Well,
I must say that I am amazed at the rate in which this year has flown
by. 2012 was a blessed year, albeit a crazy and interesting one. Mark
and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary last month, Cameron recently
turned 10, Logan is 8 1/2, and Brody is 4 1/2. We have certainly had
our share of new experiences and memorable mishaps this year,
however, we have realized we are more blessed than ever, and have
grown closer as a result.
This
year, in which there were 366 days, I can assure you that we made the
most of each and every day. Our year started with basketball season,
a simple season for us, with an hour long commitment per each boy on
Saturdays. That led to Cameron being invited to play on a travel ball
team = bump up commitment to weeknight practices and out of town
weekend tournaments, hence the title 'travel ball'. We definitely
traveled; countless trips to the bay area, Tulare, and a large Reno
tournament. A highlight of basketball season was Logan scoring 34
one game, they won 39-19. He generally accounted for 90% of his teams
points each game. Brody got to experience his first year of team
play with a basketball league for 4's and 5's. Brody would excitedly
remind us after each game that his team 'won the championship'.
Despite scoring several points, his biggest strength on the court
however, was his enthusiasm and the uncanny ability to 'skip' down
the court while simultaneously shrugging his shoulder. He loved
every second of it and so did we. In fact, we loved basketball season
so much, we spent 67 days at games/practices this year, not including
games in which we were simply 'spectators'.
Basketball
extended into baseball, which happens to be Mark's favorite season.
Mark coached Cameron's team, the Giants, while Logan played for the
A's in the younger division. Logan's team won the championship,
losing only one game, He played 3rd, short, 2nd,
and even pitched some, the joys of being an 8 year old! After regular
season, Cameron was chosen for Bel Passi All-Stars. All-star season
was long and included a lot of traveling, but it was also a lot of
fun. We really enjoyed making new friends and watching Cameron grow
as an athlete. Our family loved baseball season so much, that between
my four boys (Mark is zealous about his softball league), we attended
over 175 baseball games/practices/lessons.
Baseball
lovingly overlapped football. My wonderfully involved hubby was head
coach of Logan's football team and the Athletic Director (of their
football program). It was such a blessing to have my husband be so
involved with all of the sports this year. It took up a lot of his
time, but I know he wouldn't have it any other way. Between the
boys, we attended around 130 games/practices/meetings during the 2012
football season. I absolutely loved watching the boys during football
season, some of my favorite highlights from the season were; watching
Logan score 3 TD's on 3 carries, watching Cameron run for a 95yd TD,
watching Logan literally steamroll his opponents, and watching
Cameron chase a kid about 70 yards to make a touchdown saving tackle.
Cam's team went 13-0, winning back-to-back Super bowl Championships,
and Logan's team only had one loss early in the season. Our boys get
so pumped for football!
Brody's
highlight of the year was taking tennis lessons. All three boys
played, but it was Brody's favorite. Tennis count = 36 lessons.
Having a strong desire for the boys to be well rounded they also took
piano lessons. They really enjoyed their lessons, but unfortunately
we got too busy to start up again this fall. While playing Beethoven
during one lesson, the piano instructor asked Logan if he had ever
heard of Beethoven. His reply, “No, but I have seen the movie.”
Music lessons = 33. Being the 'fun family' that we are, we were also
invited to 50+ birthday parties/showers/weddings this year.
Other
exciting ventures for the Butler Family of Five in 2012 included, but
were not limited to; 2 ski/snowboard trips (it was clear in the first
10 minutes that we are a family who excels in rather fast &
uncontrolled downhill movement as opposed to graceful and
controlled), basketball camps, 2 vacation bible schools, Disneyland,
LegoLand, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, our first hockey game, Giants
games, 49ers games, Kings game, NUTS games, the Exploratorium,
Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cover's Apple Ranch, a cabin trip, and
landscaping our backyard, in which Brody fervently prayed that we
would find 'beautiful & nice' plants for our yard. We also
documented approximately 65 doctor and dental visits. I will state,
for the record, that this has been our most interesting medical year
to date. Between our three boys, there have been numerous x-rays on
various parts of the body, a concussion during football practice,
blood, giant knots on heads, hundreds of bruises, deep bone
contusions, blood, breathing treatments & injections, a bloody
eye (that's right, a bloody eye. Logan actually cut the lower part of
his eyeball which required an emergency opthalmology appt.),
orthopedic appointments, blood, podiatry appointments including
special inserts for shoes, labs for mono, labs for rheumatoid
arthritis, 2 echo-cardiograms, blood, and several other sets of lab
work – just for the boys.
Do
you realize that you are not a true warrior until you take all 3 of
your children for blood work at the same time? Cameron completed his
labs great, thankfully, but Logan and Brody started crying long
before the needle came near. It took 9 tries and 3 separate visits
to complete labs for the younger boys. I will admit that I had hoped
someone was secretly filming us so we could 'win' a lot of money. It
was entertainment at it's finest.
I
could possibly write a short novel on the enthralling medical path
Brody has taken this year, however, I will keep it short. In
September Brody had a rare and severe allergic reaction to an RX he
had taken before, and when I say rare, I mean that 1 out of 1 million
people get it each year. Very few, if any doctors in this area have
even seen Stevens Johnson Syndrome. SJS is a
condition that basically burns you from the inside out. It is
absolutely horrific for those with more serious cases. There is
nothing you can do to stop it, only supportive care. It was a great
blessing that Brody only had one dose of the RX he reacted to, and an
even greater blessing that so many were praying for us. He was in
the hospital for several days, and it took a while for all of the
'spots' to clear up, but he is wonderfully healthy now. As a result
of this experience, he had to visit specialists at Children's
Hospital, which led to heart testing, which led to speaking to a
heart doctor who specializes in Kawasaki disease. This doctor told
us he was 99% certain Brody had Kawasaki Disease about a month before
he got SJS. Kawasaki is another fairly rare disease, but thankfully
after several tests, Brody has shown no long term effects from this.
It is so humbling to think of God's Hand of protection in our lives.
It
is probably a result of all these 'events' that has caused 2012 to
fly by for us. The only reason we have been able to maintain such a
crazy schedule is because I homeschool the boys. It is so nice to
actually spend time with them throughout the day. It's definitely not
for everyone, and it has made things more assiduous for me, but, it
has truly been a blessing. I never envisioned being a
'homeschool mom', but I am; hopefully you will not be disappointed by
the fact that I do not make my own clothes nor did I discontinue my
use of makeup. We aren't what you call a traditional homeschool
family, but it's working for us.
We
just finished an entire month of nothingness (aside from parties,
basketball tryouts, baseball tryouts, etc). It was amazing! Our
favorite thing to do = family Mario Kart. I never envisioned being a
mommy of boys would be SO MUCH FUN! It's a little smelly and gross at
times, but thankfully Mark can sense when the smell is too much for
me, and does a wonderful job of encouraging me to have some girl
time. I appreciate that so much! I get to be the Queen and
Princess in my home. My precious boys bring me 'jewelry' from
vending machines and dental prize rooms, I have hundreds of 'love'
letters, and they fight over who is going to marry me. I can assure
you that it's not always flowers and love letters though. We are,
after all, trying to raise men who love the Lord with all their
heart. It can be extremely overwhelming in trying to raise Godly men,
but I know the reward will be far greater. So while my patience
isn't always at it's best, and I still allow myself to get stressed
out when we're running behind (frequently!), I am continually amazed
at the ways in which God has blessed our family of five, and I look
forward to learning, growing, and making new memories in 2013.
