McCulley Christmas!

We got to stretch Christmas, 2011 into 2012 this year! The whole McCulley crew came to our house in January to celebrate Christmas together!!!

I kept all of the Christmas decor out (normally it's packed away by Jan 1st and not a day later! :) so it still felt like Christmas for our gathering... BUT the amazing spring-like weather made it feel more like Easter rather than Christmas! It was so great for the kiddos to burn some energy outdoors! Here's Wyatt and his cousin Ellie cruisin' in the truck...

We probably could have had a picnic outside, but we managed to get everyone inside for Christmas lunch and to read the Christas story with Papa...Ikey and Aunt Gigi were best buddies... Oh boy! More fun began with tearing into lots and lots of presents...

Awesome shoot guns from Uncle Jay and Aunt Gigi... leave it to the cop to buy super cool guns for his nephews! :)

So much excitement and fun surprises inside all of the colorfully wrapped gifts!

Here are Wyatt and Ellie duking it out with the boys' new boxing gloves from Grandma and Papa. I think we are going to have to invest in a punching bag so theses boys can punch out their energy on something other than each other! Whew! It can get pretty rough but the boys have a BLAST!

The defense tactics came pretty natural to Ike bear...

I guess the guys were all pictured-out or something, but here's a cute pic of us ladies and the five little cousins!

Here's Isaac saying bye-bye to Rambler! :)

What fun memories...

Micah Jay is 9 Months!

This big boy is (thankfully!) still not crawling or scooting, so we've got lots of STILL shots once again! I know my world is going to change very soon, but at least Micah is drawing out the baby stage as long as possible and giving me time to prep for the next one.... I'm not quite ready to release him into the mobile world just yet! ;) I can hardly get enough of this sweet face! He is just simply irresistable, in my opinion. This boy gets so many snuggles and kisses throughout the day and he loves every minute of it! I just want to bottle up his sweetness! It's so hard to imagine him doing anything wrong.... but I thought the same with his big brothers when they were babies too. Ha! Oh, but I'm loving this stage of just getting to ENJOY every minute of life with Micah... without the tantrums or battles or discipline...that's the benefit of being a 3rd born I guess, Mama knows what's coming and can linger in the JOY of today! What a precious and all-too-fleeting season!

Spike! His head was soaked with olive oil in attempt to get rid of the cradle cap, but big bros thought the spike was super cool! :)

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Fun Facts About our 9-Month-Old:

MICAH...

-loves to play and laugh and dance and wrestle.

-is very expressive! He's got so many different faces that make us laugh out loud daily.

-is able to get up on all 4's but has one leg that gets stuck underneath him every time.... he's trying hard to crawl but is not going anywhere just yet.

-is able to stand up on the furniture. Maybe he'll just skip crawling and go straight to walking. He's got some strong leg muscles but not the balance to support those muscles yet

-is starting to eat some table food (sounds like I'm talking about a puppy!). He LOVES new tastes and flavors and makes lots of grunts, grimaces, and puckers while trying to figure out what's in his mouth! So cute!

-all of the nursery workers just love him to pieces. They ooh and ahh over how sweet and happy and perfectly content he is. I can humbly agree! :)

-Micah's Stats: 24lbs 3ozs (73%), 30.25in (95%)

Micah Jay, You are the sweet little beat in my heart right now! Thanks for setting such a sweet tone in our home. You are full of laughter and fun but you also have a very sweet and snuggly reserve that just melts my heart. You are LOVED beyond words! Forever and For Always, Mommy

The Mystery Date!

My mama stayed with the boys while we escaped for a day to celebrate our 8th anniversary! Joe planned our date several months in advance and kept it a surprise! We headed downtown for some coffee, a little shopping, dinner at PF Chang's, and finally, the grand finale.............

A CONCERT!

