Butler boys

We signed Christian up for Cub Scouts and Nicolas up for Boy Scouts this year.

They are in a group w/ all homeschoolers and we are very thankful for that. I have very few pictures of Nicolas because the Boy Scouts do their activities independently. I was given a disc of their New Years Eve campout and one of these days I'll try to post those pics if there are good ones on it.

The year kicked off with the September 11 Scout Salute at our local presidential museum. Nicolas and Christian both participated in this as their first scout activity.

Here the boys are waiting for their turn to move up to "the line" for their 10 minutes. Every 10 min. for 24 hours, there was a shift - thus allowing a break for those saluting and an opportunity for everyone to participate. My boys each did several shifts.

The local fire department donated pizza to those saluting during the lunch hour. Our boys are enjoying their lunch break. And that pizza was really quite good - we're going to have to order it in someday.

Gabe is just along for the ride. He found a little stick that he thought was worth telling me about.

I can't recall who this man is - oops.

Our boys were able to dress up for their October pack meeting. We had 4 Luke Skywalkers in our den!!! Christian had the best costume - a gift from his cousin Austin in Texas. I think he'll be Luke Sywalker every year - until he outgrows this costume.

Christian and Braden (a robot) play before the pack meeting.

Christian and Braden were good friends.

Mattie and Gabe hang out with us during the pack meeting.

The Wolf Den did the flag ceremony for the pack meeting. Christian is second to last - next to the robot.

Mr. Blik gives Elijah his awards.

At another pack meeting Christian examines the patches he earned.

Many cub scouts standing up being recognized for something at one of the pack meetings.

I'd like you to meet Puppy Wuppy

Puppy Wuppy is Gabey's first and most beloved stuffed animal. Gabe loves all stuffed animals and all rubber animals and all live animals and probably all animal stickers, pictures and statues as well. Puppy Wuppy was delivered right to my hospital room when Gabriel was born. He was a gift from my dear friend, Misty. We love Puppy Wuppy and I want Misty to see how much he is still loved.

Daddy's On Vacation

We had such a fun day yesterday, when Daddy started day one of his vacation.

After lunch we headed to Fredrick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. We love to visit the Gardens and try to go often on sunny days.

The kiddos are looking at a turtle in the inside exhibit.

Christian and Nick stop for a picture and they both turned out well. I wish I had taken these with my normal camera and not my cell phone - the quality would be better and worth printing. I have a hard time getting nice photos of Nicolas these days as he is usually checking things out on his own as we keep the littles together.

The boys love to go through the little door leading into the children's garden. Even Nicolas still uses the kiddie door :-)

If you are a long time reader of this blog, you may recall a bike trip we took around downtown to view the Tom Otterness exhibit back in 2007. Tom Otterness sculptures are my favorite - they are just so fun to look at. Two stayed behind and are now on display in the Scupture Park, this is Mad Mom.

I took Mattie to the bathroom and when we got out to the Great Lakes Exhibit (not pictured) I found Gabey in a time out. He didn't want me to take his picture. Gabe cracks me up -he's very strong willed and is happy to let us know how he feels about everything. He has a tendency to pout when he is in trouble and/or shoot dirty looks at everyone in his path. We're working on the attitude and in the meantime, I just had to capture this memory.

Yes, Gabe wears 2 different colored crocs - every single day. He thinks it is a big trick he's playing on everyone. He says, "They'll think Mom painted one of my crocs green." He's awesome - just ask him.

Gabe got in time out for pushing a little guy out of his way.

Here he is telling my about the injustice of it all - I was trying not to laugh so I didn't hear a thing he said.

See - he's the victim - can't you tell?

Now he realizes that his passionate explanation didn't help his cause and he is going to just pout about it for a while.

Time out is over and here is a happier Gabe w/ Herbie. He calls all frogs Herbie. Long time readers may remember Herbie from here.

My kids are Super Heroes as I shared with you all here and here and here. And in addition to being Super Heroes, Gabey is also "Diego, Animal Rescue". He LOVES all animals and when he and Mattie found these puppets in the storytime cove they became very excited. Gabe is petting and loving on his beaver puppet. Matthew figured out how to use it as a puppet and he thought that was pretty funny.

The boys used the lookout to find items hidden in the gardens.

The last time we saw these dragons was when our friend Mikayla spent the day with us before her family moved to Atlanta. I took pics of the kiddos all together on them - apparently I never posted them on here because I can't find them to link to them. Anyhow, these dragons remind me of Mikayla and the fun times she and Christian had together many years ago. We miss the Williams family.

Here's my Blue Ranger Gabe, showing off his moves.

Playing in a little fountain on our way out. I loved the little wet footprints that Gabey's feet made on the bricks.

Nick - humoring me with a picuture. He has sleepy eyes and about half the pics I take of him end up like this.

The boys liked following the labyrinth - Nick is trying to do it fast.

After the Meijer Gardens we took a trip to the ice cream shop and then to the historic village of Fallasburg. We stopped by the one room schoolhouse and the boys liked exploring there. This is especially interesting as we all love watching the Little House on the Prairie shows and we're currently borrowing the dvds from a friend - trying to make our way through all the 9 seasons.