We had a great time!

For a few months now Mom, Kendal and I have been hosting a book study here at our house. We have been using Preparing To be a Helpmeet, which has been very enjoyable. Last night we had been planning on having our meeting, but four of the five families that had been planning on coming were not able to last night. So only Mrs. Pollard and our dear friend, Erin http://erinpollard.blogspot.com/ were able to come. So we decided to just visit with them, instead of having the book study, and all five of us had a wonderful time. I'll post some pictures later... the computer is being a bit slow. Have a wonderful weekend!

~Kelsey

Flower Photos

One of my very favorite things to do is take close-up photos of flowers and other similar things outdoors. We have many different beautiful flowers in our yard that are very fun to photograph! Here are some of my very favorite ones I've taken so far...

This photo was taken the summer before last of a neighbor's cherry tree. Isn't the bee cute?

Snapdragons in our deck flower-boxes.
Carpet rose with a unknown green bug. ;)
Gerber daisies.

Blue-berry flowers in our yard.

More blue-berry flowers in our yard. ;)

Camellia blooms in our yard.

A Gerber daisy.

Swallowtail butterfly on Lantana.

Swallow tailed butterfly on verbena.

Iris in our yard.

A Gerber daisy in a bouquet dad gave mom.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures! I hope ya'll have a wonderful week!

~Kelsey

Guess what is in our front yard...

Daffodils! Last year a gardening friend acquired hundreds of dollars worth of daffodil bulbs for free.(Due to an over-production) So we brought home many huge bags full and gave them to friends. (I think they were 25 pounds each) Last year when they came up they were absolutely gorgeous! Not only do we have the plain yellow ones (the only ones that have bloomed so far this year) but redish ones, pink, and white. All in different combinations~ white and pink, white and yellow, red and yellow, etc.

(I took the picture above the other day)

It has been wonderfully warm these last few days, so we have been opening up windows and doors. We even have been taking the plastic covering off of the garden to let sun in~now that it's come out. Yesterday Anna, Daniel and I went for a bike ride, since it was so warm. We took another one today, after I realized how out of shape I've gotten! All yesterday and today my legs felt like jello! Thankfully they're feeling more normal now! ;) Unfortunately it is also unbelievably windy, but it is still definitely better than dreary, cloudy and cold!

I also planted more vegetables in our garden this morning~lettuce and spinach. I keep hoping that maybe another rabbit will choose to make a nest under our spinach, like one did last year. We actually had two bunny nests in our yard, the other one under the roots of a strawberry plant. I had noticed a rabbit digging around in our strawberry bed, but hadn't thought anything of it. But the next day Mom was weeding, when she discovered a nest under a spinach plant. The rabbits in that nest were about six weeks old. So I then decided to check the strawberry bed just to make sure there wasn't a nest there also. And sure enough, there was! The babies were tiny and still pink, and it was obvious that they were only a day old. So we were able to see the older nest grow up and hop away, which they did about two weeks later. We actually brought some inside to play with, but only for a few minutes. One actually became a little tame, and would let us get quite close to it, even when it was almost full grown. But the next nest was moved by the mother into a unknown place (probably just a more quiet place in our yard) so we didn't get to see then grow up. It was quite a fun memory! Here are some pictures of the older nest~we never took the other bunnies out.

In the past we had caught a few bunnies of the same age (we didn't capture any that were older than eight weeks or so for fear of being bitten) but we had never found the nests with the rabbits still inside. Whenever we would find a baby rabbit in the yard, we would carefully surround it and grab it by it's scruff. If you haven't ever heard a rabbit scream when caught, I'll tell you this~ it is very odd to hear the scream of a frantic two year old coming from the mouth of a rabbit! ;) I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend!

~Kelsey

Did you know...

Did you know that Charlie Chaplin once won third place in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest? Isn't that the oddest thing, that the judges obviously thought two other people looked more like him than himself?

