Charlie’s alarm goes off at 6:20am! Here he is on his first day! We need to leave by 7:20 each day so it is quite a change for me and the girls.
he was that excited.
wow – the smiles are OC.
So handsome. Still wants to be a ninja.
me and C
I love these pictures of these 3. Claire – Charlie – Eleanore.
I started burping and got this response out of the kids. works every time.
Charlie did great and had a really good week despite me having to leave at the end of the week.
Charlie, Bill and Pappy headed up to Fernie, BC to have a quick father son fly fishing trip.
The boys had fun!
Pappy had just arrived in time for the girls’ first day of preschool. They started a week or so into September.
Ellie. Claire. Charlie. The smiles were hard to get normal this morning.
E&C&C
Last year of preschool for these two!
with Ms Mary! They love it.
My dear dear Grandma Butz went to be with Jesus last Monday (September 21st).
All 7 kids and all 20 grandchildren (10 boys, 10 girls I might add) were present. Many of the great-grandkids (also currently have 20 – 10 boys, 10 girls – isn’t that crazy!!??! with another 1 more boy on the way)
Here is the Cousin picture. Love these people!
This is the parents with the cousins.
my fam!
some of the keepsakes at the wake.
we had 7 boards for each family.
I flew in Thursday night and we had a blast from the time I arrived until I left Sunday night. So thankful for the memories we shared and the laughs and tears. I am also so thankful for all the friends and Bill who rallied and made my trip happen. I will desperately miss my grandma, but am so thankful for our times we have shared.
Here is her obituary – if you read it you can see she accomplished quite a bit during her almost (missed it by 1 month) 93 years.
Joy Elizabeth Clark Butz, of De Pere, died peacefully surrounded by family on
September 21, 2015. She was born on October 18, 1922 in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
The daughter of the late John Landsborough Clark and Joy Miller Clark, Joy graduated
from the University of South Dakota, Vermillion in 1944 with a major in Spanish and a
minor in English. While at USD, she was a proud member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority. On
May 7, 1946 she was united in marriage to Donald M. Butz in Hecla, South Dakota.
After their wedding they moved to De Pere, Wisconsin, where Don was in business at
Royal Cleaners & Launderers.
Joy’s legacy is her love and devotion to family. She was married to Don for 41 years
until his death in 1988, and together they raised a close-knit family of seven children.
She was a woman of quiet faith and great inner strength, leading by example and
passing on her strong values to her children and grandchildren.
Learning was a lifelong passion that Joy also passed on to her children and
grandchildren. When a question would arise she was known to grab an encyclopedia or
grammar book to find (or verify) the answer. She also appreciated the beauty of music
and art, supporting her children and grandchildren in pursuing music lessons and
proudly enjoying many concerts and recitals. Joy was a gifted seamstress, making quilts
for the St. Mary’s Auxiliary and eventually creating over fifty keepsake quilts for her
children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She raised parakeets with her
youngest daughter, Christine, in the 1970s, at one point overseeing an aviary of over
100 parakeets.
Joy took great pleasure in chronicling her family history in photo albums. An avid
photographer her whole life, she learned from Charlie and Vi Leininger in addition to
attending professional seminars to hone her photographic skills. Her hobby blossomed
into a career as she won several awards for black and white portraiture from the Kodak
Institute, learned printing techniques in her home darkroom, and became a freelance
wedding photographer. She also volunteered in creating the first yearbooks at Notre
Dame Grade School, working tirelessly taking pictures of sports teams and clubs,
creating the layout and design, and overseeing production of these yearbooks for many
years.
Community service was an important aspect of Joy’s life. She volunteered at the
Montessori School in Green Bay, served two terms on the Notre Dame Grade School
Board, and also volunteered at the library and in the classroom at Notre Dame Grade
School. She served on the St. Vincent Hospital Auxiliary, the Woman’s Club of De Pere,
and volunteered as a driver and organizer with Mobile Meals. She was involved in
many service projects while a member of St. Mary Parish of De Pere, including serving
as a Eucharistic Minister.
Survivors include two sons: John (Janice) Butz and Joel (Debra) Butz; five daughters:
Barbara (James) Spitzer, Mary (Mark) Lewis, Catherine (David) Barrett, Debra (Gordon)
Renn, Christine (Thomas) McEnery, 20 grandchildren: Angela (Mike) Callahan, Donald
C. Butz, Jacob Butz, Amanda Butz, Sara (Scott) Peterson, Benjamin (Katie) Wehner,
Matthew (Julia) Barrett, Daniel (Ashley) Barrett, Elizabeth (Brad) Stanley, Emily
(Thomas) Hovis, Mark Barrett, Joy (Dan) Kurber, Jon Szymanski, Laura Szymanski,
Stephanie (Bill) Schmitt, Daniel (Meg) Butz, Thomas Butz, Suzanne Butz, Griffin
McEnery and Grace McEnery, and 20 great grandchildren.
