Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Sorry I've been absent in the blog-o-sphere; we've been busy traveling the Midwest to visit our families and celebrate the season.

I couldn't send cards to everyone that reads this blog, so here is our holiday card (love Laney's tongue sticking out). I probably won't be able to get around to posting pics of the last week for another week or so, as I still have family in town. Priorities. You know, like unloading a car full of presents only realizing there is no where to put them. Organizing to be done. Crafts to make. Baking to do. Pictures to take. Dress up and dance parties to be had.

Hope everyone had a relaxing holiday and have a great time ringing in the New Year.

I'll be having a dance party of my own. But I won't be wearing a tutu and cowboy hat at my party. Getting fancy. Can't wait!

Wordless Wednesday

Graduation Day for Mikey

It's official, Mike has completed his MBA degree from Indiana Wesleyan University. To make it even more official, he walked in the graduation ceremonies yesterday afternoon. Mike was one of 1,749 other students that graduated yesterday. Mostly were undergraduates (in a separate, earlier ceremony) but Mike was walking among fellow Masters and Doctorates. Kind of a big deal, in my opinion.

Mike completed his MBA degree with a 4.0 GPA, and I wouldn't have expected anything less from him. I'm truly in awe that he accomplished this feat while working full time, having a second child and his wife training for a marathon. Talk about time management in the McCulloch household. He has sacrificed many things in his life to make this dream come to fruition and we are nothing but proud of him.

When Mike walked to get his diploma the girls, myself, his dad & step-mom were all cheering him on and so happy for him. Izzy was yelling, "Yay Daddy Mike!" I was choked up and full of pride that my husband accomplished this. But more so because he's now done (he's been finished with classes since September and the extra time that we have him around is so wonderful!).

Yesterday was a long day with the ceremony being 2 hours long. Here's how we passed the time:

Chasing after a 15 month old...
Snuggling with Grandpa Bob...
Taking pictures on Grandma Laura's camera...
Reading the official program...
Searching for Mike among many names...

Watching Daddy Mike walk...

Cheering for him when his name was called...

And trying to entertain tired girls!

So proud of our daddy Mike

Heading home after a long day celebrating Mike

Pooped out right away

When we got home last night Mike opened a silly gift from Bob & Laura...

A Superman Snuggie!!! That's exactly how we feel about him...being able to juggle family, school and work. Next on his Superman schedule? He and 4 other college swimming are attempting this in June:

http://www.grinswim.org/2011USMS25K/

Yep, Mike will be swimming 3.1 miles on Morse Reservoir in June. It's a 25k relay and each of the 5 team members will swim the 3.1 mile loop. Since I know nothing of swimming and the times it takes to swim this distance I've been asking a ton of questions (imagine that). Mike says that when he was in prime swimming shape in college, he could swim a 16 minute mile. If he was just recreationally swimming a mile (I can NOT imagine ever swimming a mile 'recreationally') it would take him 20 minutes. His goal for this race is to complete the 3.1 miles in a little over an hour. Wow, am I impressed. So excited for Mike to start his training of this next huge goal. (And maybe a bit excited about the pontoon boat afterwards with a keg!)

We're proud of you daddy Mike!!!

Reindeer days

The girls got to pet a real, live reindeer at school yesterday!!!

Izzy hasn't stopped talking about meeting Rudolph!!!

Wordless Wednesday

(These are not great quality b/c I just scanned them in...but they were too cute NOT to post!) What an adult pose...she's really starting to look like a little kid instead of a baby these days

The head tilt? Come on...that is just so stinkin' cute!

So this post really isn't "wordless." Both Iz and Bug had classroom photos taken but I wanted to focus in on these two: best buds Iz & Luke. Oh, and the fact that Iz has her crown on (they made her take it off for the individual pics, thank goodness). She wears this nearly every day. She is quite the princess these days!

Dentist & Date Night...

This past Friday was another Flex day for me, which I had the pleasure to start off by going to the dentist with Iz (but the rest of the day was fab: massage/chiropractor, lunch with friends, holiday shopping, crafting and a NAP!) Izzy had her very first dentist appointment, for which we had been prepping her for at home for weeks. "Gotta brush your teeth really well to impress the dentist!" or "Your tummy doesn't hurt, we just need to go to the dentist, not the doctor." You know, those sorts of conversations. So we got to the office and Izzy was PUMPED up. Told the other moms in the waiting room this will be the only time she is excited about going to the dentist (unless she's like me...I love me the dentist...it's like a massage for my mouth!). We get called back and are directed into the dentist's office for an initial consult with the technician (hygiene habits, health history, et al). Then we're told we would give the "chair" a chance. Izzy was initially hesitant until Sue offered her some pink sunnies and Iz noticed Dora was on in front of her.

