Zoo with Eli

Eli is Everett's best friend from Texas.  Sadly they moved a little over a year ago and we've really missed our weekly play dates.  Eli now lives in the same state as Grandma and Grandpa, so we always make sure to play with him when we come to visit family.  

Last week, we met up with Eli at the Zoo and although it's been probably 6 months since these two have seen each other, they grabbed hands and ran all around the zoo together.  They did have one little argument about whether or not lions are scary.  Pretty cute to listen to.  Love these two boys and love that they still get to see other from time to time.  I don't have any pictures to prove it, but Eli's mom and I sure had a fun time catching up too.  Wish you still lived close!    

 Pretending to eat grass like the elephants.  Everett actually ate it, Eli just pretended.

See mom, the grass is all gone!

Hanging out at the park!

Everett the fish

Everett Learns to Flip

Not even a broken wrist can slow this little guy down!  Way to go Everett!!

A good day for Ryan

Unfortunately, Ryan stopped playing the guitar long before we ever met.  After some inspiration from his brother he has decided to pick it back up. 

Ryan is especially excited for the new hobby because he was able to pick the guitar that "15 year old Ryan" dreamt of having.

We've enjoyed hearing him playing the songs he once knew as well as beginning to pick up a few new ones. 

Congrats Ryan!

Just like Christmas morning for this boy!

Everett (our family's biggest music fan) couldn't be happier.

 

Everett and Sherm

 Sherman at 8 months

 Everett 3 years

Sherman 6-8 Months

Sherman is 6 months old now and he continues to be a big boy. His stats are below:

Weight: 18 lbs, 14 oz (76%)
Height: 26.8 inches (64%)
Head: 45.7 (94%) - definitely a Butters head!

Sherman is an angelic baby. I'm so grateful for how calm and easy going he is.  He loves life and he LOVES his big brother.  He sleeps really well at night (normally 7pm-6am) and mom is super grateful for the extra sleep.  He is eating almost all solids now and loves to steel bites of his brothers food.  Everett does not appreciate this; he pushes Sherman's high chair away from his.  Sherman can roll anywhere he wants, but he's not crawling yet.   The new mobility has frustrated Everett a little bit as Sherman is now creeping in on the toy terrain.  Everett usually rips whatever Sherman has out of his hands and then when the crying starts Everett will quickly find Sherman a different toy.  It's a start to sharing :).  I'll take it.

Sherman is really good at sitting up and enjoys the new views that this position offers.  He is so good at sitting up that bumbo days are officially over.  He graduated to the high chair at about 7 months.  He also grew his two bottom teeth (One on April 5th and one on the 7th) at 7 months. 

Sherman loves the water.  As soon as the bath water starts to run or we walk out to the pool he starts moving his arms and making his "I'm begging you sound."  Once he's in the pool he goes nuts splashing as quickly as he can.  He is never ready to get out and I think he wants to make every minute count.

He's turning into quite a talker.  Just the other day he babbled a few sounds that may or may not of sounded like mama and dada.  His parents definitely heard it, but I'm not sure anyone else would have.  He also recently (May 2nd)  starting clapping.  I love to watch him learn new things.  He is so proud of himself every time he claps.  We're proud of you too little Sherm.

We love our little guy and love watching him grow!       







 

Family Picture Day

 Love these Boys!

Love this man!

Life doesn't get much better than this!

Favorite Everett Moments

- Instead of asking someone how old they are, Everett says, "What's your number?"

- When someone asks Everett what his name is, He quickly says "Everett Ryan Butters." Adorable!

- The other day at church I was talking to some friends and Everett was just outside the glass doors. Mid conversation, my friend says, "uh I think Everett's going to the bathroom." Sure enough, Everett was peeing on the flower right outside the church doors.

- Everett loves to sing and dance. His favorite songs are Mine and Mean by Taylor Swift and Human by the Killers. We'll put the music videos on the TV and he'll sing and dance the whole song with his guitar and microphone. He sometimes has Ryan play the drums for him. It's amazing how talented he already is.

I love this boy and I love watching him grow and learn.

3 Year Old Stats
-Height: 40.3 inches (96%)
-Weight: 36 lbs (86%)

He's still my big boy!

Birthday Celebration

Everett turned 3 on February 28th. Everett was very excited about his big day for months before and I don't think he was disappointed. He had icing for breakfast and some toast, but mainly icing. Then we met up with some friends at Legoland. Everett played hard and had a great time all morning. My favorite is watching him sing in the microphones on the karaoke machine.


Everett had to wait all day to eat his cake and open presents. He asked about a thousand times when daddy would be home so we could have our party. It is so fun to see the excitement in his eyes. Once daddy came home we had Everett's favorite dinner (chicken nuggets and fries), then sang happy birthday, ate his fire engine cake, and opened presents. It was such a fun family party.

About to dig his fingers into the the wheels. Go right ahead buddy!

Happy Birthday my little angel.

Sherman - 3 Months

Sherman is now 3 months old. I thought time flew with Everett, but with Sherman time seems to be disappearing. How has it been 3 months?

The best word to describe Sherman is sweet. He is the happiest the little guy. He smiles all the time and all it takes is a smile from mom, dad, or brother and this little guy starts laughing. Everett is already this little guys best friend. Sherman will laugh and smile at EVERYTHING Everett does and Everett LOVES this. Sherman is very ticklish and loves attention. However, he doesn't mind kicking alone on the floor either.

Other fun Sherman facts:
-He is turning into quite the talker. I love to hear his little sounds and gargles.
-He spits up a lot and laundry seems to have tripled since he arrived.
-He still wakes up about once a night. Occasionally he sleeps through the night and occassionally he'll wake every 2 hours (yawn!).
-He loves to be swaddled, hates the binkie, loves his fist.

4 Month Stats:
weight: 17lbs 3oz (84%)
Height: 25 inches (46%)
Head: 43.8 cm (83%)

We're so grateful he's here and love having his presence in our family.

Gingerbread decorating

Christmas Traditions

This is the first year that we haven't traveled for Christmas. Although we missed family, we had a great time together with our little family. This was a really fun year for Everett. The magic of Christmas was truly alive for him in our home. He had a blast decorating cookies and ginger bread houses and loved watching all of the classic Christmas shows. His favorites are The Polar Express, The Santa Clause, and A Christmas Story. It's really fun to experience Christmas through a child's eye again. I love my boys and all the joy they bring to my life.

Here are my boys after the we put up the tree and decorations. Everett enjoyed hours of fun with the train.

Ginger bread houses are always a hit. Each day Everett would steal some candy from his house, by the time Christmas came around the house was nearly candy-free.

Good times making cookies for santa.

The finished product