golf course so that we could all stay together and it was wonderful. the kids rode bikes, went to the pool and went to the candy shop almost everyday for some sweet goodies. thank you dad and mindy for a nice family trip...we managed to get through it with no drama!!...well except dad and xavier getting totally sick, but you know that happens!

summer parties

on sunday we had a family BBQ for brian's mom and sister. lots of people, food and laughter!

cousins

i've spent the last 10 days hanging with some of the coolest little girls EVER! my brother's kids came up to visit us for 2 weeks, and we just had a ball! i was thinking back last night to when we were kids and how much fun we had when we would go to our auntie's house and hang out with our cousins for the summer. it was way to cool to see my kids and his kids have so much fun together, take care of each other and just generally like each other. myree was a GREAT help with the babies. in the picture above xavier was giving his "bird face" translation "i'm pissed at mom for not letting me hold quincy" the next pick is of the girls making their "bird faces" and xavier being coo-coo. i love you cutie girls and you are welcome at our home any time!!!

wedding bliss

this beautiful couple is my little brother joe and his new wife marieke. they were married tonight in a beautiful outdoor setting surrounded by friends and family.

congratulations and best wishes you two!!

GO OBAMA!!!

VOTE FOR OBAMA!!!!!

thank you autnie ingrid for the t-shirts!!!

these Obama suporters are xavier and his cousin meah. meah is brian's sister's little girl, they are here visiting from washington dc for the next 2 weeks.

sealed with a kiss

kisses for our anniversary ;)

10 years...

10 years today brian and i got married. last night i brought out the wedding album to remember the day. xavier said "mom, you looked really beautiful that day" and i have to say i agree. my wedding day was my most beautiful day. i can still remember every moment. i send great thanks to dad and mindy for such a joyous event. mindy and i had such fun planning that day, months of love and thought went into it. so today sitting out on the back deck with my three children, two dogs, cat and my husband i was presented with a BEAUTIFUL gift. a diamond band with a stone for every year of marriage on it. the picture above was taken by xavier as brian slipped it onto my finger. every girl loves sparklies...i just can't stop looking at it. thank you brian for an amazing gift, i look forward to the many years ahead, watching our children grow into leaders for the next generation. i loved you then, i love you now, and i will love you in the future.

loyal blog reader

this is brian's cousin courtney. she lives in seattle and is currently going to law school. she came down for the weekend to visit and popped by yesterday with monique to have a visit and see the kids. it was so much fun to sit down and have an adult chat with the girls...didn't want it to end! thanks for coming by ladies!!!

eating lunch in the backyard yesterday after a big squirtgun battle. before the girls go back home i have to get a close up of gracee...WOW does she look like my brother. it's crazy really. they have been so fun to have here. marcella LOVES myree. she follows her around chattering to her. it's pretty cute!

the butlers from SO CAL come to visit

my nieces from california will be up visiting us for the next two weeks. we've been very excited for their arrival. xavier got his room all ready for them. he laid out all of the sleeping bags and then brought out all of his small snugglies (stuffed animals)...and let me tell you there were a lot of them, and lined the sleeping bags with them, made the girls name signs for their sleeping bag assignments (can you tell he's a little conrtol freak lol), and made a sign for his bedroom door which read "Xavier's Hotel". this was all his idea and i thought it was pretty thoughtful!

anway, on saturday Red Bull brought their Flugtag event to portland. basicly crazy ass people make these flying contraptions and then launch them off of a big jump and land in the water. the person who's aircraft goes the farthest wins. so, grandpa butler, brian, the kids and 40,000 other people went to portland's waterfront to see these crazy people do their thing. brian and the crew only lasted through 2 jumps and then they left. this is a picture of them at the flugtag event.

the crew

this is brian's dad in the middle flanked by his two friends willie, the birthday girl and uncle ken. don't they look like trouble makers ;)

me with quincy boy

here's me with quincy boy...i think he started to freak out right after this picture was taken. i acutally look nice in this picutre...it's amazing what a little make-up, hair done and real clothes can do for a girl lol!

auntie lizzie turns 71!

auntie lizzie turned 71 last week and there was a nice party to celebrate at her house. we packed up the whole family and made our way. poor quincy was all out of sorts. he used to our quiet home with not much going on so he wasn't sure what to do with all those people and all that noise. he held it together long enough to sing her happy birthday and then we were on our way...

ummmm, i just want to point out that auntie lizzie doesn't look a day over 50, FABULOUS genes!

almost there.......

wow wow wow...i have a new faster 'puter with a pretty new moniter (thank you dayle!!) brian currently has the camera at a zoo concert tonight, but tomorrow i plan on posting lots of pictures...stay tuned!