Iz went for a "ride" in the chair and Sue was very kid-friendly by explaining what she was doing and what all the tools were for.
Counted the teeth. OK, fine. But when the automatic cleaner started buzzing Iz lost it. No amount of "fairy dust" on her teeth made her comfortable with that noise so near her. Iz was screaming and crying. Let's just say we had to go back to the consultation room and finish cleaning Izzy's teeth on our laps. Phew. That was over. Until...the dentist had to come in to check out Izzy's teeth. We were told that Izzy not only had a cross-bite but also crowding in her front teeth. Read: she's an early candidate for braces (age 8-9). Awesome. Mike and I both had braces. Mine were on at 9 and off at 13. So I knew this was coming. Anyway, we have to come back in another 6 months to continue to get Izzy acclimated and comfortable with the setting. I told Mike he's going with her next time. It was exhausting!
Saturday morning we had gymnastics and then I went to a cookie exchange (we have enough cookies to feed 10 families right now, so if you're in the area...). Then Mike and I had date night for the first time in a long time (we go out...but most times we are with other couples). We went to a Butler game and then out for our favorite: Sakura sushi!!!
This is what it looks like when you ask your 3 year old to take your picture.

Self portrait

Hinkle Fieldhouse

Go Bulldogs!

The Dawgs were up by 30 points come halftime, so Mike wanted to head out. I begged to stay to watch the halftime show (cheerleaders and dancers). Let's just say I was anything but impressed with both. Guess I'm used to watching the IU squads that are nationally ranked and pure entertainment. We'll be back for more games this season, as Mikey went in on season tix with some buddies (there's no need to go to all 24 home games!).

While Mike was filling out the sushi menu I noticed his wrist...

He had on one of Izzy's bracelets that read "I heart basketball." I suppose it was appropriate, but not on purpose. Mike says he goes to work all the time with silly ban.ds on without knowing it. Hilarious!

But this was the best...a Miller Lite and an Ichib.an. Yummmm.

And here's a cute pic of the Bug. She's a mocking bird these days, repeating EVERY word we say. We stayed in our jammers all day today, as we got dumped on with snow. Izzy and I worked on some crafts this afternoon but I'm sad to say I can't post pictures of them (yet) because they are gifts!

A little Elf & a lot of Snow!

My dad & step-mom sent the girls a little book called The Elf On The Shelf a few weeks ago. I'd been waiting for December 1st to roll around so we could start some new traditions in our house for the holidays.

The book explains that you have to name the Elf right away and then put him on the shelf. He watches over you all day and each night he flies to Santa to report if you've been naughty or nice. Every morning she has to search the house to find where the elf has posted for the day. The Elf (whom Izzy named Coca - don't judge - she's 3) cannot be touched or he loses his magical powers. It's basically the BEST bribery for a little girl to share, behave, not scream, not push her sister, etc around the holidays.
Coca is working most of the time. Not sure Izzy cared about what Santa thought of her behavior yesterday morning when she pushed her sister down two stairs in her wagon. So yeah, that was fun. Delaney was a screaming mess (and now has a black eye), I was a crying fool, yet Izzy didn't cry until I told her Coca saw the entire thing. She broke down and started apologizing to Coca. Then she apologized to her sister. It's a work in progress.
As a child we always had a chocolate candy advent calendar to open each night. I didn't want to do an advent calendar for a few reasons. So in lieu of that, another tradition I started this year was to wrap up all of our Christmas books (I only had 15 that I've accumulated throughout the years, so my mom and dad both have sent packages with more books to sum up to 25) and each night Izzy gets to open one and that is her nighttime book we read. Gives her something to look forward to each evening. I put all of these books in our holiday storage last year so we wouldn't be reading them throughout the year....to keep an element of surprise when she opens them.
The girls got new winter coats a few weeks ago and this was the first week they donned them to school, as the weather hadn't been cold enough to warrant the thicker jackets until now. It's not all that fun to bundle the girls up and then squeeze them into a car seat; but they are just so stinkin' cute all wrapped up!

We woke up Saturday morning to several inches of snow and Izzy was chomping at the bit to get outside. Mike and Laney stayed inside while Iz and I played.

Getting her feel for walking in all those layers...

Snow angels

Her first taste of snow..."That tastes really yummy in my belly!"

Snow falling on Hawthorne

Izzy wanted to slide

And she loved it!

Laney watching us play

Pajama day!

Saturday evening I headed out to celebrate Molly's birthday and this was the scene as I left: Mike and the girls were watching movies and all snuggled up.

Me, Mols & Jaim at Mesh

Jaim, Molly, Molly, Susan & I

And finally, I decided to bundle up both girls and take them out in the snow today. Laney was NOT a fan of being so layered up...she even fell flat on her face (she has scratches on her nose to prove it) because she couldn't walk in the boots I had on her. Whoops. I bought the very last sled at Target yesterday and we used it all of 5 minutes. Guess we'll have to hit up the hills next weekend.