Yucky Blucky Veggie Pie, by parker

My Mom made a Veggie Pie. I like most vegetables. I thought it would be yummy. So my Mom cooked the veggie pie for dinner. I took a BIGHT.............. and ................. DUN-DUN-DUN. Turns out I didn't like it, but I didn't tell my Mom. Because I didn't want to hurt her feelings because I'm a good kid.

The next day at 3:30p.m. I went to my friend's house and I ate dinner with my friend. So when I got home my family had the Veggie Pie again and I didn't have to eat it or tell my Mom that I don't like it. I was lucky. I nick named it ...

YUCKY BLUCKY Veggie Pie!

(Oops, my Mom says it's called Chicken-Pot-Pie. But, I don't care. It's still YUCKY BLUCKY Veggie Pie!)

Tooting My Own Horn, by Melissa

DISCLAIMER: This posting consists of me heavily tooting my own horn. (Don't worry, it's not the stinky kind!)

Guess what? I am celebrating a major Weight Watchers achievement today! At precisely 10:03 am, I hit my 10% weight loss goal. I've been working on this for 17 weeks now and I'm just ecstatic! This bring my total weight loss to 23.6 lbs which is above and beyond my initial 10% goal. I received a major award, the coveted cooper key chain (yuck, I wanted silver) and the 16 week "way to stick to it" gold charm. WATCH OUT BIGGEST LOSER, HERE I COME!

I want to thank all of the people who helped me receive this award ...

Family and friends-Thank you for the inspiration. Thank you to everyone for the compliments and long distance thoughts of love. All of my friends and family are so very supportive and boost my confidence in ways you cannot imagine.

WW support buddy-It was a great feeling to realize that I am worth fighting for and find the support I needed to back me up. The last 2-3 weeks have been very frustrating in terms of weight loss and I hit a small plateau that didn't help. But, while talking with my friend Becky Hogge, who is doing Weight Watchers with me, I realized that I am worth fighting for and I don't want to coin myself as a quitter.

My hubby-Wing helped me realize that I deserve to feel good about myself and care enough to do something about it. So I started tracking my eating habits, reduced my sodium intake, ate my veggies and milk portions and it really paid off. I'm just tickled to share this moment with him!

Diane and Amanda-Thanks for the Weight Watchers scale. I weigh myself 2 to 3 times a day. (I know, that's a bit obsessive.) I even weigh myself before and after going potty 'cause it's amazing how much that stuff weighs and it makes me feel instantly skinnier. Plus, I am able to check my progress on a daily basis which helped me to know what foods are best for my body. YOUR THE BEST SISTER and MOM EVER!

Parker, Grace and Kate-Thanks for wrapping your arms around me and saying, "Look Mom, I can touch my fingers!" It was also nice when they warned me of sabotage over the Christmas break when we received yummy goodies from our friends. I now know that eating yummy goodies is not how you win the Biggest Loser competition.

I love all of you tons and tons,

The "Skinnier" Melissa

P.S. By the way, I only have 12 more pounds to lose and I will hit my life time healthy weight goal. Then Weight Watchers will be free because I will be a LIFETIME MEMBER! If you thought this post was a little braggy... wait until you read that one. Yipee!

From Santa's Lap, by Melissa

Oops! This post is a little late... Better late than never, right?

On December 15, our family attended the Heritage Ward Christmas Party. It was loads of fun! All of the primary children participated in a nativity by wearing costumes and singing special songs they've been practicing in primary for the past few weeks. It was beautiful and all of the parents just loved it. It was also fun to see a whole bunch of "Marys" and "Josephs" in the crowd of children, but for some reason the many "Baby Jesuses" didn't fully participate. Sound familiar?

We also sang carols and I must admit that the Butler table was one of the loudest. I won't say that we were the most harmonious, but we definitely were heard singing, "Three french hens" to the Twelve Days of Christmas song when it was our turn. We laughed our bums off all twelve times too!

Santa was a big surprise, especially for Kate. He came ringing in right behind her and her eyes just lit up as his bowl full of jelly passed her. Remember that Kate won't go to nursery alone, but when she sat on Santa's lap not a tear was shed. Parker and Grace were very proud of her!