Now for a different subject. Daddy took Kendal and I to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader at the time of the huge snow, and we loved it! I was very pleased with it, and thought the changes made it even better, where as in Prince Caspian the big changes were also a big disappointment.( I absolutely adore Reepicheep, who is in about three books, he is so cute and furry)

Now I will confess that the green mist was a little odd (in Voyage of the Dawn Treader), but it didn't change my over all thoughts of the movie in general. I also thought the different times when the witch came to try and tempt Edmund were very interesting, especially since in The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe Edmund actually went over to the Witch's side. Kendal and I actually haven't seen the Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe yet, but we have read all the books dozens of times. We really like all of them, and The Voyage fo the Dawn Treader is actualy our favorite!We actually own the first movie, and might watch it today! After We do, maybe I'll tell everyone what I think of it. hope everyone has a great weekend! ~Kelsey

Farewell! (by Kendal)

Y'all are likely wondering about the blog title. As most of you probably guessed, I am handing the blog over to Kelsey. (Who, BTW, happens to be rather better than me at expressing thoughts with the written word.) However, my main reason for quitting the blog is just a matter of priorities. The blog, as y'all may have guessed, due to my lack of posting, never was very high on my priorities list. It has mostly been merely a fun way to communicate with friends, especially those that I rarely see. I have often thought that I should be more "serious" about my blogging, but then when I did blog I never had time for truly thoughtful posts. [Coming up with the proper way to express exactly what I'm thinking through the blog takes me FOREVER. Maybe that explains the {long} time it takes for me to write a good paper.:) ]
Well, anyway, I wasn't making time for worthwhile posts.
Since school, next to work at The Chicken, is what is taking the most of my time, I'm thinking that after I graduate I might find myself with some extra time on my hands, and so I may start a new blog then. We'll see!
In the meantime, I hope that y'all will enjoy Kelsey's blog! I might write a "guest post" once in awhile, but don't count on it. :) I'll still read and comment on y'all's blogs, of course.

Well, au revoir!
~Kendal Marie Butler

What do you measure your productivity by?

What do you measure your productivity by? Or what are your thoughts after a day has ended or just begun? Is it, "how was I able to bless others today?", or is it,"I wonder what I can get out of this social event/time with church family." Or even, "I wish I had been able to have some more free time, or do something for me today." As human beings we are so selfish and in general such takers, instead of givers.(and quite prone to exaggerating, though some more than others) I'm sure at some time or another we have been guilty of this, and even recently I have caught myself thinking "I hope this will be fun for me." It is so worldly to be thinking this way, and even acting on these thoughts. Especially since it is opposite of what Jesus did in his daily life. He was always giving of himself and sacrificing his will and even daily needs even until his very last seconds on this earth. I especially see this shown when Jesus is dying on the cross and he asks John to take care of his mother, he was constantly seeing to the needs of others.

I'm sure we can all do more to serve others instead of ourselves. Is it not part of being a Christain, everyday dying to ourselves and following Christ?

It is such a sad and empty life when people serve themselves constantly, instead of others. I'm sure that if you are paying attention to life around you you have found that the people who are most enjoyable to spend time with are those who are servants to others, and the ones who seem to enjoy life to it's fullest.

Well I hope everyone is having a wonderful week,

~Kelsey

I hope everyone has had a great week, and I hope you also have a wonderful weekend! I took this picture earlier this week of the sunset, after that strange and unexpected snow~thunderstorm. that is why the sky appears to be glowing, because the sun is shining through the thick clouds. ~Kelsey

Sunset pictures

I took these pictures were earlier this week. ~Kelsey

Christmas day

We had a wonderful Christmas! We didn't do what we had planned for Christmas and New Years, or in other words what Kendal and I hoped to do, but we had fun anyway. On Christmas Eve we were planning on going to our church's Christmas Eve service, but some of the little ones came down with strep throat or something so we stayed home. We watched The Ultimate Gift instead, which was a really good movie. On Christmas morning we opened our presents. Here are some pictures.

