Christmas in Kansas!

Christmas really is my FAVORITE season of all! No, I'm not a fan of the cold, wintry weather... Winter is actually my least favorite season! But there's just something about Christmas that warms my heart. I love the lights and activity, I love buying gifts for others, I love the aroma of good food, and I even love the music that starts on Thanksgiving day and repeats over and over until New Years! But most of all, the 'something' that warms my heart is devoting a whole month to celebrating the birth of JESUS! I feel like we were really able to savor the season this year. Wyatt and I went through our "Advent of Ideas" book together for the 25 days leading up to Christmas. It was so much fun to talk about the symbolism of the decorations in our home, the reason for giving gifts to others, and the humble birth of our Savior in a manger. I've loved hearing Wyatt sing "Happy Birthday, Jesus" in sync with our k-love radio station and seeing his little imagination run wild with the manger characters! I read a book about the value in creating TRADITION in your home, so Joe and I put our heads together and pondered what traditions we wanted to begin for our family. One place we decided to start is having Christmas morning at home together... waking up in our pjs, eating cinnamon rolls, reading the Christmas story, and letting our kids open their 3 gifts from us! BUT, it wouldn't feel like Christmas without the crazy chaos of extended family around (we found this out all to well last year with a very quiet Christmas in Maryland!) so we joined up with the rest of the crew for more excitement and celebration that lasted until the wee hours of the morning.

It took Wyatt almost an hour on Christmas morning to finally notice the GIFTS that were awaiting him...

Gift One: Play Dough activitiy center! Gift 2: Doctor Kit

Gift 3: NERF Gun Watch out, Ikey bear! Wyatt really focusing on his target Isaac eating the nerf balls discovering the stockings Ike is all about the food! He got a hold of a bucket of chocolate mints and refused to let go until he got a sweet taste! : )

Isaac was worn out and decided to take a rest in his high chair to gear up for the rest of the day

Gifts, gifts, and more gifts!

Both boys got a TONKA trunk from Mimi and Poppy

Isaac adoring his cousins...

The boys eating birthday cupcakes for Jesus!

This was my favorite Christmas yet... Until next year!

Peekaboo, I love you!

An Early Christmas in Iowa!

The whole McCulley and Johnson clan gathered in Iowa last weekend to celebrate Christmas together! I think this was the first time we had all been together in TWO years, if you can believe it. We finally got our first family photo with Isaac and Alexa included... Our picture will soon be outdated with one more McCulley arriving in April, but we've got one for now!

Top Row: Uncle Joel, Papa, Uncle Jay, Joe

Middle Row: Aunt Jen (Joe's sister), Grandma, Aunt Gigi, and me

Front Row: Ellie, Alexa, Wyatt (33 mos) and Isaac (11 mos)

Grandma with the kiddos...

Papa with his grandbabies! Cousins Ellie and Alexa with Wyatt and Isaac

Papa read the Christmas story to Wyatt and Ellie who both listened very attentively in his lap!

I love this picture of Daddy and Isaac!

Wyatt got his own digital camera from Papa and Grandma this year. Does he look like a pro or what?! : ) I think we've just about got that memory card loaded... I'll be sure to post a few of Wy's snapshots!

And the boys got their first remote control race car from their cousins! A little boy's dream!

It was a GREAT weekend! We had a very FULL house with 8 adults and 4 kids, which made it all the merrier of a Christmas. I think everyone was a little bit sleep deprived by the end of the weekend, except for our lil fam! Somehow our boys slept right through all of the noise and chaos... Or maybe Joe and I were just so tired that we slept through the crying (or so we hear from Uncle Jay and Aunt Gigi, who were such troopers being in the living room on an air mattress and didn't hardly sleep a wink.) We're sad the weekend is over, but look forward to next year (or maybe something even a little sooner since we're all in the midwest again!). Thanks for all of the generous gifts and sweet memories! Love you all...

Christmas Countdown!

Since I'm a bit behind on posting, I figured I'd just lump the past month into one long post! It has been quite an incredible month leading up to Christmas...