NEW YEAR'S DAY, by Parker

Well my new year was like this.

1st. In the morning Amanda and I played Stunt riderit's on Thrilleville ( its a video game) we made it tothe top level 10.

2nd. My family ate crepes.It was yummy.

3rd. Manda and Mellisa played thrillville. they weregood.

4th. We ate chili and cornbread, Grandpa's favorite.

5th. We played card games sutch as Cash-n-Guns andLoot.

Then it was midnight so I yelled HAPPY NEW YEAR

Elf Yourself, by Melissa

Sorry... It looks like the elves have gone back to Santa's workshop to make toys for next year's Christmas. You'll just have to enjoy the picture of Scrooge Papa Tim and imagine him dancing in all of his bah-hum-bug glory! (New comment posted on Jan 14, 2008)



Origninal post from December 17, 2007.....

We've had some Holiday fun by creating elves and Scrouges of ourselves. The Durant's also joined in and treated us to Tim dancing which is a once in a lifetime experience. So if you need a good laugh and a cup full of Butler cheer, check out the following links and maybe you too can get elfed!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1138507544 : All three kids plus Melissa!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1138353352 : See Grace's many dance moves!

http://www.scroogeyourself.com/?id=1138410855 : Parker got Scrouged!

http://www.scroogeyourself.com/?id=1139470643 : Bah, Hum Bug Tim!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1139319071 : My personal favorite because Tim is a very sexy dancer! Oh and Diane, Amanda and Pugs aren't too bad either!

From The Las Vegas Marathon, by Grace

Ladies and Gentlemen, I ran in the Las Vegas Kids Marathon yesterday. For the last three months I've been in training and was in lots of other races. I didn't get a trophy this time because I couldn't run past all the other mountains of people, but I have a trophy already from the Steel Days Fun Run. Actually, nobody got a trophy at the Las Vegas Marathon because everyone was a winner. Even the people in the back!

Here's some of the stuff that I won:

• Some cow lotion (Yuck, I thought it was from the rotten milk utters!)
• Red Marathon T-Shirt
• Don't forget my MEDAL
• A candy bar, don't worry I haven't eaten it yet.
• Gum and it is gross, but Kate wanted to eat it and she liked it.
• And some other stuff in a white bag like a poker chip and stuff.

Don't tell anyone, but I was very thirsty and I spilled a drink all over my red shirt. My Dad ran with me and Parker started running with my Mom and Kate because he can't run as fast as me. Poor Parker. Then Parker decided to run with me and we had to make him keep up with us so he wouldn't die. Mom cut across the finish line to take our pictures. Both me a Parker got a medal even though Parker was hiding behind my Dad.

The Marathon was 1.4 miles and I ran the whole way with no resting. My Dad was a very slow poke and had a hard time keeping up with me. Now he is very tired and his muscles are down.

Thank you to all of my fans. Thank you to you and you and you. You've been a wonderful audience.

If you have any questions, here's some more information from Melissa...

It was really cool to be able to run the marathon with Grace. Our whole family ran with her and loved it. It was awesome to see a flood of kids in red shirts running to the finish line followed by their families and friends. It was a huge event that Grace has been working towards for months and we are all very proud of her!

What is KiDSMARATHON? KiDSMARATHON is a 10 week training program (7 weeks for the “Run Three Point One” event) that enables kids to complete a full marathon (42.195 kilometers) by running approximately 5 kilometers per week. By doing so, kids develop the tremendous feeling of accomplishment and confidence without the high risk involved with young kids running a full marathon in one day. The program is completed in grand fashion as each kid is able to finish the final 2.195 kilometers of the marathon distance in front of hundreds of cheering fans, friends and family at the 2007 Las Vegas Marathon on December 1st.

http://www.lvkidsmarathon.com/

What I want for Christmas, by Parker

OK, here's what I want for Christmas.

1. Rayman Rabids 2 (it's a game for my Wii)
2. A remote control insect (if you want to know more ask Melisa)
3. super Mario Galaxy (another game for my Wii) I borrowed it from Brady and really like it!
4. Thrillville Off The Rails (more games) I played this one with Gabe and had fun.

That's all I want specific. Thank you for reading.