Morgan is 5 years old!

Morgan has turned the big 5!

As we were considering her big day, I really wanted to try to make this one special, and yet...because of changing preschools just a month ago, there was not going to be a big party...so instead...we surprised her with tickets to Disney on Ice! 

The theme of Disney on Ice is Tangled and it's called "Dare to Dream".
We have bought 4 tickets, 1 for me, 1 for Morgan and the other 2 are for her dearest friends, Reese and her cousin Zani.  The show is not until January 21st.

So the party was themed in Tangled.  We did a craft that reminds the girls each day that they are one day closer to the big Disney on Ice experience (paper rings).

We watched the movie Tangled, made crowns with long blond garland (like Rapunzel), colored Disney on Ice coloring pages and ate cupcakes and cake (that was suppose to look like the tower from the movie.....)

The girls had a great time and we are all still very excited for the experience that is to come soon!

Here are some photos from the big day:

Christmas at the Zoo

We chose to wait until after Christmas to do this annual tradition - and it was genious!

Our sweet daughter is born just 4 days after Christmas, so trying to separate the holidays is always a task.
On top of that, fitting everything in BEFORE Christmas has become harder and harder to do!  So thankfully, I checked the Indianapolis Zoo's website and saw that the lights display was extended through the last day of December....well, that's a no-brainer!

So we waited to go until the weather was clear (which has usually been a snowy night), and our schedule was clear (which is AFTER Christmas, for sure!).  So on Morgan's Birthday EVE, we went to the zoo!

It was a cool, dry night and it was spectacular, as always!

Christmas Morning!

Christmas was wonderful this year.
The big kids all wrote letters to Santa and had delivered them in a mailbox downtown earlier in the week when they did their annual excursion to the South Bend Chocolate Company and to see Monument Circle in lights.

Joey asked Santa for Taboo Jr.
Morgan asked Santa for a pee wee unicorn pillow pet
and Jameson asked Santa for a Thomas pee wee pillow pet....and Santa delivered!  :)

Joey got the new Shell Silverstein book, Hullabaloo, and a string puppet from us.
Morgan got a cowgirl outfit for her doll Emma and a horse for her too.
Jameson got a puxxle with his name, paints,  and some Thomas train accessories.
Jackson got a puzxle with his name too and some pjs.

Joe got 2 canvas prints of our family, our blog book, a mug and all kinds of Butler gear.

Megan got a Data Plan for her new cell phone (cell phone was from Bubba), a massage gift certificate, chocolate (of course!) and a new glass pitcher (my other one shattered recently).

We had a great morning eating Grandma Williams' recipe of Cinnamon Rolls, playing with new games/toys and just being together.  An added treat was that my dad (Bubba) was still in town....he has been visiting for a few weeks now...although it was not the plan, he ended up staying due to being too sick to travel during the time he had planned to go home...so why not just stay!  We're so glad he did - he's such a blessing to have around (plus he knocks off all kinds of "to-do" list projects while visiting!)

Here are some photos of the morning:

Merry Christmas & Happy Birthday Jesus!
Joe, Megan, Joey, Morgan, Jameson and Baby Jackson

Christmas Eve Service

We had thought about where to go and when to go and finally, we decided the 7pm service on Christmas Eve at Common Ground Christian Church.

Lucky for us, there were 3 rows left empty in back of the church!  (no childcare provided that night).

We enjoyed singing songs that were familiar to our kids - so they sang at the top of their lungs while standing on the chairs in order to see the worship band....it was the sweetest sound.

They got all dressed up for the occasion, Joey insisted on wearing his suit and tie...Morgan wore a beautiful dress Gram Young gave her the weekend before and Jameson and Jackjack looked pretty spiffy too :)

Much to celebrate - the birth of our Savior.  Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!