We'll start with THANKSGIVING

We spent Thanksgiving day with my side of the family, and then Grandma and Papa McCulley came to spend the rest of the weekend with us! Joe and I were able to spend a few hours getting some much-needed unboxing and unpacking accomplished while Papa and Grandma entertained the boys. We also made a little time for a fun trip to the KC Plaza! It was a perfect night to walk around, eat some popcorn!, enjoy the Christmas lights, and get plenty of pictures along the way...

Our attempt at a Christmas photo... Gotta love it!

A CHRISTMAS PHOTO

Sure glad this one turned out a little better than the previous! :) Grandma McCulley bought the boys their Christmas jammies to take a picture in for their annual Christmas letter and picture of the grandkids!

PUTTING UP THE TREE

When we moved into our new house on Nov 15th, I had the movers leave out all of the Christmas boxes on our main floor as a good motivator for me to decorate. Last year, we we had a very similar scenerio with just moving into our house in MD on Nov 13, and we didn't even put the tree up. So this year I was determined to make our home feel a lot like Christmas... I wanted it to be a year of beginning new tradition with our boys. It has been well worth the effort...the memories made have been priceless!

Mimi graciously came over to decorate our tree while I got all of the other Christmas decor strung throughout the house. I didn't expect Wyatt to be so in to the decorating but he LOVED every minute of it! He wanted Mimi to show him every single ornament and play all of the Hallmark action ornaments at least a hundred times! Are you wondering about the crazy outfit? Well, Wyatt would wear his clown costume every day if I let him, and most of the time it's a battle not really worth fighting! I'm just surprised he actually took off the red nose!

BIRTHDAYS

In the middle of the month, we had a December party celebrating Auntie B's 33rd and Poppy's 62nd birthdays!

SCENIC DRIVE OF LIGHTS

One night after Joe got home from work, we took the boys on a little scenic drive through the KC winter wonderland! It was such a fun night stopping and touring the lights and window boxes... it seemed so dreamy like it was all straight out of a movie!

CROWN CENTER

We also made a trip to Crown Center to play for a day and meet Santa along the way!

Isaac wasn't so sure about the man in the big red suit... and Wyatt didn't call Mr. Clause "Noah" this year! : )

It has been a wonderful month of celebration and the BEST is still yet to come...

Isaac is almost ONE!

Is it really possible that my baby boy is almost ONE? The past 11 months have just flown by! I find myself getting sentimental and teary eyed when I think about his first birthday approaching. I wasn't so much like this with Wyatt... I guess that was because all of his seasons and milestones were so new and exciting with him being our firstborn... I was always eagerly antcipating what was next. But with Isaac, I've been more reflective. And with him being our second born, I guess I have just had more perspective on how fleeting each stage really is. I just want to hold on to each moment a little bit longer. Isaac has been the PERFECT fit for our family! He has been such a bright spot in my world and has filled my heart with much needed laughter during a crazy 11 months!

Isaac got to celebrate 11 months with Poppy who turned 62 today! Ikey bear LOVED the birthday balloons. He even got his first piece of birthday cake, which he devoured, then begged for more! : ) Isaac has loved all of the 'stuff' on the floor that goes along with moving into a new house. He particularly likes looking at himself in this mirror which is right at his eye level for now!

Isaac is SO playful! This little boy does not want to be confined or tied down for a second... he is a go getter, for sure! Wyatt and I call him Georgie because he is so very curious.

We've transition from 2 naps to just one afternoon nap this month. It is so hard for Isaac to make it through lunch without dozing off! Once he gets a full belly, he's out immediately!

Wyatt says about Isaac, "He's my best friend!" I love to see my boys together as brothers and friends.

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Fun facts about our 11-month-old:

ISAAC...

• Has become very proficient at climbing the stairs. He is so FAST to go up but doesn't have the slightest idea how to come down. He always trusts that someone will be right there to catch his fall. Thank goodness for baby gates!
• Has become very independent this month. He just wants to EXPLORE. Leave him to roam freely and make a mess on his own and he is one happy fella. The pantry and shower seem to be his favorite hiding spots right now.
• still LOVES to EAT! This boy can put away some food!
• has learned to give KISSES. I love it!
• still has four teeth--2 on the top and 2 on the bottom.
• is still a little baldy and a toe head, at that!
• Diaper changes have become almost impossible these days... he is such a wiggle worm.
• has been sleeping from about 7pm to 8am then naps for at least 2 hours after lunch
• is such a BRUISER. He's a very tough guy and pretty much always has a dark bruis somewhere on his forehead! : /
• just goes with the flow and enjoys life to the fullest!