We didn't actually take this on Christmas morning.
Joy opening her freshwater pearl and sodalite bracelet
Mary really wanted a watch for Christmas

Noah loves Veggie Tales, so Mom and Dad got him A toy Larry, Bob and Jr. Asparagus



Aren't thease the cutest things ever? They look like Yankee candles but they're really tiny thing of lip balm

In the bottom of a box with many different things in it were handfuls of organic lollipops!

This is a box of staitionary with butterflies all over it. the box is really neat, it looks like a book, but when you open it it's a box!

This is Kendal's graphing calculator

This is a really neat toy that you make moterized cars and things with

Mom opening her package of lip balm

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! ~Kelsey

That Global Warming is Really Kicking In!

We just measured the snow, and it's about ten and a half inches! This picture is actually from one of our other two or three snows. It looks like Narnia outside, that is before the spell was broken. What a great Christmas present! It is so beautiful outside, it's unbelievable! Speaking of Christmas, we had a very good one. We will post some pictures soon! ~Kelsey

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all, from Kendal and the other Butlers.

This is one of my most favorite pictures ever. That is until I fell in love with this one I took the other day.

The picture above is of plumeria, the kind of flower I hope to use should I ever get married. Isn't it beautiful?

Yes those are real snowflakes. I think it was the prettiest snow I've ever seen. It was a very powdery one, but those are always the best for pictures. Mama used it as a new blog header thingy.
Nearly every time it snows we take a microscope out to look at snowflakes, but we didn't get any really good ones yesterday. So I just snapped this one real quick, without the microscope not even realizing that the snowflakes were showing up so well until I saw it on the computer! It truly is real, I'm not joking. And I really did take it, just ask Mama.

Two weekends ago we went to Meredith's and Steven's wedding. It was quite beautiful! The church had a lovely organ and the music was so beautiful. It still seems odd that Meredith is now married. We are all so happy for her, and Steven. Anna, Joy, and Mary were some of the 20 or so little bell~ringers. It sounded so neat when all of those little girls walked down the aisle before Meredith came. The reception was very nice also, although it was quite cold. After everyone ate and had Cheesecake most of the younger people went to the barn to dance, which was quite fun.

Well that's about all for now. I hope everyone has a blessed week and a Merry Christmas! ~Kelsey PS. I'm actually writing this December 20th, I just started the post on the 12th, and haven't finished ti until just now. ;)

Hello everyone!

This week has been a very busy one for the Butler household. This week Mama, Kendal and I completed ten skirts for our Christmas Eve service along with seventeen sashes. We had a deadline to meet and met it , and had a bit of time to spare. Thank you, Lord! Also Mama's birthday was on Monday and Kendal's birthday is today. Happy Birthday Mama and Kendal! You are the best and most favorite mother and older sister I've had yet! Oh, you're the only one! Well you're still the best and I love you both. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving also. Our Aunt and Uncle were supposed to come, but were not able to. So our good friends, the Larums saved the day. Thank you guys, you're the best. You saved us from a day a misery and despair. (and agony)We always have the best time with them! The food was good to of coure, but I always enjoy the visiting part best. Well I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed week. ~Kelsey

picture by Kelsey

This is one of my favorite pictures from "the big snow." I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Hello! By Kelsey

Hello everyone! I've been trying to think of a good blog name, so if y'all think of one, leave a comment and let us know! Kendal and Kelsey Butler was actually supposed to be temporary. ;) I hope y'all enjoy the pictures. One or two of them might have already been shared, but enjoy them anyway! ;) Isn't the picture below the coolest! Actually, it was really really cold! I went out really early in the morning to take it.

This picture (below) is similar to the one from my last post, Gavin. But this is the one and only other one like it.

I think that might be me in the picture, but I'm not sure, it's sorta hard to tell.

This is the creek water from the waterfall. When it's warmer we like to play in it. But we are also famous for loosing shoes in it! ;)