Also survived by sister-in-law Mary Anne Clark; Don’s family: Roy (Rose Anne) Butz,
Ken Butz, Donna Mae Butz Frank, Gerald (Karen) Butz, sister-in-law Ellie Butz and
many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Donald; great grandchild Elaina Kate
Callahan, sister Mary (Jay) Swisher; brother John M. Clark; Don’s family: Olive (Clem)
Simon; Gordon (Iola) Butz, Francis Butz; Gladys Butz, Sylvia Butz and Albert P. Frank.
Family and friends may visit at Resurrection Catholic Parish, 333 Hilltop Drive, Allouez,
on Friday the 25th from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Visitation will continue at Resurrection at 8:30
a.m. Saturday the 26th until the time of Mass. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated
at 10:00 a.m. with Fr. Willard Van De Loo officiating. Cotter Funeral Home and
Crematory is assisting the family. Online condolences at www.cotterfuneralhome.com
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations will be used to support Parkinson’s research in
Joy’s name.
Our family would like to thank the staff at Bellevue Assisted Living, where Joy lived for
the last nine years, and the many caring nurses at Unity Hospice; we are so grateful for
the spiritual ministers and friends that faithfully guided her on her final journey.
On our very last day of summer (according to Charlie’s school schedule) – I was upstairs getting ready to go to yoga and claire and Charlie thought it was a good idea to butter their own breakfast. Claire grabbed a hidden sheathed knife and thought it was more of a toy. She unsheathed it and then grabbed the knife (as Charlie was telling her NOOO) and pretended to sword fight – ie: slicing her hand between her thumb and pointer finger. ouch!
As soon as I heard the wailing from both C&C – I found claire’s hand with a big pocket hole in it and I did what every good medical wife does. Tried to take a picture to send to Bill to see if he wanted to deal with it or if I should take them all to urgent care. Couldn’t get a good picture as you can see. It was hard to see how deep it was on the image, but in person it was definitely deep.
After chatting with Bill, I decided to do the Urgent Care route since he was in clinic and a screaming child of your own next door wouldn’t really help things.
Claire was super tough waiting and even when they cleaned it out.
after a few hours of waiting the Dr came in to put stitches in. I didn’t know how horrifying this would be for all parties. I started to hold her down and she was doing great. Then the needle went in to the wound and it set off the beast within claire. she totally lost it and I had to pin down her upper body while 2 other people were pinning down other parts. Charlie at this point was wailing and screaming and Ellie was trying to watch and wasn’t shedding a tear. The ordeal took what felt like forever and was probably about 20 min of fighting and crying. A long time for your child to fight in a intense manor against you. At the end, Claire was so sad that I had been the one to pin her down. I definitely would not do that again ever. She would look at me with big brown eyes and say “mommy. why did you hold me down??” as if I had totally betrayed her. The worst thing ever!
the wound healed up quickly and I had Bill prescribe an antibiotic when I thought it was getting red, but it ended up being ok. The biggest lesson learned is that mom and dad have their best interest in mind and we don’t tell you things like “don’t play with knives” just for fun, but for your protection because we love you. Hope this taught a good life lesson. Thankful nothing worse came of it.
Oh Happy day! Becca and Nolan flew in Tuesday late afternoon.
The kids blended in like pros. It was great having Nolan with the crew.
charlie was so happy to have a little brother.
teaching him things about Dinos.
piano playing
we headed to Manito park on Wednesday and it was glorious. Julia met us there too with Reed.
Love these two bellies! Due 4 weeks apart.
Ellie
Reed.
my clan snacking. as always.
charlie did awesome playing with all the younger kids. He has had to be at many playdates lately without older kids and is doing awesome.
Nolan’s cheese inside Rockwood bakery.
yum! love this place!
I’m not sure we will be getting family photos done this year since these are the sort of smiles we are busting out these days.
Missing Julia’s oldest – Zane (4) who was at preschool, but this line up is awesome. Reed, Charlie, Nolan, Claire, Ellie. Please note Ellie’s outfit – just amazing.
one afternoon we took the big box and moved it outside and chalk colored in it. Love the many uses of a big box!
the kids bribed lily in with dog food.
ellie loves lily.
Becca’s belly was a BIG topic of conversations throughout the couple of days she was here. The kids loved to feel the baby kick and then decided we should pray and decide to have another baby too. ha!
one day we headed out to Julia’s house in Liberty Lake. It is so fun to see friend’s homes and be able to picture them there.
the 3 of us!
Friday morning – I was teaching my rowfit class and Becca came and snapped this photo without me knowing! So fun to have her there!
Saying good bye to Nolan! What a blessing it was to have you guys come visit and fill me up. I can’t wait until we can visit you in Scottsdale (hopefully just me and Bill – ha).
you are always welcome to come visit Spokane where our weather is sure to be gorgeous!