Introducing...

....Baby BOY McCulley #3!

Here are a few photos of our lil handsome man (I'm not bias at all!) from his 20-week shoot...

It's a good thing we were ok with finding out Baby's gender because he was very proud to make his BOY-hood known to the world from the get go. This was actually the very FIRST image our sweet sonographer captured. It gave us all a good chuckle from the start! I'm so amazed by modern day technology... we were able to see his arms and legs and even his fingers and toes! This one is one of my favorites! There's just something about baby feet that I find irresistable! (My baby's feet, that is! : ) Over on the far left you can see his little foot, complete with all 5 toes. Love it!

BOY #3: I always hesitate to use the descriptor "#3" for our lil man...I think it sounds like we're giving him the status of third string among the McCulley boys, so I think we'll stick with 'bugaboo' until his grand debut! : ) But in all reality, he IS our third BOY and will certainly have to learn to hold his own rather quickly with 2 big brothers around, I'm sure! I guess this is already my attempt to not allow insecurity to take root in our fella's heart, but to build confidence into our BABY BOY...

Does he have a name? Maybe. But you know I won't share until delivery day!! :) We actually need to start thinking about a name. We've got a few still in the basket but certainly have settled on one yet. We just might have to meet him first! All I'll give ya is that it will have 2 syllables... I've just got a strong liking for 2 syllable names!

I should note that Wyatt wants to name his new brother JERICHO! I was thinking Joshua might be a better fit but he's pretty set on Jericho (or another Isaac Owen!). Don't worry, we won't leave the name up to Wy guy, but I do love his input!

Is it possible to be the baby and still a strong leader? I've always been perplexed by having a BOY as the BABY of a home. I wonder how we'll train him to be the strong leader that the Lord calls every man to be... to have an opinion of his own, to be independent, to make good decisions without the help of others, etc. But I guess we'll learn day by day, growing in faith for God's help, and hopefully gaining wisdom from others who are a step ahead of us with a similar birth order scenario!

A house of BOYS... are we done? It's a good thing I LOVE being a boy mom because I'm convinced that once you start having boys, you just keep on havin' boys! ; ) I had a pretty strong feeling that this one was going to be a boy! So everyone wants to know, "Is this it? Is your family complete? Will you still try for a girl? (a phrase that makes me completely cringe!)" All I can say is... Only time will tell! The Lord is still working on my heart for FAITH for THREE! We'll see how well we're doing with 3 before we make a decision for four.

I always thought I wanted three kids, but the more thought I give it, I think it would be really fun to have an even number of children. It would be fun to have a fourth boy so everyone has a buddy and best friend; at the same time, it would also be fun to have a little bit of pink in this house (ok, so my laundry room is already in progress for being the most obnoxious pink you've ever seen!).

My GIRL thoughts... To be honest, I don't have an unquenchabale, burning desire for a baby girl...This sounds very odd, I know! Everyone knows how much I love PINK and I'm pretty much all-girl! Don't get me wrong, I'll be delighted if the Lord grants us a girl in the future, but for now I'm very content with my boys. It would be fun to have someone to go shopping with and get pedicures with (although I've already decided that I will spoil my daughters-in-law silly! :), but I also know the Lord will have to refine my heart in a big way if we are ever to have a girl... I would have to be more grace-filled and grace-centered in my parenting... I'm not sure I currently have the patience for the drama or sensitivity that goes along with the pretty pink frills and pedicures!

Our prayer has always been for HEALTHY babies... and the Lord has given us the desire of our hearts. To Him be the glory! I'm getting so excited to meet our new little rascal face to face! My heart has already been expanded with love once again!

To my new lil bugaboo... Know that I'll always be your biggest fan! : ) I love you!