Ringing in the NEW YEAR!!!

Wyatt's first movie on the big screen!

FIRST MOVIE... On New Year's Eve morning, Mimi and Poppy came over to stay with Isaac so we could take our big guy to see his FIRST MOVIE... Tangled! It was SO MUCH FUN!!!! When we arrived to the first theater they were all sold out. We were feeling a little bummed but determined to make it to a showing while we had a babysitter for Ike. So we finally found some tickets and walked into the theater during the last preview. Whew! It was a close call but we made it and it was well worth it. Wyatt sat right in between us with a big tub of popcorn and a soda and watched the entire movie. It was a such a cute movie and such a fun memory with Wyatt. As soon as the credits began to roll, Wyatt stood up and said, "Let's do it again! Let's watch Yogi Bear!" He's hooked! As soon as we got home, he didn't stop to take off his coat and shoes like ususal in the mudroom but said, "I'll just leave them on so we can go again!" It is such a delight as parents to see your kids having fun... I think Joe and I had even more fun than our Wy guy!

BIRTHDAY FUN... Later in the day we got to go celebrate cousin Ashtyn's 6th Birthday at Ben and Jerry's ice cream parlor. If anyone knows my boys, they know how much they LOVE ice cream, so this was a huge hit for the McCulley boys!

All of the flavors to pick from and my Wy guy chose plane old chocolate, of course! Isaac devoured some sweet cream too and loved every bite!

Wyatt is totally smitten with his Auntie B. Whenver we are going somewhere with Ashtyn and Daxton, the first thing Wy wants to know is, "Will Auntie B be there?"

The big birthday bunch

We finished the evening with a big family dinner at Freddie's and then headed to Trent and Brianna's to play some cards and eat more food. We knew we would probably be the first to leave their house since we were driving to IA the next day, so we had to role play our departure with Wyatt several times before we agreed to go. You see, Wyatt normally has these big, dramatic melt down tantrums when it's time to leave Ashy and Daxton's house. It has gotten a bit out of control. So we talked through and role played how Wyatt would respond, using self-control and obedience when Daddy and Mommy told him it was time to leave. He agreed that he would obey when time to go... We decided that it would be a good test. Well, Wyatt was a man of his word!!!! When we said it was time to go, he told all of the boys and girls goodbye, gave his cousins a hug and said, "See you next time!" Awww... making some progress!

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...