I'm obviously very out of tune with KC happenings because I didn't have a clue what our plans were or who was in town. Joe tried to give me little hints here and there (like listening to a certain CD all day long!) but I was a space cadet and remained clueless.....that is, until we pulled up to Sprint Center and I saw lots of boots and hats! Yep, I knew immediately it was a concert and I was pretty certain it would be BRAD PAISLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sure enough! Woo Hoo! And a little bonus of seeing Scotty and Band Perry too. It was soooooo fun and a great surprise...definitely a reminder of what life was like pre-kids.... we used to do that sort of thing (but didn't appreciate it nearly as much as we do now!)!!!!!!

Scotty

Band Perry

and my fav, Brad Paisley!

Loved the show and love the man who was next to me even more! :) Yes indeed, I can say I love him more now than the day I said 'I do' and guaranteed I'll love him more next year than I do in this very moment. As the lyrics go, "And I thought I loved you then." It is a wonderful life! I'm blessed beyond measure....

Merry Christmas, 2011

Here are a few pre-Christmas pix we tried to get for Grandma and Papa McCulley's annual Christmas letter...

We interrupted a golf game for this one! The guys were very gracious in holding back their shot since we were on the green and practically sitting on the hole!

Here are my 3 favorite little men on Christmas Eve. We went to service at Mimi and Poppy's church (where I grew up and also got married!) this year, then all went out to dinner (one of my favorite Christmas Eve traditions) at Cheesecake Factory. Yummo!

The boys got new jammies and also got to open one together gift before bed! Can you guess what was in the box?

....Shootguns!

I think this was last year's Christmas Eve gift as well. Not intentionally trying to make it tradition, but with a house of boys, it may very well be!

LOVE my boys!

We started the morning with cinnamon rolls. I was hoping for the from-scratch kind this year, but it didn't happen. Maybe it will be a tradition for a later season! : )

and read the Christmas story (our most favorite tradition)!

Then they dug in to their gifts! It was so.much.FUN!!!!!!

Wyatt sporting his new spiderman shirt and watch

more shoot guns! They are totally natural with weapons! I see law enforcement in someone's future... I'm hoping not, but I think it's inevitable! :)

I thought this pic was just precious of Isaac peaking in on his little $1 store treasure inside of the stocking...

Wyatt and I went to WalMart to let him pick gifts... He knew exactly what he wanted to get his daddy before we even walked in.... FISH! Daddy had to hold back the excitement a bit, but I think it ended up being his favorite gift of the year. Guarenteed it was given with the most thought and love from one very sweet boy named Wyatt!

Isaac trying to fit into Daddy's new shoes

Wyatt making a spider web with new crate paper

oopsies! For some reason Ike is wearing Micah jeans and on his tippy toes trying to get some goodies from the counter! :)

We spent the afternoon over at my sisters where the boys got to taste their first bit of prime rib and were given more shoot guns! :) It was a very FUN day!

Not sure wear the swim trunks came from.... Wyatt is in some kind of character form, I'm sure!

3 of the cutest spider men!

Not the best photo, bad had to post one with Mimi's black eye! Now that it's healed, the boys can think it's 'cool' picture (no, the boys were not involved in giving Mimi the black eye)!

And here's one last pic-sweet Great Grandma and Papa sharing Christmas with us!

Christmas, 2011 has definitely been my favorite so far! I loved getting to see all of Christmas through the eyes of my little guys this year--the lights, decorating, baking, reading the Christmas story over and over and over, the many questions, lots of laughter, opening of gifts, and time with family! These boys filled the season with much joy, awe, wonder and great imagination. What a treasured gift to get to see and feel and taste and hear and just experience Christmas through the life of little boys...with sweet perspective, amazing curiosity, and very teachable hearts.

"The enemy of value can be apathy from familiarity" -Jeff Terrell

Maybe that was just it for me this year... I was able to break out of the familiarity of Christmases past and really value the GIFT of Jesus right here in the present! I'm learning right alongside these little ones...some moments I'm teaching them and many moments they are teaching me!